November 19th 2007: Museum of Fine Arts

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Lunch: The Kebab Factory
The Kebab Factory.	Although the restaurant had a buffet, I didn't feel like going through the motions of trying everything. Instead, I ordered from the menu.	Soup: smooth, with a few tiny chunks of potatoes (?), not unlike split pea soup. Had a spice that opens one's nostrils.	Shikampuri Kebab: a Hyderabadi specialty: pan fried ground lamb patties stuffed with paneer. It reminded me a little of kufta: a thin shell of meat around much more meat, and a little cottage cheese. The sauce in which the patties lay was a standard, good tikka masala sauce. The accompanying salad was good, dressed with lemon and pepper. The accompanying dal was rich with ghee, probably made from green lentils and minced onions. (In any case, it definitely had starch.) Overall, this was just the right amount of food for lunch.
I was amused to see CNN playing on the restaurant's flat screen TV.
En Route
An ita software recruiting advertisement. In style, it's a rip-off of a similar Google recruiting advertisement done in the past. Frankly, I think the problem described on this ad is better/more appropriate in terms of judging candidates and also more interesting than the Google problem.	I followed misleading directions about how to get to the Museum of Fine Arts. At the transfer station, I found a sign telling me that, to get there, I should take the E train to Copley. And so I did. At Copley I realized, after getting off the train, that the line branches and I should have remained on the E to get where I want to go. I had to wait for the next E, which happily turned out to be not too long.
The Museum of Fine Arts (MFA)
The Museum of Fine Arts.	An ankus (elephant goad), intricately molded with images of mythical creatures, gods, etc. Sadly, my camera doesn't have a high enough resolution to capture the detail.	A heavy, stuffed kimono, appropriate for a cold winter.	This item, which could easily be a Game clue, is actually a sailing chart. The next picture gives more information.
The caption of the sailing chart in the previous picture.	Falls colors in the Calderwood Courtyard.	Sigmar Polke's Untitled could be a Game clue. Perhaps the dots aren't placed at random.	Heide Fasnacht's Sneeze IV, made from punctured paper, could also be a Game clue. View the full-sized image to comprehend the quantity of dots.
In a studio, one woman worked at restoring an old, large painting. The museum had a few signs explaining the activities that occurred as part of the restoration; one is readable in the full-sized version of this picture.	The museum has displays of many seals. Many, such as these from the eastern Mediterranean, are astoundingly complex. View the full-sized image to appreciate the detail. Most imprints disappeared if seen obliquely.	Awwww. A tomb from Etruria (a region of Italy). I've never seen an Egyptian tomb in any way like this. Apparently the style is Greek, as supported by the numerous carvings of Greek mythical creatures on the tomb's sides.	Sarcophagus of General Kheperre. Given all the inscriptions on the front (view the full-sized image), it could easily be a Game clue.
The MFA had items from an exhibit, Please Be Seated, scattered throughout the building. Each item was a unique, generally wooden, chair made by a modern designer. The MFA provided them as resting places. Functional art. What a cool idea. This particular bench is by Peter Adams.	The murals inside one rotunda.	The MFA has one of Messershmidt's character heads. It intrigued me enough that I looked them up later. These heads were designed to express a pure emotion or sentiment. One page I found has a brief history of the man, accompanied by high resolution images. (There are other histories on the web, but none so visually illustrated.) I also found an academic who's written a book (in German) about the man and the heads. His web page includes small images of all the heads. Finally, I found two decent image galleries online (1, 2). I believe that within these heads is a good Game clue.	Thomas Cole's Expulsion from the Garden of Eden.
Fitz Henry Lane's Boston Harbor excellently captures the crispness of early morning light.	Yayoi Kusama's Dots appears three dimensional. You can kind of get the effect from this image, but you should view the full-sized image and resize it to take over your entire screen to get a better impression.	Kiff Slemmons makes jewelry out of found items. I took this picture because I like the creativity exhibited by and look of the pencil necklace (upper-right) and the ruler necklace (lower-left).	Gallery Interior, 1620s, by an unknown artist. To me, the most interesting feature of this painting is that none of the paintings are real. Each was seemingly invented by the artist and made to represent a particular style. Possibly a Game clue? The next picture has more information about this painting.
Many interesting details about the preceding painting's varied content.	Another painting of paintings: Giovanni Paolo Pannini's Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome. My god, that's a lot of paintings hanging in the gallery! Can you identify some of the Roman sights? This would make a great Game clue. The next picture has more information about this painting.	Some details about painting in the previous photograph.	Bacino di San Marco, Venice, by Giovanni Antonio Canal (a.k.a. Canaletto), is incredibly detailed. View the full-sized image; it hints at the meticulousness of the rendering.
Turner's Slave Ship (Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying, Typhoon Coming On). The next picture has more information about this painting.	Plaques explaining Slave Ship's provenance and the public's reaction to the painting.	Renoir's Dance at Bougival immediately reminded me another Renoir I saw in D.C.	Monet's Meadow at Giverny. It's interesting how different the colors are in this image compared to the MFA's image.