Hey Internet! how's it going? I have an exciting proposition for you! If you're smart, in college, and write pretty cool papers my friend Liana Ogden at Brown University is starting a bi-annual undergraduate scholarly journal. If you're interested check out this flier for the details and start emailing your papers to undergrowthjournal@gmail.com. I may be a blinded peer reviewer in the future so I hope to come across some creative scholarly work!
Thursday, January 21, 2010
YOU wear a coat
Hey Internet! how's it going? I have an exciting proposition for you! If you're smart, in college, and write pretty cool papers my friend Liana Ogden at Brown University is starting a bi-annual undergraduate scholarly journal. If you're interested check out this flier for the details and start emailing your papers to undergrowthjournal@gmail.com. I may be a blinded peer reviewer in the future so I hope to come across some creative scholarly work!
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
I AM 12 AND WHAT IS THIS?
Just had to keep the theme of terrible terribly internet related blog post titles going, sorry. I blame the fact that Ricardo is squishing me and draining all my oxygen. ANYWAY. ANYWAY.
hey guys, what's up? how's life? how's your week so far? how was your weekend? uh huh... uh huh..uh huh ... GOOD STORY, GUESS WHAT? Ricardo and I went to Ravenna on Saturday and on Friday we went to San Miniato and heard monks chant! ISN'T THAT COOL GUYS? don't answer that unless you're going to confirm. SO AS PER USUAL, we started off at the Duomo because that was where we were meeting our teacher. The weather was a lot nicer in a way because it was sunny, but it was so ridiculously windy. This was very upsetting. Anyway, we started at the Duomo because we were going to go into the baptistry, which unfortunately it seems we forgot to photograph from the outside...
The Duomo, in good light, on its good side...
This is the Baptistry's dome, dating from the early 1,100's to 1,200's, and made completely of 1 in. x 1 in. tesserae, or mosaic pieces of stone or glass that's been colored or backed with gold leaf.
This view shows the lower registers of the dome and the upper registers of the interior, those arches form a gallery which may have been for the women.
This is the high alter, with some relics in it! Although it didn't say whose body parts they were, it's pretty safe to assume that they claim that they're John the Baptist's relics as this is a baptistry and John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence.
This is the AWESOME last judgment scene in which the centuries dead people rise from their graves in order to receive their verdict and these suckers get eaten by the devil's many mouths.
note that the devil is blue.
(I imagine this is somewhat what this would look like)
One last shot of the Duomo because the sky is oh so blue.
From the Baptistry we walked about twenty minutes to the original Medieval wall of Florence, whose doors they STILL close at night. After we left the original city gates it was a steady up hill climb for another ten minutes or so in order to reach the Romanesque church that was all the way at the top of a hill overlooking the city.
red nose. cold. My mom's super rad scarf!
A lovely view of Florence on the way up!
This is San Miniato's bell tower which Michelangelo apparently covered in wool and mattresses in order to save it from canon ball fire and installed a canon at the top when he worked as an engineer for the Republic of Florence while they were fighting against Charles the fifth of Spain who had allied himself with the Medici who were trying to regain their political hold of Florence after they had been exiled for the third time. How'd you like that run on sentence? All in all, I'd say I'd give it about a B (Kenneth.cookie jars. start watching at 17:52)
A monk in front of San Miniato
This is the facade in the afternoon light, very Romanesque.
San Miniato was beheaded in the Roman Colosseum in town and as legend has it, he picked up his head and trekked it up here because this was were he had prayed in nature when he went to become a hermit and it was his favorite place, so he wanted to be buried here. Then of course since he was martyred they had to build a church on top of his death site dedicated to him. duh.
one of the side chapels...
The leftover sinopia (under drawing) of a fresco which they never finished
The demi-dome is an early Christian mosaic
This is one of the walls and the ceiling of the sacristy, which showed all the miracles Saint Benedict performed, since this is a Benedictine church. He cured a blind man and some other stuff I can't remember. The devil hung out EVERYWHERE back then.
The gregorian chants are every Friday before the mass and they were SO BEAUTIFUL. The mass was at a tiny altar in the crypt, which only sat about twenty people and was all made of bare stone. The acoustics were amazing so it was like you were being enveloped in these deep intertwining melodies. It was a time warp that took us back to the 11th century. WOAH. INTENSE. DEEP. On a less time traveling note, the monks also make crafts, and more importantly honey! which you can buy at their little gift shop.
Florence at night, from the church
Everyone from our class left like ASAP after the mass began, so we felt really bad and stayed a little longer. Almost to the end actually, but we were so hungry and we knew it was so cold outside that we couldn't take it any longer and we BOOKED. On our way across the bridge we noticed these locks chained to the bridge and later someone told us they're "lover's locks." Couples come to a bridge over the Arno river to lock their lock to the bridge and throw the key into the river to signify their commitment to one another and their being " locked" together.
*~*~KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~*~*
AND TO CONCLUDE, obligatory artsy photograph is obligatory.
hey guys, what's up? how's life? how's your week so far? how was your weekend? uh huh... uh huh..uh huh ... GOOD STORY, GUESS WHAT? Ricardo and I went to Ravenna on Saturday and on Friday we went to San Miniato and heard monks chant! ISN'T THAT COOL GUYS? don't answer that unless you're going to confirm. SO AS PER USUAL, we started off at the Duomo because that was where we were meeting our teacher. The weather was a lot nicer in a way because it was sunny, but it was so ridiculously windy. This was very upsetting. Anyway, we started at the Duomo because we were going to go into the baptistry, which unfortunately it seems we forgot to photograph from the outside...
The Duomo, in good light, on its good side...
This is the Baptistry's dome, dating from the early 1,100's to 1,200's, and made completely of 1 in. x 1 in. tesserae, or mosaic pieces of stone or glass that's been colored or backed with gold leaf.
This view shows the lower registers of the dome and the upper registers of the interior, those arches form a gallery which may have been for the women.
This is the high alter, with some relics in it! Although it didn't say whose body parts they were, it's pretty safe to assume that they claim that they're John the Baptist's relics as this is a baptistry and John the Baptist is the patron saint of Florence.
This is the AWESOME last judgment scene in which the centuries dead people rise from their graves in order to receive their verdict and these suckers get eaten by the devil's many mouths.
note that the devil is blue.
(I imagine this is somewhat what this would look like)
One last shot of the Duomo because the sky is oh so blue.
From the Baptistry we walked about twenty minutes to the original Medieval wall of Florence, whose doors they STILL close at night. After we left the original city gates it was a steady up hill climb for another ten minutes or so in order to reach the Romanesque church that was all the way at the top of a hill overlooking the city.
red nose. cold. My mom's super rad scarf!
A lovely view of Florence on the way up!
This is San Miniato's bell tower which Michelangelo apparently covered in wool and mattresses in order to save it from canon ball fire and installed a canon at the top when he worked as an engineer for the Republic of Florence while they were fighting against Charles the fifth of Spain who had allied himself with the Medici who were trying to regain their political hold of Florence after they had been exiled for the third time. How'd you like that run on sentence? All in all, I'd say I'd give it about a B (Kenneth.cookie jars. start watching at 17:52)
A monk in front of San Miniato
This is the facade in the afternoon light, very Romanesque.
San Miniato was beheaded in the Roman Colosseum in town and as legend has it, he picked up his head and trekked it up here because this was were he had prayed in nature when he went to become a hermit and it was his favorite place, so he wanted to be buried here. Then of course since he was martyred they had to build a church on top of his death site dedicated to him. duh.
one of the side chapels...
The leftover sinopia (under drawing) of a fresco which they never finished
The demi-dome is an early Christian mosaic
This is one of the walls and the ceiling of the sacristy, which showed all the miracles Saint Benedict performed, since this is a Benedictine church. He cured a blind man and some other stuff I can't remember. The devil hung out EVERYWHERE back then.
The gregorian chants are every Friday before the mass and they were SO BEAUTIFUL. The mass was at a tiny altar in the crypt, which only sat about twenty people and was all made of bare stone. The acoustics were amazing so it was like you were being enveloped in these deep intertwining melodies. It was a time warp that took us back to the 11th century. WOAH. INTENSE. DEEP. On a less time traveling note, the monks also make crafts, and more importantly honey! which you can buy at their little gift shop.
Florence at night, from the church
Everyone from our class left like ASAP after the mass began, so we felt really bad and stayed a little longer. Almost to the end actually, but we were so hungry and we knew it was so cold outside that we couldn't take it any longer and we BOOKED. On our way across the bridge we noticed these locks chained to the bridge and later someone told us they're "lover's locks." Couples come to a bridge over the Arno river to lock their lock to the bridge and throw the key into the river to signify their commitment to one another and their being " locked" together.
*~*~KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII~*~*
AND TO CONCLUDE, obligatory artsy photograph is obligatory.
Monday, January 18, 2010
HEY GUYS, WHAT'S GOING ON IN THIS THREAD?
please ignore my totally dumb post title. (This blog is courtesy of Christina, your friendly neighborhood dysfunctional geek, despite it being under Ricardo's name) (Ricardo is helping.)
ANYWAY (IGNORE MEEEEE!)*
here's some fun pictures of some things that are in Florence! yay, fun! LET'S DO THIS.
After it was rainy and gross for SO MANY DAYS (too many days), it was finally dry and not even that cold, so it was *~*~* ADVENTURE TIME *~*~* we had a geometric, algebraic time of it! **
ANYWAY (IGNORE MEEEEE!)*
here's some fun pictures of some things that are in Florence! yay, fun! LET'S DO THIS.
After it was rainy and gross for SO MANY DAYS (too many days), it was finally dry and not even that cold, so it was *~*~* ADVENTURE TIME *~*~* we had a geometric, algebraic time of it! **
IL DUOMO in all its glory (the Duomo is bigger than Christina)
We started at il Duomo because it's at the end of our street and because we hadn't really given it the full once over on the outside, we had just looked at it from the front.
also SIDE NOTE: the first time I (Christina) went to Europe and my mom hadn't seen the Duomo in twenty four years, she said it looked like it was wearing ugly pyjamas. For these kinds of reasons KenTisa says my mom is a doll (also because she sent him chocolate from Colombia. FABULOUS CHOCOLATE)
Ricardo and the Gates of Paradise being best friends.
the doors of Il Duomo, in case you were wondering how small it is...
after we left the Duomo we just picked a street that went in the general direction of the Ponte Vechio (which was our ultimate goal) and started wandering
A baby door! on a street! it's medieval fo sho.
d'aaaawwwwwhhhhh
These people permanently restore the Duomo because they are BADASSES.
and not Ricardo in front of Nani di Banco's Four Crowned Saints. These tabernacles were each commissioned by a different worker's guild of Florence, who were majorly influential in the politics of Florence during the medieval period and the early Renaissance. This is pretty cool and what's also cool (which is where I'm going with this) is that in this tabernacle you can see that it was commissioned by the carpenter's guild because it shows them working in the block beneath the tabernacle, which is mega cool.
here I am in front of it, because it can't be ignored.
This was the view from la piazza della Signoria looking towards what we think is Santa Croce (the church) but we're not sure...
Ponte Vechio being all awesome.
we didn't go onto the bridge, because we were tired but this is what it looks like, and it's full of expensive shops and nice restaurants, bu also touristy shops and carts and things.
on our way back we got mildly lost and ran into this cool looking intersection...
and this awesome little Baroque church (it was closed and didn't have a sign so we don't know what it's called)
we found a cute dog outside of the bakery around he corner from our house!
and we got home to a lovely sunset outside our window, which was welcome because our whole week was very very grey.
we tried this chocolate bar from the alimenteri (small super market) IT WAS SO GOOD. It had whole hazelnuts in it and the chocolate was super smooth. deli! (spanish slang for Delicioso (delicious) for those of you greengos)
lastly and of interest to very few people, this is what I wore a few days ago and I was proud of it, then it got cold and now I'm back to jeans, sweaters, docs and my little black hat that makes me look like a liverpudlian boy from the 60's. *glimmer*glimmer*gleam*gleam*
ciao amori!
*Venture Bros. quote... mom, dad, and Lina
** look up "adventure time" on you tube if you find yourself with further questions as to WHAT THE F is she talking about?
Thursday, January 14, 2010
CATCH UP
We've been in Florence for almost a week now and for what was only a few days but seemed like forever we had no internet, so here's what's happened in the mean time! Ricardo was mega excited on the plane and couldn't sleep AT ALL. We watched "the Informant" which was really good, less funny and more sad than I thought it would be. On an unrelated note though Matt Damon looks AWESOME as a totally dorky 90's era man.
We knew we were in Italy when we saw the mountain range that cuts across it (we still don't know what they're called)
we were mega tired, with only half of our bags having arrived in Florence and we had to go to the school first (because they refuse to tell you where you live before hand) and then walk home. Luckily neither the locale nor the apartment were at all disappointing. We live on Via Ricasoli (ree CA zoli)which if you look at a map is across a very small street from la Galleria della Accademia WHICH HOUSES THE DAVID and ends at the piazza of il Duomo, which we can see from our FRONT DOOR. (yeeeeessssssssssssssss)
This is our living room, it's cute but a little awkward so we don't spend much time in here...
This is the beautiful part. It's really just the big hallway that has all the rooms on the left, but our room is down a tiny staircase at the end of his hall and is all by itself one floor down (and by a floor, I mean just our room)
there's also a little staircase that goes up and has this tiny room on the way!
that staircase actually goes up to our baby tiny terrace, where we can dry our clothes because there's a washer but no dryer.
we'll do a full tour of the apartment later, because it has lots of nooks and crannies and bussiness but for now there's the highlights.
We knew we were in Italy when we saw the mountain range that cuts across it (we still don't know what they're called)
we were mega tired, with only half of our bags having arrived in Florence and we had to go to the school first (because they refuse to tell you where you live before hand) and then walk home. Luckily neither the locale nor the apartment were at all disappointing. We live on Via Ricasoli (ree CA zoli)which if you look at a map is across a very small street from la Galleria della Accademia WHICH HOUSES THE DAVID and ends at the piazza of il Duomo, which we can see from our FRONT DOOR. (yeeeeessssssssssssssss)
This is our living room, it's cute but a little awkward so we don't spend much time in here...
This is the beautiful part. It's really just the big hallway that has all the rooms on the left, but our room is down a tiny staircase at the end of his hall and is all by itself one floor down (and by a floor, I mean just our room)
there's also a little staircase that goes up and has this tiny room on the way!
that staircase actually goes up to our baby tiny terrace, where we can dry our clothes because there's a washer but no dryer.
we'll do a full tour of the apartment later, because it has lots of nooks and crannies and bussiness but for now there's the highlights.
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