I’ve got to make this quick. I worked most of the day editing an article about computer hackers. It was kind of interesting and I took some real crap writing and turned it into something that wasn’t bad. This is, of course, the greatest success that an editor can have. But as it is, I’m kind of behind on giving love to Frankly Curious. And it is Sunday as I write this, so there isn’t a whole lot to write about.
Back in Odds and Ends Vol 15, I labeled it “Cool Images Edition.” But that now seems the way that these things are going to be from now on. And I have a whole bunch to post today. So let’s get started.
Opium Dreams
I’ve been hired to write the introduction to the re-release of Claude Farrère short story collection, Black Opium. In doing some research, I came upon this quite dazzling picture called, Opium Dreams. It is a photo manipulation by Kassandra. I think it is the best illustration I have ever seen of what it is like to sleep while under the influence of opioids. I’m going to assume that the little creatures below ground are dormice. And they are working away, even though the young woman is asleep. That’s very true. It’s like the wheels (or dormice) are continuing to work away. The opioids do not provide good sleep. But in addition to being insightful, this is such a gorgeous image:
Right after Christopher Lee died, I got a hankering to watch, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes. The main story is about Holmes falling in love with a woman who turns out to be a Russian spy. They had been traveling together undercover as Mr and Mrs Ashdown. At the end of the film, Holmes makes a deal to allow her to return home. But then, many months later, Holmes’ brother Mycroft sent him a letter informing him that the spy was caught by the Japanese government and executed. But it ends with, “It might interest you to know that she had been living in Japan these past months under the name Mrs Ashdown.” It’s very poignant. But you all know what a softy I am about this kind of stuff.
Here are my best efforts to combine the letter, which were panned and so required my meager skills in PhotoShop.
The Stewart Children
This one came from The Daily Show, but I have no recollection when or in what context. Clearly, Jon Stewart is making fun of his height. Martha Stewart is not that tall, but she is taller than Jon Stewart — and me.
Squab Story
Clearly, this is from Real Time With Bill Maher. I assume it is about the news that ISIS had banned pigeon breading because their genitals were offensive. This is just weird, because pigeons don’t have genitals the way we do. They have cloacae and so don’t bread like humans at all. Whatever. The main thing is: a pigeon in a burka. It’s hilarious. Pigeons are generally hilarious. I love pigeons.
Political Signs for White People
This one showed up on Google+. Usually, political signs have to be pithy. But often we white folk have to have things made very clear to us. This woman stepped up to the plate admirably.
That’s it for today. If you like this kind of stuff, you might want to check out Ted McLaughlin’s blog, Job’s Anger. Every night, around midnight Texas time, he posts about ten things. Some of them are analysis and he provides great visualizations of recent polling data. But most of it is cartoons and other visually interesting things. I have him in my RSS feed, so it’s nice each evening to have all of this stuff come in. Check it out.
