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December 2007 Archive 31 December - Positively the Final Catwalk of '07  The staff of the Janus Museum doesn't enjoy the same level of perks as our colleagues at some of the larger institutions, but we were given a couple of hours off this afternoon for New Year's Eve. So we were able to fit in one more catwalk, a brief one, positively the last final ultimate catwalk of the year. Above, Cat Natasha seems to be taking stock of the year's accomplishments. Actually, she's looking for her next ambush position, the better to attack Nutmeg from. But a well-crafted ambush and chase is a fine way to finish up the year. Better yet, an ambush, chase, a nap, and dinner. Wishing all of you fine ambushes in the year to come. link home 30 December - Generous Headgear Swag  Lucky Gus Norbeck, our maintenance man, was very kindly given this splendid Soviet Air Force peaked cap by Dr. John Herrera of the famous High Speed Triumph Research Laboratory of Myersville, Maryland. Regular readers, if any, may recall that Dr. Herrera gave Gus another splendid example of Soviet headgear last year. Regular readers may also recall that Gus likes hats. link home 30 December - Possibly the Final Catwalk of 2007  It's cold and dark and damp, but everyone was game for the final catwalk of the year - everyone being Cats Natasha, Leroy and Nutmeg, and myself. Peake, the great disturber of our last catwalk, didn't appear this time. Our final catwalk was a lot like the others we've shared this year - some scampering, a couple of jolly ambushes, a bit of climbing, and some meditative setting. No wallowing, though, it being too wet. Above, Natasha sets on a favorite tree limb; off to the left is Leroy, his fluff blending artistically into the soft focus - oddly, he does look a bit like the Gray Dire Cat in this shot. So we walked our catwalk. The sky darkened even more and the rain came down a bit harder, with a promise of snow to come. A scamper in the woods in the rain is all very well, but the thoughts of cats and human began to turn towards the warmth of the cottage - the call of snacks of various sorts - possibly naps for all hands - and we called it quits and went home. As the year ends, the thought occurs that the world is an odd confusing cruel dangerous sort of place for cats and people alike, but we can cherish at least one certain thing in an uncertain age - next year, there will be catwalks. link home 30 December - More from The Beggar's Opera Oh, just two more excerpts from the 1953 movie version of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, which is totally our favorite movie to watch at this time of year. Above, the tavern headquarters of Captain Macheath's (Laurence Olivier) band of highwaymen. The chaps sing Fill Every Glass and Let us Take the Road, and depart for the evening's labor. Macheath is hiding out from the vengeance of his unwilling father-in-law Peachum. Gay took the tune for Let us Take the Road from a march in Handel's opera Rinaldo, which I'm sure was very trying for George Frederick H. Finally, Macheath in Newgate Gaol - recaptured by Peachum and Lockit and with Tyburn looming, he sings his famous medley of songs in the condemned cell. Olivier is said to have been disappointed with his singing in the film, but I think he actually does awfully well. I would suggest that everyone rush out and buy the DVD, but tragically, there isn't one - has never been released on DVD, though VHS tape are occasionally offered at a great price. The world can be so unfair. link home 28 December - His Shining Fluff  Here's Cat Leroy, looking magnificent during yesterday's catwalk in the forest preserve, his fluff illuminated by the late afternoon sun. Cat Natasha was elsewhere, having been chased away by that reprobate Peake, who used to be such a nice cat. link home 27 December - The Lion and the Oak  Here's another scene from Peter Brook's 1953 film of The Beggar's Opera - George Devine as Peachum and the great Stanley Holloway as Lockit sit down to dinner in Newgate and sing The Lion and the Oak, a jolly Roast Beef of Old England type of song that doesn't actually appear in the opera as John Gay wrote it, though the tune is used for another of Lockit's songs, When you Censure the Age: When you censure the AgeHere's the thrilling (though blurry) video: link home 25 December - A Quiet Moment During the Zulu War  Rummaging through some of my own photos earlier, I came across this wet-plate tintype I made back in 1979. The chap on the left is the historian Tim Reese, an old comrade from my days in the old 1st Maryland Regiment. On the right is a younger, trimmer Gus Norbeck, the Museum's maintenance man. The years have not dealt kindly with the fellow - sloth and gluttony have taken their toll on his formerly manly form... link home 25 December - The Beggar's Opera Here's a song, Over the Hills and Far Away, sung by Laurence Olivier and Dorothy Tutin, from Peter Brook's great 1953 movie version of The Beggar's Opera, which I've mentioned from time to time - it's the usual Christmas day viewing around here - though sometimes we watch the Mistry version of the Mahabharat, instead. Over the Hills has had a long history, beginning, perhaps, with a Scottish song, The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away. There's a version in Tom D'Urfey's Pills to Purge Melancholy, published between 1698 to 1720 and performed in George Farquhar's The Recruiting Officer (1706). Here's a medley of a couple of different versions, including Farquhar's and an early recording from Beggar's Opera, (streaming MP3). And here's the City Waites' version of The Wind Hath Blown My Plaid Away. And a version with the pipes, performed by the Baltimore Consort from their album On the Banks of Helicon - the album's also available as an MP3 download. Maybe that's enough for now. I understand that Led Zeppelin has a song called Over the Hills and Far Away - haven't heard it - doubt that it's historically informed. link home 24 December - Foggy Morning - Evening Plans  Very foggy around here in the AM yesterday - too early to round up the cats for a walk, but a good opportunity to take a few heartbreakingly beautiful snaps in the Forest Preserve - the sort of morning where one might reach World's End, and get a glimpse of what lies beyond. I didn't, though - got my snaps, got cold, went home and made coffee. The cats glanced up from their blankeys and looked at me like I was nuts. What to do tonight, it being Christmas Eve? Around these parts, it'll be lentils and couscous for dinner, then maybe we'll watch The Great Gambler (1979) starring the fabulous Amitabh Bachchan. Last year around this time, we watched his big breakthrough flick Amar Akbar Anthony. The Museum fellows all being away for the holiday, we get to use the big TV in the common room. Oh! Here's the wild theme song from The Great Gambler (streaming MP3)! link home 24 December - Miraculous but Messy Intervention  I really can't approve of this ex voto currently offered on eBay. Here's the inscription, translated by the seller: I dedicate this retablo to the Virgen de los Remedios because, thanks to her holy intervention, the head majorette that usually carries the baton got stomach cramps and diarrhea and now I will be the one leading the group for the Saint Anselmo's celebration.I have to state that this is just wrong. Why can't we celebrate nice miracles, like those involving heroic octopi, or cats that teach one table manners? Or saving cats or pigs from terrible storms? As a matter of fact, I came across an excellent story, quite worthy of an ex voto, while researching another topic entirely on the New York Times archives. Here it is, from September 6, 1907: FELL OFF ROOF AFTER CAT.Highly reminiscent of the plummeting child ex votos mentioned here previously. I may have to save up to commission an ex voto based on the story. Much nicer than stomach cramps and diarrhea miracles. link home 24 December - Wildlife Sighting, or Smelling Friend of the Museum Hank Burchard, the squire of Pecker Wood down in Tappahominy County, Virginia, sends this report: I have a skunk in residence here at Pecker Wood. It appears to have decided to winter in the crawl space beneath my shop. The evidence for its presence is so far purely olfactory but quite satisfactory: for weeks I've been smelling skunk every time I visit shop, shed or greenhouse. One of the rude facts of the skunkly life is that use of its defensive weapon always results in collateral stinkage, and the perfume persists long and long. It isn't strong enough to be offensive -- I like a whiff of mercaptan -- but the situation is worrisome because heretofore the crawl space has been the domain of my cats, who took it over after I terminated the lease of the previous tenant, a groundhog, with extreme prejudice. I lack confidence that Java Jack and Ms. Mocha are wise enough to avoid upsetting their new neighbor. A dispute with their rival could seriously depress their trade-in value.link home 22 December - Seasonal Catwalk - Holiday Viewing  A bit chilly today, but a catwalk over to Wallingford Park to view the festive gazebo lights seemed to be in order. Cat Natasha, above, looks cold. I was cold, too. We were all cold. We admired the festive lights, briefly, then went home for cocoa and to watch my new Dara Singh DVD - Boxer, 1965. Dara Singh plays a boxer named, by an odd coincidence, Tara Singh. The great Mumtaz co-stars - she also appeared with Dara in Sikander-e-Azam - played Cyntha the slave girl. Here's the thrilling synopsis for Boxer from the DVD case: Tarasingh, (Boxer), was staying in Delhi with his once mother and blind sister Geeta. The biggest ambition of his life was to accure his sister's eyes. He tried by various ways to accure his sister's eyes but failed. However, Once he gets a chance to stand in Competetion with a Famous Boxer (Chandansingh). Fortunately he was awarded with a cash prize of five thousand rupees. But the luck was not favourable to him. He had to pay the awarded money to Pakaorimal who had an attachment order from Court on his house. One day a pair of two frauds named Lassa & Plassa Contacted him and engaged him for whole life, they gave him some advance money and Sent him to Australia in world's wrestling Competetion. Here Tarasingh meets an Air Hostess nemed Reeta [Mumtaz] in the plane. Unfortunately the plane crashed in African Jungles. Tara's mother Could not bear this sad news and died. Geeta's operation [to accure her eyes - T.S-L] had been successful but now she was alone and helpless. Tarasingh & Reeta are safe & they fall in love with each other. Nature then helps them and they return after a frightful journey of many an Islands to give all in India a pleasant surprise.The picture looks like the film was scanned through an old sock, but it's still fabulous. UPDATE - I've now watched Boxer in its entirety, and I can now confirm that it stays pretty fabulous right up to the thrilling conclusion, though it ends abruptly - not much of a dénouement, really. The big plane crash scene is a high point of the film - the sequence was pieced together using bits of stock footage, so Tarasingh and Reeta seem to crash in about a dozen different aircraft types - they start the flight in a Boeing 707, and then they unfortunately crash in a DC-6, a DC-3 or C-47, a German He 111, and, finally, a single seat P-51 Mustang. And one small geographical point: the synopsis, above, says that they crash in African Jungles - I put it to you that a flight from India to Australia would have to be very very lost to crash in African Jungles. Here are some thrilling screen caps from the Whatever Jungle segment:  Mumtaz as Reeta the Air Hostess dances for the Jungle tribe.  Dara Singh in aboriginal finery watches Mumtaz dance. Here, I've rendered the sequence into Bollywood DVD case synopsis-talk: Boxer Tarasingh and Reeta who is an Air Hostess are Captured unfortunately by tribesmens. Headman of tribesmens likes Reeta. Tarasingh wrestles tribesmens Headman, who is unfortunately Killed. Tribesman make Tarasingh new Headman and everyone dance with Reeta the Air Hostess.Well, that's the gist of it, anyway. Oh! Here's a Youtube video of the Jungle Dance segment - Main na Kisi ka Aitbar Karungi: The famous and fabulous Asha Bhonsle is the playback artiste, by the way. Back to our story - Tarasingh and Reeta escape but are captured by arabs, except that they aren't real arabs - Reeta explains that they are really "rogues" disguised as arabs. The "arabs" stage a fabulous Chinese dance number, and then try to kill Tarasingh and ravish Reeta, who escape. A lot more stuff happens - the pattern is that Reeta dances, then Tarasingh wrestles some dude, then there's a big chase - repeat as necessary. But it's still mighty fabulous. link home 22 December - Another Smoking Cap at the Movies - Fruitcake Update - A Song for the Season  Oh, look - here's yet another excellent cinematic smoking cap, this one worn by Peter O'Toole in Bright Young Things. I totally swear that I'm not going out of my way to seek out smoking caps in the movies - it's just that when watches a lot of British films set in the '20s, one runs across a slew of smoking caps. There's always an elderly eccentric gent, and it's axiomatic that elderly eccentric British gents always wear smoking caps - stands to reason, doesn't it? I briefly mentioned last week that we had to recall this year's production of our outsourced Janus Museum Fruitcakes - the refund checks have gone out - no, really they have. If you don't receive yours in a week or so, let me know at refdesk - at - janusmuseum.org. I happen to think that a little ergot in a fruitcake just makes for a more festive holiday, but, as usual, I was overruled. Speaking of Christmas comestibles, here's a song for the season - The Boar's Head Carol (streaming MP3), as performed by Sneak's Noyse on their album Christmas Now Is Drawing Near: English Folk Carols - a very nice album - the only Christmas album I own. link home 19 December - Ex Voto Zapatos  I dunno - some of these post modern ex votos showing up on eBay nowadays (like the Miracle Sausage Machine ex voto featured earlier) are built on some pretty shaky theology. Also like the one pictured above, now on offer through the 23rd. Here's the translation of the inscription, as supplied by the seller: With my first paycheck I commission and dedicate this retablo to the Virgen de los Milagros. Since I was a little girl I always loved shoes but at home we were very poor and sometimes we didn't even have food to eat. I just got hired as a sales associate for a classy shoe store in the capital.I'm sorry if this offends anyone, but I think that the shoe lady's exciting new job, which I assume comes with a discount on store stock, probably owes more to her zeal and activity and advanced shoe knowledge than to divine intercession. But she does look very happy, with the lovely shoes orbiting about her. link home 18 December - Moderate Catwalking Resumes  Happy to announce that I'm catwalking again - Leroy, Natasha, Nutmeg, Martha N-W and myself took a brief, chilly catwalk this afternoon in the Museum's Forest Preserve - my first since the tragic accident. The nice thing about catwalking is that it isn't what you would call fast or strenuous, what with stops for tree-climbing, sniffing, grooming, meditation, etc. It's actually quite well-suited for those in recovery from tragic accidents - gentle exercise combined with therapeutic cat bonding. I intend to try to sell it to my health care provider, AAAA Super-Valu Wellness Mart, as an alternate therapy, with myself as the (well-paid) catwalk therapy guru. link home 15 December - Greedy Guts Miracle Cat Ex Voto, 2nd Version; More Gift Ideas  For those of you how are still kicking themselves for having missed out on the bidding for the Greedy Guts Miracle Cat Ex Voto mentioned here last March, I'm pleased to announce that I've discovered a second version now available on eBay. Bidding ends on the 18th. I can spot only minor variations on the new version. Or, you can always commission an ex voto through the Janus Museum Museum Shop to commemorate your own cat-related miracle. Many thanks to the anonymous Friend of the Museum who made a generous contribution through our Amazon tip jar. Let me know who you are (refdesk at janusmuseum.org) and we'll be delighted to send you an artisinal Janus Museum fridge magnet. And thanks also to those who have made purchases at the Museum Shop or through one of our handy links. And don't forget our subsidiary store over at Zazzle.com. Say, I bet someone on your gift list would really love a Museum Cat Maxine in the snow necktie, too. Sorry for the relentless commercialism - times are hard, especially since, tragically, the entire production of this year's Janus Museum Fruitcakes had to be recalled - I warned them not to outsource the baking to China. link home 9 December - Whole Wheat Pudding Loaf  I tried out the phenomenal no-knead bread recipe introduced by the New York Times Mark Bittman last year, and have had pretty good success with it - dead simple and delicious, too. So the other day I tried out a light wheat variant written up in the Washington Post. Maybe it was the frigid conditions in my kitchen, or my yeast was a bit too ancient, but I never got a proper rise out of the dough - even after 18 hours. But I baked it anyway, and got a very strange low loaf (see above) with strata that were barely baked. But it was delicious - fabulous toasted and buttered - a happy accident I'll have to try to duplicate. link home 9 December - Cat Scratch Fever Miracle  This Italian cat-related ex voto from the fascinating Pinky Diablo and His Singing Grubworm is in sharp and terrifying contrast with last Tuesday's tender Cat Husband ex voto. Signora Falchi is assaulted by cats and gives thanks for recovering from the infection caused by the cat scratches. Mind you, Cat Scratch Disease (Bartonella henselae Infection) can be very serious. But I can't help but thinking that Signora Falchi brought it on herself by having so many cats - too many cats in a house can cause tensions that bring out aggression. Maybe she had the parasite Toxoplasma gondii, that may cause Cat Lady Syndrome. Very sad... More ex voto gatos featured here: Miracle of the Cat Husband The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link home 8 December - A Dance to the Music of Time  I've never read Anthony Powell's twelve novel cycle A Dance to the Music of Time - I did once have a bash at The Military Philosophers but gave it up when I realized it wasn't about military history. But we've started the miniseries, which is pretty enjoyable - takes place in the same period and covers much of the same ground as Brideshead Revisited, but without Waugh's sentimentality and his tiresome vaporings on sin and faith. And I loved the smoking cap scene, above, with John Gielgud as the old novelist St. John (pronounced "Sinjin", of course) Clarke. It's a nice cap, but he doesn't wear it quite so jauntily as Bob Hoskins did in Cousin Bette or as George Rose wore his as the Major General in Pirates of Penzance or even as jauntily as our maintenance man Gus. Rather lets down the old side, Gielgud does, in my opinion. The problem with viewing Brit dramas of this sort is that we've seen all of the actors in other productions, and we're constantly crying out "What's his name?" "I've seen her in something" "Wasn't he in...?" I've got my laptop limbered up and tuned in to the Internet Movie Database while we watch, but it rather distracts from the play to keep typing away. Much better if, at the beginning of a DVD, after the titles, they ran pictures of the players, with the character and the actors' names, and with a list of other films they've been in - get it all out of the way at the very start, much more convenient. link home 7 December - After the Flood  Here's another fine pig-related ex voto from eBay, though less grisly than the Miracle Sausage Machine ex voto featured here a few days ago. Here's the translation of the dedication: Mr Rogelio Bracho Quintana thanks San Isidro Labrador because he could save his pig, his son and his wife when the waters rose. He dedicates this retablo to Him. Morelia, 1953How ironic it would be if the rescued pig eventually ended up in the Miracle Sausage Machine. Would it have irritated San Isidro Labrador, after all his labor? How fabulous is this? Now you can commission your very own ex voto to commemorate your very own miraculous intervention. I will definitely have to try this out myself - all I need is a miracle to commemorate. This is very very cool. And it's available to you through the Janus Museum Museum Shop, so it's got to be fabulous. link home 7 December - Correction The gaily camouflaged tank that I spotted at the Army's Ordnance Museum in Aberdeen, Maryland, and had identified as a Solido Char de Grand Jouet, has now been properly ID'ed by someone who actually knows something. A recent acquaintence, Eric Marr, tells me that it's a Czech-built Škoda 35-T light tank, widely used by the Wehrmacht in the early war years. It was known as the Pz.Kpfw. 35(t) in the German service. I'm not too proud to admit it when I'm wrong, since it happens so frequently. link home 7 December - Question Time Friend of the Museum Scott Powell poses a question: I purchased a Teddy Bear this morning for the princely sum of $10.link home 4 December - Tabby Daddy Ex Voto  The fabulous ex votos keep coming over on eBay. This one, like the Miracle Sausage Machine below, raises some perplexing questions - see, the lady's husband has died, but is reborn as a cat - they are both very happy! Here's the translation, as supplied by the seller: My husband died and I fell in a deep depression, but the Virgen de Guadalupe sent me back my husband soul in a cat's body that came one day to my kitchen, I know it's him because it has his eyes and the same melancholic look and something else, as a vibration that makes me feel an enormous fondness when seeing it and I am filled the chest of emotion and it's very affectionate. I can't say anything because people will think that I am mad, and perhaps I'm, but I am very happy of having him with me and that is the important thing.Now, I'm no theologian, but I've been under the impression that reincarnation is not actually part of the Catholic creed - more of a Hindu or Buddhist thing, I gather. So, assuming the beast really is her husband reborn, should the lady be giving thanks for what must be regarded as a non-canonical miracle? Would the Virgin of Guadalupe really participate in such a non-sanctioned miracle? Or could it be regarded, from the Cat Husband's point of view, as a novel form of Purgatory? The detail of the Cat Husband's "melancholic look" is very telling, after all. I'll leave it to wiser heads to hash out the epistemological ramifications, but what I really want to know is... ... Did she have him fixed? More ex voto gatos featured here: The Miracle of the Embarrassed Cats Tragic Love Canción de los Gatos San Pascual's Cat Aunt Honorata's Cats The Perfect Cat Storm Cat Pi Milagro Greedy-guts Miracle Cat link home 2 December - Ex Voto Chorizo  Dunno how I feel about this ex voto currently available on eBay - it comes pretty close to an advertisement, or to product placement - surely out of place in the sacred precincts of a church, I would have thought. On the other hand, how can one not admire the artistry of the thing? The pigs gamely gallop up the ramp to their fate as the proud inventor-butcher watches, all under the benign gaze of San Pancracio, AKA St. Pancras. There are belts and pulleys and a large wheel of some sort. Below, pork product in its varieties emerge, each one to its own barrel. Makes you think, as great art should. Here's the translation, as provided by the seller: I dedicate this retablo to San Pancracio because, thanks to him, I invented a machine that makes the most delicious pork sausages and cold cuts in all of Queretaro.Querétaro is a state in central Mexico. According to Wikipedia, St. Pancras is invoked against cramp, false witness, headache, and perjury, and is a patron saint of children - nothing about charcuterie. St. Wenceslas is the patron saint of klobása - Czech kielbasa - but one could hardly expect a Mexican butcher to be intimate with St. Wenceslas. St. Adrian, St. Anthony and St. Luke seem to be patron saints of butchers. Strangely, I couldn't find a patron saint for inventors, though there are, among the I's in this index, patron saints for: intestinal diseases, against invaders, against invalids invasions, against invincible people invincible, to become Ionian Islands Iowa, USA Ir-Rabat, Malta Iran Ireland iron mongers ... But the iron monger saint, St. Sebastian, might have helped, if asked. I suppose bringing in the whole crew, Wenceslas. Adrian, Anthony, Luke, with Pancracio for local knowledge and backup would have been too much for efficiency - nothing ever gets done by committee. And it made me nostalgic for sausages I have known, for example:  ... This excellent bratwurst I enjoyed a couple of years ago at an ALTGEM conference in Wisconsin - à la recherche du saucisse perdu... link home 1 December - Archival Catwalk Reportage  One of the more frustrating things about the bum foot is that my reduced mobility will probably put an end to bracing catwalks for the duration. Above, Leroy checks out the view from a cat-sized precipice in the Janus Museum Forest Preserve, taken three years ago. It's an eery foreshadowing of our own recent ascent of Sugarloaf Mountain. The Curator has requested that I post a reminder that the Janus Museum Museum Shop features fine books, DVDs and toys for the entire family at terrific savings. He further requests that I state that shopping at the Museum's Museum Shop is an excellent way to avoid the manic, homicidal crowds of slack-jawed morons at the local shopping mall. Sorry - I have to do this. link home |
