Well, I didn't make it for Agios Vasilios. Luckly, the Greek Church must have had that in mind when changing the calendar unilaterally. Rather than taking the drastic step of having two liturgies a day like the infidel Catholics (ok they're probably only something like perfidies--perfideles these days). So, though I didn't make it for I can Agios Vasilios day, I can still go to a Russian church on Jan 14 (the REAL Jan 1) for Sveti Vasili day:
Today I had a major dilemma. I brought a vasilopita from Chicago, but I am all alone. (Ok, it's not actually a vasilopita, the orange cake Greeks eat on New Year's/St. Basil's Day w/ a baked in it.. .it is just some sweetbread they were selling in Greektown in Chicago with a coin baked in it) Do I still get the good luck if I get the coin? Well, I'm not actually alone. The rules state that there has to be a piece for the Virgin Mary/the Church too. (Yeah, I know, technically one for the house as well, but this flat has been nothing but a pox on me so it doesn't get a piece). In any event, I think that me versus God is more than a challenge as it is. I cut the bread in half and stake out my side. While dividing that side for consumption (partial, its a big loaf), the knife hits the coin. DOUBLE LUCK! I guess God knows who needs it. Incidentally, it is about the dirtiest 1987 quarter I have ever seen. I think I'll make french toast with the other half.
There isn't much to do on New Year's Day in London save go to museums which are all open. As I've hit all the other exhibitions, I head to the Royal Academy for the exhibition of early Qing dynasty art.
On the way there, I run into the parade on Piccadilly Street. It makes getting across the street quite bothersome. Once again, the band that was on the plane with me from Chicago managed to be bothersome. It seems as if there were 500 marching bands and 2 Macy's day balloons. Yet the Brits are transfixed. They simply can't get enough of the "Rule Britannia"/"Theme from Oklahoma" medley! Maybe it's nice to see marching bands here that don't smack of Prussian militarism. I don't know. But it is nice to see the hold that Americana still has over foreigners. We managed to do something great in our bubble. And that greatness just might be the Coronado High School band dressed in outfits that look like Klingon uniforms (they were blue form-fitting one pieces with a large silver diamond on the chest) playing 5 bars of "I Can See for Miles and Miles" over and over again. If only I had been on the plane with these guys! That's kind of mean spirited. For the record, I was in band for four years, musical genius that I am.
The painted scrolls were highly impressive. Though also HIGHLY influenced by Renaissance art. In fact, many of them were painted by Jesuits from Italy or France who were staying at the imperial court. The naturalism and linear perspective combined with Chinese colors and motifs are striking, as are naturalistic figures on an axonometric scale.
The silks are beautiful and I can't help but notice the similarity to Byzantine silks (after all we did send some monks there to steal the worms). Most of the stuff was pretty typical, I won't go into a lecture about the role of Buddhism and Daoism in China, or the Han's relationship with the Manchus and other steppe peoples, or the discovery of European technology in the 17th century. I'm sure it's all in Wikipedia. I was impressed how the role of the Jesuits was stressed in the exhibition though.. after all, the Chinese invented gunpowder and paper.
I think dictators pretty much stay the same. Much like Stalin or Saddam Hussein, the Kangxi emperor had his picture painted as propaganda to portray him as ideal in every way. So there are pictures of him as a Buddhist monk, Confucian scholar, Daoist mage, Mongolian warrior. The funniest was him as a Frenchman hunting a tiger with a spear. He is wearing a curly black wig and, knee high breeches, and a waistjacket, but he has a fearsome look on his face and he is charging a tiger. It is like a painting that would be made off a sub-Saharan African or Sumatran in the West, the primitive warrior. The primitive warrior dressed as a dandy in the court of Louis XIV.
The exhibition also produced my second girl in the glass episode.
??.??.? Anya Ruskaia
Today I had a major dilemma. I brought a vasilopita from Chicago, but I am all alone. (Ok, it's not actually a vasilopita, the orange cake Greeks eat on New Year's/St. Basil's Day w/ a baked in it.. .it is just some sweetbread they were selling in Greektown in Chicago with a coin baked in it) Do I still get the good luck if I get the coin? Well, I'm not actually alone. The rules state that there has to be a piece for the Virgin Mary/the Church too. (Yeah, I know, technically one for the house as well, but this flat has been nothing but a pox on me so it doesn't get a piece). In any event, I think that me versus God is more than a challenge as it is. I cut the bread in half and stake out my side. While dividing that side for consumption (partial, its a big loaf), the knife hits the coin. DOUBLE LUCK! I guess God knows who needs it. Incidentally, it is about the dirtiest 1987 quarter I have ever seen. I think I'll make french toast with the other half.
There isn't much to do on New Year's Day in London save go to museums which are all open. As I've hit all the other exhibitions, I head to the Royal Academy for the exhibition of early Qing dynasty art.
On the way there, I run into the parade on Piccadilly Street. It makes getting across the street quite bothersome. Once again, the band that was on the plane with me from Chicago managed to be bothersome. It seems as if there were 500 marching bands and 2 Macy's day balloons. Yet the Brits are transfixed. They simply can't get enough of the "Rule Britannia"/"Theme from Oklahoma" medley! Maybe it's nice to see marching bands here that don't smack of Prussian militarism. I don't know. But it is nice to see the hold that Americana still has over foreigners. We managed to do something great in our bubble. And that greatness just might be the Coronado High School band dressed in outfits that look like Klingon uniforms (they were blue form-fitting one pieces with a large silver diamond on the chest) playing 5 bars of "I Can See for Miles and Miles" over and over again. If only I had been on the plane with these guys! That's kind of mean spirited. For the record, I was in band for four years, musical genius that I am.
The painted scrolls were highly impressive. Though also HIGHLY influenced by Renaissance art. In fact, many of them were painted by Jesuits from Italy or France who were staying at the imperial court. The naturalism and linear perspective combined with Chinese colors and motifs are striking, as are naturalistic figures on an axonometric scale.
The silks are beautiful and I can't help but notice the similarity to Byzantine silks (after all we did send some monks there to steal the worms). Most of the stuff was pretty typical, I won't go into a lecture about the role of Buddhism and Daoism in China, or the Han's relationship with the Manchus and other steppe peoples, or the discovery of European technology in the 17th century. I'm sure it's all in Wikipedia. I was impressed how the role of the Jesuits was stressed in the exhibition though.. after all, the Chinese invented gunpowder and paper.
I think dictators pretty much stay the same. Much like Stalin or Saddam Hussein, the Kangxi emperor had his picture painted as propaganda to portray him as ideal in every way. So there are pictures of him as a Buddhist monk, Confucian scholar, Daoist mage, Mongolian warrior. The funniest was him as a Frenchman hunting a tiger with a spear. He is wearing a curly black wig and, knee high breeches, and a waistjacket, but he has a fearsome look on his face and he is charging a tiger. It is like a painting that would be made off a sub-Saharan African or Sumatran in the West, the primitive warrior. The primitive warrior dressed as a dandy in the court of Louis XIV.
The exhibition also produced my second girl in the glass episode.
??.??.? Anya Ruskaia
posted by akrites @ 3:30 AM
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