Art and magic...

Every true artist must, in his own way, be a magician, a charlatan. - Orson Welles, 1915 - 1985

Sainthood...

Happy All Saints Day!

It isn't a day I've ever understood in terms of religious observance, but I do enjoy saints: so many of them are medieval. I have my favourites, including St. Bathildis, variously known as St. Bathhildis of Neustria or Bathild of Ascania, whom I chose to use as a prepresentative saint in my picture here. She was a slave who became Queen of France, who fought against slavery and child abuse - how could I not like her?

There are other saints I like, some because they did good things, some because they are grotesques. For example:

1. St Cuthbert, who made his monks carry him around for a century after his death
   
2. St Columba, because he was at the right time and place - among Picts and Vikings and Scots - and how could I not like a man called both "Black Bear" and "Dove"?
   
3. St Brendan, because he maybe sailed the Atlantic - and who, wherever it was he went, liked boats
   
4. St Sebastian, because of his arrows.
   
5. St Francis, who went on Crusade and tried to convert the Sultan.
   
6. St George, because he was a warrior and a dragon-slayer, and because of his involvement in the Crusades
   
7. St Agnes of Assisi, because she looks better eight hundred years after her death than most of us ever look
   
8. St Joan of Arc, because she was such a warrior and such an innocent
   
9. St Simeon Stylites, because he was so strange, and such a hit in his time - living on a pillar is just so strange.
   
10. St Michael the Archangel, because he was a mighty warrior and dragon-slayer, and because he is an angel of battle and death. (And it remains to be seen what his relationship with Dean Winchester will be.)
    

Happy Birthday to Francis Crawford...

Today is the birthday of my favourite fictional hero:



So many descriptions of Francis Crawford of Lymond - the chameleon, the nautilus in his shell, the drunken amateur who makes music and love comme une ange, the glittering and glamourous Lymond who has so many levels below his surface. His birth in the fertile brain of Dorothy Dunnett makes this a happy day.

Historical fantasy..

From Writer's Block: If you could go back in time to another decade, which decade would you choose and why? Would you want to return or stay there? What if you could bring one other person with you?

Could I have my own TARDIS, please?

I don't think there's a decade I wouldn't want to visit, past or future, though I'm enough of a coward to want to avoid trouble spots - the Black Death, Auschwitz, Krakatoa.

But of course some places intrigue me more than others. It would be interesting to go back to solve the great mysteries: what language did they speak in Mohenjo-Daro, why did they leave, where did they go? How did they build the pyramids, or stonehenge, or Macchu Picchu?

Mostly, there are people I would like to meet, and the list is a long one. My f-list knows a lot of the names: Federigo Secundo, Stupor Mundi. Stephen of England. Henry II and his sons Richard and Geoffrey, his wife Eleanor and his mistresses Rosamund and Alys. In France, Peter Abelard and Philippe II. In Outremer, Conrad of Montferrat, Isabella Plantagenet and her forebears, the Lusignans, the Ibelins. And that's just the 12th century. Look at classical history, preclassical history, the dark ages - oh, I've plenty of favourites there: could start with Bathildis, whom I was talking about today, and go on with Oswy and Oswin (another saint I like), Edwin, Athelstan, Alfred, Ida, Brendan, the Merovingians - oh, what a thought. Right up through to William the Bastard of Normandy, Macbeth of Scotland, and ... would I really want to meet Hildebrand? Yes, as a matter of fact, I would. A man who changed the world. Fascinating. Not to mention the Byzantines and the Arabs.

Then there's the Renaissance, and eastern history, and the Asian sub-continent, and Egypt - this question is just too vast.

My favourite decade is probably 1180-1190, but it's not the only time I'd like to witness.

Costuming...

From the Fannish Friday 5 for October 31: Five favorite fannish Halloween costumes - that you have worn, or seen someone else wear.

Costumes I have made, worn, and loved, in order by which they are favourites:

1. Doctor Strange (Marvel Comics)
   
2. Saturn Girl from Legion of Super-Heroes - Keith Giffen version
   
3. Saturn Girl from Legion of Super-Heroes - 1960s version
   
4. Guinevere from Camelot 3000
   
5. Gambit (Marvel Comics)

I should try to find my photos of them.

Play and magic...

Life is playfulness.... We need to play so that we can rediscover the magical around us. - Flora Colao