The Humour Club discussion

The alien took the form of a child, but they could communicate only with the local felines.

Good one Rebecca. I can't even... I mean, it's like the saddest little painting you've thrown up there, Melki!

I think that evil girl shrunk the cats head, I'm sure it's tail was soaked in something also, so I'm thinking you're onto something, Rebecca...

CartoonistAndre wrote: "Good one Rebecca. I can't even... I mean, it's like the saddest little painting you've thrown up there, Melki!

I think that evil girl shrunk the cats head, I'm sure it's tail was soaked in somethi..."

I watched Big Eyes last week, so I was in a kitschy mood. I would have loved to have had this hanging in my room when I was eight years old.

Ladies and Gentlemen of the jury, I rest my case.

Melki wrote: "I watched Big Eyes last week, so I was in a kitschy mood. I would have loved to have had this hanging in my room when I was eight years old. "

I think the outcome would've been a much darker Melki, not that all those rumors of cattle prods and whips in earlier posts were all that believable.

I actually did have these big eyed, paint-by-number donkeys on my walls:



That may explain my attachment to the Democratic Party.

And the cattle prod thing.

Wow, they're so sweet! Made me chuckle.

They are cute! Reminds me of a puppy we used to have. He jumped a lot and would have that same look.

I bet you didn't know that Morris dancers invented the sport of domino toppling, did you?

Talk about the blind leading the blind . . .

Could it be spring fever? Or that nasty spring pollen that makes eyes itchy and blurry?

Why shove-of-war never really caught on...

The virus knew it had triumphed when the greetings began.

"Is that a gun in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

The Men Without With Hats tribute band arrives at the arena.

Is this a glad-handing event for bearded men with hats? And why are all the left hands in pockets? Boy, art sure raises questions.

I can't work this one out, either. Men with hats and beards shaking hands in front of a building or gate with an eagle (??) on top of it.

The eagle made me think of Nazi Germany, but the clothes don't seem to fit. So I'm thinking America. Some grouping of founding fathers or politicians who have either just done something momentous or are about to?

The picture is full of older white men in suits patting themselves on the back for having done something that doesn't involve anyone who isn't an older white man in a suit.

There's a guy with a furled up red banner of flag, which currently looks to be protruding from another guy's head. So it looks like we are going to run a flag up a flagpole.

This is where we need Nicholas Cage in full National Treasure mode (aka the American Da Vinci Code). He would decode it in a trice and spot the next clue to the treasure.

I didn't look very closely...I thought it was the racetrack or something...all the posh types meeting at the track.

You got it Rebecca. They are bookies and bettors exchanging paper for currency. The guy in the back left, for christ's sake, is boosting the young man's wallet, or pinching his buttocks! The clothing, beards, and architecture seem more european somehow, but it all looks a little dicey to me. And I'd still like to know what that man's hand is doing there, mighty suspicious, Melki.

Yeah, it's also mighty suspicious that the composition leaves such a big empty space in the middle. Was the artist part of a secret evil organization? Or was he just a terrible, tortured artist with a burning desire to shake hands with some big shots? Makes me wonder.

You're right about the space If you put your face close to the monitor and look closely, you can almost see a message in there. I think Melki's choosing some peculiar works lately!

The painting is Le grütli moderne by Ferdinand Hodler and other than that, I can find out exactly NOTHING about it.

You can see a larger version here - http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fil... - though it really doesn't clear up any of the mysteries.

It's currently housed in Geneva's Museum of Art and History, if anyone wants to go and really stare at it for a while.

Apparently, it's all about Swiss history.

Found this:

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=Z...

Our painting is on page 34.

And this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%BCtli

Apparently, the building in the background is a fair housing shooting matches. The whole thing is set in a sacred meadow and the blokes shaking hands are confederates who are celebrating civic harmony.

It's the Swiss equivalent of the declaration of independence and the signing of the magna carta. Or something like that.

Isn't the internet a wonderful thing?

Good detective work, Will. I still see no reason for that man's hand reaching purposefully in the man's back pocket. Everyone else is glad-handing while his probes. It may've been a political statement. The government's always in your pocket and such.

Okay - no beards this time. . .

I just discovered an amazing thing. On a PC, if you right click an image on a website, one of the options is to "search google for the image".

I never knew you could do that.

And that means that I can proudly say that it's Hans Holbein's painting of "Edward VI as a Child".

Also known as "I don't care if you are a famous painter, I'm the future king of England and I'm not taking these two gob-stoppers out."

Will wrote: "I just discovered an amazing thing. On a PC, if you right click an image on a website, one of the options is to "search google for the image".

I never knew you could do that.

And that means that..."

My IT guy (aka teenage son) taught me that little trick a few months ago, and I've been using it incessantly ever since.

I feel like I have been initiated into some murky club. Is this what it feels like to be one of the illuminati?

And apparently you can use one of the function keys to search for key words in online articles, though I've never had the occasion to use this.

Not to mention free porn.

It is a wonderland, indeed.

"Why, I don't know what could've happened to those schneckens!"

Well, it would be stupid if I stuffed my pants!

The portrait painter was commissioned and paid, so the picture was done despite the child's bad case of mumps.

Painted by Holbein who also painted...



Hmm. Apart from the beard, those two faces look remarkably similar. Maybe Holbein could only do one face?

I visualize that hat coming off and two pink cauliflower leaves popping out either side.

Henri Martin

"The fish wasn't that big. What a lyre!"

I bow before you Joel. No one can top that line. But I'll throw mine in anyway . . .

"Please, for the love of god, please stop playing that awful music!"

"Tiptoe through the tulips with me-eee!"

I agree with Lisa, I'm at a loss... I'll keep thinking about it though.

Joel might be a lyre, because the gold fish was gigantic and sang a lovely Down-by-the-River, which moved everyone to tears.

The Neil Young version?

Even if you sing it in a song, you can't wear the green belt. it's against our theme.

I stay out too late
Got nothing in my brain
That's what people say, mmm-mmm
That's what people say, mmm-mmm

I go on too many dates
But I can't make them stay
At least that's what people say, mmm-mmm
That's what people say, mmm-mmm

But I keep cruising
Can't stop, won't stop moving
It's like I got this music
In my mind
Saying, "It's gonna be alright."

'Cause the players gonna play, play, play, play, play
And the haters gonna hate, hate, hate, hate, hate
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off
Heart-breakers gonna break, break, break, break, break
And the fakers gonna fake, fake, fake, fake, fake
Baby, I'm just gonna shake, shake, shake, shake, shake
I shake it off, I shake it off

Will wrote: "I stay out too late
Got nothing in my brain
That's what people say, mmm-mmm
That's what people say, mmm-mmm

I go on too many dates
But I can't make them stay
At least that's what people say, mmm-..."

Wow. Will, you saw all that in one painting? Get down! That's a gold ribbon. I'm hearing a backbeat, some hand clapping in the background while a robed Alvin Lee, strikes a vicious lead with his lyre.

Will, that was great, great, great, great, great and maybe even good.

Um ... I did cheat. A little.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlo...

'Arrrrghhhhh! It's eating my hand!'

Crowd Gasps

Okay, this is NOT fine art, but I'm just dyin' to read the captions YOU ALL will come up with.