Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Jack Vettriano Round Midnight

Jack Vettriano Round MidnightJack Vettriano Riviera retroJack Vettriano Ritual of Courtship
Something different from that.'
'Silver, then.'
'Ook!'
'I don't think we should name ourselves after any kind of heavy metal, Glod.'
'What's so special? We're a band of people who play music.'
'Names are important.'
'The guitar is special. How about The Band With Buddy's Guitar In It?'
'Oook.'Dibbler, Ankh‑Morpork's most spectacularly unsuccessful businessman. He was trying to sell someone a felonious hot dog, a sign that some recent sure‑fire business venture had collapsed. Dibbler sold his hot sausages only when all else failed
He gave Ridcully a wave at no charge.
The next table was occupied by Satchelmouth Lemon'Something shorter.''Er ...'The universe held its breath.'The Band With Rocks In?''I like it. Short and slightly dirty, just like me.''Oook.''We ought to think up a name for the music, too.''It's bound to occur to us sooner or later.' .Ridcully looked around the bar.On the opposite side of the room was Cut‑Me‑Own‑Throat

Monday, May 11, 2009

Henri Rousseau The Snake Charmer

Henri Rousseau The Snake CharmerHenri Rousseau The DreamPaul Cezanne Mount Sainte VictoirePaul Cezanne Card PlayersLaurie Maitland fireWilliam Bouguereau Innocence
Death of Rats landed on the saddle. It leaned down and, with some effort, hauled another hourglass out of the pack. Susan read a moon.
It was just part of the belt of deserts, growing progressively hotter and drier, that surrounded the Great Nef and the Dehydrated Ocean. And no‑one would have thought much about it if people very like Mr Clete of the Musicians' Guild hadn't come along and made maps and put across this part of the desert an innocent little dotted line that marked a border between Klatch and Hersheba.
Up until that time the D'regs, a collection of cheerfully warlike nomadic tribes, had roamed the desert quite freely. Now there was a line, they were sometimes Klatchian D'regs and sometimes the label.It said: Imp y Celyn.Susan had a sensation of falling backwards.‘I know this name,' she said.SQUEAK.'I . . . remember it from somewhere,' said Susan. 'It's important. He's . . . important . . .'The moon hung over the desert of Klatch like a huge ball of rock.It wasn't much of a desert to be graced by so impressive

Thursday, May 7, 2009

Julien Dupre Returning From the Fields

Julien Dupre Returning From the FieldsCamille Pissarro The Hermitage at PontoiseMary Cassatt Children on the ShoreFederico Andreotti Discretion, The Better Part Of Valour
expect you know what that is, captain?'
'Oh, yes. The golden throne of Ankh-Morpork.'
And no-one has sat his sword, and part of it drifted gently away in a puff of dust.
'What do you think about this, captain?'
Carrot stood up.
'On the whole, sir, it's probably just as well that people don't know.'
'So I have always thought. Well, I will not keep you. I'm sure you have a lot to organize.'
Carrot saluted.
'Thank you, sir.'in it for many hundreds of years. Have you ever wondered about it?''Exactly what do you mean, sir?''So much gold, when even the brass has been stripped off the Brass Bridge? Take a look behind the throne, will you?'Carrot mounted the steps.'Good grief!'The Patrician looked over his shoulder.'It's just gold foil over wood . . .''Quite so.'It was hardly even wood any more. Rot and worms had fought one another to a standstill over the last biodegradable fragment. Carrot prodded it with

Monday, May 4, 2009

Cao Yong Paradise

Cao Yong ParadiseCao Yong MY BALCONYCao Yong LILY POND
strands from his pocket.
'But,' she said, trying one more time to get Boffo to understand, 'couldn't you wake up one morning and put on make-up so that you looked like a different clown?'
He looked at her. It was hard to tell his expression under the permanently downcast mouth, but as far as she could tell she might as well have suggested that he performed a specific sex act with a small chicken.
'How could I do thatwe found poor Mr Beano, he didn't have his clown wig on, but something like that could easily have got knocked off in the river. But his nose, now . . . you told Sergeant Colon that someone had taken his nose. His real nose. Could you,' said Carrot, in the pleasant tones of someone talking to a simpleton, 'point to your real nose, Boffo?'
Boffo tapped the big red nose on his face.
'But that's—' Angua began.?' he said. 'Then I wouldn't be me.''Someone else might do it, though?'Boffo's buttonhole squirted.'I don't have to listen to this sort of dirty talk, miss.''What you're saying, then,' said Carrot, 'is that no clown would ever make up his face in another clown's, um, design?''You're doing it again!''Yes, but perhaps sometimes by accident a young down might perhaps—''Look, we're decent people, all right?''Sorry,' said Carrot. 'I think I understand. Now . . . when

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Francisco de Zurbaran Rest on the flight to Egypt

Francisco de Zurbaran Rest on the flight to EgyptClaude Lorrain Seaport with the Embarkation of the Queen of ShebaFrancisco de Zurbaran The Immaculate ConceptionArthur Hughes La Belle Dame Sans Merci
Vimes hated guessing games, but he joined the Patri-cian anyway.
The Oblong Office had a view over half the city, although most of it was rooftops and towers. Vimes' imagination peopled the towers , but the machine works. And that is the most important thing. The machine keeps going. Because when the machine breaks down . . .'
He turned suddenly, strode to his desk with his usual predatory stalk, and sat down.
'Or, again, sometimes a piece of grit might get into the wheels, throwing them off balance. One speck of grit.'
Vetinari looked up and flashed Vimes a mirthless smile.
'I won't have that.'
Vimes stared at the wall.with men holding gonnes. The Patrician would be an easy target.'What do you see out there, captain?''City of Ankh-Morpork, sir,' said Vimes, keeping his expression carefully blank.'And does it put you in mind of anything, captain?'Vimes scratched his head. If he was going to play gaames, he was going to play games . . .'Well, sir, when I was a kid we owned a cow once, and one day it got sick, and it was always my job to clean out the cowshed, and—''It reminds me of a clock,' said the Patrician. 'Big wheels, little wheels. All clicking away. The little wheels spin and the big wheels turn, all at different speeds, you see

Henri Rousseau The Waterfall

Henri Rousseau The WaterfallHenri Rousseau The Repast of the LionHenri Rousseau The Merry Jesters
'Perhaps we could fetch him a chair?' said Angua, after an embarrassing fifteen seconds.
Detritus sniggered.
'Him too little to be a guard,' he said.
Lance-Constable He looked at the remains of Arthur.
'I think around about now is a good time to demonstrate the fine points of harchery,' he said.

Lady Sybil Ramkin looked at the sad strip of leather that was all that remained of the late Chubby.
'Who'd do something like this to a poor little dragon?' she Cuddy stopped jumping up and down.'Sorry, sergeant,' he said, 'this isn't how dwarfs do it, see?''It's how guards do it,' said Sergeant Colon. 'All right, Lance-Constable Detritus – don't salute – you give it a try.'Detritus held the truncheon between what must technically be called thumb and forefinger, and smashed it over Arthur's helmet. He stared reflectively at the truncheon's stump. Then he bunched up his, for want of a better word, fist, and hammered Arthur over what was briefly its head until the stake was driven three feet into the ground.'Now the dwarf, he can have a go,' he said.There was another embarrassed five seconds. Sergeant Colon cleared his throat.'Well, yes, I think we can consider him thoroughly apprehended,' he said. 'Make a note, Corporal Nobbs. Lance-Constable Detritus – don't salute! - deducted one dollar for loss of truncheon. And you're supposed to be able to ask 'em questions afterwards.'

Sunday, April 26, 2009

John Constable Hadleigh Castle

John Constable Hadleigh CastleJohn Constable Flatford MillJohn William Waterhouse The Magic CircleJohn William Waterhouse PandoraJohn William Waterhouse Lamia
sort of bookish insanity of the gloves-with-the-fingers-cut-out and carpet slippers variety, and became an expert on royalty would not see the truth then he, Edward d'Eath, was the finger of Destiny.
The problem with Destiny, of course, is that she is often not careful where she puts her finger.

Captain Sam Vimes, Ankh-Morpork City Guard (Night Watch), sat in the draughty anteroom to the Patrician's audience chamber with his best cloak on and his breastplate polished and his helmet on his knees.although no-one ever knew this because he seldom left his rooms. Corporal Carrot became Sergeant Carrot and, in the fullness of time, died in uniform aged seventy in an unlikely accident involving an anteater.In a million universes, Lance-Constables Cuddy and Detritus didn't fall through the hole. In a million universes, Vimes didn't find the pipes. (In one strange but theoretically possible universe the Watch House was redecorated in pastel colours by a freak whirlwind, which also repaired the door latch and did a few other odd jobs around the place.) In a million universes, the Watch failed. -In a million universes, this was a very short book.Edward dozed off with the book on his knees and had a dream. He dreamed of glorious struggle. Glorious was another important word in his personal vocabulary, like honour.If traitors and dishonourable men