Buddhas of Bamyan

So, the Taliban, you've heard of them right?  They don't like the USA and all that stuff alright, but what a crap thing to do to blow up these statues.... stoopid.

And then there is this band, unrelated, except in my mind now, as I listen to them...

check them out here.

Blaise Pascal

Blaise Pascal was born in Clermont-Ferrand. Clermont-Ferrand is in the Auvergne region of France. It's looks close enough to being smack bang in the middle of France.

Pascal has stuck in my head for years. I have this vision of making a short film in France that would feature Blaise Pascal transporting a barometer over the brow of a rural hill. A few tufts of grass and a worn track of dried light brown mud and two men carrying a glass tube on either side with a third and fourth on hand to help. Pascal carried out an experiment with quicksilver in glass tubes to test his theories on vacuums and air pressure.

It's a nice portrait.  I think he looks like a kindly, happy man, wide open friendly eyes and the hint of smile at the edge of his lips.  I don't know who painted the portrait.

Hertzsprung-Russell Diagram

This is a graph that represents the stars of our universe.  The vertical axis measures luminosity, i.e. how bright a star is.  The horizontal axis represents surface temperature. Be careful though because the temperature does not get hotter as you go from left to right or from blue to red, it gets cooler.  Blue is hotter than red and the horizontal axis starts at the left hand side with the hottest stars.

So stars in the top left hand corner are very bright and very hot.  Stars in the top right hand corner are bright but not as hot.  

The line going through the centre of the graph is called the main sequence.  Our sun sits somewhere near the middle of that line.  Middling brightness and temperature.  

I heard about the HR diagram when I watched a series of astronomy lectures from Professor Robert Nemiroff.  I downloaded the lectures from iTunes (search for Introductory Astronomy, PH1600).  The actual classes were given in Michigan Technological University in Houghton, Michigan.  Nemiroff also runs a website called Astronomy Picture of the Day or APOD.

Anish Kapoor

'The Bean'

Until recently, I had never heard of Anish Kapoor until a friend who visited an exhibition of his at the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao mentioned him to me.  When I googled him I was really taken by 'Cloud Gate' in Chicago. What a beautiful piece of public sculpture, in a city with some great architecture.  The sculpture, nicknamed 'the bean' by locals, has a 3.6 metre hollow underneath that visitors can walk under.  It is made up of many stainless steel plates that were welded together and then the welds were smoothed and polished down.  Amazing, and beautiful, inspired by the look of mercury.  I'm sure the citizens and visitors to Chicago get a great kick out of it.  And if all that is not enough to make you 'wow' nearby you also have the Jay Pritzker Pavilion.

Cloud Gate, Millenium Park, Chicago

Cloud Gate with the Jay Pritzker Pavilion

Cloud Gate, Millenium Park, Chicago

Air sing Kelly Watch the Stars in France

This video features scenes from Castellane and the Gorge du Verdon in 2009.

Promenade de l'oiseau by Victor Brauner

I saw this painting in the Musée de Grenoble a few months back. It was one of many fine paintings in that beautiful art museum. It was so spacious; purpose designed to hold large and small pieces. A modern building with wood floors, white walls, a very easy way through the building, a sculpture garden outside. Trés jolie. The photo is from here.

In 1934 Victor Brauner had his first solo exhibition in Paris at the Galerie Pierre.

Maxfield Parrish

I like to hear of other people with 'field' in their names (like Matthew Elderfield the new financial regulator in Ireland).

I was watching a Gorillaz video. Noodle was set against clouds, standing and looking out over a high prominence and it reminded me of Maxfield. The clouds.

The subjects of Maxfield's paintings look like statues from antiquity. Yet they have a modern flourish and there is an excitement in the natural and classical settings. The painting above is named 'Ecstasy'. The world is being born again. Perhaps that's how the beginning of the American 20th century looked to Maxfield ?

Do you like his paintings? He was an illustrator too who made many advertisements in his day. If you're ever in San Francisco you can pop into Maxfield's bar at the Palace Hotel to admire his Pied Piper of Hamlin painting.