ART SUNDAY - JACQUES BLANCHARD

“In painting you must give the idea of the true by means of the false.” - Edgar Degas

Jacques Blanchard (1600–1638), also known as Jacques Blanchart, was a French baroque painter who was born in Paris. He was raised and taught by his uncle, the painter Nicolas Bollery (ca. 1560–1630). Jacques’s brother Jean-Baptiste Blanchard (after 1602–1665) and son, Gabriel Blanchard (1630–1704), were also painters.

Jacques spent the years from 1624 to 1628 studying in Bologna and Venice. After briefly working in Turin at the court of the Charles Emmanuel I, Duke of Savoy (ca. 1628) he returned to France and set himself up in Paris in 1629. Blanchard was dubbed the “French Titian” in homage both to his Venetian-influenced use of colour and his evocative handling of female beauty.

Jacques Blanchard is best known for his small religious and mythological paintings. He died in Paris in 1638. This painter should not be confused with the French sculptor of the same name who lived from 1634 to 1689. Nothing seems to be known of his work before he left for Rome at the age of twenty-four. After two years he moved to Venice, where he remained for two more years. It was there that his style was formed. He then went to Turin, where he worked for the Dukes of Savoy, before returning to France 1628.

It is from the brief but productive period after his return to France that all his dated works survive. They show him to stand quite apart from his contemporaries, not only in his painting style but also in his choice of sensual subject-matter, for example the “Bacchanal” at Nancy. The chief influences were the sixteenth century painters, especially Titian and Tintoretto with their rich, warm colours, and Veronese, whose blond and silvery colour and limpid light he used most effectively in his small religious and mythological subjects.

The several versions of “Charity”, depicted as a young woman with two or three children, are excellent examples of his tenderness of colour handling, and of a softness of sentiment nearer to the 18th than to the 17th century. He was also a sensitive portrait painter, and played a leading part in French painting of the 1630s.

The painting above is “St Sebastian Nursed by Irene and her Helpers”, painted between 1630 and 1638. It is a good example of Blanchard’s mature style and typical in terms of subject matter, technique and composition. St Sebastian was named captain in the praetorian guards by Emperor Diocletian, as did Emperor Maximian when Diocletian went to the East. Neither knew that Sebastian was a Christian. When it was discovered during Maximian's persecution of the Christians that Sebastian was indeed a Christian, he was ordered executed. He was shot with arrows and left for dead, but when St Irene and the widow of St. Castulus went to recover his body, they found he was still alive and nursed him back to health. Soon after, Sebastian intercepted the Emperor, denounced him for his cruelty to Christians, and was beaten to death on the Emperor’s orders.

MUSIC SATURDAY - GEMINIANI CONCERTI GROSSI

“Who hears music feels his solitude peopled at once.” - Robert Browning

Francesco Saverio Geminiani (baptised 5 December 1687 – 17 September 1762) was an Italian violinist, composer, and music theorist. Born at Lucca, he received lessons in music from Alessandro Scarlatti, and studied the violin under Carlo Ambrogio Lonati in Milan and afterwards under Arcangelo Corelli. From 1707 he took the place of his father in the Cappella Palatina of Lucca.

From 1711, he led the opera orchestra at Naples, as Leader of the Opera Orchestra and concertmaster, which gave him many opportunities for contact with Alessandro Scarlatti. After a brief return to Lucca, in 1714, he set off for London in the company of Francesco Barsanti, where he arrived with the reputation of a virtuoso violinist, and soon attracted attention and patrons, including William Capel, 3rd Earl of Essex, who remained a consistent patron.

In 1715 Geminiani played his violin concerti for the court of George I, with Handel at the keyboard. Geminiani made a living by teaching and writing music, and tried to keep pace with his passion for collecting by dealing in art, not always successfully. Many of his students went on to have successful careers, such as Charles Avison, Matthew Dubourg, Michael Christian Festing, Bernhard Joachim Hagen and Cecilia Young.

After visiting Paris and residing there for some time, he returned to England in 1755. In 1761, on one of his sojourns in Dublin, a servant robbed him of a musical manuscript on which he had bestowed much time and labour. His vexation at this loss is said to have hastened his death. He appears to have been a first-rate violinist. His Italian pupils reportedly called him Il Furibondo, the Madman, because of his expressive rhythms.

Geminiani’s most well-known compositions are three sets of concerti grossi; his Opus 2 (1732), Opus 3 (1733) and Opus 7 (1746), (there are 42 concerti in all) which introduce the viola as a member of the concertino group of soloists, making them essentially concerti for string quartet. These works are deeply contrapuntal to please a London audience still in love with Corelli, compared to the galant work that was fashionable on the Continent at the time of their composition. Geminiani also reworked his teacher Corelli’s Opp. 1, 3 and 5 into concerti grossi.

Here are his 6 Concerti Grossi Op.II, performed by the Auser Musici:

“Concerti Grossi con Due Violini, Violoncello, e Viola di Concertino obligati, e Due Altri Violini, e Basso di Concerto Grosso ad arbitrio il IV. V. e VI. si potranno suonare con Due Flauti Traversieri, o Due Violini, con Violoncello. Opera Seconda” [London, 1732]

I. Concerto Grosso No.III [Presto/Adagio/Allegro] 0:08

II. Concerto Grosso No.II [Adagio/Allegro/Adagio/Allegro] 6:57

III. Concerto Grosso No.V [Grave/Allegro/Adagio/Allegro] 16:20

IV. Concerto Grosso No.VI [Andante/Allegro-Adagio/Allegro] 23:35

V. Concerto Grosso No.I [Andante/Allegro/Adagio/Allegro] 30:10

VI. Concerto Grosso No.IV [Andante/Allegro/Adagio/Allegro] 37:27

FOOD FRIDAY - AMYGDALOTÁ

“I said to the almond tree, ‘Friend, speak to me of God’, and the almond tree blossomed.” - Nikos Kazantzakis

A traditional Greek sweetmeat today, which although simple is delicious. These sweets are traditionally offered to guests when they arrive at one’s house, together with a glass of iced water. They are also popular in wedding feasts to symbolise the joys (sugar) and sorrows (bitterness of almonds) that the couple will live through together.

AMYGDALOTÁ (ALMOND PETIT FOURS)

Ingredients

2 cups of roasted, freshly ground blanched almonds

1 cup of caster sugar

2 egg whites

1/2 cup ground, plain corn flakes

1/2 cup amaretto liqueur

1 teaspoonful almond essence

Glacé cherries

Whole cloves (optional)

Icing sugar, orange flower water

Method

Mix the almonds, caster sugar and cornflakes well and then add the beaten egg whites, flavour and liqueur.  Knead well to form a soft dough.  Take a glacé cherry and a tablespoonful of the dough and shape into a pear, enclosing the cherry in the centre of each petit four.  Bake in medium hot oven for 15-20 minutes. It is important to get the outside quite firm while maintain the middle softish (do not overcook). Brush with orange flower water while still hot and dust liberally with icing sugar. Place a whole clove on the top of each little “pear” to resemble a stem.

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A DOG ROSE FOR RESPIGHI

“If you enjoy the fragrance of a rose, you must accept the thorns which it bears.” - IsaacHayes

July 9th is St Zeno’s Feast Day (Roman Catholic) and St Pancratius the Bishop’s Feast Day (Greek Orthodox).

It is also the anniversary of the birth of:

Ann Ward Radcliffe, novelist (1764);

Thomas Davenport, electric motor inventor (1802);

Elias Howe, sewing machine inventor (1819);

Nikola Tesla, Serbian physicist (1856);

Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer (1879);

Enid Lyons, first woman in Australian parliament (1897);

Barbara Cartland, English novelist (1901);

Edward Heath, British prime minister (1916);

Ed Ames, singer (1927);

Hassan II, king of Morocco (1929);

James Hampton, actor (1936);

David Hockney, artist (1937);

Brian Dennehy, actor (1940);

Karin von Aroldingen, ballerina (1941);

Tom Hanks, actor (1956);

Kelly McGillis, actress (1957).

The dog rose, Rosa canina, is the birthday flower for today.  The Greeks are responsible for the name of this flower, calling it kynorhodon (“dog rose”) because its root supposedly was cure for the bite of rabid dogs.  Others say that it is derived from koinon rhodon (“common rose”), the name “dog rose” implying contempt because of its small size and insignificance when compared to the damask rose. It symbolises pleasure and pain.

Ottorino Respighi (1879-1936) was an Italian composer well known for his symphonic poems, such as “The Fountains of Rome” (1917) and the “Roman Festivals” (1929).  He revived the Italian instrumental tradition, which was overshadowed by the operatic work of the likes of Verdi and Puccini.  Respighi used the modern symphony orchestra but was always aware of the past, often being inspired by melodies a few centuries old.  His “Ancient Airs and Dances” are a great favourite of mine. In these, he has taken several 16th and 17th century lute pieces and freely transcribed them for symphony orchestra, thus making them very accessible to many.

Died on this day: In 1747, Giovanni Battista Bononcini, Italian church and operatic composer.

POETS UNITED - NIGHT

“Absence from whom we love is worse than death, and frustrates hope severer than despair.” - William Cowper

This week, Poets United has as its Midweek Motif, the theme of “Night”.

Here is my offering:

A Winter’s Night

A Winter’s night:

And the chill pervades

The dark, dank air

And knocks insistently

On my frosty window.

The moon descends

And kisses the diamond stars goodbye,

While bare branches shake off

Little pieces of loneliness –

Ice, falling down on frozen earth.

My heart still beats,

And each muscle contraction

Reminds my frigid body

That it must keep on living

Though hope is long lost.

A Winter’s night:

Time grinding to a halt,

As tremulous candlelight

Attempts to tear the endless darkness

But my clock finally stops…

THE ANCIENT GREEK CALENDAR

“Ethics and equity and the principles of justice do not change with the calendar.” - D. H.Lawrence

The pre-Roman ancient Greek calendar comprised 12 lunar months, lasting for 29 and 30 days alternately.  The Greeks were aware of the discrepancy between the lunar year and the solar year and made allowances for this through leap years, correcting the inconsistency.  The megas eniautos, or “great year” was a cycle lasting eight years of twelve months each into which were fitted an additional three months of 30 days to bring the lunar and solar years back into concord.  This practice of calculating time spread from the sanctuary of Apollo in Delphi to all parts of Greece.  The Greeks regarded the sun-god Apollo as the timekeeper of the gods, this being the reason why many months’ names honoured the festivals of Apollo or of his twin sister, the moon-goddess Artemis.

The Greek lunar year began in summer, with Hecatombaeón, the month in which the great festival of Athens, the Panathenaea, was celebrated.  Other Greek city-states celebrated the main protector deity of their city in the first month of their year.  The names of the months varied accordingly in each city-state, as they commemorated festivals of particular local importance.  There are approximately 300 recorded names of pre-Roman ancient Greek months.  Ionians, Aeolians and Dorians had many names of months in common and this has been of importance in dating certain pan-Hellenic events in antiquity. The best record of the ancient Greek calendar and its festivals is that of the Athens and Attica.

The Olympic Games and the Great Panathenaea, both of which had pan-Hellenic significance, occurred every four years, which was half the great year.  The importance of the Olympics led to certain events being remembered in the context of the “so-and-so Olympiad”, which also had the advantage of being of pan-Hellenic time-keeping relevance and was therefore independent of regional calendrical differences.  The ancient Greek months of the Attic year are given in the table below, where they are correlated with the months of the Gregorian year.

When the Romans conquered Greece they imposed the Julian calendar on the Greeks.  The Greek calendar was still used, however, to calculate the occurrence of local religious festivals.  The Julian Calendar completely ousted the Greek calendar in Hellenistic times.  In Byzantine times the ancient Greek calendar was entirely forgotten and the Julian calendar became entrenched because of the continuing ties with Rome and the Christian tradition.

The photo above is “Apollo served by the Nymphs” by François Girardon (March 17, 1628 – September 1, 1715).

MOVIE MONDAY - ALL ABOUT GODZILLA

“The artist must bow to the monster of his own imagination.” - Richard Wright

Today, I’m reviewing a movie I didn’t finish seeing. The reason being, I’d had enough of it midway through and felt I had something better to do with my time. It was the Gareth Edwards’ 2014 “Godzilla” starring Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Elizabeth Olsen, and Bryan Cranston. The disastrous script was the work of Max Borenstein (screenplay) and Dave Callaham (story).

When I was young I remember seeing the original Japanese Godzilla movies (e.g. “Godzilla, King of the Monsters!” of 1956) and being extremely impressed with it, as bad as it was… It had plot, action, suspense, a great villain and gave warning about mankind’s destruction of the planet. As well as that it was a fantastic movie in terms of death, devastation and destruction, all appealing to my youthful self of 13 years…

There have been a huge number of sequels and remakes of Godzilla, many (if not most of them) mediocre to very bad. Roland Emmerich’s 1998 “Godzilla” starring Matthew Broderick, Jean Reno, and Maria Pitillo was tolerable, especially when one compares it to the Edwards’ 2014 version.

The latest Godzilla offering is quite terrible. The plot has holes big enough for Godzilla to crawl through, the acting is wooden, the action leaving a lot to be desired for, and generally a movie that one digest. Considering this was a film that cost $160 million, one could imagine that better care would have been taken with fundamentals – the script, for example?

ART SUNDAY - JOHN ALDRIDGE

“Originality depends only on the character of the drawing and the vision peculiar to each artist.” - Georges Seurat

John [Arthur Malcolm] Aldridge (26 July 1905 – 3 May 1983) was an accomplished oil painter, skilled draftsman, wallpaper designer, and esteemed art teacher in the United Kingdom. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy (ARA) in 1954 and a Royal Academician (RA) in 1963.

Born in Woolwich, England, Aldridge grew up in a comparatively wealthy military family. After attending Uppingham School in Rutland, Aldridge studied ‘Greats’ at Corpus Christi College at Oxford University and graduated in 1928 with a Bachelor of Arts degree. After finishing university, Aldridge settled in London, taught himself to paint and held his first mixed exhibition in 1931.

From 1928 to 1933 he lived in London, making frequent visits to Holland, France, Italy, Germany and Spain. In 1933 he moved to Essex, settling in Great Barfield. At the time he was one of a group of artists including Eric Ravilious and Edward Bawden who found inspiration in the Essex countryside. They later collected together an exhibition of their own pictures, which toured the villages of Essex.

His first one-man show was at the Leicester Galleries, London in 1933, he later exhibited with the Seven and Five Society alongside artists such as Ben Nicholson, Ivon Hitchens, David Jones and John Piper. Although he never went to art school, Aldridge became a remarkable and valued part-time teacher at the Slade School of Fine Art.

Besides painting in oils, Aldridge designed textiles and wallpapers, and illustrated books. His pictures are built up out of the commonplace ingredients that any observant person could have found in the villages and fields and back gardens of Essex. Aldridge proved again, what so many artists have proved before him, that subject matter is no more than a starting point for adventure.

Aldridge’s art work is with the British Council and in the London collections of the Tate Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, the Victoria and Albert Museum, and the Royal Academy. The major holding of Aldridge’s work is in the North West Essex Collection of the Fry Art Gallery in Saffron Walden, Essex. In 1999, the Fry Art Gallery presented a show of his oils and in 2000 an exhibition of his drawings and prints. An exhibition of his landscape oils and other works from across his career was held at the Fry from 7 September to 27 October 2013.

The painting above is “Autumn” (1946) and shows Aldridge’s style well. Fine composition, a good sense of space, carefully applied colour, which can sometimes be surprising brilliant, or studiously understated and muted. There is a good underlying draughtsmanship and a well-rounded pleasing whole that invites the viewer into the work.

MUSIC SATURDAY - BARBER'S AGNUS DEI

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” - Martin Luther King, Jr.

I’m in a melancholy mood tonight and the only music I want to hear is this… Samuel Barber’s “Agnus Dei” (a transcription for mixed choir of his Adagio for strings Op. 11). This performance by The Choir of Trinity College, Cambridge & Richard Marlow.

Samuel Barber was an American composer, (1910 - 1981). Barber’s music, masterfully crafted and built on romantic structures and sensibilities, is at once lyrical, rhythmically complex, and harmonically rich.

Barber was born 9th March 1910 in West Chester, Pennsylvania, Barber wrote his first piece at age 7 and attempted his first opera at age 10. At the age of 14 he entered the Curtis Institute, where he studied voice, piano, and composition. Later, he studied conducting with Fritz Reiner. At Curtis, Barber met Gian Carlo Menotti with whom he would form a lifelong personal and professional relationship. Menotti supplied libretti for Barber’s operas “Vanessa” (for which Barber won the Pulitzer Prize) and “A Hand of Bridge”.

Barber's music was championed by a remarkable range of renowned artists, musicians, and conductors including Vladimir Horowitz, John Browning, Martha Graham, Arturo Toscanini, Dmitri Mitropoulos, Jennie Tourel, and Eleanor Steber. His “Antony and Cleopatra” was commissioned to open the new Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center in 1966. Barber was the recipient of numerous awards and prizes including the American Prix de Rome, two Pulitzers, and election to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. His intensely lyrical “Adagio for Strings” has become one of the most recognisable and beloved compositions, both in concerts and films.

To all American readers of this blog, enjoy the celebration of your Independence Day!

FOOD FRIDAY - BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

“Baking makes me focus. On weighing the sugar. On sieving the flour. I find it calming and rewarding because, in fairness, it is sort of magic – you start off with all this disparate stuff, such as butter and eggs, and what you end up with is so totally different. And also delicious.” – Marian Keyes

One of the recipes we brought back with us after our last trip to the USA some years ago was this one for blueberry muffins. We stayed at a wonderful little boutique hotel in Seattle, which served these delicious home-made muffins for breakfast and the very friendly and amiable hostess was kind enough to give us the recipe.

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

Ingredients

2 cups self-raising flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch of salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 cup caster sugar

2 large eggs

1 and1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup milk

2 and 1/2 cups blueberries

2 tablespoons demerara sugar (for topping, if desired)

Non-stick cooking spray

12 silicone muffin cases

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C. Spray the muffin cases with non-stick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and granulated sugar for about 2 minutes until light and fluffy.

Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl and beating well after each addition.

Beat in the vanilla extract (the batter may look a little grainy but that’s okay).

Gradually add the flour mixture, alternating with the milk, beating on low speed to combine. Stop beating the mixture.

Add the berries to the batter and fold gently with a spatula until evenly distributed. Do not overmix.

Scoop the batter into the prepared muffin cases.

Sprinkle the demerara sugar evenly on top of the muffins if you so desire.

Bake for about 30 minutes, until lightly golden and a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the muffins cool for about 10 minutes before removing from the cases.

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ALL ABOUT OFFAL

"Hunger is the best sauce in the world." - Cervantes

If you are a vegetarian, you may like to skip this blog today as you may find it too distressing! People with heart conditions are warned not to read any further. Treehuggers and animal liberation people read no more. If you are an incurable romantic with easily bruised sensibilities, likewise, do not read this.

Humans are described as omnivores biologically, meaning that we eat a little bit of everything. That everything includes fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, meats and fats. Ii some cultures, the term “everything: is taken rather more literally and if an animal is slaughtered for food, each and every part of that animal is consumed or somehow used. The term “offal” is used for describing the internal organs and innards of an animal or fish, including brain, liver, kidney, tripe, and heart. It can also refer to the animal's extremities, such as head, tail, trotters and tongue. Various other bits and pieces like giblets, cockscomb, caul, lights, various glands, bone marrow, blood, etc are also included in this definition. Offal used as food is a tradition that goes back to the hunter/gatherer days of prehistory when to have killed an animal meant an awful lot of good luck. Every part of that animal was eaten as people did not know when again they would be able to feast on such a luxury.

We have come a long way since then, but our Neanderthal heritage is still to be found in our genes, and offal is still on our menu. The masters of the contemporary euphemism, the Americans, prefer to refer to offal as “variety meats” and in several chic restaurants in the States, one may now find increasing use of these delicacies. Are the foodies and epicures slumming it? The tradition of offal consumption represents a simple case of thrifty agrarian necessity. The farmer who knows what expense and resources go into the raising of a food animal, is convinced easily that if one is to be so indulgent as to slaughter an animal, one had better make use of all of it, even the “nasty bits”. Europeans rich and poor have always dined on offal, but it nevertheless has retained a certain… bucolic reputation. The Italians call it “la cucina povera”, or “poor food”, as a reminder of the farming origins of these dishes.

Recipes for offal abound and regional cuisines around the world make full use of all bits and pieces of the animal. “Waste not, want not” is still very much alive and many cultures would blanch at our wasteful society and its preoccupation with “chicken breasts” and “fillet mignon”.

Everyone has heard of the famous traditional Scottish haggis, which consists of sheep stomach stuffed with a boiled mix of liver, heart, lungs, rolled oats and other ingredients. Steak and kidney pie is traditional English fare, while in France, the Iberian peninsula and Italy, many items in the delicatessen and charcuterie displays boast delicious concoctions made from offal. Some of the top restaurants in Europe serve offal as “plats de resistance” – with prices to match! Asian cuisine makes no distinction between offal and other parts of the animal and is it very much a case of eating everything from the pig except the squeal.

In Greece, offal is consumed with great gusto and some famous Greek dishes utilise offal to great effect. Splinantero consists of liver, spleen and small intestine, roasted over an open fire. Kokoretsi is a similar dish that is usually Easter fare and comprises pieces of lamb offal (liver, heart, lungs, spleen, kidney and fat) that are pierced on a spit and covered by washed small intestine wound around in a spiral fashion. The kokoretsi is then roasted over coal fire. Another traditional Easter food is mageiritsa, a soup made with lamb or kid's offal and lettuce, dill, spring onions in a white egg-and-lemon sauce. Tzigerosarmas ("liver wrap") and gardoumba are two varieties of splinantero and kokoretsi made in different sizes and with extra spices to improve the taste.

If you want to read more, here are a couple of links:

Offal good and,

Eating nose to tail

POETS UNITED - FREEDOM

“It is difficult to free fools from the chains they revere.” - Voltaire

This week, Poets United has as its theme “Freedom”. No doubt, this has been inspired by the proximity of Independence Day on July 4th. Happy 4th of July to all US readers!

My poem today is either ironic (especially given the events in Greece), or just another love poem… You pick what you like!

The Pain of Freedom

Come hither enslave me,

Once again bind me

Save me from all the pain of freedom,

The dreaded spectre of alternative,

The cackling hag of free choice.

I’ll follow blindly your instruction

Speak, and your command will be obeyed.

My will a leaf that flutters

In the strong gusts of your whims and fancies.

Without you what am I?

What can I do?

How can I feel without your presence?

Without your hand to guide me,

How can I tell the why, how and wherefore?

Come hither once again

And free me from the pain of choice

The agonies of independence.

WITHOUT A MAP

“When a woman is talking to you, listen to what she says with her eyes.” - Victor Hugo

I wrote the following snippet of a story as a result of a challenge to “write a short story of 350-400 words”. Here is what I wrote, counting off just below 400 words:

WITHOUT A MAP

My love affairs had always followed the rules. A disciplined existence such as mine always adhered to schedules, time-tables, agendas and dot-point lists. Was it so surprising then that my liaisons were predictable, worked out by a mathematical formula and more often than not, negotiated? Compatibility was not the result of exploration and the enjoyment of doing things together, but rather it depended on the outcome of some computer match test.

Relationships worked out as expected, rather like a well-rehearsed formal dance where both partners know the tune and steps, and the interaction becomes mechanical, rather than the expression of a deeper passion that drives both to improvise and enjoy the emotion of the moment. The machines of these relationships broke down with amazing regularity, not because the mechanism was being overworked, but rather of ennui - a boredom generated by the repetitive, clockwork-like precision of their predictability.

Caz was different from the beginning. She came into the office in an eyebrow-raising flurry of organised disorganisation. She held a tourist map of the City and a puzzled expression creased her impish face.

“I always confuse myself when trying to read maps, can you tell me how to get to this place?” she said, pointing vaguely to a spot circled on the map.

I looked disapprovingly at her rather scruffy appearance, but her smile was sunny, genuine and disarming…

I wavered and smiled back without meaning to, spontaneously and helplessly. There was something remarkably appealing and fresh about this woman. I started to rattle off a set of directions, but her blank expression after a couple of sentences made me smile again. I nodded and pointed her towards the door.

“It’s lunchtime,” I said. “I’m walking down that way, put your map away and let me show you…”

Caz and I are as unlike as two people can be. Opposites attract, they say, but how lasting can such a relationship be when there is almost nothing in common between two people and their relationship is a constant succession of surprises, clashes and opposing goals? A roller-coaster ride of passionate outbursts and deep emotions, discovery of not only of the other person but also of one’s self.

We’ve been together for 20 years now and this one, crazy relationship that has lasted, was all without schedules and formulas, tests and compatibility quotients – a wonderful trip, without a map…

MOVIE MONDAY - JURASSIC WORLD

“We all have a dinosaur deep within us just trying to get out.” - Colin Mochrie

The sequel, of a sequel, of a sequel… It seems that movie screens are being flooded with such regurgitated pap lately. One only has to look at the Batman series of movies (or the Superman, or the Spiderman, or any super hero ones for that matter); or perhaps the Godzilla spawn, or the Nightmare on Elm Street series, or any number of fantasy/sci-fi movies that seem to be multiplying in plague proportions. What is it with sequels? Is it movie producers sticking with a good milch cow and squeezing every drop of milk from it, or is it perhaps a public that yearns to retread familiar old paths, or stick with familiar characters and fave actors? Whatever the case is, there is no shortage of sequels and movie series…

The latest new kid on the block is Colin Trevorrow’s 2015 “Jurassic World” starring Chris Pratt, Bryce Dallas Howard, and Ty Simpkins. Now I must admit that I watched and enjoyed Steven Spielberg’s 1993 “Jurassic Park”. At the time I saw it, it was fresh, engaging, thrilling, exciting, full of great special effects, and a great music score. I saw the sequel, Spielberg’s 1997 “The Lost World” and this was OK. By the time the third sequel came out, Joe Johnston’s 2001 “Jurassic Park III”, I’d had enough of dinosaurs and refused to watch it. A good choice, my friends who had seen it told me.

The newest arrival, “Jurassic World”, sets the action 22 years after the original Jurassic Park failed. The new park is open for business but as the novelty of dinosaurs has worn off, a new attraction is needed to bring in the crowds. The friendly neighbourhood mad scientists create a new hybrid dinosaur called Indominus rex – a gigantic, fearsome animal that was made to awe and terrify visitors. It seems to be doing the job and the crowds flock to the island to be wowed. But things go wrong and the dinosaur goes on a rampage… Sound familiar? Hmmm, yes, of course, it’s the sequel of a sequel, of a sequel…

The special effects and creatures in this film are probably the best in the series up till now. Some CGI are obvious, but not distracting. One comes to expect that with the advances in movie-making technology. Carnage, violence and body count are all higher in this movie than in any other of the films in the series, however, it has lost its edge… Add to that a predictable script and the movie becomes a “creature feature”, more of a horror movie with a malevolent and dastardly creature wreaking havoc, rather than an intelligent sci-fi that poses some ethical questions.

Chris Pratt is playing a fairly standard heroic role and his one of the few likeable characters in the film. One good actor/character can’t hold the movie single-handedly, which he has to do as the remainder of the cast are cardboard cuts outs (including some bad acting), and some sexist stereotypes of women. The script has pretty bad dialogue and a lacklustre plot. Chris Pratt is likeable hero, but he’s not given the chance to lift the film into the stratosphere, with mediocre direction and internal script and plot deficiencies.

See this movie if you want some mindless entertainment, cheap thrills and you are in horror movie mood. Order lots of pizza and get a few friends together so you can take the mickey out of the scenes that don’t work as well as the director hoped. You’ll probably enjoy it more if you haven’t seen the original movie…

ART SUNDAY - HARRY AIKEN VINCENT

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” - Jacques YvesCousteau

Harry Aiken Vincent (1864-1931), an American painter, was born in Chicago and as an artist was largely self taught. Although he painted in the Chicago area early in his career, by the turn of the century he was painting and exhibiting in New England and gaining a strong reputation for his marine views.

Vincent’s paintings were widely exhibited and the artist won many awards. He was noted for his heavy use of pigment and colourful compositions. He held membership in the prestigious Salmagundi Club where he won awards in 1907, 1916 and 1918 and was both a member and associate of the National Academy of Design where his work was exhibited in 1892 and 1897.

With his studio in Boston, Vincent was also one of the many accomplished artists that made up what became known as the Rockport School. He became the first president of the Rockport Art Association in 1921 and served as a charter member of the North Shore Art Association. The visually abundant region around Rockport, Massachusetts attracted a wealth of talented painters in the early part of the century. H. A. Vincent painted many of his finest works in and around the Rockport area.

Vincent had a penchant for bold impressionistic marine and waterfront scenes, showing special interest in themes of the commonplace in the working harbour, such as unloading fish, drying sails, moored fishing boats and seaside views.