Monday, September 15, 2008

What I meant to write on September 13

I woke up this morning and new that it was going to be a difficult day. very difficult. I knew what I needed to do, and I felt sick to my stomach about it. Unfortunately (or, as I would later realize, fortunately) the family wasn't home when I got up, so the issues of the day would have to wait until later.
With that, I went to the Art History Museum in the Museum Quarter of Vienna where they have a lot of ancient Roman and Egyptian artifacts and Renaissance art. It's really a must-see of the city.
In the Roman exhibit, there was a room that I'll call the 'Hall of Heads' because, in it, were several rows of stone busts. I was struck by the fact that most of these sculptures were head-only, but several depicted some Roman individual's likeness from the shoulders up. Perhaps, in rome, how much you were willing to spend on your portrait determined how much of your body you could afford to have sculpted-like when you buy pictures at Wal-mart and and the number of people per sitting or the number of poses you would like to buy determines your total cost. One Roman in the Hall of Heads was an entire body and a floating head, which lead me to conclude that necks must have been VERY expensive.
While amidst the Roman artifacts, I also noticed another interesting trend among the several anatomically correct, nude, male statues. (For the purpose of this discussion, I'll refer to a man's genitalia as a tree and boulders) On all but the smallest of these works of art, the tree had long since snapped off. Therefore, bigger may be better but perhaps the small endure. Just something to consider.
Fact: The statues are not circumcised.
In the Egyptian exhibits, there are several mummies. I assume they were real, although I can't be totally sure. Still, what would you do if, in 3000 years, your body was not really considered to be a deceased human being but was, rather, a museum exhibit to be oggled non-chalantly by the living? I suppose I wouldnt care because I'd be dead, but it's still an interesting thought.

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