Some Interesting Art from Italy

I had a great time in Italy with my family. I will post more pictures later but thought I would start with some interesting art I saw. After you look at these, check out a higher quality slide show here. You can’t help but see a lot of art in Italy. It is everywhere. I am not much of an art lover so these are not pictures of classics but rather some items I thought were interesting and unusual.

I saw basically three types of art: religious, sex and violence, and quirky. I typically don’t like religious art. This one was an exception. It was in a tourist shop window. The Jesus eyes open and close as you walk past it. I almost bought this one because it made me laugh out loud.

This one was found in a Brothel in Pompeii. 2000 year old porn!! The small building was, by far, the most popular in Pompeii the day we were there.

This is a staircase in the Vatican Museum. It is a double helix with one path leading up and one for down.

This mosaic is about 2000 years old. It was in the enteranceway to a house in Pompeii. Underneath the dog, are two words “Cave Canem”. Thanks to Nikki, who took Latin in 6th grade, we know it means “beware of dog”.

A dome inside St. Peter’s Cathedral at the Vatican. It is all marble mosaic.

The ancient Romans were very big people

Just one of the violent subjects

and another. They used to cut you open and pull out your intestines while you watched. You might have to watch it happen to your friends first. Yeesh.

This is from the Arch of Septimus Severus. The arch is in Rome and was built in 205 AD to celebrate Emperor Septimus Severus’s victory over the Parthians. This panel shows a Roman soldier leading a prisoner to slavery.

An odd character

and another

One of many free running public fountains in Rome. The water is cool and drinkable. Ancient Rome used to be fed by a system of aqueducts. The water in public areas was free running and drinkable in 300 BC. It is amazing to think the Romans were so far advanced. It took about 1000 years for Europeans to get running water after the fall of the Roman Empire.

Another strange fellow…

Come see more in my online gallery at flickr.

John speaks out. John gets fired.

As I said in a post yesterday, my brother-in-law made a political commercial in which he spoke out against Bush and out policies in Iraq. Even though he has been speaking out for six months or more, CBS decided to fire him from a role as their military consultant. There is a good article and an interview with John from MSNBC here . Check it out.

Update: CBS apparently has a double standard. Read this. Thanks for the link, Rowena.

Update 2: Someone who probably wants to remain anonymous said, “If he was going to say something that would get him fired, he should just call Bush a nappy headed ho!”

John Makes a Commercial

My Brother in law and retired Army General, John Batiste, has made a TV commercial. Check it out here.  Go John!!

Our Linerider Videos

The whole family played with Linerider Sunday. Here are the results:

Nikki’s video (She’s 11 years old)
Stacy’s Video (She’s 9 years old)

My Video (I’m kind of old)

I just couldn’t get the final jump right so my poor sledder died prematurely.