John Blenkinsop built the first steam locomotive in 1813 but his achievements were overshadowed by George Stephenson who produced the first steam train to carry passengers on a public railway twelve years later in 1825. Incensed by this lack of recognition John went on to design the pictured first road-legal automobile in 1864, only to see Karl Benz produce what history recognises as the first true automobile in 1885. Enraged beyond belief, and perhaps to the point of madness, John was last heard of, in his dotage, testing-out his design for a cast-iron glider in the Swiss Alps.
There is an infinitely large gap between not succeeding and utter failure. The first teaches us self-pity and caution; the latter teaches us the true nature of both Hubris and its twin, Nemesis. The bitter lesson always learned just a little too late.
Sometimes there are things you have to do that are worse than shooting your own dog.
Austria’s Leopold Museum will be hosting a viewing & tour by naked members of the public in an after-hours opening of its popular exhibit “Naked Men”, it announced yesterday.
The Leopold decided to invite the public to get naked after an inquiry from a German naturist organization.
“There was a request by an association from Germany for a nude guided tour,” a spokesman said. “& we decided it would be a good idea to have a special nude viewing open to the public.”
The exhibition, which because of its popularity will now run until 4th March 4, is designed to show the evolving depictions of male nudity in art though the ages.
Among exhibits is a photograph called “Vive La France” of three men of different races wearing nothing but soccer boots & blue, white & red socks.
A German museum-goer was even inspired by the exhibition & stripped naked while walking around the exhibition in December. Visitors appeared undisturbed, assuming he belonged to the show.
When ThursdayAgain was reborn back in the dim-&-distant days of last October, I included a piece about how the Leopold bowed to pressure & covered up the genitalia of the three nude male soccer players used on large publicity posters around Vienna after complaints from parents & religious groups.
Strangely, it was one of the most viewed items on the blog – although maybe that was due to the inclusion an uncensored copy of the poster at the bottom of the piece (& here it is again as a piece of blatant exploitation).
“This is an unprecedented exhibition of male nudity here in Austria, something no other country has done,” the spokesman said. “Hopefully it will be replicated around the world.”
Can’t wait to see the reaction when it opens in Kansas.
the latter teaches us the true nature of both Hubris and its twin, Nemesis. The bitter lesson always learned just a little too late.
ThursdayAgain 
You must be logged in to post a comment.