February@ the Getty Museum:
don”t miss..( it”s free!)
The Mediaeval Bookshelf: From Romance to Astronomy - ( on from January 29th to April 9th 2006)
A collection of illuminated manuscripts and books from the 13th to the 15th centuries on a wide range of subjects - including chivalry, fables, science and philosophy. Bibles and prayer books were not the only books produced in Europe during the Mediaeval period, and this exhibition focuses on the non-religious manuscripts - all beautifully illustrated.
“The late Middle Ages saw a proliferation of illustrated books for the entertainment and instruction of the upper classes. Lavish paintings in the books helped readers visualize the stories.”
Curator”s Gallery Talks - the associate curator of manuscripts will be giving a gallery talk on this exhibition on the 15th March.
More details on this exhibition can be found here..
More details on Mediaeval Manuscripts here at the National Library of the Netherlands
Adolphe-William Bouguereau: Nineteenth Century Art
One of the most popular French artists of the late nineteenth century.Four works are on display at the West Pavilion- including the Young Girl Defending Herself Against Eros.
**Drawings from Leonardo to Titian- Running until Feb 26th
“This exhibition offers highlights from the Getty”s collection of North Italian Renaissance drawings, focusing on the work and influence of Leonardo da Vinci and Titian”
omniglot: a guide to written language. An interesting site. I found it while I was browsing for information on the occitan language { Provençal is a dialect of Occitan}
Susie Orbach highlighted in her 1978 groundbreaking book “Fat is a Feminist Issue” how female identity is “hopelessly inextricable from body image” ; she”s recently updated the introduction to this book indicating how things haven”t changed all that much, well actually ..they”ve been getting much worse.
An interesting analysis of social construction of body image. I think one thing i”d like to highlight here is the circularity of such social construction. say if you happen to be female and have somehow managed to defeat all this social pressure and expectations to behave in a particular way -and are not particularly bothered with the way you look - aha! what then? - say in the online medium, where no one can see what you look like - people will still expect a character to have a “feminine” identity, and there will be some expectation re: association with body image. This can range from all sorts of thinking like. either you”re a “silly girl” and will be fluffy, and project some kind of feminine physique across the online medium ( say with your photo or giggles on the page) and if you don”t do that -well - you must be a man or you”re an ugly woman. ( heh heh)
Okay so it”s not like that”s the only idea floating around just as well!) but you do come across it still. Analysing the Internet as a gendered space is clearly still a very revealing area of study. 
conspiracy theories: what fun. ( i fancied a breath of fresh air after this bout of attempted sectarian stirring-up) Secret societies, the Illuminati, the Freemasons, kabbalah, yum yum.
of course, Umberto Eco: Foucault”s Pendulum is a must on any conspiracy theory fan”s reading list.
the quest for secret knowledge - is a fascinating topic and a study of the quest for secret knowledge is even more intriguiging.
Beautiful and haunting; full of pathos.
bonjour tristesse by françoise sagan: written over the summer of 1953.
autobiography: “Avec mon meilluer souvenir” published 1984
so - the votes were for Noam Chomsky as “The World”s Top Public Intellectual”. that”s great - { Umberto Eco came in at no. 2 by the way - see the list of full results of the Prospect global intellectuals poll} - and Chomsky is definitely a clever man, i”m certainly not one of those who would argue with that. but i don”t really see the point of a “top intellectual” - obviously that”s cos i don”t see the point of anything “top” - well in the sense that it represents competition - and is a pretty silly way of “measuring” anything meaningful. “Oh i came top in my class ” - good for you! that”s what its reminiscent of. take for example - City AM - London”s newest daily paper since Metro, they”ve been trying to jazz up their publication ( so that FT readers will switch, eh?) in terms of such lists- in their case indicating who are the “most eligible” bachelors and bachelorettes in the square mile. ah well.
Decline and Fall - Evelyn Waugh. 1928
His first novel.
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