Mick Hartley

Charity, Bournemouth

From Paul Russell:

 
[Photo © Paul Russell 2010]

As seen in the recently published Street Photography Now.

Philadelphia 1900

Delaware Avenue, foot of Market Street:

 
[Photo: Shorpy/Detroit Publishing Co. - detail]

Before cars took over. Full size here.

Sunflower Seeds

A new installation by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei now covers the floor at the far end of the Turbine Hall at Tate Modern:

 

Sunflower Seeds is made up of millions of small works, each apparently identical, but actually unique. However realistic they may seem, these life-sized sunflower seed husks are in fact intricately hand-crafted in porcelain. 

Each seed has been individually sculpted and painted by specialists working in small-scale workshops in the Chinese city of Jingdezhen. Far from being industrially produced, they are the effort of hundreds of skilled hands. Poured into the interior of the Turbine Hall’s vast industrial space, the 100 million seeds form a seemingly infinite landscape. 

Dynastic struggles

After stories about elder son Kim Jong-nam disapproving of the idea of dynastic succession - and having been passed over in favour of his younger half-brother, you might well think that he would say that - comes this rather strange tale:

The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong-il met his father in Beijing in late August this year and protested against his younger brother Kim Jong-un's orchestration of an attack against the South Korean Navy corvette Cheonan, KBS reported Thursday.

The broadcaster cited a close associate of Kim Jong-nam's in China as saying when Kim Jong-il visited China, Kim Jong-nam went to his hotel room and told him Jong-un was behind the Cheonan incident to make up for a botched currency reform late last year he had also pushed. "Why are you condoning this when nobody even knows who Jong-un is?" the associate quoted Kim Jong-nam as saying.

He said Kim Jong-nam told his father to stop condoning Jong-un's behavior and warned if the 27-year-old heir apparent keeps misbehaving, then Jong-nam would go his own way too. He added the mysterious delay of an extraordinary Workers Party congress in September was due to Kim Jong-nam's protest. "There are many supporters of Kim Jong-nam in China and North Korea," the associate said.

The associate also claimed that Kim Jong-il worries about a brewing feud between the two sons. Kim Jong-un tried to assassinate Kim Jong-nam in Macau but failed when Chinese authorities found out. "Later, Kim Jong-il personally asked Chinese President Hu Jintao to ensure Jong-nam's safety and got the promise," he said.

KBS did not reveal the identity of the associate.

A senior government official said, "We've heard similar rumors before, but none of them have been confirmed."

Hmm. All hearsay, of course, but whether Kim Jong-nam himself is involved in spreading these stories, or it's being done without his say-so, it does rather suggest that someone or other has an interest in keeping alive the dynastic struggle angle. Could it even be the Chinese themselves, keeping the pot simmering with rumours of an alternative to Kim Jong-un? If No. 2 Fat Boy turns out to be a problem, he can be gently reminded that No. 1 Fat Boy will always be there in the wings waiting.

In which case there'd be an intriguing parallel with Tibet and the pantomime over the various Beijing-approved Dalai Lamas and Panchen Lamas . But perhaps I'm getting carried away with the speculation here.

It's interesting, meanwhile, to see how worried the NK authorities are about the notable lack of enthusiasm for No. 2 Fat Boy:

As part of efforts to crack down on negativity about the third generation succession, the North Korean authorities are spreading the notion that “groundless” rumors about Kim Jong Eun are being spread by South Korea.

North Korea Intellectuals Solidarity (NKIS) cited an inside source today as saying that several cadres in Hoiryeong have been taken into custody for speaking negatively about the succession of Kim Jong Eun....

According to the NKIS source, the North Korea people are now widely aware that bad things can happen with “a slip of the tongue,” so now even cadres are careful not to speak out of turn.

Workers and farmers remain resolutely disinterested in the fact that Kim Jong Eun has become the successor, according to sources. Criticisms of the Kim Jong Eun succession are spread mainly by cadres and intellectuals.

The source noted, however, “Following special distribution for the October 10th holiday, the authorities have also handed out a decree ordering distribution of six months of corn to the people right after the harvest.” But, he added, “Once the corn is released, people may be happy for a while, however, what will they give us next year? It is hard to garner the trust of the people with this kind of quick fix.” 

Travis Picking

"Tell you what I'd like to do. I'd like to try a little Country guitar playin' on a little tune called Cannonball Rag, so...stay with me will you please? This is the way she goes":

If you get the sense that Merle wasn't quite at ease with that aw shucks good ol' boy stuff - compared, say, to more polished performers like colleague/rival/disciple Chet Atkins - well, he wasn't:

A heavy drinker and at times desperately insecure despite his multitude of talents (including prose writing, taxidermy, cartooning and watch repair), he was involved in various violent incidents in California, and he married several times in the course of his life. He suffered from serious stage fright, though amazed fellow performers added that once onstage, he was an effective and even charismatic performer.

That self-deprecating "little guitar playin'": he really meant it. Hell of a picker though. Good songwriter too.

A Gaddafi Apology

I would have thought that nothing Libya's eccentric and absurd leader said or did was capable of surprising me any more; but, yes, I'm surprised. On Al-Jazeera TV last Sunday:

On behalf of the Arabs, I'd like to condemn, apologize, and express deep sorrow for the conduct of some Arabs – especially the wealthy among them – towards their African brothers. The wealthy Arabs treated their African brothers in a disgraceful way in the past. They bought children and took them to North Africa, to the Arabian Peninsula, and to the other Arab regions. They subjugated them and traded in them. They engaged in slavery and human trafficking in a most abominable fashion, to tell you the truth. We are ashamed, along with our African brothers, when we recall this.

We are ashamed of those who behaved in this manner, and especially the wealthy Arabs, who viewed their African brothers as inferior slaves. This is no different from the way the West – America and Europe – behaved towards the Africans. They would hunt them like animals, treat them like slaves, and act like colonialists. They engaged in colonialism and exploited them, and this continues to this day. We extend our apology and express our sorrow for these acts.

The Owner of the Local Mosque

The Telegraph had the story last week....now picked up here:

A woman of Pakistani origins has been killed, and her daughter gravely injured in Italy following a family row over an arranged marriage earlier this month.

The incident sparked a wave of outrage among Italian politicians, including Isabella Bertolini, a member of Italy’s main conservative party who said that the deceased woman, Beghm Shnez, was:

A martyr for freedom, a victim of obscurantism and Islamic fundamentalism.

The daughter, 20-year-old Nosheen Butt, was hospitalised with head injuries and a broken arm after her 19-year-old brother beat her with a stick in the courtyard of their building in Novi, near the northern city of Modena.

According to Modena prosecutors’ initial findings, the father Ahmad Khan Butt, a 53-year-old construction worker, threw his wife to the ground and beat her with a brick while the brother Umair attacked his sister. The father had been in Italy less that 10 years and was the owner of the local mosque.

A Chile response

Oh dear. The Guardian's Zoe Williams was glued to her TV, watching the rescue of the Chilean miners, and she felt a most unusual emotion: she felt....happy.

One's instinct is to distrust an emotional response like this....

Well absolutely. Otherwise one wouldn't be writing for the Guardian, would one?

What of the Indie?

They’re not heroes, they just got stuck.

They do the inspirational stuff so well, don't they, these people?

Waiting for the weekend

The sun breaks through for a minute on Hackney Marshes:

 

The Next Generation

Photos of that 65th anniversary parade over at The Big Picture:

 
[Photo: AP /Vincent Yu]

Paternal pride? Hardly.

And I can't resist this one, by way of contrast:

 
[Photo: REUTERS/Petar Kujundzic]

What are they saying? "Omigod....he's so fat!!" They deserve better, for sure.

Downriver

Underneath the A12 East Cross Route at Hackney Wick:

 

Comment Removed

Perhaps the most annoying feature of the Guardian's CiF is the enthusiasm with which comments are deleted by the "moderator". So, here we have a piece by Jacqui Putnam, a 7/7 survivor, about the just-opened inquiry and how she hopes it'll provide some answers, and some lessons will be, if not learned, at least paid attention to. It's unexceptionable stuff, really.

A couple of comments in, and regular commenter MoveAnyMountain has a go. The gist of what he says, I think, is that we already know the answers, that this inquiry is a waste of money, and that he's appalled that the Guardian is publishing this nonsense. I think that what he says, because the comment has been "removed by a moderator". Enough comments - all highly critical - refer to it subsequently to get an idea of what was removed . But we're not allowed to read it for ourselves, as would happen in a free debate, even though , as I say, the substance of the comment has been roundly condemned.

A while later another commenter, WannaTellYouAStory, makes his or her views known, and this time I did manage to have a read. It's the old line about how the blame for 7/7 really lies with Western warmongers, oil companies, etc. etc.. Again many commenters weigh in, all of them (I think) dismissive. Someone suggests that if MoveAnyMountain's comment was removed, so should this one be. No sooner said than done. It's now gone.

So the debate proceeds, with numerous references to both comments, which now, on their own, make little sense since the original comments themselves are no longer there. And it's not as if either comment was particularly - or at all - offensive. They represent points of view which you'd fully expect to be voiced in this context, and which other commenters are perfectly capable of criticising and dismissing - or, who knows, agreeing with - without the benefit of censorship. Following the comments now is like trying to piece together a view of the past from an old Stalin-era photo when some of the most important figures have been air-brushed out.

Which is all very odd for a site calling itself Comment is Free.

The Pyongyang Connection

More on that Banksy Simpsons intro.

Fox outsources much of the Simpsons animation to South Korean companies - as Banksy, of course, knew. At the Korean-based blog Marmot's Hole, Robert sees Banksy's effort - ridiculously, in my view - as some kind of racist slur on these companies - "Of course! Korea’s in Asia, therefore it must be a nation of automatons working in sweatshops!" Which suggests he hadn't quite noticed the panda, and the dolphin's head, and the exhausted unicorn...

Anyway....this comment is interesting:

Actually, a lot of subcontracting work detailed to South Korean studios is outsourced to SEK Studio in Pyongyang, which if you’ve read Guy Delisle’s graphic novel, “Pyongyang: A journey in North Korea” you’ll learn that practically all of Europe’s — especially France’s — children’s cartoon shows are animated there, where the producers typically will fax master drawings to SEK in Pyongyang, who will in turn express mail the camera ready artwork that has been completed by hundreds of North Korean artists back to them in record turnaround time for final editing and compositing.

Which adds a whole new layer of piquancy. I wonder if Banksy was aware of the Pyongyang connection.

[Though - to clarify - the same commenter doubts that The Simpsons itself would be one of those animations outsourced to North Korea]

At Kew

Inside the Waterlily House:

 

Outside the Waterlily House:

 

I must not write all over the walls

Banksy's Simpsons opening (via):