Rembrandt in America at the NC Museum of Art

The Rembrandt in America exhibit at the NC Museum of Art uses the slogan “You know the name. Now find out why.” And much in the same way that I had heard of Genghis Khan I could have told you very little about our other museum guest in the city. Namely he may have been French (not true) and he didn’t have a Ninja Turtle named after him (this one is true).

Rembrandt in America is the largest collection of Rembrandt paintings ever presented in an American exhibition and the first major exhibition to explore in depth the collecting history of Rembrandt paintings in America. The NCMA is the only East Coast venue for this exceptional show that features works of art from across the United States, including some of the finest paintings residing in American collections. [SOURCE]

My analysis? The show ends January 22nd – don’t miss it. It was great and really dug into the history of an extremely talented individual but also the people he influenced and even some of the business practices of an artist of his time. It also ventures into the humble beginnings of the NCMA with Rembrandt and then curator William Valentiner’s acquisition of two paintings thought at the time to be by the artist that were later determined to not be. The gallery is filled with definitely his, maybe his and probably not his works of art that all bore the Rembrandt name at one point in time.

This show is a must see and if you are interested and plan on going with more than one person let me suggest 1) a membership [two tickets are $36 or one dual membership $65 - you'll want to go back and when you do you'll save $] and 2) downloading the audio tour before you go. You can listen to the tour on your phone or MP3 compatible device.

BTW – Rembrandt was Dutch. The only picture I was able to take was of the sign to the left so none of the usual pictures after the jump in this post. You can see some great examples of the pieces on display by visiting the museum page or you can see the one image I took from the sign.

Genghis Khan at NC Museum of Natural Sciences

The name Genghis Khan is probably a familiar one even if you don’t know who he was exactly. Before going to the exhibit at the NC Museum of Natural Science I had a very vague idea of who Genghis Khan was and something of a concept of who he was historically but knew very little about the role he played in history.

Genghis Khan is famous as the ruthless Mongol warlord who conquered half the known world.  Under his rule, the Mongol Empire grew to be four times the size of the Roman Empire at its largest extent; or equal in size to the continent of Africa.  Less well known is that Genghis Khan is also revered as an innovative leader and statesman who brought unity, stability and religious tolerance to most of Asia and parts of Europe. [VIDEO]

The exhibit is great and only around until January 16th. If you live in Raleigh I would highly suggest getting a membership instead of paying for the individual tickets. If you go to this and one other event you’ve paid for the membership. More pictures after the jump and if you think these aren’t great – you are right. They were taken with my phone (no flash allowed). I’m getting better at using the phone as a camera but still don’t have the ability to make things look the way I would like.

The last few pictures are from other parts of the museum. Genghis Khan is old but he did not ride a T-Rex in his attacks across Eurasia. He might be the only person that ever lived bad enough to do it but he didn’t. Just in case you were wondering.

Introducing MMXII – New Theme

Did a little holiday house cleaning and updated the WordPress theme from the earlier version that I named “Creative” to a new version for a new year named “MMXII.”  The functionality has stayed largely the same but the look and feel has been reworked to be a little faster and hopefully a little easier to use. This update also addressed some of the issues I had with the earlier them since shortly after I launched it and never seemed to have the time to address.

Fixing some things tends to break others so as always – feedback would be great. If you have a mobile device you can use the new mobile theme located at m.nosvc.com.

Hope everyone had a great Christmas! We’re looking forward to 2012 with the new release and a lot of new plans for an exciting new year.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar #24

We’ve come to the end of another Lego Advent Calendar with the appearance of Santa Yoda Claus and that means Christmas Eve is finally here.

Hope everyone has enjoyed this year’s Lego Advent Calendar. I’ll have pictures up of the whole group for Christmas tomorrow.

Hope everyone has a great holiday and remember Yoda Claus coming to town is he.

Star Wars Lego Advent Calendar #23

And on the next to last day we finally get something that is in the holiday spirit – a Christmas Tree. I know you’ve likely been reading this all month and wondering what does Star Wars have to do with Christmas? To answer that question we have to go back to 1978…

The Star Wars Holiday Special is a 1978 TV movie set in the Star Wars galaxy. The main storyline of the film transpires on the Wookiee home planet of Kashyyyk. Chewbacca and Han Solo visit the planet to celebrate the Wookiee holiday Life Day with his family, which includes his wife Malla, his son Lumpy and his father Itchy. As Chewbacca and Han are known Rebel agents, they are pursued by the Galactic Empire, who in the process invade Chewbacca’s household. The plot is strung together by a series of musical numbers, celebrity appearances, and other variety-show acts, including songs and comedy routines by such 1970s celebrities as Jefferson Starship, Diahann Carroll, Art Carney, Harvey Korman, and Beatrice Arthur. [SOURCE] [VIDEO]

I’ll let you watch and form your own opinions. Yes – that is Maude (Bea Arthur). If you watch long enough to see her – you win.