Happy Thanksgiving!

I know there's only 9 minutes left in the day but I just wanted to hop on here and say I hope everyone had a nice relaxing holiday.

Happy Thanksgiving, love to all.

Dome of the Rock

Dome of the Rock
ca. 500-1500 CE
Islamic
Mosque
--The Dome of the Rock is a domed octagon resembling San Vitale in Ravenna in basic design. The exterior is covered in vivid, colorful patterned mosaic and sharply contrasts with the Byzantine brickwork and Greco-Roman sculptured profiling and carved decoration. The interior is also highly decorated with mosaics. The Dome of the Rock was erected by the Umayyad caliph Abd al-Malik and houses the rock from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended to Heaven.

Click for larger images.

(Dome of the Rock)


(Exterior windows)


(Definitely click on this one to see the beautiful tiling and Arabesque script. The colors are really fantastic. Big file, though.)

Christ the Judge

Ed. Note: I had a really hard time finding this piece because it is not in my book (I don't have the $200 newest edition) and because my prof gave us THE WRONG NAME for it. It took me almost two hours of searching (not all at once, of course) to figure out that the correct name is "Christ Pantocrator". Luckily, I had seen the piece in class so I knew which one he was asking for because otherwise, I would have had no idea what to do.

Christ the Judge (Christ Pantocrator)
ca. 1100 CE
Byzantine
Mosaic
--Christ the Judge illustrates the shift in how the Church was portrayed in the middle to late Byzantine period. He is depicted much older than previously, wearing a beard and dour expression. He carries "the Book" and has one finger partially raised, perhaps preparing to point to one's fate. In the later Byzantine period, the Christian Church was becoming quite politicized and instead of a police force to keep subjects in line, used propagandist images to invoke fear and guilt in the viewer.


(Christ Pantocrator, Daphni, Greece)

Maybe A Little Petty

There is a part of me that kind of enjoys seeing pictures of my ex-boyfriends and getting to think, "Wow, you really just didn't age well."

I am not ashamed of this.

Justinian Mosaic

Justinian Mosaic
ca. 500 CE
Byzantine
--In Ravenna, Italy, on the western end of the Byzantine Empire, Justinian commissioned San Vitale, an impressive Christian church with a "Greek Cross" floor plan. The inside walls of San Vitale are highly decorated and on the north wall of the apse is the Justinian Mosaic. At the center of the mosaic is Justinian shown priest-king, haloed and garbed in purple and gold, carrying a paten or a large golden bowl containing the bread for the Sacrament. Closest to Justinian on the right is the Bishop Maximianus and indeed his is the only name that appears in the Mosaic. His importance is labeled also by the golden robe and scarf bearing the cross. Maximianus and the other clergymen are identified also by the items they carry: a cross, a book, and a thurible. To the left of the Emperor are several soldiers, denoted by their lances and by the shield one of them carries which bears the Greek Letters X and P, or chi-ro, a monogram for Christ. To show perspective in this piece, the mosaicist uses a simple method of overlapping: every man's foot overlaps the foot of his inferior, putting Justinian and Maximianus in front and all other figures behind them.

Click to view larger images.

(Justinian Mosaic)


(Detail of face of Justinian)

Hagia Sophia

Hagia Sophia
ca. 500 CE
Byzantine
--Built in Constantinople for the emperor Justinian, Hagia Sophia (the church of Holy Wisdom) was the largest building in Byzantium and remains the largest dome of the ancient world. It is a marvel of Byzantine architecture - the dome is one hundred eight feet in diameter and its crown rises some one hundred eighty feet above pavement. One of the most impressive aspects of the dome is that it is circle at the base by forty windows which allow great amounts of light into the building and cause the dome to appear to be floating on a halo of sunshine. The structural devices that make this feat possible are hallmarks of Byzantine engineering. One of these is the pendentive, which is essentially a larger, flatter dome one which the primary dome rests, and transfers weight to the piers beneath, rather than to the walls.

Click to view larger images:

(Exterior: Hagia Sophia)


(Interior: Hagia Sophia)


(Hagia Sophia dome detail)

Christ as the Good Shepherd

Christ as the Good Shepherd from the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia
ca. 400 CE
Italian
Tile
Decorative Mosaic
--Christ as the Good Shepherd is the subject of the lunette above the entrance to the Mausoleum of Galla Placidia in Ravenna, Italy. This piece depicts Christ as a young man, beardless (symbolizing innocence), haloed (piety) and dressed in purple and gold (regality), sitting among his flock instead of carrying a lamb on his shoulder as in earlier depictions. The loose, informal arrangement of the figures and easy posture of Christ reflect the early Christian perspective of the Church as kind and welcoming. The creator of this mosaic was still rooted in the classical tradition, as many Greco-Roman devices for conveying perspective are used.


(Christ as the Good Shepherd)


(Detail of Christ)

The Arch of Constantine

To motivate me to study for my Art History test, I'm going to be writing posts about each of the eight pieces that will be part of the test.

The Arch of Constantine
circa 300 CE
Early Christian
Marble
Monument commemorating Constantine's defeat of Mazentius
--The great triple-passageway arch was erected in Rome between 312 and 315 CE. Much of the sculptural decoration and the columns of the arch were reclaimed from some of the earlier monuments of Trajan, Hadrian, and Marcus Aurelius. The heads of the emperors in these reliefs were re-cut to resemble the new ruler. These reused sculptures were carefully selected to associate Constantine with the "good emperors". In one of the Constantinian reliefs above the arch's lateral passageways, Constantine is shown on the platform in the Roman Forum, flanked on either side by representations of Marcus Aurelius and Hadrian. This recycling of earlier works is often used as evidence of a decline in technical skill and creativity in the latter part of the pagan Roman Empire. However, the friezes of this archway mark a distinctive shift towards the iconic art of the Middle Ages. The art of the Roman Empire was focused on portraying an idealized, perfected version of its subject whereas Early Christian art sought to teach and tell stories in a way that was immediately accessible to all.


(Arch of Constantine)


(Detail of roundel frieze)

The Rhinoceros

From the comments on a Shapely Prose post:

A sporty White Rhinoceros
Was going for a run
When someone shouted “You’re too fat!
You ought to lose a ton!
You’re eating too much leaves and bark!
And what about your joints?”
The Rhino answered forcefully
With two well-argued points.

If you see a Rhinoceros
That thunders ‘cross the plain
In perissodactylic glee
Perhaps you should refrain
From commenting upon its weight;
In light of this example -
The heavier a Rhino is
The harder it can trample.
~MissPrism

I Always Thought That Was The Point...

Kyle - "If you do a stupid thing once, you just did something stupid. If you do it a bunch of times, apparently it's not stupid anymore, it's 'tradition'."

My boyfriend, ladies and gentlemen, is not a sentimental man.

It Finally Got Me

As thrilled as I am about Obama's election, it hadn't truly hit me until I watched this video of Maya Angelou's reaction. And then I got all teary eyed at the end.

Liveblogging the 2008 Presidential Election

Tiffany is without television or internet so I'm sending her text updates on the election. I'll post them here as well and call it liveblogging! I watched an AP map online as well as watching the news channels and the news channels called things WAY earlier than AP but since I didn't want to jump the gun I went with the AP results as they were called.

8:11pm - KY, OK, TN, and SC are called for McCain. VT, ME, MA, CT, IL, NJ, DE, MD, DC for Obama.

8:13pm - 78 Obama to 34 McCain in electoral votes.

8:22pm - 60% in FL so far support gay marriage ban with 22% of the vote in. Way to fail, Florida. But Pinellas went blue so that makes me feel a little better...I guess.

9:02pm - PA goes to Obama so it's 103 to 34 now. And they're getting ready to call RI for Obama which will be another 4.

9:10pm - MN, WI, MI, NY, and RI for Obama. WY for McCain. 175 to 46.

9:24pm - AR and AL for McCain. Not surprising. 175 to 52 in Obama's favor. He only needs 95 more!

9:31pm - ND for McCain. 175 to 55. This is taking FOREVER!

9:44pm - LA for McCain. OH for Obama. 195 to 70.

10:03pm - It's pretty much over. Barack Obama is President-elect of the United States of America!

AP is really slow at updating and everything else I'm keeping up with has it pretty much called for Obama. I stopped texting Tiffany at this point but kept tallying for the funsies.

10:09pm - UT to McCain. 202 to 80.

10:12pm - TCF (Token Conservative Friend) Roswell is trying to tell me that McCain has conceded and they're reporting it on DC political talk radio. Eh...I don't know about that.

10:26pm - TX and WV to McCain, OBVIOUSLY! 202 to 114 Obama. Woot!

10:42pm - NM for Obama and at some point IA and KS but I missed them. 207 to 114.

10:49pm - AP calls VA for Obama! 220 to 114!

10:54pm - MS to McCain. 220/120.

11:00pm - ID for McCain. Everybody's calling it. CA, OR, WA, HI, AND FL FOR OBAMA! Barack Obama is President!!! YAY!!!!! Florida goes blue?! AMAZING!!! 324 electoral votes for Obama to 124 for John McCain.

11:18pm - McCain's concession speech. He mentions Obama AND PEOPLE START BOOING?! Mature, guys. Real mature. The speech is, um...vaguely racist?

11:22pm - CO and NV for Obama. SD for McCain. 338/127.

11:31pm - OMG, OPRAH AT GRANT PARK! They showed her in the crowd...just sayin'.

11:34pm - They didn't NEED to open the speech with a (Christian, naturally) prayer...just sayin'.

11:37pm - Moustache guy needs to get on with it. YOU DON'T NEED TO PREFACE THE PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE!

11:39pm - Slightly tone deaf woman singing the Star-Spangled Banner has a nice coat?

11:41pm - HOLY CRAP THEY'RE PLAYING FAKE EMPIRE BY THE NATIONAL WHICH IS MY MOST FAVORITE SONG EVER for this video opening the Obama speech that I can't actually see or hear except for the music. But seriously, guys? Pretty much the greatest song ever.

11:49pm - Talking to Tim on iChat: "GET OUT THE CHAMPAGNE, DOUSE IT WITH WHISKEY!"

11:53pm - Kyle: "We won, baby!" Karlen: "Yeah, I get to keep my human rights and shit!" (Note: One of my biggest fears about a McCain Presidency is that two, possibly three seats are going to be opening up on the Supreme Court during this term and I think they're all liberal seats. If McCain nabbed them for the conservatives, I'm pretty sure life would basically become The Handmaid's Tale in days).

11:56pm - NE and AZ for McCain. 338/139.

11:58pm - The Obama's enter the stage. I LOVE his family! They're so beautiful!

12:01am - Obama mentions McCain. Crowd cheers. Genuine class. Obviously, it's easier to be gracious when you KICKED THE OTHER GUY'S ASS but, you know, I'm just saying...

12:08am - From Pundit Kitchen:


12:10am - I love listening to this man speak. Some of the faces of the people in this crowd are making me misty eyed. This is really wonderful.

12:15am - YES WE CAN! YES WE CAN!!! I don't think I've ever been more proud of my country. HERE COMES BIDEN! YAY! I really like that Obama and Biden seems to genuinely LIKE each other. I expect great things from this. Please, don't let me down guys.

12:20am - As much as I would like for this to continue all night, I have to be up at 7am so it's off to bed for me! Good night, everybody, and remember - Under a Barack Obama Presidency, you, too, can have a little of that audacious hope.

G-Strings*

Alright, for my consideration more than yours, I have here three different versions of the same piece of music, which is the Prelude from Bach's Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007.

Now, first of all, apparently Mstislav Rostropovich died in April of last year AND NO ONE BOTHERED TO TELL ME UNTIL LAST WEEK! WTF, guys? Here's his version:

(The youtube video I wanted to use was disabled so I had to find a different one so you have to wait through 23 seconds of introduction I'M SORRY).
While technically perfect, one of the tiny issues I've had with Rostropovich is that sometimes he plays these pieces as if he's brushing his teeth, which is to say, like he's so used to doing it that it requires no thought and he's just sort of going through the motions. "The Prelude, again?" he thinks, although in Russian. "Always the Prelude, everyone wants the Prelude." Also, would you like to slow down there Captain Flash Fingers? I'm kidding, Rostropovich, I love you and I'm sorry you're dead and I didn't know.

Then there is Mischa Maisky, who I have a weird fondness for, perhaps because his name is so enjoyable to say and not nearly as cumbersome as "Mstislav Rostropovich":

Now, I'm going to assume you heard the wild squawk in there at 1:12 and it totally harshed your mellow. However, I am willing to ignore this because Maisky's version has so much more feeling. Look at his expression. That man is totally concerned with doing right by the hourglass figure between his knees!

Ok, ok, I GUESS I'll throw in Yo-Yo Ma since everybody loves him so much:

Whoever made this video decided it would be way more awesome to intersperse far away shots of Ma playing in parking garages (?) with stills of children running around (??) than it would be to, you know, watch him perform the piece. Also, what's with the random inflection, Ma? I'm sure he's being hesitant for effect but there's sort of a flow to this piece and he is so not going with it.

I'm not going to post Pablo Casal's version because you have to wade through, like, seven minutes of black and white French blah blah blah to get to it and, um, it's not big on being worth it.

*Did you think I meant panties? Ha, oh, you silly thing.

Weighty Matters

From Shapely Prose, this article from the NY Times:

Several studies suggest that if the aim is getting healthier rather than slimmer, then in the long run the “Health at Every Size” approach works better than dieting. In 2005, Bacon led the only randomized control trial to date that tested this hypothesis physiologically. She randomly assigned half of the 78 subjects, all women, to a “Health at Every Size” group; while they lost no weight, their healthier behavior led to lower blood-pressure and cholesterol levels, which stayed low even two years later. In the weight-loss group, more than 40 percent dropped out before the six-month low-calorie diet ended, and at the two-year follow-up, the average dieter had regained all her lost weight, and the only measurement that dropped was one for self-esteem.

Go read the rest and consider who would actually be losing out if we all stopped trying to force our bodies into the literally narrowest of ideals.

Happy Birthday

Laura had her baby this morning around 11am. She named him Liam. I'll have some pictures after the weekend when we go back home to visit. Kyle's dad will be in town tomorrow and Thursday on his way to visit SO THAT WILL BE FUN. For now, I'm off to crochet a few more baby favors. Yay!

House Rejects Bailout Package

The vote against the measure was 228 to 205, with 133 Republicans turning against President Bush to join 95 Democrats in opposition. The bill was backed by 140 Democrats and 65 Republicans.

Lots of finger pointing and name calling already. I'm watching the responses on C-SPAN and it's pretty much a freaking Whiney Baby Parade. Someone needs to call a WHAAAAmbulance and send it over to Capitol Hill.

Some of McCain's and Obama's comments, from this article at The Guardian:
McCain:

From the minute John McCain suspended his campaign and arrived in Washington to address this crisis, he was attacked by the Democratic leadership: Senators Obama and Reid, Speaker Pelosi and others. Their partisan attacks were an effort to gain political advantage during a national economic crisis. By doing so, they put at risk the homes, livelihoods and savings of millions of American families. Barack Obama failed to lead, phoned it in, attacked John McCain, and refused to even say if he supported the final bill. Just before the vote, when the outcome was still in doubt, Speaker Pelosi gave a strongly worded partisan speech and poisoned the outcome. This bill failed because Barack Obama and the Democrats put politics ahead of country.

Emphasis mine.
Obama:

It is important for the American public and for the markets to say calm because things are never smooth in congress and to understand that it will get done. That we are going to make sure an emergency package is put together because it is required for us to stabilize the markets and to make sure that when a small business-person wakes up tomorrow morning, he will be able to make payroll. ... I am confident we are going to get there but it's going to be sort of rocky. It's sort of like flying into Denver. You know you're going to land but it's not always fun going over those mountains.

It is my understanding that while this bailout would not have been soooo fun, it would have been better than nothing. I don't know enough about economics to really know how to feel about it. Kyle is spitting nails. He's convinced he won't be able to get loans for school next semester and will have to quit college. He may not be incorrect.

The Dow Industrial fell 7%. I'm going to assume that's a lot because it's being mentioned with great frequency. It really is amazing, watching C-SPAN and hearing the comments from the people actually involved in this decision, how much the Republicans are frantically trying to make sure everyone knows IT WAS THE DEMOCRATS! IT'S THEIR FAULT! and how much the Democrats are calmly talking about the next steps and trying to be honest but reassuring.

2008 will be remembered as the year the American population shit a collective brick. This has been one of the most panicky, frenzied, pearl-clutching years in recent history, AND IT AIN'T OVER YET, BABY!

Update: Video of McCain's comments. Still waiting for video of Obama's speech, WHICH IS AWESOME, BTW.

Poli Sci Essay 3

Taliban Targets Women Police Officers in Afghanistan
Malalai Kakar, head of the city of Kandahar's department of crimes against women, was shot dead outside of her home on Sunday, September 28th. Her fifteen-year-old son, who was taking her to work, was also wounded and is in critical condition. Taliban gunmen, waiting outside of Kakar’s home, opened fire on her car as she left. Kakar was shot through the head and died on the spot.

Malalai Kakar was the most high-profile female police officer in Afghanistan. She was regularly interviewed in international media and was known for her courage in one of Afghanistan’s most conservative provinces. Kakar was a captain in the police force and headed a team of about 10 women officers. She had reportedly received numerous death threats.

Kakar was the first women to join the Kandahar police force in 2001 after the Taliban were overthrown. She was involved in investigating crimes against women and children, and conducting house searches.

A spokesman for the Taliban took credit for the murder. The extremist group has been mounting a growing insurgency targeting government officials. Several other woman officers and officials have been gunned down by Taliban assassins.

The head of Kandahar province's women's affairs department was killed in a similar way two years ago. And in June gunmen shot dead a female police officer in the western province of Herat in what was believed to be the first assassination of a female police officer in the war-torn country. Bibi Hoor, 26, was on her way home when two armed men on motorbikes opened fire, killing her instantly. It was not clear who killed her.

Afghan President Hamid Karzai condemned the attack, saying in a statement that it was an "act of cowardice" by the "enemies of the peace and welfare and reconstruction of Afghanistan."

Under the Taliban’s rule in Afghanistan from 1996-2001, women were not permitted to work or leave their homes without a male relative, and were required to wear an all-covering burqa. Kandahar is known as the birthplace of the Taliban.

About 750 police officers have been killed in the past six months, both male and female, mostly in insurgency-linked violence sweeping the country. The Afghan police force numbers around 80,000 people.

Afghanistan is no stranger to denying women basic rights. While the political and cultural position of women has improved significantly since the overthrow of Taliban rule, there is obviously still a great gap in the way Afghan women should be treated, and the way they are treated, particularly in rural areas where families still restrict mothers, daughters, wives and sisters from participation in public life. They are forced into marriages and denied an even basic education. 87% of Afghan women are illiterate and numerous girls’ schools have been burned down, bombed, or otherwise attacked.

The dangers Afghan women in the public eye face are enormous and frightening. In a religiously oppressive environment, perhaps it is easier to follow unfair rules and expectations, to do as you are told and not make waves. The women who are brave enough to put themselves in increasingly dangerous positions should be lauded for their courage and memorialized for their sacrifices. They are also testament to the distance already covered in assuring women everywhere their rights as humans, but also, how far we have yet to go.

Squeaky Clean

We watched the debate last night. I don't really have anything to say about it. Not exciting, nothing all OMG-he-said-what?!? At certain point, I felt like even though they were speaking English, there was no sense to the words, they were all just tossed together. Word salad. Today, I made soap.


Peppermint Candy sugar scrub. It looks kind of gross but it feels good. I used Cocoa Butter which is way too greasy for this to be a scrub-rinse-go kind of thing, but after scrubbing and then regular soaping my skin felt SUPER soft and moisturized. Plus, very minty fresh!


Coffee Cake bar soap. Still in the saponification process. I'll be able to unmold it tomorrow and then it'll have to cure for about a month but then, yummy vanilla latte smelling soap!

The other night Kyle and I met Mom for dinner. Hilarity ensued:






(Note: clicking the pictures will take you to the bigger Photobucket versions.)

Bartlet and Obama

Aaron Sorkin wrote a guest Op-Ed for the NYT. Barack Obama meets Jed Bartlet. No, really, it's pretty much awesome:

BARTLET A huge number of Americans thought I thought I was superior to them.

OBAMA And?

BARTLET I was.

OBAMA I mean, how did you overcome that?

BARTLET I won’t lie to you, being fictional was a big advantage.

...

OBAMA The problem is we can’t appear angry. Bush called us the angry left. Did you see anyone in Denver who was angry?

BARTLET Well ... let me think. ...We went to war against the wrong country, Osama bin Laden just celebrated his seventh anniversary of not being caught either dead or alive, my family’s less safe than it was eight years ago, we’ve lost trillions of dollars, millions of jobs, thousands of lives and we lost an entire city due to bad weather. So, you know ... I’m a little angry.

And now I have to go study the Warka Vase...

Morning Thoughts

I wish I lived in a place where I didn't have to worry about packing up my computer, books, and notebooks to make a five minute trip to the restroom while in the school library. Maybe I'll just take the computer...who's going to steal my Astronomy notes?