Comments for Bryan Appleyard

Comment on The Crowds at Abbey Road by elberry

elberry — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 21:41:21 +0000

It looks stylized and posed, at the same time as all they’re doing is walking across the road. Harrison’s legs look weird like they’re too long or he’s about to launch into a Funny Walk. Ringo looks like a businessman and Lennon like a saint or charlatan guru (that is, he looks like John Lennon). The postures are interesting. Lennon seems to be almost floating, albeit in a determined way.

To me it looks like they’re walking far too closely together, i find it hard to imagine they could walk like that without treading on each others’ heels. However, i reflect that one can walk like that, with old friends (or lovers), the bodies synchronise so close walking becomes possible without difficulty. Given this was, i think, their last album, and the divergent costumes suggest (in contrast to their early 60s moptop garb) unsustainable difference, this easily close walking is interesting.

i think part of the power is the individual postures and clothing, and the way as a whole they seem to each inhabit a separate reality, yet they walk so closely together.

Comment on 4Chan and Anonymous by Manga Therapy

Manga Therapy — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:40:27 +0000

It’s funny. 4Chan has done some good, especially lately as they have been mentioned in a Japanese manga’s popularity.

Also, it’s advised to not visit 4Chan without a plan. Some of the threads there aren’t all that bad.

Comment on Scruton: the Right Wing Green by Chris Hale

Chris Hale — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 13:28:49 +0000

I liked this article, Bryan. As a leftie, I have problem acknowledging that Scruton talks a lot of sense – why not add electric cars to wind turbines?

But I agree with him on many points because they are socialist ones. To quote almost at random: “A free economy can be abused and it can only be justified on the assumption that costs are returned to the person that produces them.”

By whom?

Comment on Smart Yeast Points to the Apocalypse by Max Patch

Max Patch — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 19:50:20 +0000

Some interesting lenses for looking at the seeming paradox:

http://cassandralegacy.blogspot.com/2011/10/hubbert-hurdle-revisiting-fermi-paradox.html

http://thearchdruidreport.blogspot.com/2007/09/solving-fermis-paradox.html

Comment on Fox Talbot’s Dream Square by Arlene of Mummy Blog School

Arlene of Mummy Blog School — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 09:34:59 +0000

looks like a classic photo. It brings back memories.

Comment on Fox Talbot’s Dream Square by admin

admin — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 05:20:48 +0000

You could be right, Toby, I hadn’t thought of that…

Comment on Fox Talbot’s Dream Square by Michael Smith

Michael Smith — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:12:28 +0000

What an amazing photo. It’s not just Victorian London, it’s Dickensian London. It’s a literary character in its own right, come to life. It’s like seeing a photo of Wonderland or Middle Earth. Just off camera are the squirming masses, living and loving and dying in the utmost squalor. You can almost smell them.

WOW.

Comment on Geoff Dyer: The Hatchet Man by winter weste

winter weste — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:33:08 +0000

winter weste…

Bryan Appleyard » Blog Archive » Geoff Dyer: The Hatchet Man…

Comment on Fox Talbot’s Dream Square by Toby Saul

Toby Saul — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:48:50 +0000

You’re right. It’s an extraordinary and beautiful picture.
The long exposure times of the earliest photos of street scenes meant that the people weren’t captured. Streets that did indeed have people in them appear empty because the figures moved before they could be captured on film. Could that be the case here?

Comment on Fox Talbot’s Dream Square by ian russell

ian russell — Sun, 22 Jan 2012 17:08:34 +0000

You’ve got me at it now. I don’t what’s strange and unbalanced about the comp. It seems to obey the rule of thirds, now loved by contemporary snappers, both across, and up and down – the man’s a genius!

It wasn’t taken from street level, that’s evident. Probably out of the window of a building on the square. On a fixed tripod? This may be why he couldn’t get in the whole column.

I think it’s late afternoon. The vertical pieces of scaffolding are casting shadows on the base, the sun is already from the south-west.

I still think it’s a marvelous image.