Dinosaurs by Biscuithead & the Biscuit Badgers

In praise of dinosaurs . . .?

Got Some Spare Time?

Pepe Deluxe, 'Last of the Great Explorers' off of Spare Time Machine.

Newly Created Vlog Entry

This is a video from the Gaslight Troubadours, 'Newly Created Being' off of their new album: Clockwork Curiosities:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfY0lDShXe8

Beautiful Morning Light.

Goth Day 2013 and Perigee Moon . . .

Apparently today is both Goth Day and a perigee moon. To celebrate, I am sharing a photo from a recent walk with Paul through a cemetery.

Happy Summer Solstice 2013.

Glastonbury Camping Practice!

This is our beautiful, 'new to us' tent:

We weren't sure we'd manage it at first--lots of bits and pieces from two separate tents--meant to create one tent (two viable options but only one or the other at a time)--and only a photo to help us figure out what parts might work with what! But we slept very comfortably last night camping in the backyard. It rained part of the night without any leaks in our 'new to us' tent! Today, exterior shell is drying nicely! Now all we need is a ton of luck in finding a hospitable place to pitch it at Glastonbury.

Multnomah Falls

Artwork for Shipment to the UK.

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Time warp: packed on 28 May--is how some of my artwork looks having arrived in June:

 

Memorial Weekend & “Land of Joy & Sorrow” Reunion.

Dean, Me, Mom and Kathy at the Memorial Day Weekend. (Photo taken by Paul.)

Flight to the Americas.

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I thought about calling this ‘The Long Good(?) Friday’ because flying with the sun as it journeys West extends the day; Paul and I left the UK on Friday and arrived in the USA on Friday, having been awake 25 hours by the time we were settled into our hotel room.  Not that it should have been that long—our flight was delayed five hours while Heathrow rescheduled around a hijacking from Switzerland and a separate incident of a plane that had its engines catch fire shortly after takeoff. Five hours was ample time for me to revisit in my own mind the concept of airports as exhibitions to captive audiences--places of waiting and transition and liminal spaces between places. (Please note the above photo is not one of mine--it is from the Vancouver Observer.)

Visit to the Americas: ‘The Itinerary’

 

Whirlwind Tour of Washington State

Museums, Natural Beauty, Family

May 23:    Pete picks up Paul & Kirstin for overnight with Carol, Pete, Pam, Carl,

     Cody in Littlethorpe.

May 24:    Pete takes Paul & Kirstin to London to LHR to fly to Seattle, USA.
May 24:    Arrive Sea-Tac Airport 3:44 pm PST Over Snoqualmie Pass to Toppenish, WA
                  at Days Inn & Suites by 9 pm.
May 25:    Yakima Valley Museum 1 - 8 pm or so for “Land of Joy & Sorrow” Reunion.
May 26:    Memorial Weekend Events 10 - 6 pm (Documentary Filming and Interviews).
May 27:    Tour of ‘E-burg’, Research Morning at CWU, Old Skool and Rodeo Record

     Stores, IOOF Cemetery, Barbecue at Uncle Will and Aunt Cindy’s, Lavendon

     Family Registration Records.

May 28:    Sleep In! Wash Clothing as Needed. Crate/Pack Kirstin’s Artwork for
                  Shipment to the UK.
May 29:    Pick-up Rental/Road Trip: Research at Mary’s Hill Museum and

    ‘Stonehenge’; Columbia River Gorge, Celilo, Multnomah Falls.

May 30-31:   
                  Portland, Oregon: Record Stores; Powell's, other events!
                  Seaside, Oregon; Mt. St. Helens, WA, ending in Olympia 5/31 to sleep.  

    (Also: See to Banking)

Reflection:  We can go from Portland to the ocean, Seaside seems best and (a) spend the evening and most of the day at the ocean with no St. Helens; (b) just have breakfast at Seaside and drive up to Mt. St. Helens having some time there; (c) not go to the ocean and be leisurely in going to Mt. St. Helens and spending time there.

June 1      Boating with Aunt Janet & Jim; Overnight at Jim's on Eld Inlet, Shelton
June 2      TESC Olympia, University of Puget Sound Tacoma, Dinner with Patrice.
June 3      Research at Burke Museum; Pike Place Market then North Bend Visit Cousin

    Laura; Roslyn Cemetery and Visit Grandma Johnson, Back to Toppenish.

June 4      Toppenish: Wash Clothes; Storage Transfer, Dinner with Dad's Friends from

    Marines/Warriors Association and with Loren & Becky.

June 5      Toppenish, Presentations at Heritage University, Follow-up with Virginia, 
                 "Off the Record" in Yakima, Lunch with Nina, Turn in Rental Car.
June 6      Early Travel to Research Day with Tillicum Village 11-3:30; Overnight Seattle.
June 7      Seattle, EMP and Revisit Burke Museum; Arrive Airport by 2:30 pm.
June 8      Pete & Carol (?) pick up Paul & Kirstin at LHR in London. 

Bedsted Reading Secret Society Topic: Rejected Knowledge

'Rejected knowledge' is to the world of 'science' what heresy is to religious orthodoxy. It never occurred to me to think of concepts of continental drift, Atlantis, UFOs, giant comets starting the Ice Age, hypnotherapy, ghost hunting, anomalous phenomna etc. as being combinatorial to a specific discipline of academic inquiry . . . the rejected academy . . .

Bedsted Reading Topic: The Green Man Part 2

ALSO, speaking of the 'Green Man', I apparently have a somewhat personal connection to 'The Green Man Pub' in Lavendon, where Paul and I hope to visit and trace some family history when we return from the United States:

http://www.greenman-pub-lavendon.co.uk/

A

Lovely Sunday of 'Star Trek' and 'The Specials'.

I very much enjoyed 'Star Trek':

and had a lovely time at 'The Specials' with Paul, Chris, Iain, Grace and Lou. Here is a video from the Old Grey Whistle Test 1979:

Bedsted Reading Topic: The Green Man Part 1

I find the myth of the 'Green Man' almost as fascinating as dragons . . . and that's saying something. This is a great image from the Wikipedia page regards 'The Green Man', interpreted as a sculpture at Custard Factory in Birmingham:

School for Scoundrels.

I can't believe I never came across this before! I absolutely loved 'School for Scoundrels'--it has been added to my list of all-time favourite films. Here is the Amazon link:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/School-Scoundrels-DVD-Ian-Carmichael/dp/B000HEZ7KW

Boat or Backpack?

I love the design for this little boat that one can strap upon one's back. In reality it was probably quite heavy and unpleasant but it looks great. I also like the way that the museum has displayed these objects--a small model of the boat, with a photo of a man using such a boat placed beside the model.

Book of the Week: Museums and Silent Objects.

Monti, Francesca and Suzanne Keene. Museums and Silent Objects: Designing Effective Exhibitions  (London: Ashgate 2012).

Backyard Blues . . .

Bedsted Reading Topic: 'Dancing the Animals'

I have been randomly opening a page out the 'Encyclopedia of Magical Creatures' book each night and reading whatever I find. My favourite this week is 'Dancing the Animals', a passage about the practice of wintertime guising rituals, most particularly, dancing in imitation of animals . . . but usually beasties with the ability to talk, knock on doors, pose riddles to those who answer and demand food, ale and other forms of remuneration.  In other words, people imitating animals imitating people. One popular winter guising practice is apparently called 'The Mari Lywd' and was (is?) quite common in Wales.

Bedsted Reading Topic: Dragons

"The word 'dragon' from the ancient Greek 'drakonta' or 'drakon' which means 'to watch' or 'to look at', suggesting that from very early on in the conceptualisation, dragons were considered to be guardians. Whether they are good, beneficent creatures or evil probably then relies upon notions of property . . . and whether or not the dragon is viewed as standing in the way of one's interests.

To the right is an image of Dragons from Archives at Cornell University Library . . . they look astonishingly similar to the Leicester dragon!

Bo Ningen.

Going with Paul to see Bo Ningen Thursday Show at Leicester's O2 Venue. Here is one of their videos:

Here's the Wikipedia Page:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bo_Ningen


 

The Curator's Journey.

Sensory Experience of Objects.

'Happy Friday' and Media Mentions.

Bedtime Reading: Just finishing 'The Hardboiled Detective: Stories from Black Mask Magazine 1920-1951'.
Museology: Google Art Project's 'Collections page' features links to online image collections made available by museums from all over the world: http://www.googleartproject.com/en-gb/collections/

 Films: Pegg's latest looks wonderfully silly: 'The World's End', impending release 1 July 2013:

Recently watched 'Witness for the Prosecution' (1957) again--brilliant film.

 Music: Public Service Broadcasting's new album, 'Inform-Educate-Entertain' has been released! (PSB is also sellling lovely-looking tea towels.) http://publicservicebroadcasting.net/

Here is another one of PSB's videos--'Spitfire'. (I have always had a bit of a crush on Leslie Howard.)

Museum Studies Reading of the Week: Unpacking the Collection (2011)

Unpacking the Collection: Networks of Material and Social Agency in the Museum; Byrne-Clarke-Harrison-Torrence, eds.

 

Animator Ray Harryhausen, Age 92, Passed Away 7 May 2013.

Obituary for Ray Harryhausen, brilliant stop-motion animator and artist:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2013/may/07/ray-harryhausen-dies

http://youtu.be/U9kmjW73-v4
Someone's YouTube video compilation of Harryhausen's creatures/creations:

More Denizens of the Backyard.

While I know they are meant to be viewed as slime-trailing pests only rivaled by sheep in their ability to voraciously consume ambient greenery but we never had them where I grew up so . . . the common garden snail is quite novel and interesting to me. Or perhaps I am simply finding any excuse to take a momentary break from my research and enjoy the lovely weather. Nah. Couldn't be that . . .

Getting Back to Work . . .

Easing my way back into 'research mode' after a long and pleasant bank holiday weekend by maintaining my 'May Day' resolution and trying to provide a journal post for every day. Not perhaps my most inspired journal entry . . . Here, have a link to somewhere more interesting:

http://youtu.be/FgH9OxjXPdg
Mark Steel's lecture about De Vinci:

Brunch from Bank Holiday Monday.

Paulos recommended that I take an image of brunch from the upstairs window of our home which clearly took in a view of our freshly mown lawn. (I believe that the idea was that this image be used as evidence in any future disputation about whose turn it is to do the mowing.)

Wanted: Experty Tadpoleous.

While doing our first bit of serious lawn mowing, patio weeding and general gardening, Paul and I have observed that the defunct, neglected water feature in our yard appears to have become a baby amphibian pond? Absolutely seething with tadpoles! Amazing to look at but not quite sure how to respond to it yet. Where is the resident 'Experty Tadpoleous' when you need them (on a bank holiday weekend)? Hmm . . . I know, I'll try dialing '111' . . .

The reunion celebration that I will be at the end of this month: http://yakimavalleymuseum.org/special/japanese.cfm

A video about the 'Land of Joy and Sorrow' exhibition at Yakima Valley Museum:

Time is Swift.

I cannot believe how fast the past two months have gone . . . and yet it seems a million years ago as well (so much has happened). Where should I begin? I guess I will start with music. One of my favourite musical artists at the minute is 'Public Service Broadcasting'. They have been using stock footage and historical sound clips to create mediated music experiences. I had the chance to see them in performance when they came to Leicester 21 March; brilliant. Here is one of their videos, 'London Can Take It':

Happy Birthday, MVR!

I am so grateful for Mom's friends--who I am told, had a surprise birthday party for her! Happiest of birthdays to 'Mam' (as they say here in Leicester) and I am looking forward to re-celebrating when I visit for the reunion at the end of the month!

Brown Bag Seminar with Prof. Piotr Bienkowski.

What a wonderful Brown Bag Seminar with Prof. Piotr Bienkowski on Wednesday! The work he is doing with the Hamlyn Foundation's 'Our Museum' is very promising. Here is a link to the 'Attic' report for that session: http://attic-museumstudies.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/brown-bag-seminar-report-for-prof-piotr.html

When I was a child and someone said, ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I was appropriately dressed and clean (no mud smudges on my nose, my clothing wasn’t torn, no scuffs on my ‘good shoes’). When I was a ‘young lady’ (teenager) and someone said ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I looked very fashionable. As a young woman, having hit the twenty-somethings, when someone said ‘You look lovely!’ I assumed that they meant I wasn’t yet showing significant signs of age. Now that I have hit midlife, when someone says ‘You look lovely!’ I assume that they mean ‘You don’t look dead!’

I strongly suspect that about twenty years or so from now, I will have cycled back around to the beginning and when someone says ‘You look lovely!’, I will know that what they really mean is that I am well dressed and clean (no mud smudges on my nose,  my clothing isn’t torn, no scuffs on my ‘good shoes’).

To the left: many thanks to Paul for taking a photo of me ‘not looking dead’ during our recent visit to ‘The Villiage’ (Portmeirion).

On the train, passing by Berwick-upon-Tweed towards research in Edinburgh, 27-28 February.

Hell in the Pacific (1968)

Welcome to the all new 'what I've learned from . . .' series of posts. Today's subject: 'Hell in the Pacific' (1968):

‘Hell in the Pacific’ (1968) proves that it isn’t always necessary to have brilliant dialogue in order to have compelling film.  It was an amazingly powerful experiment in how a story can be formed in the absence of conventional narrative coherency. Powerful acting from Toshiro Mifune and Lee Marvin, creative direction from John Boorman, brilliant cinematography by Conrad Hall.

I also had something of a history of media technology realisation moment. Because Paul and I watched ‘Hell in the Pacific’ in VHS standard format I was reminded that early VHS releases of motion pictures almost never came out in ‘letterbox’ format. Most early VHS releases (back in the dark days before DVDS) were edited with the standard dimensions for a television screen in mind, rather than the standard for a film screen, resulting in visually non-sensical moments during the film--moments of scenes displaying part of a nose or ear, rather than the two faces confronting each other from opposite sides of the screen.

It is easy to take for granted how well some directors/cinematographers make use of the full frame of the film  . . . until a third of the image has been arbitrarily lopped off from both sides of the picture! Hell in the Pacific is certainly a film that I will need to watch again, in a proper format. Brilliant concept, acting and filming (from what I could see of it).

Annual Lenten Cleansing: 13 February-30 March 2013

I think I’m still recovering from ‘Fat Tuesday’ but Week One of Lent is progressing okay. The annual fasting ‘shed-yule’ is as follows:

Week One and Two: Give up booze.
Week Three: Additionally give up the refined sugar.
Week Four: Go vegan (diet wise).
Week Five: Additionally give up wheat products.
Week Six: Additionally give up caffeine. (Yes, by this point it’s all about herbal tea, fruits and veggies, rice, legumes.)

I know that given how much I subsist on tea, biscuits and chocolate for most of the year, this little ‘vacation from vice’ that I do annually is probably all that’s been standing between me and a massive coronary for years . . . but that said, the ‘Lenten Fast’ can never go fast enough.

Paul and I in Wales.

Stopped Short . . .

‘Misgivings’. An interesting word. Meaningless apart from the moment you are in the midst of it. The night before I was to go to London, I had ‘misgivings’. The weather report was okay, I was prepared for the day--there was no reason for ‘misgivings’ but there they were, none-the-less, like an overheard conversation caught out of the corner of your ear as the the compartment door closes and the tube-tram pulls away to its next destination--you can’t quite make out what was said but you’ve the distinct impression you should have disembarked at the last stop-or perhaps even stayed in bed. It looked promising enough . . . the day, I mean. A little bit of jaunty, unpredicted crispness to the air but not so much as to be of concern--the sun was shining! Lovely day to go to London. Excepting that I was destined to not quite make it. (To be continued under: 'Trouble at Harpenden')

Edward C. James: 19 April 1942 - 04 February 2011.

Edward C. James

19 April 1942 - 04 February 2011.

Dear Papa,

Right about now, two years ago, I was boarding a flight for the United States at Heathrow. I remember rushing to be with you; thinking that if I could just get there fast enough, I could change what had happened. Going through the motions of notifying my supervisors, travel arrangement, packing, baggage check . . . when security questioned the haste of my preparations and why I was making the trip, I couldn’t find the words to answer them. It was impossible to comprehend that you were gone. It still is. 

I know you are beyond reading letters but I want the world to know what a magnificent man you were and how grateful and proud I have always been that you were my father. I miss you every day.

Mom and I love you always, Papa; ‘Noster Nostri’.

Excerpt from the 2011 Obituary:

Edward Charles James, 68, of Wapato, passed away in his sleep on February 4, 2011.  He was born at home in Fayetteville, NC, to Eddie James and Lucille Smith James on 4/19/1942, the eldest of four children.  Because they were a military family, Edward moved often.  In his youth, his parents instilled in him the importance and love of learning.  His mother bought him a set of encyclopedias that he read A to Z, and his father took him to historical sites all over the world, fostering his passion for history. He attended Edwards Military Institute in Salemburg, NC. In 1959 Edward went with his father to live in Germany, remaining until 1964.  Friendships developed there have lasted his lifetime.

On 6/26/1966, Edward married his cherished Wilaalík, Mary Cecil Johnson.  The ceremony was delayed 2 hours until his father arrived from a tour of duty in Korea.  After their marriage they lived in Tacoma near the university where they met.  His daughter Kirstin was born there and made her stage debut on campus at nine months of age.  Her bedtime stories were whatever university text her father happened to be studying, be it Chinese language and culture, Roman army formations, or stage lighting. In 1974, Edward graduated from Central Washington University with BA, majoring in military history with a double minor in anthropology and theatre.

The family lived in Ellensburg from 1973 through 1990, where Edward began his career as a forest warden and then forest fire-fighting crew supervisor with DNR (Department of Natural Resources), continuing until his retirement in 2005. An expert in martial arts from his military training, Edward also trained in karate starting in 1975, eventually achieving a black belt, after which he founded the Kittitas County School of Karate and taught Doshinkan and Shudokan Karate-Do. Moving to Wapato in 1990, Edward became active with friends he met in the Yakama Nation.  As one of Virginia Beavert’s first students at Heritage University, he learned to speak the Yakama dialect of the Sahaptin language, and eventually taught classes.  Edward was an associate member and Historian of the Yakama Warriors Association and the Marine Corps League.  He took these commitments extremely seriously and considered it a true honor to be associated with these groups and share his knowledge of military history.

The family suggests that remembrances in Edward’s honor may be made to Yakama Warriors Association’s Scholarship Fund or to the Marine Corps League for service projects.

Edward C. James Funeral Services: February 8, 2011; Order of Service

1.  Tony Washines                                  Seven Drums Ceremony                   

2.  Victor Wood                                      Coordinator of Service Eulogy and Comments for Yakama Warriors  

3.  Ed Falter                                            Comments for Marine Corps League Washington State Commandant

4.  Loren Corpuz                                    Yakama Warriors    Bugle: Battle Hymn of the Republic 

5. Dr. Virginia Beavert                           Beloved Friend and Sapsikw’ala

6. Family Speakers                                 Recollections from Family 

7. Ed and Sue Rousculp                          Recollections from Friends 

8. Mary C. and Kirstin A. James             In Memorium 

9. Military Honors                                  Yakama Warriors Association and the Marine Corps League

10. Loren Corpuz                                    Bugle: Taps

11. Tom Redfeldt,  Yakima-Kittitas Commandant, Marine Corps League.  

12. Presentation of shell cases and Flag.

Blizzard-like in Leicester (last week).

The Magnificent ‘777’ for 2012.

Favourite Concert Events of 2012:

1. Richard Hawley at Little Noise in London

2. Tame Impala at Leadmill in Sheffield

3. Billy Bragg at Summer Sundae in Leicester

4. Asian Dub Foundation at Summer Sundae in Leicester

5. PIL at Summer Sundae in Leicester

6. Crybaby band at ‘Lexington’ in London

7. Christmas Concert in Sheffield

Favourite New or New-to-Me Films I Watched During 2012:

   1. Searching for Sugar Man (2012)

   2. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)

   3. Cabin in the Woods (2011)

   4. Hopscotch (1980)

   5. The Italian Job (1969)

   6. Skyfall (2012)

   7. Dr. Zhivago (1965)

Favourite New or New-to-Me Music I Listened to During 2012:

  1. Tame Impala—Lonerism (2012)

  2. Richard Hawley—Standing at the Sky’s Edge (2012)

  3. Shuggie Otis—Inspiration Information (1974)

  4. Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band—Gorilla (1967)

  5. Crybaby—Crybaby (2012)

  6. Dead Skeletons—Dead Magick (2011)

  7. Opossum—Electric Hawaii (2012)

Happy New Year!