Monday, June 15, 2015

Monday Forum - another what you will

Another Monday Forum with no real idea as to what topic to suggest.

Was the treatment of the scientist Tim Hunt another case of crazy political correctness?   Did Australia actually pay people smugglers, or is this another case of Australian PM Abbott confusing the hell out of everybody?  If you were a polyamorist life coach, how would you define the curriculum?

The Philae probe has woken up. Are you a space nut? I am. Today is the 800th anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta. It seems just like yesterday.

Did 19th German painter Caspar David Friedrich like to mix a touch of gothic with his romantic landscapes? He sure looks like an intense chap in this portrait! What is the best Australian movie of all time?

I leave it all in your hands to go whatever direction you like!

Postscript

Leaked cabinet documents on the citizenship question.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Best Australian movie of all time, at least in my opinion, is The Year my Voice Broke. Made in the 1980s the movie is set in Braidwood in the early 1960s, the production values are superb, the acting is breath taking and it's a coming of age story that just grabs you.

For years I tried to get a copy of a DVD of this movie which I now have on DVD.

Please watch it if you can obtain a copy. You won't be sorry.

Sue

Jim Belshaw said...

That took me down a lovely sidetrack, Sue, from The Year my Voice Broke to Flirting. I haven't watched either. At this point, I was interested in context and history. I will look out for the DVDs. I can't watch DVDs at the moment or even TV because my relatively old system has broken down. However, you have given me another thread to follow up.

My Observations said...

I take the subject of the German painter Caspar David Friedrich. To me painting is the highest form of art. Since I cannot paint myself, I admire masters and visiting art galleries is one of my very favourite things to do when I can. I came across paintings of Casper Friedrich in 2008 in Canberra. I think it was an exhibition of 19th century landscapes. There were paintings of JMW Turner, Claude Monet, John Constable, Gustave Courbet, Vincent van Gogh and Caspar David Friedrich. His were not considered the best of all displayed paintings but I noticed them and particularly liked. I still have the cards with the two paintings Two men observing the moon and Easter Moring. People in the pictures are small in proportions. They almost disappear in the landscapes and typically are painted being turned away from the painter, we do not see their faces.

Jim Belshaw said...

Thank's for the comment, AC. It would have been nice to see that exhibition. I have only seen on-line images of Friedrich's work. There is a remoteness in the images. Does the human treatment reflect a remoteness in the painter? His portrait suggests a very intense man. Sad that he should lose popularity so quickly, swept away by new trends.