History Carnival

Old Scrooge looked out the window and could see men and women smiling, 'Bah Humbug' he thought 'when they learn that the Thomason tracts have left the open shelves of the British library, they'll be smiling on the other sides of their faces!' He scowled into the swirling snow, thinking that at least if the weather makes everyone happy sometimes (as Jupiter said in a poem), it makes everyone unhappy sometimes. He tapped the stony walls of his mansion, and stared gloomily into the streets and then marched to the door of his study. He opened it and saw, he thought, a face on the handle- the face of Marley- no, no, no, for as Hakewill said long ago the eye is always deceived. He turned the nob and entered into his room, papers lay scattered on the desk, that bloody Cratchett- as untidy as a graduate student with a dissertation to complete- had left everything amiss. Scrooge sat down and opened his safe, the gold inside glittered. Into his cold heart came the cheerful thought that Henry I was dead long ago and could not enforce his barbaric punishments for those who hoarded gold- no matter how some historians might like him to.

"Damn that Spirit of Christmas, Damn that White Christmas, Damn that Bing Crosby (who didn't even mainly write about Christmas, though the ignorant fools think he did)" said Scrooge impatiently. In the silence of the house, he heard something- the wind whispering, someone coughing. The air was bad, Scrooge cleared his throat. At least it wasn't as bad as at his plant in Donora- pollution had killed people there but he and his chums had got away with minimal compensation payouts. Some people think you can just do good to get money, write to support yourself, like Christian de Pizan had, but he, Scrooge knew better. The noise again. There was something, he was sure of it. Maybe it was the newspaper man outside, "Read all about it, Read all about it, the ten most important executions of the 2000s", no it couldn't be him. What could it be, some kind of scratching from the fireplace, a mouse? No it couldn't be a mouse. A superstitious man might have believed that there was a connection to Scrooge's business for the day, investigating with a lawyer what he could gain from a seventeenth century will: unfortunately there was nothing in John Giffard's bequests that he could purloin, though he did learn that Chris Holland's great grandfather was a seventeenth century heavy metal fan. That explained a lot about Holland's investment strategies!

No that sound again, what could it be. Scrooge moved closer to the fire. One could always get things wrong- after all all those seventeenth century writers had thought Cromwell had had a fight with Charles I, when actually it was the Earl of Essex and Charles's elder brother Prince Henry and the story just got misplaced. There was something definitely there and it was coming from the fire- sounded like, Marley? Scrooge started- it was Marley, and it was speaking. "You shall be visited" said Marley "by three ghosts- one of Christmas past, one of Christmas present and the next of Christmas Future. Remember what they say, otherwise you will be taken to hell where you will be choked by a smog worse than the Glasgow one of 1909, consumed by fire and eaten forever by locusts- remember Dante and beware." Scrooge fell back in his seat- and began to think of questions to ask the ghost, "Marley, Marley" he shouted, but the ghost had disappeared, disappeared just like blogs might disappear (he thought for some reason remembering an essay that he'd seen about the future of medievalist blogging) before the triumph of social media.

"Ghosts! Everyone knows ghosts don't exist" Scrooge harrumphed to himself. Probably it was a setup, someone wanting him to be sympathetic- like that time Cratchett had offered him a photo album of his family in some war or other. Scrooge remembered that, he'd laughed and sent the idiot away, telling him to do the accounts. Scrooge knew everything on God's earth was right, he went back to his coins and counted them ferociously. No ghost could buy their way past Scrooge, even St Peter would take his money. The shutters banged in the wind. Scrooge buried his head in his papers and suddenly a pale light grew, he raised his head.

A fat gentleman had entered through the fire, "I am the ghost of Christmas Past" he boomed, remember this- he opened his hand and suddenly Scrooge found himself in the midst of a group of soldiers eating Christmas dinner- one writing a letter home to his family. "What is happening" screamed Scrooge, "Where am I?" The Ghost laughed and said, "You are in the past, in the vast caverns of the past and before this evening is out I will show you everything you need to know to reform. You will see a whole Carnivalesque of posts about the ancient and medieval world that will enrich your understanding. You will understand what you are missing and my brothers will visit you too." Scrooge grew silent, his mind could barely cope, "What you mean Ghost I'll discover why the Roman Empire fell and what are the most influential book history tools developed since 2000? What's going on?" The ghost smiled wryly and ushered him on. History you see is always unfinished.

That's all folks for this carnival, there will be others coming up. Sharon needs volunteers so email her at sharonATearlymodernwebDOTorgDOTuk if you want to volunteer. I'd recommend it- its fun and this is a thing which ought to be kept going.

Britblog

I apologise for not doing this yesterday- other things drove it out of my mind! Anyway here we are today with a more limited and yet still illustrious list of posts from the UK blogosphere. We cover a whole range of experience here from the 17th to the 20th Century. Anyway to kick off how about reading James Hamilton's views on Capello's managment style- interesting and thoughtful as ever. Capello may be adopting a distant style to his players, but as Dave Cole points out the Tories are adopting a much more nannying style to the country. Freemania suspects though that the Tories themselves may need some nannying: is Cameron really only just about as good as Kinnock? Who cares anyway? From the desk of George Galloway we have the greatest attack on Imperialist scum ever delivered- may they die in their own individual Trotskyite, Zinovievist, Bukharanist, revisionist running dog hells!

But if they don't it doesn't matter, as they'll start blogging and end up in a legal fight: Mr Eugenides seeks to adjudicate in the latest battle betwixt Tim Ireland and Guido Fawkes. Calm down lads, the real idiocy is about the issues (as I said yesterday), Matt Sinclair's got a bee in his bonnet about the latest paper from the Social Market foundation on climate change- he isn't too impressed. Incidentally happy birthday Matt- for a two year old you are quite articulate. Don Paskini is another articulate lad concerned with issues, this week its sharing the proceeds of growth and how the Tories don't even understand their own policies! And that's good as it means that you don't have to attend SOAS, where the Iranians are putting on conferences funded with our public money- go to Harry's Place and see what you can do about it. Or rather don't, because society is going to pot anyway and its all religion's fault: we've been having the argument over at Liberal Conspiracy, go and start with Kate Belgravia's provocative and well written post on why Jesus Christ should dominate our politics less. Thing is that Kate should calm down, afterall look at what all those Muslims gave us in the Middle Ages: modern science and all- not convinced- well time to bring on the historians!

And here they come, leaping like a herd of wilderbeast through some savannah forest. First up is that classic civil war debate between Pepper and Puddle the two dogs- canine confusion becomes a metaphor for other debates. On a more illustrious subject, the Early Modern Whale circles around the Old Cheapside Cross and finds out what he can about its history. Some of us though are only too depressed by the present, its hard to avoid when you here that the bulbs are coming up even earlier than usual in Kew Gardens. But not everything is depressing- and ending on a high note- just consider the Political Umpire's tale of these two human beings whose bodies are joined together.

So long till next time I host the carnival- sorry for a short one- but I hope there is something there to savour!

Blogpower Roundup

A roundup chosen by the bloggers themselves of Blogpower's best posts of year is up here- I chose a post about the Robert Bresson film L'Argent, in part because I think its a good review, and in part because I think Bresson is one of the most important artists and film makers of the century and that he is deeply underappreciated.

As a bynote I should also say that the Carnival of Cinema is back- and there are some good posts especially complaints about Yahoo's list of the best movies of the last year.

Read both- in particular the Blogpower one- a fine collection of posts!

Britblog roundup

The Britblog roundup is back. I realise this is early to post it, but I have urgent news, anyone preparing for Breakfast don't eat it in St Pancras, eat it at Sylvie's in New York- that comes straight from the London Review of Breakfasts! Now we have the urgent stuff out of the way, I'm imagining you sitting down to that perfect Sylvie's breakfast in New York, unfurling a copy of your favourite paper. Its got updates about the debate about the ethics of libertarians in the blogosphere from one of their critics, Paulie, and from an objective observer, Larry Teabag. Cassilis provides an emmaculate dissection of claims about New Labour's effect on the state and casts scorn on those who believe that Brown is Stalin. In the left hand corner of the page, there is a nice chess problem from the Brixton and Streatham Chess Club (the solution is over the page). Talking of problems your eye is caught by a perceptive leading article about Islam- brought by the Wardman Wire.

So much for the paper, what about the important question of the day- food. Well there is first the question of whether to eat a peach- Claire would agree its a vital life changing question. After last night's Respect meeting in North Manchester (if you want to remember it John has some details here) not to mention getting lost on a hike earlier because you hadn't taken Dave's advice about how to use a map, you need a good old fashioned English breakfast. You are like the Labour party, you don't need a whippersnapper of a thirty year old, but an old veteran like Lord Whitty to take control in your stomach. Don Paskini would agree. Well, well, well that looks like an unappetising sausage. You are starting to feel resentful: almost as resentful as Lenin does about dress down Fridays. Staring out the window though, you realise you aren't suffering as much as that tree that the Constant Gardener is trying to help.

And as the sapling is deformed by gardening, we are deformed by capitalism. You are an architecture student, that makes money on the side from reading movie scripts- time to refresh your memory for those vital commandments of script reading, anything to forget the frustrations of architecture classes (poor Alice yesterday having to redo her designs again). As you rifle through the pile of scripts, remember at least you aren't a scheduler, it was only yesterday that the cinephile was telling you all about his traviles in that business. Time to attend to that porridge, its very stodgy today, not so good for a sound stomach- like Echo you've found that fewer oats makes a calmer pony or person. I'd turn back to the newspaper, as James Hamilton the wise philosopher says, in the end all that remains of us is our blogs and articles, the rest is whimsy.

Turning back to the paper, what's this yet another humurous article from Vino, apparantly the right in America are plus zioniste que le premier ministre d'israel! Over the page, there is the debate section and those comments are ferocious- especially on Sunny's article about Muslim being the new black. You hadn't realised it but this is one of those controversial papers- that aims to get a reaction- Chris Dillow's discussion of star power, Dave Osler's article on Christianophobia and Matt Sinclair's mixture of Stoicism and Nietzsche are all fascinating and provocative. Its funny reading all these articles but suddenly your mind goes back to the illogicality of the English language- as the Thunderdragon said how can we expect foreigners to understand it, when even we can't sometimes. Well, well, well life is illogical- I mean as the Croydonian joked last week only 97% of Catholics say that they believe in God, yup there are 3% of the Catholic population wandering round, going to Church who don't believe in God, that's not to mention Atheists who do! Time to focus, afterall you are the lay preacher giving the sermon today, and it might be the only day that someone comes, what are you going to say to reel them in- consider it carefully.

You try but of course your mind keeps wandering, where is that cup of tea! Does the footballing future really belong to London and Plymouth Argyll, was Dave Cole right to love Erik Ringmar's study of Blogging so much, how can Grendel be right that more Americans beleive in hell than evolution, the world is filled with dilemmas to think about on a sunny Sunday morning. Ahhh and so much to look forward to- from the Lions going to the Southern hemisphere in 2009 to JMB's digest of the latest from the Blogpower collective. Its been a good week overall- the football game on Saturday was great- well refereed as well- JK even produced a match report saying why he didn't give that penalty (it was cast iron from where you stood). And last but far from least, it was the Dandy's birthday- who'd have thought that according to Christopher your early copies of the comic would be so valuable now.

Ah well, time to glug down that last gulp of tea- you have work to do- another Sunday, another week- and next week of course another Britblog!

The History Carnival

Historians like to think that we are doing something for other people when we research- and to a large extent we are. Writing for a blog about history involves teaching others about their own histories and telling them why this particular story. Most of us emerged as historians when we first realised that stories were fascinating and that some of them were true, when we first as MarthaQ did with Alexander the Great thought about the differences between accounts of the past and tried to reconcile them. Martha's original questions might be naive, but soon historians and students of history begin to probe even greater questions- questions about whether people in the past felt about things in the same way as we do, or whether they even understood themselves in the same way. Well any reasonable history carnival ought to present some posts that consider some historical stories and their relevance to the modern day. This month's carnival is no exception- and in addition to the posts above there are plenty more which will make you think about your place in the world.

Place is a keynote for any historian, wondering around the streets of local towns or cities you can get a real sense of the past. Any historian of New York must know that he walks the streets that Alexander Hamilton once strolled. Sometimes that sense can be illusory, who would imagine wondering modern London, particularly Camden, that only sixty years ago those streets echoed with bombs. Historians though also need to look at things that stay the same- Poland's history has been shaped as David Frum argues by its geographic position. The shape of Poland has been used in different ways by different rulers: but the same goes for words, whose history tells us something about the history of the societies that use them- consider for example the word Tiger and the related Tigris river. Familiarity can often jolt us into understanding both the past's continuity with and difference from the present- moments of epiphany in which empathy seems stronger. For instance, dates are crucial in this. Over the last month, we have seen a number of anniversaries of executions pass us by, those of the murderer Dr. Crippen, six Greek politicians and an unknown allied airman. Each story has something vivid to contribute to us, because each story allows us to enter into a piece of the past.

Individual stories are often the best way of entering into history. They provide us with someone to directly empathise with. For years Americans recalled the events of the revolution whenever they saw Benjamin Franklin's ghost appear. We ourselves can have our own Franklin's ghosts to remind us of the past. The history of women for instance in the nineteenth century is illuminated this month by two wonderful articles about great women of the past: one about the French courtesan Ninon de Lenclos and the other about the early life of Emily Chesley. Entering into the past via a person often requires a hook for us to hang our thoughts on, sport can provide an interesting hook for comparison and thought about cultural differences between our times and times past. The great player revolt in Baseball in the late nineteenth century led by Fred Dunlap stands as one supreme example of sporting change accompanying cultural change. And of course the evolution of British culture can be charted in the videos of the teams that almost won the footballing treble (FA Cup, League and European Cup) over the course of the second half of the twentieth century. Without understanding the times in which people lived, it is very difficult to work out what they were doing- even the dates of marriages and births can be hard to comprehend, unless you appreciate that for instance in 18th Century America many wives went pregnant into the churchyard. But that is not the end of it, for understanding the way that culture and individuality interact gets incredibly complicated- as this paper by Eileen Joy on Saint Guthlac demonstrates.

So from the individual, we turn as historians to the collective, to the grand narratives, the grand frames into which we fit the individuals that we study. In order to start understanding the life of a medieval West African, it is vital that you know this kind of outline of West African history before you start. Evidence though sometimes is a problem- archaeologists for years made a mistake about how North America was peopled but are now going back to new types of evidence and reconsidering their earlier verdicts. Automatically as soon as we get into these broader questions, we get into issues which are even today political. The American Indians suffered greatly from their White Conquerors and at the Washita Massacre Indians were particularly cruelly killed by a future American hero. A genocidal hero- surely not, but the same thing is happening in Russia at the moment where Joseph Stalin is being used in advertising campaigns. History though can be inspiring- its worth remembering that there were Europeans who didn't massacre the Indians but instead met and engaged with them as human beings- worth remembering because it tells us a lesson treat your opponents as individuals and you stand a much greater chance of being merciful when they are in your power.

Political thought arises naturally from history- history is the only experimental ground for political philosophers and there are plenty of subtle ones out there. Take for example Ashok who provides this month an inciteful reading of Jefferson's inaugural. Some argue that we are approaching another crisis period in American history- if so strap your seatbelts tight. Others suggest that democracy itself depends on certain presumptions and that the modern West looks very like Rome in the late Republic.

All of those ideas depend on a historical basis- but of course historians disagree all the time- indeed the only thing that historians do more than read is disagree. At the moment there has been a right battle going on about English Civil War historiography- David Underdown took a shot at John Adamson and the blogs have been responding in force. Chris Bray is openly contemptuous of any argument that America was anti-military in the first decades of its existance and David Frum aims his guns at a series of second world war targets from Western Generals to Russian commissars, in a review of Max Hastings' latest book on the subject. However the outcome of a conference on gender and diet in the middle ages- did women eat differently from men- reminds us that much about history remains inconclusive- history is less about answered questions than unanswered ones, get ye back to the libraries. You can see this as well in the fact that we still don't understand whether a meteorite blew up in the atmosphere only a ninety nine years ago- if we don't know that, then its no surprise that we are ignorant of other things.

History, as I hope you are aware through surveying these links, is very much an alive subject. Money is being poured into lots of areas of the subject- Canada is seeing millions of pounds being spent on a new history of science network for example. Courses are now being constructed using the web and blogging as a tool, whether for discussing history or historiography. And the power of history can be seen in the way that others are reevaluating documents like the Bible in the context of historical discovery.

Whatever history is, it isn't history!

Britblog Carnival No 138

Ah well the Britblog has rolled back over here from a superb carnival at Philobiblon. Its going to be difficult to acheive anything similar to that wonderful carnival.

Perhaps the most important part of a good carnival is working out what a good blog is. Well a recent effort was made by Iain Dale, and Unity isn't happy with Dale's definition. Ian is worried by the appearance of partisanship in the blogosphere and the way we could lose trust. Never Trust a Hippy suggests why, writing a wonderful post separating political blogging from blogging about politics. Chris Dillow exemplifies exactly the type of political blogger that Never Trust a Hippy is talking about, as this post on inheritance tax, democracy and equality demonstrates. James Hamilton provides another analytical masterclass, with his history of innovation in football. Thinking of use of media- the thunder dragon deserves some kind of acknowledgement for his photoshop of Brown the Chicken and on the subject of having fun at the expense of our courageous PM, just take a look at this video from Nick Barlow!

Analytical bloggers though are only one half of the blogosphere- there are also the gossip bloggers. Iain Dale is off the mark first in this category with this video reminding Tom Watson of a promise he made a year ago. To be fair to Mr Watson he did pay the money he bet to a charity- and there is someone out there doing well out of a blogosphere punch up- now there is a shock! On more serious matters, there is the continuing Usmanov saga. Arsenal News Review suggests that Usmanov has been bribing journalists with trips to Moscow- Tim Ireland has more. Justin has more news of the way that Usmanov is manipulating the libel laws. On a related note, Unity's series on where we all stand with relation to libel law continues. The blogging world always gets riled by threats to free speech, just take a look for example at Stroppy blog who has got all stroppy about government surveillance of unions.

But the world isn't all Usmanov- there have been a couple of political events happening in various seaside resorts recently. This week was the Tory turn. And you'll find a servicable account of what went on from Steve Green who was in the hall, the City Unslicker wasn't but analyses the Tory economic policies. The most eye catching bit of the conference was the pledge on inheritance tax, for Matt Sinclair its better late than never, he argues using the film memento that inheritance tax strikes right at any concept of human kindness. The Tory Diary at Conservative Home finds low tax is the latest fashion accessory, but Don Paskini isn't so sure- he sees it as a tax cut for millionaires. In other political news, Lenin isn't too happy at Lenin's tomb with the occupation of Afghanistan and Dave Cole wonders is the US constitution too federalist. Gene at Harry's Place draws our attention to the common forms that anti-semitism takes whether from rightwing nuts in New Hampshire or Hamas, Jobeda isn't too impressed that the BBC had a program about the political merits of Shariah Law either.

And you'd think the world was all about politics if this was all that I left you- but far from it- there is much else going on. The Early Modern Whale reminds us that coffee was reputed to cure the plague, Ben Goldacre doesn't beleive in South Africans with magic quantum boxes and Professor David Colquhoun isn't too impressed by herbal medicine either. Matt Murrell started a comment thread about guilt and innocence here and on a related note, Crushed by Ingsoc has been thinking about the fashions and music of the nineteen eighties- oh and if that didn't make you feel queesy, then try this where Anne of the Inky Circle talks about what she has in common with cockroaches.

On a completely different line, Richard Brunton isn't happy that BAFTA wouldn't nominate any foreign language films for the Oscars. You can always learn new things about the UK, apparantly Birmingham has a bull ring, honest, here is a picture. All my Vinyl reviews an obscure album by the Animal Collective. On Stage lighting has an interesting post about how to get into stage lighting. Oh and should you feel like writing in a newspaper or anywhere else, be aware of the rules that the internet nomad has drawn up. The singing Librarion though is on his way thinking about parts he would love to take on in the future. Staying on the performance theme, Benjamin Yeoh reccomends you go and see a play in Ancient Greek- Medea is on at the Arts Theatre in Cambridge, one to see if you are around. Continuing with history, Vino has a nice post on the effects of Protestantism on European history- the Political Umpire also tackles a very broad historical theme, looking at the white slave trade in the 18th Century. Oh and anyone interested in more blogging should take a look at the latest roundup from the Blogpower group.

Anyway I hope there is enough there to keep people interested- keep the entries coming into britblogATgmailDOTcom.

Britblog

The Britblog is a collaborative enterprise and is about supporting each other- seems like a good way to begin is to advertise some recent awards that include many British bloggers- including yours truly and are open to us all to vote in, the polls are open till Wednesday so go down there and vote in the Blogpower Blogging awards.

Ok that's done- so now let's move into the world of politics and see what the political guys have to say for themselves.

Well first the City Unslicker has cast his eyes over the economy- here are his suggestions for reform. Chris Dillow is also interested in the UK economy and posts a very interesting examination of that perrennial Daily Mail subject the Housing market here. Tim Worstall though turns to the Banking industry and what will replace Banking charges in making them money- tip watch those interest rates!. Pommygranate returns us to Gordon with some worrying charts from Standard and Poor.

The Norfolk blogger is also interested in the Chancellor's latest machinations- only for him its Anglican Church disestablishment and whether Gordon secretly is in favour that's in question, oh by the way our man in Norfolk is now apparantly famous in Bexley and will issue a range of merchandise soon! Our man from Norfolk may be happy with Gordon, but James Cleverly isn't- he is shocked by Brown's behaviour over security.

Of course all politics isn't Brown, there is the Labour Deputy Leadership election as well- Paul Linford has been campaigning for Hillary Benn, Kerron Cross is astonished how bad the campaigns are at campaigning, Harry Barnes has endorsed Peter Hain, the People's Commissar has a list of many reasons to Vote Cruddas and the Politaholic despite finding Alan Johnson an amiable chap declares he thinks that Benn and Harmon are the best of a bad bunch. (Incidentally if you are bored of any of this- feel pity for Tom Hamilton who liveblogged question time this week and wasn't impressed!)

But like Mr Benn, we want our issues- so lets turn to Council Housing- where Theo detects real improvements, Theo might be happy but Unity isn't and Partnership for Schools are getting it from him for announcing a redesign of school toilets. Dave Hill brings depressing news from Westfield about young people with nothing to do but drink. The Mainstream media comes in for a bit of criticism this week though- Not Saussure is not a fan of the way that Kirsty Wark interviewed Alex Salmond. It was about a Libyan prisoner in Scotland- Mr Eugenides thinks that its worth asking whether the Libyan government is more trustworthy than the British on whether negotiations about that prisoner did take place. Skipper wants though to support Ken Clarke's democracy task force but can it really restore our trust in politicians?.

Worldwide issues have also been receiving attention recently- Vino has some wonderful posts up- especially a two parter on Kashmir (here and here) and a more recent post on Indonesia. Well the biggest world wide issue of them all might well be global warming and on that the big beasts of the blogging jungle have been crossing antlers, first up Sunny Hundal, Devils Kitchen responds and Matt tries to sum up this skirmish- this one methinks is going to run on.

Ah well but you don't just want politics- and the British blogs don't just provide politics- we are much more sophisticated than that. We know like Tim Almond that if you send an email you can't trust that it has got to the person you wanted it to get to and like the Yorkshire soul, we know that OAPS mask behind an exterior of tradition the minds of ruthless drug dealers! Sally in Norfolk has been demonstrating her cannyness- picking food at a market in Cambridge. James Higham, a true friend to many blogs, has been under the cosh recently and written about it here. One of the saddest sights is seeing a great blogger losing enthusiasm- so can I just launch a personal appeal for the yellow duck to go back to his pond!

This is all getting a bit domestic- lets get cultural because there is a lot as ever going on in the cultural world. Over at the mad musings of me- the retirement of Darcy Bussell is hailed. If that's the end- Filmick has rumours of a new project in the pipeline, a fourth Beverly Hills Cop Film directed by Tarentino. Baroque in Hackney has done better than just think about new art, she's got two poems published! Time for a review, Interval Drinks saw Take Care of Baby and found it interesting if unsatisfying. Richard Brunton isn't focusing on particular films at the moment- rather he wonders which is the most terrifying serial killer. For scariness, Richard, fancy being buried alive in Kent- the early modern whale tells the story. From the scary to the sublime- the Periodic Englishman describes the almost religious feelings that music produces within him.

But that's not all for I have a wonderful series of posts to tell you about- James Hamilton on Brian Clough- a biography in six posts so far(and he has only just got to the end of Clough as a player) here, here, here, here, here and lastly here- his work is fascinating as a combination of sociology and sport. Black Right and Red all over sums up over here a traumatic month for Newcastle United. The Political Umpire ranges over slightly wider territory- musing on Michael Vaughan the England cricket captain- he ranges far and wide over the issue of sportsmen and the media.

Last things- Iain Dale wants bloggers to come and listen to Douglas Hurd talk about Robert Peel- so if you have a free afternoon- go along- I'll be there!

Right ok- that's it- next week there'll be yet another Britblog- to enter posts and please do send them to britblogatgmail.com.

Carnival of Cinema

The Carnival of Cinema, managed normally by Scott Nehring normally has set itself down here for a week and as you'd expect, this week being the week Ingrid Bergman signed on to perform in Casablanca that there are some wonderful posts about there about films ancient and modern. Hopefully they'll wet your appetite for film and make you go and watch a DVD, that afterall is what this should all be about.

So where to start- well Shakespeare's birthday fell this week and obviously prompted a lot of bloggers into thinking about Shakespeare and film. Emma at All about my Movies listed what in her opinion were the best five Hamlets on film, with added reasons. The Critic after Dark went wild over Orson Welles's adaptation of four Shakespeare plays in two hours of film- a rather impressive effort by the enfant terrible of cinema! Peter offered a review of Omkara and plenty more Shakespearian cinematic stuff- which you can find at the bottom of his post.

Akira Kurosawa made one of the great Shakespeare adaptations for the screen in the Throne of Blood. Amongst the greatest of his films is a masterpiece about the problems of knowledge, Rashomon and should you feel having read that, that you don't want to watch a Kurosawa, here are some Notes on Cinema which would inform you that you really should. For anyone who likes great directors and great films- I'd go see Jules et Jim and this wonderful review of Truffaut's masterpiece. Amongst great American directors, Robert Altman stands tall and proud- this is an interesting retrospective on his seventies film noir, The Long Goodbye starring Donald Sutherland. And should you need any convincing to see classic films and Donald Sutherland, then this little essay might help.

Well, well, well these streets are looking dark and mean, and the word noir has already been mentioned. Its one of the themes of this week's cinematic strutting- my own post on Double Indemnity strives to get to the bottom of that film. One of the greatest film noirs is undoubtedly the Big Sleep, Obsessed with Film agrees with me and has kindly posted the trailer. The Film Noir of the Week though isn't anything as famous as those two but a neglected work called The Burglar, given its stars- Dan Duryea and Jayne Mansfield and its writer David Goodis, Steve O wonders why its been neglected.

We've had film noir, we've had great filmmakers- what about looking at some contemporary films. Well we've got a great selection of those this week too- Paul Martin went to see the European film Offset in Melbourne this week. Europe- I hear you cry, how stereotypically Western, what about something else, some variety in our viewing. Well we can provide- what about going to see Jigthar, if you want to the Bhutan film blog has more. And now the Marxists are unhappy, they are screaming about feudal overlords and all the rest, well just to shut em up- they should realise that we film bloggers write about all sorts- the Flick Filosopher has been concerned this week with films about American miscarriages of justice. Meanwhile Alexius also looks at the dark underside of American society- particularly at the racist subculture described in American History X. Scott Nehring, the true beggetter of this carnival, though wants to bind together the American and the third world- he views the plight of contemporary ethics through the prism of The Last King of Scotland. On a similar theme, my review on Bits of News of the Lives of Others focuses on the wider issues at stake in that political drama. Ethics, shmethics, what we want is good mystical science fiction- if that's what you are after, we have got the review for you, come and see what a Top Movie The Butterfly Effect was. I can hear you say oh no, that's not what we want, we want a good college movie- well just shove off and pick from this list put together by the guys at the campus grotto, will you? Or why not go for some real sexy melodrama, yep that's right the Canadian Cinephile thinks we should all remember how fatal attraction can be. Actually stick around- we've got attacks and savaging next- yep the blood and fur is flying...

Too much of this is far too positive- I mean its as if all films were great and all film makers were. But anyone who has watched enough knows the disappointment of a bad film- J C Calhoun wonders whether Grindhouse represents the end of Quentin Tarantino as a film maker, Alexander Rubio agrees- he thinks Tarentino is so 1990s darling. Matt Sinclair though is furious about film makers with little discernable talent- Matt is a good chap who has a very extensive taste in film, I know him well so when he gets this angry about Pathfinder its worth listening to him. Furthermore Matt must be right, Mike at Kaboom Review despite loving Action movies and Vikings, hates this. Conan Stevens isn't angry about the awfulness of films that he has paid to see, but about the lies about a 300 workout, impossible he says they were stuntmen. (A passing note on 300, did anyone notice the image from the Watchmen comic books, Jim Squires did). Michael Hwang though doesn't feel very much about Little Miss Sunshine, he just thinks its mediocre.

My word- its almost done- but there are still a couple of bits of news out there to survey- for instance feel like becoming a film star, well get you going down into the internet cafes to check out second life- apparantly Paul Verhoeven, director of such controversial films as Basic Instinct and Showgirls is auditioning actors in Second Life- you hear everything these days.

I'd reccomend you read all that- and then settle back with a nice DVD and a cup of tea (hey I'm British don't knock tea), only a word of caution (we bloggers are looking out for your best interests) don't especially if you are Chinese get a pirated version you may not get what you were after!

Carnivals

Just a note to suggest two carnivals to you- both of which linked to this blog this week but both of which contain interesting posts as well.

Ok to start with- its worth going over and looking at the Carnival against Sexual Violence which has many interesting posts, on the psychology of juries assessing attractive or unattractive victims of crime, on the recent Duke rape case and about all sorts of other matters.

The second carnival is a new one on the block- its the festival of good books- I've been wondering when a literary carnival would appear on the internet and this seems to be a first attempt so lets hope it continues and thrives.

Anyway I hope you find something in there to read- I definitely found things in both carnivals!

Blogfoci Roundup

James Higham is one of the best citizens of the blogosphere- always a kind and thoughtful chap he prepares little digests of the blogging world and now does, heroically three of these offerings every week. This week he put out three: a first including such wonderful writers as Paul Linford and Matthew Sinclair is here, a second includes posts on subjects as various as a blogging for business conference, profound thoughts and of course cherries and James's final and third includes posts about losing your keys and the Iran British standoff. As you can appreciate Mr Higham is a man of truly eclectic taste with a good eye- go over and take a look.

Carnival of Cinema

The new carnival of cinema is up at Kaboom Review. His blog is good too so if you are feeling like reading about action movies and how they rate on his unique Kaboom scale then I'd go over. Possibly one of the cooler blog names as well!

Britblog

A new round up of the best of the British Blogosphere from the wonderfully named blog the dustbin of history is here. It includes a post from this blog but from many other great blogs- a piece on John Aubrey the blogger is well worth scanning through for example.

Carnival of Cinema

Yep the new one is up at Nehring- he has linked to an excellent post from Ian for whom I blog sat a month or so ago which is well worth reading and there is plenty of other good stuff to read as well.

Blogfocus is up

The great James Higham having justified moving to Russia in eloquent prose already this weekend, has also posted his latest collection of all bright and beautiful in the blogosphere. It includes all that is weird and wonderful and around this week- not to mention that it's got cartoons in it!

What more could I say to endorse it? Cartoons kids- go grab a link and see where it takes you!

Carnival of Cinema

A new carnival went up for your viewing pleasure over here.

Blogfocus is out

James has put another blogfocus out- he has put out an all woman edition- so go read these entries

Carnivals

The Carnival of Cinema is up here- its got some good oscar related material in it and a review of a 1940s obscure film noir from this site! There are some great reviews included- Nehring has done his usual impressive job so go there- and get some cinematic posts together.

The Carnivalesque is up over here as well- its an ancient history and medieval history edition and has some really cool things inside it- well worth having a look at.

Lastly given that I covered Michael Gove's speech here, it might be of interest to readers to read some other responses collected together at the Euston Manifesto blog.

Right that should cater for most people coming to this blog!

Blogfocus

James Higham's blogfocus is back again and he has found as usual some great posts. Of particular note is a post about Jeremy James who is a blogger who is going on a trek to raise some money for Breast Cancer. There are some other more standard posts as well- one I can empathise with in particular which is about the way that Radio 4's Today program functions as I kind of permanent alarm clock. But its all good...

Blogfocus

Sorry spent most of the day out at a friend who has just started his own blog- linked to in the sidebar called Vino's Political Blog- and chatting about politics with him and other friends so I've missed the opportunity to put an article up today and being tired won't probably tonight- however for those needing a fix- James has collected some of the more interesting posts concerning politics and alcohol in his latest blogfocus having discussed everything between local government in England to Biblical history today in pubs, I feel the theme has a certain personal resonance with me.

Historical Moment

The Carnival of Cinema has left for the first time the safe confines of Nehring and settled for a week at the neurophilosopher's blog. Nehring does such a good job but the Neurophilosopher is up to the challenge and has produced a really good carnival for us all to read through- he's done brilliantly and should be commended. Next week there might even be a cinematic post of substance here- but for your fix I suggest you go over to the Neurophilosopher and read away. Just as an advert he has embedded the whole of Frank Capra's Wonderful Life- an amazing film about small town America, starring Jimmy Stewart, Donna Reed, Lionel Barrymore and Henry Travers. Its a really wonderful film. Well worth seeing on any number of levels.