Tissue Animals

Some very subtle animal animation using just tissues, followed by a short making of video.

Old Stable/New House

This is an incredible modern house inserted into an old stable. There is actually a stream running through the house.

 

A Girl Who Reads

Today's Poem—"Girl Who Reads"

 

Jazz Hand

I went the Millennium Stage to see a show called "Jazz Hand" last week. It was a series of skits based on the experiences of Mary Theresa Archbold, a woman who was born with one hand. Here is a version of the skit that opened the show that I saw.  Additionally she is now seven months pregnant, still did this dancing, and at one point even did a split. I just hope the baby did not get a concussion from this.

 

The Greatest Love Story of the 20th Century

I like just about anything that Sarah Vowell writes, but this piece about Johnny Cash and June Carter is probably my favorite.

 

The Queen of Punk Fashion

A feature on Vivienne Westwood, one of the few people who became a success without selling out.

 

Pickett's Charge

Below is an HD video of one of the performances I saw at tonight's Puppet Slam at the Strathmore Mansion. This is a crankie created by Katherine Fahey—essentially a long cloth/paper scroll that is wound from one side of the scroll to the other, with a light and shadow puppets behind. I am guessing the display of this one is roughly 2' x 4'. This one was created to illustrate Baltimore musician ellen cherry's song "Pickett's Charge".  If I had know about this last month, I would have posted this on July 3, which was the 150th anniversary of Pickett's Charge. 

 

The Lodger : A Story of the London Fog

Yesterday I went to a screening of Alfred Hitchcock's 1927 silent film "The Lodger: A Story of the London Fog" at the National Gallery. It was shown accompanied by a live five piece band—piano, violin, cello, trumpet and clarinet. This is one of Hitchcock's earliest films, and it is amazing to see what a great director he was right from the start. As with a lot of his films, it deals with someone who is wrongly accused of a crime. At the same time it contains a lot of very funny scenes. The film has been recently restored by the British Film Institute. Here is the entire film from Youtube.

 

Understand Music

A great video from the finally.—"Understand Music"


Understand Music from finally. on Vimeo.

National Cathedral and more

A set of photographs I took today when I went to the Flower Mart at the National Cathedral.  I have to admit that this Flower Mart does not have quite the same character as the Baltimore Flower Mart, and I didn't see a single peppermint stick.  But I did get some good pictures. 

This set, that displays both the grandeur architecture and the grandeur nature, includes the photographs I took at the Cathedral and on my walk home.

Click on the image below to see the photographs, and then click on the "show info" link that appears at the top of the slideshow to see the photo descriptions.



National Cathedral/Rock Creek Park - 5/4/13

Cherry Blossoms

Some photographs from my stroll around after work. I think the Cherry Blossoms are at their peak.  Link on the photo below to see the full set.



Cherry Blossoms, etc.

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