A sublime Persian horoscope crafted from lapis lazuli and gold leaf by hand for Prince Iskandar. The Prince was named after Alexander the Great and was the grandson of Tamerlane, the Turkman Mongol conqueror. This horoscope shows the positions of the stars and planets in the sky at the moment of Iskandar’s birth on 25thContinue reading “Art: The Horoscope of Prince Iskandar (1411)”
Tag Archives: History
Book Review: Boyhood Island by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Boyhood Island is a no nonsense autobiographical tale of a boy called Karl Ove Knausgaard, aged 6-13 years old and his everyday adventures living and growing on the island of Tromøya, Norway in the late 70’s. This is a strange and unusual novel in that it doesn’t follow traditional novelistic or storytelling conventions. It’s a meanderingContinue reading “Book Review: Boyhood Island by Karl Ove Knausgaard”
Travel: Mornington Peninsula’s Antiques Roadshow at the Tyabb Packing House
The Mornington Peninsula (where I hail from originally) is located in the S.E tip of Port Phillip Bay, about 1 hour’s drive outside of Melbourne. It’s a sundrenched and beachy part of Melbourne which features serene and quiet, toddler friendly beaches in sheltered Port Phillip Bay, along with colourful bathing boxes. On the other sideContinue reading “Travel: Mornington Peninsula’s Antiques Roadshow at the Tyabb Packing House”
The Private Lives of Animals circa 1842
This collection of funny and witty animal fables was originally published in 1842 in French as Scènes de la vie privée et publique des animaux. The authors of these fables are a who’s who of literature in the mid 19th-century including Honoré de Balzac, George Sand. Also The Private Lives of Animals boasts some fine,Continue reading “The Private Lives of Animals circa 1842”
Tech: A quaint visual voyage through the internet in 1996
Found in the David Rumsey Map Collection online, this poster entitled Ínternet Road Map from the magazine PC Computing dates from the quaint year of internet history, 1996. Back when I was a teen and when ‘surfing the web’ was something only geeks and introverts did, and therefore which I did with fervour using someContinue reading “Tech: A quaint visual voyage through the internet in 1996”
Book Review: Cats Galore, prominent cats throughout history
Spurred on by my recent missive about internet culture and the cult of cuteness, I moved very quickly down the rabbit hole into the depths of cat worship on the internet. Cats Galore is an art book with a difference. It’s what happens when internet culture gets mashed up and combined with the prominent artContinue reading “Book Review: Cats Galore, prominent cats throughout history”
An exploration of the aesthetics of cuteness
The answer to why dogs and tiny horses can be used in therapy for PTSD and why cats rule the internet lays squarely in the pulling power of cuteness. But why do we find things cute and what are the commonly shared criteria for cuteness all over the world? According to psychologist Dr. Sandra Pimentel,Continue reading “An exploration of the aesthetics of cuteness”
Welcome to the rumbling belly of the shaky isles: Waiotapu
Waiotapu means sacred waters in Maori. It’s an active geothermal area at the southern end of New Zealand’s Taupo Volcanic Zone just outside of Rotorua. It’s a place of surreal colour, beauty and otherworldly wonder. It’s no exaggeration that you haven’t seen anything like this before. The alchemy of mineral deposits mixing over thousands and sometimes millions ofContinue reading “Welcome to the rumbling belly of the shaky isles: Waiotapu”
An interesting holistic model for health according to the eight tentacles of the Octopus, Te Wheke in Māori culture
The Maori (the indigenous people of New Zealand) which includes myself, have a very different way of defining health outcomes compared to western medicine. Te Wheke (the octopus) is often used as a symbol to define integrative and holistic health. This holistic approach to health encompasses ten elements in Maori life. Funnily enough this holisticContinue reading “An interesting holistic model for health according to the eight tentacles of the Octopus, Te Wheke in Māori culture”
Linden Frederick: Night swimming through urban landscapes
Linden Frederick paints ultra-realistic everyday scenes during the nocturnal hush of the evening. In the real world many of these buildings would be unremarkable, but in the hands of Frederick these shabby homes and plain looking commercial buildings take on a different form at dusk and night, there is a mysterious imagining of the building’sContinue reading “Linden Frederick: Night swimming through urban landscapes”
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