In the year 1515, Giuliano de’ Medici presented the newly crowned King of France, Francois I, with a mechanical lion that walked on it own. The automata was designed by Leonardo Da Vinci, but all that is left of it is the diagrams. However, from those plans the lion was reconstructed in 2009. Watch it move, and imagine seeing this almost 500 years ago!
Artist William Gropper created a U.S. map and placed characters from folklore into the appropriate areas. The U.S. Department of State gave these maps out abroad beginning in 1946.
The “folklore” on display in this richly illustrated map is a soup of history, music, myth, and literature. Frankie and Johnny are cheek-by-jowl with a wild-eyed John Brown; General Custer coexists with “Git Along Little Dogies.” Utah is simply host to a group of “Mormons,” in which a bearded man holds up stigmata-marked hands to a small group of wives and children, while a figure labeled “New England Witches” flies over New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont.
The map actually got Gropper in hot water with Joe McCarthy and he was called to testify about his political associations in 1953, but pled the Fifth.
Enjoy!
It’s hard enough to march in formation and play an instrument. The Dutch Army Bicycle Band does it on bicycles! Most of them play with one hand and control the bike with the other, but what about that fellow playing the snare drum? He’s awesome!
This would make a perfect advertisement for skin cancer.
The worst thing about vampires is that nasty, pale skin. Unfortunately, all but those in Twilight have to avoid sunlight, which means being sickly pale is their only option. Luciano Podcaminsky is here to help though with his coffin-shaped tanning bed. Of course, the UV Rays emitted might still be poisonous to vampires, but maybe in low dosages it can improve the complexion without killing the tanner.
The Japanese Shamwow? Japanese TV is a source of mystery and wonder!
Man with a Mission is a Japanese rock and dance band whose members wear wolf masks. Really. Due to popular demand, the We Are Family towels sold at their concerts are now available from the band’s online gift shop (and they may even cost less than the ad says, but my Japanese is rusty). This humorous ad for them really doesn’t need much in the way of translation, but if you understand Japanese, it would be neat if you would tell us what it says.