Holy Toledo!

I was off on a road trip this morning. And just if you are wondering, the distance from my house (after stopping by and getting a Starbuck's for the road) to Toledo is exactly the distance it takes to listen to the complete Monster In A Box performed by Spalding Gray.

What is it about stained glass that when standing in front of the most secular image you can imagine, everyone is hushed and in awe and acting with reverence, as if it was a religious experience?

The Toledo Museum of Art was hosting an exhibition entitled Louis Comfort Tiffany: Artist For The Ages. What was great about this show, was it incorporated so many aspects of his creative life. It included some rather severe, yet elegant and practical, furniture he designed from his own home, paintings, watercolors, jewelry, decor items like vanity sets, one of only two known etching plates he made, and of course, lots of glass - vases, lamps, windows. The exhibit gives lots of space to the many periods, or influences, Tiffany had such as his fascinations with the sea, Persia, Egypt, China, and nature.

In the Chinese section, there was a fireplace screen he had designed using small squares of creamy glass connected with very small metal rings, duplicating early Chinese armor. Truly extraordinary.

I doubt if anyone could ever be fooled by a "fake" Tiffany lamp. There is a tangible rightness to his functional, elegant designs that no copy can ever duplicate. His lamps have life.

I learned that favrile (as in Tiffany's favrile glass) was a term he coined, using the Saxon word for handmade. Cool.

I also was very enamored by his agate glass, where he would take lots of colored glass, and make a very think vase or something. Then he would have it carved to reveal the striations in the glass. The finished vases look like pottery. I loved them.

But to me, the very best item was a favrile glass vase, which in itself was lovely, but I can only get so excited about glass. But this one was displayed in its original box from Siegfried Bing's Paris store, L'Art Nouveau. The detail of the box, hinged on the top, and with two front panels that swung back around from each side was unbelievable. It was lined in luxurious satin, and the base of the vase was held securely in a velvet pedestal. There was no doubt that even in the day, these glass items were treated was rare art objects.

Beats the heck out of Styrofoam and a cardboard box.

Next was a small exhibit of Rembrandt van Rijn etchings and I really wanted to see this solely because of the title:

Rembrandt: What Was He Thinking?

Anyone familiar with the great Christine Lavin will get the joke that her song really has become the new catch-phrase she was hoping for! And as an aside, Chris has put up a free mp3 download of a live performance of What Was I Thinking with new verses, including a great verse about Dick Cheney. Highly recommended listening!

But back to RembrandtRembrant. There is absolutely no doubt that his etchings are beautiful. But what I remember most of this show was a small book that was showing one of his very few book illustrations. The book was Elias Herckman's In Praise of Sailing (Der Zee-Vaert Lof) from 1634. According to the information, the book details the history of sailing - starting with the father of sailing, Noah. Cracked me up.

I still don't know what Rembrandt was thinking. Maybe Chris can write a verse about it.

The museum includes some rooms from old European houses that were incredible ( a room from a Lake Zurich house in Switzerland, 1630, and a room from the Chateau de Chenailles, France from 1650) as well as an area called The Cloisters - very medieval and wonderful. There was a wool and silk tapestry hanging there that I loved. It was from 1400, designed by Jean Fierret entitled Entombment.

Highlights of the permanent collection:

The Egyptian Book Of the Dead: Funerary Book of Tamesia, ink on papyrus - it makes your head hurt to see something that lovely, that old, and that mysterious.
A magnificent Roman mosaic floor
Pieter Brueghel the Younger's Winter with Bird Trap (1600), which I could study for hours. Isaak van Oosten's highly detailed and gorgeous Garden of Eden.
Benjamin West's St. George and the Dragon (1797) which shocked me because it looks like it came from the pages of a comic book - great violence and energy in vibrant colors of pink and yellow. Exceedingly modern!
James Tissot's surprisingly large and completely beautiful, London Visitors (1874)
A big surprise was the gorgeous Salutation of Beatrice (1880) by Dante Gabriel Rossetti. I am thinking I have never actually seen a Rossetti in person before. A breathtaking work.
The wonderfully Halloween-y Death of A Pilgrim (1887) by Felix Joseph Barrias.
One of the most beautiful women I've ever seen portrayed in a painting, Shepherd's Star (1887) by Jules Breton - the jpeg does not do it justice.
Pablo Picasso: Woman with Crow (1904) - the most magnificent use of blue until Yves Klein.
Louis Sullivan - Bank Teller's Wicket, an unbelieveably gorgeous use of decorative wrought iron, but more fascinating because it was from the National Farmer's Bank in Owatonna, Minnesota! It looks like something that should have been for the main branch of a major bank in New York City.
Edward Hopper's evocative Two On The Aisle (1927), which was bigger than I imagined, but I fell in love with it as expected.
A Georgia O'Keeffe I was not familiar with, Brown Sail, Wing on Wing, Nassau (1940).
I think my favorite piece in the museum might have been Jim Dine's Sickle (1962).
Marisol Escobar : The Cocktail Party (1965) No picture can ever do this installation justice.
A great surprise was a small, perfect sculpture (Cherie, 1980) by Robert Graham. I had never seen anything of his in person. The body is absolutely perfect, but the face has an almost android-like blankness to it that is unsettling. I really enjoyed the simultaneous feelings of repulsion and adoration.
Juan Munoz 's Broken Nose IV (1999) was a fascinating sculpture based on the sculpted head of an Egpytian priest known as the Berlin Green Head. The sculpture's nose has not survived. Munoz has sculpted two small figures, clothed in metal workers garb, facing each other. One holds a measuring stick up against the other. They have the arms and hands of mummies, and each has the same head, the Berlin Green Head. Both even display the post that museums use to mount disconnected heads. Since the bodies are in different attitudes, and facing each other, the faces do, at first, look different.

Outside, they have a small sculpture garden and I got to see works by two sculptors I admire: Deborah Butterfield's Second Daughter, a sculpture of a horse which looks like it is made of driftwood, but is actually bronze and Magdalena Abakanowicz's terrific Figure on Trunk with Wheels-Big (2000).

But what I was dying to see was Hector Guimard's Paris Metro Entrance. What a beautiful, practical, functional addition to the city. I think all transit stops should look like this.

Well, that was my day. I have to make a return trip, as after four hours I couldn't look at anything else. And I still didn't make it to five rooms! A wonderful, manageable museum with lots of treasures and surprises.

Last Minute Easter Gifts

You have until April 21 to get your bid in on Ebay for a divine, if belated, Easter gift for your loved one... an Easter Egg with the face of Jesus! You could always try the "I hid your big present along with the other eggs in the egg hunt...you just didn't find it!" routine...But I cannot tell the tale of the appearance of Jesus any better than the woman who was chosen to deliver this miracle to the world...

Unbelievable!!!! 8 years ago I was dying easter eggs with my children, we were going to be late for church and the children were telling me to hurry up. I had a dyed egg in my hand and it was dripping, so I blew on it. Miraculously, an image of Jesus appeared on the egg! I placed the egg in a curio cabinet and it has remained in perfect condition for eight years. It is beautiful and time to give up so it can grace someone elses home.

I wonder if she was running late for a doctor's appointment rather than church and blew on that egg if an image of Hippocrates would have appeared. And if it did, would she have recognized him?

The highest (and only) bidder for this fragile icon goes by wendyannlovesgod and has never won an Ebay auction before. The going price is now $5000 ... are you feeling avarice, friends?

Last Minute Easter Gifts - For the More Modest Budget

Matinee Movie Ticket - $6.50
Concession Stand bag of M&M's - $4
The one brown M&M with the face of Jesus Christ - Priceless

Well, maybe not priceless - you could try to get $100 bucks for it on EBay, like this optimistic person. And correct me if I'm wrong, but I bet a could ship a CARTON of M&M's to Scout for the $8 this person is charging to ship the Miracle M&M.

It makes me wonder how many miraculous wonders I myself have consumed with my terrible habit of just popping snacks into my mouth without thoroughly examining each and every one.

Learn from this Faithful Readers - slow down! Each second of the day might just bring a miracle your way - and then you can profit from it!

The Boy In The Plastic (Water-Filled) Bubble

It has been awhile, but my favorite Magic Man, David Blaine is at it again.

The 33-year-old magician will perform his newest stunt in front of New York's Lincoln Center living underwater for seven days and nights in a "human aquarium", a specially built 8-foot acrylic sphere. He will receive liquid nutrition through a tube and the water will be kept at a balanced temperature to help keep his core temperature close to 98.6 degrees.

To prepare for the challenge, Blaine has been training with US Navy Seals and a world class free-diving team.

Passersby will be able to touch the aquarium, take pictures with Blaine and communicate with him. He enters the sphere on May 1.

He will conclude this week-long submersion on May 8 by attempting to hold his breath underwater longer than the current record of 8 minutes, 58 seconds.

In 1999's Premature Burial, Blaine spent seven days buried inside a glass coffin at the bottom of an open pit in front of an office building owned by Donald Trump in New York City where passersby could view him 24 hours a day.

In 2000, Blaine performed Frozen in Time, in which he was encased in ice for 61 hours, 40 minutes, and 15 seconds in Times Square, New York before being removed. He was taken to the hospital immediately after being removed because doctors feared he was going into shock. He says he still could not walk normally a month after the stunt.

Vertigo was performed in 2002. Blaine was lifted by crane onto a 100-foot high pillar in Bryant Park, New York. He stood on the 22-inch wide pillar for nearly 35 hours without food, water or anything to lean on.

In 2003, Blaine performed Above The Below, a 44-day endurance stunt which found him sealed inside a transparent case measuring 7 feet by 7 feet by 3 feet suspended 30 feet in the air over Potters Fields Park on the south bank of the River Thames in London. During this period Blaine reportedly received no food and only water.

Call Out To MyAdoringPublic

Hey - it's your birthday!

Drink up! There's a King Shag coming your way - and doesn't THAT sound naughty!

A Number I Don't Want To Know

At last! Burmese Pythons in the Everglades are in the headlines!

Skip Snow, a wildlife biologist with the US National Park Service, is the man leading efforts to eradicate giant Burmese python snakes from Everglades National Park and he does not sound optimistic when he talks about the chances of winning the battle against the invasive beasts.

That is partly because he doesn't know how many of these monsters are in the swampy Florida park.

It could be literally thousands, It could be a number I don't want to know. It could be scary.

Since 1995 a total of 212 Burmese pythons have been killed or removed from the park or adjacent lands, including 95 last year.

Compounding his eradication problems is the fact that the big, alligator and Siamese cat eating snakes are also happily breeding in the wild.

Florida will also hold its first Snake Amnesty Day on May 6, for anyone who might want to dispose of their Burmese pythons or other members of the Boa family legally.

Skip Snow says, All of the Burmese pythons that we see in the park are a product of the international pet trade.

If You Give A Mouse A Cookie…

Nothing too terrible happens, at least according to Laura Joffe Numeroff's book, a lesson in cause and effect.

Just don’t try it with elephants.

At dawn Tuesday, monks found Raja, Sri Lanka's most celebrated elephant, writhing in pain with tears in his eyes.

The elephant has fallen ill after eating many homemade cookies deep fried in coconut oil, chocolates, rice cooked in thick milk and fermented slices of sweet pineapple offered to him as part of Buddhist new year celebrations.

Elephants mostly eat vegetation, and their digestive system can not easily cope with rich or processed foods.

The monks, rather belatedly, hung a handwritten notice by Raja's enclosure that reads: Do not feed the elephant.

New Music Tuesday : A Thousand Beautiful Things - Not So Much

I was waiting with anticipation for the arrival of Janis Siegel’s new CD, A Thousand Beautiful Things.

Janis has long been one of my very favorite vocalists, and this CD promised versions of three of my favorite new tunes, the title track by Annie Lennox, Suzanne Vega’s Caramel ( I am especially fond of Chiara Civello's version) and Did You See The Moon Tonight? by A Girl Called Eddy.

Well, it has arrived, and in keeping the good advice of my grandmother, who told me not to say anything if you have nothing nice to say, here is a flattering opinion of the disc.

The McDonald Sandwich - Definitely NOT On The Value Menu

So, if it approaches lunch time, and you are in London, you can curb your hunger with the world's most expensive sandwich. The McDonald (no chance of confusing it with a McDonald's Big Mac, friends) Sandwich is the creation of chef Scott McDonald and the ingredients are:

Wagyu beef, fresh lobe foie gras , black truffle mayonnaise, brie de meaux, rocket, red pepper and mustard confit, and English plum tomatoes, all packed into 24-hour fermented sour dough bread, all in all containing about 2,000 calories.

Yours for $148.33. And fries do NOT come with.

But Can We Handle The Truth?

Senator Arlen Specter has said that the President of the United States owes a specific explanation to the American people. Not that I am holding my breath for that to happen.

But if Jack Nicholson came on the TV from the Oval Office and looked at the camera and simply said, My Fellow Americans, you can't HANDLE the truth! Well, I'd probably be satisfied and go on my way...

If 43 does try to offer some explanation, it will be, without a doubt, spineless and loopy and without gravity, but with lots of allusions and attempts at misdirection.

Hitlers Walk Amongst Us

I was absorbed this morning by the review of a new play entitled Little Willy by Mark Kassen.

Little Willy is William Patrick Hitler, famous pretty much for just being famous, who was the Irish bastard child of Adolph's brother, Alois. After being shunned by his Uncle Adolph in 1939, Willy bribed him, took the money and moved to America. After writing an article for Look magazine entitled "Why I Hate My Uncle! " he was represented by the William Morris Agency. Willy performed lecture tours throughout the US, partied, endorsed every product he could find and effectively became a pop-cultural icon. And then he settled in New York and raised a family. Did Willy's three sons, as Mr. Kassen states in his play, really make a pact not to marry or have children, so the bloodline would end? That is just one of he many questions raised by the play.

The play is a meditation on the difference between who we really are as opposed to what we purport to be, as individuals and as a society. It's about the advertising of panache without substance. We all trade what we have for what we want and sometimes what we have isn't very nice, Mr. Kassen said.

These are very timely, modern concepts for a play that takes place in the era of World War II.

But just knowing that somewhere, three great-nephews of Hitler are driving to work, grocery shopping, or mowing their lawn is unsettling...

I Have Always Loved Vermont

Democratic Party leaders in Vermont have passed a motion asking Congress to immediately begin impeachment proceedings against President Bush for misleading the nation on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction and engaging in illegal wiretapping, among other charges.

This is just the latest effort. On March 7, five towns in Vermont drew up this document, which I will copy here in its entirety:

ARTICLE 29

We the voters of Newfane would like Town Meeting, March 2006, to consider the following resolution:

Whereas George W. Bush has:

1. Misled the nation about Iraq's weapons of mass destruction;
2. Misled the nation about ties between Iraq and Al Quaeda;
3. Used these falsehoods to lead our nation into war unsupported by international law;
4. Not told the truth about American policy with respect to the use of torture; and
5. Has directed the government to engage in domestic spying, in direct contravention of U.S. law.

Therefore, the voters of the town of Newfane ask that our representative to the U.S. House of Representatives file articles of impeachment to remove him from office.

I think they asked nicely. They should get their way.

A Surprise Visit

I had the very unexpected pleasure of spending the morning with my PenPal.

I picked her up at the "Toy Airport", and we got to spend some quality private time together waiting for her luggage. We were then going to meet up with her sister, nephew and grandmother for breakfast, and that meant, The House Of Bob. When Scout heard that we were breakfasting she suggested that we go Cracker Barrel, as their biscuits rule in her opinion, but I knew it was not going to happen. First, because the PenPal ALWAYS goes to House of Bob and second, it is well-known that I boycott Cracker Barrel for political reasons. When the PenPal told me that we meeting up with her family at the CB, I just knew she and Scout were in cahoots.

We had a very leisurely brunch, trying just about everything between the five of us, and I must admit, they DO make the better breakfast, politics be damned.

And PeeWee is growing up to be a very polite, brilliant, sweet young man.

The Little Goober informed me that Lady Diana's wedding gown is on display in Dayton. I had no idea. Never having been to Dayton, I am thinking a road trip just may be in order.

It sure is nice having your best friend around.

The Lesson From Gerry

I thought I would run out to Starbuck's this afternoon, for a quick latte, in the hopes that an espresso infusion would inspire me to get some blogging as well as my laundry done.

Well, I got to the top of my driveway, and a car was stopped there, waiting for the streetlight to change. The passenger door opens, and I see it is my old and dear Actress friend. She proceeds to tell me, across the driveway, that her husband passed away.

I had no idea.

So, I followed her home, and she told about his illness, which escalated quickly to the point of entering the Cleveland Clinic in hopes that a liver transplant would save his life. Sadly, his condition continued to decline, and my friend had to make the heartbreaking decision to let him go.

A few hours later, my friend's first granddaughter was born in Pittsburgh. My friend believes that her granddaughter, two weeks late, was holding on so that she would meet her grandfather as their spirits passed to and from this world. It is a beautiful thought.

While her husband was in the hospital but still conscious, my friend was a bit late getting to the hospital which meant that her husband filled out his own menu card. For breakfast he ordered fruit juice and lemon meringue pie, pretty much the worst thing for a diabetic. But it was a funny story - he was his own man to the very end, and he loved food. I am glad to think that he was taking some enjoyment, even from his hispital bed.

Which made me think of my mom, and how she would call me and tell me about the meals she was planning or looking forward to, or what she had at a restaurant. It was always the absolute worst choices she could have possibly made, but meals were really one of her few joys in life. And after a while, it occurred to me that it really was her life, and if she was content and happy in those moments, did it really matter that she was shortening her time here? Would it really have been better to deny herself these things for a few more months of life?

I think, in the end, foolish or not, the manner in which people treat their life has to be respected. We can't say what is right for anyone, expect for ourselves.

Weather Report

After last year's tumultuous winter, Scout got me all prepared with professional grade, mountaineering accessories - gloves, boots, underwear, hand warmers, etc.

And did I get to EVER use any of my new toys? NO.

Nope, we had a mild and dry season.

So, this morning, as I blearily stumble into the kitchen in search of coffee, I notice in my peripheral vision something is amiss. I give my eyes a few moments to focus, and a few more moments for the brain to process this input.

There is freakin' snow covering the roofs and trees.

Thank YOU, April!

Taking A Hit For The Team

Is Judas Iscariot really the reviled betrayer or is he the facilitator of salvation, the one who makes the crucifixion possible?

That is the question raised by National Geographic, in their announcement that they have restored the 1,700 year old Gospel of Judas.

In this manuscript, Jesus is basically asking Judas to "take one for the team", to be the one to make the sacrifice that allows Jesus to fulfill his destiny. And what does Judas get out of it? Years of scorn.

A passage from the document reads that Jesus refers to the other disciples, telling Judas you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me. By that Jesus meant that by helping him get rid of his physical flesh, Judas will act to liberate the true spiritual self or divine being within Jesus, scholars familiar with Gnostic thinking said.

Father Senior, president of the Catholic Theological Union in Chicago and a member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission, which advises the pope, shows a surprising sense of humor on the subject of the discovered manuscript:

I'm just glad it wasn't found in a bank vault in the Vatican.

But it WAS in a bank vault for the last sixteen years, in the absolutely achingly perfectly named, Hicksville, New York ("The Community With Time For You"). If I had something of value, that is EXACTLY where I would store it.

My question is this: The document is genuine - not one scholar refutes that at this time. But they are wondering if it is true. Well, when did fiction get invented? I am perplexed my the huge belief that just because a thing is in writing, we must assume that it is the truth. Fable, allegory, legend, myth, fiction. Call it what you will.

Why spend all of this time and effort to determine if something written is The Truth. But then again, I believe that the Bible itself is a great, masterful work of fiction as well, not an accurate , truthful account of history in any way.

Do As I Say, Not As I Do

The New York Times headline this morning sure did make me smile...

Seems that President Bush authorized Vice President Dick Cheney in July 2003 to permit Mr. Cheney's chief of staff, I. Lewis Libby Jr., to leak key portions of a classified prewar intelligence estimate on Iraq. Imagine.

The testimony provides the first indication that Mr. Bush, who has long assailed leaks of classified information as a national security threat, played a direct role in the disclosure of the intelligence report on Iraq at a moment that the White House was trying to defend itself against charges that it had inflated the case against Saddam Hussein.

Well, At Least It Is Out Of The Freezer

Faithful Readers have probably been wondering about Cy, the kitten born without a nose, and with only one eye, that was being stored in a refrigerator freezer in Oregon. I know I have been kept up nights thinking about it, hoping that the kids don't inadvertently grab a Cy-sicle as a midnight snack...

The folks at Ripley's Believe It Not offered to buy the kitten, but the owner said, We didn't want Cy becoming a joke or part of a personal collection.

Not wanting that, hypocrisy got the best of her and she sold the frozen body to creationist John Adolfi who is building a new museum in Phoenix, New York. Cy will be featured at the completely frightening The Lost World Museum which displays giant plants and eggs, deformed animal remains and archaeological finds, after he gets back from his embalming at Krueger Funeral Home.

Mr. Adolfi says that the kitten is meant to launch debate about how science and religion intersect.

How about a debate about when respect for the dead and personal financial gain intersect?

That Twenty Shillings Was A Good Investment

I can imagine the wife of English bibliophile wondering if it was really worth it to squander twenty shillings, equivalent to approximately £100 today, for ANOTHER book...

It was, when it was spent to purchase what Sotheby’s claims is the most important book in English literature.

A rare First Folio edition of William Shakespeare’s plays is to be auctioned on July 13th by Sotheby's with an estimated price of 4 to 6 million dollars.

This edition, in its original calf skin binding, is one of just a few surviving from a 1623 printing (just seven years after the Bard's passing) of 750 copies, and includes many annotations in the margins from seventeenth century readers.

Of the 36 plays included in this first folio, eighteen (including Twelfth Night, The Tempest, As You Like It (the play that was the CaptainStL's theatrical debut as a Stage Manager) and that Scottish play, Macbeth) had never been printed before.

This volume has been in the collection of a theological library in London since 1716. They are parting with it now to secure the library's financial future.

Join The Party

Good Ol' Beauregard Van Horn forwarded an email to me this evening, and it was one I was so happy to receive, I decided to share it with y'all...

On Monday, Senator Russ Feingold introduced a resolution to censure President Bush for breaking the law by illegally wiretapping American citizens.When the president misleads the public and the Congress and willfully and repeatedly breaks the law, there need to be some consequences --that's how the law works for everybody else.

Censuring the president is a reasonable first step in condemning the president's actions. Now it's up to us to show broad public support for Senator Feingold's resolution.

CLICK HERE: http://political.moveon.org/censure/

As of this writing, they have reached 84% of their goal of 500,000 signers (420,597).

Seeing Is Believing

Back in my old graduate school days, a hot topic for my advisor was the concept of seeing and performing "The Other." In particular, she was fascinated by the portrayal of American Indians in early America, at such events as the World's Colombian Exposition and in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. In learning about the Wild West shows, I developed an absurd interest in the production and art of the show poster, which lead to my fascination with the performance of freak shows.

So it was with great delight that I discovered a new book, American Sideshow : An Encyclopedia of History's Most Wondrous and Curiously Strange Performers by Marc Hartzman, which was chock full of photos and biographies of the stars of the circus freak shows. It is a quick read (I devoured it in one evening before bed), with lots of medical details and uplifting stories of how the human spirit can overcome unbelievable odds. These stories, of course, make up for the tragic tales of unscrupulous people completely taking advantage of others, most poignantly being the biography of Julia Pastrana, a story that never fails to make my blood boil by the depths of cruelty involved. (As a aside, I am thrilled that a theatre group has been making headlines with their brilliant and acclaimed production, The True History of The Tragic Life and Triumphant Death of Julia Pastrana, The Ugliest Woman in the World. If it is near you, GO SEE IT!)

While devoting lots of coverage to the golden age of freak shows, the author also shares a wealth of information on today's sideshow culture, which feature the self-made freak, people who modify their body, or have learned strange talents.

After reading this book, you can have a wonderful debate about the ethics of putting people out on display. For me, the bottom line is that most of these performers were earning a living, and were living in a community that accepted them rather than being locked away in some hospital or a relatives' attic.

Is that a fair trade?

Saying Goodbye

I learned this evening that an elderly friend of Zeke New Buffalo's had passed away. Zeke said that the wake and memorial were happy affairs, with a lot of laughter and jokes and memories. It is exactly how Zeke's friend would have wanted to be remembered.

While Zeke's friend had been confined to the hospital for some time, the octogenarian still had all of her mental acuity and wits, and asked for movie reviews (most recently, V for Vendetta). The flesh had failed, but the mind was sharp. This last visit was a tremendous gift, as in previous visits, Zeke's friend was sleeping or not able to communicate. To have this one last unexpected conversation and connection was a moment of graciousness that will stay with Zeke forever.

While I was listening to this story, I was reminded of my Aunt Kate, and her final days in a nursing home. Aunt Kate was a strong and independent woman who retained her lively Scottish accent and who lived alone for over twenty years following her adored husband Karl's untimely death. Then one day, she had a stroke and was confined to a nursing home, unable to move, make decisions, and stripped of all independence and privacy.

I visited with her several times, and only once was she able to speak to me. While I was sitting beside her in the room she shared with another patient, who continuously played the television at ear-shattering volume, no doubt to drown out the never-ending yelling and noise coming from the nearby rooms, Aunt Kate grasped my hand and pulled me close to her face, and she whispered this chilling sentence, the last thing she ever said to me:

Never let this happen to you.

Mona Lisa, Venus de Milo...Britney

The triumvirate of women immortalized in the art world is now complete.

America's own lil' darlin', Britney Jean Spears Federline, is the subject of a new and FABULOUS sculpture by Daniel Edwards entitled: Monument to Pro-Life: The Birth of Sean Preston.

The life-size marble sculpture features the pregnant Britney on her elbows and knees, pulling at the ears of a lion-skin rug, as she is giving birth. (I swear this is NOT an April Fool's joke - how could make this up?)

This is a new take on pro-life. Pro-lifers normally promote bloody images of abortion. This is the image of birth, said Edwards.

Um, ok. I will have to ask my very pregnant boss about this, but this is the very first time I have ever heard of the birthing process involving a lion skin rug and being on all fours. However, as an aside, said boss has remarked: It's called LABOR y'know? Not RELAX.

The Whisper Heard Most

Finally got around to watching The Cat's Meow, which came with a high recommendation from the PenPal.

The film dramatizes a version of what went on over a weekend in November of 1924 aboard the Oneida, a yacht belonging to William Randolph Hearst. No one's ever verified exactly what happened on that fateful cruise, but as writer Elinor Glynn says, "the history of Hollywood has always been written in whispers and this is the whisper heard most."

And the whisper was murder. Whether or not a murder took place that weekend, and if Hearst himself was the murderer.

Edward Herrmann is a great Hearst, at once being completely at ease with his power, and completely undone by his lack of power to control his heart, which leads him to acts of insecurity which are honestly painful to watch. His mistress, Marion Davies is played by Kirsten Dunst and she gives a terrific and moving performance, torn between her affections for two strong men.

In this version of the events (as there are no existing records of this voyage), other guests onboard are Charlie Chaplin (disconcertingly played with real emotion and belief by Eddie Izzard), Thomas Ince, a once-famous director and an architect of the studio system, played by the sadly fading Cary Elwes, Louella Parsons, then a struggling New York reporter, and portrayed as extremely grating by Jennifer Tilly, and Elinor Glynn, a British novelist whose sharp observations frame the story, played by one of my favorites, the always magnificent Joanna Lumley.

This was great little diversion, and a capsule of far-gone time that we will never see again. Good flick.