Maki Horikita Gallery: More pictures

I am uploading some more pictures of Maki Horikita, the new Japanese TV star.

Maki Horikita on the cover of a magazine.

No idea what she is doing here. But I think it does not really matter anyway, it is not the point.

Just a smile.

Before swimming?

Maki in a boat, reaching for the water.

Tientsin (Tianjin) Railway Station

Found this old photograph of Tientsin Railway Station. Of course, today Tientsin is spelled as Tianjin and it is the third most populous city in China. Despite of this, most people have never heard of it, even though it was an important city in the first decades of the 20th century, as most colonial powers had concessions here.

On this old photograph, titled "Railway Station. Tientsin. China," we see what appears to be the Eastern station, or Dongzhan. Needless to say, it looks very different today.

Chinese kanji

Chinese kanji are not an easy thing to find and the reason for this is that you are searching for the wrong thing. Because "kanji" is the Japanese name for Chinese characters so while "Japanese kanji" is a legitimate concept, "Chinese kanji" is a hybrid nonsense. The Chinese call their characters "hanzi" which is exactly the same as "kanji," only pronounced in Chinese.

Perhaps this is getting a bit confusing. To explain this in a nutshell: You should look for "Chinese characters" or "hanzi" or even "Chinese symbols," although this latter is also a bit inaccurate.

Podocarpus Macrophyllus

Podocarpus Macrophyllus Maki, or Shrubby Chinese Podocarpus.

"The true species has largely yielded landscape space to 'Maki' (var. maki), often called the Shrubby Chinese Podocarpus. The leaves of the species are 3 to 4 in. long; those of 'Maki' are 1/2 to 2 3/4 in. long and narrower. In youth an irregular columnar pyramid of feathery branches and needles, easily sculpted into any shape. In fact, in Florida and California, this is often used for topiary." (From Michael A. Dirr's Dirr's Trees and Shurbs for Warm Climates: An Illustrated Encyclopedia.)

Picasso's drawing of a woman's head

A drawing of a girl's head by Picasso. It is definitely one of the most expressive drawings I have seen: the dark shades on the right make a wonderful contrast to the missing top of the skull. Very nice.

When we talk about cultural icons in modern art, Picasso can never be left out. He embodies the image of a modern artist on so many levels.

Chinese symbol tattoos: What is going on?

I am not sure where this photo comes from but it shows two Chinese symbols as a tattoo on some-one's skin. The problem is that in Chinese it means "insane diarrhea."

Now I know that there are many types of people with different lifestyles and philosophies. But I still do not understand how it feels cool for anyone to have a tattoo of Chinese symbols meaning insane diarrhea. WHY?

Or perhaps this is just a mistake. Or a mean joke. In either case, if you are to get a Chinese tattoo, please get it from professionals who can read and write Chinese. Simply etching the lines into your skin is not enough.

Try this link: Chinese symbols for tattoos

Chinese shunga

Chinese shunga. This sounds like nonse because shunga is a distinctly Japanese art form, with a Japanese name. But at the same time the Chinese have erotic prints which are very similar to the Japanese ones, the only difference being in style. The sample here is a very special one because the couple is doing it mounted on a horse back. The man is possible a barbarian of some sort.

Also, pay attention to the lady's socks which are interesting not so much because it is funny to see someone stark naked wearing socks but because she obviously has those notorious bound feet of the Manchu aristocracy.

Siberian wagon church: Church on the go

This must be one of the weirdest kinds of churches I have seen so far. This is a photo, on an old postcard, of a wagon church, that is, a church inside a train. The caption says, "Siberia, inside view of a wagon church."

Pictures of the frilled shark

So here are some pictures of the frilled shark.

A drawing of the frilled shark.

A photo of a stuffed specimen.

A line drawing of the frilled shark, showing its long body and face.

A frilled shark in a Japanese museum. It is called Rabuka in Japan.

What would you do with a donkey?

Why do you think this guy is naked and what does he want with that donkey? Whatever it is, the donkey obviously wants no part of it.

Pictures of John Lee Hooker

John Lee Hooker must be one of the most photogenic blues singers in rock history. His hat, shades and guitar are always with him, and he is always singing and playing. Or chilling, with his hat, shades and guitar.


John Lee Hooker just with his usual accessories: a hat, shades, and his guitar


John Lee Hooker playing the blues.


Singing, playing and sweating.


As always, playing the blues.


In this early picture, John Lee Hooker only has a guitar, he wears no hat or shades. I guess the "John Lee Hooker image" had not formed yet.

Dutch pink

On the subject of dutch pink, below is an extract from Hassal's book published in 1857 under the title Adulterations detected; or, Plain instructions for the discovery of frauds in food and medicine. It describes how to spot Dutch pink in tea.

Dutch Pink. -- Although called Dutch pink, this subtance is of a brigh yellow colour; it consists of a vegetable dye in combination with chalk or carbonate of lime. It is the yellow pigment most frequently used in this country in the facing of spurious green tea.

For its detection the following method should be pursued: -- An alkali should first be applied to the yellow dye, in order to determine, in the first place, whether it be vegetable or not: if it turn brown, there is no doubt about its vegetable character. In the next place, a minute portion of it should be examined under the microscope, with the view of ascertaining whether it is turmeric or not: if the cells of turmeric are not visible, and if it effervesce with an acid, there is no doubt that the dye is vegetable, and most probably Dutch pink.

Edna Million in a drop dead suit: Jockey full of bourbon

Edna Million in a drop dead suit
Dutch pink in a downtown train
Two dollar pistol, but the gun won't shoot
I'm in the corner in the pouring rain
16 men on a deadman's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pair of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of bourbon; I can't stand up

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone

Schiffer broke a bottle on Morgan's head
And I've been stepping on the devils tail
Across the stripes of a full moons head
Through the bars of a Cuban jail
Bloody fingers on a purple knife
A flamingo drinking from a cocktail glass
I'm on the lawn with someone else's wife
Come admire the view from upon the top of the mast

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone

Yellow sheets in a Hong Kong bed
Stayzbo horn and a Singerland slide
To the carnival is what she said
A hundred dollars makes it dark inside
16 men on a deadman's chest
And I've been drinking from a broken cup
Two pair of pants and a mohair vest
I'm full of burbon; I can't stand up

Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone
Hey little bird, fly away home
Your house is on fire; your children are alone

Who are the Dungans

The Dungans are Chinese Muslims who used to live in Western China but moved further West during the second half of the 19th century. These are the ethnic Dungans who currently live in Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, and parts of southern Siberia. But later on, during the beginning of the 20th century, there was a tendency by Westerners to call all Muslim Chinese in Western China Dungans. This created quite a confusion in terms of the real ethnicities of people. (Then there is the Dungans and Dragons web forum which is yet another funny misunderstanding...)

The Dungans are perhaps most well-known today for the curious fact that they use the Cyrillic alphabet to write their language, which is clearly a Chinese dialect. Writing Chinese in an alphabetic script has often been thought of as impossible (especially by Chinese) but the Dungans proved this wrong.



Dungans and Chinese from Kashgar practicing shooting.


A Dungan medrese in Chinese style.


Dungan graves

Pictures of Maki Horikita

Here are some pictures of the Japanese idol Maki Horikita. She has been acting since 2002-2003, appearing in a number of Japanese television series and shows. She is a new star who just began her carrier.


Maki Horikita with the sea in the background.


Looking backward...


After a bath...


Victorious?


What was I gonna do this afternoon?


On a DVD cover, younger than ever.


I knew I should not have had those oysters...

Jesus Christ misspelled

Having considered the example of President Bush's misspellings, I decided to turn to something more serious, less mundane. So I wanted to see if the name of Jesus Christ was misspelled at all, after all he is not a figure people who write his name would take lightly. But sure enough, there are misspellings.

Jesus Chirst, for example, brings up over 20,000 hits in Google. Ridiculous, isn't it? Jeses Christ also has over 20,000 hits. Jesis Christ, on the other hand, occurs only 641 times.

The Lord Jesus Chirst from a Christian website.

President Bush misspelled

President George W. Bush is known to have provided some of the funniest quotes in presidential history. But it is interesting that people writing about him can misspell his name quite often, too.

Presedent, precident, pressident

Geoge Bush

Goerge Bush

Geoge W Bush

Georg Bush

Geogge Bush

George Nush

I could not find more at the moment but there must be zillions of other misspellings, some beyond the point of recognition. Do you know any more?

Pictures of Jimmy Hendrix

OK, time to post some pictures of Jimi Hendrix. It is amazing, how often he is written as Jimmy Hendrix, even when on all of his albums it clearly says JIMI Hendrix. To be sure, my spellchecker is telling me to correct all Jimi's on the page to Jimmy.


So this first picture is the cover of the album called The Jimi Hendrix Experience. He looks quite tame here.


This is a great photo, showing Jimi playing the guitar. I really like the black and white effects here, this must be one of his best pictures.


A studio image showing him smiling. A bit boring.


Another image showing him smoking. He smoked a lot, all kinds of things.


This is the cover of the album called Voodoo Child.

Barney Google

Since Google took over the world and changed everyone's life (mind you, I am writing this using Google's Blogger, hoping that Google will index my pages one of these days), there has been a lot of talk about the meaning of the word "Google." But very few people seem to mention Barney Google, the comic strip hero from the first half of the 20th century.


Here is Barney Google in a Tijuana Bible, talking to a "lady."


This is a sample frame from the comic strip Barney Google and Snuffy Smith.


And this is the front cover of Barney Google Fox Trot.

Lost gold of Lord Kitchener

The Lost Gold of Lord Kitchener

Here is a reference to gold that still lies unclaimed at the bottom of a river. Perhaps someone could go and find it?

"After the fall of Khartoum in 1885 an enormous quantity of stores had to be destroyed owing to the want of transport. Among them was about a million rounds of ammunition, which was ordered to be thrown into the Nile. The duty of superintending its destruction fell to Kitchener, and when it was finished he found to his dismay that the contents of two of the boxes thrown into the river were not ammunition, but 10,000 gold sovereigns apiece. It is hardly probable that any attempt will be made to recover the lost treasure, for after the lapse of thirteen years it must be buried beyond all hope of recovery in the mud of which the bed of the Nile is composed."