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Dr. Who - The Zygon Inversion
Just caught up with Doctor Who from Saturday - The Zygon Inversion. No spoilers again. But i will just say it was brilliant. Biased perhaps, but it was. Some great acting by Jenna Coleman BTW.
2015-11-09
Programmes I Am Watching
I must admit that this season of Doctor Who has been better than it has been for awhile and both Jenna Coleman and Peter Capaldi nailed it. So far a terrific season.
I am also enjoying the Sky series of Supergirl. I really hope to see some some great villians in it. Then there is The Flash - another excellent series that i am watching. Tonight it will be a couple of quiz shows, University Challenge and Only Connect.
I am also enjoying the Sky series of Supergirl. I really hope to see some some great villians in it. Then there is The Flash - another excellent series that i am watching. Tonight it will be a couple of quiz shows, University Challenge and Only Connect.
Visits Done, Reports In Progress
Three visits completed today and all were phone shop enquires n Canterbury , Hempstead Valley and Gillingham. Tomorrow ,though, will be less hectic as i shall be relaxing , reading and listening to some music. Back on the treadmill Wednesday.
I have finished reading three more books including one on Caravaggio.
I have finished reading three more books including one on Caravaggio.
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Book 67 - Andrew Graham-Dixon "Caravaggio"
Andrew Graham-Dixon "Caravaggio : A Life Sacred and Profane" (Penguin)
A highly enjoyable biography about Michelangelo Merisi called Caravaggio who lived in an age where painters. writers and composers were of the same social class as prostitutes and servants. It also looks like that he owed the start of his career more to a cardinal's interest in him as a boy toy than his art. Andrew Graham-Dixon makes a good case that Caravaggio's violent life was partly due to his involvement in prostitution and acting as a pimp, dueling with competitors in the streets of Rome.
His cinematic, dramatic art is mirrored in his equally dramatic and violent short life whose scenes merited their own Caravaggio paintings. How would he depict his imprisonment in a cell of the Knights of Malta? Or mortally wounding his opponent in the groin in Rome? Graham-Dixon brings both the stories and discussions of his paintings to the table. Recommended.
A highly enjoyable biography about Michelangelo Merisi called Caravaggio who lived in an age where painters. writers and composers were of the same social class as prostitutes and servants. It also looks like that he owed the start of his career more to a cardinal's interest in him as a boy toy than his art. Andrew Graham-Dixon makes a good case that Caravaggio's violent life was partly due to his involvement in prostitution and acting as a pimp, dueling with competitors in the streets of Rome.
His cinematic, dramatic art is mirrored in his equally dramatic and violent short life whose scenes merited their own Caravaggio paintings. How would he depict his imprisonment in a cell of the Knights of Malta? Or mortally wounding his opponent in the groin in Rome? Graham-Dixon brings both the stories and discussions of his paintings to the table. Recommended.
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Book 68 - Angela Carter "The Magic Toyshop"
Angela Carter "The Magic Toyshop" (Virago)
The Magic Toyshop is a retelling of Bluebeard, when a teenage girl named Melanie becomes imprisoned in her abusive uncle's home. But not imprisoned in the literal or fairy tale sense; this imprisonment is a more pernicious sort, predicated upon power and powerlessness, autonomy and means. And Uncle Philip's household reinforces its own oppression and subjugation to emotional abuse through the fear of what might happen if he is defied. Philip's absent domination of the household's concern re-creates him as more of a narrative force than a real character, against which the household strains and defines itself by.
But the household itself is a digression from the traditional Bluebeard fairy tale. Rather than being kept in isolation, Melanie takes solace in her aunt and in-laws: first because of the emotional bond based on the shared psychology living under Philip, then a stronger bond built upon mutual love and humanity, even in the face of Philip's dehumanizing aggression. The household itself is a subversion of Philip's terror by virtue of its collective strength and mutual encouragement; Philip, on the other hand, in isolation with a hobby of puppetry that surpasses his care and attention for actual fleshly humans, is lacking and weaker in comparison to the bonds that emerge among the rest of the family. A really interesting look at the psychology of fear, and a fascinating retelling of the fairy tale
The Magic Toyshop is a retelling of Bluebeard, when a teenage girl named Melanie becomes imprisoned in her abusive uncle's home. But not imprisoned in the literal or fairy tale sense; this imprisonment is a more pernicious sort, predicated upon power and powerlessness, autonomy and means. And Uncle Philip's household reinforces its own oppression and subjugation to emotional abuse through the fear of what might happen if he is defied. Philip's absent domination of the household's concern re-creates him as more of a narrative force than a real character, against which the household strains and defines itself by.
But the household itself is a digression from the traditional Bluebeard fairy tale. Rather than being kept in isolation, Melanie takes solace in her aunt and in-laws: first because of the emotional bond based on the shared psychology living under Philip, then a stronger bond built upon mutual love and humanity, even in the face of Philip's dehumanizing aggression. The household itself is a subversion of Philip's terror by virtue of its collective strength and mutual encouragement; Philip, on the other hand, in isolation with a hobby of puppetry that surpasses his care and attention for actual fleshly humans, is lacking and weaker in comparison to the bonds that emerge among the rest of the family. A really interesting look at the psychology of fear, and a fascinating retelling of the fairy tale