‘Weave a circle round him thrice’: is ‘Steven’ a name which strains for significance rather than having it.

January 26, 2024

Write about your first name: its meaning, significance, etymology, etc. An unlikely avatar: Steven Universe, a character by Rebecca Sugar This is a blog I have resisted because all of the common stories of my name’s origin seem rather strained versions of a thing that is rather common and unremarkable, if ubiquitous. And then there … More ‘Weave a circle round him thrice’: is ‘Steven’ a name which strains for significance rather than having it.

Queerness, allusion, metaphor and metamorphosis in Seán Hewitt (2024) ‘Rapture’s Road’.

January 25, 2024

‘beyond the light of memory / behind your life / there might be / other lives, waiting – ‘, ‘… I could have spent / a thousand lives changing myself,’. Queerness, allusion, metaphor and metamorphosis in Seán Hewitt (2024) Rapture’s Road London, Cape Poetry. I have waited a long time for the publication of this … More Queerness, allusion, metaphor and metamorphosis in Seán Hewitt (2024) ‘Rapture’s Road’.

“Pairing paintings might create a “dialogue”, but who decides what these strange bedfellows are saying to each other?” This blog reflects on Aimee Ng, Xavier F. Salomon & Stephen Truax (Eds.) [2023] ‘Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters’

January 23, 2024

From September 2021 to September2022, the Frick Museum in New York decided to place each of 4 classic paintings from its collection one by one ‘in conversation’ with a newly commissioned artwork from painters who are currently working and who identify their work as from a queer orientation to the world. Reviewing the publication based … More “Pairing paintings might create a “dialogue”, but who decides what these strange bedfellows are saying to each other?” This blog reflects on Aimee Ng, Xavier F. Salomon & Stephen Truax (Eds.) [2023] ‘Living Histories: Queer Views and Old Masters’

To trust she is safe with us and will always be loved. To Daisy.

January 22, 2024

If you could make your pet understand one thing, what would it be? We have lived with Daisy, our Staffie, since we bought her from a rescue centre about eight years ago. Yet, although she clearly loves being with us and can be deeply happy, rolling in the grass when she enjoys her walks, she … More To trust she is safe with us and will always be loved. To Daisy.

“… / And Time a MANIAC scattering Dust”: Uninventing ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’: What it feels like to read true ‘science fiction’: Benjamín Labatut (2023) ‘The MANIAC’.

January 21, 2024

If you could un-invent something, what would it be? Un-invention is, like invention, a means of realising through thought and work some solution or respite, pragmatic, and perhaps temporary, though it may be, to ones currently unmet desires or the dread of anticipated fears. We un-invent in order to pretend something never existed: the ending … More “… / And Time a MANIAC scattering Dust”: Uninventing ‘Artificial Intelligence (AI)’: What it feels like to read true ‘science fiction’: Benjamín Labatut (2023) ‘The MANIAC’.

‘There ain’t no answer. … That’s the answer’.

January 20, 2024

My photograph of page 12-13 Jean E. Mills (2024) ‘Gertrude Stein’ in Richard Scneider Jr. (ed.) ‘Outer Appearances: More Faces from the Annals of the G&LR’ (a retrospective on the art of Charles Hefling),  Illustrated by Charles Hefling. Pages 32f., Like most people who do it, I communicate too much online. Some who do it pretend … More ‘There ain’t no answer. … That’s the answer’.

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’, a film & book. Reflections (3): Truth, lies and ‘Poor Things’.

January 19, 2024

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer Edited by Alasdair Gray  and Poor Things, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos with screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite). A series of reflections on seeing the film on 15th January 2024 at the … More Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’, a film & book. Reflections (3): Truth, lies and ‘Poor Things’.

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. No. 2 on ‘queering’ in each mode of art.

January 18, 2024

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer Edited by Alasdair Gray  and Poor Things, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos with screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite). A series of reflections on seeing the film on 15th January 2024 at the … More Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. No. 2 on ‘queering’ in each mode of art.

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is number 1 of a series and is on the SETTINGS (of novel and film).

January 17, 2024

Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) Poor Things: Episodes from the Early Life of Archibald McCandless M.D., Scottish Public Health Officer Edited by Alasdair Gray  and Poor Things, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos with screenplay by Tony McNamara (The Favourite). A series of reflections on seeing the film on 15th January 2024 at the … More Book into Film: Alasdair Gray’s (1992) ‘Poor Things’ and ‘Poor Things’, a film directed by Yorgos Lanthimos. This is number 1 of a series and is on the SETTINGS (of novel and film).

How often I must have said: ‘I just don’t feel heard’. But perhaps that is because I didn’t look out for responses. Mea culpa.

January 16, 2024

I truly write for myself most of the time, I claim, and most often there there is no intentional untruth or even known self-delusion in that statement. Not reading, and now writing about my reading, has become a need – to evidence, as I have always put it that I am learning and growing in … More How often I must have said: ‘I just don’t feel heard’. But perhaps that is because I didn’t look out for responses. Mea culpa.

Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’: Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell.

January 15, 2024

Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’? Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell. Geoff and I are just on our way to see Poor Things, an exceedingly well-received film in the newspapers based on one of my … More Have your even seen ‘old Durham Town’: Not till Ben Myers showed it to me again! The role of art in turning places into spaces in which the imagined can dwell.