American -Political And Social- Activism

Imagine this scenario: there is this superpower whose armies march across the earth, its aircraftcarriers, planes, drones, spies are everywhere, it converts and infiltrates other cultures with its ideas, ideals and memes and as a peak to that all there is that (partly staged) little self-righteous activism it allows itself- marginal, nearly pointless on a global scale but yet another piece of the propagandistic puzzle whose expanding 'truth' its participants can tap while they believe themselves to be rebellious and alternative.

Viewed from the outside it's quite ridiculous.

Eternity

Every instant can be an eternity because eternity does not belong to the order of time but to the order of intensity.

The Field

It Needn't Be New...

An Aristocratic Enfilade from Portugal

Incipit Tragoedia:

'About the same time, there came to London a young gentleman of the name of Aubrey: he was an orphan left with an only sister in the possession of great wealth, by parents who died while he was yet in childhood. Left also to himself by guardians, who thought it their duty merely to take care of his fortune, while they relinquished the more important charge of his mind to the care of mercenary subalterns, he cultivated more his imagination than his judgment.

 He had, hence, that high romantic feeling of honour and candour, which daily ruins so many milliners' apprentices. He believed all to sympathise with virtue, and thought that vice was thrown in by Providence merely for the picturesque effect of the scene, as we see in romances: he thought that the misery of a cottage merely consisted in the vesting of clothes, which were as warm, but which were better adapted to the painter's eye by their irregular folds and various coloured patches. He thought, in fine, that the dreams of poets were the realities of life.

 He was handsome, frank, and rich: for these reasons, upon his entering into the gay circles, many mothers surrounded him, striving which should describe with least truth their languishing or romping favourites: the daughters at the same time, by their brightening countenances when he approached, and by their sparkling eyes, when he opened his lips, soon led him into false notions of his talents and his merit.[...]' (John Polidori: The Vampyre)

A Tragic Demiurge: Modern Man and His Artificial Worlds

The plan of escape from the world is the blueprint to a future fortress that only can be recognized as yet another prison when one is forced to live in it.

Knowledge Can Be Dangerous?

...or was that ignorance?
 (Nietzsche, for example, favoured former theory).

A Comprehensive History of German Opera:

Fidelio and Wagner.

Intermediate Whisky Studies: Mothballed and Closed Distilleries (Malt Mill, Brora, Rosebank)

According to a recent youtube video, Malt Mill, even more so than Brora, is somewhat the Holy Grail of obscure whiskies. The few bottles that are left seem to be safely locked away but parts of the output can still be found in the White Horse blend up to the 1970s:

Malt Mill Distillery, Established 1908

When Sir Peter Mackie lost his bitter legal dispute to retain the sales agency for Laphroaig whisky in 1907 he reacted in characteristic style by deciding to make his own "Laphroaig" type whisky, and in 1908 built a traditional small pot-still distillery within the Lagavulin complex. Despite hiring staff from Laphroaig and attempting to copy the Laphroaig recipe, it did not succeed, perhaps because it used a different water source. Malt Mill tried to replicate a traditional style of Islay Whisky, using only peat-dried malt, and it is reputed to have had heather added to the mash. It was always a small scale operation producing 25,000 gallons of proof spirit (113,500 litres) in its first year, compared with 128,000 gallons (581,120 litres) at Lagavulin. What is perhaps surprising is that it survived until 1962 when it was merged with Lagavulin and its coal-fired stills moved to the latter's still house for another seven years use. The Malt Mill distillery building is now the reception centre within the Lagavulin Distillery site.

http://www.islayinfo.com/lostdistilleries.html

.

I recently started my own more humble adventures into closed-distillery-land with a 1991 G&M bottling of a Rosebank; a Lowlander that I bought at a fair price and that the late Michael Jackson- the whisky-connaisseur- described as ‘a floral, light whisky for lovers and poets’, and me, being an enthusiastic dilettante and poseur of those arts, had to get it in order to test its magico-projective qualities. I’ll try it at some more or less special occasion later in the year since it doesn’t seem to fit the winter season.

Die unmutige Epigonenkunst des 20. Jahrhunderts:

Da sich die moderne Kunst nicht eingestehen konnte in einer historischen Tradition zu stehen, aber trotzdem nicht auf die Geschichte als Inspirationsquelle verzichten wollte, zitierte sie diese nur und beraubte sich somit ihrer Tiefe. Die Skizze als Anfang ist profund (da sie das vollendete, klassische Werk und dahinter das Presque-rien einer metaphysischen Unendlichkeit erahnen lässt), wenn sie sich jedoch zur Weltdeutung aufbläht, begründet sie eine Tyrannei des Makels.

The Ability to Judge and the Agony of Choice: A Decidedly *Parisian* Dilemma

A Present For a Girl

Girls love bottles like these or the ones from Perrier-Jouët ...look at those hearts in the top-middle of the label! I have no idea how this tastes, though...

Long Live the Countryside!

Atheismus

Leute, die ihren eigenen Atheismus thematisieren sind (in diesem Punkt) Idioten, da man entweder glaubt oder nicht: da gibt es nichts zu argumentieren.

Hunting Attire

Picture from: Piras/Roetzl: Traditional Style- Wohnkultur auf den Britischen Inseln

"The most fortunate people go to shoot, on their own land or the land of their friends. There you will find many of them in their badges of honourable experience: fully seasoned, weathered tweeds (including unlined plus twos), over silk long johns, viyella shirts, old (probably skew-whiff) ties and caps or battered felt hats; shooting stockings, deeply-dubbined field boots or shoes and gaiters and Schoffel and Barbour coats. […]

More likely than not, these people use their grandfathers’ guns; since the only people that can afford a pair of bespoke Best London guns now are the pointless (and often clueless) ‘celebrities’ of the modern age." 
(Nicholas J. Storey, A Short Guide to the Sporting Life- History of Men's Etiquette, p.33 f.)

Tweed Library

Archive of Johnston's of Elgin



The Good Thing When Coming Home After a Short Stroll Through the City at Temperatures of -10°C Is

...that you don't have to cool down the champagne! (from: Le Cru)

Lovecraftiana

An Old Bottle of Rum

Not that this rum was aged excessively long but I found this bottle in my cellar the other day (I must have forgotten it down there when moving to this place), and it certainly does have a certain patina to it. I shall ascertain quite soon whether the contents are still palatable and potable or not!

Sils Maria

'All ye to whom rough labour is dear, and the rapid, new, and strange—ye put up with yourselves badly; your diligence is flight, and the will to self-forgetfulness.

If ye believed more in life, then would ye devote yourselves less to the momentary. But for waiting, ye have not enough of capacity in you—nor even for idling!'  (Thus Spake Zarathustra, IX)

Sunglasses: Supporting Local Craftsmen

They reminded me of those that were very en vogue in the 80s (esp. Armani). First I had tried them with a lighter, sandcoloured frame but these better complement my Nils Holgerson-like hair.

Tennis

I played lots of it in my earlier teenage-years but differently to skiing I somehow was never too good at it- not that I didn't enjoy it. Maybe that is why everyone wanted to play with me. We mainly played on sand or on a 'carpet' hard-court (when we were indoors) where I wore those strange shoes without any profile on them at all!

Lord Dunsany

An expert in many fields like chess, pistol-shooting or hunting, Lord Dunsany was also a pioneer in the then-budding genre of fantastic literature.He especially impresses me with his short stories and smaller pastiches like his Book of Wonder or 51 Tales. His collected tales of Jorkens that the protagonist tells to fellow members of his London club are more classic straightforward adventure-stories maybe better befitting readers who are more 'realistically' inclined.

Checked Shirts and Pullovers:

The standard everyday wear for the arts and academia:

One often overlooked thing you can learn from classic sculpture:

…is stance, correct and beautiful poise. Why be content with merely having appealing physical features and tasteful accoutrements?

The best general/neutral stance to be used e.g. when waiting for the train, the plane, the conference to begin, for Godot (*spit*) or Ragnarök to commence is this one: Michelangelo’s David. Lower your left arm and instead of letting it hover over your shoulder, look at your stupid i-phone or something!

I was originally taught –amongst others by Elmayer- that neutral stance ought to be one foot forward, slightly upliftingly balanced on the heel (‘relaxed leg’) and the other (‘supporting leg’) straight and firmly planted to the ground like on this Demosthenes which is correct, certainly, but less elegant in my opinion. Then I’d rather prefer the half-striding stance as exemplified by the Augustus of Primaporta (now don’t say you don’t know it!) or- also excellent- the Doryphoros by Polyklet.

So next time you go down to the Musei Vanticani, the Academia or the Bargello, or even just your local glyptotheque, look at all the statues in this new way and learn from them!

Finally, here is my favourite ‘stance’.

The Wine of Liechtenstein

...is - 'naturally' (I'm almost inclined to say)- produced in Austria even though it is mostly sold over there.
It's quite good, too: a very decent table-wine.

The Ball-Season

A short run-down of the balls in Vienna and their present status:

Opera Ball: this is one of the few white-tie-only affairs worldwide but- apart from imperial times- has had its high during the Cold War especially in the earlier 70s when Vienna even more than now was the meeting place for spies, terrorists and diplomats of all couleurs. Then, also Seikhs and top politicians paid it a visit; today it's more concentrated on local entrepreneurs, the newly rich and on minor celebrities although the first row of the political intelligentsia of Austria will still be present.

These are the best or most fun ones:

Kaffeesiederball (Ball of the cafetiers)

Philharmonica Ball (Ball of the Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra held at the Musikverein), this is the most elegant and refined one; partly, what the Opera Ball once was in terms of visitors with status as well as prestige, has wandered off to this affair.

Jägerball (Hunter's Ball at the Hofburg) this is the most fun one and the only occasion when the 'No Trachten in town'-rule could be broken: it is the carnival-season, after all. Admittedly, even many who are no hunters get into their green or grey outfits or in case of the girls- their Dirndl-dresses- and get it on; throw in a good mixture of Kimonos, Saris and military officers' uniforms for a splendid evening. This has the best looking girls and is favoured and heavily frequented by the Golden Youth/Jeunesse Dorée of Vienna.

There is also the Kaiserball held at the Hofburg on New Years' Eve that is mostly visited by rich Americans and Asians (I once went there, too and got immensely drunk on champagne), and balls of the various professions, groups, clubs and segments of society like the tobacconists, the bakers' or the officers balls. As I mentioned somewhere in this spot, I am leading a more reclusive life right now and although I never was a great dancer I still went to a few in my time and had great fun. So, I'm passing the baton on to you- come over and visit one or a couple of them and enjoy the crazy festivities!