Black and White World

 

As many of you may have noticed whilst Googling your favorite celebrity gossip or low-cal recipes, today is the 100th anniversary of the birth of French photographer Robert Doisneau, a titan in the world of black-and-white photography and all around bad-ass image capturer. 

Google's Doisneau "doodle"

 

It's been an embarrassingly long time since I've made a post (well over a month, I know) and I thought I'd ease back into things with a quick "best-of" of Doisneau's images.  Many of his works are iconic and I encourage you to check out more of his work either online or stop into the John Cleary Gallery and see them in person!

 

La dame indignee, 1948

 

Danse

Jacques Prevert au Gueridon, 1955

 

Le menage de monsieur Barre, 1955

 

 

Mademoiselle Anita and Pablo Picasso

 

Les helicopteres, 1976

 

Le baiser de l'Hotel de Ville (The Kiss), 1950

 

Artist: Elvis Costello / Album: Ten Bloody Marys and Ten How's Your Fathers

Another Christmas Song

 

Last December I took the opportunity to discuss some of my favorite holiday traditions, ranging from my love of Maersk butter cookies to the annual return of CHRIMMUHTREEHEAD!!! 

One such post also dealt with the Christmas at Baylor concert DVD I get out every year and watch while I wrap presents and reminisce about being a part of the production. Besides that, there are only two other things I watch every year during the holidays, the first being the movie Love, Actually and the second being the subject of today’s post, Stephen Colbert’s 2010 Grammy award winning Christmas special: A Colbert Christmas- The Greatest Gift of All!. (If you’re unaware of who Stephen Colbert is, it might be easier just to direct you to his wikipedia page, should you care to know).  Some of you might remember certain songs from the special appearing on my holiday iTunes playlist from last year. 

 

At any rate, the special is a musical variety hour in which the character of Stephen Colbert gets trapped in his cabin in the woods and is visited by a myriad of celebrity guests: Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Feist, John Legend, Jon Stewart, Elvis Costello and, oh yeah… Santa.  For your viewing pleasure, a couple of my favorite numbers from the special!!

Stephen getting’ things started with a plea for royalties

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

Toby Keith puttin’ a smack down against those on the wrong side of the “War on Christmas”

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

In which Jon Stewart attempts to sell Stephen on Hannukah:

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

 

 

Stephen and Elvis Costello warning that there are much worse things to believe in during the holidays

The Colbert Report
Get More: Colbert Report Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,Video Archive

 

 

 

 

Here’s to you, legions of dispassionate dyspeptics!!

 

 

Artist: Stephen Colbert / Album: A Colbert Christmas- The Greatest Gift of All!

Mystery Dance

 

There was a picture of my mother at Christmas this year that reminded of Suren Manvelyan’s engrossing pictures of the Armenian National Ballet Ensemble, and I thought now was as good a time as any to put them up!

   

You can see it, right? One is a genuinely fascinating piece of art, and the other one is a blurry happenstance!

 

Now, this isn’t the first time I’ve featured this artist; some of you may remember an earlier post of her close up photography of the human eye. Click here for the full portfolio of the dance ensemble.

 

 

 

 

 

Artist: Elvis Costello/ Album: My Aim is True