What are the main panels on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel?

Search: sistine chapel

Why: I'm looking at this cool virtual tour interactive thing on the Vatican website that lets you swing around the whole room and zoom in and et cetera. I went there in 2001, but I'll be honest with you: I don't remember every little goddamn detail.

Answer: There are 9 "central stories" from Genesis / Bereshit (since it's Passover):

1. Separation of Light from Darkness (La Separazione della luce dalle tenebre)

2. The Creation of the Sun, Moon and Earth (Creazione degli astri e delle piante)

3. Separation of Land from Sea (La Separazione della terra dalle acque)

4. Creation of Adam (Creazione di Adamo)

5. Creation of Eve (Creazione di Eva)

6. Original Sin and Banishment from the Garden of Eden (Peccato originale e cacciata dal Paradiso terrestre)

7. Sacrifice of Noah (Sacrificio di Noè)

8. The Great Flood (Diluvio Universale)

9. The Drunkenness of Noah (Ebbrezza di Noè)

Source: Vatican.va

The More You Know: How did He separated Light from Darkness before He created the Sun? That is for him to know and you to find out.

I want to see some stages from the Bregenzer Festspiele

Search: Bregenzer Festspiele; bregenz festival

Why: On Twisted Sifter's Picture of the Day:

COOLEST. STAGE. EVER.

Photograph by AP

Check out this incredible floating stage on Lake Constance in Bregenz, Austria. The Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Festival) has become renowned for its unconventional staging of shows. Verdi’s opera, “A Masked Ball” in 1999, featured a giant book being read by a skeleton.

That looks like a scene from "Metalocalypse."

Answer: Omg they ARE cool. Why has no one invited me to see this?

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Full disclosure: I started Stumbling Upon yesterday, and now I can't stop.

What does "boffo" even mean?

Search: boffo origin etymology

Why: Someone wrote on Corbett's wall:

Boffo box office to you guys tonight!!!

I guess I have heard that word before, but I don't really know what it's supposed to mean. It sounds like something a character in Bridget Jones's Diary would say.

Hang on. Lol:

Answer: "Extremely successful"! Or an uproarious laugh. Or a line in a play or film that gets an uproarious laugh. It can be an adjective or a noun.

Origins are unknown, but it is actually an Americanism that was first used in the entertainment trade magazine Variety in the 1940s. Theories:

• It has something to do with blending the words "box office."
• It comes from an alteration of either buffo, bouffe, or boffola.
• It comes from a Yorkshire dialect, where "boff" meant "an alarm, a sudden shock"
• In show-biz slang, a "boff" might have been a "hit"
  

Source: Wordsmith.org, Askville, White Souse, EtymOnline

The More You Know: A comic strip called "Mister Boffo" has been in syndication since 1986. I have never heard of it.

I also don't "get" it, I don't think.

I want to see a picture of Rico Genest before he was covered in tattoos

Search: rico genest before; rico genest young

Why: Joel at 2Pz posted this:

it's a nicola formichetti interview where he discusses his own obsession with zombie tatto guy rico genest. he was discovered on facebook. via.

Nicola Formichetti is the new creative designer for French brand Thierry Mugler (now just MUGLER), and Lady Gaga is his other muse.

Answer:

UPDATE!!!!!! Thanks again Joel for this awesome link!!!

Humm. I'm pretty sure that's just a picture of my friend Allen.

---originally ---

I can't find any anywhere! Somebody halp!

But here are some more from now and his krazy tatz:

Source: not Google Images, nowhere --- then Buzzfeed

The More You Know: Speaking of zombies and horror and things that scare me, are you ready to see Insidious? It comes out next Friday, April 1st! It was written by Saw's Leigh Whannell and features Chandler's sister Corbett as not 1, not 2, but 3 different characters! Keep your eyes peeled! (When I saw a screening several months ago, I missed one of her shots because the scene was too scary and I was looking down at my hands, so ... really, keep them peeled.) Go see it!

Who played the transvestite in "Please Give"?

Search: please give

Why: She was a very convincing homeless transvestite. Maybe too convincing, if you know what I mean. That movie is a pretty good watch, by the way.

Answer: Harmonica Sunbeam! What a lovely name! And get this: she plays more than just homeless transvestites. Other credits include:

• World Trade Center (2006) - as "9th Avenue Hooker"
• "Third Watch" (2004) - as "Transvestite Hooker"
• "Law & Order: Special Victims Unit" (2004) - as "Hooker Keisha Brown"
  

(The other thing she plays is hookers.)

But she's more than just a pretty hooker. She's also a drag queen! Wait, no - not a drag queen:

I just love that tiger-print hoodie catsuit. What shade is that? Coral?

Befriend her on Facebook to hear about her shows in NYC and other opportunities. For example:

HARMONICA SUNBEAM I am looking for hot, sexy, open-minded and free spirited contestants for my Wet Underwear contest this Thursday at Raw Thursdays . Hit me up for details. Dive into the pool boys!

Dive!

Source: IMDb, HarmonicaSunbeam.com

The More You Know: Incidentally, have any of you ladies or gentlemen out there ever run into a transvestite in a public restroom? It's all I think about these days. Please share your tales.

What is the origin of the word "template"?

Search: template

Why: Uncle Hal is sending me some templates to work with. Hey, why don't you order some of his awesome name art? It makes a very nice Hanukkah or Christmas gift.

But is the root plate like Fashion Plates? Or temp like "time"? Or something else?

Wait, those make a nice Hanukkah or Christmas gift.

Answer: It's neither! It comes from a French word templet, "weaver's stretcher," from temple, which means the same thing. Those words are from Latin templum, "plank, rafter" and also "building for worship."

The meaning "pattern or gauge for shaping a piece of work" is first recorded 1819 in this form, earlier temple (1680s); the form was altered 1844, probably influenced by plate, but the pronunciation did not begin to shift until much more recently.

Plate, btw, originally meant "thin piece of metal," like a coin.

Source: EtymOnline

The More You Know: This has nothing to do with anything, but the guy who sits behind me at work sounds exactly like Peter Sarsgaard, so much so that it is jarring whenever I hear him talk (which is often. Get to work, buddy).

I want to see a picture of Terry Richardson

Search: terry richardson

Why: Kylie of 2Pz posted this bit of this article about hipsters in NY Magazine:

One could say, exaggerating only slightly, that the hipster moment did not produce artists, but tattoo artists, who gained an entire generation’s arms, sternums, napes, ankles, and lower backs as their canvas. It did not produce photographers, but snapshot and party photographers: Last Night’s Party, Terry Richardson, the Cobra Snake. It did not produce painters, but graphic designers. It did not yield a great literature, but it made good use of fonts.

Terry Richardson is a fashion photographer, jicydak. (He took those pictures of James Franco in drag.) And so I read about him, and I saw this:

In March 2010, Richardson faced allegations that he routinely sexually abused models he had worked with. Danish model and filmmaker Rie Rasmussen publicly accused Richardson of habitually exploiting and sexually abusing the models he photographs. She stated, "he abuses his power to put young girls into compromising positions [...] [they] are too young to stand up for themselves."

In interviews, Richardson has confirmed his behaviour. "At first, I'd just want to do a few nude shots, so I'd take off my clothes, too … I'd even give the camera to the model and get her to shoot me for a while. It's about creating a vibe, getting people relaxed and excited. When that happens you can do anything. I don't think I'm a sex addict, but I do have issues. Maybe it's the psychological thing that I was a shy kid, and now I'm this powerful guy with his boner, dominating all these girls."

Richardson stated "It's comedy. A lot of it starts with me saying to a girl, 'Do you want to do nudes?' And they're like, 'I don't want to be naked', so I say, ' I'll be naked and you take the pictures. You can have the camera. You can have the phallus.' [...] and since I'm in so many of the pictures, aren't I objectifying myself a bit?"

Ew. And there's more.

Answer: He looks like a Terry:

Source: Terry Richardson's Diary

The More You Know: He is reminding me of Stanley Tucci in The Lovely Bones (for a lot of creepy reasons):

I want to see the last "Cathy" comic

Search: final cathy comic

Why: The last one was printed yesterday. I was reading reactions in "Who Cares About the End of 'Cathy'?"

Answer: Meh.

Source: GoComics.com/cathy

The More You Know: The real Cathy Guisewhite is 60 years old with a husband, a daughter, and a stepson.

What do scarification tattoos look like once they're healed?

Search: scarification healed

Why: I just saw this beautiful octopus, but it's, um, still raw bloody flesh.

Answer: Oh, they just look like fancy scars.

I'm not sure if that's the fad for me.

Source: Google Images

The More You Know: Speaking of red devils of the sea, did you see this poorly edited news story starring my favorite animal, the giant squid (except a specific kind of giant squid, not the legendary beast, the architeuthis)?

Millions of killer giant squid are not only devouring vast amounts of fish, they have even started attacking humans.

Two Mexican fishermen were recently dragged from their boats and chewed so badly that their bodies could not be identified even by their own families.

No wonder the giant squid are called "diablos rojos" - red devils.

Since 2002, Humboldt giant squid have been spreading their tentacles to deplete fishing stocks by moving from their traditional tropical hunting grounds off Mexico and laying claim to a vast sweep of the Pacific.

Hunting in 1,000-strong packs the giant squid can out-swim and out-think fish. Scientists believe they coordinate attacks by using pigment cells to communicate.

Marine biologists wear chain-mail to protect themselves from creatures that can measure 8ft, weigh 100lb and carry an armoury of more than 40,000 fearsome teeth along two “attack” tentacles.

The creatures have another eight “legs” for grasping and swimming and can reach speeds of more than 15mph.

Former US special forces diver Scott Cassell has put his life on the line to study the squid. He too has been attacked.

He said: “Within five minutes my right shoulder had been pulled out of its socket. I had 30 big marks on my head and throat and one squid hit me so hard I saw stars. They then grabbed on to me and pulled me down so fast that I could not equalise and I ruptured my eardrum.

“They are the most opportunistic predators on the planet. They eat everything in their path."

Keep your paw out of there, Chan Chan.

How did Mark Rothko die?

Search: mark rothko

Why: In Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, p. 143:

I have had quite a few friends commit suicide... Arshile Gorky hanged himself in 1948. Jackson Pollock, while drunk, drove his car into a tree along a deserted road in 1956... Three weeks later, Terry Kitchen shot himself through the roof of his mouth with a pistol... Yes, and Mark Rothko, with enough sleeping pills in his medicine cabinet to kill an elephant, slashed himself to death with a knife in 1970.

He's the guy who did this shit:

Harumph.

Answer: Suicide! Obviously! But he slashed his forearms:

In the spring of 1968, Rothko was diagnosed with a mild aortic aneurysm. Ignoring doctor’s orders, Rothko continued to drink and smoke heavily, avoided exercise, and maintained an unhealthy diet. However, he did follow the medical advice given not to paint pictures larger than a yard in height, and turned his attention to smaller, less physically strenuous formats, including acrylics on paper. Meanwhile, Rothko's marriage had become increasingly troubled, and his poor health and impotence resulting from the aneurysm compounded his feeling of estrangement in the relationship. Rothko and his wife Mell separated on New Year’s Day 1969, and he moved into his studio.

On February 25, 1970, Rothko’s assistant found the artist in his kitchen lying dead on the floor, covered in blood. He had sliced his arms with a razor found lying at his side. During autopsy, it was discovered he had also overdosed on anti-depressants. He was 66 years old.

Weh weh.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: My handwriting is all over the margins of this book, but I don't remember reading it at all. It's weird.

Anyway, in Palm Sunday (a 1981 collection of short stories that I have and you can borrow), Vonnegut grades his own works. Bluebeard wasn't published til 1987.

• Player Piano: B
• The Sirens of Titan: A
• Mother Night: A
• Cat's Cradle: A-plus
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A
• Slaughterhouse-Five: A-plus
• Welcome to the Monkey House: B-minus
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June: D
• Breakfast of Champions: C
• Slapstick: D
• Jailbird: A
• Palm Sunday: C

So I guess it's time for you to read Cat's Cradle and the Books of Bokonon.

Nice, nice, very nice--
So many different people
In the same device.

I want to see some street art by Aakash Nihalani

Search: Aakash Nihalani

Why: On the Cracked.com list of 17 Images You Won't Believe Aren't Photoshopped (Part 6):

#13. Rendering Art Museum: 86%...

This is one that looks less like Photoshop and more like bad MS Paint. But it's another one of those forced perspective works of art where strategically-placed lines give the illusion of a floating box (hint: it only works if you're standing in the right spot). In this case it's just bright green tape...

...and the skill of street artist Aakash Nihilani who randomly tapes misleading cubes in public spaces presumably for the sole purpose of freaking out passersby.

Answer: These are all from his website:

2010 Brooklyn

2010 Brooklyn

2009 New Delhi

2009 New Delhi

2009 Vienna

Source: AakashNihalani.com

The More You Know: Watch him juggle.