The Last Supper

The Last Supper 

13th century mosaic in the Basilica di San Marco in Venice by an unknown artist.

Literature Pick #18

A Scientist Rises

by Desmond Winter Hall 

From the November 1932 issue of Astounding Stories, this is an imaginative work of science fiction from the pulp fiction era.

Saint Jerome in his Study

Saint Jerome in his Study

by Niccolò Antonio Colantonio

Colantonio was a mid-15th century Neapolitan artist, his works were influenced by both Iberian and Flemish art, notably Jan van Eyck.

Magpies and Hare by Cui Bai

Magpies and Hare
by Cui Bai (11th century Chinese artist)
from 1061
ink and colors on silk (76.3 × 40.7 in.)

Quotable

"A clear thought, a pure affection, a resolute act of a virtuous will, have a dignity of quite another kind, and far higher than accumulations of brick and granite and plaster and stucco, however cunningly put together." - William Ellery Channing

Literature Pick #17

Prelude to Space

by Robert W. Haseltine

An entertaining science fiction short story from the May 1954 issue of Imagination.

The Education of Achilles by James Barry

The Education of Achilles

by James Barry (1741-1806)
painted circa 1772

The painting shows the centaur Chiron teaching Achilles. Barry was born in Cork, Ireland and was one of the earliest Romantic painters working in Britain.

Literature Pick #16

The Coming of the Ice

by Green Peyton Wertenbaker

First published in the June 1926 issue of Amazing Stories, this is a masterful, evocative science fiction story about the last man on Earth.

Quotable

"Do not consider any vice as trivial, and therefore practice it; do not consider any virtue as unimportant, and therefore neglect it." - Chinese maxim

Favorite Actress Showcase #4: Mena Suvari

Mena Suvari is among the most beautiful and talented actresses, she rose to fame in 1999 with two big hits, American Pie and American Beauty. Before that she had had small parts and guest spots in a number of movies and TV shows, including two episodes of Boy Meets World. She has appeared in many wonderful roles including Loser, Sugar & Spice, The Musketeer, Stuck, and guest starring roles in Psych and The Cape. Most recently she's been cast in a pilot for a comedy show titled Happy Valley and has returned to the American Pie movies with American Reunion.

Literature Pick #15

The House on the Borderland

by William Hope Hodgson

Powerful, Evocative, Mysterious. First published in 1908, this is a true literary masterpiece of supernatural horror.

Paintings of Caspar David Friedrich

The wanderer above the sea of fog

Chalk Cliffs on Rügen

Winter landscape with church

Mountain Landscape with Rainbow

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) is among the greatest artists in history, his paintings show the power of Romantic art to evoke grandeur and awe by attesting to the sheer beauty and vastitude of nature.

Quotable

"Amongst all possessions knowledge appears pre-eminent. The wise call it supreme riches, because it can never be lost, has no price, and can at no time be destroyed." - Hitopadesa

Literature Pick #14

The Thirty-Nine Steps
By John Buchan
First published in 1915, this is a masterful spy adventure thriller set right before the breakout of World War I. This is the first of five novels featuring the heroic protagonist Richard Hannay, a man with a certain knack for stumbling into trouble and then miraculously escaping it. I also recommend Alfred Hitchcock's 1935 movie version, even though it does differ significantly from the book.

Quotable

"One of the deepest and strangest of all human moods is the mood which will suddenly strike us perhaps in a garden at night, or deep in sloping meadows, the feeling that every flower and leaf has just uttered something stupendously direct and important, and that we have by a prodigy of imbecility not heard or understood it. There is a certain poetic value, and that a genuine one, in this sense of having missed the full meaning of things. There is beauty, not only in wisdom, but in this dazed and dramatic ignorance." - G. K. Chesterton