Wooden Box - Boyar Wedding Feast

 I've decided to use Bits & Pieces to document the various treasures and magic items that cross my path.

To begin: this beautiful wooden trinket box,  (30cm x 14cm x 8cm), etched and painted with a rendition of "A Boyar Wedding Feast" by Russian artist Konstantin Makovsky(1839–1915)

Russian wooden trinket box - Boyar Wedding Feast

The image is beautifully rendered, and a fascinating scene, just before the wedding toast.  The bride looks, a best very bashful, but actually kind of sad.  To the far left a young woman in a fancy head-dress glares at the bride.  The craftsmanship and artistry that goes into the image, and the trim along the sides is absolutely astonishing.  It's signed with the initial S. on a bottom corner. 
 

I've been looking for similar boxes on the internet,  Obviously whoever made this box must have made  a lot of other boxes as well.  No luck finding any signed by S so far.  In fact, I have yet to find any box that's as nice as this one.  Most boxes in a similar style are described as being early 20th century. 1900-1920.

Almost Spring Again

Or rather "Almost Spring...Again!"  The weather keeps dangling the carrot of summer in front of us then yanking it away.  I'm spending too much time in front of the computer glued to the election and not enough time figuring out what I want to be when I grow up.  I am almost 50, so I suppose I should get on it.

The turning of the seasons  are a natural time to consider our passing lives and the desire for change within ourselves.  Spending so much time engrossed in politics has made me long for the feeling of actually making a difference in the world.  I suppose all of us become artists thinking that in some way that's what we'll do, but more and more I wonder if I'm wasting my gifts and talents pursuing an extremely low-stakes career when I'm capable of so much.  I sit down to write a play or a song and it ends up from the point of view of a guy looking at the various situations of concern in the world and  feeling helpless to do anything to make a change.

I've become much more interested in the idea of journalism - being a part of the world rather than viewing it from a distance,  or setting out today to write something that people may see on stage a year from now.  I suppose that's part of why I've finally begun writing in this blog.  Not that anyone's likely to read it.  But just to write.

Pretending and Imagining.  Largely what I've spent my career doing.  I long to make a change in myself and in the world around me - to make an actual difference in the real world.,

Following the Election on Twitter

I'm always a news junkie,  but this election has taken things to a new height or depth depending on how you want to look at it.  Why?  I've discovered the crack cocaine of news:  Twitter.

What makes it so addictive?  Not because I'm following the  feeds of the candidates and campaign managers (although I am)  but because I'm following the journalists on the campaign trail. Up-to-the-second news, opinion, and humour from very smart, very informed people without the filter they apply when they're on air or filing their finished story. 

It's surprising how connected they are all the time. CBC, CTV,  CPAC, Macleans, the Globe & Mail,  the National Post,  the Sun -- everyone in the national media follows each other,  sharing sources, knowledge and opinions minute by minute through the day.  

And the banter back and forth is Daily Show-worthy political satire often not just involving the press but the campaign managers and speechwriters as well. 

Top of my list for humour is @InfoAlerteBot (a hilarious Colbert-esque style jokester who writes in all-caps and is described in its bio as "A SELF-AWARE ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE DEVOTED TO PROVIDING TIMELY AND ACCURATE INFORMATION TO THE HUMANOID MEMBERS OF THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY."    

Among my fovourite InfoBot tweets:

GOOD LUCK TO THE CANUCKS AND CANADIENS. WE HOPE THE STRESS OF THIS UNNECESSARY ELECTION DOESN'T PUT THEM OFF THEIR GAME. #cdnpoli #elxn41

THE PM WILL BE DOING A PHOTO-OP AT A UNIVERSITY ON FRIDAY. ANYONE INTERESTED IN APPEARING IN "STUDENT COSTUME", PLEASE CALL #elxn41 #cdnpoli 

DID YOU KNOW A VOTE FOR THE #NDP IS A VOTE FOR JACK LAYTON? #cdnpoli #elxn41 

I also greatly enjoyed eavesdropping on InfoAlerteBot and Justin Trudeau insulting each other in binary code.

Among my favs for news, analysis and backstage views are Kady O'Malley (@kady, who tweets so often that it's hard to see how she manages to do anything else,) Andrew Coyne (@acoyne) and Paul Wells (InklessPW), Rosemary Barton (@RosieBarton) and Adam Goldenberg (@adamgoldenberg) speechwriter for Michael Ignatieff.

If you're interested following the campaign via the Twitter-verse  just start following one of the above and then take a look at who they're following and add to taste.  Be warned though:  Once you get hooked on the up-to-the-minute behind the scenes view of the campaign it's hard to pull yourself away.  It feels like jumping off a quickly spinning merry-go-round to go back to the ' nightly news' or 'morning paper' rhythm of following the campaign,  and I can't help but wonder what effect this is having on the campaign.

On Twitter a story that's brand-new at 10 AM is over by 2 in the afternoon,   particularly concerning the torrent of corruption and lack of transparency charges that keep coming up against the Harper Government.  When there's a new scandal everyday,  does a "Can't see the forest for the trees" effect take over where it  just ends up being a blur for most of the electorate?  I'm afraid it just might.

 

Frosty Canada

The Stupid Tree Song

Lonely in the depth of winter
she hears summer's melody
calling her to greener pastures
but she's just a stupid tree.
O winter, please relieve her.
If you leave then her leaves will reappear.
O winter, please believe her.
If you leave her you can come again next year.

Standing, hoping.  Hot for summer.
And whatever summer brings.
When you're a tree the cold's a bummer
Keep looking for a sign of spring.
O spring her, won't you bring her
blossoming her in a brand new coat of leaves?
For winter made her splinter
and sequined her into icy little sleeves.

The sun goes out.  The stars come dancing,
burning birds in evening sky.
She waiting for the death of winter.
World is turning.  She won't cry.
O Summer, won't you save her?
She'll behave.  Her only sin was in the fall.
O Summer won't you take her?
Can't you break her out of winter's frozen shawl.

Lonely in the depth of winter
She hears summer's melody
calling her to greener pastures
but she's just a stupid tree.