Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Humanities/2020 October 3

= October 3 =

Seafood pizza in Southern California?
Is there any pizzeria, pizza restaurant chain, or other types of restaurant in Southern California that sells seafood pizza to customers? StellarHalo (talk) 16:50, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Considering I've had seafood pizza in Central Illinois nearly 15 years ago, I think it's a safe bet it exists in Southern California today. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 17:43, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Interesting both Domino's and Pizza Hut have offered seafood pizzas in NZ for a long time, and the local Hell Pizza I think at least since they became a significant chain and possibly since their founding. I sort of assumed it would be the same in US, I take it from this question and our article that it isn't. (I can't check myself since both their .com websites assume I really want to go somewhere else and I can't be bothered using a proxy.) Nil Einne (talk) 18:56, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I never saw seafood pizza the few times I went to either of them and their main websites do not have it either. StellarHalo (talk) 19:08, 3 October 2020 (UTC)


 * I remember anchovies being a commonly-available topping at pizza parlors in southern California when I lived there (some years ago), if that counts... AnonMoos (talk) 19:43, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Yep, I previously had anchovies on my Papa John's pizza numerous times! They were absolutely delicious! Futurist110 (talk) 03:34, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * "No anchovies? I spell my name 'Danger'!" 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:DDAF (talk) 19:16, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

The movie The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988 feature-length version), set in Hollywood, had a scene with a guy making sushi pizza. There was only a quick shot of the pizza itself but it looked absolutely revolting. 2601:648:8202:96B0:0:0:0:DDAF (talk) 19:13, 4 October 2020 (UTC)

Electric painting
An advertisement by an Australian art teacher in the late 19th century offers to teach Poonah and Electric techniques. References to the first are easy to find, but not the latter. Any ideas? Doug butler (talk) 21:42, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I wonder if it was a misspelling of eclectic? Though if so he didn't complain to the newspaper; it ran several times in 1894 with the same spelling. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 23:37, 3 October 2020 (UTC)
 * A style can be called eclectic, but a technique hardly. --Lambiam 12:54, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Indeed, it wouldn't be proper usage. But this is essentially a classified ad we're talking about. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 19:47, 4 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Electric paint is used, inter alia, for printed circuitry. Basically, it is just conductive paint.  There are some YouTube videos which explain this technique.  A typical use are capacity sensors on mobile phones.  --Cookatoo.ergo.ZooM (talk) 08:12, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * That seems unlikely to explain that term being used in the late 19th century. HiLo48 (talk) 08:44, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * We have an article on that art teacher: Edmund Baggs. --Lambiam 12:54, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * It would appear that's what Doug Butler is working on here. 199.66.69.67 (talk) 13:36, 4 October 2020 (UTC)


 * Most Google results refer to either electric guitar playing of tattoo art, however I did find:
 * "John W. Alexander is the only American painter whose electric technique of the Velasquez - Hals type, may be said to command the attention..." James Henry Moser, His Brush and His Pen (p. 1905)
 * Not that this gets us any further forward. I found this article about Valasquez and Hals but was not enlightened. Alansplodge (talk) 15:46, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * The complete sentence is, " John W. Alexander is the only American painter whose electric technique of the Velasquez–Hals type, may be said to command the attention and share world honors with Sargent and Zorn." This was written in 1905 in The Washington Post, that is, for a general audience, and James Henry Moser must have assumed that most readers would be familiar with the term – which makes it all the more surprising nothing informative is to be found about it. Presumably Sargent is John Singer Sargent and Zorn is Anders Zorn. Since Sargent was also an American painter (living and working at the time in England), the extension to Sargent and Zorn is apparently about the shared world honours, and not the technique. --Lambiam 20:32, 4 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I woke this morning with what may be the answer: pyrography. Our boys used to do that sort of thing with a Weller soldering gun (passed current through a hairpin-shaped element) to copy cartoon characters onto plywood, but as the article shows, some very subtle effects are possible. Doug butler (talk) 00:36, 5 October 2020 (UTC)
 * I cannot find evidence that Alexander engaged in pyrography, but for Edmund H. Baggs this looks plausible. Some sources give "Poonah painting" as a synonym of "velvet painting", and there is a visual similarity in the artistic effect of the effects of velvet painting and pyrography. (If correct, the explanation of "Poonah painting" in the Edmund Baggs article may be somewhat off. It might be helpful if we had an image of one of Baggs's Poonah paintings, but the only images I can find are of oils, or else have no identified technique.) --Lambiam 07:58, 5 October 2020 (UTC)
 * Pyrography would be a poor choice of medium for one who relies on sales to keep bread on the table — I doubt there is one pyro piece in our Art Gallery, unless it's by someone with a huge reputation. Doug butler (talk) 21:28, 5 October 2020 (UTC)