I do believe in spooks!
I’m sure you remember the famous line from the Wizard of Oz, as the Cowardly Lion grabs his tail and wails, ‘I do believe in spooks. I do believe in spooks. I do, I do, I do, I do, I …
Author: ProudDaughter
Four baby house finches
The avian gods shone their light upon me, allowing me the delight of witnessing four new house finch fledglings. I couldn’t believe my eyes.
I was sitting at my dining room table, when I looked out on the deck and saw this adorable bird. Hmm, what is that? At first, I thought it was a wren, due to the way the tail was flipping up. Then I thought it was a young grosbeak, but after watching it for a while, then seeing its siblings with a parent, there was no mistaking them. Adorable house finches…
Fateful days – it was serendipity
Watching Rick Beato this morning made me think of fateful days that changed the course of my life. Most seemed inconsequential at the time but led to amazing things. For Rick, it was the dates 11-15-94 and 12-15-25. Insignificant then, but due to stopping off to call a friend in Atlanta and then later posting an innocent one-minute video on FB regarding his son’s perfect pitch, well… here he is today with 5 million subscribers, with me being one of them.
What were some of the events in your life that altered history for you? Where were you? What did you do or didn’t do that changed the road you were on? For me, it was being coerced into attending a party that a friend was hosting in the apartment building on campus at the University of Eastern Michigan. It was a Saturday night, and after a long week of classes and studying, I was burnt out. The only thing I wanted to do was listen to music and chill. I had already informed my buddies on the first floor that I was being a no-show. “Oh, c’mon, it will be fun. We got a keg and…” Sorry, guys, maybe another time…
Time for Tweets – uh, literally
Hi: I apologize for my absence, but went on vacation to that wonderful US city, Savannah GA. If you haven’t had a chance to visit, do so. It’s a place filled with fantastic architecture, museums, SCAD (the Savannah College of Art and Design), countless squares (city parks), tons of unique shops, great food, friendly people, a unique waterfront, and so much more.
But home again, home again, jiggety, jig…
Myth of the Victorian Waist
Have you ever looked at a photograph from the Victorian era and wondered how people looked so “perfect?” Perhaps you observed slim figures. One of the biggest myths that circulate in social and fashion history today.
A common myth was that “everyone was skinnier back then.” We might think this when we see photographs and museum exhibits that feature small-waisted garments. With many examples of small-figured people, we might think that body diversity wasn’t around. This couldn’t be further from the truth. Body diversity did exist. There are surviving clothing items throughout history with waist sizes from 25 to 50” to prove it.
But the myth still persists. There are many reasons why it’s still prominent, from museum collecting biases to visual aids such as photographs, advertisements, and portraiture. Today’s blog post examines mid-to-late Victorian era photography and how photo editing skills feed into the myth.
Even though we think of photo-shopping as a recent invention, you’ll be surprised to know that they were using this practice (although on a much more primitive level) in various publications.
The Victorians manipulated negatives using pencil markings and scraping techniques to draw, erase, and touch up perceived beauty flaws. Period books, such as The Art of Retouching Photographic Negatives (1898), provide methods for altering the bust, neck, arms, mouth, hair, eyes, and dress.
Seal – Authentic Vocals
What a pleasure to hear a great singer unplugged/live. Just goes to show how he doesn’t need to rely on autotune to shine. Authentic, heartfelt vocals that let the singer shine in his own right. No cold studio processing.
Another interesting fact? Notice how Seal plays the guitar. I was wondering what chords he was playing! At first, I thought he was a standard lefty like Hendrix. But no. He’s not only playing the instrument left-handed and upside down. So, in other words, the strings from top to bottom are: High E, B, G, D, A, Low E. Now that’s unusual and different. Leave it to Seal.
Full, live recording from that studio session…