Marcus Luttrell: Patriot political

For those of you who, like me, weren't very familiar with his story, you should be. It is because of the efforts of servicemen like him and all of the men and women in our armed forces that we enjoy the freedoms and privileges that we too easily take for granted today.

Luttrell was a Navy Seal who endured a hellish firefight in Afghanistan that resulted in the loss of all of his teammates as well as the loss of the chopper sent to rescue them. You can read the full story of Operation Redwing here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Luttrell

Some videos worth watching:

Political: Tea Bag Cartoon!

For the record, I am generally on the opposing side of whomever created this video--but, this is pretty darn funny. And hey, if we can't laugh at ourselves etc.



In the interest of balance, witness the "Uh" count.

Artist of the Week

Instead of highlighting random artists at random times, I've decided to feature an artist each week.  This creates (or creates the illusion of) more order in my life.

This week's artist is Sally Mann.








Her work is hard to pinpoint.  The above video is a nice introduction to her work and a scouring of the web will reveal a wealth of information.  Her photography is ethereal, mysterious, and, at times, confrontational. 

Best known for her series of photographic portraits of her children, particularly the series Immediate Family, Mann's work simultaneously disturbs and enchants.  The imagery offers a  raw and tender look into her personal life via her family and yet speak volumes about the undercurrents of social life within America that are frequently and deliberately overlooked.

On PBS' Art 21 site you can find a bio, some images, and some links.  If you are into contemporary art and don't watch Art 21 you are wrong.  I'm sorry to be so harsh, but it's the truth. http://www.pbs.org/art21/artists/mann/index.html

Tech: Blog Posting Minutiae and Other Things Soporific

I've been actively promoting this blog by shamelessly spamming--I mean commenting--on other people's blogs, forums, discussion boards, chalkboards, and back windows.  I never would have suspected that so much work goes into writing one of these things.  I'm kind of blogged out, yet simultaneously energized by the progress I've made.  My seven followers (okay, four of the seven are my alt accounts-don't tell anyone) must surely be enamored and enthralled by the great art, high thinking, and other assorted nonsense that I post here.

I obtained critical success when I figured out that I can place widget html directly into the widget sidebar template thingies and not try and navigate a sea of words and numbers in the main body html script. 
     
head         

  - div
     -insert sniped html script here
      -result=template freeze
                -insert sniped html script here
                  -result=fail+reboot       
             -repeat process ad infinitum   

          -div
          -headache

I know such shortcuts will never qualify for any title greater than Baron in Nerddom, but not too shabby for someone who graduated from the public school system.  I nearly peed my pants when I got the Buy Me a Coffee thing to work--man some coffee sounds good ; ) .

Also, I registered this blog with ever blog registry known to man del.icio.ous, technorati, submit express, and, in retrospect, several other perhaps not so reputible sites (is it a bad sign if I gave them my social security number and the password to my online bank account?--it sounded legit at three o'clock in the morning).  I think the accumulated man hours total somewhere in the neighborhood of 35-45 hours give or take and the fruits of this labor amount to one new and genuine follower.  Woohoo!! 

Seriously, for those of you wanting to increase traffic to your blog, check out this site here: http://www.webreference.com/authoring/blog_tips/ , have patience, write a lot, and don't listen to people like me.  Good luck!!

Artist of the Week: Tiziano Vecelli or Tiziano Vecellio aka Titian

Titian is one of those artists that I forget about and then through happenstance come across one of his works and think to myself, "Oh yeah. I like that guy!"  He is one of the few Italian Renaissance artists whose use of color isn't so garrishly typical of the period that one can look at his work and not necessarily say to themselves, "Yeah, that's an Italian Renaissance painter."  And I like that about his work.

Many of his pieces have a naturalistic feel that presents a refreshing contrast to the more refined classical pieces of the period.  Although much of his work contains subject matter congruent with what one would expect to find during the Renaissance, his paintings contain a warmth and a soul that I think is absent in many of the other commissioned pieces of his day.

Below are some of his works:

Self Portrait

Giorgione and Titian. Portrait of a Venetian Gentleman. c.1510

Portrait of a Man. 1514

St. Mark Enthroned with Saints. c.1510

Portrait of a Man. c.1512

Assumption of the Virgin (Assunta). 1516-1518

Portrait of Pope Paul III without a Cap. 1543

Allegory of Time Governed by Prudence. c.1565

St. Sebastian. 1575

Happy Tax Day!

"Republicans think every day is July 4th.



Democrats think every day is April 15th."

Musings: Indulging My Pseudohistorical Obsessions

Search Amazon.com for rennes le chateau

Long before the hype of The Da Vinci Code prompted millions of readers to explore questions of theology and what not, I read an intriguing book by Lincoln, Baigent and Leigh entitled Holy Blood, Holy Grail.  Anyone who has read the former is cursorily familiar with the precepts contained in the latter--namely, that a priest by the name of Abbé François Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917) discovered something that led to an ascension in his station not commensurate with what one would expect him to obtain considering his assignment in a rural and largely poor village in southern France by the name of Rennes-le-Château.

Abbé François Bérenger Saunière (1852-1917)

What the discovery was, no one knows or if someone does, he or she is not speaking about it or he/she is speaking about it but it's currently lost in the dustbin of clutter that is Rennes-le-Château "research."  A good synopsis of the theories can be found here, but the gist of it is is that the Abbé found a document(s) that provided him some leverage against the Catholic Church (or somebody with some money and something to lose) which created a fantastic income stream with which the priest built many peculiar additions to the delapidated church of which he found himself in charge.

Some ideas of what was found are as follows:

• A parchment that confirms the existence of the Merovingian bloodline that, in turn, validates someone who has a legitimate claim to the French throne--a relevant topic during Saunière's day
• A parchement that confirms that Jesus did not die on the cross and that he/he plus Mary Magdalene/he plus Mary Magdalene and thier child wound up in France to continue the bloodline
• A portion, large or small, of old Visigothic treasure (or treasure of some other origin)--possibly a legitimate claim as the area has been the sight of numerous settlements for thousands of years
• The tomb of Jesus/Mary Magdalene/somebody else with the body of Jesus/Mary Magdalene/somebody else in it
• A host of other oddball ideas such as: _______insert any wild idea involving UFOs, sasquatch, Atlantis, or the plot of any movie that stars Nicholas Cage, etc.

Despite the fact that I think the story is largely the result of opportunistic promoters who have picked up on snippets of curiosities embedded within the Rennes-le-Château story and the deliberate hoax masterminded by Pierre Plantard in the late 1950s, I am continually drawn to this story because it still has that "what if" element due to the fact that there are just enough elements that are unresolved to pique my curiosity.

Below are some relevant images:

The baptismal font which is a major player in the mystery--supposedly a clue which helps lead one to the treasure.

Three views of the Tour Magdala.  This tower was built by Saunière and some say that it plays a role in the map embedded within the church architecture and decor.  The interior window lines up with a view of Grotte du Fournet - dite de la Magdeleine--which translates as "the burial site of the Mary Magdalene.  Legend states that Mary Magdalene ended up in France and lived out her days in seclusion in a cave--near Marseilles which is over 3 hours away by car but I guess she could have ended up here.

A closer view of the grotto

The "Visogothic" pillar in which it is said something was found--generally believed to be coded scrolls

The baluster in which a glass vial with something in it was found during the remodeling of the church

Aerial view of Rennes-le-Château

Inside the church

There are a ton of barely legitimate resources for you to explore if you are interested in learning more.  Simply put on your tinfoil hat and type in Rennes le Chateau into the search engine of your choice.  Bon chance!