Archive for the 'Things of beauty' Category
Celebration?
The T-Ford, the first mass-produced car, has been on the road for 100 years. This important date in transport engineering is being celebrated right now.
http://www.ford.com/about-ford/heritage/vehicles/100-years-ford-model-t-innovation/100-years-ford-model-t-innovation-688.
Or is it? Just 100 years!? It is totally incredible how the car has managed to completely ruin our world in so short a time.
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Obituary Cyd Charisse
Today we got the news that Cyd Charisse has passed away. She was a great dancer (her career started with the Ballet Russe) and a great stage presence. For me she will always be the femme fatale in the Broadway Melody sequence in Singin’ in the Rain. She was certainly not a small woman (especially [...]
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Surrealist, to be sure
Sotheby auctioned a hand-written copy of Andre Breton’s Manifeste du Surrealisme for 3,6 million euros. The auction house had valued the 21-page manuscript at 200.000 to 500.000 euros.
This is all SO ironic, considering the anti-establishment, especially anti-art-etablishment, character of the surrealist movement. Once again, it has been shown that money perverts all original thought. The only appropriate [...]
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Diana Athill
For a really great experience, 30 minutes that will give you rather more than you usually get out of half an hour: The Interview: Carrie Gracie talks with Diana Athill, the British author, now in her nineties, about death — which turns out a profound discussion of life.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio/podcasts/interview/
(Those who think they already know all the [...]
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Logic
“I know what you are thinking about,” said Tweedledum; “but it isn’t so, nohow.” “Contrariwise,” continued Tweedledee, “if it was so it might be; and if it were so, it would be; but as it isn’t, it ain’t. That’s logic.”
Lewis Carroll, always there to wake us up.
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Gianni Alemanno, only just elected mayor of Rome, immediately made headlines by announcing his attention to remove the Ara Pacis Museum, a modernist structure by Richard Meier, only openend in 2006, after an outlay of millions and 10 years of work (for several months for several years I have been working my way around hoardings [...]
Filed under: Archaeology, General, Politics, Rome, Things of beauty | Leave a Comment
Obituary Humphrey Lyttelton
The death has been announced of Humphrey Lyttelton, jazz musician (he was a great trumpet player) and BBC radio legend, presenter of music programmes, especially the famous music quiz, “I am sorry, I haven’t a clue”. I have heard that program many times, and usually hadn’t a clue. But I enjoyed Lyttelton. What I especially loved about [...]
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Urban Larsson
When I was visiting a bookshop my eye was caught by a cover that stood out from the beautiful book design all around (Dutch book design is truly excellent), because of the quality of the painting illustrating that cover. It turned out to be by the Swedish painter Urban Larsson (based for the past 10 years [...]
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