Spot the Ball

[beagle]

He looks familiar. Think he might have been in my class.

The reason you can't see the ball is that he has eaten it. In fact he's eaten two, hence his name "et tu Brutus" (let's not get in to nominative/vocative discussions siblings).

[goat starer]

beagle. I am assuming you were right and giving you another apocalyptical opportunity to spot the ball

please spot the ball in Hogarths 'Gin Lane'

[beagle]

For our foreign readers I should point out that this is a famous social commentary, warning of the dangers of letting the gin run out. Just such a calamity occurred at a Palace garden party in Hogarth's time, leading to a rampaging mob of the great and the good storming out the palace gates, and causing havoc amongst the honest working folk of the East End of London.

In this case the wrecking ball is out of sight in the upper right background of the picture, knocking the house down. In the left of the picture the local GP and his receptionist can be seen trying to pawn the tools of his trade in order to get enough dosh to buy a bottle of Bombay Saphire, with which to buy off the marauding aristos.
On the steps Mary Poppins takes a short break before taking her wards for a song in St James' Park, while at the foot of the steps Dick Van Dyke despairs of ever getting his accent right.


Here's one for you. No it's not a Cadbury's flake advert, it's Waterhouse's The Lady of Shalott



Spot the ball!

[goat starer]

beagle you were spopt on!

In this picture I would suggest that the Lady of Shalott (Otherwise known as the bint with the small onions) is being played by the acress lucille ball.

[beagle]

Near enough. It is Lucille Ball (after make-up), but in fact she was in the tower when a cricket ball hit by the Shalott second 11 shattered her mirror. She thought she would she'd go out on the river for a chocolate bar, and to get a bit of rowing practice in for the Lent bumps, little realizing the danger of unexploded Napoleonic mines.

Your go.

[goat starer]

spot the ball - Josh Kirby cover art for Wyrd Sisters

[beagle]

Hmm, better let the Pratchett afficionadoes have first bash at this one.

My guess is you won't even get a hint of where the ball is until book 2038 of the series.

[Swatopluk]

This is in the castle dungeons. Duke Felmet and wife will soon come down from the ball celebrated in the upper halls to torture Nanny Ogg who at the moment is playing the Where is the ball? game with the deceased king's ghost (he finally dropped the ball a decade or two ago when stabbed by Duke Felmet). That makes at least three balls.


Карабельная роща. 1898 г.
Шишкин И. И.
(Ivan Shishkin is mainly known for his wood paintings and one of my favorite painters)

[goat starer]

I thought that was a phot for bit! good stuff. If I am not mistaken John Ball - also known as the Mad Priest - the English social agitator who was executed for his role in the Peasants' Revolt is hiding behing the third tree from the left.

apologies for the nudity but spot the ball in Pablo Picassos rape of the sabines...



PS. IF YOU CANT SPOT IT YOU ARE A BIT BLIND!

[Swatopluk]

Multiple balls depending on your metaphoricity, vocabulary and taste.
eyeballs, female secondairies*, male primaries, you name it

*originally just a typo but it turned out an innuendo


Ilya Repin, The Zaporoshian Cossacks write a letter to the sultan Mehmet IV.

[goat starer]

The referee in the middle (him in the black with the quill) is booking the guy in the red with the white furry hat for kicking the ball away when a free kick was awarded. The ball is therefore not in the picture but is being collected by a ball boy.

You may also note that the topless gentleman looking all innocent has taken the opportunity of the referee being distracted to nut the guy in the white (who is falling backwards in shock and pain!). His mate in the green with the remarkable tache finds this hilarious.



Rubens - Peace

[beagle]

Ah I recognize this one. Also known as "Pan's People", and the inspiration for a popular dance ensemble of the same name, it depicts a particularly raucous Sunday afternoon in the Ruben's household when all his relatives dropped in simultaneously and unannounced.
As you can see he has represented his female relatives as the three graces, or rather what they would look like if they came off their diets, took up the tambourine, radical feminism and were let loose with a Platinum card in Tiffanys.

The Cheetah on the ground represents mans savage instincts having been tamed, in this case by squashing them with a very large fruit basket. Pan similarly represents the taming of lust, though the presence of screaming kids everywhere suggests this has been less successful.

The ball is nowhere in the picture as Rubens has gone for a kick about with it in the back garden for a bit of peace.

[Griffin NoName]

Artist: Thomas Sidney Cooper.

A double opportunity, spot the ball and guess the LPWB.

[goat starer]

As I have no idea what a LPWB is I will have to spot the ball. The young lass at the front left (it is great how women can play football these days) has been hacked in the shins by the opposite centre back (the rather shamefaced white cow).The ball is concealed by the brown cow which is crouching down to place it on the penalty spot. A close look will show that the two trees are being used as goalposts. The goalkeeper (black cow) is attempting to put off the striker ahead of the penalty kick with a rather impressive stare.

Now can somebody tell me what a LPWB is (I Googled and could only find 'Lazy People Without Brain'. Weird!) and in the meantime spot the ball in 'The Third of May 1808' by Goya

[beagle]

Many people will have heard of this work under its original title, "The Shooting of the annoying Mime Artistes".
To the horror of his friends (shown eyes covered), the mime has decided once again to do his amusing "pushing a large imaginary ball along" routine. This has proved too much for a passing contingent of theatre critics who have decided to end it once and for all.

Generations of art critics have been baffled by the presence of the large green and yellow blobby alien mine-dwelling creature from the Star Trek episode "The Devil in the Dark", hiding behind the mime artistes, rather pathetically camouflaged as a hill.


LPWB is Last Post Word Bingo. It's a game played in the Last Post thread where someone thinks up a word and the others have to guess it. The forum word filter is set to display something special if someone types in the word in a post in the Last Post Thread .


Here's another one. Van Eyck's "Portrait of some Dude and his Wife"