Thread 5 - TalkExiles: "The Planet Goes On Being Round"

[Kucinghitam]

Continuation of previous lifeboat threads (thread 4).

Gather here all ye refugees from the JTT Flat Earth Society, welcome to the reassuringly oblate spheroid of MN! Ye all already know the answers to the questions "How the heck do I format my post?" "Why can't I edit my typos?" "What do those acronyms mean?" and most importantly, "Where is everybody that I used to know?"

So really we're all here just to chat randomly.

Exposing the history of the German pavilion was an artwork, @Britinme. As a historically/politically loaded space, that building often becomes part of the work. The first time I went to the Biennale, Liam Gillick represented Germany and wanted to pull it down completely. He wasn’t allowed to so he exhibited some crap kitchen units and a very unimpressive animatronic cat instead. It may be the worst thing I’ve seen in Venice and I’ve seen quite a lot of bad art along with a lot of great art!

it sets my teeth on edge when the locals here pronounce it Van Go but I suppose British attempts at Van Gogh sound weird to the Dutch

Same here, for both of them. When we worked in Amsterdam for a while I asked someone how Van Gogh is pronounced and the sound was Van Hoch, with the 'ch' being very guttural.

I could spend days standing in front of so many Bruegel the Elder paintings. They are utterly captivating and I have some on my computer that I regularly zoom in on for details, but to see them for real would be wonderful.

When we worked in Amsterdam for a while I asked someone how Van Gogh is pronounced and the sound was Van Hoch...

I found that out, working with Dutchies. They don't really have a g sound, or sh.

Grolsch is Hrolls and Schiphol is Sippol, for example.

I've also got tickets to the Vermeer, and I'm going quite soon with three lovely friends from the other place. I'm very excited about this as I am quite obsessed with him. Another very sweet thing is that when I bought the tickets, it also offered a Playmobil version of the maid pouring milk one, so I have one of those waiting for me at the shop (it's a present for one of the other people going).

Maid, Asleep is probably my favourite of the ones I've seen and I don't think it will be there either, as the terms of its bequest mean that it is supposed to stay put in the Met. But I don't think the Frick ones are supposed to travel either and they were the catalyst as it's closed for renovation, so I dunno.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Girl_Asleep

I am very very lucky in that when I was travelling to New York a lot for work about 10 years ago, my work pass also got me free entrance to the Met, so I spent a lot of time with the Vermeers (to the point where a guard came up and started trying to persuade me that I really needed to go and look at some other things too!). I don't miss the relentlessness of the job, but I do miss the travel and the perks!

@angelico53 , I will check when I'm there if they are holding back some tickets for on-the-day sales, and I'll report back.

I have serious Vermeer envy! I saw his painting of The Lace Maker in the Louvre once and was astonished at how small it was. And of course I saw the exhibits in the Rijksmuseum when I was there a few years ago.

We have a very decent art museum here in Portland, and there is also the Farnsworth in Rockland, further up the coast, which specialises in the Wyeth family, who were locals, but also has a good selection of other work. There is a very flourishing art scene in Maine.

They don't really have a g sound

Which I'd known for ages in the Van Gogh context, but was somewhat thrown when I very recently realised it also applied to Gouda.

It's lovely to find fellow Vermeer enthusiasts here. I saw a small exhibition of his works in the National Gallery a long time ago, and I fell in love then with his delicate interiors, and the people in them.

Hence the plan to see all available Vermeers in the world, starting with those in Germany. They tend to be in nice places, so formed the basis of a nice trip round Germany.

@MmePoppySeedDefage and @SqueakyDinosaur I'm very jealous but also really pleased for you both. As you say, @MmePoppySeedDefage it's so good to see so many enthusiasts here.

Squeaky, please do check to see if they hold any back. I would definitely go on the off-chance of getting in and if I didn't I'd go to see other paintings anyway. It'll definitely be a stay overnight and come back trip for me not least because of the expense. Now, I just need to sort out getting my passport renewed. I'll need to do that anyway if I want to vote because despite more Tory MPs being actual criminals who've been charged with crimes/had to pay fines for being actual criminals than people who've committed voter fraud, the big problem in this country is young people who won't vote for the Torys and the poor who deserve to be disenfranchised voter fraud.

I had an absolutely lovely day with another friend today. The weather was glorious, we sat on the beach watching very young children playing and I was accosted - I wasn't accosted at all! - by a lovely Jack Russell who apparently doesn't like people but decided I looked like someone who'd throw his ball for him. We also met a lovely whippet called Grace whose owner had a neurological disorder, similar to Parkinson's but couldn't be treated like Parkinson's. He also has strokes and Grace can sense one is going to come a day before it's about to happen and her behaviour makes it clear to him that he's about to have one and can get medical treatment before it happens. Dogs are wonderful. Grace was ridiculously cute and licked my nose. I had my nose licked by a number of dogs today and one dog cleaned my hands for me for which I was very grateful, obviously.

We ate in the restaurant/bar/cafe at the end of the pier that my other friend and I couldn't do yesterday because it was fully booked. I had crab and lobster ravolioni which was frankly exquisite. She had a smoked haddock and salmon fishcake with a poached egg, hollandaise sauce, spinach (there was spinach on my dish too, along with tomatoes and a cheese sauce) and lovely fries. I've decided that I need to eat there often and just have one of these dishes each time I go. Both dishes were around £16 which I thought was slightly pricey for the end of the pier but if we'd had them in a high-end restaurant they would have been easily double that price and so my "ooh, a bit pricey" thoughts were very, very far of the mark.

Tomorrow, which is now actually today, shall be all about domestic stuff.

Oh, and I have to go to the hospital after all. I told them that the thing had disappeared but they want to do something or other where they can see under the skin to see if all is actually well there because the thing was concerning. So, Friday morning hospital visit for me.

That sounds like an absolutely wonderful day, @NotDrowningJustCrowing!

I hope that all is well at hospital, Crowing.

I hope the hospital visit goes well - what a lovely day you had. I like living in beautiful countryside, but I do miss the sea.

I love the idea of planning to see all the Vermeers in the world.

I hope they find nothing, Crows, but I'm glad they're having a good look.

That would be very kind, squeaks, cheers.

Good luck at the hospital Crowing.

I am up ridiculously early (ok before 7am which is early by my standards) and in the bath with my iPad. I am mostly packed and ready to go, except for electronics. Half my suitcase is full of things I wanted to give the kids at Christmas but my son didn't make it here then, so I shall have a lightweight suitcase on the way home unless I commit extravagant shopping.

Have a great trip, @Britinme ! xx

Fingers crossed for a good hospital visit, @NotDrowningJustCrowing

And wishing you a safe trip @Britinme

Also, my half-arsed investigation of a Vermeer related Amsterdam trip made me realise how little I got to grips with what’s where in Amsterdam despite several trips there with big groups of students.

Yes, same from me!!

My son just messaged me with a photo link: Woman arrested for making bomb threats in Oxford (US, not UK), and there's the usual, bearded grinning prick in the mugshot. So obv the chat we had at the weekend paid off. 🙂 As I just said to him, how fucked up is it that he's a 'woman', but actual women are 'people who menstruate'?

Hope all goes well, Crows.

Safe trip, @Britinme, and I hope you have a lovely time with your family!

Thanks all, I'm sure it will. About to be sensible and figure out my route!

I have made and cooked my “best in the world” beefburgers. Not just my opinion, either.

I’ve spent small fortunes on very meh burgers in restaurants and pubs. One I paid £15 for in a pub was disgusting, tasted more like ham than beef, like a £1 pack of 4 burgers from Iceland, honestly. Of course I said nothing at the time, but when my former lodger was briefly employed in that pub I mentioned it to her, and she confirmed they were indeed 25p frozen burgers from Iceland. Now when I order a burger I interrogate the waiter - “are they really beef? Made on site? Because I’ve been served cheap frozen ham ones before now, you know. I know what beef tastes like.” Even if they usually use 25p frozen ones, they make proper ones for me.