The Painting

Here's some random pictures, including a short tale about a piece of haunting artwork.

Okay my friend has to share this bizarre story. While watching an anime, Fate: Apocrypha, this painting is seen in the background. He's seen that painting before, and back then, there was a odd discussion about how that painting wound up in the apartment. At the time, nobody knew, and it was dismissed as just a strange thing to have on the wall.

Much like my friend's reaction to seeing it, the anime also seemed intensely focused on the painting in the background. It was like seeing a ghost. Like some kind of time travel paradox. How?... How is that the same painting?! Why is the anime so focused on sharing this with my friend? He was freaking out a bit, and had to stop watching because he was really not paying attention to the show anymore, all he could think about was this painting.

The anime at one point showed only the painting, full screen! He shared this story with his brother, who recognized the painting! It was also in the game Animal Crossing, which had a collection of famous paintings. In Animal Crossing it was called, literally, "common painting." Google quickly discovered it's a famous French piece "The Gleaners" depicting common workers during a time when only aristocrats were painted. The anime was using it to foreshadow the rising power of the characters. So we sort of discovered how it could have appeared in the apartment so many years ago, as well, if it was truly a common famous painting. And even though it turned out to be just an odd rare coincidence, it still was a shocking event for my poor friend caught unaware.

Whew! Lets shake off the hauntings with some regular fun pictures. Did you know there was a Playmobil movie? Yeah, nobody does. Because there was like, zero advertising for it. Even last year at the Toy Fair when we saw the figures, they did not know when the movie would come out. We saw this giant figure outside the shop in Princeton and that's how we found out the movie was in theatres. Really?

When you notice the Spiderman that doesn't seem to belong here, you'll get a "whoa!" out of it, then feel a little bad. We did. Wait for it.... AH! You saw it and went "whoa!" too, didn't you? Haha it's okay.

Why did my friend think about MATH when he saw this? That was weird. Let's get a picture to share that thought.

I'm not sure I agree with this statement. Surely you want to wind up in a place you feel like you belong, and not want to escape from. This seems to encourage perpetual escaping.

Bored at the art store taking pictures. Operation:Rewind works on many levels.

Ahh! Busted! Why is Pluto still in the Solar System kit? I guess it doesn't have to be a real planet to be included. Should I point out that Jupiter AND Saturn have moons larger than Pluto? Why aren't they included then?

Over 4000 virtual miles on the exercise bike. Google says that's the length of the Amazon River. Which would have been much more fun to ride along, I'm sure.

Do I still have a few leftover Xmas shopping pictures? This plaque says it all about the current holiday spirit.

Who wants a shotgun cleaning kit for Xmas? This was in the middle of the isle at Walmart, and we got a little "what?" moment when we saw it. 'Merica!

The kid part of my friend liked this spaceship backpack you are supposed to carry around your favorite plushie buddy in. He's definitely too old to wear it around though.

Call of Duty has a fun option to hang a little charm off the side of your weapon. We got a good laugh when we saw this one that looks like a "sale" tag. Ironically for sale in the shop, and not "on sale" haha.

Do you remember what "movie" Sonic looked like before? No? Good. The nightmare is over.

The short spoiler-free review for the latest Star Wars movie: I'm glad it didn't suck. Could have been better, could have been much worse. Glad it was alright.

This Lego character Boolio had two scenes in the Star Wars movie. Nothing to lose one's head over. Minor spoiler: You can recreate his second scene by taking the head off this minifigure and tossing it on a table.

THIS is what the New Star Wars should have been right from the start. The Child was kept so secret his merchandise was not even worked on. And now the mad dash struggle to sell stuff is trying it's best to catch up.

There was an Xmas party at work, and they hung a few pinatas to whack at. It's oddly aggressive to be smacking this thing with sticks at work. But still, also a lot of silly fun.

I don't know why I felt like we needed a picture of the pinata debris on the floor. Maybe a little weird guilt about forcefully hitting something at work and "getting away with it"? Must be what Bruce Banner feels like after going all "Hulk" on stuff.

Why is it funny to my friend that this pinata prize chocolate coin has 1972 on it? Let's hope this candy is not as old as that. It certainly doesn't feel like it.