"The new Netflix series 'Frontier' portrays the 18th century fur trade as extremely violent and competitive. Was it really as brutal as the show depicts?"
My overall question is this: How violent was the fur trade in the 18th century? Did competitors resort really resort to violence and killing? If so, did colonial or European governments try to intervene? What about the natives?
Eno talks slowly, calmly, eloquently. He would be brilliant on Just a Minute – no repetition, hesitation or deviation. His voice is as soothing as his ambient music. His full name is Brian Peter George St John le Baptiste de la Salle Eno (the St John le Baptiste de la Salle was added at confirmation). You might assume he was an aristocrat, but his father and grandfather were postmen. “And my great grandad actually,” he says enthusiastically when I mention it. “And my two uncles.”
Rinat Voligamsi (Russian, b. 1968), Dusk. Ursa Major, 2010. Oil on canvas, 100 x 100 cm
"Rinat Voligamsi is a Russian painter who retrieves vintage images of the Russian countryside and of military life and alters them in a surrealist fashion. The artist’s intervention provides a humorous view on the depicted subjects while introducing a mysterious and somehow dark atmosphere.
"Archival images of the Soviet period are brought back to life to become fragments of an absurd narrative."
"Roman military borders and fortifications were part of a grand strategy of territorial defence in the Roman Empire. Forts, Castra and military camps stretched across the vast empire, in concentration on the borders and in some of the most remote of locations to enforce Roman authority and control."
Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares KCB FRS (24 April 1831 – 15 January 1915)
"His next appointment was to the brand new Philomel-class gunvessel Newport, which he commissioned and took to the Mediterranean for survey work, including a survey of the Gulf of Suez, accessed by the newly opened Suez Canal. The Suez Canal opened in November 1869, and although the French Imperial yacht L'Aigle was officially the first vessel to pass through the canal, Newport, commanded by Nares, actually passed through it first. On the night before the canal was due to open,Nares navigated his vessel, in total darkness and without lights, through the mass of waiting ships until it was in front of L'Aigle. When dawn broke the French were horrified to find that the Royal Navy was now first in line and that it would be impossible to pass them. Nares received both an official reprimand and an unofficial vote of thanks from the Admiralty for his actions in promoting British interests and for demonstrating such superb seamanship.
I'm not certain quite when I stopped writing on this blog. I do know I'm not as certain about many things as I used to be. Avoiding editorial is one reflection of the feeling.
That said, posting something because I think it's interesting is editing whether you believe me or not when I say I often enjoy things, think things are interesting, when I disagree with them.
Philosopher Slavoj Žižek returns to Southbank Centre with a talk on power and betrayal in the wake of Brexit. Žižek explores what the referendum result tells us about the rise of populism and the balance of power today. Žižek discusses one of his main concerns: the link between knowledge and power, and how often those who control knowledge also keep power for themselves. Following on from Brexit and with populist movements gaining momentum around the world, how is this link between knowledge and power being manipulated to benefit elites?
The most interesting thing to me about Zizek, and this has been the case since Looking Awry, is how much angst he undergoes to arrive at the same bien pensant opinions as his audience. When half of England is convinced the European Union is Germania recidivus, an apologetic for Wagner delivers the angst while walking the razor's edge of being both tone deaf and entirely unnecessary. In its own way, its also an impressive bit of work to fetch up at the same easy banalities of café society on Brexit.
