Director Andrei Tarkovsky during the filming of "Solaris" (1972).

Henri Matisse, born 31 December 1869.

© Louis Faurer Robert et Mary Frank, New York, 1950

"The House Judiciary Committee released the transcript and video of former special counsel Jack Smith's deposition regarding his investigation into President Donald Trump Wednesday." www.newsweek.com/jack-smith-d...

"Defined as 'online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative, or offensive,' rage bait is 'typically posted in order to increase traffic to or engagement with a particular web page or social media account...'" www.npr.org/2025/12/01/n...

Down the hatch, buckaroo.

Swanson by Halsman, 1950.

From 1957, "The Gallows Pole" by Odetta, born 31 December 1930. www.youtube.com/watch?v=By8I...

Max Pechstein, born 31 December 1881.

From 1956, "Santy Anno" by Odetta, #BOTD. www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_eZ...

Singer and activist Odetta was born on 31 December 1930.

From the mid-1930's, an advertisement for the Osaka Railway.

Because. www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoU2...

Henri Matisse - #BOTD - photographed by Robert Capa in 1949.

Getting home late on New Year's Eve...

A fine double bill for a cold, dark night.

From the 1957 sessions for the "After Midnight" album, Nat King Cole sings "When I Grow Too Old To Dream." Stuff Smith is on violin. www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X9R...

To boldly go where no man has gone before.

An advertisement from 1969 for the Datsun 2000 Sport.

"Once you accept the fact that there's nothing to fear, you drill into the primal oil well. I believe when we do things without fear, we can do anything. As long as you don't worry about the consequences." Happy Birthday to Anthony Hopkins, born 31 December 1937.

"I actually don't ever really socialize on the film-set. I'm hermit-like. I go home, get room service and I work on the lines for tomorrow, because that's my job." Happy Birthday to Sir Ben Kingsley, born 31 December 1943.

The Lotus 25 of Jim Clark - with a Coventry-Climax 1.5L V8 - at Monaco 1964. He started from pole but his engine let him down with only a few laps to go. The spare, clean and lovely look of Formula 1 cars from that era...

Nazario Graziano

Oh, better far to live and die Under the brave black flag I fly... 🎭 #OTD in #Theatre 31 Dec 1879, the two act comic #opera "The Pirates of Penzance; or, The Slave of Duty", music by #ArthurSullivan and libretto by #WSGilbert, premiered at the Fifth Avenue Theatre in New York.

"No destitute widows with their children starving on the cold charities of the world; no beggars; no debtors’ prisons; no proud and hard-hearted nabobs in Typee; or to sum up all in one word—no Money! ‘That root of all evil’ was not to be found in the valley." - Herman Melville, Typee (1846)

"In our man-of-war world, Life comes in at one gangway and Death goes overboard at the other. […] This man-of-war life has not left me unhardened." - Herman Melville, White-Jacket (1850)

Heartbreaking. #RIP #TatianaSchlossberg

The 1st rock 'n' roll record? An unusually fast blues record? Slice it into the category of your choosing, it's a great record no matter what, recorded 87 years ago today by Pete Johnson & Big Joe Turner: youtu.be/-cNW2dZMyWE?...

Night night sweet dreamies Hold your boundaries with confidence. You don’t need to revisit the people, habits, or beliefs that caused you harm. Mental health isn’t a race. The pain didn’t arrive overnight, and healing takes time too.

Clin-Ton! #art #thesimpsons #xfiles #artwork

Hashiguchi Goyō, Yokugo no onna ( Woman after a Bath), 1915 Hashiguchi Goyō produced only 15 woodblock prints during his lifetime

#cuadrodeldía Barbería II, 1994 ( #AmaliaAvia 1930-2011) privado #art Pintora realista de aliento poético, con obras no centradas en personas, sino en espacios, como esta peluquería de la calle Santa Isabel (Madrid) #FelizLunes #Navidad2025

Writer, journalist and poet Rudyard Kipling was born on 30 December 1865.

Waiting for 2025 to end.

Singer and songwriter Del Shannon, born 30 December 1934. www.youtube.com/watch?v=gaHg...

"All I believe the director can do is to approach his subject with a meticulously prepared list of scenes to be shot with their general description and the dialogue entailed in each, and an absolutely clear idea of the effect he wants to achieve." Carol Reed, born 30 December 1906.

"Mona" by Bo Diddley, born 30 December. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cb7W...

Canada Lee and John Garfield in "Body and Soul" (1947).

"Do you believe that stuff the old man was saying the other night at the 'Oso Negro' about gold changin' a man's soul so's he ain't the same sort of man as he was before findin' it?" Humphrey Bogart and Tim Holt in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre" from 1948.

Writer and composer Paul Bowles, born 30 December 1910.

“No other baseball immortal in memory retired so young, so well, or so completely. He may be the last athlete who declined to cash in on his fame. He has refused to cannibalize himself, to live off his past. He remains unavailable, unassailable (and) unsullied.” Jane Leavy on Sandy Koufax, #BOTD.

"I can't picture people talking about me 50 years from now." You were wrong, sir. Happy Birthday to Sandy Koufax, born 30 December 1935.

Bo Diddley, born 30 December 1928. www.youtube.com/watch?v=vPBY...

"Carol could put a film together like a watchmaker puts together a watch." Filmmaker Michael Powell speaking about director Carol Reed, born 30 December 1906.

Vance is a man empty of all but ambition. From young adulthood he's been filled with notions and motivations given him by more powerful personalities, who see their fulfillment in him. A dangerous man to have the power of a largely unchecked presidency.

If Marjorie Taylor Greene *really* cared about the Epstein victims, she would read the names of the perpetrators on the House floor (where she would have immunity) before she leaves office.

“If you're insulting people on the internet, you must be ugly on the inside.” ― Phil Lester, British LGBTQ influencer 🌊 #OnePeopleOnePlanetOneLove 💙 #LoveIsLove

From 1964, "If You Need Me" nicely covered by The Rolling Stones with the ever tasteful Ian Stewart on organ. www.youtube.com/watch?v=F9sk...