July 28 2024 - The Great Wall of China

 

The Great Wall of China is 5,000 miles long.  It would take months to walk its length.  And people have done it  - William Geil, a US explorer and geographer completed hiking the entire Great Wall in 1908.  It took him 5 months. Maybe he sprinted. He took a large number of photos and kept more than 200 diaries. In 1909, he published the first book in the world about the Great Wall. Besides Geil, there's at least 7 people who are on record as completing the walk. Their stories are HERE. The most important person is Dong Yao-hui who has spent his life preserving the Great Wall.  He is often cited as the first to travel the entire length of the Ming Dynasty Great Wall.  This is the most well-preserved section and the part most commonly referred to.  The trip took 508 days.   "Instead of referencing a map, they simply followed the wall and recorded their own path on paper as well as their observations on the wall’s condition. At night, they usually slept inside the wall’s gates and fortresses, which were physically separated from the main structure, so they could document them too." His story is HERE.  The daily visitor cap is 65,000 in the popular Badaling section.  "Badaling Great Wall, about 60 km (40 mi) northwest of central Beijing, was the first section restored to open to tourists in 1957. It is easily accessible and has easy walking conditions." "He Who Has Never Been to the Great Wall Is Not a True Man Badaling has a stone engraved with "不到长城非好汉" ('not arrive Great Wall not good man'), a famous line from one of Mao Zedong's poems, commonly translated as per the above heading. Continuing the theme, the highest point of this section is called 'Good Man Slope' (好汉坡 Hǎohàn Pō /haoww-han por/)." And who has visited this spot? About 500 state leaders and VIPs, including presidents Nixon and Reagan, Prime Minister Thatcher, and Queen Elizabeth II.  Should you start planning for your turn? You can take a look at the 11,000 reviews or 8.000 photos to get a sense of the experience.  Crowded.   My conclusion is that it is too late for a visit to the Great Wall of China at Badaling.  So I guess we are will not be "true men".  And take that off the bucket list. Here's a montage image of walls in the National Gallery.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Oct 7 2023 - That Bucket List

 

I am bothered by the phrase the bucket list.  The term is attributed to Justin Zackham, The Bucket List movie screen writer who made a list of things to do before he "kicked the bucket".    The part that is bothersome to me is that a person creates a list of things to do and then what?  Do they create a plan and timeline to accomplish them or do they "put them in a bucket" to show around to people or maybe consider doing them later. There seem to be a lot of travel items in published bucket lists.  And sky-diving at age 90. So many ideas on bucket lists seem exaggerated (hold a shark) and expensive/extragant to accomplish (See Churchill Polar Bears or Visit the Galapagos Islands). And then they are presented as check-off lists for "things to do" that someone has thought of. What was your summer bucket list?  Your movie bucket list?  Your travel bucket list?  Where do these bucket lists take us?  Psychology Today usually provides some ideas on these topics.  The article, written in 2011 wants us to know that "it is an attempt to make life memorable.  Bucket lists, if accomplished, set memories in place that structure life as remembered. Secondly it can be an attempt to make life meaningful, depending on the specific item."  That depending on part relates to "whether items would connect people to something larger than themselves, typically other people and their welfare."  The author says that items such as getting a tattoo struck him as narcissistic.   I guess that's my point as well.  They look like bragging lists of things people can think of that would make them special and extraordinary.   "... a bucket list is not about dying but about living, and my chief objection to the phrase is simply that it is misleading. I do not think that most people create such lists with their imminent death in mind. Consider this stringent criterion: If you knew with certainty that you would die tomorrow, what would you do today? Would you really choose to spend your last day getting a tattoo?" This seems to lead to the big question:  What is life about? The bucket list phenomenon says life Is about making notable memories. That seems like it might be good input.  Too bad about the name.   This leads to another way to look at the Up Against the Wall Series - a bucket list of check boxes.

Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

June 10 2023 - Identity Clues from Long Ago - A Mystery

 

The subject of the song "You're So Vain" by Carly Simon has its own interesting history.  It was written in 1972.  She said it was about men and not a specific man. She refused to reveal the identify of the person.  In 1983  she said it was not about Mick Jagger.  That is who people thought it was about.  Previously, she had said James Taylor was definitely not the subject of the song.  She married him after writing the song. Speculation continued.   I guess it kept good press going in a time before social media.Even as decades passed, this identify curiosity continued.  In August 2003, Simon agreed to reveal the name of the song's subject to the highest bidder of the Martha's Vineyard Possible Dreams charity auction. With the top bid of $50,000, Dick Ebersol, president of NBC Sports and a friend of Simon, won the right to know the name of the subject of "You're So Vain". A condition of the prize was that Ebersol not reveal the name. Ebersol said Simon allowed him to divulge a clue about the person's name: "Carly told me that I could offer up to the entire world a clue as to what she'll tell me when we have this night in about two weeks. And the clue is: The letter 'E' is in the person's name." She has divulged more letter clues - The name has the letters A and E and R. Well, some has laid claim to this song being about him.  Warren Beatty has:  "Let's be honest. That song was about me."   In November 2015 she confirmed that the second verse is about Warren Beatty.  Whether he is the subject of verse 1 and 3 remains a question.  Verse 1 seems the key verse to me. Lyrics Son of a gun You walked into the party like you were walking onto a yacht Your hat strategically dipped below one eye Your scarf it was apricot You had one eye in the mirror, as you watched yourself gavotte And all the girls dreamed that they'd be your partner They'd be your partner and You're so vain You probably think this song is about you This picture from a few years ago seems to reflect the sort of mystery in this song.   It seems that the answer behind the door is just a blank wall.  A guarded one, so is it blank?  Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwell.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Feb 3 2023 - Lone Wolf

 

Wolves work in packs.  But the expression Lone Wolf seems to indicate otherwise to me.  That's not really the case. When a wolf leaves its natal pack, or the one it was born into, it becomes a lone wolf. Wolf biologists also refer to this process as dispersal. In most cases, dispersal occurs between the ages of 1 and 2 years old, coinciding with sexual maturity. A subordinate wolf may catch the scent of a wolf from another pack that's ready to mate, and it may seek out that breeding wolf. In this way, lone wolves can help stimulate and diversify the wolf population. For example, a lone wolf from Finland actually revived the dwindling wolf population in Sweden when it crossed the border and mated. The last Swedish wolf pack had begun inbreeding, and the Finnish wolf mixed up the gene pool, which sparked a resurgence in the pack. I watched the story of Takaya, a world-famous lone wolf. After such an amazing story by the documentarian Cheryl Alexander, I find out today that the wold was killed by a hunter in 2021.  Takaya had been relocated to a logging area and the hunter felt danger when the wolf approached him and his dog.  The story of Takaya is HERE.   Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblogspot.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 10 2022 - Official Portraits

 

The Obama official portraits were unveiled last week.  Little did I realize I would be looking at dozens of portraits of the Queen over the next few days.  This will be unrelenting for more than a week.  What Barak Obama said during the unveiling of his portrait was that he liked that McCurdy “paints people the way they are, for better or worse.”  “He captures every wrinkle on your face, every crease in your shirt. You’ll note that he refused to hide any of my gray hairs, refused my request to make my ears smaller. He also talked me out of wearing a tan suit, by the way,” Obama quipped. “His work is so precise that at first glance it looks like a photograph.” The official portrait of Trump is full of action and intrigue. Trump’s political action committee donated $650,000 to the Smithsonian Institution in July to help underwrite the portraits of the Trumps. On Tuesday, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to say whether Biden would extend an invitation to Trump should his portrait be completed during the Biden administration. Let us hope this does not occur.  It seems to me that there's all manner of scenarios possible.  He could even declare himself king once he sees the portrait.  There is the likelihood of ill-will being present: "While there’s no hard-and-fast rule for when a White House portrait ought to be unveiled, ceremonies have often been hosted by a former president’s immediate successor. And when in office, President Donald Trump never held a ceremony for the Obama portraits." What a contrast. The U.S. horizons are clouded by Donald Trump's psychotic behaviours in the security realm.  Britain and the Commonwealth (that's us) are engaged in the ritual of the "monarch's ascension to the throne".  What a lot is packed into the declaration of the king by the "lords spiritual and temporal of this realm."    A Shakespearean play is upon us: "By the grace of god of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and of his other realms and territory, King, head of the commonwealth, defender of the faith, to whom we do acknowledge all faith and obedience with humble affection, beseeching God by whom kings and queens do reign to bless his majesty with long and happy years to reign over us." God Save the King is next played.

Glorious autumn is here soon - you can see it through the entrance way.  This is the University of Toronto - where the stone walls and buildings are so grand and connect us to the beautiful architecture of Great Britain. Read more daily posts here: marilyncornwellblog.com Purchase works here: Fine Art America- marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Dec 7 2021 - How Fat is Santa?

 

What about Santa and how fat he is?  Google wants to look up "how far is Santa Monica" and "how far is Santa".  That's because this is something we don't think about - but lots of people have written about this. From the time "A Visit From St. Nicholas" was written in 1823, Santa has been described as chubby and plump, with a round little belly that shook when he laughed "like a bowl full of jelly."  Coca-Cola took this to extremes and made Santa just plain fat.  Supposedly this is "part of the charm".  And besides Coca-Cola, who else to blame? Trust Hollywood.  One article reported that it used to have a set of numbers – waist circumference, face shape, beard length – that Santas were supposed to adhere to.  Coca-Cola’s Santa, whom many in America try to emulate, is very round: round face, round nose, round stomach. Around the world, the legendary giver comes in all shapes and sizes. The Santa imitated in Europe is a thinner man with more squared-off features. Roy Pickler is a professional Santa who dropped 88 pounds.  He's covered in CNN health HERE. He was in the television contest "The Biggest Loser".  He is quoted as saying: “The world is going to have to change their acceptance of what Santa looks like,” Pickler said. “Santa is a role model, and kids don’t want to have a role model that’s fat.” There is an update for our North American Santa. He has lost 25 pounds over the last 20 years.  Compared to Roy Pickler, Santa has 50 pounds to go.  I wouldn't call Roy skinny from the pictures, either.   It is entertaining to search for fat Santa - the photo stock companies have lots of versions - "full length body size profile side view of handsome fat overweight cheerful Santa".   And maybe we can't be too choosy in 2021 - there is a shortage of Santas due to COVID.  In one article it says that of the 8,000 Santas in the company's database, 355 have died in 2021 with COVID being the cause for the vast majority.  Really!  That's what the article says HERE.  Here's the latest in the Up Against the Wall Series.   The background is the Bathurst Street Chess board in the park complete with graffiti.  The colours are wonderful and look regal - like an archeological dig where core samples of urban life are revealed.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Sep 29 2021 - The Decline and Fall of the English Language

 

These are the introduction sentences on the topic of the decline of English:  "Do you weep for the decline of the English language? Do people’s grammatical aberrations on social media fill you with horror?" I can respond that I don't go so far as to weep, but do get irritated.  "I use to" is normal now. I don't want to  get "used to" this.   What's the answer? Let's find out what the experts have to say. "When we think about the future of language – in this case, the English language – we have a tendency to bemoan its demise. The casual language used daily on social networks and in newspaper comment sections delivers a host of typos and misused words. Even capital letters and full stops are left by the wayside by some of those sharing their opinions, something that I personally find almost painful to witness." The article goes on to tell me the English language is evolving.   I am concerned because there are times when I don't understand what the written sentence means.  I will have to go back to school to learn the "New English". Most of the articles are opinion pieces.  I checked out the Linguistic Society of America's article: "Is English Changing?" Here's what the article says: "What's important to realize is that there's no such thing as a 'sloppy' or 'lazy' dialect. Every dialect of every language has rules - not 'schoolroom' rules, like 'don't split your infinitives', but rather the sorts of rules that tell us that the cat slept is a sentence of English, but slept cat the isn't. These rules tell us what language is like rather than what it should be like." That is excellent theory, but often I experience a failure on the the writer's part to communicate their point.  Alternately, I might be far behind on the New English. What got me thinking is the article's "Karen example".  Here it is: (4) So Karen goes, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!" (5) So Karen is like, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!" (6) So Karen is all, "Wow - I wish I'd been there!" The article explains the different meanings of each of these. There are subtle nuances.   I wavered for a moment, thinking I should start a search to learn the new English.  Instead, I found this 'joke' as a possible alternative to going back to school.   The montage picture seems a good representation of the decline of spoken and written language - a story of deterioration and disintegration rather than evolution.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

Aug 5 2021 - Ice Worms Now!

 

There is a lot of interesting science stuff.  There seems to be new things every day.   Our heading today is about ice worms.  They are new for me:  they have been emerging from the glaciers in the Pacific Northwest.  They are inky black and only an inch long.  They eat algae and bacteria in the snow.  They like 0 degrees Celsius temperatures, but not lower than that or too high.  A sort of Goldilocks temperature. Why did they make the headlines that they emerged from the glaciers?  It is what happens this time of year, so not something unusual.  Two research scientists are studying them on a grant from NASA.That is unusual. They are a curiosity, so hit the news with a boost from the scientists to give some facts and explanations. This is yearly summer occurrence. An estimated 5 billion ice worms can live in a single glacier, and they wriggle to the surface of the glacier late in the day.   Does the (early) bird get the worm?  Yes - these glaciers have gray-crowned rosy finches, American pipits, common ravens, horned larks, semipalmated plovers and snow buntings.   Here is a great worm pun: Look, I know she ate a worm but we are not here to debate de bait Deb ate. We have two images today - the first a little fun with a peeling Niagara sign, and the second a montage of Toronto's skyline with a cement wall. This cement wall was in Oshawa quite a few years ago, and I found it stark and compelling.

Purchase at: FAA - marilyncornwellart.com Redbubble - marilyncornwellart.ca

More Barbie

Today is another Barbie Day. Wasn't the Barbie Doll so controversial!  Do a search today and the first item is "Barbie's new shapes:  Tall, petite and curvy".  That was news yesterday from from USA Today for all of America:   Barbie is out in three new body shapes to make her look more like the girls who play with her. That highlights the largest controversy over her size and shape when first released in 1959.  Barbie's 1/6 scale 11 1/2 inch size/proportions put her at 5 ft 9 inches weighing 110 pounds.  That was considered 35 pounds underweight at the time.  She would have had measurements of 36-18-33, and experts say that there was a lack of body fat required for a woman to menstruate. It wasn't that this was a mistake.  There were books that accompaigned her with instructions on How to Lose Weight advising 'Don't Eat'. Another controversy was with Barbie's chest.  The articles at the time describe it as having 'distinct breasts'. We all agree now that this was a metaphoric expression for over-endowment to the extreme. Barbie's existence as a doll and product was also a controversy.  The doll was modelled after a German Doll 'Bild Lilli' and Mattel 'acquired' the rights and stopped production of Lilli.  What followed was ,a law suit over the nature of Mattell's claims to being the  original designer and over the 'rights' and what was included.  The German maker settled out of court.  It seems to me Mattel likely got off easy on this one.  Despite, and in spite of, these issues, Barbie became a cultural icon.  There are so many occupations for Barbie - Miss Astronaut Barbie (1965), Doctor Barbie (1988) and Nascar Barbie (1998) are a few highlights.  The 50th Anniversary in 2009 included a runway show in New York.

A Barbie Pink

This is Queen Street West, in the block behind the Queen Mother Cafe.  What an interesting choice of colours for graffiti and wall murals.  The coral-pink tones are very inviting.  That is because the colour pink is the colour of universal love of oneself and of others.  It represents friendship, affection, harmony, inner peace and approachability.  It is the official colour for little girls, and it is the sweet side of the colour red. The Barbie Doll displays this use of little girl pink in North American society.  The doll came about when the Mattel co-founder's wife, Ruth Handler,  saw her daughter Barbara giving her dolls adult roles.  Ruth's initial suggestion of an adult doll was rejected by her husband and the Mattel board.  However, she persisted and found an equivalent doll in Germany, which was used as the model for the American Barbie.  Barbie was subsequently introduced in 1959 wearing a zebra-striped swimsuit then. It doesn't mention how the pink came about. Over a billion Barbie dolls have been sold worldwide in over 150 countries since then.  Mattel claims that three Barbie dolls are sold every second.