Culture education time

Did you guys know that the Mona Lisa

we all have seen was only one of a series

of her that Leonardo did?

Really Mr ZeroBear?

I had no idea.

Well I had no idea either until last night, when 

I discovered the lost Mona painting.

It was being auctioned on ebay.

I got out bid, cause Mumzie's PayPal account

seems overdrawn after my

last purchase.

Anyhow, to keep my peeps up on the latest

art happenings I present.

Mona alone-a

and

the lesser known

but esthetically pleasing

Mona with FluffyKitty

Impressed?

Yeah I was too.

What would you guys do without me?



Origami

I have found a new artsey hobby down at the community

center night art classes. I'm really good at it.

It's called

Origami which is Japanese for folded paper artsey stuff.

The dragon was done by an up and coming, but not as

good as me paper folder in the class I am taking.

Here is a unicorn done by another student in my class.

I told her it was OK so her feelings wouldn't be hurt.

Another student did this Yoda. Again a good attempt

with lots of work, these guys may make it yet.

So,

Are you ready to see the work of a true master?

This one is called "flatness of paper".

Yeah I know... Hold your applause please cause

there's more coming.

Last week, in a surge of design genius

I did this one.

yes it is 100% genuine folded paper

(accept no substitutes)

Lastly

Yeah I know, you can barely

contain your excitement with this

avant garde experimental piece...

at times, I shock even myself.

More Culture Stuff

One of our Readers, who wishes to remain

anominimus anommonimum anonomouse

unnamed has submitted the following

photo from the golden days of culture.

Yes friends, this morning we journey back

to the days when really swell guys and gals

would journey down to the local rollerskating

emporium on Saturday night

to enjoy an evening

of cultured fun on wheels.

And to honor those days, our reader (Thanks YoBert)

has sent in a photo of the famous

rollercapade theatrical presentation,

"Little Red Rollerskater"

Yes friends, that's Chip "Wolfman Jim" Hesterman

and JoAnn "Sweetie Pie" Jemeson, the rollerskating

sensations of the 1950s "Theatre On Wheels" touring troop

out of Jamestown, NJ.

In this climatic scene of the rollerplay production,

Red uses a roller skate roundhouse side kick to

the wolf's headbone that renders him, if not senseless

then at the least unable to eat more than a

grilled cheese and tatertot blended

milkshake for the next three weeks.

Teach him to hit on her.

As I gaze in wonder I ask the question, "Where would we be

culture wise today, had JoAnn and Chip not decided to redirect

their cultural talents into sports

and join the NewEngland RollerDerby League.

This cultural moment brought to you by

ZeroBear PolyBear Cultural Moments, LLC

and Big Bob's Wheel World RollerSkating Rink of

Hobbestown, PA.

Oh Jeepers, I just realized that's a polar bear on

roller skates kicking that wolf.

I need to think some more about this.

Still a shame about JoAnn and Chip.

I'll have more later, I hear Mumzie, 

putting my waffles on the breakfast table.

Gotta run.

Henry V at the Battle of St. Crispin by the Shakespearean Penguin Players

Henry V
by William Shakespeare
Act 4 Scene 3

(to lay out the scene)
  

Henry and his troops are about to go into battle against

the French on Saint Crispin's Day. His Cousin Westmoreland

laments the fact that he wishes for more Englishman to join
the beleaguered and badly outnumbered English forces in

battle against the French.

*******

Westmoreland
 

O that we now had here

But one ten thousand of those men in England

That do no work to-day!

*******

In response to this,
Henry address his cousin

*****

God's peace! I would not lose so great an honour
As one man more methinks would share from me
For the best hope I have. O, do not wish one more!
Rather proclaim it, Westmoreland, through my host,

That he which hath no stomach to this fight,
Let him depart; his passport shall be made,
And crowns for convoy put into his purse;

We would not die in that man's company
That fears his fellowship to die with us.

This day is call'd the feast of Crispian.

He that outlives this day, and comes safe home,

Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,

And rouse him at the name of Crispian.

He that shall live this day, and see old age,

Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,

And say 'To-morrow is Saint Crispian.'

Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,

And say 'These wounds I had on Crispian's day.'

Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,

But he'll remember, with advantages,

What feats he did that day.

Then shall our names,

Familiar in his mouth as household words-

Harry the King, Bedford and Exeter,

Warwick and Talbot, Salisbury and Gloucester-

Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.

This story shall the good man teach his son;

And Crispin Crispian shall ne'er go by,

From this day to the ending of the world,

But we in it shall be remembered-

We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;

For he to-day that sheds his blood with me

Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,

This day shall gentle his condition;

And gentlemen in England now-a-bed

Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,

And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks

That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.

********

A cultural presentation by ZeroBear PolyBear, LLC.

all rights and a few lefts reserved.

Culture from the Shakesperean Bear Troop

Macbeth - Act 2 Scene 1

Is this a dagger which I see before me,

The handle toward my hand?
Come, let me clutch thee.

I have thee not, and yet I see thee still.

Art thou not, fatal vision, sensible

To feeling as to sight? or art thou but

A dagger of the mind, a false creation,

Proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain?

********

Hamlet - Act 3 Scene 1

To be, or not to be, that is the question:

Whether 'tis Nobler in the mind to suffer

The Slings and Arrows of outrageous Fortune,

Or to take Arms against a Sea of troubles,

And by opposing end them: to die, to sleep

No more; and by a sleep, to say we end

The heart-ache, and the thousand Natural shocks

That Flesh is heir to? 'Tis a consummation

Devoutly to be wished. To die to sleep,

To sleep, perchance to Dream;

Ay, there's the rub,

********

Macbeth - Act 5 Scene 1

Out, damn'd spot! out, I say!

Culture

from Bears

How fortunate thou art.

Oh No! Again I say, OH NO!

We nave a double whammy to worry about this month!

In case you didn't know, today is

!!!! THE IDES OF MARCH !!!!

What's that, Mr. ZeroBear?

Danged if I know, I just know it's today and that can't be good.

 But wait, Let's ask Mr. Wiki what his Pedia says:

*****

"The word Ides comes from the Latin

word "Idus" and means "half division" especially

in relation to a month. It is a word that was used

widely in the Roman calendar indicating the approximate

day that was the middle of the month.

The term ides was used for the 15th day of the months

of March, May, July, and October, and the

13th day of the other months."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March

*****

Oh - That's clear as mud. And What's important that

we need to beware of this particular Ide?

Again from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ides_of_March

*****

"In modern times, the term Ides of March is best known 

as the date on which Julius Caesar was killed in 44 B.C.

Caesar was stabbed (23 times) to death in the Roman

Senate by a group of conspirators led by Marcus Junius Brutus

and Gaius Cassius Longinus. The group included 60 other

co-conspirators according to Plutarch."

*****

I think this

is Plutarch. 

Anyhow, as near as I can calculate, Caesar

was murdered about 2056 years ago. I never met him 

so I can't get too distressed at his passing.

But I do remember Brother Dave Gardner's theatrical

presentation covering The Ides of March.

Brother Dave is gone now. He lived back in the days

when smoking cigarettes was still good for you. He was also

known to occassionally take a drink of dark colored alcohol.

If you've never heard Brother Dave's version of

Shakesphere's story about Caesar on his last day

(The Ides of March), listen here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QpZPqAwXWZ4&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PL94B4C35B5697EFF1

Hpefully you will take note of the famous lines from Shakesphere's

play as recounted by Brother Dave.

It goes like this:

Act 3, Scene 1 - Caesar sees Brutus

"the most nobelest Roman of them all"

Brutus is holding a switch blade pocket knife

and Caesar says,

"Et Tu Brute?"

Brutus replies,

"Naw, I ain't Et Nuttin..."

Brother Dave Gardner - a font of culture and literature

that we can drink from at will, on this hopefully

uneventful Ides of March, 2012.

You're welcome!