sesamstraße

H and I shared a cross-cultural moment the other day, him remarking that my hair, already in need of a cut before the lockdown, was getting pretty shaggy and I would look like Tiffy soon. I didn’t get the reference and he explained, “Tiffy, you know the Muppet from Sesame Street?”
I wasn’t familiar and vaguely knew that there were different nationally syndicated versions of the show with different characters and looking up an image, I thought she presents as a Mokey Fraggle and possibly a later addition to the cast. More research, however, showed me what a different and parallel world there was between the Children’s Television Workshop and the studios of Norddeutscher Runkfrunk. They that you call Big Bird and Mister Snuffleupagus we call Tiffy und Samson, a friendly bear with a security blanket called Schnuffeltuch.  Same energy.
Tiffy and her friend were portraying the psychological ages of six- and five-year olds respectively and were with the show since it’s debut in 1977. In late December of 1993, there was a sort of Muppet Monster New Year’s Eve special called Sesame Street Stays Up Late, anchored by Elmo as sort of a CNN style reporter showcasing celebrations by time-zones and featured introductions and interviews with international cast and crew, including Tiffy, Samson and company. I am rocking that Tiffy hairdo.

der honigdieb

Though perhaps best known for his iconic portraits of contemporary celebrities, like this one of Martin Luther that’s become synonymous and defining, the imagination, which takes a rather lurid turn at times, of the painter and printmaker Lucas Cranach the Elder (*1472 – †1553, confusingly from the village of Cronach) also has a legacy worth contemplating—especially after the accusations and misapprehensions that the shock of the naked body in classical and Renaissance art wasn’t some soft smut for the elite with the intrinsic value, patronage and support system not accorded to the prole material made by machine and put out by Pornosec for the masses. We are confronted with this question by a new exhibit in the Compton Verney Gallery in Warwickshire—encapsulated by the some twenty known versions of Cupid complaining to Venus (1526, Venus mit Amor als Honigdieb)—all of which portray the two classical love deities gossiping, nude but Venus naked in a wide-rimmed hat with ostrich plumes and Cupid assailed by bees for having snatched a bit of honeycomb from the apple tree that they’re standing under. The subject was popular enough, based off a bucolic poem by Theocritus called Κηριοκλέπτης (Keriokleptes, same meaning) for Cranach to sell basically two dozen copies with slight variation with Venus laughing off Cupid’s lament and comparing the stings of the provoked bees to his own smitten arrows. One has to wonder what was informed by carnal experience and what was moralising and emendating in his portfolio. Visit the entire collection online at the link above.

8x8

egg²: check out Box Vox’ egg-themed week starting with this recipe for apéroeuf including innovations in cartoning and carting

public display: open up and curator your own virtual gallery space in this social simulation game

all hail our morlock overlords: after forcing the in-person ballot in Wisconsin, GOP death cult refuses to ban large gatherings for Easter holiday

contact tracing: a nice primer on how the method can combat the spread of contagious diseases without compromising individual privacy

animal crossing: a quarantined couple in London creates an art museum for their pet gerbils’ edification

armisonous: obsolete. rare. that which produces or is accompanied by the sounds of arms or armour, like clanging pots and pans

after all, you’re my wonder wall: a selection of collaborative music videos shot in isolation

victory garden: some ideas for plant anywhere seed beds and substrates

venerabilis inceptor

While having matriculated at Oxford and fulfilled the requirements for a graduate degree in theology the scholastic philosopher was never awarded the title and was academically known as “Venerable Beginner,” the depth and range of the influence of William of Ockham (*1285 – †1347), commemorated by the Anglican faith on this day, cannot be downplayed on technicality such as that. Pioneering thinker in the realms of logic and nominalism—rejecting the prevailing notion that universal ideas had an existence antecedent and dependent of individuals and that the generalisation or ideal form was not the abstraction of experience, he is probably best known for his appeal to efficiency in reasoning, his eponymous razor (novacula Occami) or law of parsimony—simply put that the simplest solution is usually the right one.

saint et grand vendredi

As Paris and the world approaches the one-year anniversary of the conflagration that engulfed Notre Dame last year, there will be a small, closed service (only seven clerics and worshippers in attendance) and meditation broadcasted in remembrance and solidarity for those suffering because of the spread of the corona virus, also responsible for the small and non-existent audiences at this and other communities around the world. This day marking the crucifixion of Jesus, the brief mass inside the cathedral will also focus on its most celebrated relic, the Crown of Thorns, which was gifted by Baldwin II, Emperor of Constantinople (called the Broke) to King Louis IX of France in 1248, and was saved by the city’s Fire Brigade last April.

kalsarikännit

Whilst we’ve previously visited the term Hamsterkauf and agree that both it and Kummerspeck (grief bacon—added weight from anxiety-driven overeating) and fully endorse their adoption into common-parlance like Zivilcourage and Schadenfreude and have even explored the above related and relatable Finnish concept of pants-drunkenness, it hadn’t yet popped up as a way of sympathising with the corona crisis. What are some idiomatic expressions or regionalisms you’ve encountered used for the nonce to limn the Zeitgeist?

skärtorsdagen

In Sweden and parts of Finland—though not an official holiday since 1772—Maundy Thursday, that day of the week already closely associated with witchcraft and magic, was according to old folkloric traditions the day that witches (påskkärringar or påskhäxa, Easter hags which children costume themselves as and entreat parents and neighbours for eggs and treats rather than a bunny) fly off to the legendary island of Blåkulla (Blockula—in the ancient rendering and not to be confused with the very real island in the Kalmar strait) to dance with the Devil. Non-celebrants take part also with some frantic spring-cleaning and hiding their broomsticks to keep black magic at bay. The observation ceased being a public holiday in the late eighteenth century with the repeal of the death penalty for practising witchcraft.

maundy thursday

Called also Sheer, Great and Holy and Green (Gründonnerstag) this day initiates the Easter Triduum, the commemoration of the passion, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and is derived from a corruption of the Latin term mandatum for command—from the Vulgate of John 13:34, wherein the disciple relays that there is a new directive, namely, that we love one another as I have loved you (Mandatum novum do vobis ut diligatis invicem sicut dilexi vos) and whereupon Jesus demonstrates his humility and charity in washing the feet (pedelavium) of students to show there is no hierarchy in kindness. This courtesy ablution is not only a religious rite in many traditions but moreover a mark of hospitality in guest-host dynamics.