Two timelines, three very different women, one story of murder, intrigue, and self-fulfillment. Poisoning the men in your life who did you wrong might not be the best way to solve your problems, but it was certainly a popular one for a certain herbalist in 18th century London. Her deadly doses brought release to many, including a young serving girl who might carry on her legacy, and a modern day…
Canada and Denmark have fought over the same island for decades.
Denmark visited Hans Island in 1984 and left their flag, a bottle of schnapps, and a note that said ‘Welcome to the Danish island.’ Canada then visited with their own flag, a bottle of Canadian Club, and a ‘Welcome to Canada’ note. Because the island is within the territorial waters of both countries, they’ve been having a not-so-serious 'whiskey war’ ever since.
Currently enjoying: The catch trap by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Not gonna lie I picked it up because it’s about aerialists. And has a gay romance subplot. But I love all the (family) history in this book. It’s endlessly fascinating. A really good read.
A paraphrased quote from Dave Simmons, leader of the strike, from his rally speech. “ 10% girls, beggars, physically disabled, old women, black people, and such “
Paraphrased due to ableist and racist language, full Quote here
My sincerest apologies, but I apparently can’t do fractions. The quote is “one-fifth” and that is twenty percent, not ten percent. That still would not affect the roughly 3-5% number that I stated again. -mod Syd
Robert Doisneau, Camille Folliet, the Resistance priest supporting and advising the French Resistance fighters in the outpost of the Parisian Barriers, in August 1944.
In my dream, I feel the vibrating sunrays broadcasting glowing molecules through the rooms. They draw me with mighty power into their circle like a pack of elven spirits, tearing my arms, laughing and singing. Pulling me outside into the free air under the blue sky, I can no longer resist …
The Roman Horus statue is pretty cursed without the paint reconstruction tbf
The reconstruction just enhances the weird:
Also this Roman bronze of Horus:
Finally, while looking for these images I found this Australian newspaper article that uses these images and has this headline:
Yeah, that sums up Roman Egypt
Painted Horus looks so done
I always wonder … why are painted reconstructions of classical statues of so, well, bad? Were the incredibly skilled sculptors of antiquity truly stuck working with these utterly hopeless painters? Were they really incapable of varying and layering colour to reflect the different textures of hair, skin, fabric, armour etc? Did they genuinely just slap on a base coat of paint, no highlights or shadows at all, and call it a day?
Nowonderpepole look at that and think “…OK, can we go back to the white marble? That was classier.”
Or is it that the people doing the reconstructions aren’t artists? Because it’s not as though painted statues can’tlook better. Because statue-painting exists as a current art form. It’s just that the statues are tiny:
I’d love to see what a really good miniature figure or doll painter could do with an ancient Greek, Egyptian or Roman statue. Although I’m sure Horus would still look appropriately unnerving.
It’s because they’re only working with the colour that was detected in that area on the statue and these statues represent the results of colour analysis. They’re not designed to be true reconstructions, just ones that give you an idea of the colours were used. We know the Greeks/Romans/Egyptians were good at paintwork since we have delicate frescos from Pompeii and the artwork in Egyptian tombs that show us they could. Since we can only detect a base colour in most instances, it would be a misrepresentation of the archaeological results of paint analysis to paint them “properly”. I’m sure these statues could be displayed with a full reconstruction of paint, done properly, but for now we just use these statues to show the results of paint analysis so they look pretty bad.
Many of the frescoes and mosaics mentioned by @thatlittleegyptologist show such a masterful grasp of shading and modelling that this kindergarten level of reconstructed statue painting seems (to me, anyway) another misrepresentation.
How about this:
Three half- or quarter-scale reproduction Famous Classical Statues (3D printed, maybe?) with the first all-white as people expect FCSs to look, the second coloured in flat, unshaded paint-by-numbers style and explanation that this is dictated by the restrictions of archeological colour analysis, the third painted - also tinned / gilded where required, such as on armour - with proper shading and explanation that this is based on period artistic ability shown in frescoes, mosaics etc. with pictorial examples to prove it.
I bet there’d be members of model figure / soldier societies who’d be happy to help turn this…
…into this or a period-correct facsimile of same.
In museums (at least, the few I’ve seen) a gaudily-painted facsimile of a marble sculpture will generally be accompanied by a plaque explaining what’s going on - it only becomes a misrepresentation when people don’t read the plaque (or worse, publish pictures with captions like “Roman statues looked like this!”, which is a lie) and just assume that this is supposed to be what it looked like, instead of just a visualization of what information we have.
Several museums have started putting collections online, including (in some cases) 3D scans of sculptures, so it wouldn’t surprise me if there are already digital painters making more realistically painted versions of some of these.
Emily and I had to rush to get to the Roman Baths on time, but when we got there it was a cool experience to have. The site of the Roman Baths was actually rediscovered and turned into a museum in the late 1800s. The baths themselves are actually below street level, but when the construction began for the museum, buildings were built above the baths. The interior of the area surrounding the baths bears resemblance to what one would expect from Ancient Rome, with tall pillars, a terrace, and statues erected to Roman gods and goddesses. Without given any of this information about the baths or without much prior knowledge about authentic Roman life, somebody visiting the baths could easily believe the Great Baths and the pillars and statues surrounding it were actually authentic and discovered with the baths themselves rather than a later construction.
There was a lot to see in general and Emily and I found with every turn more things to discover, though we did have to rush a bit because we arrived slightly late due to the fact we left Glastonbury later than scheduled. Along with the main baths, there were hot springs, a temple to Minerva, other artifacts on display like pre-Roman coins, and realistic looking videos in different parts of the baths depicting life-size Romans going about their daily lives using the public baths, bartering at markets, and more. I wish we had had more time there– even if we had made it on time, a half hour wouldn’t be enough to properly appreciate everything there– but it was still an enjoyable experience and a rather nice change of pace from the more typically English sites we saw on our trip.
It is 1937, and Laura Ann Langston lives in an America divided–between those who work the mystical arts and those who do not. Ever since the Great Rust, a catastrophic event that blighted the arcane force called the Dynamism and threw America into disarray, the country has been rebuilding for a better future. And everyone knows the future is industry and technology–otherwise known as Mechomancy–not the traditional mystical arts.
Laura disagrees. A talented young queer mage from Pennsylvania, Laura hopped a portal to New York City on her seventeenth birthday with hopes of earning her mage’s license and becoming something more than a rootworker.
But four months later, she’s got little to show for it other than an empty pocket and broken dreams. With nowhere else to turn, Laura applies for a job with the Bureau of the Arcane’s Conservation Corps, a branch of the US government dedicated to repairing the Dynamism so that Mechomancy can thrive. There she meets the Skylark, a powerful mage with a mysterious past, who reluctantly takes Laura on as an apprentice.
As they’re sent off on their first mission together into the heart of the country’s oldest and most mysterious Blight, they discover the work of mages not encountered since the darkest period in America’s past, when Black mages were killed for their power–work that could threaten Laura’s and the Skylark’s lives, and everything they’ve worked for.
