Ghosts of World War II

Russian photographer Sergei Larenkov has done a rather interesting thing, taking pictures shot from the same angle as photos shot during WWII and photoshopping in elements of the older photos. Soviet troops marching in Germany, a “victory garden” outside a cathedral, and bomb damage, bomb damage, bomb damage.

The “huh” moment for me came when I saw the picture shown below, which is of the Suvorov Museum, named for Generalissimo Alexander Suvorov, reputed to be one of the few generals never to lose a battle, though he was known for fighting a brilliant strategic withdrawal across the Alps, after being betrayed by the Austrians during the early Napoleonic wars. When I was in Petersburg, Russia in 1997, I tried to visit the museum itself, but found it closed. I took a few pictures of the exterior, including close-ups of the murals you can see on the left side of the building. I never realized it had been damaged during the Siege of Leningrad.

Tonight, I’ll see if I have the pictures scanned, and maybe put up a Flickr photostream.

ETA: He’s got quite a few more on his LiveJournal account.

Mirrored from Bum Scoop.

Day 12 of 30 Days of TV Shows

Day 12 – An episode you’ve watched more than 5 times

Hey, it’s time for the kids’ show edition of 30 Days of TV Shows!

I thought about being kind of sarcastic with this one, like: “Oh yeah, I keep seeing that one episode of Max & Ruby on Nickelodeon where Ruby had to take care of Max because WHERE THE !&*$(! ARE THEIR PARENTS!?” or “I saw the episode of Seinfeld where Kramer has a weird scheme, George lies to impress a woman, and Jerry gets hyper-focused on some bizarre bit of minutiae more than five times.” And, of course, I could have gone with my favorite episodes of SG-1, but we already recounted those.

Instead, I give you: “The Chronicles of Meap” from Phineas & Ferb. In case you don’t have kids, the show airs on Disney and features step-brothers who, instead of lazing around the house on their summer vacation, come up with something new and interesting to do/build/explore/etc. every day. They have an older sister who is always trying to bust them (though they tend to be oblivious to the notion that they might be doing anything wrong), loving but also slightly oblivious parents, and a pet platypus who is also a secret agent. It all makes sense when you see it, I promise.

“The Chronicles of Meap” is about an alien who crash lands in their backyard and who their sister, Candace, mistakes for an adorable plush toy, which she takes to a convention for the owners of such adorable plush toys. Until he regains a mustache that allows him to speak in the voice of Lorenzo Lamas, Meap can only say “meap.” And there’s a bit at the end that is a pseudo-trailer for the sequel to that episode, narrated of course by the late, great Don Lafontaine.

Oh, also, the show has some great music and a sophisticated, if not necessarily “adult” sense of humor. Very easy for adults to watch and love.

( Read the rest of this entry » )

Mirrored from Bum Scoop.