art and culture
The Ness of Brodgar
The Ness of Brodgar Excavation continues to uncover fascinating information about Neolithic Orkney:
At its zenith, in the main phase that we are currently exploring (dating from c 3100BC), the Ness was dominated by huge freestanding buildings flanked by a pair massive stone walls.
The best book on the Ness at present is The Ness of Brodgar: As It Stands (Orcadian, 2020)
I am very keen to visit this and other sites in Orkney at some point!
Long term trends fascinate me; fads don’t. It’s working out which is which that is the problem. #mbnov
Rufus Du Sol
Went to the Rüfüs Du Sol concert in Tāmaki Makaurau last night. It was pure joy and wonderment.
The crowd at the Vector Arena seemingly stretching to infinity under a blizzard of white confetti.
Sam surrounded by confetti.
Rusty and Melissa - who we met at the show - enjoying the vibe.
Turns out my sister was at the same concert - neither of us knew till we saw each other in the crowd!
Rüfüs Du Sol member and singer Tyrone Lindqvist thanking the crowd.
I absolutely love following along as the ongoing excavations at the Ness of Brodgar reveal new insights into this fascinating Neolithic site in the Orkney islands.
The latest update shares new findings about Structure Twenty-Seven and the ‘exquisite’ stonework involved.
She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC
This exhibition at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York from October 2022 to February 2023 looks fascinating! Wish I could spare the time to go and see it.
The exhibition covers the first known author by name in history - Enheduanna, the high priestess of the temple of the moon god in the city of Ur. She was the daughter of the Akkadian king Sargon (ca. 2344-2279 BC). Her poetry reflected her deep devotion to the goddess of sexual love and warfare—Inanna in Sumerian, Ishtar in Akkadian.
She Who Wrote: Enheduanna and Women of Mesopotamia, ca. 3400–2000 BC
Viking Textiles Show Women Had Tremendous Power
Exciting article that details new findings on the archeology of textiles in the Viking era, and the implications for the wealth and power of women in that culture and period.
Viking Textiles Show Women Had Tremendous Power - Scientific American
I’ve been playing a bunch of Canadian songs on repeat today. I made a playlist for Bill which he seems to like.
This is so wonderful…
literature-clock.jenevoldsen.com
@Miraz - I think I might need to learn how to embed things!!
Plants and rocks at Pukeahu National War Memorial Park. Pōneke.
The ancient art of barrel making, the work of a ‘Cooper’, has always fascinated me. One of many crafts we once relied on, but is now a rare and marginal skill. #mbnov #crafts
Captivated and transported by Red Leap’s interpretation of Janet Frame’s “Owls Do Cry” this afternoon. It is now 65 years since the book was published; this performance gave it fresh relevance.
#writer #book #modernist #novel #autobiography #JanetFrame #Aotearoa #OwlsDoCry
“Suspicion always haunts the guilty mind;
The thief doth fear each bush an officer. ”
Shakespeare (Henry VI, Part III)
#mbnov
“I think we all have empathy. We may not have enough courage to display it.”
Maya Angelou (New York Times, 2013) #mbnov
“Insight cannot be taken back. You cannot return to the moment you were in before.” Hilary Mantel (Wolf Hall: A Novel, 2009) #mbnov
None of us should be exempt from the maxim “This above all: to thine own self be true. And it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any”. #mbnov #shakespeare #modernised
