getting lost in florence, we stumbled across the synagogue
florence, river arno
door to cosimo medici's place
VENICE
venice, window of a marionette shop
venice high fashion shop display on the canal
signs direct the tourists to the campo s marco. but to get there, you must pass under a building, through an unadorned dark subterranean passage hundreds of years old
The Voynich Manuscript is a mysterious handwritten illuminated manuscript with pictures of unidentified plants, fanciful drawings of naked women lounging in a hallucinatory universe of tubes, and bizarre and wonderful cosmological mandalas. The writing is in an unknown alphabet or cipher, and despite the attentions of the top cryptologists over the decades, nobody has ever made a dent in figuring out what it means.
Scientific tests and internal evidence seem to verify the manuscript as a genuine production of the early 16th century rather than a more recent hoax. My personal opinion, though, is that the "writing" is nonsense, and that the book was created by somebody who wanted people to think that he or she had a book of secret magic that only they could understand.
up and down need to be relative to something fixed. bumping into people is not the same as going somewhere. wandering around can lead you back to the same place. or not
the superior man checks his compass before spinning.
Lillian Roth (December 13, 1910 - May 12, 1980) was a singer and comedienne who appeared in the movies in the early 30s
Intelligent and very cute, and a talented physical comedian as well as an excellent singer, she was featured in the Marx Brothers' Animal Crackers in 1930, where she reprised the skit which is shown below in the form of a short:
Meet The Boy Friend, 1930
(extra jazz aficionado points to whoever can identify the violinist in the opening minute of this short!)
The Story Conference, 1934
The thing that takes Lillian's story from that of a bright bauble of the jazz age to real pathos was her struggle with alcoholism. From about 1935 to the early 50s (except for a couple of appearances in 1939), she disappeared from show business while she went through this dark passage in her life. She joined AA in 1946, and in 1954 she published her autobiography, I'll Cry Tomorrow, which became a bestseller and was made into a movie starring Susan Hayward.
She returned to performing, appearing in a successful nightclub act in the 50s, and broadway musicals in the 60s and 70s.
No matter how much alchohol, bad husbands, and financial difficulties plagued Lillian throughout her life, she never lost her unique sparkling charm and intelligence that shines so brightly in the clips that preserve her for us. Here she is at 47, after having survived her biggest ordeal, looking like a million dollars:
then unclasp all, and let your compass be the windrose eyes starlight blind infinity refresh, oh spin my axis spin! truth revolves too fast, daylight burns too clean, there is no end of doors, and our gods are mobius and ourobouros!
getting lost in florence, we stumbled across the synagogue
florence, river arno
door to cosimo medici's place
venice, window of a marionette shop
venice high fashion shop display on the canal
signs direct the tourists to the campo s marco. but to get there, you must pass under a building, through an unadorned dark subterranean passage hundreds of years old
