But damn; it was such a great idea that I really put some effort into recapturing it; and so the search was once again on.
There are some really nasty women named Mary out there, ladies and gentlemen.
Returning to the search for Marys-sounds like an evening on Castro Street, doesn't it?-I continued to come up no tits on the images I wanted no matter what search engines I tried. But what I did come up with, in spades?
The Story Of Judith and Holofernes.
Now to my recollection there is nobody named Mary in the story of Judith and Holofernes. Judith and Holofernes is the story of how one of the few women in the entire Bible who wasn't a complete throw pillow defeated an enemy of her people; she went to his tent, got him completely passed out drunk and then took his sword, hacked his head off and brought it back to show the folks at home. Anyway, since I was having absolutely no luck with the whole 'Mary' thing, I decided 'Well, when life hands you a severed head, make lemonade.'
These pictures fall into distinct categories, I found. But before I get started on that, just to let the gentlemen know that I love them all (call me) heres a good solid shot for your team:
'Ha ha!!! Take that, Julia Louise Dreyfuss! Seinfeld sucked!!! Haahahahahahaha!!!!"
Ok. Like I was saying, the pictures of the Judith and Holefernes story tend to fall into categories-comtemplation of the deed, the act itself, and the aftermath. Within these categories are some distinct subsets: eww, bigass head, and nice fish.
CONTEMPLATION OF THE DEED:
" Half a bottle and you're passed out like a little bitch? Man, my uncle Methuselah is like 310 and he blows through the vino like it's Koolaid. What a puke. If I didn't have to do this I'd just walk right out of here. I mean it. "
Judith: I know this is going to be really disgusting and gross and sick, God, and I'm probably going to barf everywhere and probably cry and get hysterical, and totally just lose it and freak out, God, and maybe faint and..." Servant: Oh SUCK it UP already.
THE DIRTY DEED IS DONE:
...For all the distress it seems to be causing her, Judith may as well be slicing a hunk off a salami. Meanwhile, the servant holding the candle obviously does not like this man at all; while Judith saws away she's dripping hot wax on the guy.
Old Testament CSI. Notice the blood spray? You take a couple hacks at a guys jugular and you bet theres gonna be some damn blood. Judith is mildly distressed by this, but she has obviously given some throught to the act and is keeping her nice blouse clean. The servant is ready with a bag. Holofernes is reacting about how you'd expect a drunk to act while his head is being severed...'Wha' th'FUCK, man, I uaaaaaghlllak, gurglegurgleackgagsplut" My nomination for best picture of the bunch.
THE AFTERMATH
Subset: eew
Subset: bigass head
Judith: " Yeah, mess with the Jews NOW, Holofernes.
Thats RIGHT. You CAN'T. Know why? Because I cut off your huge stupid HEAD, you stupid bastard."
Servant: "EEEEEew! His hairs' dirty! "
Goya knew his women.
" Did I mess up my hair? Really. Look at my hair. Is it coming undone in back? Because it feels like its coming undone in back. Just take a look."
"Judith, your hair is fine. Honest to God. Theres like one little piece coming out but thats it. It looks good. Really. It's cute. It's like that 'Belle Sauvage' look."
" Oh God, I have eighties hair? Are you kidding? I have eighties hair now? Well thats just great."
"Oh just DO something with it."
" Hey. Come here. You wanna see something really sick?
It's a head. A cut off head. Come check it out.
You want to touch it? You can if you want. It's still warm.
Lookit...I can make him talk. 'Would you like a sandwich Holofernes?'
Uh huh, Uh, huh...see, he's saying yes. Lookit his tongue. "
I found at least five pictures chronicling Holofernes' hydrocephalic melon but this one takes the cake.
This is one bigass head.
Poor Judith and her servant seem to be about the size of first graders. Holofernes legs are like fricken telephone poles with feet.
You cannot tell me that this painting is about anything else than sweater steaks. You see how they reflect the glow given off by Judith's elbow? These, the painter is saying, are the boobs of an angel.
Servant" Damn, Judith, that is one bigass head. Lookit this thing; its like a watermelon with a nose! "
See, this plumb eludes me. My search returned 45 pages and here this was on page 24.
Aftermath subset: nice fish
bait: silver daredevil on 20lb. test
"My God," thought Judith's servant "I've known her since she was a little child...but I never really knew her at all until now."
One of the very few Judiths who manage to look the least bit Middle Eastern. She has a great attitude.
"Hell yes it's a head. I cut it off, too. Damn right."
So, I was walking down the road, right, and I see this chick with something over her shoulder? So I stop, you know because I want to be friendly, and I said 'Would you like some help with that?' But then I saw that it's a sword, right? Anyway, so she looks at me and, you know, she seems nice, she smiles and says "No thanks, I've got it" and that's when I look down and see, like, I thought she was carrying one of those wooly 'Sixties-type purses, like that vest that Sonny Bono used to wear? Except its not, man. It was a fuckin little head.
A guy's head.
A real one.
Dude, I booked.
See, this is just wrong. Wrong, wrong, wrong.
First we have this gross, gross woman who's grossness defeats all attempts at description, who TOOK OFF HER SHOE to oog her TOES around on the face of this decapitated head
Next we have Queen Elizabeths Hat woman displaying her prizewinning entry...taken on natural bait using a split cane pole and silk line.
Fianlly we have Julia Child and her blue ribbon entree', taken with a #6 brass spoon on a treble hook.
"I don't want to carry the head anymore. You carry the head. Come on. Please?"
"Hey, I'm not the servant here; you are. You carry the head."
"But the head stinks."
"So? It's a warm day. It's not a basket of roses, it's a head."
"But it's heavy. And it's leaking down my back."
" Oh right, and now I'm going to carry it after you just said that?"
" Oh come on. carry the head, please?"
"All right, yes, we said bring the thing back but I thought you'd have enough sense not to go waving it in peoples faces like a Hermes bag. Now look at poor Rabbi Jackman; he's passed out. For the love of Mike, Judith, you know the man has a heart condition."
"I got a head! A dead ol head! A head on a Stick! A pointy ol stick! I can make this head twiiiiirl like a propeller! Whee!
Hey Mr. Head, lets go look over this hedge! What do you see? oh, I see a girl sitting on a bench! Oh wow, Mr. Head!
Lets look through this second story window! What do you see? oh, I see a lady screaming! Oh wow, Mr. Head!
I can wave! this! head! Back! and! forth! Like! a! flag! Back! and! forth! Like! a! f...whoopsie...."
dude you ROCK. seriously, if that were a book, i'd buy it. there's a career in there somewhere. like cross between art history and mocumentaries. Genius!
ReplyDeleteOoh, ooh! can you do Adam & Eve/the garden of Eden/The Fall next?
and i'm still totally interested in the Mary thing. there are loads of cool portrayals of the biblical Marys - Mary Magdelen, Mary the mother of James, and of course the biggie.
Actually, each one of those themes could be a chapter in a book. I see serious potential here. The hardest part would be getting permission to reproduce the images. Hmmm...
You made me laugh. My mum is now seriously considering sending me to the looney bin and shouted at me about laughing over the radio. She's going to OOG HER FOOT IN IT. I'm having hysterics about it TYPING. Also the bit with the propeller. A ancestor of the Gooneybird perhaps? Still laughing....
ReplyDeleteThe dude in the top picture holding the head looks so much like this manic depressive acid casulty that kind of moved himself into my house once, I had to double take.
ReplyDeleteSpooky shit.
Oooh, I liked the look of her in photo No 8.
ReplyDeleteThe cheeky cow, but I feel for her.
cb: you mean mary j. blige, of course. i'll sidebar you with the details. none of the fricken images i had in mind exist in cyberspace, apparently! *pounds table in outrage*
ReplyDeletenoshit: my darling, you have been a stranger! are you moved in yet? how is rapawhappakappa?
and yes, you can see the goony legacy evident in the way she delights in dead shit on a stick.
fukkit: i thought he looked familiar too. but that is definately JLD dripping there.
sid: that you find any woman fanciable who frequents the type of places where dismemberment is practiced is really...interesting. (I think i have a wierd little crush on you now.)
This is the funniest thing I have ever seen, ever. I had to stop reading halfway through because I was asphyxiating at my desk and my colleagues thought I was having a fit. Will come back later, when there's no one around...
ReplyDeletethanks! *blushing purple!*
ReplyDeletedang. don't die. that would be gross. and final. have a seizure instead; they're always good for a laugh...you get all the voiding of bodily fluids stuff without the finality.
See, I can only *imagine* how that sounds to people who didn't grow up listening to that dialog all the time...mostly to yourself...about Opie's butthole.
ReplyDeleteYeah.
Remember the Bosch calendar with the captions you wrote yourself? I still have that somewhere.
Just remembering something you said about doing more gardening postings and such on this blog.
ReplyDelete*chuckles*
absolute. fucking. genius.
ReplyDeletewhen i have nothing to write about tomorrow i'm just going to link to this. hell, i might just link to it and give up...
Oh dear - I've just spluttered my tea everywhere giggling.
ReplyDeleteBut I am wondering, how come I spent FIFTEEN years of my life suffering a Catholic education, and I have never even heard of this story?
ifo: yeah, lookit what happened. youre an engineer making boucoup dolleros. cwy me a wivvo.
ReplyDeletemj: i've been gardening too. and, you know, stuff...
surly: i seem to remember begging you to come back so i could have something intelligent to read, missy.
spins: probably your nuns weren't as sadistic as our nuns were. Order of the Sacred Heart of Jesus, teaching. the rest of them were cloistered (probably a good thing.)
Patroclus sent me over here and - oh my giddy Aunt!
ReplyDeleteFabulous.
ReplyDeleteThe waving it around woman was my fave I think.
welcome welcome, arabella! your giddy auntie is welcome too!
ReplyDeletehello james henry! birth of an idea: when i was a kid i tied my barbie doll to a branch and stuck it through my grandmas kitchen window. art imitates life.
Yow! Get thee to a nunnery. Or at least to yer local evangelically sponsored church skool to teach the kiddies about god's love. A-a-and woman's wrath. My head is spinning . . .uh-oh, that ain't good.
ReplyDeleteGriffy rawks!! i used to have a big poster with a spookily uplit Zip saying 'you know, what you kids could use is propellers on your beanies" from the immortal tale 'Monks and Punks' when the Z-man is acclaimed a cult figure..."mutant Z-man!' they chant, as they do their laundry....
ReplyDeleteI came this []close to using the Z-Man as my icon!
..antennaes.
ReplyDeletenot propellers.
on the beanies.
Re: the 'purse' pic. So, did Holofernes ask Judith for "a little head"?
ReplyDeleteBella, are you by any chance thinking of Isabella and the Pot of Basil, by William Holman Hunt? That's her lover Lorenzo's head in there, I gather.
ReplyDeleteThis was just perfectly brilliant. Bravo!
ReplyDelete(There are few more fine Judiths by Italian female painter Artemisia Gentileschi (1597-1651).)
timf: welocme! ask or no, thats what she ended up with. the funhouse mirror school of art.
ReplyDeletebella: howdy howdy! i think you've got another story in mind, although it seems to be part of a larger, unsuspected 'pms' genre.
patroclus: you nailed it. googly indeed! mmmm, basil.
taiga: well hi! i like her 'old man of the countryside' with his pointy hat and all the produce. she was an amazing woman, too.
FN, I have had to force myself to stop laughing and hold my breath because I now have giant torso-contorting hiccups.
ReplyDeleteThe hell with Prozac! This is the SHIT!
Holofernes is a very hippie name, isn't it? Jason Lee in Big Trouble, or Solaris, that's him.
Maybe you should write a history book using famous (or not-so-famous) artwork, and do basically what you did here. A short summary of what actually happened, followed by extreme mockery.
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