The Power of “Once upon a Time”: A Story to Tame The Wild Things || Scientific American
“Once upon a time.” Four words. I don’t need to say anything more, and yet you know at once what it is you’re about to hear. You may not know the precise contents. You may not recognize the specific characters. You may have little notion of the exact action that is about to unfold. But you are ready all the same to take on all of these unknowns, the uncertainties, the ambiguities. You are ready to succumb to the world of the story.
The formulation is as near to universal as they come…. Distance makes possible what immediacy cannot accomplish. And distance is one of the hallmarks, the defining characteristics, of the fairytale—the tale that might be true but, safely, is not.
As for vagueness: that which scares us in real life—the lack of definitions, rules, clearly defined borders and boundaries—is not only unscary but entirely welcomed in the fairytale. The children’s story frees us up to generalize: this could be anyone (even me), and it could be anywhere (even here). But it does so from a safe place. It’s not actually me or here, and so, I can let everything play out as it may and see what happens. I am safely removed, and my mind can operate in peace. I can try out scenarios I otherwise wouldn’t. I can meet and understand people I never would in my everyday life. I can indulge in abstraction and play, engage my curiosity and foster my creativity, and remain the whole time protected by that vague veneer of once. (And not only can I do it, but I am healthier if I do it than not. Literal-mindedness is a hallmark of many a neurodegenerative disease and cognitive disability. Conversely, adults who are taught to imagine a situation from a more general perspective make better judgments and evaluations—and have better self-assessments and lower emotional reactivity than their non-generalizing counterparts.) The safety valve of fantasy can be switched on and off at will.
by Francisco Miranda (via The Black Harbor)
by Mark Chadwick (via butdoesitfloat)
Walk the Prank: Secret Story of Mysterious Portrait at Pentagon || Wall Street Journal
In a Pentagon hallway hung an austere portrait of a Navy man lost at sea in 1908, with his brass buttons, blue-knit uniform and what looks like meticulously blow-dried hair.
Wait. Blow-dried hair?
The portrait of “Ensign Chuck Hord,” framed in the heavy gilt typical of government offices, may be the greatest—or perhaps only—prank in Pentagon art history. “Chuck Hord” can’t be found in Navy records of the day. It isn’t even a real painting. The textured, 30-year-old photo is actually of Capt. Eldridge Hord III, 53 years old, known to friends as “Tuck,” a military retiree with a beer belly and graying hair who lives in Burke, Va.
Most military officers who climb the ranks or command daring battles only dream of having a portrait hang in a corridor of power at the Pentagon alongside the likes of Patton, Nimitz and Eisenhower. Capt. Hord’s made its way to the Pentagon’s C-ring hallway via several parties, an alliance of British and Canadian military officers and a clandestine, predawn operation later dubbed “THE PROJECT.”
Cut book illustration (by Thomas Allen; via Colossal)
![Flora, Villa Arianna, Stabiae, Italy, 1st century A.D. [Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m10f3vBNQF1r6upw4o1_1280.jpg)
Flora, Villa Arianna, Stabiae, Italy, 1st century A.D. [Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli]
(Source: triglifos-y-metopas, via birdsong217)
(Source: eatsomeart, via teganneedsahobby)
THE MOON GOOSE ANALOGUE : Lunar Migration Bird Facility
This makes me so, so happy. (via io9)
Folded and pasted currency sculpture by Kristi Malakoff (via Colossal)
Katsushika Hokusai, Umegawa in Sagami Province (Soshū umezawanoshō), Thirty-Six Views of Mount Fuji
The Sackler Gallery is exhibiting the entire set (plus the ten additional Hokusai created later) until 17 June. It was part of my Sunday of culture, and marvelous.
Peonies and Butterflies (J. Shakuyaku gunchō zu) by Itō Jakuchū, c. 1757 (Hōreki 7)
ink and color on silk, from Colorful Realm of Living Beings (J. Dōshoku sai-e), set of 30 vertical hanging scrolls, c. 1757–1766
All thirty scrolls are on display at the National Gallery of Art until 29 April, the first time the entire set has ever been displayed outside Japan. If you’re in the area, go. As the New York Times review said: one of the most beautiful exhibitions I have ever seen.
Claude Monet, The Japanese Footbridge, 1899
The National Gallery of Art has begun an online image collection. I am excite.
by Alberto Seveso (via Colossal)
