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NamibiaDiaz Point14.03.2010. You drive to the end of the world, turn left, and continue — passing a forbidden territory larger than some countries, a pack of wild horses, a fortune in diamonds, and a barren, rocky, colourless landscape reminiscent of the surface of the Moon. read more The Parliament of South AfricaThe State Opening of Parliament14.03.2010. The State Opening of Parliament has always been an occasion of great ceremony, most especially so on the one occasion when the King of South Africa himself was actually present. There’s an unspoken contest among female MPs and MPs’ wives to wear the most daring or arresting hat to the State Opening, and tribal leaders often attend in traditional dress. read more Long IslandA little dilapidation goes a long way11.03.2010. The government of Nassau have managed to maintain Chelsea and its grounds at exactly the appropriate level: not plastering over every crack to make it ‘good-as-new’, nor neglecting it so it becomes structurally unsound, but rather allowing it to develop and age naturally. read more Errant ThoughtsHollandic Heraldry14.03.2010. The Eden Spiekermann group developed this logotype for the Dutch province of North Holland. read more The Abolition of Humour12.03.2010. Police Inspector Blog documents how, in Britain today, “you can be arrested for pinching a few crisps from a schoolfriend, throwing cream cakes or denying the existence of Santa Claus – while burglars, muggers and drug dealers go about their business unmolested.” read more Song & Merriment on Lake Garda’s Shores03.03.2010. The Roman Forum has released the daily program of this year’s Summer Symposium taking place at Gardone on Lake Garda in Italy. What a host of subjects covered! read more UgandaThe Informal and the Formal
11.03.2010. In January 1986, rebel forces seized the Ugandan capital of Kampala and the second Obote presidency collapsed. The old emperor had fled, and the apparatus of state hailed the new emperor as their own. Yoweri Museveni, Holy Writ in hand and guided by a clerk as the Chief Justice looked on, took the oath of office and formally ascended to the presidency of the nation. read more Nature DiaryA precursor of Springtime09.03.2010. Bescarved and betweeded, I tromped through the fields, greeted by birds singing an unusual tune, perhaps surprised by the lack of late winter’s usual frigidity. Viewing the leafless trees and the lifeless vegetation there is little doubt winter is still definitely upon us. But at least some of our avian friends remain amongst us. read more ArtHans Laagland
05.03.2010. “It does not matter what the artist paints, but how he paints it,” proclaims Hans Laagland. “That is why Rubens is a genius while Picasso’s work is passable. It has been downhill ever since Rubens. What comes after him no longer has any significance.” read more The Parliament of South AfricaThe National Assembly05.03.2010. Despite the longer history behind the original wing of South Africa’s Parliament House, when most people think of Parliament today they think of the 1983 wing that currently houses the National Assembly — designed by the architects Jack van der Lecq and Hannes Meiring in a similar style. read more Malta‘Starchitecture’ Assaults the Stately City
03.03.2010. Renzo Piano — the architect notorious for the Centre Pompidou in Paris — plans to leave his mark on the Maltese capital of Valletta with designs for a gate without a gate, a theatre with no roof, and a brand new parliament on stilts to link the two. read more ArchitectureRouwkoop: An Old Cape Hodgepodge28.02.2010. We can deduce a lot about a power by looking at the structures it erects. The return to neo-classicism under Stalin after the earlier Russian deconstructivist architecture of the 1920s is telling, as is the almost universal adoption of socialist Bauhaus architecture for the headquarters of New York corporations in the post-war period. But we should judge a society not only by what it creates, but also by what it destroys. read more Kaapstad’n Indiese woning in die Moederstad
28.02.2010. Twee versamelaars van suid-Asiatiese kuns het ’n subkontinentale woning in ’n Kaapstadse meenthuis geskep. Die huis was die onderwerp van ’n artikel deur Johan van Zyl in ’n onlangse uitgawe van Visi-tydskrif met hierdie foto’s van Mark Williams. Die algehele effek is ’n bietjie “over the top” vir my, maar die verleiding van die Oriënt sal nooit ophou. lees meer LondonAn Evening at the Travellers Club
24.02.2010. To Clubland, then, for a book launch. Of course the secret about book launches is that they are often enough a convenient excuse to assemble a whole troop of interesting characters together, with the introduction of a newly published volume occupying a secondary (while nonetheless prominent) role. In this, our esteemed hosts Stephen Klimczuk and Gerald Warner of Craigenmaddie, authors of Secret Places, Hidden Sanctuaries, exceeded themselves. read more BreakfastThe Wolseley24.02.2010. Our itineraries only had us both in London for less than twenty-four hours. Sam, now lawyering in his native Lancashire — “Recusant country, Cusack, you’d love it.” — was down in London for a party on Friday night. “How about a coffee Saturday morning before I head back up north?” Why not. “It’d have to be early though.” Blast. How early? “Say… 10 o’clock?” Well, that’s not so bad is it! Where to meet? “The Wolseley, next to the Ritz.” read more IrelandGovernment Buildings, Dublin
22.02.2010. On Upper Merrion Street at the end of Fitzwilliam Lane in Dublin sits a thoroughly Edwardian pile which has been given the thoroughly boring title of ‘Government Buildings’. The city ceased to be a legislative capital in 1800 when the Irish Parliament voted to abolish itself and join the United Kingdom, so government edifices constructed during the nineteenth century lacked the proud stateliness of the Grattan era. read more ArtA Wander Through the V&A
16.02.2010. The Victoria & Albert Museum has been fresh in the minds of many for the re-opening of its Medieval & Renaissance sculpture galleries — that cost over £30 million, took seven years to complete, and which includes ten new display rooms displaying, as the Guardian put it, “a world of ravishing luxury”. read more Art AuctionsOld Master & 19th Century at Christie’s
26.01.2010. Being something of an auction-house dilettante — I last brought you a virtual update from the Dublin bidding chambers — there are a number of works up for grabs in tomorrow’s Old Master & 19th Century Paintings, Drawings, and Watercolors auction at Christie’s here in New York that caught my eye. read more ArchitectureThe Patriarchal Cathedral Basilica of Saint Mark the Evangelist, Venice
26.01.2010. The reason why St. Mark’s is usually referred to as a mere basilica, rather than its higher dignity as a patriarchal cathedral, is because for centuries this was not the seat of the Patriarch of Venice. From the seventh century, the Church of San Pietro di Castello was the cathedral of La Serenissima, while St. Mark’s was the house church of the Doge, the elected duke of the Venetian aristocratic republic. read more Errant ThoughtsBrothers Aboard the Ship of State02.03.2010. Philippe de Villiers is an MEP, sometime French presidential candidate, and head of the Mouvement pour la France but his brother, General Pierre de Villiers, has just been named personal Chief of Staff to the President of the Republic. read more A little lack of logic on Pope Benedict from the Guardian’s John Hooper25.02.2010. The Guardian’s Rome correspondent, John Hooper, has written an informative article about the upcoming beatification of Spanish journalist Manuel Lozano Garrido, but makes a bit of a leap of logic at the end of it. read more The new look of the place22.02.2010. I know, it’s disgraceful. Wasn’t this place just redesigned in November? That was practically yesterday! Still, one is sometimes bitten by a bug and must simply get it out of one’s system without complaining. I hope readers will forgive this recent set of changes. read more Dinner at Chiara’s16.02.2010. “Chiara,” I asked, “How will you ever know whether your friends are truly your friends or if they just love your pumpkin risotto?” “You know,” she replied in her thick Italian accent, “this is a serious problem!” read more Kidnap and Rescue16.02.2010. Followers of Seraphic’s blog will doubtless have read of my Caledonian misadventure, whereby I was kidnapped by the inhabitants of an historic house in East Lothian. read more Question for Cusack?24.01.2010. A long-time reader suggests “If your readers could put any question to you, what do you think they would ask?” Well, I have no clue, but it seemed like an intriguing idea to find out. read more Send a shekel or two24.01.2010. The reader will be happy to note that he owes this blog absolutely nothing. We provide no services nor supply any goods. We merely, like the creatures of old, exist and (God willing) will continue to exist. read more Dino Marcantonio Hath a Blog!24.01.2010. Dino Marcantonio, habitual luncheon companion of your humble & obedient scribe, not to mention frequent commenter upon this little corner of the web, has entered into the realms of blogging himself. You can find his musings on the theory and practice of architecture here. They make for some pretty good reading so far. read more “Nothing between the insulting and the superlative…”20.01.2010. “In the restaurant on the Rue Saint-Augustin, M. Mirande would dazzle his juniors, French and American, by dispatching a lunch of raw Bayonne ham and fresh figs, a hot sausage in crust, spindles of filleted pike in a rich rose sauce Nantua, a leg of lamb larded with anchovies, artichokes on a pedestal of foie gras, and four or five kinds of cheese, with a good bottle of Bordeaux and one of champagne, after which he would call for the Armagnac and remind Madame to have ready for dinner the larks and ortolans she had promised him…” read more Early Morning, Madison Square13.01.2010. Charles Courtney Curran, Early Morning, Madison Square Haiti13.01.2010. Readers will by now have doubtless heard of the immense devastation that has been wreaked upon Haiti by yesterday’s earthquake. read more Brother Ursus of Blackfriars, Oxford08.01.2010. Left, contemplating the winter snow. Right, contemplating how the deuce a bear of his particular stature can light the Easter candle. read more The Roman Forum30.12.2009. Over at The Hermeneutic of Continuity, Fr. Finigan points out the website of the Roman Forum, which (as it happens) was recently renovated by none other than yours truly. The Roman Forum is an excellent institution which organizes a church history lecture series here in New York, special colloquia such its renowned Summer Symposium every year at Gardone on Lake Garda in Italy. read more Stefan Beck Online21.12.2009. Fans, foes, and other followers of that favoured son of Granby, Mr. Stefan M. Beck, can track his hoots, wails, and whinnies at this new locale. The site archives a number of Stefan’s writings as well as containing his food blog, where, most recently, you can investigate the Ulster fry. read more Click here for Blog Index »
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AboutMore or less, the musings of a 25-year-old New Yorker, a graduate of the University of St Andrews in Scotland, with a brief residence in South Africa. [more]DonateClick here to make a financial contribution towards the expense of maintaining andrewcusack.com.Remembrances
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