Betty Boop/St.James Infirmary

I went to a program at the Smithsonian today on New York City in the 1930's, taught by Saul Lilienstein and George Scheper. It covered art, music and architecture. One of the of most interesting discoveries for me was how different animation was before Walt Disney got a hold of it. 

Back in March I posted an amazing Art Deco animation  called "Miss Glory". Here is animated film Lilienstein showed today. It is Betty Boop in "Snow White" with Cab Calloway singing "St. James Infirmary". The film is from 1933, back in the day before animation was considered something just for kids.

Alicia Vikander

I saw two movies in the last week with Alicia Vikander, an incredibly beautiful and talented actress from Sweden.

Here she is discussing her role as Kitty in Anna Karenina.



A scene from her Danish film A Royal Affair.



The official Trailer for A Royal Affair.

Dumbarton Oaks—Cloud Terrace

Photos of Cloud Terrace an installation at Dumbarton Oaks by Andy Cao and Xavier Perrot. A few other photos from Dumbarton Oaks, and sunset from Holy Rood Cemetery.


Dumbarton Oaks 11/18/2012

Ceveland Park Geological Tour

I did not take many photographs on today's Cleveland Park Geological Tour, but the link below should open a slide show of a few I did take. Click on Show Info in the upper right of the slide show to see titles and descriptions.


Cleveland Park Geological Tour - 10/13/12

MLK Memorial

An interview with Bonnie Fisher, the Landscape Architect who designed the Martin Luther King Junior Memorial in Washington D.C. with her husband, Boris Dramov.

Bell Tower Climb

This morning I took the Bell Tower tour at the Washington National Cathedral. I went up all 333 steps. That is the number of steps they say it is, but I am not sure if the fact that the number is 1/2 of the Mark of the Beast has any significance.

Below are links to two set of Photographs. The first set contains photographs in and from the Bell Tower. The second set has other photographs inside and outside the Cathedral. Several of the photographs show the netting that was hung below the ceiling of the Cathedral after the earthquake refecting the light from the stained glass windows. The netting is rather ugly, but it does create a magical affect when the light reflects off of it.

Also remember that every stone in this building was carved by hand.

The Links below should open the photo sets. If you click on the "Show info" link in the upper right after the sets open, you can see information about some of the photographs.

National Cathedral Bell Tower Climb - 9/29/2012


Washington National Cathedral - 9/29/2012

Illustration (The Finest Occupation)

Poetry in Motion by Temujin Doran

Illustration (The Finest Occupation) from Studiocanoe on Vimeo.

Sunset/Moonrise

To mark the impending end of my vacation, below is a link to a set of photos of Sunset and Moonrise tonight from Navy Pier.



Sunset/Moonrise

Frank Lloyd Wright in Oak Park

Below are several sets of photographs I took today on the Chicago Architecture Foundation's tour of Frank Lloyd Wright's buildings in Oak Park, IL.



Frank Lloyd Wright Residence & Studio

Moore-Dugal Residence

Hills-DeCaro House

Arthur Heurtley House

Laura Gale House

Peter A. Beachy House

Frank Thomas House

Unity Temple

Santa Fe Photographs

Finally, the photographs I took last week in Santa Fe have been posted. There are five sets. Below is one of the photographs, followed by links to all five sets. I have added what information I have to the photographs, and you can see that if you click "Show Info" at the top when the slide show opens.



Architecture - Santa Fe

Loretto Chapel/Miraculous Staircase

San Miguel Church

Cathedral Basilica of St. Francis of Assisi

Santa Fe Sculpture

Albuquerque Pictures

Here are three set of photos from Albuquerque.

Old Town Albuquerque	San Felipe de Neri Church
Sculpture @ The Albuquerque Museum

LA Pictures

Below are links to the sets of photographs I took in Los Angeles on Monday.

Los Angeles	Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels
Los Angeles Music Center	Union Station

Leroy Neiman (1921-2012)

A profile video of the artist Leroy Neiman, who passed away earlier this week.

Pacific Coast

A link to a set of photos I took earlier this evening along the Pacific Coast Highway north of Malibu.

Pacific Coast Highway

Artomatic 2012 - The View

Here is a link to a couple photographs from the eleventh floor of the building currently housing Artomatic. The building, on Crystal Drive in Arlington, VA, will be imploded sometime after Artomatic closes.



Artomatic 2012 - The View

Artomatic 2012 - 3D

Another set of photographs from Artomatic 2012.  These are mostly 3 dimensional objects.

Artomatic 2012 - 3D

Artomatic 2012 - 2D

Below is a link to a set of photos from Artomatic. These are all relatively two dimensional works of art. This is not really a representative sample of the art in the show. These are just things I thought were interesting, and would photograph well.


Artomatic 2012 - 2D

The Peep Show

Here is my first set of photos from the 2012 Artomatic. My favorites of the Peep dioramas.


Artomatic 2012 - The Peep Show

Thames Diamond Jubilee River Pagent

For anyone who missed it, here is a three minute montage from today's Jubilee Pageant on the Thames River. If only Canaletto hadn't died almost 250 years ago, he would have been able to paint one amazing picture.

The Real Housewives of Shakespeare

From the Great River Shakespeare Festival,  The Real Housewives of Shakespeare.

The Resolute Desk

This is a marketing video, but it has some very interesting history of the Resolute Desk that now occupies the Oval Office. Who knew that the door on the desk that John John was famously pictured climbing through was originally installed to hide FDR's leg braces.

Best Commencement Speech Ever

Ira Glass' commencement speech at Goucher College in Baltimore.

Happy Birthday Studs

Today would have been Studs Terkel's 100th birthday. Unfortunately Studs only made it to 96, so her is not here to celebrate. Below is a short animated film from NPR's StoryCorps—"The Human Voice"—based on a recording of Studs.

Here is also a longer interview with Studs when he was in his middle 80's, talking about his life and career as an actor, writer and TV/Radio broadcaster. He was a fascinating man.

Talking Head Talks

David Byrne, formerly of The Talking Heads, discusses how our architecture influences the kind of music we listen two. Something I never thought of before.

Old Post Office Views

Given Donald Trump's impending transformation of the Old Post Office building into a Hotel, I decided yesterday to go over there and take some photographs from the building's tower. Below is a link to a photo set with views from the tower, as well as some interior shots. Click on the Show Info link at the top of the photo set that opens to see information about the photos.

Old Post Office Building - May 2012

Architecture or Sculpture

A video from The Guardian about the ArcelorMittal Orbit, recently constructed in London to mark the 2012 Olympics. The 377 ft tall tower was designed by Anish Kapoor and Cecil Balmond. Kapoor is best know in the United States for the Bean in Chicago's Millennium Park. 

Happy Birthday Ted

Today is the 73th Birthday of Ted Kooser, United States Poet Laureate 2004-2006. Here is a video made shorty after he was named Poet Laureate. Included are readings of several of his poems.

Titanic Photos

The Guardian has a great set of historic photos of the Titanic, marking the 100th anniversary of it's sinking.


Photos: The Sinking of the R.M.S. Titanic

Top Ten Flower Paintings

From The Guardian, Laura Cumming selects the ten best Flower Paintings. Click Albrecht Dürer's painting, Tuft of Cowslips (1526), below to see all ten.



The 10 best flower paintings – in pictures

Springtime in Georgetown

The daffodils are about gone, but I did go out this evening to get a few photographs of spring flower. Click the image below to see the full set.


Springtime in Georgetown - 4/2012

National Cathedral

I went to a performance of Bach's St. John Passion today at the National Cathedral. I took a couple pictures. Here are two of the scaffolding put up to repair the earthquake damage, and two of the West Front Entrance. Click the image below to see the full set.

National Cathedral 4/1/2012

Page "Miss Glory"

I saw this movie at a program on Art Deco I went to last weekend at the Smithsonian. This may be the only Art Deco inspired Looney Tunes film ever created.

Page "Miss Glory"

The Death of Poor Joe (1901)

Recently discovered, The Death of Poor Joe is believed to be oldest surviving film based on a Dickens character—Jo from "Bleak House". Here is an article from the Guardian on the film.

The Fantastic Flying Books

This is the film that won the 2012 Academy Award for Short Animated Film—The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, directed by William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg.

Happy Birthday John Steinbeck

Today is the 110th anniversary of John Steinbeck's birth. To mark this I was going to post a video of his Nobel Prize acceptance speech. However, this two part video of Steinbeck's son, Thomas, discussing their dog Charley is much more entertaining. Charley is the dog Steinbeck wrote about in his book Travels with Charley.

America in Pictures

Here is a documentary about the history of Life Magazine. The focus of the film is on the photographers responsible for the photos published in Life.

Construction Paper Animation

An animated video for Josh Ritter's song “Love Is Making Its Way Back Home”. The video is created entirely from 12,000 pieces of laser cut construction paper. More information about the video on Ritter's blog post.

Library of Congress

President's Day is one of the few occasions when photography is allowed in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress. So I went over to take advantage of the opportunity. Here is a set of photographs from today. All of these photographs are of the Thomas Jefferson Building, competed in 1897. There is one photograph of the Capital Building, which is taken out a window in the Jefferson building.


Library of Congress - 2/20/2012

small small world

A set of ethereal photographs of insects by photographer Lee Peiling.


small small world

Harbin Ice Festival

A set of photographs of the Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival.

Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival 2012

C & O Canal in 1917

Down the Old Potomac, a Thomas Edison film of the C & O Canal in 1917. It does not show much of Cumberland or Georgetown, but does include the Paw Paw Tunnel, Harper's Ferry and Great Falls.

The Beauty of Pollination

Filmmaker Louie Schwartzberg shows a clip from his film Wings of Life.

The Joy of Books

Alright, I guess my Kindle couldn't do this.

Silent Film Style

From The Guardian, a collection of photographs displaying the style of the stars from the silent era, including this photograph of Lillian Gish.

Style lessons from silent movie stars - in pictures

Oh, the Places You'll Go

Dr. Suess meets Burning Man. This is almost as surreal as Suess' illustrations.

Eve Arnold (1912-2012)

Her is the obituary of the photographer Eve Arnold who died yesterday at the age of 99. Below is a set of her photographs from the Guardian.

Eve Arnold's most memorable shots – in pictures

17 Countries. 343 Days. 6237 Photographs

Follow the adventure at http://kienlam.net/around-the-world and http://kienlam.net, including our very own DC Metro.

The Shaw Memorial

A set of Photographs of sculpture by Augustus Saint-Gaudens. Several photos are of the plaster version of the The Robert Gould Shaw and Massachusetts 54th Regiment Memorial located in the National Gallery of Art. Other sculptures included in the set are The Pilgrim in Philadelphia and The Farragut Memorial and the General William Tecumseh Sherman both in New York City.

I still need to get photographs of the Adams Memorial in Rock Creek Cemetery.


Augustus Saint-Gaudens