Archives for February 2020

Vincent Van Gogh

27/02/2020 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

There are so many biographies of Vincent Van Gogh to read and to view that no one item provides all the detail. An interesting one is that found on the www.vincentvangogh.org website which also gives you a link to the documentary on Van Gogh and also refers to Kirk Douglas’s movie on Vincent.

We also refer to Don Mclean’s song ‘Vincent’ which also is an overview of his life in a very poignant set of words:

New things are always being discovered (!) about Vincent, and in April of last year (2019) Martin Bailey in his book \Living with Vincent, wrote that Vincent’s muse (Sien Hoornik) had killed herself and did so within a fortnight of her late lover having an exhibition in her home town of Rotterdam. [The Times: Book gives new clue in mystery of Van Gogh muse’s death

As a writer and also an aspiring artist, reading about other artists is both enthralling and enlightening. My local theatre regularly shows wonderful documentaries about people from history and the arts, and I always make an effort to go to these showings; however, the take-up by others is very low! Often in a theatre of 250 seats, only 10-15 are taken up!

I was loucky last year to see the Vincent Van Gogh exhibition in the Tate Britain, which ran from 27 March – 11 August 2019. There were over 50 works, and the exhibition revealed how he was inspired by Britain and how he inspired British artists.

Here is a wonderful slideshow of some of Vincent’s wonderful art:

I hope you have enjoyed the introduction to Vincent, a genius in so many ways, and also the links to other items about.

Tom of Finland

26/02/2020 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Tom of Finland

Queens Film Theatre (QFT) – 11 August 2017

August 2017 and the QFT (Queen’s Film Theatre, Belfast) showed two completely different films on LGBTQ experiences – namely ‘Tom of Finland’ and ‘Britain on Film: LGBT Britain’

Tom of Finland

Tom of Finland is an award-winning film by film-maker Dome Karukwsi who has brought to the screen the life and work of Tuoko Laaksonen. Toko served his country during the 2nd World War but upon his return to Helsinki discovered a town rampant with homophobic persecution (like a lot of the world). He found work as an advertising artist but in private sought refuge in his ‘art’ which specialised in homoerotic drawings of muscular men. The story revolves around his life in Helsinki and to a degree being in the closet, and that of being persuaded to follow his dreams and this led to his work being printed and promoted in the USA. For a generation, his art became the emblem of freedom and helped fan the flames of a gay revolution.

Britain on Film: LGBT Britain

Britain on Film: LGBT Britain is like a gallery of snip-its of films spanning 1909 to 1994, and seeks to document a century(or thereabouts) in which homosexuality went from crime to pride.

It highlights courageous activism, the change of attitudes of communities to LGBT people, whilst the greater community was itself going through tumultuous explosive social change.

This film provides a window into that period, but in a film which lasts only 1 hour 20 minutes, it cannot hope to provide answers for those of us who like depth and quality. What it does do is provide a signpost to those who want to do follow-up research starting points. Areas to start, names, events to look at.

As an adjunct to the film possibly a website with the timeline of the events and films with links to resources would be the next natural step for the producer or researchers who supported the production.

Educating the masses…

26/02/2020 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

On April 11, 2019 I read a very telling article ‘We always have to fundraise for school essentials‘. This article was in the Metro newspaper and highlighted how so many schools in the United Kingdom, must beg parents for money to make ends meet…

Spsonored Read

Sponsored Read

The article described how they did a sponsored read, which meant that by teaming up with Usborne Books it was able to add to the school library; or on another day how they had a cake sale to raise money towards a wish list. Each year there seems to be new areas of concern, new fundraising challenges, and yet according to our politicians, we have never had it so good!

Sylvia Pankhurst

In 1918 Sylvia Pankhurst, wrote a paper

Education of the Masses

And whilst some of the contents of the article seem a little dated now, the underlying premise of ensuring the right number of teachers, to the right number of students combined with the right premises and facilities still rings true…

‘“The funds of the National and British schools are utterly insufficient to enable the Committees of management to instruct a sufficient number of teachers.’

In Yvonne Roberts article published in the Guardian [27/10/2018], she quoted the latest Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) publication which said that the poorest pupils in this country were more unhappy and discouraged than in any other developed country bar Turkey.

… Fewer than one in six feel resilient, satisfied with their lives and integrated at school…

There have been so many “initiatives” within the education department(s) that it has become a laughingstock; if it wasn’t so important to our children’s future, and that of the country I also would be laughing!

The Edge Foundation states… We are living through a unique period in which three fundamental factors are affecting our economy and society at the same time – skills shortages, Brexit and the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This chapter looks at each in turn before examining what they mean for the skills and behaviours we need young people to develop…

… The government’s suite of education policies aim to tackle the challenges of Twenty-First Century education by turning the clock back to the Nineteenth Century – a narrow knowledge-focused academic curriculum taught in a traditional manner to prepare young people for exams based on rote learning. This is at odds with giving young people the broad skills they need for future life and work before the age of 16, while post-16 apprenticeship numbers have fallen fast and T-levels are narrowly defined and lagging in delivery….

Our politicians need to get real…

Our politicians need to get real; they need to understand that they are creating [if not already created] and underclass who feel disenfranchised, disconnected from society, and in consequence feel little warmth to those who have, whilst they have not!

Until we address the imbalance between those who have and those who have not, until we address the imbalance shown within a political system which favours those with money [and therefore power] and those who have no money {and, therefore, no power], we as a society will continue to devolve, spiralling ever more down into the abyss.