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ghostdriveI stayed up until 2 a.m. watching Arctic Passage: Prisoners of the Ice about the doomed British Arctic expedition of Sir John Franklin and the search for the Northwest Passage. A combination of things led to the crew's tragic demise, including having their ships stuck in the ice, lead poisoning, and their lack of knowledge of surviving in the area (amongst other things, they did not know how to hunt for food in the Arctic). They were so optimistic in thinking that they'd make it through that they made no other plans should anything have gone wrong. To think that some of these men managed to live up to four years lost on the ice, trying to find a way to safety, was really incredible.
Several things stuck with me, one of which was how Lady Jane Franklin wrote letters to her husband when he was away on the expedition, not knowing he had passed away. This was very touching, as was, after learning about what happened, her hope that there were survivors. Also, the images of the exhumed bodies of crew members who died on Beechey Island were burned into my head. It's amazing how much the ice preserved them.
Another PBS documentary that I always manage to catch airing in the early hours is one about Hung Liu, a Chinese-american contemporary artist whose subject matter is of anonymous Chinese historical photographs. I haven't seen this one in over a year, but one thing that I remember was her story about hiding small canvases and a tiny palette of paints on her person when she went out so she'd be able to paint something she wanted rather than what the State wanted (Liu grew up in China during the Mao Regime and she was made to paint pieces that glorified the Regime).
The documentary showed her in the progress of painting a piece depicting the Emperor's concubines (I forget what the piece is titled) while getting ready for an art show. I found her technique of "dripping" (like in this painting) very unique.
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And now for something of a totally different tone than the rest of this post: Christie's va-jay-jay in Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2?The real question is how in the hell she keeps that teeny-tiny swimsuit on. (NSFW) OH HOW I LAUGHED AT THIS.
Several things stuck with me, one of which was how Lady Jane Franklin wrote letters to her husband when he was away on the expedition, not knowing he had passed away. This was very touching, as was, after learning about what happened, her hope that there were survivors. Also, the images of the exhumed bodies of crew members who died on Beechey Island were burned into my head. It's amazing how much the ice preserved them.
Another PBS documentary that I always manage to catch airing in the early hours is one about Hung Liu, a Chinese-american contemporary artist whose subject matter is of anonymous Chinese historical photographs. I haven't seen this one in over a year, but one thing that I remember was her story about hiding small canvases and a tiny palette of paints on her person when she went out so she'd be able to paint something she wanted rather than what the State wanted (Liu grew up in China during the Mao Regime and she was made to paint pieces that glorified the Regime).
The documentary showed her in the progress of painting a piece depicting the Emperor's concubines (I forget what the piece is titled) while getting ready for an art show. I found her technique of "dripping" (like in this painting) very unique.
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And now for something of a totally different tone than the rest of this post: Christie's va-jay-jay in Dead Or Alive Xtreme 2?
