On the other hand, self did encounter quite a bunch of interesting faces.  Here are a few:

Totally random: Self was just shooting away at a whole bunch of passersby and hoped some images would be usable.

The bus took quite a long time to let passengers on and off; self was glad, for then she had the opportunity to take more pictures!

This little girl was aware that self was taking her picture. She kept looking at self and throwing her a shy smile.

Self was really aiming her camera at the spotted goat. Only later did she "discover" the little girl standing next to it.

Self gets her "Powder Blue" Fix of the Day

Self is currently in Bir, at a quaint bed-and-breakfast type placed called The Colonel’s Resort.  After dinner, they served the most yummy-licious dessert, something called “Steamed Cake.” It tasted very much like a very creamy, very light rice pudding.

The proprietor — was he “the Colonel”? — is a sweet, old gent.  He asked if self would like a hot water bottle to warm her bed.  Self can’t remember when she last heard those words “hot water bottle.”  Maybe thirty years ago — ?  She said yes, and the proprietor asked, “Would you like it very hot or medium hot?” Self deliberated for a few moments before replying:  “Medium hot.”  The old gentleman brought the hot water bottle about 15 minutes later.  It was brick red.  He told self to place it near where her feet would go (BTW, the Colonel’s wife is a stunningly beautiful woman; she reminds self a little of brother-in-law Richard’s wife, Marissa)

She borrows the driver’s cell phone to place two calls to the husband.  At the second call, he complains, “You woke me up.”

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

Monkeys, she decided, are a little scary looking.  These have nothing of the passivity of the monkeys she’s used to seeing in zoos.  These squeal and chatter, and groan.  The squeals, in particular, are ear-splitting.

Here’s a picture:

Three Monkeys on a Hot Tin Roof: Baikunth Resort, Kasauli, India

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

Rest Stop on the way to Kasauli

People are the same everywhere:

Hindu deity Ganesh on driver's dashboard (Reminds self of the dashboards of Filipino jeepneys, draped with Santo Niño replicas)

At the Red Mosque in Old New Delhi, right after the Call to Prayer ended (People hadn't yet folded up their prayer mats. It was such an indescribable thrill to hear the call of the muezzin over a loudspeaker)

Here are my traveling companions: Sarah K is on the left, and Mrinilani is on the right.

Self must make sure to wear a scarf, wherever she goes.  No telling when the yen will strike to enter a Hindu or Muslim temple.

India has "tuk-tuks" -- just like in Bangkok

New Delhi was blessedly cool:  the tour guide Mrinalini engaged told self that October to February were the best times to visit because of the cool weather.  Self thanks her lucky stars that she decided to try out India in January.  (Earlier, a couple of people told her, it was much colder.  Yes, she is lucky)

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

After numerous bumblings, ditherings, late-night confabulations (with self, in her head), and much badgering of Newark Continental Baggage Office (“I need my bag!  I forgot my medication inside!  I won’t survive the long flight to New Delhi!), she is finally, finally “ready”.  She has spritzed Chanel perfume (from a tester in the Duty Free store), and applied Estee Lauder lipstick, again from a tester.

Mrinalini’s last e-mail:

“A short, dark young man named Anand should be waiting just outside the green gate outside the Nothing to Declare exit …”

Stay tuned.

Someone ought to tell Denzel that story.

– Chief Deputy Art Mullen

This episode seems to be focused mainly on the Chief Deputy (Yay!)  Nick Searcy is wonderful.  Self is simply thrilled when Chief Deputy Art Mullen tells a perpetrator :  “Get out, you son of a bitch!”  His accent is spot-on (Self has never been to the south, but she still declares that Deputy Chief Mullen’s accent as “authentic.”  Self, when will this ever end ???)

Adding further to the fabulous-ness of this episode is the presence of Carla Giugino (in a black suit with a red blouse).  And — oh my — she is tough!  Watch her take down a low-life in a pencil skirt and heels!

Self thinks this season of “Justified” is beginning so strong.  Episode 2 is on a whole other level of fine.

A character gets whacked pretty early on.  The incident occurs in broad daylight, in a very public place.  The sound of the report is loud (even though assassin muffles by shooting through a pillow)

OK, where are all the other people in that Public Place?  If a man sprawls on the ground after being shot (but not killed), you’d think someone might notice.

Missing in Action in this episode:  Ava and Tim Gutterson

Though Ava does put in an appearance, close to the end.

Erica Taziel is present, playing tough for the first time.  That’s twice now that self has used “tough” to describe the women in this episode.  Which just goes to show:  all the women in the “Justified” universe are “tough.”  For instance, last season’s 14-year-old-with-the-heart-shaped face, who successfully deflected a pervert all by herself.  And last season’s Evil Incarnate, Mags Bennett.  And Ava.  Heck, even Winona is tough!  And all the tough women are thin, and they can all get away with wearing the Mother of All Pencil Skirts.  (In fact, now that self reflects, has there ever been a woman on this show who is NOT tough?  Methinks not!)

There is a new Villain, who does a masterful job of cutting a beef carcass with a very very very and self means VERY sharp knife!

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

MARIFE:  An Opera

Libretto by Marianne V________

Music composed by Drew Hemenger

On now, at the Metropolitan Opera House

Reservations HIGHLY recommended

What impresses self about Drew is his incredible output. This despite holding down a full-time (administrative) job.  One of his pieces was performed at Symphony Space for the 9/11 Tenth Anniversary Commemmoration.

So, here’s what’s up with Drew for the month of February. The first event is in New York, the second is in University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee:

• Saturday, Feb. 4, 8 p.m.

Tenri Cultural Institute of New York
“Four Places in New York,” a piece for four-hand piano (part of Mark Peloquin’s Keyed Up Music Project)
Tickets: $20, reservations recommended

• Saturday, Feb. 24, 7:30 p.m.

University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
Soprano Adrienne Danrich will enchant audiences with “An Evening in the Harlem Renaissance,” which includes Drew’s jazz-influenced songs inspired by the iconic Harlem Renaissance poet Langston Hughes

Her 2012 “Zen Mind” calendar for the month of February has the illustration of a hanging scroll.  It’s one of those virtuoso performances of pen and ink:  a long, heavy black smear, calligraphy on either side.  The title of the painting:  “Nanten’s Staff,”  by Nakahara Nantenbo (1839 – 1925)  After she learns the title, self can’t help but marvel at how evocative a single stroke of heavy black ink can be.

Events listed in the calendar for February and March:

• February 1:  Imbolc (Pagan/Wiccan)
• February 7:  Full Moon
• February 12:  Start of “Random Acts of Kindness” week
• Feb. 21:  Start of Mardi Gras
• Feb. 22:  Ash Wednesday
• Mar. 8:  International Women’s Day.  Also, Full Moon
• March 11:  Daylight saving time begins.
• March 20:  Ostara (Pagan/ Wiccan), Spring Equinox
• Mar. 21:  Naw-Ruz (Bahai’i and Persian New Year)

The husband found self another episode of “Revenge” on cable.  This one was Episode 4.  It begins with a Tyler aiming a gun at the head of Emily Thorne (aka Amanda Clark), from point-blank range.  Then, cut to:  “Two Days Earlier.” (HA HA HAAA!)  A very thin and pasty-looking Gabriel Mann began the episode in a beach chair.  He ended it tied to a chair in his own house.  Fabulous, simply fabulous.

Bags are packed for India.  Her visa is already stamped in her passport, awaiting the scrutiny of an Indian Immigration Official.  Self has probably gained 5 lbs. just in the past week, from nervous snacking.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.

Reputation is a treasure to be carefully collected and hoarded.  Especially when you are first establishing it, you must protect it strictly, anticipating all attacks on it.  Once it is solid, do not let yourself get angry or defensive at the slanderous comments of your enemies –  that reveals insecurity, not confidence in your reputation.  Take the high road instead, and never appear desperate in your self-defense.  On the other hand, an attack on another man’s reputation is a potent weapon, particularly when you have less power than he does.  He has much more to lose in such a battle, and your own thus-far small reputation gives him a small target when he tries to return your fire.

–  Robert Greene, The 48 Laws of Power, p. 42

Now self understands the attraction of the NEGATIVE ATTACK AD in political campaigns.

Robert Greene is the author of such books as The 33 Strategies of War and The Art of Seduction.  The “complete amoral series” –  Be Ruthless, Reign Supreme –  is available in paperback from Penguin.

Stay tuned.

Here are some things that self learned from the exhibit:

• The paintings, 50 in all, were amassed by the Habsburgs.
• The museum in which they were housed was in Vienna.
• The voice introducing the audio for the exhibit was that of John Buchanan, the Museum Director who sadly passed away in December.
• Many of the subjects were women, which seemed contradictory:  Women in Renaissance Venetian society (self learned from the exhibit audio) were viewed as distinctly subservient. Yet they seemed an endless source of inspiration for the (male) artists.  Therefore, who were these women? Biblical subjects, like Judith who cut off the head of Holofernes. Figures from ancient mythology.  Quite a few were nude, and all had meaty hips and thighs and exceedingly tiny breasts. Self wonders what the women of Venetian Renaissance Society thought about these naked women in the paintings. The audio mentioned that several could possibly have been courtesans. One of these possible courtesans was depicted with great branches of laurel leaves framing her head, one breast coyly exposed. The subject’s face was so at odds with her deshabille. It was a great portrait, by a painter self had never heard of: Giorgione.

There was Andrea Mantegna’s painting of Saint Sebastian, pierced by arrows. Self had seen copies of this painting in books. She expected it to be large, befitting the subject. But it was surprisingly small. The saint’s body was surprisingly robust, the skin like alabaster. An arrow pierced his chin and went through his forehead, but the face was not disfigured. The expression was not what self expected (Perhaps she expected something akin to Bernini’s Medusa, the face in a moment of transformation.) The audio remarked on the extraordinary three-dimensionality of the saint’s feet.

She wished there had been audio for Titian’s “The Entombment of Christ.”

Another of her favorites, for which there was audio, was Tintoretto’s “The Flagellation of Christ” :  the figures of the men beating Christ were so ferocious, their arms flexed, caught in the moment just before their blows connected with the bound form between them.  And another thing:  Christ was not the ascetic, suffering figure self was used to seeing from his depictions on the cross. This Christ figure was monumental, greatly muscled.

From the Museum store, self bought a pair of dessert plates, on sale for $13.99!  The design was of a painting by Bordone, “Allegory of Mars, Venus and Cupid.”  Here’s a close-up:

Bordone's "Allegory of Mars, Venus and Cupid," c. 1560

Later in the afternoon, after self was back in Redwood City, she heard on the car radio that Gngrich had beaten Romney in South Carolina, by double digits.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers. Stay tuned.

It seems like forever that self’s been wanting to go see Bernini’s Medusa, which has been on loan to the Legion of Honor from Rome’s Musei Capitolini (and is leaving shortly!).  Yet another legacy from the wonderful John Buchanan, who put in the pipeline so many great exhibits at the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco.

Leafing through the museum’s Fall 2011 magazine, self sees, in close-up, a picture of this magnificent sculpture.

How curious:  last night, self and the husband watched “Alien,” and this time around (only her nth viewing of this classic), self was particularly struck by the tight close-ups of Ripley’s face when she is in the space pod, escaping from the Nostromo.  There’s a lot of shaky cam work (Ridley Scott must have been among the first to use this technique), but the focus is entirely on Ripley’s face.

There are so many ways Scott could have chosen to portray that moment.  He could have shown the engines thrusting, or the pod moving through space.  He could have shown Ripley in action, busily pressing buttons or what not.  But no.  In that scene, he showed only Sigourney Weaver’s face, her open mouth, her closed eyes, her projection of pain and exhaustion (everything shaking horribly, and the image becoming very blurred at times).  And looking at the picture of the Medusa in the Fine Arts Museums magazine, it is something of the same expression!

This is from the museum magazine:

Her hair is turning into writhing snakes which, according to Ovid, was a punishment from Minerva for having had an affair with Neptune, god of the sea.  The punishment also made Medusa an instrument of death by turning anyone who looked upon her to stone . . .   Bernini’s depiction does not describe the incident but rather the agony of Medusa’s initial dramatic transformation.  Her face is contorted with pain and anxiety and her mouth is open as if crying out.

What is remarkable about Bernini’s interpretation of this ancient mythological creature is that it conveys passion, emotion, and the humanity of the moment, rather than the monstrous and horrific aspects of Medusa treated by artists and sculptors hitherto.

Self wishes she could “capture” an image from somewhere.

Stay tuned, dear blog readers.  Stay tuned.