Current Favourite Sentence

That same year his work travelled abroad for group shows at the legendary Der Sturm Gallery in Berlin, and Gimbels Department Store in Milwaukee.

Aleijadinho (1730/38 - 1814)

Brazilian sculptor. More information here.

Max T. Vargas (1874-1959)

Peruvian photographer. More information here (in Spanish and English).

Aleksandr Sergeyevich Pushkin (1799-1837)

More information here.

Adrienne Rich (1929-2012)

More information here.

Antonio Galván Espárrago (1944- )

Our local bijou bookshop / winebar, Tipos Infames, has an exhibition on of drawings by this Badajoz-born artist, who is great.

Current Favourite Sentence

Enlisting the help of the warrior Queen Andromeda (Rosamund Pike), Poseidon's demigod son, Argenor (Toby Kebbell), and fallen god Hephaestus (Bill Nighy), Perseus bravely embarks on a treacherous quest into the underworld to rescue Zeus, overthrow the Titans and save mankind.

A Code of Morals

Now Jones had left his new-wed bride to keep his house in order,
And hied away to the Hurrum Hills above the Afghan border,
To sit on a rock with a heliograph; but ere he left he taught
His wife the working of the Code that sets the miles at naught.

And Love had made him very sage, as Nature made her fair;
So Cupid and Apollo linked, per heliograph, the pair.
At dawn, across the Hurrum Hills, he flashed her counsel wise -
At e'en, the dying sunset bore her husband's homilies.

He warned her 'gainst seductive youths in scarlet clad and gold,
As much as 'gainst the blandishments paternal of the old;
But kept his gravest warnings for (hereby the ditty hangs)
That snowy-haired Lothario, Lieutenant-General Bangs.

'Twas General Bangs, with Aide and Staff, who tittupped on the way,
When they beheld a heliograph tempestuously at play.
They thought of Border risings, and of stations sacked and burnt -
So stopped to take the message down - and this is what they learnt -

'Dash dot dot, dot, dot dash, dot dash dot' twice. The General swore.
'Was ever General Officer addressed as "dear" before?
'"My Love," i' faith! "My Duck," Gadzooks! "My darling popsy-wop!"
'Spirit of great Lord Wolseley, who is on that mountaintop?'

The artless Aide-de-camp was mute; the gilded Staff were still,
As, dumb with pent-up mirth, they booked that message from the hill;
For clear as summer lightning-flare, the husband's warning ran: -
'Don't dance or ride with General Bangs - a most immoral man.'

(At dawn, across the Hurrum Hills, he flashed her counsel wise -
But, howsoever Love be blind, the world at large hath eyes.)
With damnatory dot and dash he heliographed his wife
Some interesting details of the General's private life.

The artless Aide-de-camp was mute, the shining Staff were still,
And red and ever redder grew the General's shaven gill.
And this is what he said at last (his feelings matter not): -
'I think we've tapped a private line. Hi! Threes about there! Trot!'

All honour unto Bangs, for ne'er did Jones thereafter know
By word or act official who read off that helio.
But the tale is on the Frontier, and from Michni to Mooltan
They know the worthy General as 'that most immoral man.'

Rudyard Kipling

Yelizaveta Mnatsakanova (1922- )

Yesterday we had a pleasant surprise: two books through the post from the Russian poet, and true inheritor of the zaum tradition, Yelizaveta Mnatsakanova. The rewards of writing positive reviews in newspapers...

Here is an extract from Das Buch Sabeth (1988) which gives a clearish idea of her type of writing.

There's an interesting article about her here, which says coherent things slightly more coherently that I might be able to. Happy World Poetry Day!

Homage to Cyril Connolly

Roger de la Fresnaye (1885-1925)

Artillery (1911). More information here.

Amour de Pierrot (1905)

A present from my brother Ben.

Things I Would Buy If I Had The Money

Ralph Steadman, The Little Tin Bull Ring. A set of panels-Silk Screen Prints on Somerset Satin White Mould Made Paper. Weight: 300lbs (140lbs). Edition: 15. Artists Proofs: 1. Printers Proofs. 1. Size: 22.5"x 48". Price on Request.
More about the great, great Ralph Steadman here.

Louis Marcoussis (1878-1941)

His real names was Ludwik Kazimieirz Markous. More information here.

BardaGyn

We were in the pharmacy yesterday and I was struck once again by how little I know about branding, or marketing. I mean, if you were trying to sell a range of 'intimate hygiene products', no matter whether or not they actually were derived from thistles, would you use a picture of a large, spiny thistle to attract clients? "Oh no, I have an itch in an embarrassing place! I shall buy the gel that looks like it will soothe me most quickly! The one in the box with the big picture of the thistle? Why on earth not?" At least, my mind doesn't work like that. More information here.

Bring us in good ale

Bring us in good ale, and bring us in good ale,
Fore our blessed Lady sak, bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no browne bred, fore that is made of brane;
Nor bring us in no whit bred, fore therin is no game:
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no befe, for ther is many bones;
But bring us in good ale, for that goth downe at ones,
And bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no bacon, for that is passing fat;
But bring us in good ale, and give us inought of that,
And bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no mutton, for that is often lene;
Nor bring us in no tripes, for they be seldom clene:
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no egges, for ther ar many shelles;
But bring us in good ale, and give us nothing elles,
And bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no butter, for therin ar many heres;
Nor bring us in no pigges flesh, for that will mak us bors:
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no podinges, for therin is all gotes blod;
Nor bring us in no venison, for that is not for our good:
But bring us in good ale.

Bring us in no capon's flesh, for that is ofte der;
Nor bring us in no dokes flesh for they slobber in the mer:
But bring us in good ale.

Anonymous (later 15c.)