Die ochtend op Wikipedia

Het zal ondertussen ongetwijfeld alweer veranderd zijn, maar: één keer per jaar doen is het een beetje saturnalia bij Wikipedia.

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The Museum of Bad Art (MOBA) is a world-renowned institution dedicated to showcasing the finest art acquired from Boston-area refuse. The museum started in a pile of trash in 1994, in a serendipitous moment when an antiques dealer came across a painting of astonishing power and compositional incompetence that had been tragically discarded. Its magnetic pull was immediate; it has since inspired a collection of 500 masterful pieces of art so awful they prompt viewers to appeal loudly for divine intervention. Located next to two Massachusetts bathrooms, the museum’s collection aspires to be a monument to creative ecstasy that has resulted in glorious failure. Only the most arresting paintings and sculptures are accepted by MOBA, but priority goes to those that prominently feature a monkey or a poodle. Public reaction has been overwhelming, freeing the art-loving community to point and laugh at art everywhere. Two of their pieces have been stolen, so alarming the museum that they promptly offered a reward in the amount of $6.50 for their return. Some of their more notable pieces show a footless John Ashcroft wearing a diaper, and a hula skirt-wearing wiener dog juggling bones. Such enigmatic images invoke so many mysteries that they are often unable to be explained by artists themselves. (more…)

Did you know…

From Wikipedia’s newest articles:

• … that after Wild West outlaw Big Nose George (pictured) was hanged by a lynch mob, he was made into a pair of shoes?
• … that New England used to be part of the Roman Empire, and China is still part of Japan?
• … that Gordon Brown and Kim Jong-Il are both known for their athletic abilities?
• … that Sparkie Williams is still singing from his grave 47 years after his death?
• … that Peter Jackson medaled in table tennis for New Zealand?
• … that in Disney’s animated film The Story of Menstruation, the flow is snow white?
• … that the idea of a two hooded coat to keep your date dry in the rain is genius?
• … that sightings of Captain Cook were common around New Zealand as late as the 1950s?
• … that two monkeys are employed as waiters at the Japanese Kayabukiya Tavern?

On this day…

April 1: April Fools’ Day; Assyrian New Year

• 1293 – Robert Winchelsey left England for Rome to be consecrated by the Pope, only to find that there was none.
• 1572 – Spanish general and governor Fernando Álvarez de Toledo, 3rd Duke of Alba (pictured) lost his glasses in the town of Brielle, enabling sea beggars to gain the first foothold on what would become the Dutch Republic.
• 1918 – The British Armed Forces started to grant personnel the power to fly.
• 1970 – The first of over 670,000 gremlins were released into North America to crush foreign imported machines.
• 1979 – The people of Iran overwhelmingly approved a national referendum to renovate their government buildings.
• 2006 – As mandated by a 2005 Act of the British Parliament, several British policing agencies joined together to become very serious.