Oh, I am SO glad this is coming out. I've grown rather tired of the criticism the "Dangerous Book for Boys" took from lefties on account of its lack of inclusiveness for girls. Here's your book, chicks, now go away and let us climb rocks and burn things.
How about the Douaumont Ossuary, which contains the remains of about 130,000 French & German soldiers killed at the 1916 Battle of Verdun? It doesn't get more dramatic than that... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_ossuary http://www.verdun-douaumont.com/en/index.html
or the U.S. Arizona Memorial, where rest over 1100 victims of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.S._Arizona_Memorial
Indeed as almost anyone really "into" old houses knows, the story of glass "flowing over time" is complete hogwash. Materials scientists and engineers have studied up one side and down the other on 100, 200, 400, and 1000 year old installed glass and it's completely bogus! The supposed flow lines are an artifact of the manufacturing process. In former times, the glass was handblown into large cylinders, which were then cut lengthwise and allowed to cool flat upon a polished flat piece of stone. The glass didn't dry perfectly flat though, so usually there would be very minor flow lines. These can go horizontlly (suggesting flow over time maybe) or just as easily vertically -- it just depends on how the glass was cut!
In my own 1836 house, I've got lots of original wavy glass windows and the wave patern varies from pane to pane. I've had to replace a couple small panes and always do so with salvage glass from that same period. If I couldn't find it, though, there is a supplier that makes new glass via the old method: http://www.restorationglass.com/glasstype.html
If I needed a lot of it, this would be the way to go. For a pane here or there, I can usually find some salvage stuff. There are plenty of morons who think vinyl looks OK on an old house.
It's a bit shameful, that de-commied Russia still has this barbarian on display. But I guess the Russians learned over the years that there is great capitalist potential (tourist $) in keeping him there. What's more important, I suppose, is that they've removed his statues, murals, &c., from the non-tourist areas.
Last time I checked, Sarajevo, Italy, and Sadaam's spider hole are all well outside the US. There is nothing wrong with privately owned guns; in fact they are valuable tools to protect people's freedoms both from oppressive governments and from forces without.
You mention you are from the UK. I'm assume that you are too young to know much about the many thousands of civilian Brits (including many women and old men) who made up the British Home Guard (Local Defence Volunteers) during the Second World War. There was an extremely real threat that the British Isles would be invaded (read about Operation Sea Lion -- the Nazi plan to do just that). Whilst that never came to be, the Home Guard was ready with their own weapons (read GUNS!) to slow the Germans down and impede their progress wherever possible. This wasn't "busywork", but the real deal -- government owned weapons were in very short supply (lots left on the beach at Dunkirk unfortunately), so those privately owned rifles, shotguns, and pistols were one of the big things ensuring your nation's freedom. Read about how dire Winston Churchill considered the situation in his 6 volume history of the Second World War. Private gun ownership was there to protect your freedom. Fortunately, the RAF stopped the Luftwaffe first, but that was a monumental upset -- far from a "given" at the time.
Climate change did the Mayans in, huh? How can that be when they didn't have SUVs? Perhaps they just had overly large "carbon footprints"? Or maybe, they just did not purchase enough "credits" in the form of carbon indulgences. When you cut out your enemy's heart and burn his remains on a pyre, is that carbon-neutral? You are reducing *their* carbon footprint, after all.
I subscribe to the print Mental Floss and it's a great magazine, but one thing irks me a little bit about this article. Nowhere is it mentioned that the Mayans killed TENS of THOUSANDS of themselves (within tribes and enemy Mayans) in human sacrifices. What effect did this have on their subsequent downfall and the disappearance of their civilization? It's not adressed at all and the only indication of any sacrifice is a small reference in the caption of one of the art photos.
Unfortunately, it's very PC to talk about how ingenious and technologically sophisticated these ancient cultures were, all while ignoring or just glossing over the "bloodthirsty savage" qualities. Yes, in years past, the opposite was true, but now we have WAY overcorrected.
How long do you think Brancusi devoted to this "masterpiece" of his: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Brancusi-Torso.jpg Compare that to anything Bernini created.
I'll give the excuse makers a little latitude when they say "art can't be compared" and "it is all subjective". That's true to a point, but eventually krap is krap. There are krappy books, krappy movies, krappy TV shows, krappy car designs, krappy architecture, and YES, krappy art. Don't be afraid to call a spade a spade.
Here's another winner: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/art/20th/painting/malevich1.jpg To be fair, much of Malevich's stuff isn't quite so awful. But it is a good example of "you just don't understand it" trash that litters the MoMA and another such museums, gifts of the wealthy and gullible. Lots of people are afraid to say the emperor is naked, but I am not.
You don't think the shift from realism to abstraction could have just a little to do with abstraction being available to much broader numbers of artists?
Realism took a high level of technical skill. Any community college sculpting class could provide me with a dozen "sculptors" capable of reproducing "The Kiss". Granted, they might not have the artistic inspiration that Brancusi had to make it in the first place, but the level of technical skill in the piece is very low.
Great art should require BOTH artistic inspiration and a high level of technical skill. Donatello had both. At most, Brancusi had the former alone. It's as laughable as comparing Warhol & Banksy to Vermeer & Botticelli.
The Cologne Cathedral (Kölner Dom) is definitely worthy of being on the list. It was the world's tallest building at its completion in the late 19th C. (it was started in the 13th century!) and remains one of the world's greatest examples of gothic architecture. If you are ever in Cologne, be sure to visit it, climb the tower, and see the treasury which contains a lot of remarkable art, scupture, and reliquaries. Check out the cathedral at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Douaumont_ossuary
http://www.verdun-douaumont.com/en/index.html
or the U.S. Arizona Memorial, where rest over 1100 victims of the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor ?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/U.S.S._Arizona_Memorial
In my own 1836 house, I've got lots of original wavy glass windows and the wave patern varies from pane to pane. I've had to replace a couple small panes and always do so with salvage glass from that same period. If I couldn't find it, though, there is a supplier that makes new glass via the old method: http://www.restorationglass.com/glasstype.html
If I needed a lot of it, this would be the way to go. For a pane here or there, I can usually find some salvage stuff. There are plenty of morons who think vinyl looks OK on an old house.
Straight talk from Sid.
Last time I checked, Sarajevo, Italy, and Sadaam's spider hole are all well outside the US. There is nothing wrong with privately owned guns; in fact they are valuable tools to protect people's freedoms both from oppressive governments and from forces without.
You mention you are from the UK. I'm assume that you are too young to know much about the many thousands of civilian Brits (including many women and old men) who made up the British Home Guard (Local Defence Volunteers) during the Second World War. There was an extremely real threat that the British Isles would be invaded (read about Operation Sea Lion -- the Nazi plan to do just that). Whilst that never came to be, the Home Guard was ready with their own weapons (read GUNS!) to slow the Germans down and impede their progress wherever possible. This wasn't "busywork", but the real deal -- government owned weapons were in very short supply (lots left on the beach at Dunkirk unfortunately), so those privately owned rifles, shotguns, and pistols were one of the big things ensuring your nation's freedom. Read about how dire Winston Churchill considered the situation in his 6 volume history of the Second World War. Private gun ownership was there to protect your freedom. Fortunately, the RAF stopped the Luftwaffe first, but that was a monumental upset -- far from a "given" at the time.
Straight talk from Sid.
I subscribe to the print Mental Floss and it's a great magazine, but one thing irks me a little bit about this article. Nowhere is it mentioned that the Mayans killed TENS of THOUSANDS of themselves (within tribes and enemy Mayans) in human sacrifices. What effect did this have on their subsequent downfall and the disappearance of their civilization? It's not adressed at all and the only indication of any sacrifice is a small reference in the caption of one of the art photos.
Unfortunately, it's very PC to talk about how ingenious and technologically sophisticated these ancient cultures were, all while ignoring or just glossing over the "bloodthirsty savage" qualities. Yes, in years past, the opposite was true, but now we have WAY overcorrected.
Straight talk from Sid.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Brancusi-Torso.jpg
Compare that to anything Bernini created.
I'll give the excuse makers a little latitude when they say "art can't be compared" and "it is all subjective". That's true to a point, but eventually krap is krap. There are krappy books, krappy movies, krappy TV shows, krappy car designs, krappy architecture, and YES, krappy art. Don't be afraid to call a spade a spade.
Here's another winner: http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/art/20th/painting/malevich1.jpg
To be fair, much of Malevich's stuff isn't quite so awful. But it is a good example of "you just don't understand it" trash that litters the MoMA and another such museums, gifts of the wealthy and gullible. Lots of people are afraid to say the emperor is naked, but I am not.
Sorry, but there is krap and this is krap.
Realism took a high level of technical skill. Any community college sculpting class could provide me with a dozen "sculptors" capable of reproducing "The Kiss". Granted, they might not have the artistic inspiration that Brancusi had to make it in the first place, but the level of technical skill in the piece is very low.
Great art should require BOTH artistic inspiration and a high level of technical skill. Donatello had both. At most, Brancusi had the former alone. It's as laughable as comparing Warhol & Banksy to Vermeer & Botticelli.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cologne_cathedral