Of the Repulsion of an Aquatic Beast by the Power of the Speech of the Sainted Man

St Adomnan on St Columbus and his confrontation with Nessie! translated by me.

Also at that place, at that time, when the holy man stayed for some days in the province of Scotland, he had the need to cross the Ness. When he had come to the shore of it, he saw some of the inhabitants burying a wretched little man, whom the buriers themselves reported that a certain aquatic beast, snatching him away before a little swimming, had gripped in a most fierce bite. Those coming to his aid in a certain boat had snatched his pitiful body with extended hooks, alas too late.

The saintly man, in turn, hearing this, ordered that any one of his companions, should swim out to the boat anchored on the opposite shore and sail it back to him. Lugneus Mocu-min, having heard the instruction of the holy man, complying without delay, threw himself into the waters, having taken off all his clothes except his tunic. But the monster, not so much sated as incensed for prey by the previous encounter, hid away in the depths of the river. Perceiving the commotion of his swimming atop the water, the swimming beast, emerging suddenly, flew towards the man swimming in the middle of the channel with a huge roar and gaping mouth. All who were present, his brother monks as much as the foreigners were unnerved by excessive terror . Then, seeing this, the sainted man, with his holy hand lifted into the empty sky in prayer, had traced the sign of the cross, the name of god having been invoked, and he commanded the ferocious beast, saying, “You shall go no further, nor touch that man. Turn back immediately.”

Then the beast, this holy order having been heard, was actually dragged backwards as if by ropes, and fled, terrified, in a hasty retreat. That monster approached so close before swimming Lugneus, that between man and beast it could not have been said to be more than one length. Then the brothers, seeing the beast to have retreated, and their comrade Lugneus returned to them intact and unharmed in a boat, glorified God who was within the sainted man with huge admiration. But also the foreign kinsmen, who were present at that time, compelled by the greatness of the same miracle, they themselves knew and praised the god of the Christians.

Alfred Stieglitz

Stieglitz - Venetian Canal

Hawthorn Gin

Today, despite the weather, i decided to go on a foraging expedition. I was on the look out for chickweed, sorrel, sweet chestnuts, watercress, walnuts, hawthorn and rosehips, and duly set out with a big bag, my headphones and some heavy duty gloves! I drove to a hidden location in the berkshire countryside, right near the thames, and dived into the woods. I spent quite some time looking for anything good or edible in the woods but i found little of interest that looked appetising in any way. emerging from the other side of the wood however, i found a large hedgerow, and, to my joy, hawthorns AND rosehips. Now, naturally i collected as many as i could, despite the fact that it was raining, and after about an hour or so, had quite a few haws (berries of a hawthorn i understand), and a small and pretty useless crop of rosehips. A fun time out though, because i got to listen to some rather remarkable music and felt very very happy.

Then i made this..




have to wait and see if it's good.

Aristakes

This excerpt from the Armenian historian Aristakes is pretty amazing, describing how the kingdom of Armenia has come to ruin.


The solemn places in the monasteries became dwelling-places for robbers, as did the churches in them. These churches with their glowing structures, their gorgeous adornments, their ever-lit candles and candelabras whose light, mixing with the air, flickering here and there, resembled the waves of the sea at rest when gentle zephyrs cause them to ripple, gently embracing each other. The generously donated incense, whose smoke rose fragrantly up from the power of the fire, resembled the spring mists settled around the summit of a mountain which blocks and covers the sunbeams. As for the clerics who dwelled in the monasteries, what language is sufficient to describe them? Their sweet songs and ceaseless singing of psalms, their reading of Scripture, their commemorations of the Lord's feast-days and of the martyrs, their united will, and their enthusiasm for the divine, and much else.

Things were once this way. But now, the churches are stripped and denuded of everything, devoid of all glories, sacked. In place of those mellifluous songs, now we have the cries of owls and screech-owls who have become the choirmasters. In place of psalm-singing, the dove and turtle-dove are singing, as the prophet said: they sweetly summon their young. The candles have been extinguished, the sweet fragrance of incense has passed. The holy altar which at one time had been adorned and embellished like a new bride wearing a crown of glory, has now become a pitiful spectacle, one worthy of many tears: stripped of adornments, covered with dust, and a perching place for crows.

You Snooze, you blues.

If you need more proof/nostalgia that Blues is pretty awesome, then look no further than this young gentleman and the power of youtube.

Play them while you go about your internetty business for ultimate enjoyment of the business of pressing f5, entering your password into boxes and manouevering your laptop keypad in the right direction despite the fact it's a little bit broken.
5 Excess points if you're on a desktop, congratulations!
1. Janis Joplin

2. Albert King

3. Son House

4. Jimi Hendrix

5. T-Bone Walker

Michael Nyman is God : Vol. 1 - Fish Beach

I can only presume that i came to know Michael Nyman in the same way that many people have; the beautiful scores to Peter Greenaway's films. Never have i experienced such perfect synthesis between the music and the action portrayed on screen. In "The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover" (1989), one of the finest films ever made, the hesitant, and yet anticipant sounds of "Fish Beach" perfectly illustrate the tension between the two main protagonists, Georgina and Michael as they happen upon each other and then meet again in the corridor to the toilets on Greenaway's huge, formal "stage". It seems as if the music and the film are each on the edge of some momentous realisation. If "Fish Beach" in particular has any inherent theme in it, it seems to be creation, the title, one could assume, referring to fish emerging from the sea as in evolution. The pace of the song seems almost as if it is breathing, short inhalations and then long exhalations. The driving low string sounds after the first two repetitions of the theme, at 44 seconds in, are definitely what sets Michael Nyman apart from any other "minimalist" modern composer such as Philip Glass or Wim Mertens; a sense of dynamism, urgency and pace.

Minoan art.

It has recently struck me how insanely beautiful and fascinating these works of practical art found on crete actually are. The Minoan civilisation, which has been shown to have had wide reaching influence all through the mediterranean, even as far as Italy and perhaps Spain, was until the 20th century completely undiscovered and lost to Western culture. Arthur Evans, an insufferable and pretentious son of an equally insufferable and pretentious coin collector, bought the site of the palace at Knossos in 1900, and proceeded to excavate. It was known that a palace had existed there before, but the turkish government had vetoed any archeological work, delaying excavations till Cretan independence in 1898.



What he found was truly remarkable, an underground palace complex so maze-like, so labyrinthine that he declared it most likely the labyrinth King Minos presided over, into which Theseus ventured, and in which the Minotaur resided. Convinced that this was Minos' Palace, he labelled the culture Minoan. And the treasures that he found inside were unique, unlike any other culture in the mediterranean at that time, dating from 2800 BC - around 1400 BC. This is earlier than the earliest greek civilisation, when nearly all of europe was inhabited by societies that were unable to build much beyond wattle and daub mud huts, and had not even begun to produce sophisticated pottery. Only the Egyptians rivalled this cretan civilisation in sophistication, and in contrast to the dark world outside it, the Minoans were truly remarkable.



It is these works of art, made with such sophistication an incredibly long time ago that are among the most fascinating elements of the Minoans.



Probably more to come on the Minoans, because they are wonderful.