Paul Cezanne Apples Peaches Pears and Grapes

Paul Cezanne Apples Peaches Pears and GrapesLaurie Maitland Symphony in Red and Khaki IIWilliam Bouguereau YouthBill Brauer Salsa Dancers
This beautiful piece of hardware is pricey ($800), but it's all you need to create a mobile disco. The Pacemaker has two digital "decks" that let you scratch, bend and tweak your tunes to create a party and sell tickets. It comes William Hung.
Porta-PartyShy guest coming to your New Year's Eve party? Rent this booth so they can party in private -- sort of. Los Angeles-based artist Nick Rodrigues has created an iPod-shaped booth called Porta-Party that you can walk into. Shut the door, crank up the music and start grooving. The best part is the exhibitionist aspect: The iPod-like screen on the booth shows a video of what's happening inside. Get ready to put on a show!with extensive mixing functionality, allowing you to change the pitch and cross=fade, and it has 120-GB hard drive.Soundproof MicrophoneClearly karaoke is not your thing. That's why you may want to put a bag over your head when you sing, or do the digital equivalent of it and get a soundproof microphone. This rather uncool-looking device muffles your singing and lets you belt out Ricky Martin's "She Bangs" without letting everyone know you're more like

Gustav Klimt Pear Tree

Gustav Klimt Pear TreeGustav Klimt Fruit TreesGustav Klimt Death and LifeGustav Klimt Beethoven Frieze
fire, driven by the wind, spread out from the Drum faster than a man could walk. The timbers of the Widdershin Gate were already on fire when Rincewind, his face blistered and reddened from the flames, reached them. By now he and Twoflower were on horseback - mounts hadn't been that hard to obtain. A wily merchant hadBloody hell, he thought. He's alive! Me too. Who'd have thought it? Perhaps there is something in this reflected-sound-of-underground- spirits? It was a cumbersome phrase. Rincewind tried to get his tongue round the thick syllables that were the word in Twoflower's own language.
"Ecolirix?" he tried. "Ecro-gnothics? Echo-gnomics?"
That would do. That sounded about right. asked fifty times their worth, and had been left gaping when one thousand times their worth had been pressed into his hands.They rode through just before the first of the big gate timbers descended in an explosion of sparks Morpork was already a cauldron of flame.As they galloped up the red-lit road Rincewind glanced sideways at his travelling companion currently trying hard to learn to ride a horse.

Sandro Botticelli Madonna in Glory with Seraphim

Sandro Botticelli Madonna in Glory with SeraphimJean Beraud La Rue de la Paix 1907Unknown Artist tango dancersUnknown Artist sweet breath
honorably like a bear; they'd kill him with fire hurlers before he got near. Not a hope. No mercy."
"Oh," said Lyra, with a heavy despair in her breast. "And what about the bears' other prisoners? Do you know where they keep them?"
"Other prisoners?"
"Like.-.Lord Asriel."
Suddenly whispering herself so as not to alarm him.
"Keeping Lord Asriel prisoner is a special charge laid on lofur by the Oblation Board," the old man whispered back. "Mrs. Coulter herself came here to see lofur and offered him all kinds of rewards to keep Lord Asriel out of the way. I know about it, you see, because the Professor's manner changed altogether. He cringed and shrank back against the wall, and shook his head warningly."Shh! Quiet! They'll hear you!" he whispered."Why mustn't we mention Lord Asriel?""Forbidden! Very dangerous! lofur Raknison will not allow him to be mentioned!""Why?" Lyra said, coming closer and

Unknown Artist Heighton After Hours

Unknown Artist Heighton After HoursUnknown Artist Brent Lynch Evening LoungeUnknown Artist Paris Eiffel TowerPaul Klee Zitronen
Good. 'Cause I'm going to go and look round. There's a way through the ceiling that this boy showed me...."
She explained, and before she'd even finished, Annie said, "I'll come with you!"
"No, you better not, 'cause it'll be easier if there's just one person missing. You can all say you fell asleep and you between children to be settled by their daemons in this way, with one accepting the dominance of the other. Their humans accepted the outcome without resentment, on the whole, so Lyra knew that Annie would do as she asked.
They all contributed items of clothing to bulk out Lyra's bed and make it look don't know where I've gone.""But if I came with you-""More likely to get caught," said Lyra.Their two daemons were staring at each other, Pantalaimon as a wildcat, Annie's Kyrillion as a fox. They were quivering. Pantalaimon uttered the lowest, softest hiss and bared his teeth, and Kyrillion turned aside and began to groom himself unconcernedly."All right then," said Annie, resigned.It was quite common for struggles

George Frederick Watts Charity

George Frederick Watts CharityFrancisco de Goya Nude MajaFrancisco de Goya Clothed MajaEdgar Degas The Rehearsal
you were hunters and raiders who often prey on parties of travelers, and alone they can travel more quickly than a large party. The gyptians are still a day's journey away."
The two boys were staring in fear at the goose daemon and at Lyra's familiar manner with him, because of course they'd "I can open it," said the goose, and beat his wings once or twice, throwing snow up against the door; and as he did, Lyra heard something turn in the lock.
"Go in carefully," said the daemon.never seen a daemon without his human before, and they knew little about witches.Lyra said to them, "Listen, you better go and keep watch, right. Billy, you go that way, and Roger, watch out the way we just come. We en't got long."They ran off to do as she said, and then Lyra turned back to the door."Why are you trying to get in there?" said the goose daemon."Because of what they do here. They cut-" she lowered her voice, "they cut people's daemons away. Children's. And I think maybe they do it in here. At least, there's something here, and I was going to look. But it's locked...."

Frida Kahlo Two Nudes in the Forest

Frida Kahlo Two Nudes in the ForestFrida Kahlo Self Portrait with Thorn NecklaceFrida Kahlo Self Portrait with Small Monkey
it far?"
"For you or for me?"
"For me," she said.
"Too far. Not at all far for me."
"How long muzzle. He knew she wanted something.
Pantalaimon spoke: "Can you take us there and catch up with the sledges later on?"
"I could. But I have given my word to Lord Faa to obey him, not anyone else."
"If I got his permission?" said Lyra. "Then yes."
She turned and ran back through the snow. "Lord Faa! If lorek Byrnison takes me would it take you to get there, then?" "I could be there and back three times by next moonrise." "Because, lorek, listen: I got this symbol reader that tells me things, you see, and it's told me that there's something important I got to do over in that village, and Lord Faa won't let me go there. He just wants to get on quick, and 1 know that's important too. But unless I go and find out what it is, we might not know what the Gobblers are really doing."The bear said nothing. He was sitting up like a human, his great paws folded in his lap, his dark eyes looking into hers down the length of his

George Inness Passing Clouds

George Inness Coast ScenePierre Auguste Renoir Au bord de la merGustave Caillebotte Paris Street rainy weatherGeorge Inness Passing CloudsGeorge Inness End of DayGeorge Inness Early Moonrise Florida
remember when I first went to sea, my Belisaria hadn't settled on one form, I was that young, and she loved being a porpoise. I was afraid she'd settle like that. There was one old sailorman on my first vessel who could never go to settle?" Lyra said. "I want Pantalaimon to be able to change forever. So does he."
"Ah, they always have settled, and they always will. That's part of growing up. There'll come a time when you'll be tired of his changing about, and you'll want a settled kind of form for him."
"I never will!"
"Oh, you will. You'll want to grow up like all the other girls. Anyway, there's compensations for a settled form."
"What are they?"ashore at all, because his daemon had settled as a dolphin, and he could never leave the water. He was a wonderful sailor, best navigator you ever knew; could have made a fortune at the he wasn't happy at it. He was never quite happy till he died and he could be buried at sea.""Why do daemons have

Leroy Neiman Elephant Nocturne

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table himself. Lyra found herself opposite Farder Coram. She was a little frightened by his skull-like face and his continual trembling. His daemon was a beautiful autumn-colored cat, massive in size, who stalked along the table with upraised tail and elegantly inspected Pantalaimon, touching noses briefly before settling on Farder Coram's lap, half-closing her eyes and purring softly.
A woman whom Lyra"She was called Mrs. Coulter. And I thought she was nice, but I found out she was one of the Gobblers. I heard someone say what the Gobblers were, they were called the General Oblation Board, and she was in charge of it, it was all her idea. And they was all working on some plan, I dunno what it was, only they was going to make me help her get kids for 'em. But they never knew..." hadn't noticed came out of the shadows with a tray of glasses, set it down by John Faa, curtsied, and left. John Faa poured little glasses of jenniver from a stone crock for himself and Farder Coram, and wine for Lyra."So," John Faa said. "You run away, Lyra.""Yes.""And who was the lady you run away from?"

Claude Monet Bank of the Seine Vetheuil

Claude Monet Bank of the Seine VetheuilClaude Monet Autumn at ArgenteuilRene Magritte Woman Bathing
Good evening, child," he said. His voice was smooth and commanding. His serpent daemon's mailed head and emerald eyes glittered in the light from the cut-glass lamp on the wall nearby.
"Good evening," said Lyra.
"How is my at once, in the same way that you could focus the beam of an anbaric lantern. All his attention streamed at her fiercely.
"Suppose you tell me what you know," he said.
"They're doing experiments in the North," Lyra said. She was feeling old friend the Master of Jordan?""Very well, thank you.""I expect they were all sorry to say goodbye to you.""Yes, they were.""And is Mrs. Coulter keeping you busy? What is she teaching you?"Because Lyra was feeling rebellious and uneasy, she didn't answer this patronizing question with the truth, or with one of her usual flights of fancy. Instead she said, "I'm learning about Rusakov Particles, and about the Oblation Board."He seemed to become focused

Peter Paul Rubens The Straw Hat

Peter Paul Rubens The Straw HatPeter Paul Rubens Duke of LermaJohn William Waterhouse My Sweet Rose
was clambering over the college roofs with Roger, the kitchen boy who was her particular friend, to spit plum stones on the heads of passing Scholars or to hoot like owls outside a window where a tutorial was going on, or racing through . Children playing together: how pleasant to see! What could be more innocent and charming?
In fact, of course, Lyra and her peers were engaged in deadly warfare. There were several wars running at once. The children (young servants, and the children of servants, and Lyra) of one college waged war on those of another. Lyra had once been captured by the children of Gabriel college, and Roger and their friends Hugh Lovat and Simon Parslow had raided the narrow streets, or stealing apples from the market, or waging war. Just as she was unaware of the hidden currents of politics running below the surface of college affairs, so the Scholars, for their part, would have been unable to see the rich seething stew of alliances and enmities and feuds and treaties which was a child's life in Oxford

Edgar Degas Song of the Dog

Edgar Degas Song of the DogEdgar Degas Beach SceneEdgar Degas Ballerina and Lady with a Fan
bird, on the turbulent updrafts above the forest, and Lee looked around through the dark air, now suffused with a pallid glow from the full moon that occasionally glared through a brief rent in the cloud cover and made the treetops ring with silver.
The eagle magnetic will of the eagle, and saw against the silver cloud rack the hateful dark regularity of a zeppelin.
They all knew exactly what they must do. And they streamed toward the airship, the swiftest reaching it first, but none so swiftly as Sayan Kotor; the tiny wrens and finches, the darting swifts, the silent-winged owls—within a minute the craft was laden with them, their claws daemon uttered a harsh scream, and from below came in a thousand different voices the calls of a thousand birds: the too-whoo of owls, the alarm shriek of little sparrows, . Sayan Kotor was calling them. And in answer they came, every bird in the forest, whether they had been gliding in the hunt on silent wings or roosting asleep; they came fluttering upward in their thousands through the tumbling air.And Lee felt whatever bird nature he was sharing respond with joy to the command of the eagle queen, and whatever humanness he had left felt the strangest of pleasures: that of offering eager obedience to a stronger power that was wholly right. And he wheeled and turned with the rest of the mighty flock, a hundred different species all turning as one in the

Sandro Botticelli Pallas and the Centaur

Sandro Botticelli Pallas and the CentaurSandro Botticelli Madonna in Glory with SeraphimJean Beraud La Rue de la Paix 1907
as usual. I should be asking you for identification. Who appointed you? And why?"
"Here's my ID," said the man, showing her a card, too quickly for her to read it. "Where's yours?"
She noticed he had a mobile phone in a holster at his hip. Or was it a gun? No, surely, she was being paranoid. And he hadn't answered her questions. But if she persisted, she'd make him suspicious, and the important thing now was to get into the lab. Soothe him like a dog, she thought. She fumbled through her bag and found her wallet.and an elderly porter, and she knew why the change had come about. But it meant that she had very little time; she'd have to get it right at once, because once they realized what she was doing, she wouldn't be able to come back again.
She locked the door behind her and lowered the blinds. She switched on the detector and then took a floppy disk from her pocket and slipped controlled the Cave"Will this do?" she said, showing him the card she used to operate the barrier in the car park.He looked at it briefly."What are you ."He seemed to be searching for a reason to forbid her, or perhaps he was just exercising his power. Finally he nodded and stood aside. She went past, smiling at him, but his face remained blank.When she reached the laboratory, she was still trembling. There had never been any more "security" in this building than a lock on the door

Claude Monet La Japonaise

Claude Monet La JaponaiseClaude Monet ArgenteuilGustav Klimt Danae (detail)
judge ruled that when the girl reaches puberty, she will have the right to request a divorce by filing a petition with the court, the lawyer said.
Christoph spokesman for the Human Rights Commission, a Saudi government-run human rights group, said his organization is fighting against child marriages.
"The Human Rights Commission opposes child marriages in Saudi Arabia," al-Harithi said. "Child marriages violate international agreements that have been signed by Saudi Arabia and should not be allowed."
The spokesman said he did not have specific details about this Wilcke, a Saudi Arabia researcher for Human Rights Watch, said his organization has heard many other cases of child marriages."We've been hearing about these types of cases once every four or five months because the Saudi public is now able to express this kind of anger, especially so when girls are traded off to older men," Wilcke said.Zuhair al-Harithi, a

Unknown Artist Mary Magdalene at the Tomb

Unknown Artist Mary Magdalene at the TombThomas Kinkade yankee stadiumThomas Kinkade ny yankee stadium
said, "Who is this man who's got the knife?"
They were in the Rolls-Royce, driving up through Oxford. Sir Charles sat in the front, half-turned around, and Will and Lyra sat . In Cittagazze there's a Guild of learned men, so called, who used to do so all the time."
"You en't from this world at all!" said Lyra suddenly. "You're from there, en't you?"
And again came that strange nudge at her memory. She was almost certain she'd seen him before.
"No, I'm not," he said.in the back, with Pantalaimon a mouse now, soothed in Lyra's hands."Someone who has no more right to the knife than I have to the alethiometer," said Sir Charles. "Unfortunately for all of us, the alethiometer is in my possession, and the knife is in his.""How do you know about that other world anyway?""I know many things that you don't. What else would you expect? I am a good deal older and considerably better informed. There are a number of doorways between this world and that; those who know where they are can easily pass back and forth

Leroy Neiman The Maulers

Leroy Neiman The MaulersLeroy Neiman The Lights of BroadwayLeroy Neiman The Home Hole at Shinnecock
Grumman?" said the black-bearded fur trader. "From the Berlin Academy? Reckless. I met him five years back over at the northern end of the Urals. I thought he was dead."
Sam Cansino, an old acquaintance and a Texan like Lee Scoresby, sat in the naphtha-laden, smoky bar of the Samirsky , by initiation?"
"You don't say," said Lee Scoresby, tipping more vodka into Sam's glass. His daemon, Hester, crouched at his elbow on the bar, eyes half-closed as usual, ears flat along Hotel and tossed back a shot glass of bitingly cold vodka. He nudged the plate of pickled fish and black bread toward Lee, who took a mouthful and nodded for Sam to tell him more."He'd walked into a trap that fool Yakovlev laid," the fur trader went on, "and cut his leg open to the bone. Instead of on using the stuff the bears use—bloodmoss—some kind of lichen, it ain't a true moss. Anyway, he was lying on a sledge alternately roaring with pain and calling out instructions to his men—they were taking star sights, and they had to get the measurements right or he'd lash them with his tongue, and boy, he had a tongue like barbed wire. A lean man, tough, powerful, curious about everything. You know he was a Tartar

John William Waterhouse Hylas and the Nymphs

John William Waterhouse Hylas and the NymphsJohn William Waterhouse Waterhouse OpheliaLeonardo da Vinci Virgin of the Rocks
car, but he took no notice of Will, and Will didn't look at him. The less notice people took, the better.
Holding Moxie against his chest, he unlocked the door and went in quickly. Then he listened very carefully before putting her down. There was nothing to hear; the house was empty.
He opened a tin kept her underclothes, and then he worked systematically through the rest of the rooms upstairs, even his own. Moxie came to see what he was doing and sat and cleaned herself nearby, for company.
But he didn't find it.
By that time it was dark, and he was hungry. He made himself baked for Moxie and left her to eat in the kitchen. How long before the men came back? There was no way of telling, so he'd better move quickly. He went upstairs and began to search.He was looking for a battered green leather . There are a surprising number of places to hide something that size even in any ordinary modern house; you don't need secret panels and extensive cellars in order to make something hard to find. Will searched his mother's bedroom first, ashamed to be looking through the drawers where she

Thomas Kinkade Deer Creek Cottage

Thomas Kinkade Deer Creek CottageThomas Kinkade Cobblestone BridgeThomas Kinkade Clearing Storms
LinkedIn is more appropriate for work connections. It’s mostly about surface things.
You can’t communicate much on Facebook. True, you can share quizzes and jokes, and poke people, or send funny icons. And you can see what that old friend in high school now looks like (admit it, you’ve checked), but you can’t contribute , but found there were a sea of others with my same name out there. (Most of them college students I imagine.) He requested that we be “friends” and I agreed. When we did finally link to each other, I discovered that he already had close to 150 other “friends” on Facebook. Somehow the sweetness of his wanting my “friendship” dissipated. Was I much of your personality or truly understand another human being. You can post a link to a story; but it fades into the background. We all use it because we think that’s all there is. Like all trends, someday something else will come along and rapidly replace it.A friend tried looking for me on Facebook

Arthur Hughes The King's Orchard

Arthur Hughes The King's OrchardArthur Hughes PhyllisFranz Marc Zwei Katzen
it was coming apart... No, something was getting off its back.
The something was a man.
She could see him quite clearly, even at that distance; the moonlight was brilliant, and her eyes were adjusted to it. She looked through the spyglass, and put the matter beyond doubt: it was a human figure, radiating Dust.
He was poured icy water over her heart. Every separate hair on her flesh stirred.
She was too far away to do anything: even if she'd shouted, he wouldn't have heard. She had to watch as he stepped into the village, looking to the left and right, stopping every so often to listen, moving from house to house.carrying something: a long stick of some kind. He came along the path quickly and easily, not running, but moving like an athlete or a hunter. He was dressed in simple dark clothes that would normally conceal him well; but through the spyglass he showed up as if he were under a spotlight.And as he came closer to the village, she realized what that stick was. He was carrying a rifle.She felt as if someone had