tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34921025683080639542024-03-13T10:41:42.349-07:00Ministry Of Kindred InformationLarkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.comBlogger145125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-41846457049073700542014-06-16T08:08:00.001-07:002014-06-16T10:07:53.676-07:00Cats, Death and CreativityLast month, I was asked to take part in a symposium Art after Death, organised on behalf of the Royal Academy by artist and pal John Lawrence. Held in Highgate Cemetery and Lauderdale house, the days events discussed all matters of art and death, from the Danse Macabre to how to dispose of bodies and I've attached the notes with some images of my contribution...<br />
<i style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></i>
<i style="line-height: 150%;">1989
, Nottingham nine years after the completion and full use of the MRI
scanner, Pushkin a black and white short haired domestic cat passed
away. On asking where we were taking the body of my first childhood
pet, my father (a neurosurgeon and researcher on the MRI team)
replied, "to the hospital so we could look at his brain”.</i><br />
<i style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></i>
<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lvjjFFltZqg/U58BvAlWmDI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/W_U_mIpzO0I/s1600/1MRI.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lvjjFFltZqg/U58BvAlWmDI/AAAAAAAAA8Q/W_U_mIpzO0I/s1600/1MRI.jpg" height="320" width="256" /></a></div>
<i style="line-height: 150%;">The
thought that my first feline friends brain was helping further the
knowledge of 3d imaging, did help soften the blow of his death, and
apparently his brain is still in the re-refrigerated archives of the
Queens Medical Centre to this day.</i></div>
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<i><br />
</i></div>
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<i>In
retrospect this moment makes sense, as being a starting point of an interest with cats and horror, which was then perfectly
encapsulated in Stephen King's 'Pet Cemetery', released later that
year. In the film, the family cat Winston Churchill is reanimated
after having been buried in an ancient Native American Cairn, which
leads the protagonist to delve deeper into ideas of the living dead.
</i><br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZc62LrKnD8/U58B-tMGuPI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/uUF4BXy65TA/s1600/2PetCemetery.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZZc62LrKnD8/U58B-tMGuPI/AAAAAAAAA8Y/uUF4BXy65TA/s1600/2PetCemetery.jpg" height="192" width="320" /></a></div>
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JOLkh0Q4G94/U58CSb1lg9I/AAAAAAAAA8g/DT1PV2WzEHg/s1600/3Sekhmet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-JOLkh0Q4G94/U58CSb1lg9I/AAAAAAAAA8g/DT1PV2WzEHg/s1600/3Sekhmet.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a><i style="line-height: 150%;">Holding
great spiritual significance to the Egyptians, historically the cat
represented sacred union with the cat headed goddesses Sekhemet and
Bast, the war faring mothers of Egypt whose breath formed the desert
and to whom cats where mummified at death. They remained sacred to
both the Greeks and Romans protected by Diana the goddess of the hunt,
Hecate of the underworld and later the magical cults of Isis. The
Romans adopted the cat as a sign of liberty, although legend has it
that the Roman- Egyptian feud began when a Roman soldier,
accidentally killed a cat, and was lynched in the street by an
enraged mob, sparking the wars.</i><br />
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<i>It
would seem however that most of cat folklore, comes about from them
being divine representations of both the Sun and the Moon, both male
and female. This led to a mass of beliefs that cats could walk
between this world and the next, knowing the secrets of the
underworld, resulting in the superstitions of their mind bending
sixth sense and as them being both bearers of good and bad luck.
Their abilities extraordinary, and were relied upon on ships to
predict the weather, they could heal those bitten by asps, could fly
on broomsticks, and will never sit on your lap when you want them to.</i></div>
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<i>In
2010 in Dorset one cat persistently boarded a bus daily clocking up
around 20 000 miles over a four year period, and in the studio
ghibli animation My Neighbour Totoro, a cat is a bus, complete with
windows, seats and a huge grin.
</i><br />
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<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Cosmically,
aside from the insane amount of photoshopped cats in space wallpapers
that can be found online, the cat has also help advance discovery of
the unknown. On October 18, 1963, the French space programme CERMA
launched Félicette the cat aboard Veronique rocket No. 47.
Félicette was recovered alive after a 15 minute flight and a decent
by parachute in good health, luckily as originally another cat Felix
thad been chosen to undertake the mission, but escaped before the
launch.</span></span></i><br />
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<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5Q6Ox2kabM/U58DnpkKP5I/AAAAAAAAA8s/Tl8noP-VuAs/s1600/Felicette.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K5Q6Ox2kabM/U58DnpkKP5I/AAAAAAAAA8s/Tl8noP-VuAs/s1600/Felicette.jpg" height="217" width="320" /></a></span></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #252525;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Highgate
Cemetery resident Douglas Adams' also puts a cat in the cosmos in A
</span></span></span><span style="color: black;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Hitchhikers
Guide to the Galaxy, as a companion to The Ruler Of The Universe,
who names the cat 'The Lord' and constantly contemplates the cats
existence.</span></span></span></i></div>
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<i><br /></i>
<i>Pretty
much sacred until the middle ages, cats soon became synonymous with
witchcraft and the devil undermining the foundations of the church.
Alongside the witch hunts of the 15<sup>th</sup>
and 16<sup>th</sup>
centuries, cats were burned as familiars and evil spirits resulting
in an overall decline in the feline population. During the same time
period, there are also numerous accounts of cats and other animals
being put to trial by either governmental or religious systems, as
written by Edward Payson Evans in his book “<span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">The
Criminal Prosecution and Capital Punishment of Animals” published
1906.</span></span></span><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">
In his book, Parson recounts a richly researched history of animals
put to the bench, notably</span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
charges lodged against a cow by the Parliament of Paris in 1546 and a
20th-century conviction of a Swiss dog for murder, reported in
the </span></span></span><cite><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">New
York Herald</span></span></span></cite><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"> </span></span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
same year the book came out. In the book an image from 1554, depicts
a cat dressed as a priest and hung by protestants at Cheapside for
the wrongs of the catholic church. </span></span></span>
</i></div>
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<i><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></i>
<i><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Usually</span></span></span>
however, the cats use as rat deterrents was not to be undervalued and
they were ubiquitous throughout London, at least as early as the 13<sup>th</sup>
century, with Cateaton street being named in their honour. Now
Gresham St running from Moorgate to St Martins le Grand, Cateaton St
was testament to the cities love of the animal and by the end of the
19<sup>th</sup> century there were estimated to be some three
quarters of a million cats in London. Dickens even commentated that
the cats took on the characteristics of the people among whom they
lived quoting “they leave their young families to stagger about the
gutters, unassisted, while they frouzily quarrel and swear and
scratch and spit at street corners.”
</i><br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zRZHX5dJRgs/U58D5wYl6eI/AAAAAAAAA80/dDRfsVzLPFw/s1600/6Dick+Whittington's+cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-zRZHX5dJRgs/U58D5wYl6eI/AAAAAAAAA80/dDRfsVzLPFw/s1600/6Dick+Whittington's+cat.jpg" height="320" width="224" /></a></div>
<i style="line-height: 150%;">In
Britain on the whole, cats were seen as good luck with many believing
they could protect a home or building from malevolent forces or in
Dick Whittington's case make you rich. Whittington's cat who is
immortalised on the Highgate milestone, was allegedly mummified and
formerly displayed in the Church of St Michael Royal, on college
hill. Although the church was originally founded by the four time
Mayor, it had been rebuilt in 1687, before being bombed in the second
world war. During its repair a mummified cat was found in a sealed
passage under the roof, and immediately declared Whittington's,
placed in a glass case near the church door, and was subsequently
stolen, it's whereabouts now unknown. The legend has it, the curious
cat and sound of London bells led Whittington to turn back to a
London paved with gold, however his auspicious cat companion was
more likely to be Whittington’s ship, which was full of coal with
which he could trade and make his fortune.</i><br />
<i style="line-height: 150%;"><br /></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o6nieLNaU04/U58EFMYrLJI/AAAAAAAAA88/0CkJs8b1l9s/s1600/7oscarthecat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-o6nieLNaU04/U58EFMYrLJI/AAAAAAAAA88/0CkJs8b1l9s/s1600/7oscarthecat.jpg" height="240" width="320" /></a><i style="line-height: 150%;">Since
2007 Oscar, a therapy cat in a end stage dementia centre in Rhode
Island has predicted over 50 deaths, 25 consecutively giving him (at
that point a 100% accuracy.) Oscar came to public attention when the
resident geriatrician wrote an article for the New England Medical
Journal. Oscar was one of six adopted kittens in the animal friendly
centre, where using his sixth sense he would do his rounds and curl
up with certain patients who would inevitably pass away within hours
of his arrival. His accuracy has led to a new protocol within the
unit, where if he is discovered sleeping with a patient the staff
will notify the family of the patients imminent death.</i><br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jwy6XQ0irfk/U58EFEcgVKI/AAAAAAAAA9A/mWStJuZVOIQ/s1600/8amazing-cat-oscar-predicts-death.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-jwy6XQ0irfk/U58EFEcgVKI/AAAAAAAAA9A/mWStJuZVOIQ/s1600/8amazing-cat-oscar-predicts-death.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
<i style="line-height: 150%;">So
with their nine lives and sixth sense it would seem apt that cats
could predict death, but recent studies have also drawn lights on
cats ability to spread disease, most recently, the first cat to
human transaction of tubercolosis as well as the documented threat
of toxoplasmosis carried in cats faeces.<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I n
recent studies at the University of Leeds, </span><span style="color: #070809;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Scientists
have discovered how the toxoplasmosis parasite may trigger the
development of schizophrenia and other bipolar disorders. </span></span></i><i style="color: #070809; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">They
have shown that the parasite may play a role in the development of
these disorders by affecting the production of dopamine - the
chemical that relays messages in the brain controlling aspects of
movement, cognition, behavior. Dopamine is also the pleasure inducing
chemical, which is specifically produced when humans act apon the
most cat like of behaviors, curiosity.</i><br />
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<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pBjC1DWEQt8/U58EhE-CtWI/AAAAAAAAA9M/Mo1ONzqYU5c/s1600/9cheshire_cat.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pBjC1DWEQt8/U58EhE-CtWI/AAAAAAAAA9M/Mo1ONzqYU5c/s1600/9cheshire_cat.jpg" height="320" width="247" /></a><i><br /></i><i style="color: #070809; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">So
unlike the saying, curiosity may not have killed the cat, and in
Stephen Kings's words</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: #333333;">“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">Curiosity
killed the cat, but satisfaction brought it back”.</span></span></span></i><br />
<i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: #070809;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">In
the human brain</span></span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">
curiosity is treated much like other pleasurable activities like
eating. When we actively pursue the curious, we are rewarded with a
flood of the pleasure-inducing dopamine and are therefore rewarded
for doing so. Increased dopamine levels have also been linked to
increased creativity, pattern seeking (apophenia), and intriguingly visions and
paranormal experiences.</span></span></span></i></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Perhaps
the more curious you are the more likely you are to find. </span></span>
</i><br />
<i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></i></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">
<span style="color: #333333;"><i>“<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Curiouser
and curiouser” said Alice, when she had gone down the down the
looking glass, “as this time it vanished beginning with the end of
it's tail and ending with its grin” of her meeting with the
Cheshire Cat.</span></i></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><i><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></i></span></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Foucault
links, curiosity and creativity as a fundamental “concern” about
ones surroundings, evoking </span></span>
</i></div>
<div style="line-height: 150%;">
<i><span style="color: #333333;">“</span><span style="color: #222222;">
<span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;">the
care one takes for what exists and could exist; a readiness to find
strange and singular what surrounds us; a certain relentlessness to
break up our familiarities and to regard otherwise the same things; a
fervour to grasp what is happening and what passes; a casualness in
regard to the traditional hierarchies of the important and the
essential.”</span></span><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /></span></span></span></span></i><i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><br /></span></span></i><br />
<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">He
states in The Masked Philosopher, </span></span></i><i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #333333;">“</span><span style="color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">I
dream of a new age of curiosity. We have the technical means for it;
the desire is there; the things to be known are infinite”</span></span></i></div>
<div style="font-weight: normal; line-height: 150%;">
<i><br /></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Highgate
Cemetery and it's surrounding areas have been the subject of many a
curious expedition as well as the inspiration for much of North
London's dopamine high countercultural activity. The pioneering
British producer and writer of the hit Tornadoes single Telstar Joe
Meek, had his studio on nearby Holloway Road, and an obsession with
the supernatural, often hauling cumbersome tape decks into the
graveyard to try to record voices from the hereafter. Although
selling over 5 million singles worldwide, Telstar's success was not
enough to combat a string of bad decisions, Meek's hidden sexuality
and a volatile temper, and a increasing delusional Meek shot both
himself and his landlady in 1967.</i><br />
<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span><i style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;"></i>
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</div>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
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<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>British
industrial new wave duo Cosey and Chris of Throbbing Gristle fame,
used the cemetery as a backdrop to their 1982 album Trance, and of
course there was the infamous incidents that made the news of grave
digging in the 1970's. </i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEriZ6mqOZo/U58F09BistI/AAAAAAAAA9w/0JKgIUTQXoA/s1600/11LouisWainCats_0010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEriZ6mqOZo/U58F09BistI/AAAAAAAAA9w/0JKgIUTQXoA/s1600/11LouisWainCats_0010.jpg" height="320" width="257" /></a><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i></i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>But the area and graveyard was also home to
many forward thinkers and artists. Louis Wain the famous British cat
painter lived in Hampstead. A well loved illustrator, Wain,
anthropomorphised the feline species into cards players, beach waders
and tea party goers, before suffering from mental illness, to which
some posit a toxoplasmosis induced schizophrenia. His later work
carried out whilst in the Bethlam hospital, is some of the most
beautiful examples of “outsider” or psychedelic artwork,
depicting wide eyed abstractions of cats in kaleidoscopic colour
ways. It is worth a mention that whilst on nursing training at the hospital my Grandma had the pleasure of meeting Louis Wain, whom she cared for on several occasions.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i>As H G Wells quoted “He has made the cat his own. He invented
a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do
not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves."
Catland sometimes Pussydom was a land where cats reigned supreme, and
was an avenue for Wain's unusual theories such as, a cat washed not
only to clean itself, but to complete an electrical circuit, for by
doing so it generates heat and therefore a pleasing sensation”.</i></span></span><br />
<span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;"><i><br /></i></span></span>
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<i style="line-height: 150%;"><span style="color: #333333;"><span style="font-family: Times New Roman, serif;">Another
local character of curious thoughts, Alfred Richard Orage lived and
is buried in Hampstead. Orage was a british intellectual at the epi
centre of modernist culture who popularised the work of early
20th century mystics George Gurdjieff and Peter Ouspensky, through
his progressive journal, The New Age from 1907 to 1924. Through his
spiritual teaching Gurdieff, taught that most people exist in a state
of 'waking sleep' unfulfilling their human potential. It could be
possible to transcend this hypnotic state and awaken ones potential
through his method The Work or The Fourth way. A R Orage was
instrumental in forging these ideas of self development and
intellectual, creative and emotional harmony with the British avant
garde and coined and defined a a global movement which was to expand
future minds with a potent combination of mysticism, self-discovery,
humanitarian politics, blissed out pan pipes,environmental concerns,
and the embrace of technology, subjects of which all have been an
inspiration and continue to be an inspiration to artists and
musicians alike.</span></span></i></div>
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<i><br /></i><i style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman', serif; line-height: 150%;">Hopefully,
this has made you curious enough about the area but there is one
reason, why Highgate Cemetery is significant and as we started with a
death of one of my cats, we will also end on one. Enid, a pretty black and white cat was sadly killed by a dog on our estate in Kentish Town. After receiving her ashes, a neighbour offered to give her a fitting 'sending off', what we did not know was that the neighbours brother was a grave digger for Highgate Cemetery. Swiftly Enid's ashes were taken and buried somewhere very close to where we are standing equidistant from Marx and Malcolm Mclaren.</i><br />
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* I apologise for any mistakes, however since the talk, in a horrid twist of fate our current cat Ernie has gone missing, so I dedicate this post to him wherever he may be.<br />
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Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-89610344028839022612014-01-03T08:19:00.003-08:002014-01-03T08:20:43.711-08:00Gone to Pot<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WSCsRkjgG9U/UsbhbD9Lv9I/AAAAAAAAA7w/ypJys8CS29g/s1600/url-1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-WSCsRkjgG9U/UsbhbD9Lv9I/AAAAAAAAA7w/ypJys8CS29g/s320/url-1.jpg" width="315" /></a><br />
One of the reasons blogging has fallen to the wayside is my current obsession with pottery and ceramics. I found out recently that Peter Whitehead, director, writer, falconer was also a potter, and took it up after a life threatening heart operation. He says in this <a href="http://www.thestickingplace.com/film/films/in-the-beginning-was-the-image/articles/going-to-pot/">interview</a> that an obsession with an urn for his ashes led him to make his own ceramics, and in his own words saved his life. It's worth a read, and here a picture of him and <i>Tonite lets all make love in London</i> 1967.<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-68629826478460787552014-01-03T07:32:00.000-08:002014-01-03T07:32:01.184-08:00Paul Sharits N:O:T:H:I:N:G 1968<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/jbe3wo3s894" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-45768065501319748102014-01-03T07:29:00.000-08:002014-01-03T07:29:14.792-08:00Searching for BohemiaWe're thinking of moving to Hastings and in the endless discussions about whether or not to this was sent to me.
Of course we are going to now...
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Happy New Year, lets hope there's more posts in 2014 than in 2013...
Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-20966658838629089122013-07-21T09:23:00.002-07:002013-07-21T09:23:37.687-07:00Revealing the Mind Bender GeneralA new ghost story <a href="http://www.franktallis.com/sleeproom.htm">The Sleep Room</a>, by F.R. Tallis, has brought to light the actions of William Sargant, one of Britain's most controversial psychiatrists. Sargant was a major advocate in the use of psychosurgery, deep sleep treatment, electroconvulsive therapy and insulin shock therapy. In his Sleep Room in Waterloo Hospital patients were induced to sleep for months on end, whilst experiencing electro therapy amongst other treatments. In Sargant's words,
"All sorts of treatment can be given while the patient is kept sleeping, including a variety of drugs and ECT [which] together generally induce considerable memory loss for the period under narcosis. As a rule the patient does not know how long he has been asleep, or what treatment, even including ECT, he has been given. Under sleep ... one can now give many kinds of physical treatment, necessary, but often not easily tolerated. We may be seeing here a new exciting beginning in psychiatry and the possibility of a treatment era such as followed the introduction of anaesthesia in surgery"
Although held in high regard at the time (1948), deaths within The Sleep Room and controversy surrounding the outcomes of treatment have thrown Sargant in obscurity. Some patients, recalled relief and better health, but many (mainly women) spoke of permanent memory loss and the shattering effects of such extreme treatments. The loss of all documents in relation to the Sleep Room, has led to many theories that Sargant was working on behalf of the CIA's MKUltra Project, a covert research operation experimenting in the behavioural engineering of humans (mind control). Sargant's links with the British Secret Service, may have also pointed towards mind control research however there is no evidence to suggest so.
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-29781116263923059652013-01-21T03:37:00.003-08:002013-01-21T03:37:57.335-08:00Inventions for RadioAmazing collaboration between Delia Derbyshire and Barry Bermange aired between 1964-65 for the BBC's Third Programme.<br />
Here are two of the four one, The Dreams and the other Amor Dei - Conceptions of God.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/oLxbZv_yNFE?rel=0" width="420"></iframe>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-86537978110893085202013-01-18T04:47:00.001-08:002013-01-18T04:47:27.693-08:00Where it all began...A massive advocate of cat related films, a friend passed this on as the first cat film ever...<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-72614711199575729292013-01-18T04:25:00.001-08:002013-01-18T04:25:22.308-08:00ITVJust come across the new ITV logo.....ummmm.....Anyway here's a visual history of the changes of the central region idents from ABC to ITV as we know it now...<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-40888963828341378322013-01-16T09:19:00.001-08:002013-01-16T09:19:52.569-08:00Witch of Kings Cross1960's Sydney sure does look hip - with the super chic Rosaline Norton<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_3EbZFy4XJM?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-26145670107680967622013-01-16T08:43:00.004-08:002013-01-16T08:43:58.022-08:00West Sussex SanctuaryIt has been some time since I last posted... And in that time we have moved from the belly of the beast (London) and found ourselves in the West Sussex outpost of Bexley Hill.<br />
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Aside from being very pretty and remote, I have just settled down to do a bit of research on any oddities that are hidden around me...<br />
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Obvious ones, would be Chanctonbury and Cissbury Rings, but on the way to both, you pass through a little village called Washington.<br />
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Here in the 1922, the daughter of a wealthy textile magnate bought 50 acres of land and began a community where class structures were banished and all could find themselves in a 'Back to the Land' movement, away from the increasingly materialistic and industrialised world.<br />
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All that it left now is a small structure containing a potted history of The Sanctuary, later known as Sleepy Hollow. <br />
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Not unlike the beginnings of The Findhorn Community (which in contrast was a huge success), each family was given a plot of land to live and grow vegetables, water being drawn from a well or rain collecting tanks. Cottage based practices were carried out, weaving, spinning, basketry.<br />
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Vera Pragnell the founder of the commune was a disciple of Edward Carpenter and carried with her an anti-capitalist vision, which as injected into her vision for The Sanctuary. Standing on 'Speakers Corner' in 1920 she spread the word of 'The Good Life' to struggling Londoners, drawing 40 families to the West Sussex Village. Later rumour spread that the commune allowed the practice of witchcraft and free love, the elders died and new generations sold off land, or began to privatise their settlements. Other than the shack, a few place names are left...Vera's Walk and Bohemia Row.Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-58264356255073710102012-11-26T08:09:00.003-08:002012-11-26T08:09:51.821-08:00Our Day Out 1977<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Great story written by Willy Russell of <i>Educating Rita</i> and <i>Shirley Valentine</i> fame, about a group of deprived liverpudlian school children who go out on a day trip. Any one hunting down all the Play for Today's will want to see this one as it was re aired in '78 for the series before being turned into a stage production.
Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-41262679567520454632012-09-21T08:51:00.002-07:002012-09-21T08:51:27.123-07:00RIP Our King of Sexploitation Stanley Long and a great Norman J warrenI recently found out about the death of Stanley Long, British exploitation and naughty movie maker. His work has spanned most of the British sex film industry, working with many to be stars including (much to her attempt to hide it) Elaine Paige. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/stanley-long-film-director-who-was-described-by-the-sun-as-the-king-of-sexploitation-8142922.html">Here's a good obituary</a>. Long's death reminded me of another director Norman J Warren, and his amazing film Prey (1977). Here are some stills of the crackers but brilliant sci-fi film, which has an amazing performance from Sally Faulkner as a man hating lesbian psychopath who has to deal with an out of space cat man intent of ridding earth of humans.
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Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-33720071848629752142012-09-17T08:30:00.002-07:002012-09-17T08:30:16.798-07:00Bunti's Picture Show - Ian WardIn in attempt for a life less ordinary Ian Ward, heavily influenced by the space age and the American car industry began to design his very own automobiles, a heady mix of opulent Hollywood and Watford suburbia. As his skills grew the automobiles became more architectural, platforms held up by doric columns and curly civic water features. These in turn progressed to more free forms held together in symmetry - these dream machines very reminiscent of Louis Wain and mandalas. Well worth a visit to the Horse Hospital to see these - on until the 29th
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Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-80682157177679530752012-09-17T02:21:00.000-07:002012-09-17T02:22:26.639-07:00Bye Bye Kentish TownSoon we will be leaving Kentish Town, and London at that. To commemorate here are a couple if songs and videos that sum up K Town life. The block in the Madness video is actually our one as Suggs's mum lived here, and <i>Only Love Can Break Your Heart</i> is filmed in Kentish Town, Gospel Oak and the Lido down the road...Ta ta for now.<br />
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<iframe width="400" height="300" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/GJ2X9SANsME" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-68760498529838254852012-09-07T03:52:00.001-07:002012-09-07T03:52:03.475-07:00Kurt Rowland and Elwyn S. RichardsonI found these two in Oxfam in Bristol - so great.<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-63545811874556795532012-08-16T04:15:00.000-07:002012-08-16T04:15:45.197-07:00Museum of Endangered SoundsA <a href="http://savethesounds.info/">nice archive of dying sounds</a>...<br />
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Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-60044723092109912492012-07-26T08:58:00.002-07:002012-07-26T09:02:28.525-07:00Local Network Audio<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Alex, who has been roped into making soundtracks for any video work I have made has pulled together all his audio work and whacked it all into h<a href="http://www.alexcrispin.co.uk/?p=41">is new website</a>...it's very good...But then I would say so! Above are some stills from a multiple monitor work of mine, you can hear the audio on Alex's site.<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-37213709343399706552012-07-26T08:47:00.000-07:002012-07-26T08:47:19.941-07:00Bruce LaceyThis week has been full of Mr Lacey and I am very happy about that.. We went to a screening at the BFI 'In an English Country Garden', and have just got back from visiting his show at <a href="http://www.camdenartscentre.org/">Camden Art's Centre</a> - if you can make it I couldn't recommend it more, it's a great mix of his automaton machines, and ritual aids. The posters for various performances are beautiful. The <a href="http://www.bfi.org.uk/blu-rays-dvds/lacey-rituals-films-bruce-lacey-friends">BFI are releasing a DVD</a> of his films if you cant make the show. <br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-65650718873136661752012-07-19T08:06:00.001-07:002012-07-19T08:06:45.788-07:00Reynolds Stone 1909-1979Anyone that has a British passport will have their own little work of Reynolds Stone. He was a highly noted english wood engraver, engraver, designer, typographer and painter. Throughout his career he designed the the crest on the front of the British passports (The Royal Arms). The famous clock logo for the Times. The Minerva typeface, many stamps, more fonts one fondly named Janet after his wife for private use, the £5 and £10 notes, did the letter cutting for the Winston Churchill memorial as well as the huge art advocate for London Transport Frank Pick. Taught briefly by Eric Gill at the Royal College, he also in later life carved the gravestone for Benjamin Britten! Wow.<br />
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<br />Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-30183164165760929812012-07-19T07:40:00.000-07:002012-07-19T07:43:27.677-07:00Niki de Saint Phalle<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0RZHUf6PQc/UAgbmx_AkOI/AAAAAAAAAyA/Qt5u3A4oWlY/s1600/libro054.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="275" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Q0RZHUf6PQc/UAgbmx_AkOI/AAAAAAAAAyA/Qt5u3A4oWlY/s400/libro054.jpg" width="400" /></a>
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A bunch of images of work by the amazing Nikki de Sainte Phalle as well as some stills from the film Femina Riddens (1969) for which she created the amazing opening legs and the vagina dentata.Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-61233554613928931882012-07-19T07:32:00.001-07:002012-07-19T07:43:36.509-07:00Chagall at All Saint's Tudeley<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3CWBBFyhRIA/UAgX3JbLsOI/AAAAAAAAAwE/cGnkzpNoPQw/s1600/photo2.JPG" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3CWBBFyhRIA/UAgX3JbLsOI/AAAAAAAAAwE/cGnkzpNoPQw/s400/photo2.JPG" width="300" /></a>
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At the weekend we visited the only church in Europe that has had all it's stain glass windows designed by the Russian artist Marc Chagall.
One of the windows was commissioned as a memorial window to a girl and friend who died in a sailing accident off the Rye coast, and depicts an image of her ascension to the after life. Well worth a visit if you find yourself around Tonbridge.Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-25762105932332669682012-07-01T12:26:00.000-07:002012-07-01T12:26:06.896-07:00Woman's Hour 7 - Street Beat<iframe width="100%" height="166" scrolling="no" frameborder="no" src="http://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F51429681&show_artwork=true"></iframe>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-90952368952278026022012-06-06T06:32:00.000-07:002012-06-06T06:32:13.287-07:00NeighboursI have just been making my way through The story of Film programme that was aired on More 4, amongst some amazing things came <i>Neighbours</i>, a Norman McLaren film from 1952 which I had not seen but is very well known. Picasso was a big fan of this.
<embed id=VideoPlayback src=http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=2976945051371832639&hl=en&fs=true style=width:400px;height:326px allowFullScreen=true allowScriptAccess=always type=application/x-shockwave-flash> </embed>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-7490636019925777892012-05-01T04:47:00.001-07:002012-05-01T04:47:01.995-07:00Beltane New FollowerHappy Beltane!<br />
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As a may giving here is Baron's new video for New Follower..a splendid ambiguous rural ritual.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="233" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/4gwrZq4Q70k" width="400"></iframe>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3492102568308063954.post-33392012606375598082012-04-24T01:36:00.002-07:002012-04-24T02:01:14.497-07:00Mass Trespass 1932<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uv86x3lYA-Y/T5ZryWRD2uI/AAAAAAAAAvU/R2gcBnRAkDI/s1600/bowdenbridge01.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 306px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-uv86x3lYA-Y/T5ZryWRD2uI/AAAAAAAAAvU/R2gcBnRAkDI/s400/bowdenbridge01.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5734889688217672418" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujow0JsofQs/T5Zrx5YE4PI/AAAAAAAAAvI/hKMD5otlxDo/s1600/bowdenbridge02.jpeg"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 285px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ujow0JsofQs/T5Zrx5YE4PI/AAAAAAAAAvI/hKMD5otlxDo/s400/bowdenbridge02.jpeg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5734889680462471410" /></a><br /><span ><span>Today is the an</span>niversary of the Mass Trespass at Kinder Scout, in the Peak District, Derbyshire. Before this date walkers were denied access to open land, the trespass acting as a protest against the landowners and gamekeepers claiming ramblers would ruin vegetation and pollute water supplies. The 1932 trespass dawned the Ramblers Association which culminated in the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000, which legislates rights to walk on mapped access land. </span><div><span ><br /></span></div><div><span >The debates are far from over and this year <span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">Leaders of the National TRust</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">, R</span>amblers<span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); "> and the Open Spaces Society</span><span style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); line-height: 18px; text-align: -webkit-auto; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); ">, which was founded in 1865 to protect common land, are expected to fire up an opening rally at Edale with warnings about the potential effects of new planning laws and the slow progress of mapping most lowland areas for open access. Although I find issues with both new planning and conservation problematic, the "right to roam"to open land seems a fundamental right...here is another interesting article regarding the<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/jul/28/localism-bill-sacrifice-countryside-market"> Localism Bill</a> from the Guardian.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span ><span style="line-height: 18px;"><br /></span></span></div>Larkinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16635321889042930086noreply@blogger.com0