857. The Magic Flute

856. Snow Crash

Cyberspace, sword fights, and Sumerian mythology. It's an odd mix.

855. The Legend of Phaeton

854. Thunder Road

Better learn all the lyrics in case I wake up tomorrow as Bruce Springsteen.

853. How I Met Your Mother

This link's for Joel.

852. The Sphinx

I'm much too lazy to look up whether this is apocryphal, but the nose is missing because Napoleon's soldiers shot it off.

851. The Explorer

There's no sense in going further -- it's the edge of cultivation,"
  So they said, and I believed it -- broke my land and sowed my crop --
Built my barns and strung my fences in the little border station
  Tucked away below the foothills where the trails run out and stop:

Till a voice, as bad as Conscience, rang interminable changes
  On one everlasting Whisper day and night repeated -- so:
"Something hidden.  Go and find it. Go and look behind the Ranges --
  "Something lost behind the Ranges. Lost and wating for you. Go!"

So I went, worn out of patience; never told my nearest neighbours --
  Stole away with pack and ponies -- left 'em drinking in the town;
And the faith that moveth mountains didn't seem to help my labours
  As I faced the sheer main-ranges, whipping up and leading down.

March by march I puzzled through 'em, turning flanks and dodging shoulders,
  Hurried on in hope of water, headed back for lack of grass;
Till I camped above the tree-line -- drifted snow and naked boulders --
  Felt free air astir to windward -- knew I'd stumbled on the Pass.

'Thought to name it for the finder: but that night the Norther found me --
  Froze and killed the plains-bred ponies; so I called the camp Despair
(It's the Railway Gap to-day, though). Then my Whisper waked to hound me: --
  "Something lost behind the Ranges.  Over yonder! Go you there!"

Then I knew, the while I doubted -- knew His Hand was certain o'er me.
  Still -- it might be self-delusion -- scores of better men had died --
I could reach the township living, but....e knows what terror tore me...
  But I didn't... but I didn't. I went down the other side.

Till the snow ran out in flowers, and the flowers turned to aloes,
  And the aloes sprung to thickets and a brimming stream ran by;
But the thickets dwined to thorn-scrub, and the water drained to shallows,
  And I dropped again on desert -- blasted earth, and blasting sky....

I remember lighting fires; I remember sitting by 'em;
  I remember seeing faces, hearing voices, through the smoke;
I remember they were fancy -- for I threw a stone to try 'em.
  "Something lost behind the Ranges" was the only word they spoke.

I remember going crazy. I remember that I knew it
When I heard myself hallooing to the funny folk I saw.
'Very full of dreams that desert, but my two legs took me through it...
And I used to watch 'em moving with the toes all black and raw.

But at last the country altered -- White Man's country past disputing --
  Rolling grass and open timber, with a hint of hills behind --
There I found me food and water, and I lay a week recruiting.
  Got my strength and lost my nightmares.  Then I entered on my find.

Thence I ran my first rough survey -- chose my trees and blazed and ringed 'em --
  Week by week I pried and sampled -- week by week my findings grew.
Saul he went to look for donkeys, and by God he found a kingdom!
  But by God, who sent His Whisper, I had struck the worth of two!

Up along the hostile mountains, where the hair-poised snowslide shivers --
  Down and through the big fat marshes that the virgin ore-bed stains,
Till I heard the mile-wide mutterings of unimagined rivers,
  And beyond the nameless timber saw illimitable plains!

'Plotted sites of future cities, traced the easy grades between 'em;
  Watched unharnessed rapids wasting fifty thousand head an hour;
Counted leagues of water-frontage through the axe-ripe woods that screen 'em --
  Saw the plant to feed a people -- up and waiting for the power!

Well, I know who'll take the credit -- all the clever chaps that followed --
  Came, a dozen men together -- never knew my desert-fears;
Tracked me by the camps I'd quitted, used the water-holes I hollowed.
  They'll go back and do the talking. They'll be called the Pioneers!

They will find my sites of townships -- not the cities that I set there.
  They will rediscover rivers -- not my rivers heard at night.
By my own old marks and bearings they will show me how to get there,
  By the lonely cairns I builded they will guide my feet aright.

Have I named one single river? Have I claimed one single acre?
  Have I kept one single nugget -- (barring samples)? No, not I!
Because my price was paid me ten times over by my Maker.
  But you wouldn't understand it. You go up and occupy.

Ores you'll find there; wood and cattle; water-transit sure and steady
  (That should keep the railway rates down), coal and iron at your doors.
God took care to hide that country till He judged His people ready,
  Then He chose me for His Whisper, and I've found it, and it's yours!

Yes, your "Never-never country" -- yes, your "edge of cultivation"
  And "no sense in going further" -- till I crossed the range to see.
God forgive me! No, I didn't. It's God's present to our nation.
 Anybody might have found it, but -- His Whisper came to Me!

850. The Lorax (the book)

849. Michelangelo's David

848. The Aeneid

847. Doctor Who

Mostly the newer ones without the ridiculously bad props.

846. Groundhog Day

845. 15 Step

I do love an odd time signature.

844. Adventure of Huckleberry Finn

Specifically the first two thirds of the book, before Tom Sawyer shows up.

843. The Ishtar Gate

The whole thing has been transported and rebuilt in Berlin, which is why this picture is clearly inside a large, non-ancient building.

842. Spring (from The Four Seasons)

841. Rainbow Sherbet

Can you believe Wikipedia doesn't have a picture of rainbow sherbet? Here's a delicious looking berry sorbet from Swedish Wikipedia, at least.

840. Mr. Tambourine Man (the song)

839. GoldenEye (the movie)

838. The Time Machine (the book)

837. The Gambler (the song)

Listen here.

It doesn't look like there's any danger of limping over the finish line here. There are plenty of good works of art left. The trick is remembering that I haven't listed them yet. (I love this painting, too. It's a Caravaggio.)

836. The Pantheon

It's hard to pick a single picture to represent the Pantheon. Its most compelling feature is that it looks totally different on the inside than what you'd expect from the outside. Here's the inside.

835. The Seal of the President of the United States

It's a good thing that shield is there, or you'd be able to see that eagle's cloaca.

834. Still Life with Cherries and Peaches

Something about cherries makes for a really good still life.

833. The Tudors

Yes, it's a soap opera, and yes it's a bit loose with the facts. Still, it's very well done.

832. The Little Engine That Could

This book always seemed ancient to me, but of course it can't be that old. It's about a train, not about the little ox that could (or the little paramecium).

831. This haiku

Even though it's spring, let's not forget our other trees.

The oak tree stands
noble on the hill even in
cherry blossom time

830. Campbell's Soup Cans

Vegetable beef is clearly the most artistic of the bunch.

829. Tartan

Wondering how best to stylishly communicate your clan loyalties?

828. Fountain

You know, maybe I'll just link to this one instead of posting a picture. If you can incite a heated debate about what counts as art, you've probably made art.