Cinderella

Look what I bought for 50p! This Ladybird edition of Cinderella is so beautiful that I had to share it with you. Of course we all know the 'Bibbidi bobbidi boo' of Walt Disney's Cinderella (which I will include), but this book is even lovelier. So here it is, the front cover and my favourite illustration. 

Cinderella is such a fascinating story, and so embedded in our culture. Cinderella is the archetypal oppressed hero, who is ultimately rewarded. Her repression is perhaps typical of women throughout history. Her reward, true love; seems to have informed modern ideas of romance.

And what is with the shoes? For a start, glass slippers sound clammy, cold and unflattering. Secondly, if Cinderella's clothes turned to rags at midnight, then her shoes should have done too. Then there is the strangeness of the idea of tracking down your beloved using her shoes. This had been done before, in the tale of Rhodopis, which was recorded by Strabo in the 1st century BC.

 'when she was bathing, an eagle snatched one of her sandals from her maid and carried it to Memphis; and while the king was administering justice in the open air, the eagle, when it arrived above his head, flung the sandal into 

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his lap; and the king, stirred both by the beautiful shape of the sandal and by the strangeness of the occurrence, sent men in all directions into the country in quest of the woman who wore the sandal; and when she was found in the city of Naucratis, she was brought up to Memphis, became the wife of the king'

That seems to be the root of the 'what is with the shoes?' question, I wasn't expecting to answer it so thoroughly. But it leaves my Ladybird book looking pretty new in comparison. On a less highbrow note, here's 'Bibbidi Bobbidi Boo', as promised. 

 Text on Strabo courtesy of http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Strabo/home.html

Macbeth

Found a piece of schoolwork that I was so proud of aged 14. I love Macbeth, and this is an illustration of a quotation from the play. 

'look like the innocent flower

But be the serpent under't'

These two lines  (spoken by Lady Macbeth in Act 1, Scene 5, when she is convincing Macbeth to murder King Duncan) are splendid, as is the whole play. There was an amazing - and very bloody- production of it in 2010 at Shakespeare's globe. The Roman Polanski film, although very naked, is also worth watching.

Diary

My first post on Crucial Detail was all about my diaries, and the level of excitement in them didn't bode very well for blogging. But now I'm one week older, so much wiser, and I've found my very first diary. It is almost a parody of a little girl's diary: fluffy, purple and sparkly. And inside it are some real gems: 'I had a party';  'I don't now', which I assume is supposed to read 'I don't know'; and 'I kissed the baby'. Rocking from an early age. 

Flamingoes in Kensington

I went along to the roof garden on High Street Kensington. It's free to visit during the day, and  extraordinary- like the Garden of Eden, but with more flamingoes, and a view of London. I love it.

'Pierrot le Fou', Jean-Luc Godard, 1965

This is possibly the perfect film. It is exciting and beautiful, happy and sad, 'tender and cruel'. I love love love it. 

 The British Museum


Isn't the British Museum absolutely fantastic?
It is an incredible source of inspiration and information. To anybody in London,  I would recommend a visit.
The history of human existence is made more real when one sees artefacts from the era in question.
My favourite bit is probably 'Ginger' the man preserved by sand in Ancient Egypt. I used to give myself nightmares by looking at him, but now I find it astonishing that we can see him- a remnant of a long-gone era, preserved by accident.

Museum of Brands, Packaging and Advertising


The Museum of Packaging (http://www.museumofbrands.com/) is such a fabulous place to visit. It's a shrine to all things commercial, featuring around 12,000 examples of packaging. Most of these were collected by the consumer historian Robert Opie. As Opie so rightly puts it, 'When the thousands of pieces of our social history are assembled into some giant jigsaw, the picture becomes clearer as to the remarkable journey we have all come through'. This means that the museum is not just a visual feast, but also makes the visitor aware of their cultural history. And, it's right next to Portobello Road!

Necklaces

I've been making some necklaces in preparation for the many summer fairs that approach (there are fairs, but no summer!) and here are a couple of them. I don't know whether anyone would be interested in some DIY's. If so, comment below. But otherwise, hope you like.

Painting with Light


Has anybody tried this before? It is really simple, and can have such fun results! All you need are some bike lights (or a torch, or even a mobile phone screen) and a camera. The best sort is a DSLR or SLR camera, as you can adjust the shutter speed- the slower the better. But I think most other cameras would also work.
First of all make sure your camera is focussed, as it probably won't be able to focus in the dark. Then turn off the lights and press the camera button at the same time. Then the fun bit: run around holding a the torch (or whatever else you use). You might want to experiment, because every camera will be slightly different, but the results should be cool.
I'm thinking that you could do a similar thing with sparklers or fireworks, roll on Guy Fawkes' Night!

This is such a great song, and I sing it whilst I write. I love the nonchalant delivery, and the bizarre camera angles nearer the end of the video.

Tiny

A person so tiny and shriveled and small,

That their clothes seem to flap around nothing at all.

I've made a weeny little shop, it needs a bit more work. But I haven't yet worked out how to make the typical butchers counter, with the curved glass. Tricky! 

My favourite poem in the world. 


Celia Celia


When I am sad and weary, 
When I think all hope has gone, 
When I walk along High Holborn
I think of you with nothing on.


Adrian Mitchell

I've been reading 'Foulsham's Fortune Teller and Guide and Success', and it's full of superstitions and beliefs which I find fascinating. It tells the reader how to interpret a personality through hand-writing, and even has sections on palmistry and crystal-gazing. What I thought I'd share, though, was these talismans for good luck. Whether or not they're effective, the graphics are so lovely.

Story?


An interesting thing just occurred;
A tow truck just drove past,
Two burnt-out police cars perched
On its great big back as it lurched,
Riding to repairs, or to the Krushinator,
There's a story there
But no narrator.


Phoebe

Gap years


Sunburnt, sweaty teamwork,
Meat and drinking beer, 
Boasting to your friends about
The views in Tanzania


Wearing a bikini,
And jumping off a pier.
And everybody tells you 
its a boost to your career.


Watching people suffering,
But smiling right on through, 
In their situation,
You don't know what you'd do.


Showing all your snapshots,
And grinning ear to ear,
No thanks mate, I think I'll pass,
I don't want a gap year.


Phoebe

There's been a lot of hype around the Yayoi Kusama exhibition at the Tate Modern. Understandably so, her work is engaging, exciting and weird. So inspired am I that I've been polka-dotting all weekend. It is obviously very repetitive, which could drive you dotty (what a joke). Here are the results of my labour, most of them are actually pretty ugly, which is a pity. But at least I had a 'productive' weekend.

Top image courtesy of:  http://theredlist.fr/wiki-2-351-382-1160-1284-view-japan-profile-kusama-yayoi.html

 I'm just coming to terms with quite what blogging is, and there have been a lot of comparisons made between the 'blog' and the old-school diary. So, I took a look at my diary from when I was younger. An entirely futile exercise: seems I did absolutely nothing of interest, take a look. It doesn't really bode well in my whole blogging plan, does it?