Culture
In praise of… The Antikythera Mechanism
I have noted it before [with videos from Nature], but the Antikythera Mechanism is a pretty wondrous object. And, as the Guardian’s ‘in praise of’ editorial points out, ”A BBC4 programme on Thursday night retold the tale.” The Antikythera Mechanism Research Project is worth a look too. Here’s a shorter version of the story And, almost as [...] more »
“Whether that’s a hardened, remorseless soldier with a weakness for ginger cats, remains to be seen.”
Having praised the viral nature of the marketing campaign for Ridley Scott’s Prometheus, the Guardian’s film bloggers got caught out by an April Fool’s ‘rumour’. But they’re back on track following a more traditional promotional event – a Q&A with the cast after a preview of 5 minutes of new footage. Still. Can’t. Wait. Here’s [...] more »
Titanic: “We do not tolerate the plundering of cultural sites on land…”
According to the BBC report notes, once the centenary of its sinking has passed on April 15, the wreck of the Titanic will be protected under Unesco’s 2001 Convention on the Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage. From the BBC report The convention aims to prevent unscientific or unethical exploration. Irina Bokova, director-general of Unesco, said the [...] more »
After Peter Robinson, are we seeing the start of softer, more seductive politics?
From where he came from, Peter Robinson has made big strides. At the point Northern Ireland society has reached, he comes across as a cautious consolidator, making a distinct if so far unimaginative success of power sharing. In unionist terms, Peter is David Trimble’s heir in quieter times. After decades of often painful self discipline [...] more »
“This is part of the culture of Ireland”
Even though a group of 4 gold torcs were discovered near Stirling in 2009, they’re not that common. According to the BBC report, Dr Greer Ramsey from Armagh County Museum told Belfast coroner, John Leckey, that “10 torcs have been discovered in Ireland and 38 in Britain”. ANYhoo… the coroner has ruled that a [IIRC] 47 37 inch long flange-twisted gold [...] more »
“Working with collections and individuals all over the UK…”
As the BBC notes, 1,600 oil paintings from National Museums Northern Ireland have been digitally photographed and added to the online project to create a complete catalogue of all oil paintings in the UK national collection. From the BBC report Paintings by artists such as Bacon, Gainsborough, Gertler, Lavery, Lessore, Lorenzo Lippi, Lowry and Turner are [...] more »
“Love Will Set You Free is actually quite a savvy song choice…”
Having decided to to send a relative newcomer to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku this year – the 75 year old Arnold George Dorsey, better known as Engelbert Humperdinck - the BBC have now unveiled the song he will be singing. Apparently, Engelbert is “very proud of the song”. Well, it’s not a turkey… From the Eurovision channel [...] more »
A few thoughts on St. Patrick’s Day
Today is then St. Patrick’s Day. There will be a variety of events, by far the most prominent will be cultural and sporting. I had intended writing a blog on what I view as the way in which the sanitisation of the entirely legitimate nationalist culture of St. Patrick’s Day has actually become a cause [...] more »
“This has been custom and practice, I have just put it in writing.”
Apparently, 161 publicly-funded press officers are not sufficient to keep Northern Ireland’s troublesome press pack in check… The Belfast Telegraph has gotten hold of a “confidential memo” [not yet online] from the NI Minister of Culture, Sinn Féin’s Carál Ní Chuilín, to the various arms-length bodies (ALBs) within the department’s remit setting out “a proposed media communications protocol”. [...] more »
Engelbert Humperdinck will represent the UK…
RTÉ may be trying again with the terrible twins, but the BBC have decided to send a relative newcomer to the Eurovision Song Contest in Baku this year – the 75 year old Arnold George Dorsey, better known as Engelbert Humperdinck. No members of the public were consulted in the decision. Will he do better than Blue’s [...] more »
Ireland’s “Old World melting pot must adapt, learn and settle before it can progress”
Oh dear, to take up the tone from Ruarai’s somewhat sleazy letter from America, there’s a very thoughtful blog essay on the problem of Ireland. I heartily recommend reading the whole thing, but here’s the last paragraph: While the tricky political condition resulting in the border must not be taken lightly, people of this island [...] more »
“I am delighted to hear that the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom”
Some good news! [Peter Robinson will be pleased - Ed] Possibly… According to the Office of National Statistics’ analysis of experimental subjective well-being data from the Annual Population Survey, April to September 2011, the people of Northern Ireland are the happiest in the United Kingdom. In fact the, admittedly subjective, data reveals that the people [...] more »
“a good test of how Irish culture is changing…”
In the Irish Times, Fintan O’Toole considers a recent discussion document from the GAA’s director general, Páraic Duffy – on “GAA amateur status and payment to team managers” [pdf file]. From the Irish Times article The GAA is arguably closer than any other body to being, for both good and ill, the archetypal Irish organisation. [...] more »
“Jedward will now represent Ireland…” – Redux
The RTÉ selected panel, and those members of the Irish public who voted, have, once again, decided that Jedward will represent Ireland RTÉ in this year’s Eurovision Song Contest – to be held in Baku in May. And Louis didn’t even need to fix the voting this year. [Allegedly! - Ed] Indeed. Whether RTÉ are [...] more »
A “stupenduous act of cultural vandalism”
And in the first UK City of Culture too… The Derry Journal reports the reaction of Australian artist, Joan Walsh-Smith, on learning that her 30 metre long public artwork, City People, commissioned in 1973 by the Arts Council of Northern Ireland for the Foyle Street Urban Park in Londonderry, was bulldozed in the mid-1990s to make way for a carpark. [...] more »
Britain and Ireland: Innocence versus experience?
Fascinating couple of pieces on the major shift in British politics in the last decade, which would seem to be a shift in preference towards young and inexperienced leaders… First this paper from Phillip Cowley of Nottingham University on the rise and rise of career politicians… In a précis on his university’s school of politics [...] more »
Mapping stereotypes: “you should be able to find something here to offend you.”
Here’s something to distract and amuse [and offend? - Ed] Possibly… The Guardian’s Tim Dowling points to graphic artist Yanko Tsvetkov’s satirical Mapping Stereotypes project - the Ultimate Bigot’s Calendars of Europe, and the World. As Tim Dowling says No matter where you’re from, you should be able to find something here to offend you. [Is it [...] more »
Don’t denude Stormont of unionist monuments. Let’s have nationalist ones too. What might they be?
Odd that the table on which the Union was signed and a portrait of the Queen by a local artist have been quietly removed from Stormont, according to Jim Allister, a hawk eyed stirrer of eminence. These items are surely less controversial than the bronzes of Carson and Craig and the old boy’s grave [...] more »
Boomers’ memories of the Great
Ian Jack has a fine nostalgia piece in the Guardian – no, better than that, a piece about the collective memory of passing generations – linking the not altogether compatible elements of the Dickens bicentenary to the monarchy. The link he made was not with Empire or English images of national virtue so often disputed [...] more »
“Don’t blame me – I was only the taoiseach.”
As Crooked Timber’s Maria Farrell says, “words to live by”, people. In today’s Irishman’s Diary, Frank McNally offers a “history of Ireland in 100 excuses”. 78. We made those pre-election promises in good faith. It was only in government we realised how bad the country’s finances were. 79. It was a complex but legitimate business [...] more »
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Books
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“You can see Newton’s mind at work…”
To add to the open access treasure trove at the Royal Society, Cambridge University Library is putting online some of its collection of books, maps, manuscripts and journals. We have called the first phase of our work on the Cambridge Digital Library the Foundations Project, which runs from mid-2010 to mid-2013 and has been made possible [...] read our review » -
Douglas Murray – Bloody Sunday: Truth, Lies and the Saville Inquiry, Book Review
The aftermath of the Saville Inquiry into the events around Bloody Sunday has left me, and I suspect many others, with one enduring image: Prime Minister David Cameron’s apology in the House of Commons, where he says that the actions of the British Army were ‘unjustified and unjustifiable.’ But there’s a lot more to the [...] read our review » -
Ulsters Last Stand?: Can Unionism Move Beyond Insurance Policy Politics?
How has Ulster unionism arrived at where it is today – fractured and uncertain, yet dominated electorally by the DUP, a party that tells us it offers unionists sure footing in uncertain times? In his latest book, Ulster’s Last Stand? Reconstructing Unionism after the Peace Process (Irish Academic Press, 2010), Prof. James McAuley from the [...] read our review »
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