good-bye & so long to the triumphs & defeats of 2011

time for a new year

i love old calendars 

this one is for my childhood best buddy leah & her grey eyes

the romance of alexander, by flemish artist jehan de grise 1338-1344.

stunning.

from the first eurythmics album(1981) & the only one that i really love... 
must be because it was produced by this guy?

MICHAEL OF RHODES

michael of rhodes, a venetian mariner in the 15th century, wrote and illustrated a text describing his experiences in the merchant and military fleets. 

this site by the museo galileo has me spellbound. there is a translation of each page of the manuscript! love!

RING PILE

 filed

 hand-cast out of cuttlefish bone

a molten drop of silver. a mistake immortalized

cross my palm with silver

napoleon's veterans

quartermaster fabry, 1st hussars                                                      m. ducel, mameluke de la garde, 1813-15

his dog & horse, too

another remedy for the cold- sweaty shirtless punks in the 80's. 

vs

sol started to feel a little guilty...

this site has great photographs.

stan's brows say it all...

 a little heat to counteract the snow. 

i previously posted this clip last summer but it went awol. it's too good not to post again...

marlene dietrich in 'blonde venus' (1932)

HISTORY OF MONSTERS

one of my library picks this week: the combined charm of cocteau & 'beauty and the beast'.

(i love the beast)

speaking of beasts- the woodcut illustrations within the 948 pages of Ulisse Aldrovandi's monstrorum historia(1642) are some of the wierdest out there.
browse a few random pages and you'll see what i mean!