Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees 1889

Vincent van Gogh Olive Trees 1889Vincent van Gogh Flower Beds in HollandClaude Monet Water LiliesClaude Monet Chemin dans les Bles a Pourville
Party lighting could mean candles and Christmas lights. Better yet, how about some glowing creatures that look like cousins of Casper the Friendly Ghost? They come in four moods -- chipper, peppy, dizzy and gloomy -- which will probably reflect your mood cycles through the evening. So bring on the kaleidoscopic critters, add the mirror the crowds follow.
Cobra XRS Radar/Laser DetectorNew Year's Eve can see more cops per square foot in your town than a drug bust on a Baltimore street. Even going 55 miles an hour in a 50-mph zone is enough to get the red and blue lights flashing behind you. Before you hop into the car, turn the radar detector on and give yourself some advance notice about upcoming speed traps. A warning though: Radar detectors are illegal in some statesball, the pocket DJ system and the cocktail fountain, and it will be one helluva party.Sony Dancing Egg RollyNeed a party attraction? How about a dancing egg that flashes and rolls to the beat of the emitting from its own flapping speakers? The Rolly dancing robot from Sony may be entirely useless, but it's good for a few laughs. It could be an icebreaker, too: If everyone is standing in the corners, roll this out on the dance floor and watch

Gustav Klimt The Music

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," he repeated. Another hurrying figure bumped into him, narrowly missing him with the blade over its shoulder. Rincewind's tortured temper exploded.
"You little (such a one who, while wearing a copper nose ring, stands in a footbath atop Mount Raruaruaha during a heavy thunderstorm and shouts that Alohura, Goddess of Lightning, has the facial features of a diseased uloruaha root!)"
JUST subsequently worshipped it as a god, much to the amusement of their more sophisticated neighbours. Strangely enough the rainfall and harvests in the next few years were almost supernaturally abundant, and this led to a research team DOING MY JOB, said the figure, stalking off.Every word fell as heavily as slabs of marble; moreover, Rincewind was certain that he was the only one who heard them.He grabbed Twoflower again."Let's get out of here!" he suggested. One interesting side effect of the fire in Ankh-Morpork concerns the inn-sewer-ants policy, which left the city through the ravaged roof of the Broken Drum, was wafted high into the Discworld's atmosphere on the ensuing thermal, and came to earth several days and a few thousand miles away on an uloruaha bush in the beTrobi islands. The simple, laughing islanders

Henri Rousseau Carnival Evening

Henri Rousseau Carnival EveningHenri Rousseau Boy on the RocksHenri Rousseau A Carnival EveningPaul Cezanne Three Bathers
were stars glittering above the high-walled courtyard. The guard conferred with another bear, who came to speak to her.
"You cannot see lofur Raknison when you please," he said. "You have to wait till he wants to see you."
"But this is urgent, the bear above him, and before long Lyra was ushered inside the palace again, but into the state quarters this time. It was no cleaner here, and in fact the air was even harder to breathe than in the cell, because all the natural stinks had been overlaid by a heavy layer of cloying perfume. She was made to wait in a corridor, then in an anteroom, then outsidewhat I've got to tell him," she said. "It's about lorek Byrnison. I'm sure His Majesty would want to know it, but all the same I can't tell it to anyone else, don't you see? It wouldn't be polite. He'd be ever so cross if he knew we hadn't been polite."That seemed to carry some weight, or else to mystify the bear sufficiently to make him pause. Lyra was sure her interpretation of things was right: lofur Raknison was introducing so many new ways that none of the bears was certain yet how to behave, and she could exploit this uncertainty in order to get to lofur.So that bear retreated to consult a large door, while bears discussed and argued and scurried

Thomas Gainsborough Mrs Sheridan

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Lyra ducked her head at once under the shelter of her wolverine hood, and shuffled in through the double doors with the other children. Time enough later to worry about what she'd say when they came face to face: she had another boots and bundled them up as small as she could before shoving through the crowded corridors to her dormitory.
Quickly she dragged a locker to the corner, stood on it, and pushed at the ceiling. The panel lifted, just as Roger had said, and into the space beyond she thrust the boots and leggings. As an afterthought, she took the alethiometer from her pouch and hid it in the inmost pocket of the anorak before shoving that through too.problem to deal with first, and that was how to hide her furs where she could get at them without asking permission.But luckily, there was such disorder inside, with the adults trying to hurry the children through so as to clear the way for the passengers from the zeppelin, that no one was watching very carefully. Lyra slipped out of the anorak, the leggings, and the

Pierre Auguste Renoir By the Seashore

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suspicion around the apparatus, continually returning to rub himself against Lyra.
She was sure by now that they weren't going to perform the operation on her yet, and sure too that her disguise as "I forget. I think she had sort of brown hair...light brown, maybe...! dunno."
The doctor went to speak quietly to the nurse. As the two of them conferredLizzie Brooks was secure; so she risked a question."Why do you cut people's daemons away?""What? Who's been talking to you about that?""This girl, I dunno her name. She said you cut people's daemons away.""Nonsense..."He was agitated, though. She went on:'"Cause you take people out one by one and they never come back. And some people reckon you just kill 'em, and other people say different, and this girl told me you cut-""It's not true at all. When we take children out, it's because it's time for them to move on to another place. They're growing up. I'm afraid your friend is alarming herself. Nothing of the sort! Don't even think about it. Who is your friend?""I only come here yesterday, I don't know anyone's name.""What does she look like?"

Thomas Kinkade Mountain Memories

Thomas Kinkade Mountain MemoriesThomas Kinkade Living WatersThomas Kinkade La Jolla Cove
it back, as soon's they get here!"
Lyra was afraid they might, too, for around the corner came the first policemen, and then more, and then the sysselman and the very good care of my friend's armor," he said conversationally. "Why, look at the rust! And I wouldn't be surprised to find moths in it, too. Now you just stand where you are, still and easy, and don't anybody move till the bear comes back with some lubrication. Or I guess you could all read the newspaper. 'S up to you."
"There he is!" said Tony, pointing to a ramp at the far end of the quay, where lorek Byrnison was emerging from the water, dragging something dark with him. Once priest and twenty or thirty onlookers, with John Faa and Farder Coram trying to keep up.But when they saw the group on the quayside they stopped, for someone else had appeared. Sitting on the bear's armor with one ankle resting on the opposite knee was the long-limbed form of Lee Scoresby, and in his hand was the longest pistol Lyra had ever seen, casually pointing at the ample stomach of the sysselman."Seems to me you ain't taken

Joaquin Sorolla y Bastida Valencia's Port

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remote than this."
Lyra could hardly sit still. Farder Coram, however, knew the etiquette for meetings such as this, and took another spiced honey cake from the plate. While he ate it, Dr. Lanselius turned to Lyra.
"I understand that you are in possession of an alethiome-ter," he said, to her great surprise; for how could he have known that"No," Lyra began, but before she could say any more, Farder Coram was speaking.
"No, the great pity is that although Lyra possesses the alethiometer ?"Yes," she said, and then, prompted by a nip from Pantalaimon, added, "Would you like to look at it?""I should like that very much."She fished inelegantly in the oilskin pouch and handed him the velvet package. He unfolded it and held it up with great care, gazing at the face like a Scholar gazing at a rare manuscript."How exquisite!" he said. "I have seen one other example, but it was not so fine as this. And do you possess the books of readings?"

George Stubbs Lion Devouring a Horse

George Stubbs Lion Devouring a HorseUnknown Artist Sea of Cortez Cabo San LucasLeroy Neiman Washington Square Park
to find room on the floor, where the benches were already crowded; but families squeezed up to make space, children occupying laps and daemons curling up underfoot or perching out of the way on the rough wooden walls.in his seventies, but tall and bull necked and powerful. He wore a plain canvas jacket and a checked shirt, like many gyptian men; there was nothing to mark him out but the air of strength and authority he had. Lyra recognized it: Uncle Asriel had it, and so did the Master of Jordan. This man's daemon was a crow, very like the Master's raven.
"That's John Faa, the lord of the western gyptians," Tony whisperedAt the front of the Zaal there was a platform with eight carved wooden chairs set out. As Lyra and the Costas found space to stand along the edge of the hall, eight men appeared from the shadows at the rear of the platform and stood in front of the chairs. A ripple of excitement swept over the audience as they hushed one another and shoved themselves into spaces on the nearest bench. Finally there was silence and seven of the men on the platform sat down.The one who remained was

Claude Monet Zaandam

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added to Lyra directly. "I'm sure he'd like to meet Mrs. Coulter's protegee....That's him, the man with gray hair and the serpent daemon."
He wanted to get the river, and at this time of night, the lights across on the south bank were glittering brilliantly over their reflections in the black water of the high tide. A line of barges hauled by a tug moved upriver. Adele Starminster sat down and moved along the cushioned seat to make room.rid of Lyra so that he could talk more privately with the young woman; Lyra could tell that easily. But the young woman, it seemed, was still interested in Lyra, and slipped away from the man to talk to her."Stop a minute....What's your name?""Lyra.""I'm Adele Starminster. I'm a journalist. Could I have a quiet word?"Thinking it only natural that people should wish to talk to her, Lyra said simply, "Yes."The woman's butterfly daemon rose into the air, casting about to left and right, and fluttered down to whisper something, at which Adele Starminster said, "Come to the window seat."This was a favorite spot of Lyra's; it overlooked

Lord Frederick Leighton Leighton Mother and Child

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place?"
"Yes," she said. "But the Chaplain's fingernails are always dirty. They're even dirtier than mine."
"He's a learned man. What's your excuse?"
"I must've got them dirty after I washed."
"Where do you play to get so dirty?"
She looked at him suspiciously. She had the feeling that being on the roof was forbidden, though no one had actually said so. "In some of the old rooms," she said finally.
"And where else?"
"In the claybeds, sometimes."
"And?"
"Jericho and Port Meadow."
"Nowhere else?"
"No."wine and then it got better and flew away."
"Who's Roger?"
"My friend. The kitchen boy."
"I see. So you've been all over the roof-""You're a liar. I saw you on the roof only yesterday."She bit her lip and said nothing. He was watching her sardonically."So, you play on the roof as well," he went on. "Do you ever go into the library?""No. I found a rook on the library roof, though," she went on."Did you? Did you catch it?""It had a hurt foot. I was going to kill it and roast it but Roger said we should help it get better. So we gave it scraps of food and some
"Not all over. You can't get onto the Sheldon Building because you have to

Thomas Kinkade Cobblestone Christmas

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right. I'm going back up the rope, and I'll lower some things down to you. One of them's a tent. You can git that set up while I see what I can do up there to hide the balloon."
They labored for a long time, and in peril at one point, when the branch that had been supporting the basket finally more. He clambered down and found that the shaman had not only pitched the tent but had conjured a fire into being, and was brewing some
"This done by magic?" said Lee, soaked and stiff, easing himself down into the tent and taking the mug Grumman handed him.
"No, you can thank the Boy Scouts for this," said Grumman.broke and pitched Lee down with it; but he didn't fall far, since the gasbag still trailed among the treetops and held the basket suspended.The fall in fact made concealing the gasbag easier, since the lower part of it had been pulled down through the canopy; and working by flashes of lightning, tugging and wrenching and hacking, Lee managed to drag the whole body of the balloon down among the lower branches and out of sight.The wind was still beating the treetops back and forth, but the worst of the rain had passed by the time he decided he could do no

Henri Rousseau The Flamingos

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half-hour or so beyond doubt and belief altogether. Something had happened, and she was galvanized.
She switched off the detector and the amplifier. Then she bypassed all the safety codes and formatted the hard disk, was effectively demolished.
She crammed some papers from a drawer into her briefcase, and finally took down the poster with the I Ching hexagrams and folded it away in her pocket. Then she switched off the light and left.
The security guard was standing at the foot of the stairs, speaking into his telephone. He put it away as she came down, and escorted her silently to the side entrance, watching through wiping it clean; and then she removed the interface between the detector and the amplifier, which was on a specially adapted card, and put the card on the bench and smashed it with the heel of her shoe, there being nothing else heavy at hand. Next she disconnected the wiring between the electromagnetic shield and the detector, and found the wiring plan in a drawer of the filing cabinet and set light to it. Was there anything else she could do? She couldn't do much about Oliver Payne's knowledge of the program, but the special

Caravaggio The Supper at Emmaus

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Was Jennifer Aniston's character Beth in the film He's Just Not That Into You attracted to her boyfriend Neil, played by Ben Affleck, because of his big pupils?
that it may be because it indicates that the man is sexually interested in them and available
In the research, published in respected journal Personality And Individual Differences, photographs of six equally attractive men were
Researchers have discovered what women are really thinking when they look into a man’s eyes – and it is all about the size of their...pupils.Women become attracted to men with large pupils just as they are approaching their most fertile time of the month, the study at Edinburgh University found.Scientists suggest

Edward Hopper Excursion into Philosophy

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then he saw something so bizarre he thought he had imagined it. Out of the sleeve of Sir Charles's linen jacket, past the snowy white shirt cuff, came the emerald head of a snake. Its black tongue flicked this way, that way, and its mailed head with its gold-rimmed black eyes moved from Lyra to Will and back again. She was too angry to see it at my possession and will stay there. I want it. I'm a collector. You can spit and stamp and scream all you like, but by the time you've persuaded anyone else to listen to you, I shall have plenty of documents to prove that I bought it. I can do that very easily. And then you'll never get it back."
They were both silent now. He hadn't finished. A great puzzlement was slowing Lyra's heartbeat and making the room very still.
"However," he went on, "there's something I want even more. And I can't get it myself, so I'm prepared to make a deal with you. You fetch the object all, and Will saw it only for a moment before it retreated again up the old man's sleeve, but it made his eyes widen with shock.Sir Charles moved to the window seat and calmly sat down, arranging the crease in his trousers."I think you'd better listen to me instead of behaving in this uncontrolled way," he said. "You really haven't any choice. The instrument is in

Leroy Neiman The Finish

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you say Grumman?" said the man sitting just along the bar, an elderly man in seal hunter's rig, whose lemming daemon looked out solemnly from his pocket. "He was a Tartar all right. I was there when he joined that tribe. I saw him having his skull drilled. He had another name, too—a Tartar name; I'll think of it in a minute."
"Well, how "He was a shaman," said the old seal hunter. "I think the tribe recognized him as a shaman before they adopted him. Some drilling. It goes on for two nights and a day. They use a bow drill, like for lighting a fire."
"Ah, that accounts for the way his team was obeying him," about that," said Lee Scoresby. "Let me buy you a drink, my friend. I'm looking for news of this man. What tribe was it he joined?""The Yenisei Pakhtars. At the foot of the Semyonov Range. Near a fork of the Yenisei and the—I forget what it's called—a river that comes down from the hills. There's a rock the size of a house at the landing stage.""Ah, sure," said Lee. "I remember it now. I've flown over it. And Grumman had his skull drilled, you say? Why was that?"

John William Waterhouse Odysseus and the Sirens

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No! No. She just needs a bit of help. I can't do it myself for a little while, but I won't be long. I'm going to… I've got things to do. But I'll be back soon, and I'll take her , I promise. You won't have to do it for long."
The mother was looking at her son with such trust, and he turned and smiled at her with such love and reassurancehim, bewildered. He bent over and kissed her clumsily.
"Don't worry," he said. "Mrs. Cooper will look after you better than me, honest. And I'll phone up and talk to you tomorrow."
They hugged tightly, and then Will kissed her again and gently unfastened her arms from his neck before going to the front door. Mrs. Cooper could see he , that Mrs. Cooper couldn't say no."Well," she said, turning to Mrs. Parry, "I'm sure it won't matter for a day or so. You can have my daughter's room, dear. She's in Australia. She won't be needing it again.""Thank you," said Will, and stood up as if he were in a hurry to leave."But where are you going to be?" said Mrs. Cooper."I'm going to be staying with a friend," he said. "I'll phone up as often as I can. I've got your number. It'll be all right"His mother was looking at

Frida Kahlo What the Water Gave Me

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Ballmer promised that Windows 7 will make PCs faster and easier to use. He didn't offer a timetable for its official release, although Windows Vista went on sale more than two years after it was issued in beta form.
Early reviews of Windows 7, which was leaked to the Internet in beta form in late December, have been
The "Windows 7 makes it easier to move between the things on your desktop," said Microsoft group project manager Charlotte Jones, who gave a brief demonstration of the system on the hall's giant display screens. Jones said the new system also makes it easier to send files back and forth between Ballmer later yielded the stage to Robbie Bach, president forthcoming operating system will have touch-screen capability, side-by-side windows for comparison shopping and a "Peek" feature that makes open windows transparent, allowing users to see the icons on their desktop.

Edvard Munch Puberty 1894

Edvard Munch Puberty 1894Unknown Artist Heighton After HoursUnknown Artist Brent Lynch Evening Lounge
One was that of the clouds, driven across the moon in one direction, and the other was that of the stream of Dust, seeming to cross it in quite another.
And of the two, the Dust was flowing more quickly and at much greater volume. In fact, the whole sky seemed to be flowing the sraf, which had nurtured their lives and their world for thirty-three thousand years, had begun to fail just over three hundred years ago.
According to Will, the Guild of the Torre degli Angeli, the owners of the subtle knife, had been careless; they hadn't always closed the windows with it, a great inexorable flood pouring out of the world, out of all the worlds, into some ultimate emptiness.Slowly, as if they were moving themselves in her mind, things joined up.Will and Lyra had said that the subtle knife was three hundred years old at least. So the old man in the tower had told them.The mulefa had told her that