About Me

Kindness. Humanism.Secular. Sceptic. History, Pre-Raphaelites, Reading, Life-Long Learning. 'Sanity Is Not Statistical'.'Fill the unforgiving minute...'.

Thursday 29 December 2011

NME

Ben Howard - The Fear
kurt vile - runner ups

Your Painintgs

The Good Samaritan 1958 - http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-good-samaritan-64284



Sebastian 2004  - 

Davies, Matt 1974



Crossing the Brook - Joshua Reynolds (Copy of ) -  http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/crossing-the-brook-20831







Girl in White - 

Procter, Dod 1892–1972




Lieutenant Robert Haswell, RN 1746–1747















http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/sheep-washing-wellburn-yorkshire-18589

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/pink-and-yellow-roses-8000

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-vicar-of-sneyd-19728

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-late-sleeper-20002

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/regimental-sergeant-major-hickman-d-1833-10244

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/river-avon-near-warwick-18477

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/daniel-and-the-lions-18427

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/frank-clayton-bennett-20008

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-watering-place-19212

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/windmill-19959

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/john-alcock-jp-19275

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-tete-a-tete-tea-20938

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/early-teaching-19203

http://www.wolverhamptonart.org.uk/collections/browse_collections/art/victorian/000652.html?tab=information

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/portrait-of-the-artists-daughters-19848

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-swedish-dyehouse-20879

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/abel-chetwynds-gift-19316

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/still-life-20068

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/children-at-a-stream-19920

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/near-barmouth-19097

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/abel-chetwynds-gift-19316

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/peace-and-plenty-19224

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-misdeal-19208

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/a-child-asleep-18697

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dales-shop-stafford-18580

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dales-shop-stafford-18580

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-storm-19207

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/portrait-of-a-seated-woman-sleeping-19693

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/portrait-of-a-seated-woman-sleeping-19693

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-wandering-minstrel-20674

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/elizabeth-lee-17291786-wife-of-william-waller-19518

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/johnson-as-a-young-man-17091784-19618

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/red-lion-square-18524

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/egg-dance-20368

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/pleasant-pages-19199

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/minding-baby-20672

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/angel-19477

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/miss-mary-cartlidge-19756

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/the-rehearsal-19981

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/grey-morning-on-the-beach-20603

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/dog-and-fox-19387

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/study-of-a-womans-head-19073

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/mrs-mayer-20049

http://www.bbc.co.uk/arts/yourpaintings/paintings/after-marriage-20530






Ogden Nash

"I think that I shall never see / A billboard lovely as a tree. / Perhaps unless the billboards fall, / I'll never see a tree at all."

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Happy Songs

Passion Pit - Little Secrets - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcOcCJYfJN8&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
MGMT - Kids (cover) -  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hbPhS5t8V8&feature=share
Golden Skans - Klaxons (live) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Njm44K8wyCY&feature=g-u&context=G230e099FUAAAAHgAcAA
Golden Skans - Klaxons - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-SJjFcnsGs&feature=mfu_in_order&list=UL
Ladyhawke - Paris is Burning  - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vqWzfH71Bww
Friendly Fires - Jump in the Pool - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ofRCldHb7X0
Lykke Li - I'm Good, I'm Gone - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRFybeuLh54
The Subways - It's A Party - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SN5lplFhcyQ
Tilly and the Wall - Beat Control
Emiliana Torrini - Nothing Brings Me Down
I Love the Unknown - Clem Snide
NOFX - You're Wrong
What You Know - Two Door Cinema Club
Something Good Can Work - Two Door Cinema Club
Say You Don't Want It - One Night Only
Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire
Ready to Start - Arcade Fire
Numb - Linkin Park
Warm Whispers - Missy Higgins
Boulevard... - Green Day
Always Like This - BBC
Somebody Told Me - The Killers - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5fBdpreJiU&ob=av3e
Tokyo - The Wombats
Anti-D - The Wombats
Moving to New York - The Wombats
Arlandria - Foo Fighters
What's Up? - 4 Non-Blondes
Intro - The XX

Sunday 25 December 2011

Song Lyrics

'Sleeping is giving in
No matter what the time is
Sleeping is giving in
So lift those heavy eyelids' - Rebellion (Lies) - Arcade Fire - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j_aFmziaRdU&ob=av2e


'in my dreams we're still screaming' - the suburbs - Arcade Fire

'Always seems to me
You only see what people want you to see' - Whatever - Oasis

'If my velocity starts to make you sweat
Then just don't let go' - Planetary (Go!) - MCR


'The doctor asked him what he was afraid of
Just what was he running from?
He said, "It's not a fear of success, nor of closeness
But of going through life feeling numb"' - I Love the Unknown - Clem Snide


'Take me out tonight
Take me anywhere, I don't care
I don't care, I don't care
And in the darkened underpass
I thought Oh God, my chance has come at last 
But then a strange fear gripped me
And I just couldn't ask' - There Is A Light That Will Never Go Out - The Smiths


'In Catholic school as vicious as Roman rule
I got my knuckles bruised by a lady in black
And I held my tongue as she told me
"Son fear is the heart of love"
So I never went back' - I Will Follow You Into the dark - Death Cab for Cutie

'Control yourself
Take only what you need from it
A family of trees wanting to be haunted' - Kids - MGMT

'Will those feet in modern times 
Walk on soles that are made in China? ' - Love is Noise - The Verve

'I'm not whole
I'm not whole 
You waste it all ' Always Like This - Bombay Bicycle Club

'This ain't a song for the broken-hearted
No silent prayer for the faith-departed
....
It's my life
It's now or never
I ain't gonna live forever
I just wanna live while I'm alive

(It's my life)
My heart is like an open highway
Like Frankie said, "I did it my way"
I just wanna live while I'm alive
'Cause it's my life
....
Tomorrow's getting harder, make no mistake
Luck ain't even lucky, gotta make your own breaks' - It's My Life - Bon Jovi

'So pack up the bags to beat back the clock
Do I let her sleep or should I wake her up?
You said
We both go together if one falls down
Yeah right, heh
I talk out loud like you're still around 
No Noo
And I miss you (ooooh')
I'm goin back home to the West Coast
I wish you woulda put yourself in my suitcase
I love you
Standin' all alone in a black coat' - West Coast - Coconut Records

'And from the ballroom floor we are in celebration
One good stretch before our hibernation
Our dreams assured and we all, will sleep well
Sleep well
Sleep well
Sleep well
Sleep well
....
You are the best one, of the best ones
We all look like we feel' - Stolen - Dashboard Confessional

'Can't you see? 
Life's easy
If you consider things
From another point of view
Ah ah ah ah ah ah
Ah ah
In another way
From another point of view' - Point of View - DB Boulevard

'We are always running for the thrill of it thrill of it
Always pushing up the hill searching for the thrill of it
On and on and on we are calling out and out again
Never looking down I'm just in awe of what's in front of me' - Walking On A Dream - Empire of the Sun

'Love forever love is free
Let's turn forever you and me' - Feel Good Inc - Gorillaz

'C'mon, baby, c'mon, c'mon, darling,
Let me steal this moment from you now.' - Running Up That Hill (Cover) - Placebo

'Light up, light up
As if you have a choice
Even if you cannot hear my voice
I'll be right beside you dear
...
To think I might not see those eyes
Makes it so hard not to cry
And as we say our long goodbye
I nearly do' - Run - Snow Patrol

'Do the things that you always wanted to
Without me there to hold you back, don't think, just do
More than anything I want to see you, girl
Take a glorious bite out of the whole world' - You Could Be happy - Snow Patrol 



Open Your Eyes - Snow Patrol
All this feels strange and untrue
And I won't waste a minute without you
My bones ache, my skin feels cold
And I'm getting so tired and so old
....
Get up, get out, get away from these liars
'Cause they don't get your soul or your fire
Take my hand, knot your fingers through mine
And we'll walk from this dark room for the last time


Every minute from this minute now
We can do what we like anywhere





'All that I am
All that I ever was
Is here in your perfect eyes, they're all I can see' - Chasing Cars - Snow Patrol

'Just say yes, just say there's nothing holding you back
It's not a test, nor a trick of the mind
Only love' - Just Say Yes - Snow Patrol

'We walk, we walk
We walk, we walk
When nothing makes you feel good
Then nothing makes you feel good'  We Walk - The Ting Tings



'Let him know that you know best
Cause after all you do know best' - The Fray


'What if I say I'm not like the others?
What if I say I'm not just another one of your plays?
You're the pretender
What if I say I will never surrender? - The Pretender - The Foo Fighters  



'Change everything you are
And everything you were
Your number has been called' - Butterflies and Hurricans - Muse



'but I feel alive, oh, I feel it in me
up and up we keep on climbing
higher and higher and higher
higher and higher and higher' - Little Secrets - Passion Pit



'When the day is done 
Down to earth then sinks the sun 
Along with everything that was lost and won 
When the day is done.' -  Day is Done - Nick Drake


'How do you tell a child that there's no God up in the sky
And it's all a lie
For nothing' - Sappho - Tribes


'better to be hated than loved, loved for what you're not' - I am not a Robot


'my eyes have always followed you around the room' - If I had a Gun


'Yeah, oh don't you put me on the back burner
You know you got to help me out' - The Killers


'God bless your soul girl
Now you got the whole world' - The Subways













Friday 23 December 2011

Woman's Hour Drama - Possession

'Roland Michell, an academic research assistant, is completing some work in the London Library, when he comes across two unfinished letters written by the Victorian Poet, Randolph Henry Ash. These letters have obviously not been found by anyone else and they are not to his wife but to an unknown woman. Roland, whose entire academic life has been devoted to studying Ash, decides, recklessly to pocket the letters and try to determine exactly who they were written to.
This is the beginning of a quest that will change literary history and with the help of a feminist literary scholar Maud Bailey, they are determined to find out the truth behind these letters. Certain other characters hear about the letters and are eager to get their hands on them for their own financial gain and will do so, by any means necessary, and so the chase begins.

Written by A S Byatt.

Dramatised by Timberlake Wertenbaker

The Young Victoria

Sir John Conroy (Mark Strong)

'Kensington System'

Zadok the Priest played.

Duchess of Kent - Victoria's mother?

Prince Albert liked Schubert?

Windosr Castle , june 18, 1837 - early morning - Victoria notified that she is Queen?



Baroness Lehzen


Swan SOng - Schubert

Thursday 22 December 2011

Inky Fool blog

Recondite - (of a subject or knowledge) Little known; abstruse: "recondite information"



Desert Island Discs Revisited

Robert Fisk

Songs
Benjamin Britten - War Requiem
June 18 1940 - Finest Hour speech
Pachelbel - Canon

Book - Mallory's Mote d'Arthur


'melifluous'

Montgomery's victory over Rommel - 1942 - El Alamein

Wednesday 21 December 2011

Book of the Week - The Etymologicon

Episode 2

'The author of the Inky Fool blog leads us on a fascinating journey tracing the connection between seemingly unrelated words and uncovers the links between the 'proof of a pudding', 'sausage-shaped poison', being hoist by a 'petard' and 'feisty heroines'.

The Etymologicon -  by Mark Forsyth

broil


botulus = latin word for sausage

botulism = 'sausage disease' - origin

'hoist with his own petard' - Hamlet quote

Paper was invented in China?

Episode 3

Turkey is native to America

Guinea Pigs are found in Guyana, SA

'Magnolia Forests'

1560s - Turkey becomes standard Christmas meal?

Alcohol = origin of word is Arabic

This Sceptred Isle

Anna Massey narrates
 
35. Bad King John and the Loss of Normandy

Aged 42, Richard the lionheart dies, 1199

rejoined

'Arthur of Brittany'


34. Third Crusade and Death of the Lionheart

'Hubert Walter' - Archbishop of Cantebury

Saturday 17 December 2011

The National Gallery Podcast: Episode Fifty Four

http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/paolo-uccello-saint-george-and-the-dragon

'Miranda Hinkley: So the count was living in Austria, but he was actually of Polish origin and that’s where things got sticky, because the Nazis confiscated all of the artworks belonging to foreign nationals in Austria.
Caroline Smith: Yes, any work belonging to a foreign national was potentially subject to confiscation and so after the annexation of Austria in 1938, a significant number of works from the Lanckoroński collection were confiscated: nearly 1,700 works, including the Uccello.'


' Monet was difficult because they had to wait on one of his paintings, and eventually he said, ‘oh, I’ll call it “Impression: Sunrise”’ – although now we think it’s actually a sunset, but that’s another story, isn’t it? But that was the painting that of course attracted the critics and gave the movement its name. It broke the mould entirely, and so 15 April 1874 was a very important day for art history. - Hames Heard, Impressionism

Friday 16 December 2011

16 December 2011

'"The only position that leaves me with no cognitive dissonance is atheism. It is not a creed. Death is certain, replacing both the siren-song of Paradise and the dread of Hell. Life on this earth, with all its mystery and beauty and pain, is then to be lived far more intensely: we stumble and get up, we are sad, confident, insecure, feel loneliness and joy and love. There is nothing more; but I want nothing more." – The Portable Atheist: Essential Readings for the Non-Believer, 2007

Quotes

Hilaire Belloc’s ’Dedicatory Ode’

‘From quiet homes and first beginnings, out to the undiscovered ends, there’s nothing worth the wear of winning but laughter and the love of friends’

Plays

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Pillowman#Act_I

Wednesday 14 December 2011