SheWalksSoftly

Phrenology Diagrams: Vaught’s Practical Character Reader (1902)

July 9th, 2013

I made a Phrenology Megapost with all kinds of goodies a few years ago, but I’m back to bring you Vaught’s Practical Character Reader.

Preface:
The purpose of this book is to acquaint all with the elements of human nature and enable them to read these elements in all men, women and children in all countries. At least fifty thousand careful examinations have been made to prove the truthfulness of the nature and location of these elements. More than a million observations have been made to confirm the examinations. Therefore, it is given the world to be depended upon. Taken in its entirety it is absolutely reliable. Its facts can be completely demonstrated by all who will take the unprejudiced pains to do so. It is ready for use. It is practical. Use it.

Hm, I have thus far failed to “indelibly fix this shape” into my memories. Take note ladies, when looking for a husband, never consider a suitor whose head does not have this odd, malformed profile.

Far too many great images to choose from…

See more here.
Julian De Navarez

July 8th, 2013

Julian De Navarez is one of those artists I found and suddenly realized I had lost a large chunk of time going through his archives of work.

My brain became immersed in putting together these surrealist vignettes…

For my favorite Libra, Lulu:

The images are filled with magic, machinery and meetings of odd creatures in strange places. What’s not to love?

http://www.juliandenarvaez.com/gallery.html

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Peter Lacy: Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse

July 7th, 2013

Peter Lacy has only a small deviantART gallery, but I discovered his rendition of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse in a search for cute grim reapers (don’t ask).

Death:

Pestilence:

Famine:

War:

Peter Lacy

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Shameless Non-Self Promotion

July 6th, 2013

Due to illness, I’ve not been able to support the creative endeavors of my dear friends in a way I find satisfactory (re: overdone). Here are two short film projects; one ongoing comedy treat from Cinevore Studios, and an excellent kickstarter by Julia Baron.

Let’s start with Nerd vs Geek, a web series about the antics of roommates who clash over nerdiness and geekery…with some wildly unexpected scenarios in the mix.

Sample episode:

Next we have Lovefail.com.

LoveFail.com is a web series following a Brooklyn-based single 20-something female, Angie, who, reeling from a recent long-term relationship breakup, embarks upon the daunting, humorous, and awkward world of online dating. Each of the first season’s episodes features Angie on an increasingly disastrous date.

Check out the pilot and back this project!:

Support these fine folks…they are talented artists and amazing human beings.

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Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Mark Twain’s Complaint

July 5th, 2013

I am a mild-mannered thing who has had to learn, painstakingly over the years, to speak up for herself after erring on the side of excessive kindness more times than I care to count. I tend to keep my cool and speak logically when lodging a formal complaint, but on occasions it has been tempting to…shall we say…”stray” from that formula and unleash a torrent of sardonic witticisms instead.

The following letter, written in 1905 to J. H. Todd (a snake oil salesman whose “Elixir of Life” was alleged to cure even the most terminal of medical conditions) is especially poignant for me, as I’ve experienced enough horrid encounters with the medical system to fill a series of elaborate novels.

Transcription:

Nov. 20. 1905

J. H. Todd

1212 Webster St.

San Francisco, Cal.

Dear Sir,

Your letter is an insoluble puzzle to me. The handwriting is good and exhibits considerable character, and there are even traces of intelligence in what you say, yet the letter and the accompanying advertisements profess to be the work of the same hand. The person who wrote the advertisements is without doubt the most ignorant person now alive on the planet; also without doubt he is an idiot, an idiot of the 33rd degree, and scion of an ancestral procession of idiots stretching back to the Missing Link. It puzzles me to make out how the same hand could have constructed your letter and your advertisements. Puzzles fret me, puzzles annoy me, puzzles exasperate me; and always, for a moment, they arouse in me an unkind state of mind toward the person who has puzzled me. A few moments from now my resentment will have faded and passed and I shall probably even be praying for you; but while there is yet time I hasten to wish that you may take a dose of your own poison by mistake, and enter swiftly into the damnation which you and all other patent medicine assassins have so remorselessly earned and do so richly deserve.

Adieu, adieu, adieu!

Mark Twain

Source

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
4th of July Cake Wrecks

July 4th, 2013

Just want to bring you a few Cake Wrecks highlights for those of you in the US celebrating Independence Day today.

Bonus points to anyone who can guess what the hell animal this is.

While this cake, on this day, is astrologically correct with its symbolism…slapping a plastic freedom thingy on it does not quite make it a 4th of July treat. Nice try though.

What the…I can’t even…

I’d like it if the following sticker (which I’ve seen as a kind of ignorant patriotic battle cry too many times to enjoy) were affixed to the cake below it.

Be safe today, kiddies…or just be an introvert like me and watch The Twilight Zone Marathon.

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Mita Makura (?)

July 2nd, 2013

I have no information on this artist (nor am I even certain I have the right name), but I nonetheless became captivated by these incredibly detailed structures.

It’s like MC Escher on digital steroids…

I feel like I need to take a good while to get lost in each one, exploring all of the objects, angles, shadows and surprises.

A few more here.

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
Seance: The Board Game

July 1st, 2013

Today I give you a rare Milton Bradley treat, manufactured in 1972:

Players bid on dead Uncle Everett’s possessions and the high bidder listens to instructions from their dead Uncle via a record (played on the record player hidden in the deck.) When all the items have been bid on and acquired, the record in the desk in turned over and Uncle Everett tells the players what each of the items is worth or how is due in taxes for the item. The player with the most cash at the end of the game is the winner.

While this game is undeniably awesome, I have trouble conceiving a way for the same person or group of people to play it more than once. After finding out what the items are worth…well…it becomes a dead giveaway (pun intended). Perhaps there is some chance to how the items are acquired or how one gets to bid?

More images here.
Steven Arnold

June 30th, 2013

It was this photograph that drew me into Steven Arnold’s work.

Steven Arnold (1943–1994) was a California-based multi-media artist, spiritualist, gender bender and protegee of Salvador Dalí. His work consisted of drawings, paintings, rock and film poster art, makeup design, costume design, set design, photography and film.

I have not seen his film work, but it garnered the applause of Dali and Warhol.

I found these pieces compelling enough to look a bit deeper in the style, tableaux vivant.

Each photos makes me feel like I’m looking at a screen capture of a performance…a single second of a larger narrative.

Steven Arnold

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.
John Atkinson Grimshaw

June 29th, 2013

John Atkinson Grimshaw is a classic favorite of mine.

He achieves a rare blend of eeriness and warmth. His distant perspective bathes dampened cityscapes in moonlight, bringing calm to the bustling streets.

Victorian industrialized England had its fair share of grime and grit, but viewing it from afar in the glowing haze of Grimshaw’s works renders it utterly beautiful.

Human figures, if present at all, are mere shadows…tiny wraiths floating through grand space.

John Atkinson Grimshaw

Cannot type/talk due to severe illness (all words courtesy of voice software or kind typing helpers)…I read and appreciate all comments…Apologies for not being able to respond.