Li Xiaofeng: Garments made of China, 2006-2009
Li Xiaofeng is a Beijing-based sculptor with an unusual choice of materials — he buys shards of broken porcelain recovered from ancient archeological digs from Ming and Qing dynasties, and then shapes and polishes them, drilling holes into each corner and linking them together with silver wire to create ‘rearranged landscapes’.
More here
sherlock-has-got-the-blue-box:
So this just happened.
She’s one of us.
we love you Karen.
If I was a famous author I would publish a book with ten different endings which all went to print with varying degrees of rarity, but not tell the fans about it so that I could watch their confusion as they disagree over how the story ended. Then when they figured it out I would ‘come clean’, telling them that I had released eleven alternate endings and watch them panic again as they all try to find the last ending.
This is perfect.
DON’T EVER ASK ANYONE IF YOU LOOK OKAY BECAUSE YOU ALWAYS LOOK FUCKING MAJESTIC. EVEN AT 5AM WHEN YOU GET UP TO PEE AND CATCH SIGHT OF YOURSELF IN THE BATHROOM MIRROR AND YOUR HAIR IS EVERYWHERE AND YOU’VE GOT PILLOW CREASES ON YOUR FACE, EVEN WHEN YOU’RE OUT AND YOUR TOP IS DIRTY AND DOESN’T MATCH YOUR PANTS, EVEN WHEN YOUR DRINK IS DOWN YOUR TOP AND YOUR MAKE UP ACROSS YOUR FACE.
100% FUCKING MAJESTIC
i had no idea this site cost 1.1 billion i bet its because of my blog
If you’re having a bad day, just remember that the Raptor sounds from Jurassic Park were actually a recording of turtles having sex
While browsing the Lafayette College website, I stumbled upon this incredible artifact and thought y’all might like to see it, if you haven’t already. They write:
The Revolutionary Sword
“This is the sword taken from Lafayette by his Austrian captors in August, 1792. Almost all of Lafayette’s personal effects, which were confiscated by his captors, were returned upon his release in 1795, except this sword. Lafayette himself provided clues to the reasons for this in his letters, describing it in 1798 as “forged with the bolts of the Bastille” and in 1828, as having “as a pommel, a cap of liberty.” The revolutionary nature of this sword made it desirable as a trophy of war and it was eventually purchased from the Austrians by a Prussian diplomat and put on display in Berlin. In 1932, the diplomat’s family presented it to Lafayette College.”
Romanov Birthdays → Nicholas II of Russia, May 18
The last Emperor of Russia, Nicholas was born in Saint Petersburg on 18 May 1868. His parents took particular trouble over his education. Nicholas was taught by outstanding Russian academics at home, he knew several languages and had a wide knowledge of history, and he also quickly grasped military science. His father personally guided his education, which was strictly based on religion. Nicholas also toured Egypt, Japan, and India in his youth. He narrowly escaped assassination while he was in Japan.
1894 was a significant year for young Nicholas. Nicholas ascended the throne at age twenty-six after the unexpected death of his father. Although a well educated man, he felt unprepared for the hard task as the ruler of the Russian empire, he was not properly prepared to officiate as a monarch and was not fully introduced to top affairs of the state. Nicholas’s reign was marked by tragedy from the very beginning. Despite this, Nicholas married the love of his life, Princess Alix of Hesse, less than a month later.
Their union was a rare one among royal families in that they married “for love” and Nicholas was a devoted husband throughout their life together. Almost exactly a year after his accession in November 1895, Nicholas was blessed with a new daughter, whom he named Olga after his youngest sister. Olga’s sisters, Tatiana and Maria, followed in the next fours years. Nicholas was severely ill from Typhus in 1901 after Alix was pregnant with their fourth child. Alix, who was desperate, hoped the baby would be a boy so that in case of the Tsar’s death, Alexandra would be the regent until the boy was eighteen. But luckily, Nicholas recovered and the baby turned out to be another girl. This baby girl would become the famous Anastasia many people knew today.
Nicholas and Alexandra was under a lot of pressure to produce an heir to the throne. Alexandra was allegedly pregnant in 1903 but was suspected by the doctors that it was a hysterical pregnancy. But in 1904, Alexandra was finally pregnant with their youngest child and first son, Tsarevich Alexei. The couple was enthusiastic at the birth of the healthy and robust child, but shortly after, Alexei began bleeding nonstop from his umbilicus. Their world was shattered as this was a sign of the incurable bleeding disease named Hemophilia, something Alix had inherited from her British grandmother, Queen Victoria. But all the same, Nicholas and Alexandra loved all of their children very deeply.
Russia entered war with Japan in 1905, which had angered the Russian population, and the war was thought to be unnecessary by many. Industrial workers all over Russia went on strike and in October, 1905, the railwaymen went on strike which paralyzed the whole Russian railway network. Under pressure from the attempted 1905 Russian Revolution, Nicholas was forced to turn the country into a constitutional monarchy and the Duma was founded. Russia was riddled with another war, much bigger this time. Russia, along with Britain and France, declared war against Germany in the summer of 1914.
This war proved to be fatal for the Romanovs. Food was scarce in the country and people lived in poor conditions. In February 1917, another revolution occurred. This time, they succeeded and Nicholas was forced to abdicate the throne. At first, Nicholas abdicated the throne to his son, Alexei, but soon realized Alexei would been taken away from him. Nicholas handed the throne to his youngest brother, Michael. His brother also renounced his right to the throne and the Romanov dynasty no longer existed. The Imperial Family were put under house arrest at their home residence of Alexander Palace. Nicholas, who always had been so busy with the war affairs and away from home, finally had time to be with his family. Over the next year, the family was deported to Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg, where Nicholas, his wife, and children - the oldest at the time was 22 and the youngest 13 - were brutally murdered in July 1918.