I am a sculptor [ MFA Yale ] and a student of Penor Rinpoche.
Samuel Johnson [ 1709-1784 ] : Life of Dryden : "In the comparison of Homer and Virgil, the discriminative excellence of Homer is elevation and comprehension of thought, and that of Virgil is grace and splendour of diction. The beauties of Homer are therefore difficult to be lost, and those of Virgil difficult to be retained."
A CH-47 helicopter whirls in with a “sling load” of resupplies from Camp Bastion to FOB Jackson in Sangin.
Excellent reporting from Afghanistan by Michael Yon | http://ub0.cc/bz/6d
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These mezzanine galleries are for me the most beautiful at the Met. They achieve perfection.
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... I do nothing, with as little shame as satisfaction. It is the state that suits me best. I write the odd poem when it is there, that is the only thing worth doing. There is an ecstasy of accidia - wiIlless in a grey tumult of idées obscures. There is an end to the temptation of light, its polite scorchings & consolations. It is good for children & insects. There is an end of making up one's mind, like a pound of tea, an end of patting the butter of consciousness into opinions. The real consciousness is the chaos, a grey commotion of mind, with no premises or conclusions or problems or solutions or cases or judgments. I lie for days on the floor, or in the woods, accompanied & unaccompanied, in a coenaesthesia of mind, a fullness of mental self-aesthesia that is entirely useless. The monad without the conflict, lightless & darkless. I used to pretend to work, I do so no longer. I used to dig about in the mental sand for the lugworms of likes & dislikes. I do so no longer. The lugworms of understanding....
Samuel Beckett letter to Mary Manning Howe 30 August 1937 | http://ub0.cc/0f/5c
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El Greco, The Adoration of the Name of Jesus, late 1570s, Oil and egg tempera on pine, 55.1 x 33.8 cm, National Gallery, London
The larger version of this picture is in the Escorial in Madrid, and was probably intended for King Philip II. El Greco made small copies of several of his own pictures to keep in his studio, of which this is probably one. The subject is thought to be an allegory of the Holy League, a military alliance between Spain, the Papacy and the Venetian Republic, which was formed to combat the rise of Islam and the Turks.
The Pope, the Doge of Venice and Philip II are shown kneeling in adoration of the name of Jesus, shown in the heavens as IHS, these being the first letters of Jesus in Greek (IHSOUS). The name of Jesus was believed to have power over infidels, and the picture perhaps commemorates the League's victory over the Turks at the Battle of Lepanto in 1571 which was led by Philip II's brother Don Juan. It may have been painted after the latter's death in 1578. Heretics are shown being swallowed by a monstrous beast, symbolising Hell, swimming in a sea of fire.
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Instruments (from left to right): sapaya (paired sticks pierced with metal rings, used as percussion), tambur (long-necked string instrument), dap (donkey-skin hand drums) and singing - recorded in the courtyard of a home in Karkax.
image and text http://ub0.cc/00/2g | music http://ub0.cc/5c/5Y
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