Jahsonic's abecedarium
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
A
A is for alchemy
- alchemy
In the history of science, alchemy (Arabic: الخيمياء, al-khimia) refers to both an early form of the investigation of nature and an early philosophical and spiritual discipline, both combining elements of chemistry, metallurgy, physics, medicine, astrology, semiotics, mysticism, spiritualism, and art all as parts of one greater force. Alchemy has been practiced in Mesopotamia, Ancient Egypt, Persia, India, and China, in Classical Greece and Rome, in the Muslim civilization, and then in Europe up to the 19th century—in a complex network of schools and philosophical systems spanning at least 2500 years.
- art
Art is a term that describes a diverse range of human activities and the products of those activities, but here refers to the visual arts, which cover the creation of images or objects in fields including painting, sculpture, printmaking, photography, and other visual media. Architecture is often included as one of the visual arts; however, like the decorative arts, it creates objects where the practical considerations of use are essential—in a way that they are usually not for a painting, for example. Music, theatre, film, dance, and other performing arts, as well as literature, and other media such as interactive media are included in a broader definition of art or the arts. Until the 17th century, art referred to any skill or mastery and was not differentiated from crafts or sciences, but in modern usage the fine arts, where aesthetic considerations are paramount, are distinguished from acquired skills in general, and the decorative or applied arts.
Many definitions of art have been proposed by philosophers and others who have characterized art in terms of mimesis, expression, communication of emotion, or other values. During the Romantic period, art came to be seen as "a special faculty of the human mind to be classified with religion and science". (Gombrich) Though art's definition is disputed and has changed over time, general descriptions mention an idea of human agency and creation through imaginative or technical skill.
The nature of art, and related concepts such as creativity and interpretation, are explored in a branch of philosophy known as aesthetics.
B
B is for B-movie
A low-budget motion picture, especially one with poor production values.
The term B movie originally referred to a film made on a low or modest budget and intended for distribution as the less-publicized, bottom half of a double feature during the so-called Golden Age of Hollywood. Although the U.S. production of movies intended as second features largely ceased by the end of the 1950s, the term B movie continues to be used in a broader sense, referring to any low-budget, commercial motion picture meant neither as an arthouse film nor as pornography. In its post–Golden Age usage, there is ambiguity on both sides: on the one hand, many B movies display a high degree of craft and aesthetic ingenuity; on the other, the primary interest of many inexpensive exploitation films is prurient. In some cases, both are true.
In either usage, most B movies represent a particular genre—the Western was a Golden Age B movie staple, while low-budget science-fiction and horror films became more popular in the 1950s. Early B movies were often part of series in which the star repeatedly played the same character. Almost always shorter than the top-billed films they were paired with, many had running times of 70 minutes or less. The term connoted a general perception that B movies were inferior to the more handsomely budgeted headliners; individual B films were often ignored by critics. Latter-day B movies still sometimes inspire multiple sequels, but series are less common. As the average running time of top-of-the-line films increased, so did that of B pictures. In its current usage, the term has two primary and somewhat contradictory connotations: it may signal an opinion that a certain movie is (a) a genre film with minimal artistic ambitions or (b) a lively, energetic film uninhibited by the constraints imposed on more expensive projects and unburdened by the conventions of putatively "serious" independent film.
From their beginnings to the present day, B movies have provided opportunities both for those coming up in the profession and others whose careers are waning. Celebrated filmmakers such as Anthony Mann and Jonathan Demme learned their craft in B movies. B movies are where actors such as John Wayne and Jack Nicholson became established, and the Bs have also provided work for former A movie actors, such as Vincent Price and Karen Black. Some actors, such as Béla Lugosi and Pam Grier, worked in B movies for most of their careers.
C
C is for cult
A cult following is a group of fans devoted to a specific persons or cultural artifacts, examples are films, television or radio programs, novels, musicians, writers and directors. These dedicated followings are usually relatively small and pertain to items that don't have broad mainstream appeal due to their underground subject matter or experimental style. In literature, one might refer to "cult books" or "cult fiction", in cinema, one refers to "cult movies", "cult cinema" or "cult films", in music one refers not to cult, but to "underground music", "alternative".
For a general definition of what it means for an item to be a 'cult item' there are certain guidelines. First of all keep in mind that many fans of cult items have a religious, idolatrous and fetishistic devotion -- appropriately so because the terms cult, fetish and idol have their origins in 'primitive' religion (see cult (religious practice)). Furthermore, cult items rarely belong to the mainstream and the devotion of their fans is often obsessive. There is also a historical and genre element: cult items generally don't gain that status until some time after their release and certain genres such as horror, erotica and science fiction attract cults more easily than others. In literary and cinematic fiction, cult items often contain "subversive" elements like references to non-normative forms of sexuality and as such have often been censored or banned. Lastly, cult items are collectible and are avidly collected.
D
D is for disco
- "Scorned and ridiculed as feather-lite, escapist pap when it emerged in the mid-seventies, and now reduced to a kitsch scenario of Afro wigs, polyester suits and drunken singalongs at office Christmas parties and bachelor weekends, disco is just about the last place anyone would look for avant garde practice." --Peter Shapiro, The Wire Magazine, Feb 2003.
Disco is a genre of dance-oriented pop music that was popularized in dance clubs in the mid-1970s, and which dominated mainstream pop until the late 1970s. In the United States, the term disco, which is a shortened form of discothèque, refers to a specific style of pop music that was derived from funk and soul music, also dubbed proto-disco. In Europe the same term is used for American disco and "Euro Disco" productions, that had 50s and 60s beat music and yé-yé influences.
Major mid-1970s mainstream disco performers included Donna Summer, The Bee Gees, and ABBA. Many non-disco artists recorded disco songs at the height of its popularity. Films such as Saturday Night Fever contributed to disco's rise in mainstream popularity with artists such as the Rolling Stones (Hot Stuff, Miss You, Undercover of the Night) and Blondie ("Heart of Glass") making "disco" records. While disco music declined in popularity after the racist and homophobic "Disco Sucks" incident, it was an important influence on the development of the 1980s and 1990s electronic dance music genres of house and techno.
"Underground disco" was centered around the Gold Mind Records, Prelude Records, Salsoul and West End Records; DJs David Mancuso, Tee Scott, Larry Levan, Frankie Knuckles and Nicky Siano and clubs such as The Loft and the Paradise Garage.
E
E is for ecstasy
Ecstasy is a category of altered states of consciousness or trancelike states in which an individual transcends ordinary consciousness and as a result has a heightened capacity for exceptional thought, intense concentration on a specific task, extraordinary physical abilities or intense emotional experience. This heightened capacity is typically accompanied by diminished awareness of some other matters. For instance, if one is concentrating on a physical task, then one might cease to be aware of any intellectual thoughts. On the other hand, making a spirit journey in an ecstatic trance involves the cessation of voluntary bodily movement. Subjective perception of time, space and/or self may strongly change or disappear during ecstasy.
F
F for fake, fetish, film and fiction.
G
G is for Goya
Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (March 30, 1746 – April 16, 1828) was a Spanish painter and printmaker, known for his prints Caprichos and Disasters of War, his Majas and the Black Paintings.
Goya was a court painter to the Spanish Crown and a chronicler of history. He has been regarded both as the last of the Old Masters and as the first of the moderns. The subversive and subjective element in his art, as well as his bold handling of paint, provided a model for the work of later generations of artists, notably Manet and Picasso. Francisco Goya was considered skilled but unremarkable until he contracted lead poisoning in his late forties and made Caprichos.
Many of Goya's works are on display in the Museo del Prado in Madrid.
H
H is for horror
- Horror tropes
Horror as a genre started with gothic fiction. Its tropes include terror (both psychological and physical), mystery, the supernatural, ghosts, haunted houses and Gothic architecture, castles, darkness, death, decay, doubles, madness, secrets and hereditary curses.
The stock characters of gothic fiction include tyrants, villains, bandits, maniacs, Byronic heroes, persecuted maidens, femmes fatales, madwomen, magicians, vampires, werewolves, monsters, demons, revenants, ghosts, perambulating skeletons, the Wandering Jew and the Devil himself.
Modern subgenres and tropes include bio horror - body horror - carnivorous plants - Count Dracula - erotic horror - exploitation - fantastic - Frankenstein - freaks of nature - gore - ghost - gothic fiction - grindhouse - magic - Mondo film - monster - phantom of the opera - psychological horror - slasher films - snuff films - vampire - video nasty - werewolf - zombie
Related vocabulary includes terms such as bizarre - blood - controversial - cruelty - dark - death - demon - devil - disgusting - disturbing - evil - fantasy - fear - gothic - grotesque - hidden - inquisition - macabre - midnight - night - occult - offensive - pain - phobia - prison - repugnance - secret - shocking - sadism - sick - strange - sublime - supernatural - surreal - terror - torture - ugly - violence - visceral - war
I
- "I is the first letter of the alphabet, the first word of the language, the first thought of the mind, the first object of affection. In grammar it is a pronoun of the first person and singular number. Its plural is said to be _We_, but how there can be more than one myself is doubtless clearer the grammarians than it is to the author of this incomparable dictionary. Conception of two myselfs is difficult, but fine. The frank yet graceful use of "I" distinguishes a good writer from a bad; the latter carries it with the manner of a thief trying to cloak his loot." --The Devil's Dictionary
J
J is for joy
The feeling of happiness, extreme cheerfulness.
- They will be a source of strength and joy in your life.
Happiness is an emotional or affective state that is characterized by feelings of enjoyment and satisfaction. As a state and a subject, it has been pursued and commented on extensively throughout world history. This reflects the universal importance that humans place on happiness.
The Chinese Confucian thinker Mencius, who 2300 years ago sought to give advice to the ruthless political leaders of the warring states period, was convinced that the mind played a mediating role between the "lesser self" (the physiological self) and the "greater self" (the moral self) and that getting the priorities right between these two would lead to sagehood. He argued that if we did not feel satisfaction or pleasure in nourishing one's "vital force" with "righteous deeds", that force would shrivel up (Mencius,6A:15 2A:2). More specifically, he mentions the experience of intoxicating joy if one celebrates the practice of the great virtues, especially through music. Al-Ghazali (1058–1111) the Muslim Sufi thinker wrote the Alchemy of Happiness, a manual of spiritual instruction throughout the Muslim world and widely practiced even now.
About one hundred years later, the Hindu thinker Patanjali, author of the Yoga Sutras, wrote quite exhaustively on the psychological and ontological roots of bliss.
In the Nicomachean Ethics, written in 350 B.C.E., Aristotle stated that happiness (also being well and doing well) is the only thing that humans desire for its own sake, unlike riches, honor, health or friendship. He observed that men sought riches, or honor, or health not only for their own sake but also in order to be happy. Note that eudaimonia, the term we translate as "happiness", is for Aristotle an activity rather than an emotion or a state. Happiness is characteristic of a good life, that is, a life in which a person fulfills human nature in an excellent way. People have a set of purposes which are typically human: these belong to our nature. The happy person is virtuous, meaning they have outstanding abilities and emotional tendencies which allow him or her to fulfill our common human ends. For Aristotle, then, happiness is "the virtuous activity of the soul in accordance with reason": happiness is the practice of virtue.
Many ethicists make arguments for how humans should behave, either individually or collectively, based on the resulting happiness of such behavior. Utilitarians, such as John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, advocated the greatest happiness principle as a guide for ethical behavior.
K
K is for Kafkaesque "Kafkaesque" is an auctorial descriptive which is used to describe concepts, situations, and ideas which are reminiscent of the literary work of Prague writer Franz Kafka, particularly his novel The Trial and his novella The Metamorphosis.
The term, which is quite fluid in definition, has also been described as "marked by a senseless, disorienting, often menacing complexity: Kafkaesque bureaucracies" [1] and "marked by surreal distortion and often a sense of impending danger: Kafkaesque fantasies of the impassive interrogation, the false trial, the confiscated passport . . . haunt his innocence" — The New Yorker. [2]
It can also describe an intentional distortion of reality by powerful but anonymous bureaucrats. "Lack of evidence is treated as a pesky inconvenience, to be circumvented by such Kafkaesque means as depositing unproven allegations into sealed files ..." Another definition would be an existentialist state of ever-elusive freedom while existing under unmitigatable control.
The adjective refers to anything suggestive of Kafka, especially his nightmarish type of narration, in which characters lack a clear course of action, the ability to see beyond immediate events, and the possibility of escape. The term's meaning has transcended the literary realm to apply to real-life occurrences and situations that are incomprehensibly complex, bizarre, or illogical.
L
L is for literature
Literature has generally come to identify a collection of texts or works of art, which in Western culture are mainly prose, both fiction and non-fiction, drama and poetry. In much, if not all of the world, texts can be oral as well, and include such genres as epic, legend, myth, ballad, plus other forms of oral poetry, and the folktale.
- Current research interests
- X700 – X799
- Literacy
- Narratology
- Intertextuality
- Anonymity in publishing
- Postmodern literature
- Publishing
- History of the novel
- History of fiction
- Experimental literature
- The reading revolution
- Unfilmability
- The reading experience
- Cult fiction
- Literature written in prison
- Thematic literary criticism
- School of resentment
- Vernacular literature
- Genre fiction vs. literary fiction dichotomy
- Cinematic effects in literature
M
M is for machine
- a mechanical or electrical device that performs or assists in the performance of human tasks, or is used for amusement (like a pinball machine).
- the group that controls a political or similar organization.
- a vehicle operated mechanically; an automobile.
- a person who seemingly acts like a machine, a person who is very proficient at a task.
- Bruce Campbell was a "demon-killing machine" because he made quick work of killing demons.
Machine Age is a term associated with the early 20th century. Considered to be at a peak in the time between the first and second World Wars it forms a late part of the Industrial Age and was utimately eclipsed by the Atomic Age beginning in 1945.
Artifacts of the Machine Age include:
- Mass production of high volume goods on moving assembly lines, particularly of the automobile
- Gigantic production machinery, especially for producing and working metal, such as steel rolling mills, bridge component fabrication, and automobile body presses
- Powerful earthmoving equipment
- Steel framed buildings of great height (the skyscraper)
- Radio and phonograph technology
- High speed printing presses, enabling the production of low cost newspapers and mass market magazines
- Large hydroelectric and thermal electric power production plants and distribution systems
- Low cost appliances for the mass market that employ fractional horsepower electric motors, such as the vacuum cleaner and the washing machine
- Fast and comfortable long distance travel by railroad, automobile, and aircraft
- Development and employment of modern war machines such as tanks, aircraft, submarines and the modern battleship
- Social influence
- The rise of mass market advertising and consumerism
- Nationwide branding and distribution of goods, replacing local arts and crafts
- Nationwide cultural leveling due to exposure to movies and network broadcasting
- Replacement of skilled crafts with low skilled labor
- Growth of strong corporations through their abilities to exploit economies of scale in materials and equipment acqusition, manufacturing, and distribution
- Corporate exploitation of labor leading to the creation of strong trade unions as a countervailing force
- Arts and architecture
The Machine Age is considered to have influenced:
- Dystopian movies including Chaplin's Modern Times and Lang's Metropolis
- Cubism
- Art Deco decorative style
- Streamline Moderne appliance design and architecture
- Bauhaus style
N
N is for nature
Nature, in the broadest sense, is equivalent to the natural world, physical universe, material world or material universe. "Nature" refers to the phenomena of the physical world, and also to life in general. The term generally does not include manufactured objects and human interaction unless qualified in ways such as, e.g., "human nature" or "the whole of nature". Nature is also generally distinguished from the supernatural and the unnatural.
- Aesthetics and beauty
Beauty in nature has historically been a prevalent theme in art and books, filling large sections of libraries and bookstores. That nature has been depicted and celebrated by so much art, photography, poetry and other literature shows the strength with which many people associate nature and beauty. Reasons why this association exists, and what the association consists of, is studied by the branch of philosophy called aesthetics. Beyond certain basic characteristics that many philosophers agree about to explain what is seen as beautiful, the opinions are virtually endless. Nature and wildness have been important subjects in various epochs of world history. An early tradition of landscape art began in China during the Tang Dynasty (618-907). The tradition of representing nature as it is became one of the aims of Chinese painting and was a significant influence in Asian art.
Wilderness portrayals in art became more prevalent in the 1800s, especially in the works of the Romantic movement. British artists John Constable and JMW Turner turned their attention to capturing the beauty of the natural world in their paintings. Before that, paintings had been primarily of religious scenes or of human beings. William Wordsworth's poetry described the wonder of the natural world, which had formerly been viewed as a threatening place. Increasingly the valuing of nature became an aspect of Western culture. This artistic movement also coincided with the Transcendentalist movement in the Western world. A common classical idea of beautiful art involves the word mimesis, the imitation of nature. Also in the realm of ideas about beauty in nature is that the perfect is implied through symmetry, equal division, and other perfect mathematical forms and notions.
O
O is for Ovid
Publius Ovidius Naso (20 March 43 BCE – 17 or 18 CE), known as Ovid in the English-speaking world, was a Roman poet who is best known as the author of the three major collections of erotic poetry: Heroides, Amores, and Ars Amatoria. He is also well known for the Metamorphoses, a mythological hexameter poem, the Fasti, about the Roman calendar, and the Tristia and Epistulae ex Ponto, two collections of poems written in exile on the Black Sea. Ovid was also the author of several smaller pieces, the Remedia Amoris, the Medicamina Faciei Femineae, and the long curse-poem Ibis. He also authored a lost tragedy, Medea. His poetry, much imitated during Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages, decisively influenced European art and literature and remains as one of the most important sources of classical mythology.
- The Metamorphoses
The Metamorphoses by the Roman poet Ovid is a narrative poem in fifteen books that describes the creation and history of the world. Completed in 8 AD, it has remained one of the most popular works of mythology, being the Classical work best known to medieval writers and thus having a great deal of influence on medieval poetry. It tells of the lives, loves and metamorphoses of Venus, Adonis, Eros, Bacchus, Jupiter, Narcissus and Hermaphroditus and are a continuing influence on mythological painting. the poem's immense popularity in antiquity and the Middle Ages belies the struggle for survival it faced in late antiquity. Considered by Christians a dangerously pagan work, the Metamorphoses was fortunate to survive Christianization, and the vitriolic voices of Augustine and Jerome, who believed the only metamorphosis worth reading about was the transubstantiation.
P
P is for Paris
Paris is the capital of France. It is a leading global cultural center and is renowned for its defining neo-classical architecture as well as its unrivaled influence in fashion and the arts. Nicknamed "the City of Light" or "Gay Paree" since the 19th century, Paris has a reputation as a "romantic city".
Walter Benjamin called Paris "the capital of the 19th century". Indeed, Paris was the birthplace of modern art and from the 1860s ruled as cultural capital of the world until well into the 20th century.
The Industrial Revolution, the French Second Empire, and the Belle Époque brought 19th century Paris the greatest development in its history. From the 1840s, rail transport allowed an unprecedented flow of migrants into Paris attracted by employment in the new industries in the suburbs. The city underwent a massive renovation under Napoleon III and his assistant Haussmann, who leveled entire districts of narrow-winding medieval streets to create the network of wide avenues and neo-classical façades of modern Paris.
Cholera epidemics in 1832 and 1849 affected the population of Paris — the 1832 epidemic alone claimed 20,000 of the then population of 650,000. Paris also suffered greatly from the siege ending the Franco-Prussian War (1870-1871), and the ensuing civil war Commune of Paris (1871) killed thousands and sent many of Paris's administrative centres (and city archives) up in flames.
Paris recovered rapidly from these events to host the famous Universal Expositions of the late nineteenth century. The Eiffel Tower was built for the French Revolution centennial 1889 Universal Exposition, as a "temporary" display of architectural engineering prowess but remained the world's tallest building until 1930, and is the city's best-known landmark. The first line of the Paris Métro opened for the 1900 Universal Exposition and was an attraction in itself for visitors from the world over. Paris's World's Fair years also consolidated its position in the tourist industry and as an attractive setting for international technology and trade shows.
Q
Q is for queer
The word queer has traditionally meant "strange" or "unusual," but currently it is also often used in reference to gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and asexual communities. Its usage is controversial and underwent substantial changes over the course of the 20th century. The term is still considered by some to be offensive and derisive, and by others simply as a re-appropriated term used to describe a sexual orientation and/or gender identity or gender expression that does not conform to heteronormative society.
- See also
R
R is for Rabelais
François Rabelais (c. 1494 - April 9, 1553) was a major French Renaissance writer best-known for Gargantua and Pantagruel and his relation to the grotesque. Mikhail Bakhtin, the Russian philosopher and critic, derived his celebrated concept of the carnivalesque and grotesque body from the world of Rabelais.
Gargantua and Pantagruel is a connected series of five novels written in the 16th century by François Rabelais. It is the story of two giants, a father (Gargantua) and his son (Pantagruel) and their adventures, written in an amusing, extravagant, satirical vein. There is much crudity and scatological humor as well as a large amount of violence. Enumerations of vulgar insults fill several chapters.
Rabelais' use of his native tongue was astoundingly original, lively, and creative. He introduced dozens of Greek, Latin, and Italian loan-words and direct translations of Greek and Latin compound words and idioms into French. He also used many dialectal forms and invented new words and metaphors, some of which have become part of the standard language and are still used today. Rabelais is arguably one of the authors who have enriched the French language in the most significant way.
His works are also known for being filled with sexual double-entendre, dirty jokes and bawdy songs that can still surprise or even shock modern readers.
S
S is for Surrealism
- What is Surrealism?, a 1934 lecture by André Breton.
Surrealism was a 20th century art and cultural movement that began in the mid-1920s in Europe, and is best known for the visual artworks and writings of the group members. The works feature the element of surprise, unexpected juxtapositions and non sequitur, however many Surrealist artists and writers regard their work as an expression of the philosophical movement first and foremost with the works being an artefact, and leader André Breton was explicit in his assertion that Surrealism was above all a revolutionary movement. From the Dada activities of World War I Surrealism was formed with the most important center of the movement in Paris and from the 1920s spreading around the globe, impacting many other fields.
T
T is for taboo
A taboo is a strong social prohibition (or ban) against words, objects, actions, discussions, or people that are considered undesirable or offensive by a group, culture, or society. Breaking the taboo is usually considered objectionable or abhorrent. Some taboo activities or customs are prohibited under law and transgressions may lead to severe penalties. Other taboos result in embarrassment, shame and rudeness.
Taboos can include dietary restrictions (halal and kosher diets, religious vegetarianism, and the prohibition of cannibalism), restrictions on sexual activities, gender roles and relationships (sex outside of marriage, adultery, intermarriage, miscegenation, homosexuality, incest, animal-human sex, pedophilia, necrophilia and paraphilias), restrictions of bodily functions (burping, flatulence, defecation, urination, masturbation, nosepicking, and spitting), restrictions on state of genitalia such as circumcision or sex reassignment, exposure of body parts, pornography and nudity esp. in the US), illicit drugs, substance abuse, alcoholism, bodily pain, medical surgery, satanism or devil worship, restrictions on the use of offensive language also known as obscenity and vulgarity, and other topics/subjects that provoke emotional angst or may disturb people to discomfort. Some taboos originated by acts of authority, be it legal, social and religious, over a period of time.Template:Fact
The list of "common courtesy" taboos more having to do with western etiquette and respecting others, include topics on sexuality, religion, death, disease, natural disasters, divorce, politics, crime, justice, money issues, gender, race/ethnicity in order to avoid discriminatory and prejudiced attitudes, human rights, oppression, animal abuse, child abuse, domestic violence, abortion, miscarriage, pregnancy and childbirth, personal issues regarding one's age, income, height, weight and appearance, and a variety of religious sins are taboo, depending of their faith. Environmentalism, other ecology-related issues and scientific controversies (human evolution, eugenics, in-vitro fertilization, human cloning and stem cell research) are often treated like a taboo by their controversial and divisive nature in the realm of politics, morality and religious belief. When not in "polite society", discussions on taboos are allowed in humorous expression, such as comedy and satire.
U
U is for underground
- The mainstream comes to you, but you have to go to the underground. - Frank Zappa
- "Ideas enter our above-ground culture through the underground. I suppose that is the kind of function that the underground plays, such as it is. That it is where the dreams of our culture can ferment and strange notions can play themselves out unrestricted. And sooner or later those ideas will percolate through into the broad mass awareness of the broad mass of the populace. Occulture, you know, that seems to be perhaps the last revolutionary bastion." -- Alan Moore
- By medium
- Underground comix, a term for non-mainstream comics
- Underground culture, a term to describe various alternative cultures
- Underground economy, commerce that is not taxed
- Underground film, cinema outside the commercial mainstream
- Underground literature, the history of clandestine publishing
- Underground music, music that has a certain following despite a moderate commercial success
- Underground press, the alternative print media in the late 1960s and early 1970s
- Underground resistance, nickname used for some resistance movements
V
V is for Venus
Venus is the Roman goddess of love and in visual art terminology a synonym for any idealized female nude. She is contrasted to the more mundane nini.
In classical art she is exemplified by the Praxitlean type Aphrodite of Cnidus. Many female nudes from this period of sculpture whose subjects are unknown are in modern art history conventionally called 'Venus'es, even if they originally may have portrayed a mortal woman rather than operated as a cult statue of the goddess. The most famous example is the Venus de Milo (130 BCE)
From the Renaissance untill the end of the 19th century, Venus became a popular subject of painting and sculpture in Europe. As a "classical" figure for whom nudity was her natural state, it was socially acceptable to depict her unclothed. As the goddess of sexual healing, a degree of erotic beauty in her presentation was justified, which had an obvious appeal to many artists and their patrons. Over time, venus came to refer to any artistic depiction in post-classical art of a nude woman, even when there was no indication that the subject was the goddess. Examples include The Birth of Venus (Botticelli) (c. 1485), the Sleeping Venus (c. 1510), the Venus of Urbino (1538), The Rokeby Venus (1651) and Olympia (1863)
In the field of prehistoric art, since the discovery in 1908 of the so-called "Venus of Willendorf" small Neolithic sculptures of rounded female forms have been conventionally referred to as Venus figurines. Although the name of the actual deity is not known, the knowing contrast between the obese and fertile cult figures and the classical conception of Venus has raised resistance to the terminology.
W
W is for The Western World
The term Western world or "the West" (also on rare occasions called the Occident) can have multiple meanings depending on its context (i.e. the time period and the used criteria). Even definitions of what constitutes the West today vary. In general however there is a consensus that the West includes at least Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States, and Western Europe.
In other definitions, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Japan, Turkey, and Israel are often included, as their cultures are closely linked.
X
X is for X-rated
X-rated (also known as X certificate or X classification) is a film rating indicating strong adult content, typically sexual content and nudity, or violence and profanity.
Y
Y is for Yoshifumi Hayashi
Yoshifumi Hayashi (1948, Fukuoka, Japan) is an artist specializing in scenes of female erotica. In the 21st century, he has been associated with the Mondo Bizarro art gallery in Italy.
Z
Z is for Zuid
The South of Antwerp (Zuid), is the cultural heart of the Antwerp. Revived in the mid-1980s, it is a beautiful district with many Art Nouveau style buildings such as the Rudolf Steiner school on Volkstraat, art galleries and museums and trendy cafes, restaurants and shops. Its gentrification started in the 1980s, reached its peak with the inauguration of the Palace of Justice.
Gallery
See also
- Jahsonic's mid 1990s abecedarium
- User:Jahsonic/A, User:Jahsonic/B, User:Jahsonic/C, User:Jahsonic/D, User:Jahsonic/E, User:Jahsonic/F, User:Jahsonic/G, User:Jahsonic/H, User:Jahsonic/I, User:Jahsonic/J, User:Jahsonic/K, User:Jahsonic/L, User:Jahsonic/M, User:Jahsonic/N, User:Jahsonic/O, User:Jahsonic/P, User:Jahsonic/Q, User:Jahsonic/R, User:Jahsonic/S, User:Jahsonic/T, User:Jahsonic/U, User:Jahsonic/V, User:Jahsonic/W, User:Jahsonic/X, User:Jahsonic/Y, User:Jahsonic/Z.
