#artist is sir john gilbert

[diioonysus]

objects in art: swords/daggers

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations

Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

"He examined with his glass the word upon the wall, going over every letter of it with the most minute exactness." DH Friston, A Study in Scarlet (Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887) Characters L-R: Watson, Holmes, Lestrade, Gregson

"The man, with a convulsive effort, tore the plaster from his lips." WH Hyde, The Greek Interpreter (Harper's Weekly) Characters: Sophy Kratides, Latimer and his associate, Paul Kratides, Mr Melas

"There was a sort of sulky defiance in her eyes." FD Steele, The Norwood Builder (Collier's) Characters: Mrs Lexington (Oldacre's housekeeper)

"It was a dog-grate, Mr Holmes, and he overpitched it. I picked this out unburned from the back of it." Arthur Twidle, Wisteria Lodge (The Strand) Characters: Watson, Holmes, John Eccles, Gregson, Insp. Baynes

"They bundled him into a cab that was beside the kerb" HM Brock, Red Circle (The Strand) Characters: Mr Warren and his attackers

"Holmes examined the stone ledge and the grass border beyond it." Frank Wiles, Valley of Fear (The Strand) Characters: Holmes

"For an instant i could have sworn that the faintest shadow of a smile flickered over the woman's lips." Arthur Keller, Valley of Fear (1915 US Novel) Characters: Mrs Douglas, Cecil Barker, White Mason, Holmes, Insp MacDonald

"Holmes was kneeling beside the stonework, and a joyous cry showed that he had found what he expected." Alfred Gilbert, Thor Bridge (The Strand) Characters: Holmes, Watson, Sgt Coventry

"It only needs one more Garrideb — and surely we can find one." JR Flanagan, Three Garridebs (Collier's) Characters: Nathan Garrideb

"See here, Mr. Holmes, you keep your hands out of other folks' business." HK Elcock, Three Gables (The Strand) Characters: Watson, Steve Dixie, Holmes

" 'Cut out the poetry, Watson,' said Holmes severely." Frank Wiles, Retired Colourman (The Strand) Characters: Watson, Holmes

" 'If this is a joke, sir, it is a very questionable one,' said the vicar angrily." Frank Wiles, Retired Colourman (The Strand) Characters: Vicar, Josiah Amberley, Watson

[roversremovals1]

Top 5 Tourist Attractions in Blackburn, UK

Blackburn, a town in Lancashire, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the United Kingdom. It has been shaped by its history and culture, which are reflected in its architecture and museums. Here are five attractions that make Blackburn a must-visit destination for travelers from all over the world:

Blackburn

Blackburn Cathedral is a Church of England cathedral in Blackburn, Lancashire. Its formal title is the Cathedral Church of St. Mary and All Saints, and it is the seat of the Bishop of Blackburn. It was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott and consecrated on 1 September 1847 by Rt Revd Edward Benson (later Archbishop of Canterbury).

The first bishop appointed to Blackburn was Rt Revd Henry Montgomery-Massingberd (1905–48), who chose as his motto "Constans Fidelis" ("constant and faithful"), which can be seen carved over the south door together with his personal arms: argent three crosses botony gules on a chief azure two bars wavy argent between three escallops or; Motto: Constans Fidelis." The arms were granted by royal warrant on 19 July 1929.

Darwen Tower

Darwen Tower is a Victorian folly built in 1857. It was built by John Bowes, a wealthy cotton merchant who wanted to build something showy and grand for his family to enjoy. The tower stands about 50 feet tall and has four floors inside; each one has unique features like stained glass windows and ornate fireplaces.

The building was originally intended as a summerhouse but later became known as an observatory because of its high vantage point over the surrounding countryside (it's located on top of a hill). Today it's open to the public with tours available during certain times throughout the year--you can even stay overnight in one of the rooms if you'd like!

Little Harwood

Little Harwood is a town in the borough of Blackburn with Darwen, England. It is famous for its brickworks and mills, as well as its railway station.

The population of Little Harwood is approximately 2,000 people and it has been around since at least 1200 AD when it was first mentioned in documents from nearby townships.

The Lord Street Centre

The Lord Street Centre is an excellent place to learn about the history of Blackburn. Located in the heart of the town, it's open to the public and has a collection of over 20,000 objects. The centre focuses on social and industrial history, as well as local culture. It also houses an art gallery that features temporary exhibitions from artists from all over Europe.

Of course, there are many other good reasons to visit Blackburn.

Of course, there are many other good reasons to visit Blackburn.

It's a great place for a weekend away or day trip if you live in the surrounding area.

You can visit several tourist attractions within the city and surrounding towns.

There are many free things to do in Blackburn that don't cost any money at all!

There are many good reasons to visit Blackburn. It has a rich history, beautiful architecture and an abundance of natural beauty. The city also offers plenty of activities for visitors with everything from museums and galleries to parks and gardens. We hope this list has given you some ideas about some places that might interest you on your next trip!

Looking for removals services near me in London, then book your perfect move with us. We offer a wide range of removal services including man with van, furniture lifting and packing, house clearance and more!

Rovers Removals 6-8 Lord St W, Blackburn BB2 1JX, United Kingdom (254) 403-786 https://removalsserviceblackburn.co.uk/ https://www.google.com/maps?cid=16136469332046463691

[wrappedallinwoe]

Joseph Parkin Mayall, Artist at Home, 1884. 

Sir John Gilbert, George Frederick Watts, Sir F. Leighton, John MacWhirter 

[unknown-songs]

BLACK LIVES MATTER

A list with black artists who have a song in the Unknown Songs That Should Be Known-playlist (Can be a black artist in a band or just solo-artist) (no specific genre)

Bull’s Eye - Blacknuss, Prince Prime - Funk Aftershow - Joe Fox - Alternative Hip-hop Strangers in the Night - Ben L’Oncle Soul - Soul Explore - Mack Wilds - R&B Something To Do - IGBO - Funk

Down With The Trumpets - Rizzle Kicks - Pop Dans ta ville - Dub Inc. - Reggae Dance or Die - Brooklyn Funk Essentials - Funk FACELESS - The PLAYlist, Glenn Lewis - R&B Tell Me Father - Jeangu Macrooy - Soul

Southern Boy - John The Conquerer - Blues Hard Rock Savannah Grass - Kes - Dancehall Dr. Funk - The Main Squeeze - Funk Seems I’m Never Tired of Loving You - Lizz Wright - Jazz Out of My Hands - TheColorGrey, Oddisee - Hip-Hop/Pop

Raised Up in Arkansas - Michael Burks - Blues Black Times - Sean Kuti, Egypt 80, Carlos Santana - Afrobeat Cornerstone - Benjamin Clementine - Indie Shine On - R.I.O., Madcon - Electronic Pop Bass On The Line - Bernie Worrell - Funk

When We Love - Jhené Aiko - R&B Need Your Love - Curtis Harding - Soul Too Dry to Cry - Willis Earl Beal - Folk Your House - Steel Pulse - Reggae Power - Moon Boots, Black Gatsby - Deep House

Vinyl Is My Bible - Brother Strut - Funk Diamond - Izzy Biu - R&B Elusive - blackwave., David Ngyah - Hip-hop Don’t Ever Let Nobody Drag Your Spirit Down - Heritage Blues Orchestra - Blues Sastanàqqàm - Tinariwen - Psychedelic Rock

Disco To Go - Brides of Funkenstein - Funk/Soul Circles - Durand Jones & The Indications - Retro Pop Cheesin’ - Cautious Clay, Remi Wolf, sophie meiers - R&B Changes - Charles Bradley - Soul The Sweetest Sin - RAEVE - House

Gyae Su - Pat Thomas, Kwashibu Area Band - Funk What Am I to Do - Ezra Collective, Loyle Carner - Hip-hop Get Your Groove On - Cedric Burnside - Blues Old Enough To Know Better - Steffen Morrisson - Soul Wassiye - Habib Koité - Khassonke musique

Dance Floor - Zapp - Funk Wake Up - Brass Against, Sophia Urista - Brass Hard-Rock BIG LOVE - Black Eyed Peas - Pop The Greatest - Raleigh Ritchie - R&B DYSFUNCTIONAL - KAYTRANADA, VanJess - Soul

See You Leave - RJD2, STS, Khari Mateen - Hip-hop Sing A Simple Song - Maceo Parker - Jazz/Funk Have Mercy - Eryn Allen Kane - Soul Homenage - Brownout - Latin Funk Can’t Sleep - Gary Clark Jr. - Blues Rock

Toast - Koffee - Dancehall Freedom - Ester Dean - R&B Iskaba - Wande Coal, DJ Tunez - Afropop High Road - Anthony Riley - Alternative Christian Sunny Days - Sabrina Starke - Soul

The Talking Fish - Ibibio Sound Machine - Funk Paralyzed - KWAYE - Indie Purple Heart Blvd - Sebastian Kole - Pop WORSHIP - The Knocks, MNEK - Deep House BMO - Ari Lennox - R&B

Promises - Myles Sanko - Soul .img - Brother Theodore - Funk Singing the Blues - Ruthie Foster, Meshell Ndegeocello - Blues Nobody Like You - Amartey, SBMG, The Livingtons - Hip-hop Starship - Afriquoi, Shabaka Hutchings, Moussa Dembele - Deep House

Lay My Troubles Down - Aaron Taylor - Funk  Bloodstream - Tokio Myers - Classic Sticky - Ravyn Lenae - R&B Why I Try - Jalen N’Gonda - Soul Motivation - Benjamin Booker - Folk

quand c’est - Stromae - Pop Let Me Down (Shy FX Remix) - Jorja Smith, Stormzy, SHY FX - Reggae Funny - Gerald Levert - R&B Salt in my Wounds - Shemekia Copeland - Blues Our Love - Samm Henshaw - Soul

Make You Feel That Way - Blackalicious - Jazz Hip-hop Knock Me Out - Vintage Trouble - Funk Take the Time - Ronald Bruner, Jr., Thundercat - Alternative Thru The Night - Phonte, Eric Roberson - R&B Keep Marchin’ - Raphael Saadiq - Soul

Shake Me In Your Arms - Taj Mahal, Keb’ Mo’ - Blues Meet Me In The Middle - Jodie Abascus - Pop Raise Hell - Sir the Baptist, ChurchPpl - Gospel Pop Mogoya - Oumou Sangaré - Wassoulou Where’s Yesterday - Slakah The Beatchild - Hip-hop

Lose My Cool - Amber Mark - R&B New Funk - Big Sam’s Funky Nation - Funk I Got Love - Nate Dogg - Hip-hop Nothing’s Real But Love - Rebecca Ferguson - Soul Crazy Race - The RH Factor - Jazz

Spies Are Watching Me - Voilaaa, Sir Jean - Funk The Leaders - Boka de Banjul - Afrobeat Fast Lane - Rationale - House Conundrum - Hak Baker - Folk Don’t Make It Harder On Me - Chloe x Halle - R&B

Plastic Hamburgers - Fantastic Negrito - Hardrock Beyond - Leon Bridges - Pop God Knows - Dornik - Soul Soleil de volt - Baloji - Afrofunk Do You Remember - Darryl Williams, Michael Lington - Jazz Get Back - McClenney - Alternative Three Words - Aaron Marcellus - Soul

Spotify playlist 

In memory of:

Aaron Bailey Adam Addie Mae Collins Ahmaud Arbery Aiyana Stanley Jones Akai Gurley Alberta Odell Jones Alexia Christian Alfonso Ferguson Alteria Woods Alton Sterling Amadou Diallo Amos Miller Anarcha Westcott Anton de Kom Anthony Hill Antonio Martin Antronie Scott Antwon Rose Jr. Arthur St. Clair Atatiana Jefferson Aubrey Pollard Aura Rosser Bennie Simons Berry Washington Bert Dennis Bettie Jones Betsey Billy Ray Davis Bobby Russ Botham Jean Brandon Jones Breffu Brendon Glenn Breonna Taylor Bud Johnson Bussa

Calin Roquemore Calvin McDowell Calvin Mike and his family Carl Cooper Carlos Carson Carlotta Lucumi Carol Denise McNair Carol Jenkins Carole Robertson Charles Curry Charles Ferguson Charles Lewis Charles Wright Charly Leundeu Keunang Chime Riley Christian Taylor Christopher Sheels Claude Neal Clementa Pickney Clifford Glover Clifton Walker Clinton Briggs Clinton R. Allen Cordella Stevenson Corey Carter Corey Jones Cynthia Marie Graham Hurd Cynthia Wesley

Daniel L. Simmons Danny Bryant Darius Randell Robinson Darius Tarver Darrien Hunt Darrius Stewart David Felix David Joseph David McAtee David Walker and his family Deandre Brunston Deborah Danner Delano Herman Middleton Demarcus Semer Demetrius DuBose Depayne Middleton-Doctor Dion Johnson Dominique Clayton Dontre Hamilton Dred Scott

Edmund Scott Ejaz Choudry Elbert Williams Eleanor Bumpurs Elias Clayton Elijah McClain Eliza Woods Elizabeth Lawrence Elliot Brooks Ellis Hudson Elmer Jackson Elmore Bolling Emantic Fitzgerald Bradford Jr. Emmett Till Eric Garner Eric Harris Eric Reason Ernest Lacy Ernest Thomas Ervin Jones Eugene Rice Eugene Williams Ethel Lee Lance Ezell Ford

Felix Kumi Frank Livingston Frank Morris Frank Smart Frazier B. Baker Fred Hampton Fred Rochelle Fred Temple Freddie Carlos Gray Jr.

George Floyd George Grant George Junius Stinney Jr. George Meadows George Waddell George Washington Lee Gregory Gunn

Harriette Vyda Simms Moore Harry Tyson Moore Hazel “Hayes” Turner Henry Ezekial Smith Henry Lowery Henry Ruffin Henry Scott Hosea W. Allen

India Kager Isaac McGhie Isadore Banks Italia Marie Kelly

Jack Turner Jamar Clark Jamel Floyd James Byrd Jr. James Craig Anderson James Earl Chaney James Powell James Ramseur James Tolliver James T. Scott Janet Wilson Jason Harrison Javier Ambler J.C. Farmer Jemel Roberson Jerame Reid Jesse Thornton Jessie Jefferson Jim Eastman Joe Nathan Roberts John Cecil Jones John Crawford III John J. Gilbert John Ruffin John Taylor Johnny Robinson Jonathan Ferrell Jonathan Sanders Jordan Edwards Joseph Mann Julia Baker Julius Jones July Perry Junior Prosper

Kalief Browder Karvas Gamble Jr. Keith Childress, Jr. Kelly Gist Kelso Benjamin Cochrane Kendrick Johnson Kenneth Chamberlain Sr. Kenny Long Kevin Hicks Kevin Matthews Kiwane Albert Carrington

Lacy Mitchell Lamar Smith Laquan McDonald Laura Nelson Laura Wood L.B. Reed L.D. Nelson Lemuel Penn Lemuel Walters Leonard Deadwyler Leroy Foley Levi Harrington Lila Bella Carter Lloyd Clay Louis Allen Lucy

M.A. Santa Cruz Maceo Snipes Malcom X Malice Green Malissa Williams Manuel Ellis Marcus Deon Smith Marcus Foster Marielle Franco Mark Clark Maria Martin Lee Anderson Martin Luther King Jr. Matthew Avery Mary Dennis Mary Turner Matthew Ajibade May Noyes Mckenzie Adams Medgar Wiley Evers Michael Brown Michael Donald Michael Griffith Michael Lee Marshall Michael Lorenzo Dean Michael Noel Michael Sabbie Michael Stewart Michelle Cusseaux Miles Hall Moses Green Mya Hall Myra Thompson

Nathaniel Harris Pickett Jr. Natasha McKenna Nicey Brown Nicholas Heyward Jr.

O’Day Short family Orion Anderson Oscar Grant III Otis Newsom

Pamela Turner Paterson Brown Jr. Patrick Dorismond Philando Castile Phillip Pannell Phillip White Phinizee Summerour

Quaco

Ramarley Graham Randy Nelson Raymond Couser Raymond Gunn Regis Korchinski-Paquet Rekia Boyd Renisha McBride Riah Milton Robert Hicks Robert Mallard Robert Truett Rodney King Roe Nathan Roberts Roger Malcolm and his wife Roger Owensby Jr. Ronell Foster Roy Cyril Brooks Rumain Brisbon Ryan Matthew Smith

Sam Carter Sam McFadden Samuel DuBose Samuel Ephesians Hammond Jr. Samuel Hammond Jr. Samuel Leamon Younge Jr. Sandra Bland Sean Bell Shali Tilson Sharonda Coleman-Singleton Shukri Abdi Simon Schuman Slab Pitts Stella Young Stephon Clark Susie Jackson

T.A. Allen Tamir Rice Tamla Horsford Tanisha Anderson Timothy Caughman Timothy Hood Timothy Russell Timothy Stansbury Jr. Timothy Thomas Terrence Crutcher Terrill Thomas Tom Jones Tom Moss Tony McDade Tony Terrell Robinson Jr. Trayvon Martin Troy Hodge Troy Robinson Tula Tyler Gerth Tyre King Tywanza Sanders

Victor Duffy Jr. Victor White III

Walter Lamar Scott Wayne Arnold Jones Wesley Thomas Wilbert Cohen Wilbur Bundley Will Brown Will Head Will Stanley Will Stewart Will Thompson Willie James Howard Willie Johnson Willie McCoy Willie Palmer Willie Turks William Brooks William Butler William Daniels William Fambro William Green William L. Chapman II William Miller William Pittman Wyatt Outlaw

Yusef Kirriem Hawkins

The victims of LaLaurie (1830s) The black victims of the Opelousas massacre (1868) The black victims of the Thibodaux massacre (1887) The black victims of the Wilmington insurrection (1898) The black victims of the Johnson-Jeffries riots (1910) The black victims of the Red summer (1919) The black victims of the Elaine massacre (1919) The black victims of the Ocoee massacre (1920) The victims of the MOVE bombing (1985)

All the people who died during the Atlantic slave trade, be it due to abuse or disease.

All the unnamed victims of mass-incarceration, who were put into jail without the committing of a crime and died while in jail or died after due to mental illness. 

All the unnamed victims of racial violence and discrimination. 

...

My apologies for all the people missing on this list. Feel free to add more names and stories. 

Listen, learn and read about discrimination, racism and black history: (feel free to add more)  Documentaries: 13th (Netflix) The Innocence Files (Netflix) Who Killed Malcolm X? (Netflix) Time: The Kalief Browder Story (Netflix) I Am Not Your Negro

YouTube videos: We Cannot Stay Silent about George Floyd Waarom ook Nederlanders de straat op gaan tegen racisme (Dutch) Wit is ook een kleur (Dutch) (documentaire)

Books: Biased by Jennifer Eberhardt Don’t Touch My Hair by Emma Dabiri Freedom Is A Constant Struggle by Angela Davis How To Be An Anti-Racist by Ibram X. Kendi I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou Me and White Supremacy by Layla Saad So You Want To Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo They Can’t Kill Us All by Wesley Lowery White Fragility by Robin Deangelo Why I’m No Longer Talking To White People About Race by Reni Eddo-Lodge Woman, Race and Class by Angela Davis

Websites: https://lynchinginamerica.eji.org/report/ https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/ https://archive.org/details/thirtyyearsoflyn00nati/page/n11/mode/2up https://lab.nos.nl/projects/slavernij/index-english.html https://blacklivesmatter.com/ https://www.zinnedproject.org/

[usnatarchives]

Images:

Top: Lin-Manuel Miranda and Leslie Odom Jr., courtesy of Disney Plus

Middle: Captain Alexander Hamilton of the Provincial Company NY Artillery; 1776 (artwork 1923), National Archives ID 542435

Lower: Portrait of Aaron Burr attributed to Gilbert Stuart

HAMILTON IN OUR RECORDS: Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story?  Song 2: Aaron Burr, Sir

Today’s post, by Miriam Kleiman from the Public Affairs office, is the second in a series using archival records (largely from the National Archives Founders Online) to explore Hamilton’s life and legacy, song by song. Please note: given differing accounts of Hamilton’s birth year, stories use the 1755 date, with the 1757 date in parentheses.

The blockbuster musical’s catchy second number, “Aaron Burr, Sir,” could be the response to an AP US History Exam question:

Compare and contrast (in rap): Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr

The song opens in New York City in 1776, setting the stage for the coming drama by showing the first encounter of “young, scrappy and hungry” Hamilton and “prodigy of Princeton college” Burr, and underscoring the cavernous difference between the two in the following realms.

First impressions 
 From the start, Hamilton’s enthusiasm clashes with Burr’s haughtiness. Burr is evasive when Hamilton asks: “Are you Aaron Burr, Sir?” responding: “That depends, who’s asking?” Beyond thrilled to meet Burr, Hamilton enthusiastically solicits college and career advice: “Sir, I heard your name at Princeton” when “seeking an accelerated course of study.” Like Burr, he wanted to ”graduate in two, then join the revolution” and asks: “So how’d you do it, how’d you graduate so fast?” Burr responds: “It was my parent’s dying wish before they passed.”Burr also offers the following guidance: “Talk less… Smile more…”

Background
 Though both orphans, the men are from vastly different backgrounds. Hamilton, as described by John Adams, was the “bastard brat of a Scotch Pedler” (letter of 1/25/1806) who immigrated from the Caribbean to America in 1772 at age 15 (13) lacking family, wealth, and connections. By contrast, Burr was born into early American aristocracy; his maternal grandfather was “Great Awakening” preacher Jonathan Edwards, his father helped establish the College of New Jersey (Princeton), and his father and grandfather were the second and third presidents of the school.

Education 
Hamilton hoped to study at Princeton and was initially accepted, but was rejected when he sought to follow Burr’s lead and “graduate in two.” He says the bursar “looked at me like I was stupid” and admits he “may have punched him.”* Hamilton enrolled at Kings College (now Columbia) in 1774, but didn’t graduate.

Despite his unparalleled connections to the school, Burr was rejected when he first applied to Princeton (at age 11)! He was admitted two years later (age 13) with sophomore standing, excelled on the debate team, and graduated in two years. After college, he first studied theology and then law.

To the Revolution!
 Hamilton became an activist at Kings College, speaking and writing in support of the Continental Congress and independence. He left school to “join the revolution” in 1775, started a volunteer military company, and was commissioned Captain of the New York Provincial Artillery Company in March 1776.

Following the Battle of Lexington and Concord, Burr put his legal studies on hold and “fast tracked” his military career. In July 1775, he traveled with another well-connected friend, Matthias Ogden, to the fledgling, month-old Continental Army camp in Cambridge, MA. Thanks to their impressive family networks, they personally met with General George Washington and presented themselves and a letter of introduction/recommendation from Continental Congress President John Hancock! General Washington reportedly had no officer appointments available but accepted both men as so called “gentlemen volunteers.“

*FUN FACT!
 Hamilton met with Princeton president (and founding father) John Witherspoon, not a bursar. Also, there’s no record of violence. Miranda justified the need for artistic license: “Chernow blanched a bit at this historical leap-Hamilton wasn’t needlessly violent-but the rhyme [bursar and blur/Burr, sir] was too good to pass up.” Agreed, Mr. Burr, Sir?

ICYMI: Song 1, Alexander Hamilton

Stay tuned for Song 3, My Shot, and discover:

Does Hamilton socially advance or socially distance?

Can he help the new country “handle our financial situation”?

Do he and Burr prove they’re “worth more than anyone bargained for”?

Featured National Archives public program/video:
 Historians on Hamilton: How a Blockbuster Musical is Restaging America’s Past, with opening remarks by Archivist of the United States David S. Ferriero.

More online:

Papers of Alexander Hamilton, Founders Online 

Papers of Aaron Burr, Founders Online

Archives Displays Hamilton’s Documents in Exhibit Incorporating Musical’s Lyrics, National Archives News

Conversation with Chernow, Kail, and Miranda at the 2016 Records of Achievement Award Ceremony

From Alexander Hamilton to ‘Hamilton’—at the National Archives

Obscure fun fact: Romano and Kleiman were high school classmates and fellow speech/debate team members!



[simon-martin]

‘The powers of its wing were wonderful....’ 🦉By no means an expert at identifying different species of birds, I get confused trying to identify artists’ depictions: it’s like looking through a filter. It’s even more confusing when birds are known by different names, although in this case I can go back to the original source for the illustration: Gilbert White’s Natural History of Selborne. This is a Nightjar (Caprimulgus)- apparently also known as a Fern Owl, Goatsucker and Goat Milker. The drawing is by John Nash and was first published in 1951 as a black and white line engraving, then in 1972 with lithographed colour added. Nash told a friend that he was ‘hatched off’ with all the detailed cross-hatching. The open-beaked pose catching a fly 🪰 appears over 100 years earlier in a drawing by John Thompson (after Thomas Bewick) for a Victorian edition of Gilbert White’s book. It illustrates a letter written in 1771: “DEAR SIR,—On the twelfth of July I had a fair opportunity of contemplating the motions of the caprimulgus, or fern-owl, as it was playing round a large oak that swarmed with Scarabai solstitiale or fern-chafers. The powers of its wing were wonderful, exceeding, if possible, the various evolutions and quick turns of the swallow genus. But the circumstance that pleased me most was, that I saw it dis- tinctly, more than once, put out its short leg while on the wing, and, by a bend of the head, deliver somewhat into its mouth. If it takes any part of its prey with its foot, as I have now the greatest reason to suppose it does these chafers, I no longer wonder at the use of its middle toe, which is curiously furnished with a serrated claw.” Looking forward to the John Nash exhibition at @townergallery later this spring. #johnnash #gilbertwhite #naturalhistory #fernowl #nightjar #selborne #johnthompson #thomasbewick @gilbertwhiteoc (at Brighton and Hove) https://www.instagram.com/p/CNW8Aiol6TT/?igshid=ul7cg6fgbfre

[unclekoopus]

Movie Kappa Reviews: Animal Crackers (Netflix)

Let me be the first to say: It was worth the wait!

Oh, the colors, oh the lighting, oh the texture and designs. Lively animation, striking visuals, composition, score, voice acting, it has it all. It’s not perfect by any stretch, but it’s clear it’s a passion project and had an artistic vision behind it.

This is a movie that spent 3 years in production, and sat on a shelf for another 3 years for a distributor. It was released in China in 2018, but the states got one August release date after another over the years until Covid hit the theater cycle and now it’s on Netflix. And judging from it’s Top 10 spot for almost a week now, it is doing very well. Who knows how the licensing and money works out with Netflix compared to the box office, but at the same time, who cares? I’ve followed this production since the original concept film was put up on the Internet, and I’m so glad it’s finally out there for the world to see.

That’s the context anyway, and I expect most people seeing the movie have no idea about it. I’ve seen reviews lambasting the logic of the movie, and dissing some of the performances, the pacing, the writing. But in most of them I see that clear and present bias towards kids movies that Internet critics always have- nitpicking and looking for things to be wrong to focus on. The movie has so, so, so much good to offer.

The concept is easy to grasp: a magic box of animal crackers gives you the power to change into the animal whose cookie you eat, the box refills with endless amounts of animals, however, there’s only one human cookie generated for each person that eats an animal cookie. The plot revolves around the lineage of a circus whose success is based on the use of these magic crackers, the animals performing actually being transformed humans.

The focus is on Owen Huntington (John Krasinski), the nephew of the circus’s owner, who apparently perished along with his wife in a fire, leaving the magic box of crackers to him. The old owner’s narcissistic and nasty brother, Horatio (Sir Ian McKellan) is after the animal crackers too, however.

The movie’s strongest suit is probably the color and liveliness of the character animation, but it’s second strongest aspect is the charm and personality of its myriad of characters. The leading couple, Owen Huntington and his wife Zoe (Emily Blunt) are a fabulously balanced couple who give an extraordinarily realistic performance as husband and wife. They aren’t fighting, they aren’t snarky or nasty to each other, they just clearly are in love and concerned for each other. Their dialogue is the smoothest and most natural of all the performers, and you get to know and like the pair of them throughout the movie. The rest of the characters are fabulously charming as well, the lead clown of the circus, Chesterfield (Danny DeVito) is sweet and lively and genuine and so unlike clowns in media nowadays. It’s a refreshing reminder of how a good performer can make a clown charming and funny. A dimunutive motorcycle stuntman named Zucchini (Gilbert Gottfried) is another standout as Horatio’s henchman.

Some of the weaker parts of the film are, understandably, the pop music segments, but those are forgivable for the fantastic animation that accompanies them.

Give the movie a taste, you’re in for a wild ride.

I give Animal Crackers a delicious 4/5

[pwlanier]

Moroccan State Trumpeters, 1864

This original gouache painting of 1864 is by the celebrated British artist, Sir John Gilbert (1817–97). It originally was thought to depict Moroccan state trumpeters, but many of Gilbert’s paintings are indistinct in terms of time and place and their exact subjects difficult to determine. Gilbert never traveled beyond Europe, but like many Victorian painters he was attracted to exoticism and to tales from Arabia, such as the story of Aladdin, and this piece reflects this interest in the exotic. One of the most prolific painters of his time, Gilbert was best known as an illustrator of Shakespeare, Scott, and contemporary writers such as Wilkie Collins and Dickens. He produced illustrations for the Illustrated London News and exhibited watercolors, oils, and other media at the Society of British Artists and the Royal Academy. The painting is from the Anne S.K. Brown Military Collection at the Brown University Library.

[blackswaneuroparedux]

In Two Minds: the polymorphous proficiency of Jonathan Miller

Sir Jonathan Miller was precocious polymath. Pretty much all the tributes to Jonathan Miller, who died aged 85 on 27 November 2019, end up using the term “Renaissance Man” at some point. Miller had a mastery of arts and science that few achieve. He was a doctor who specialised in neurology, a satirist, comedian, television broadcaster and writer, and theatre and opera director in which his transformative productions of classic plays and operas made him one of the most admired, as well as one of the most controversial, figures in the late-twentieth century theatre and opera.

Jonathan Wolfe Miller was born in 1934 in London. His father, Emanuel, was a child psychiatrist and his mother, Betty, a novelist and biographer. He had a sister, Sarah, who died in 2006. He attended St Paul’s, an independent day school, where he formed an intellectually precocious triumvirate with Oliver Sacks, later renowned as a neurologist and author, and Eric Korn, the writer and antiquarian bookseller. The three remained firm friends until Korn died in 2014 (Sacks died a year later). At Cambridge, Miller was a member of the Apostles, an exclusive intellectual club, as well as Footlights, the dramatic society. 

Miller studied medicine at Cambridge University where he was a member of the Apostles, an exclusive invitation only intellectual club (past members included Bertrand Russell, Wittgenstein, John Maynard Keynes, Rupert Brooke, E.M. Forster, as well as more notoriously the infamous Cambridge spies, Anthony Blunt and Guy Burgess).

It was at Cambridge that he also joined the Cambridge Footlights, the university’s legendary theatrical comedy club, and performed in the club’s Footlights revues. Miller’s success as a Footlights star in the 1950s brought him to the attention of the producers of a new comedy stage revue, Beyond the Fringe, which opened in Edinburgh in August 1960. Subsequent transfers to London’s West End (1961) and to Broadway (1962) made Miller and his three Oxbridge educated co-stars - Alan Bennett, Peter Cook and Dudley Moore - instant celebrities.

Beyond the Fringe was in the vanguard of a new generation chipping at the walls of the establishment and poking fun at the rigid pomposity of british class and society in the 1960s. In many ways Beyond the Fringe pioneered a path for the next generation of Oxbridge satirists, Monty Python, to take up the baton and beat it over the head of the establishment.

Miller, who qualified as a doctor in 1959 and maintained a special interest in neurology and neuropsychology, returned periodically to the practice of medicine, but spent most of his working life as a stage and opera director.

Miller’s first directing assignment was John Osborne’s Under Plain Cover in 1962. Miller made his U.S. directing debut in 1964 with The Old Glory, a play by poet Robert Lowell that inaugurated Off-Broadway’s American Place Theater.

Within a few years, Miller’s work at Nottingham Playhouse and other venues brought him to the attention of Laurence Olivier, then the head of the National Theatre. Miller’s memorable productions at the National, where he was an associate director during the Olivier years, included The Merchant of Venice, set in nineteenth-century Venice with Olivier as a top-hatted Shylock, and The School for Scandal. In 1974, Miller directed a season of three thematically linked plays at London’s Greenwich Theatre, presenting Hamlet, Ghosts and The Seagull as “Family Romances” and using the same actors for each play. Miller later served a two-year term as artistic director of the Old Vic in London (1988–90).

At his best, Miller had no equal for wit, originality or sheer invention as a director, especially in pieces that engaged his passion for storytelling fully; Miller’s universally admired brilliance as a conversationalist made him a coveted talk-show guest in both the U.K. and the U.S.

Miller was also a compelling television writer and presenter, with the documentary series The Body in Question (1979) and Madness (1991) among his credits. When he was in mid-career, Miller began to balance his work in the theater with directing opera—despite the fact that he never learned to read music. Miller’s opera productions were manifestly intelligent and well-informed, but occasionally overbusy, loaded with cultural references and staging touches that did little to advance the action—or support the music. 

Miller’s first opera production was the 1974 British premiere of Alexander Goehr’s Arden Must Die at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London; Alan Blyth, writing in Opera, called Miller’s production “severe, and in the end, debilitating.” The Goehr opera was to be one of the few contemporary pieces that Miller directed: in opera, as well as in the theater, he preferred to work on the production of classic works or the occasional rarity. Miller made his Glyndebourne debut in 1975, with the company premiere of Janáček’s Cunning Little Vixen.

He had especially fruitful working relationships with Kent Opera, where he directed a wide variety of repertory, including Così Fan Tutte, Falstaff, La Traviata, Eugene Onegin and Monteverdi’s L'Orfeo.

The British company with which Miller was most closely associated was English National Opera (ENO), which offered a gala celebration of his work with the company in 2016. At ENO, Miller’s vividly detailed stagings included La Bohème, Aida, The Barber of Seville, Carmen, Der Rosenkavalier, La Traviataand The Elixir of Love. Miller’s biggest ENO successes were his popular “Little Italy” staging of Rigoletto (1982) and a re-imagining of The Mikado (1986) that set Gilbert and Sullivan’s Japanese-themed operetta in an English resort hotel; both were presented in the U.S. and have been have been revived in London and elsewhere numerous times. Miller bowed at Covent Garden in 1993, with a modern-dress staging of Così Fan Tutte.

Miller made his U.S. opera debut in 1982, directing Così Fan Tutte for Opera Theatre of Saint Louis. His other North American productions included Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at BAM; La Traviata at Glimmerglass Opera and New York City Opera, Eugene Onegin at Santa Fe Opera, La Bohème at Cincinnati Opera, Così Fan Tutte in Washington, D.C. and Tristan und Isolde in Los Angeles. In Europe, Miller directed La Traviata for Paris Opéra, Der Fliegende Holländer in Frankfurt and a Fascist-era staging of Tosca in Florence. On Broadway, Miller directed Jack Lemmon and Kevin Spacey in Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1986) and Christopher Plummer in King Lear (2004).

Miller directed four operas for the Met. His 1991 staging of Janáček’s Kát’a Kabanová was an unqualified success - a stark, stylized vision of the opera’s harrowing emotional world, designed by Robert Israel and Gil Wechsler. The critical and response to Miller’s other Met stagings—Pelléas et Mélisande (1995), The Rake’s Progress (1997) and Le Nozze di Figaro (1998)—was generally positive, but Miller’s outspoken criticism of what he saw as the Met’s lack of support for him damaged his relationship with the company, and he was never given another new production there.

His style of directing especially opera revolved around two maxims, “One is constantly fighting a battle between two forms of idiocy,” he said of the business of opera directing, the first being “mindless traditionalism” and the second the requirement that “the work be relevant to our time”.

As a theatre director, mostly at the National Theatre in London, he sought to avoid those two forms of idiocy when directing Shakespeare, which he did for the BBC in the early 1980s. A production of a Shakespeare play, Miller thought, should not try to preserve it in the aspic of spurious authenticity.  

Miller was a lifelong atheist and in 2006 he was appointed president of the Rationalist Association. Accepting the appointment, he said: “There is a large unrepresented constituency of people for whom religion doesn’t enter their heads.” But while his atheism was unbending, it was not militant. Miller maintained that the job of this “community” of unbelievers was not to extirpate religious beliefs but to “analyse them with an objective curiosity and a kind of anthropological attitude to what people do”.

Miller displayed that intellectual humility and profound curiosity in everything he did. Indeed he once said, “I wasn't driven into medicine by a social conscience but by rampant curiosity.“ The same drive he said for his artistic pursuits. Kate Bassett called her informative 2012 biography of Miller In Two Minds, which captured this split in his life. Miller was haunted by his decision to abandon the medical profession where he had hoped to excel.

Ironically Miller rejected the oft-applied title “Renaissance man"as a “vulgar journalistic slogan”. He would argue that, “What they’re really saying is I’m a jack of all trades and a master of none.” He may have felt that “this footling flibbertigibbet world of theatre” was a distraction from higher pursuits  - which is to say, the use of his Cambridge medical degree but these twin artistic and scientific interests seemed less opposed than complementary. If, as is said in “The Body in Question,” “by acting in and upon the world we remodel our own image in it,” everybody’s in show business, anyway.

To my mind, Miller’s arts and science background enabled him to cross disciplinary boundaries and make exciting connections and open new creative possibilities. He was the perfect riposte to that very British Two Cultures intellectual debate (1959-62) between F.R. Leavis and C.P. Snow, which focused on the lack of conversation between arts and science. If we consider how scholars now embrace interdisciplinarity, we should note that Miller blazed the trail. Miller should also be viewed as one of the architects of liberal Britain in the post-war period. He rejoiced in being an irreverent free thinker. And we should rejoice at having had the privilege of peeking into the polymorphic proficient mind(s) of one of this century’s creative and most curiousity driven of men.

I had the privilege of having meeting him on one or two occasions. Twice over dinner through my parents who were active patrons of the arts. 

One of my older sisters is a neurologist and we were placed either side of him. Jonathan was ever so affable and down to earth. He immediately set about making us laugh with his forensic wit and life observations. Between courses he would flit (not a typo, he didn’t flirt) between my sister and myself. With her he would talk shop about neurology and the latest scientific breakthroughs and with me we talked about opera, theatre, and the classics.

The funny thing was as the evening wore on his kinetic mind was a speeding race car and he suddenly forgot which lane he was driving in i.e. he forgot to whom he was speaking to between the two of us. So he would speak about realism theatre of Euripides with my older sister and neurological disorders with me. My older sister - I hate to admit this in print because she will lorde it over me until the end of days - was educated and eloquent enough to keep the conversation effortlessly flowing.

I would like to say that I too upped my game and rose to such elevated heights of scientific discourse but alas I fell like Icarus...but faster, as my mind felt like lead balloon tied to a one ton dead weight. I fell hard. He could see the tumbleweeds rolling across my vacant mind through my clueless eyes. Ever the gentleman he steered me to more friendly topics like the psychology of killing as I was seriously torn between going Sandhurst to become an army officer or returning to Cambridge to do a PhD. I saw him once or twice after that in other private settings and I always came away glowing because I learned some new curioisity about our human condition and the artistic ways we express the human condition in all its foibles and pathos.

RIP Jonathan Miller.

[diioonysus]

hands in hands, hearts entwined

[holmesillustrations]

Vote for your favourite, the top 9 will proceed in the bracket. Since theyre all different shapes and sizes, make sure to click into the full views!

Paget Eliminations

Other Artist Eliminations

Full captions and details for each illustration below the cut:

"He began to study it with minute attention." W.H. Hyde, Musgrave Ritual (Harper’s Weekly) Characters: Brunton

"Sherlock Holmes stood smiling at me over my study table." FD Steele, Empty House (Collier’s) Characters: Holmes, Watson

"Sherlock Holmes in disguise" FD Steele, Charles Augustus Milverton (Collier’s) Characters: Holmes

"Sacrifice to propitiate his unclean gods." FD Steele, Wisteria Lodge (Collier’s) Characters: Aloysius Garcia, Garcia's cook

"Holmes spent much of his time in long walks and solitary meditations." Gilbert Holiday, Devil's Foot (The Strand) Characters: Holmes

"Put it down! Down, this instant, Watson - this instant, I say." Walter Paget, Dying Detective (The Strand) Characters: Holmes, Watson

"Stand back yourself!" he cried. "I'll blow your face in if you lay a hand on me." Frank Wiles, Valley of Fear (The Strand) Characters: James Stanger, Douglas/McMurdo, Ted Baldwin

"The one thing I don't know about it, you're going to tell me now," Holmes announced calmly." FD Steele, Mazarin Stone (Hearst’s International) Characters: Holmes, Count Sylvius

"Hullo! Hullo! Good old index. You can't beat it. Listen to this, Watson." HK Elcock, Sussex Vampire (The Strand) Characters: Holmes, Watson

"Very fine — very fine indeed! Would it be indiscreet if I were to ask you how you obtained this?" HK Elcock, Illustrious Client (The Strand) Characters: Watson, Baron Gruner

[Maud Bellamy] FD Steele, Lion's Mane (Liberty) Characters: Maud Bellamy

"He looked over his shoulder with a face as if he had seen the devil coming out of hell." Frank Wiles, Shoscombe Old Place (The Strand) Characters: Sir Robert, Stephens (Butler), John Mason

[alphaix3blog-blog]

“The Evolution of Media”

TIMELINE Major Events in the History of Mass Communications  This timeline shows the growing importance of mass communication in increasingly compressed historical time periods. It is not an all-inclusive timeline. It is intended to provide an historical perspective and the basis for further study of the rapid development of modern media.   3000 B.C. +: Early Innovations   3300 B. C.  Egyptians perfect hieroglyphics   1500 B. C.  Semites devise the alphabet;   1000 B. C. Egyptian papyrus, early form of paper   60 B. C.  Acta Diurna [Day’s Events], forerunner of the newspaper   1041 A. D.  Printing by means of separate, movable characters in China   1446 A. D.  Johannes Gutenberg introduces moveable type printing press in Germany   1468 A. D.  William Caxton produces a book in England with the first printed advertisement   1500s   Printing books and pamphlets increases   1600 – 1800:  Colonial Era and Early Republic Years   1609   First newspapers in Europe   1638   Puritans establish Cambridge Press   1690   Ben Harris prints first Colonial newspaper [Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestic] in Boston   1721   James Franklin exercises the privilege of editorial independence (The New England Courant)   1729   Ben Franklin prints money after calling for paper currency [A Modest Inquiry into the Nature and Necessity of a Paper            Currency]   1731   Ben Franklin founds first public library 1732   Franklin publishes Poor Richard's Almanack and helps create popular culture in America 1741   Andrew Bradford prints American Magazine   1798   Sedition Act   1800 – 1900:  Telegraph Era and the Start of the Industrial Revolution   1821   National magazines [The Saturday Evening Post]   1827   First African American newspaper [Freedom’s Journal]   1828   Sara Josepha Hale, women’s magazine pioneer [Ladies’ Magazine]   1836   William McGuffey begins writing reading textbooks   1841   Horace Greeley introduces the editorial page   1844   First telegraph line set by Samuel Morse   1852   Harriet Beecher Stowe’s Uncle Tom’s Cabin becomes the first blockbuster in U.S. book publishing   1857   James Buchanan’s Inauguration, first photographed   1858   First transatlantic cable   1865   Abraham Lincoln’s assassination is reported by telegraph and print   1876   Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone   1877   Thomas Edison invents the phonograph   1879   Congress gives discount postal rates to magazines   1880s  Yellow journalism causes Joseph Pulitzer to establish criteria for journalism and literature through the Pulitzer Prize   1887   Nellie Bly joins Pulitzer’s newspaper New York World as a reporter   1885   George Eastman invents photographic film   1894   Guglielmo Marconi invents the radio 1895   Congress establishes the Government Printing Office   1899   Gilbert Grosvenor introduces photographs in National Geographic   Early 1900s:  Industrial Revolution Era and Golden Ages of Radio, TV, and Movies   1902   Beatrix Potter’s The Tale of Peter Rabbit series launches small, easy to handle children’s books   1905   Robert S. Abbott founds Chicago Defender, African-American newspaper   1914   U.S.-based Spanish paper [El Diario-La Prensa] debuts   1914   Congress creates the Federal Trade Commission to prevent unfair advertising   1919   D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford create United Artists   1920s  Joseph Maxwell introduces electrical microphones   1923   Henry Luce and Briton Hadden launch Time, first newsmagazine   1923   First radio network linkup carries the World Series   1925   Calvin Coolidge’s Inauguration, first on radio   1927   Charles Lindbergh’s ticker-tape parade in NYC is filmed on 8mm news reel   1927   The Jazz Singer, first talkie   1927   William Paley creates CBS from a 16-affiliate radio network   1927   First TV transmission by Philo Farnsworth   1931   Case of Near v. Minnesota   1932   Walt Disney produces first full-color movie [Flowers and Trees] 1935   Franklin Delano Roosevelt debuts Fireside Chats on radio   1935   Swing Band recordings play constantly on the radio   1935   George Gallup founds Institute of American Public Opinion   1937   Walt Disney produces the first animated feature [Snow White]   1940s  Margaret Bourke-White, celebrated photojournalist for Henry Luce’s Magazines (Life, Time, Fortune)   1940s  Audiotape is developed in Germany   1940s  Community antenna television system, early cable   1940s  Digital technology, early Internet technology   1940s  A. C. Nielsen conducts listener survey   1941   Pearl Harbor attack is reported by radio 1944   First large automatic digital computer is built at Harvard   1947   CBS and NBC begin first newscasts   1949   Harry Truman’s Inauguration, first televised   1950s  Black-and-white television becomes part of the average American home   1951   Edward R. Murrow, pioneers television news   1953   Queen Elizabeth II’s Coronation at Westminster Abbey ushers in the Television Age around the world   1953   I Love Lucy, 71.7% of viewers watch the episode of Little Ricky’s birth   1955   Dwight David Eisenhower, televises press conference 1956   Elvis Presley receives his first Gold Record (over 1 million sold)   1954   Color TV system is approved by the FCC   1959   Ray Charles pioneers soul-jazz that crosses over to pop recordings   1960s:   Cold War Decade   1960s  Marshall McLuhan writes best sellers on mass media theory   1960s  Rise of FM radio   1960s  Stereo recordings and playback equipment is introduced 1960   Olympic Games are the first televised   1961   John Fitzgerald Kennedy, debuts live press conferences   1962   J.C.R. Licklider proposes concept of Internet 1963   John Kennedy’s assassination is reported by television   1963   Katherine Graham assumes presidency of  The Washington Post   1963   Barbara Walters becomes female anchor of the Today Show   1963   Audiocassettes are introduced   1964   The Beatles perform in the U.S. and take rock music global   1964   Diana Ross & The Supremes pioneer the Motown Sound that redefines America as multi-cultural to the world 1966   Telstar I satellite telephone and TV signals   1967   Congress creates the Corporation for Public Broadcasting 1968   60 Minutes debuts   1969   Tinker v. Des Moines, U. S. Supreme Court decision   1969   Neil Armstrong’s walk on the Moon is televised in color globally   1969   DOD’s ARPAnet, predecessor of the Internet   1969   Sesame Street debuts     1970s:   Social Issues Decade   1970s  TV sitcoms address social issues     1970s  Email is developed   1970   Monday Night Football debuts on television   1971   Microprocessor  is developed   1971   New York Times publishes the Pentagon Papers   1974   Vinton Cerf and Bob Kahn, “founding fathers” of the Internet   1975   Bill Gates and Paul Allen, co-founders of Microsoft   1975   VCRs are introduced   1975   HBO is uplinked to satellite   1976   Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak, co-founders of Apple Computer, Inc.   1976   Cable is broadcast by Ted Turner   1976   Ed Bradley, first African-American White House television correspondent   1977   VHS-format videocassettes   1980s:   Cable Television Decade   1980s  Color television replaces black-and-white in American homes   1980s  Fiber-optic cable   1980s  Hypertext links to Web   1980   First online newspaper [Columbus Dispatch]   1980   CNN, first 24-hour news station, debuts   1981   IBM PC is introduced   1981   Prince Charles and Lady Diana Spencer’s wedding, pulls in an estimated global TV audience of 750 million   1981   MTV debuts   1982   USA Today debuts   1982   CDs are introduced   1983   M*A*S*H* finale, 77% of  all viewers tune in 1983   Thriller redefines the concept of music video on MTV   1984   The Cosby Show, African-American family sitcom, debuts   1985   Microsoft Windows is launched   1985   Gloria Estefan & Miami Sound Machine become America’s leading Latin recording artists   1986   MCI Mail, first commercial email service   1986   Bethel v. Fraser, U.S. Supreme Court decision   1988   Hazelwood v. Kuhlmeier, U. S. Supreme Court decision   1989   Compaq laptop computer is launched   1990s: Digital Decade   1990s Rise of talk radio   1990s Rise of independent film   1991   Sir Timothy John Berners-Lee invents the World Wide Web   1991   Web expands online news and information   1993   Marc Andreessen creates predecessor to Netscape browser   1994   Direct Broadcast Satellite service is launched   1995   Microsoft Internet Explorer is launched   1995   Amazon.com launches online shopping   1997   William Jefferson Clinton’s Inauguration is live on the Internet   1997   DVDs replace VHS format   1997   Titanic records global box office sales of $1.8 billion   1997   First news blogs are introduced   1997   Diana, Princess of Wales, uses the paparazzi to spotlight worthy causes around the world   1998   J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series is translated into many languages, sells to a world-wide mass market, and launches a continuous series of blockbuster movies   1998  Beussink v. Woodland R-IV School District, U.S. District Court decision   2000+:  Age of Media Convergence   2000s  Rise of cell phone use and cellular technology   2001   9/11 Attacks are reported immediately through multimedia   2001   iPod and MP3 format compressed digital files debut   2001   Dominance of newspaper chains and media conglomerates   2001   Instant message services   2002   TV standard changes to digital   2002   Satellite radio is launched   2002   American Idol begins its first season   2003   iTunes online music store   2003   TiVo, video on demand, debuts   2004   24-hour coverage of the Olympic Games from Athens   2004   Broadband is in half of American homes   2005   Bruce Springsteen releases album on DualDisc (CD/DVD)   2005   U2, best-selling global superstar Irish band   2005   Google Library Book Project, digitization of books   2006   Google Video Pilot Project, digitization of National Archives films   2006   Citizen journalists record events on cellular cameras and technology   2007   Morse v. Frederick, U. S. Supreme Court decision   2007   Presidential debates on YouTube

[sullivansgilbert]

Reaching out across Tumblr to all my G&S fans, @carpe-mamilia and I just got back from Harrogate from this year’s G&S Festival, and I have some thoughts about the shows which I think I just needed to get down.

Also, bonus shoutout to @carlodivarga-s​ for being an all-round charming presence and delightful surprise in Harrogate this year!

OK. Here goes.

Princess Ida (Savoynet)

As Stephen Turnbull (he of Harrogate ramblings on Facebook) mentioned, this is a production that could have only worked at the festival. With the two kings portrayed as Gilbert and Sullivan themselves, and the rest of the company (with the exception of Ida herself) costumed as choruses from the rest of the G&S universe.

I know that Ida is written in 3 acts, but to have two 15 minute intervals is a strange experience. Especially as the curtain came down on the Act I at 8:15, it felt as though we were only about getting started and we were all back out our seats and into the bar. When I saw Ida done in Southampton earlier this year, they split Act II in half and placed a single interval more squarely in the middle, and I didn’t think that the pacing or structure suffered as much as it perhaps could have done then.

My greatest issue with Ida is that.. it’s not a very interesting story? And certainly not a very good ending. It feels as though Sullivan far outshines Gilbert. Some of the plot points, too, feel very, well, seen-before? Most noticeably, the male trio dressing up in silly costumes and singing witty songs about it? Done in Patience (and much better, I should add!). That said, Ida definitely has some standout solos, in particular Gama’s two patter songs (’I’m such a disagreeable man’ and ‘Nothing whatever to grumble at’), and Death to the Invaders! is such a TUNE at the top of Act III, though I actually preferred it in Southampton, just as there was more drama and sense of impending peril.

The ending of the whole thing is pretty crap though. Here’s Ida, a feminist ICON who shuns men and rules a chorus of strong academic ambitious women who look down on men, and yet she sort of just limps across the finish line like, oh yeah, I guess I’ll just love you and marry a man and I was wrong about all my studies and thoughts of independence. Ugh.

Y’know what I want to happen to Ida? I want her to shun all the men and grow old, independent, and married to a woman. Princess Ida: a queer legend.

Trial by Jury & The Zoo (LOpSoc)

I can’t say too much about the productions because it was my old university group and I’m sure I can’t write without any bias, so I’ll focus on the shows. 

Trial by Jury was my first real show as Musical Director so it’ll always have a spot in my heart, especially having studied law at university. Musically, it’s so well accomplished, at barely 30 minutes, Sullivan manages to cram in so much content, including the brilliant ‘A Nice Dilemma’ sextet (or septet if you count the chorus as one, too), as well as some beautiful patter songs and some great parts for the chorus. You can really see how the rest of the Savoy Operas took inspiration, and to a certain extent, structure, from this first piece. 

That said, there are a few familiar elements missing from the piece that become G&S standards later on in the canon, including the contralto exposition song, the romantic leads’ duet, and, well, a second act. Still though, one of my favourites. 

The Zoo on the other hand? I’ve now seen it three times, and whilst I enjoy the music, some of it really is quite good, I have no idea what actually happens. I think there are at least 3 plots intertwined with one another, but with no libretto to explore or explain those plots, it’s essentially three totally different stories happening at the same time, just... coincidentally at a zoo. Libretto is pretty naff, but there are some charming songs, such as the ‘Four Tarts and a Couple of Pairs’ jaunt, and the duel of the male and female chorus once the Duke has eaten and faints (??) (’Prop him up upon a chair, lay him flat upon his back’).

Good news though, that LOpSoc were nominated for best director and best chorus for this production which I thought was well deserved. 

Ruddigore (Charles Court Opera)

Oh my word. I confess I’ve never been Ruddigore’s biggest fan, but boy oh boy am I a fan of Charles Court Opera, so the chance to get to see this production was high up the list, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. With a cast of 9 (and totally omitting the male chorus), this production was lively, sharp-witted, and for the first time in any production of Ruddigore that I’ve seen, or indeed been involved with, I followed every detail of the plot perfectly. 

Only two bridesmaids made up the female chorus, and they also lent their voices to a mixed chorus for the ‘Painted Emblems of a Race’ and subsequent male-chorus numbers (though ‘Welcome Gentry’ was cut) which worked beautifully. Also, a nice little change to Mounted emblems of a race, as the three ancestors were portrayed as severed, mounted heads on the wall of the set. Sir Roderic did have an additional stage presence as he was also portrayed by the accompanying headless corpse come to life. 

One of the absolute highlights of this production, too, was lovely, wonderful Simon Butteriss, who is always an absolute joy. With John Reed-esque lightness, but with a voice on form as ever, it was a joy to see him on stage. As it was the whole cast, really. Having seen CCO’s HMS Pinafore at the King’s Head in London in a tiny 100-odd seat fringe theatre with just a pianist, to see them on stage at the Royal Hall in Harrogate with a complete orchestra was really special. 

Yeomen of the Guard (National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company)

Oh boy. I was so excited for this performance. And I was so disappointed. The victim perhaps of a festival matinee crowd, as I said to dear friends over dinner after the show, there are a certain number of ‘minimum requirements’ I expect of the NGSOC:

The cast remember their lines. Having a certain member of the principal cast prompted from the wings was... well. Awkward to say the least. And garnered the intake of breath you can imagine from the audience. 

I expect the principal cast to be able to stick to time with the orchestra. Several times, the cast fell wildly out of time with the orchestra, making for highly awkward listening. 

I expect the principal cast to be able to hit all the notes they’re expected to. Naming no names, but, with a certain soprano aria in Yeomen, there’s a rather important note towards the end that you cannot get wrong. And yet. 

I expect the show to be lit well. If actors are stood singing in darkness, either the actor needs to find their light, or the lighting director needs to do a better job. 

That all said, the chorus were fantastic, to the point I actually longed for them to come back on to stage whenever they were gone, but I must say of Andrew Nicklin’s direction... I found it lacking. The staging was particularly dull and unimaginative, with barely any choreography, or even any movement come to that. My first time actually seeing Yeomen on stage and... ugh. Y’know? That said, there were reports from a friend having seen it earlier in the week at the festival and it being remarkable, so.. maybe just an off-performance. 

The Mikado (National Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company)

Now, THIS is how you do G&S. The company were almost unrecognisable from the afternoon, and the show was packed to the rafters with joy, energy, and sheer brilliance. Genuine laugh out loud moments from a full auditorium who are, I’m sure, more than familiar with the source material! Andrew Nicklin who was conducting, made sure that the pace was kept up, and my word, just, my heart was pounding with, well, a combination of relief and amazement. I loved it.

In particular, Mae Heydorn as Katisha. Fuckkkkkk. This wasn’t your usual Katisha, this was a dazzling, glamorous Katisha, and although you’d think that might not work, it did. And what a voice. On the final note of Act I, Mae managed to outsing the full assembled company and orchestra with a note that travelled and reverberated into our very bones. 

My only criticism would probably be that Richard Gauntlett, who also directed the show, delivered some of Ko Ko’s lines so fast, if you weren’t familiar with the show, you wouldn’t have a clue what he’d just said. That and Nanki-Poo, in a typical tenor manner, did tend to rush some of the songs, even when singing as part of a trio - perhaps a little indicative of not listening to his cast-mates. But alas.

____

OK, I think that’s all. A brilliant, lovely few days away. So much G&S. I loved it. So much so, I think I’m going to start a bit of an artistic project to create some more G&S content, so keep an eye if you’re interested! 

-- Thomas

[arte-en-mi-mente]

ARTIST Sir John Everett Millais, Bt 1829–1896 PART OF Illustrations to ‘The Parables of Our Lord’, engraved by the Dalziel Brothers 

MEDIUM Wood engraving on paper 

DIMENSIONS Image: 140 × 108 mm 

COLLECTION TateACQUISITION Presented by Gilbert Dalziel 1924

[thebulletinhamilton-quotes]

3, 10, 12, 16, 20, 29 for the historical ask 💕

A/N: Thank you so much for the ask! I know it’s long but it’s not everyday I get to talk about history. @lunayn934 you really made my day I hope you know it. Thank you so much for sending in asks, i can’t thank you enough for it! Real quick thank you for being so patient on this! History is one of my favorite subjects and I want to capture the essence perfectly.

3) What is your country most known for?

Short Answer: Moon, and well *gestures toward a hot mess and anarchy*

Some pretty weird things...it’s a little horrifying how upside down things are. We are known for being the “first” in taking steps to improving innovation and making changes. *coughs in french* Atterrissage sur la Lune *coughs in french* I would say it’s a tie between innovation and hypocritical with a side of ‘we’re trying!’ is what we are best known for. Though I will say, it takes a couple decades but eventually we do the right thing ™. Most of the time. It’s an endless cycle.

10) Pieces of art (paintings, sculptures, lithographies, etc.) related to history you like most.

Short Answer: Statue Of Abe, the beautiful works of Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day, lithograph by Alonzo Chappel portraits done by Ralph Earl, Joseph-Désiré Court, Charles Willson Peale, Unknown and John Trumbull.

Thanks to the efforts of eighteen year old Lavinia Ream, she created a sculpture by visiting President Abraham Lincoln every morning for five months. Despite outcries of inexperience, nepotism, and her ‘nature’, she completed a bust of him. She then was able to make the full standing statue despite the President’s untimely death in 1865. Thanks to her efforts, we know have his likeness immortalized.

I think this is a photo that accurate represents society and the impact of the so called “freedom fathers”. This picture represents not only the hypocrisy but a true reveal of the mask. It reveals truth and virtues we hold dear. I hope to one day see this in real life. Without the creative minds of Titus Kaphar and Ken Gonzales-Day, this art would not exist.

Lithograph by Alonzo Chappel (1828 - 1887) titled ‘Valley Forged ... Washington & Lafayette’ Apparently this was an accurate depiction in 1777 when the Revolutionary Army dealt with the biting cold and harsh winter at Valley Forge. Does this picture look familiar? It was a meme made popular by @camilton* on this very site.

John Laurens portrait is done by Charles Willson Peale

Alexander Hamilton portrait is done by John Trumbull

Hercules Mulligan portrait is done by (can’t find it for some reason??) Unknown Artist. If any of you guys know who did Hercules Mulligan portrait, please let me know!

Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de Lafayette portrait is done by Joseph-Désiré Court.

Eliza Schuyler Hamilton portrait is done by Ralph Earl.

Okay I’m done.

12) Would you take part in a re-enactment?

Short Answer: Yes

Answered this here!

16) Do you own some historical item? (Coin, clothing, weapons, books, etc.) If Yes, which one is your favorite?

Short answer: Yes and no but preferably old photographs.

I don’t technically own it and I don’t know if it’s real (prolly not??) but I have a weird coin collection that dates back to the early 20th century. I also plan on asking for family portraits on my dad’s side from my aunt. The portraits go far back as the 1870’s I believe but I could be wrong.

20) History crush?

Short Answer: Scroll to the bottom to find it.

I

Wonder

Who

Could

It

Be

?

I GUESS WE WILL NEVER EVER KNOW

29) Great historical mystery you are interested in?

Short Answer: Correlation Of Science and the Princes in the Tower

It’s not so much of a mystery but a weird connection of historical events. For example, the American Revolution happened during a time when there were (on record) longer winters. Crops were not doing as well as before. It was during a three hundred or so period where in Europe and North America there was revolutions. I’ve looked at the data and did an actual report on it (RIP 2008). It’s pretty interesting the correlation with science influencing decisions.

But the greatest historical mystery has got to be the Princes in the tower. I have an idea of how it ends but at the same time, there is no way for sure what’s real though. I do believe the great Sir Thomas More investigation and Shakespeare’s Richard III is the best for solving the mystery. But, for now, it’s one of the few mysteries that scratch my head.

DISCLAIMER

* = user would not link up for some reason on tumblr??