Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carrol

"Alice in Wonderland" is loved by children, adults and scholars. It is about time to read or to reread this great book. I'm giving you a start:

READ!

Chapter 1

Down the Rabbit-Hole

"ALICE was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, "and what is the use of a book," thought Alice, "without pictures or conversations?'

So she was considering, in her own mind (as well as she could, for the hot day made her feel very sleepy and stupid), whether the pleasure of making a daisy-chain would be worth the trouble of getting up and picking the daisies, when suddenly a White Rabbit with pink eyes ran close by her.

There was nothing so very remarkable in that; nor did Alice think it so very much out of the way to hear the Rabbit say to itself "Oh dear! Oh dear! I shall be too late!" (when she thought it over afterwards it occurred to her that she ought to have wondered at this, but at the time it all seemed quite natural); but, when the Rabbit actually took a watch out of its waistcoat-pocket, and looked at it, and then hurried on, Alice started to her feet, for it flashed across her mind that she had never before seen a rabbit with either a waistcoat-pocket, or a watch to take out of it, and burning with curiosity, she ran across the field after it, and was just in time to see it pop down a large rabbit-hole under the hedge.

In another moment down went Alice after it, never once considering how in the world she was to get out again.
The rabbit-hole went straight on like a tunnel for some way, and then dipped suddenly down, so suddenly that Alice had not a moment to think about stopping herself before she found herself falling down what seemed to be a very deep well.

Either the well was very deep, or she fell very slowly, for she had plenty of time as she went down to look about her, and to wonder what was going to happen next. First, she tried to look down and make out what she was coming to, but it was too dark to see anything: then she looked at the sides of the well, and noticed that they were filled with cupboards and book-shelves: here and there she saw maps and pictures hung upon pegs. She took down ajar from one of the shelves as she passed: it was labeled "ORANGE MARMALADE" but to her great disappointment it was empty: she did not like to drop the jar, for fear of killing somebody underneath, so managed to put it into one of the cupboards as she fell past it.

"Well!" thought Alice to herself "After such a fall as this, I shall think nothing of tumbling down-stairs! How brave they'll all think me at home! Why, I wouldn't say anything about it, even if I fell off the top of the house!" (which was very likely true.)

Down, down, down. Would the fall never come to an end? "I wonder how many miles I've fallen by this time?" she said aloud. "I must be getting somewhere near the centre of the earth. Let me see: that would be four thousand miles down, I think-" (for, you see, Alice had learnt several things of this sort in her lessons in the school-room, and though this was not a very good opportunity for showing off her knowledge, as there was no one to listen to her, still it was good practice to say it over) "-- yes that's about the right distance -- but then I wonder what Latitude or Longitude I've got to?" (Alice had not the slightest idea what Latitude was, or Longitude either, but she thought they were nice grand words to say.)

Presently she began again. "I wonder if I shall fall fight through the earth! How funny it'll seem to come out among the people that walk with their heads downwards! The antipathies, I think-" (she was rather glad there was no one listening, this time, as it didn't sound at all the right word) "-but I shall have to ask them what the name of the country is, you know. Please, Ma'am, is this New Zealand? Or Australia?" (and she tried to curtsey as she spoke- fancy, curtseying as you're falling through the air! Do you think you could manage it?) "And what an ignorant little girl she'll think me for asking! No, it'll never do to ask: perhaps I shall see it written up somewhere."

Down, down, down. There was nothing else to do, so Alice soon began talking again. "Dinah'll miss me very much to-night, I should think!" (Dinah was the cat.) "I hope they'll remember her saucer of milk at tea-time. Dinah, my dear! I wish you were down here with me! There are no mice in the air, I'm afraid, but you might catch a bat, and that's very like a mouse, you know. But do cats eat bats, I wonder?" And here Alice began to get rather sleepy, and went on saying to herself, in a dreamy son of way, "Do cats eat bats? Do cats eat bats?" and sometimes "Do bats eat cats?" for, you see, as she couldn't answer either question, it didn't much matter which way she put it. She felt that she was dozing off, and had just begun to dream that she was walking hand in hand with Dinah, and was saying to her, very earnestly, "Now, Dinah, tell me the truth: did you ever eat a bat?" when suddenly, thump! thump! down she came upon a heap of sticks and dry leaves, and the fall was over.

Alice was not a bit hurt, and she jumped up on to her feet in a moment: she looked up, but it was all dark overhead: before her was another long passage, and the White Rabbit was still in sight, hurrying down it. There was not a moment to be lost: away went Alice like the wind, and was just in time to hear..." (here, get your book or buy it)

Fail: Alphabet puzzles failures

Wow! The right fail is dangerous.

Have a great Sunday!

Wishing you all a quiet and colourful weekend

In a period where we receive so many bad news from all over the world I offer you these colours hoping that they can give you a space for good dreams and quiet your minds.

We all need to quiet our minds sometimes.

Amnesty International will pay tribute to Joan Baez: cyber-manifestation

"San Francisco – More than 1,000 Amnesty International activists from across the country will converge in San Francisco on Friday, March 18, to pay tribute to folk legend Joan Baez for a lifetime of human rights solidarity and advocacy. The tribute, which is part of the human rights organization’s Annual General Meeting (AGM) during its 50th anniversary year, will take place at the Fairmont Hotel and is open to the public. Tickets for the Baez event are $40; fans and activists attending the tribute are encouraged to arrive at 5:00 p.m. sharp for the AGM’s opening ceremonies to ensure seating." keep reading here.

A great singer, a great musician and a great woman. I do my share and signing petitions at the Amnesty International site only takes 30 seconds. Cyber-manifestation is one of tools we have now that can gather people from many countries fighting together. These are some of their priorities. Click to sign or go to their site to find a cause that you care:

No voting violence in Zimbabwe

Zimbabweans are expected to return to the polls this year to vote on a new constitution and potentially new presidential and parliamentary elections. There is much confusion on this issue, exactly when and what votes will occur, but there is no confusion on this point: any vote must be free, fair, without violence and in compliance with national and international standards.

Ensure Accountability for Crimes Committed in Darfur

Urge the United States to ensure accountability for crimes committed in Darfur and to support the work of the International Criminal Court.

Demand justice for ALL victims of the conflict in Gaza/Israel

Call on Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to not stand in the way of international justice. Urge her to join with others to take concrete steps to ensure justice for all victims of this tragedy.

Urge New Tunisia Government to Respect Human Rights

A caretaker government in Tunisia now has the opportunity to break with the legacy of 23 years of human rights abuses. Bold and far-reaching changes to overhaul the institutions that have failed the Tunisian people are imperative. The security apparatus and the justice system, the main tools used by the authorities to crush dissent and silence critics, must be reformed immediately.

The authorities must acknowledge the true scale and severity of past human rights violations. They now have a historic opportunity to break with this infamous legacy and to carry out a human rights agenda for change.

Update: September, 29, 2011
I will have to write a post about what is happening to human rights organizations. I wrote about Human Rights Watch and will do another one about Amnesty International. It is very sad that AIUSA is using Joan Baez to the Arab massacre. I just received one of those e-mails AI is always send asking us to join them, joining means donating, this time to help the "Arab uprising": "In Egypt, Bahrain, Syria, Yemen and Libya, state security forces have answered peaceful calls for reform with horrific violence. 
Protesters have been killed on the streets and thousands have been arrested or beaten." As you can see another text that makes more confusion than explains. Who are the protesters and what about the "state security"? Unfortunately Joan Baez is the person who is asking it and I don't even know if she is aware of what is behind the Arab spring because I'm sure she condemns it. 
I wrote her an e-mail but got no reply. I don't want any reply. I just want her to be aware of what she is helping. I'm sending a second e-mail and will I think that I did what I can. "It makes me feel ashamed to live in a land where justice is a game." Bob Dylan

Very truly yours,
Joan Baez
MUSICIAN, HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVIST

Update
January, 28, 2013

BOYCOTT AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL

After analyzing Amnesty International works it is clear that they have little to do with human rights
and are promoting war and crimes against humanity.

Renoir and his children

Nothing to say. Just enjoy.

Plato condemns imitative art

I came across with this educational blog where a teacher asks the students to read an excerpt of Plato's Republic and answer one of the five questions.

The answers are very good and I did chose this one to share with you because it is a issue that is still discussed: art and representation of reality.

Kaaren // May 24, 2007 at 3:18 pm

1. Plato criticizes art that is “imitative.” What exactly does Plato mean by “imitative” art? And why is he so critical of it? Plato believes that art is imitative because it is a representation of an object’s true form. The question and answer between Socrates and Glaucon in Plato’s Republic explains this concept with the example of a bed. God designed the ideal of a bed; He is “the author of this and of all other things” (Section I). A craftsperson will make a functional representation of this bed, the bed that humans will actually sleep on. While this crafstperson is a secondary maker of God’s original plan, the artist is accordingly a tertiary maker. The artist is removed from the forms, or “perfect ideals” (Plato’s Aesthitcs) that constitute all earlthy things. For examply, as is outlined in Plato’s Aesthitcs, the mathematical idea of a circle varies greatly from the human representation of one.

Humans cannot recreate a mathematically proportional circle, because the measurements will always be slightly off. Therefore a true circle only exists in an ideal or Godly universe, not on Earth. Accordingly, Plato’s philosophies argue that the same concept would ring true with the artist’s representation of a bed. Since even the crafsperson’s recreation of a bed is not totally accurate or Godly, an artist’s drawing, painting, or other creative expression of a bed will be even farther removed from the original divine design.

Plato was critical of imitative art because he believed that it led humans away from the real or true forms in the universe, in other words, from the ideal of God. Plato describes artists and poets in Republic; “they copy images of virtue and the like, but the truth they never reach” (Section II). Creative expression could be dangerous because it would lead humans away from focusing their attentions on the otherworldy, leading them into temptation instead of towards God.

"Mimesis", μίμησις (mīmēsis), is the Greek concept for imitation and we will see it in another post.

Update February, 11, 2013
The mimetic theory is explained at this post.

Plato's Allegory of the Cave

This allegory is learned at the beginning of any course on philosophy and raises many interpretations and discussions.

The Allegory of the Cave

"Plato recognized that the picture of the Divided Line may be difficult for many of us to understand. Although it accurately represents the different levels of reality and corresponding degrees of knowledge, there is a sense in which one cannot appreciate its full significance without first having achieved the highest level. So, for the benefit of those of us who are still learning but would like to grasp what he is talking about, Plato offered a simpler story in which each of the same structural components appears in a way that we can all comprehend at our own level. This is the Allegory of the Cave.

Suppose that there is a group of human beings who have lived their entire lives trapped in a subterranean chamber lit by a large fire behind them. Chained in place, these cave-dwellers can see nothing but shadows (of their own bodies and of other things) projected on a flat wall in front of them. Some of these people will be content to do no more than notice the play of light and shadow, while the more clever among them will become highly skilled observers of the patterns that most regularly occur. In both cases, however, they cannot truly comprehend what they see, since they are prevented from grasping its true source and nature. (Republic 514a)

Now suppose that one of these human beings manages to break the chains, climb through the torturous passage to the surface, and escape the cave. With eyes accustomed only to the dim light of the former habitation, this individual will at first be blinded by the brightness of the surface world, able to look only upon the shadows and reflections of the real world. But after some time and effort, the former cave-dweller will become able to appreciate the full variety of the newly-discovered world, looking at trees, mountains, and (eventually) the sun itself.

Finally, suppose that this escapee returns to the cave, trying to persuade its inhabitants that there is another, better, more real world than the one in which they have so long been content to dwell. They are unlikely to be impressed by the pleas of this extraordinary individual, Plato noted, especially since their former companion, having travelled to the bright surface world, is now inept and clumsy in the dim realm of the cave. Nevertheless, it would have been in the best interest of these residents of the cave to entrust their lives to the one enlightened member of their company, whose acquaintance with other things is a unique qualification for genuine knowledge.

Plato seriously intended this allegory as a representation of the state of ordinary human existence. We, like the people raised in a cave, are trapped in a world of impermanence and partiality, the realm of sensible objects. Entranced by the particular and immediate experiences these things provide, we are unlikely to appreciate the declarations of philosophers, the few among us who, like the escapee, have made the effort to achieve eternal knowledge of the permanent forms. But, like them, it would serve us best if we were to follow this guidance, discipline our own minds, and seek an accurate understanding of the highest objects of human contemplation."

Source: Philosophy pages.

Advertising like in the 50s

This is how Facebook and Youtube would be at the magazines of the 50s.

More doctors smoke Camels

Once doctors advertised cigarettes. What made them stop? Why did they ever start? Why do

physicians advertise?

John H. Twachtman's Winter Harmony explained by Christopher Volpe

Right: Winter Harmony,1890-1900, by John H. Twachtman

Left: detail

I just came across with Christopher Volpe's blog and I'm amazed by the way he make us "see" and "feel" a painting. Excerpts of what he wrote about "Winter Harmony" by John H. Twachtman:

"Twachtman's "Winter Harmony" employs a circular composition to keep the eye moving throughout. But that's not what earned this painting its more or less permanent place in history. The entire thing is a luminous riot of alternating currents - familiar scenery and an extraordinary scene, warm and cool colors, rounded horizontal and straight vertical lines, all playing counterpoint to each other within the larger, circular composition that keeps the eye moving and jumping all over the canvas until the naked lyrical miracle of the thing near knocks you out (!)"

"This is vibrant work. In person, it provoked an old feeling of mine that arises from time to time. It happens when I'm confronted by a work of art of such beauty that I can almost see it flickering between ideality and the real. Sorry if that sounds too mystical. It's a nameless, somehow simultaneously jubilant and melancholy feeling that has something to do with being in the presence of humanity's potential for understanding and achievement despite the brutal indifference of nature and the relentless force of time."

Read the whole article here. and take a look at Chirstopher's blog.

Have a nice weekend.

Sketching life of Ken Foster 2: The Half-a-House

I have published two sketches by Ken Foster here. This is a project he is working and he tells the story of the house:

"The Half-a-House

This is an interesting little project I am working on in Rockport, Maine. This house use to be a full cape but about 30 years ago (so the story goes) two brothers inherited the house and decided to split it - literally. One brother took his half of the house across town and the other one lived here. It's less than 1000 SF and either needs to be torn down or completely renovated." (keep reading here)

"This sketch was done in about 2 hours and I hit the undo button a lot! Once I was happy with it, I brought it into Artrage for some final tweaks. I wish the renovation was going to be that easy!" Ken Foster

I like the sketch, the story and keep thinking about the brother caring half of the house across town.

Fun: The Four Dogs

There were four dogs but they called their friends to take care of the cat.

Have a great month!

Egyptian art: tomb of Nakht

Time only made changes but we can see all Egyptian art that was done centuries ago.

Thomas Baker did a great reconstruction of the Three musicians, left picture, and this is part of his text:

A Concert for All Eternity

"In this painting from the 18th Dynasty tomb of Nakht, part of a banquet scene, a strolling lute player steps casually between two other musicians playing a double flute and a harp. This mural is remarkably naturalistic for a formal ancient Egyptian painting, when most such art was uniformly rigid and stylistic. By this period of human history, the realistic art of earlier millennia, such as the animals seen in prehistoric cave paintings and the humans in the Saharan rock art (that I also reproduced), had given way to stiff symbolism in the official art of dynastic Egypt. However, we can see in the figures of this particular mural some rudimentary shading and other characteristics that would eventually progress to truly natural representation of the human form in later Greek and Roman times and beyond. In this example of ancient Egyptian art we sense naturalism stirring, yearning to break free of symbolism. (keep reading here)"

The right picture is a Banquet scene at the same tomb.

Iranian art XVII century: wall painting

These are two wall paintings done at the XVII century at the Hasht-Behesht Palace ("Palace of the 8 heavens"). Musicians at the right and dancers at the left. Music and dancing makes a great Sunday. The history of art was always told taking Europe and the centre with few references of other cultures. Now it has been changing to a global approach. Two good examples are the books Mirror of the World by Julian Bell, 2007, 496pp, and A World History of Art by John Fleming and Hugh Honour, 1982.

Lybia: Stop massacring your own people

This is what I concluded following analysis by the mainstream media:

I just listened to Muammar Gaddafi's speech. Although he looks like a caricature of a dictator his intentions are real. He wants a bloodshed in the name of his own power. What is being done at Libya are crimes against humanity and it has to stop, but it has to stop now. Some Lybians are fleeing their country fearing more violence while others stay and keep protesting. "NO ONE IS FREE WHEN OTHERS ARE OPPRESSED" Libya for Libyans! NATO STOP BOMBING LIBYA

This is the truth: Please click at this to see what is really happening in Libya and I am sorry for the mistake. This was the first time I saw him speaking and everything was edited to portray him as the monster as they always did. Update: 8/22 2011 Today Qaddafi's compound was conquered after six months of instability after the invasion of Libya by NATO. Qaddafi was not there and his whereabouts is unknown and if what was being done by him were crimes against humanity what NATO did is considered the same. Libya for Libyans is still to conquer and it seems that it is not near even if Qaddafi is no longer the leader. Sad world!

Egypt: a prayer for the protesters

Tomorrow those young people will be at the Tahir Square, Cairo, as well as at other places. I talked to some Egyptians and they...
I don't have energy to write about it now. I will pray for the protesters. Whenever a revolution doesn't succeed humankind is affected. We are all affected when people express their views and are treated this way.
Update: September,1
Please read this post if you're interested in understanding the Arab Spring and the Egyptian revolution.

Thank you all my blog friends!

Click at the music first. This is the way I found to thank all the bloggers that inspired me to keep going and showed me many great things. Thank you all!

I thank you for the things you have shown me Thank you for the love of my life So far anyway now it’s really really over O God I really thank you baby Most of all I thank you for your love Like good people should do anyway I thank you I really thank you All of my life I really thank you My souvenirs I hold them and remember All the days for the rest of my life Truth is I miss you in all the ways you will imagine See me feel me I wanna say .THANK YOU ALL!. Music: Thank you by Simply Red: I like Mick Hucknall's powerful voice and many of the songs he did cause they unite people.

George Segal and Stephen Hansen: on women

Right: High Maintenance, 2003 by Stephen Hansen

Left: The Curtain, 1974, by George Segal

Gauguin's painting on a wraparound

I came across with this photography that Alan D. Hull shot during his travel to French Polynesia where Gauguin lived after leaving behind his family.

It is a pareo, a wraparound used by women.

I love this Gauguin painting and I think that it is a very beautiful work. I would hang it at my wall if I had it.

Left: Copyright © 2000 by Alan D. Hull

Happy New Year!

I want to wish you all a very good year. I want to thank all the people who came to this blog and helped me keep doing it. I met many amazing people and I will keep meeting along this year.

For the moment I still have to take care of my back so I will not post for a while.

Please, take this time to take a look at the previous posts.

One of the problems with blogs is that only the first page are easy to watch and we never have enough time to see the previous posts.

Choose a month, a year or the labels... I did 549 posts and all of them were a pleasure to do.

HAPPY 2011!