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FILE In this photo released by the Russian Defense Ministry Press Service, a view of the joint strategic exercise of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus Zapad-2021 at the Mulino training ground in the Nizhny Novgorod region, Russia, on Sept. 11, 2021. Ukrainian and Western officials are worried that a Russian military buildup near Ukraine could signal plans by Moscow to invade its ex-Soviet neighbor. The Kremlin insists it has no such intention and has accused Ukraine and its Western backers of making the claims to cover up their own allegedly aggressive designs. (Vadim Savitskiy/Russian Defense Ministry Press Service via AP, File)
Hush now, don't explain
You're my joy and pain
My life's yours love
Don't explain
model: Nathana Machado
photo/retouch: Saulo Mohana
It would be awesome, if you could support me with a like on my facebook page!
Explainer: While I wish I could fully dress, wig-up and make-up regularly, those days are rare. So I post these AI renderings. FYI: the photos are AI generated, from actual photos of me, enhanced slightly with FaceApp and then dressed from outfits I see and love on the interweb. Enjoy them or not! I do, that's all that matters! Love, Crystal
Title.
A corner of the station restaurant.
( LUMIX G3 shot )
London. UK. 2015. … 1 / 7
(Today's photo. It's unpublished.)
Images.
Rory - WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY? (ft. Leon Thomas)
youtu.be/KZ4EWHaxE5w?si=sLBst-GSgWzAvESz
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“A.I. - About Apple’s Identity”
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54271473379/in/dateposted...
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### Will Apple Listen to Mark Zuckerberg’s Criticism?
I Don’t Think So—At Least Not for Someone Enchanted by the Apple Vision Pro.
Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, recently appeared on a well-known podcast, where he criticized Apple for failing to release an innovative product since the iPhone and for experiencing a decline in sales.
Appearing on a podcast originating from Apple and then proceeding to criticize the company might seem like a lighthearted joke, but I believe he was serious.
Why? Because he now wields a weapon—the AR glasses.
With the support of various institutions and a team of highly skilled professionals, he has likely achieved some notable milestones. Yet, as someone who has been a devoted Apple user since the PowerBook 540c, I still do not sense any real craftsmanship or identity in what he creates.
This sentiment extends to other IT giants that currently dominate the world—Meta, Amazon, Tesla, Microsoft, and Google.
Just by listing their names, readers of this text are likely already picturing their respective CEOs.
In the past, I wrote that Steve Jobs was not an artist.
What he excelled at was weaving together scattered ideas from across the world, expanding upon them, and linking them to the future.
The true creator was Jonathan Ive.
A minority of people may share this perspective with me.
However, when I see these IT moguls quickly shifting their corporate stances the moment the possibility of Trump returning to power emerges, I feel compelled to speak my mind.
The AR glasses, the cars—everything they create lacks a fundamental concept.
Call it ideology or, in lighter terms, identity.
It is true that Tim Cook and Apple’s current team have become more prone to letting slip details about upcoming products before their official release.
I have always loved music.
Artists shut themselves in a studio, cutting off the outside world, pouring their anger, hatred, joy, and sorrow into each note with intense focus.
It’s as if they are entrusting something to their music.
And when they finally release their album, they explain the emotions and thoughts behind its creation.
(Prince, whom I admire, rarely spoke about his work, so understanding his art required engaging with the final product itself.)
Until an album is complete and released, artists say nothing.
It was those artists who moved me to my core.
The faint glow of Apple’s innovation still remains within me.
Not even last year’s widely criticized "failure"—the Apple Vision Pro—could extinguish it.
In fact, it shines even brighter than the iPhone.
Because beyond its cutting-edge electronic components, I can sense a concept, an ideology.
Unfortunately, I will never feel the same from Meta’s AR glasses or Tesla’s cars.
I have written at length, but here is the key article:
**Tim Cook Donates Over $1.5 Million to Trump’s Inauguration Ceremony**
🔗 [Gigazine Article](gigazine.net/news/20250104-apple-ceo-tim-cook-donates-1-m...)
At first glance, this might make it seem like Tim Cook, like other tech CEOs, has sold his soul. But that is not the case.
While Cook personally donated to Trump, Apple itself did not follow the same path as other companies.
Apple refused to bow to Trump.
If asked what Apple’s ideology truly is, I would answer this:
**Apple is a group of individuals who believe in themselves.**
Steve Jobs, watching from heaven, is probably chuckling at this overly serious text I wrote.
A company that does not pander to Trump—
That is Apple. :)
### January 15
After reading a heartwarming article.
**Mitsushiro Nakagawa**
---
**Postscript:**
Corrections made:
Before: "Appearing on Apple's podcast"
After: "Appearing on a podcast originating from Apple"
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:
Photo Music and iTunes Playlist Link::
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/photo-music/pl.u-Eg8qefpy8Xz
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消えた境界線から生まれたもの ～ 去ってゆく川村記念美術館を振り返って ～
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54020588671/in/dateposted...
What Emerged from the Vanishing Boundaries~ Reflecting on the Departing Kawamura Memorial Museum ~
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54020588671/in/dateposted...
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8mm film of our honeymoon resurrected after decades.
youtu.be/zH-dG7bMeL4?si=yLF5_f1m-LhAVdPp
We found the 8mm film of our honeymoon for the first time in decades, and burned it onto a DVD.
On June 6, 1993, we got married, and headed straight to Nassau, Bahamas, via New York.
Our destination was the pink sand beach where the late Princess Diana went on her honeymoon.
If you're heading to the Bahamas, this might be a good reference.
The hotel we stayed at was the Ramada Hotel, which no longer exists.
My wife is showing us the hotel room.
But now you can see the beautiful scenery in real time.
When I played the DVD that arrived, it showed footage of our arrival in the Bahamas.
Please take a look if you'd like.
This time, we asked Fujifilm to make the DVD.
I'll post the link below.
Digitize videos and photos and convert them to DVDs | Fujifilm
fujifilmmall.jp/conversion/?_gl=1*1smvac9*_gcl_au*NTA1NDU....
#Bahamas #Nassau #PinkSandBeach #Honeymoon #1993
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Important Notices.
I have relaxed the following conditions.
I will distribute my T-shirt to the world for free.
m.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/50656401427/in/dateposted-p...
m.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/50613367691/in/dateposted-p...
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Exhibition in 2025
Theme
The Nightfly
Images
Donald Fagen … I.G.Y.
youtu.be/Ueivjr3f8xg?si=xmqGPQjyIKoTs4Q5
Live.
youtu.be/Di0_KYtmVKI?si=CLFpU2n0gXahqLPB
Mitsushiro - Nakagawa
Organizer
Design Festa
Location
Tokyo Big Sight
Date
Autumn 2025.
exhibition.mitsushiro.nakagawa@gmail.com
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Notice regarding "Lot No.402_”.
From now on I will host "Lot No.402_".
The work of Leonardo da Vinci who was sleeping.
That is the number when it was put up for auction.
No sign was written on the work.
So this work couldn't conclude that it was his work.
However # as a result of various appraisals # it was exposed to the sun.
A work that no one notices. A work that speaks quietly without a title.
I will continue to strive to provide it to many people in various ways.
October 24 2020 by Mitsushiro - Nakagawa.
Mitsushiro Nakagawa belong to Lot No. 402 _.Copyright©︎2025 Lot No.402_ All rights reserved.
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Profile.
In November 2014 # we caught the attention of the party selected to undertake the publicity for a mobile phone that changed the face of the world with just a single model # and will conclude a confidentiality agreement with them.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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Here’s a translated version with a style suitable for a news site introduction:
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### **Interview and Novel: My Work**
I published a book in the past.
At that time, I uploaded my interview as a PDF online, both in Japanese and English.
Now, I am making it available for free.
More details can be found on Amazon.
**Writing a Novel.**
**Photography Techniques.**
**The Sense of Distance Between the Creator and the Work.**
These all share a common theme.
I put into words the things I felt and left them behind as a record.
I hope my text reaches many readers.
Thank you.
**Mitsushiro**
🔗 **[Access the Files Here](drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...)**
### **Contents**
📄 **1. Interview (English Version)**
📖 **2. Novel: *Unforgettable* (English Version)**
📄 **3. Interview (Japanese Version)**
📖 **4. Novel: *Unforgettable* (Japanese Version)**
*(This novel is dedicated to future artists.)*
*(456 pages in Japanese manuscript format.)*
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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### **Synopsis**
Kei Kitami, a student preparing for university entrance exams, meets Kaori Kamimura, an event companion six years his senior, through social media.
Kaori has come to Tokyo with a dream—to befriend famous artists.
To achieve this, she needs the influence of Ryo Osawa, a well-known radio producer.
During a live radio broadcast, Osawa speaks directly to Kaori:
*"I have a wife and child. But still, I want to see you."*
Meanwhile, Rika Sanjo, Kei’s classmate who secretly harbors feelings for him, is closely watching Kaori’s every move...
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Main story
There are two reasons why a person faces the sea.
One to enjoy a slice of shine in the sea like children bubbling over in the beach.
The other to brush the dust of memory like an old man who misses old days staring at the shine
quietly.
Those lead to only one meaning though they do not seem to overlap. It’s a rebirth.
I face myself to change tomorrow a vague day into something certain.
That is the meaning of a rebirth.
I had a very sweet girlfriend when I was 18.
After she left I knew the meaning of gentleness for the first time and also a true pain of loss. After
she left # how many times did I depend too much on her # doubt her # envy her and keep on telling lies
until I realized it is love?
I wonder whether a nobody like me could have given something to her who was struggling in the
daily life in those days. Giving something is arrogant conceit. It is nothing but self-satisfaction.
I had been thinking about such a thing.
However I guess what she saw in me was because I had nothing. That‘s why she tried to see
something in me. Perhaps she found a slight possibility in me # a guy filled with ambiguous unstable
tomorrow. But I wasted days depending too much on her gentleness.
Now I finally can convey how I felt in those days when we met.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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iBooks. Electronic Publishing. It is free now.
0.about the iBooks.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
1.unforgettable '(ENG.ver.)(This book is Dedicated to the future artist.)
itunes.apple.com/us/book/unforgettable/id1216576828?ls=1&...
2.unforgettable '(JNP.ver.)(This book is Dedicated to the future artist.)
itunes.apple.com/us/book/unforgettable/id1216584262?ls=1&...
3. Streamlined trajectory.(For Japanese only.)
itunes.apple.com/us/book/%E6%B5%81%E7%B7%9A%E5%BD%A2%E3%8... =11
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My Novel : Unforgettable'
(This book is Dedicated to the future artist.)
Kei Kitami, a student preparing for university entrance exams, meets Kaori Kamimura, an event companion six years his senior, through social media.
Kaori has come to Tokyo with a dream—to befriend famous artists.
To achieve this, she needs the influence of Ryo Osawa, a well-known radio producer.
During a live radio broadcast, Osawa speaks directly to Kaori:
*"I have a wife and child. But still, I want to see you."*
Meanwhile, Rika Sanjo, Kei’s classmate who secretly harbors feelings for him, is closely watching Kaori’s every move...
Mitsushiro Nakagawa
All Translated by Yumi Ikeda .
images.
U2 - No Line On The Horizon Live in Dublin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKwnkYFsiE&feature=related
Main story
There are two reasons why a person faces the sea.
One to enjoy a slice of shine in the sea like children bubbling over in the beach.
The other to brush the dust of memory like an old man who misses old days staring at the shine
quietly.
Those lead to only one meaning though they do not seem to overlap. It’s a rebirth.
I face myself to change tomorrow a vague day into something certain.
That is the meaning of a rebirth.
I had a very sweet girlfriend when I was 18.
After she left I knew the meaning of gentleness for the first time and also a true pain of loss. After
she left # how many times did I depend too much on her # doubt her # envy her and keep on telling lies
until I realized it is love?
I wonder whether a nobody like me could have given something to her who was struggling in the
daily life in those days. Giving something is arrogant conceit. It is nothing but self-satisfaction.
I had been thinking about such a thing.
However I guess what she saw in me was because I had nothing. That‘s why she tried to see
something in me. Perhaps she found a slight possibility in me # a guy filled with ambiguous unstable
tomorrow. But I wasted days depending too much on her gentleness.
Now I finally can convey how I felt in those days when we met.
1/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24577016535/in/dateposted...
2/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24209330259/in/dateposted...
3/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/23975215274/in/dateposted...
4/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24515964952/in/dateposted...
5/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24276473749/in/dateposted...
6/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24548895082/in/dateposted...
7/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24594603711/in/dateposted...
8/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24588215562/in/dateposted...
9/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24100804163/in/dateposted...
Fin.
images.
U2 - No Line On The Horizon
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKwnkYFsiE&feature=related
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Title of my book : unforgettable'
Author : Mitsushiro Nakagawa
Out Now.
ISBN978-4-86264-866-2
in Amazon.
Unforgettable’ amzn.asia/d/eG1wNc5
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The schedule of the next novel.
Still would stand all time. (Unforgettable '2)
(It will not go away forever)
Please give me some more time. That is Japanese.
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My Works.
1 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48072442376/in/dateposted...
2 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48078949821/in/dateposted...
3 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48085863356/in/dateposted...
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Do you want to hear my voice?
:)
1
About the composition of the picture posted to Flicker. First type.
2
About the composition of the picture posted to Flicker. Second type.
3
About when I started Fotolog. Architect 's point of view.
4
Why did not you have a camera so far?
5
What is the coolest thing? The photo is as it is.
6
About the current YouTube bar. I also want to tell # I want to leave.
7
About Japanese photographers. Japanese YouTube bar is Pistols.
8
The composition of the photograph is sensibility. Meet the designers in Milan. Two questions.
9
What is a good composition? What is a bad composition?
10
What is the time to point the camera? It is slow if you are looking into the viewfinder or display.
11
Family photos. I can not take pictures with others. The inside of the subject.
12
About YouTube 's photographer. Camera technology etc. Sensibility is polished by reading books.
13
About the Japanese newspaper. A picture of a good newspaper is Reuters. If you continue to look at useless photographs # it will be useless.
14
About Japanese photographers. About the exhibition.
Summary. I wrote a novel etc. What I want to tell the most.
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I talked about how to make a work.
About work production 1/2
About work production 2/2
1 Photo exhibition up to that point. Did you want to go?
2 Well # what is an exhibition that you want to visit even if you go there?
3 Challenge to exhibit one work every month before opening a solo exhibition at the Harajuku Design Festa.
4 works are materials and silhouettes. Similar to fashion.
5 Who is your favorite artist? What is it? Make it clear.
6 Creating a collage is exactly the same as taking photos. As I wrote in the interview # it is the same as writing a novel.
7 I want to show it to someone # but I do not make a piece to show it. Aim for the work you want to decorate your own room as in the photo.
8 What is copycat? Nowadays # it is suspected to be beaten. There is something called Mimesis?
kotobank.jp/word/Mimesis-139464
9 What is Individuality? What is originality?
www.youtube.com/user/mitsushiro/
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Explanation of composition. 2
1.Composition explanation 2 ... 1/4
2.Composition explanation 2 ... 2/4
3.Composition Explanation 2 ... 3/4
4.Composition Explanation 2 ... 4/4
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My shutter feeling.
Today's photo.
It is a photo taken from Eurostar.
This video is an explanation.
I went to Milan in 2005.
At that time # I went from Milan to Venice.
We took Eurostar into the transportation.
This photo was not taken from a very fast Eurostar.
When I changed the track # I took a picture at the moment I slowed down.
Is there a Japanese beside you?
Please have my video translated.
:)
In the Eurostar to Venice . 2005. shot ... 1 / 2
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/49127115021/in/dateposted...
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Miles Davis sheet 1955-1976.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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flickr.
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/
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instagram.
www.instagram.com/mitsushiro_nakagawa/
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Pinterest.
www.pinterest.jp/MitsushiroNakagawa/
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YouPic
youpic.com/photographer/mitsushironakagawa/
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twitter.
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facebook.
www.facebook.com/mitsushiro.nakagawa
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threads.
www.threads.net/@mitsushiro_nakagawa
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Blue sky.
bsky.app/profile/mitsushironakagawa.bsky.social
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Amazon.
www.amazon.co.jp/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHSKI3YMYPYE5UE...
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My statistics (as of December 15, 2024)
How many views have you had on Flickr and Youpic
Flickr 24,260,172 Views
Youpic 7,957,826 Views
x.com/mitsushiro/status/1868185157909582014
My statistics (as of August 1, 2024)
How many views have I had on Flickr and Youpic
Flickr 23,192,383 Views
Youpic 7,574,603 Views
My statistics. (As of February 7, 2024)
What is the number of accesses to Flickr and YouPic
Flickr 21,694,434 Views
Youpic 7,003,230 Views
What is the number of accesses to Flickr and YouPic?
(As of November 13, 2023)
Flickr 20,852,872 View
Youpic 6,671,486 View
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Japanese is the following.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
Title of my book unforgettable' Mitsushiro Nakagawa Out Now. ISBN978-4-86264-866-2
Mitsushiro Nakagawa belong to Lot No. 204 _ . Copyright©︎2024 Lot No.402_ All rights reserved.
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Title.
駅のレストランの隅。
( LUMIX G3 shot )
ロンドン。イギリス。2015. … 1 / 7
(今日の写真。それは未発表です。）
Images.
Rory - WHO ARE YOU ANYWAY? (ft. Leon Thomas)
youtu.be/KZ4EWHaxE5w?si=sLBst-GSgWzAvESz
::写真の音楽とiTunesプレイリストをリンク::
music.apple.com/jp/playlist/photo-music/pl.u-Eg8qefpy8Xz
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重要なお知らせ。
僕は以下の条件を緩和します。
僕はTシャツを無料で世界中へ配布します。
m.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/50656401427/in/dateposted-p...
m.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/50613367691/in/dateposted-p...
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２０２5年の展示
テーマ
The Nightfly
Images
Donald Fagen … I.G.Y.
youtu.be/Ueivjr3f8xg?si=xmqGPQjyIKoTs4Q5
Live.
youtu.be/Di0_KYtmVKI?si=CLFpU2n0gXahqLPB
Mitsushiro - Nakagawa
主催
デザインフェスタ
場所
東京ビッグサイト
日程
2025年 秋。
exhibition.mitsushiro.nakagawa@gmail.com
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タイトル
“” A.I. アップルのアイデンティティについて””
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/54271473379/in/dateposted...
マークザッカーバーグ氏の批判に、アップルは耳を傾けるだろうか。
僕にはそう思えない。アップルヴィジョンプロに夢を見せられた僕には。
メタのマークザッカーバーグ氏は、有名なポッドキャストに出演し、アップルはアイフォン以来革新的な製品を発売せず、売り上げも落ちていると批判したようだ。
アップル発祥のポッドキャストに現れ、アップルを批判すると言うのは軽いジョークに思えるが、真剣に訴えたんだろうと僕は思う。
なぜなら、今の彼はARグラスという武器を手にしているからだ。
おそらく、さまざまな関係機関や優秀なスタッフが彼を支え、それなりの目標を達成したんだろうが、パワーブック５４０cから使い続けてきた僕のような古いアップルファンからしてみれば、まだ物作りのアイデンティを彼からはまったく感じない。
これは他の、現在世界を制覇しているIT企業らも含む。
メタ、アマゾン、テスラ。マイクロソフト。グーグル。
社名が並ぶだけで、このテキストを読まれている方は名前と顔をすでに浮かべているはずだ。
僕は以前、スティーブ・ジョブズはアーティストではないと書いた。
彼は、現世界に散らばったイメージを紡ぎ合わせ、それを膨らます。そして未来へリンクさせる。それが得意だっただけだ。
実際に創作していたのはジョナサンアイブだ。少数ながらも僕のような意見を持っている方もいるだろう。
しかし、先述したIT関連の面々が、トランプ氏に再び権力が戻るとなった途端に会社の方針を覆す様子を見ていると、僕は一言、どうしても意見したいのだ。
彼らが作ったARグラスや車などには、肝心な観念が欠けている。思想という重い言葉や、軽めのアイデンティティと言い換えてもいい。
確かに、ティムクック氏やアップルの現在のスタッフらは、発売前の商品に関して口を滑らせることが多くなった。
僕は、以前から書いているように音楽が大好きだ。
外界を断ち、アーティストらがスタジオにこもって、怒りや憎しみ、喜びや悲しみを一心不乱になって一音に吹き込む。何かを託すと言ってもいい。
そして、完成したアルバムを発表し、どんな思いを込めて制作したのかを語る。（僕が好きなプリンスはほとんど語らなかったので、完成された作品を理解する必要があった）
アルバムが完成し、発表するまで、彼らはひとことも語らない。
僕の胸を震わせたのは、そんなアーティストらだった。
僕の中に淡く灯っているアップルの革新性は、いまでも消えていない。
それは昨年、大失敗だと批判されたアップルヴィジョンプロでさえも消すことはできない。むしろ、アイフォン以上の強烈な光を放っている。
ただの斬新な電化製品ではなく、細かな電気部品の向こうに観念や思想を感じるからだ。
残念ながら、メタのARグラスやテスラの車に、僕がその観念や思想を感じることは今後もないだろう。
長々と書いてきたが、結論は以下の記事だ。
1.5億円超をAppleのティム・クックCEOがトランプの大統領就任式に寄付
gigazine.net/news/20250104-apple-ceo-tim-cook-donates-1-m...
一読すると、ティムクック氏も他のIT会社同様、魂を売ったのかと思われるがそうではない。
ティムクック氏は個人的にトランプ氏へ献金をするが、アップル社だけは他社と同じようには献金していない。
アップルは、トランプ氏になびかなかったのだ。
アップル社の観念や思想とは、具体的に何かと訊かれたら、僕はこう答える。
アップルとは、自分自身を信じる人間が集まっているグループだ。
たぶん、天国のスティーブ・ジョブズは、僕がクソ真面目に書いたテキストを、鼻で笑っていることだろう。
トランプ氏に媚びない会社。
それがAppleさ。:)
１月１５日
嬉しい記事を読んだ後で。
Mitsushiro Nakagawa.
追記。
修正しました。
修正前 アップルのポッドキャストに現れ、
修正後 アップル発祥のポッドキャストに現れ、
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新婚旅行の8mmフィルムを数十年ぶりに復活😃
youtu.be/zH-dG7bMeL4?si=yLF5_f1m-LhAVdPp
新婚旅行の8mmフィルムが数十年ぶりに出てきて、DVDに焼きました。
１９９３年６月６日、僕らは結婚し、そのままニューヨークを経由して、バハマのナッソーへ向かいました。
目的地は、亡くなられたダイアナ妃が新婚旅行へ向かったピンクサンドビーチです。
もしもこれからバハマへ向かうならば、参考に見てもよいかもしれません。
泊まったホテルは、今はもうないラマダホテル。
妻がホテルの部屋を紹介しています。
でも、今はリアルタイムで美しい景色が見られますね。
届いたDVDを再生したら、バハマに到着したところからの映像でした。
もしもよかったら見てください。
今回、DVD化を依頼した場所は、富士フィルムさんです。
下にリンクを貼っておきます。
ビデオや写真をデータ化しDVDに変換 | 富士フイルム
fujifilmmall.jp/conversion/?_gl=1*1smvac9*_gcl_au*NTA1NDU....
#バハマ #ナッソー #ピンクサンドビーチ #新婚旅行 #1993
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” Lot No.402_ ” に関するお知らせ。
今後、僕は、” Lot No.402_ ”を主催します。
このロットナンバーは、眠っていたレオナルドダヴィンチの作品がオークションにかけらた際に付されたものです。
作品にはサインなどがいっさい記されていなかったため、彼の作品だと断定できませんでした。
しかし、様々な鑑定の結果、陽の光を浴びました。
誰にも気づかれない作品。肩書がなくとも静かに語りかける作品。
僕はこれから様々な形で、多くの皆様に提供できるよう努めてゆきます。
2020年10月24日 by Mitsushiro - Nakagawa.
Copyright©︎2021 Lot No.402_ All rights reserved.
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プロフィール
2014年11月、たった1機種で世界を塗り替えた携帯電話の広告を請け負った選考者の目に留まり、秘密保持同意書を結ぶ。
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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インタビューと小説。
僕の本について。
僕は、昔に本を出版しました。
その際に、僕のインタビューをPDFでネット上へアップロードしていました。
その日本語と英語。
僕は、無料でを公開します。
詳細は、アマゾンのサイトへ解説しました。
小説の書き方。
写真の撮影方法。
作品への距離感。
これらはすべて共通項があります。
僕は、僕が感じたことを文章にして、残しました。
僕のテキストが多くの人に読んでもらえることを望みます。
ありがとう。
Mitsushiro.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
１ インタビュー 英語版
２ 小説。unforgettable’ 英語版。
３ インタビュー 日本語版
４ 小説。unforgettable’ 日本語版。(この小説は未来のアーティストへ捧げます)
(四百字詰め原稿用紙４５６枚)
あらすじ
大学を目指している北見ケイは、SNS上で、6歳年上のイベントコンパニオン、上村香織に出会う。
上京してきた香織の夢は、有名なアーティストの友達になるためだ。
そのためにはラジオ局のプロデューサー、大沢亮の存在が必要だった。
大沢は、ラジオの生放送中、香織へ語りかける。
「僕には妻子がある。しかし、僕は君に会いたいと思っている」
ケイの同級生で、彼を想っている三條里香は、香織の動向を探っていた。。。。。
本編
人が海へ向かう理由には、二つある。
ひとつは、波打ち際ではしゃぐ子供のように、今の瞬間の海の輝きを楽しむこと。
もうひとつは、その輝きを静かに見据えて、過ぎ去った日々を懐かしむ老人のように記憶の埃を払うこと。
二つは重なり合わないようではあるけれども、たったひとつの意味しか生まない。
再生だ。
明日っていう、曖昧な日を確実なものへと変えてゆくために、自分の存在に向き合う。
それが再生の意味だ。
十八歳だった僕には大切な人がいた。
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
５ 流線形の軌跡。 日本語のみ。
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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iBooks.電子出版。（現在は無料）
0.about the iBooks.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
1.unforgettable’ ( ENG.ver.)(This book is Dedicated to the future artist.)
itunes.apple.com/us/book/unforgettable/id1216576828?ls=1&...
2.unforgettable’ ( JNP.ver.)(この小説は未来のアーティストへ捧げます)
itunes.apple.com/us/book/unforgettable/id1216584262?ls=1&...
3.流線形の軌跡。
itunes.apple.com/us/book/%E6%B5%81%E7%B7%9A%E5%BD%A2%E3%8...
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僕の小説。英語版
My Novel Unforgettable' (This book is Dedicated to the future artist.)
Mitsushiro Nakagawa
All Translated by Yumi Ikeda .
1/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24577016535/in/dateposted...
2/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24209330259/in/dateposted...
3/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/23975215274/in/dateposted...
4/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24515964952/in/dateposted...
5/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24276473749/in/dateposted...
6/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24548895082/in/dateposted...
7/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24594603711/in/dateposted...
8/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24588215562/in/dateposted...
9/9
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/24100804163/in/dateposted...
Fin.
images.
U2 - No Line On The Horizon Live in Dublin
www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKwnkYFsiE&feature=related
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Title of my book : unforgettable'
Author : Mitsushiro Nakagawa
Out Now.
ISBN978-4-86264-866-2
in Amazon.
Unforgettable’ amzn.asia/d/eG1wNc5
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僕の作品。
1 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48072442376/in/dateposted...
2 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48078949821/in/dateposted...
3 www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/48085863356/in/dateposted...
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あなたは僕の声を聞きたいですか？
:)
1
フリッカーへ投稿した写真の構図について。１種類目。
2
フリッカーへ投稿した写真の構図について。２種類目。
3
Fotologを始めた時について。 建築家の視点。
4
なぜ、今までカメラを手にしなかったのか？
5
何が一番かっこいいのか？ 写真はありのままに。
6
現在のユーチューバーについて。僕も伝え、残したい。
7
日本人の写真家について。日本のユーチューバーはピストルズ。
8
写真の構図は、感性。ミラノのデザイナーに会って。二つの質問。
9
良い構図とは？ 悪い構図とは？
10
カメラを向ける時とは？ ファインダーやディスプレイを覗いていては遅い。
11
家族写真。他人では撮れない。被写体の内面。
12
ユーチューブの写真家について。カメラの技術等。感性は、本を読むことで磨く。
13
日本の新聞について。良い新聞の写真はロイター。ダメな写真を見続けるとダメになる。
14
日本の写真家について。その展示について。
まとめ。僕が書いた小説など。僕が最も伝えたいこと。
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作品制作について 1/2
作品制作について 2/2
１ それまでの写真展。自分は行きたいと思ったか？
２ じゃ、自分が足を運んででも行きたい展示とは何か？
３ 原宿デザインフェスタで個展を開くまでに、毎月ひとつの作品を展示することにチャレンジ。
４ 作品とは、素材とシルエット。ファッションと似ている。
５ 自分が好きなアーティストは誰か？ どんなものなのか？ そこをはっきりさせる。
６ コラージュの作成も写真の撮り方と全く同じ。インタビューに書いたように小説の書き方とも同じ。
７ 誰かに見せたい、見せるがために作品は作らない。写真と同じように自分の部屋に飾りたい作品を目指す。
８ パクリとは何か？ 昨今、叩かれるパクリ疑惑。ミメーシスとは？
https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/ミメーシス
https://kotobank.jp/word/ミメーシス-139464
９ 個性とはなにか？ オリジナリティってなに？
おまけ 眞子さまについて
という流れです。
お時間がある方は是非聴いてください。
:)
www.youtube.com/user/mitsushiro/
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構図の解説２
1.構図の解説２ ... 1/4
2.構図の解説２ ... 2/4
3.構図の解説２ ... 3/4
4.構図の解説２ ... 4/4
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僕のシャッター感覚
In the Eurostar to Venice . 2005. shot ... 1 / 2
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/49127115021/in/dateposted...
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Miles Davis sheet 1955-1976.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
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flickr.
www.flickr.com/photos/stealaway/
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YouTube.
www.youtube.com/user/mitsushiro/
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instagram.
www.instagram.com/mitsushiro_nakagawa/
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Pinterest.
www.pinterest.jp/MitsushiroNakagawa/
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YouPic
youpic.com/photographer/mitsushironakagawa/
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fotolog
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twitter.
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facebook.
www.facebook.com/mitsushiro.nakagawa
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threads.
www.threads.net/@mitsushiro_nakagawa
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Blue sky.
bsky.app/profile/mitsushironakagawa.bsky.social
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Amazon.
www.amazon.co.jp/gp/profile/amzn1.account.AHSKI3YMYPYE5UE...
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僕の統計。（2024年12月15日現在）
フリッカー、ユーピクのアクセス数は？
Flickr 24,260,172 View
Youpic 7,957,826 View
x.com/mitsushiro/status/1868185157909582014
僕の統計。（2024年8月1日現在）
フリッカー、ユーピクのアクセス数は？
Flickr 23,192,383 View
Youpic 7,574,603 View
僕の統計。（2024年2月7日現在）
フリッカー、ユーピクのアクセス数は？
Flickr 21,694,434 View
Youpic 7,003,230 View
僕の統計。（2023年11月13日現在）
フリッカー、ユーピクのアクセス数は？
Flickr 20,852,872 View
Youpic 6,671,486 View
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Japanese is the following.
drive.google.com/drive/folders/1vBRMWGk29EmsoBV2o9NM1LIVi...
Title of my book unforgettable' Mitsushiro Nakagawa Out Now. ISBN978-4-86264-866-2
Mitsushiro Nakagawa belong to Lot no.204_ . Copyright©︎2020 Lot no.204_ All rights reserved.
_________________________________
_________________________________
” Lot No.402_ ” に関するお知らせ。
今後、僕は、” Lot No.402_ ”を主催します。
このロットナンバーは、眠っていたレオナルドダヴィンチの作品がオークションにかけらた際に付されたものです。
作品にはサインなどがいっさい記されていなかったため、彼の作品だと断定できませんでした。
しかし、様々な鑑定の結果、陽の光を浴びました。
誰にも気づかれない作品。肩書がなくとも静かに語りかける作品。
僕はこれから様々な形で、多くの皆様に提供できるよう努めてゆきます。
2020年10月24日 by Mitsushiro - Nakagawa.
Copyright©︎2024 Lot No.402_ All rights reserved.
_________________________________
_________________________________
between ciboule and ciboulette (ciboule is spring onion and ciboulette is chives). Thursday market on bvd de Grancy. The market opened at 5pm, just as it started to rain.
Was trying to look beyond what was in the central image, so decided to look more at the shadows and reflections rather than a subject in and of itself. I really like the wide angle Tri-Elmar since it gives my kind of view, as well as the Summilux since they're both very sharp lenses and do well with B&W contrast. I made an (initial) mistake of using too warm of water for my usual semi-stand development, so on the fly changed to half the time and stand-only development. Was lucky that I was able to get reasonable images at all (and might try this again in the future). Thanks to those fellow flickeranians who continue to show their images and inspire the rest of us!
OK, here is the only deal I can think of. I normally have five shades of hair, mostly brunette, with some blonde, some auburn, some silver and some white. I have never died my hair since way back in the last millennium; so they are all natural. Most of my selfies reflect those 5 shades pretty well, some of them even within the last two weeks or month. So, I was trying to figure out why so much silver and white so suddenly. I never saw such a thing. I think what happened is most of the silver or white is toward the front, and I usually take a selfie indoors. This one, I don't remember why, but I know I was outdoors. I think the lighter colors toward my front, are thinner and perhaps lighter weight than the rest, and an outdoor breeze blew them more easily than the rest. Up until this day, I have yet to have my hair color look this way.
Whatch'all think?
For Dave C., I think the *soul* is trying to explain my weird hair phenomenon. It looks as if I aged a decade in two weeks. Oh, and part and parcel of any good soul, is being able to laugh at oneself.
;o)
"20200508_150843MEwhitehairsomeTUresamflickr052620"
So before explaining the photo - a couple of cool things from recent times on my website.
The results of the International Photography Awards are out and I picked up three honourable mentions - more here
And I was recently invited to take part in the European Photography Google Plus Hangout which you can watch here - it's about black and white photography. (BTW it was my first G+ hangout, was only a bit nervous!).
So, I've not had much chance to get out recently but with the dark nights drawing in and the weather getting changeable I was keen to get out. Rather than head to the beach as I normally do I thought I'd head inland - something I'm keen to do a bit more of.
My website | G+ | 500px | Twitter
There are satellite's everywhere in the sky these days but this had me scratching my head.
If you count each separate light trails there appears to be 7 satellite's, possibly 8, from the start of the exposure to the end of the exposure, travelling relatively close to each other from my point of view.
I can't recall seeing this ever before
This is a 90 second shot at ISO 400 with 35mm lens at 04.44 am 10/02/2025
Olivia explains that this is the claw that kills the prey. A wonderful visit to Feathers and Fur where we learned so much about these amazing animals and were able to watch them at close quarters. A very memorable morning. Something I can recommend highly!
so time to explain lmao
y'all know that doll with the bad hair and the cracked ass blue eyeliner and scratched up eyes that was okay for like the start of 2014 then people got annoyed at?!?!?!?
im still using ha lollll
But more importantly, what this is:
I'm a music producer. I will use some instrumentals from the internet when I really cba, but 99% of the time I spend hours creating instrumentals and music with a variety of different music software. I have made over 150 songs so far for "DJ Dani Creamz (an artist in which I created when I was trying to hard and wanted to be cool lol)" but they're all on my laptop which the hard drive has failed on so pray for me y'all
but one album that I had saved onto a memory stick before my laptop crashed was "Mλgicλl". A bunch of music I created with a "fairy tale" kinda vibe. For those who had no idea about this, this is actually Dani's 9th album. You can find links to all her others on her website, which will be below lol.
But I just wanted to say that since my music is like 99% my own, I am able to get it distributed to several online music stores, including Amazon, iTunes and Spotify! This album, Mλgicλl, is available on August 14th on those 3 platforms, in the USA, UK and New Zealand. The iTunes Pre-Order link is below but it has yet to appear on Amazon or Spotify. The price is the lowest possible (for more than a single) because I know this isn't going to do anything. I'm not trying to make a profit from this, I'm doing it because I like it. I wanted to actually put it up for free but that's not an option, so I selected cheapest. If I can get the rest of the music off of my old hard drive, I will, but as of now, I have 1 other instrumental EP out for Distribution on the first friday of september, available worldwide on even more stores including Apple Music. I hope you guys like the music, and maybe support me? Thank you & i'll post any updates here from now on! Links:
DANI'S WEBSITE: djdanicreamz.webstarts.com/
DANI'S FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/pages/DJ-Dani-Creamz/1501549023399528
DANI'S SOUNDCLOUD: soundcloud.com/dj-dani-creamz-official
DANI'S OTHER MUSIC: djdanicreamz.webstarts.com/gallery.html
Mλgicλl iTunes PRE - ORDER: itunes.apple.com/gb/album/mlgicll/id1016885018
AVAILABLE AUGUST 14TH ON AMAZON, SPOTIFY AND iTUNES.
the macro mondays group’s theme for this week, 2/24, is sweet and/or savory and i think i have 3 possibilities :) ........... in new england we have a little quirk. if you want chocolate sprinkles, you ask for jimmies. no, i'm not sure who jimmy was-- maybe i should research that later after i dither and then choose.
Cavendish Mews is a smart set of flats in Mayfair where flapper and modern woman, the Honourable Lettice Chetwynd has set up home after coming of age and gaining her allowance. To supplement her already generous allowance, and to break away from dependence upon her family, Lettice has established herself as a society interior designer, so her flat is decorated with a mixture of elegant antique Georgian pieces and modern Art Deco furnishings, using it as a showroom for what she can offer to her well heeled clients.
Today however we are at Glynes, the grand Georgian family seat of the Chetwynds in Wiltshire, and the home of Lettice’s parents, the presiding Viscount and Countess of Wrexham and the heir, their eldest son Leslie and his wife Arabella. Lettice is staying at her old family home for the festive season as she usually does between Christmas and Twelfth Night*. However, this year she had an extra reason for being with her family this Christmas.
For nearly a year Lettice had been patiently awaiting the return of her then beau, Selwyn Spencely, son of the Duke of Walmsford, after being sent to Durban by his mother, Lady Zinnia in an effort to destroy their relationship which she wanted to end so that she could marry Selwyn off to his cousin, Pamela Fox-Chavers. Having been made aware by Lady Zinnia in October that during the course of the year, whilst Lettice had been biding her time, waiting for Selwyn’s eventual return, he had become engaged to the daughter of a Kenyan diamond mine owner whilst in Durban. Fleeing Lady Zinnia’s Park Lane mansion, Lettice returned to Cavendish Mews and milled over her options over a week as she reeled from the news. Then, after that week, she knew exactly what to do to resolve the issues raised by Lady Zinnia’s unwelcome news about her son. Taking extra care in her dress, she took herself off to the neighbouring upper-class London suburb of Belgravia and paid a call upon Sir John Nettleford-Hughes.
Old enough to be her father, wealthy Sir John is still a bachelor, and according to London society gossip intends to remain so, so that he might continue to enjoy his dalliances with a string of pretty chorus girls of Lettice’s age and younger. As an eligible man in a aftermath of the Great War when such men are a rare commodity, with a vast family estate in Bedfordshire, houses in Mayfair, Belgravia and Pimlico and Fontengil Park in Wiltshire, quite close to the Glynes estate belonging to her parents, Lettice’s mother, Lady Sadie, invited him as a potential suitor to her 1922 Hunt Ball, which she used as a marriage market for Lettice. Selwyn rescued Lettice from the horror of having to entertain him, and Sir John left the ball early in a disgruntled mood with a much younger partygoer. Lettice recently reacquainted herself with Sir John at an amusing Friday to Monday long weekend party held by Sir John and Lady Gladys Caxton at their Scottish country estate, Gossington, a baronial Art and Crafts castle near the hamlet of Kershopefoot in Cumberland. To her surprise, Lettice found Sir John’s company rather enjoyable. She then ran into him again at the Portland Gallery’s autumn show where she found him yet again to be a pleasant and attentive companion for much of the evening.
Sir John also made a proposition to her that night: he offered her his hand in marriage should she ever need it. More like a business arrangement than a marriage proposal, Sir John offered Lettice the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of his large fortune, be chatelain of all his estates and continue to have her interior design business, under the conditions that she agree to provide him with an heir, and that he be allowed to discreetly carry on his affairs in spite of their marriage vows. He even suggested that Lettice might be afforded the opportunity to have her own extra marital liaisons if she were discreet about them. Turning up unannounced on his doorstep, she agreed to his proposal after explaining that the understanding between she and Selwyn was concluded. However, in an effort to be discreet, at Lettice’s insistence, they did not make their engagement public until the new year: after the dust about Selwyn’s break of his and Lettice’s engagement settled. Sir John motored across from Fontengil Park in the days following New Year and he and Lettice announced their engagement in the palatial Glynes drawing room before the Viscount and Lady Sadie the Countess, Leslie, Arabella and the Viscount’s sister Eglantyne (known by all the Chetwynd children affectionally as Aunt Egg). The announcement received somewhat awkwardly by the Viscount initially, until Lettice assured him that her choice to marry Sir John has nothing to do with undue influence, mistaken motivations, but perhaps the person most put out by the news is Aunt Egg who is not a great believer in the institution of marriage, and feels Lettice was perfectly fine as a modern unmarried woman. Lady Sadie, who Lettice thought would be thrilled by the announcement of her engagement, received the news with a somewhat muted response and she discreetly slipped away after drinking a toast to the newly engaged couple with a glass of fine champagne from the Glynes wine cellar.
We now find ourselves in the Glynes morning room where after noticing her prolonged absence, the Viscount has discovered his wife sitting quietly alone.
The Glynes morning room is very much Lady Sadie’s preserve, and the original classical Eighteenth Century design has been overlayed with the comfortable Edwardian clutter of her continual and conspicuous acquisition that is the hallmark of a lady of her age and social standing. China cabinets of beautiful porcelain line the walls. Clusters of mismatched chairs unholstered in cream fabric, tables and a floral chaise lounge, all from different eras, fill the room: set up to allow for the convivial conversation of the great and good of the county after church on a Sunday. The hand painted Georgian wallpaper can barely be seen for paintings and photographs in ornate gilded frames. The marble mantelpiece is covered by Royal Doulton figurines and more photos in silver frames. Several vases of Glynes’ hothouse flowers stand on occasional tables, but even their fragrance cannot smother Lady Sadie’s Yardley Lily of the Valley scent which is ever present in the air.
“I say! What are you doing in here, old girl?” the Viscount asks as she sees his wife sitting at her bonheur de jour** in the corner of the morning room. “The rest of the family is still in the drawing room, including Lally and Charles, who have returned from their visit to Bowood.***”
“I’m well aware of that, Cosmo. I heard them come back.” Lady Sadie says peevishly. “And less of the old, if you don’t mind.”
“Sorry Sadie.” the Viscount apologises. “It’s having all the young ones around and their new vernacular. It’s ‘old boy this’ and ‘old girl that’. It’s catching.”
“That’s alright, Cosmo, so long as it doesn’t catch on, here.” Lady Sadie replies with a cocked eyebrow.
“We were wondering where you’d gotten to.” the Viscount says. “I’ve opened another bottle of champagne.”
“Have you, dear?” Lady Sadie remarks absently.
“Of course I have, Sadie!” the Viscount chortles. “After all, it isn’t every day that our youngest daughter gets married.”
“I suppose not, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie replies rather laconically.
The Viscount watches his wife as she picks up a studio photograph taken in London by Bassano**** of their eldest daughter, Lally as a gangly young teenager, and Lettice as a girl of seven, both dressed in the pre-war uniform fashion of young girls: white lawn dresses with their hair tied in large satin bows. She sighs.
“Sir John is suggesting that we all motor over to Fontengil Park for luncheon, now that Lally and Charles are back.” the Viscount remarks awkwardly in an effort to break his wife’s unusual silence. “To celebrate the good news as it were. I thought it was rather a capital idea! Don’t you agree, Sadie?”
Lady Sadie doesn’t reply, instead staring deeply at the faces of her two daughters forever captured within Mr. Basanno’s lens, her look expectant, as if she were waiting for them to speak.
“You know, I must confess, I wasn’t too keen on him to begin with, nor the idea of he and Lettice marrying.” He looks guiltily at his wife. “I never really liked him, and always thought him a bit of an old lecher, sniffing around young women half his age, like our daughter. But Lettice assures me that she has made up her mind to marry him, and that there was no undue influence in the making of her decision.”
“Undue influence.” Lady Sadie muses in a deadpan voice.
“And now that I’ve really met him and chatted with him properly, I actually don’t mind Sir John, even if I do worry that he may be a tad old for Lettice. He’s quite a raconteur, very eloquent and worldly, and he obviously wants to make her happy. He might be just what she needs after all: a mature man who can help guide her in life, and indulge her too. He says he has no intention of stopping her career as an interior designer.”
Lady Sadie does not reply to her husband’s observations.
“Of course Eglantyne is quite against the engagement.” The Viscount chuckles. “But then, you know her opinions about marriage.”
Lady Sadie’s silence unnerves the Viscount as he tries desperately to fill the empty void between the pair of them.
“I thought I might get Harris to motor Leslie, Arabella, the grandchildren, you and I over there together.” the Viscount goes on when no opinion is forthcoming from his wife. “It might be fun for Harrold and Annabelle to come for a ride with us in the big old Daimler. Charles and Lally can go in their car with nanny and the baby.”
“Piers is hardly a baby anymore, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie opines as she puts down the photo of Lally and Lettice and picks up one of their eldest son, Leslie, as a boy of six in a Victorian sailor suit, with his soft blonde waves swept neatly behind his ears. “He’s two now, nearly three.” She then adds, “Won’t that be rather tiresome for Sir John’s cook, catering for us all?”
“We are connected to the exchange, Sadie. He can telephone ahead.”
“As you like.” she replies in a rather non-committal way. “Although I might cry off with one of my heads.”
“You don’t have one of your heads, Sadie.” the Viscount says darkly.
“How do you know I don’t, Cosmo. You don’t suffer them as I do.”
“I’ve been married to you long enough to know when you have a headache and when you don’t.” he replies. “And you certainly don’t have one now, even if you say you do.”
Putting down the photo of Leslie and picking up one of their second son, Lionel also in a sailor’s suit, and wearing a straw hat, Lady Sadie shudders. His look is sweet, but already at the tender age of three or four he was causing trouble, playing nasty tricks and hurting his nannies and worse, his own siblings. When Lettice was born a few years after the photograph was taken, Lady Sadie had to warn Lettice’s nurses that they were never to leave her unattended in Lionel’s presence, lest he smother her with a pillow, which he tried to do on several occasions when the nurses were slack in their observation of Lady Sadie’s rule or they were caught off guard.
“And of course Sir John can take Lettice over there in that topping blue Bugatti Torpedo***** of his.”
“Ghastly, vulgar and showy.” Lady Sadie opines. “Tearing up the country lanes as he speeds along them, so that no decent person of the county can walk them any more without fearing for their lives when he’s visiting the district.” She sniffs. “Or so I have it on good authority.”
She returns to her perusal of photos.
“I say, Sadie,” the Viscount remarks in surprise. “What’s the matter?”
“Whatever do you mean, Cosmo?” she asks, lifting her head from a baby photo of Leslie sitting on the corner of a button back****** sofa taken at the same time as the one she has of him leaning precariously against a rocking chair in a silver frame standing on the right side of her bonheur de jour.
“You know perfectly well.” the Viscount retorts. “Don’t be obtuse.”
“I’m not being obtuse, Cosmo!” Lady Sadie retorts.
The Viscount sighs, knowing in order to get an answer, he must play his wife’s game of teasing out the answer from her: a game he is well versed in playing after many years of marriage.
“You’re obviously not happy about the engagement, which I have to say surprises me. Why have you suddenly taken so much against Sir John? I thought you’d be delighted by the announcement.”
Lady Sadie ignores her husband’s question and picks up a large and ornate framed photograph of a wedding group taken in the early years of the Twentieth Century. It features a rather beaky looking bride in a pretty lace covered white wedding dress and a splendid black feather covered Edwardian picture hat. Her groom, dressed in his Sunday best suit with a boutonnière******* in his lapel and a derby on his head sits back in his seat, looking very proud. Around them stand various men and women in their Edwardian best, but the flat caps and mismatched jackets and trousers of the men and similarly mismatched outfits of the ladies suggest that this is not an upper-class wedding. In front of the bride a five year old Lettice stands proudly dressed as a flower girl in a white lace dress with ribbons in her hair, clutching a bouquet.
“Didn’t you take that photograph with your first Box Brownie********, Sadie?” the Viscount asks as he walks over and stands next to his wife and looks at the photograph.
“Yes, I did, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie acknowledges. “How good of you to remember.”
“Oh, who could forget that occasion?” the Viscount chortles sadly. “That was poor Elsie Bucknell’s wedding to that wastrel who turned her head with all his talk of being a tailor to all the great and good of Swindon, when in fact he was nothing but a con man from Manchester.”
“You were very good to settle the debts he left her with after he and his real wife absconded with all her money.” Sadie says, pointing at the rather pretty woman in white and a neat picture hat sitting to the groom’s right.
“Well, it was the right thing to do, wasn’t it? As lord of manor, it was my duty to support her, poor jilted woman.”
“Yes, the right thing.” Lady Sadie agrees with a sigh. “You’ve always done the right thing, Cosmo.”
“Well, I also did encourage her to marry him when she asked my opinion of him.”
“You’ve not always been the best judge of character, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie remarks.
The Viscount laughs. “What does that say about me choosing you as my bride then, Sadie?”
“I did imply that your poor judgements of character only happen sometimes, not always.” She runs her fingers over the glass in front of Lettice’s smiling face. “Lettice was as pleased as punch to be the flower girl at that wedding. Do you remember?”
“I do believe she thought all the smiles and gushing of the adulating congregation were for her and not for Elise behind her.”
“I do believe you are right, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie chuckles. “Did you know that’s why they call them, ‘Flappers’?”
“Who dear?”
“The newspapers and magazines.” Lady Sadie muses. “I found out not all that long ago, from Geraldine Evans of all people, if you can believe it,” she remarks with another chuckle, mentioning the elder of two genteel spinster sisters who live in Holland House, a Seventeenth Century manor house, in Glynes village. “She told me that they call the young girls of the Bright Young Things********* ‘Flappers’ because it refers to the fact that when they were girls and their hair was still down, it was tied by flapping ribbons or tied in pigtails that flapped.” She points to the big bow in the young Lettice’s hair.
“No. No, I didn’t know.” the Viscount replies a little awkwardly. “Look, what’s all this got to do wi…”
“Thinking of the right thing, Cosmo, I really should take this photo out of the frame, what with all the sad connotations it has, but I can’t quite bear to do it.” Lady Sadie goes on, interrupting her husband. “I’m rather proud of this photograph.”
“There’s no need. Elise has long since left Glynes after all the scandal, so she won’t know. Anyway, it’s a very good shot, Sadie.” her husband agrees, putting his hand around her and giving her right shoulder an encouraging squeeze.
“I’ve never been what you’d call artistic, like Eglantyne,” Lady Sadie says, referring to her husband’s favourite younger sibling, who is an artist of some renown in London. “Or like Lettice, but I’m not bad at taking photographs.”
“I think you’re a dab hand at it, Sadie my dear.” He rubs his wife’s right forearm, and bestows a kiss on her greyish white waves atop her head. “Far better than me, or Leslie. But I ask again, what’s any of this to do with Sir John, and your sudden dislike of him?”
“You know, you think you know what, or who your children will become,” Lady Sadie says wistfully, replacing the photograph in the frame back on the surface of her bonheur de jour. “And yet, they always surprise you.”
“Oh, I don’t think either Leslie or Lally have been particularly surprising.” the Viscount retorts.
“No?”
“No. As the eldest son, Leslie has turned out to be the fine heir to the Glynes estate that we always wanted. He’s responsible, and goodness knows his insight and forward thinking has prevented us from finding ourselves in the straitened circumstances that the Brutons or poor Nigel Tyrwhitt and Isobel are in now. And now that he’s married, it will only be a matter of time before he and Arabella give us a grandson to carry on the Chetwynd line and one day become the next Viscount Wrexham.” He smiles indulgently at the thought. “And Lally’s marriage to Charles Lanchenbury is all we could hope for, for her. I mean, Charles may not inherit a hereditary title from old Lanchenbury, which is a bit of a pity. But still, he’s a successful businessman and she’ll never wont for anything. She seems to rather enjoy playing lady or the manor in High Wycombe with her brood.”
“Oh yes.”
“Lionel was a surprising one.” The Viscount picks up the photograph of his second son in his Victorian sailor’s outfit and wide brimmed straw hat that his wife had held before. “Who would have imagined that behind such an angelic face lurked the depraved character of the devil incarnate?” He feels his wife shudder again at the thought of their wayward son beneath his hand. “There, there, Sadie my dear.” he coos. “The further away from us he is, the less we have to think about him,” He heaves a great sigh of regret. “Or deal with his messy affairs.”
“You know I received a letter from him yesterday?” Lady Sadie asks.
“No.”
“Yes,” Lady Sadie snorts derisively. “From Durban of places, would you believe?”
“The same as young Spencely.”
“Yes! Isn’t that a coincidence? It was quite a good letter actually, and the first I’ve had since Leslie’s wedding where he doesn’t implore me to ask you to bring him back here. He writes that he went to Durban to show off two of his new Thoroughbreds to a perspective buyer: some playboy horse racing son of a nouveau riche businessman. It sounds like he’s had a bit of luck, as he seems quite flush at the moment, going to nightclubs and the like down there.”
“Squandering his earnings on gambling, women and god knows what else, down there, I’ll warrant.” the Viscount opines gruffly.
“No doubt.” Lady Sadie sighs.
“Poor Lettice.” the Viscount adds in a softer tone, as his mind shifts to his youngest daughter’s heartbreak at the hands of Selwyn Spencely.
“Aahh, and then there was Lettice.” Lady Sadie remarks, taking up a round gold frame featuring a studio photograph of a beaming Lettice at age ten in a smart winter coat and large brimmed hat, full of confidence sitting before the camera. “The most surprising child of all, not least of all because she was a surprise late pregnancy for me.”
“Oh, Lettice is no surprise to me, Sadie.” the Viscount retorts. “I mean, Eglantyne picked her as having an artistic temperament right from the beginning, and she was right. I knew she had more brains than our Lally has, which is why I gave her all those extra lessons.”
“You indulged her, Cosmo!” Lady Sadie remarks. “You’ve always spoiled her. So does Eglantyne. She’s your pet, and hers too.”
“Every bit as much as Leslie is yours, Sadie.” He points to the silver framed portrait of Leslie.
“You were the one who encouraged her to start up this ridiculous interior decoration nonsense.”
“Well, in reality it was really Eglantyne who drew my attention to her flair for design, but I’m glad that she did. Look at the successes she has had! She runs her own business, with very few hiccups or missteps,” He momentarily remembers the kerfuffle that there was with Lettice signing a contract drawn up by Lady Gladys Caxton’s lawyers without consulting the Chetwynd family lawyers. “And she’s very good at keeping accounts.”
“Excellent, she’ll make the perfect bookkeeper.” Lady Sadie remarks sarcastically.
“It will put her in good stead for running Sir John’s households, Sadie.” the Viscount tempers. “Goodness knows he has enough of them. And she has received accolades from Henry Tipping**********, printed in Country Life********** for all to see, and that is fine feather for her cap, you must confess.”
“I don’t deny that.” Lady Sadie agrees somewhat reluctantly.
“No, I always knew Lettice would be the greatest success of all our children.” the Viscount says proudly.
“Did you, Cosmo?”
“Of course I did, Sadie. I understand her.”
“You!” Lady Sadie scoffs. “You may decry that you love your youngest and favourite daughter so well, Cosmo, and without a doubt, you do. However, whatever you say, you don’t understand Lettice.”
“And you do, Sadie?” the Viscount retorts hotly. “When she comes home to lick her wounds after Zinnia sent Selwyn away, craving comfort, you drove her from the house, telling her she needed to throw herself into the social rounds, rather than stop and miss him. Is that understanding?” He folds his arms akimbo and looks away from his wife in disgust. “No wonder she kept her engagement to Sir John a secret for the last month or so, since you suddenly seem to despise her husband-to-be: a man whom I should like to point out, you thought was perfectly suitable for her not so very long ago. Sir John may not have the title of duke, but he has a title nonetheless, and I have no doubt that his fortune is equal to that of the Duke of Walmsford.”
“You misunderstand me, and my motives, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie replies, hurt by his words, but also resigned to the fact that he believes them. “As always, I am portrayed like one of Mrs. Maingot’s derided pantomime villains in the Glynes Christmas play.”
“If the cap fits, Sadie.”
“See, you think I don’t understand my children, but I assure you that, aside from Lionel, I do.”
“Who could ever understand that child of the devil, Sadie?”
“Indeed, well aside from our errant black sheep, I understand the others. You love them, Cosmo, probably far more than me, but I on the other hand, understand them.”
“How so, Sadie?”
“You misalign my actions because you don’t understand them, either. When Lettice came here after Zinnia packed Selwyn off to Durban, what did you do? You gave her a place to shelter, yes, but you mollycoddled her: feeding her shortbreads and allowing her to retreat from the world.”
“Well, that’s what she needed, Sadie.”
“No. That’s where you are wrong, Cosmo. She didn’t need mollycoddling. It just made things worse. It amplified her situation and how she felt as you allowed her to spend her empty days brooding. Lettice is apt to brood, when given the opportunity. What she really needed was to be told that the sun will still rise and set, in spite of her own innermost turmoil, and what she needed was to be sent back out into the world, so that she could be distracted, and build up her resilience. That’s what she needed, Cosmo, and I helped her achieve that. And that, my dear, is what I mean by truly understanding Lettice. Believe it or not, I understand her as a young woman, and I understand what she needs.”
“Well, if you wanted to build resilience in her, that’s what you’ve achieved, and admirably at that. Selwyn jilts our daughter and what does she do? Rather than moping, which is what you seem to think I would have encouraged her to do, she went out and got herself engaged to one of the most eligible bachelors in the county, in England no less. Yet you don’t seem at all happy about the engagement, even though you put Sir John into the mix at the Hunt Ball that you used as a marriage market for Lettice.”
“Once again, Cosmo, you see your daughter, but you don’t understand her.”
“Then pray enlighten me, Sadie because I certainly don’t understand you right at this moment.”
“Lettice’s heart is breaking, and ever since she was a child, when her heart is broken, she lashes out, like when Mopsy died. Remember her Cavalier King Charles Spaniel?”
“How could I forget that beautiful dog. But surely you aren’t comparing her tears and tantrums as a seven year old child, to now, Sadie? There are no tears this time, no tantrums.”
“But that’s where you are wrong, Cosmo. This is her tantrum. It just isn’t one that exhibits itself in the same way. Lettice is trying to prove to Selwyn,” She pauses for a moment and thinks. “No, more prove to Zinna, that she isn’t defeated by whatever nasty games she is playing to break the romance between Lettice and Selwyn. She’s trying to exact revenge on them both.” Lady Sadie sighs. “But she’s going about it all wrong.”
“What do you mean, Sadie?” The Viscount sighs as he sinks down onto the edge of one of the morning room chairs nearest him and looks across at his wife, who sits, slumped in her own seat at her desk, looking defeated.
“I blame myself really for this turn of events.” Lady Sadie gulps awkwardly. “I’m almost too ashamed to admit it, but I was misaligned in some of my thinking, and wrong in my judgement, and now the results have well and truly come home to roost.”
“What are you talking about, Sadie?”
“Sir John, Cosmo.” She says simply. “When I held that Hunt Ball, I practically threw Lettice at Sir John.”
“Well, to assuage your fears, Sadie, that is what I meant by confirming that there were no undue influences in Lettice’s decision.” the Viscount pronounces. “I asked her whether she felt obliged to marry Sir John because you had encouraged the match, and that she feared being stuck on the shelf.” He looks meaningfully at his wife. “But she says that neither of these had any influence on her decision. She says that Sir John isn’t perfect, but that he’s a good man, and that he isn’t lying to her. As I said - as you said – Sir John may not be young, but he’s eligible and wealthy to boot. Lettice will be chatelaine of a string of fine properties, and she’ll never have to worry about going without.”
“But Lettice is wrong about him nor lying to her.”
“What’s that?”
Lady Sadie snatches the lace handkerchief poking out of her left sleeve opening at her wrist and dabs her nose, sniffing as she does. “Several of my friends, Lally, and even Lettice tried to warn me about him. They said that he’s a lecherous man, with a penchant for younger women, actresses in particular.”
“Well,” the Viscount chuckles. “Plenty of men of good standing have been known to have the odd discreet elicit affair with a Gaiety Girl*********** or two.” He then blusters. “Not myself of course!”
“Of course not, Cosmo.” She reaches out one of her diamond spangled hands to her husband and takes his own proffered hand. “Never you. You were always too much of a gentleman to have a liaison with another woman. As I said, you always do the right thing, Cosmo. Do you know, I do believe that is why Zinnia stopped coming to our house parties. You weren’t for conquest, no matter how much she threw herself at you. And she did, quite shamelessly.”
“Did she?” the Viscount asks innocently.
“You know she did!” Lady Sadie slaps her husband’s wrist playfully. “Now who’s being obtuse?”
“Well, maybe I did sense her overtures towards me, but she never stood a chance, Sadie!” the Viscount replies with an earnest look. “You were only ever going to be the one for me.”
“That’s sweet of you Cosmo, and I appreciate it. But, for all his pedigree and wealth, and for all his apparent care for Lettice, your judge of character of Sir John is fatally flawed my dear.”
“Flawed?”
“Sir John Nettleford-Hughes is not for our youngest daughter.” Lady Sadie goes on. “Nor any good and upstanding young lady of society. I know now that he is a philanderer: discreet yes, but not discreet enough, and no matter how many houses he has, or wealth, he will never make Lettice happy – quite the opposite in fact, I fear, even if she can’t see that in her present state of besottedness. She will become the neglected, deserted wife and the ridicule of society. And that is why I am against Sir John, and this marriage, which will be as disastrous for her as dear Elsie Bucknell’s was for her.” Sadie points to the wedding party photograph again.
“What?”
“Yes.” Lady Sadie cocks an eyebrow as she gives her husband a withering look. “His latest conquest is an up-and-coming West End actress named Paula Young. Such a nasty, common name.” she opines. “Then again, it suits a nasty and common little upstart tart of an actress!”
“Sadie!”
“Sorry Cosmo, but that’s what she is, if she allows herself to be seen in such an…” Lady Sadie shudders. “An intimate situation with a man like Sir John.”
“Surely there is some kind of misunderstanding: just gossip, Sadie.”
“Gossip yes, but verified nonetheless.” Lady Sadie answers sadly. “Though I wish to god that I could say it wasn’t. My cousin Gwendolyn was having dinner at the Café Royal************ and saw them together herself less than a week ago.”
“What was Gwendolyn doing at the Café Royal?”
“She is a duchess, Cosmo dear, or have you forgotten?”
“Who could ever forget that Gwendolyn is the Duchess of Whiby, Sadie? She certainly won’t let anyone forget it.”
“Well, she was escorting her grand-nice Barbara who debuted last year as part of the London Season, because poor Monica had influenza and was confined to bed, and she noticed Sir John and that that cheap actress at a shaded corner table.”
“A simple dinner between two friends., Sadie.” the Viscount tries to explain the situation away.
“Gwendolyn says that he was practically devouring her as he lavished her bare forearms with kisses.” Lady Sadie replies with another shudder and a look of disgust. “In public! With an actress! How vulgar, and certainly not discreet, even if at a corner table in the shadows!”
“Gwendolyn goes looking for gossip wherever she goes, Sadie, even in places where it isn’t.” the Viscount cautions his wife.
“I know, but be that as it may, Cosmo, I also have it from your own sister, Eglantyne, that many years ago, before she was married, he also had an elicit affair with that awful romance novelist Gladys Caxton, whom Lettice and you had all the trouble with not long ago.”
“Well you know Eglantyne doesn’t believe in the institution of marriage.” the Viscount begins.
“This was before any of us even knew of the understanding reached between Lettice and Sir John, Cosmo.”
“Well,” he chuckles in an effort to shake he sudden concerns off. “If that affair was many years ago, who cares, Sadie? It has no significance now.”
Lady Sadie slides open a drawer of her bonheur de jour and takes out a sheet of paper on which is written a list of names.
“After Gwendolyn’s revelations, I did a bit of digging myself, and these are the actresses ingénues and parvenues I was able to connect him to.”
“The cad!” the Viscount gasps as his widened eyes run down the list. “There must be at lest two dozen women on this list.”
“There are twenty-nine to be exact, Cosmo, and they are only the ones I could find and link him to.”
“You know I always thought that he was an old letch.” the Viscount restates his long held belief again. “I can’t deny that I’d heard the rumours too, but being unmarried I didn’t pay them much mind. And when he showed up here today, all charm, and was so solicitous to Lettice, making my little girl so happy, well...”
“You were swayed on your judgment of this character.” Lady Sadie says with an arched eyebrow and a knowing look.
“I was.” the Viscount agrees. “I was persuaded: taken in by him as a matter-of-fact! What a fool I am!”
“Charming people can always beguile, dear Cosmo.”
“I shall go into the drawing room this very minute and have it out with him!” He gets to his feet, trembling with anger and frustration as his elegant hands form into fists. “I’ll fling Sir John out on his philandering ear!”
Lady Sadie reaches out again to still her husband, wrapping her hand comfortingly around his wrist. “No you won’t, Cosmo.” she says calmly and matter-of-factly, gazing up at him sadly. “It would be the wrong thing to do, and you know it. And, as we have agreed, you always do the right and decent thing. It would be too embarrassing to conduct such a scene before a houseful of guests, even if they are family: for Sir John, Leslie, Arabella, Lally, Eglantyne, me, you,” She lowers her voice and adds sadly. “For Lettice.”
“You’re right, Sadie.” the Viscount says, still trembling with anger. “Shall I speak to Lettice?” he suggests. “Pull her aside and have a discreet word with her?”
“Why, Cosmo?”
“I could forbid her to marry him. I could threaten to cut her allowance off.”
Lady Sadie laughs in a sad and tired fashion. “Cosmo, what purpose would that serve? She’s already told you that she intends to go through with this marriage, and that she won’t be swayed.”
“Well, Lettice might come to her senses if I tell her… tell her the reasons why I’m forbidding her to marry that… that bounder!”
“She knows already what kind of man Sir John is, Cosmo. She was one of the people who told me that he’s a philanderer.”
“What?”
“Lettice told me herself that he has a penchant for young ladies.”
“Well, if she hears it from me, her own father?”
“You’ll only drive her deeper into his arms, Cosmo. She’s angry. She’s hurting. She’s rebelling, God help us all!” Lady Sadie says knowingly. “She’s seeking revenge. And your threat to cut off Lettice’s allowance would be meaningless if she marries Sir John. As you have duly noted already, he’s richer than Croesus*************. Besides, thanks to you and Eglantyne she also has a successful business venture to support her now.”
“What the devil is she playing at then?” the Viscount asks. “Is it not bad enough that we have an errant son in Lionel, that we must now have a daughter who marries a known philanderer with a penchant for young actresses, and will doubtless end up being dragged through the divorce courts as a result, casting shame on the family?”
“I don’t know, Cosmo, other than she is lashing out at Lady Zinnia, exacting her revenge as she sees it.”
The Viscount looks down at his wife sadly and ponders. “You’re being remarkably calm about all this, Sadie.”
“Yes,” she replies with a derisive snigger as she starts to take up some of the lose photos and file them together. “I know. Usually, it’s me having histrionics, not you. However, there is something I keep reminding myself of that brings me solace as I mull this situation over in my mind.”
“What on earth can bring you solace about this disastrous situation Lettice has willingly foisted upon herself?”
Lady Sadie looks knowingly at her husband. “One swallow does not a summer make**************, Cosmo. And an engagement, especially a hasty one, does not necessarily lead to marriage.”
“What are you saying, Sadie?”
“I’m simply saying that if a man breaks off his engagement with a lady, he’s a cad and a bounder. However, a lady is perfectly entitled to break off her engagement with a gentleman. In fact,” She smiles smugly. “It is her prerogative to do so.”
“Are you suggesting that we should encourage Lettice to break her engagement with Sir John?” the Viscount asks. He sighs and rubs his cleanly shaven chin. “I say! What a clever ploy, Sadie.” he muses. “Quite brilliant! Quite Machiavellian, no less!”
“No, I’m not saying that at all, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie quips. “You misunderstand me again.” She releases an exasperated sigh. “This is also what I mean by you not understanding Lettice. There is no talking to her right now, she’s so focussed on her own hurt and anger, and is determined to exact her own misaligned form of revenge on Selwyn and Zinnia. At the moment you could say that Sir John is made of glass and will shatter into a thousand slivers the moment she marries him and stab her to death, and she’ll still marry him to spite them, because she simply cannot see straight. She’s so angry that she won’t listen to reason.” She settles back in her seat and steeples her fingers before her as she stares off into a future only she can see. “Lettice is like a blizzard: blustery, but eventually her anger will peter out.”
“So you are suggesting what?”
“So, what I’m suggesting is that in this case, we must be patient with Lettice. We must settle ourselves in for the long game, and just watch what happens when her storm peters out.”
“So, in your opinion, we do nothing, then?” the Viscount blasts.
“For the time being, no, Cosmo.”
“But if we do nothing, she’ll marry the cad, and then where will we be?”
“I’m not convinced, Cosmo.” Lady Sadie assures her husband. “I think that if we cool our heels and let things play out, Lettice will come to her senses in the fullness of time.”
“You seem very sure of that, Sadie.” the Viscount says with a dubious look at his wife.
“I am, Cosmo.”
“And if you’re wrong? What then?”
“I’m not.” she assures him. “But if I were to be, then we shall simply have to steer her back to her senses when she is in a frame of mind that best allows us to encourage her to break off this disastrous marriage with Sir John.”
The Viscount shudders. “How can I have a son-in-law who’s as old as I am, or older.”
“Not quite, Cosmo, dear.” Lady Sadie assures him. “He’s a year and a half younger than you. I know. I did my in depth research about him before putting him forward as a potential suitor in 1922.”
“Evidently not in depth enough, Sadie,” He holds up the sheet of paper before he wife before screwing it up in anger and throwing it vehemently into her waste paper basket. “If Lettice is now engaged to a wealthy womaniser who carries on with actresses in public.”
“Don’t worry.” Lady Sadie continues to soothe in a soft voice, “We won’t have Sir John as our son-in-law. You’ll see.”
“Now that I know what I know,” the Viscount sighs. “I just hope you’re right, Sadie.”
“I usually am, Cosmo,” Lady Sadie resumes shuffling the photographs. “In the end.”
*Twelfth Night (also known as Epiphany Eve depending upon the tradition) is a Christian festival on the last night of the Twelve Days of Christmas, marking the coming of the Epiphany. Different traditions mark the date of Twelfth Night as either the fifth of January or the sixth of January, depending on whether the counting begins on Christmas Day or the twenty-sixth of December. January the sixth is celebrated as the feast of Epiphany, which begins the Epiphanytide season.
**A bonheur de jour is a type of lady's writing desk. It was introduced in Paris by one of the interior decorators and purveyors of fashionable novelties called marchands-merciers around 1760, and speedily became intensely fashionable. Decorated on all sides, it was designed to sit in the middle of a room so that it could be admired from any angle.
***Bowood is a Grade I listed Georgian country house in Wiltshire, that has been owned for more than two hundred and fifty years by the Fitzmaurice family. The house, with interiors by Robert Adam, stands on extensive grounds which include a garden designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It is adjacent to the village of Derry Hill, halfway between Calne and Chippenham. The greater part of the house was demolished in 1956.
****Alexander Bassano was an English photographer who was a leading royal and high society portrait photographer in Victorian London. He is known for his photo of the Earl Kitchener in the Lord Kitchener Wants You army recruitment poster during the First World War and his photographs of Queen Victoria. He opened his first studio in 1850 in Regent Street. The studio then moved to Piccadilly between 1859 and 1863, to Pall Mall and then to 25 Old Bond Street in 1877 where it remained until 1921 when it moved to Dover Street. There was also a Bassano branch studio at 132 King's Road, Brighton from 1893 to 1899.
*****Introduced in 1922, the Type 30 was the first production Bugatti to feature an Inline-8. Nicknamed the “Torpedo” because of its similar look to the wartime munition, at the time Bugatti opted to move to a small two-litre engine to make the car more saleable, lighter and cheap. The engine capacity also made the Type 30 eligible for Grand Prix racing, which was a new direction for the marque. Despite the modest engine capacity, the power output was still remarkable thanks to the triple-valve arrangement. Also benefiting the Type 30 was good road handling, braking and steering which was common throughout the marque. The Type 30 was also the first Bugatti to have front brakes.
******Button back upholstered furniture contains buttons embedded in the back of the sofa or chair, which are pulled tightly against the leather creating a shallow dimple effect. This is sometimes known as button tufting.
*******A boutonnière is a flower that someone wears in the buttonhole of, or fastened to, their jacket on a special occasion such as a wedding.
********The Brownie (or Box Brownie) was invented by Frank A. Brownell for the Eastman Kodak Company. Named after the Brownie characters popularised by the Canadian writer Palmer Cox, the camera was initially aimed at children. More than 150,000 Brownie cameras were shipped in the first year of production, and cost a mere five shillings in the United Kingdom. An improved model, called No. 2 Brownie, came in 1901, which produced larger photos, and was also a huge success. Initially marketed to children, with Kodak using them to popularise photography, it achieved broader appeal as people realised that, although very simple in design and operation, the Brownie could produce very good results under the right conditions. One of their most famous users at the time was the then Princess of Wales, later Queen Alexandra, who was an avid amateur photographer and helped to make the Box Brownie even more popular with the British public from all walks of life. As they were ubiquitous, many iconic shots were taken on Brownies. Jesuit priest Father Frank Browne sailed aboard the RMS Titanic between Southampton and Queenstown, taking many photographs of the ship’s interiors, passengers and crew with his Box Brownie. On the 15th of April 1912, Bernice Palmer used a Kodak Brownie 2A, Model A to photograph the iceberg that sank RMS Titanic as well as survivors hauled aboard RMS Carpathia, the ship on which Palmer was travelling. They were also taken to war by soldiers but by World War I the more compact Vest Pocket Kodak Camera as well as Kodak's Autographic Camera were the most frequently used. Another group of people that became posthumously known for their huge photo archive is the Nicholas II of Russia family, especially its four daughters who all used Box Brownie cameras.
*********The Bright Young Things, or Bright Young People, was a nickname given by the tabloid press to a group of Bohemian young aristocrats and socialites in 1920s London.
**********Henry Tipping (1855 – 1933) was a French-born British writer on country houses and gardens, garden designer in his own right, and Architectural Editor of the British periodical Country Life for seventeen years between 1907 and 1910 and 1916 and 1933. After his appointment to that position in 1907, he became recognised as one of the leading authorities on the history, architecture, furnishings and gardens of country houses in Britain. In 1927, he became a member of the first committee of the Gardens of England and Wales Scheme, later known as the National Gardens Scheme.
***********Country Life is a British weekly perfect-bound glossy magazine that is a quintessential English magazine founded in 1897, providing readers with a weekly dose of architecture, gardens and interiors. It was based in London at 110 Southwark Street until March 2016, when it became based in Farnborough, Hampshire. The frontispiece of each issue usually features a portrait photograph of a young woman of society, or, on occasion, a man of society
************Gaiety Girls were the chorus girls in Edwardian musical comedies, beginning in the 1890s at the Gaiety Theatre, London, in the shows produced by George Edwardes
*************The Café Royal in Regent Street, Piccadilly was originally conceived and set up in 1865 by Daniel Nicholas Thévenon, who was a French wine merchant. He had to flee France due to bankruptcy, arriving in Britain in 1863 with his wife, Célestine, and just five pounds in cash. He changed his name to Daniel Nicols and under his management - and later that of his wife - the Café Royal flourished and was considered at one point to have the greatest wine cellar in the world. By the 1890s the Café Royal had become the place to see and be seen at. It remained as such into the Twenty-First Century when it finally closed its doors in 2008. Renovated over the subsequent four years, the Café Royal reopened as a luxury five star hotel.
**************The idiom “richer than Croesus” means very wealthy. This term alludes to Croesus, the legendary King of Lydia and supposedly the richest man on earth. The simile was first recorded in English in 1577.
**************The expression “One swallow does not a summer make, nor one fine day; similarly one day or brief time of happiness does not make a person entirely happy” is attributed to Aristotle (384 – 322 BC).
Cluttered with photographs and furnishings, Lady Sadie’s bonheur de jour is different from what you might think, for it is made up entirely of 1:12 size dollhouse miniatures from my collection.
Fun things to look for in this tableau include:
The Chetwynd’s framed family photos seen on the desk and hanging on the walls are all real photos, produced to high standards in 1:12 size on photographic paper by Little Things Dollhouse Miniatures in Lancashire. The frames are almost all from Melody Jane’s Dollhouse Suppliers in the United Kingdom and are made of metal with glass in each. The largest frame on the right-hand side of the desk is actually a sterling silver miniature frame. It was made in Birmingham in 1908 and is hallmarked on the back of the frame. It has a red leather backing.
The remaining unframed photographs and photograph album on Lady Sadie’s desk are a 1:12 size miniatures made by the British miniature artisan Ken Blythe. Ken Blythe is known for his miniature books. Most of the books crated by him that I own may be opened to reveal authentic printed interiors. In some cases, you can even read the words, depending upon the size of the print! I have quite a large representation of Ken Blythe’s work in my collection. What might amaze you even more is that all Ken Blythe’s opening books are authentically replicated 1:12 scale miniatures of real volumes. The photo album, although closed, contains pages of photos in old fashioned Victorian style floral frames on every page, just like a real Victorian photo album. Not only did Ken Blythe create books, he also created other 1:12 miniatures with paper and that includes the photographs. To create something so authentic to the original in such detail and so clearly, really does make this a miniature artisan piece. He also made the packets of seeds, which once again are copies of real packets of Webbs seeds and the envelopes sitting in the rack to the left of the desk. Ken Blythe’s work is highly sought after by miniaturists around the world today and command high prices at auction for such tiny pieces, particularly now that he is no longer alive. I was fortunate enough to acquire pieces from Ken Blythe prior to his death about four years ago, as well as through his estate via his daughter and son-in-law. His legacy will live on with me and in my photography which I hope will please his daughter. I hope that you enjoy this peek at just two of hundreds of his books that I own, and that it makes you smile with its sheer whimsy!
The vase of primroses in the middle of the desk is a delicate 1:12 artisan porcelain miniature made and painted by hand by Ann Dalton.
The desk and its matching chair is a Salon Reine design, hand painted and copied from an Eighteenth Century design, made by Bespaq. All the drawers open and it has a lidded rack at either end. Bespaq is a high-end miniature furniture maker with high attention to detail and quality.
The wallpaper is a copy of an Eighteenth Century blossom pattern.
When I try to explain rock climbing to non climbers I always get the same questions and comments; “You’re insane, that what Tom Cruise did, you must have a death wish” etc.
Nothing could be farther from the truth of course.
I could drone on for hours about what I personally get from rock climbing but this image sums it up much better; about 250 feet above the car and with the cell phone turned off, I’m sitting out in the warm sunshine of a late November afternoon enjoying a snack without a care in the world, on a ledge you could park your car on.
This is why I rock climb. It’s not about cheating death or any other macho bullshit, it’s about getting out of the house and enjoying some fresh air, and that’s it.
Your experience may differ.
Welcome to your public lands, now go outside!
10 frame HDR from the Powershot running chdk
We were happy to have our vehicle washed at the Heritage Christian School car wash; students raising money to fund a trip to Vancouver Island
mirage, 2017 // I realize I don't have to explain my absence from the photography world, yet I still want to try. The problem is it’s essentially impossible to convey why without writing a memoir lmao. My hiatus was not really done out of choice, but because life had taken what felt like a giant metaphorical shit on me. Many aspects of my life started deteriorating in 2013 and by 2015 I had just fully given up. What I was dealing with took everything out of me, leaving nothing left for my art. This sounds corny but at times it felt as if what/who I was fighting and my inability to create were duking it out to see who was gonna kill me first. I’m aware that this was probably the most vague ass explanation for my absence possible, but I’m just so grateful to be able to freely create again. Am I afraid that the creative part of my brain has calcified? Maybe! Who cares! I know the alternative and it's a garbage life, so I’m just excited that I get to be me again, whoever she is. Thank you for being patient and never forgetting me.
Jim is going to explain how we can all showcase our work, hopefully when something is tweaked for us on his land tabs (all a mystery to me :P). By taking a pic by what we consider to be our best work and submiting it to the guide we can not only improve visitors to the gallery but also show the virtual world our own special style. More info coming later maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Rainbow%20Park%20Island/11...
The HUGE amount of text to follow here is mainly for my own reference (because I'm having some memory issues at the moment and really don't want to forget this, plus I need to work out the order things happened cause my head was in a rather thick fog at the time....)
I'm writing this like I'm explaining it to you, well because I thought it would make more sense than me just talking to myself... And who knows, it may be of some interest to you if immersive theatre is your kind of thing..........
This Saturday saw my return to Temple studios in Paddington for my second visit to Punchdrunks The Drowned Man
On my previous visit, I had no idea what the hell was happening!
We were handed white masks, bundled into a lift, told this was a wrap party for the filming of 'the drowned man' and then the lift doors opened and we were let loose.
As soon as we stepped out of the lift we were greeted with the most chilling music that actually made every single one of my hairs stand up on end.
And there we were...
Alone in a dark hall way....
Not knowing where to go or what to do.
We spent most of the first hour rummaging around the set/studio. Wandering (and wondering) around film sets, prosthetic room, wig rooms, Dr's office, cinema, motel rooms, shops in a town, mirror mazes, pitch black mazes, woods, caravan parks (complete with caravans) a masonic temple, a bloody desert!
(I shit you not, this place in it's self is a farking epic! master piece)
We roamed in and out of dark room, full of objects, scripts and pieces of information.
Information we didn't have a clue about...
But saying that, even as bunch of numpties fumbling their way through the dark, trying to piece together clues to a story we knew next to nothing about, the details and attention taken to create this amazingly intricate 4 store set was not lost on us.
We took in every sight, sound and smell around us. And as we continued on our masked journey we slowly started to run into the members of the cast.
The only unmasked people around...
That trip I took in various snippets of scenes. The fool and Lila, the psychotic seamstress (with a Frankie fetish), Frankie, the evil Dr doing his experiments on people. A fair bit of story line from Ramola, Faye, Dwayne, Miguel and the ill fated Marshall and Wendy.
But with all the exploring we had done I still didn't have a bloody clue what the hell was going on!
And of course when I came out after the finale, where I'd seen just how many characters I'd missed out on, I knew I had to go back.
I had to know more about what the hell was going on in that place!
I started searching the interweb on the train ride home.
I found various bits of information about the story lines going on within temple studio. Partly based on The day of the locusts and Woyzeck. (yep...read em both)
Then I found the spoiler group on facebook. And that was me hooked!
I booked my next show.
Sadly because I got ill I had to postpone until last weekend (which is probably lucky or else I know I would have tried to fit in a 3rd maybe a 4th visit before it closes it's doors next week.... (yes...it's THAT good!) )
And of course because the way I am physically (and mentally) affected at the moment, I now had to take into account that running up and down 3 flights of stairs trying to follow characters would probably fucking kill me (or kick off the paralysis....not sexy at all.)
Running up to the weekend just gone I was on the hunt for information. Without wanting to know too much. But still needing to know more.
In simple terms, the whole story line is an hour long. Then it resets, runs for another hour and resets a final time before the big finale.
That gave me time to work out which parts I was interested in seeing.
Funnily enough I wasn't interested in pursuing the 4 main characters William and Mary (William kills Mary for her infidelity) and Wendy and Marshall (Wendy kills Marshall for his infidelity)
You're given a card at the beginning with their story line on it, so I kinda knew that part all ready.
But there were 2 certain dance scenes that were kind of the main scenes for those character, that also involved a lot of the cast so I figured those were a good place to start.
If I could make it to the Orgy for one loop where Wendy kills Marshall, and then to the hoedown for the second loop I'd see Mary cheating on William as well
Ta da a plan of attack!
(3rd loops just mill around and rest....)
So I went to the 5000 strong group of spoilers (some of whom have been over 30 times!!!!) and asked which characters I could follow that wouldn't be too energetic for me (no way I was I gonna miss this last visit because my damn brain fucking hates me! Screw you brain!!!!!)
And with their help I had a set route and characters to follow.
Saturday arrived and I woke up feeling like shit.
My heart was feeling really tight in my chest (don't know why it does that, but it does) my speech was fucked and my left hand side was not in the mood to function without great effort (and pain)
Great..... Just what I need......
I then spent the rest of the day trying to chill the fuck out.
I became a master of Zen.
I meditated like a bad ass mother fucker!
I became completely anti social and drowned the world out with the most chilled music I could get my mitts on.
And you know what...
I actually worked!
By the time it was time to head to Paddington I was pretty functional.
Ok, so my head was cloudy as fuck. My speech was painfully slow and my left arm still ached.... I owned the underground that day!
I owned sitting on the floor while queuing.
And despite my heart pounding away in my chest (nerves I guess?) I made it in! :D
I have my plan. I'm going to get out of the lift, head to the town and follow the green grocer.
Only the lift takes us to the basement....
DAMN!
That's 2 flights of stairs I need to get up!!!
Rushing is just not an option at this point.
I head into the masonic temple. And there are weird masked people (not with masks like we have on, weird bald headed mask, kind of like the president masks in point break)
And then there is Stanford.
The head of the studio.
If I were such a spaz I'd be following him cause he is pure evil! And dark personalities have always intrigued me...
I may as well stick around and see whats going on.
The 3 masked people have baseball bats and are dancing around the black and white checkered floor harassing Frankie (the studio's up and coming star)
They start beating him, shove an orange in his mouth and as the music reaches it's crescendo Stanford pulls out and gun, shoves it in Frankie's face and.......
They all laugh.
This is Frankie's initiation into the evil that is temple studio.
YAY! I'd actually really wanted to see that scene because those masked characters appear on the guide book(?) thingie. Ha ha ha!
I decide I'll make my way up to the 2nd floor and see if I can play catch up with the grocer who I need to follow for the Hoedown.
On my way towards the town I run into (quite literally as he was storming towards me) a man in a suit (no mask)
No one is following him....
SCORE!
I whole actor to myself!!!!!!!!
(this is hard to find especially later on with the amount of people around)
Now I haven't mentioned yet that the characters interact with the white masked audience. We had witnessed it the first show, when the Dr took a woman into the room and locked the door on all her friends. And when the toy shop owner did the same
Which is why I'm so excited to have this dude (whoever he is) all to myself.
Who knows... Maybe I'll get lucky and land a bit of interaction with him...?
I follow him into the board room
He has a collection of pictures of Frankie with him and spreads them all over the table where he dances and writhes around on top of them.
When he is done he tidies them up and then stares me straight in the eye.
He looks kind of pissed at me, like I'm there invading his private moment.
As he slowly moves around the room he is still holding my gaze (I feel like I'm in a stare out, no way I'm looking away first! Even though he is very intimidating)
He exits and I'm right behind him striding down the corridors.
Holy crap he is bloody fast!
Uh oh....
From this moment on my mind has blurred all the events into a kind of mash of happening, so I'm using a cheat sheet for his loop to help me piece it all back together in order....
We go into a studio and he watches Frankie and Andrea dancing/auditioning, then somehow (and I can't quite remember how) we are chasing Frankie down the stairs, where suited man seems to sexually harass Frankie, who eventually gives in and the pair full on snog at the bottom of the stairs right under a spotlight (perfectly timed and positioned if I say so myself!)
Then we're back in the masonic temple for the orgy. Oh my gosh I LOVED this scene!
The choreography and music are amazing!
It's a good scene to see as it help me figure out the cast members I don't know the names of.
Delores seduces Marshall as Wendy watches on horrified.
When the orgy is done and the other characters have left the suited man tries to seduce Frankie again, and seems to spurn him this time.
So that's that, we're off at a trot again (fuck it, I'm not giving up now!)
He leads us (cause I'm not alone with him anymore. Other white masks have joined us) to a corridor with head shots of the 'stars' all over the floor.
He stops and has a little dance over them, then we're off to a room full of the head shots with their eyes cut out. (cause that's not creepy at all.....)
He's looking really fucked off now.
He find a picture of Frankie.
He comes towards me and places the picture up against my mask and starts to slow rip it.....
When he rips it down past my eye I can see that he is right up against me, his face nearly touching my mask.....
His eyes are intensely staring into mine again and he looks crazed!!!!
Yet again I dare not blink, or take my eyes from his.
He takes the ripped up picture and stuff it in my pocket.
Then we're off again!
By now I am so hyper reflexive that EVERY little noise is making me jump. Even the ones I can see coming (like doors opening and closing. It's mental!)
My heart is BANGING double time in my chest and I'm vaguely aware my left arm hurts.
I'm guessing my speech has fucked off my this point, but that's cool cause we're supposed to be silent the whole time, so who cares!
My head is so fuzzy the whole thing feels like a dream. Like I'm somewhere else watching what is going on.
We're in the snow set now (I forgot to mention earlier there is bloody snow as well! They have EVERYTHING in this place!)
He's watching Andrea dance. (She's Wendy's friend I think)
He goes up the snow hill through an open door and behind a wall where I can't see him.
I honestly thought I'd lost him at this point.
And have to admit I felt a little sad.
But no!
He's still in that little snow filled room, standing in front of a bright light, making the huge shadow of his hand move slowly and menacingly towards Andrea who's laid on the floor.
He comes back down, picks her up and takes her off to the dressing room.
I remember being in the dressing room, seeing the fool from the corner of my eye, but for the life of me can't remember what the hell he did in there.
It may have been where he gave Andrea and Wendy the invite to the orgy (insuring that Wendy see's Marshall infidelity with Delores)
Damn.
Such a shame I can't remember.
Now we're in the casting office with Alice Estee. And finally I learn that he is in fact Claude Estee (her husband I'm guessing)
The pair of them are characters taken from The day of the locust and dropped into the world of temple studio.
They are an evil pair, who are laughing and joking about the fact that they are rooting through piles of head shots dismissing almost all of them.
Until they get to Frankie.
They seem to really LOVE him.
After they have done a very cleverly choreographed chair dance, he heads out into the hall way off somewhere else.
And of course I'm hot on his heels.
He suddenly stops.
Turns and makes eye contact with me again.
He starts slowly moving towards me, holding my gaze all the while.
He pushed me up against the wall.
His face right up to mine.
His eyes burning into mine again
All I can think is 'damn it Elana, unfold you hands, they're going to be touching his balls if he gets any closer!!!!'
I manage to get them unfolded and down by my side just in time as he then pins me against the wall, puts his lips right on my ear and hisses something about me having talent, and that I should come find him later...
Makes all my hairs stand on end.....
Damn!
He pressed himself against me so hard he left a sweat patch behind!
maybe I should have grabbed his balls after all! ha ha ha ha ha!
And just like that he turns away, and we're off again.
This time he's with Stanford.
The pair look so threatening together as poor Faye comes in for an audition (I met Faye a few times last visit and she's quite a big part of The day of the locust)
I actually feel quite sorry for her, which is odd because before I didn't really like her as she was such a tease and rather irritating wanna be (even more so in the book!)
But the presence of the evil, unblinking, poker faced Stanford and the lecherous Claude makes me feel for the poor girl.
yep... I'm getting right into this story line now!
I guess Stanford and Faye leave, cause now it's Claude's turn in the big bosses chair.
He goes straight for me again, with those penetrating eyes
(I swear he could see me blushing under my mask he was staring that hard!)
He motions for me to move into the middle of the room (which is surrounded by white masks most of whom were watching the last scene)
He then motions for me to turn around.
Ha ha ha ha!
Cause I'm not already dizzy as fuck, hyper reflexive and completely fuzzy headed.
I make a rather lame attempt at giving him a twirl (which is more of a shuffle round in a rather lame circle)
He gets up, comes right up to me so his lips are once again on my ear and whispers 'I remember you.... You've got talent'
Seriously, he is such a slimy character and played so well it made me shudder!
While I recover from my public humiliation (damn I wish I'd put a bit more effort into that twirl....) Andrea comes in for her audition.
William is there as well, and Claude (still in the bosses chair) watches them audition for a scene that is dictated by the amazing disembodied voice of Stanford (even when that man's not present somewhere, he still manages to be everywhere.....)
We're in a hallway again and Claude bumps into the Dr and they have a pill together.
(Cause why the hell not I suppose, guess they are all into the drugging thing together)
Then we're off to the dressing room again.
Delores is in there and she and Claude do a little dance number. Which ends in him mocking her and telling her that she's getting old.
Off to another part of the set, where Alice is with Frankie auditioning him.
The 3 of them do a dance number.
I miss nearly the whole thing because there are LOADS of people and I'm way to short to see over their heads. So I sit it out.
After that Claude and Alice ask Frankie if he wants to meet the boss.
They rush down the stairs.
Claude disappears into a room and materialize
wearing the creepy point break mask just as the rest music sounds telling me I've just unknowingly and unintentionally followed his whole loop!
And a hell of a loop it was as well.
I oh so slowly make my way up their two flights of stairs to seek out the town where I know I can go sit and watch the drugstore girl for a bit. (Kinda hoping she'll offer me a drink cause I feel like I'm going to die!!!!)
In the town I finally find the drugstore (totally missed it first time round)
She's there behind the counter so I park my arse on a stool and watch her for a bit.
She's reading a script, I would read it, but my brain is beyond fucked now.
I'd be surprised if I'd manage to read the first line of it!
She heads out of the drugstore, I figure I'll follow. (I've sat down long enough, and if I stop any longer I'll start noticing my symptoms kicking in)
As luck would have it she goes to see the grocer and gives him an invite to the hoe down.
I'm guessing he got ready and went straight there (cause I'm fucked if I can remember him doing anything else)
And there we have the hoedown. Another beautifully choreographed scene with kick ass music!
William see's Mary cheating on him with Dwayne goes a little mental.
I'm wanting low impact after Claude's loop, so follow the grocers back to his store.
Back in his shop he turns to me.
Stares at me long and hard and then hold out his hand for me to take.
He leads me into his back room and locks the door behind us.
Pushes me against the door and fiddles about for a bit, before taking me around the shoulders and leading me through a low dark tunnel.
He sits me down and takes my mask off.
He then hands me a script to read (ahahahahaha! Are you kidding me, My brain stop cooperating waaaaay back with bloody Claude)
I manage to read the first few line.
I could be hallucinating at this point, but I'm pretty sure there is a voice (Stanford maybe) narrating what he is doing and what he is doing is exactly what's in the script....
My mind is fucked anyway so I just give up on pretending to read whats on the script.
He sits opposite me and takes my hands.
He starts to tell me a sad story about a boy who had a dream his mother died and he was left with his cruel father.
He seems really heart broken so I assume he is telling me his story.
He leans forward and gives me a really long sweaty hug.
I feel for the bloke so I give him a hug back and do the whole 'there, there' back pat thing (he's upset, what else was I gonna do, offer him a kleenex from my bra?)
Can't fucking remember the rest of what he said, but as he lead me back out of the dark tunnel he said some more stuff. Told me that his name is Eugene and that this is all a dream. They are stuck inside a dream and not to get stuck too.....
Which ties in with something the fool had said about it all being a dream when I saw him with Lila the first time round.
Fuck me, the old wheels started turning after that!
After he emerges out of the room he lead me into I follow him to the drugstore where he has a script for the drugstore girl.
They sit down and read it together.
They are acting out what is on the script and what is on the script is being said by the voice of (Stamford again) they repeat the scene over and over again and both seem to realize that they are trapped inside this loop.
Both aware yet unable to stop doing what is in the script and what Stanford is saying!
The drugstore girl gets up goes over to the phone box and falls down dead (of an overdoes apparently)
Eugene sadly and knowingly walks over moves her body (as he has done a thousand times before) and leaves.
He leads us downstairs to the birthday tent in the woods.
Where he strips down to his underwear.
Plus out a red sequin dress, wig, heels and red lipstick and starts to dress himself up.
He puts the red lipstick on and takes me hand. Plus me close and kisses my mask.
Just then Delores and Frankie turn up.
It's Delores's birthday and Eugene is the entertainment. Impersonating her.
Wendy and Marshall rock up to the party as well.
Eugene gives them a bit of a show and then pulls Wendy up on stage.
He and Frankie distract her by dressing her up in Eugene's red sequin frock, while Delores seduces Marshall.
Eugene and Frankie finish, Wendy is all dressed up, looking ridiculous and laughing at how funny she looks.
She see's that Marshall is looking very comfortable with Delores, and Delores begins to laugh as well.
A nasty cruel laugh, at Wendy.
From there they all go off and the orgy scene happens not long after.
I've already seen that, so I hang around to see the rest of Eugene's loop.
Alice Estee comes into the tent just as Eugene has put his normal clothes back on.
She looks at the heels and wig and scoffs at him.
She then says she has a part for him.
A grocer!
He seems hesitant to take the role and she tells him that he will be the grocer.
He agrees and takes the script from her and heads back up to the shop.
'Abe's general store.'
Guess that's why he wanted me to know his name. Because he's not really Abe. He knows his real name and is trying to hang on to that before he becomes nothing more than the role he has been given in the script, on a constantly repeating loop in a tragic dream he can't get out of...
This time he takes someone else into the back room, I dig out the script from the draw.
And sure enough, it's his script. All the things I have seen him do as the grocer (he dusts off peas a lot and served some customers as well while I was in the shop) and sure enough, the scene with the drugstore girl is in there. exactly as it played out. So he must know in advance that she is going to die.
I'm curious if the script she was reading when I went in to the drugstore is the same one as this now only with her story inside in it....
Then the reset music sounds again and it's the third loop.
Time to head up to the top floor desert to get some sand in my shoes and see if I can find the dust which, who I have yet to see in any shape or form even during the finale!
First I bump into Mary (who I haven't seen before) she's dancing with someone on a car.
Don't know who it was! ha!
Getting really tired now and not giving much of crap about where I'm heading.
I head up to the sand dunes to find Miguel, who is having a fight with Dwayne.
I already know what's going to happen because I caught this scene on my first visit, so instead I have a nose around to see if I can find the secret tunnel in the sand dune.
Go in there, have a nose around.
No dust witch.
Miguel heads down to the hoedown.
I've already seen that as well so I go into the town to see if anyone of any interest is about.
And sure as shit there is a big crowd around the toy shop because the owner Mr Tuttle is about.
White masks love him!
Mainly because he drags you into the back of his shop for a 1 on 1, much like I had with Eugene, but does a whole load of batshit crazy stuff and then covers your mask in blood (red paint)
This time hes off out on a mission.
He heads to where the car is with his pot of paint and must be finishing off some graffiti he has been doing in his previous loops. 'Beware. the red moon is rising'
No idea what that means (I'll ask the spoilers at some point) I'm guessing there is a shit ton of red moon shaped clues and objects around this place. It's bound to make sense to the folk who have searched for the stuff (in their 30 odd visits....)
The security guard sees him and comes running over and chases him (I'm not fucking running, so I miss what is said between the 2 of them)
Tuttle heads back to his shop and Miguel and Faye come out of the hoedown. I decide to pick up following Miguel.
The have a little sexy, flirty dance and Faye leads him off the a motel room.
He lays on the bed. She starts taking her clothes off.
Something suddenly catches his attention outside so he bolts.
Faye sits and starts to cries. I get the fuck outta there to follow Miguel into the street, where he is holding tarot card. Couldn't see what it had on it though I'm guessing death?
He starts saying 'Mary' over and over. Then leaves the card in the rafters of William and Mary's house before heading up to the sand dunes.
I'm moving at a crawl now so kind miss what hes doing in the shack up there.
My guess is this is usually when Mary get's kill by William, as Miguel was repeating her name a hell of a lot.
But this is the end of the 3rd loop which means that we are discreetly lead away and back down to the wooded area where the finale of Wendy killing Marshall (with scissors) takes place.
I search the entire cast on the stage for the dust witch. Still can't see her!
Oh well.
And that...
Is what I can only describe as another mind boggling final trip to temple studios to see the breathtaking, bewildering master piece that is the drowned man.
I'll be fucking amazed if anyone has read up to here! ha ha!
I guess now I'm going to have to resort to go and read all the spoilers for all the characters, and read all the conspiracy theories that surround this to see if anyone has worked the whole thing out.... ( though I highly doubt it)
From the photoblog Chillimatic
Posting a photo of a shop called "Party World" here is an odd way to memorialize someone. Bear with me, I'll explain further down the page. Firstly a little on how I came to know about Jon Claremont and his work.
The service provider for my photoblog, Chillimatic, is called Expressions. Expressions won't be rivalling Flickr any time soon and perhaps due to the small number of subscribers, or perhaps due to the good work of the people who run it, Expressions is a genuine ‘online community’ (prior to joining I had thought this phrase an oxymoron) brought together by a shared love of photography.
Some particularly high quality photoblogs are nestled alonside my own (frankly amateurish) site. Chief among these is a blog I discovered during my earliest nose around Expressions called ClaremontPhoto - Jon’s photoblog.
The aesthetic of Jon’s pictures was so different to that which currently prevails in photography that it was a shock when I first landed there. My eyes had become too accustomed to the diamond-sharp, perfectly colour-balanced images that digital technology has made possible to immediately accept photos taken with film cameras and developed at the local One Hour Photo. Jon's snaps were often blurry and overexposed with no apparent colour scheme. His subjects rarely sat nicely in measured compositions.
Even when he was photographing the patrons of the shabby café-bars of Montemor-o-Novo, the town in Portugal where he lived - subjects who were in fact seated and immobile - there was always a touch of anarchy, a touch of humanity, his photos were alive. He once remarked in an e-mail to me that he didn’t do “pretty pictures”. He was wrong. His photos were beautiful, and in a way that all those diamond-sharp digital images could never be.
I started leaving comments on Jon’s site, he on mine, and our intermittent e-mail exchanges began. Just as one had to get past the aesthetic shock and look carefully at Jon’s photos to fully appreciate them so he looked carefully at others’. More than once he remarked on something in one of my shots that I hadn’t noticed myself. For this reason his words of encouragement were valuable to me; his appreciation was genuine.
Jon's warmth of character was a further quality as apparent in his photos as his mails. Most of his shots were of the inhabitants of Montemor, a village lost in the countryside 40 miles to the east of Lisbon, a town not pretty enough for tourism nor rich enough for chain store homogeneity.
Similarly, Montemor’s inhabitants are neither charmingly rustic nor the neat, presentable Gap-clad men and women that the global economy has moulded. They're a scruffy lot, spending their evenings sitting awkwardly on bar furniture, drinking cheap beer straight from the bottle, looking up slack-jawed at the football on the telly. In viewing Jon’s photos I was often reminded of Oscar Wilde’s famous aphorism “Work is the curse of the drinking classes”.
Most photographers, I think, would maintain a certain distance between themselves and such subjects, one that would translate into a mocking tone in their photos or a falsely reverent one: ostensibly honouring such ‘salt of the earth’ characters, covertly pitying them. Jon did none of that; the section at ClaremontPhoto compiling his ‘people’ shots is titled “Friends and Neighbours”. Quite right, they were not his subjects, he was one of them. The warmth and camaraderie so apparent in his photography were equally evident in his words to me.
Soon after I was first in contact with Jon he was appointed as Community Ambassador at Expressions, bringing to the members’ attention the work of other Expressions contributors, and continuing to offer words of encouragement and genuine appreciation to so many of us. He was very much the glue in our online community and I know that I am not alone in saying how greatly missed he will be.
I learnt of Jon’s passing on Friday and that same day Shanolyno, a fellow Expressions user, posted a comment on my photoblog. I mailed him to say thanks and told him the sad news. His words in reply voiced my own thoughts perfectly: “Seems strange to mourn for someone that I feel I know so well, yet I never met.”
I never met Jon Claremont either, I never even spoke to him and yet he touched me in some way, he inspired me, and I will miss him. For those that did know this clearly exceptional man, his family and friends, the loss must be very great indeed and my thoughts are with them.
So, the photo of “Party World”. It was taken in July of last year with a DSLR which I’d just bought, on the day I arrived in Sardinia, my holiday destination. During the preceding months I had spent much time on photography: taking photographs, tending to my website, reading about photography, viewing the work of others and occasionally exchanging e-mails with Jon.
Shortly before I left we had a quick exchange about Martin Parr, whose work we both admired. I wrote: “Regarding Martin Parr, yes the man is a genius, but I also kind of hate him because it's become impossible to take photos in certain areas (supermarkets and seaside towns in the UK particularly) without thinking of his brilliant photos. He kind of owns all that now. If I ever find myself in a run down bar in Portugal and I'm unable to take photos because you've taken all the ideas and own that environment I'll let you know.”
When I arrived in Olbia this throwaway comment had transformed into prophecy. Maybe it was the intensity of the sunlight (in Jon’s outdoor shots the walls and streets of Montemor appeared sun-bleached) or maybe it was the slightly tattered look that much of Olbia still has despite a recent influx of tourists courtesy of EasyJet, but I was unable to take pictures of the place, I saw Jon’s photos everywhere.
Thwarted in my attempts to take my own photos I decided to produce some imitation Claremonts. I turned the exposure up a notch to get the bleached look, switched the focus setting to “auto” to lose some sharpness and took a couple of shots of shop fronts which I imagined wouldn’t be out of place in Montemor. This shot was the most successful. I had intended to send it to him but, very regrettably now, never got round to it.
But "Party World", though? Surely not the best way to memorialize someone? Like I say - bear with me. This shop, despite its apparent banality, despite the cheap plastic knick-knacks it displays in the window, proudly proclaims itself “Party World” and this is in keeping with the meaning I read behind many of Jon’s photos. Despite the tawdriness of their surroundings; despite their shabby clothes; despite the cheap beer they’re given to drink every night; despite the fact that they live in a forgotten hinterland, held there just above the breadline; despite the fact that they’re old and working class (both characteristics that were once a source of pride but not so much these days); despite all this and much more, the people in Jon’s photos are mostly smiling. They’re happy.
My favourite of Jon’s photos is of a frail old man who sells lottery tickets from in front of a bar. According to the text accompanying the photo he’s there every week with the same patter, every week he has “the big one”. There he is - leaning against a rubbish bin, an expression of rapt wonder on his face as he eyes the little scraps of paper in his hand which, despite the 10-million-to-one odds, are going to bring in the jackpot. The Don Quixote of Montemor, he is both a fool and a hero.
As summations of the human condition go, it's hard to beat. We are born into a world without purpose or meaning where there is but one truth: that one day, soon, we will be gone from it, obliterated. We have no chance; we are playing a machine we will never beat, which metes out suffering so much more than joy... And yet we still believe, holy fools that we are, that we're going to land "the big one", that “A vida é uma festa!” Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Party World.
So rest in peace, Jon Claremont, and thank you for showing me all this.
If you've read this far I hope you'll click on the link for ClaremontPhoto. Many of his older photos (including the lottery ticket seller) have disappeared but there remain many photos of exceptional quality.
In a previous post, I explained why a “blood moon” eclipse is tinted red… this image of a sunrise might explain it a little better. This was taken at the East Fork Overlook at milepost 418.3 along the Blue Ridge Parkway. On the tripod, the camera was at an elevation of nearly exactly 5,000 feet… that makes the horizon where the Sun popped up roughly 85 miles away from the lens. This was shot fullframe with a 400 mm lens, so the distance is compressed, but it shows the effect of denser atmosphere concerning the penetration of sunlight.
Officially, according to the European Space Agency, Earth’s atmosphere extends to 60 miles straight overhead. The atmosphere consists of gasses, mostly nitrogen and oxygen, water vapor, and dust. On a clear day, sunlight when the Sun is at zenith is not merely white but scattered throughout the color spectrum. The reason a leaf on a tree is green is because that leaf absorbs all wavelengths of light except green, which is reflected. The sky is blue not because it’s reflecting blue, but rather that it absorbs only blue light and is transparent… of all the colors, blue has the shortest wavelength of visible light. All the longer wavelengths just shoot right through.
Looking directly to the horizon as in this image, the depth of the atmosphere is nearly 145 miles… more atmosphere absorbs more light, yet the longer wavelength of red light easily affects the visible light of this sunrise. The red band on the Sun is due to a layer of vapor in the distance which scatters just about all visible light but red. Red pouring off that Sun sitting on the distant ridge looks quite like a beacon… it’s bright enough that the fog between mountaintops is reflecting it a bit. Other than evident vapor in the air to the east, there was no cloud cover in that direction on this morning. There’s a steep cliff to my back as I shot this, so I couldn’t tell about cloud coverage in that direction… but if there were clouds in that direction, they would have reflected the deep red light apparent here, and perhaps even more as they would be even further from the horizon. I hope this makes sense.
Explaining the towel: while it may seem a strange accessory to some of you, any local looking at this picture would immediately realise there was a baby tied to the young woman's back :-)
The work of ESA's 'Mars Yard' for planetary rover testing, part of ESTEC’s Planetary Robotics Laboratory, explained to visitors during the Sunday 4 October 2015 ESTEC Open Day by Gianfranco Visentin, head of ESA’s Automation and Robotics section (far left).
Credit: ESA-G. Porter CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO
A work in progress
It is with some doubt that I place this artwork online, and that doubt is easy to explain. The work does not meet the ideals being imposed on us from all sides. Instead of attractive and strong, I show myself in a raw and honest way. Although I thought I stood above this, it turns out to be an insurmountable thing.
With this preface, I want to explain the title. "Beyond the truth", We show ourselves to the world around us in an impeccable way. We ensure that we look our best, we tell the best anecdotes about our lives. This is the truth that we present to the public eye. But behind this truth, there lies another truth. The less beautiful truth of what we look like when we stay at home all day, how we sometimes feel bad about ourselves for a whole range of reasons. We naturally prefer to keep these things to ourselves, and we would do everything we could to completely erase this truth.
So with these self-portraits I want to go beyond my truth. Show myself in a different way than people usually see me. No polished self-portraits, but raw and honest.
Danielle Paterson and Harrison Cole in 'Guy Fawkes It Up!" by Laughing Mirror theatre company, at this year's Edinburgh Fringe.
The play was directed by Chad Porter. I know both Harrison and Chad from last year's Fringe when they were in 'The Baffling Adventures of Question-Mark Man'.
Is feudalism, marketing itself as democracy, the underlying operating system for modern civilization’s social, economic and political systems? This is the hypothesis of those who describe current systems of governance, militarism and global economics as a mutated form of feudalism.
If such assumption were true, it would help to explain why, for over 2,000 years, Western civilizations have perpetuated certain distinct characteristics — such as class systems, extreme wealth inequality, power elites, racism, militarism, prison systems and human trafficking.
It would help to explain why the guiding social systems and cultural programing of modern civilizations appear to be rooted in feudalism — focused on the concentration of power and wealth — and appear not to have changed significantly over time. Feudalism has been continuously “repackaged” and “updated” over time, transforming itself into imperialism, colonialism, industrialism and, most recently, into corporate capitalism and globalization.
Over the past few thousand years, human history has been one long story of empire building, predatory colonialism and military conquest. Even now, the majority of people on our planet are either extremely poor or in debt, while the wealthiest few have absolute control over the way those people live.
Our educational systems use standardized tests to sort, rank and classify children, while indoctrinating them with an incomplete understanding of history and manufacturing obedience. Test scores determine society’s winners and losers, and a child’s future social status will depend on their willingness to follow orders and do as instructed.
Our political systems are set up by those with the greatest wealth, allowing powerful individuals and corporations to make laws and wage wars, occupying offices far away from most “common people”, and ruling over the rest of us.
Our modern military campaigns sent young men off like pawns on chess boards to kill people in faraway countries that have resources our corporations want to control. Expensive weapons systems cost trillions of dollars, while back home there is little money left for the education or health care of our “peasant” classes.
Our prison systems are set up so as to see that poor people who violate laws are locked up in cages. In the United States, more African Americans are currently incarcerated than were forced into slavery 200 years ago.
All around us, we can see the old feudal systems transformed into modern versions of the same archaic patterns, resulting in the same social problems and dysfunctions.
It’s a system kept in place by propaganda that is fed to the masses by the media and schools, telling us that our world is based on “progress,” that we are more advanced and “developed” than primitive tribal cultures of the past. When in truth the feudal paradigm of civilization — focused on the social dominance of others and the acquisition of wealth by a small power elite — is in many ways barbaric, authoritarian and unsustainable.
Crime, war, racism, slavery, addiction, human trafficking, environmental destruction and extreme poverty are all symptoms of an underlying systemic imbalance, of a world where predatory and feudalist systems of social organization still dominate our lives.
Such criticism and understanding is not new. Jesus saw the evils of this system, and spoke out against it. Buddha refused to participate in his father’s kingdom, walking off and choosing to live in poverty instead. From Lao Tsu to Gandhi to Martin Luther King, there have been a chorus of voices that have spoken out across the ages. Albert Einstein wrote about this problem over 60 years ago, describing how modern political, economic and media systems were perpetuating oligarchy and manipulating democratic systems.
As we moved into the modern industrial age, large peaceful social movements have risen up to challenge the system – from the abolitionists and women suffragettes to the civil rights movement, anti-war protests, ecology movement and Occupy Wall Street. The old feudal ways of doing things has created endless misery, destroying Nature’s fragile ecosystems and leading the human race to ruin.
The time has come for our species to grow wiser, evolve our thinking and change the way we live upon this planet.
C. C.