Shocking!
Fanny (Frederick) and
Stella (Ernest), two male cross-dressers who shocked Victorian London in the
mid-1870s.
Shocking – The Sixties
Equally Shocking…
This is the Skull
Chapel in Czermna, Poland. It’s the only
such place in Poland and one of three in Europe. It holds the bodies of the
people who died in the 30 Years War, the Silesian wars and epidemics.
Surely Shockingly
Uncomfortable
Surely shockingly uncomfortable
to sit down in. This is Tilda Swinton as
Orlando, photographed by Karl Lagerfeld for Vogue, July 1993. The story of Orlando begins in the
Elizabethan age and ends in the present day (that being 1928 in Woolf’s book
and 1992 in the film version).
Shockingly Neglected
The nyckelharpa is the
most ethereal of instruments, nearly lost to the world but kept safe in a small
region of Sweden.
The nyckelharpa
(literally "key harp", plural nyckelharpor), sometimes called a keyed
fiddle, is a traditional Swedish musical instrument. It is a string instrument
or chordophone. Its keys are attached to tangents which, when a key is
depressed, serve as frets to change the pitch of the string.
The nyckelharpa is
similar in appearance to a fiddle or the bowed Byzantine lira. Structurally, it
is more closely related to the hurdy gurdy, both employing key-actuated
tangents to change the pitch. The nyckelharpa and its tonal range appear on the
reverse of the Swedish 50 kronor banknote. A depiction of two
instruments, possibly but not confirmed as nyckelharpor, can be found in a
relief dating from circa 1350 on one of the gates of Källunge church on
Gotland.
Shockingly Endangered
These are said to be
the top ten most endangered animal species (by which is meant, I assume,
species of bird, mammal, reptile / amphibian)
1.Ivory-Billed
Woodpecker
A North American bird
so endangered it may actually be extinct
2.Amur Leopard
The world’s rarest
cat: Only 40 left in Russia’s Far East
3. Javan Rhinoceros
No more than 60 of
these swamp-dwelling Asian rhinos exist
4. Northern Sportive
Lemur
Here’s the scarcest of
Madagascar’s fast-dwindling lemur species.
5. Northern Right
Whale
Hunted to near
extinction, 350 right whales still swim the Atlantic
6. Western Lowland
Gorilla
Disease and illegal
hunting are taking an alarming toll on this gentle giant of a primate
7. Leatherback Sea
Turtle
The population of the
world’s largest turtle is dropping at an alarming rate
8. Siberian (or Amur)
Tiger
The world’s biggest
cat weighs as much as 300 kilos (660 pounds)
9. Chinese Giant
Salamander
Humans are eating the
world’s largest amphibian into extinction
10. The Little Dodo
Bird
Samoa’s little dodo
bird is in immanent danger of following the large dodo into extinction.
Whatever memories the day may bring, whatever hopes it may bring, have a shockingly good day, fellow
bloglings!
Oddly I've come across a nyckelharpa before although I can't remember where or when. There are plenty of YouTube offerings.
ReplyDeleteI had no idea that the long-extinct dodo has a little brother! Hopefully, at least that one can be saved from extinction.
ReplyDeleteGreat post!! Some things seemed more shocking at the time I bet than they would be nowadays... I loved the skull chapel! (That from someone who has a little animal skull collection, all found on walks.)
ReplyDeleteAnd the Right Whales come to the coast of Georgia to give birth. They are far off the coast, so you can't see them from the beach, but it's nice to know they are there.
Hope you are doing well!! xoxo Silke
Shocking! I think that skull chapel would creep me out and one of the cross dressers actually looks like a woman and the other one you can kind of tell its a man.
ReplyDeleteWonderful as Tilda Swinton looks.....I'm grateful that I don't have go further than admire her dressed like that. The sixties are much more my style.
ReplyDeletei have to say this post is shocking!
ReplyDeleteI had to dig deep, but did post a photo of a nyckelharpa once... or actually more than one here They're actually not uncommon in Swedish folk music, I think they've had a bit of revival in the late 1900s.
ReplyDeleteVery interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThe Ivory Billed Woodpecker is about the size of a crow or small raven. It's not as easy to recognize as you might think; I'm told you must look for the characteristic shape of the head and neck, combined with the white on its wings. It is thought to be extinct, but there have been recent unconfirmed sightings in the bayou swamps of Louisiana.
Although there are plenty of ornithologists (both amateur and professional) who would like to mount a serious expedition to find and photograph the elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker, the bird's natural habitat is hazardous to the health of anyone who isn't part Cajun and part alligator. Be it flora or fauna, if it's tough, irritating and poisonous, it's represented in that swamp - and that's just the stuff we know about. There's also the swamp monster, a kind of bigfoot creature that lives back in the swamp and resents intruders. It's hairy, over seven feet tall and it uses tools. Clubs, mainly.
Me, I'm staying in town. Them as goes back into that swamp can just tell me what they find. If they come back out, that is.
Very interesting post.
ReplyDeleteThe Ivory Billed Woodpecker is about the size of a crow or small raven. It's not as easy to recognize as you might think; I'm told you must look for the characteristic shape of the head and neck, combined with the white on its wings. It is thought to be extinct, but there have been recent unconfirmed sightings in the bayou swamps of Louisiana.
Although there are plenty of ornithologists (both amateur and professional) who would like to mount a serious expedition to find and photograph the elusive Ivory Billed Woodpecker, the bird's natural habitat is hazardous to the health of anyone who isn't part Cajun and part alligator. Be it flora or fauna, if it's tough, irritating and poisonous, it's represented in that swamp - and that's just the stuff we know about. There's also the swamp monster, a kind of bigfoot creature that lives back in the swamp and resents intruders. It's hairy, over seven feet tall and it uses tools. Clubs, mainly.
Me, I'm staying in town. Them as goes back into that swamp can just tell me what they find. If they come back out, that is.
Son who loves Safari's has just seen the almost extinct Gorilla's of Rwanda.
ReplyDelete