Kelvingrove

Oh, what a fantastic place. The Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum-- everything about it is wonderful. The exterior of the building, the lavishness of it, the ornate quality of the place from paneled ceiling to marbled floors. And then there's all the stuff in it! Simply fantastic... le sigh.

Here are some of the highlights:

The aforementioned exterior of the building.


Just inside the front doors.


Giant Irish Deer... Yes, I like skeletons of dead things,

and this dead thing is nearly a full 8 feet tall, which makes it inherently nifty.

If there is a dinosaur in the place, I will find it and photograph it.

It's this neat party trick that I do.

Much like the Hunterian, this place is almost a cabinet of wonder.

Yes, that is indeed a bomber plane and an elephant. Also a giraffe.

It's fine, that's why we love places like this.

Yeah, it's John Locke. Yay, philosophy!


A Highland Funeral by one of the Glasgow Boys, James Guthrie.


Yay, car! Second version of a car built by James Anderson,

which was wildly popular with the Bertie Wooster set.

This little baby could reach speeds of up to 100 mph-- pretty zippy in 1924!

Dashboard of revolutionary zippiness.


The spotted kiwi, left in the picture, lays the egg which is to the right in the picture,

being the largest egg to body mass ratio in the animal kingdom.

Damn. Poor kiwi.

Grouse, meet the Famous Grouse.


A Haggis-- totally what every haggis I've ever seen looks like, no joke.

I love you, Scotland.

Curators have a sense of humor here.

And the peoples rejoiced.

Supposedly the key to Mary, Queen of Scots' cell in Loch Leven Castle.

You know that scene from Bedknobs and Broomsticks?

To me, the one on the far left is saying, "Hey, yeah, just hanging out with my rifle..."

The one in the middle something like "Who's called shotgun now, bitches!"

The one on the right is ignoring the other two.

Soay Sheep (Ovis aires) from St. Kilda.

I'd really like to visit St. Kilda one day...

Field mouse of St. Kilda, which are supersized compared to their mainland cousins.

It's sitting next to the bones of a cat which, after everyone evacuated from the island,

were left but then later shot. Go, mice.

The oldest spinning wheel from St. Kilda... le sigh. :)

Motherless, by Geogre Lawson.

Supposedly the wife and mother of these two has just died,

and there is an undeniably haunting quality to it.

Detail of Motherless.

Large silver thing...

Awesome detail of large silver thing.

Modesty by Giosue Argenti.

Victor Hugo by Rodin, 1883.

Masscre of Glan Coe, by James Hamilton.

The 1692 masscre of Glencoe was so shocking that it has become legendary.

THough the murders were carried out by an army at royal request,

the Campbell clan is still blamed today for this atrocity against the Macdonalds.

Detail. The girl's eyes are so compelling.

Detail.

Detail.

I found it!

The Auchendrane Portrait of Robert Burns.

Execution of mary, Queen of Scots by Robert Herdman.

Ann Pattison, Mrs. William Urquhart by Henry Raeburn.

She is what I picture when I think of Scottish beauty.

Detail of a painting by Seurat.

Detail of The Man in Armour by Rembrandt. This is totally the wallpaper on my little phone and a print of which is in my living room courtesy of the gift shop. *snifs* I love you, Rembrandt!

Yes, those are floating heads. Thanks, contemporary art.

So, these are just a sampling of the goodness and delight to be found at the Kelvingrove. I'd rate their cafe pretty well, too-- just avoid the caesar salad. They do, however, have a Fraoch lager called Heather Ale, which is delicious and delightful.

Go forth and view if you can! Glasgow wins again!

If you're in the neighborhood...

Danger Muffin and I just stumbled into the Drawing Room in Glasgow, across from the Kelvingrove which is lit beautifully in the nighttime hours, and had a ridiculously lovely dinner. She highly recommends the sticky toffee pudding. I recommend the chicken fillet with wild mushrooms. We both recommend the live music that sprung up next to our commandeered couch.

As I'm writing this, there a middle-aged man with a wicked guitar and a cabbie hat turned backwards on his head growling out a version of Lay Lady Lay while kids in skinny jeans and plaid shirts skitter in and out the door, moving between vices, outside for cigarettes and inside for half-price pints of fosters.

Earlier a pair of youngsters who look younger than I can ever remember being strummed out some inventive and original works, one on the guitar and the other on a wee, one octave argos-alumni keyboard. Pretty much adorable. I think one of their opening lines ran something like "Woke up with a headache, afraid to consult my phone." Hahahaha, oh dear. Just lovely.

I wish for all the world that I'd remembered to grab my trusty little camera out of my day purse and relocate it to the laptop bag. I guess you'll just have to take my word on this one, this place is worth the visit.

And the wireless which has enabled this posting is FREE! :)

Cinema: Quantum of Solace

Right, so the time has come for a bit of an embarrassing confession: I enjoy the Bond movies.

*sighs*

Yes, it's true. The humble and ram-shamble author of the modern feminist partakes in liberal doses of ridiculous testosterone, minimal plot, fast cars and faster women, chiseled men and stilted dialogue. From my youth, I can remember the seemingly endless marathons on cable television of View to a Kill, Octopussy, Goldfinger and Thunderball. Oh, yes. Roger Moore was my mother's favorite, until she remembered Timothy Dalton (like anyone else remembers him, let's be honest). Sean Connery seemed like the essence of everything suave and cool in the universe to me at the age of 8 (just for reference, Cary Grant was the essence of everything romantic and wonderful in the universe-- catch me on the right night and this might still be true). Dad liked the cars and the gadgets and the guns (at least, I think he did-- it's not like he spoke from his recliner in the living room, so who knows) and my brother and I would run around the yard later pretending to be assassins. Good, wholesome fun.

Now, with this out of the way, let's talk about the latest installment: Quantum of Solace. I'll confess to have been hesitant about Craig at first, just like everyone else. A blonde Bond? I wasn't sure. Casino Royale counted as a good movie in my book, but a good Bond film? There were moments of genuine tenderness, and I wasn't sure how this was going to wear in a tradition with such touchstones as Diamonds Are Forever. Still, as time trudged on, I like it more and more. And who would have guessed, slightly bloodied and sardonic men are wildly sexy regardless of follicle pigment.

A while before going to see the film, I was exposed to the theme. Now, being a good Michigander, I have great affection for the White Stripes and Jack White, but I just wasn't sure. In fact, I fairly hated it the first time I heard it. However, I listened to it again, and then I found myself wanting to listen to it yet again. Long story short, it grew on me in an astoundingly short time, and now I quite fancy it. Something about "a man on your side/ a person that you trust/ is just/ another way to die" that really appeals to me. And it's got a great beat to pump into your ears as you stride down the street. Try it, I dare you. You'll feel like a badass, I promise.

So, I went to see the film, and I'll tell you, it was worth it. Technically, it's a lovely film to watch, the production values are astronomically high. It's beautiful. And all the different locations sure as hell doesn't hurt. The scoring is fantastic. I'll go out on a limb and say it's the best score yet (specifically for this beautiful little bit they do with Tosca-- don't want to spoil it for you it you haven't yet seen it, but it's fantastically done). My tender ears make me hypersensitive to movie scores (not that you have to be, the levels they play the movies at nowadays will rattle your fillings) and this one is particularly effective. Subtle, that's not what one usually associates with Bond, but in the score, it scores.

As far as all this criticism over a loose and rolling plot, the stretches without dialogue, the departures from the original short story-- shove off. I mean, really, what did you expect? It's a Bond film. Seriously-- You Only Live Twice. 'Nuff said. What one should look for are girls (this one has two), gadgets (a bit thin on Bond, but check out the office and M's comm skills, that's madly interactive) and chase scenes. This one converts in all three mediums of chase-- car, boat and plane. Check, please.

Daniel Craig is lightly bleeding within the first minute of the movie. That's what I'm talking about.

Some of my friends in real time have said that it feels like the middle movie in a trilogy. Fair enough. I personally just think it did a fine job of tying up loose Vespa ends. Well done.

And really, this is all that I wanted:

Thank you, Mr. Bond. Shall we do this again in a few years? Oh, yes, please!

HOLY SHIT, WE WON!!!

THANK WHATEVER GODS MAY BE, BARACK OBAMA IS GOING TO BE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! HE'S THE PRESIDENT-ELECT! IT REALLY HAPPENED!!

Oh my goodness. It's stupid o'clock in the morning, I've stayed up the entire night to watch with mu knuckles in my teeth, hoping against hope that we wouldn't screw this up. Hoping so freverently, so terrified that it would all go down in flames. That my poor, beleaguered. bleeding country wouldn't be able to overcome the years of fear and manipulation and misguidance and abuse-- but somehow, oh, somehow...

Danger Muffin and I hosted an Election Night Party at the Abode, and we had a regular grab-bag of nationalities present. The dedicated Election coverage kicked off on the BBC at 11:00 pm, and I hunkered down on one end of the leather brown loveseat and bared my poor little soul to the exit poll results. At one point, D-Muff had her laptop, I had mine and an Aussie friend had hers out as well, all of us monitoring different news-network websites, searching for different calls, calling out percentages, waiting for television to tell us how it all unfolded.

There were hot dogs and hamburgers and two delightful apple pies as made in our postage-stamp kitchen by D-Muff herself. All of this lay mostly forgotten on the table as the points finally began to break in Obama's favor, steadily rising in in the face of the once-solidly republican south. Could it really be so?

Everytime a state was called for Mr. Obama, we actually cheered. In our tiny flat in northern Scotland, we tuned in and tensed up. I watched with disbelieving eyes as the point count crossed the line of demarcation, the victory line-- but years of watching these fiascoes unfold had taught me all about concession calls and how bitter and long these things will sometimes be.

The bbc cut to McCain's speech, not a word about a phone call being made. "My friends, we have -- we have come to the end of a long journey. The American people have spoken, and they have spoken clearly. A little while ago, I had the honor of calling Senator Barack Obama -- (boos) -- to congratulate him -- (boos) -- please -- to congratulate him on being elected the next president of the country that we both love."

Oh. my. god.

Really? REALLY? You made the call?!?! It's true-- you've recalled that spark of fairness that first endeared you to me all those years ago when you were sensible and moderate and not shackled to the religious right and sponsored a bill against torture!! You're not going to drag this out because you can't pallate loosing after such a long fight. You really are putting the country first.

"Tonight -- tonight, more than any night, I hold in my heart nothing but love for this country and for all its citizens, whether they supported me or Senator Obama -- whether they supported me or Senator Obama, I wish Godspeed to the man who was my former opponent and will be my president."

This was the first time in the night that I started to cry. I think this might have alarmed the Englishman seated on the floor to the right of the sofa, but I was pretty far past caring.

The bottom banner on the screen shifted to MCCAIN CONCEDES. The Aussie confirmed that Fox News had shat itself and was no longer reporting anything on its website. Gore Vidal made us all laugh and I waiting for what I knew was soon to be coming from Grant Park.

And then it happened. He took the stage. I gripped the pillow in my arms and stared through the shimmer I couldn't rub out of my eyes.

"If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time, who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen, by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different, that their voices could be that difference. It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled. Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been just a collection of individuals or a collection of red states and blue states.
We are, and always will be, the United States of America."

Right about there was where I began to cry in earnest.

"The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even in one term. But, America, I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you, we as a people will get there. "

And sitting here, at 6:30 in the morning, I can tell you now, on a gush of expelled air and a sniffle I can't hide, that we as a nation have dared to hope. We can hope.

I can hope.

Thank you, Mr. President(Elect) for one of the best nights of my life.

Book Review: The Audacity of Hope

You know how people throw about that line, the one about laughing and crying and being moved? Yeah, I'm not throwing it lightly-- I mean it. I just hope this guy does as well.

Now, I know I've kept quiet on here about the presidential election. It's a devisive topic around the dinner table at the old family homestead, but I'm coming to realize in my quarter-life age that I'm trending democratic. Mostly it has to do with a belief in solid foreign policy and emphasis on higher education. So shoot me. I also don't think the government should have anything to say about specifically moral issues and that we should keep people alive who want to die, but that's an entirely seperate post.

ANYWAY, this book. Oh, this book. I've been a fan of Obama for a while now, considering I've believed for a long time that there was no way for Hilary to win. My native country might agree in theory if not in act that a black man and a white man are equal. It will be another century before they'll say the same for a woman. No way in hell would the home of the brave elect a woman as commander and chief in the midst of a foreign campaign, no matter how ill-advised and ill-executed. It just won't happen. And so I found myself taking interest in a young senator with the oratory skills of a preacher.

His charm is undeniable. There's no beating around the fact that he is wildly charasmatic. Not that such is a bad thing-- in fact, I think the White House desperately needs a little tact and smooth-handedness-- but what's behind it? He's preaching change, which I'll agree that we need, but what does his variety of change look like? A straight answer on this was hard to find.

Until I bought his book. Yes, I walked into Waterstone's on Union Street and bought a full-priced book. Incredibly unlike me, but I'm glad that I did. I found his writing style to be easy to read, his chapters well-defined and his points clear, and the whole experience refreshing. But more than all of that, I found out what his change for America would mean. And I couldn't be happier.

A whole chapter on education reform? The world beyond our borders? Race? Religion? REALLY?!? He thinks we should be investing in retooling our struggling work force and investing in our people rather than slashing taxes in a wild bid to keep the dying industries we should have out-moded thrity years ago. He thinks that we need to listen to the rest of the world, regardless of the frustration of sitting in meeting after meeting, consulting the non-specifically involved, asking our old allies and our new colleagues on the global scene what they feel would make the entire planet a safer, friendlier, more-sustainable nest for humankind? He thinks that racism is still a problem that we can no longer talk about in mincing, antiquidated terminology or pretend to be a war of another generation? Again, REALLY?!?!

This, my friends and invisible readers, is a book everyone voting in the election should read. EDUCATE YOURSELF. Don't take my word for it. And see if you don't choke up just a little bit on the last page. I did, I won't deny it.

Here's a man who actually respects and loves the constitution as a living and historic document, not as one or the other. A man who understands the necessity of the separation of powers, who respects the singular importance of congress. A man who isn't going to speak to me like I'm an idiot or patronise me by pretending that truly complicated situations have simple and perfect solution. Thank whatever god you like, I am.

Hell, I'm thrilled at the prospect of simply voting for someone with the chops to write a book, let alone the utterly terrifying and exhilirating prospect of respecting my president again. Lo, how things just might change...

I'm giving this the full five flying flags. Take that.