Haphazard travels of Sirman Deville across the Isles

[niminy-piminy]

nomadic-life discourse (from the other thread(s)) goes on (never stops)...

(i see) what is called in the Middle "tramping" on the Isles was/is called "kibbo kift".
tho "kibbo kift" is/was (obviously) way more eccentric than the non-occult "tramping".

https://youtu.be/uko6ppVRWDE

kibbo kift... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kibbo_Kift

The other KKK: how the Kindred of the Kibbo Kift tried to craft a new world
George Orwell thought they were ‘sex maniacs’. They thought they were spiritual samurai, rebuilding Britain after the Great War. With their magical rituals, outdoor living and utopian vision, they are the most fascinating of forgotten youth movements – and their ideas still resonate
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... h-movement

Strange habits: Britain's oddest youth movement – in pictures
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesig ... n-pictures

The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift: Intellectual Barbarians
by Annebella Pollen
https://donlonbooks.com/products/the-ki ... lla-pollen

All Hael! Singing with the Kibbo Kift
https://folklorethursday.com/folk-music ... ibbo-kift/

Are we to starve with Plenty all around us?
Are we to die, because of Money Law?
In Battle cry the Money Power has ground us
Into the Dust and Death of Bankers War

CHORUS:
The drum throb coming nearer
The Green-clad masses’ might
The Life-flag showing clearer
The People’s only Fight!
Now hear the roar that drums and feet are beating!
A thousand footsteps ringing out this song,
The People’s Army, Poverty defeating
For Social Credit ends the Bankers’ Wrong!

[niminy-piminy]

speaking about the (remarkable) leisure societies on the Isles...

in the recent past, i stumbled upon and got interested in "The Society of Dilettanti".

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Society_of_Dilettanti
The Society of Dilettanti (founded 1734) is a British society of noblemen and scholars that sponsors the study of ancient Greek and Roman art, and the creation of new work in the style.

The group's name introduced the word dilettante (from the Italian dilettare, "to delight") into English and celebrated the interests of the amateur.

The Society of Dilettanti: Archaeology and Identity in the British Enlightenment
by Jason M. Kelly (Yale University Press, 2010)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/698 ... dilettanti

Francis Dashwood, 11th Baron le Despencer... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_D ... _Despencer

In 1732 Dashwood formed a dining club called the Society of Dilettanti with around 40 charter members (some of whom may have been members of Wharton's original club) who had returned from the Grand Tour with a greater appreciation of classical art.

West Wycombe Park... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Wycombe_Park

It was conceived as a pleasure palace for the 18th-century libertine and dilettante Sir Francis Dashwood.

Judged against the sexual morals of the late 18th century, Dashwood and his clique were regarded as promiscuous; while it is likely that the contemporary reports of the bacchanalian orgies over which Dashwood presided in the Hellfire caves above West Wycombe were exaggerated, free love and heavy drinking did take place there.

He (John) became religious in the last years of his life, holding ostentatiously teetotal parties in West Wycombe's gardens in aid of the "Friends of Order and Sobriety" – these would have been vastly different from the bacchanalian fêtes given by his uncle in the grounds.

The Adventures of Ferdinand, Count Fathom
by Tobias Smollett (first published in 1753)
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/316 ... unt-fathom
https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?ti ... unt_Fathom

The central character is a villainous dandy who cheats, swindles and philanders his way across Europe and England with little concern for the law or the welfare of others. ... Sir Walter Scott commented that the novel paints a "complete picture of human depravity".

Nicholas Revett... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicholas_Revett

He is sometimes described as an amateur architect, but he played an important role in the revival of Greek architecture. ... There are not many buildings attributed to Revett. He considered himself a gentleman and he was probably sufficiently well-off not to have to earn his living, although he is said to have experienced "pecuniary difficulties" towards the end of his life.

James "Athenian" Stuart... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_%22 ... %22_Stuart

was a Scottish archaeologist, architect and artist, best known for his central role in pioneering Neoclassicism.

The Golden Asses (detail), Thomas Patch, 1761. The Lewis Walpole Library, Yale University

In a group caricature from 1761, a detail of which is shown here, artist Thomas Patch presents fanciful versions of the artistic spoils acquired by the Dilettanti, including antiquities, mythological paintings, and chinoiserie. The artist portrays himself astride a gold statue of an ass, an allusion to the satirical poem "L'asino d'oro" by Niccolò Machiavelli. The inscription on the base brands the aristocratic sitters as "asinine" fops.

[Lencho of the Apes]

Smollett had a trashy, low-humor sensibility that I find really appealing. His first novel, Roderick Random, is (in one episode) the earliest fictional presentation of 'homosexual panic' I'm aware of.

[niminy-piminy]

i didn't read anything by him yet.
so far, i only (somewhat) investigated the "dilettante" roots of neoclassical architecture.

[sally]

have my suspicions (due to patriotic self-loathing) that many of the seemingly cute secret/or not societies that crop up in britain over the centuries are unwholesome diagnostic products of the (still massively) entrenched class system, so it's hard for me to find them charming or merely innocently eccentric

the specific writings of the 18th century trash-idiots (sorry, Fathers. of. the. Novel, cue pomp & hallelujahs) however, i can totally get behind. love smollett, sterne, the rape of the lock, but above all, the greatest title ever in english literature, just the title mind, content is average, henry fielding's shamela, which still makes me actual snort every time i see it, even 280 years later (and of course i will never be able to take richardson's pamela seriously, so have never read the original that fielding is satirizing)

[niminy-piminy]

"shamela" title sounds truly great.
i always wished to read "pamela" and recently i almost did so!
i discovered local public library has a copy in English.
i borrowed it but the text in this edition was printed in very tiny letters.
i always had sharp eyes (my sharp eyes were always my great pride).
but lately, i noticed i have a hard time reading tiny letters from a normal distance.
i have to place such a text in a somewhat more distant position to be able to focus on those tiny letters.
thus i had to dismiss reading this edition of "pamela" because i feared that till i get to the last page i will get blind.
so, i returned (about one month ago) "pamela" to the library without reading it.
------------------
seems like (based on a few random peeks into the book and reading a (few) sentence(s) here and there) "pamela" is not as good as f.e. "moll flanders".

[niminy-piminy]

1975 poll No0 (rewatch)
ASSOCIATIONS (John Smith)

https://youtu.be/FfWjDnDg4-s

[sally]

uh oh, i have never read a single word of defoe, how awful of me!

and i always thought i loved that john smith (and all the other john smiths) but....i never got some of the pictures until looking more closely....is he using.......ass-sew-sea-.....asians???? and what the actual fuck is he doing for 'responses'?

[niminy-piminy]

i expect (with my English fluency) i got much less than you.
but getting... comprehension = hen, production = duck, categories = cat, idiosyncratic = rat... is good enough to fancy this film.

naturally, i read "Robinson" as an infant.
but the most popular local edition is an abridged version and there are rumors that it was abridged and translated in such a (bohemian) way that it substantially departs from the Defoe's original.
so, it is a question what i really read (i never made a detailed comparative study — of both — myself).

then, i became preoccupied with Defoe during my uni truancies.
as i said already i was attending lectures on "postmodern ethics" (ethics = anthropology of liers) and part of it was a study of the emergence of writing novels (fiction).
and besides Choderlos de Laclos, or Samuel Richardson (epistolary novels) also Daniel Defoe (and his ability to fabricate "realistic" stories) was scrutinized.
i don't remember the details anymore, but i recall "A Journal of the Plague Year" and "Moll Flanders" were put especially under investigation.
especially was highlighted how skillfully Defoe was in interspersing his fictions with facts (and thus making his fictions look very realistic).
i didn't read "A Journal of the Plague Year" yet, but allegedly it is full of charts and statistics.
i hope will read it (not in too distant future — to still remember the current plague).
the current plague narrative is also mostly based on all kinds of charts, statistics, graphs, so i am curious how much the current plague storytelling resembles Daniel Defoe.
btw. i am not an anti-masker and alike (i only try to ignore the ongoing neverending reports with scores of dead, sick, cured, etc., etc. — and i suspect it is a continuation of the Defoe plague reporting tradition).
anyway, have to read the book!
"Moll Flanders" i read during those uni years and i loved it!
i didn't try yet any film adaptation of "Moll Flanders", but it is one of my many ongoing plans.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Journal ... lague_Year
How the "Journal" is to be classified has been disputed. It was initially presented and read as a work of non-fiction, but by the 1780s the work's fictional status was accepted.

[niminy-piminy]

1975 poll No0 (rewatch)
LEADING LIGHT (John Smith)

https://youtu.be/tqARskcNiEc

[niminy-piminy]

yorkshire accent

in the past, i watched a remarkable YT video devoted to a Manchester accent.
so, i checked if there is also a "Yorkshire" episode....... and voilà...
https://youtu.be/THsSizqiSKs

saying "luv" sounds lovely.
but i would proly not dare to say "cunt-ry" on the Isles — i feel i would be misunderstood by locals.

i also wonder if you see any difference between "god" and "goat" in Yorkshire?
i perceived certain satanist vibes in "goat" = "god".

ee by gum!
for a moment i thought "face" and "fece" is the same thing in Yorkshire.
but then i see "feces" actually doesn't have a singular form ("fece") in English.
so, "Facebook" = "Fece(s)book" is out of the question.

"date" = "death".

"home" = "om" implies Yorkshire Buddhists saying "om" keep thinking of their "home" and consider "home" the essence of ultimate reality ("om").

"burn" or "bored" (or similar), it is all pronounced "bird" (obviously).

i am proper chuffed about this accent!

anyway, time to stop faffing.
tarra love! (trololo!)

[sally]

that love thing makes me want to punch people. mostly used by vile idiot neanderthals to women to 'put them in their place', and old women to everyone as some kind of conciliatory ceding power bullshit. it's not acceptable, and i will abuse you (not 'you' as in jiri & other readers of this thread, but 'you' as in the dickheads i come across in daily life off internet) violently if you use it on me.

[niminy-piminy]

i dassn't do it. [i danced do it.]

[niminy-piminy]

1975 poll No23
THE ROMANTIC ENGLISHWOMAN (Joseph Losey)

The principal characters include a wealthy popular novelist, Lewis Fielding (Michael Caine), his frustrated but adventurous wife, Elizabeth (Glenda Jackson), on whom he projects relentless fantasies of betrayal, and the handsome, mysterious young foreigner, Thomas Hursa (Helmut Berger), who intrudes on their uneasy marriage at Lewis's all too perverse invitation.

[sally]

helmut berger is in this? what am i waiting for

[niminy-piminy]

helmut berger is in this? what am i waiting for

should i place it in Res.???

[sally]

no it's fine! i can find it!

[sally]

it was pretty dull tbh (stoppard is permanently constipated & stodgy, very patriotic) the constant mirrors everywhere were ridiculous and the best bit was michael lonsdale telling MC he was irish. also, middle aged middle class english man not cheating on his wife with the au pair. un. bee. leev. able. what planet is this film meant to be taking place on?

[niminy-piminy]

it's hard to argue.
nothing comes to my mind to eulogize the film.
however, i am still considering including it in my 1975 ballot — it was dull in a "good" way.
(oke, i am maybe just mean.)
i was (actually) not disappointed and i am even planning to watch a similar (i expect) British film.
at least, the synopsis of NEGATIVES (Peter Medak, 1968) promises a similar tale...

https://letterboxd.com/film/negatives/
A couple’s bizarre romantic relationship is disrupted by the intrusion of a third person.

after finishing the film, i was going through Glenda Jackson's oeuvre because she seemed to be a typical British lady (an ideal specimen of a British womanhood — thus (i expected) surely often cast) but i couldn't recall any (other) film with her.
and thus i discovered this other film in which she played a similar part.
this time the intruding "third" is supposed to be not a German (he) poet-gigolo but a German (she) photographer.

Entering their lives one day is Reingard, a female German photographer who's been observing the couple, whom she finds intriguing.

and, yes, middle-aged middle-class English man not bed-hopping with au pair is something highly unrealistic (tho it contributed to the oddly surreal/ridiculous tinge of the movie).

[niminy-piminy]

...and one of the most gorgeous most necessary british films ever made, winstanley.

1975 poll No24
WINSTANLEY (Kevin Brownlow)

Gerrard Winstanley (1609-1676)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerrard_Winstanley

First English Civil War (1642–1646)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_English_Civil_War
Second English Civil War (1648)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second_English_Civil_War
Third English Civil War (1650-1651)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_English_Civil_War
i.e., English Civil War (1642-1651)... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/English_Civil_War

film starts in 1646 (at the end of First English Civil War).

dissenting groups in the mid 17th century England:
1/ Seekers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seekers (not displayed in the film)
2/ Quakers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quakers (not displayed in the film)
3/ Diggers... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diggers
4/ Ranters... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranter

Seekers anticipated aspects of Quakerism and a significant number of them became Quakers

Some Quakers founded banks and financial institutions, including Barclays, Lloyds, ...

The Diggers advocated for an early form of public health insurance and communal ownership in opposition to individual ownership.

Ranters came into contact and even rivalry with the early Quakers... In the American colonies, there is evidence that Ranters were actually breakaway Quakers who did not agree with the standardization of belief that occurred in the late 1670s.

Gerrard Winstanley, a leader of ... the Diggers, commented on Ranter principles by denoting them as "a general lack of moral values or restraint in worldly pleasures".

https://youtu.be/MJegyQE6RYo

Babylon is fallen is fallen is fallen
Babylon is fallen to rise no more

Babylon is fallen is fallen is fallen
Babylon is fallen to rise no more

Blow the trumpets on Mt Zion
Christ shall come a second time

Ruling with a rod of iron
All who now as foes combine

Fables garment sweet rejected
And our fellowship is o'er

Babylon is fallen is fallen is fallen
Babylon is fallen to rise no more

Babylon is fallen is fallen is fallen
Babylon is fallen to rise no more

We fight for you, for freedom and for sin. — Whistleblowers (Laibach)

[sally]

aw sorry jiri, i was a pompous ass - it might not be 'necessary' but britain doesn't make many films like this so just wanted people to see it. and it is gorgeous (lol at luka stojcic's adorable criticism on letterboxd)

[niminy-piminy]

in the society of the spectacle, without a bit of Barnumesque exaggeration, one won't be heard.
your pompous claims served a noble purpose and i am glad i watched the film!

after watching THE LUDDITES (Richard Broad, 1988), WINSTANLEY is another crucial piece of Great Britain's great history puzzle.
the messages of LUDDITES and DIGGERS (WINSTANLEY) are equally important.
however, from a cinematic perspective, WINSTANLEY surpasses LUDDITES.
LUDDITES were fine but it was a 52 min long TV doc flick.
WINSTANLEY is a full-fledged film with charming (b&w) cinematography!
i will certainly include it within my 1975 ballot.
tho, to be honest, if living in mid 17th century England i would rather join Ranters (than Diggers).
is there a film devoted primarily to Ranters???

besides, it was fine to learn about the English Civil War (1642-1651).
now, i perceive it as a counterpart to the local Thirty Years War (1618-1648).
and i perceive WINSTANLEY (starting in 1646) as a counterpart to the local HONOR AND GLORY (Hynek Bočan, 1968) that starts in 1647.
btw., HONOR AND GLORY is gorgeous as well (without Barnumesque exaggeration!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)!

https://letterboxd.com/film/honor-and-glory-1968/

This historical film by Hynek Bočan touches upon the indecisiveness of the Czech nation, ready to bend the backbone in face of foreign rule. Situating the story at the close of the Thirty Year War enabled the depiction of the misery of the people that affects even an impoverished aristocratic milieu. Rudolf Hrušínský appears here in the role of an indecisive knight, persuaded for a long time and in vain to join the anti-Habsburg movement. The story does not only captivate through the depiction of manifold human characters, intrigues and sycophancy, but also through the circumstances ruling over the devastated farmstead, sunk in mud and crudeness.
--------------------------------------

Review by Kai White ↓

"You are sheep and the world belongs to butchers.”

I'm going to try to get the plot together in a logical way as much as possible. During the last days of the Thirty Years War, which has been punctuated by all kinds of horrible death by this point, we focus on Vaclav. He is a landowner with a handful of serfs working on his rather run down and remote estate. Early on, he catches someone trying to break in, so he jails him. Shortly thereafter, he receives a visit from a well dressed couple who claim to represent the emperor. The guy who broke in turns out to be a man of military experience, and the couple eventually reveal themselves to be in French employ. All three want to launch a revolution. But when peace is struck, everyone, Vaclav included, is left with no direction.

A proper well wishes trying to get that out of the movie, though. For a straightforward narrative film, the plot is nigh impossible to understand while it is happening. This is far from my first foray into obscure Czech film, and I had to go digging through multiple websites once it was over to get it, particularly the third act. I understood some of the references, but the characters are incredibly overwrought and emotional, and the dialogue is thick.

There are some real highlights here, though, and it is all about the atmosphere. This is straight up GRIMY. It lets you know from the start that this is about to throw you into a depressing and dirty world, and that atmosphere NEVER. LETS. UP. While that makes it difficult to get through, it is really admirable that Bocan was able to establish that environment and keep it going. Everything, outside of maybe one or two scenes, takes place at Vaclav's manor, and the film force feeds you this consistent feeling of gloom over everything.

The music and set design are key to setting that mood, as well. This is certainly a well filmed movie. Also, there is a scene with a siege on Vaclav's estate. There are some surprisingly good gore effects there, which I was not expecting. Probably stay away if surprise graphic head wounds aren't your thing.

I liked a lot of how this was put together, but with a plot and script as dense as a forest, it's hard to give it too high of a rating. It is clear that this wasn't built for a world audience because it is so specific in the story it is trying to tell, although I'm not sure I find that a fault with the film, more with me as a viewer. I won't soon forget the intensely dirty world building, though.

https://www.filmovyprehled.cz/en/film/3 ... -and-glory

It is the year 1647 and the war has been raging for almost thirty years. Poor and dilapidated is the stronghold of the knight Václav Rynda of Loučka and so is his clothing. The family property was spent by his father who, after the loss at the battle at the White Mountain, was forced to give up his faith and had to swear submission to the Catholic Church to save his skin. Václav resembles a peasant rather than a nobleman, as he tries to find something to eat for himself and his domestics. One day, a visit comes to the stronghold. The emperor's commissioner Šrandorf and his wife ask for a night's lodging. The guest then reveals to Rynda in private that Šrandorf is not their real name and that in fact they are not even married - Jindřich Donovalský and his companion Kateřina have come in the French king's employ and want to incite a revolt against the Habsburgs in Bohemia. That very night, a gang of marauders attacks the stronghold and the guest helps the defenders of the stronghold to put them to flight. Donovalský wants to persuade the diligent Rynda to join the resistance and remains as a guest with his company for many months. His false commissioner's letter of safe-conduct saves Rynda in winter from the requisition by the emperor's army. In the meantime, Donovalský's adjutant trains Rynda's subjects in fighting. During the collection of tithes, a parish priest is unfortunately killed and the accident instigates open resistance. Rynda recalls his own roots and stands at the head of the rebellion although the news that the war is over has just arrived.

it is truly charming to see the local impoverished nobleman, completely sunk in defeatism and indifference who at the end of the Thirty Years War (when the anti-Habsburg cause is definitely lost) collects all the residue of his stamina and rises against oppressors — the absurdity of such an untimely undertaking (starting to fight when the game is lost) is remarkable and i wholeheartedly recommend watching this charming period piece!
btw. the film was banned after the 1968 Warsaw Pact invasion.

[Mario Gaborovic]

I tracked down the only ever film made in Cornish language, titled Hwerow Hweg (Bitter Sweet). Not really worth watching unless you're curious how it sounds. It was filmed in Truro but at the beaches, too.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o1ExuqMx3jM&t=4s

[rischka]

loved winstanley, ofc i'm probably descended from similar nuts. little wonder america is full of cults. but this is the kind of painfully sincere hippie shit i can get behind



tho, like jiri, i suspect the ranters are my real tribe

[sally]

love this, mainly for the fact that he's been making these videos for years for no discernable commercial purpose and the woods are lovely (people are guessing cheshire) just everyday british eccentricity and a lot less scary than sean reynard (who also seems to spend waaaaaaaaaay too much time producing content, what do they do for jobs?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FC0hGIVkd4

(scary quentin)
https://youtu.be/U8USAVg05zI

[niminy-piminy]

finally, some interesting mature individuals are turning to youtubering!
finally, the hegemony of the crowds of yt kids (dazzled by the glamour of easy pocket-money) is becoming disrupted.

[rischka]

oh that's neat. i've become hooked on a florida man setting up trail cameras in the swamps. he looks for orchids and knows his birds as well. but sorta off topic for this thread

https://www.youtube.com/user/ShrikeZone/videos

he has a lot of gadgets etc (including a drone now) but he reminds me of hillbilly david attenborough wading through hip high gator-infested waters

[niminy-piminy]

there can't be something "off-topic" in a haphazard thread!

https://youtu.be/yPYSlKK7qdM

[rischka]

https://youtu.be/cDq_smnFKWg?t=474

is it caturday

[sally]

oh, just found these ♥♥♥ series of three short films about british coastal places, all three by coincidence i've spent time in and two where i've copiously vomited in the streets (hastings♥ & whitby)

only two of them on the not geo-locked not-bfi vimeo (and the missing one on thurrock - 'dark satanic malls' is the most wonderfully patrick keiller-ish) but still i am awash with patriotic nostalgia. hastings is just the best shit-hole.

https://vimeo.com/176511160

https://vimeo.com/176930854