General Interest
http://www.pentacom.jp/soft/ex/collage/collage.html
Some of our readers no doubt have fond memories of getting out various newspapers, magazines, old art books, and other such materials and creating their own collages on a dreary Saturday morning that seemed to call out for such an indoors activity. While there might not be the same visceral feeling with this online collage machine, it is still definitely worth a visit. Presented with a blank work screen, visitors can peruse the collection of objects offered here, and then drag them onto their workspace. After doing so, the images can be cut up and manipulated in a variety of ways. Some of the objects include a butterfly, a menacing shark, a puppy, traffic signs, a picture window, and a daunting iceberg. As one might imagine, the pedagogical possibilities of such a site are quite interesting and may prove useful in a classroom setting. [KMG]
http://www.getty.edu/art/exhibitions/david/
Deftly combining art and history, this site from the Getty presents the works of painter Jacques-Louis David, "Image-maker to Napoleon". Although there are not a huge number David's paintings and drawings in the Web exhibition, those present are extensively researched. For example, a portrait of Suzanne Le Peletier de Saint-Fargeau, daughter of an assassinated revolutionary who came to be called "Mademoiselle Nation" during the French Revolution, is accompanied by both a video and a discussion, relating her political history and analyzing the style and iconography with which David depicts it. In the section on Napoleon, visitors can zoom in on details of David's The Emperor Napoleon in His Study at the Tuileries 1811-1812, read a biography of Napoleon, view several other studies and paintings of the French emperor, and read about his relationship to David. [DS]
To say that we in the modern world are bombarded with visual mass-produced images is, to say the least, a vast understatement. Photography certainly provides many of these images, yet only a small portion of their number qualify as compelling or worthy of more than a quick glance. Fortunately, there is the VII Photo Agency website, which contains dozens of thought-provoking photo essays that capture some of the zeitgeist of our time. Founded in 2001 by a group of seven photo-journalists, the VII Photo Agency’s work is united by “a sense that, in the act of communication at the very least, all is not lost; the seeds of hope and resolution inform even the darkest records of inhumanity; reparation is always possible; despair is never absolute.” Some of the very fine photo essays that may be perused here include a selection of images that document the rapid growth and dynamism of Shanghai, a day in the life of President George W. Bush, and an intimate photo essay of Philip Roth. The other photo essays may be viewed by topic, including those that deal with the recent U.S. presidential elections and the conflict between Israel and Palestine. [KMG]
http://www.alexanderpalace.org/petersburg1900/index.html
Since 1995, Bob Atchison has been creating interesting Web exhibits and collections, and he has also been responsible for maintaining the Alexander Palace Russian History homepage. The site features a number of specific exhibits that deal with such topics as the Romanovs and Siberia. His most recent creation is this photographic travelogue of St. Petersburg, which was the capital of Imperial Russia in 1900. Atchison had the idea for such a project as he looked over a copy of the Burton Holmes Travelogue for Russia from the period. All told, the travelogue contains 50 photographs, some of which are drawn from this original travelogue, and the remainder of which are drawn from Atchison’s personal collection. The collection is rounded out by a selection of links to other online works and several maps of St. Petersburg which are provided for reference purposes. [KMG]
Ricci Addams came up with the idea for this site during his senior year of high school, and shortly thereafter Musictheory.net became a reality. A real find for any music student (and for those who would just like to learn a bit about music), Musictheory.net contains over 30 interactive lessons on such topics as the triad inversion, major scales, key changes, and diatonic seventh chords. There are also a number of helpful trainers here as well, including an interval and brass trainer, among others. The site also contains a chord calculator and a staff paper generator. Additionally, visitors can elect to download the entire website for offline viewing. Finally, the entire site is also available in British English for the convenience of those persons residing in the United Kingdom. [KMG]
Created by the enactment of Public Law 601 (officially titled “Legislative Reorganization Act of 1946”), the House Committee on Veterans Affairs is responsible for recommending legislation that can expand, curtail, or fine-tune existing laws relating to veterans’ benefits. Currently under the leadership of Congressman Steve Buyer of Indiana, the Committee has a total of 30 members. The site’s homepage contains important, up-to-date information on the activities of the Committee, along with basic material on the Committee’s hearing schedule and a complete site search engine. The documents area contains the committee's budget reports for the past several fiscal years along with the activities report it submits each year to Congress. The site is rounded out by a fine tribute to the 60th anniversary of the GI Bill that includes a brief history of that piece of legislation and its legacy during the past six decades. [KMG]
http://www.historychannel.com/broadband/
It’s perhaps a bit of a stretch of the imagination to think of a place that would include both a clip of Spiro Agnew speaking out on what he perceived to be the biases of television news coverage and some archival footage of Depression-era gangsters, but it’s all right here on the History Channel’s Audio and Video online archive. The speech archive is quite nice, and may prove to be both edifying and entertaining. Visitors can browse the speech archive by topics (such as War & Diplomacy) or alphabetically. Some of the clips offered here include comments by the scientist Wernher von Braun after hearing that the U.S.S.R had landed a spacecraft on the moon. The video clip section is also quite well-developed, as it contains clips of the trial of Adolf Eichmann and the breaking of the sound barrier. [KMG]
