Shakespearean Facepalm!

The little film is brilliant. I'm sure when I have the chance to explore the other links in this (stolen) post I'll like many of them as well. However, the film on it's own was a gem worth sharing RIGHT NOW! Soo... there. ;)

Writer’s Block in Stop-Motion, Shakespeare-Style

By Maria Popova

What Romeo and Juliette have to do with William Shatner and modern justice.

395 years ago tomorrow, the great William Shakespeare took his last breath. Shakespearean Tragedy (A Comedy) is a lovely Claymationesque animated short film about Shakespeare’s writer’s block by 24-year-old Jerusalem-based animator Anna Cohen, exploring something we have an ongoing fascination with: What is creativity, and how do we overcome the obstacles in its way? After previously hearing from the very real Scott Belsky, Rainn Wilson, Kurt Andersen, Stefan Sagmeister, Steven Johnson and Isaac Asimov, it’s time we heard from imaginary-Shakespeare:

Bonus points for the Spakespearean facepalm, no?

Here are a few more intelligent ways to commemorate the iconic playwright:

• How To Read Shakespeare, part of Simon Critchley’s excellent How To Read series on the Western classics
• Approaching Shakespeare — fantastic free iTunes U course from Oxford University
• How to Think Like Shakespeare — ambitious BigThink series featuring a number of video interviews with and articles by cultural critics, neuroscientists, theater directors and more
• A Thousand Times More Fair: What Shakespeare’s Plays Teach Us About Justice — fascinating new book by Kenji Yoshino, incredibly timely in the cultural context of today’s global politics; TNR has a thoughtful review
• William Shatner on Shakespeare vs. new media

Read more: http://www.brainpickings.org/index.php/2011/04/22/shakespeare-writers-block-animation/#ixzz1KjjVrhp0

One Baby Too Many

(I cheated...this is from an email)

A worried woman went to her gynecologist and said:

'Doctor, I have a serious problem and desperately need your help! My
baby is not even 1 year old and I'm pregnant again. I don't want kids
so close together.

So the doctor said: 'Ok and what do you want me to do?'

She said: 'I want you to end my pregnancy, and I'm counting on your
help with this.'

The doctor thought for a little, and after some silence he said to the
lady: 'I think I have a better solution for your problem. It's less
dangerous for you too.'

She smiled, thinking that the doctor was going to accept her request.

Then he continued: 'You see, in order for you not to have to take
care 2 babies at the same time, let's kill the one in your arms. This
way, you could rest some before the other one is born. If we're going
to kill one of them, it doesn't matter which one it is. There would
be no risk for your body if you chose the one in your arms.

The lady was horrified and said: 'No doctor! How terrible! It's a
crime to kill a child!

'I agree', the doctor replied. 'But you seemed to be OK with it, so I
thought maybe that was the best solution.'

The doctor smiled, realizing that he had made his point.

He convinced the mom that there is no difference in killing a child
that's already been born and one that's still in the womb.
The crime is the same!


" Love says I sacrifice myself for the good of the other person.
Abortion says I sacrifice the other person for the good of myself..."

Lovely Media Dogs

Too beautiful not to share. Enjoy!

Samuel Price’s Incredible Dog Portrait Collages

By Maria Popova

What recycled magazines have to do with the essence of the canine soul.

We love dogs. From Tim Flach’s extraordinary dog portraits to the great mystery of how to photograph a black dog, we have a particularly soft spot for unusual ways to capture (wo)man’s best friend. That’s exactly what San Francisco collage artist Samuel Price does in his stunning dog portrait collages made of hand-cut photographs from recycled magazines.

And while the whole eco-art card may have been played and played again over the past few years, it’s worth noting that a single ton of glossy virgin paper, like that used for magazines like National Geographic, requires 15 trees to make about 1,100 magazines. Sam collages about 20 recycled magazines every day, or 48,000 over the ten years he’s been making his stunning collages — that’s 650 trees saved over the course of his creative career.

I study the image and focus on the details and subtle nuances of the mouth and eyes that make every animal unique. The relationship between the owners and their pet is special and I look forward to mirroring that affection in my work.” ~ Sam Price

For the dog lover in your life, Sam’s work can be commissioned for custom collages.

Read more:

Source.

The True Cross

The men of the east may spell the stars
And times and triumphs mark
But the men signed with the cross of Christ
Go gaily in the dark
- G.K. Chesterton from "Ballad of the White Horse"

A local church has a large collection of relics in the adoration chapel.
Seeing a sliver of the True Cross always slays me with wonder.
Happy Easter!

Draw to Pray

Drawing is an awesome way to pray.
I found it to be a great way to prepare myself for the Easter vigil tonight.
It was calming and profound. I suggest every Catholic artist to have a prayer sketchbook.
Heck, you don't even need to be a good artist to doodle.
Everybody prayer-doodle! Hey, our God is a creative God.
Try something new.

Christ is Risen.

First Pic of Jesus Ever Created?

Simple portrait may have been rendered by those who actually knew the Savior

Seventy lead codices, booklets as large as a modern-day credit card were found in a cave in the hills overlooking the Sea of Galilee five years ago after a series of flash floods. An image found in one of the 2,000-year old codices depicts a bearded young man with flowing curly hair. The marks around the figure's brow can be interpreted as a crown of thorns. There is widespread excitement that this may be the oldest portrait of Jesus Christ, possibly rendered by those who knew the Savior while he walked among men.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - The book is sealed on all sides and has a three-dimensional representation of a human head on both the front and the back. One appears to have a beard and the other is without. The maker's fingerprint can be seen in the lead impression. One of the booklets appears to bear the words "Savior of Israel," one of the few phrases so far translated.

Bedouin trucker Hassan Saida who lives in the Arab village of Umm al-Ghanim, Shibli is the owner of the booklets. He has declined to sell the items, but two samples were sent to England and Switzerland for testing.

The artifacts were originally found in a cave in the village of Saham in Jordan, within three miles of the Israeli spa and hot springs of Hamat Gader, a religious site for thousands of years.

According to sources in Saham, the codices were discovered five years ago after a flash flood scoured away the dusty mountain soil to reveal what looked like a large capstone. A cave was discovered with a large number of small niches set into the walls. Each of these niches contained a booklet. There were also other objects, including some metal plates and rolled lead scrolls.

The codices range in size from smaller than three inches by two inches to around 10 by eight inches. They each contain an average of eight or nine pages and appear to be cast, rather than inscribed, with images on both sides and bound with lead-ring bindings.

Many of the books are sealed with metal rings, suggesting they were not intended to be opened, possibly because they contained holy words which should never be read.

The codex showing what may be the face of Christ is not thought to have been opened yet. Some codices show signs of having been buried, although this could simply be the detritus resulting from lying in a cave for hundreds of years.

Unlike the Dead Sea Scrolls, the lead codices appear to consist of stylized pictures, rather than text, with a relatively small amount of script that appears to be in a Phoenician language, although the exact dialect is yet to be identified.

- - -

Catholic Online asks that you join with us and help in this vital mission by sending this article to your family, friends, and neighbors and adding our link (www.catholic.org) to your own website, blog or social network. Let us broadcast, we are PROUD TO BE CATHOLIC!

Source

WHO Is an Artist?

"He who works with his hands is a laborer.
He who works with his hands and his head is a craftsman.
He who works with his hands and his head and his heart is an artist."
— St. Francis of Assisi

Intuition

“When you have the intuition that there is something which is there, but out of the reach of your physical world, art and religion are the only means to get to it.”

-Guillermo del Toro