h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*calls through butler's hatch while putting out fresh broccoli with donut crumbs for the sloth*

I'll see to it right away, Titania! And hope I remember to change back. I don't know how people juggle identities. I did a post as Mindspring and then one as Ferrari, and it made my head spin.

I'll make sure Matina is programmed for coffee melange!
Then I have to go do German
And then I have a continuity matter to sort out.

Ten days till Quorthon comes home!

By the time those two have finished Matina, I'm sure she'll know all she needs to know.

Lil, I only noticed the way the blues blend and continue across the picure when looking at the website image ealier on (I was trying to find out what that picture was and they had a digital version ). The original picture is about 2.5Mx2M (or about 8'x6' for the imperial types) and so dominates the wall of the gallery it's on - it does mean that the picture in the picture (the castle and lake) are the size of a small detailed painting anyway. The way the small picture continues behind the fish tank is great. I liked the whole idea of it playing with what is the real painting, the small speck of a picture, or the giant cartoon like backdrop.

I may not know much about art, but I know what I like (and thankfully I didn't have to describe that picture in words).

You're right about the Dali pictures, I did expect them to be bigger.

Hi BB!

My problem is: I really don't know, I've always had them made for me by others...

I tried to make one myself after the removal of Minoova, but I just can't get it right. I'm not really a coffee drinker, so of course I only drink odd special mixes...

It's something like a double espresso, with chocolate ( tastes as if it's dark chocolate with lots of cocoa, not so sweet) and then X and Y and probably Z:ed milk...

Phil, that IS an interesting picture, must have been even more interesting in real size...
I'll have to take a walk among the rest of the pictures at that site some time

BB, the busses are great especially the older hop-on ones with the platform at the back. Sitting on the top deck you can get to see things which wouldn't normally be noticed from ground level.

Titania, I've been having a quick look round the website for the various galleries the Tate Foundation has (Tate Britain & Modern in London and the outposts in St Ives (Cornwall, long a home to artists) and Liverpool) and it is good isn't it. Lot's of the pictures are online with information on the way the sections are themed and they have a web based alternative art/interpretation website alongside the main website (http://www.tate.org.uk ). There are currently three exhibitions I want to see in London and finding the time for each could be interesting.

I expect everything of Dali's to be bigger than it turns out to be... well, everything but his feelthy mind

I think the Persistence of Memory is something like 4" X 6". They really look as if they were painted under a magnifying glass.

Also, I noticed that he used gold and silver iridescent paint to capture light.

Oh, Kasia, can you alert everybody on the German threads that I welcome correction and suggestion for more economical or modern phrasing? It's been full 30 years since I studied the grammar, and another 20 since I was among Germans.

*brings a beer onto the veranda*

*just finished reading the Society pages in the latest edition of h2g2 Post, August 7th*

Wow! I feel a bit silly getting excited over this, but I'm mentioned twice! Once describing my gala dress as Titania, and then mentioned as my other self 'Kristina the Flamenco Dancer', twice!
Does this make me a celebrity?

*floating in from veranda, heading for fridge and champagne bottle, grabs it, heading for the veranda again*

Anyone want to join me with a Y of champagne?

Oh, and feel free to use
http://www.h2g2.com/U147915

It will be interesting to see what turns up...

I will gladly toast your celebrity! *grabs a flute glass and joins Titania on the veranda* Mindspring is goo now, incidentally. I bet she will adore flamenco.

One thing that interests me about the origins of flamenco. The music has Moorish origins, right? I just wonder how such a provocative form of dance emerged from an Islamic civilization where women were sequestered.

Lil, flamenco dance was also influenced by Indian dance (you will definitely see the resemblance with dancers from Rajasthan) and then there is the Oriental dance (a.k.a. "belly dance"), common in Arab countries (and the Moores were Arab, sort of). Now there's a provocative dance form!

Also you will find that women in Arab countries gather together to sing and dance together with other women, getting to display their splendid garments. Garments otherwise hidden under veils, as long as there are men around. But these gatherings are for women only! And much appreciated, too...

I can see the resemblance between finger cymbals and castanets, certainly. What seems unique to me is the undercurrent of hostility or confrontation in flamenco, when a couple dances.

Well, Flamenco is one of few situations in life (at least in the past) where woman was equal to man. It is a fight between two equal forces, none of them willing to surrender, being too proud for that. It can also be seen as the fight between a bullfighter (man) and the bull (woman), but an equal terms, as opposed to real bullfights...
Or like two boxers dancing around in the ring, measuring each other...

And then there's also the catholic factor, where a woman is supposed to stay away from men until she marries. You will not see much of body contact between the dancers, but their eyes reveal the passion!

Good ev Lil, Titania, Sporky, Phil

this is very interesting, what you are telling about the flamenco, Titania. I once saw it in Barcelona and it was amazing. You are 100% right about the eyes. Also I love the Carlos Saura movie 'Carmen', very passionate.

Lil, we will of course try to help you to get in the mood of German language. I owe you what, because it was you, who finally 'let the water in the pool' *g*.

When it's well done, it's quite electric, isn't it!
*refreshes champagne flute*
I won't be in much tomorrow -- back to work on Billy -- so it's nice to get a chance to talk with you now. Usually our time zones never quite match up!

Hi Kasia!

Maybe I should join you, I USED to speak German once upon a time...

English speakers take the ubiquity of their language too much for granted. Everybody should drop into a foreign language forum once in a while. If Kasia and you, Titania and others are willing to take chances and practice their english as well as their imagination, then so should we. It would be bad for the barrier to be one way!

Did I let the water in the pool? Good thing I decided not to try it out by diving!

Well, that's true about the time zones.

But I think we will got our chance on some weekends, because then I'm on line ofen till very late at (my) night.

Lil, may I ask you something? I heard, that you make sometimes grafics for the reserchers. I would ask you also for this favour, but I'm not sure if this is the right place to do it? Some advice, please?

BTW: my Grandma used to say, that a foreign language you learned in your young years or as a child, will never vanished, it only need to be diged out. So, you have good chances to remeber it easily, Titania.

May I have some OJ, please?

This is the right place to ask, and I will do a graphic image for you Kasia. I am a bit backed up, though, I must warn you.

*fetches OJ from fridge*
If what you grandma says is true, then there is maybe some hope for my French! I only know of one French speaker here, a very funny chap called Typolifi.