osprey_archer: (art)
The university where I work happens to have a bronze cast of Degas’ “Little Dancer Aged Fourteen”, so before I read Camille Laurens’ book of the same name (recommended by [personal profile] troisoiseaux), I went to have a good long look at the sculpture.

It’s less than life-size - perhaps two-thirds, one-half the size of the actual fourteen-year-old dancer. You can see the bronze creases in her stockings at the ankles and knees, the places where socks begin to wear out. Her forehead slopes back sharply, more sharply really than I think the human forehead can. Her hair hangs down her back in a rope braid, which is tied with a golden satin ribbon. A real ribbon, fabric rather than bronze.

She wears, too, a cloth tutu, and the curator told us (when I visited with my parents months ago) that the tutu has to be replaced every now and then, always to great debate about exactly how it should look, as the tutu on Degas’ original statue (wax, not bronze) was long gone when collectors decided to make a metal cast. How long should it be? What color? What kind of fabric?

The one at my university is about knee-length, much pleated, creamy pale layers of some fabric that might be tulle, the outer layer purposely frayed for the bottom quarter inch or so. The dancer’s feet are in the fourth position, but her hands are behind her back, and seem rather large for her size.

Thus prepared, I dived into Camille Laurens’ Little Dancer Age Fourteen: The True Story Behind Degas’ Masterpiece, translated by Willard Wood. Laurens is attempting to write a biography of Marie van Goethem, the girl who posed for the famous sculpture, but as there is very little material about Marie, it becomes a hodgepodge of other things, including a partial biography of Degas (and indeed it’s filed under his name at my library).

The book is also about the historical conditions of the young dancers at the Paris Opera, who were called rats and generally assumed to offer sexual favors on the side, giving the ballet a scandalous vibe that most 21st century viewers probably don’t pick up from looking at Degas’ pictures, since nowadays ballet is seen as a refined high art. (Is a picture, or a sculpture, worth a thousand words? Or can it tell us anything that we don’t already know?)

And it’s about the initial reception of Little Dancer Aged Fourteen, which more or less universally appalled viewers when it was first exhibited. Was it because Degas modeled the sculpture’s head to fit what was then considered the physiognomy of criminals? (Hence the sharply sloping forehead.) The association of ballet dancers with prostitution, which perhaps becomes a little queasy-making when you look at this flat-chested statue of a child?

Or the fact that the original statue was modeled in grayish wax, so the little dancer must have looked just a little corpse-like? A completely different viewing experience than the bronze cast I studied so carefully.

Degas, Laurens notes, was upset about the restoration attempts on a famous painting in the Louvre, a Rembrandt if I recall correctly. It was not the quality of the attempt that he objected to, but the fact that an attempt was made at all. Art, Degas thought, is a living thing; and like all living things, an artwork has its time to die.

Setting a mood

Jun. 9th, 2025 01:27 pm[personal profile] melagan
melagan: Coffee cup with Atlantis in the rising steam (Default)
smaller plot bunny banner


Music, background noise, complete quiet. Something else? What works for you?

I thought AMSR keyboard typing sounds would work for me. They didn't. (When listening to it, I can feel my hair trying to crawl up my scalp.)

But something like this does:

conuly: (Default)
Every day is perfect, if
when you wake, you hear birds
in the garden, in the yard. Birds

up and down, ushering in one more day
in all the houses on Shaker Way. Birds
on telephone lines, light posts. Birds

twit, twittering on trees
hailing fellow birds
with a nod of  beak—gray kingbird;

top-hatted, streamertail
tuxedoed, doctor bird—
busy-bodied hummingbird

tucking in, out, of pink, red ixoras
punch-drunk in love. Birds
preening for, chatting up other birds—

the oriole, the grass quit, in mid-song
on the lawn, in a dance of  birds
an all-day-long conference of bird;

red-headed woodpecker
—drummer boy, or girl bird
in this daily symphony of  birds

—an orchestra on Shaker Way
in serenade of each perfect day with birds—
from the very first mockingbird

heralding, in solo warble
one more day, filled with birds—
brightened, lightened, trilled by birds:

precious, diamond-throated
sweet song, miracle-toting birds
the-gift-of-day-is-here birds.

Bird, bird, bird. Hello bird.
You lift me up bird.
You sing the day beautiful, bird.


***********


Link
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)


No rules, no bureaucracy, just some randos messing around with the past, present, and future.

Five Stories About Time Travel on a Limited Scale

happy eagles

Jun. 9th, 2025 09:11 am[personal profile] serafaery
serafaery: (Default)
This moment (I set it to start when Gizmo flies in) last night was what I was mentioning in my paragraph last night about the eagles. Sunny came to the nest for dinner with her mom and then Gizmo arrived, this was her first time back at the nest since fledging the day before, and then Jackie just sorta takes it in for a minute and then starts those gleeful "chortles". Seems like eagle delight to me but who knows, maybe just projecting. I enjoyed it so much, regardless.



(They both flew off the nest early this morning, all seems well, it's just hard to adjust to not being able to see them whenever I want lol.)
haunted_cherries: A close up picture of dark red cherries (Default)
Fandom: The Past in Sicily
Characters/Pairing: Luciano (Canon), Federico (canon)
Rating: Gen
Prompt: #445 - In Your Shoes
Summary: While in the market for a bodyguard, Luciano immediately narrows his choices down to one.

Notes: Stumbled on a cute MJD (mechanical-jointed doll) series called The Past in Sicily, and the more I researched it through the creator's page on Red Note, the more I started imagining these dudes, so FICS HAPPENED!! xD (And YES I ordered them, NO I am not accepting criticism at this time xD) I'll probably air out some head canons later, but here's something teeny tiny for now! Have a good week!!

Read more... )

no, you're not

Jun. 9th, 2025 09:49 am[personal profile] house_wren
house_wren: glass birdie (Default)
At the clinic, a nurse was putting an IV in my wrist. We were chatting and I mentioned something about being old. "No, you're not!" she said, cheerfully. Our conversation moved on, but since then I cannot stop thinking about it.

My age is a fact. I'm old! The government thinks I am old, as I am on Medicare and receive social security. My hair is grey. I have all kinds of health problems.

The idea that being old is bad and shameful is pervasive; that is what underlies the nurse's comment that I'm not old. She knew how old I am; she was reading my records. I think she heard my acknowledgement of my age as some kind of admission of defeat. I think she was trying to cheer me up or offer support.

Or perhaps it was that my appearance, in spite of my grey hair, doesn't match my numerical age.

When someone tells me that I'm not old or that I'm not ill or that I'm not autistic or that I don't have ADHD, I want to politely and honestly explain why what they said is a problem. Unfortunately, my experience is that there is nothing I can say that will achieve this. I've tried. The need to deny that I am any of these things is so great that people won't listen. They keep talking, defending their belief.

I understand this is about their own discomfort, their own issues. But it annoys me no end.
stonepicnicking_okapi: record player (recordplayer)
I can't listen to any music with lyrics when I am writing so I search out these kinds of channels on YT.

Monday Word: Sniglet

Jun. 9th, 2025 11:09 am[personal profile] stonepicnicking_okapi posting in [community profile] 1word1day
stonepicnicking_okapi: letters (letters)
sniglet [snig-lit]

noun

1. often humorous word made up to describe something for which no dictionary word exists

examples

1. One might say I'm even a disciple of Tom Poston, a description for which a "sniglet" has been coined: "Tompostle" POSTON NOTE Toby O'B 2005

2. Embarrassingly, I remember the sniglet (remember sniglets?) for the place in the atmosphere where missing socks go when the disappear from the dryer: it's called the hozone. Coleman Camp: The Missing Ballots Don't Exist; Officials: Yes, They Do, 2009


origin

introduced by comedian Rich Hall in the 1980s TV comedy series "Not Necessarily the News."
conuly: (Default)
Rok continues to be the best at everything, and deserves all the hugs. Though I remain baffled how ST thinks they can on one hand have post-scarcity nearly everywhere (including, one presumes, in places just outside of the Federation where they can easily abscond with probable Federation citizens) and also have seedy underbellies everywhere as well. The problem is that they never actually worked out how it all works, and I think the only solution is to ditch the idea that even the Federation really has no currency and is totally post-scarcity. Everybody has their basic needs met, I'll agree is supported by the writing. Anything past that, no.

Anyway, Rok's friend in her tragic backstory was clearly no more able to leave that situation than she was and though I can see there's too much plot for that to happen in canon I really hope they could rescue him.

Speaking of tragic backstories, I cannot believe a. that Dal tried to say his was the worst and b. his version of being "the worst" absolutely skips past the part where Read more... ) But seriously, dude, you grew up as a slave on a mine full of child slaves. It's not a situation people get into because their life was just so great beforehand. If everything was hunky-dory, none of you would've been targeted in the first damn place. You all have a terrible backstory, you don't need to prove it!

Moving on, Murf continues to also be the best, but ffs, can somebody get him an AAC? Or a whiteboard, at least? Teach him sign language? This is a solved problem even in the real world, surely Starfleet can figure it out!

Nothing to say about Jankom, he's just there. *shrug* And I feel kinda ditto about Zero, tbh. I mean, I like them, but....

Ma'Jel, between her cool hair and her increasingly consternated expression as the turbolift got more and more crowded, is clearly not one of the most unemotional Vulcans out there. (I don't care what Vulcans say, the opposite of "logical" is not "emotional", it's just "illogical".) I feel like she and our darling T'Lyn would have a lot to talk about.

The adults on the ship - this show is clearly trying to walk a fine line between keeping them competent and allowing the kids to run circles around them. I'm not sure it always works, but I appreciate the effort, and also I appreciate how they were careful to make it clear that the adults, whether they're being strict or a bit Too Much, are only acting the way they do because they're sympathetic. (Frankly, all the kids could stand to appreciate their new situation a bit more - except Rok, she already gets it - but I understand why they're struggling a bit.)

Gets a bit spoilery )

**************


Ugh, the news )

(no subject)

Jun. 9th, 2025 08:11 am[personal profile] bleodswean posting in [community profile] the_scent_of_lilacs
bleodswean: (gary drac)


Perhaps more romantic than ???

 
james_davis_nicoll: (Default)
2000: The theft of an Enigma Machine comes too late to play a significant role in World War Two, Sellafield highlight British dedication to nuclear saafety, and the Conservatives, informed polling has them 2% ahead of Labour, discover that they are actually trailing by 13%.

Poll #33234 Clarke Award Finalists 2000
Open to: Registered Users, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 25


Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?

View Answers

Distraction by Bruce Sterling
6 (24.0%)

A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
20 (80.0%)

Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
20 (80.0%)

Silver Screen by Justina Robson
6 (24.0%)

The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
3 (12.0%)

Time by Stephen Baxter
7 (28.0%)



Bold for have read, italic for intend to read,, underline for never heard of it.

Which 2000 Clarke Award Finalists Have You Read?
Distraction by Bruce Sterling
A Deepness in the Sky by Vernor Vinge
Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson
Silver Screen by Justina Robson
The Bones of Time by Kathleen Ann Goonan
Time by Stephen Baxter

Wheel of Chaos

Jun. 9th, 2025 09:53 am[personal profile] gunwithoutmusic
gunwithoutmusic: (Default)
Here we go again.

(no subject)

Jun. 9th, 2025 08:55 am[personal profile] aurumcalendula
aurumcalendula: gold, blue, orange, and purple shapes on a black background (Default)
I've belatedly found a way to view timecodes with milliseconds, which should make it much easier (and faster) for me to time subtitles (I'd been using VLC and guessing on the millisends and rewatching and adjusting stuff a bunch of times).

(no subject)

Jun. 9th, 2025 12:53 pm[personal profile] shadowhive
shadowhive: (Yord Shirtless)
So it’s post time again!

The past few days have been pretty eventful, mostly cause Thursday was a big delivery which meant I had to stay in all day. The delivery was for two things. First The Acolyte visual guide that I preordered as soon as it was announced. I’m excited to dive in to it and give it a proper read (I’ve not yet sadly). I do wonder if it’ll make me wanna do a rewatch of the show, even though it only came out last year (but Yord and Qimir are so hot so…)

The second thing was the Switch 2, which I was only able to get cause mum offered to help with it. It didn’t arrive until late in the day and then setting it up took awhile (updating it, transferring stuff from the original switch, installing Mario kart) but I’ve been able to go on it some.

Thoughts so far?
*Mario Kart World is so beautiful. Like really it looks so great!
*The Cow racer is unlocked from the start, I feel this is important to share
*Other character unlocks are a bit more random. You get some for doing Grand Prix (and costumes unlocked from food) but so many of them are only unlocked by getting your racer transformed mid race which is… a choice)
*Free roam could definitely use a quest tracker
*Fortnite is noticeably improved. Like I only went on it to get the emote first day and I could see the difference just from the main screen and it plays much better too (no more dealing with things loading funny!)
*It would be nice to get demos to other games

I would like a single player game to play but I’m not sure what. I thought Donkey Kong was next week but it’s not till next month and I’m considering Civilization (cd keys has it with 20%) so I might find a review and see if it’s worth it.

And speaking of Fortnite the Star Wars season ended (boo) but the last event was so cool! You had to sneak on the Death Star and help disabled some stuff (and fight Palpatine!) which was cool. I did get everything in the pass too (I did wish it had another page or two though) though I am annoyed I just missed out on the last party up reward (at least it wasn’t Star Wars themed). Now the new season is super hero themed which is pretty cool.

Speaking of super heroes I watched Captain America Brave New World on Saturday and it was pretty good. It definitely had similar vibes to Winter Soldier, with Sam investigating a conspiracy which seems to be the vibe Cap films go, though I like that. What did surprise me is how it’s a sequel to Eternals with the celestial thing appearing at the end of that being a major plot point, and also the hulk film which is a wild choice cause it was forever ago and I think I only saw it once. But I did enjoy it and I love Joaquin so much he’s a lil cutie.

At night I watched a film called Deadware, which I spotted on Amazon prime. For the description I was instantly interested (two friends are playing an online game on video call and it turns out to be haunted). I loved the retro vibes of it and it’s very minimalistically done it’s basically a desktop screen with the game in a window with two ‘webcam’ videos. It’s a similar vibe to Host in that respect, though not as well done but it was still pretty good especially in the short found footage still shots during the game.

It’s the time of games showcases. Friday had the Summer game fest and there was a lot of stuff there but not much that stood out to me. There was a few games that had a+ designs but I could just tell I’d not have fun with them. Sonic racing did announce new characters outside of sonic including Minecraft and Hatsune Miku (I dunno which is more surprising). And there was Resident Evil 9 as a reveal at the end! It amuses me that some of Racoon city is still standing cause wasn’t it meant to be destroyed?

Then yesterday was the Xbox showcase which was pretty good though most of the ones that interested me were smaller games. There was At Fate’s End (done by the spiritfarer devs so I was instantly curious), No Ghosts At The Grand looks intruiging (and spooky) and it’s vibes very all of the place in a good way (it started with you fixing a hotel then there was sigil sand talk of a conspiracy and portals?), there’s planet of Lana II which looks pretty and a game called Keeper with a walking Lighthouse. Oh and something called Resonance with the Minotaur. (And Outer Wilds II looks pretty good and Clockwork Revolution though I feel the latter might be a game to watch not play)

There’s also a portable xbox confirmed to be coming and… it looks pretty much like a switch.mi dread to think how much it’ll be.

Energy has also been pretty all over the place, being low raptor times with my focus being off which is so irritating, especially when I wanna do things (fic has pretty much stalled despite me wanting to) and then yesterday my stomach also went funny which ugh.

Mum was on eBay the other day and found a copy of The Moustrap and we were both shocked cause it was buy it now for £2 (usually they’re £20+) so I snapped it up (with Lord Edgeware Dies) and they came this morning. Both look in such good condition and I’m still surprised by the bargain we got.

Now though I’m gonna flop, hopefully rest and do some marvel snap and magic arena (the latter has a final fantasy update tomorrow). I’m also refreshing the. Cinemas to check for next week listings glut they’re not up yet alas. The odeon in Birmingham has just one showing of one film next Monday (28 weeks later) which is crazy.

And Next week is the James signing and ahhh!

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