DEMOCRACY WINS!

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, welcome to the world stage. May you bring some light and hope to its darkness.

LET THE COUNTING CONTINUE

Of course he will contest it. Of course he'll continue to claim it's all fraudulent, a conspiracy by Democrats. That's what despots and dictators always do and what their supporters and imitators do. It's not over yet.

Latest US election news.

CONSPIRACIES OR THEORIES?

Do you have conversations with yourself when some particular subject has been nagging at you demanding to be vocalised and words pop up on your mental screen arranging themselves into sentences and then an hour or a day or a week later you say, yup, I'm gonna post this on the internut? Yup, I do. My subject today is: conspiracy theories and actual conspiracies: can you tell which is which?

Suppose, just for example, you're considering adopting a vegan diet and you read an article by an eminent scientist/nutritionist/doctor/sport star stating that eliminating meat and all animal products from your diet seriously endangers your health and that of yourcurrent or future children.

a} Do you, because of the eminent status of any of these influencers/experts decide that the risks of radically changing your diet are too great?

b) Do you research the expertise /eminence of the author of the article and make your decision based on what you discover? For ex: the expert happens to be a shareholder in a meat processing industry, or a dairy company is sponsoring the sports star. Etcetera etcetera. Do you conclude that the 'danger to health' warning is fake news, part of a conspiracy by big businesses worried about the rising popularity of veganism?

c) Do you do further careful research into pro-vegan as well as neutral sources and weigh up the evidence according to your informed judgement and gut feelings about people you've personally consulted?

For the above example you can substitute any controversial subject which has had the label Conspiracy attached to it.

Some people are absolutely sure of one (or more) of the following: a) All conspiracy theories are imaginary. b) If you can smell smoke there is a fire somewhere. c) No human being is beyond reproach. d) Top Experts, top Institutions and top People must never be suspected or accused of being involved in conspiracies because they just wouldn't be, would they? If you think they are then you are delusional.

Having said all that,the question remains: when an issue is huge and the risks of misinterpretation genuinely dangerous, how do you effectively and truthfully separate the wheat from the chaff?

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THE TIMES THEY'RE NOT A-CHANGING

Are these times more politically corrupt, chaotic, vindictive and deceitful than ever or is it that pandemic isolation makes us more aware of it all?

The vicious, relentless, unjust campaign to destroy Jereremy Corbyn continues unabated. They didn't only want him out, they want him crawling on his knees slobbering for mercy, signing an admission of guilt and accepting to be burned at the stake.

He is not going to sign since he is one of the rare politicians who value integrity more than popularity and he knows that the accusation of antisemitism is a vile smear against him, deliberately fabricated and orchestrated. Evidence of this is obvious to anyone who takes the trouble to search for the facts behind propaganda.

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REMEMBERING SACHA d'ARBELOFF

On this date 30th October twenty-four years ago my beloved father Alexander (Sacha) d'Arbeloff died in London aged 101. I've written about him several times here and my in--progress autobiography. At the moment I don't want to add words but here's a short video I made in 2011: Eternal Return, a visual poem about the nostalgia and mystery of my Russian ancestry, on my father's side.

https://vimeo.com/33949025

The soundtrack is Alexander Vertinsky, famous Russian cabaret singer of the 1920s, singing Liliowy Negr (purple black). My father loved Vertinsky's songs and with my mother Blanche saw him perform them in Paris nightclubs at that time. The photo of Sacha below was taken by George Cserna in New York 1955.

Eternal Return: my Russian ancestors from Natalie d'Arbeloff on No comments:

BIDEN 10 - TRUMP ZERO

Stayed up and watched the whole thing. No contest. Well-prepared Biden won. As for the other guy....what is there to say that hasn't already been said?

HAIR TODAY

Just wanted the highlights to be more contrasty but the guy overdid it and now I'm almost white-haired. Or platinum blonde. Haven't been my real dark brunette self for many years now but this is beyond the pale. Don't know if I hate it or like it.

SELF-IMPRESSION

Sometimes I impress myself. It's okay to impress yourself as long as you stay in reality and don't get into Trumpish-type insanity which totally denies the existence of reality. My latest bout of self-impression was for a challenging bit of DIY which you wouldn't expect from a so-called Little Old Lady (LOL) if you believe those clichés about LOLs and LOMs (Little Old Men).

I was expecting delivery of a new sofa to replace the exceedingly uncomfortable, decrepit one I boastfully re-upholstered in another bout of DIY a while ago. I realised that the new sofa wouldn't get through the door of the living room and the only solution was to remove the door. This is what I proceeded to do. Unscrewing the rusty screws from the hinges was slow but not impossible (I stood on a box) but the middle bit, a long rubbery thing fitted into a hole, took a lot of tugging and wrenching. It eventually gave in to my efforts and the heavy door was released. Impressive, eh?

Well, yes, but the door being heavy I only managed to lean it against the wall. The delivery men brought the new sofa and, hurrah, it fitted through the door-less doorway. Now I have to ask a neighbour to help me put the door back on its hinges.

HIDEOUT

Waiting for proofs from dStudio. Many thanks to those of you who ordered Giclée prints, you'll have them soon. Meanwhile I've been working on a new small painting. Maybe it's finished, maybe not. It's kind of cartoonish but why not? I like it. HIDEOUT. NdA 2020. Acrylic & tempera on canvas. 30 x 30 cms. (12" x 12")

GICLEE PRINT OF "HABITS"

For the benefit of anyone interested, this post is about ordering Giclée prints of the image above: Habits-Stanislavski-NdA or other images by me. To get prices for Giclêe printing I contacted dStudio a company specialising in working for artists. Their website is very informative and well worth a browse.

I must now give a little lecture on the words giclée and limited editions because, as Michael Caine once said, not a lot of people know this. If some of you are experts on these matters please yawn quietly.

1.Giclée is from the French verb gicler - to spray or squirt - which is what inkjet printing equipment does. The difference between ordinary inkjet printing and Giclée printing is that the latter uses light-fast,pigment-based and longer lasting inks in a wider range of colours, printed at much higher resolution, producing sharper, more intense and durable results. Another crucial factor is that Giclée can be printed on a wide variety of media including museum-grade archival papers, canvas etc.

2. Limited editions: as an artist/printmaker who has created and printed on a hand press a great many limited editions in various techniques such as etching, relief-printing,collagraphs, stencils, monoprints etc. I get a bit pedantic when Giclée prints are called “limited editions” and priced as highly as if they are the same thing as hand-printed artist’s original prints. They are NOT the same thing. Each print in a bonafide traditional limited edition is an original, hand-inked from an original block or plate drawn by the artist. The Giclée printing process is excellent and produces excellent digital reproductions of an artwork. Nothing wrong with that and I’m happy to make use of this process now and then. But I am not jumping on the bandwagon and charging for a Giclée print what I would charge for my original prints. paintings or other artworks. End of lecture. Down to business now.

For an A4 size (29 x 21cms) GICLEE print of Habits-Sanislavski-NdA on Hahnemuhle 100% cotton Photo Rag 308gsm archival paper, plus a certificate of authenticity, I'm asking £60 which covers my costs and allows me a modest profit. You can pay me via PayPal or bank transfer. If in London you could if you wish collect a print from me, but dStudio will deliver prints anywhere. Their rates for delivery (see their pricing page for different options.) Please add relevant delivery charge to the £60 when you send me your order and include the address where you want the print or prints delivered.

Anywhere in UK: Standard delivery: £3.40 Europe: £6.50 USA and rest of world: £7.50

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