Sacred Treasure
- C S Lewis on cracking form, channelling his inner Herodotus to expound on the curious custom of sending Exmas cards… though we should now, of course, accept that this practice has been rendered largely defunct by the arrival of digital media.
In case you needed reminding that religious history is always more complicated than you think, check out these glorious mediaeval Coptic Arabic gospel illuminations. Breathtaking!- Barby, who’s married to my boss Paul, has worked among refugees to New Zealand for years. Recently she helped with some children from all over the world. Here are some of their drawings of emus!
- Ian Paul asks whether or not John was in fact the first gospel…
- Seen in Beijing: what’s it like in a Surveillance Society? from Alex Ross on Seen & Unseen.
- Malcolm Guite redeems the darkness with a sonnet for All Hallow’s Eve.
Topical Treasure
- Forget the Turing Test: it’s the Tolkien test for AI that matters
- Dan Williams: There is no such thing as a ‘Woke Mind Virus’ – it’s simply not how these things work.
- Frank Stewart’s photographic portraits of Jazz and Justice (An American Journey)
- I love the way that great artists return again and again to the subjects that obsess them: think Monet’s haystacks or lilypond; van Gogh’s sunflowers and bedroom chair; here is Katsushika Hokusai with 36 views of Mount Fuji.
Quirky Treasure
- Some rather marvellous resistance from 1940s Holland: Where is the Fifth Pig?
- The British cryptic crossword is a marvel to behold and enjoy. If you’ve been left nonplussed, if not perplexed, then the Guardian offers a very helpful entry point!
- Some gorgeously “eerie liminal places” captured by photographers.
- You are bound to recognise the style if you have a feeling for 60s and 70s popculture – Bob Pepper was a genius
- I love woodcuts, linocuts and potato cuts as well as all kinds of other printing methods. Max Thalmann was a 20thC master. Here is a taster.
