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tsaomengde · 8 months

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Star Trek: Infinite review

I love Stellaris, and I love Star Trek. I do not love mods, by and large, because I like playing the game the developers envisioned, with a minimum of bugs. So when I heard there was a Star Trek grand strategy game based on the bones of Stellaris coming out, I was excited.

Here's the thing, though: this doesn't feel like Star Trek. In Stellaris, it makes sense to have the entire game take place over a 300-year span of time. In Star Trek? You could do that if you were going from the ENT era in the 22nd century all the way up through current-day Trek TV like Picard, which goes into the 25th. That would have been something worthwhile.

But the entire game is set in the TNG era, the best-known and most-popular era. And as a result, a lot of the Stuff That Happens is stuffed into the first 70 years. The Borg? They show up and you deal with them before you even have battleships. They're far from an existential threat, too. There is a system full of Nausicaan pirates with twenty times the fleet power the Borg ever possess. The Romulan sun exploding, something that happens toward the very end of the 24th century? For some reason it gets moved up so you have to deal with it at the same time as the Borg.

Things Just Happen because they happened in canon, whether it makes sense for your game or not. The Federation mission tree wants me to free Bajor from the Cardassians, but they integrated Bajor decades ago. And I can't declare an offensive war, so, well, fuck me I guess.

The adherence to the Stellaris formula of "science ships, frigates, destroyers, cruisers, battleships, dreadnoughts" means that you have a bunch of Oberth-class ships running around doing all your exploring, and then everything else sits at home doing nothing until there's a war. The Enterprise is an exception, it can absolutely go and investigate anomalies and explore the galaxy, but you also can't stick it in a fleet, and you can't customize it despite customization being a big part of the shipbuilding in Stellaris games...

This is nitpicky, but speaking of shipbuilding, for the Federation, your frigate is the Miranda (okay), your destroyer is the Intrepid (what? it's a long-range science ship!), your cruiser is the Excelsior (a design canonically almost a hundred years old at this point in TNG, and yet you research it *after the Intrepid*), your battleship the Galaxy, and your dreadnought the Sovereign. If you complete the Enterprise's mission tree you also get the Defiant, which is *kind* of like a heavy destroyer-frigate-thing in this game (but the Defiant has never been properly represented in basically any Trek game ever). There's no hide nor hair of the much-beloved Akira class, which would make a much better cruiser given the setting.

Your ships also just don't feel like Star Trek ships. The correct answer to any problem is to throw as many ships as you can at it. In Stellaris, that means fleets of dozens of battleships and dreadnoughts. In some of the newer Trek media, and in certain war scenes in DS9, you see fleets of this size, but by and large, Trek is at its most interesting when the number of ships is lower, comprehensible. When the ships feel *important.* These don't.

The weaponry you're obliged to research also doesn't feel like the iconic Star Trek weaponry. It doesn't make the right noises. This is *very* nitpicky but Trekkies are a nitpicky breed. If you sell me a Star Trek game, I want it to be Star Trek. The sound design is iconic, and a vital part of the experience.

Speaking of iconic, the characters from TNG are voiceless portraits. No gorgeous Pat Stew baritones to be found heyah. Oh, and they die of old age. Including Data! That might be a bug, but still. If you are anything like me, you do not buy a Star Trek game set in the TNG era to watch Picard die of old age. Yes, mods exist. See my very first paragraph about not wanting to use them.

I am probably going to boot up Sins of a Solar Empire with the Star Trek: Armada 3 total conversion mod rather than play this again. There could be DLC. There could be bug-fixes. At its core, though, I don't think this game *works.* You can't stretch the TNG era, an era of about 40-60 years (the Khitomer Massacre, the starting point for this game, is 2346, the Big D launches in 2362 or so, and the end of PIcard season 3 is in 2402), into a game of 300 years. It just doesn't feel right. It doesn't work.

At least it was only $30. I used two GameStop $5 monthly discounts on steam gift cards to get the Cerritos for essentialy free.

#star trek #star trek infinite #review #such promise #alas

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stronghours · 2 years

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a little more fleshed out and performative hindsight thoughts and 2022 thoughts that I put up on The Other Site. sex stuff as well, beware

Future/Image/Season/2022

The 2021 Naming of Seasons was well established in theory. But Huge Jugs Summer was all manifesting, no success; Sigma Male Autumn was overtaken by a grossly overdue Huge Jugs Summer; and Neutral Crone Winter just sort of withered away with many other hobbies and priorities once my body decided it was very off-putting to not fuck for thirty years, only to be released from the bullpen to perform a full floor tumbling routine with a busted vagina and little to no self conception. I stuck the landing but my vagina is still busted.

I'm currently reading The Magic Mountain and feel a little too in solidarity with good old poor little Hans Castorp - mostly mediocre, pleasant enough, minor natural creative gifts but unimpassioned and not well-practiced (at 15, he watercolor painted the christening and departure of the double-screw steamer Hansa, which was remarked, showed potential for the artist's ability to become a talented marine painter; in high school I once made four oil-pastel portraits of pears in the style of impressionism, pointillism, "van gogh" and Lichtenstein, which my parents hung up in the kitchen and to which my dad still sometimes points and goes "I'm waiting for you to do something with that, worm" - peas in a pod!) But Hans Castorp's passivity and horror of working essentially gains him the privilege of chilling out, philosophizing, romancing, consorting richly and symbolically with post WWI Europe via alpine sanitorium for 7 years; my own led to me not fucking for 30 years. Life is not written.

I had no choice but to Name The Seasons - I'm a lesboish 30-year-old parcel who is not significantly motivated by identity, gender, sex acts, orgasms, or arousal (orgasms are whatever by myself, I cannot reach them with others, my physical arousal is nil, I do not get wet - all alarming findings I've been trying to pivot and re-perspective) and my presence here is more or less due to the calculus of physical comedy: I pratfalled into a latex dress and the other inclinations fell into place. Erotic life has the verve of a banana peel on carpeted stairs. I say this because I think it's funny; that's also why I call my vagina busted. People think I'm a woman in latex and a boy everywhere else - it's hard to get mad about it when, if they asked, I couldn't tell them what I think I am either. I picture my mind: lately, like a water well, tubular stone walls, a defined structure with plenty of empty space and no footholds and a termination one can't see. I am so rigid but it encompasses a formlessness. If I don't actively perform my little delightful kindergarten acts - Naming The Seasons, making my cute lists, bombastic and absurd fuckgoals - they would never get done. I'd probably forget them the next morning and focus on The Magic Mountain and then replace, replace, replace, replace, replace, until it's too late. Sometimes I think the only emotions I feel distinctly, to the point of malleability, are anxiety and dread.

Comes the other difference between Hans Castorp's reality and mine: Hans Castorp is a professional orphan, and he has money; if he lived modestly, carefully, he could support himself independently with the passive income his inheritance generates. He doesn't necessarily need to become a shipbuilder - but what else will keep him cozy in Maria Mancini cigars? (phoo!) He can ruminate on Time in a deckchair - I can do my dishes and worry that my love for my mom disappears anytime she is not physically or verbally on my horizon. If I'm not doing, it's already gone - and with my propensity to be still, then life can be hell. If a lesbo performs outré sex acts with no penetration or arousal in a forest and there's nobody around, has it even lost its virginity?

(some professionals would say no)

A lot of talk goes on here about motivations and identity and I relate to none of it. I worry I'll be no good to deal with. I worry I disingenuously "picked" sadism (the same way I "pick" other goals, above) because it's the way I can cooperate actively, to an intimate extent, with another human being in an adult social situation without typical sexual touch triggering more nothing-feelings and despair. Caveat Emptor!

I recently told my friend that I actively needed to remind myself that the majority of people don't, like me, have the libido of a corpse. They said that was too negative. They suggested I have the libido of a fig. This fits nicely with my efforts to change the perspective of my various emptiness-ness. No, I'm not empty - depending on The Season, I am full of dead wasps.

Anyway here's what I'm down for in 2022:

SOME OVERALL:

one drawing a day - related: sketch, oil pastels, homemade egg tempera paint & technique

daily fiction writing

herb and spice growing

chess, chess puzzles, and chess practice

german study - reading, writing, listening, talking, translation, etc.

sewing & quilting

Forest Preserve - get serious. more certifications, more independent study, more volunteer hours

attitude: self-discipline, composure, restraint, courage, integrity

SOME OUTRÉ:

Latex-making - pencil skirt, tool-carrier, handbag, gloves

Cane-A-Cunt

Latex Tea Party

Rice-pull punishment

FORNIPHILIA - furniture predicaments - I want to turn a person into a human vase - I want to arrange flowers in the human vase (scissors, tweezers, pin-pad, the shebang). forniphilia, forniphilia, forniphilia. I want to put a lampshade on someone's head. I want to turn someone into a rolling drinks cart. I'll do it with steel shackles and I do it with saranwrap. I think it's so fucking funny and I think about it all the time

scenes with no sexual component

auxiliary topping

train and collaborate with impact (giving)

canes! canes! canes!

get a sjambok/practice the sjambok

disdain, scrutiny, & cold observation

classique school discipline - like, dunce-cap level. that good old fashioned chestnut. I just think it looks fun.

go back up and look at the forniphilia entry again

another difference between myself and Hans Castorp: his fate is vaguely assured. he volunteers for war and will most likely die there.

(Ich lebe) als sprachrohr des Autoren -

I think!

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arts-dance · 6 years

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Symbolism in portraits of Elizabeth I

What do the Tudor rose, the pelican and the ermine symbolise in portraits of Elizabeth I?

🌹 🌹 The Tudor rose

The red and white Tudor rose was created by combining the emblem of the House of Lancaster (the red rose) with that of the House of York (the white rose). These rival houses were united in 1486 by the marriage of the Lancastrian Henry VII and Elizabeth of York, which brought much-needed stability to the nation after years of civil war (the Wars of Roses).

The Tudor rose was used in Elizabeth's portraits to refer to the Tudor dynasty and the unity it brought to the realm. The rose also had religious connotations, as the medieval symbol of the Virgin Mary. It was used to allude to Elizabeth, the Virgin Queen, as the secular successor to the Virgin Mary.

The pelican: a symbol of motherly love The pelican was one of Elizabeth's favourite symbols. It was used to portray her motherly love to her subjects. In times of food shortages, mother pelicans were believed to pluck their own breasts to feed their dying young with their blood and save their lives. In the process of feeding the mother would die. In the Middle Ages the pelican came to represent Jesus sacrificing himself on the cross for the good of mankind and the sacrament of communion, feeding the faithful with his body and blood.

Endurance, eternal life and purity A phoenix is a mythological bird which never dies but, after 500 years, is consumed by fire and born again, making it a symbol of the Resurrection, endurance and eternal life. Only one phoenix lives at a time, so it was also used to symbolize Elizabeth's uniqueness and longevity.

The ermine, an animal of the weasel family, also featured in many portraits of Queen Elizabeth I. Prized for its tail of pure white fur with a black tip, according to legend the ermine would rather die than soil its pure white coat and it came to stand for purity. It also functioned as a status symbol, as wearing ermine was restricted to royalty and high nobility.

A sieve is a symbol of virginity and purity reaching back to Ancient Roman, where the Vestal Virgin, Tuccia, reputedly proved her purity by carrying water, unspilt, in a sieve. This symbol was used to glorify Elizabeth's virginity and associate England with the Roman Empire.

The goddess of the Moon and war Moons and pearls were used to present Elizabeth as Cynthia, the goddess of the Moon, who was a virgin and therefore pure. Sir Walter Ralegh helped to promote the cult of Elizabeth as a moon goddess with a long poem he wrote during the late 1580s, The Ocean's Love to Cynthia, in which he compared Elizabeth to the Moon.

Elizabeth was also associated with Minerva (or Pallas Athena), the Classic virgin-goddess of war and defender of the state. Although prepared for war, Queen Elizabeth I preferred peace and came to stand for peacefulness and wisdom. She was also the patron of arts and crafts, especially wool, and of trade and industry, including shipbuilding. Other symbols used in portraits of Queen Elizabeth I

An armillary sphere is a skeletal celestial globe used to represent and study the movements of the planets. It was used to represent wisdom and power and also as a symbol of the good relationship between Elizabeth and her courtiers.

Dogs were used to represent faithfulness, and the breed associated with the Tudors was the greyhound. While gloves represented elegance and olive branches symbolised peace, crowns, orbs and sceptres all signified monarchy.

The Armada Portrait

Many of these symbols - and more - can be seen in the iconic Armada Portrait. This painting will be back on display in the Queen's House after it was saved for the nation and taken down for conservation.

An iconic image of female power

The Armada Portrait was designed to be a spectacle of female power and majesty, carefully calculated to inspire awe and wonder.

Like many Tudor portraits, it is packed with meaning and metaphor. Elizabeth’s upright posture, open arms and clear gaze speak of vitality and strength. She is draped in pearls – symbols of chastity and the Moon.

Numerous suns are embroidered in gold on her skirt and sleeves, to signify power and enlightenment. She rests her hand on a globe, with her fingers over the New World, and above can be seen a covered imperial crown: both signal her potency as a ruler, not just of England but also as a monarch with overseas ambitions.

The painting is also particularly unusual in representing Elizabeth in a naval and maritime context. In the background, two maritime scenes show the English fleet engaging the Armada in the Channel and Spanish ships being wrecked on the Irish Coast during their stormy passage home, while the mermaid on the queen’s chair of state symbolizes sailors lured to their destruction. Intriguingly, both views are very early 18th-century repaintings over late-16th-century originals.

The portrait may have been owned or even commissioned by Sir Francis Drake, who was second in command of the English fleet against the Spanish.

http://www.rmg.co.uk/discover/explore/symbolism-portraits-Elizabeth-i

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hollymcinallyba3photo · 4 years

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Oscar Marzaroli Exhibition

Today in class we went down to Street level photoworks to visit the Oscar Marzaroli Exhibition

'Clyde Shipbuidling, John Brown's Yard, 1966' - © Oscar Marzaroli

1. What technology was used the images ? How does this effect your reading of the work?

Oscar Marzaroli used a Rolleiflex, analogue camera to produce his B&W photographs

2. Describe what you can see and where is it within the image?

Within the image there is a lot of buildings And a crane . The crane is positioned to the right hand of the frame. It is going into the middle of the image. There is also a person standing on top of the crane.

3. What is the format of the image?

The image is portrait but it is of a landscape. I think this is because they where trying Personify the crane.

4. Where are things placed within the image

There is a big crane to the right hand of the image. You are drawn to this in the first instance.

5. What is included within the image what is excluded ? What effect does this have?

There is building, crane, water included with the image. The crane is cut off. I feel like the effect this has is you want to know more about the landscape and area.

6. What is the photographer’s view point - is it above, below or equal to the subject? How would the image change if the viewpoint was different?

The photographers viewpoint is equal to the subject. I think if it was anything different it would have the same effect on the viewer.

7. What Happened before and after the photograph was taken?

I think before the photograph was taken they where building the ship/boat (QE2) after the photograph was taken the ship was launched.

8. What is the light source within the image?

The light source within the image is natural. The atmosphere it creates for me is homely. The image feels relaxed.

9. Is the image black and white? How does it effect your reading of the image? How would the work differ if it were changed from colour to black and white or vice versa?

The image is in black and white. I think it gives it a thoughtful & moody atmosphere. I think if the image was in colour it would be too busy and you wouldn’t focus on the crane within the Image. You would focus on the smaller details.

10. What scale is the work ? Is it small and intimate or large and dominating?

I think the scale of the work is large and dominating because of the crane(this flows across the image as a whole)

11. How is the work presented? Is it framed? Hung on the wall ? Floor based? Why ? What effect does this have ?

The work is framed in a black bordered frame. I think the effect this has is that you feel relaxed and calm looking at these images within the gallery because they are all framed similarly. But when you look at a image it feels like it just you looking at a particular image.

12. Is the work titled? How does the affect the meaning of the image? What title would you give the image?

The work is titled “Clyde Ship- building, John brown’s ship yard” I think this affects the meaning of the image by actually giving the image a location. Because other wise you would think it could be anywhere. I wouldn’t change the title of the image because I think it’s very descriptive and tells you exactly where this image was taken.

13. Who might of this image has been made by? Why? Who for?

This image was made by Oscar Marzaroli obviously but I think if you didn’t know who it was made by you could think it was taken by a worker on site. I think this image was made to document the history of shipbuilding, Clydebank and Glasgow as a whole. I think it was made for future generations to show them there was such a thing a shipbuilding factories in Glasgow.

14. What do you think the artist is trying to say ? Do you think the have communicated they’re ideas successfully ?

I think what the artist is trying to communicate is to show the documentation of this time in history. I think they have communicated they’re ides successfully.

15. How does the work make you feel?

The work makes me feel nostalgic because I love learning about history and especially the history of glasgow. I also love this image because it is from where I live so I love to how the town has changed since then.

16. Do you like or dislike the work? Why ?

I really like this image because it shows how the town of Clydebank has changed and evolved into the town it is today.

#readingphotographs #creativeprocess

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plusorminuscongress · 4 years

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Picture This: Frances Benjamin Johnston’s Hampton Album: A Researcher’s Exploration https://ift.tt/2Q54yFc by Barbara Orbach Natanson

The following is a guest post by Micah Messenheimer, Curator of Photography, Prints & Photographs Division.

Conversations with visiting researchers that lead to new appreciation for the many interconnections among Library of Congress collections are one of the pleasures of my job as a photography curator. The following interview was done with Jane Pierce, Carl Jacobs Foundation Research Assistant in the Department of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, who visited the Prints & Photographs Division to study photographs of Hampton Institute by the Washington photographer Frances Benjamin Johnston (1864-1952).

Micah: Jane, thank you for taking the time to discuss your research. To start, can you tell us a bit about what brought you to the Library?

Jane: In preparation for MoMA’s new publication Frances Benjamin Johnston: The Hampton Album, I visited the Library to research photographs from Johnston’s commission at Hampton Normal and Agricultural Institute, which she worked on in December 1899 and January 1900. This school, now Hampton University, was founded in 1868 to provide an education to African-Americans post-emancipation, and by 1900 they were admitting Native Americans as well.

Students at work on a house built largely by them. Photo (platinum print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1899 and 1900. https://ift.tt/34Gllno

Micah: How does the Hampton work at the Library differ from the photographs in MoMA’s collection?

Jane: MoMA has a set of 159 of these photographs from Johnston’s commission, which used to be bound in an album, and it was invaluable to compare/contrast these with the similar set at the Library of Congress. Generally they represent the same body of work (and both were printed in the luxurious platinum process), but the Library of Congress collection holds a number of additional scenes Johnston shot in the vicinity of Hampton, but not on campus, like the photograph below.

Student shipbuilders at Newport News, Virginia. Photo (platinum print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1899 and 1900. https://ift.tt/38YRhHg

Micah: Johnston led quite a fascinating life and had a long and varied photographic career—making art, portraiture, photojournalism, and architectural photographs. What led to her being selected for this commission?

Jane: Johnston is considered one of America’s first female photojournalists, and the Library of Congress holds her life’s work. She was a trailblazer, which I think she captured perfectly in this self-portrait she arranged in her portrait studio in Washington, D.C.

Frances Benjamin Johnston, full-length portrait, seated in front of fireplace. Photo (gelatin silver print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1896. https://ift.tt/2Z5JJh1

She sits with her skirt hiked up, with a cigarette in one hand and a beer stein in the other. In 1896 this would have probably raised quite a few eyebrows, not to mention the photographs she took dressed as a man!

Frances Benjamin Johnston, full-length self-portrait dressed as a man. Photo (albumen silver print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, between 1890 and 1900. https://ift.tt/34COb8b

One of the main reasons Johnston likely received her commission at Hampton Institute was that in the spring of 1899 she had taken a commission to photograph the Washington, D.C. public school system. The majority of these photographs were of white students, but otherwise the photographs look remarkably similar to the ones she would photograph months later at Hampton. In most cases, the students are arranged in equally spaced groups and all gaze attentively in the direction of whatever lesson is at hand. This photograph of a class field trip is actually one of the less-staged tableaux (some students were caught mid-motion, which Johnston cautiously avoided at Hampton), but I loved seeing the students standing below the “Printing Press” mural by John White Alexander, which can still be enjoyed today in the Library’s Thomas Jefferson Building.

A field trip to the Library of Congress. Photo (cyanotype print) by Frances Benjamin Johnston, 1899? https://ift.tt/2Za0TKv

The Prints & Photographs Division holds 14 booklets of cyanotypes from this project, and also the four editions of The New Education Illustrated, which Johnston co-produced to showcase the photographs and the new methods of teaching that were being introduced at the time.

Cover, The New Education Illustrated by Edith C. Westcott with photographs from life by Frances Benjamin Johnston, Number 1 – Primary. https://ift.tt/2eRoY0m

Micah: Johnston’s Hampton photographs were made with an intent that was partially to document, but also to promote Hampton’s educational model and the progress of the country’s African-American population. Can you talk about how they were displayed at the Paris Exposition?

Jane: Johnston’s photographs were very well-represented at the 1900 Paris Exposition, a world’s fair that drew over 50 million visitors. Her photographs from the D.C. public school system were on view in the Palace of Education, and her photographs from Hampton were displayed prominently in the acclaimed “American Negro Exhibit” in the Palace of Social Economy.

“Exhibit of the American Negroes at the Paris Exposition.” Illustration from The American Monthly Review of Reviews, vol. XXII, no. 130 (1900 November), p. 576. https://ift.tt/1Ery3pD

The Georgia Negro A social study. Chart (ink and watercolor on board) prepared by W. E. Burghardt Du Bois. 1900. https://ift.tt/2Q17kLZ

This exhibit aimed to celebrate African-American achievements since the end of the Civil War, and it was organized by three African-American scholars: Daniel A. P. Murray, assistant librarian at the Library of Congress, Thomas J. Calloway, a young lawyer who was the primary organizer of the Exhibit, and W. E. B. Du Bois. Du Bois submitted an extensive study of the circumstances of African Americans in Georgia, with albums of photographs and stunning, hand-drawn graphic charts. One of these charts is visible in the installation shot, immediately to the left of Johnston’s Hampton University photographs. Both the charts and the Hampton photographs were mounted on boards and displayed back-to-back in cabinets that had folding leaves.

Learn More:

Find descriptions of MoMA’s recent book, Frances Benjamin Johnston: The Hampton Album, and its earlier 1966 publication on the Hampton album in the Library’s online catalog.

Explore the Library’s Frances Benjamin Johnston Collection, including her photographs of educational institutions, portraits, and views abroad, and travel through the South in her work on the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South. Read more about her life and work in our biographical overview and chronology.

Read more about Johnston in previous Picture This posts on her work at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing and about visualizing her work on the Carnegie Survey of the Architecture of the South.

View and read about the materials W.E.B. Du Bois assembled for the “American Negro” exhibit at the 1900 Paris Exposition.

Read the Report of the Commissioner-General for the United States to the International Universal Exposition available via Hathi Trust. (Volume 2 contains a report from Thomas Calloway titled, “The Negro Exhibit,” on pages 463-467)

#Library of Congress #PlusOrMinusCongress #±Congress #Indega±#IndegaPlusOrMinus

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disappointingyet · 5 years

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The Souvenir

Director Joanna Hogg Stars Honor Swinton Byrne, Tom Burke, Tilda Swinton UK/US 2019 Language English 2hrs Colour

Portrait of the artist as a spectacularly clueless posh kid

Up until this point, Joanna Hogg has been something of a miniaturist: two films about the English upper-upper-upper middle classes on holiday (Unrelated, Archipelago) and one filled almost entirely with two people in a house in Kensington (the terrific Exhibition).

As much of The Souvenir consists of two people in two-floor flat in Knightsbridge, you might guess that Hogg has narrowed her focus even further. But The Souvenir in its own way is a rather sprawling film, a big unhappy love story that – as hinted at by songs and snippets of news on the radio – takes us from 1981 to at least 1984.

Hogg also addresses the deliberately limited sociological palette of her earlier work in a couple of ways. On the one hand, this one has regional accents and a number of black faces. On the other, Julie (Honor Swinton Byrne), the posh film student who I think it’s fair to assume shares some of her creator’s experiences, starts off wanting to make a work that goes beyond her privileged ‘bubble’ (as she herself describes it): a drama about a mother and son in working-class Sunderland, a place then suffering from the depths of the Thatcher recession. Her tutors and friends doubt whether this is a suitable project for her, and encourage her to consider something closer to her own experience*. Hearing Julie’s stumbling and vague justification of the Sunderland idea, it’s hard to disagree with them. ‘And that’, Hogg seems to me to be saying, ‘is how I eventually ended up making films about posh people like me holidaying in Italy’.

Julie’s cinematic education, though, plays second fiddle to her love life. Anthony (Tom Burke) knows about art, wears a lovely chalkstripe suit and horrible slippers as shoes, and implies he works in the intelligence services (there’s never any confirmation of this from anyone else). He sounds even posher than Julie, but isn’t quite, judging by visits to their parents’ homes. At the start of the film their relationship is unclear both because Hogg rarely spells things out but also because their relationship is unclear to them, too. Eventually, things progress.

Anthony may know a lot of stuff and be mostly pro-Julie, but he’s also clearly trouble. A pattern is established by which he hits her up for cash, and she hits up her mum** (Tilda Swinton, who is, as it happens, Honor Swinton Byrne’s mother in real life). Julie, it seems, is as clueless about people as she is about politics.

It takes a bitchy dinner party guest***, in the film’s funniest scene, to explain to her what’s going on, breaking with Hogg’s tendency to avoid the explicit. This feels like a pivot in the narrative, although it’s less about Julie stopping making mistakes and more understanding the mistakes she nonetheless continues to make.

The Souvenir is a lovely looking picture, shot on 16mm film, with some great costumes and photogenic locations when it does leave the flat. It has a sometimes excellent but erratic sense of the time it is set in – I suspect some of actors playing supporting characters have been allowed to improvise, which leads to a few anachronistic-sounding lines: I don’t think (although I’m willing to be proved wrong) anyone in London in 1984 uttered the words ‘Haters gotta hate’.

In films set in the recentish past, the soundtrack is usually doing a lot of work to take us back there. Here, the choices tend to the clangingly obvious: Ghost Town, Shipbuilding (for photos of Sunderland), Small Town Boy… The Fall’s Totally Wired does make a bracing early appearance, though.

I think Honor Swinton Byrne inhabits a character who is meant to be half-formed well. Burke as Anthony I was much less sure about. And it’s entertaining seeing Tilda Swinton playing the kind of conventional upper-class woman she could have been if she hadn’t fallen into bohemia.

I liked Unrelated and Archipelago, and loved Exhibition. I think Hogg is one of the most interesting British directors around, and while clearly cinema in this country has gone backwards in its relationship to class privilege, I think Hogg is much less a symptom of the problem**** than Richard Curtis or the fact people keep creating roles for Eddie Redmayne to play.

The Souvenir – exec-produced by Marty Scorsese! – is meant to be her big breakthrough, and has had very excited reviews. But while it’s got a lot going for it, I wasn’t swept away. Maybe that’s just me – as with last year’s similarily critically adored Cold War, it’s a story of ill-fated love in which (in my view) the guy is clearly a dick and the woman is a sucker not for booting him out on his ear for good in the first third of the movie. Like Cold War, some of this misery is reportedly drawn from director’s personal history – and as with Cold War, I think that has zero relevance to whether the film works or not. I will, though, definitely go along to Part II, even though – or especially because – I’m baffled by how Hogg is going to add to the story.

*They engage in the long-standing debate about whether any class of people is more ‘real’ than others. We’re all obviously real, it’s just some people have minimal perspective on how absurdly privileged they are.

**Common People, innit?

***The cameo here – by someone who is a film director (like his character) as well as an actor – fits nicely with my theory of use of actors: he’s doing exactly the same performance of etiquette-breaching bluntness that he often uses for (possibly on the autism spectrum) nerdy characters, but here – thanks to a bit of hair dye and leopard skin – it reads as arty arrogance.

****Full disclosure: as I understand it, Joanna Hogg and I have some relatives in common, but I have never met her.

#joanna hogg #the souvenir #british film

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guam-671-dv8 · 5 years

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Trump, Chao, McConnell & China

A ‘Bridge’ to China, and Her Family’s Business, in the Trump Cabinet.

Elaine Chao has boosted the profile of her family’s shipping company, which benefits from industrial policies in China that are roiling the Trump administration.

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Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, oversees the American maritime industry. Her family’s shipping company, Foremost Group, has deep ties to the Chinese elite.CreditTom Brenner for The New York Times

By Michael Forsythe, Eric Lipton, Keith Bradsher and Sui-Lee Wee

June 2, 2019

The email arrived in Washington before dawn. An official at the American Embassy in Beijing was urgently seeking advice from the State Department about an “ethics question.”

“I am writing you because Mission China is in the midst of preparing for a visit from Department of Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao,” the official wrote in October 2017.

Ms. Chao’s office had made a series of unorthodox requests related to her first scheduled visit to China as a Trump cabinet member, according to people with knowledge of the email. Among them: asking federal officials to help coordinate travel arrangements for at least one family member and include relatives in meetings with government officials.

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A redacted email about a trip Ms. Chao was planning to take to China. A request to include family members at events raised ethical concerns.

In China, the Chaos are no ordinary family. They run an American shipping company with deep ties to the economic and political elite in China, where most of the company’s business is centered. The trip was abruptly canceled by Ms. Chao after the ethics question was referred to officials in the State and Transportation Departments and, separately, after The New York Times and others made inquiries about her itinerary and companions.

“She had these relatives who were fairly wealthy and connected to the shipping industry,” said a State Department official who was involved in deliberations over the visit. “Their business interests were potentially affected by meetings.”

The move to notify Washington was unusual and a sign of how concerned members of the State Department were, said the official, who was not authorized to speak on behalf of the agency.

[The Chao family has deep ties to the world’s two largest economies. Here are five takeaways.]

David H. Rank, another State Department official, learned of the matter after he stepped down as deputy chief of mission in Beijing earlier in 2017. “This was alarmingly inappropriate,” he said of the requests.

The Transportation Department did not provide a reason for the trip’s cancellation, though a spokesman later cited a cabinet meeting President Trump had called at the time. The spokesman said that there was no link between Ms. Chao’s actions as secretary and her family’s business interests in China.

Ms. Chao has no formal affiliation or stake in her family’s shipping business, Foremost Group. But she and her husband, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, have received millions of dollars in gifts from her father, James, who ran the company until last year. And Mr. McConnell’s re-election campaigns have received more than $1 million in contributions from Ms. Chao’s extended family, including from her father and her sister Angela, now Foremost’s chief executive, who were both subjects of the State Department’s ethics question.

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Ms. Chao with her husband, Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader; her father, James, a founder of Foremost; and her sister Angela, its chief executive.CreditStephen Crowley/The New York Times

Over the years, Ms. Chao has repeatedly used her connections and celebrity status in China to boost the profile of the company, which benefits handsomely from the expansive industrial policies in Beijing that are at the heart of diplomatic tensions with the United States, according to interviews, industry filings and government documents from both countries.

Now, Ms. Chao is the top Trump official overseeing the American shipping industry, which is in steep decline and overshadowed by its Chinese competitors.

Her efforts on behalf of the family business — appearing at promotional events, joining her father in interviews with Chinese-language media — have come as Foremost has interacted with the Chinese state to a remarkable degree for an American company.

Foremost has received hundreds of millions of dollars in loan commitments from a bank run by the Chinese government, whose policies have been labeled by the Trump administration as threats to American security. The company’s primary business — delivering China’s iron ore and coal — is intertwined with industries caught up in a trade war with the United States. That dispute stems in part from the White House’s complaints that China is flooding the world with subsidized steel, undermining American producers.

Foremost, though a relatively small company in its sector, is responsible for a large portion of orders at one of China’s biggest state-funded shipyards, and has secured long-term charters with a Chinese state-owned steel maker as well as global commodity companies that guarantee it steady revenues.

In a rarity for foreigners, Angela and James Chao have served on the board of the holding company for China State Shipbuilding, a state-owned enterprise that makes ships for the Chinese military, along with Foremost and other customers. Angela Chao is also on the board at the Bank of China, a top lender to the shipbuilder, and a former vice chairman of the Council of China’s Foreign Trade, a promotional group created by the Chinese government.

Angela Chao, speaking in an interview in New York on Friday, said that her board positions were unremarkable, emphasizing that Foremost did business around the world. She denied that the company had a “China focus” beyond what most dry bulk carriers have in a world dominated by Chinese manufacturing. “We are an international shipping company, and I’m an American,” she said, adding, “I don’t think that, if I didn’t have a Chinese face, there would be any of this focus on China.”

James Chao was not made available for an interview; a representative of the company received written questions from The Times two weeks ago, and the company responded with a fact sheet on Friday.

Though Foremost worked in the late 1960s on American government contracts to ship rice to Vietnam, according to James Chao’s biography, it has almost no footprint left in the United States, save for a modest corporate headquarters in Midtown Manhattan. It registers its ships in Liberia and Hong Kong and owns them through companies in the Marshall Islands.

Since Elaine Chao became transportation secretary, records show, the agency budget has repeatedly called to cut programs intended to stabilize the financially troubled maritime industry in the United States, moving to cut new funding for federal grants to small commercial shipyards and federal loan guarantees to domestic shipbuilders.

Her agency’s budget has also tried to slash spending for a grant program that helps keep 60 American-flagged ships in service, and has tried to scale back plans to buy new ships that would train Americans as crew members. (In China, Ms. Chao’s family has paid for scholarships and a ship simulator to train Chinese seamen.)

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The Chao family has provided funding for a ship simulator at Shanghai Maritime University and backed scholarships for training programs.CreditGiulia Marchi for The New York Times

Congress, in bipartisan votes, has rejected the budget cuts, some of which have been offered up again for next year. One opponent of the cuts has been Representative Alan Lowenthal, a California Democrat whose district includes one of the nation’s largest cargo ports.

“The Chinese government is massively engaged in maritime expansion as we have walked away from it,” he said in an interview. “There is going to come a crisis, and we are going to call upon the U.S. maritime industry, and it is not going to be around.”

Elaine Chao declined to be interviewed, but the Transportation agency provided a written statement from her.

“My parents and I came to America armed only with deep faith in the basic kindness and goodness of this country and the opportunities it offers,” Ms. Chao said. “My family are patriotic Americans who have led purpose-driven lives and contributed much to this country. They embody the American dream, and my parents inspired all their daughters to give back to this country we love.”

The department spokesman said The Times’s reporting wove “together a web of innuendos and baseless inferences” in linking Ms. Chao’s work at Transportation to her family’s business operations.

Agency officials said the department under Ms. Chao had been a champion of the American maritime industry, adding that several proposed cuts had been made by previous administrations and that the Trump administration had since moved to bolster funding.

Ms. Chao, 66, was born in Taiwan to parents who had fled mainland China in the late 1940s and later settled in the United States when she was a schoolgirl. She worked at Foremost in the 1970s but has had no formal role there in decades.

As her political stature has grown — she has served in the cabinet twice and has been married to Mr. McConnell for 26 years — Beijing has sought to flatter her family. A government-owned publisher recently printed authorized biographies of her parents, releasing them at ceremonies attended by high-ranking members of the Communist Party. On a visit last year to Beijing, Ms. Chao was presented with hand-drawn portraits of her parents from her counterpart in the transportation ministry.

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On an official trip to Beijing last year, Ms. Chao received portraits of her parents from the Chinese transport minister, Li Xiaopeng, center left.CreditPool photo by Jason Lee

The Chao family’s ties to China have drawn some attention over the years. In 2001, The New Republic examined them in the context of the Republican Party’s softening tone toward the country. When Ms. Chao was nominated as transportation secretary, ProPublica and others highlightedthe intersection of her new responsibilities with her family’s business. And in a book published last year, the conservative author Peter Schweizer suggested the Chaos gave Beijing undue influence.

The Times found that the Chaos had an extraordinary proximity to power in China for an American family, marked not only by board memberships in state companies, but also by multiple meetings with the country’s former top leader, including one at his villa. That makes the Chaos stand out on both sides of the Pacific, with sterling political connections going to the pinnacle of power in the world’s two biggest economies.

Ms. Chao’s father, a founder of Foremost in 1964, has for decades cultivated a close relationship with Jiang Zemin, a schoolmate from Shanghai who rose to become China’s president. As the schoolmates crossed paths again in the 1980s, the Chaos reaped dividends from a radar company linked to Mr. Jiang that targeted sales to the Chinese military, documents filed with the Chinese government show.

Though Ms. Chao’s financial disclosure statements indicate she receives no income from Foremost, she made at least four trips to China with the company in the eight years between her job as labor secretary during the George W. Bush administration and her confirmation as transportation secretary in January 2017. And her father accompanied her on at least one trip that she took as labor secretary, in 2008, sitting in on meetings, including with China’s premier, one of the country’s top officials.

Public records show that she has benefited from the company’s success. The gift to Ms. Chao and Mr. McConnell from her father in 2008 helped make Mr. McConnell, the Republican majority leader, one of the richest members of the Senate. And three decades worth of political donations have made the extended family a top contributor to the Republican Party of Kentucky, a wellspring of Mr. McConnell’s power.

“This is a family with financial ties to a government that is a strategic rival,” said Kathleen Clark, an anti-corruption expert at Washington University in St. Louis. “It raises a question about whether those familial and financial ties affect Chao when she exercises judgment or gives advice on foreign and national security policy matters that involve China.”

A Family Business on the Rise

Indian OceanAtlantic OceanPacific Ocean

CHINABRAZILSOUTH AFRICAMADAGASCARINDIARUSSIAAUSTRALIACANADAUNITED STATESINDONESIA

ShanghaiSept-ÎlesSão Luís

Bao May

Jan. 14 2017

Elaine Chao, the transportation secretary, has been a steadfast booster of her family’s shipping business, which transports raw materials to fuel China’s heavy industries. In January 2017, as the Senate voted to confirm Ms. Chao, a bulk carrier ship sailed from Canada with a shipment of iron ore.

The ship, the Bao May, is owned by her family’s business, Foremost Group. Its destination: an iron ore transfer terminal on Liangtan Island, south of Shanghai.

Two weeks later, after unloading its cargo in China, the Bao May set sail for Brazil to collect another shipment of iron ore, weaving through the Strait of Malacca and crossing the Indian Ocean.

The size of three football fields, the Bao May is too big to pass through the Suez or Panama Canals, so it must sail around the southern tip of Africa on its voyages to Atlantic Ocean destinations. For the last two years, the Bao May has repeatedly made the round-tip journey between China and ports in Brazil and Canada.

On this trip, it arrived in Brazil in May 2017, docking at the Ponta da Madeira Maritime Terminal in São Luís, where ships load up with iron ore from Brazil's interior.

The Bao May was built in a Chinese shipyard and financed with loans from the Export-Import Bank of China, owned by the Chinese government. At the launch ceremony in Shanghai in 2010, the guest of honor was Ms. Chao. For years, the ship has been chartered by a state-owned Chinese steelmaker, giving Foremost a steady supply of revenue.

It is one of 19 ships owned by Foremost, which was founded by Ms. Chao’s father, James S.C. Chao, and is now run by her sister Angela.

Data source: VesselsValue

While Foremost has its headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, its fleet is overwhelmingly focused on China. About 72 percent of the raw materials it has shipped since the beginning of 2018 has gone to China, according to figures from VesselsValue, a London-based firm that analyzes global shipping data.

Each year, Foremost ships transport hundreds of millions of tons of iron ore, coal and bauxite to China from ports around the globe. The shipments feed China’s industrial engine, especially its steel mills, whose products are part of an escalating trade dispute between China and the United States.

Rich Harris/The New York Times. Source: VesselsValue. Bao May image: Tropic maritime images. Satellite imagery: Google Earth

Four enormous gantry cranes rise on the banks of the Yangtze River near the East China Sea. In their shadow thousands of workers assemble cargo ships, each about as long as three football fields.

It is here, at the Shanghai Waigaoqiao shipyard, that Foremost Group’s newest ship, the Xin May, was built. Six similar ships are set to be built in the next several years, all part of an order by Foremost announced in December 2017 at the Harvard Club in New York.

Foremost first placed an order with the state-owned company in 1988 and over the decades has been its biggest North American customer, according to the shipbuilder. The relationship is so tight that Foremost’s offices in Shanghai are in the shipbuilder’s 25-story tower.

“We are committed to continuing to build ships in China,” Angela Chao said at the Harvard Club announcement, which was attended by the top official in China’s New York consulate. “My father was a pioneer in internationalizing the Chinese shipbuilding market, and it has been over 30 years that he has continuously ordered ships in China.”

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The newest addition to the Foremost fleet, the Xin May, is one of multiple ships the company has ordered from the Shanghai Waigaoqiao shipyard.CreditGiulia Marchi for The New York Times

Foremost has relied on the Export-Import Bank of China, or China EximBank, to finance at least four ships in the past decade. Its loans often come with lower interest rates and more generous repayment schedules than those made through some commercial lenders. As of 2015, the bank had made at least $300 million available to Foremost, it said at the time.

Angela Chao, in the interview with The Times, said that 2015 was the last year the company borrowed from the lender, describing its terms as less attractive than those of non-Chinese banks. She said the company never borrowed — “not even close” — $300 million, a figure she had not previously heard. “They are not a big part of our financing,” she said.

The Chao family’s connections run deep with the Chinese leadership, documents in China show.

As civil war raged across the country in the 1940s, Mr. Chao attended Jiao Tong University in Shanghai. A schoolmate was Mr. Jiang, who stayed in China after the Communist victory and ultimately became president. Mr. Chao went with the defeated Nationalists to Taiwan, where he became the youngest person to qualify as a ship’s captain, according to his biography.

Mr. Chao left for the United States in 1958, but a thaw in relations sparked by President Richard M. Nixon drew him back to his homeland in 1972, the first of a flurry of trips that established him as a successful member of the Chinese diaspora.

Mr. Chao got exceptional access. In 1984 he was invited to Beijing to celebrate the 35th anniversary of the People’s Republic and meet with the country’s top leader, Deng Xiaoping, according to materials at a museum in Shanghai dedicated to Mr. Chao’s wife, Ruth Mulan Chu Chao, who died in 2007.

Also in 1984, as China emerged from decades of political and economic turmoil, Ruth Chao bought a stake in a Chinese company that manufactured marine equipment, including radars, in partnership with Raytheon, the American defense contractor, according to Chinese corporate documents.

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In 1984, the Chao family took a stake in a marine electronic equipment company that targeted the Chinese military for sales. The venture was linked to Jiang Zemin, James Chao’s former schoolmate and a future president of China.

The investment, not previously reported, was held by a Panamanian company. The Chinese company, documents show, praised the “support for the construction of the nation” shown by Ruth Chao, identifying her as James’s wife and both of them as American citizens.

The now-defunct company targeted the Chinese military for sales of some of its gear, and a principal partner was a state-owned factory under the Ministry of Electronics Industry, which was led at the time by Mr. Jiang, according to corporate documents and a former employee. The employee, Zheng Chaoman, recalled the involvement of “the father of Elaine Chao.”

Within months, it generated enough revenue for Mr. Chao to donate profits to a foundation he had established in Shanghai, according to an announcement by the local government. The foundation sponsors training scholarships for merchant seamen, his wife’s biography said.

In the aftermath of the deadly suppression of pro-democracy demonstrations on Tiananmen Square in June 1989, the Chaos asked to divest their 25 percent stake in the company. Two months earlier, Elaine Chao had been confirmed by the Senate to a senior political appointment, as deputy transportation secretary under President George H. W. Bush.

The Transportation Department spokesman said Ms. Chao did not know anything about the venture. Angela Chao, in the interview, said her father did not “remember any ownership, and we can’t find anything on it.”

The family’s other business ties in China remained, including work that year by China State Shipbuilding on two new cargo ships for Foremost.

THIS IS ONLY AN EXCERPT FROM THE STORY! GO TO THE NY TIMES TO SEE THE REST!!! UNREAL!

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wikitopx · 4 years

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Having earned the reputation of being the closest beach to Paris, Dieppe's coast has a row of castles and hotels dating back to the 19th century since the first beach resorts became fashionable.

The windswept pebble beach is invigorating in winter and promises classic fun in the sun in summer. But Dieppe is not just a resort, as you will discover at the working fishing port lined with painted houses. The city is brimming with maritime charm, in the old world fishing districts and historic castles filled with the riches of 16th-century marine expeditions. Dieppe is located on the Cote d Summer Albâtre (plasterboard coast), which is popular by impressionists such as Monet, Renoir, and Sisley, who come to paint white cliffs and seaside villages. Discover the best things to do in Dieppe.

[toc]

1. Château de Dieppe

High to the west of the harbor and fishing port, Dieppe’s 15th-century castle happens to be the oldest building in the city as it avoided a titanic bombardment by the Anglo-Dutch fleet in 1694. The flint and sandstone castle has a rectangular surface, with circular towers at each corner, but it has what is most intriguing inside.

There are three rooms dedicated to the ivory trade from the 17th century of Dieppe with Guinea, including solar discs, fans, smoking machines, inhalers, medal portraits all sculpted with great skills. great (if you don't think too much about where they come from!).

In the art collection are 12 works by cubist painter Georges Braque, who was buried not far away in Sainte-Marguerite-sur-Mer.

2. Église Saint-Jacques

The Dieppe chops main church started in the 1100s and was not completed until the 1500s, and therefore, it is a complete monument to every stage of gothic architecture in France. The western rose window has intricate traces, and see if you can count all the gutters on the facade because there are more than a hundred.

The famous fleet owner Jean Ango, who provided King Francis I with his ships for global exploration, was a patron of the church in the 15th century.

3. Dieppe’s Fishing Port

On foot, you can spend a few hours strolling around the docks and fishing grounds of Dieppe.

The obvious place to start is Quai Henri IV, with Dieppe's largest seaside buildings, and loads of popular bars, restaurants, and cafes with lovely views through the woods of sailing boats. Pollet neighborhood.

Dieppe is the capital of French scallops and the boats in the harbor set sail at least once a night, returning to sell scallops at the harbor market early in the morning.

4. Plage de Dieppe

Yes, it’s pebbly, but that takes nothing away from Dieppe’s main beach, which runs on for kilometers, way past the western boundary of the city. The beach area has spacious lawns, a type of green belt, separating the beach from the majestic 19th-century hotels, castles and apartment complexes on Boulevard de Verdun.

In cooler seasons you can come for the blustery and restorative sea air, working up an appetite before retiring to the fishing harbor for lunch. And in mid-September in even-numbered years is the bi-annual Kite Flying Festival, which brings vibrant colors to the beach and hosts a program full of events.

5. Le Pollet

The quaintest neighborhood in Dieppe is Le Pollet, a village on the right bank of the Arques estuary at the foot of the chalk cliffs. Instead of walking all the way around the harbor to get there you can take a shortcut on Pont Colbert, which we’ll come to later.

Le Pollet has some lovely old streets, like the cobblestone fortress, visitors climb up from the coast and have painted wooden framed houses and beautiful fishing houses with flint walls.

Stroll for a few minutes to reach the top of the cliff, where you can reach the Notre-Dame de Bonsecours chapel with the most beautiful panorama of the city and the fishing port of Dieppe.

6. Le Pont Colbert

The bridge connecting Le Pollet with the rest of Dieppe is a wonder in its own right. Le Pont Colbert is the oldest rotating bridge in the world still using the original mechanism.

The bridge is used continuously because it is the only easy way to get into the city center from Le Pollet, and when there is maritime traffic, you can see the spectacle of this structure coming back to give it. pass.

It dates back to 1889 and is a remarkable piece of technology in the late 19th century. Efforts are being made to make sure the bridge is protected as a historic monument.

7. Estran – Cité de la Mer

In this museum in the old fishing grounds, you will learn everything you need to know about the natural history and people of the Channel.

More than 1,600 square meters of galleries will introduce you to local history professions such as shipbuilding and fishing, and there are aquariums displaying species native to the waters. Some tanks are open, allowing you to touch fish and other marine life.

8. August 1942 Memorial

In a 19th-century Renaissance theater at Place Camille Saint-Saëns, there is a small exhibition to commemorate the Anglo-Canadian raid on Dieppe on August 19, 1942.

The attack was immediately annihilated. from the beginning and within hours, thousands were killed or captured, making it clear how long it would be before the Allies could make a successful invasion into the European continent.

There are documents, photographs, weapons, and uniforms from the time of the raid, and you can watch a 40-minute film with first-hand accounts by soldiers who took part in the attack.

9. Villa Perrotte

The Rue Jules Ferry is lined with red bricks on the Belle Époque townhouse, and then, half of you go to a geometric and asymmetrical white art deco mansion like nothing else on the street.

The Perrotte mansion was built in 1928, commissioned by Pierre Perrotte, who created his property using fish oil, and was designed by Parisian architect Louis Filliol. There is also contemporary art to see if you can take your eyes off the building.

10. Manoir d’Ango

We mentioned Jean Ango, owner of the 16th-century fleet at Saint-Jacques Church, and ten minutes west of Dieppe, you can find out where he lives.

Open from April to September, Ango's manor house is a lovely brick and flint palace, built by Italian architects and used as a residence until Ango died in 1551. In the yard is one of the most spectacular dovecotes that exists: It has Byzantine dome type and its walls are decorated with flint bands, bricks, sandstone, and limestone alternating.

Dovecote, a little status icon in the renaissance, can contain more than 3,200 birds and have 1,600 pigsties.

More ideals for you: Top 10 things to do in Dax

From : https://wikitopx.com/travel/top-10-things-to-do-in-dieppe-708328.html

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deepmappingdumfries · 6 years

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From Above

How can you see all the angles of a town? Of course you can’t, at least not at the same time – but you can keep trying, keep gathering, keep learning.* I’m trying to build up a multidimensional picture layer by layer - a map of Dumfries that isn't flat, but is rather like a portrait that grows from many angles. I've been trying to find the best 'way in' to this portrait, sketching a rough outline before properly beginning to flesh out the details.

I wanted some kind of overview, starting with a way to photograph for myself something like the aerial view of Dumfries that I’d seen on Google and Bing maps. From memory, I’d at first thought that the steep downhill on the way in from Castle Douglas (the Glen), might have somewhere with a good view from above where I could park and photograph - but no, on the A75 the obligatory planted mixed native deciduous roadside trees are now old enough to be a beautiful screen of green in this season.

Then I remembered the Camera Obscura. I’ve only ever been a few times, most recently I think 17 years ago when my youngest daughter was a baby who didn’t like the heat of summer or the confusion of bustling strangers, so my mum helped my 4 year old to see while I sat out of the way, baby-calming. And before that, when I was a child myself (and probably too shy to get close enough to see properly!). So this visit was really an enormous treat – I’d told the museum staff in advance that I was coming and why, and by luck I was the only visitor, so the views were all mine…

I’m led upstairs by Susan the Gallery Attendant, past exhibits on the first floor, then up the spiral staircase, our footsteps sounding on wooden steps winding around a wooden post (which had originally been a ship’s mast and which may have been part of the building when it was a windmill, and which has to slant slightly from upright in order for the steps of the spiral staircase to maintain the same tread all the way up…)

There are so many fantastic stories attached just to this building - this link contains many of them (I almost want to do a whole poetry pamphlet on just this tower). An excerpt:

‘In the autumn of 1834 there were proposals afoot to demolish the old windmill which stood at the top of Corbelly Hill and redevelop the site. This met considerable opposition and Robert Thomson, shipowner, shipbuilder merchant and pioneer of trade with New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island, circulated a printed subscription form round the town -

"The spirit of commercial enterprise respects not objects, however picturesque and as the fate of the building has thus been decreed, nothing can save it but union and exertion on the part of those to whom it is nearly as dear as the Nith itself. In every part of the world there are Dumfriesians who remember well the Corbelly Hill with the mill, the kiln and the cozie seat which this latter afforded them in a winter day, the huge reefed arms that expanded above and the long and broad shadows they incessantly cast when the wind was strong and the weather fine, It is proposed therefore to form an Association under the name of the Dumfries and Maxwelltown Astronomical Society".

One of their principal aims was "That a Telescope and a Camera Obscura be purchased as soon as the necessary funds can be raised"’.

There is much more to this story, but I feel very glad that the plan succeeded and the camera obscura which opened to the public on 1st August 1836 is still intact and working wonderfully.

We pause on the second floor and Susan takes me to the windows to show me landmarks which will help me orientate – I laugh nervously, that yes, I’m not that great at knowing where things are in relation to each other. There’s also just been the upward journey by windowless spiral staircase which could be a tiny bit like being blindfolded and spun round in ‘Blind Man’s Buff’...

She points out the flag outside on a flagpole, and yes, there’s the pointy top of the Cuckoo Bridge towards the A76 (about a mile NNW), there’s the Midsteeple (much closer, NNE), the Church Street chimneys (just along the road), Palmerston stadium. She shows me the information boards on this floor that tell the story of the building, the bust of Robert Thomson, the man who bought and saved the building in 1834, and the life-size figure of Walter Newall, the architect who designed the conversion of the windmill tower into an observatory and supervised the work.

We carry on up the spiral stairway to the very top, where we're faced by a curved door (apparently a speciality of the architect), which Susan unlocks before showing me in. The room is smaller than I remember (of course), darkened and cosy, though a fan is cooling it in this unusual current hot spell. There is a guard rail around the table-like white dish where the image will be projected and ropes which operate the lens and mirror above hang down from a circular gap in the ceiling. One rope opens the lid which protects the apparatus from the weather, another adjusts the mirror which reflects an image down through a lens and a third rotates the turret through 360 degrees so that the views can be seen in any direction. The image is brought into focus by raising or lowering the projection table which has a counterweight below for this purpose, between the two floors. Susan lets me adjust this myself to feel the working of the mechanism, which is very satisfying - another beautifully conceived and built device.

The light is switched off, the mirror tilted and the image brought into focus. We start close in at the museum's front gate, Susan again pointing out the landmarks we'd seen from the window below and some new ones - the flag outside, the Crichton Church spire, the hazy view across the Solway to the Lake District... We progress around the town all the way around, from close views to distant.

The perspective is very fresh from here, the familiar made unfamiliar, and as I remember from childhood, maybe the oddest thing is to see movement; cars and buses on roads, people walking. Although of course I knew it was a live image, this still feels unreal and the dark room, the circular image with us leaning over it does have a slightly witchcrafty feel, the vivid scene both a trick of the light and a true feed from the outside world. I'd love to be able to see the first images projected in 1836 and the faces of the viewers (initially elite viewers, eventually in 1849, the paying public, but only on Saturdays).

Again from this link, when the observatory first opened:

'The newspaper reported that "when the Telescope was pointed to the lower part of the town, a lady was seen sitting at her window reading a letter, and when this was mentioned, Mr Morton remarked that by putting in the most powerful glass, he could enable the beholder to read the letter too. This, however, was not done, and if the Directors can help it, it will never be attempted. When the strongest glass was tried placards were read on the walls of Mr Rankine's and other shops near the Old Bridge". As for the Camera Obscura - "the colouring is as perfect as the eye could desire, and as the weather on Saturday was breezy in the extreme, it was beautiful to observe huge masses of river water chafed into foam as it hurried along. But it would be endless to record all the pleasure the Camera table affords, let our town readers therefore cross the bridge and judge for themselves, under the firm conviction that even the walk will do them good".'

I've certainly gained some new perspective here, both into Dumfries now and in the past - for example, when the Observatory opened, this area overlooked Dumfries but was not yet part of the town. I'm surprised too by how green the town looks from above, how many trees there are - one idea I'd had was to have a Dumfries version of the Edinburgh Tree Map, but I now realise this would be a much bigger task than I thought!

Back downstairs, I wish I had more time to view the museum's wonderful exhibits [I'd highly recommend visiting the museum and camera obscura for yourself, both are really amazing and the staff are friendly and informative - more information here and here].

I return to the slabs of sandstone on the ground floor which have Permian period fossil footprints, discovered locally during the same flourish of scientific interest and activity in which the observatory came about. If I want to really know who Dumfries is, maybe I need to return first to what it is made of - the stone, the water, the weather...

*A really excellent resource for me to quickly and enjoyably fill in much detail in many aspects of Dumfries’s history has been the newly published Secret Dumfries by Mary Smith and Keith Kirk, published by Amberley - well worth checking out!

Deep Mapping Dumfries on Wordpress here.

#dumfries #deep mapping #deep mapping dumfries #dumfries museum #camera obscura #dumfries and galloway #psychogeography #scotland #photography #writing #writers #placemaking #poetry #prose

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irescot · 7 years

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Edinburgh - Thursday

Today's title is a bit of a misnomer because we spent most of our time either in Glasgow or getting there or getting back. If you remember, we were meeting with Fr. Eamon.

Carol had arranged for a taxi to pick us up at 8:45 because the taxi dispatcher wanted to make sure she took into account rush hour. When we got there we had to print out our tickets, and had a bit of a problem until Carol realized that she hadn't paid for the tickets, Sharon had provided her credit card. Once that was sorted, everything went very smoothly and the machine printed out the tickets.

We had bought return (we say round-trip) tickets and also "any time" tickets, meaning we could take any train to get there and any train to return. We did that because we were not sure what time we would be finished with our visit with Fr. Eamon. But we had agreed to take the 10:15 train from Waverley Station to Glasgow Queen's Street Station. Glasgow also has a Central Station.

An interesting thing is that they didn't post the platform until 7 minutes before the train was scheduled to depart. Most of the platforms are in one area, but there are several platforms that require a bit of walking; I don't know what those people would do.

The station is named after one of Sir Walter Scott's novels, and throughout the station they have posted quotes from Scott's work.

We noticed a pigeon boldly walking about, not afraid of people. Is someone came close, it just calmly moved away. When I took his picture, he seemed to stop and pose.

Carol and I had to use the facilities, and much to our surprise, we had to have 30p in exact change. A woman saw us looking at our change and took pity on me and gave me the extra 10p I needed. I was so flabbergasted at having to pay for the loo, that I didn't even thank the woman, nor did I ask her if she had another 10p for Carol. Carol graciously said she'd would use the train's facilities. By the time I was on my way out, I had recovered use of my meager faculties and so I went to a Burger King and asked for change; I must have looked so pitiful that the manager, after telling me that he wasn't supposed to do this, did give me change. I was then able to give the needed change to Carol. Phew!

Finally the platform was announced and off we went to go through the turnstiles. What you do is insert your ticket in a slot in the front of the machine; the machine reads it and authenticates it, and then spits it back out the top. You grab it and the little gates open up and let you pass. I had no problem getting through, but Carol and Sharon had to have help, we don't know why.

The train arrived and we got in, found a seat for four and we were off. The ride takes about 50 minutes, and sure enough, we got there in just that time. The way to exit from the platform to the main part of the station is the same way we entered. That is, you put your ticket into the front slot, but this time it keeps it and you can go through. It's an interesting system.

Out on the main foyer we stood around for a little while; it was where we had agreed to meet with Fr. Eamon and after a couple of minutes there he was. Carol and I didn't know him, but Sharon did so she spotted him right away. Introductions were made all around, and we left the station and went around the corner, where he queued up to get on a Glasgow Hop-On Hop-Off bus. We were doing the full circuit for a total of 1 hour and 20 minutes. So the four us got on the second bus because it had live commentary rather than just an audio guide, and from experience in Edinburgh, we felt the live commentary was much more interesting and timely.

The buses leave from and return to George Square, a very lovely plaza. Hanging from poles around the square were advertisings for The World Badminton Championship, taking place from August 21-27. Wonder who will win.

The tour guide was a lively, artsy guy who obviously loved to sing as we were serenaded several times throghout the tour, and it was clear he had a lot of knowledge about the various sites, and also about the night life and entertainment available in the city. He was also not afraid to give his opinion about various issues.

I was seated by the left windows of the bus, so there were several locations I couldn't take pictures of because they were on the right side, and the bus itself got in the way of the picture. But I did manage to capture most locations. Okay, here we go.

Saint Mungo lived from 528 to 614 and he is the patron saint and founder of Glasgow. There are a lot of murals in Glasgow and Sam Bates (called Smug) is one of the best know ones. He painted a portrait of Saint Mungo as a contemporary person that is very beautiful.

Glasgow Cathedral is the oldest building in Glasgow, having been built in 1197, which makes it a medieval structure.

There is a Royal Doulton fountain at the People's Palace in Glasgow Green that has a life size sculpture of Queen Victoria, but she was so petite (in her youth) that it hardly seems to be life size. It was unveiled in 1888 to commemorate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.

The People's Palace contains historical artifacts and various media to tell the story of Glasgow and its people from 1750 to the end of the 20th C.

There is an obelisk that is a tribute to Lord Nelson.

Stan Laurel started a career at age 16 doing a performance at the Britannia Panopticon Theatre and everything he did went wrong, but he had the audience rolling on the aisles, so he decided to do it intentionally, and went to America where he met a partner to do it with.

We passed The Scotia, the oldest bar in Scotland, and reputed to be haunted by a multitude of ghosts, some of which appear to applaud some performers.

The Style Mile is the high-end shopping area in Glasgow, with all the exclusive (read expensive) stores being represented.

We passed a statue of the Duke of Wellington in front of GAMO, the Gallery of Modern Art. If you look closely you'll see that both the Duke and the horse he rode in on both have a traffic cone on their heads. Apparently some university types did this and the council took them off, then the uni guys did it again, and the council...etc. After a while the council saw the error of its ways and let it stand.

This was not on the tour but we passed a building I really loved, the Union Stree Co-op, so here it is.

The tour guide told us that while Gaelic is spelled the same by the Irish and the Scots, the Irish pronounce it GAY-lic, whereas the Scots pronounce it GAL-ic. The Irish also refer to Gaelic as just Irish, whereas the Scots do not call it Scottish.

The river Clyde runs through Glasgow; it's a tidal estuary, which means that the water reverses direction with the tide. There is an 11 ft difference between the level at high and low tides. There used to be 50 steam ferries that plied the Clyde (I'm a poet and didn't know it). There used to be no bridges because there were 17 shipbuilders on the Clyde, who employed around 17,000 people, and the ships that were built could not have been sailed to their destination if there were bridges to impede passage. Now there is only one shipbuilder left.

Now there is one very modern bridge over the Clyde (I believe there may be other bridges), that is officially called the Clyde Arc, but is called by locals by the name "squinty bridge," referring apparently to the fact that the bridge is at an angle.

The Glasgow Tower is a free-standing tower on the south bank of the River Clyde, and it holds a Guinness World Record for the tallest tower in the world which can rotate 360 degrees. It has been closed for more than 80% of its life. It reopened in 2014. It is part of the Glasgow Science Center.

A quote from our guide, Peter: "the only difference between summer and winter in Glasgow is the temperature of the rain."

The Hydro is a concert venue. The Armadillo (formerly called the Clyde Auditorium) is also a concert venue and vaguely looks like the Sydney Opera House. There's a third one called the SEC Centre.

Not on the tour was a multicolored building that looked interesting. However, they were just renovating the building, but I still liked the look.

Also on the Clyde was the Glen Lee, the last sailing ship built in the Clyde shipyards, in 1895. Glasgow rescued it from its being used as a training ship by Spain's navy, and refurbished it and brought it to this location as an attraction that showed what was being done in the old Clyde shipyards.

There is a spot where to rivers meet, it's easy to see in my photos because I have a pole that bisects the picture. They are the Clyde and the Kelvin.

Again, not on the tour, I saw the façade of a building that just looked so interesting. I had to shoot it through the right window, so I only got a piece of it.

The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum was made to look like the church of Santiago de Compostela, the end of the old Pilgrimage Trail in Spain. It's absolutely beautiful, like so many of the buildings on this tour, and one of the more surprising things about Glasgow.

We passed a bridge over a stream that had nice sculptures on each end and I couldn't resist.

Another amazing building the University of Glasgow that looks gorgeous from all sides.

The Kelvingrove Museum again, and a strange green mascot or something. Followed by another view of Glasgow Uni.

Not on the tour a lovely clock tower in the middle of nothing.

The word Sauchy (pronounced "sucky") is in this bar's name and is also part of the street name.

The Royal Conservatory of Scotland. A poster for A Streetcar Named Desire. Pretty flowers.

Pictures of Fr. Eamon and us. Oh, I forgot to mention that Fr. Eamon took us all out to lunch after the tour bus, to this place, which had great food. And he insisted on treating us, even though we had wanted to pay for it. He'll get copies of these pictures.

And finally, back to St George Square, the Glasgow Train Station, and the mural of Saint Munro.

That's it. I'm sorry you can't see the pictures yet, but I promise I'm working on them.

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plusorminuscongress · 4 years

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