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Sunday, April 1, 2012

- The Venerable Bede


What does the culural shift in England portend for the United States? News from across the ocean:
"Like something from a horror movie. The thuggish, mocking face of George Galloway, flushed with maniac triumph, crying "all praise to Allah" as the sky behind him darkens a shade yet closer to the hue that hung over Berlin in 1933, is as good a visualisation as you could need of the raving, suicidal unreason that now dictates the shape and direction of public discourse and enquiry in Britain.

It calls for a Francis Bacon to capture its true contours and dimensions, a Hogarth to isolate the depth of the decay and insanity it symbolises, a Goya to unmask the tragedy behind its swaggering and provocation. Neither can its horror be conveyed in mere prose. (Let Shelley give it a try: "I met Madness on the way / He had a mask like Galloway.")

It's all in the open here, for anyone with eyes to see and courage to recognise. The true face of modern Britain: sly, and leering, confrontational and brutish and vulgar, yet also uncomprehending, rejecting hope and decency not consciously but through a genuine incapacity to even conceive of such things."
A dark topic to be sure, but this guy is a pleasure to read. Give it a proper look.

7 comments:

  1. Nobody does it better than the Bede. Nobody.

    O/T...Are you working on something, James? You've been a bit quiet as of late. Compared to your norm, of course.

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  2. I have been getting more and more busy, leaving me less and less time to try to put something together. Fortunately there is April Gavaza and The Venerable Bede for our reading pleasure. The Venerable Bede is something else. Even if I am unfamiliar with the politics or people he is writing about, it's almost like listening to music. I love the fact there are people out there that can do that.

    Speaking of England and all things English, what do you say to giving Downton Abbey a go? They pronounce it Dunn-ton Abbey, and it is beautifully photographed with a lovely score. At times it is remarkably good. I have watched the first two sections of the first season, and it's kinda fun!

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  3. Downton Abbey, which I have seen--mostly--might be a little too much for a Club feature. Unless you pick a particular episode or two and confine it to that. Perhaps the Christmas special for 2011?

    Michelle Dockery (Lady Mary) is also a singer and has performed with Elizabeth McGovern's (her Mum on the show) band, Sadie and the Hotheads.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iUVJX6T1GBM

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  4. Darrell, you're always a step ahead, if not two or three steps ahead!

    Thanks for the video link!

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  5. I can just visualize you chaps all chatting with an English accent by the time the series is completed. Spot on what? Must add to Darrell's previous comment too...have missed your posts James. Smiles - Astrid

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  6. I wish I could embed the player--like at April's--but here is a little clip from The Big Sleep that caught my eye because of the high-def clarity. Enjoy Bogie with Sonia Darrin (the clerk at A.J. Geiger's) and then with Dorothy Malone at Acme.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjJlBnfyiI4

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