Today I visited a place that had been on my “Must Go There” list for many years – the Pitt Rivers Museum of Anthropology and World Archaeology in Oxford.
The museum is accessed via the Oxford University Museum of Natural History, on Parks Road, Oxford. Walk through the Natural History Museum, gazing at some wonderful exhibits on the way to reach the back wall and a darkened opening which leads down into the Pitt Rivers Museum.
Walking through that door, from the relatively bright and airy Natural History Museum, is rather like taking a step back 100 years in time. Entering the Pitt Rivers Museum one is instantly struck by the low light, the huge totem pole on the far wall and then the mass of ancient display cases, each crammed with so many objects.
And then the eye wanders up that totem pole and notices the two upper galleries and it’s only then that you get some idea of the vast number of objects on display in this relatively small space.
There are items here from all over the world and from many periods in history. Everyday household items, musical instruments, grave goods, weapons, mummies, jewellery, clothes and yes – shrunken heads.
I’ve titled this post “Shrunken Heads” because I think they will be my abiding memory from the day. There are several in the collection, all displayed together in the same ancient cabinet. Conditions for hand held photography were pretty dire. The shot I’ve published at the erm, “head” of this post is the best photo I was able to get of any of the shrunken heads. The light is very low (necessary for the preservation of the items on display) and they are all in glass cases. Even in such low light the glass cases also cause problems with reflections. I had to crank my Canon 40D up to ISO 3200 shooting at f1.8 for 1/50th of a second to get this shot. I did get other shots of other shrunken heads, but none of them as clear as this one.
I know I am being rather sensationalist by using this as my title, but I had never seen a shrunken head “in the flesh” before. There are thousands of other fascinating items to see here, so if things so lurid are not to your taste then a visit to the Pitt Rivers Museum is well worth your while. Having taken so long to finally get here (probably about 20 years after I first thought “I really must go there”), I’m sure I’ll be back again.
I suppose I should say a bit more about shrunken heads having been so sensationalist. The ones on display here are from South America. This was something you would do to your enemies having defeated them in battle. Cut off the head, carry it away with you and then remove the skull but keep the skin and shrink it through heating. The lips were often sewn together to prevent the captured spirit of your enemy from uttering curses against you. The head was then a symbol of your power over your enemies, and it was believed that the spirit of your enemy would be made to serve you.
Technorati Tags: anthropology, Pitt Rivers, archaeology, shrunken heads
Reporter : There are extraordinary scenes going on around me here at Base Camp of the expedition by Squonky to make a solo attempt on the North Face of “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, a novel which Squonky maintains is Hardy’s most soporific ediface.
I have the intrepid Squonky himself here with me right now, fresh from making his final preparations for the arduous task which awaits him in the novel ahead. Squonky, how are you feeling?
Squonky : Well, to be honest, the enormity of the task is beginning to sink in now. I was full of bluster as I tackled the Publisher’s Introduction which of course I had to surmount in order to reach Base Camp. Now Chapter 1 is looming ahead and as you’ll know, I’ve never made it past Chapter 1 in over 20 years of trying.
Reporter : So Hardy doesn’t give you any chance to settle down into his novel before facing you with challenges?
Squonky : No, this is no stroll in the park. Right off the blocks he hits you with an entire chapter describing somebody eating a bowl of porridge – The Furmity Ledge. I’ve never made it beyond that point and to be honest my knees are shaking a little at the prospect of facing that again. It’s a precipitous drop down into Lethargy Chasm from there.
Reporter : What kind or precautions can you take?
Squonky : Well, I have my thermos of coffee, strong Java. I’m hoping that will see me over Furmity Ledge and then I’ll just have to see what awaits beyond. That will be totally uncharted territory for me. I can only really surmise from my experiences with “Return of the Native” and “Far From the Madding Crowd”. I know it’s going to be challenging, there will probably be many scenes of hay-trussing and turnip digging to get through, and I’m expecting to consume large quantities of coffee during this expedition.
Reporter : If it’s not exactly a “page turner” then why are you doing it? I guess a lot of people will think you’re mad for even attempting this, especially solo, without the support of any reading group to help you through the tough bits. Why put yourself through this?
Squonky : Because it’s there!
Reporter : There has to be something more to it than that?
Squonky : Well, there comes a time in the life of any reader where he has to face up to challenges which have defeated him in the past. This one has been beating me down throughout my adult life. If I don’t tackle it now then I’ll probably be too old to even try. Give it another few years and I might even be nodding off to sleep at the likes of “Madame Bovary” or “Chatterley” and “Casterbridge” will be totally impossible by that stage.
Reporter : Assuming you survive “The Mayor of Casterbridge”, what’s next?
Squonky : Well, I’m ashamed to say I’ve never made it through “The Silmarillion” either, and here’s me a big exponent of Tolkien. If I make it through “Casterbridge” then the Silmarils will seem like a doddle. So, look out for me in Middle Earth if I make it out of Wessex alive.
Reporter : Squonky, thank you and good luck for the challenges ahead. Our thoughts will be with you.
Technorati Tags: furmity, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Thomas Hardy
I’ve long held an appreciation of the music of Led Zeppelin. Their albums tended to alternate with those of Genesis on my record player as a teenager. My dad must have cursed as the whole house shook to the sound of “Los Endos” and “Squonk” followed by “Kashmir” and “Whole Lotta Love”.
Of course, one of my greatest favourites from the Zep cannon was “Stairway to Heaven”, building from something almost pastorally wistful into a crescendo of gut wrenching, genital thrusting rock.
At the point it was originally released it never appeared as a single in the UK (though it was issued in that format in other countries, with half the song on each side of a 7″ vinyl). And so it was that in 1985 “Stairway to Heaven” first entered the UK singles chart in the form of a cover version by “Far Corporation”. It was a track on their album “Division One”.
My sister owned this album and I have to say I had very little regard for the rest of it, but their cover of Stairway held my interest. On paper it shouldn’t have done so. With drum machines which at times sounded like the intro to the “Miami Vice” title music it should have been a turn off. And yet… and yet… There was something about that rendition of the song I really liked. It’s hard even now to know quite why I liked it, many of my friends saw it as nothing short of butchery of the grand old classic.
Time passed. I grew older. My sister moved out from the parental home and of course took “Division One” with her. But that was okay, she’d put it onto a tape for me on at least one occasion.
Yet more time passed, the age of the LP ended, music now came on tiny mirror like disks which made it hard to appreciate album art and sleeve notes in quite the same way. Thank god I had (and still have) my vinyl copies of “Physical Graffiti”, “The Wall” and “A Trick of the Tail”.
Even more time passed. Mountains were worn down to their roots, the continents separated and suddenly we were all ripping our CDs onto our hard drives and then we were paying to download songs directly to them cutting out physical media from the delivery altogether.
The sun grew closer to going red giant and I suddenly realised that I no longer had those tapes which had held Stairway by Far Corporation. I didn’t have it on CD. My sister had the LP containing the track but I didn’t have one of those nifty USB turntables, and in what state would that vinyl be after 24 years?
The search began. As an iPod owner my first port of call was iTunes.
There I could find the original Zep recordings along with covers by everyone from Dolly Parton to Great White via Rolf Harris. But no Far Corporation recording. Maybe if I checked back every now and again?
Months passed. Still no Stairway cover by Far Corporation on iTunes. This was getting serious. I mean, this recording reached number 8 in the UK singles chart back in ‘85 – why the heck wasn’t it available on iTunes?
Okay, time to start looking elsewhere. Maybe I could find a CD of it?
I searched several online CD shifters – no joy. Ah, I could find a second hand copy of the CD on Amazon for about £35, or maybe a new one for £135? Just so that I could listen to this one track again whenever I wanted? I don’t think so.
I’ll admit that at this point I started to search the torrents. I wanted to obtain this legally of course, but there’s nothing legal about a price of £135 for a CD I wanted to listen to one track from.
I managed to find a few torrents claiming to be this track. One of them actually downloaded, but proved to be a severely shortened version, not at all satisfactory. The others just never got started.
It was only then that the little light bulb appeared over my head. Ding! There are actually other legal sources for downloaded music other than iTunes. I’d searched Amazon earlier for CDs, why had I not thought of searching their download service?
Ah, because they didn’t have it to download either.
Finally I visited www.play.com and joy of joys – there it was, “Stairway to Heaven” by Far Corporation to download as an mp3 for the princely sum of seventy shiny new pence. About a minute later it was imported into iTunes and I was listening to it for the first time in many years.
And what’s more, it still rocks 24 years on.
The moral of the story? Probably not much other than the fact that in this oh so online world where we are so used to being able to find just about any piece of data we want in just a few key presses, there are still some things which are surprisingly hard to dig up. The first version of “Stairway to Heaven” to have entered the UK singles chart, albeit 24 years ago – why was it so hard to find?
Technorati Tags: Far Corporation, iTunes, Led Zeppelin, music download, Stairway to Heaven
Back in the autumn of 1986 I started a degree course in Computer Science at what was then Lanchester Polytechnic in Coventry (now Coventry University). It didn’t go well. I ended up dropping out of the course by the end of the year and I think a lot of the reason for that was the shortage of suitable accommodation in Coventry at the time. I had to commute there every day and the bus times meant that I couldn’t stay on to study as I would have liked, to take advantage of the library and computer centre. I think I was probably on the wrong course on top of that.
However I do have some happy memories from my time in Coventry and it’s sad that I never heard from any of the friends I made during my brief time there.
Coventry is only a little over 20 miles from home, but I’ve seldom been back there since. However for the last few weeks I’ve been wanting to pop over with my camera as I remembered that the area around the cathedral could be interesting.
This afternoon I took my family over there and spent a good few hours wandering around the cathedral. The visit has whetted my appetite and I plan to head back over there on my own, with my camera, as soon as I can. I want to have the chance to spend ages on every photo if I so desire – something you really can’t do with family in tow.
However, I did finally manage to climb the tower of the old cathedral, the one part left standing after the building was destroyed by incendiary bombs on the night of November 14th 1940, the worst night of the “Coventry Blitz“. My grandfather had a brother living in Coventry at the time of those air raids, my great uncle I suppose. I never got to meet him. His house lost it’s roof that night, the two adjoining houses were flattened.
Now, I really don’t like heights. It’s not a conscious thing, and it’s hard to describe the sensation. I just feel like I’m in constant danger of falling whenever I’m at a great height like this. I’m fine in planes, I’m usually just fine up mountains (I even managed okay across Striding Edge – though I do rank that as one of my greatest fell walking achievements). On the “viewing platform” up this tower I felt decidedly dicey. The photo above was shot without looking through the viewfinder – just pointing the camera down and hoping. Don’t get me wrong, it’s totally safe up there, it’s just me and heights.
We had the good fortune to be climbing the tower during a bell ringing session and at one point during the climb you can enter a little observation room directly above the bells. That was quite an experience. I didn’t take any photos in there, but I did shoot a little video (not great but it gives an idea).
Coventry has changed a lot during the 23 years since I was a regular visitor. New shopping centres (of course) and the road between the cathedral and the Poly buildings is now a kind of pedestrian zone – I remember dashing over there between the cars and busses clutching all my books on the way to the student’s union building.
I’m looking forward to heading back for a proper photo day in the next few weeks.
Technorati Tags: Coventry
A couple of years or so ago, in the lifetime of the original SquonkyBlog, I got into a routine of walking in and out of work. It was a distance of 4.5 miles each way, so 9 miles a day. Over the period of time I managed to keep doing it for, I managed to lose 6 inches from my belly and I felt a whole lot better as a consequence.
Yesterday, for the first time in nearly 2 years, I started with that walking commute again.
I was expecting it to be torture after such a long period of neglect, but it wasn’t as bad as all that. I managed to complete the walk in to work in about the same time as I always used to : 1 hour. The walk home was a rather different matter however. By the time I was half way home my feet and legs were complaining at me. I managed to stick it out and get back, but I’ve been feeling the consequences today.
I know from my experiences last time around that it will get easier as I go, which is why I was so determined to stick it out rather than take the easy option of calling home for a pick up in the car.
This time around I’m keeping a journal of my walks so that I can more easily see the progress I’m making. I will report back here on the subject every now and again too.
I’m looking forward to shrinking again, although right now I’m more looking forward to my body not complaining quite so much about the exercise.
I’ve not been taking as many photos as I would have liked recently. However, after a little trip out today with my camera I’ve been wondering something which seems at first to be a little irrational.
I’ve been thinking that I actually preferred the photos I used to get out of my Canon 20D over the images I get out of my 40D.
It seems so wrong headed somehow. The 40D is on paper the “superior” camera. Higher resolution, less noise at high ISO (the main reason I bought it), far greater control over ISO, better histograms for “chimping”, likewise a bigger LCD, built in sensor cleaning, faster continuous shooting… the list goes on and on.
And yet, I keep feeling that I was, on the whole, happier with the images I captured using my 20D. They seem somehow sharper.
Could it be that my 40D body just needs adjusting a little for focus with some of my lenses?
I think I’m going to head out and shoot with my 20D as my main body next time I feel the urge. I’m certain the 40D is way better for me in low light, but I just feel like there is something “wrong” otherwise – a certain “clarity” in the photos seems to be missing somehow.
One weekend back in 1996 I sat down and decided I was going to teach myself HTML. Little did I know what I was starting. It just happened by pure coincidence to be the weekend that my ISP, Demon Internet launched their free web hosting service. I decided that I might as well throw something online and at that moment created “The Ancient Sites Directory”.
That web site acted as a kind of sponge to my creativity for about 11 years. I was (and still am) keenly interested in the many prehistoric structures which litter the countryside of the UK. Stone circles, long barrows, standing stones, henges and more. Many a holiday was spent yomping over remote moorland in search of hoary old rocks which had been erected into some kind of structure by the people who inhabited these islands many thousands of years ago.
Photographs were taken, reports written up, burial mounds crawled through, panoramas stitched, videos rendered, web pages created, OS references recorded and exported as GPS files. All of this was then published online so that others could find the places I had visited and enjoy them for themselves.
When I started that web site there were only a handful of others who shared my passion and had started similar projects. I started a mailing list, initially to help aid communication between all of us “megalithic webmasters” but which soon became an open forum for all of those interested in the subject.
Due to various stresses in my life I finally decided to take my web site offline towards the end of 2007. I kept the mailing list up and running until just a few weeks ago, although my involvement had only really been in paying the electricity bill for the “server” for the last couple of years or so.
Photography has always been in my life. My father was in the trade for most of his working life and I was brought up with cameras around me all the time. My photography started to take off during all these trips to far away prehistoric sites, but I was still afraid to experiment much due to the “cost per click” involved with film photography. Things really started to move when I finally made the leap to digital.
Now, photography does of course give me a creative vent, and I can set myself little assignments to take photographs on a certain theme, and I can upload them to Flickr for people to look at and comment upon. This all sounds great. However I feel a need for some larger creative project to get my teeth into.
I don’t want to go back over old territory, no return for me to megalithic web sites. Quite apart from anything else I often wonder whether the information I gave out on my site contributed indirectly to damage at any of the sites. Publishing the OS references and maps and directions made them all easier to find – both for those who wanted to appreciate the places, and for those who wanted to deface them.
There is also the issue of travel. Every holiday used to be used as a field trip to collect more photos and information for the web site. I now have a young daughter, we can afford fewer holidays and when we do get away then I can’t be so committed to hiking over hills and moors to find old rocks. My daughter might enjoy that for a little while, but there are beaches to play on and a daddy to be buried in sand.
I have interests in photography, history, folklore, computing, walking and lots of other things to a lesser extent. Surely I must be able to come up with something which I can work on as a hobby which would give me the satisfaction my old prehistoric web site used to?
Maybe I need to start a much grander photographic project than any I have attempted so far? Or maybe look deeper into local folklore? Or maybe publish details of walks so that others can enjoy them as I have? There all kinds of possibilities but at the moment all I can seem to do is feel the need to be working creatively towards something – and I don’t know how to satisfy that craving.
There was a time when I thought that publishing to this blog might do the trick, but I now know that’s not enough for me.
For various Real Life reasons it has been absolutely ages since I posted anything to my blog – about 10 months! It’s not that I’ve not been doing anything, probably quite the reverse, I’ve been so busy and stressed that I’ve not had the time to think about blogging.
I intend to change this.
For this post I’m giving MacJournal a try. I got it as part of some mega software bundle deal a few months back and I’ve not got around to using it yet, so I thought I might as well give it a try.
Hopefully I’ll be back with some more typically Squonky thoughts, musings and mumblings soon.
Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been a bit longer than planned since my last update on Grow Jesus. Jesus has undergone a bit of a growth spurt since then.
On Sunday evening (5th October) he had reached 42 mm high. This evening he is up to 74 mm. Obviously your prayers have been heard! I’ll be keeping him in his Coke glass for a while yet to see if he manages any further growth.
When I first became the lucky owner of Grow Jesus I really wanted to do a time lapse movie of him growing over the entire duration of the process. Alas, I don’t have a timer for my Canon DSLR. All is not lost however. According to the accompanying documentation Grow Jesus should shrink again allowing for a future repetition of the growth process, when I have the facilities to produce a time lapse movie.
Meanwhile somebody has already published a time lapse of Grow Jesus on Youtube :-
Technorati Tags: grow Jesus
We are now 9 hours into the Grow Jesus marathon. Despite the packaging telling me he should be fully grown after 72 hours, a little research on the web has found others with a Grow Jesus saying it’s 10 days. Only time will tell.
So, after 9 hours do we have miraculous Jesus growth? He’s up from 36 mm to 42 mm. 6 mm in 9 hours isn’t quite a bamboo like growth statistic so obviously you aren’t all praying hard enough. You know what you have to do!
Technorati Tags: grow Jesus
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