Some pictures must be taken, some things must be blogged. Photography and pop culture.
We’re in that time of the year again, so here is my Christmas post for 2022.
Two quick smartphone shots with Christmas theme.
Drawing inspired by Caffe Nero festive cup.
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, and if you don’t celebrate or don’t want to celebrate, then have a peaceful time.
I took some shots from the window earlier in the month. The top two with camera, the last one with smartphone. (It’s not snow, it’s frost.)
Temperatures plummeted to, like, minus eight degrees Celsius, and I was legit worried it would never get warmer. Cold snaps like this tend to last two to three days; this one went for longer than a week. It was awful. I still went for my usual walk in the park on my lunchbreak, but I had to keep my hands in my pockets. There was nothing to photograph anyway.
Luckily it got better, now it’s back to the normal Manchester weather of grey skies and rain, and much warmer temperature.
I’ve not taken any pictures since 9 December, apart from this one of Pepper chilling on the kitchen radiator:
Although “chilling” is probably not the right term here. More like “warming”.
Depressing post is depressing, but it explains why there was no content on the blog. I’m not depressed, in fact I’ve been reflecting that 2022 has been a quite good year for me.
I don’t have any concrete plans for any Christmas-themed post, but I’ll probably slip something in, because I usually do.
I hope you’re keeping warm.
Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap, the longest running play in the world, is celebrating its 70th anniversary. It first opened in London’s West End in 1952 (and has now outrun the reign of Queen Elizabeth!) This milestone is being honoured by a tour around the country, of which one of the stops was Manchester.
Yeah, you know I went, you don’t even have to ask. Duh, I’d lose my Agatha fan card if I didn’t go see it!
Opera House looked pretty nice with the displays.
I was there on the 3rd December, so their last night in Manchester (yeah, it was a few days ago, I just forgot to post it…). From what I could see, it was a sold out performance.
The Mousetrap is a classic Agatha Christie locked room mystery. A group of people at a boarding house are cut off from the rest of the world by snowy weather, someone gets murdered–whodunnit? The tune of Three Blind Mice is a recurring motif, hence the title of the play.
When the murder was about to happen, all the lights went out, including the fire exit signs. Truly spooky!
I didn’t manage to get the program, so I had to look up the cast on the website.
Everyone was excellent–I keep saying I need to go to the theatre more often. It requires quite a different calibre of talent than film and TV acting. Fun fact: in its first opening in 1952, the role of Detective Sergeant Trotter was played by Richard Attenborough.
And finally, as it has recently been announced, The Mousetrap is heading to Broadway in 2023!
I saw this weekend’s Weekly Prompts Weekend Challenge was Flight–and I knew I had the right content for it!
Taken on my recent flight from Bratislava back to Manchester. The geolocation shows as Karlovy Vary (also known as Carlsbad) in Czech Republic, a popular spa resort not far from the German border.
The fluffy white clouds would almost make you believe you were in a fantasy castle in the skies–but only almost. It’s a Ryanair flight after all!
(For readers outside Europe: Ryanair is a budget airline that operates to and from most of the major cities here, so not very romantic, but honestly, they do exactly what you need them to do, i.e. fly you from A to B, and what more do you need?)
Cold, innit? So much so that parts of the grass in my park are covered with frost.
Silver and gold. Amazing that the autumn leaves are still around!
They’re also withered, poor things.
Unlike my previous abandoned flowers post, I couldn’t think of any interesting story, or at least not one that would not be too sad. There’s enough depressing stuff in the world already.
What the title says.
Note: A post titled A Work Of Art was originally published on Some Photoblog in June 2021. I have come to a decision to delete and republish it with some changes to the text and expanded title (the pictures remain the same as in the original post). I explain why below.
This painting hangs in Manchester Art Gallery (quite high up, hence the awkward angle).
It’s Hylas and the Nymphs by John William Waterhouse. Waterhouse was an English painter of the Pre-Raphaelite movement and Hylas and the Nymphs is one of his best known works.
The Gallery’s label:
(Look, I don’t know. Maybe the nymphs were just like: dude, you’re trespassing. It doesn’t have to be that deep. Waterhouse can hardly be blamed for some femme fatale shit, when it’s a story from the Greek mythology. Also, I like Pre-Raphaelites. I like nice things. I’m a visual person.)
The image below is a scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, the fourth film in the series, released in 2011, directed by Rob Marshall:
Okay, so you have to squint a bit. But you can see it.
The two stunningly beautiful people are Philip and Syrena, played by Sam Claflin and Astrid Berges-Frisbey. Syrena is a mermaid, not a nymph (and there are no water lilies, obviously), but she does look like something Waterhouse would have painted. He seemed to have had a thing for women of mythology and legends, and bodies of water. (Waterhouse, get it?) Philip is no Argonaut, he’s a missionary, which is why he wears that cross, but he was on a ship. Which is, I suppose, a logical occurrence in a movie centred on pirates. On Stranger Tides is probably the weakest in the series, but it’s still worth watching for these two, if nothing else. Their romance would surely inspire artists and poets alike. There was something so pure about it, stupid as the word is. I love Philip and Syrena, they own my heart.
*spoilers* Interestingly, much like Hylas, Philip was never seen again either. His fate is a bit ambiguous, as he’s injured, likely quite critically, and the above scene is the moment just before he and Syrena kiss and she pulls him into the water. It was established earlier in the movie that a mermaid’s kiss can heal, and she does tell him: “I can save you, just ask,” though he doesn’t ask, he says he wants only forgiveness, as he blames himself for her capture. She kisses him anyway (get in there, girl!), and the last we see of them is when they float underwater. But I’m positive Philip didn’t die, the reason why neither him nor Syrena appear again is that The Powers That Be decided not to use them any more. *end spoilers*
So, now for the controversial part. My original June 2021 post was a silly entry about how film snobs need to get over themselves and step on a Lego, because the similarity between the Philip and Syrena scene and the Waterhouse painting proved that Pirates of the Caribbean films were a work of art. Not that I no longer believe this to be true (because the similarity cannot be denied), but it is a frivolous matter compared to… well, everything surrounding the lead actor of the franchise.
However, I maintain that the Pirates movies don’t necessarily have to revolve around the character of Jack Sparrow because they still have a lot going for them that is not Jack Sparrow. (In fact I think the later instalments should have reduced his role). Adventure, humour, horror, romance, and a lot of swashbuckling action. There are plenty of other great characters; the first trilogy truly belongs to Will and Elizabeth. I mean, it’s Elizabeth who becomes the Pirate King. Not Jack. There’s Tia Dalma and Davy Jones. Weatherby Swann (Elizabeth’s father), James Norrington, even Cutler Beckett. And the films always nail their romances. Will and Elizabeth, Philip and Syrena, and Henry and Carina in the fifth film. And I think Geoffrey Rush’s performance as Hector Barbossa is just as iconic as Johnny Depp’s Jack. The scene in The Curse of the Black Pearl “you’d better start believing in ghost stories, you’re in one” where he’s revealed to be a skeleton in the moonlight, is so bone chilling and so, well, iconic! I also love Elizabeth and Will’s wedding in the third film, At World’s End. On a ship, in the middle of a battle, Elizabeth shouts to Barbossa: “Barbossa, marry us!” To which he responds: “I’m a little bit busy at the moment!” But he nevertheless marries them, while all three of them are fighting their enemy.
Plus Ragetti and Pintel are a hilarious duo.
All that and the theme tune (composed by Hans Zimmer, no less) is the best.
On Stranger Tides was Sam Claflin’s first film. You know how I feel about the guy.
In conclusion, Pirates of the Caribbean films are a lot of fun. But if you feel you can’t watch them any more, that’s okay too. And if you’ve never liked them anyway, then it doesn’t matter.
I wonder if Waterhouse would have been a fan?
Hello world, I’m still here in Slovakia, and as I have gathered a few cool smartphone pics, I’ve decided to make a blog post. So here it is.
The photos are very much me, in a different city.
The pure randomness: the coat of arms of Bratislava on the street waste bin.
The autumn leaves, of course – this is outside the block of flats where my mum lives; you can see the red bus shelter.
The view from the window – it’s, well, the view from the window of my mum’s 7th floor flat. She lives sort of at the edge of the city, hence the fields.
The coffee drinker – there is no version of me that doesn’t drink coffee. Although that eternal beverage has not really made a proper appearance on Some Photoblog. Yet.
The signs – this one is in the gardens of Bratislava Castle.
The shots from moving public transport – Bratislava Castle from the bus. (There’ll be loads of that, worry not!)
And the beauty too – sunset over the Danube river. With trees.
All pics taken with my smartphone, downloaded onto my tablet and shrank using PicResize. Thanks, Weekly Prompts for the tip. (Normally I save my photos to my laptop’s hard drive and use plain, basic MS Paint to resize the images I choose for the blog.)
My camera is getting a good workout – results to be seen soon!
Hello there, world, guess who is back in her homeland like the proverbial prodigal daughter?
Yes, after seven years, I am finally visiting my home country! I’m writing this while staying at my mum’s place (updating the blog from a place other than my flat for the first time since I started it), although it’s unlikely I will post any more during my stay here. I haven’t scheduled any posts for while I’m away, so blog will be dry until I return to Manchester–hopefully with many a great pics!
Some Photoblog 