Cinis et Cinis

music: Strangeness + Charm,
Florence + the Machine

Film & Tele: Marc and I rewatched Cold Mountain for about the billionth time, last night. Since it's a movie about the Civil War, set in North Carolina, in which most of the actors are foreign and with the majority of the film having been shot in Romania, it seemed appropriate to consult the BBC History Magazine to confirm that Cold Mountain does, indeed, pass the historical accuracy smell test.

Smells don't normally travel well across the ocean but I'm with them on this one.

Sort of, kind of tentatively displaying interest in this upcoming Hatfields & McCoys miniseries, in which the "History" channel attempts to move beyond their traditional WWII buff and conspiracy theorist circles and net a bit of the HBO audience. It's got Kevin Costner and Bill Paxton in it. The trailer looks sort of Games of Thronesy awful. But let's do it. I don't have a meaningful life to lead.

In the meantime, having been trounced by pureteenlard in the BFI movie challenge, I've suspended my "watch everything David Bradley was ever in" quest and ordered The Third Man. Get thee to a theatre, Pete. There isn't enough popcorn in the world to cushion the fall from your throne.

Natter: My two jobs aren't providing enough of an income for me to keep up with daily life, let alone with bills, so I'm open for illustration commissions, again [See my devart for more information], just as soon as I put the finishing touches on this time-making machine... or I could just give up my BFI movie challenge vendetta. Tsk, priorities.

Week's articles & blog-o:

Religion & Brain: Belief Decreases With Analytical Thinking, Study Shows {Huffington Post}

Will black voters follow Obama on gay marriage? {Los Angeles Times}

A Syrian Graffiti Artist, Defiant Until Death {NPR}

Paul Ryan Budget: House Passes Bill To Spare Defense, Cut Food Aid, Health Care {Huffington Post}

Weapons trade infographic: Who is arming human rights abusers {Amnesty}

Special Series: Million-Dollar Donors {NPR}

Paul Krugman: Those Revolting Europeans {New York Times}

The fish porters of Billingsgate Market have been abolished: "On 28th April this year, a centuries-old way of life came to an end as the porters who have been in existence since Billingsgate started trading in 1699 had their licences withdrawn by the City of London Corporation. Long-established rights and working practises – and a vibrant culture possessing its own language and code of behaviour handed down for generations – were all swept away overnight to be replaced by cheaper casual labour."

The piece includes a number of Claudia Leisinger’s portraits of these axed porters of Billingsgate, from men who've worked thirty plus years, to apprentices. {Spitalfields Life}

This week, Spitalfields Life also did a feature on street cries as illustrated on cigarette cards. At the bottom of the article is a list of additional street cry galleries.

Ride in a 1938 era tube train at the annual Rickmansworth Festival, which is in a couple of weeks time. {IanVisits}

Curry chemical's ability to fight cancer put to the test {BBC News}

Thomas Jefferson's Vegetable Garden: A Thing Of Beauty And Science {NPR}

But, most importantly, John Finnemore announces on his blog that all three seasons of Cabin Pressure will be released on cd this year - possibly including liner notes positively bursting with Radio 4 levels of jocularity. The following is an essential introduction:



Week's music:
Post-War Blues, Dan Mangan
Heart it Races, Dr. Dog
Sarah Smiles, Panic at the Disco - thanks Adam
Hear Me Out, Frou Frou
Retrovertigo, Mr. Bungle

Week's art:

     

     

Against Amendment One.

On a more sombre note, I would like to take a moment to remember Maurice Sendak. Here is an All Things Considered interview with Sendak's friend, author Gregory Maguire. Listen to the audio. I don't think there are many people who could listen to the last 2 minutes and stay dry-eyed.

An Inside Look At Sendak's 'Wonderful Magic'

Leonard Woolf: A little bird has told me that Dr. Surendra Paul, a distinguished scholar and ex-member of Trinity College, is in the process of establishing a Leonard Woolf Society. For more information, Dr. Paul is contactable via this [ email link ].

Film & Tele: Have lately experienced a great deal of Game of Thrones. The character development is rather good.* If you can't get enough Hobbesian political "realism", graphic from-behind sex scenes, predictable plot developments, and bashing-a-man-on-the-head-with-a-sword-but-let's-call-this-political-intrigue - well then, Game of Thrones is for you. I find the series only barely palatable and only if I'm watching with a group of friends while playing this game...



Thoughts? There's this [article] excerpt:

"Right now I'm reading a book from mega-selling fantasy author George R. R. Martin. The following is a passage where he is writing from the point of view of a woman -- always a tough thing for men to do. The girl is on her way to a key confrontation, and the narrator describes it thusly:

When she went to the stables, she wore faded sandsilk pants and woven grass sandals. Her small breasts moved freely beneath a painted Dothraki vest...

That's written from the woman's point of view. Yes, when a male writes a female, he assumes that she spends every moment thinking about the size of her breasts and what they are doing. "Janet walked her boobs across the city square. 'I can see them staring at my boobs,' she thought, boobily." He assumes that women are thinking of themselves the same way we think of them."

And this [ SNL youtube clip ].

Bobbing half-drowned in existential ennui, I commenced a re-watching of [ Cowboy Bebop ]. I hadn't re-visited the series since I first watched it at age 18. I've found the experience intensely satisfying - a surprise, since my tastes have changed tremendously over the past 12 years. But genuine good will out. Granted, the dubbed version has been translated by someone with zero appreciation for subtlety of language. And some elements of the writing are heavy handed, but I feel this is forgivable considering the series attempted to appeal to the broadest possible audience - and succeeded...

Oh, and it's altogether fucking fantastic. That helps a lot.

Natter: But, then again, what do I know? I sell shoes. I recently augmented my shoe-selling career with a second job - selling coffee at a charming downtown cafe; something I, thusfar, enjoy very much. And it breaks up the boredom.

In my first week, a tall thin man with a long grey beard, and wearing suspenders with skulls on them, presented himself as a tour guide, part-time wizard, and available for all my talismanic interpretive needs.

Stuff like that never happens at the mall.

Week's articles & blog-o:

Stephen King: Tax Me, for F@%&’s Sake! {The Daily Beast}

Occupy Wall Street: NYPD Sued By City Council Members Over Response To Protests {Huffington Post}

Is your stuff falling apart? Thank Wal-Mart {Alternet}

Opening up Britain's secret colonial files {BBC News}

Along the Thames with John Claridge, photographs from dockyard end days. Other recent entries: Images of beautiful 18th century cards; and delft tiles by [ Paul Bommer ] {Spitalfields Life}

The reopening of the Cutty Sark {IanVisits}

Fifty Shades of Fan Fiction: "Why, when discussing fan fiction, do journalists often sound like anthropologists discovering some long-lost tribe — and a somewhat unsavory and oversexed one at that? [sic] Michael Cunningham’s The Hours offers us two subgenres of fan fiction: the AU of the modern-day Clarissa, Richard, and Sally, and the RPF — that’s Real Person Fic — of the Virginia Woolf passages." {The Millions}

Week's music:
The Space in Between, How to Destroy Angels - thanks to Rob
Elli, Avishai Cohen
Where Do You Go To (My Lovely), Peter Sarstedt - thanks again to Rob!
Love to a Monster, Okkervil River
Whiter Shade of Pale, Dan Reeder

Week's art:

     

     

*Unless the character shows up for three scenes, presents a tempting world of promise, and then disappears into the vast ocean of other like characters - all possessing beards and similar names.

Experts believe that the cookbook was compiled by Geoffrey Fule, who worked in the kitchens of Philippa of Hainault, Queen of England (1328-1369). Geoffrey had a reputation for blending unusual flavours – one scholar has called him "the Heston Blumenthal of his day" – and everything points to his hand being behind the compilation.

The rest of the story at the British Library.

Leonard Woolf: Congratulations to Giulia Pastorella, this year's LSE European Institute Leonard Woolf prize winner for Best Dissertation. Linked is an article by Ms. Pastorella on the viability of the European Neighbourhood Policy in the wake of the Arab Spring. [ link ]

Books: Finished Jenny Uglow's Nature's Engraver: A Life of Thomas Bewick. I'm fond of Bewick (understatement), and I've read his autobiography [ link ]. So, when Uglow's book was gifted me, I jumped in ravenous for a read. Unfortunately, I didn't cotton on to the style & language - which proved a bit fangirly for me...

Bewick was tall and athletic, browned and taut with energy"... "He was very aware of his body, nearly six feet tall, broad shouldered and muscled, trained by Serjeant Hymer's drill [sic] and his Highland trek. He had toughened himself by sleeping on a stiff mattress with his window open to wind and even snow, stripped to 'bare buff except being rolled in a blanket'.

*eyebrow*

But there are good things. The author is warm, engaging and knowledgeable; the work would be generally informative for the beginner and insightful & amusing for the learn'd scholar of
C 18th-early 19th art & print culture. Her other written subjects are of interest to me: George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Babbage, The Lunar Men, British Gardening. I may yet venture forth even if I'm not fully prepared to read about George Eliot - taut with energy.

Tele: On the fangirl note - zero hour approaches, Game of Thrones 2. Will Stephen Dillane's portrayal of (sound the trumpets) Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone... unleash a flood of hormones across the continental United States, making it impossible to discuss his theatrical accomplishments in general conversation without causing the heads of females to instantaneously explode en masse? - As happened when Benedict Cumberbatch played Sherlock Holmes? Will I suddenly get twenty emails about Leonard Woolf in my inbox the morning after? And will the internet unfurl countless pages of Thomas Jefferson/John Adams slash fanfic in response?

We shall see.

Natter: On a higher note, my Thomas Jefferson Foundation heritage tomatoes have sprung up early and I am rubbing my hands together thinking of caprese salad... and Thomas Jefferson (bringing my sanctimoniousness down a notch)

Week's articles, radio & blog-o:

Capeheart's continuing coverage of the Trayvon Martin murder investigation {Washington Post}

Japan executions a 'retrograde step' {Amnesty Intl.}

New counterterrorism guidelines permit data on U.S. citizens to be held longer {Washington Post}

Can HPV vaccine benefit more people? A new study released in this week's British Medical Journal finds that Gardasil may have some additional benefits for women who are already infected with HPV. {CNN}

Two interesting articles from The Gentle Author: A farewell tribute to Charlie Burns, the oldest man on Brick Lane. And the recollections of Manny Silverman, WWII generation Jewish tailor. {Spitalfields Life}

Schilling leads latest class of Red Sox on the Hall of Fame ballot {MLB.com}

Twenty years ago, today: 1992: Punch ends 150 years of satire {BBC}

James Cameron Completes Record-Breaking Mariana Trench Dive {National Geographic}

Fostering creativity within the workplace: "Companies like 3M allow their employees to have an hour a day to do whatever they want: work on a side project or tinker with a hobby. In doing so, they're helping their employees become more creative — and increasing their productivity, says science writer Jonah Lehrer in his new book, Imagine." {NPR: Fresh Air}

Week's music:
Believer, Goldfrapp
Tu Hi Meri Shaab Hai , KK
Slow Down, Wyclef Jean
Caravan, Duke Ellington
The Obvious Child, Paul Simon

Week's art: