Starship Asterisk*

• -----------------------------------------
  Frodo Baggins sings:
  
  There is an inn, a merry old inn
  . beneath an old grey hill,
  And there they brew a beer so brown
  That the Man in the Moon himself came down
  . one night to drink his fill.
  
  The ostler has a tipsy cat
  . that plays a five-stringed fiddle;
  And up and down he runs his bow,
  Now squeaking high, now purring low,
  . now sawing in the middle.
  
  The landlord keeps a little dog
  . that is mighty fond of jokes;
  When there's good cheer among the guests,
  He cocks an ear at all the jests
  . and laughs until he chokes.
  
  They also keep a hornêd cow
  . as proud as any queen;
  But music turns her head like ale,
  And makes her wave her tufted tail
  . and dance upon the green.
  
  And O! the rows of silver dishes
  . and the stores of silver spoons!
  For Sunday there's a special pair,
  And these they polish up with care
  . on Saturday afternoons.
  
  The Man in the Moon was drinking deep,
  . and the cat began to wail;
  A dish and a spoon on the table danced,
  The cow in the garden madly pranced,
  . and the little dog chased his tail.
  
  The Man in the Moon took another mug,
  . and then rolled beneath his chair;
  And there he dozed and dreamed of ale,
  Till the sky and stars were pale,
  . and dawn was in the air.
  
  Then the ostler said to his tipsy cat:
  . 'The white horses of the Moon,
  They neigh and champ their silver bits;
  But their master's been and drowned his wits,
  . and the Sun'll be rising soon!'
  
  So the cat on his fiddle played hey-diddle-diddle,
  . a jig that would wake the dead:
  He squeaked and sawed and quickened the tune,
  While the landlord shook the Man in the Moon
  . 'It's after three!' he said.
  
  They rolled the Man slowly up the hill
  . and bundled him into the Moon,
  While his horses galloped up in rear,
  And the cow came capering like a deer,
  . and a dish ran up with the spoon.
  
  Now quicker the fiddle went deedle-dum-diddle;
  . the dog began to roar,
  The cow and the horses stood on their heads;
  The guests all bounded from their beds
  . and danced upon the floor.
  
  With a ping and a pong the fiddle-strings broke!
  . the cow jumped over the Moon,
  And the little dog laughed to see such fun,
  And the Saturday dish went off at a run
  . with the silver Sunday spoon.
  
  The round Moon rolled behind the hill
  . as the Sun raised up her head.
  She hardly believed her fiery eyes;
  For though it was day, to her surprise
  . they all went back to bed!

apodman wrote:

ta152h0 wrote:He was asking his coworkers if the moon was going to be around after the impact.

When I was a wee lad, I told my dad that whoever wrote my horoscope mistook me for a character in a western.
After having a look for himself, my father explained it was co-workers, not cow-workers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hey_Diddle_Diddle wrote:

• High diddle diddle,
  The Cat and the Fiddle,
  The Cow jump'd over the Moon,
  The little dog laugh'd to see such Craft,
  And the Dish ran away with the Spoon.

There is a reference in Thomas Preston's A lamentable tragedy mixed ful of pleasant mirth,
conteyning the life of Cambises King of Percia, printed in 1569 that may refer to the rhyme:

• They be at hand Sir with stick and fidle;
  They can play a new dance called hey-didle-didle.

There are numerous theories about the origin of the rhyme, these include: James Orchard Halliwell's suggestion that it was a corruption of ancient Greek, probably advanced as a result of a deliberate hoax; that it was connected with Hathor worship; that it refers to various constellations (Taurus, Canis minor etc); that is describes the Flight from Egypt; that it depicts Elizabeth, Lady Katherine Grey, and her relationships with the earls of Hertford and Leicester; that it deals with anti-clerical feeling over injunctions by Catholic priests for harder work; that it describes Katherine of Aragon (Katherine la Fidèle); Catherine, the wife of Peter the Great; Canton de Fidèle, a supposed governor of Calais and the game of cat (trap-ball). This profusion of unsupported explanations was satirised by J.R.R. Tolkien in his fictional explanations of 'The Man in the Moon Stayed Up Too Late'.>>

art historians do not agree on precisely what stars and planets are being depicted in Starry Night.

Genesis 37:9 wrote:‘Look, I have had another dream: the sun, the moon, and eleven stars were bowing down to me.’

Vincent van Gogh wrote:And my aim in my life is to make pictures and drawings, as many and as well as I can; then, at the end of my life, I hope to pass away, looking back with love and tender regret, and thinking, 'Oh, the pictures I might have made!'

jerbil wrote:Everyone will have noted the "wavy" style utilized by Van Gogh in this painting. It was not confined to the particular painting illustrated here, in any particular way, but manifested itself in many other of his paintings depicting Cypress trees or cornfields, for example, around Arles where he lived for some time. This style has been attributed by many people as due to his disturbed mental state, since many other painters with his condition have displayed a similar oddity in their work.

ta152h0 wrote:... Somewhere hiden in APOlan, there is a chinese painting ( drawing ) from long ago that was actually proven to be accurate.

Redbone wrote:The moon is in the last quarter so it is rising on the southeastern horizon, sometime well after midnight in summer or fall.

http://www.wetcanvas.com/forums/showthread.php?referrerid=66324&t=312991 wrote:
In Gauguin's portrait of Van Gogh painting sunflowers he shows him as right-handed:

• Q. Why did Van Gogh cut off a piece of his left ear?
  
  A. Because he was right handed and could reach left ear better

Vincent van Gogh did not cut off his own ear but lost it in a fight with fellow artist Paul Gauguin in a row outside a brothel, it has been claimed.

It has long been accepted that the mentally ill Dutch painter cut off his own ear with a razor after the row in Arles, southern France, in 1888.

But a new book, based on the original police investigation, claims Gauguin swiped Van Gogh's ear with a sword.

The authors argue the official version of events contains inconsistencies.
...
The book, titled In Van Gogh's Ear: Paul Gauguin and the Pact of Silence, is the product of 10 years of research by German academics Hans Kaufmann and Rita Wildegans.

jerbil wrote:I thank "bystander" for his interesting contribution, regarding van Gogh, of which I was previously unaware.

bystander wrote:But then, it is often hard to understand just what is important in the Art world.