Raze your #insurrection flag. Here are your choices: (1) Jolly Roger, (2) Grand Union, (3) Lions and Castles (Christopher Columbus), (4) Confederate, (5) Crusader, and (6) French Resistance.
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(1) YouTube 80s
(1a) WarGames Soundtrack
(1b) Cobra Kai Season 3, All Easter Eggs & References Explained!
(1c) Every Video Game in ‘Ready Player One’ Explained By Author Ernest Cline
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Hail, holy Queen, Mother of mercy,
our life, our sweetness, and our hope.
To you do we cry,
poor banished children of Eve.
To you do we send up our sighs
mourning and weeping in this vale of tears.
Turn then, O most gracious advocate,
your eyes of mercy toward us,
and after this, our exile,
show unto us the blessed fruit of your womb, Jesus.
O clement, O loving,
O sweet Virgin Mary.
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“At the end of the current age, the Lord will come and sit in judgement on the entire world. He will distinguish between the wicked and the righteous, the selfish and the loving. It will be a time of joy for those to whom Jesus says, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.” — Daily Meditations on the Psalms
(1) 2021: A Bad Feeling – Fr. Mark Goring, CC (YouTube)
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“A holy day has dawned upon us. Come, you nations, and adore the Lord. Today a great light has come upon the earth.”
Merry Christmas! Mostly convalescing so limited posting.
Join us live on Zoom on 21 January to hear award-winning poet @theresa_lola discuss her creative process and how Gossaert’s altarpiece inspired her poem, ‘Look at the Revival’: https://t.co/GFcBmx7bTd pic.twitter.com/wbDQeJooZF
— National Gallery (@NationalGallery) December 26, 2020
Related
Remembering the Sacred at Christmas: ‘The Adoration of the Magi’ by Eric Bess (The Epoch Times)
Updates (12/30/2020)
I bought The Book in the Cathedral by Christopher de Hamel from The Open Book Shop and what a gem! It’s like the penultimate edition of library roulette (see older posts). I gave a copy to Mum for Christmas and then there was an explosion of articles about Saint Thomas after the White House issued a proclamation honoring the 850th anniversary of his martyrdom.
(1) White House proclamation honors anniversary of St. Thomas Becket’s martyrdom (Our Sunday Visitor)
(2) Has Thomas Becket’s treasured ‘little book’ been found? (BBC)
(3) St. Thomas Becket, Integralist (The Josias)
(4) President Trump Proclaims St Thomas Becket Day of Observance (YouTube)
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Rosie and Java is another for my growing list of exceptional cafés. Although it’s not technically a café they have adjusted to managing post-pandemic by offering coffee via their front door. The coffee is maybe the best in Richmond. The Tide Tables Café has the view (and is featured in City Walks London: 50 Adventures on Foot) but the beans and craftsmanship at Rosie and Java make it a grind above the rest.
I have a post in mind to describe why each café has made the list, but it’s a seriously personal post (hint: it’s certainly NOT always about the coffee).
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Place your hope in the Lord; be strong and courageous in your heart, and place your hope in the Lord. — Ps. 27:14
This is typically my Advent retreat to St. Joseph’s Abbey in Spencer, MA but what’s that quote about best laid-plans…
(1) Quotes from The Book in the Cathedral: The Last Relic of Thomas Becket by Christopher de Hamel:
“For much of the last 500 years in England, religious relics have been widely ridiculed as an aspect of the credulity of the unreformed Middle Ages. Their lowest point was probably during the Enlightenment in the later eighteenth century.”
“The study of history is often licensed impertinence. We would never dare rummage through a rich man’s closets today or rifle through his papers without permission, but transfer the temerity to the Middle Ages and it is considered research.” [Emphasis mine]
“The manuscript is utterly Cistercian. The Order was famous for its graceful but austere pale architecture and its manuscripts with their prescribed monochrome initials without use of gold.”
(2) Compline at St. Joseph’s Abbey, Spencer MA
(3) Abbaye de Pontigny
“Built in the 12th century, Pontigny Abbey Church is the world’s biggest Cistercian church! The dimensions of this huge medieval edifice are impressive: 108 metres long, with a 4,000 m² floor area! Its magnificent proportions, harmonious volumes, understated interior and the peace that it exudes all help to make this second daughter of Cîteaux such an unmissable heritage site.”
“In the following century, another archbishop of Canterbury, Saint Edme, also took refuge in the abbey of Pontigny. He died in France in 1240. His body rests in Pontigny.”
Sources: Quote 1 and 2
(4) Monkware 8.0 is a Limestone Roof project drawing inspiration from literature, religious, and other sources.
(4a) The Main Altar
(5) The Magnificat (Our Catholic Prayers)
“In this regard, the Magnificat is more than a prayer of praise. It also reminds us about the essential link between humility and holiness. Just as God has “regarded the lowliness of his handmaid” and “has done great things” for Mary in making her the Mother of his Son, so too “he has put down the mighty from their thrones (with his own might!) and has exalted the lowly.”
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“Never again will you be capable of love, or friendship, or joy of living, or laughter, or curiosity, or courage, or integrity. You will be hollow. We shall squeeze you empty, and then we shall fill you with ourselves.” — George Orwell, 1984
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(1) A couple more from Tomorrow-land by Joseph Tirella:
“Each group ultimately wanted the same thing—as Leary later said, ‘to weaken faith and conformity to the 1950s social order’—but each would explore their own ways of changing the culture.”
“An entirely new and different youth culture was taking shape, and in the summer of 1965, it made Moses; World Fair seem old and woefully out of date.”
(1a) ROBERT MOSES, MASTER BUILDER, IS DEAD AT 92 (NYTIMES, July 30 1981)
Bricks: “Each of the two Jones Beach bathhouses, faced with an especially expensive brick that Mr. Moses had admired on an East Side hotel, cost a million dollars.”
(2) The 1964 New York World’s Fair (YouTube)
(3) No, Dammit, Cities Are Not Dead! (The Atlantic)
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Finished Tomorrow-land by Joseph Tirella. Here are ten interesting facts gleaned from the book:
(1) The first meeting between a pope and US president occurred on American soil on October 4, 1965 at the Waldorf Astoria (Pope Paul VI and LBJ).
Limestone Fun Fact: Stayed there in October 2012 during NYCC.
(2) A report on the Fair’s financial management from city comptroller Abraham Beame cited an expensive air-conditioning unit that had been lost.
(3) Philip Johnson designed the NY State Pavilion. The circular towers remain and are being restored.
(4) William E. Potter, Moses’ building czar, worked for the Walt Disney Co. and was instrumental in the construction of Walt Disney World. He has a window on Main Street USA above the confectionary that reads: General Joe’s Building Permits Licensed in Florida Gen. Joe Potter, Raconteur
(5) Eero Saarinen collaborated with Charles Ames on the IBM Pavilion. The former was the architect of the TWA Flight Center (Bird Terminal) at JFK.
(6) Warhol’s mural Thirteen Most Wanted Men was painted over to avoid controversy.
(7) A City Destroying Itself: an Angry View of New York by Richard J. Whalen. History repeats itself.
(8) The Ford Motor Company used the Fair to introduce the Ford Mustang. Disney designed the Magic Skyway for the Ford Pavilion.
(9) Former president Harry S. Truman was at the opening ceremony.
(10) The controversial (and never constructed) LOMEX (Lower Manhattan Expressway) would have connected Long Island and New Jersey.
(11) Flushing Meadows-Corona Park was the second largest park in the five boroughs in 1967 with 1,258 acres when the Fair Corporation relinquished control to the New York City.
Bonus Quote (for a Long Islander): “Closer to Flushing Meadow, Moses improved the Van Wyck Expressway, a six-lane connecting highway. All these roads would lead commuters directly to the World’s Fair and the new ballpark, Shea Stadium, that was being built at the same time.”
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(1) A quote from Tomorrow-land by Joseph Tirella:
“According to GM, twenty-first-century cities would feature sleek modernist skyscrapers and smart superhighways—computers would regulate traffic and keep cars safely away from each other. But the great Metropolis of the future would allow for a relic of the past: A Gothic cathedral held a place of honor on one of the few people-populated plazas in the busy city. (Apparently, one of the few places that people waked to in the future was church.)”
“Moses’ Fair was selling the notion of progress: the kind of progress that had created a National Highway System and enshrined skyscrapers as a new form of American art; the kind of progress that had successfully split the atom and was now close to a putting a man on the moon; the kind of progress that unleashed the single-minded directives of the of a Master Builder who could—and did—mold and shape the largest and greatest metropolis on earth according to his whim, filling it with expressways and block towers, bridges, and tunnels that led millions outside of its shadows into vast pastoral settings of parks and beaches. This was the ethos of postwar America, and it was the personal philosophy—almost a religion, really—of Moses.
(1a) World’s Fair Subway Special – TV commercial for NYCTA (YouTube)
(2) Phil Collins – Face Value (Classic Album)
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“Michelangelo and Walt Disney are the stars of my show.” — Robert Moses
(1) A quote from Tomorrow-land by Joseph Tirella:
“Although not one to share the spotlight—or the credit—Moses wanted Disney to have a headlining role at his Fair. From the get-go the Master Builder and the Master Showman hit it off. Although Moses was thirteen years older than Disney, the two men had characteristics in common. Disney had remade the American pop culture landscape, just as Moses had reshaped the actual landscape of New York City—each according to his own vision. Both had outsize imaginations and egos; both were leaders who surrounded themselves with armies of technicians on whom they could rely; and both were intensely driven workaholics.”
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(1) London National Park City Greenground Map
(2) Pink Floyd Clare Torry “The Great Gig in the Sky” Interview (YouTube)
(2a) Time by Pink Floyd:
Far away across the field
The tolling of the iron bell
Calls the faithful to their knees
To hear the softly spoken magic spells
(3) Broad & Co Printing Works: A building here was Broad & Co Printing Works. It had also been used as a Mission Room. It became a print works in 1853 for Thomas Darnell and Broads from 1893 until 1988.
(4) Seeking Inspiration (The British Museum)
(5) A quote from Tomorrow-land by Joseph Tirella:
“After the success of London’s Great Exhibition of 1851, fairs were all the rage. In the nineteenth century, cities on both side of the Atlantic wanted to host exhibitions to attract business, display their industrial might, and tout their cultural achievements. Fairs were economic boosts that could reenergize a city or announce its arrival on the world stage. Just two years after the London Exhibition, New York held its own first World’s Fair: the Crystal Palace Exhibition of 1853, which featured its version of the famed Crystal Palace, on the current site of Manhattan’s Bryant Park.”
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My one oversized box arrived from the US. I shipped a couple of books and have answered the question — if you were on a deserted island and could only bring one (or ten) books.
(1) How to Be Like Walt: Capturing the Disney Magic Every Day of your Life by Pat Williams with Jim Denney
(2) Life Lessons from the Monastery: Wisdom on Love, Prayer, Calling, & Commitment by Jerome Kodell, OSB
(3) New St. Joseph Sunday Missal: The Complete Masses for Sundays, Holydays, and the Easter Triduum; Mass Themes and Biblical Commentaries by John C. Kersten
(4) Lead, Kindly Light by Rev. James C. Sharp
(5) Daily Meditations on the Psalms by Rev. Msgr. C. Anthony Ziccardi
(6) Night Prayer by Catholic Book Publishing Company
(7) A Good Parcel of English Soil by Richard Mabey
(8) Tomorrow-Land: The 1964-65 World’s Fair and the Transformation of America by Joseph Tirella
(9) Orval Histoire de la reconstruction de l’abbaye by Eric HANCE and Danièle HENKY
(10) British Rail Architecture 1948-97 by David Lawrence
Other
London: A 3D Keepsake Cityscape by Sarah McMenemy
City Walks London: 50 Adventures on Foot by Christina Henry de Tessan
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Work obligations are keeping me from any meaningful posts even though we’re in a hard lockdown in the UK. My flat was completely unfurnished so I’ve been scrambling to find a couple of things online to create some semblance of a home. My stuff is still in transit too so feeling a bit disorientated (esp. on the weekends when recharging during this relentless year is absolutely essential). I didn’t ship any furniture but the Brompton and French press are stuck in limbo. I also shipped a scanner and found these very cool British First Day Covers (FDC) at Coastal Stamp Auctions in Brighton that I will eventually scan/post.
(1) A quote from Brick: A Social History by Carolyne Haynes:
“The advent of the printing press plus a growing scientific interest in improving all manufacturing and farming led to the writing of guidance as to the best practice to be adopted, and bricks were not to be excluded. Much of the literature was aimed at those commissioning the bricks so that they could avoid being cheated.”
(2) Keri Smith from unsafe space is really amazing. She was on Friday Night Tights and mentioned George Orwell. Her site includes a book club and the features titles/authors (e.g. C.S. Lewis, Huxley, and Rand) would be included in a Freedom 101 curriculum.
(2a) An Introduction to C.S. Lewis: Writings and Significance via Hillsdale College.
(3) A couple of **NEW** exceptional cafés to add to the list. The first is the Tide Tables Café in Richmond. It’s in a converted arch beneath Richmond Bridge and the views of the Thames are incredible. The next is the Lanes Coffee House in Brighton. It’s described as warm and cozy and that fits perfectly. The last is Coffeeology in Hammersmith. This was my neighborhood café for a couple of months. It has great coffee and the décor is eclectic. It’s not as quirky as the Foliage Café in Bristol but friendly and well-trafficked.
(4) As a museum director, I’ve been moved by a sense of the divine (Catholic Herald)
“But I love our neighbours: the delicious aromas coming from the kitchens; the choir practising on a Friday afternoon; the huge magnolia tree and late summer dahlias; and the boundless Christian patience of the Oratorians as we repeatedly disturb their monastic peace.”
(5) A History of London’s 25 Bridges over the Thames (Londontopia)
The image is from the Brighton Toy and Model Museum. Here’s a bonus photo.
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