Let’s Play Bomberman 64: Second Attack (Co-op) – Part 2: The Anatomy of Bomberman – Video


Let #39;s Play Bomberman 64: Second Attack (Co-op) - Part 2: The Anatomy of Bomberman
Featuring Chibinekodemyx! There are some things the world isn #39;t ready to know. Chibi #39;s Channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/chibinekodemyx ------------------...

By: gameguy888

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Let's Play Bomberman 64: Second Attack (Co-op) - Part 2: The Anatomy of Bomberman - Video

Castle Season 6 Preview: What Should Kate Say?

We love our favorite TV characters. They're beautiful and charming. They have brilliant careers. They even manage to live in spacious lofts in New York City on a cop's salary. But sometimes even the smartest characters lose their ability to string together intelligent thought when it comes to love.

Here at TV Fanatic, when we see our favorite couples headed for disaster, we feel it's our duty to step in and help. We've already done our best with Olivia Pope of Scandal, Tony DiNozzo of NCIS, Dr. Temperance Brennan of Bones and Emma Swan of Once Upon a Time.

Now it's time for us to write a better ending over at Castle.

Is Castle Scared?

Rick Castle and Kate Beckett have had amazing chemistry from the moment they met but they seemed determined to stand in their own way.

In the beginning, Kate thought Castle was an arrogant jackass who just wanted to get in her pants…and we can't say she was wrong. But Rick Castle quickly became enamored by the smart, driven, beautiful woman who made him strive to be a better man.

Fast forward four seasons and these two finally took the plunge to become the Caskett couple we love. You'd think it would be clear sailing from here on out. Ha!

Although progress was made, Castle and Beckett's insecurities and inability to talk about their feelings remained the cause of as much trouble as ever.

After four years of pursing Kate Beckett, Richard Castle is terrified. Deep down the charming, confident, best selling author is scared to death that if he pushes too far, the woman he loves will run.

In return, Kate has always been afraid that the famous writer would eventually get bored and move on. Unfortunately, Castle's fear of asking for more has left Beckett believing he's not interested in building a future with her.

The common denominator here is fear…and for two people who have quite an impressive vocabulary, their inability to articulate their fears has lead to nothing but heartbreak.

Which leaves us at "Watershed," the Castle season 5 finale.

Yes, Kate screwed up big. Interviewing for another job, in another city, without discussing it with her lover was wrong and her fears have become a self fulfilling prophecy.

When Kate finally got what she'd always wanted, a stable, loving relationship with Rick Castle, she'd convinced herself she was going to lose it all. That he'd get tired of the dance and walk away.  So, consciously or not, she decided to protect herself. Because if she left him first for a job that would fill every minute of her life, then maybe she could survive the loss.

When Castle realized that Kate wasn't sure of what he wanted, he decided to make it clear. He got down on one knee and proposed.

What sounds like the perfect, romantic ending was really anything but. With both characters so dreading a possible break up, the proposal came across as sad and serious instead of the romantic and joyful moment fans had always hoped to see.

Should Kate say yes…or no? Honestly, the answer isn't as important as everything else that needs to be said.

Castle and Beckett have made subtext an art form but eventually you have to say the words, admit to fear, and make yourself vulnerable…because that's the only way these two can truly move forward and become the couple we know they're destined to be.

We at TV Fanatic prescribe some honest, uninterrupted sharing for our favorite dynamic duo. Then perhaps Castle and Beckett can get back to the romantic fun and flirty banter we so love.

Your turn, Castle Fanatics. How should Kate Beckett answer Castle's proposal?

NOTE: Don't forget to check out our Castle Season 5 Report Card.

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/castle-season-6-preview-what-should-kate-say/

Arrested Development Review: FakeBlock

It seems "It Gets Better" could well be the theme of Arrested Development season 4 as each episode has gotten better than the one preceding it (mostly, with a couple of outliers) and filled in the gaps between the close of Arrested Development season 3 and now. With talks already happening about Arrested Development season 5, seeing the same story from the perspective of each character makes more and more sense and works in a way that felt sort of odd in the beginning of this season.

Carrying on the trend of focusing on the story of one character at a time and pulling together all of the pieces of this puzzle, this is George Michael’s arrested development. And it's so, so accurate.

George Maharis Photo

George Michael is the even more awkward Mark Zuckerberg of fake internet start-ups, playing in bounce houses and being aw-shucks about everyone fawning over him. He’s also dating Rebel Alley now, although she says “We need to talk,” so you know it’s not going well.

A few months earlier George Michael is making a demo tape to apply to Julliard. If you didn’t know he was musical, it’s because he’s not - he plays woodblock.

Man, couldn’t it have at least been cowbell? 

Apparently George Michael is a human metronome, thanks to BABYTOCK!, the failed reinvention of the Cornballer by George Sr. "It’s a poor carpenter that blames his shoddy tools for the... Ow! Piece of bleep Cornballer!."

I don’t even care that it makes no sense. The Cornballer is one of my favorite AD references. 

In the recap of George Michael’s college experience so far, we learn he’s awkward, more awkward, even more awkward and a terrible kisser. Thanks to a year abroad in Spain - Dear God, the mustache!! - he learns important lessons, like how to speak Spanish, make love and wear his shirts unbuttoned too far. But then his dad moves into the dorm room and whomp-whomp, sexy George Michael is put on hold. 

Then we finally get the real explanation for George Michael’s “privacy software." It’s as ridiculous as his mustache.

FakeBlock is actually a woodblock app for your smartphone. Three of these already exist in Arrested Development world.

Tip: Go search for FakeBlock in the iTunes store. The reviews are priceless.

To make money for this brilliant start-up George Michael starts tutoring high school kids, which loops back to Maeby’s story. The highlight of the episode is when George Michael says “Yeah, well, you know. I wouldn’t put all my Annes in that basket.” Egg? Her?

Seriously, someone watching this season who hadn’t seen the first three several times would understand practically nothing. I wonder if that person exists?

Anyways, the seduction of his cousin doesn’t work. His dad interrupts. He lies about FakeBlock being privacy software. And then his life spirals out of control.

A great piece of the back story puzzle is that it was George Michael’s idea to do the roommate vote to get his dad out of the room. The "like father, like son" parallel is clever and funny. 

Poor George Michael is too dumb to notice Rebel is hitting on him at the Opie Awards. Marky Bark’s blue explosion is somehow tied to George Michael as a brilliant act of cyber sabotage to promote FakeBlock. While he’s trying to smooth things out with Michael, he gets a second chance with Rebel, who I’m pretty sure is imagining herself as Mrs. FakeBlock right now. I mean, she’s clearly not after him for his looks, you know?

As much as I like the interconnecting story lines, I feel like each episode gets shorter and shorter now that we’ve already seen so much of it from other angles. I’m just a tiny bit glad this season is almost over. 

On the next Arrested Development: George Michael gets sued by P-Hound over the ownership of FakeBlock (which...is still just a woodblock app?) and Barry is a terrible lawyer. Take to the sea!

What did you think of "It Gets Better"? Have you enjoyed the format of seeing parts of the same story multiple times but from different perspectives?

Suzanne Davis is a guest contributor for TV Fanatic. When she's not commanding her ginger army at Bebehblog, you can find her on Twitter.

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/arrested-development-review-fakeblock/

Jim’s Notebook: Drop Dead Diva, Perception and Major Crimes!

Greetings from the Second Annual Austin Television Festival! I’m here moderating a couple panels (Falling Skies and Once Upon a Time) while just taking in the love for TV here in the heart of Texas. Watch my Tweets all weekend, as I’ll be posting what I’m seeing, who I’m talking to and more!

For now, let’s see what’s going on with three fan favorites that will be returning in the next few weeks...

Jim's Notebook

DROP DEAD DIVA When the popular Lifetime series comes back with a new season on June 23rd, lawyer Kim Caswell has workplace (firm shakeups) and personal (preggers!) drama to deal with - but Kate Levering, who plays Kim, had nothing but joy when she got married in April with many of her Diva cast members in attendance. April Bowlby (Stacy) told me “the wedding was an all night party.”

Levering, who is also pregnant in real life, said of her Big Day (pictured, below): “It's a complete honor to have all your people, from all walks of life in the same place at the same time. I kept thinking, 'they're all here for us". It was an extremely emotional day for me, and I don't think it was just the pregnancy hormones."

But, getting back to Drop Dead Diva Season 5, Bowlby teased: “Last season Stacy started a new venture in her pakery and this season she will expand her horizons and relationships even further." Are you ready for more Drop Dead Diva?

Photo for Notebook

PERCEPTION Scott Wolf will be a new face on this season as the ex of Rachel Leigh Cook’s Kate on TNT’s Perception and while his character of Donnie is not necessarily a nice guy, he told me “people tend to associate me with more on the nicer side. So to play people who run against that, it’s really good fun for me.”

The actor, still remembered as Bailey on Party of Five, added that Donnie definitely has designs on getting back together with Kate, which creates some tension for her relationship with Eric McCormack’s Daniel Pierce.

Wolf also played an unscrupulous journalist Chad Decker on V and doesn’t mind going against type: “When I have the good fortune to play morally compromised folks or at least broad characters, I think it creates a kind of fun tension for the audience because it’s unclear as to whether you ultimately like this person or not.”

You can judge for yourself if you take a liking to Wolf’s new character when Perception kicks off season 2 on June 25 on TNT.

MAJOR CRIMES Were you worried that just because The Closer is over that the Provenza/Flynn fun wouldn’t move over to Major Crimes? Never fear because GW Bailey (Provenza) told me on the set last week that an upcoming episode will give the twosome some time together: “It’s not exclusively about the two of us but it’s a situation that we get into and it actually isn’t our fault. We actually do a favor for someone we’re not even fond of, Emma (new regular Nadine Velazquez, playing an ADA), and it ends up a disaster and a mess and we’re in the middle of it…whoever’s closest to the flame is the one who gets burned. It’s a good episode.”

Bailey is also excited to work with guest star Tom Berenger, who’ll appear later this season as the long-absent husband of Sharon Raydor (Mary McDonnell). “Tom is an old friend of mine,” said Bailey. “We did a movie together almost 30 years ago – 29 years ago – called Rustler’s Rhapsody…when we saw each other on this we promised that we’d work together every 30 years.”

Major Crimes premieres Season 2 this Monday at 9 p.m. on TNT.

That’s a wrap for this week! Anything else you’re dying to know about your favorite show? Leave a comment here or you email me directly at jim@jimhalterman.com. And remember: follow @TVFanatic for all your TV scoop!

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/jims-notebook-drop-dead-diva-perception-and-major-crimes/

Anatomy of a Sarah Galvin Poem – TheStranger.com

Listen, everyone loves Sarah Galvin, and for obvious reasons. But despite being an increasingly visible writer/performer, and a frequent Stranger contributor, Galvin is the kind of writer whose technical skills tend to go unappreciatedeven unnoticedbecause her presentation is so pleasing.

Fans love Galvin's poems for their wild imagery and surprising turns, but all the fireworks can obscure the philosophical questions she explores. At the risk of giving away too many secrets, I asked her to illustrate the process that led to "My Internet Dating Profile," a poem in her new collection, Ugly Time.

1. The title is ironic. The reader is prepared for a casual (and maybe frazzled) poem about dating, but by the third stanza, Galvin starts digging deep into our assumptions about the idea of "innocence."

2. This video is real. Galvin says she was "impressed and also horrified" by the animals' behavior: "Whenever I have that response to anything, I have to study it."

3. She watched the video approximately 15 times. "It wasn't about pornography, it was about figuring out what a human being is. It seemed like all of humanity's problems and also everything that's great about humanity."

4. This "moment" refers to the moment of the reader reading the poem but also to the moment the speaker meets her date. "That was a really romantic night for me, and it was enhanced by my having done something so human just beforehand, something that I was ashamed of," Galvin says. "I wanted to make the poem beautiful to other people in the same way that evening was beautiful to me."

5. Galvin introduces lyrical language to counter the plain language used in the first two stanzas in order to "keep the engine running," she says. The poem swings back and forth between those two registers.

6. "There are multiple videos," Galvin says. "And it's always frogs and toads. And always in the mouth."

7. The break here transforms the line into an index entry, reinforcing the idea that the poem's main subject is the innocence of the chimp's seemingly cruel and bizarre act.

8. Galvin claims she wasn't thinking of William Butler Yeats's poem "Leda and the Swan" when writing this poem. In Yeats's poem, Zeus takes the form of a swan and rapes Leda, eventual mother to Helen of Troy. Yeats wonders if Leda absorbed the god's knowledge and strength during the assault. "I love Yeats, but I wasn't thinking of that poem," Galvin says. "I just always imagined that meeting god was like being fucked to death."

9. The lyrical language returns, like the ocean waves the line invokes.

10. "What I was trying to do in this last stanza was reverse and mix up everything," Galvin says. "I invert the weak and the powerful forces. The frog swallows the chimp, the earth crushes god, we kiss, everything explodes. And that's why the date was worth anything."

11. Image from the 1951 film Royal Wedding. "I just imagine everybody in the heat of passion is drunk, and they all got the moves like Fred Astaire, and they're dancing around like they don't know what they're doing. Like this chimp.

12. "It ends with two people penetrating each other, because that's what love is. You explode and destroy each other in this crazy moment" Galvin says.

13. Nobody controls who is the frog or the chimp or the sun or the ocean or what role they play on the date. Part of the thrill of love is that you don't know. And in a good relationship, you're both at the same time. Ideally nobody is hurting anybody.

14. In life, this date occurred at Lullaby Moon, an event at Gas Works Park that happens every September. According to Galvin, the evening was magical. Performers dressed up like Shetland ponies and fairies and danced around the park. Candles attached to balloons floated all around. Organizers dressed up boats to look like floating beds, and the beds floated past the gasworks as the sun gave way to the new moon. "We were drinking wine from mugs when my date said, 'You look just like Peter Pan.' And I was like, 'A hobo said that to me one time.' And she was like, 'Fuck you!' And then we made out."

Read more:
Anatomy of a Sarah Galvin Poem - TheStranger.com

Hannibal Review: Collapse

I’m not sure how Hannibal continues to top itself in regards to gore, yet "Roti" featured Dr. Gideon attaching still-wagging tongues to the necks of dead bodies and performing surgical art on those that wronged him.

What does it say about me that I’ve just come to accept goriness as part of Hannibal’s charm?

Will's Challenge

The dream Will has with the iceberg beginning to break was a good reference into his current state of mind. Will’s consciousness is collapsing into his subconscious and the empathy he uses to put himself into the minds of killers is beginning to take its toll on him. Those breakings to Will are like a metaphor for Freud’s ideas on consciousness. where the conscience part of his personality is sinking down into his id and superego drives.

Will feels himself going crazy, that he’s not in the right state of mind, but since his encephalitis is completely unknown to him he thinks everything is in his mind. Jack’s advice to Will is sound. He can’t allow himself to take it all in, otherwise it will consume him and compromise his health. He needs to find a way to let that pain go when it’s all over.

Whether Will wants to or not, he is in some instances throughout Hannibal Season 1 following his gut. It can even be argued that Will's way of solving cases is entirely gut based. A reader named TiffanyO in the “Fromage” comments brought up a great theory about the moose being Will’s subconscious to lead him to what he knows deep down.

Almost every week the moose makes an appearance. A strong, majestic, and self-confident animal that is ready and waiting for Will to take charge and lead, but Will hasn’t found those qualities in himself yet. He’s still relying on others to tell him what he has or doesn’t have.

Will bringing “Hobbs” to Lecter was a culmination of his encephalitis, subconscious and mental deterioration. I was hoping Gideon would begin to piece together Will’s encephalitis and let it slip to him. The two did develop an unlikely but calm and peaceful conversational friendship. Sadly, Will’s mild seizure pulled him out the conversation he already knows the answer to:

Gideon: Are you the ripper?
Lecter: Terrible thing, to have your identity taken from you. | permalink

Lecter is brilliant - and it’s not a difficult intuitional leap to see that he’s continuing to play Will and his condition into the scenarios he needs. He wanted to meet Dr. Gideon, most likely as another professional courtesy, but more importantly Lecter wants to systematically reduce Will’s support system.

By sending Gideon after Alana, it’s one less person in Will’s life and one less person in Lecter’s way. If Will begins to lose all the constants in his life, then very soon the only person he has to rely on is Lecter. It all plays into Lecter’s plans. If he can push Will far enough that the BAU team loses their faith in him and Alana can’t help him, then Lecter is nearly uncatchable.

The final few minutes of “Roti," meanwhile, are still turning about in my head with Lecter and his therapist:

Lecter: I see his madness and I want to contain it like an oil spill.
Therapist: Oil is valuable. What value does Will Graham's madness have to you? | permalink

I still believe Lecter is completely manipulative and only focused on himself... yet he has somehow convinced himself that, on some level, he views Will as his friend. In Hannibal’s world, this can totally pass as friendship, but Will doesn’t stand chance because all of it is completely rigged. It’s completely perverse.

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/hannibal-review-collapse/

Arrested Development Review: Call Me Maeby

We're in the home stretch of our 15 Days of Arrested Development and this time we're catching up with Maeby. "Señoritis" shows us that the more things changed - like years - the more they've stayed the same for the younger, possibly related--but maybe not--member of the Bluth-Funke clan.

This is Maeby’s Arrested Development.

Maeby at College

Maeby is in high school, which seems...weird? Since she was in high school during the last season and that was several years ago. She also looks waaaaay too old for high school, and also maybe a little bit like she’s not that into this season of the show. I do love the pregnant teenage girl in her class being followed around by a camera crew though. Maybe she was in a Girls With Low Self Esteem video.

Even though she must have been in school for the past nine years she’s failing math and needs a tutor. SURPRISE! It’s George Michael. Awkward awkward awkward etc. 

In the aftermath of the Queen Mary Incident, Maeby is still trying to get her parent’s attention. George Michael suggests she graduate high school, so she intentionally fails high school, only to discover Lindsay and Tobias haven’t noticed that either. Since she’s still working at the movie studio she runs off to India to film a movie only to run right into everyone else’s plot lines. It turns out SHE was the shaman who Lindsay spoke to, which explains the crazy make-up.

Once the timeline jumps ahead, we learn that Maeby has enrolled in a new high school. Ok, so she’s 18 or 19 now. I can see this working.

Five years later? Maybe, Maeby, but probably not.

The family spends Thanksgiving trying to watch Babies Having Babies on TV, which why that camera crew was doing in the opening scenes, but then Lindsay runs off with Marky, Tobias runs off with DeBrie, and Maeby gets fired from the studio.

Suddenly high school doesn’t look so bad, even at 23.

Now that we’re 12 episodes into the season, the most interesting part of each one is seeing the puzzle pieces fall into place. For example, the check Lindsay stole that says “From Gangie 4: Facelift” was a royalty check from Maeby’s movie and not actually from Gangie for plastic surgery. I admire these details, even as I wish the family would spend some time together.

Maeby is feeling pretty badly about her Groundhog Day senior year, so when George Michael mentions his privacy software she jumps on the chance to go into business with him. She makes sure to burn as many bridges as possible along the way, as well as accidentally becoming her mother’s pimp. I appreciate her entrepreneurial spirit. 

The best moment of the whole episode is when Maeby mentions Lucille 2 to George Michael and he doesn’t know who she is. I have to do a full rundown of every episode ever in my brain to believe it, but it makes a great trivia fact. 

The worse moment might be sad, fat Steve Holt. Poor Steve Holt.

George Michael seems a little overwhelmed by all this Fakeblock nonsense Maeby has put together. I suspect he might by fudging the truth a little bit about his super cool anti-social network software. Once he fires Maeby, I’m pretty sure I’m right.

Unfortunately for Maeby, her mom stops sleeping with that politician and she loses another income stream. Damn, it’s hard out out here for a pimp.

It’s also hard when she realizes her “undercover cop” boyfriend is really 17, so her plan to entrap him with sex has just made her a felon. Bad day for Maeby.

On the next Arrested Development, Lucille 2 is missing (oh no! I hope Liza’s OK!) and Maeby gets arrested for that underage sex thing. Oops?

What did you think of "Senoritis?" Are you ready to pony up for Maeby's therapy? Be sure to check out our Arrested Development quotes page for more Bluth-y goodness and tune in over the weekend as we wind down the rest of Arrested Development season 4.

Suzanne Davis is a guest contributor for TV Fanatic. When she's not commanding her ginger army at Bebehblog, you can find her on Twitter.

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/arrested-development-review-call-me-maeby/

New Girl Season 2 Report Card: A

New Girl, you’ll be a New Woman soon.

Though no members of the Loft could be accused of having finally grown up, this program truly did on Season 2. Particularly in the back half, New Girl found its voice, its vibe and its pacing, solidifying its identity as one of the best network sitcoms on the air.

It also found a way to make Jess a relatable, lovable neurotic, rather than the “Bjork-by-way-of-Urkel” weirdo that she often defaulted to during season 1 - a formidable feat for any show, but especially one that had been promoted to the public on the basis of its “adorkable”-ness.

But it turned out that once you washed away all the adorkability, you just had an excellently crafted story about friendship and modern single life. Who’da thunk it? Let's relive the madness in this TV Fanatic Report Card...

Nick in a Turban

Best Episode: The hair. The hookers. The Lisa Loeb. The best episode of season 2 had to be “Virgins,” a series of inter-linked flashback vignettes that told the story of how each member of the gang lost their v-card. I’d like to give a high-minded critical explanation for my love of this episode - and it did provide enticing psychological insight into the pasts of Schmidt, Nick, Jess and Winston in a creative and hilarious way - but to get real with you, it’s mostly because I can’t stop saying “Just my penis, baby. Just my penis.”

Runner-Up: “Quick Hardening Caulk,” the episode where the show finally found its tone as a dirty, absurbist, quick-witted Friends for the late aughties.

Worst Episode: Call me whatever you like - critical killjoy, feminist party pooper, person who only enjoyed the Nick portions of this episode - but I am not a big fan of PMS humor. I think it’s very played out, and kind of a dull fallback for any comedy with a female protagonist. And thus, my least favorite episode of this mostly-excellent season was the PMS-themed “Menzies, which, honestly, staggered a little too close to “PMS I Love You,” a 1990 episode of Roseanne (that was also not particularly funny in 1990). I was also not a big fan of Carla Gugino as yet another of Schmidt’s business lady paramours; she didn’t bring anything new or particularly exciting to Schmidt’s well-document fetish for women in business suits.

Runner-Up: I am not one of those jerks who hates Olivia Munn for no reason. I think she is often quite funny, and she has very beautiful hair! There, I said it. But I didn’t dig her plot arc as Nick’s unhinged girlfriend Angie, and “Cabin” focused too much on their misguided relationship (as well as Jess’s own misguided relationship) for my taste. I found parts of it even a bit wince-inducing.

Best Celebrity Guest Star: Dylan O’Brien killed in “Virgins” as the guy who almost took Jess’s virginity... and his character’s quick transformation from suave, guitar-toting ladies’ man to freaked-out crybaby trapped in a children’s playhouse really exemplified how delightfully well this show inverts ideas about coolness.

(Honorable mention goes to Taylor Swift in “Elaine’s Big Day,” who didn’t really do much in her guest spot, but kind of embodies this show’s spirit just by existing.)

Worst Celebrity Guest Star: I am just not a fan of Josh Gad, and his appearance in “Katie” as a sweet sad-sack didn’t change my mind. God, maybe I am just a party pooper.

Best Winston Prank: Does making Winston a “Prank Sinatra” with a sweet spot for borderline-lethal practical jokes count as giving the super-talented Lamorne Morris enough to do? Surely not. But it is hard to not get swept up in the man’s enthusiasm.

This season’s winner was, of course, the badger drop from “Elaine’s Big Day." But I look forward to Season 3, where hopefully he’ll do something involving Kit-Kats, plastique explosives, and a CD copy of ”40 Oz. to Freedom.”

Best Jess Outfit: Is it sick that I am obsessed with the dress she wore to Nick’s dad’s funeral? It just had a real adorable collar.

Hopes for Season 3:

  • How will this show go on without the Jess-Nick tension that propels it like so much of that truck fuel they make out of French fry grease? By depicting the awkward road bumps that they will surely have to negotiate in their burgeoning relationship, I hope, rather than ginning up frequent reasons for them to make up and break up, Ross-n-Rachel-style.
  • On a similar note, I hope that the writers give the CeCe-Schmidt-Elizabeth triangle a shot as the main relationship drama, at least for a little while. I’ve always found Schmidt and Cece’s “will-they-or-won’t-they?” dynamic more interesting than when Jess and Nick were trying to get together. And adding in Elizabeth as a symbol of the more authentic and sweet person that Schmidt used to be provides some exciting friction. Also, we can’t drop this plot point until Schmidt proposes a three-way and both women get mad at him. We can’t! It’s our duty as True Americans!
  • Give Winston the episode’s “A plot” and best jokes. Just once? Please?

Overall Grade: A.

YOUR turn, TV Fanatics. Grade New Girl Season 2:

Source:
http://www.tvfanatic.com/2013/06/new-girl-season-2-report-card-a/

Death and Wax Anatomies! Music Driving Women Mad! Dissection and Masturbation! Human Zoos! Blythe House! The Morbid Anatomy Lecture Series This Week at London’s Last Tuesday Society

 

Dear Londoners.

If you are interested in learning more about art, death and wax anatomical sculptures; why music has long been thought to drive women mad; the relationship between human dissection and masturbation; "human zoos;" and/or Blythe House--home of the incredible collection of Henry Wellcome--then this is the week for you. And if that does not interest, there is much more to come over the next few weeks and on into July.

Full details follow; most events cost £7 and take place at 7pm at London's Last Tuesday Society. Hope to see you at one or more!

________________________________

Image: Wax Head by
Clemente Susini;
Copyright: University of
Cagliari, Italy

Art, Wax, Death and Anatomy : Illustrated lecture with art historian Roberta Ballestriero
Monday, 3rd June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

Wax modelling, or ceroplastics, is of ancient origin but was revived in 14th century Italy with the cult of Catholic votive objects, or ex votos. With the rise of Neoclassicism this art became repulsive to artistic sensibilities; it did, however, continue to survive in a scientific environment, where it flourished in the study of normal and pathological anatomy, obstetrics, zoology and botany. Interest in anatomical wax models spread throughout Europe during the eighteenth century leading to the creation of beautiful collections where art and death harmonically cohabit. In today's illustrated lecture, Art Historian Roberta Ballestriero will discuss the art and history of wax modeling sacred and profane; she will also showcase many of its greatest masterworks, such as the anatomical head by Clemente Susini (1754-1814) seen above.

Roberta Ballestriero is an associate lecturer in History of Art for the Open University, in U.K. She graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts of Venice, and had her a European PhD for the Complutense University of Madrid. Her research concerns the history of Ceroplastic and wax figures throughout the centuries, (with emphasis on the ‘body of wax’). She started her research on the art of ceroplastics in 1995 and since 2004 she has presented at numerous conferences and has published several articles on her thesis subjects.

More here.
________________________________ 

Music Driving Women Mad: The History of Medical Fears of its Effects on Female Bodies and Minds: Illustrated lecture with Dr. James Kennaway
Tuesday, 4th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

For many doctors since the eighteenth century, women's supposedly weak nerves made them especially vulnerable to over-stimulation, which could lead to a variety of complaints from the vapours to neurasthenia. One surprisingly common focus of these concerns was music. Over the past few centuries, countless physicians and writers have asserted that music could cause very serious medical problems for the 'weaker sex'. Not only could it bring on symptoms of nervousness and hysteria, it could also cause infertility, nymphomania and even something called 'melosexualism'. This talk will give an outline of this strange debate, using the raciest stories to be found in gynaecological textbooks.

Dr James Kennaway is a lecturer in the History of Medicine at the University of Oxford. He has previously held posts at Stanford University, the University of Vienna and the University of Durham. His book "Bad Vibrations: The History of the Idea of Music as a Cause of Disease" was published last summer.

More here.
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Solitary vice? Sex and Dissection in Georgian London Illustrated Lecture with Dr Simon Chaplin
Wednesday, 5th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

In his watercolour of a 'Persevering Surgeon' (see left), the British artist Thomas Rowlandson made no bones about the darkly erotic nature of anatomical dissection. Poised over the body of a naked woman, erect knife in hand, Rowlandson's anatomist conjured images of the other solitary vice that consumed later 18th century moralists and medical men. But like Rowlandson - who combined popular satirical illustration with a more discreet trade in pornographic imagery - anatomists maintained a delicate balance between personal pursuits and public propriety. In this lavishly illustrated lecture, Simon Chaplin explores the sexual undertones of the anatomy schools of Georgian London, in which students dissected grave-robbed bodies in the back-rooms of their teachers' houses, while their masters explored new strategies for presenting their work to polite audiences through museums and lectures.

Dr Simon Chaplin is Head of the Wellcome Library in London. Before joining the Wellcome he was Director of the Hunterian Museum in London, one of the world's oldest anatomy collections. His research interests include the history of anatomy, surgery and museums, and his doctoral thesis explored the relationship between dissection and display through the work of the Hunterian Museum's founder, the surgeon John Hunter (1728-1793).

More here.
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Heartthrobs of the Human Zoo: Ethnographic Exhibitions and Captive Celebrities of Turn of the Century America: An Illustrated Lecture with Betsy Bradley
Thursday, 6th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

The ethnographic exhibitions that became popular in late Victorian Europe gave white visitors the chance to gaze upon entire villages of naturmenschen, temporarily imported from distant (usually colonial) lands and going about their daily lives in recreated habitats, much like their animal counterparts at the zoo. The Busby Berkeley scale of these colonial show-and-tells was designed to make a statement: instead of one displayed person, here were tribes of them, "villages negres," to quote the French. But the pointed anonymity of these living diorama could not prevent the media and the public from making stars out of their favorite "savages," particularly in the United States. From ransomed Congolese pygmies to winsome Eskimo babies, the American world's fairs and patriotic expositions  present history with a number of troubling ethnographic celebrities, and their stories offer a rare glimpse inside the psychology and culture of imperial America at the turn of a new century.

Betsy Bradley is a Brooklyn-based writer whose interests include the hidden histories of New York City and the intersection of literature, science, and American popular culture. She is the author of Knickerbocker: The Myth Behind New York, and a contributor to the Cambridge Companion to the Literature of New York, among other anthologies. She has written for Edible Manhattan, Edible Brooklyn, Bookforum, and The New York Times.  Bradley is the author of a forthcoming guidebook about New York to be published by Reaktion Books (UK) and is at work on a history of eugenics and its impact on American society, from sideshows to compulsory sterilization.

More here.
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The Astounding Collection of Henry Wellcome: Blythe House Backstage Tour with Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine, The Science Museum
Friday, 7th June 2013
This event is limited to only 15 participants and will begin at 15:00 at Blythe House, 23 Blythe Road, West Kensington
Ticket price £20; Tickets here

Henry Wellcome (1853 – 1936)----early pharmaceutical magnate and man behind the Wellcome Trust, Collection, and Library--was the William Randolph Hearst of the medical collecting world. Upon his death, he had collected over one million objects--many still in unopened crates in far-flung warehouses--related in the broadest sense to the history of medicine. His curators reduced that number by around to around 100,000 keeping only the very best. That collection, possibly the finest medical collection in the world, now resides in Blythe House, kept in trust by The Science Museum on permanent loan from the Wellcome Trust.

Today, a lucky fifteen people will get a rare chance to see this collection, featuring many artifacts of which have never before been on public view, in this backstage tour led Selina Hurley, Assistant Curator of Medicine at The Science Museum.

More here.

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 ONWARDS IN JUNE AND JULY:

Neapolitan Cult of the Dead with Chiara Ambrosio
10th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

.. Naples, the most macabre of cities. Naples, the mouth of Hades. The dead are played with there like big dolls...
--The Necrophiliac, Gabrielle Wittkop

Naples is a unique city in which the sacred and the profane, Catholicism and paganism, beauty and decay blend and contrast in intriguing ways. No practice illustrates this tangle of ideas better than what is known as "The Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" in which devout Catholics--generally poor women--adopt anonymous skulls found in charnel houses and clean, care for, and sometimes house them, offering up prayers and offerings to shorten that soul's time in purgatory before reaching paradise, where, it is hoped, it will assist its earthbound caretaker with special favors. The macabre artifacts of this cult can be seen in the Cimitero delle Fontanelle (see above) and the crypt of the church of Saint Mary of Purgatory.

In tonight's illustrated lecture, Italian artist and filmmaker Chiara Ambrosio will elucidate this curious and fascinating "Neapolitan Cult of the Dead" and situate it within a the rich death culture and storied history of Naples.

Chiara Ambrosio is a visual artist working with video and animation. Her work has included collaborations with performance artists, composers, musicians and writers, and has been shown in a number of venues including national and international film festivals, galleries and site specific events. She also runs The Light and Shadow Salon is a place for artists, writers and audience to meet and share ideas about the past, present and future of the moving image in all its forms.

More here.
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I am Amazed and Know Not What to Say! - A Vile Vaudeville of Gothic Attractions: Illustrated lecture by Mervyn Heard, author of Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern
11th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

An illustrated talk in which writer and showman ‘Professor’ Mervyn Heard waxes scattergun- sentimental over some of the more bizarre, live theatrical experiences of the 18th, 19th and early 20th century – from the various ghastly manifestations of the phantasmagoria to performing hangmen, self-crucifiers and starving brides.

Mervyn Heard is the author of Phantasmagoria- The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern (2006), was responsible for designing the phantasmagoria intallation for the Tate Britain’s Gothic Nightmare
(2006), and has staged bespoke magic lantern performances worldwide in playhouses, cinemas, department stores, museums, tents and dissecting theatres.

More here.
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Professor Heard's Most Extraordinary Magic Lantern Show with Mervyn Heard
12th June 2013
First performance begins at 7pm
Second performance begins at 9pm
Ticket price £10; Tickets here

Professor Heard is well known to patrons of the Last Tuesday Lecture programme for his sell-out magic lantern entertainments. In this latest assault on the eye he summons up some of the weirdest, most inappropriate and completely baffling examples of lantern imagery, lantern stories and optical effects by special request of Morbid Anatomy. These he will present on a magnificent mahogany and brass magic lantern projector perfectly suited for the purpose.

Mervyn Heard is the author of Phantasmagoria-The Secret Life of the Magic Lantern (2006), was responsible for designing the phantasmagoria installation for the Tate Britain’s Gothic Nightmare (2006), and has staged bespoke magic lantern performances worldwide in playhouses, cinemas, department stores, museums, tents and dissecting theatres.

More here.
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"Speaking Reliquaries" and Christian Death Rituals: Part One of "Hairy Secrets" Series With Karen Bachmann
13th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

In this 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen Bachmann will focus on what are termed "speaking" reliquaries: the often elaborate containers which house the preserved body parts--or relics--of saints and martyrs with shapes which reflect that of the body-part contained within. Bachmann will examine these fascinating objects from an art historical perspective, and discuss their relationship to concepts of human body parts as icons of the immortal. They will be put into the larger context of Christian death rituals, in particular the veneration of saints body parts as sacred and magical relics. Also discussed will be the extremely odd proclivities of a variety of renaissance saints, such as Catherine of Sienna who drank pus from open sores. This will serve as the genesis in our further discussions of human hair, teeth, and nails as icons of the immortal.

Karen Bachmann is a fine jeweler with over 25 years experience, including several years on staff as a master jeweler at Tiffany and Co. She is a Professor in the Jewelry Design Dept at Fashion Institute of Technology as well as the School of Art and Design at Pratt Institute. She has recently completed her MA in Art History at SUNY Purchase with a thesis entitled “Hairy Secrets; Human Relic as Memory Object in Victorian Mourning Jewelry”. In her downtime she enjoys collecting biological specimens, amateur taxidermy and punk rock.

More here.
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Hair Art Workshop Class: The Victorian Art of Hair Jewellery With Karen Bachmann
14th, 15th, and 16th June 2013 from 1 - 5pm
Ticket price £50; Tickets here (14th June), here (15th June), and here (16th June)

Hair jewellery was an enormously popular form of commemorative art that began in the late 17th century and reached its zenith during the Victorian Era. Hair, either of someone living or deceased, was encased in metal lockers or woven to enshrine the human relic of a loved one. This class will explore a modern take on the genre. The technique of "palette working" or arranging hair in artful swoops and curls will be explored and a variety of ribbons, beads, wire and imagery of mourning iconography will be supplied for potential inclusion. A living or deceased person or pet may be commemorated in this manner. Students are requested to bring with them to class their own hair, fur, or feathers; all other necessary materials will be supplied. Hair can be self-cut, sourced from barber shops or hair salons (who are usually happy to provide you with swept up hair), from beauty supply shops (hair is sold as extensions), or from wig suppliers. Students will leave class with their own piece of hair jewelry and the knowledge to create future projects. 

More here.
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The History of the Memento Mori and Death's Head Iconography: Part Two of "Hairy Secrets" Series: Illustrated lecture with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann
14th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

In tonight's lecture--the second in a 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry--master jeweler and art historian Karen Bachmann will explore the development of the memento mori,objects whose very raison d'être is to remind the beholder that they, too, will die. Bachman will trace the symbolism and iconography of the memento mori and death's head imagery in both Medieval and Renaissance art, focusing on jewelry. She will also discuss the development of the "portable relic" -- a wearable form of body part reliquary, will be the focus of this lecture. The importance of hair in contemporaneous art of the period will be addressed, as well as the development of bereavement jewelry with hair.

More here
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The Victorian
Love Affair with Death and the Art of Mourning Hair Jewelry and Part Three of “Hairy Secrets” Series: Illustrated lecture with Art Historian and Master Jeweler Karen Bachmann

17th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

The Victorians had a love affair with death which they expressed in a variety of ways, both intensely sentimental and macabre. Tonight’s lecture–the last in a 3-part series on human relics and Victorian mourning jewelry–will take as its focus the apex of the phenomenon of hair jewelry fashion in the Victorian Era as an expression of this passion. Nineteenth century mourning rituals will be discussed, with a particular focus on Victorian hairwork jewelry, both palette worked and table worked. Also discussed will be the historical roots of the Victorian fascination with death, such as high mortality rates for both adults and children, the rise of the park cemetery, and the death of Queen Victoria’s beloved Prince Albert and her subsequent fashion-influencing 40-year mourning period. Historical samples of hair art and jewelry from the lecturer’s personal collection will also be shown.

More here.
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Dissection and Magic with Constanza Isaza Martinez
18th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

This lecture examines images of human corpses in Early Modern European art in relation to two specific themes: the practice of ‘witchcraft’ or ‘magic’; and the emergent medical profession, particularly anatomical dissection. As the images demonstrate, the two practices were closely linked during this period, and the corpses were a source - albeit fraught with anxieties - of power and knowledge for the figures of the witch and the anatomist.

Constanza Isaza Martinez is an artist, photographer, and independent researcher. She gained her BA in Photographic Arts from the University of Westminster, and her MA in History of Art from the Courtauld Institute. Both her art and her research have frequently explored themes of mortality, mutability, death, and decay. For more information, please visit http://www.constanzaisaza.com.

More here.
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Future Death. Future Dead Bodies. Future Cemeteries: Illustrated lecture by Dr. John Troyer, Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath
20th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

Approximately 1500 people die every day across the United Kingdom, roughly one person a minute. And unless you are a person who works in a profession connected to the dying, chances are good you rarely (if ever) see any of these 1500 dead bodies. More importantly-- do you and your next of kin know what you want done with your dead body when you die? In the future, of course, since it's easier to think that way. Dr. John Troyer, from the Centre for Death & Society, University of Bath, will discuss three kinds of postmortem futures: Future Death, Future Dead Bodies, and Future Cemeteries. Central to these Futures is the human corpse and its use in new forms of body disposal technology, digital technology platforms, and definitions of death.

Dr. John Troyer is the Deputy Director of the Centre for Death and Society at the University of Bath. His interdisciplinary research focuses on contemporary memorialisation practices, concepts of spatial historiography, and the dead body?s relationship with technology. Dr. Troyer is also a theatre director and installation artist with extensive experience in site-specific performance across the United States and Europe. He is a co-founder of the Death Reference Desk website and a frequent commentator for the BBC. His forthcoming book, Technologies of the Human Corpse (published by the University of North Carolina Press), will appear in 2013.

More here.
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‘She Healed Their Bodies With Her White Hot Passions’: The Role of the Nurse in Romantic Fiction with Natasha McEnroe: Illustrated lecture Natasha McEnroe, Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum
23rd June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

“She stood by, handing him the required instruments while he stitched up an ice-pick stabbing that had by some miracle barely missed a woman’s heart. She heard the woman’s thick voice as she went under the anaesthetic: ‘My man didn’t really mean to hurt me, Doc. He was just mad account of I didn’t have him a meat supper when he got home from work.’” [Society Nurse, 1962].

Under such dramatic circumstances, it is no wonder that passion flares between the beautiful young nurse and her handsome doctor colleague. The figure of the nurse in romance fiction is a powerful one, her starched white apron covering a breast heaving with suppressed emotion. Victorian portrayals of the nurse show either a drunken and dishonest old woman or an angelic and devoted being, which changes to a 20th-century caricature just as pervasive – that of the ‘sexy nurse’. In this talk, Natasha McEnroe will explore the links between the enforced intimacy of the sickroom and the handling of bodies for more recreational reasons.

Natasha McEnroe is the Director of the Florence Nightingale Museum. Her previous post was Museum Manager of the Grant Museum of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy and Curator of the Galton Collection at University College London. From 1997 – 2007, she was Curator of Dr Johnson’s House in London’s Fleet Street, and has also worked for the National Trust and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Natasha has lectured widely at venues including the Royal Society, the British Museum and the Hunterian Museum.

More here.
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Face lift or face reconstruction? Redesigning the Museum Vrolik, Amsterdam's anatomical museum: An illustrated lecture with Dr. Laurens de Rooy, curator of the Museum Vrolik in Amsterdam
24th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

Copies of the book Forces of Form: The Vrolik Museum will be available for sale and signing.

Two skeletons of dwarfs, rare Siamese twins, cyclops and sirens, dozens of pathologically deformed bones, the giant skull of a grown man with hydrocephalus, the skeleton of the lion once owned by king Louis Napoleon, as well as the organs of a babirusa, Tasmanian devil and tree kangaroo – rare animals that died in the Amsterdam zoo ‘Artis’ shortly before their dissection. Counting more than five thousand preparations and specimens, the Museum Vrolikianum, the private collection of father Gerard (1775-1859) and his son Willem Vrolik (1801-1863), was an amazing object of interest one hundred and fifty years ago. In the 1840s and 50s this museum, established in Gerard’s stately mansion on the river Amstel, grew into a famous collection that attracted admiring scientists from both the Netherlands and abroad. After the Vrolik era, the museum was expanded with new collections by succeeding anatomists and the museum now houses more than 10,000 anatomical specimens.

Since 1984, the museum has been located in the academic Hospital of the University of Amsterdam. In 2009 the museum collections were portrayed by the photographer Hans van den Bogaard for the book Forces of Form. This book was the starting point for the creation of a new 'aesthetic' of the museum and its collection, eventually resulting in the grand reopening of the renovated and redesigned permanent exhibition in September 2012. For the first time since the death of father and son Vrolik, all of their scientific interests - the animal anatomy, the congenital malformations and the pathologically deformed human skeletons can all be viewed together, thus giving an impression of what that mid-19th century anatomy was all about. In this talk, Museum Vrolik curator will take you on a guided tour of the new museum, and give an overview of all the other aspects of the 'new' Museum Vrolik.

Dr. Laurens de Rooy (b. 1974) works as a curator of the Museum Vrolik in the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam. He studied Medical Biology, specializing in the history of science and museology. during his internship he researched the collection of father and son Vrolik. In 2009 he obtained his PhD in medical history.

More here.
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The Walking Dead in 1803: An Illustrated Lecture with Phil Loring,
Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum in London

25th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

A visiting Italian startled Londoners at the turn of the 19th century by making decapitated animals and executed men open their eyes and move around, as if on the verge of being restored to life. This was not magic but the power of electricity from the newly invented Galvanic trough, or battery. It was also the dawn of the modern neurosciences, as the thrust behind these macabre experiments was to understand the energy that moved through the nerves and linked our wills to our bodies. This talk will discuss a variety of historical instruments from the Science Museum's collections that figured in these re-animation experiments, including the apparatus used by Galvani himself in his laboratory in Bologna. This will be a partial preview of an upcoming Science Museum exhibition on nerve activity, to open in December 2013.

Phil Loring is BPS Curator of Psychology at the Science Museum in London. He has a Master's degree in Medical Anthropology from Harvard University and is currently completing his Ph.D. in the History of Science, also from Harvard, with a dissertation on psycho-linguists in Cambridge, Massachusetts, after the Second World War. Phil has been at the Science Museum since 2009, and during that time he has been particularly committed to sharing artefacts related to psychology and psychiatry with adult audiences. He's currently preparing an exhibition on the history of nerves, to open in December 2013.

More here

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The Influencing Machine: James Tilly Matthews and the Air Loom with Mike Jay
26th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

Confined in Bedlam in 1797 as an incurable lunatic, James Tilly Matthews’ case is one of the most bizarre in the annals of psychiatry. He was the first person to insist that his mind was being controlled by a machine: the Air Loom, a terrifying secret weapon whose mesmeric rays and mysterious gases were brainwashing politicians and plunging Europe into revolution, terror and war. But Matthews’ case was even stranger than his doctors realised: many of the incredible conspiracies in which he claimed to be involved were entirely real. Caught up in high-level diplomatic intrigues in the chaos of the French revolution, he found himself betrayed by both sides, and in possession of a secret that no-one would believe…

Mike Jay is an author, historian and curator who has written widely on the history of science and medicine, and particularly on drugs and madness. As well as The Influencing Machine, he is the author of Emperors of Dreams: Drugs in the Nineteenth Century and High Society: Mind-Altering Drugs in History and Culture, which accompanied the exhibition he curated at Wellcome Collection.

More here.
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Madame Tussaud, the French and the Guillotine: Illustrated Lecture by Pamela Pilbeam Emeritus Professor of F
rench History, Royal Holloway, University of London and author of Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks

27th June 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

`You perceive that this is some sort of holy of holiest, the nearest Victorians got to a Cathedral, with its saints enniched within’. The chief saint in Madame Tussaud’s exhibition was Bonaparte, the chief villains were Robespierre and his revolutionary colleagues. When she arrived in Britain in 1802 for a short tour that lasted until she died in 1850, her exhibition was an exploration of the evils of the French Revolution. She had modelled the guillotined revolutionaries, as well as Louis XVI and Marie-Antoinette, from their severed heads- and brought a model of a guillotine and the Bastille fortress to expose the short comings of the French. The British, busily at war with their nearest neighbour, loved this critical exposure. Later the focus of her collection became her `Shrine to Napoleon’ consisted of two rooms dedicated to the Emperor. Napoleon had always had a leading role in her touring company, but in 1834, when she was a well-established figure in the world of entertainment and about to open a permanent museum in Baker Street, Madame. Tussaud began to amass large quantities of Napoleonic memorabilia. She built up a collection which Napoleon III acknowledged, when he tried abortively to buy it from the Tussauds, to be the best in the world. Madame Tussaud’s presentation of French politics and history did much to inform and influence the popular perception of France among the British. This paper will explore that view and how it changed during the nineteenth century.

Pamela Pilbeam is Emeritus Professor of French History, Royal Holloway, University of London.   She is the author of Madame Tussaud and the History of Waxworks.

More here.
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© The Natural History Museum,
London 2012. All Rights Reserved.

Backstage Tour of the Zoological Collection of the Natural History Museum with Miranda Lowe
28th June 2013
Limited to 10 participants; Time 3:00 - 4:00
Ticket price £20; Tickets here

Today, ten lucky people will get to join Miranda Lowe, Collections Manager of the Aquatic Invertebrates Division, for a special backstage tour of The Natural History Museum of London. The tour will showcase the zoological spirit collections in the Darwin Centre, some of Darwin’s barnacles and the famed collection of glass marine invertebrate models crafted by Leopold and Rudolf Blaschka in the 19th and early 20th century.

Miranda Lowe is the Collections Manager of the Aquatic Invertebrates Division, Life Sciences Department, The Natural History Museum (NHM), London. Within Zoology Miranda specifically manages the Crustacea collections as well as the team of curators responsible for the Invertebrate collections. Darwin barnacles and the Blaschka marine invertebrate glass models are amongst some of the historical collections that are her interests and under her care. In 2006, she was part of the organising committee and invited speaker at the 1st international Blaschka congress held in Dublin. Miranda collaborated with the National Glass Centre, Sunderland, UK in 2008 to exhibit some of the Museum’s Blaschka collection alongside contemporary Blaschka inspired art. She also has an interest in photography, natural history - past and present serving on a number of committees including the Society for the History of Natural History (SHNH) and the Natural Sciences Association (NatSCA).

More here
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Bat in Glass Dome Workshop: Part of DIY Wunderkammer Series : With Wilder Duncan (formerly of Evolution Store, Soho) and Laetitia Barbier, head librarian at The Morbid Anatomy Library
29th June and 30th June 2013, 1 to 5pm
Ticket price £150; Tickets here (29th) and here (30th)

In this class, students will learn how to create an osteological preparation of a bat in the fashion of 19th century zoological displays. A bat skeleton, a glass dome, branches, glue, tools, and all necessary materials will be provided for each student, but one should feel welcome to bring small feathers, stones, dried flowers, dead insects, natural elements, or any other materials s/he might wish to include in his/her composition. Students will leave the class with a visually striking, fully articulated, “lifelike” bat skeleton posed in a 10” tall glass dome. This piece can, in conjunction with the other creations in the DIY Wunderkammer workshop series, act as the beginning of a genuine collection of curiosities! This class is part of the DIY Wunderkammer workshop series, curated by Laetitia Barbier and Wilder Duncan for Morbid Anatomy as a creative and pluridisciplinary exploration of the Curiosity Cabinet. The classes will focus on teaching ancient methods of specimen preparation that link science with art: students will create compositions involving natural elements and, according to their taste, will compose a traditional Victorian environment or a modern display. More on the series can be found here.

Wilder Duncan is an artist whose work puts a modern-day spin on the genre of Vanitas still life. Although formally trained as a realist painter at Wesleyan University, he has had a lifelong passion for, and interest in, natural history. Self-taught rogue taxidermist and professional specimen preparator, Wilder worked for several years at The Evolution Store creating, repairing, and restoring objects of natural historical interest such as taxidermy, fossils, seashells, minerals, insects, tribal sculptures, and articulated skeletons both animal and human. Wilder continues to do work for private collectors, giving a new life to old mounts, and new smiles to toothless skulls.

Laetitia Barbier is the head librarian at The Morbid Anatomy Library. She is working on a master’s thesis for the Paris Sorbonne on painter Joe Coleman. She writes for Atlas Obscura and Morbid Anatomy.

More here (29th) and here (30th).
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The Coming of Age of the Danse Macabre on the Verge of the Industrial Age: Illustrated lecture with Alexander L. Bieri
9th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

During the middle ages, the danse macabre developed into an independent art form, most often in the shape of murals which adorned the walls of cemeteries. These depictions of death followed a strict rulebook and generally were a representation of the class system of the time, which was based on nobility or – to be more precise – the estate-based society. The advent of the bourgeois during the 1700s and the upcoming industrialisation put a question mark not only behind the societal system, but quite naturally also behind many of the established art forms. The danse macabre was widely regarded to be an outdated concept and a discussion evolved whether the skeleton still was the appropriate epitome for death. One of the proponents of this discussion was the Swiss artist Johann Rudolf Schellenberg, who created the first modern danse macabre in 1785, far away from the old class system, a work of art which still has an uncanny actuality and addresses many of the modern fears still extant in society at present. His trailblazing work updated the genre overnight and can be seen as the master source of all similar works of art to follow. A complete set of the plates is held by the Roche Historical Collection and Archive in Basel, which also holds one of the world’s oldest anatomical collections. The lecture not only discusses Schellenberg’s danse macabre in detail, but also gives an insight into the current fascination with vanitas and its depictions, especially focusing on the artistic exploitation of the theme and takes into consideration the history of anatomical dissection and preparation.

Alexander L. Bieri (*1976) is the curator of the Roche Historical Collection and Archive, a department within Roche Group Holdings. He assumes this position since 1999. Based in Basel, Switzerland but active as a consultant throughout the world, he has published many books and articles both on Roche-related and other themes. He also is responsible for a variety of Roche in-house museums and curated special exhibitions in Switzerland and abroad. In his capacity as an expert for 20th century architecture and design, he is a member of ICOMOS. In 2012, he was appointed lecturer for exhibition design at the Basel University.

More here.
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Photo courtesy of
Tonya Hurley

Viva la Muerte: The Mushrooming Cult of Saint Death": Illustrated lecture and book signing with Andrew Chesnut
10th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

The worship of Santa Muerte, a psuedo Catholic saint which takes the form of a personified and clothed lady death, is on the rise and increasingly controversial in Mexico and the United States. Literally translating to “Holy Death” or “Saint Death,” the worship of Santa Muerte–like Day of the Dead–is a popular form of religious expression rooted in a rich syncretism of the beliefs of the native Latin Americans and the colonizing Spanish Catholics. Worshippers of "The Bony Lady" include the very poor, prostitutes, drug dealers, transvestites, prison inmates and others for whom traditional religion has not served, and for whom the possibility of unpredictable and violent death is a very real part of everyday life. In the view of her worshippers, Santa Muerte is simply a branch of Catholicism which takes at its central figure the most powerful of all saints--Saint Death herself, the saint all must, after all, one day answer to.The Catholic Church sees it, however, as, at best, inadvertent devil worship, with the worship of death--and the manifestation of a saint from a concept rather than an individual--as heretical to its core tenants. Tonight, R. Andrew Chesnut, author of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint and Chair in Catholic Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University, will detail his research into the history and ongoing development of this fascinating "new religion."

Copies of Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Sain will be available for sale and signing.

Dr. R. Andrew Chesnut earned his Ph.D degree in Latin American History from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1995 and joined the History Department faculty at the University of Houston in 1997 where he quickly became an internationally recognized expert on Latin American religious history. His most recent book is Devoted to Death: Santa Muerte, the Skeleton Saint (Oxford University Press, 2012). It is the first in-depth study of the Mexican folk saint in English.

More here
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From Blue Beads to Hair Sandwiches: Edward Lovett and London's Folk Medicine: An Illustrated lecture with Ross MacFarlane, Research Engagement Officer in the Wellcome Library
15th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

During his life Edward Lovett (1852-1933) amassed one of the largest collections of objects pertaining to 'folk medicine' in the British Isles.  Lovett particularly focused his attention on objects derived from contemporary, working class Londoners, believing that the amulets, charms and mascots he collected - and which were still being used in 20th century London - were 'survivals' of antiquated, rural practices. Lovett, however, was a marginal figure in folklore circles, never attaining the same degree of influence as many of his peers.  Whilst he hoped in his lifetime to establish a 'National Museum of Folklore', Lovett's sizeable collection is now widely dispersed across many museums in the UK, including Wellcome Collection, the Science Museum, the Pitt Rivers Museum and the Cuming Museum.  This paper will offer an overview of the range of healing objects Lovett collected, the collecting practices he performed and recent efforts to rehabilitate his reputation.

Ross MacFarlane is R
esearch Engagement Officer in the Wellcome Library, where he is heavily involved in promoting the Library's collections, particularly to academic audiences.  He has researched and given public talks on such topics as the history of early recorded sound and the collecting activities of Henry Wellcome and his members of staff.  Ross is a frequent contributor to the Wellcome Library's blog and has had led guided walks around London on the occult past of Bloomsbury and the intersection of medicine, science and trade in Greenwich and Deptford.

More here.
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The Vampires of London: A Cinematic Survey with William Fowler (BFI) and Mark Pilkington (Strange Attractor)
18th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

This heavily illustrated presentation and film clip selection explores London's Highgate Cemetery as a locus of horror in the 1960s and 1970s cinema, from mondo and exploitation to classic Hammer horror.

William Fowler is curator of artists' moving image at the BFI National Archive and co-programmes the cult cinema strand at Flipside at BFI Southbank.

Mark Pilkington runs Strange Attractor Press and is the author of 'Mirage Men' and 'Far Out: 101 Strange Tales from Science's Outer Edge'. 

More here
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"Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: a Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games" Screenings of Short Films from the BFI Folk Film Archives with William Fowler
24th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

Tonight, the British Film Institute's William Fowler will present a number of rare and beautiful short films from the BFI National Archive and Regional Film Archives showing some of our rich traditions of folk music, dance, customs and sport. Highlights include the alcoholic folk musical Here's a Health to the Barley Mow (1955), Doc Rowe’s speedy sword dancing film and the Padstow Mayday celebration Oss Oss Wee Oss (Alan Lomax/Peter Kennedy 1953).

The programme provides a taste of the BFI's 6-hour DVD release 'Here's a Health to the Barley Mow: a Century of Folk Customs and Ancient Rural Games', a rich and wide-ranging collection of archive films from around the UK.

William Fowler is curator of artists' moving image at the BFI National Archive and co-programmes the cult cinema strand at Flipside at BFI Southbank.

More here.
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Of Satyrs, Horses and Camels: Natural History in the Imaginative Mode: illustrated lecture by Daniel Margócsy, Hunter College, New York
25th July 2013
Doors at 6:30 / Talk begins at 7:00 pm
Ticket price £7; Tickets here

This talk argues that the creative imagination played a crucial role in the development of science during the scientific revolution. Modern, natural knowledge emerged from the interaction of painters, printmakers, artisans, cartographers, and natural historians. All these practitioners carefully observed, pictured and cataloged all the exotic naturalia that flooded Europe during the Columbian exchange. Yet their collaboration did not end there. They also engaged in a joint, conjectural guesswork as to what other, as yet unknown plants and animals might hide in the forests of New England, the archipelago of the Caribbean, the unfathomable depths of the Northern Sea, or even in the cavernous mountains of the Moon. From its beginnings, science was (and still is) an imaginative and speculative enterprise, just like the arts. This talk traces the exchange of visual information between the major artists of the Renaissance and the leading natural historians of the scientific revolution. It shows how painters’ and printmakers’ fictitious images of unicorns, camels and monkfish came to populate the botanical and zoological encyclopedias of early modern Europe. The leading naturalists of the age, including Conrad Gesner, Carolus Clusius and John Jonstonus, constantly consulted the oeuvre of Dürer, Rubens and Hendrick Goltzius, among others, as an inspiration to hypothesize how unknown, and unseen, plants and animals might look like.

Daniel Margocsy is assistant professor of history at Hunter College – CUNY. In 2012/3, he is the Birkelund Fellow of the New York Public Library’s Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers. He has co-edited States of Secrecy, a special issue of the British Journal for the History of Science on scientific secrecy, and published articles in the Journal of the History of Ideas, Annals of Science, and the Netherlands Yearbook of Art History.

More here.
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All talks and workshops take place at The Last Tuesday Society at 11 Mare Street, London, E8 4RP map here) unless otherwise specified; please click here to buy tickets. More on all events can be found here. Click on images to see larger versions.

Images, top to bottom:

  1. Wax Head by Clemente Susini; © University of Cagliari, Italy
  2. Thomas Rowlandson, 'The Persevering Surgeon', late 18th century, from the collection of the Hunterian Museum, London 
  3. Clipping from this weeks Time Out London

Source:
http://morbidanatomy.blogspot.com/2013/06/death-and-wax-anatomies-music-driving.html

FACE OFF: Mashups and Full Skulls Revealed

Noah Scalin vs Vanessa Ruiz FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
We had an incredible opening night for FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy on Friday, May 31st! For those that couldn’t be with us that evening, we’d like to reveal the skull mashups Noah Scalin and I curated along with the full skulls that were custom made for the show by Mike EganTom FrenchEmilio GarciaAli GulecJoshua HarkerMeyokoNicholas OberyRx SkullsDan Springer, and Rob Tarbell.

All of the full skull prints are available for sale exclusively on the Street Anatomy Gallery Store! Have a Happy Skull Appreciation Day!

 

Rx Skulls vs Josh Harker FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Rx Skulls x Josh Harker 
Arrex Teef Skull x Crania Anatomica Filigre Urbano

 

Tom French vs Meyoko FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Tom French x Melissa Murillo (Meyoko) 
Viscerocranium x Pomponia Imperatoria

 

Rob Tarbell vs Rx Skulls FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Rob Tarbell x Rx Skulls 
Pink & Smoking x Arrex Teef Skull

 

Dan Springer Skulluxe vs Tom French FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Dan Springer (Skulluxe) x Tom French
Untitled Skull Study 2 x Viscerocranium

 

Nicolas Obery vs Rob Tarbell FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Nicolas Obery x Rob Tarbell
Skull Shine x Pink & Smoking

 

Meyoko vs Ali Gulec FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Melissa Murillo (Meyoko) x Ali Gulec
Pomponia Imperatoria x Skull 2

 

Mike Egan vs Nicolas Obery FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Mike Egan x Nicolas Obery 
I Cried 77 Times When You Died x Skull Shine

 

Josh Harker vs Emilio Garcia FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Joshua Harker x Emilio Garcia
Crania Anatomica Filigre Urbano x Skull Brain

 

Ali Gulec vs Dan Springer Skulluxe FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Ali Gulec x Dan Springer (Skulluxe)
Skull 4 x Untitled Skull Study 2

 

Emilio Garcia vs Mike Egan FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Emilio Garcia x Mike Egan
Skull Brain x I Cried 77 Times When You Died

 

Full Skulls

Noah Scalin Visible Skull FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Noah Scalin, Skull-A-Day
The Visible Skull, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 18” x 24”
$75 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Vanessa Ruiz Street Skull FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Vanessa Ruiz, Street Anatomy
Street Skull, 2013 Giclée print on archival matte paper 18” x 24”
$75 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Rx Skulls Arrex Teef Skull FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Rx Skulls
Arrex Teef Skull, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 12” x 18”
$60 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Joshua Harker Crania Anatomica Filigre Urbano FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Joshua Harker
Crania Anatomica Filigre Urbano, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 30″ x 20″
$200 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Tom French Viscerocranium FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Tom French
Viscerocranium, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 19.75″ x 27.5″
$175 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Rob Tarbell Pink and Smoking FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Rob Tarbell
Pink & Smoking, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 12″ x 15″
$100 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Nicolas Obery Skull Shine FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Nicolas Obery
Skull Shine, 2012
Giclée print on archival matte paper 15.75″ x 23.5″
$300 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Mike Egan I Cried 77 Times When You Died FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Mike Egan
I Cried 77 Times When You Died, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 8.5″ x 11″
$40 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Meyoko Pomponia Imperatoria FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Melissa Murillo
Pomponia Imperatoria, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 19.75″ x 27.5″
$250 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Emilio Garcia Skull Brain FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Emilio Garcia
Skull Brain, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 12″ x 18″
$70 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Dan Springer Untitled Skull Study 2 FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Dan Springer (Skulluxe)
Untitled Skull Study 2, 2013
Giclée print on archival matte paper 18″ x 18″
$75 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store

 

Ali Gulec Flower Skull 2 FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Gallery Show International Museum of Surgical Science Chicago May 31- August 25, 2013
Ali Gulec
Skull 2, 2011
Giclée print on archival matte paper
19.75″ x 27.5″
$100 at the Street Anatomy Gallery Store      

 

 

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FACE OFF Skull-A-Day vs Street Anatomy Skull Appreciation Day 2013 curated by Noah Scalin and Vanessa Ruiz


FACE OFF: Skull-A-Day VS Street Anatomy

May 31 – August 25, 2013

International Museum of Surgical Science

1524 N. Lake Shore Drive Chicago, IL

 

 

 

Source:
http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/streetanatomy/OQuC/~3/-Mx-LXMIi_M/