23 May
This is why:
These women (in the background, on the left), who should simply be living good lives in obedience to their husbands, are pretending to be bishops and expecting obedience when they, inevitably, teach heresy.
They are appointed in error, and they go on to teach error. Their “ministry” is based on false premises, and leads inevitably to more bad theology.
23 May
One area in which I find women do better than I would have expected is painting. More than one of my favourite artists is a woman. Olivia Bernardoff has been criticised for her poor draughtsmanship, and I do suspect that some of her rather “primitive” style might simply be that, but I like her subject matter and I think she has something.
I love the way she has noticed the way lights blur at night:
She is not just an Australian artist, but I think an artist from my town, Canberra. I recognise a lot of her subject matter.
22 May
This work by Marc Auge has been hailed as important anthropology:
For example, here:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/mar/28/non-places-marc-auge-review
and here:
http://www.ballardian.com/zones-of-transition-micronationalism-in-the-work-of-j-g-ballard
It is about non-places. Places that are intermediate. To me, they include places people pass through but don’t inhabit. Bus stops, corridors, pedestrian crossings, “lobbies” or foyers, airports, car parks, and so on. The Australian-born painter, Jeffrey Smart, seems to paint such places;
(“Waiting for the Train”)
(“Study for Taxi Stand 2002″)
This is a photograph, described as reminiscent of a Jeffrey Smart painting, and also illustrating liminality quite well:
I found this here, a picture of a loading bay, described as like being in “a particularly desolate Jeffrey Smart painting”:
I suppose loading bays are liminal places, in a sense. Anyway, it is an atmospheric picture.
There is often an element of the backstage, the “behind the scenes”; a concept discussed in Erwing Goffman, The Presentation of Self in Everyday Life (1959).
But Marc Auge was not the first to explore the concept of non-places. There is the concept of “liminality”:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liminality#In_places
and the traditional Catholic religious idea of Limbo:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Limbo
This is by “a follower of Hieronymus Bosch”. Despite my interest in Bosch, I had never previously seen it. It is “Christ in Limbo” c. 1575.
Edward Relph discussed “place and placelessness” in 1976:
The concept of the lobby as a liminal or intermediate place is discussed in the preface to this book:
I like Jeffrey Smart’s work so much, that this is starting to turn into a Jeffrey Smart post, but here is a pool of photographs that remind people of his work.
Another Australian artist who likes to paint intermediate, transitional and liminal subjects, including “non-places”: Olivia Bernardoff, whose painting below is titled “Nowheresville”:
19 May
I am disappointed in John Horgan, whose book “The End of Science” I recently bought second-hand, but I guess he “knows which side his bread is buttered on”:
http://hbdchick.wordpress.com/2013/05/16/twitter-dodgeball/
Scientific American has long been, editorially, highly politically correct.
Chris Gale of Dark Brightness has some commentary. And a link to an exclusive club,The League of Unemployable Bloggers.
Scientific American has “form”, allegedly, for discriminating against scientists with unpopular views. Forrest Mims III claims that an offer to write their Amateur Scientist column was rescinded when it emerged he was a Creationist.
For the record, I am not a Creationist. But I would be proud of Mims’ scientific output. He and I share an interest in ultraviolet light and the environment. I have ordered one of these from Amazon to take more measurements:
18 May
I
I first saw you singing
like a bird
half-hidden in a hedge;
nervous, you peered
about the room.
I loved the fear,
like prey, on your face.
I wanted to clip your wings
and cage you, to sing
only for me.
II
My desire was to rule you.
To put you to labour
in my kitchen and laundry;
to savour watching your
lovely body sweat; to see
you wait on me.
III
I wanted to have reason
to box your ears,
to slap your face,
to keep you in line,
to put you in your place,
to send you sobbing
from time to time.
IV
I wanted you dressed
only in my desire;
to have my staring eyes
burn your garments off
like fire.
V
I wanted to split you
like a young sapling,
so you would grow in
a way that would please me;
to make you swell and soften.
(translated by Julian O’Dea)
I haven’t got the requested song to go with this, but here is a picture to accompany the poem:
14 May
… in Oriens is …
It covers both religion and sex, and is therefore bound to be popular.
Julian
Critical response so far:
