In a post over at point2point, Graham Lester proposes that the image on that very expensive sandwich is not, in fact, the face of the Virgin Mary, but rather that of Mary Pickford. This proposal has several things going for it, including superficial resemblance, and also a feature we could call Mary Invariance, but in the end I think Graham has misidentified the image. Fortunately, I have a counterproposal.
The sandwich:
Marlene Dietrich:
Can you deny it? Not only do the angle of the face, the upturned eyes, and the angular shadows match, but you can also make out Dietrich's wavy hair, and her brightly-lit left hand below the face and to the right. (Down, and to the right. Down, and to the right.) The only remaining question is how her face got on a grilled cheese sandwich—some analog of the process that created the Shroud of Turin, perhaps?
(hat tip: Byzantium's Shores)
[Now playing: "Fascination" by the Human League]
Wow, spooky resemblance. Only the cigarette is missing on the toast. Or maybe you have to squint really, really hard.
Posted by: Andrea | November 29, 2004 at 04:05 AM
I'm sure the cigarette is there—it's just hard to make out because the image resolution of a grilled cheese sandwich is never as high as you'd like it to be. That's why people generally buy ink-jet or laser printers nowadays instead.
Posted by: The Tensor | November 29, 2004 at 04:25 PM
I'm sure you could make one at http://grilledcheese.goldenpalace.com *including* the cigarette. You know, if you really, really wanted to...
Well, or not.
Posted by: Andrea | November 30, 2004 at 07:26 AM
You're in good company, Tensor.
William Gibson said the same thing on his blog last week.
http://www.williamgibsonbooks.com/blog/2004_11_01_archive.asp#110080935663910908
Posted by: Big Ben | November 30, 2004 at 04:48 PM