THE GLORIOUS BRAZIL

«Maybe the real tragedy of Sarria was that the sport had reached its aesthetic zenith. 

Never again would an international side arrive at a World Cup playing a brand of football that was so intuitive , so carefree, so exhilarating and so beautiful.»

 

                  

                                                

Scene no 44: From the football match that took place between Italy and Brazil at Estadio Sarria, Barcelona on 5 July 1982 (Italy 3 - 2 Brazil). Accurate representation of the phase of the third goal of Italy. Paolo Rossi strikes the ball past Waldir Peres for his hat-trick (Subbuteo Table Soccer Heavyweight C100 .00 scale team Ref. 166 Italy and Ref. 50 Brazil. Also C109M Playing Pitch Cloth, C110 Television Tower, C127 ‘Continental’ Match Ball, and part of C108 Plastic Fence Surround).

The text: From “1982 BRAZIL The Glorious Failure” by Stuart Horsfield.    

WOLF AND STAG

«Winter is coming»

«Ours is the fury»

«In the name of Robert of the House Baratheon, the First of his Name, King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm, by the word of Eddard of the House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, I do sentence you to die.»

 

                                                                                                          

 

Scene no 43: The Iron Throne (HBO official licensed product sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios, Dark Horse Deluxe) and the Weirwood Tree (Snow globe, HBO official licensed product sculpted by Gentle Giant Studios, Dark Horse Deluxe, number 0065 of 1,200). On one side the Direwolf of the House Stark (Bookend, modeled after the direwolf statues that guard the crypts of Winderfell), and on the other the crowned Stag of the House Baratheon (Board game accessory).

The text: From Α Game of Thrones, by George R.R. Martin.                                           

AFRICA

«The earth seemed unearthly. We are accustomed to look upon the shackled form of a conquered monster, but there—there you could look at a thing monstrous and free. It was unearthly, and the men were—No, they were not inhuman. Well, you know, that was the worst of it—this suspicion of their not being inhuman. It would come slowly to one. They howled and leaped, and spun, and made horrid faces; but what thrilled you was just the thought of their humanity—like yours—the thought of your remote kinship with this wild and passionate uproar. Ugly. Yes, it was ugly enough; but if you were man enough you would admit to yourself that there was in you just the faintest trace of a response to the terrible frankness of that noise, a dim suspicion of there being a meaning in it which you—you so remote from the night of first ages—could comprehend.»

                                                     

 

 

                                                      

Scene no 42: African big game hunting. Black hunters (Elastolin and Preiser Elastolin 7cm figures) and running Elephant (Elastolin soft plastic animals).

The text: From The Heart of Darkness, by Joseph Conrad.

THE TYRANNY OF CONSCIENCE

 

The puppet is carved from the heart, but the conscience is carved by the mind. 

And Pinocchio will become a real boy, if he proves himself brave, truthful and unselfish...

                                                      

Scene no 41: The wooden puppet Pinocchio and his conscience Jiminy Cricket. (Enesco, Jim Shore, Disney Traditions, #4005220 Carved From The Heart and #4005219 Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide).                              

ANIMA

 

«The whole nature of man presupposes woman, both physically and spiritually. His system is tuned into woman from the start, just as it is prepared for a quite definite world where there is water, light, air, salt, carbohydrates etc...»

 

 

                                                    

                                     

Scene no 40: The Man shows the Boy the nature of the Woman (Preiser HO 10439 Nude Bathers &  Noch HO 15958 Nude models, HO 15959 Ladies of the Night).

The text: From TWO ESSAYS IN ANALYTICAL PSYCHOLOGY, by Carl Jung.

SLAYING THE DRAGON

«How best to kill dragons has been the subject of many a debate. 

The method most favoured by chivalry is to engage it in battle when on horseback, and to so manage the lance that it slides effortlessly between the dragon’s jaws.»

 

 

                                                    

                                     

                            

Scene no 39: Knight and Dragon (McFarlane toys, Dragons Quest for the Lost King, Berserker Clan Dragon vs. Human Attacker).

The text: From THE DRAGON, Nature of spirit, Spirit of nature, by Francis Huxley.

NIKE

«It was rather that the astronauts were the core of some magnetic human force called Americanism, patriotism or Waspitude, and if they were finally the men of all the men on earth to take the first step on the way to the stars, who was to say it was not the first step back to the stars, first step back to joining that mysterious interior material of the stars, that iron of communion with cosmic origins?

Indeed, who could be absolutely certain that the astronauts were not men finally forged out of some powerful equivalent in their blood of the star’s iron...»

 

 

                                                    

 

 

Scene no 38: The iron trinity of Astronauts (PAL plastic Toy soldiers, made in Greece) around a vintage Space Rocket (Masuya Toys, tin litho rocket NIKE SR-7, friction powered, with box, made in Japan).

The text: From MOONFIRE, by Norman Mailer.

THE GREEN GOD

«...Your punt is about to nose silently out into new backwaters of horror where the trees are heavy with untried fruits that look both beautiful and poisonous.

Though unused to the currents here, I hope you don’t get lost, and the vivid and toxic delicacies on display are to your tastes.»

                           

 

                 

 

Scene no 37: Green Man (Swamp Thing, McFarlane Toys, DC Multiverse Action Figure) and his red woman (Poison Ivy, Diamond Select Toys, DC Gallery PVC Figure).

The text: From an introduction by Alan Moore, to the The Saga of the Swamp Thing.

THE COWBOYS

«It was through the Declaration of Independence that we Americans acknowledged the ETERNAL INEQUALITY of man. For by it we abolished a cut-and-dried aristocracy. We had seen little men artificially held up in high places, and great men artificially held down in low places, and our own justice-loving hearts abhorred this violence to human nature. Therefore, we decreed that every man should thenceforth have equal liberty to find his own level. By this very decree we acknowledged and gave freedom to true aristocracy, saying, “Let the best man win, whoever he is.” Let the best man win! That is America's word. That is true democracy. And true democracy and true aristocracy are one and the same thing. If anybody cannot see this, so much the worse for his eyesight.»

 

Scene no 36: Cowboy duels in the Wild West (Plastic unpainted 14 cm cowboys – 1 Marx figure made in Gr. Britain, and 3 similar to Marx figures made in Italy), in front of a deciduous tree (Marx toys).

The text: From the novel THE VIRGINIAN, A Horseman of the Plains, by Owen Wister.

UNITED NATIONS EXPLORATORY FORCE

 

«Then some bright lad in the General Assembly decided that we ought to field an army of footsoldiers to guard the portal planets of the nearer collapsars.

This led to the Elite Conscription Act of 1996 and the most cutely conscripted army in the history of warfare.»

                           

Scene no 35: The elite force (Cherilea Toys, 6 different space figures - plastic astronauts) ready to establish a base in a distant planet beyond the borders of the galaxy. Behind them, their round starship (Modern Toys, Space Patrol X-17, lithographed tinplate, battery operated with bump and go action and flashing lights) in front of an alien landscape (Editions Touret, the plain from the paper cutting kit Apollo sur la Lune)

The text: From the military science fiction novel The Forever War by Joe Haldeman.

RIGADOON

 When men dance, 

women should not smile.

«They glided past, the glided fast,

Like travellers through a mist:

They mocked the moon in a rigadoon

Of delicate turn and twist,

And with formal pace and loathsome grace

The phantoms kept their tryst.»

 

 

 

Scene no 34: Corto Maltese dancing with Rasputin (Leblon-Delienne hand painted resin statuette. Limited edition No 423 of 777) in front of smiling Bettie Page (Dark Horse Comics, Dress-Up Magnet Set, Bettie Page by Dave Stevens).

The dance: From the graphic novel The Golden House of Samarkand by Hugo Pratt. Corto dance with Rasputin shortly after they witnessed the death of Enver Pasha in Samarkand. 

The lyrics: From The Ballad of Reading Gaol by Oscar Wilde.

GUILTY OF HATRED AGAINST MANKIND

«...Consequently, to get rid of the report, Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations, called “Chrestians” by the populace…»

«...Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then, upon their information, an immense multitude was convicted, not so much of the crime of firing the city, as of hatred against mankind. 

Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths…» 

                             

                                                            

Scene no 33: In the Roman arena. Punished Christians (Linde and W. Germany, Nativity figurines) among hungry lions (Preiser/Elastolin). Behind them a majestic gladiator (Elastolin modification) in front of a mural representing a similar scene (Cover of Atlantic HO scale box, The Romans, 1517, Gladiators and Christians).

The text: From the Annals, by Tacitus.

BLACK KNIGHT

       Protection from white, first strike  

Battle doesn’t need a purpose; the

battle is its own purpose. You don’t

ask why a plague spreads or a field

burns. Don’t ask why I fight.

 

 

                                    

                                                     

Scene no 32: The Black Knight rides alone (Timpo toys, White Tower coat of arms, one of the 8 different figures from the mounted Knights of the Middle Ages, No. 925 series).

The text: From the card Black Knight. A single individual card from the collectible card game Magic: The Gathering.

GERMAN KNIGHTS

Upon a deep green Achmardi

She bore the pride of Paradise,

Root and branch, beyond all price.

That was a thing men call the Grail,

Which makes all earthly glory pale.

           

 

 

 

Scene no 31: German Knights (Del Prado toy soldiers) in front of the ruins of a Church (Noch HO Scale toys, 58606). Wolfram von Eschenbach in the middle. Schenk von Limburg in the left. In the right, a knight who bears the arms of a member of the von Mallinckrodt family of Westphalia.

The Text: Verses from PARZIVAL, a Knightly Epic, by Wolfram von Eschenbach. The greatest work of Germany's greatest medieval poet.