Rembrandt Painting Sold at $33,210,855.00

A Rembrandt painting unseen in public for nearly 40 years sold for a record $33.2 million at auction in London on Tuesday, the highest ever paid at auction for the 17th century artist.

Christie's said that "Portrait of a man, half-length, with his arms akimbo", painted in 1658, fetched the 4th highest-price paid at auction for any old masters painting.

It was bought by an anonymous client bidding via telephone, Christie's said. The top price at auction for any old master picture is $77 million for "The Massacre of the Innocents" by Peter Paul Rubens set at Sotheby's in London in 2002.

Barack Obama Wins the Nobel Peace Prize

I'm purring like a kitten in a butter dish over this delicious news.

Here is today's press release out of Oslo:

"The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2009 is to be awarded to President Barack Obama for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.

The Committee has attached special importance to Obama's vision of and work for a world without nuclear weapons.

Obama has as President created a new climate in international politics. Multilateral diplomacy has regained a central position, with emphasis on the role that the United Nations and other international institutions can play.

Dialogue and negotiations are preferred as instruments for resolving even the most difficult international conflicts. The vision of a world free from nuclear arms has powerfully stimulated disarmament and arms control negotiations.

Thanks to Obama's initiative, the USA is now playing a more constructive role in meeting the great climatic challenges the world is confronting. Democracy and human rights are to be strengthened.

Only very rarely has a person to the same extent as Obama captured the world's attention and given its people hope for a better future.

His diplomacy is founded in the concept that those who are to lead the world must do so on the basis of values and attitudes that are shared by the majority of the world's population.

For 108 years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to stimulate precisely that international policy and those attitudes for which Obama is now the world's leading spokesman.

The Committee endorses Obama's appeal that "Now is the time for all of us to take our share of responsibility for a global response to global challenges."

After eight grim years of Bush's "peace is for sissies" attitude, I wanted to print it all.

I am inspired to know that just one courageous person of good will can begin to turn things around and make a positive difference.

I have my hope back.

The BAD News:

Wingnuts throw their usual and predictable collective temper tantrum.

The GOOD News:

Banging their heads against a wall uses 150 calories an hour.

The BEST News:

They cannot take the Nobel Peace Prize away from President Obama and they're gonna have to learn to live with it.

Other than this silly group of GOPers, here's an example of how the rest of the world sees it:

"The Nobel honor is a tribute to Mr. Obama's commitment to tolerance and dialogue between states, cultures and civilizations. It confirms the return of America into the hearts of the people of the world."

-French President Nicolas Sarkozy

I'd say that Sarkozy nailed it.

Watteau to Degas: French Drawings

At the Frick, NYC

October 6, 2009, through January 10

Frederik Johannes Lugt (1884–1970) was a Dutch art historian, connoisseur, and collector. Sixty-four of his finest works are featured in the exhibition.

Included are drawings and watercolors by well-known masters of the French School: Watteau, Boucher, Fragonard, David, Ingres, Degas and others.

Exhibition Catalog shown above.

And just in case you aren't interested in French drawings, the Frick is one of my favorite museums and has an astounding collection.

If nothing else, stop by to see these three Vermeer paintings.

I think that Vermeer is the Painter's Painter.

Yum.

Curator "finds" a "new" da Vinci!

"Explore the Hand of Genius," now at the High Museum of Art in Atlanta Georgia.

If you cannot be there in person, you can access their interesting website for an introductory video, highlights from the exhibition, as well as time-lapse video of the installation the Sforza Horse Monument outside the Museum.

The recent cleaning of Andrea del Verrocchio's The Beheading of St. John the Baptist (1477–1483) relief has enabled a detailed examination of its individual components.

A guest curator, recently proposed that two of the figures (marked with arrows) were created by Leonardo da Vinci and not Verrocchio.

The figures in the relief were created separately and attached to the silver background, making it possible for more than one artist to contribute to the composition.

Eight Years Later

No, I'm not a "conspiracy theory" person. But today, the eighth anniversary of 9/11, I remain confused.

I watched in horror eight years ago as two airplanes in NYC hit two buildings - and inexplicably three buildings fell down!

I didn't understand then then and I don't understand it now.

When the 9/11 Commission Report finally came out, I read the entire thing.

Frustratingly there wasn't even one mention of why Building #7 also collapsed that day.

I'd guess that 9/11 was the most poorly investigated crime and yet the most highly censored story in American history - and I just don't get it.

My friend Dr. John Wyndham has a PhD in Physics and he says that the science just doesn't add up.

I have included a copy of his letter to the editor of our local newspaper where John sums it up nicely:

That explosive residue (nanothermite) in has been found to be in abundance in WTC dust samples chills me to the bone.

I'm not sure why, but most people's eyes glaze over on this subject and they seem to want to dismiss all legitimate questions despite the fact that many of the "official answers" just don't add up.

Shouldn't the "who" and "how" have been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt before our Government blundered into two wars as "revenge for 9/11?"

If we knew that a planned demolition of these three buildings happened, would it change any of our ideas about who we think planned and carried out the attack?

Even now I am struggling to wrap my mind around this.

Architects & Engineers for 9/11 Truth was founded in 2006 by Richard Gage, a San Francisco Bay area based architect.

This is a trailer for a stunning movie called "Blueprint for Truth - The Architecture of Destruction" - and the science presented is clear.

You can buy the DVD or watch it free online.

It is an organization of architectural and engineering professionals who are calling for a new investigation into the cause of the destruction of the Twin Towers and Building #7 (also known as the Solomon building).

Gage criticized the government agency NIST for not having investigated the complete sequence of the collapse of the World Trade Center towers and claims that "the official explanation of the total destruction of the World Trade Center skyscrapers has explicitly failed to address the massive evidence for explosive demolition."

AD ASTRA PER ASPERA

Translation from Latin: "To the Stars Through Adversity."

If you could sum up Teddy's life in a nutshell, that motto would do it.

I lived in Massachusetts from 1961 until 1990. Like many of his constituents I knew Senator Ted Kennedy.

He was a man who had no limits to his compassion. And he often spoke from his great big heart.

We could always count on him and his staff to deal with our problems when we had no place else to turn. He really cared about the "little guy" and worked hard for us.

I lost my hero today and I'm crying.

"...the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."

- Senator Edward Kennedy, 1932-2009

So let's re-commit ourselves to achieving the thing that mattered most to him: Quality, affordable health care for every single American.

And...

...did you know that Ted Kennedy loved to paint?

The times when I've met him, he was always smiling. I'd like to remember him in this happy way with his wife Vicki.

He took up painting in earnest after his Nephew John died.

The oil painting above depicts the Cape Cod home of his parents, Joseph and Rose Kennedy.

For the cover of Cape Cod Life, he painted this picture of himself and and his wife aboard their yacht "Mya."

As a wedding present, Kennedy painted a still life of daffodils in oil.

"We were reading the William Wordsworth poem "Daffodils' and the last two lines are: "And then my heart with pleasure fills, and dances with the daffodils,' and it was so wonderful and romantic and Ted said that he wanted to paint me a picture of daffodils and he did."

- Victoria Reggie Kennedy

I'd love to take a peek at that one.

This Summer: Meteor Showers are Coming to a Sky Near You

And it promises to be a heckuva show!

Catching a meteor show on a big night can make your summer.

Over the next few weeks, three meteors showers will converge, with the best shows expected July 28-30 and August 12-13.

Since I live in the country, it will be easy for me to see the night sky.

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I find the night sky endlessly fascinating. This photo was taken at the North Pole this year.

If you are in a place where you can see each star in the Little Dipper, your eyes will have "dark adapted," and your sky view is probably dark enough. Under these conditions, you will see plenty of "shooting stars."

Treat meteor watching like you would the 4th of July fireworks.

Pack comfy chairs, bug spray, food and drinks, blankets, plus a red-filtered flashlight for reading maps and charts without ruining your night vision. Binoculars are not necessary. Your eyes will do just fine.

If the weather cooperates, you're sure to enjoy a spectacular show just like the ones that entertained all the great (and not so great) artists that lived before us....

Goodbye Walter, I'm so sorry to see you go***

The "news" stars are currently filling the airwaves flamboyantly commemorating Walter Cronkite's death as though his work reflects well on them.

But their sycophantic servitude to mindless talking-point stenography represent what they actually do.

In Walter Cronkite's "Tet Offensive Editorial" I find the essence of journalism that today's modern media stars not only fail to exhibit, but explicitly disclaim as their responsibility:

"I think there are a lot of critics who think that [in the run-up to the Iraq War] . . . . if we did not stand up and say this is bogus, and you're a liar, and why are you doing this, that we didn't do our job. I respectfully disagree. It's not our role"

- David Gregory, MSNBC, May 28, 2008.

Yeah, right. Over the past eight years, David and his ilk allowed our politicians to run amok.

My generation came of age at a time when Walter Cronkite was the name in American culture synonymous with credibility and respect. His role in our society transcended his TV news anchor position.

When he said ‘and that's the way it is,' we believed his every word because his compassion, dignity and respect merited our trust.

I'd like to think that Walter Cronkite and the news did not die on the same day.

*** Hold the Presses!

After I posted this depressing piece I saw something that made my heart sing!

I saw news anchor (MSNBC's Rachel Maddow) apologize for mistakenly allowing lies to be presented as facts on her show - and - she did the research and corrected them!

Can you imagine how refreshing it would be to tune in to the news at the end of a busy day and trust that you were hearing factually researched material?

How nice to think that "Faux News" could no longer dominate the opinions and stirs up prejudice and lies among low-information voters.

Sticking to facts would be the beginning of a better and more realistic peaceful world.

I think that Walter Cronkite would have been very proud of Rachel Maddow.

You can see her show weeknights at 9pm EST on MSNBC-TV and it is rebroadcast at 11pm and 2am. She is also on the radio - check here for times and stations.

Meanwhile, TV (and radio) News Shows continue to swim in the sewer:

Depressing update: CNN's mainstream's prime time news anchor Lou Dobbs is taking the far right "birthers" mainstream, with his own signature, xenophobic touch: Dobbs uses substantial airtime to wonder aloud whether President Obama might be "undocumented"—a word Dobbs typically reserves for the illegal immigrants he rails against nightly.

And most mainstream media is giving Liz Cheney unfettered access to spew "birther" beliefs in order to deflect investigation into the legality of daddy Dick's actions during the Bush years.

The result of this mindless media diatribe is that a bunch of republican congresscritters have signed on to a "birther bill" whose only purpose is to divide the country.

The utter stupidity of it all makes me wanna cry. As a nation, we're not a sitcom, we have real problems to solve.

Play Me, I'm Yours

Street Pianos.

It's part of an interactive art project.

It is meant to challenge people to come out of their urban insularity and also to provide some summertime music.

They’re out there to get people talking to one another and to claim ownership and activate the public space.

The creator of the project, Luke Jerram, is an artist who lives in Bristol.

Street pianos have also been delivered to Birmingham, England; São Paolo, Brazil; and Sydney, Australia.

“It’s a blank canvas for everyone’s creativity.”