Betty's Pub 20.1
Main Menu => Old inactive posts. => Topic started by: andyg0404 on September 26, 2015, 04:14:44 PM
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Today gave evidence that it is clearly Fall in fact as well as on the calendar. It was in the 60’s when I left the house and the high is only expected to be 70 degrees and there was a marked breeze out there also cooling things off. I wore my shorts to the grocery store but I’m glad that I thought better of it before heading into New York City. Had on the long sleeved shirt and long pants and regretted not bringing along the flannel shirt. It can only go downhill here for the six months.
I had occasion to go back to Sotheby’s today for the first time in a while as they had a preview of their upcoming American art auction. There were no big ticket items in this group, I would venture to say that the bulk of the art had a price tag below $30,000 with only one painting in six digits, Willard Leroy Metcalf’s Mountain Pastures – Vermont which was said to be in the range of $100K to $150K. http://tinyurl.com/ppxrqgz As you can see, it’s a very colorful landscape. Metcalf was an American Impressionist and this was painted the year before he passed away.
While I was there I watched a live auction of champagne and the bidding went very quickly as people sat at tables with the catalog and motioned to make bids. I wonder about the people doing the bidding and I would think some of them must be from fancy restaurants purchasing these bottles for the cachet of offering them at table to your everyday hedge fund manager.
This is a link to catalog page at Sotheby’s where you can see all of the art up for auction, http://tinyurl.com/o6gpfzy but I want to point out some of the interesting items I saw as I walked through the preview.
First of all they had something I’ve never seen before at one of these auctions, cheesecake or pin-up art. There were three watercolors by Alberto Vargas, the eminent purveyor of this genre of art. Two nudes and a wonderful portrait of the actress Irish McCalla in a diaphanous nightgown. Those my age may remember her from the very old TV show, Sheena, Queen of the Jungle. http://tinyurl.com/oqcd2sx Vargas created his Vargas girls for the magazine Esquire in the 40’s. I have a copy of the magazine with one of them from 1941, it’s wonderful. There are also 9 oil paintings by Gilette Elvgren, who Wikipedia tells me was another pin-up artist who specialized in the All-American ideal of femininity. He was an illustrator and advertising man who supplied art for calendars. This is an example, http://tinyurl.com/pcdx3tn
Moving on to more regular participants at these auctions there were a number of Hudson river painters on display. Jasper Cropsey is a favorite of mine and they had one of his watercolors, something else that I can’t remember seeing. It’s another very colorful landscape, Mellow Autumn Time, http://tinyurl.com/nfssgfc Another beautiful landscape is by John Frederick Kensett, Idyllic Landscape, and in looking at the provenance, it was passed down from the artist to his descendants and was last sold by Questroyal galleries to the current owner. I wrote about visiting Questroyal on my vacation mentioning their wonderful trove of Hudson river painters.
http://tinyurl.com/on6bbn7 A few others from this school are William Trost Richards, Wooden Bridge at Sunset, http://tinyurl.com/nmyx62j A rather small painting, Rocky Mountain Sheep by Albert Bierstadt, http://tinyurl.com/nam6cbl There were no enormous canvases at this preview of the type Bierstadt is known for but the smaller paintings are all very nice. There were two paintings by Alfred Thompson Bricher, one in oil, a large, panoramic landscape, Lake George, http://tinyurl.com/okvcdqb and a lovely watercolor, Summertime, http://tinyurl.com/qx9l5wc Thompson moved into watercolors in his late thirties. The last Hudson river painter I’ll mention is George Inness, his Evening Landscape is dark but has a vibrant orange sun setting to which your eyes are immediately drawn. http://tinyurl.com/psyzz96
Other notables were Norman Rockwell, a study he did in pencil, charcoal and color wash for Maternity Waiting Room, http://tinyurl.com/naogvu3 Here’s the finished painting for comparison, http://tinyurl.com/neh62vc I’ve mentioned Reginald Marsh before, they had one of his watercolors, again something I haven’t seen many of, if any, Red Tug - Weehawken, NJ, which I liked I think because I lived close by for a number of years, http://tinyurl.com/p9uh5h2 Jamie Wyeth’s painting of Corbett House, an old fashioned house with a shingle roof and a chimney, the front of which is obscured for the most part by trees, http://tinyurl.com/o2rbyy7
And finally Ships in Choppy Seas by Thomas Birch, http://tinyurl.com/pesrxbw Birch was a nineteenth Century portrait painter and marine artist and I find this evocative of the many pictures of ships that another of my favorites, Fitz Henry Lane, painted. Here is Lane’s Three Master in Rough Seas, http://www.capeannmuseum.org/events/meet-me-museum-mar20/ I had the pleasure of visiting the Cape Ann Museum in Gloucester which has the largest collection of Lane’s paintings, it was a wonderful experience.
Well, I think it must be time for the Flickrs now.
Andy G.
Tiffany Amber Rhoads
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffanytime/4881017512/
The Rest of It..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24787235%40N06/12837645583/
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisabacchae/15817365578/
There's a space next to me...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/testa540/6148074058/
chu chu...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/myy_mee/20694936921/
Sissy at heart
https://www.flickr.com/photos/36751344%40N02/20653641909/
Not what he expected...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/60741642%40N06/20192312554/
07161smeri
https://www.flickr.com/photos/meritats/20234092494/
Huong Giang Idol, a famous transgender singer in Vietnam, attends the ceremony and shows her support for the new innitiative
https://www.flickr.com/photos/usaid_vietnam/20643882158/
img112
https://www.flickr.com/photos/7554511%40N07/20738957141/
2 Worlds colliding. = *He's a Girl, She's a Boy!* > ***Who Knew?***.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14676683%40N08/20706394642/
IMG_0427(900-2)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76625201%40N03/19957200579/
Mother I wish I could Tell You I Loved You
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trinity_cross/10333247656/
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Nice Art exhibits Andy, I also loved the Pin Up pics and remember Vargas in Playboy. I have many back issues from the 70's and 80's. Thanks for feeding my Art addiction as I don't get to see that much anymore. Thanks also for your weekly post and pics as it is something to look forward to on Saturday night. I often end up going through all the galleries and sub-galleries that people post and get lost in time until my eyes hurt. Then I realize it is 3 AM and I am very tired.
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I especially like this one:
Tiffany Amber Rhoads
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tiffanytime/4881017512/
There are more outfits in the photo file by clicking the right or left arrows.
Always have had a love of the red plaid (outfits) !
And what's with this long pants deal Andy ?
Skirts and Dresses can be worn year round but obviously not in the Artic outback or desert sand storm.
The more leg up the better - sexy long legs to excite the mystery as to where they go up there !
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I never have understood how girls go out in freezing weather in a skirt and blouse and don't freeze to death. I go out looking like the Michelin man and I'm still cold. Give me the warm weather any time. Please.
Andy G.
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Hey Andy, I am like you and have started to get out my fleece lined tights in anticipation of the cold. I am already wearing my flannel PJ's. I guess it must be old age creeping in as I never felt the cold as much until a few years ago.
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Recent news media reporting on why women are so unhappy at work with all the conveniences of air conditioning.
Seems that the temperature is set (by men - for men) in an office environment - these men wear suit coats
long sleeve shirts ties and the damn pants need to cool off while the women in the same space in their
sleeveless blouses and short skirts need to put on winter wear to ward off the temperature extremes.
Went to a Catholic grade school and was dumbfounded how girls had to wear dresses/jumpers during
the winter with no leg covering (except maybe going to and from school) while the guys got away
with as is in the damn pants.
Goofy stupid dress codes !
If you haven't guessed it - I am a male wearing skirts/kilts and bifurcated stove pipes are not in my wardrobe.
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There's quite a few places while wearing shorts in the summer, I have to leave because it was too damn cold. If they want my summer business, they're gonna have to keep it above 68F(20C).
Ironically these are the same places when I'm wearing heavy or layered clothing & a coat in winter, they insist on keeping the place at almost 80F (32C). Clearly there's some moron is in charge of the thermostat.
Suits are overrated anyway. I'd rather buy a used car from a place where the salesman has grease on his hands, & a wrench sticking out of his hip pocket, than a place with a guy in a suit hovering around the lot.
An office where the guys have their suit hanging on the back of their chairs, sleeves rolled up, & tie loosened is a place where people work a lot. An office where the guys are always buttoned up in a suit, & perfectly adjusted ties is a place where people talk a lot. And never trust a guy in a bowtie - - they're all nuts or crooks.
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It's easy --
During the petroleum crisis of the 1970s, the government recommended that everyone keep their thermostat at 65 in the Winter and 80 in the Summer. Somehow people got it backwards, and that's how even today people keep their thermostats at 65 in the Summer and 80 in the Winter.
;D
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I usually keep mine set at 75 F all the time or shut down in the summer when the windows can be opened. In the winter when it gets extremely cold we set it at 65 F at night and put on extra blankets and then it automatically comes on at 5:30 and sets at 75 F for an hour or two while we get ready for the day. Afterward if I am home all day I will put on fleece tights and go about my daily chores keeping cozy doing the house work. Plan on adding extra insulation to my attic space this winter to save more on fuel costs. Each time I redecorate another room I will tear out the outside walls and re-insulate them also to beef up the whole house. Some of my friends have done that and cut their bills in half or more using the new standards set by the builders association and the government. The government was offering rebates last year and I hope they continue this program again this year.
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I usually just run my AC just enough to make it a few degrees cooler than outside. That way it removes a lot of that sticky humidity we have here so it feels better, & also helps me breathe better with my COPD. High humidity is rough with COPD. Ozone levels seem to be always high on humid days too, which is very bad for lungs. I usually always have a couple air filters running. If I tip them on their side they double as a fan to give me a nice breeze.
Most of the people I know never turn their heat above 68F (20C) in winter, except maybe at shower & bath time. That's a waste. It would be cheaper just to run a little electric heater in the bathroom or bedroom when you're gonna get naked, rather than crank up the heat for the whole place.
The past 2 winters I've never had my heat set to get into the 60s. So on the coldest winter days it's usually in the 50s, & has got down to the 40s overnight while I'm under the warm blankets. Sometimes when I'm really feeling the chill, I'll just turn on a small 400-800 watt radiant heater pointed at me to warm up, rather than burn the fuel to warm up the whole place.
Fortunately there's another apartment above me, below me, & on each side of me. So if it's a mild winter day or night, I don't need any heat on at all. The heat coming off the computer, the back of the fridge, & from making coffee or cooking warms up the place enough. On a windless 40F (4C) day, it could be in the 70s up here with no heat on & the windows cracked open.
But we had some severe cold the last 2 winters where it was so cold, my heat couldn't keep up with it... especially when it's windy & very cold at the same time.
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Hey Betty, we did have a small 600 watt heater but lent it to our son last winter. He bought a house with a minimum of insulation and a drafty old fireplace. I packed the chimney with insulation and sealed it off for now as it was recommended he replace the metal fireplace insert. They found the upstairs was not very warm in the mornings so they would do what you did with the heater for taking a shower and getting ready for work.
My family room addition was built by a jerk who made a few mistakes that I caught and some I did not catch. It is built on a two foot high crawl space that is not insulated and very hard to access so the heat ducts that run under there don't deliver enough heat. We end up running the gas fireplace when watching movies etc. on very cold nights. I have heard it will be another very cold winter and by the looks of all the pine cones hanging on the fir trees and the abundant crab apples on my trees they could be right. That is how the Indians around here tell of a bad winter. I suppose while the weather is mild I should tune up the snow blower and fill it with gas. There are many seniors near me that need snow removal so maybe I can make a few extra bucks this winter. I remember when you would do that at your other place but it would not be an option now I suppose.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
I confess to feeling every one of my 64 years today. I woke up on Monday morning with very bad lower back pain, really stiff and sore. Took some ibuprofen which helped a little but also didn’t sit so well in my stomach. The next day the soreness had receded somewhat but I was still stiff and that’s where I am today, still stiff. I have a daily exercise routine and I’ve had to curtail it due to recent aches and pains. First my elbow started to bother me to the point that I gave up using the chinning bar. This was especially frustrating as I hurt myself years ago and had to give it up. I decided to try again and bought a new bar last year. When I first put it up I could only do a few chins and not one pull up. Slowly I built up my endurance to the point where I could do four reps of three on the chins and three reps of three on the pull ups. Now if I ever recover enough to go back to it I’ll have to start from scratch again I imagine. And last week my shoulder started barking and I’ve given up my push-ups until it calms down. And with my bad back I’ve had to give up the running in place and running up and down my stairs so all that’s left is my stretching exercises and riding the stationary bicycle. I’m grateful that I’m still able to take my long walks which I did today.
It was a rainy, windy, chilly morning today, pretty raw and if it wasn’t the next to last day of the Sargent exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum I would have considered either staying home or visiting the Public Library for a minor drawing exhibit. The library is a much shorter walk, just crosstown from the Port Authority to Fifth Avenue. But I did want to see the Sargent again despite having seen it three times so I decided to venture out. I was lucky in that it didn’t really rain on me while I was out, just misted at some points and when the wind started blowing I was able to close the umbrella and not get wet. The exhibit was just as wonderful as the other times I saw it, I’m glad I got to see it again, he is a brilliant artist and this was an enormous exhibit. By the time I worked my way back to the beginning of the exhibit, the room was mobbed so I was glad I arrived early as I usually do. Looks like those of us in the Northeast were lucky in avoiding the hurricane although we’ve had some heavy rain with more to come. The rain’s not so bad as our reservoirs are down and we can use it but the wind is always a concern. Don’t want to feel my house shaking again like it did during Hurricane Sandy.
The other day my brother sent me a few Youtube links of films showing old New York. This one is from 1928 and is a sequence from an old Harold Lloyd film in which he plays a taxi driver. Harold Lloyd was a big silent screen star and probably my next favorite silent comedian after Buster Keaton. It’s five minutes long and shows him careening around New York like a lunatic. His second passenger is Babe Ruth. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lkqz3lpUBp0
That’s it for today so I guess it’s time for the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Victorian 'drag queens' and transgender women
https://www.flickr.com/photos/brizzlebornandbred/21536165118/
Short, blue sequin dress and pantyhose.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sbbound99/14004658402/
Man in a dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132173596@N08/20390704174/
DSCF1626
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135074780@N06/20873986219/
In check
https://www.flickr.com/photos/starrynowhere/20418613814/
20150831_170949
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134064471@N06/21022599086/
More recent pic
https://www.flickr.com/photos/toni_richards/19507687693/
Aug 2015 (178)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14403707@N02/20995926812/
Cut out mini dress (Black) video Part 3!! :-)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trans_kyoko/20911023841/
I am Amber Nicole Puga - I am Transgender and Proud!!'
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132397836@N05/21051330322/
#Repost @nicolaformichetti ・・・ Link in bio
https://www.flickr.com/photos/34923246@N03/20413109733/
Frisco / Silverthorne Shopping Day
https://www.flickr.com/photos/breewagner/21045978365/
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Hello Everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
I see the website has changed again. I like it, don't know if it's my computer but everything seems bigger and brighter.
Anyway, it was a beautiful day today, sunny, a little cool but not cold and no rain. Hope we get to enjoy some more of this before the weather turns ugly.
I went into the City this morning and had a little adventure traveling. All I wanted to do was bring my defective apple peeler back to Bed Bath and Beyond and get to The Frick for an exhibit when they opened at 10 AM. This should not have been a problem as I catch a bus at 8:30 AM which usually gets me into the Port Authority around 9 AM. Not today though, can’t say where all the traffic came from but it was a very slow trip and we didn’t arrive at the PA until 9:40 AM, an hour and ten minutes for a 30 minute ride. Still, I figured I had time. I walked down to 18th Street and Sixth Avenue in about 25 minutes and was able to get in and out of the store with a replacement in a short time. I don’t do much in the way of shopping and most of it is done online but I do enjoy shopping at Bed Bath and Beyond. They’re pleasant, helpful and truly understand the words customer service. The item was taken back with no questions asked, so unlike most of my retail transactions, this will go under the banner of successful. Now in leaving the store I had the option of walking up to 23rd St and catching the E train, then transferring at 51st St. to the Lexington Avenue line or just walking the three blocks over to Lexington and then walking up to 23rd St. I chose the latter thinking it had to be quicker than transferring. Except I got to 23rd Street and there was no entrance to the subway. I was truly nonplussed as I know it to be a stop. But what could I do, I walked up to 28th Street, the next stop, still no subway. Now I was really doubting myself. Kept going and when I got to 34th Street, a major stop on all the subway lines, and there was still no entrance, I finally stopped someone and asked where it might be. Imagine my surprise when I discovered that the Lexington Avenue subway actually runs on Park Avenue below 42nd Street. Despite living here all my life it’s not a line I frequented so I had no idea about this. So I walked over and went down in to the subway and waited for the number six. I t finally arrived and I got out at 68th Street and being directionally challenged immediately walked downtown when I wanted to walk uptown. Corrected myself, walked to 70th Street, then immediately walked East instead of West before righting myself and finally getting to the Frick.
Where I saw a very nice, small exhibit of 3 oil paintings and 45 drawings by the 16th Century artist Andrea del Sarto. The three paintings were beautiful, a portrait of John the Baptist as a handsome young man. A portrait of a young man which I assumed to be a self-portrait, only to discover by reading the wall plaque that for many years that had been the thought but that it was now determined that it wasn’t and the sitter remains unknown. The last was The Medici Holy Family showing the Virgin and Child with St. Elizabeth and her son, St. John the Baptist as a child. The drawings were done in red and black chalk and ranged from studies of hands and torsos to portraits and head shots. Some were distinct and some were rapid sketches done just for placement. It was pointed out how valuable paper was as some of the drawings had images on both sides. And one had unreadable writing that had bled through the paper from the other side into the drawing. For the most part all were done as preparation for larger works in oil and frescos. Del Sarto is a great artist but he has never been in the top tier of Raphael and Michelangelo because of the way Gorgio Vasari, his pupil, depicted him in his book “Lives of the Artists.” Vasari claimed that Del Sarto’s devotion to his wife Lucrezia, kept him from opportunities that would have advanced his reputation while repeatedly putting her image into his works. He describes he and his artwork as timid. This is gone into below in the review from the Record newspaper. I found this a very enjoyable exhibit.
This is a link to the Frick description of the exhibit. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/del_sarto This is a link to all the objects in the exhibit. Remember to click on them to enlarge them. http://www.frick.org/exhibitions/del_sarto/checklist This is a short video from the Frick introducing the exhibit. http://www.frick.org/interact/andrea_del_sarto_renaissance_workshop_action And this is a link to a 55 minute video discussing the exhibit and Del Sarto. http://www.frick.org/interact/julian_brooks_andrea_del_sarto_tailors_son_and_making_masterpieces Finally this is a link to the review of the exhibit in the Record newspaper that I discuss above. http://www.northjersey.com/arts-and-entertainment/art/high-renaissance-artist-gets-his-due-1.1426792
I was there a little under an hour and expected an easy ride home so long as the traffic into the City wasn’t now on its way back to New Jersey. So I took the crosstown bus to the West Side and went down into the subway only to discover that there were no downtown trains, all local trains were running on the express tracks from 125th Street to 59th Street. So I had to go uptown, cross over and then go downtown. I finally got back to the Port Authority and had to run to catch my bus but I made it and was grateful to be home and drinking my coffee.
While I won’t go into great detail about it, I had my talk with my employer about my future and I was able to get him to agree to allow me to work from home three days a week starting December 15th . I knew a compromise was going to be needed and I can live with this. I told him I was considering retirement and he said he wasn’t surprised so I see this as the first step. I’ve been thinking about it for so long and going over my expected conversation with him in my head that I was really glad to finally get it over with. So I’ll work my usual schedule until the middle of December and hopefully we won’t have any bone chilling weather before then. We agreed that if the weather was unduly poor I would stay home and once we get to my 65th birthday on April 4th I will then make a decision about actual retirement. I have a feeling that this will take place towards the end of next summer as I definitely don’t want to be commuting next winter even for one day a week. I will miss my salary but I will enjoy staying home and relaxing. I’ve planned well for my retirement and if I can avoid catastrophic illness, something none of us can rely on, I should be fine.
And on that positive note let’s visit the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Tired Stocking Feet In Pumps !
https://www.flickr.com/photos/123515053%40N05/21110840736/
20150901_230016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126820131%40N05/21042652966/
a hint of a smile
https://www.flickr.com/photos/25488909%40N03/21199304355/
9.5.15 Freaky Friday
https://www.flickr.com/photos/gentv2000/21209099395/
Shall we stand in the doorway all night long, or do you have some thing else in mind?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ailananata/21148043355/
There are no favourites, you know you want us all together Xx
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128444174%40N05/20576808603/
melissa in off the shoulder teal blue dress (1)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/93148443%40N04/20463614054/
summer pink
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cheryl416/14823274916/
Sunday afternoon
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135069972%40N08/20726372820/
Femininity
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ladydonna77/20209879751/
So much more fun being a girl, I could spend all my time shopping for nice clothes. I hate it when all the make up comes off and I put on a T shirt and jeans, I was surely destined to wear heels and dresses
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i retired when i got too 50 ,now i am 62 and i help some people run their shop locally as i am getting bored at home.I DONOT WANT MONEY FROM THEM ,BUT BECAUSE I LIVE ON MY OWN ,their mother gives me a meal every nite ,and i am working 10 hours per day ,7 days a week,and now i am enjoying life again,so hopefully cutting down your hours,but working still will give you time for yourself ,and also earning some money still.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Today was a fairly beautiful day albeit starting out in the 40’s. But 40’s on October 17, 2015 is different from 40’s on December 17th even for me. If this was December I would have been out in full winter battle array, heavy coat, sweater, scarf, gloves, etc. But today I was able to get away with just my hat and heavy flannel shirt. The only time I regretted not having the scarf was when I was walking crosstown and the wind blew, the crosstown wind is considerable and even when there isn’t much wind elsewhere as you approach the West side of Manhattan it really picks up.
I headed into the City and started my day by removing the iceberg that was living in our office refrigerator. It was considerable. We turned it off last night around 5PM and when I got to the office a little after 9AM it was really only the surface that had melted. But I was able to work with hammer and screwdriver and clear it. Really wished I had brought my gloves. The only satisfaction I can take is that I expect to be retired before it needs to be done again.
In the current New Yorker there is an art review of a contemporary artist, Maureen Gallace by Peter Schjeldahl who writes the weekly Art World column. He gave the exhibit and the artist a nice review. I am not a fan of most contemporary art but in the review he likens her to Edward Hopper, a favorite of mine, and that was really all it took to garner my interest. I went to the website and liked what I saw so I decided to go. I left my office and walked downtown to 507 West 24th Street which is on the very West side of Manhattan and only a block, more or less, from the Hudson River. I arrived at the gallery and said hello to the two young women sitting behind the reception desk and entered the gallery area. It was, for lack of a better word, sparse. Just this very large room with the walls painted white and 13 paintings hung on them. They were fairly small, I estimated them to be no more than ten by ten. I missed the section in the review where he referred to them as tiny so I was surprised. I walked around the room three times looking at each of the paintings and I confess to being disappointed. He describes them as slightly abstract and they are, with houses lacking windows and doors, and with soft edges and that’s not what I’m accustomed to in Hopper’s art. He describes her style as uniformly quick, daubed brushwork but it seemed to me that she was looking for a Van Gogh effect which I felt she didn’t reach. He describes her colors as a mid-range of tones but too often they appear washed out to me. I’m not a critic and I’m not taking issue with the review, I can only speak for my feelings about the art. I found that they didn’t bear close scrutiny but actually looked better from a distance. I’m not sorry I went, they were pleasant enough but none of them made me think I would like to have one hanging on my wall to look at every day. This is a link to The New Yorker review, http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/10/19/america-at-the-edges and this is a link to the Gallery website with the images from the exhibit, http://www.303gallery.com/index.php?exhid=295&p=images Usually I will add that of course the images on the screen can’t compare to seeing the art hanging on a wall but in this instance I believe they look better on the web.
And so ends another art class.
Let’s see who’s at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Polka Dotty
https://www.flickr.com/photos/joberry/15422422472/
Deck
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135069972%40N08/20981988892/
Cute sundress and hat
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53516713%40N06/21223062196/
Mirrored Selfie - Side View of Dress Worn to StLGF Meeting
https://www.flickr.com/photos/s_a_essay/21550905626/
Angelic in Ballgown
https://www.flickr.com/photos/20733644%40N00/20693068708/
160
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44815144%40N07/21036600302/
Bride
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132378979%40N03/20775071652/
Special Drag Ensemble
https://www.flickr.com/photos/69327412%40N04/20776942044/
Becki
https://www.flickr.com/photos/boyswillbegirls/20272164016/
Princess
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ladydonna77/20047520693/
Brautkleid 7
https://www.flickr.com/photos/88956597%40N08/20266893818/
Dressed for his boyfriend
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133008297%40N08/21390071629/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Another chilly day but otherwise pleasant enough. The weatherman tells me there will be no Polar Vortex this year but makes no predictions about snow or rain. I’m hoping it’s mild and dry but that’s what I hope for every year. It’s some small consolation that I won’t have to deal with the weather three days of the week when the Winter begins. I also noted the good news that there are now plans to build a new Port Authority bus terminal one block behind the current one. The less enjoyable news accompanying it was that speculation puts the completion date 15 years away. And that’s probably if all goes well so I expect to be well into my dotage when I walk through it. Assuming I’m still here, still walking and not already in my dotage.
Anyway, I went into the City this morning and visited the Metropolitan Museum of art to catch up on a couple of things. There is a new rotation in the drawing corridor and is a rather nice coda to the wonderful Sargent exhibit that I raved about. This exhibit consists of 11 prints consisting of 6 lithographs, 2 watercolors and 3 drawings, two in charcoal and one in graphite. I’ll give you a link to all the images in the exhibit at the end but first I want to link to a few that I especially liked. Boy in Costume http://tinyurl.com/p4cfchk This was a gift to the museum from his sister Violet who lived until 1955. I just like the whole effect he achieved with just a little color ,the boy’s outfit, his stance and pose, a charming depiction of someone in a casual moment. Firelight http://tinyurl.com/okgca4j Another gift from Violet; this is a graphite or pencil sketch of the head of a man with his eyes closed, gazing down, with his hands at the side of his face. Probably a friend of Sargent’s in a reflective mood. As I noted previously, his ease at sketching was addressed by a little girl who commented that Sargent drew like other people write. How exciting to be able to create an image like this using a few lines and some crosshatching. Study of a Young Man in a Cloak Standing http://tinyurl.com/nkqwsw8 This is a lithograph and similar to Firelight. Again it’s a simple study of his valet who the card next to it said was a model for Sargent, dressed up in the cloak leaning against a wall with his hands behind his back. This came from Violet as well.
Domenichino was a 17th Century Italian artist of the baroque style and there is a very large cartoon of his in the exhibit; it’s roughly five by six feet in an oval. This is a cartoon in the classical sense, that is, it was created to be used as a base for a fresco, The Martyrdom of Saint Cecilia http://tinyurl.com/ono3lph It’s significant as not many cartoons survive the creation of the painting. There is a long discussion of the cartoon on the website at the link under label. The link should open to it. This is a link to the actual fresco. http://tinyurl.com/oy4voto
Finally, there were four etchings from Mariano Fortuny, a Spanish painter of the 19th Century. These are quite evocative of Goya and the one I enjoyed the most was “Idyll: a naked youth seated outdoors on a plinth playing a double flute, a goat on the ground before him” which I find to be a vision of innocence in a bucolic setting. Some may find it sentimental but I think that’s what appeals to me. http://tinyurl.com/nuuwxmw And this is a link to all the images in the exhibit. http://tinyurl.com/nj9bhxq
I also visited a sister exhibition to the one that I described attending at the Frick, Andrea del Sarto's Borgherini Holy Family. This was a very small exhibit of three paintings, two exhibited side by side to show their similarity. One was The Holy Family with the Young Saint John the Baptist, a version of which appeared in the Frick show and the other was Charity. When you look at them you see that the woman depicted as Charity is the same as the woman representing the Holy Mother. In Charity the other three figures are changed. There is a radiograph in the exhibit pointing out the changes. Del Sarto started Charity as another painting of the holy family and switched to the other images, hence the similarities. This is a link to the all of the images http://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2015/andrea-del-sarto-borgherini
A most enjoyable morning.
Now on to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Sexy Bitch 1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tgirlkitty/20938157673/
On the fringe of the sea.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/kristinanolagirl/21426177289/
Heiligendamm2
https://www.flickr.com/photos/47384164@N08/21415256148/
2015-08-17_23h13_42
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134520264@N05/21511366345/
Sitting sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16797250@N07/21555139746/
Pink!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/emily_pinup/20976339813/
Kellie
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sexykellie/20180512443/
I do love petticoats
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lindaw567/21448964362/
Frank Martin
https://www.flickr.com/photos/130629171@N08/20004222553/
2015.05-04
https://www.flickr.com/photos/samyoliver/21085540394/
day026-f01
https://www.flickr.com/photos/yumiko_misaki/2868199290/
Silk Ballgown
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132378979@N03/16851385928/
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15 years to build a new bus terminal at a cost of 10 billion dollars & no red flags went up? It doesn't take 15 years & $10 billlion to build the largest or tallest builings in the world these days. It cost just as much to pay 100 guys to do a job in 15 years, as it does to pay 1,000 guys to do the same job in 1.5 years... Maybe even cheaper as prices go up as the years go on. They're gonna take a year just to decide on a design... Nobody there was been thinking of & planning a new design for the past decade? It sounds like a plan to drain NY state & city taxpayer money to line the pockets of corrupt politicians, contruction companies, & project planners/management. Really, it's not like they're sending a probe to Pluto or making a subway to Moscow. It shouldn't take nowhere near 15 years no matter what it costs. It's a money draining & sucking plan by stretching it to 15 years & $10 billion.
They say condos, & commercial space will cover 2/3 the cost... yeah right. And after the broke state & taxpayer paid for it, who will actually get the condo & commercial space money 15 years from now? The port authority, it's staff, & management, not the state or taxpayer.
I hardly think after the condos & commercial space is leased, I'll get a check in the mail to pay back for all the taxes it cost us to build it.
I'm certain they can build an absloutely beautiful & functional new terminal for 1/2 billion or less in 2-5 years if they really wanted & had to (minus the cost of actually purchasing the property).
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Hi Betty,
I don't disagree. The original building took two years to build and cost $24 million, which is roughly $240 million in 2015 dollars. But the building needs to be replaced; it's not so much the interior which isn't nearly as bad as it used to be. The problem is with the buses queuing up to get onto the platforms. In many cases they arrive and then have to circle the building before being able to pull into their platform. That causes chaos and delays. The tunnel traffic is usually only a problem if there is a major delay. The key point is that money needs to be spent for mass transit. Commuters who use mass transit are hit with increased costs whether riding the bus, the trains or the subway. The whole point is to encourage people to use mass transit, not discourage them. As they say, it's better to have 50 people on one bus than 50 cars with one person only. Even though, as I said, it won't affect me, I'm in favor of this. And if I have to pay taxes to support it I would rather pay for this than for some new stadium for a billionaire who applies for corporate welfare.
Andy G.
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Indeed. But they need it now for 1/2 billion dollars, not in 2030 for $10 billion. By that time most people would have found other alternatives. They need to come up with a cheaper 2-3 year building plan, not an expensive palace that some construction company & crooks make over 2000% profit building.
I know space is expensive there, but who's gonna pay top dollar for condos above a bus station anyway?
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Hi Betty,
I've lived here my entire life and believe me, you would be surprised at what people are willing to pay and where they are willing to live. There are sections of Manhattan that I never thought would be trendy but are definitely out of the price range of working class people. If they build condominiums people will buy them. There's a lot to be said for living in Midtown in the heart of the City. And you can be certain the condominiums will have separate and private access from the Bus Terminal and be well insulated against the noise and the pollution. In addition to the building time they are including the time to acquire and demolish the entire block they will need as well as get all the permits and stuff. This is just the beginning and I'm sure things will change as time goes by. Probably not for the good.
But I'm a cynic and a pessimist by nature.
Andy G.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It was a cool but sunny and dry, very beautiful morning and I set off for the auction previews at Sotheby’s. There were several, the collection of Alfred A. Taubman, Impressionist works and 19th Century European art. The Taubman is the big cheese here, Sotheby’s has guaranteed the heirs $500 million. What that means is that if anything doesn’t reach its maximum bid, Sotheby’s buys it and pays the estate. It is a major collection.
This is a very truncated version of Wikipedia’s bio of Alfred Taubman. He was a real estate developer who became a billionaire, building his Company, Taubman Centers, into a retailing powerhouse. He bought Sotheby’s in 1983, when they were going through a particularly bad patch, warding off a hostile takeover by General Felt. He built it back up and took the company public in 1988. His family divested controlling interest by September 2005. In the early 2000s, an investigation into alleged price-fixing between Sotheby’s and Christie’s led to a confession by Sotheby's CEO Diana Brooks of an elaborate price fixing scheme with her counterpart at Christie's, Christopher Davidge. In a plea bargain arrangement, prosecutors offered to keep her out of prison if she agreed to implicate Taubman. She did, and thereafter Taubman was convicted in a jury trial of price fixing He was fined $7.5 million (USD) and imprisoned for ten months in 2002 for antitrust violations. He was released in 2003 and died in April of 2015.
He died professing his innocence and I can only say, he may have been a crook but he had a very good eye for beautiful art. I guess it didn’t hurt being associated with Sotheby’s, he would have always been close to anything that went on the block.
This is a link to the Sotheby’s website. If you click on the three links to the right, you will see the full catalog for that day’s auction. http://tinyurl.com/nd5ryme This is a link to the Taubman blog page at Sotheby’s. http://tinyurl.com/ofh2oj4 If you click on this you will be able to access all the videos showing his collection. And this is a link to a bio of the man himself. http://tinyurl.com/oaxjuh5
These are samples from Taubman’s collection which I especially enjoyed.
Vincent van Gogh - Jardin Public À Arles, a pen and ink drawing. Very simple and beautiful. http://tinyurl.com/pexlnbb
This is the star of the auction, Modigliani’s Paulette Jourdain. It’s one of his last works and very representative of his style with the long neck. It looks like it is back lit, it shines, it is magnificent. I always say that you can’t compare the images on the web to the actual paintings but that doesn’t even begin to say it with this painting and all the others as well. I really think there will be a battle for this painting. When you go to the link there are detailed notes for all the items along with their provenance which are worthwhile reading. http://tinyurl.com/o7gug75
This is a beautiful Degas pastel, Femme Nue, De Dos, Se Coiffant (Femme Se Peignant) http://tinyurl.com/q62n7va
Winslow Homer has long been a favorite of mine and here is a lovely watercolor, In Charge of Baby, showing three older children tending to an infant by the shore in a fishing port. http://tinyurl.com/p2y34y5
And I was pleased to see a Sargent watercolor, I Gesuati (Canal Scene, Venice; The Church Of The Gesuati, Venice; Il Gesuati, Venice) a massive church on the bank of the canal with a few boats and people milling around. http://tinyurl.com/ov84t36
And an oil portrait of a young Madame Matisse at the seaside by her husband Henri. http://tinyurl.com/o9nqsk7
Finally, this magnificent, enormous painting by Martin Johnson Heade, an American Hudson river painter. I was taken with it when I first saw it in the catalogue but seeing it on the wall in all its 8ft x 4.5ft glory, it was stupendous, The Great Florida Sunset http://tinyurl.com/oysbz2l
These are from the Impressionist auctions.
A very pretty pastel by Manet, Portrait De Madame Du Paty. http://tinyurl.com/prjlufx
A magnificent Van Gogh, Paysage Sous Un Ciel Mouvementé, which I imagine will be the star of the Impressionist sale. http://tinyurl.com/pj2tjhq This is from the collection of Louis and Evelyn Franck which was small but startlingly good. 2 Van Gogh’s, 2 Cezannes, Tolouse Lautrec, Kees Van Dongen, Picasso, Chagall and James Ensor. You can see all of them here http://tinyurl.com/pwsw7mn
Here is a Monet water lily pond, another version of Nympheas, which I think will also generate a lot of interest. http://tinyurl.com/nj2jsht I was lucky enough to see a version owned by Huguette Clark, the heiress who lived to be 104 years old and spent her last 20 years living in a hospital. That one was auctioned by Christie’s and hadn’t been seen in public since 1926. Here’s a link if you want to compare. http://www.bloomberg.com/photo/monet-/-ieUKDmSuOM7k.html
This is something I’ve never seen before, a landscape by Piet Mondrian depicting a woman with a bucket by the shore of a river near a bridge. The only Mondrian’s I’ve seen have been his colorful geometric designs. http://tinyurl.com/o98n3cq
This was in 19th Century European art. I saw an exhibition of Anders Zorn at the National Academy of Design and it was wonderful, room after room of paintings, drawings, watercolors, etc. I was pleased to find this work by him in the auction. A Portrait Of The Daughters Of Ramón Subercaseaux. In a nice coincidence John Singer Sargent in the recent massive portrait exhibition painted the girl’s parents separately. http://tinyurl.com/ptzy9g7
Whenever I go to the auctions there are always artists I know nothing about and this time I found one I really liked, Federico Del Campo, a 19th Century Peruvian painter of Vedute. Really lovely depictions of Venice along the style of Canaletto and others. This is a link to the Sotheby’s page showing the two in the current auction, two more that will go to block in London and previous sales. All very nice. http://tinyurl.com/nnb8j5g
Well I could certainly keep going but I think you will understand why I’ve been looking forward to this series of auctions, so many beautiful things from so many great artists. And there is the American auction in a few weeks and Taubman’s Old Masters won’t go on the block until January so there’s something else to look forward to. In addition to the links to the Taubman pages referred to earlier, this is a link to the Sotheby’s page which lists all the auctions. If you change the location from all to New York, look for the 3rd, 6th, 7th, 8th and 9th auctions. They take place on November 3,4,5 and 6 . There are hours of interesting reading in the catalog notes about the artworks. http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions.html
And after this very extended art class let’s move on to why we all come to Betty’s, to see what’s new at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Alicia de Castro [Juan]
https://www.flickr.com/photos/marccelus/4474068117/
Miss Gay em Salvador 2003
https://www.flickr.com/photos/marccelus/4377459105/
Me gustan los mini vestidos
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128043907%40N06/15297535708/
My new red jacket
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41640018%40N06/16757761897/
k-ELL_9844
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96743750%40N03/21542815086/
kutiekaz1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/80033576%40N05/14267804155/
Face and cleavage
https://www.flickr.com/photos/132476006%40N07/21764227220/
sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431%40N05/21507951568/
The maid next door
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134528860%40N07/20345218791/
IMG_7234
https://www.flickr.com/photos/little_miss_snow/20265816223/
Sissy Maid Georgia
https://www.flickr.com/photos/96259671%40N04/11814595206/
Is This How Its Supposed To Be Done?
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cutie_ruthie/19544684719/
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Thanks again Andy for the links to Sotheby's, it was interesting and also thanks for the pics. It has been a cool night up here for Halloween and have not seen any boy's as girls tonight. We had over 67 kids but the costumes were mostly bought and quite a few were worn under heavy coats so it was a bit of a waste for taking photo's. I did notice that most of the kids in the 7-12 age group were with adults this year so that is good but there were three young girls aged about 11-12 that were by themselves at 9:30 at night and my block is a long dark one with at least three street lights out inspite of my calling the city to replace them ahead of time. Our city does have patrols by city workers and Cable and phone company employee's volunteering their time to drive the streets for safety sake. We made up 70 small bags of candy and only had 3 left over by 10:30 PM. We put out the lights and watched the movie Hocus Pocus with Bette Midler/Sarah Jessica Parker and Cathy Najimy. It is always fun on Halloween night. I was at Wal-Mart earlier looking for the movie Witches of Eastwick with Cher and Jack Nicholson but could not find it. I have not seen that one in quite awhile.
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
This will be a brief Flickr this week. Heading down to the Jersey shore to celebrate my friend’s son’s 17th birthday. It’s hard to comprehend he is 17 now as he was a year and a half old when I renewed my acquaintance with his mother and father. Time certainly does fly. Except at work I’ve noticed. It takes a very long time to go from Monday to Friday but you wake up one morning and a bunch of years have flown by. I hope to slow those years down a little when I retire. I baked the birthday cake and cookies that I always bring. I bake everything from scratch and make the whipped cream for the frosting but I buy the icing that I use to decorate the cake with the words Happy Birthday. Between my bad handwriting, my stubby hands and general awkwardness I find this to be the most difficult part of the baking process. And I discovered too late that the icing I had in my cupboard had loosened up some, making for some very interesting looking letters. Oh well, it will taste the same no matter what.
Hope everyone on the board has a splendid day.
Andy G.
Joanna@JoannaJonesCD.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134090544@N05/20421747763/
candytiger9
https://www.flickr.com/photos/53899402@N04/21410683784/
Jennifer with feathered ensemble.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stoopdown/21765213959/
DSC_0227
https://www.flickr.com/photos/72529855@N05/21226570269/
Luv my dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/maria_christina_68/21392382351/
Being a sissy is a walk in the park
https://www.flickr.com/photos/22704178@N07/15488152338/
New dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/sissycindy/20951246246/
Daisy, Sofie and Stefan
https://www.flickr.com/photos/houseofsecrets/15388590181/
Womanless-Wedding
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131048136@N08/21304676423/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leihia1/21944086620/
Short hair and glasses
https://www.flickr.com/photos/jaminheelz/21904119838/
IMG_20151010_220926
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hilaryhall/22088712661/
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Thanks Andy for all your hard work every weekend , i do so look forward to your selections and also the other pictures in the respective flickr accounts
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It’s definitely starting to get cooler but we’ve been remarkably lucky so far with the temperatures. This is the longest I can remember going into the winter without having to wear my winter coat which is pleasant as lord knows I will certainly be wearing it shortly. Today it was in the 40’s when I left with the temperature supposed to rise to the low 50’s but it seemed to me that it got cooler although that was probably due to the breeze. But I had a very nice morning indulging myself in an art doubleheader.
The auctions continue and I was able to visit both Sotheby’s and Christie’s for their American auctions today. In this case I think Sotheby’s had the nicer things although both shows were enjoyable. No blockbusters in this group like the $170 million dollar Modigliani nude that Christie’s sold this past week but still I saw a bunch of artists whom I enjoy.
I’ll link to the pieces that I found notable. First was a watercolor by Charles Demuth of Roses. http://tinyurl.com/qcadfev Very delicate, I think I’ve mentioned a number of times that I saw a Demuth exhibit at the Metropolitan museum many years ago which consisted of his watercolors of flowers and fruits and vegetables and it was truly a marvel. I found myself waxing enthusiastically about rutabagas. Wonderful stuff.
There were several watercolors by Winslow Homer, Yacht in a Cove, Gloucester which is just what the description says http://tinyurl.com/pgp4ljb The Summer Cloud which shows a boat in dry-dock with two young girls sitting next to it, one sitting on a wagon wheel. http://tinyurl.com/nfbolvs and a simple pencil sketch, A Rural Couple, showing a man and a woman sitting opposite each other, the man with a straw in his mouth and the woman holding her head and looking down. http://tinyurl.com/qep8ep9 The first two could easily have been illustrations for Harpers or any of the other magazines he drew for and the sketch must have been a study for another one or a painting.
I’ve seen a lot of John Singer Sargent of late and always enjoy his work but I have to say that of the two pieces in this auction, one of them, was clearly not his best work, Mrs. Harry Vane Milbank just doesn’t inspire me, it looks like a work for hire and clearly wouldn’t have fit into the large exhibit at the Met of his friends. The background on the website says it was probably done at the same time he was working on Madame X and shares some of the more risqué features associated with that painting. This is another case of the painting looking better on the web than the wall. http://tinyurl.com/pfy879o
The other was a very nice painting of a 7 year old boy, Lancelot Allen. There’s nice background on Lancelot and his family at the link; the painting was done in three sittings and his mother read Rudyard Kipling to him to keep him amused while he sat. http://tinyurl.com/pw2hnk2
A very sweet Thomas Hart Benton, T.P. and Jake, a painting of the artists son with his pet dog Jake. It’s inscribed on the back, T.P.'s birthday/11 years old/from Dad
http://tinyurl.com/orwbypy The provenance shows that Thomas P. kept it in the family until 1980 when it went into private hands until 1991 when the current owner acquired it.
It was nice to see that the entire Wyeth family was represented in this auction. N.C. Wyeth in what the website says was the frontispiece for a book, The Boy Columbus, http://tinyurl.com/qyv8pcz Wyeth was a classic illustrator whose work appeared in all the popular magazines and children’s classic books. Andrew Wyeth, his son, The Flood Plain and also a sketch for The Flood Plain. http://tinyurl.com/o84yrj6 http://tinyurl.com/nzmlp66 You can see how he changed the image from the sketch which showed two buildings, to the painting with the second building obscured behind hay and the remnants of a hay wagon. Very simple and straightforward depiction of his family’s land. And finally, Jamie, N.C.’s grandson and Andrew’s son, Sea Birds, http://tinyurl.com/oqorpsv showing two seagulls in front of a lighthouse, with a house behind it.
Two 20th century artists I am unfamiliar with, Otis Kaye and David Brega who I think actually has to be referred to as a 21st Century artist as he is alive and still painting. Both are examples of trompe l’oeil which I find very entertaining. Kaye’s Bid and Ask, shows a bulletin board with paper money and coins as well as rolled up stock certificates hanging off the board, a bent nail holding a pencil in place. http://tinyurl.com/p6fbu6s Brega’s Starstruck shows an iconic photograph of Marilyn Monroe with the artist painting himself to her left, with a letter addressed to him to the right, all on what appear to be cabinet doors of some type. http://tinyurl.com/nwakbfa
And to close Sotheby’s there were several Norman Rockwell’s, one of which, a large pencil sketch was enormously pleasing, Father and Boy, http://tinyurl.com/oyv7bno shows the two of them assembling a toy rocket while the family dog sits next to them watching the other parts.
These are links to the full list of items in the American and Taubman’s American exhibits, http://tinyurl.com/ndpdb7t http://tinyurl.com/nvkynda lots of very nice things I haven’t mentioned.
Afterwards I headed over to Christie’s, which as I said didn’t quite match up and was smaller to boot. Both auction houses also had Latin American art up and the first thing I saw when I got to Christie’s was July Larraz’ Diva, which is a wonderful Sargent spoof. It shows Madame X with her strap down sitting at a table in what appears to be an airplane. http://tinyurl.com/punzrux
Part of the American sale was America Illustrated: Norman Rockwell and His Contemporaries which had a number of Rockwell’s, as well as JC Leyendecker, Ludwig Bemelmans, James Montgomery Flagg and other peer illustrators. Lots of nice things here. http://tinyurl.com/pg82npm The star of the American sale has to be Norman Rockwell’s, NORMAN ROCKWELL VISITS A COUNTRY EDITOR which is expected to bring between $10 and $15 million. It’s a two page spread that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post and shows Rockwell, entering the door to the editor’s office where we see the editor, his secretary, a copy boy and several customers waiting in line. http://tinyurl.com/nz8fpgg
I have to include the sole representation of one of my favorite artists, Edward Hopper, a pencil sketch of a nightshirt http://tinyurl.com/nm5toxz signed and inscribed with the title for just $10 to $15K.
A pencil and gouache depiction of two young women walking with arms around each other by Winslow Homer entitled Through the Fields. http://tinyurl.com/osjqfub
I raved about the enormous Martin Johnson Heade landscape when I first saw it and it was up again as this is the auction in which it will be sold but there was also another very nice Heade, much smaller but just as lovely, Nesting Hummingbirds, Brazilian Landscape http://tinyurl.com/q7jxmsj showing two rather placid birds under grey skies and what appears to be the clearing after a storm. Or maybe just a break in the storm.
And finally another beautiful landscape, this one by George Inness, Light Triumphant, a magnificent rural scene showing a man on his horse tending his cattle with the brilliant foliage all around them. http://tinyurl.com/oqbmwzk
And this is a link to the full list of art in the American auction, again, much to see here. http://tinyurl.com/nou55w2
And so, on to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Retro Red
https://www.flickr.com/photos/126461197@N06/22082762172/
4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trannilicious2011/5808749313/
DSC_6753
https://www.flickr.com/photos/lisah_tv/21434509624/
Susie30
https://www.flickr.com/photos/24899087@N05/15366334613/
DSC06151
https://www.flickr.com/photos/117560929@N03/21913259419/
just for the fun
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431@N05/22011899265/
Pink sissy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/33270421@N02/22072708342/
Long dress ;)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/127565934@N04/22070900771/
I always wanted to date a raver girl, so I became one!
https://www.flickr.com/photos/76424061@N02/21990332862/
Susan's new dress (2)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/susanmiller64/22262735081/
Trevi 10.17.2015 #1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/marie_sunshine/22118157800/
bee48
https://www.flickr.com/photos/bee-ceedee/16640132251/
Continuing the German theme
https://www.flickr.com/photos/juliabell/18229018754/
Little princess
https://www.flickr.com/photos/blackietv/20601339526/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It was a dark and stormy night! Well, actually it was a rather clear, brisk beautiful day, a little cool but certainly acceptable for mid-November just a few days before Thanksgiving. I don’t know how many of the board members are familiar with my opening sentence. It was written by the 19th Century novelist Edward Bulwer Lytton as the opening to his novel Paul Clifford. Bulwer Lytton was a very successful writer in his day with many novels and plays to his credit as well as being the originator of these other phrases, “the pen is mightier than the sword,” “the great unwashed” and “the almighty dollar.” He also wrote the historical novel, “The Last Days of Pompeii,” which has been made into a movie on a number of occasions. I remember watching the 1935 edition as a child and it scared the bejeezus out of me. But his style has gone completely out of fashion and is now considered overly melodramatic, florid and gothic. His works are no longer read popularly and if at all, only in academia to study bad writing. The dark and stormy night opening led to an annual contest in which writers compete to see who can write the worst opening to a fictitious novel. This is the 2015 winner; the contest has run for 33 years.
“Seeing how the victim's body, or what remained of it, was wedged between the grill of the Peterbilt 389 and the bumper of the 2008 Cadillac Escalade EXT, officer "Dirk" Dirksen wondered why reporters always used the phrase "sandwiched" to describe such a scene since there was nothing appetizing about it, but still, he thought, they might have a point because some of this would probably end up on the front of his shirt. — “
I looked all this up because I was curious as to what makes this bad writing as on the surface I didn’t see anything awful about it. It’s considered bad because, as noted above, it’s overly melodramatic but additionally, if you continue reading the novel, it’s irrelevant and has no bearing on the events that take place, only being thrown in to get the reader’s attention, which doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me but I’m not a critic. Additionally, to say it was a dark night is redundant. Charles Schulz had fun with it by making it Snoopy’s opening line for his novels.
On a total non-sequitur, every morning when I leave the house I wear my glasses as I navigate through the streets. When I get to the office I take them off as I don’t need them for my computer, put them in their case and put them in my bag. I don’t wear them on the way home, don’t ask me why as I can’t really say but sometimes at the bus terminal I take them out while I to do the puzzle. Then I get home and put them on the table next to my comfy reading chair in case I need them in the evening. The following morning I repeat the process. Except on Thursday morning I took out the glasses case and they were empty. I couldn’t remember if I had worn them in the terminal the night before and looked all over my house for them without success. I left for the office figuring I would surely find them on my office desk when I got in. No, they weren’t there. Apparently I have lost them. I can’t imagine what I did with them or how and where I did it but I don’t think they’re going to turn up. Last month the frame broke and I got an old pair out of the closet and jammed the lenses into it and although they didn’t fit properly I was able to wear them. I figured I would call my ophthalmologist and have him fax me the prescription but I didn’t see any real urgency to it. But Thursday morning I contacted him to get the prescription. His receptionist said she would fax it to me but her computer was down. Later that morning I called again and was told that it would be sent over shortly after the doctor reviewed it and a little while later I heard our fax machine beeping. When it stopped I picked up the sheet of paper and it was blank. So I called the doctor’s office and asked if that was my prescription and they apologized and sent it over again right side up. I then tried to contact the local optician who I finally found out had closed his office. Oddly enough his brother also was an optician and his office is in the next town over. which isn’t far away but I wasn’t real happy about having to drive there. I chose the first optician because it was in walking distance. When I got home I got into the car and it was raining and fairly dark. I was wearing an old pair of glasses with a previous prescription so I wasn’t thrilled to be behind the wheel but it was only a few miles. And it was a completely straight route for me so I didn’t get lost which was a bonus. I can get along without the glasses on a day to day basis but I must have them for driving. I’m willing to drive the one mile and back to go to the Shop Rite but I wouldn’t go down to the Jersey shore, which is where I’m headed next Saturday, without them so I was pleased when I was told I would be able to pick them up on Tuesday. It baffles me as to where the pair is or what happened to them. It must be like the clothes dryer where you put a pair of socks in and only one comes out.
Anyway, today being Saturday, I did my art thing. I went to the Metropolitan museum of art for their current Japanese exhibit, “Celebrating the Arts of Japan The Mary Griggs Burke Collection.” Mary Griggs Burke has been a great benefactor to the museum donating large portions of the enormous collection of Japanese art she and her husband acquired during their lifetimes. This is a link to a biographical sketch of her, http://burkecollection.org/about/mary-griggs-burke
This is a link to a review of the exhibit that appeared in yesterday’s NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/13/arts/design/masterpieces-of-japanese-art-at-the-met.html?_r=0 There are many illustrations, the very first one at the top is a fierce looking statue, the wrathful avatar of Dainichi Buddha who is the tenacious protector of Buddhist law, as it says on the Met website. I usually don’t pay much attention to the statues in these exhibits but this batch was very fine and interesting. He uses the lasso to catch the demons and the sword to decapitate him. Very 21st Century I guess although this is metaphorical violence in pursuit of Buddhist principles. This is a link to the Met website with more information on it http://tinyurl.com/pgkdgjc As you scroll down you come to another photo of six of the twelve divine generals. It’s hard to see, even if you enlarge the photo, but these figures all have very fierce expressions as well and represent the animals of the Chinese Zodiac. The painted scrolls and screens are, as usual, also very beautiful. This is a scroll of the Aizen Myōō, the embodiment of rage, another fierce God. It should probably be my avatar as I so easily lose my temper, a genetic disorder handed down from my father. To show his better nature the site tells us that lovers with problems of the heart prayed to him for intercession. http://tinyurl.com/qemrtap This is one of the many screens; I chose it because it’s a very simple image, a goose flying along preparing to swoop down to the water. It’s very clear and much easier to discern than the other screens which are very big and have lots of small characters which are hard to see in the illustrations. http://tinyurl.com/q8d9wt4 Towards the end of the exhibition were the things that most interested me. There were six more hanging scrolls, one of which “Beauties of the Kanbun Era,” depicts a beautiful woman against a blank background. Very colorful with the sharply contrasting patterns of her dress. I was taken with her pose, hands over her mouth while she dances. http://tinyurl.com/ntng7qt The others were equally beautiful. And finally, we come to six wood block prints by Hiroshige, as I’ve mentioned before, this is what aroused my interest in Japanese art. I don’t know why but only one of them is shown on the website, it says they’re not on view even though they clearly are. The six all depict various rivers in Japan with a poem associated with the rivers. In the middle of the room is a set of handscrolls by a contemporary of Hiroshige that depict almost the exact same thing. I love the color and composition of these prints and in this one the perfect full moon high in the sky. http://tinyurl.com/q496cjd
This is a link to all the objects in the exhibition, except the missing Hiroshige’s. http://tinyurl.com/oy7nvs7 I look forward to returning for the second rotation in the Spring.
And all that remains is to wish everyone on the board a Happy Thanksgiving and then, on to the Flickrs.
Andy G.
sissy01 001
https://www.flickr.com/photos/andrellina/16353696931/
WP_20140425_016
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133100448%40N03/19824026895/
sissy gina holding up her petticoats to show off her pink garters and white stockings
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10974572%40N05/15483873326/
J4
https://www.flickr.com/photos/44425851%40N05/14099927128/
Snapshot_20101008_43
https://www.flickr.com/photos/40171643%40N08/5360645597/
Come fly with me
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tsjessicapresley/6628323685/
garden1
https://www.flickr.com/photos/pettisue/20493515046/
Hermione's truly in Wonderland as Alice
https://www.flickr.com/photos/hermionesimpson/22160692106/
Drag Ball: Powder, Pearls, and Pumps
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135372232%40N02/22319224675/
Crossdressing LA
https://www.flickr.com/photos/137232844%40N06/22423149251/
dirndl
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdhousewife/22244178329/
013
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9913641%40N03/17738959310/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
I hope enough board members contribute to keep Betty's going or I guess the weekly Flickr will end here. Sad to see an institution like Betty's fade out due to an unwillingness on the part of the people who enjoy it to contribute to its well being.
Anyway, I’ve had a very enjoyable long weekend so far and today I head down to Princeton to take a friend to an art exhibition at the college art museum, the Perlman collection, which should be a splendid collection of Impressionist watercolors highlighted by their Cezanne’s. Very much looking forward to it.
Yesterday I did another doubleheader, first I walked up to 3 West 57th Street to the Cavalier Gallery for an exhibit of American art. Some familiar names here from previous posts.
First we have a pastel by Mary Cassatt, The Banjo Lesson, http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5098, A little washed out but very fine.
Then, Isaac Soyer’s, Woman Seated in Green http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5110 Isaac is one of three painters in the family along with his brothers Moses and Raphael, they’re all 20th Century artists. Very spare but beautiful
I’ve mentioned Eastman Johnson before, his paintings are sentimental and prototypical 19th Century images. Here we have Catching up on the News http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5112
Louis Comfort Tiffany was more well known for his decorative art, the eponymous Tiffany Lamps that were popular at the end of the 19th and turn of the 20th Century that still resonate today but he also painted and Fruit Market at Geneva is a very nice depiction of a town square market http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5093
Thomas Eakins, The Fairman Rogers Four-In-Hand Fan is really a curio, a painting of a horse drawn coach on an actual paper fan with a mother of pearl frame http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5097
A wonderful Jamie Wyeth watercolor, a beach scene, looking past boulders up at a house on a hill, Summer House (Zero House), http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5089
There were a number of very contemporary artists with paintings done in the last 10 or 15 years that were very nice, still lifes and interiors and this painting, another example of trompe l’oeil, by Joel Carson Jones, Amuse, http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5085
This is a link to the full catalog of paintings. http://www.cavaliergalleries.com/exhibition/89#!5109
Afterwards I walked downtown to the Scandinavia House at 58 Park Avenue to see an exhibition of the Danish artist Vilhelm Hammershoi. He has been likened to Edward Hopper so you know that going in I was going to be inclined to like these paintings if that was the case. And he definitely painted in a Hopperesque style, what my brother referred to as Hopper without the menace. In many of Hopper’s paintings the absence of people can take on a nefarious cast based on the image he presented you with. His painting, Gas, which is in MOMA, is one of my favorites and definitely illustrates this. It’s a gas station on a lonely road, opposite a rather forbidding forest, with the attendant by one of the pumps. No cars, people or animal life around. Here’s a link http://shadeone.com/nighthawks/Gas-1940.jpg
Hammershoi’s art speaks of isolation, his interiors can be claustrophobic and when his paintings are inhabited by people they generally have their backs to the viewer or are seen from the side. His pictures of buildings are completely absent any living forms, human, animal or avian. And his colors are very muted, lots of greys and browns. Very Spartan, austere and in some cases mournful. The website doesn’t have images but this is a link to a New York Times review that has a number of illustrations. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/11/20/arts/design/vilhelm-hammershois-paintings-at-scandinavia-house.html?_r=0 In “Amalienborg Square, Copenhagen” you see the square with the building in the background and a statue in the foreground and nothing else. And the statue is behind a gate which is also behind posts with chains, very contained and closed in. He used his wife as a model and in “Portrait of Ida Ilsted, Later the Artist’s Wife” you see his muted colors, the brown and black and the mournful look on her face. There were several portraits of Ida, one was an oil sketch of her head and shoulders which he turned into the Portrait above. In it the background is barely discernible as to where it ends and her cloak begins. In “Interior in Strandgade, Sunlight on the Floor”, again a very claustrophobic scene, very bare, his wife is sitting at a table, straight backed in a chair away from the viewer, no other furniture in view, very Spartan. We see a window with no view as to what’s outside, next to a closed door.
This is a link to the SMK museum, the National Gallery of Denmark, from where the exhibition’s paintings came, it shows all of his paintings in their collection. http://tinyurl.com/pdtvzxh
I found this an excellent exhibition, very glad I went.
Hope this isn't a farewell. If it is I just want to thank you Betty for all your hard work and the way you've scrimped to keep the board going. I wish you the best and hope things work out for you.
Andy G.
A French Maid Laurie 3 jpg
https://www.flickr.com/photos/9352703@N06/1378231572/
Cheerleader '93
https://www.flickr.com/photos/14176339@N04/12858314493/
Cute White Dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/cdbf1/19292720038/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/just_danielle/8256065490/
Yep another Alice Dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/74475326@N08/16887548622/
New Prom Dress
https://www.flickr.com/photos/ellietgirl/14344217390/
Polish folk costume
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mayuko_vienna/10093627996/
As told.. wearing that sissy dress at your return
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31441916@N04/3129842269/
Jessie
https://www.flickr.com/photos/58421936@N07/21699157043/
Birgit020591
https://www.flickr.com/photos/birgittv/22234474540/
Red folksy pinafore
https://www.flickr.com/photos/shirleygraceanne/22414081146/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
Global warming has allowed me once again to discard my winter coat as today we enjoyed balmy weather here in the New York Metropolitan area. The temperature worked its way up into the 50’s and I was able to get away with my flannel shirt and vest. And with no precipitation it was a beautiful day all around. I took advantage of this respite from the cold to take two very long walks today. First I walked down to the Astor Place Barber shop and had Valentino bring me back to respectability, snipping away a little more than four months’ worth of shagginess. As I’ve mentioned my hair grows on the sides and the back but not so much on the top with my part widening and my widows peak receding further up. But I’m grateful to have what’s left and hope I can convince it to hang around for a while.
Afterwards I reversed the trip and headed back uptown to the Ronin Gallery at 425 Madison Avenue, off 49th Street. There I took in an exhibit of early woodblock prints by the Japanese artist Hokusai. I can’t say enough about these prints, they’re really wonderful, crisp and bright. I’m a late convert to Japanese art but I’ve really become taken with it and enjoy these very much. This is a link to the Ronin website which describes the exhibit and has illustrations of all the items up for sale. http://www.roningallery.com/exhibitions/hokusai-early-works The employees are very pleasant and friendly, even after I was asked if I was a collector and said I was an aficionado who wished he could be a collector. The manager told me that the current exhibit is a relatively rare series as it wasn’t as popular as others and so, not revisited as often. He’s referring to The 53 Stations of the Tokaido which I Googled and discovered only four editions were made, unlike others which had substantially more. There are approximately 15 from the series in this exhibit and they are all fine.
Last Sunday I went down to Princeton and my friend and I drove to Princeton College for the Perlman exhibit. We parked in Princeton proper and managed to find our way to the museum and were there for probably three hours. The exhibit was really a treat, you can see all the artists in the exhibit at this link http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artists The Cezanne watercolors were beautiful and in addition to a magnificent Toulouse Lautrec poster they had his Sacred Grove on display. It’s a spoof of a Puvis de Chavannes painting and it’s wonderful. I found this old review from the Times when Princeton exhibited it for a different exhibition. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/04/nyregion/nyregionspecial2/04artsnj.html?_r=0 This is a full page image of the painting so you can see it’s detail, including Toulouse with his back to the viewer, urinating. http://tinyurl.com/zt6qlna
But for me the two real stars of the exhibit were Modigliani and Van Gogh. Modigliani painted the artist Jean Cocteau who was disliked by the other artists for his ego and vanity. http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artist/amedeo-modigliani Cocteau commissioned the work and paid for it but never picked it up because he disliked it so much. Years later you can see from this link that he hadn’t gotten over it. http://artmuseum.princeton.edu/cezanne-modern/modigliani/jean-cocteau The Van Gogh, Tarascon Stagecoach, is magnificent. This link to the Perlman site doesn’t do it justice at all.
http://www.pearlmancollection.org/artist/vincent-van-gogh This is a nicer image but still can’t really show how great it is, the colors are so vibrant and alive. If it were to come up for auction which it never will, I think it would break records for Van Gogh. http://www.ox.ac.uk/news/arts-blog/behind-scenes-c%C3%A9zanne-manet-and-van-gogh
My brother sent me this link http://www.cbc.ca/1.3332299 - “Chinese billionaire Liu Yiqian pays for $170M Modigliani on credit card, earns 170 million points.” This is the Modigliani nude I saw at the recent Christie’s auction. It’s a fascinating article pointing out what he can do with the points he earns. His family can fly anywhere basically forever for free. The most interesting thing was that Christie’s would lose a fortune through the merchant charge. I wondered, when he gets the bill and looks at the top where it says your minimum payment is X and if you make the minimum payment you will have paid this much interest and it will take this long, how long would it take to pay off? Must be nice to spend $170 million for something and say, just put it on the card.
And on that ridiculous note, let’s see what’s happening at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
First Lady - Nicola Burkitt (PB) with First Male to finish in costume - Andrew Reynolds, aka, Princess Bella.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129431549@N03/22659629371/
photo 2(1)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133100448@N03/19635988978/
Natalie
https://www.flickr.com/photos/agothtv/6512247363/
BMJ Best (30)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/129032696@N02/15966444535/
IMG_3845
https://www.flickr.com/photos/100379735@N06/15057275569/
Chalet maid
https://www.flickr.com/photos/13782433@N03/4343951331/
15 601w
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mariaclare/20635382665/
100_7126
https://www.flickr.com/photos/52660240@N08/5699983044/
Paula Chester
https://www.flickr.com/photos/tranniefun/5309815956/
2014_red_knit_5688
https://www.flickr.com/photos/61083860@N00/22334856169/
Lady Boy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/90398853@N05/8579861157/
school story
https://www.flickr.com/photos/mary-margret/8356648467/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It’s another tropical day here in the Northeast, 62 degrees if you can believe it, which considering we are two weeks away from Xmas is fairly extraordinary. I was able to go out today in just the flannel shirt and my hat. This is remarkably out of character for me. In previous years I generally put the winter coat on in October and don’t take it off until May. I will enjoy it while I can.
My friends at Microsoft, and since the Internet can’t hear my irony let me assure you I don’t mean it literally, are at it again. It being updates that cause problems. Last month they had an update that caused Outlook to crash any time you clicked on an email with HTML and subsequently we were instructed to uninstall the update and then hide it so it wouldn’t reinstall. The same thing happened this week, Microsoft unrolled another 20 some odd updates and subsequently when I rebooted, my Outlook formatting had changed. I Googled it and found it on the first try, another screw up. I was lucky, some users found that their Outlook only opened in safe mode along with the formatting issues. I uninstalled it and all was well again. This time Microsoft has pulled the update completely so we won’t have to hide it or go through this again. This is all in aid of Windows 10 apparently which as Betty has continuously reiterated, they are trying desperately to shove down our throats. Microsoft has admitted that Windows 8 was another Vista and everyone seems to agree there was no reason to move away from XP. At any rate I will avoid Windows 10 as long as I am able to.
Today I went to the New York Public Library for a drawing exhibit, Printing Women: Three Centuries of Female Printmakers, 1570–1900. As usual I very much enjoyed it. The collection has items from the Rijksmuseum Print Room in Amsterdam as well as selections from the library’s permanent collection. Women etchers and engravers were active from the 16th Century but really came to notice in the 17th Century. Some of the women represented here were court artists, graduates of art academies who were established painters. Additionally there were noblewomen who dabbled in the art for family and friends in limited editions. And there were women who were born into or married into artistic families who took up the art. Some of the notables represented are Queen Victoria and Madame Pompadour as well as the artists Angelica Kauffman and Maria Cosway. Next to a Cosway engraving is a note that it was done for Thomas Jefferson and that the two of them had a short romantic relationship while he was in Paris. They remained friends until his death in 1826. This is a link to the library website description of the exhibition with some images. http://www.nypl.org/printing-women-selections
I’ve been going to the library for many years but I’ve never gone anywhere inside aside from the third floor main research room and the outside corridor where the art exhibitions are held. Today I walked around on the other floors and was pleased to see other exhibits. They have an enormous photograph collection, 1.5 million images which has been a resource for artists, designers, students and scholars since 1915. Some of the varied photos were on display in one exhibit. You can see images of the room at this link. http://www.nycgo.com/events/100-years-of-the-picture-collection-from-abacus-to-zoology This is a short video that explores the history of the collection. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uagmNkFD70 There was a fair crowd there today, the library attracts a lot of tourists and they all seemed to be enjoying their visit.
Now we’ll move on to the kinds of photos that you are all here for, those at the Flickrs.
Andy G.
Emily's transition
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133358121@N04/22564130235/
ma sissy bien aimée
https://www.flickr.com/photos/135272431@N05/22901700901/
young ladyboy
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128477510@N06/15732430275/
DSCF0619
https://www.flickr.com/photos/41640018@N06/9283311393/
See all my Photos at JoannaJonesCD.com
https://www.flickr.com/photos/134090544@N05/22098482601/
I want to fly away with you
https://www.flickr.com/photos/72529855@N05/22623943760/
July 2015 (15)
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rachelcarmina/22203303444/
Shot with a Sony ILCE-7R.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/eamonnknights/13298537253/
Blue Silk Skirt
https://www.flickr.com/photos/christine1066/22780490281/
MAID VERSATILITY 2015
https://www.flickr.com/photos/toni_richards/22134870843/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/31446940@N08/2939017248/
PHOT0299
https://www.flickr.com/photos/10545345@N03/2696243803/
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LOL. I don't have Outlook on any windows machine & never have. I do have a spare hotmail mail account for odd stuff, but I don't need outlook for it or anything else. The rest of my email accounts are through our servers or a yahoo mail account. I access them or anything else I want with no Outlook.
I haven't got an update for windows 7 in over a month since they tried to shove another new version of the windows 10 update down our throats. But I'm handy enough to safely live without the updates for a while without any security or operating problems. If you caught the outlook bug, there's a good chance they've already dumped 2-15gb of windows 10 into your machine in hidden files.
Windows won't allow you see, access, or delete those files either (even though it's your machine). Download & burn a Linux xubuntu or Lubuntu ISO CD or DVD, run it at boot, but don't install (unless you want it). Run it live from the CD instead to access the W10 folders & delete them. Read my W10 posts to find them, & block W10 updates & nags. Do not get W10. It may someday be banned from Betty's again. Many features & some access is already blocked from W10 users here or other sites.
My W7 on my primary machine appears to be supported until 2019 or 2020. They lied about XP support. They still support it for China, some 3rd world countries, for the military, corporations, NASA, some universities, & scientific establishments. I put XP back on my 2005 laptop... my only laptop, to keep it running as smooth & fast as most modern laptops. My XP will be supported until 2019. I just got 7, XP security updates for it this afternoon. By 2019 Microsoft will have either learned their lessons like they did with Vista, & W8, or most will have abandoned Microsoft for something else.
When W10 boasts big numbers of users, most of those had it forced on them, & many already switched back to what they had before or something else, but they're still being counted as W10 "users". They did the same phoney hype with Vista & W8.
Meanwhile Microsoft's timing couldn't be worse. Apple is seeing record sales & loving it as MS continues to force what people don't want or don't know better about on its loyal users. Linux downloads are up too. One has to wonder at this point if someone at MS is getting paid big megabucks in bribes from Apple, Google, or Samsung to deliberately ruin Microsoft.
Windows 10 is very very bad. It's an adware, malware, & spyware platform, not a true OS. If it catches on it'll ruin the internet & computing as we know it.
Their excuse is everybody, including apple & google also spy or run ads. But there's no comparison. It's like comparing someone who can see who's coming in & out your house, or see you through your windows, while you see ads on TV, to leaving all your doors wide open to access by anyone who does business with the propery owner, your bank, & appliance manufacturures, then letting them put cameras & microphones in to watch you when they're not around, but also pasting ads for their product on all your walls & appliances.
How would you like it if someday you open your fridge, & it tells you what it's partners want you to buy or do? Or if you try to shut it up, it won't run anymore, or sends a signal to disable your car?
Adware helps pay for things & those spies paid good money to be there. But they don't belong on an OS... esp one I paid good money for. W10 is free, but only if you install it over an OS you already paid for. Didn't buy the OS? Yes you did. It was included in the price of the computer. Computers with no OS or free linux on it are pretty cheap.
I found this quote in another group:
Their default assumption seems to be that it's not my computer, it's their computer, that I'm allowed to use according to their whim.
Up until about 2-3 years ago, my computers were under my control - a small oasis of control in a world in which I'm largely powerless and my ability to live my life as I see fit is being systematically stripped away. I want to uninstall an app? "No problem." Decline an update? "No problem." Delete the entire C:\windows\system32 folder? "Dumb, but hey, if you're determined - no problem, we won't stop you." Point was, it was my computer, and I could do what I wanted with it. Technology was an enabler and the possibilities were endless.
But from Windows 8 onwards, it seems that the entire direction of computing is moving back to centralized, paternalistic, "we-know-what's-best-for-you" control. Cloud storage. Cloud logins. UAC. Administrator-doesn't-really-mean-Administrator. Enforced updates. Downloading a whole new OS just-in-case-you-want-it-but-if-not-we'll-continue-to-nag-you. Secure Boot that somehow only seems to benefit Microsoft. Constant logging - sorry, I mean "telemetry". Safe Screen a.k.a. "we'll inspect everything you download to make sure we approve of it". Technology seems to be defined in terms of what it grudgingly allows you to do, with the approval of the Powers That Be. And it's a whole lot worse with Windows 10.
It's not just Microsoft either. An analogy would be: we've moved from the traditional liberal "everything is permitted unless it's expressly forbidden" model of rights, to the totalitarian "everything is forbidden unless it's expressly permitted". And I hate it.
According to many users of Windows 10 operating system, it no longer allowed them access to torrent sites. According to a Venture Capital Post report, Windows 10 does not allow access to several torrent downloading websites. It has a secret feature that scans torrent file downloads and deletes them on users hard drives without direct user permission.
How dare MS decide which site you can visit, then poke around on your machine that you paid for & delete your files without your consent! Many free Linux & software creators, unsigned entertainers, bands, & artists heavily depend on torrents to distribute or publicize their stuff easy & cheap.
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/11/26/microsoft_renamed_data_slurper_reinserted_windows_10/
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Hello everybody and welcome back to My Weekly Flickr.
It was so cold today anyone would think it’s winter! It’s been so mild of late that even though the weatherman warned me about it I still felt a shock to my system. It was in the 30’s when I awoke and didn’t get above 40 degrees this afternoon. But our warm weather will return and hard as it may be to believe they are predicting that it may be in the mid 60’s on Xmas day. No white Xmas this year. The other prediction for the season is that it will be a wet one although the prediction is for rain, not a lot of snow. One can only hope.
I started my new work schedule this week, going forward I will physically be in the office on Mondays and Tuesdays but I will work from home the rest of the week. I’m already enjoying it as I knew I would. The only down side is it makes it that much harder to get up and make the commute on the other two days. I’ve settled into a new routine which is a joke to anyone who knows me as I am the most routine person anyone has any met. I seldom deviate from my daily procedure and on those rare occasions that I mention considering doing so, I always laughingly add, “not that I’m rigid!” For years I could never understand how small children can watch the same video over and over hundreds of times, but it finally occurred to me that there is comfort in routine which probably explains a lot about the way I live my life. And I do like being home. Whenever I go anywhere, whether into the City for the art or to visit friends, I always have a good time but I’m always equally glad to be home. It really is true, there’s no place like home.
My sleep continues to be spotty, staying asleep is the biggest problem. I usually get up about 2-3 hours after I fall asleep and then the rest of the night is iffy. I’ve been getting up around 3:20/3:30 AM but now on the days I work from home I will get up around 5AM which sounds like a much more reasonable time. Actually the first morning I was up at 4:40 AM. Came downstairs and turned on my timer to remind me to take my pills. Did my exercises and came back downstairs to discover that I hadn’t turned on my timer, I had set the automatic oven! I learned I shouldn’t set the timer in the dark. Went for my 1.6 mile walk and then sat down at the virtual office. Not having to take the bus and schlep into and out of the City is very pleasant.
Continuing on about my sleep, I was chatting with a friend and she mentioned buying a new mattress which she likened to buying a car what with all the different models and aspects of construction. It made me wonder if some of my sleep problems stem from my mattress. Which wouldn’t be really surprising as I think I’ve had my mattress for close to 40 years and it wasn’t the best model when I purchased it. So I’m contemplating getting a new one. I looked into the different kinds but I discovered that my options were limited by the fact that I sleep in a platform bed. My current mattress is 7 inches thick and when I sit up in bed, my head is about 4-5 inches from the ceiling. Most of the mattresses I looked at are 12 inches which means that every morning when I sat up I would hit my head against the ceiling. There are times I want to bang my head against the wall in frustration but waking up to a bump on the noggin every morning isn’t something I look forward to. So it looks like my best bet is a memory foam mattress as they all appear to be 8” high. Don’t know when I’ll act on this as it’s not something I would buy online which is now my preferred method of shopping. Hate going into stores and dealing with the crowds and salespeople. Maybe on my next vacation.
Despite the cold weather and the wind which it made it seem that much colder I walked up to the Metropolitan museum this morning to see the first rotation of Masterpieces of Chinese Painting from the Metropolitan Collection. The Chinese is very much like the Japanese in style but without the woodblock prints. This show is mostly scrolls, long ones that roll out from side to side and others that hang on the wall. The first room is filled with calligraphy which isn’t really of much interest to me not speaking the language but there are images interspersed as well and they’re lovely. But when you move into the other rooms that’s where you come across the really beautiful items.
The very last gallery has two large scrolls which are fabulous. They are both called “The Emperor’s Inspection Tour,” but by different artists and in very different styles. These scrolls are huge and immensely detailed. There’s a vast landscape and you follow a trail of people and horses through mountains, across rivers and lakes, and into very busy towns. They’re very colorful with so much to see. This is a link to the Met website showing one of the sections. Even when you click on it to enlarge it’s hard to appreciate its magnificence on the small screen. Below it you can also view each of the other screens as well. To walk from one end of the cabinet to the other viewing this is truly a marvel http://tinyurl.com/gloteef
Another scroll is Liu Chen and Ruan Zhao Entering the Tiantai Mountains. This is a fable about two friends who enter the mountains and encounter a group of beautiful women who seem to know who they are and welcome them to stay. They greatly enjoy themselves but then after half a year they find themselves thinking about their old life and decide to leave the mountains and go home. When they arrive home they don’t recognize anyone and they determine that what they thought was half a year turns out to have encompassed seven generations. They decide to go back to the mountains and look for the women but spend two years without success before disappearing. It’s an allegory to the feelings of the people after the fall of the Song Dynasty. I’ve seen this scroll before or one like it, perhaps in the Japanese collection. It’s also wonderful and reads from right to left. This is a link to the website and as with the previous scroll you can see all of them below the image. In this case, as they are much smaller than the Inspection tour, enlarging them is worthwhile and you can really get a sense of how they look in the case. http://tinyurl.com/q95qe4h
Then there is the Stag Hunt. This scroll shows a rider on a horse galloping with all four legs off the ground in pursuit of a deer. He’s already wounded the deer with his first arrow and is drawing the second arrow to finish it off. It’s such a vivid depiction of the event that you hardly need a narrative. This is a link to the website http://tinyurl.com/zjhzw5o
This is a link to all the images in the first rotation. http://tinyurl.com/j9qswf4 The Times hasn’t reviewed the exhibit as yet but I found this 3 ½ minute video for Sinovision which is very nice as it interviews the Met curator who speaks to them in Chinese and then takes you through the exhibit. I’m pleased I found it because it shows the collection in a much better light than the images on the Met website, especially if you go full screen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qXjbHUFpKYY
Well I guess it’s time to leave China and head over to Flickr.
Andy G.
POSANDO PARA LA FOTO
https://www.flickr.com/photos/51204813@N03/8159702655/
:) :) :) <3 <3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/128043907@N06/15211884739/
P1020814
https://www.flickr.com/photos/21236187@N07/22453358169/
My schoolgirl outfit.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/38745560@N07/22480541618/
Nancy Ball
https://www.flickr.com/photos/nancyball1/15830400631/
Even back then I liked wearing a nice hat! This is another one courtesy of @g.hubbard. Little four year old Andy from 1978 in Ohio. My cousins liked dressing me up and I had fun letting them
https://www.flickr.com/photos/16953040@N08/23312072979/
Cocktail Gown Contest # 3
https://www.flickr.com/photos/rebecca_george/21826362461/
Untitled
https://www.flickr.com/photos/leihia1/23013128626/
Simon Says....
https://www.flickr.com/photos/124114562@N08/22905663706/
ready for my sissy dollification now..
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131111227@N04/23197671636/
when you wish upon your teddy...
https://www.flickr.com/photos/131111227@N04/22863866410/
The Return of Emily
https://www.flickr.com/photos/stephsdressingservice/22729342858/