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Please Buy a Copy A Cat Compendium DVD by the Museum's Video Unit  |
September 2009 Archive 30 September - The Benefits of Musket Therapy Alice Negin of the famous Mousetrap Meatballs does a bang-up job of firing the Museum's musket; so does her son Zack. link home 29 September - Moody in Versailles  Here's a nice moody romantic shot down by the Bassin d'Apollon, Versailles. Previous Moody Versailles Snaps: Rainy Evening in Versailles Belvedere Sphinx Bassin d'Apollon Tableau Militaire Trianon A Bunch More Oh, here's a slideshow of some of the recently scanned Paris - Versailles - Saint-Cloud - Sceaux snaps, too. link home 26 September - Finn Again  Martin J. Kelly as Finnegan in Mary Ellen Bute's Passages from Finnegans Wake Mary Ellen Bute's dreamlike Passages from Finnegans Wake (1966) is one of those films, like Lola Montès and the 1944 version of Henry V that I saw back during my college days, and, possibly because I saw them under the influence of various drugs, I believed each of them to be the Most Perfect Film Ever Made. The fact that by the time I graduated I had a fairly long list of Most Perfect Films didn't bother me at all, of course. The advent of the DVD has, unfortunately, played havoc with my little list - seeing the films again after a gap of a couple of decades (and while sober, mostly) has convinced me that I might have been a bit overly enthusiastic back then - though I am looking forward to seeing the newly restored version of Lola Montès. But I had resigned myself to memories only of Finnegan, which I fell for particularly hard - even bought the soundtrack album. No one would attempt to sell a DVD of the film, with its target audience of Joyce scholars and aging nostalgic drug-addled hippies. So far, no one has - but when I did a bit of searching on the Internets, I was gratified to find: The film itself, watchable online. Here, too. Oh! The film can be downloaded as a torrent, too! Even the soundtrack's available as MP3s, with dialogue and the evocative music by Elliot Kaplan. Here's a program for the film from the Cannes Festival, 1965. And much more on the film on the same site.  Sadly, inevitably, Finnegans Wake no longer moves me quite as it did when I first saw it as an ardent and stoned film student. Considering the source material, of course, confusion is bound to occur, and some of the visualizations succeed better than some of the others. But I enjoyed the language, and the lilting brogues - the subtitles are helpful, though a bit hard to read. The performances are funny and first rate, especially Martin J. Kelly as Finn, or Finnegan, or HCE, or H. C. Earwicker, or Here Comes Everybody. The imagery is beautiful, though the downloadable torrent is a bit low-contrast - if one were to download it, one might consider adjusting the contrast in a program like Adobe Premiere before one thinks about burning it to DVD. And the ending, with Finn reborn, striding into the light, and ALP's final words, over the Liffey flowing - Us then. Finn, again! Take. Bussoftlhee, mememormee! Till thousendsthee. Lps. The keys to. Given! A way a lone a last a loved a long the ... ... Well, it's very moving, even transcendent - quite beautiful. Would be curious to hear from anyone who gets through it; what they thought, and all. Here's Elliot Kaplan's stirring March from the end titles (streaming MP3). link home 25 September - Heroic Dog Ex Voto  Recently offered up on eBay was this ex voto - a commemoration of a miraculous intervention - showing a heroically diving doggy rescuing some kid. Here's the seller's translation of the inscription: My son Andrés fell down in to the lake and he went to the bottom of the water and I was despaired because I don't know to swim. But the Virgin of Zapopan sent a dog that rushed to the water and rescued my boy before he drowned. I thanks to the Virgin for send that heroic dog.I especially like the octopi swimming about unconcernedly. Nothing improves an ex voto more, in my opinion, than an octopus or two. The Museum has one octopus-related ex voto in its collections - its octopus is the main character, the vehicle of the miraculous intervention. Other octovotos posted here feature the more traditional malevolent or amorous octopus. This new one is the first ex voto to feature neutral, unconcerned octopi - or, for that matter, fresh-water octopi. Previous Octopus-Related Ex Votos: Guitar vs. Octopus The Threatening Tentacle Swimming with Octopi My Husband's Octopus The Heroic Octopus Graciela and the Octopus An Octopus by Moonlight Could've used my own miraculous intervention the other day, when I stepped off the train funny and the right ankle folded up. It was a sprain, and the foot is now nicely swolled up and vividly purply-green. Where was my heroic dog, or octopus? At least it's not broken, this time. Have received due warning that the site may exceed its measly bandwidth allowance, and so may go dark 'til the end of the month. Miracles are needed all over the place, nowadays. link home 22 September - Ladies with Whiskers  Another tintype from the collection - nice young ladies with mustaches, possibly fake. The young lady on the left has a cigarette - quite daring - and the young lady on the right holds a cigar. The young lady in the center, with the pince-nez, probably has a wad of chewing tobacco in her cheek. link home 22 September - That Classic Švejk Look  If you viewed the Janus Museum's World War I Austro-Hungarian field cap (said to have belonged to Frantisek Strašlipka, the inspiration for Jaroslav Hašek's immortal Švejk) and said "I've got to get me a cap like that" - you're in luck. A Hungarian eBayer, Hadibolt, is offering very well-made reproductions, complete with the correct cockade, at a very reasonable charge. We bought one for Gus, shown modeling it in the snap above, to wean him off the wearing of the Strašlipka cap, which is a priceless artifact, of course. Cat Leroy is not so impressed. link home 20 September - A Catwalk with Photographic History  A good day, cool and autumnal, for a catwalk. Leroy and Natasha are about to reenact W. Eugene Smith's The Walk to Paradise Garden. link home 20 September - Another Rare Sighting  Haven't caught a sight of the rare and elusive Wallingford's Toad (Bufo wallingfordiensis) since last July. Strangely, he wasn't as pleased to see me as I was to see him. But we parted on good terms. link home 19 September - Musculature in Tin  A guy displays his excellent musculature for posterity - tintype, circa 1880. link home 19 September - Down the Old Canal  And now, another choice view of the C & O Canal - the good old Chesapeake and Ohio - in Georgetown, circa 1890. As a matter of fact, it's just a bit downstream from this previously featured view - the bluff where the older image was made is visible in this shot; taken in this vicinity, around Aqueduct Bridge and the current site of Key Bridge. A passenger canal boat is in the foreground of the photograph, and freight barges in line behind, or abaft, as we say in nautical circles. Oh, and you can see the mules on the towpath:  Looks like a deuced busy day on the old canal. Now let's hear Flop-Eared Mule (streaming MP3), performed by Mike Seeger from his fine album Southern Banjo Sounds. link home 18 September - Report from the Great Monadnock Expedition  Regular readers (if any) may recall that I reported on our summiting of nearby Sugarloaf Mountain, a monadnock, some time ago. I can now report that our sister institution, the Leib Hornboestel Institute, mounted an ambitious expedition to the summit a couple of weeks ago, and I'm pleased and honored that B. Jeffrey Price, leader of the Great Monadnock Expedition has allowed me to post the expedition report here. Above, Jeffrey and the Senior Editor at Base Camp. Here's Jeffrey's report: Sir: as promised, I am filing a brief (by my standards) report on yesterday's Leib Hornboestel Institute assault on The Great Monadnock of the Monocacy Valley.Excellent report, sir. Now let us adjourn to the Fellows' Common Room for a dry sherry or, possibly two. link home 15 September - A Song Hanging in the Air  I'm sure this unknown fiddler plays a tune as the photographer prepares his plate and focuses the camera - maybe the tune is Bonaparte's Retreat. The photographer looks up and says "Just hold it for a sec..." The fiddler pauses with the bow in mid-stroke - the photographer pulls the lens cap, counts out his exposure, and replaces the cap. "That's about it", he says, and the fiddler picks up the tune, and he plays it to the end. What we have here is a picture of a good tune interrupted, one hundred and thirty years ago. Here's Bonaparte's Retreat (streaming MP3), played by the late, great Mike Seeger. link home 13 September - Kitchen Corner  Took a break from the back-breaking scanning schedule to make dinner, as shown above - pasta e fagioli con le cozze - pasta with beans and mussels, from Mark Bittman's recipe in the New York Times. Pretty easy; very good. The picture was taken after the first helpings were taken - we were fairly sharp-set - so it's not as quite as attractive a shot as some others featured here. But that shouldn't stop one from trying it out, certainly. link home 13 September - Jolly Nice Shako  This is one fine tintype of a young soldier - possibly a member of the Washington Grove Militia - or a cadet, circa 1870, wearing a jolly nice shako. And notice the delicately applied red pigment on the fellow's cheeks - very nice. link home 12 September - All Quiet Along the Potomac  One more Potomac CDV - the Georgetown Ferry, as seen from Mason's Island, also called Analostan Island, but now known as Roosevelt Island. It's a Brady's Album Gallery carte, no. 291. Aqueduct Bridge shows up again, behind the ferry. link home 12 September - Cartes from the Collection  From the stack of recent scans of stuff from the collection, a couple of local images - here we have the C&O Canal from Georgetown, c.1860. In the background is the Potomac, and Aqueduct Bridge may be glimpsed. It's a carte de visite from Mathew Brady's gallery.  The Potomac again, with a view of Washington City - the Smithsonian Castle is at the left, and the Long Bridge on the right. Another carte de visite; this one by Cross, a photographer who seems to have set up business at Ft. Richardson, one of the fortifications thrown up around the city at the beginning of the Civil War. link home 11 September - From the Collection - Antique Comedy on the Road to Enlightenment  This Buster Brown lantern slide was one of the images in my scanning queue today; kind of fascinating in its unfunniness - here are the details:  Buster, mounted on a donkey, or perhaps a mule, enters a grocery store while a couple of hayseeds gawk. Buster's dog sidekick Tige, detaches himself from the coming mayhem and conveys his misgivings to the audience.  Buster is greeted by the grocer, an elderly chap probably named Ebeneezer or Jonathan or even Abednego. He doesn't seem to be upset or worried by the arrival in his establishment of a donkey, or perhaps a mule. Were donkeys or mules frequent visitors in old-time retail establishments? Or does he mistake the beast as a service animal - a Seeing Eye donkey or mule? Or maybe he's crazy - hard to tell.  The donkey or mule upsets a small barrel or keg - Ebeneezer raises his hands in horror, and begins to tap dance. Buster seems mildly surprised, but what did he expect?  Buster and his mount exit the grocery at a gallop, pursued by the grocer, now armed with a stick or cane. Tige runs in the opposite direction, the disloyal mutt. The hayseeds continue to gawk, and are now joined by an old gent in a stovepipe hat.  Buster and his donkey or mule light out for the territory, leaving a furious Ebeneezer, still clutching his club or truncheon, in the dust, or dirt. A flying saucer hovers menacingly over the scene. The orchestra swells, and... fade to black. The end. I suppose that we could pity our ancestors who depended on such sorry stuff for comic relief, but what are our descendants going to make of our enthusiasm for Garfield, or Family Circus (or Representative Joe Wilson, for that matter)? Strangely, some notes I found with the lantern slide reveal that a long-gone fellow of the Janus Museum was working on a learned and lengthy analysis of the lantern slide, seeing in it a sort of vernacular retelling of the famous ox-herding pictures of Zen tradition, parables of the progression of the student of Zen towards enlightenment:  Number 6 - Riding the Ox Home - The battle is already over, gain and loss are also empty.Noting that while there were, of course, ten Ox Herding pictures but only five Buster Brown pictures, the fellow left the Museum on a quest for the putative second lantern slide, the slide that would undoubtedly show Buster attaining Nirvana. And he was never heard from again; didn't even send a postcard. link home 7 September - Cat/Cop/Cow From the Collection  More "treasures" from the Museum's collection: first, a disgruntled cat - carte-de-visite by Stevens on Main Street, Waltham. The object near its mouth is a ribbon - not a sardine, nor yet a cigar.  And now, a policeman wearing his summer straw hat and hefting his truncheon, also known as a billy, cosh, paddywhacker, and headache stick. How determined he looks!  Finally, a cow and her affectionate farmer - a cabinet card by an unknown photographer; actually, all three images are by Anon., that fine photog. link home 6 September - An Ambrotype from the Collection  The above is one of the chief treasures of the Janus Museum's collections, in my opinion. It's a 1/6 plate ambrotype - a wet-plate collodion positive image on glass, circa 1856, of an unidentified gent wearing a fine decorated bib front shirt. Dunno if the designs have any significance - very nice, though. Previous Featured Ambrotypes: Fort Washington Artillery Crew Another Fort Washington Image Washington Grove Militia Kathleen Ewing Little White Dog (George Eastman House) link home 6 September - Kitchen Report  Above, my small but exquisite contribution to a neighboring barbecue - char siu style ribs. Tragically, the ravening children got to them first, and I only got one for myself. Previous Char Siu episodes: 4th of July char siu Char siu with ramen Char siu with pale ale link home 5 September - From the Collection  Dog with Boy and Orange - Autochrome, c.1910 I've been asked to desist in scanning my own stuff for a while and to once again work on the Museum's collections - To do the work you're xxxxing paid to do was the coarse way the Curator put it. We have a very small group of Autochromes in the collection; the one shown above is, I think, the only one with a dog. link home 5 September - At the Pet Market  A fine day along the Quai de la Mégisserie in Paris; the street's lined with pet shops, and the proprietors bring out their critters in their cages for to take the air. Free-lance birdsellers also show up and wait for customers. link home 4 September - Here's Lucy  An old friend, Lucy, here posing as a Bacchante, or possibly a Maenad. Lucy was an excellent model, except that she would often let her tongue loll, which spoiled the artistic effect, somewhat. link home 4 September - Catwalk with Catflops  Out in the Museum's Forest Preserve today with the Cat Club, thinking that we could have a proper sort of catwalk without catflopping, since the heat and humidity of our last catwalk has dissipated. But as the picture above reveals, catfloppage was still the order of the day.  ... And yet, I have to admit that catflopitation, as practised by Leroy, has a certain majesty to it. The catwalk eventually resumed, and there was even a brief ambush situation - very exciting. Then we all went home for popsicles. link home 4 September - Rainy Day at the Château, with Frites  A rainy day in November, 1987, out at the old château of Saint-Germaine-en-Laye, birthplace of Louis XIV and later the home of James, the Old Pretender.  Very nice; very atmospheric in the rain and all, but in terms of scenic interest no Versailles nor a Saint-Cloud or even a Sceaux. But very nice, all the same.  I got soaked through, and then went to hunt out a shawarma. Found one, too, with frites - it was very good. link home 4 September - Healing Hands with Booze  Library of Congress LC-F8-36132[P&P] For the most intriguing photo caption of the week, I nominate this one, which accompanied the above photograph from the Library of Congress's Random Image Feed: Navy nurses tried for smuggling liquor with their attorneys, 6/17/25.A bit of digging found the full story. The nurses were Ruth M. Anderson and Katherine C. Glancy (or possibly Clancy), accused of smuggling booze from Guantanamo aboard USS Kittery - gin, rye, scotch, rum, and crème de menthe. They were tried by court-martial and were acquitted. link home 3 September - Park Dog  To continue our dog run, here is a sculpture of a dog at St-Cloud, outside Paris. St-Cloud is particularly rich in dog sculpture. link home |
