BRITISH AND FRENCH CARICATURES, CIRCA 1820

The British won the Napoleonic wars and then proceeded to swamp France with tourists. It was a bitter pill for the French who couldn't believe they were beaten by a race of people with buck teeth and no chins. Since I possess those attributes myself, I'll observe that buck teeth do indeed bestow on the bearer remarkable powers of intellect and tenacity, and so...of course they did well in that war.

BTW, this print (above) is derived from an oil paining by Dore.

Daumier was equally amazed by the buck-toothed British tourists (above) he saw.

How did British caricaturists treat the French? Surprisingly lenient once the war was over. Maybe that's because the British favorite target for humor has always been other British.

Available for ridicule were the high-collar dandies...tons of them. Somehow the war years spawned a gazillion of them (above), who attempted to be as visible as possible.  This was not lost on caricaturist William Heath.

The dandies chased out the old tri-corned people. They were so...yesterday.

They even chased out the beefy, earthy old Samuel Johnson types (above).  The new man was supposed to be lean and elegant.

Frock coats with tight waists were in. Even fat men wore them.

The British love class-based humor. Here (above) the pushy, social-climbing masses display their inability to do a simple thing like wait in line to visit an art museum.

HOUSE ON THE ROCK

A search for "House on the Rock" produced some pretty exotic pictures, like the one above. Even so, I'll bet none of them have interiors half as good as the ultimate House on the Rock, the one near Madison Wisconsin (below).

This was a private residence built by Wisconsin industrialist, Alex Jordan. Jordan fancied himself an amateur architect and one day he showed up at Frank Lloyd Wright's door with some drawings he made. He expected Wright to praise him to the skies, instead Wright said, "I wouldn't hire you to design a cheese crate. You're not capable."

Fuming, Jordan decided to get back at Wright by buying a peak overlooking Wright's property and building an outrageous house of his own design on it. That building is what would later be called, "The House on the Rock."

Jordan had so much fun building it that he couldn't stop. What began as an instrument of revenge morphed into an obsession. The house got bigger and bigger, and sprawled out over a wider and wider area. Who knows how big it would have gotten if Wright hadn't bought the adjacent property to stop it?

What was it like? Let's start with the Gate House (above). Parts of it look Victorian....

...and other parts look like Pueblo Indians lived there.

Some of it is a cheesy knock-off of Wright.

I guess Jordan believed that Wright's forms looked better when covered with shag carpet and velour. I can only imagine what Wright thought of this.

In a separate structure Jordan built houses within houses. This charming little street is actually inside a larger house.

Some say the indoor carousel Jordan designed is the world's biggest.

He even built carousels (above) for his doll collection.

Maybe the dolls were just an excuse to build doll houses, a whole town of them.

That T-Rex is actually supposed to be a whale. You can see a boat in it.

The place has cars, of course. Here's (above) a Rolls-Royce.

In a building as big as an airplane hanger he housed his collection of musical instruments. Some are real, some are fakes.

Yikes!

Thanks to the architecture fan who told me about this. Now I can't wait to see it.

COMPUTER'S ON THE FRITZ

my keyboard's on the fritz and i can't type capital letters, except on the caps lock setting which is awkward.  i'll try to do something about that today, and put up a blog tonight. right now i can't even scroll down or use quotation marks.

i'll be back soon1

MY KID'S BIRTHDAY

I did this photo story as a kind of card for my kid's birthday. It occurred to me that  Theory Corner readers might be interested to see it.

The pictures chronicle my kid's imaginary grand entry to her birthday party. It's patterned after Cleopatra's famous entrance into Rome.

Of course the Emperor officiates.

It starts with a fanfare.

The Emperor's mascot makes an appearance, symbolising the real presence of royalty.

Girls rush in with lowered banners.

They raise the banners and an exotic dancer comes out. She doesn't stay long, though...she's just a teaser.

  Chariots race out in a zig zag path to clear the area of stragglers.

Bowman run out from every direction and shoot what appear to be arrows into the sky. The crowd gasps.

But no, they're harmless red streamers.

Tahitian vaheenies run out, do a killer dance to a Polynesian drumbeat, then they scatter. 

They're replaced by dancing Ashanti warriors who also dance and scatter, taking care to set off red smoke bombs as they leave.

Out of the red smoke emerges the sultan's elephants. They perform quick elephant acrobatics then disappear into the crowd, leaving behind them yellow smoke.

From out of the yellow smoke emerges a beer wagon pulled by Clydesdale's. The crowd cheers the appearance of beer.

Equestrians trot into sc., put their beautiful horses through their paces. 

Next, a show of one-of-a-kind autos drive through, honking one-of-a-kind horns.

I'll be present in my car. That's it above.

More elephants.

Next comes a Scottish bagpipe band playing military music.

Tanks roll through, followed by marching soldiers.

I don't know why these women soldiers are wearing miniskirts.

 If a dragon can be had this would be the time to bring him out.

 Another fanfare.

Trees with perfumed, golden leaves are marched out. Pigeons are released and take to the air.

Waves of mounted soldiers clear the streets...

...revealing a giant sphinx on wheels.

The sphinx is slowly, inexorably pulled in by hundreds of swaying laborers.

Don't feel sorry for them...they're getting paid well!

On a throne near the top sits my kid.

It's a pricey way to celebrate a birthday, but I figure...what the heck...it's only once a year.

There she is, looking very regal.

Finding a Sphinx to rent wasn't easy.

The statue comes to a halt

 in front of the emperor.

Nubians lift my daughter's throne.

A carpet is laid down. 

And my daughter....descends. She'll pay her respects to the emperor then inside she'll join her friends for a night of dancing. 

POETRY READING BY THE MILD UNCLE EDDIE

Holy Cow! Lalalizabeth has reposted her Naked Vlog which makes it possible for me to repost mine. I loved this post when I put it up a while back and was heartbroken when Lalalizabeth took her part down. I had to follow suit...the two videos only make sense when posted together.

Anyway here's the full blown original in all its naked glory!

HOW IT WORKS

To get the effect you have to WATCH BOTH VIDEOS SIMULTANEOUSLY, AT THE SAME TIME. Arrange the framing so both are visible, one almost on top of the other. 

Turn on the bottom (B&W) video first, let it run for four seconds, then turn on the top (color) video. Voila! 

Thanks to Lalalizabeth, whose videos can be viewed on YouTube.