Sling is off, and shoulder is 90%. Finished a chapter Saturday, started a new one Sunday, but Mondays are all about blogging!
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Today I’d like to share a resource you may not be aware of. It’s called OPEN CULTURE. Self-tagged as “the best free cultural & educational media on the web;” this is not hyperbole.
Ever find yourself looking for free resources, like an online language course? How about art or images for your blog? Audio or e-books? Entire concerts or just music? Free Hitchcock movies? How about a John Wayne flick? That’s just a tiny sample of what you’ll find on OPEN CULTURE.
I happen to admire the work of 19th/early 20th century French photographer Eugène Atget. How much? Here’s a photo of my über tiny living room. Clearly I can’t invite you all over to show you the Atget poster (at left) gleaned during a long ago trip to the Getty Museum.
But the Getty (and The Met, The Rijksmuseum, The National Gallery, among a bevy of other museums) have made images from their collections available free for non-commercial use on OPEN CULTURE. Now I can share Atget with you on my blog. How cool is that?
![Eugène Atget (French, 1857 - 1927) [Staircase, Montmartre], 1921, Albumen silver print 21.8 x 17.8 cm (8 9/16 x 7 in.) The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles](https://vrbarkowski.files.wordpress.com/2015/03/atget-montmartre.jpg)
Eugène Atget (French, 1857 – 1927)
[Staircase, Montmartre], 1921, Albumen silver print
21.8 x 17.8 cm (8 9/16 x 7 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
I can even give you a peek into one my favorite artists, German Romantic painter, Caspar David Friedrich.
Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774 – 1840)
A Walk at Dusk, about 1830 – 1835, Oil on canvas
33.3 x 43.7 cm (13 1/8 x 17 3/16 in.)
The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles
Yes, some of these resources are available with a deep Google search. But why go to all that trouble when OPEN CULTURE has done the work for you by compiling all these amazing resources and creating a one-stop site?
The Alan Lomax Blues and Folk Archive? It’s here. All of Bach? It’s here. 8,976 Grateful Dead concerts? You guessed it, OPEN CULTURE will deliver.
WARNING: you are likely to waste hours on this website.
VR BARKOWSKI 
Thanks for the reference. I’ll be sure to bookmark it. BTW, your apartment area is lovely.
Thanks, Denise. It’s small but it is cozy and functional.
What a neat site. It’s like one-stop shopping for just about anything you can image. Thanks for the reference.
It’s a fun sight, Mason. My computer’s in the kitchen, so I’ve started using the Open Culture for music, because there’s so much on offer.
I’m going over there as soon as I finish this comment. I have a paper catalog from The Rijksmuseum that’s one of my favorite books. I’m excited. I don’t have hours today, but I can spare some minutes. Thanks!
I adore the Rijksmuseum, Carol! Of course, I kind of like all museums, but Rijksmuseum is extra special.
Wow, never knew about that site, sounds like a perfect resource indeed. Hopefully that extra 10% fixes up soon.
As long as I don’t have to reach behind me, I’m good. Thanks for the reminder, Pat. Must keep wine in front of me at all times. 🙂
(Gee, thanks. Just what I need, another place to waste time…) Seriously, it sounds like a terrific site, and I’ll definitely check it out. (Hopefully, I won’t get “lost” on there for too many hours.)
I’m glad to hear you’re outta the cast and on the mend.
It is easy to get lost, Susan. There are so many links on each intro page, it’s sometimes difficult to know which is the right one. The web designers were a little too conscientious about hyperlinking when putting the page together.
Thanks VR. I’d vaguely heard of Open Culture but never explored it. I certainly will now. Love the look of Eugène Atget’s photography. Isn’t that a cracker shot of Montmarte?
Glad you’re healing well and are back to writing. 🙂
Thanks, Denise. Isn’t that a great shot? I tried to take a similar photo a few years ago just for fun. Next to Atget, mine didn’t really make the grade. 🙂
Sorry to be so late: first my computer became ill, then my internet provider went down! Life is always surprising. I love the photo of your living room. It feels warm and friendly. I lived in an efficiency for years, and it was more a “Man Cave” due to the lack of space!
I am glad you are mending. Do not attempt too much too soon. And thanks for the link. Be well 🙂
So sorry you’ve had computer issues, Roland. Yes, space is definitely an issue with very small square footage, but I use an approach similar to kill your darlings, replacing ‘kill’ with ‘give up’. To have so little room for books is the difficult part.
I have seven bookcases in my apartment now that I have left the efficiency one. Lucky my Kindle holds another seven bookcases full of books for me too! May your book sales be high!! 🙂
I’ll check it out. 🙂
Anna from Shout with Emaginette
Hope you enjoy it, Anna. 🙂
Great resource, VR. I have one I found while writing my last book. It’s called, AllExperts.com. I got instruction on safes and hacking, but there are other experts who answer whatever question you ask. No charge, just a rating. One guy wrote back and forth until I had wh
what I needed. (Sorry, I’m working on an iPad mini until I get my computer repaired, and I hate it.)
What an amazing resource, Polly. Thank you!
Ugh, I hate typing on my iPad. I finally bought a keyboard case. Great for taking notes at a conference, but otherwise, I haven’t found much use for it.
I have a keyboard case. I still hate it. The only thing that’s easier on the iPad is tweeting, which I also dislike, but I do it anyway.
My iPad isn’t a mini, which I’m sure helps. I would even use it to write occasionally if there was an iPad version of Scrivener.
I hate tweeting, too, but like you, I force myself to do it anyway. I don’t get anything out of Twitter unless I sit online and sort the wheat from the chaff. Who has time for that?