Fascinating Photos of Mid-Century Carnival Life
via Flavorwire by Caroline Stanley
Fans of HBO’s short-lived period drama Carnivale will likely appreciate these vintage black and white gems that were recently unearthed by Retronaut. In the photos of UK circus caravans, we meet a variety of different subjects, from a “Real Gypsy, character reader and clairvoyant” to a beautiful young woman tending to her birds. There are also families engaged in your typical domestic activities, like cooking and cleaning. Looking at these narrative images, you can’t help but invent back stories for each and every person, and try to imagine what their life on the road was like. In other words, it’s easy to get lost in them for a while.
See the rest for yourself here
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Oscar Wilde’s office job: editing a women’s magazine. He needed money but found a style, later plagiarizing his own work for Dorian Gray... more
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Teenage Photos of Distinguished Elderly Celebrities
via Flavorwire by Jennifer Lewis
We have a theory: The classier the elderly celebrity, the harder it is to imagine him or her as a teenager. For example, try to picture Maggie Smith as a high school student. Pretty hard, right? The thought of a young, wide-eyed Maggie Smith piqued our curiosity, so we went ahead and dug up teenage photos of our beloved Dame Maggie and ten [ten with Maggie] of her distinguished celebrity friends.
Unsurprisingly, they're all stunning.
Sean Connery at age 17 (1947)
Check ’em out here, and hit the comments to lend your thoughts.
Maggie Smith at age 18 (1952)
Morgan Freeman at age 17 (1954)
Julie Andrews at age 18 (1953)
Christopher Plummer at age 13 (1942)
Judi Dench (center) at age 19 (1953)
Ian McKellen at age 18 (1957)
James Earl Jones (#27) at age 16 (1947)
Betty White at age 15 (1937)
Barbara Walters at age 18 (1947)
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The Childhood Pleasure of the Book Nook
via Reading Copy Book Blog by Beth Carswell
Even as an adult, I relish a great place to read. I have been saying for years that one day, I will have a house with a window seat. As we are still in the condo years, that dream has not yet come to fruition, but it will.
The Random House Blog has a post up about the best book nooks for kids.
Continue reading
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Culture thrives on conflict. Warfare, terror, and bloodshed nurtured the Renaissance in Italy. Peace and democracy in Switzerland gave rise to... what, exactly?... more
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Beautiful jellyfish photography
via Boing Boing by Maggie Koerth-Baker
Alexander Semenov’s lovely photos make jellyfish look completely amazing – masses of ethereal tissue surrounded by thousands of strands of iridescent embroidery floss.
This shot is part of a series of photos taken in the deep, dark, cold waters of the Arctic Circle.
Via David Ng
Take your time, go to both links, and enjoy the miracle of colour that is underwater!
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In the Ice: 1905
via Shorpy Historical Photo Archive – Vintage Fine Art Prints by Dave
The Detroit River circa 1905
“Transfer steamer Detroit in the ice”
Previously seen here under construction
8x10 inch glass negative
View original post
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Arts & Letters Daily – ideas, criticism, debate
Steve Jobs is a paragon of entrepreneurial intensity, a role model. Or is his a cautionary tale, of an abusive boss with a broken family?... more
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Hear Oscar Wilde’s Voice, Which Sounds Exactly the Way You’d Imagine
via Flavorwire by Judy Berman
Oscar Wilde was one of the greatest wits of all time, his quips and aphorisms as vital now as they were over a century ago. And since he also cut quite the flamboyant figure, dazzling and entertaining all of London society, it’s impossible not to imagine what it was like to be in the same room with the man as he announced, “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”.
While we can’t imagine any lost video footage of Wilde, who died in 1900, will be forthcoming, we’re grateful to Open Culture for locating an audio clip of the author reciting two verses of his poem The Ballad of Reading Gaol.
Although the recording isn’t great, his voice is definitely audible enough to make out the Irish-born writer’s cultivated accent and his sly, whimsical inflection. Can’t you just hear him leaning in to some aristocratic lady to exclaim, “Oh, you are wicked!”?
Click through to hear Wilde’s voice, which begins about 45 seconds into the video.
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E-books and the Personal Library
via The Scholarly Kitchen by Joseph Esposito
Moving from the West Coast to the East prompts some thoughts on personal libraries and e-books, as it no longer makes economic sense to carry a lifetime of books around with us. But maybe economic sense isn’t the only sense bibliophiles possess …
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