#Servandoni

[fotograrte]

(vía Cúpula de la Capilla de la Virgen, Iglesia de St Sulpice – FOTOGRARTE)

[milquetoast-zeitgeist]

Likely the restaurant referenced in IWTV S1E2 by Daniel Malloy. May 2023

[illustratus]

Capriccio of Classical Ruins with Alexander the Great Opening the Tomb of Achilles

by Giovanni Niccolo Servandoni

[funjoke]

Édouard Boubat, Spectacle de rue, Rue Servandoni, Paris, 1948

[casadabiqueira]

Rue Servandoni, Paris

Édouard Boubat, 1948

[whatshehassaid]

Also lil fun fact in s1… Louis reads a part of Daniel’s book where he’s talking about how recollection and memory can trick you: “I look at my daughter in the rear view mirror of my Buick sitting in her car seat… my editor tells me it’s 7 years before car seats become mandatory. My ex wife tells me I never had a Buick”

In the books Daniel is turned into a Vampire by Armand in 1985

In the show:

Louis: Alice is in her third trimester… she steps in gum on the corner of Rue Palatine and Servandoni.

Daniel: the old parlour trick…

Louis: she makes you scrape it off with a credit card..

Daniel: it’s not a credit card. I HAVE no credit, it’s a library card

Louis: She’s wearing that short purple dress you favor…

Daniel: I liked the way she lo- walked in it… she was CONFIDENT

Louis: You felt freer to hold her hand in Paris… *hint of sarcasm* I wonder why that is..

Daniel: hitting the garage door, Louis… all the crap… have at it

Louis: you worked SOOOO hard to get that table right in the corner so you could pull out the ring…

Daniel *scoffs*: the ring… that’s good..

Louis: just at the right moment to surprise her

Daniel: which I DID..

Louis: And what did she say when you finally asked her to marry you?

*Daniel has a flash of Armand in the 70s*

Louis: Danny. I’ll ask for a third time. What did ALICE say… when you finally asked her to marry you?

Armand *softly*: Louis perhaps we should…

Daniel *visibly upset* : She said no.

*Louis chuckles maliciously*

*long silence*

Armand *squirms on the couch and a sad uncomfortable expression comes over his face*: she wanted to say yes.

*Daniel’s eyes widen as he looks up at Armand*

Armand: she just didn’t trust you. You hadn’t given her a reason to.

Louis *still with a malicious tone*: do you want to know what she thinks of you now? IF she thinks of you now? *glances at Armand* we could do that

Armand: or we could simply return to the interview.

——

Season one Louis serves Daniel the dessert he had in Paris claiming he has a human meal once a week to hold onto the thread of humanity…

Daniel: this is the dessert I had after I proposed to my first wife… after I got my shit together. We were in Paris. Little cafe on the Rue Servandoni up the way from Saint Sulpice.

Louis: I know it. It’s a beautiful street.

Daniel *becoming nostalgic*: Alice…. Half of her eyebrow was blonde… like a mutt. She always dyed it back to brown…

Daniel *somewhat sadly*: I liked it when she left it alone….

*daniel closes his laptop stopping the recording of the interview*

[bremser]

Berenice Abbott at 18 rue Servandoni

The portrait on the cover of Julia Van Haaften's 2018 biography "Berenice Abbott: A Life in Photography" and at the top of Abbott's wiki page is by an unknown photographer. It was taken for the small newspaper Paris-Midi, published June 14, 1928. Keystone France agency, and now Getty owns the rights and incorrectly dates it as 1927, while Wikipedia dates it as "1930s."

At the time, her studio was at 18 rue Servandoni in Paris, we see the fireplace and door in the background in other portraits, such as the portrait of James Joyce's daughter, Lucia. There's a classic Atget at 15 rue Servandoni, but it's from 1903-4. Atget died in 1927 and Abbott, along with Julien Levy, saved his archive. By 1930 she was in New York City, where Walker Evans made his great portrait of her.

Van Haaften writes that in search of lower rent, Abbott moved to the rue Servandoni studio in early 1928. Abbott kept a clipping of the newspaper, but there's no further detail about the portrait session in the biography.

I was curious about the photographer of the portrait and found Getty has a handful of other frames from the same session that I'd never seen.

Most interesting of those frames is this contemplative shot showing the windows of her studio, maybe some photo chemicals on the table. A puff of smoke emanates from Abbott's cigarette in the same place where someone has left their fingerprint on the negative or print. There's a strong reflection or light leak in the top left corner of the frame. Van Haaften describes the rue Servandoni studio offering "beautiful north light."

Looking at the building on Google Earth, there is one north-facing spot that has the large windows similar to the 1928 portrait, seen in the center of the screen grab below.

Another detail Van Haaften mentions is that it took Abbott months to install electricity. An electric spotlight is on a tripod behind Abbott in the standing portrait. In the alternate angle you can see a not-to-code wire dangling.

So, who made these portraits? The Keystone France agency was an off-shoot of a popular stereoview company based in Meadville, Pennsylvania, hence "keystone." If you've ever flipped through old stereoviews at a vintage shop, you recognize this brand. The French agency was founded by Alexandre Garai in 1927 (whose brother Bertram started a related Keystone in London in 1914). The Met has one photograph by Alexandre Garai, taken in 1927. The jpeg is tiny, but indicates a modern perspective. While it's possible Garai is the photographer, his brother's ethos seems to have been to be the boss ... and never touch a camera.

The identity could be buried deep in Getty's London warehouse, which stores 80 million photographs and negatives. When these frames were scanned and metadata added to Getty in 2010-2016, if there was a name on the back of the prints, it probably would have been added then.

From the photos themselves, it's difficult to say if Abbott had a rapport or was familiar with the photographer: her default intensity is remarkably consistent her entire life, up until the last portrait of her in 1991.

(left, rue Servandoni 1929, right: Hank O'Neal, Berenice Abbott, Last Portrait, Monson, Maine July 17, 1991)

From the resolution, the depth of field on the lens, these are probably shot with a 4x5 or larger camera. It looks like the photographer shot the lens wide open, the camera in the standing portraits looks very much in focus, while Abbott's face looks slightly out of focus.

Two of the four frames have similar damage, could be a development problem, but could be mold later while in storage. Abbott's Paris portraits of the period were shot on glass (as much of Atget's body of work was), though by the late 1920s glass plates had mostly been replaced by film. Annoyingly, Getty is one of the best places online to see her Paris portraits, but the Steidl book is highly recommended. Seen together, you realize why Man Ray felt threatened, or at least annoyed, by his former assistant.

The photographer was either challenged or in a challenging environment. Abbott was often a withering critic, one can imagine a green photographer shows up to make portraits and encounters a prickly subject. With the seated portrait above, at first glance, I thought maybe the print has a piece torn out of the left side? Or is it a modern lamp intruding on the composition?

It's difficult to tell with the window portrait how much of it is a metering mistake or the potential development issue, but it looks several stops overexposed to be of use in publication of that time. Today, with our phone cameras taking three frames and digitally merging exposure, we can romanticize the top half of her body dissolving into the light is as the "magic of film."

I'm calling this the "last" frame of the session, based only on the fact that her pose and facial expression has shifted from intensity to a mix of boredom and exasperation. The photographer told her to sit on the day bed with tea and a book, "look relaxed," but she wants nothing to do with it.

[inkyblotposts]

Vampire Hunting in Paris!

So some moots and I finally made our long anticipated pilgrimage to Paris, and had a fantastic week revisiting filming locations and soaking up the wonderful vibes of the City of Light 🇫🇷

Highlights below:

We visited Rue Servandoni and the café Daniel talks about where he had the dessert with Alice 🍨

1994 Louis got drunk and I tried snails! 🐌 (our waiter's name was Nicolas - can you believe it?!)

We visited THE stairs where we watched the scene being filmed in November from the trailer, (on île Saint Louis, next to La Seine)

And of course Montmartre and the Sacré Coeur!! It was so beautiful and peaceful at night.

I'm super excited that we managed to track down the locations of the "gallery" and "staircase" scene from the trailer!

We visited the Catacombs and found the bones of from the original Les Innocents cemetary - the seat of Armand's coven in the 1700s 💀

We also visited Assad's Jazz club, the Père Lachaise and Montmartre cemetaries, and the Museum of Magic! More photos, details and anecdotes on my X thread here 🥖☕️🇫🇷😊🪦🍺🎺🦐

[ariaste]

Rewatching IWTV s2e2: "Alice is in her third trimester, she steps in gum on the corner of Rue Palatine and Servandoni" -- Just looked those up and they're two streets in Paris. Were we.... aware of that... as a fandom.....???

(Just looked it up on google maps and it's a T intersection, and both of those two corners is right across the street from a catholic church called Eglise Saint-Sulpice which... mmm. Things happen in churches in these books/this show, churches are Important. eeeenteresting.)

(Twenty minutes by car from Pigalle, which is where the Theatre des Vampires was)

And then, unrelated to that(maybe), of course we know there's then the weird flashback to Armand that we later see properly in ep5 but then--Louis snaps Daniel out of it by calling him Danny. Which i have not.... noticed.... anywhere else????

is this anything????

[greedandenby]

"This is the dessert I had after I proposed to my first wife, after I got my shit together..."

Not on the rue Servandoni, but I mean... Close enough?

(sold in a Parisian bakery as a Pavlova)

[crackspinewornpages]

Les Misérables 170/365 -Victor Hugo

161

His house has since been demolished and rebuilt, married twice and a connoisseur of paintings.

162

He abandoned in memories of his past and regarded the names in power as vulgar and bourgeois his Godfather bestowed on him the name Luc-Esprit.

163

He was crowned by the Duc de Nivernais and the deaths of Louis XVI Napoleon or the return of the Bourbons defaced that memory. And he always narrated how he saved himself from the Terror of 1789. (that’s the one where Madame Guillotine was popular)

164

He had theories to let the wife control the funds, but it nearly left him destitute. Still, he had a house and servants and called all the women Nicolette. (is that like calling all the maids Maria)

165

His sorrow converted into wrath, all sorts of prejudices and liberties in his royal renown. He paid for the maintenance of two boys who he claimed not to be his. He complained of being cheated by a businessman of inheritance, the country has degenerated he claimed. (ok boomer) His second wife had a daughter who married a colonel at Waterloo and died at thirty. He also took a lot of snuff and believed little in God.

166

This was M. Luc-Esprit Gillenormand, in spite of it all, he was venerable and by 1814 he had immured in his habits of antiquated elegance.

167

The two daughters, ten years apart, were little like sisters, the younger had a charming soul, the older a chimera. Mademoiselle Gillenormand was a prude though allowed her grandnephew to embrace her, her friend Mademoiselle Vaubois was a blockhead. Mademoiselle Gillenormand grew lost as she grew old, melancholy, with unknown sadness, the other in the house was a little child, his grandson.

BOOK THIRD THE GRANDFATHER AND THE GRANDSON

168

In Rue Servandoni Gillenormand frequented solons and it cost his self-respect nothing. Madame de T had frequent friends in her Royalist solon amusing themselves on events and songs. Gillenormand was one of two men there the other de Lamothe-Valois. In the bourgeoisie honored situations decay, in 1815 Lamothe was held in consideration of the celebrity of his name. Gillenormand’s consideration was first rate and always accompanying him was his spinster daughter and grandson, son of the brigand of the Loire.  

169

If someone chanced through the town of Vernor, they may have seen a man about fifty walking along the bank of the Sienne. He lived alone in a small house, cultivated his flower garden, the brigand of the Loire. Anyone who read military memoires would find frequency of the name Pontmercy and the long service record. At Waterloo he was the chief of a squadron of cuirassiers and received a sword across the face and fell into the ruin of Ohain. Georges Pontmercy was the brigand of Loire.

After being pulled out of the ravine he rejoined the army, transferred from ambulance to ambulance. Sent him to residence and surveillance at Vernan with half pay and between two wars married the younger Gillenormand who died leaving a child who was forced on threat of disinheritance to give him to his grandfather. (you might be wondering why the same man who would take a son from his father because he didn’t agree with his politics would support two kids who definitely aren’t his well people are complicated) The boy, Marius, knew he had a father but nothing else, but listening to gossip grew shame about him. Pontmercy could only catch gazes of him, a sympathetic priest befriended him and learned his history. Twice a year Marius wrote dictated letters to his father and the responses his grandfather intercepted. (if you’re not getting it it’s like a right wing conservative grandfather took his grandson away from his left leaning liberal son in law)

170

All Marius knew of the world was the solon and he soon grew melancholy, and he beheld the old women like phantoms and sometimes the ancient priests mingled. “Moreover, as it is indispensable that the Revolution should be everywhere in this century, this feudal solon was, as we have said, dominated by a bourgeois. M. Gillenormand reigned there.”p.397 The essence of Paris on white society, reputations held in quarantine, traces of anarchy in renown. Today, solons no longer resemble those Royalists, they are now demagogues. Madame de T’s society was haughty refinements of the old regime, buried but alive, antiquated eccentric speech. Men and deeds judged, abated each other, an air of having lived a long time ago, a mummified society.

Madame de T’s was ultra, to go beyond a partisan of things to the point of being their enemy. The first phase of the Restoration, the first six years were extraordinary catastrophes, sinking in the past little new, little old. “Former days did not recognize Yesterday. People no longer had the feelings for what was grand,.”p.398 This Society no longer exists nothing of it does today, engulfed in a deluge beneath two Revolutions. “What billows are ideas! How quickly they cover all that is their mission to destroy and to bury, and how promptly they create frightful gulfs!”p.398

These solons had their own literature and politics but didn’t keep their purity, in 1818 to be a Royalist was to excuse themselves and ultras were proud. They should have succeeded; their mistake was to create ages of youth and oppose conservative liberalism which demolishes. Why not accept the whole of history and the whole of France, those doctrines criticized the protected Royalism, which displeased it. Marius studied as children do, expanding to a vulgar pedant went to law school with not much love for his grandfather.

(you might have noticed by now I’ve been leaving out details Victor bloats his book with so much superfluous backstory and infodumps I really don’t know what’s important)

NEXT

[whatshehassaid]

Uh… guys….The corner of Rue Palatine. And Rue Servandoni.

Palatine in English means Palatial.

Servan in English means Servant.

Servandoni in English means “to be saved”

[brookston]

Holidays 5.2

Holidays

Astronomy Day

Ba Ba Ba Booo Day

Baby Day

Battle of Hogwarts Day (Harry Potter)

Bird L.A. Day (California)

Brothers and Sisters Day

Childhood Depression Awareness Day

Coarse Fishing Season begins (Medieval UK)

Day of Madrid (Spain)

Dos de Mayo Uprising Anniversary Day (Spain)

Fire Day

Flag Day (Poland)

Good Housekeeping Day

Holiday of the Region of Madrid (Spain)

International Harry Potter Day

International Loch Ness Monster Day

International Market Research Day

King James Bible Day

Mad Festival

National Babies Day

National Byron Day

National Curly Hair Day (UK)

National Day of Hiring

National Education Day (Indonesia)

National Fire Day

National Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome Awareness Day

National Life Insurance Day

National Play Your Ukulele Day

National Report Homeland Security Fraud Day

National Sandra Day

Natural Joy Day

Peasant's Day (Burma)

Placebo Day

Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad Day

Robert's Rules of Order Day

Rowdy Friends Day

Sam Winchester Day (Supernatural)

Sappho Asteroid Day

Scurvy Awareness Day

Sibling Appreciation Day

Take a Baby to Lunch Day

Teachers’ Day (Bhutan, Iran)

Third Druk Gyalpo Day (Bhutan)

Trade Unions House Fire Anniversary (Ukraine)

Wallflower Day (French Republic)

World Bloggers Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Green Tea Day (Japan)

National Matcha Day

National Truffle Day

World Tuna Day (UN)

1st Thursday in May

Idaho Gives Day (Idaho) [1st Thursday]

Kid Lit Art Postcard Day [1st Thursday]

Make-a-Book Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

Martin Z. Mollusk Day [1st Thursday]

Mom's Night Out [Thursday before Mother's Day]

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

National Day of Prayer [1st Thursday]

National Day of Reason [1st Thursday]

National Student Nurse Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

Thank a Dance Teacher [1st Thursday]

Thank a Youth Worker Day [1st Thursday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

World Password Day [1st Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning May 2 (1st Week)

Children’s Book Week (thru 5.8)

Screen Free Week (thru 5.8)

Independence & Related Days

Hudson Bay Company (Founded; 1670)

Richensland (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Festivals Beginning May 2, 2024

Earth Frequency Festival (Queensland, Australia) [thru 5.6]

Festival Accès Asie (Montreal, Canada) [thru 6.2]

LSR Wine Stroll (Chicago, Illinois)

Mushroom Festival (Richmond, Missouri) [thru 5.4]

Strawberry Festival (Cabot, Arkansas) [thru 5.4]

UK Asian Film Festival (London, UK) [thru 5.12]

Vinton County Wild Turkey Festival (McArthur, Ohio) [thru 5.5]

World Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE) [thru 5.5]

Feast Days

Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church).

Alexandre Antigua (Artology)

Athanasius of Alexandria (a.k.a. Athanasius  the Great; Western Christianity)

Blessing of the Deosil (a.k.a. Sunwise; Celtic Book of Days)

Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)

Conrad of Seldenbüren (Christian; Saint)

Demosthenes (Positivist; Saint)

Eve of the Finding of the True Cross

Exsuperius and Zoe (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Osiris (who taught the Egyptians how to brew beer)

Feast of Ysahodhara (Consort of Buddha)

Fertility Festival featuring a Man wearing a hobbyhorse costume, a devil’s mask, and pointed hat (UK; Everyday Wicca)

Fiesta Dei Serpari (Cocullo, Italy)

Germanus of Normandy (Christian; Saint)

Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni (Artology)

Humane Day

Jerome K. Jerome (Writerism)

Junior (Muppetism)

Listen to Your Heart Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Mafalda (Christian; Saint)

Media Ver I (Pagan)

Nina Hartley Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Ramen Day (Pastafarian)

Scurvy Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Ultan (Christian; Saint)

Waldebert (Christian; Saint)

Wiborada (Christian; Martyr & Virgin)

Zoe (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [25 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [24 of 60]

Premieres

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Film; 2014)

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (Film; 1997)

The Awful Tooth (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1952)

Ballyhooey (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1960)

Bulldog Drummond (Film; 1929)

The Cute Recruit (Phantasies Cartoon; 1941)

Daffy’s Southern Exposure (WB LT Cartoon; 1942)

Disintegration, by The Cure (Album; 1989)

A Dog’s Dream (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Coleman (Book; 1996)

The Firm, by John Grisham (Novel; 1991)

The Holy Bible, King James Version (Religious Book; 1611)

Iron Man (Film; 2008)

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), by Whitney Houston (Song; 1987)

The Jack Benny Program (Radio Series; 1932)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (Film; 1986)

Let It Be Me (WB MM Cartoon; 1936)

Living With War, by Neil Young (Album; 2006)

Made of Honor (Film; 2008)

The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1955) [The Chronicles of Narnia #6]

Miracle on 34th Street (Film; 1947)

Money Heist (TV Series; 2017)

My Favorite Wife (Film; 1940)

No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin (History Book; 1995)

The Odd Couple (Film; 1968)

The Old House (Happy Harmonies Cartoon; 1936)

Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev (Symphonic Fairy Tale; 1936)

Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (DePatie-Freleng Animated TV Special; 1980)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Film; 1946)

Ragtime Romeo (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1931)

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (Film; 1930)

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1942)

Southern Fried Rabbit (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1594)

Tell Laura I Love Her, recorded by Ray Peterson (Song; 1960)

10,000 Days, by Tool (Album; 2006)

Triplanetary, by E.E. "Doc" Smith (Novel; 1948) [Lensman #1]

The Vanishing Duck (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1958)

The Wacky Rabbit (WB MM Cartoon; 1942)

Waitress (Film; 2007)

Wonderful Tonight, recorded by Eric Clapton (Song; 1977)

X2: X-Men United (Film; 2003)

Today’s Name Days

Athanasius, Boris, Siegmund (Austria)

Boriana, Boris, Borislav, Borislava (Bulgaria)

Atanazije, Boris (Croatia)

Zikmund (Czech Republic)

Athanasius (Denmark)

Maaja, Mai, Maia, Maie, Maiu (Estonia)

Viivi, Vuokko (Finland)

Boris, Zoé (France)

Boris, Siegmund, Zoé (Germany)

Avgerinos, Esperos, Matrona (Greece)

Zsigmond (Hungary)

Atanasio, Efisio (Italy)

Laris, Sigismunds, Visvaris, Zigmunds (Latvia)

Atanazas, Eidmantas, Meilė (Lithuania)

Åsa, Åse (Norway)

Afanazy, Anatol, Atanazy, Longin, Longina, Walenty, Walter, Witomir, Zygmunt (Poland)

Atanasie (Romania)

Tamara (Russia)

Žigmund (Slovakia)

Atanasio, Zoe (Spain)

Filip, Filippa (Sweden)

Bing, Zoe, Zoey, Zolita (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 123 of 2024; 243 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 18 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 19 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 24 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 24 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 23 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 3 Magenta; Threesday [23 of 30]

Julian: 19 April 2024

Moon: 37%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 11 Caesar (5th Month) [Ptolemy Lagus]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 45 of 92)

Week: 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 13 of 31)

[brookstonalmanac]

Holidays 5.2

Holidays

Astronomy Day

Ba Ba Ba Booo Day

Baby Day

Battle of Hogwarts Day (Harry Potter)

Bird L.A. Day (California)

Brothers and Sisters Day

Childhood Depression Awareness Day

Coarse Fishing Season begins (Medieval UK)

Day of Madrid (Spain)

Dos de Mayo Uprising Anniversary Day (Spain)

Fire Day

Flag Day (Poland)

Good Housekeeping Day

Holiday of the Region of Madrid (Spain)

International Harry Potter Day

International Loch Ness Monster Day

International Market Research Day

King James Bible Day

Mad Festival

National Babies Day

National Byron Day

National Curly Hair Day (UK)

National Day of Hiring

National Education Day (Indonesia)

National Fire Day

National Freeman-Sheldon Syndrome Awareness Day

National Life Insurance Day

National Play Your Ukulele Day

National Report Homeland Security Fraud Day

National Sandra Day

Natural Joy Day

Peasant's Day (Burma)

Placebo Day

Polish Diaspora and Poles Abroad Day

Robert's Rules of Order Day

Rowdy Friends Day

Sam Winchester Day (Supernatural)

Sappho Asteroid Day

Scurvy Awareness Day

Sibling Appreciation Day

Take a Baby to Lunch Day

Teachers’ Day (Bhutan, Iran)

Third Druk Gyalpo Day (Bhutan)

Trade Unions House Fire Anniversary (Ukraine)

Wallflower Day (French Republic)

World Bloggers Day

Food & Drink Celebrations

Green Tea Day (Japan)

National Matcha Day

National Truffle Day

World Tuna Day (UN)

1st Thursday in May

Idaho Gives Day (Idaho) [1st Thursday]

Kid Lit Art Postcard Day [1st Thursday]

Make-a-Book Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

Martin Z. Mollusk Day [1st Thursday]

Mom's Night Out [Thursday before Mother's Day]

National Children's Mental Health Awareness Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

National Day of Prayer [1st Thursday]

National Day of Reason [1st Thursday]

National Student Nurse Day [Thursday of 1st Full Week]

Thank a Dance Teacher [1st Thursday]

Thank a Youth Worker Day [1st Thursday]

Throwback Thursday [Every Thursday]

World Password Day [1st Thursday]

Weekly Holidays beginning May 2 (1st Week)

Children’s Book Week (thru 5.8)

Screen Free Week (thru 5.8)

Independence & Related Days

Hudson Bay Company (Founded; 1670)

Richensland (Declared; 2021) [unrecognized]

Festivals Beginning May 2, 2024

Earth Frequency Festival (Queensland, Australia) [thru 5.6]

Festival Accès Asie (Montreal, Canada) [thru 6.2]

LSR Wine Stroll (Chicago, Illinois)

Mushroom Festival (Richmond, Missouri) [thru 5.4]

Strawberry Festival (Cabot, Arkansas) [thru 5.4]

UK Asian Film Festival (London, UK) [thru 5.12]

Vinton County Wild Turkey Festival (McArthur, Ohio) [thru 5.5]

World Art Dubai (Dubai, UAE) [thru 5.5]

Feast Days

Ahudemmeh (Syriac Orthodox Church).

Alexandre Antigua (Artology)

Athanasius of Alexandria (a.k.a. Athanasius  the Great; Western Christianity)

Blessing of the Deosil (a.k.a. Sunwise; Celtic Book of Days)

Boris I of Bulgaria (Bulgarian Orthodox Church)

Conrad of Seldenbüren (Christian; Saint)

Demosthenes (Positivist; Saint)

Eve of the Finding of the True Cross

Exsuperius and Zoe (Christian; Martyrs)

Feast of Osiris (who taught the Egyptians how to brew beer)

Feast of Ysahodhara (Consort of Buddha)

Fertility Festival featuring a Man wearing a hobbyhorse costume, a devil’s mask, and pointed hat (UK; Everyday Wicca)

Fiesta Dei Serpari (Cocullo, Italy)

Germanus of Normandy (Christian; Saint)

Giovanni Niccolò Servandoni (Artology)

Humane Day

Jerome K. Jerome (Writerism)

Junior (Muppetism)

Listen to Your Heart Day (Starza Pagan Book of Days)

Mafalda (Christian; Saint)

Media Ver I (Pagan)

Nina Hartley Day (Church of the SubGenius; Saint)

Ramen Day (Pastafarian)

Scurvy Awareness Day (Pastafarian)

Ultan (Christian; Saint)

Waldebert (Christian; Saint)

Wiborada (Christian; Martyr & Virgin)

Zoe (Christian; Saint)

Lucky & Unlucky Days

Lucky Day (Philippines) [25 of 71]

Tomobiki (友引 Japan) [Good luck all day, except at noon.]

Unlucky Day (Grafton’s Manual of 1565) [24 of 60]

Premieres

The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (Film; 2014)

Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery (Film; 1997)

The Awful Tooth (Noveltoons Cartoon; 1952)

Ballyhooey (Woody Woodpecker Cartoon; 1960)

Bulldog Drummond (Film; 1929)

The Cute Recruit (Phantasies Cartoon; 1941)

Daffy’s Southern Exposure (WB LT Cartoon; 1942)

Disintegration, by The Cure (Album; 1989)

A Dog’s Dream (Terrytoons Cartoon; 1941)

Emotional Intelligence, by Daniel Coleman (Book; 1996)

The Firm, by John Grisham (Novel; 1991)

The Holy Bible, King James Version (Religious Book; 1611)

Iron Man (Film; 2008)

I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), by Whitney Houston (Song; 1987)

The Jack Benny Program (Radio Series; 1932)

Jo Jo Dancer, Your Life Is Calling (Film; 1986)

Let It Be Me (WB MM Cartoon; 1936)

Living With War, by Neil Young (Album; 2006)

Made of Honor (Film; 2008)

The Magician’s Nephew, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1955) [The Chronicles of Narnia #6]

Miracle on 34th Street (Film; 1947)

Money Heist (TV Series; 2017)

My Favorite Wife (Film; 1940)

No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin (History Book; 1995)

The Odd Couple (Film; 1968)

The Old House (Happy Harmonies Cartoon; 1936)

Peter and the Wolf, by Sergei Prokofiev (Symphonic Fairy Tale; 1936)

Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? (DePatie-Freleng Animated TV Special; 1980)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (Film; 1946)

Ragtime Romeo (Ub Iwerks Cartoon; 1931)

The Return of Dr. Fu Manchu (Film; 1930)

The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis (Novel; 1942)

Southern Fried Rabbit (WB LT Cartoon; 1953)

The Taming of the Shrew, by William Shakespeare (Play; 1594)

Tell Laura I Love Her, recorded by Ray Peterson (Song; 1960)

10,000 Days, by Tool (Album; 2006)

Triplanetary, by E.E. "Doc" Smith (Novel; 1948) [Lensman #1]

The Vanishing Duck (Tom & Jerry Cartoon; 1958)

The Wacky Rabbit (WB MM Cartoon; 1942)

Waitress (Film; 2007)

Wonderful Tonight, recorded by Eric Clapton (Song; 1977)

X2: X-Men United (Film; 2003)

Today’s Name Days

Athanasius, Boris, Siegmund (Austria)

Boriana, Boris, Borislav, Borislava (Bulgaria)

Atanazije, Boris (Croatia)

Zikmund (Czech Republic)

Athanasius (Denmark)

Maaja, Mai, Maia, Maie, Maiu (Estonia)

Viivi, Vuokko (Finland)

Boris, Zoé (France)

Boris, Siegmund, Zoé (Germany)

Avgerinos, Esperos, Matrona (Greece)

Zsigmond (Hungary)

Atanasio, Efisio (Italy)

Laris, Sigismunds, Visvaris, Zigmunds (Latvia)

Atanazas, Eidmantas, Meilė (Lithuania)

Åsa, Åse (Norway)

Afanazy, Anatol, Atanazy, Longin, Longina, Walenty, Walter, Witomir, Zygmunt (Poland)

Atanasie (Romania)

Tamara (Russia)

Žigmund (Slovakia)

Atanasio, Zoe (Spain)

Filip, Filippa (Sweden)

Bing, Zoe, Zoey, Zolita (USA)

Today is Also…

Day of Year: Day 123 of 2024; 243 days remaining in the year

ISO: Day 4 of week 18 of 2024

Celtic Tree Calendar: Saille (Willow) [Day 19 of 28]

Chinese: Month 3 (Wu-Chen), Day 24 (Bing-Yin)

Chinese Year of the: Dragon 4722 (until January 29, 2025) [Wu-Chen]

Hebrew: 24 Nisan 5784

Islamic: 23 Shawwal 1445

J Cal: 3 Magenta; Threesday [23 of 30]

Julian: 19 April 2024

Moon: 37%: Waning Crescent

Positivist: 11 Caesar (5th Month) [Ptolemy Lagus]

Runic Half Month: Lagu (Flowing Water) [Day 8 of 15]

Season: Spring (Day 45 of 92)

Week: 1st Week of May

Zodiac: Taurus (Day 13 of 31)

[webionaire]

Monday 25 February 1980, at the invitation of the future French culture minister Jack Lang, Roland Barthes attended a lunch hosted by François Mitterrand. As he rallied support for his presidential campaign of the following year, the leader of the Socialist party was in the habit of entertaining Parisian writers and intellectuals at relatively informal gatherings; political cajolery aside, it was said that Mitterrand simply liked to be apprised of new ideas in art and culture. Barthes, however, had wavered before giving in to yet another interruption of his working routine. It may well have been exasperation or boredom (for he was often bored) that made him decide, when the lunch concluded, to clear his head and walk home alone to his apartment on the rue Servandoni.....

If there are critical legacies to Camera Lucida, the first is probably its insistence (not as obvious as it seems) that photographs are always photographs of something. The book's more penetrating influence has certainly to do with photography and mortality: both the memorial uses to which photographs have long been put – one thinks of Victorian mourning portraits, or the profusion of post-9/11 mementos – and the vertigo we can feel in the face of even the most vivid and living subject. But few of Barthes's heirs – and Batchen's essay collection reprints three decades' worth of critical appraisal and envy of Camera Lucida – have ever reproduced or fully accounted for the strange air of searching and susceptibility that permeates his brief "note". As the art critic Martin Herbert has put it, "I don't go looking for 'ideas about photography' in that book; I read it for a certain kind of vulnerability."

Perhaps it is artists and writers who have come closest to capturing and developing Barthes's insights, whether consciously or in parallel projects that explored the mnemonic powers of ordinary snapshots. In his composite photograph Every Page of Roland Barthes's Book Camera Lucida (2004), Idris Khan has presented the book as a blackened palimpsest, its famous images mere blurred phantoms among illegible lines of text. And artists such as Gerhard Richter, Christian Boltanski, Tacita Dean and Fiona Tan have all amassed archives of everyday portraits that owe much of their allure to Barthes's "imperious sign of my future death". In fiction, WG Sebald admitted a profound debt to Camera Lucida; in Austerlitz, the protagonist's search for an image of his lost mother is clearly modelled on Barthes's desire for a glimpse of "the unique being".

[atatons]

Tu te souviens des mystères nacrés que ta mémoire émiettent comme de vieux croûtons ?