enfinblue's Bluey (credit to Fifi for the nickname!) Diaryland Diary

"I am seeking, I am striving, I am in it with all my heart." -Vinc3nt V@n Gogh

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landed gentry...or not.

Incidentally, MFV, brilliant man that he is, figured it out: I must be the little woodpecker that could go when I run the London Marathon! Go little woodpecker, go!

Just ignore the last entry. I wrote some dumb shopping rant. I think I'm mostly ranting about the fact that I'm not being productive right now - not reading, not drawing - and wasted time SHOPPING today. :)

Time is so precious, non?

I was thinking just now about a movie I really enjoyed. I can't remember the darned name of it. It was MFV's comment to Anna about a storm at sea that did it. (I mean, reminded me of it. :)) I think that being out on the open ocean is my worst nightmare. I find the ocean very scary and the idea of not being able to see any land freaks me out!

Not going to be an astronaut, either. I mean, I ALWAYS wonder how it is that someone can leave his or her children at home and blast off in a spaceship?? We have a Canadian guy going on some mission soon - 'tis what made me think of it.

Today I wish I could snap my fingers and be back in the Regency period and talking to Jane Austen. I have some questions I'd like to ask her. I highly recommend the very subtle biography of her by Carol Shi3lds, if you don't know it. Excellent. Spare. Definitely not gratuitous. And I'm not recommending her only because the biographer is a dead Canadian. :)

There is something else. I saw the best documentary and presentation on Sunday and I never even wrote about it! You might have heard - at least if you are in England - of the Canadian guy who has a family heirloom that he claims is a portrait of Shakespeare painted from life. That's sort of one of the two holy grails in art history, I think (the other being more dirt on the Mona Lisa's true identity).

So the thing about this portrait is that it probably has as reasonable a claim to have been painted from life than any of the other portraits out there. Still, it is impossible to demonstrate that it was painted from Shakespeare during his lifetime. The National Portra!t Gallery in London hates this guy with this new portrait contender, because they hold the Chandos portrait - on the basis of which the gallery was founded (interesting comment on Englishness, etc., non?) - to be the real deal. It, too, has a not foolproof claim to authenticity.

Interesting. All very interesting.

What was most interesting to me was that the guy who is trying to prove his claim to the degree possible is a retiree and widowed and is spending his life savings on the project. He was there and participated on the panel of curators and scientists, etc. who were there to discuss the authentication efforts that have been undertaken. Apart from the fact that the image is very lively and compelling, I found the guy's pursuit of this quite poignant. He was a bit wobbly as he said that he persisted in this because his grandmother always told him that the painting had been painted by an ancestor of his who had played in Shakespeare's troupe. He can't believe that the story passed down through generations of his family is not true.

This story reminded me a bit of the Japanese guy whose son was killed in the Twin Towers and who has spent the time since trying to make something of his estranged son's memory by building a project (community centre) to help people in Kabul, Afghanistan. He's old, he hadn't seen his son in years, he had a chequered past (used to play around with many women)...and he's trying to do this thing, using all of his resources, that he never thought he'd do.(Documentary: A Dream for Kabul. Very poignant portrait of old age.)

Thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you today for: my friends; excellent medical care for my arm; my promotion; being able to afford a ticket to Italy; cheap ticket to Italy; my job; my cute and cozy apartment atop the stairs in this old house; the fact that spring is not SOOOOO far away.

4:43 p.m. - 2009-03-06

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other diaries:

stepfordtart
ohell
awittykitty
annanotbob
manfromvenus
smartypants
fifidellabon
hungryghost
hissandtell