Notices by Tarnport (tarnport@mastodon.green)

There is no limit to the corruption and no punishment or penalty. No one is coming to fix this.

So if you don't set your own personal limits there won't be any.

It's not a "them" problem. There's always been them. It's an "us" problem. Our grandparents did not tolerate this. That is what held "them" to account.

They are not overstepping if no one has drawn a hard line.

Che Si Può Fare,
by Barbara Strozzi (1619-1677),
a female composer who's radical biography is worth reading on wiki as well

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=1F458aC_FUM

Here they give it a sort of rock-ballad cadence and fervor which I think surprisingly works very well.

#Music #ClassicalMusic

Corporations on Mastodon are hilarious in their inability to adapt to the audience. They are thirsty for engagement like Facebook 2010!

For my American friends, toward rethinking what is possible:

Here's a snapshot of dinner tonight in a working-class French home, 3 kids, est. combined income €48k:

Full table setting in a proper dining room

Fine wine, organic meat, trendy Japanese lemonade

Refined table manners among the kids worthy of a state dinner

In the driveway: 1 Mercedes, 1 Volvo, 1 BMW, 1 VW, 1 Renault (all paid for, house too)

Conversations: pilot licenses (2); diving license; psychology; ...

[cont'd]

George Grosz. Eclipse of the Sun, 1926.

The meaning here or its relevance to us today needs no explanation. Instead I want to note that when you read the biographies of these artists there is an empathic human part of you that is always nervously rooting for them to have escaped the Nazis by the end of their stories. This one did, fleeing in 1933, taking this painting with him in a roll.

#Painting

I'm seeing a lot of verbs misused today, mostly present continuous when other tenses are more accurate:

"Tim Cook is destroying his legacy."
~Tim Cook destroyed his legacy.

"The USA is becoming fascist."
~The USA became fascist.

This succinct Wikipedia note made me laugh out loud this morning. And it was a true observation from the text, 7 people but only 6 names.

Le Pho. La toilette de l'enfant, or The Unreasonable Silence of the World, 1938-40.

There's nothing I could say about this allegorical Vietnamese work that isn't said better in this article:

https://jeanfrancoishubert.com/en/2021/11/11/le-pho-la-toilette-de-lenfant-or-the-unreasonable-silence-of-the-world/

If it interests you, he painted many similar works in this period. It's actually hard to choose a favorite.

#Painting

Even the Quakers are talking about Pope Leo as an ally.

David Burliuk. Spring, 1914.

Primarily remembered as a Ukrainian poet, here's the "Father of Russian Futurism" at work. His life was about to change over and over again in the coming 8 years, both ups and downs.

#Painting

Spring colors.

Rembrandt. A Lady and Gentleman in Black, 1633.

The poor, dear, sweet, naive soul asked me offhandedly why the pilgrims of American Thanksgiving kitsch wore black. Poor, poor man. I don't think I drew breath for an hour in my outpouring. I'd been waiting my whole life for just such an intersectional question, and no one ever asks. I started with Joachim of Fiore, not to jump too quickly to the Spanish Marches. But really, the pornocracy of the 900s. Or a history of analine dyes!...

#Painting

The best part of many Italian recipes is the part that says, "this basic recipe works for many different garnishes, and then you can just finish it out any way you choose," followed immediately by, "Oh my god NO no no! Not that way! What, were you raised by wolves??" They sometimes assume a baseline of cultural logic that on the open internet just ain't there. Ask me how I know.

Frida Kahlo. Still Life, Round, 1942.

This is my favorite among all her many wonderful works. It was originally painted for the Mexican presidential residence but was rejected for obvious reasons. The longer you stare, the deeper she goes with sexual suggestion. She also designed the round wooden vulvic frame.

#Painting

Azores: waterfalls, pirates, cows, and volcanoes.

For those following the waterpowered gristmill post from earlier, the mill is located roughly at the center of the first photo above, to give more of an idea of the plenitude (and occasionally uncontrollable plenitude) of water in the area. There was a water-mill ruin about every 5km, and those were just the survivals.

More Azores

To my many friends here who seem to only want to post Bluesky links these days, would you consider a synopsis or screenshot so that we don't have to click through blind (like we are gonna do that, when half of them are locked anyway)? It's getting ridiculous.

One time I had a persistent painful rash in the right corner of my mouth for almost a year. I tried everything but nothing worked. I finally signed up for a dermatologist appointment which was both a long wait and expensive, too. When my turn finally came I had barely opened the door when the kind old doctor still at his desk glanced up and said, "It's Whitening Toothpaste. Stop using it." That was it. That was the cure.

I think of that whenever I try to look up my own symptoms.

I think the feeling in Europe tonight is also my own, sadly:

It's not just Trump. It takes a deeply sick and dangerous culture to tolerate anything like this.