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All Victories are Pyrrhic
Whether or not you win a conflict, something will have been lost.Â
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William West, 1st Lord Delawarr
The somewhat brutal face and the arrogant pose of William West, 1st Lord Delawarr, reassures us that human nature has not changed much over the centuries. This portrait hangs in the 1540 Gallery at Tate Britain on Millbank, London, near the Palace of Westminster. The aggressive pose is similar to that used by Hans Holbein…
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An Allegory of Man 1596
The painting warns the viewer of the soul’s vulnerability to the vanities of the world. It strikes me as a sort of 16th Century morality comic book. It’s a bit like a Tudor version of The Beano, where Dennis The Menace and Gnasher are tempting the saintly and wet Lord Snooty with all sorts of…
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Beautiful Place, Beautiful People?
No, it didn’t quite work out like that, it never does. However Arcadian the setting, we humans will wreck it and fill it with the same petty miseries you find the world over. My biggest problem living up in the mountains for 8 years was probably Mr Mc Fukka. I was trying to help out…
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Born Again
I have always been faintly amused by the idea of earnest Christian converts sliding down a giant birth canal into a pool of holy water. Or whatever it is they actually do. According to Wikipedia “individuals who profess to be “born again” often state that they have a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.” Yeah, right, well…
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Processed for the Slaughterhouse.
In the featured image, Leni Riefenstahl and a camera crew stand in front of Hitler’s car during the 1934 rally in Nuremberg. Note the eerie order in the street, the crowd carefully controlled in the gutters to express their awe of the military behemoth. Earlier, in 1927, Fritz Lang had produced the unsettling film Metropolis,…
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There Comes a Time
I was contemplating meditation at the Wat Buddhapadipa in London and revisiting the basics of Buddhism this morning,
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Peace at Last
Very occasionally one gets a glimpse of peace and today was one of those all too rare days.
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Vierne: Messe Solennelle
Rarely have I felt such intensity as when singing Vierne’s Messe Solennelle with Fulham Camerata last Saturday.
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What fool bought that?
What I ought to have bought was a mobility cart and a year’s pass to the Bingo Hall. What I ended up with was a 320 brake horse power monster I am too terrified to drive. My father in law has long had a sneaky liking for my ridiculous cars but has never been that…