old dutch master

There is a curious museum in Vienna dedicated to counterfeit works of art right across the street from the very genuine Hundertwasser Haus, that I regret we missed, but will be sure to visit next time—if for nothing else by the even stranger case of one of the museum’s contributors, Dutch painter and forger Henricus Antonius van Meegeren. A skilled but perhaps uninspired painter in his own right, van Meegeren’s contemporaries dismissed his work as too derivative and unoriginal, and so the artist turned to making copies of masterpieces. While Europe was embroiled in World War II, the Nazi command was acquiring enormous amounts of treasure and art work from all over Europe, and reportedly there was somewhat of a rivalry between Hitler and Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring to amass the finest collection.
Göring was surely pleased as punch to have acquired a Vermeer from an art dealer in Amsterdam before his boss. After the war, this painting of Christ and the Adulteress was traced back to van Meegeren, who was summarily thrown into prison for collaboration and for selling a priceless piece of the Netherlands cultural heritage to the Nazis. This crime carried the death-sentence, but in his defense, van Meegeren proclaimed, “I didn’t sell that dirty Nazi a Vermeer, since I painted it myself.” The authorities were doubtful because art experts had vouched for the painting’s authenticity, but van Meegeren was allowed demonstrate his talents with an easel, canvas and palette brought to his jail cell. Experts reexamined more supposed Vermeers—including some hanging in the Rijksmuseum purchased dearly by the Dutch government to prevent them from falling into enemy hands—and found that van Meegeren had duped dozens of people out of millions of guilders. The charges for forgery and fraud didn’t carry as severe penalties and his sentence was commuted to a year in prison. Opinion polls conducted in 1947 after van Meegeren’s release placed him among the most popular war-time heroes of the Netherlands, one cunning enough to fool the entire art world establishment plus the commander of the Nazi armed forces, Göring—who on learning that he had bought a counterfeit acted as if he realised for the first time that there was evil and dishonesty in the world.

memory alpha

To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of the debut of the Star Trek franchise in 1996, NBC concocted a special cross-over with the then top rated television programme and the present incarnation of the space-western, with sheriff CPT Janeway and the cast of the series Fraiser (without Kelsey Grammer being unfortunately already engaged in being CPT Morgan Bateman of the USS Bozeman stuck in a time-loop for nine decades). Though not as epic as a true cross-over episode like Phyllis Diller hailing on Gilligan’s Island with the Harlem Globetrotters on the Love Boat meet the Scooby Gang nor quite as cringe-worthy as a Very Star Wars Christmas, watching this is nonetheless pretty fantastically awkward.

haberdashery or bodhisat

Since first spying this knitted cap in the style of Buddha’s (note the distinction between Skinny- and Fat-Elvis Buddha) scalp on Everlasting Blört, I’ve been both enamoured and intrigued.
Not that I actually need another hat, though an avid hat-wear am I, since I have many outstanding ones, including animal ones: I got an owl and H got a cute deer which unfortunately bears a strong resemblance to Pedo Bear so that one does not get worn often and a superb one hand-made from a crafty friend from a kit. I do not however have an animal hat made from a kit, like these fun ones courtesy of Nag on the Lake. Wearing the hand-made one always makes me yearn to learn to knit in earnest and start a cottage industry, though the feeling fades once the hat is doffed. I wonder if some clever person might make instructions for this. Meanwhile, if you are confident with placing an order, there’s a website from Japan that sells them featured on Biglobe.

star date 1312.4

This week marks the fiftieth anniversary of the premier of Star Trek and the launch of an amazing franchise—the Next Generation itself already having passed the half-way mark towards that milestone. Though NBC aired the pilot episode on 8 September 1966, it was actually screened by a Canadian broadcaster two days prior. Here and here are some fun commemorations from earlier in the year. Although it only ran for three seasons before being canceled (two years shy of its stated mission)—having been kept aloft by a tremendous fan-base, the cultural impact and endurance (not to mention the predictive aspect) of the show are immeasurable.

beltway

The Houses of Parliament in London are in dire need of refurbishment—removing asbestos and updating wiring, the brilliant and sly Tom Shakespeare reports, not just bringing condemnation to these corridors of power but by way of an alternative a modest proposal that might improve the public image of the ruling-class among those whom they represent and provide important insights into their short-comings.
The two contingencies presented either allow for a three decades’ piecemeal restoration in situ or the displacement of lords and commoners for a period of six years whilst refurbishments go on whilst the representatives have been removed to other chambers. While recognising the importance of metonymy and the ability of an address to be the focus or praise or ire, Shakespeare rather proposes that the Houses of Parliament take to the road, harking back to the procession of kingly courts on the move of five centuries prior. Can you see it Gwen? A round table!  What do you think? Despite the venom directed at the establishment and the unsavouriness of hosting other big events recently, surely constituencies would walk over the necks of competition to host a moveable parliament. There’s certainly a modern counterpart in the mobile three-ring circus (through not without its detractors) that decamps Brussels for Strasbourg regularly. Perhaps that arrangement should be expanded and jar the privilege of Washington or Berlin. Just as England had its roving trappings, residences were built for the Holy Roman Emperor all over his domain and the rotation was a welcome event, despite the logistical hassles. Maybe bringing the processes of representative democracy to the people might make those elected officials more conscientious and accountable—and perhaps win back some measure of esteem from their constituents.

baubotanik

An architect and gardener in Nagold, a town south of Stuttgart, finding inspiration in the gentle, patient coaxing of bonsai trees and topiary cultivating, has grown a series of towers that fuse a minimum of man-made construction materials with living branches. These creations won’t be supplanting traditional building for human habitation but could also prove very suitable sanctuaries for other fauna and the extensive research that went into their design will surely inspire others.  You can read more about tree-houses here, here and here.

who ever heard of a snozzberry?

Via Messy Nessy Chic’s latest virtual lost-and-found, we discover that there is a museum that exclusively curates discarded and retrieved shopping lists. The collection is approaching four thousand pieces of ephemera and shows that we are not alone in standing at the check-out line with non-sequitur items, not always being able to retrieve the proper name for something and that penmanship and spelling can be tough things.

bespin cloud city

As part of a brilliant series about colonising the Solar System (responsibly and not in manner that might threaten native life forms), Universe Today looks at some of the proposed platforms for human settlement on Venus, which don’t make our Doppelganger out to be Evil Twin, failed Earth it is in our imaginations. Conditions on the surface are pretty inhospitable, nonetheless, but one clever plan from NASA would see colonies floating in dirigibles high above the Venusian clouds, High Altitude Venus Operational Concept (HAVOC), that would mine the sky for chemical elements. Be sure to check out the whole article and more stories about space exploration at the link up top.