Sunday 27 March 2016

EASTER LIGHT!


"The people that walked in darkness have seen a great light: they that dwell in the land of the shadow of death, upon them hath the light shined."

 – The Prophecy of Isaiah, Chapter 9, Verse 2

And when the sabbath was past, Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James, and Salome, had bought sweet spices, that they might come and anoint him.
And very early in the morning the first day of the week, they came unto the sepulchre at the rising of the sun.
And they said among themselves, Who shall roll us away the stone from the door of the sepulchre?
And when they looked, they saw that the stone was rolled away: for it was very great.
And entering into the sepulchre, they saw a young man sitting on the right side, clothed in a long white garment; and they were affrighted.
And he saith unto them, Be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: he is risen; he is not here: behold the place where they laid him.

– The Gospel of St Mark, Chapter 16, Verses 1-6

[Photo: Window in St John the Divine, Kennington, © Brian Sible, 2012]

Saturday 26 March 2016

DRAWN TO SUCCESS


Tomorrow (Sunday 27 March)

Channel 5 Television 

presents
a celebration of the   

GREATEST ANIMATED MOVIES 

This cartoon marathon will be transmitted from 4:10 to 7:00 pm

Honouring some of the finest and funniest films in the history of animation will be Brian Cosgrove, Craig T Nelson, Floyd Norman, Henry Selick, Brian Sibley, David Silverman and Billy West ––––

PLUS... 7 Dwarfs, 101 Dalmatians, Wallace & Gromit, The Snowman, The Iron Giant, Shrek, Roger Rabbit, a boy named Charlie Brown and many others!

Tune in to see how your favourites fare against those voted Top of the Toontown Toons!


Roger says...

"DON'T MISS IT!!!"


Friday 25 March 2016

LAMENT



I wake and feel the fell of dark not day.
What hours, O what black hours we have spent
This night! what sights you, heart, saw; ways you went!
And more must, in yet longer light's delay.
With witness I speak this. But where I say
Hours I mean years, mean life. And my lament
Is cries countless, cries like dead letters sent
To dearest him that lives alas! away.

I am gall, I am heartburn. God's most deep decree
Bitter would have me taste: my taste was me;
Bones built in me, flesh filled, blood brimmed the curse.
Selfyeast of spirit a dull dough sours. I see
The lost are like this, and their scourge to be
As I am mine, their sweating selves; but worse.

– Gerald Manley Hopkins




Photo:  Part of the bronze sculpture known as the Kelham Rood by the English sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger, depicting Christ on the cross flanked by figures of St John and Mary the Mother of Jesus. The sculptural group was commissioned in 1927 to adorn the Great Chapel at Kelham Hall, Kelham, Nottinghamshire, when it was a theological training college run by the Society of the Sacred Mission. It is currently in the church of St John the Divine, Kennington.

(c) Brian Sibley 2012

Thursday 24 March 2016

A NEW TAKE ON AN OLD STORY

Here, by way of a little Easter surprise, is a rather unusual retelling of the greatest story ever told–––

THE WOODLAND GOSPELS 
(According to Captain Beaky and His Band)

Jeremy Lloyd's The Woodland Gospels dramatised for Radio by Brian Sibley 

Starring David Langton as Artful Owl, Jeremy Lloyd as Captain Beaky,
Clive Swift as Timid Toad, Nigel Davenport as Reckless Rat, 
Beryl Reid as Batty Bat and Leslie Phillips as Hissing Sid

The programme, produced by Graham Gauld and directed by John Forrest.
was first broadcast on BBC Radio 4 on 23 December 1984 at 18:15



Wednesday 23 March 2016

EGGSCRUCIATINGLY YOURS!

What better way to celebrate the forthcoming festivities in praise of chocolate than to send you a batch of eggstremely weird vintage Easter cards?

You have been warned...


















What can I possibly add, other than to wish you...


Thursday 17 March 2016

ST PATRICK'S DAY COVERAGE

St PATRICK'S DAY GREETINGS!

Courtesy of The New Yorker cover artists...




 




Art by Charles E Martin, Arthur Getz, Leonard Dove and Abe Birnbaum

BE LUCKY!

Wishing you the luck o' the Irish! 


Artist: Charles Kaiser

Wednesday 16 March 2016

A MARVEL IN MARBLE

This stunning sculpted relief of Bacchus and Ariadne (c. 1505) by the Venetian sculptor Tullio Lombardo, (c. 1455-1532) usually resides in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna, but is currently being exhibited as part of the In the Age of Giorgione exhibition at London's Royal Academy of Arts (12 March-15 June 2016).


The following description is from the website of Washington's National Gallery of Art:
The woman leans dreamily against her consort, but her rippling hair seems to swell with energy against the brocaded headdress that binds it. The garland of vine leaves in the man’s hair suggests that he is the ancient wine god Bacchus with his bride Ariadne, or perhaps an ivy-crowned poet with his beloved. The frame-like border around the figures may indicate that Tullio was competing not only with ancient sculpture, but also with contemporary painters.
In addition to this wondrous sculpture there are stunning portraits, landscapes and religious paintings by Giorgione and his contemporaries...


Giorgione, Portrait of a Young Man (Antonio Brocardo?). Oil on canvas. 72.5 x 54 cm. Szépmüvészeti Múzeum, Budapest. Gift of Archbishop János László Pyrker, 1836. Currently on exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts, Burlington House, London

Sunday 6 March 2016

"PUT THEM ALL TOGETHER THEY SPELL..."

Love to all Mums, past and present, on Mothering Sunday!