Don Quixote & his books from Stefan Mart - Homage to an Unknown Artist

"Stefan Mart was the name (or pseudonym) of the narrator and illustrator of the picture book Tales of the Nations, published in Hamburg in 1933 by the "Cigarettenbilderdienst Hamburg-Bahrenfeld" ("Cigarette Picture Service"). It won the hearts of innumerable children and grown-ups in the course of the six years that it was in print. This was due above all to the 150 colour illustrations: they were small in size, but strong in expression, each a microcosm packed with action, each a feast for the eyes like a beautifully set jewel; everything was finely-drawn and clear, indeed with the exaggerated clarity of the caricature; they all radiated the shining, flaming colourfulness of modern painting."


(via the excellent Drawn!)


 

via Metafilter images and records of The First International Polar Year 1881-1884 

impressive site (with PDF's & much else) for the newly launched Clay Sanskrit Library, a series of handy, reasonably priced Loeb Library-like versions of the Indian classics... 

Portland's Bruce Conkle has a new show, "Lament for the Whale-A-Go-Go", May 14 (opening starts at 7) to June 3rd at AVA Gallery, 160 Tenth St. in historic Astoria. 

Letters to Walken 

Under the window at the moment of sleep the filament of the weedwhacker strums hard but damped the first four tines from the kleenex side of a giant comb harmonica. A short length of stick, loosely gripped as in Drums 101, twirls in your palm along the black matte jailhouse bars of the fence, a smothered bell whose resonant itch burrows into your wrist. The recycling box bounces onto the lawn
from the edge of the frame a split second before the truck appears, the new one, which offsets its comparitive slightness and drab yellow detailing with the big chrome grin of its retro grill, the esprit of its contractors, whose practiced nonchalance can't quite disguise their fervor for breaking glass, being outdoors. Perhaps 2/3 of an inch below the surface of the rainbarrel the porchfish sunbathes lengthwise across a lozenge of light, orange to a point of mild distortion, seeming to wake with a start at those infrequent points when its dorsal fin breaks the surface tension, or when the light is interrupted.  

handsome, easy-to-use Canadian Geographic Atlas Online

(amongst much else at wood's lot)

about the bubbly cherry concoction from Salisbury NC,Cheerwine. Includes a history and recipes. Much superior to Dr. Pepper in my view.

(painting by Robert R. Toth) 

from the Tyee--NDP's Krog Silent on Rigged Nanaimo Development

"No other developer ever had a crack at this on the same terms as this developer,” says Ricker, adding more would likely have been interested if they’d known it would involve the handover of public land. “It’s capitalism at its worst . . . It’s totally ridiculous for the NDP to be supporting a strong-arming American developer.”"

This might be a deal breaker for me--and I've got the guy's sign on my lawn.

Mr. Boswell dines with Professor Kant I'm not sure, I think this may be a wheeze of some sort, but I liked it anyway...

"Herr Kant said, that his grandfather had come from Scotland above a hundred years ago16, & that he owed his dispassionate temperament to his scottish Ancestors. Scotsmen, he said, are marked above men of all other Nations, by their Prudence, Perseverence, & Coolness. His words ravishd me. I told Herr Kant, that I had Acquaintance with the branch of his Family, wc had remaind in Edinburgh. This was heedless of me, & to evade inquiry into their Circumstances17, I hurry'd on, to tell him, that I had as cousins the von Boswell18 family in Tilsit, whose Founder had gone from Auchinleck to sweden, & had come down into germany with the Lion of the North.19 Mr Kant's Pride in his scottish Blood, & my connexion with the noble german Faniily, wc bears my Name, made him and me "hale fellows well met." You sure was mighty comfortable.

Mr Kant is small in stature, extreamly thin, & has one shoulder higher than t'other. He has a lofty forehead, & large blue eyes, in wc there is a look of Melancholy, tho' his Manner is chearfull, and not that of a pensive & gloomy Metaphysician. His wig did not fit well, and from time to time his manservant put it right. His nose is red. His fingers are staind with tobacco. His linnen is of purest white. He was drest in a yellow velvet cloak, black silk bretches, & blue stockings with silver buckles. His voice is low, but I think that he can speak to a large auditory." 

Never Mind!

"THE capture of a supposed Al-Qaeda kingpin by Pakistani agents last week was hailed by President George W Bush as “a critical victory in the war on terror”. According to European intelligence experts, however, Abu Faraj al-Libbi was not the terrorists’ third in command, as claimed, but a middle-ranker derided by one source as “among the flotsam and jetsam” of the organisation."

4. The Hardy Boy's Detective Manual. A lot more interesting than the novels. 

3. Tom Swift and His Subocean Geotron

"The young scientist-inventor embarks on one of the most challenging missions of his adventure-packed career. The mission: recover a valuable cache left on earth thousands of years ago by colonists from another planet. Can Tom locate it before his deadly foes the Kranjovians seize the capsule? " 

2. "History Can Be Fun" from the author of "Ferdinand". 

apropos of Anodyne of late, formative childhood reading

1.Rabbit Hill by Robert Lawson, reviewed here by a young reader--

"When I first saw it with the rabbit hip-hopping over everything, I expected it would be full of excitement and it was. I read two or three books every week. I like to read exciting books."

I can still remember how worried I was about those bunnies... 

"A Pair of Cats Dancing the Salsa" from C.A.S. Cloud Gallery

(thanks Bifurcated Rivets)