A woman cries at the Fatima's Sanctuary on May 11, 2010, in Fatima. Pope Benedict XVI landed in Lisbon to begin a four-day visit included Fatima and Porto. The pope will celebrate a giant open-air mass Thursday at Fatima, where three shepherd children reported seeing visions of the Virgin Mary in 1917. Photo by Pierre-Philippe Marcou/AFP/Getty Images.
An Afghan boy plays behind a mosque as the rain approaches in the old part of Kabul, on April 10, 2010. The US rolled out the red carpet for Afghan President Hamid Karzai as he started a four-day visit, hoping to patch up public spats that cast a shadow over joint war efforts. Photo by Mauricio Lima/AFP/Getty Images.
Brazilian indigenous Caiapo chief Raoni poses at the Quai Branly museum on May 06, 2010 in Paris. Raoni is in France to present his book 'Memories of an Indian chief' and meet former French President Jacques Chirac about his fight against the construction of the Rio Xingu's dam in Brazil. Photo by Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images.
A Greek man is reflected in a broken mirror as he checks newspapers in the center of Athens on May 6, 2010. A fire-bomb attack on a bank in Greece killed at least three people on May 5, as police fought pitched battles with striking protesters furious at brutal budget cuts designed to avert national bankruptcy. Greek unions mobilized Thursday for new demonstrations against draconian austerity cuts as the government raced to push the unprecedented measures through parliament a day after deadly rioting. By Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/Getty Images.
A patient going by "Rafael" poses after undergoing a face transplant at Sevilla's Hospital Virgen del Rocio on May 4, 2010 in Sevilla. The second patient to have undergone a face transplant in Spain appeared before the media to thank the family of the donor for making the surgery possible before leaving the hospital. Rafael suffers from neurofibromatosis, a genetically inherited disorder in which the nerve tissue grows tumours. These tumours had severely disfigured Rafael's face. By Cristina Quicler/AFP/Getty Images.
For a months-long MoMA exhibit, artist Marina Abramovi? is sitting for seven or more hours a day as visitors are invited to face her, in silence, for as long as they wish. Kottke describes a Flickr gallery of hundreds of portraits:
The photographs are mesmerizing…face after face of intense concentration. A few of the participants even appear to be crying (this person and this one too) and several show up multiple times (the fellow pictured above sat across from Abramovi? at least half-a-dozen times). The photos are annotated with the duration of each seating. Most stay only a few minutes but this woman sat there for six and a half hours.
She is pictured above. Here is an image of the artist she is looking at. A Tumblr of criers here. Kottke is compiling many more interesting anecdotes, such as this one:
In between each of these sitters, Abramovi? looked down and closed her eyes, resetting her gaze and gathering energy. When she looked up again, sitting opposite her was none other than Ulay [her ex-boyfriend and collaborator of many years]. A rapturous silence descended on the atrium. Abramovi? immediately dissolved into tears, and for the first few seconds had trouble meeting Ulay's calm gaze. She turned from superhero to little girl – smiling meekly; painfully vulnerable. When they did finally lock eyes, tears streaked down Abramovi?'s cheeks; after a few minutes, she violated the conditions of her own performance and reached across the table to take his hands. It was a moving reconciliation scene – as Abramovi?, of course, was well aware.
Mark Pernice has some fun:
Using Apple's Photo Booth application as inspiration, the idea was to take the 2D image that it manipulated and create a tangible face in a real environment, then in turn bring it back into a 2D image. Using Photo Booth on the mask itself may create some sort of paradoxal shift where I cease to exist.
He's thinking of turning it into a series:
Some have said they would like to see this as a series. This was actually the original intention. Funds and time permitting this might actually happen given the amount of love it's been getting.
(Hat tip: Wooster)
Caption from an online archive:
Illustration showing Mohammed preaching his final sermon to his earliest converts, on Mount Ararat near Mecca; taken from a medieval-era manuscript of the astronomical treatise The Remaining Signs of Past Centuries by the Persian scholar al-Biruni; currently housed in the collection of the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris (Manuscrits Arabe 1489 fol. 5v). This scene was popular among medieval Islamic artists, and several nearly identical versions of this drawing (such as this one and this one) were made in the Middle Ages.
Dozens more here.
An man smokes marijuana during a pro-marijuana rally at Civic Center Park with the Colorado State Capitol Building in the background yesterday, April 20, 2010 in Denver, Colorado. April 20th has become a de facto holiday for marijuana advocates, with large gatherings and 'smoke outs' in many parts of the United States. Colorado, one of 14 states to allow use of medical marijuana, has experienced an explosion in marijuana dispensaries, trade shows and related businesses in the last year as marijuana use becomes more mainstream here. By Chris Hondros/Getty Images.
Marta Kaczynska, (C), daughter of Polish President Lech Kaczynski cries, as she stands with Jaroslaw Kaczynski, (R), twin brother of the late President, as they pay hommage to the coffin of Kaczynski after its arrival in Warsaw on April 11, 2010, the day after a plane carrying Kaczynski and many of the country's military and state elite crashed in thick fog in Russia killing all 96 people on board in a blazing inferno. Poland faces a period of national trauma after the shock deaths of its president and many top officials, but the NATO and EU member's long-term stability is not at risk, analysts say.The nation was left reeling after a plane crash in Russia on Saturday killed President Lech Kaczynski, lawmakers, the military top brass and the central bank governor as they headed to a memorial for Poles killed in a World War II massacre. By Joe Klamar/AFP/Getty Images.
The Dish 
