February 2007 Archives

'In the morning . . . while standing on an ice hummock about seventeen feet high, and looking toward the east, I had observed the upper limb of the sun, as it filled a triangular cleft on the ridge of the headland, of the most brilliant emerald colour, a phenomenon which I had not witnessed before in these regions.'

'Captain Back; J. Murray, Captain Back's narrative of the voyage of the H.M.S. Terror, 1838.

'The capriciousness of the flash led some scientists to suggest it was a purely physiological phenomenon rather than a physical one. . . . It is true that if you close your eyes after looking at a bright red light the afterimage will be greenish. Those who held to this explanation clearly had never personally beheld the green flash. The afterimage from retinal fatigue is a dull complementary image that only slowly fades after some tens of seconds. The green flash is a brilliant emerald tint that lasts for only a split second before it too follows the set sun below the horizon.'

'Aden & Marjorie Meinel, Sunsets, twilights, and evening skies, 1983.

'In 1887 a curiously interesting theory evolved from the many sightings of the green flash from shipboard: that it was caused by sunlight passing through the crests of waves on the horizon. The green color was said to be due to the passage of light through the green sea water. However, the observation of the green flash over land as well as sea means that this theory is not sufficient or even plausible.'

'Aden & Marjorie Meinel, Sunsets, twilights, and evening skies, 1983.

'The green flash appears at times so vivid, even to the naked eye, that it is surprising that the earliest references to it are of comparatively recent date. One would have expected that such diligent observers as the early astronomers of Babylonia, Chaldea, and Egypt would have noted the phenomenon.'

'D.J.K. O'Connell, The Green Flash, 1958.

TOKYO ' Coca-Cola Japan Co has redesigned its cans and bottles as part of its "The Coke Side of Life" marketing campaign. The beverage maker said Monday that the new look can will hit the Japanese market on Jan 29 before its introduction to the world market in March. "We live in a world where we make choices every day and 'The Coke Side of Life' encourages people to make those choices positive ones," said Marc Mathieu, senior vice president for carbonated soft drink core brands, marketing, srategy and innovation. "This new campaign invites people to create their own positive reality, to be spontaneous, listen to their hearts and live in full color."

'Japan Today, 2/25/07, http://www.japantoday.com/jp/news/396879. Photo is of a Coke campaign in Antwerpen, Belgium. Oh, to live in full color!

'Green flashes are real (not illusory) phenomena seen at sunrise and sunset, when some part of the Sun suddenly changes color (at sunset, from red or orange to green or blue). The word 'flash' refers to the sudden appearance and brief duration of this green color, which usually lasts only a second or two at moderate latitudes. . . .

There is a distinct, but related, phenomenon that really deserves the term 'flash.' In this much rarer display, a green flash of the ordinary kind is followed (at sunset) by a brief ray or glow of green, which often appears to shoot up from the sunset point. It often accompanies, or follows, a 'green dot'. These very rare displays are grouped under the term 'green ray,' although the ray form is only one of several.'

'from An Introduction to Green Flashes, at http://mintaka.sdsu.edu/GF/. Photo by Pekka Parviainen.

'Green is the prime color of the world, and that from which its loveliness arises.'

'Pedro Calderon de la Barca.

'The game of golf would lose a great deal if croquet mallets and billiard cues were allowed on the putting green.'

'Ernest Hemingway.

'If Britney would paint her ass green, I'm sure you could spot green asses all over LA as soon as the word was out.'

'Billie Joe Armstrong.

'A green flash is a tropical phenomenon.'

'David Janssen.

'I took the name Green Destiny from'well there is such a sword called Green Destiny. It is green because you keep twisting it, it's an ancient skill, you keep twisting it and knocking it and twisting it until it is very elastic and light.'

'Ang Lee.

'In such green palaces the first kings reign'd,
Slept in their shades, and angels entertain'd;
With such old counsellors they did advise,
And by frequenting sacred groves grew wise.'

'Edmund Waller.

'Be the green grass above me, with showers and dewdrops wet;
and if thou wilt, remember, and if thou wilt, forget.'

'Christina Rossetti.

'Shoo fly, dragonfly, get back t' your mother,
Pick up a flat rock, skip it across Green River.'

'John Fogerty (Creedence Clearwater Revival), Green River 1969.

'Pink champagne that left me feeling blue.'

'Joe Liggins and the Honeydrippers, Pink Champagne, 1950.

'Mirrors on the ceiling,
The pink champagne on ice
And she said we are all just prisoners here, of our own device.'

'Don Felder, Don Henley & Glenn Frey, Hotel California, 1976.

'Colors are slated to be somber and muted, say most of the designers who previewed their collections for Fashion83. For example, Ferre says gray is the new black.' (Los Angeles Times, Mar. 4, 1983)

'There is a tremendous range to the color brown,' says [textile and color specialist Elaine] Flowers, who expects brown to look updated because of the way it is paired with other colors, and used in varied textures. 'It is the new black.' (Washington Post, Mar. 15, 1984)

'Navy is the new black in Paris; in London and Milan, brown is the preferred alternative.' (Washington Post, Apr. 3, 1984)

'We're very strongly navy for the season,' he [sc. merchandising agent Joseph Martinez] said. 'Navy is the new black.' (Los Angeles Times, Oct. 26, 1984)

'Colors are the new neutrals. Find a color you like and wear it with everything.' (New York Times, Sep. 16, 1979)

'Pearl gray is the new neutral, navy and black are everywhere, alone or with anything.' (Chicago Tribune, Nov. 12, 1979)

'Lila Schneider, another New York designer, said, 'Pink is the new neutral ' a change from the stark white of the last few years.'' (Chicago Tribune, Oct. 19, 1980)

'No one knew how to interpret all this color experimentation until one New York observer finally blurted: 'It looks like red is the new neutral.'' (Toronto Globe & Mail, Nov. 24, 1981)

'from a discussion of the phrase '____ is the new black' at Wikipedia.

"Orange, it seems, may be the best color choice for the competitive player. Though rare in golf apparel and only the seventh most popular color among American consumers, orange is jovial, warm, energetic, forceful, and has a subjective impression of exuberance. It is associated with fruitfulness, adventure, vigor and wholesomeness, plenty of which exists in golf and on the PGA TOUR."

'Michael Patrick Shiels. Found at www.sensationalcolor.com.

A designer tells of the time he showed Mrs. Vreeland a swatch of bright pink silk of Eastern influence.

'I ADORE that pink!' she exclaimed. 'It's the navy blue of India.'

'"Diana Vreeland, Dynamic Fashion Figure, Joins Vogue," New York Times, Mar. 28, 1962, p. 30.

'Wish on everything. Pink cars are good, especially old ones. And stars of course, first stars and shooting stars. Planes will do if they are the first light in the sky and look like stars. Wish in tunnels, holding your breath and lifting your feet off the ground. Birthday candles. Baby teeth.'

'Francesca Lia Block.

Jeanine at Mardis Gras!

'There's a rainbow around my shoulders
And a sky of blue above
Oh the sun shines bright, the world's all right
'Cause I'm in love.'

'Dave Dreyer, Al Jolson & Billy Rose, There's A Rainbow Round My Shoulders, 1928.

'She walks these hills in a long black veil
She visits my grave when the night winds wail
Nobody knows, nobody sees
Nobody knows but me.'

'M. Wilkens & D. Dill, The Long Black Veil, originally recorded by Johnny Cash in 1964.

'I've got a Big Chief, Big Chief, Big Chief of the Nation
Wild, wild creation

He won't bow down, down on the ground
Oh how I love to hear him call Indian Red.'

'Indian Red, traditional.

'Get out the dishes,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
Get out the pan,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
Here comes the Indian man,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!

Oh the Red, White, and Blues!
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
Bravest Indians in all the land,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
They are on the march today,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
If you should get in their way,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!
Be prepared to die,
Tu-way-pa-ka-way!'

'Tu Way Packa Way, traditional, 1930s; Harold Courlander: Negro Folk Music, U.S.A., 1966.

'Walt Kelly, Pogo A La Sundae, 1961.

'With the other birds flocking around her
She is so despised by the squad
The Great Speckled Bird in the Bible
Representing the great Church of God.'

'The Reverend Guy Smith, The Great Speckled Bird, 1936.

'BEAUREGARD: When I thnks of your poor punctured form, tears spring to my soft brown eyes.

CHURCHY: Tears spring to my perty gold-speckle eyes, too . . . I could die bein' dead.

BEAUREGARD: If you gets shot, b'lieve me, I'll attend the services in nothing but the best . . . gold stickpin, puce foulard, pearly grey derby . . . spats . . . maybe even carry a cane.

CHURCHY: Really' Why is you so good to me''

'Walt Kelly, Gone Pogo, 1961.

'Suddenly I saw polka dots and moonbeams
All around a pug-nosed dream.'

'Johnny Burke & Jimmy van Heusen, Polka Dots and Moonbeams, 1940.

'I like the sunrise cos it brings a new day
I like the new day it brings new hope they say
I like the sunrise blazing in the new sky
Nighttime's so weary and oh so am I.'

'Duke Ellington, I Like the Sunrise, 1947.

'We lived our little drama.
We kissed in a field of white
And stars fell on Alabama last night.

I can't forget the glamour.
Your eyes held a tender light
And stars fell on Alabama last night.'

'Mitchell Parish & Frank Perkins, Stars Fell On Alabama, 1934.

'He asked me if I'd tell all my world
Just how hard those little clouds try
That's how I know I'll always remember
The little white cloud that sat right down and cried.'

'Johnnie Ray, The Little White Cloud That Cried, 1951.

'Legend has it that it was written by the dark ones
Ikitome Nekanavious, roughly translated, the Green Book
The book served as a gateway to the distant realms of the mind
It was written long ago when the sun was the brightest of radiant green glow
It was this monsterous energy that was used to ink the book
In the year 1970 A.D. the book was believed to be destroyed
Or was it'!'

'Jamie Madrox (Twiztid), The Green Book, 2003.

'Just like a silver dollar goes from hand to hand
A woman goes from man to man.'

'Alfred Williams, A Man Without A Woman (Silver Dollar), 1907.

'Ida Red, Ida green, prettiest girl I ever seen
Ida Red, Ida blue, I got stuck on Ida too
Ida Red, Ida white, love her true' I think I might
Ida Red, Ida pink, saw her in town, gave me a wink.'

'Ida Red, traditional, additions by Uncle Earl, 2005.

'De poney run, he jump, an' pitch,
An' tumble massa in de ditch;
He died, an' de jury wonder'd why,
De verdic was, de blue tail fly.'

'F.D. Benteen, Jim Crack Corn, or the Blue Tail Fly, 1846.

'So come with me, to 1953
An' we'll bring back, all of our used-to-be's
Yeah, pink and black, she's comin back.'

'Terry Allen, The Pink and Black Song, 1995.

'The empty-handed painter from your streets
Is drawing crazy patterns on your sheets.
This sky, too, is folding under you
And it's all over now, Baby Blue.'

'Bob Dylan, It's All Over Now, Baby Blue, 1965.

'Not a speck of light is showing
So the danger must be growing
Are the fires of Hell a-glowing
Is the grisly reaper mowing''

'Leslie Bricusse & Anthony Newley, Wondrous Boat Ride, from Willy Wonka and The Chocolate Factory, 1971.

'Now I know we had no money
But I was rich as I could be
In my coat of many colors
My momma made for me.'

'Dolly Parton, Coat of Many Colors, 1971.

'Cold-hearted orb that rules the night
Removes the colors from our sight
Red is gray and yellow white
And we decide which is right
And which is an illusion''

'Justin Hayward & Graeme Edge (The Moody Blues), Nights in White Satin, 1967.

'The night has a thousand eyes
And a thousand eyes can't help but see if you are true to me
So remember when you tell those little white lies
That the night has a thousand eyes.'

'Benjamin Weisman, Dorothy Wayne & Marilynn Garrett, The Night Has a Thousand Eyes, 1963.

'My Venus in blue jeans
Is everything I hoped she'd be
A teenage goddess from above
And she belongs to me.'

'Neil Sedaka, Venus in Blue Jeans, 1962.

'Dogs begin to bark now
And the hounds begin to howl
Watch out stray cat
The little red rooster's on the prowl.'

'Willie Dixon, Little Red Rooster, 1963.

'A white sport coat and a pink carnation
I'm all dressed up for the dance.
A white sport coat and a pink carnation,
I'm all alone in romance.'

'Marty Robbins, A White Sport Coat, 1957.

'I saw the harbor lights
They only told me we were parting
The same old harbor lights that once brought you to me

I watched the harbor lights
How could I help if tears were starting
Goodbye to tender nights beside the silv'ry sea.'

'Hugh Williams & Jimmy Kennedy, Harbor Lights, 1950.

'You ain't been blue,
Till you've had that mood indigo.
That feelin' goes stealin' down to my shoes
While I sit and sigh, 'Go 'long blues.''

'Duke Ellington, Mood Indigo, 1930.

'If I could recall all the heartaches
Dear old daddy, I've caused you to bear
If I could erase those lines from your face
And bring back the gold to your hair

If God would but grant me the power
Just to turn back the pages of time
I'd give all I own if I could but atone
To that silver-haired daddy of mine.'

'Gene Autry and Jimmy Long, That Silver-haired Daddy Of Mine, 1932.

'Midnight, one more night without sleepin'
Watchin' till the mornin' comes creepin'
Green door, what's that secret you're keepin''

'Marvin Moore & Bob Davie, The Green Door, 1956.

'Ha, ha, ha, you and me,
Little brown jug, don't I love thee!'

'Joseph Winner, Little Brown Jug, 1869.

'Walt Kelly, Potluck Pogo, 1955.

'There's a silver trail of moonlight leading upward to the sky
And the night is like a velvet lullaby.'

'Mitchell Parish, Matty Malneck & Frank Signorelli, Stairway To The Stars, 1939.

'And now the purple dusk of twilight time
Steals across the meadows of my heart
High up in the sky the little stars climb
Always reminding me that we're apart.'

'Mitchell Parish and Hoagy Carmichael, Stardust, 1929.

'Blue prairie, blue are the skies
Blue are the sighs of a night wind fallin'
Blue prairie, blue are the hills
Blue are the trills of a nightbird callin'.'

'Bob Nolan and Tim Spencer, Blue Prairie, 1934.

'Blue shadows on the trail
Blue moon shinin' through the trees.'

'Eliot Daniel and Johnny Lange, Blue Shadows on the Trail, 1948.

'All I want is a lavender coffin
White gardenias all around
Swing band playing the funeral march
As they roll me into the holy ground.'

'Shirley Albert, Lavender Coffin, 1949.

'I run my hands through silv'ry strands
'Cause I'm blue turning grey over you.'

'Andy Razaf & Fats Waller, Blue Turning Grey Over You, 1929.

'You can do anything but lay off of my blue suede shoes.'

'Carl Perkins, Blue Suede Shoes, 1955.

'CHURCHY: A blue note gotta be blew but solid!

BEETLE: Oh sure! Solid blue is my own favorite shade.'

'Walt Kelly, from The Incompleat Pogo, 1954.

'OWL: Is you singin' in Patagonian or Monogohelian'

CHURCHY: In English! In one hunnerd percent American red, white an' blue blooded English!'

'Walt Kelly, from I Go Pogo, 1952.

'You may bury my body
Down by the highway side
So my old evil spirit
Can get a Greyhound bus, and ride.'

'Robert Johnson, Me and the Devil Blues.

'The eye is attracted by beautiful objects, by gold and silver and all such things. . . . But our ambition to obtain all these things must not lead us astray from you, O Lord, nor must we depart from what your law allows.'

'Saint Augustine (354-430), Confessions; translated from the Latin by R.S. Pine-Coffin, 1961.

'POGO: Gosh a mickel! Dickel-pickle! Gee willy-wobbles! Dog my cats! And rowrbazzle!

OWL: My, you is quite cussable.

CHURCHY: The very air was blued!

POGO: I blewed as hard as I could.'

'Walt Kelly, from Pogo, 1951.

'This is the highest wisdom that I own,
The best that mankind ever knew:
Freedom and life are earned by those alone
Who conquer them each day anew.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'To see I was born,
To look is my call,
To the tower sworn,
I delight in all.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'You know, the stage in Germany
Lets each do what he wants to do;
Tonight, therefore, I say to you,
Do not spare our machinery.
Employ the sun and moon, do not hold back!
Use all the stars we have in stock;'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'I am part of the part that once was everything,
Part of the darkness which gave birth to light,
That haughty light which envies mother night
Her ancient rank and place and would be king'
Yet it does not succeed: however it contend,
It sticks to bodies in the end.
It streams from bodies, it lends bodies beauty,
A body won't let it progress;
So it will not take long, I guess,
And with the bodies it will perish, too.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'Gray, my dear friend, is every theory,
And green alone life's golden tree.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'[L]ight descends, the deeps, too, are unsealed,
And I see twigs and branches growing
From the ravine where they could sleep concealed.
Color on color rises from the ground
Where dewy leaves and blossoms stand revealed,
And I behold a paradise around.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'The rainbow mirrors human love and strife;
Consider it and you will better know:
In many-hued reflection we have life.'

'Goethe, Faust, 1790; translated from the German by Walter Kaufman, 1961.

'Darkened rolling figures move thru prisms of no color.
Hand in hand, they walk the night,
But never know each other.'

'The Monkees, Daily Nightly, words and music by Michael Nesmith, 1967.

'The October sun shed a light like gold dust against the windows, but inside the air was all silver: silver of champagne and gin, silver of spoons, of the bars the young girls wore, tucked in their hair, and the silvery tinkling of half a hundred glasses, a gay and flimsy tintinnabulation.'

'William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, 1951.

'It was very quiet on the water, and chilly, and the moon, hung like a pale lamp above the rim of the bay, seemed to shed only the coolest light over a crowd of fading, dusty stars.'

'William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, 1951.

'Can you show me
The shine of your Japan
The sparkle of your China
Can you show me'

'Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen), Bodhisattva, 1973.

'You wouldn't know a diamond
If you held it in your hand
The things you think are precious
I can't understand'

'Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen), Reelin' in the Years, 1972.

'Just by chance you crossed the diamond with the pearl
You turned it on the world
That's when you turned the world around'

'Steely Dan (Walter Becker and Donald Fagen), Kid Charlemagne, 1976.

'Perched on the seat of the Cadillac, Daddy Faith was bestowing grace upon the crowd. He was smiling; his face, black as night, was greasy with sweat. He made a wide arc with his hand, half a dozen diamond rings spun and glittered, and his shiny opera hat and diamond stickpin made beautiful flashes above the throng. A sigh, vast and reverential, went up from the crowd'Aaaaah!'and a shower of dollar bills, nickels, dimes and quarters cascaded over Daddy Faith, over the car and onto the ground.'

'William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, 1951.

'[M]edieval readers most likely would be uncomfortable reading a book in a flat position, because the way they most often encountered books set out to be read was propped up on another book or on a slanted surface not unlike a modern lectern or music stand. Indeed, the word 'lectern' comes from the Latin verb legere, 'to read,' and even a modern lectern has a sloped surface to hold books or notes.'

'Hentry Petroski, The Book on the Book Shelf, 1999.

'The earliest codices . . . apparently date from the early part of the Christian era (about the second century), and it has been speculated that the codex form might have been first adopted when the Christian Bible began to be copied on papyrus and circulated in book as opposed to roll form to distinguish it from the scrolled texts of Judaism and paganism.'

'Hentry Petroski, The Book on the Book Shelf, 1999.

'The word [papyrus] is believed to be of Egyptian origin, as is the plant. The Greeks referred to papyrus as byblos, after Byblus, the Phoenician city that was a center of papyrus exportation. Hence we have the Greek word for book, biblion, which in turn gave us the English word 'bible,' 'The Book.''

'Hentry Petroski, The Book on the Book Shelf, 1999.

'By the early centuries of the Christian era, bookshelves had to accommodate, in addition to scrolls, a growing number of bound manuscripts, or codices, which in time whould displace scrolls as the preferred format for books. The codex, named for the fact that it was covered with wood (codex means 'tree trunk' in Latin), and which led to the term 'code' in a legal context, was made by folding over flat sheets of papyrus or parchment and sewing them together into a binding.'

'Hentry Petroski, The Book on the Book Shelf, 1999.

'In ancient times, books did not exist as we know them today. Roman writings were turned into rolls or scrolls, mostly of papyrus, which were termed volumina. It is from the Latin singular voluminum that our English word 'volume' comes. . . .

[S]crolling on the computer screens takes its name from the way scrolls worked, and no matter the manner in which it was read, when a scroll was finished it would have to be rewound to be read again, very much as with a modern videotape after it is viewed.'

'Hentry Petroski, The Book on the Book Shelf, 1999.

'She swept back her white hair, pressing it against her head with hands that were pale, nearly translucent. Beneath the shiny skin of her hands the veins were tessellated like a blue mosaic, shining like an intricate blue design captured beneath glass. Now she did something that she had done many times before. She pulled the skin of her face taut over the cheekbones so that the web of lines and wrinkles vanished as if it had been touched by a miraculous and restorative wand; squinting convergently into the glass, she watched the foolish and lovely change: transfigured, she saw smooth skin as glossy white as the petal of gardenia, lips which seemed but sixteen or twenty, and as unblemished by any trouble as those she had held up to another mirror thirty years before, whispering 'Dearest' to an invisible and quite imaginary lover.'

'William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, 1951.

'A rainbow of juke-box color enveloped the restaurant, a lovely spectrum endlessly shifting; a man with a deep, sad voice sang: 'Take me back and try me one more time.' Such a hillbilly song, yet it filled her with gentle, genuine, sorrow.'

'William Styron, Lie Down in Darkness, 1951.