Magritte is known for painting his wife very often, unlike other artists painting strangers all the time. René and Georgette Magritte (and their dog after the war) seem to me a romance worthy of their own novel. Seeing them fool around in the black&white videos they show at the museum tells a lot about the people behind the art. But the amount of paintings he made of his wife disturbed me a little as well. This painting was reproduced about four times because buyers kept asking for it. I wonder if I would so happily sell nude paintings of my wife to people. Isn’t this some kind of pimping? Anyway, I guess women prefer their husbands painting them nude and selling it instead of having strange women pose nude all the time. I guess nude painting always has its complexities for couples.

This is a painting which was bought by Sabena, the old Belgian Airlines now called Brussels Airlines after Sabena’s bankruptcy in 2001, to be used for their brand identity. The actual painting I’m referring to is different from this one and called ‘L’oiseau de ciel‘ (this one is ‘La Grande Famille’) but I couldn’t find a higher resolution. Differences are that the bird flies the other direction and the sea is actually the landing strip of Brussels Airport by night. Apparently it was sold after the bankruptcy to help raise money for the employees.

The essence of doors is seriously questioned here. Is the door the hole in the wall or the wooden screen closing the gap? Does the hole make the door as gap-closer redundant or does it reinstate its true function by again giving way to what lies behind? True philosophy, René, true philosophy.

This reminds me of some of the Muse albums (BTW: wow for their new album cover and can’t wait to hear the sounds!) which feature random poles or people or teddy bears in mathematical patterns in the air or on the ground. The impersonality of mathematics and numbers gets replaced with human people. Do the numbers get more human or the humans more impersonal?

This reminds me of a song my fiancee has on CD in the car and I’ve finally managed to sing along to. It’s by the Great Big Sea, called The Mermaid and very funny. If you need some uplifting music while you’re driving, their songs can definitely help.

Lastly, I want to point at Magritte’s signature which is used on posters and other print materials everywhere and which I’m very jealous of. It just works.

Or you could watch this documentary which aired on Fox channel in 2001, also initiated by Bill Kaysing, in which the video footage of NASA is scrutinized for inconsistencies. Rippling flags by non-existent wind on the moon, light where there should be shadow, different shadow lengths, etc.

Kaysing died in 2005 but sparked the interest of Bart Sibrel who took it on to continue the mission of uncovering the truth about the moon landings and directed a documentary called “A funny thing happened on the way to the moon“.

Who hasn’t heard of 72-year-old second-man-on-the-moon Buzz Aldrin punching Sibrel when the latter calls him a liar and some other non-flattering names?

After that you could read NASA’s official rebuttal of all of the above in their special press release in 2001. You could also look into the allegation that Stanley Kubrick, hot off “2001: A Space Odyssey“, was hired by the US government to shoot al the moon landing scenes. And if after this you still have time, find a good overview of everything on this topic at Wikipedia.

Or you could just sit back and watch the new digitally enhanced version of this legendary moment where mankind unveiled some of the mystery surrounding the universe.

Religion + 9/11 + the Federal Reserve. Now that’s enough content to fill a movie. I’ve always loved conspiracy theories – that ‘Neo effect‘ when you’re offered the ‘insight’ that everything you know is wrong. This video has been around for a while. It is somehow a cleverly mastered, disturbing, facts and guesses, mind-blowing piece of Youtube-reporting which has that annoying effect of making you think ‘this might actually be true!’. In addition, it’s also won some prizes of which I can’t tell if they’re worth anything (but they look rather official). Every intelligent being, of course, would doubt the context of such a dubious video appearing on the web but you can’t help but feel that tiny voice telling you you’re being fooled by powers you have no knowledge of.

Just because of the name I’m mentioning this great movie with Mel Gibson.