Quote of the week

Nameless Person 1 (this will be apparent why later), "We should go to this restaurant - it has their menu online!"


Me, "Hmmm, sure why not? It looks good."


NP1, "Mmmmm...Reh-ravioli!"


Me, "What is 'Reh'?"


NP1, "It's...umm...I think, Bambi."

Salzburg

Eventually, Pooey had to go back to Meldon, while me, Dad, and Bro headed off to Salzburg. Our entire trip was pretty much unplanned - cos you know, I do have to work full time in addition to spending 3 hours after work each day trying to learn German - so I decided we were going to do basically the same stuff Pooey did when she visited in 2008! Hooray for forward planning!


Our copying of her trip started right off by staying at the exact same place, Der Salzburger Hof, except this time we didn't get a Buffy-clone receptionist - we got someone who I kept thinking looked like a cross between Julia Zemiro and Tina Fey. Since we'd arrived after 2pm, we didn't have time to join the Eagle's Nest Tour and instead walked into the Old Town in search of food. 

The town really is surround by hills. Those hills are called "The Alps."

Touristy shots ahoy!

We ended up at the cafe attached to the Salzburg Museum where I had a radler made from the local beer! Mmmm, tasty.

My radler washed down my beer-marinated pork with spaetzl mmmmm


Bro's schnitzel mmmmm



Dad's Veal special mmmmm



We ate our meal overlooking this fountain from the Sound of Music!

As we ate our lunches, the Bro and I decided it would be nice to visit the Hohensalzburg Castle (Festung Hohensalzburg) which overlooks the city. And because we're young and healthy, we decided to skip using the funicular and WALK up there. Dad declined to join us on this trip.

Our view of the castle from where we were having lunch. It is pretty high up from this angle.

This photo probably doesn't indicate how steep it actually was to climb.

The view of Salzburg on the way up 

How kyoot - a sandpit castle in the castle grounds!

 

Some views from various places in the castle. So pretty.

The castle had a number of castle-y things on exhibit as well as an audio tour to climb some of the towers. These include...

A creepy marionette museum, with some grotesque face cut out thingies...

 and this skeleton marionette in a cupboard. Hehehe

A really old toilet in the Princes Chambers.

A museum with mediaeval military equipment. This display was pretty cool.

A museum showing torture equipment. Yes, they are Scold's Bridles and a Chastity Belt.

Enjoying the audiotour

The Salzburg Bull - a giant pipe organ. 

We walked back down from the castle and wandered around the town before retrieving Dad for dinner. 

On this stroll, we saw this piece of contemporary art (which I normally hate), but I liked this one! It's called Subcommittee and is by Tony Cragg.

Anyway, we all had a good day, but better stuff was on the way. Coming up next...THE  SOUND OF MUSIC TOUR!!!

Quote of the week

"Why are you asking me this?"

Pawan (with pained expression) in German class 
 to Ivan when Ivan asked Pawan to expand on what he did over the weekend.

Building of the week - Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

The return of this segment which may no longer be strictly weekly because I am now busy on Saturdays without internet access and I can't guarantee that I'll have time during the week to think of something!

 Centre Georges Pompidou

1971-1977

4th arr, Paris

Gnoudesavanes wanted to visit the Musee d'Orsay back in September, but I suggested the Pompidou because it was a lot closer to my hotel (I was kinda tired) and I've also been to the d'Orsay three times before. 

On our visit, Gnoudesavanes filled me in on a bit of the history that he knew about the building. The building was planned by its namesake Georges Pompidou, President of France 1969-74. It's believed he wanted to leave his stamp on the city with the creation of this somewhat controversial building. By exposing various functional aspects of the building (pipes, electrical wires etc) which are colour coded to boot, we couldn't decide if the building was interesting or ugly.

What's really nice about the building are the glass-enclosed escalators which go up to the fourth floor galleries that allow a gorgeous view over the city.

We observed that the houses in the square would be worth several million euros. We also observed that if you were an owner of the house in the early 70s when the building went up, you probably wouldn't be very pleased at it ruining the view. 

There's also a museum of modern/contemporary art. It kinda confirmed to both of us that we don't like modern/contemporary art. 

But it does have some lovely reflection pool galleries, which are almost worth the entry fee!

Sculpture of the week - Mannekin Pis by Jerome Duquesnoy

Jerome Duquesnoy, Mannekin Pis, 1618-19

Brussels, Belgium
(Source)

I'm tearing it up with Marene in Leuven/Brussels this weekend so this week's piece is Brussels' most famous sculpture...a bit to their disgust. Would you be proud if one of the major tourist attractions of your city was a fountain sculpture of a little boy urinating?

Often dressed in little costumes to reflect various visitors or events relating to the city, it's not known why Brussels has a sculpture of a urinating boy in the city are there are a number of legends about why it may be so. What is known is that the current Mannekin Pis by Duquesnoy is a 17th century replacement for an earlier fountain already called the 'Mannekin Pis' so

Painting of the week - Concert champetre by Titian

Titian, Le Concert Champêtre, c. 1510
Louvre, Paris

(Source)

If all goes to plan, I should be in Paris this weekend so here's a piece from the Louvre, Le Concert Champêtre by Titian...or Giorgione! Traditionally attributed to Giorgione, it is now considered an early major work by Titian, showing both the influence of his master (Giorgione) but also the things that would make his own name later; idealised beauty and excellent technique and style.

On my first visit to the Louvre in 2004, I remember being surprised that a major work (in my opinion) such was this was tucked away away from the Grand Galerie where most of the rest of the European works were. Turns out there was some minor renovations going on. It's now in the Salle de La Joconde - same room as the Mona Lisa. I wonder how many people look at her and not this piece?

Song of the week - F**k You! by Cee Lo Green

From the voice of Gnarls Barkley, comes the happiest sounding flipping the bird song in the world!

Had a bit of trouble finding a good quality track with the English lyric clip that didn't ask for my age so here they are in Spanish! Que te jodan!

Now, I don't want people to think I'm using this to signal to other people - this song has been stuck in my ear for ages but get blank looks when I name the song. So here's to infecting others with earworms!

*edit!* Now in ze German! Fick Dich!

Song of the week - Polovtsian dances by Borodin

Heard this on the radio as I was going into work earlier this week.
KHAN!!!! KHAN NASH!!!!

Painting of the week - Old Skool by Banksy

Banksy, Old Skool, Clerkenwell Rd (Now removed)
London
(Source)

To Mischka, the image on her dirty 30 birthday card!

Song/video of the week - You make my dreams come true by Hall and Oates

Clip from 500 Days of Summer

Song of the week - Crossfire by Brandon Flowers

Charlize! So hot!

Sculpture of the week - Lunch with Helmet On by Shigeo Fukuda

Shigeo Fukuda, Lunch with Helmet On, 1987
I dont know where it's exhibited, probably Japan
(Source)

A couple of days ago, I bought an art monograph called Masters of Deception: Escher, Dali & the Artists of Optical Illusion. It's pretty cool and I highly recommend it to people who like to look at optical illusions and go *wow!* But despite the big names in the title, I found that the best illusions in the book were not by Escher or Dali, but artist that were lesser known (to me). And I decided that the artist profiled in the book that I liked best was Fukuda.

Lunch with Helmet On is constructed out of 848 forks, knives, and spoons welded together to make that...mass...which magically has the shadow of a motorcycle when a light is shone at a certain angle! Like, WTH...THAT'S AMAZING!!! Fukuda has done a number of these, and according to the authors of the monograph, he's said that it's extremely difficult to make a 3D object that allows equal penetration of light to form the shadow. I do not doubt this statement - I'm amazed that he could do this at all!!!

BEST PIECE EVER!!!

Song of the week - Dove sono from The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart)

Song of the week - Freedom 90 by George Michael

Freaking Epic!!!

Painting of the week - The Clothed Maja by Goya

Francisco de Goya y Lucientes , La Maja Vestida, 1800-1805

Museo del Prado, Madrid
(Source)

Goya's Clothed Maja is the counterpart to his Naked Maja. Both paintings hang side by side in Madrid's Prado Museum. They were both painted for the then-Prime Minister of Spain, Manuel Godoy, who was also rumoured to be the lover of Queen Maria Luisa. Godoy kept the two paintings whereby the clothed version could be raised by a pulley system to expose the naked one underneath. A kind of old-school peepshow if you will.

Of course, there is more info surrounding this pic. No one ever expects the Spanish Inquisition but you can bet that if they found out Goya had painted a picture of a nude woman (complete with pubic hair!) that they'd be unhappy. They were unhappy. In 1808, King Carlos IV of Spain abdicated, Godoy fell from power, and thus the Majas ended up in the hands of the Inquisition. In 1815, Goya was called up to explain himself, and ultimately lost his position as painter to the Spanish Court.

Painting of the week - by Banksy

Banksy, Leake St Graffiti Removal, 2008
London
(Source)

One man's art is another man's graffiti. Who better to represent this than Banksy - the graffito whose artwork is worth millions of dollars - if you can chip it off the wall. But on the other hand, it's constantly being washed off the walls, even in the usually graffiti-happy Melbourne!

And yes I did pick this piece because the 'graffiti' being washed off looks like the Lascaux cave paintings! Can you imagine if someone decided they were crappy scrawl from some teens who couldn't draw?! :O:O:O:O

Painting of the week - Lascaux Cave paintings

Great Hall of the Bulls, c. 15,000BC
Lascaux, Dordogne, Frances
(Source)

Discovered by four French teenagers in 1940, the Lascaux cave paintings are among the oldest paintings in the world. The paintings are divided up based on their location in the cave system and consist of over 6000 figures, mostly animals, as well as some abstract images. The animals primarily consist of horses, stags, aurochs and bison. Interestingly, there is only one depiction of a human within the paintings although there are positive and negative images of hands among others.

The paintings started deteriorating, particularly due to the growth of algae and fungi due to increased carbon dioxide and too many visitors. The cave was closed to the public in 1963 and a replica for tourists, Lascaux II, was opened in 1983. The deterioration of the original cave is still an issue, particularly after the installation of a new climate control machine in 2000. You can take a virtual tour of the caves at http://www.lascaux.culture.fr/#/en/00.xml/.

Painting of the week - The Persistence of Memory by Salvador Dali

Salvador Dali, The Persistence of Memory, 1931
Museum of Modern Art, New York
(Source)

Salvador Dali is the favourite artist of many people, no doubt due to his strange, and instantly recognisable images. The Persistence of Memory is possibly his most recognisable painting, filled with the iconic image of the melting clocks. There are many interpretations of this but the melting clocks have been seen to representsthe irrelevance of time, reinforced by the fob covered in ants indicating rot and decomposition. But these dreamlike images with the deformed and fading human-like figure in the middle are juxtaposed with the beach and cliffs, indentifiable as being from Dali's home and childhood experiences. So perhaps then what we're seeing is how time is rendered 'soft' by memory, but the eventual decay of memories changes our ability to perceive time.

As an aside, the incredibly amazing thing is how small the image actually is. At 24 x 33cm, it's just over the size of an A4 sheet. And having seen this in real life, the tininess really reinforced what a great draughtsman Dali is/was!

Song of the week - Spybreak! by Propellerheads

This song came on while I was in the gym the other day...and by golly those big beats made me work it hard! You may also recognise it as the song that featured in the lobby fight scene in The Matrix (one of my favourite movies) so it also made me feel like cartwheeling around the exercise bikes and roundhouse kick a weight sets!

Painting of the week - Ginevra de' Benci by Leonardo

Leonardo da Vinci, Ginevra de'Benci, c. 1474-8

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC
(Source)

Believe it or not, only about 20 paintings have been attributed to Leonardo da Vinci, two of which have been lost (The Battle of Anghiari, Leda and the Swan), many of which are unfinished (St. Jerome in the wilderness, Adoration of the Magi) and others which are disputed. Ginevra is one of the few (almost) universally accepted paintings by Leonardo.

Believed to be painted to commemorate her engagement to Luigi Niccolini in 1474 or commissioned by Bernardo Bembo with whom Ginevra had a platonic friendship, she gazes somewhat emotionlessly at the viewer. Well-known for her intelligence, the idea that she might have a difficult personality to boot is reinforced by her being surrounded by a prickly halo formed by the bush behind her. That's actually a joke - the bush is her namesake, a juniper