605: Voices: A Treat for MY Ears

Many a time and oft I have complained in my usual pedantic style about the decline of standards in the use of English - for example, HERE.

As an antidote, and with my grateful thanks for the power of the Internet, here, a couple of examples of the sort of spoken English that is seldom heard indeed these days, more the pity.

Truly a joy to my ears.

First an amusing anecdote from the highly-talented novelist and biographer, Nancy Mitford:

And to follow, the velvety though frail voice of  Virginia Woolf, recorded in 1937:

How I wish I could hear voices like these today.

Compare and contrast with e.g. Russell Brand or Jonathan Ross or that awful female continuity announcer (anaancah?) on what she calls 'BayBaySayToe'. Credit where it's due: Stephen Fry can speak properly, but the problems lie elsewhere - for example the cretins he employs on his television programme, in particular that tit in the lumberjack shirt, but also all those horrible socialist so-called comedians

I was born too late, much too late.

Until the next time.

604: A Bizarre 15 Minutes or So.

This gem I found today in the course of an Internet trawl, which began with Nancy Mitford, via Nancy Cunard, Virginia Woolf and one or two other twentieth-century luminaries.  Thus I came across those inimitable Bloomsberries fooling about at Lytton Strachey's house, Ham Spray.

The films were made by Beakus Penrose, younger brother of famous art expert and artist, Sir Roland Penrose and sometime lover of artist Dora Carrington who plays a prominent role in the films - you'll see her enjoying a ride on a white horse and you'll also see Strachey himself (Eminent Victorians, Queen Victoria etc.) leaning out of an upstairs window.  The film is also graced by the presence of a fine tabby cat...

Enjoy it!

Until the next time.

603: Even Blacker

Today is 26th January, the blackest day in the year, even blacker than 19th January and 14th February.

If you have been, thank you for reading this - oh and thanks to the Lord Jesus as well (not); fairy tales are no consolation.

And it's raining too.

Until the next time

602: More Nonsense

A veritable waste of news space, this one.

Russian oligarch, Roman Abramovich's girlfriend was photographed sitting on a chair made in the form of a black woman dressed in "bondage gear."

Shock horror, outrage has ensued (pathetic).

Here's an extract from the BBC article:

Cosmopolitan's pop culture editor, Alex Rees, said on the fashion magazine's website: "I would go so far as to say that certain things (like this) just shouldn't exist.

"But if they must, so that people can feel edgy or provocative or, you know, racist, they really shouldn't be photographed and uploaded onto the Internet - and especially not on Martin Luther King, Jr Day."

Rees noted the chair resembled a 1967 sculpture, entitled Chair, by British pop artist Allen Jones, which features a white woman.

In her apology, Zhukova writes: "This photograph, which has been published completely out of context, is of an art work intended specifically as a commentary on gender and racial politics. I utterly abhor racism, and would like to apologise to anyone who has been offended by this image."

What a load of trivial bollocks.  What if the figure had been the proverbial white, middle-class male, dressed say as a bank manager?

Absolute rubbish - just like another article on today's BBC news site about Australians (called "Aussies") in the piece which refers to Britons as "Brits."  I suppose that a piece about "Pakis" would be off the menu?  Double standards?  I hate 'em.

Until the next time

601: Another Grim Anniversary

Yes, the second: 19th January.

It doesn't get any better; sums it all up really.

Until the next time

600th Post: The Artist

 

I saw this wonderful film on Thursday, 12th January 2012 at a cinema in Brighton; I enjoyed every minute of it, and the company of the wonderful person with whom I watched it.

I was happy that day, and for just a few days more - eight to be exact.

Tempus fugit.

Until the next time.

Photo Opportunity

Image BBC

The recent storms in the UK have caused great misery, damage and inconvenience, not to mention loss of life.

Nevertheless, a talented photographer certainly made the most of the opportunity to make the splendid image reproduced above.

Until the next time

No Tears Here

Ariel Sharon is dead.  He certainly took his time, didn't he?

No great loss, just another murderer really.

This website says of the name "Sharon" the following:

"People with this name have a deep inner need for quiet, and a desire to understand and analyze the world they live in, and to learn the deeper truths."

Oh yeah?

Until the next time. 

Pots & Kettles

Image: BBC

The woman pictured above is Jennifer Lauren, niece of the famous fashion bloke (I bought a pair of his trousers recently, for £5 at a charity shop).

She has just been fined $2000 for misbehaving on an aircraft.  Amongst the items given in evidence was the statement that she had called an air-stewardess "an ugly blonde bitch" and further called a senior stewardess a "fat, ugly, unhappy, blonde bitch."

Please review the photograph above and consider the well-known expression "A pot calling a kettle 'black-arse'."

As is often found in "celebrity" circles, there appears in this case, to be an excess of money and a dearth of class.

I rest my case.

Until the next time

Michael Schumacher

Doubtless, the irony of the 7-times FI world champion having survived over 20 years of motor-racing only to endure a near-fatal accident whilst skiing for pleasure, has already been remarked upon by many people.

Sadly he remains "stable but critical" according to today's bulletin from the hospital at Grenoble where he is being treated.  It would appear to be impossible at this stage for the doctors to offer any kind of prognosis following what appears to have been a very severe crash.

The BBC item refers to the German magazine Der Spiegel reporting that a bystander had apparently captured Schumacher's fall in a video recorded on his telephone.

The BBC says:

"The magazine says that a flight attendant from Essen who was filming his girlfriend on the slopes happened to catch what he believes was Schumacher's fall in the background.

The 35-year-old planned to hand the footage over to prosecutors, Der Spiegel reported."

Why would the "35-year-old" hand the footage to the prosecutors I wonder?  Another incidence I suppose of today's stupid blame culture where someone has to be guilty of something whenever there is an accident.

Look: Michael Schumacher an experienced skier, was skiing "off-piste" for recreation.  He was unlucky enough to fall and collide with a rock.  That's it.  Why the need for a prosecutor?  Or are they trying to tell us that there is some sinister agenda - perfect fodder for the conspiracy loonies that abound?

Nonsense.

Until the next time.

Shock, Horror, Outrage etc.

Shocked at the possibility that there is what is commonly known as "big money" behind those who prefer to believe that the idea of man-made climate change is alarmist rubbish, Ars Technica expresses concern that this might be undemocratic (oh dear...).

Well, well; I look forward to reading in the near future on a main stream site, a piece condemning the enormous vested interests behind the global warming panic.

In the meantime, there is of course always the splendid scepticism to be found on GREENIE WATCH.

 Until the next time