Ummagumma

As I posted back in the summer , history is made almost every day in baseball. Sometimes it is the “bad” kind of history. The kind of history that makes baseball fans like me suffer. Lord knows the Atlanta Braves made me suffer aplenty in 1970’s and 1980’s. But, they didn’t make me suffer in a classic choking kind of way. They waited until the 2011 season to do that. Along with the storied Boston Red Sox, the Atlanta Braves are the only two teams in baseball history to hold such a massive lead in a play-off race only to see it squandered in a September swoon. Nothing like this has ever happened before and now it has happened to two teams in the same season. Truly historic twin chokes . If I disassociate myself (briefly) from the trauma of the demise, last night’s action was pretty incredible from a pure baseball perspective . The St. Louis – Houston game was an 8-0 blow out . So, it doesn’t count except to cap a terrific hard charge by the Cardinals when it matters most. So, my hat’s o

Honoré Fragonard's "Horseman", circa 1768 One thing leads to another. While rummaging around the internet in search of information on Jean-Honoré Fragonard (see previous post), I inadvertently came across a three-part documentary on youtube concerning his younger cousin, Honoré Fragonard . Initially, I took the younger Fragonard to be an artist as well, only he seemed to devote his creative talents toward sculpture. But, I quickly discovered that he was a sculptor of the strangest sort. He sculpted cadavers in the 18th-century. Apparently, this is a little-known part of intellectual France at that time. Many educated persons of medicine and of certain prestige desired to own a sculpted cadaver for their personal art collection. While Fragonard was certainly not the only anatomist/artist to cater to such demand, he was one of the most sought after and most prolific, with more than 3,000 specimens to his credit. Most of these were various animals and parts of humans create

The Swing , 1767 The fashioned slipper flings into the air from the force of the aristocratic lady’s body swinging in mid-air over the desiring gaze of her hidden lover. This was my surprised and pleasing introduction to the paintings of Jean-Honoré Fragonard . I am sensual and erotic by nature and so I am attracted to many of the preromantic works in Fragonard. The Swing (1767) is arguably not only his most famous painting but also a superb and exemplary representation of the Rococo art period . One of the karmic ripples of Jennifer’s recovery from surgery recently was her mother loaned us a 48-lecture DVD series from The Teaching Company entitled A History of European Art . Delivered by Professor William Kloss , these lectures offer a detailed chronology of Art in Europe, primarily through painting but also including sculpture and architecture. Each lecture lasts between 30-45 minutes and is delivered in an objective, insightful, and often humorous flair. Dr. Kloss' style of

A new kind of post. Let’s call it a “word doodle.” By this I wish to suggest a certain lightness toward the subjects covered. But, this lightness should not be taken humorously, even though I find humor in many places. The word “frame” is a better substitute for “doodle” than “humor.” My word doodles are rationally and emotionally articulated frameworks of ideas and experiences about what I consider to be central and fundamental to my intimate life. Whether they are universally applicable or not is beyond my intimacy or (anyone else’s for that matter) to proclaim with certainty. My word doodles are not presented in any particular order. I will simply post a doodle, and perhaps revisions to it upon further contemplation later, as I find a sufficient voice within myself to take a coherent stab at it. I have mentioned several of these word doodles in previous posts. “Being” is perhaps the most prevalent frame mentioned thus far in this blog. But, I have yet to articulate what I mean by th