Johannes Vermeer produced less than 40 paintings in his lifetime, living from 1632 to 1675. The Dutch painter's life is mostly blank, with only bits and pieces known about him. However, his paintings are quite the legacy to his name. Modern painters such as Salvador Dali admired his work, even to the point of Dali inserting or copying elements. A film was produced several years ago based on the making of his "Girl with a Pearl Earring" painting.

I find Vermeer's work to be fascinating, especially for the time period. His extreme care in his images ranges from putting tiny details such as shadows on a nail on the wall, reflections in glass, or even including his easel in a mirror. His use of color was stunning, such as painting with expensive pigments or including texture within the paint. There is also his inspiration from the camera obscura, which explains the careful perspective within paintings.Read the entire review

Parents who show their children tripe such as "Barney and Friends," "Teletubbies," or "رواد الغد" (Tomorrow's Pioneers) are terrible people and should not have children. Perhaps that's an overstatement, but it does not detract from the nihilism inherent in television shows of this ilk. Children of the 1990s will be familiar with "Barney" and his corpulent purple carcass invading screens with such artificiality.

Episodes would begin with Barney as a doll suddenly turning into a full-size living dinosaur. He's surrounded by children fawning over his awesomeness. To be honest, I'd be as impressed if a doll suddenly turned into a full-size living dinosaur right on front of me. Because all I'd have to do is believe. This doesn't change the fact that Barney's posture looks like Buffalo Bill's when he's nude dancin...Read the entire review

The Show:

Here's a scenario worth considering: Get a dozen people together in a room and make them unanimously define comedy. After sending the coroner to pick up the mummified bodies a few weeks later, the truth will be told - it's impossible. What does this have to do with Hannah Montana? I'm not sure. One of the more popular teen shows certainly offers familiar slapstick and comedy of errors commonly found in the "situation comedy" (or "sitcom" in shorthand).

Obviously, the show revolves around Miley Stewart (Miley Cyrus) and her "alter ego" Hannah Montana. For some reason, she is protective of her two identities. How an actress-singer could keep her real identity an...Read the entire review