(thanks to the Natural History Museum for this video)

But what caught our eye was Johannes Belkien’s 17th century carved Nautilus pompilius shell (from the collection of Hans Sloane), and its uncanny resemblance to a certain chest-bursting alien from 1979.

Hans Sloane’s nautilus shell (Photo: Sven Klinge)

Don’t see it?

Hans Sloane’s nautilus shell (Photo: Sven Klinge)

How about now?

Ridley Scott’s ‘Alien’ chest burster (Wikipedia)

You can explore the entire Treasures Gallery online.

Entry to the gallery (and the museum) is free, with photography allowed.

Watch the highly recommended live  webcast here or on YouTube (below).

If you are new to Noam Chomsky and want to know more, try these:

• Manufacturing Consent: The Political Economy of the Mass Media (co-written with Edward S. Herman)
• The Essential Chomsky
• How the World Works

Read a recent Guardian profile of Noam Chomsky here.

The event was in anticipation of the British Library’s upcoming exhibition, Propaganda: Power and Persuasion, open from 17th May – 17th September 2013. For upcoming British Library events, click here.

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

I’m not a big contemporary art fan, and while I found Lichtenstein’s work rather shallow, it was more interesting to look at than Damien Hirst’s over-rated creations, and easier to engage with than, say, Joan Miró’s more abstract art (Hirst and Miró being two artists who have also had recent Tate retrospectives). What do others think of Lichtenstein?

You can find exhibition-related events and workshops here, or browse the exhibition blog.

Lichtenstein: A Retrospective runs until May 27, 2013.

(thanks to shantiq for this video)

Photos by S. Klinge

(Image from Wikipedia)

Mea Maxima Culpa, which has been given a rating of 97% fresh by Rotten Tomatoes, tells the story of four deaf American men from Milwaukee who allege abuse at the hands of Father Lawrence Murphy during their years at a Catholic boarding school for deaf children, over which he presided. Some of the boys were placed in the school from the age of four, and their deafness was used to their abuser’s advantage – proficient in sign language, he was often the only direct communication link between the boys and their parents (many of whom did not know sign language) during visits. Some of the boys also had poor literacy skills, and were unable to put their allegations in writing. Mostly, they were victims of the code of silence that permeated the school, and of the church’s adherence to canon law, hierarchical authority and obedience above all else.

Alex Gibney 

Nevertheless, they made various attempts to speak out as children and adults, going to the police, writing letters to church officials, hiring legal representation, distributing leaflets naming and shaming their attacker, and even filming a confrontation with him in his later years. The movie also documents the sexual abuse of children at the hands of a priest in Ireland, and explores the complicity operating at all levels of the church, the inadequate ‘in-house’ punishment (sometimes even the enabling) of pedophiles within the church, and the conspiracy of silence that extends from local priests all the way to the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (formerly run by the current Pope, Benedict XVI) and Marcial Maciel, close friend of the previous Pope John Paul II.

One of the many tragic and incomprehensible things about this story is that when investigators from the Catholic church were asked why the abused children in Milwaukee had never been interviewed, their response was, “We couldn’t talk to them – they were deaf.” The story also begs the question, why didn’t local police simply walk into these churches and schools, and arrest the alleged abusers? Does civil legal authority only extend as far as the front door of a church? As Alex Gibney said during the post-film Q & A, “it is up to civil society to ignore canon law.”

Alex Gibney 

In the post-film Q & A, Alex Gibney told the audience that he became interested in making the film after reading articles about the Milwaukee men’s plight, and connections to the Vatican, written by Laurie Goodstein for the New York Times. He described the four men in his documentary as powerful, inspiring, “everyday heroes.” Gibney himself was raised a Catholic, and understands the problems of “cultural acceptance” inherent in the Catholic church, yet stresses the importance of civil society for making rules and applying justice – not only for churches, but for large organisations like the BBC, which is currently being sued for its role in the Jimmy Saville abuse scandal.

During the making of Mea Maxima Culpa, Gibney was shocked at the sheer scale of abuse that was being uncovered – cases too numerous to keep track of –  including allegations of pedophilia at another school for deaf children in Verona, Italy. While the Vatican has many aggressive attorneys (particularly in the USA) who stoop as low as targeting sex abuse survivor groups, in Gibney’s eyes the Catholic church is losing any shred of moral character that it still retains by stubbornly and hypocritically maintaining its policy of self-interest and denial.

Alex Gibney

As for the Pope’s shock resignation announcement several days ago, Gibney didn’t know if it was spurred by the avalanche of abuse allegations currently threatening the Catholic church, but said his resignation “may be the most important act of his papacy.” Once the Pope vacates his office, he might be more vulnerable to legal prosecution. In any case, because the current Pope probably knows more about pedophile priests than anyone else alive – and failed to deal with the problem while in office – Gibney thinks it is impossible for the church to begin to heal the damage or move on in any sense until he leaves. For his troubles, Alex Gibney himself has been the target of abuse, receiving twenty or thirty hate emails a day, but said he has tried hard to differentiate religion and crime in his film.

Religious or not, everyone should see this documentary. As the film stresses time and again, sexual abuse is not a partisan religious issue, it is a legal and human rights issue that concerns the whole of civilized society. Alex Gibney is seeking worldwide distribution for the film, and it will also be screened on BBC’s Storyville in the near future.

Mea Maxima Culpa opens this Friday at Curzon’s Renoir Cinema in Bloomsbury.

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

(thanks to tiff for this clip)

(thanks to democracynow for this clip)

Matthew Taylor & Neil Shubin

Shubin, an engaging public speaker and science populariser, rose to fame with his discovery of the Tiktaalik, a 375 million-year-old fossil fish which also has distinct body parts associated with land animals, making it a transitional fossil. To watch a short video on the discovery and significance of Tiktaalik, click here.

Shubin let the RSA audience handle his model cast of Tiktaalik during the Q & A.

His latest book, The Universe Within, takes a zoomed-out, all-encompassing view of science, as it attempts to show the interconnectedness of man, nature and the universe.  As he wrote in the prologue:

“While I was thinking about that book [Your Inner Fish], it became clear that worms, fish, and algae are but gateways to ever deeper connections—ones that extend back billions of years before the presence of life and of Earth itself. Written inside us is the birth of the stars, the movement of heavenly bodies across the sky, even the origin of days themselves.” 

Neil Shubin

The book is a fairly slim volume, making it ideal for dipping into on your commute. Shubin builds on his success with Tiktaalik and branches outwards to give an overview of life, and while it may not be cutting edge stuff, it certainly sounds like a poetic and thought-provoking read.

For upcoming events at the RSA, click here.

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

Photos by S. Klinge

Our premiere tickets

While the talent walked the full length of the dog-legged green (not red) carpet, regular guests were let in half way along through a gate by the replica hobbit house (complete with smoking chimney), on which TV interviews were conducted and beamed live to a giant screen looming overhead. Getting a good look at this lovely, life-sized prop was difficult – security staff attempted to funnel us all straight down the hill and into the cinema, and we employed a series of hobbit-worthy feints and subterfuge manoeuvres in order to backtrack and see the sights. By literally hiding in the crowd, we managed to stay on the carpet longer than many, and here are our best shots.

Dean O’Gorman aka Fili & Aidan Turner aka Kili

Andy Serkis aka Gollum (with wife Lorraine Ashbourne)

A nasty security orc lets us know it’s time to move along

Cate Blanchett aka Lady Galadriel, protected from rear attack by a warg minder.

Martin Freeman, aka Bilbo, gives an interview atop the hobbit house

Sylvester McCoy aka wizard Radagast the Brown & William Kircher aka dwarf Bifur regale the media throng

James Nesbitt aka dashing dwarf Bofur

Luke Evans aka Bard in The Hobbit 2 & 3; Fran Walsh

Each cinema seat held a Hobbit goodie bag & snack box

The LOTR and The Hobbit director and co-writer, Peter Jackson

Andy Serkis & Cate Blanchett meet Prince William

James Nesbitt, Aidan Turner, Dean O’Gorman & Graham McTavish meet Prince William.

A royal salute for Prince William

Ian McKellen introduces The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

* * * Spoiler alert * * *

The premiere was screened in the controversial new High Frame Rate (48 frames per second) format, but the only place you’ll be able to see it this way in London is at the Swiss Cottage Odeon ‘IMAX’ (all other cinemas, even Waterloo IMAX,  are showing The Hobbit in the traditional 24 fps). If you can afford it, I recommend seeing the movie in both formats – ideally, watch the 48 fps first. Seeing The Hobbit for the first time at the premiere, I was as taken aback as the next person – a weird disconnect occurs, because you know you’re watching a lavishly-crafted, big budget film, but your eyes tell you you’re watching a cheap video format. Everything is smooth, bright and focused, as if you’re standing in the shot with the characters. It’s a little shocking, and thinking about the visuals probably took me out of the story. However, I did adjust, and by the second half of the movie I had completely forgotten about it. Yesterday we saw The Hobbit a second time, in 24 fps at Waterloo IMAX, and the difference couldn’t have been more stark. The 24 fps version looked positively muddy, with action and other rapid sequences disappearing into a blur, whereas their details were crystal clear at 48 fps – it’s the difference between having only an impression of falling treasure from a blurry cascade of golden images, and seeing every gold coin as it passes by the camera. At 24 fps, the viewer is getting only half of the information – for me, this made long shots of the majestic Rivendell look like a matt painting, and caused frustration when I couldn’t make out the detail of many shots. For me, the High Frame Rate 48 fps version is superior and I recommend it to all. See it in IMAX if you can, and be sure to select good seats in the centre near the back of the cinema for optimal viewing.

As with LOTR, every single actor gave a good performance. With so many dwarves, it was difficult for each one to portray a distinct personality in the time available. Stand-outs included James Nesbitt’s Bofur and Ken Stott’s Balin, but I expect they will all develop their individuality as the trilogy progresses. Richard Armitage makes a good lead as Thorin Oakenshield, even if he did spend a little too much time glaring soulfully out from under his dark eyebrows. The lack of female characters in Tolkien’s book was partly addressed by bringing back the luminous Cate Blanchett as Lady Galadriel, and it was very nice to see  her, although the scene she had with Saruman, Elrond and Gandalf suffered from bland dialogue, and it seemed an opportunity for Blanchett and Christopher Lee to do cameos, more than to advance the plot. Sylvester McCoy was a lively and engaging Radagast the Brown – almost fairy-tale cute –  and I enjoyed the time he spent on screen. Martin Freeman, who makes an excellent Watson in the BBC’s Sherlock TV series, had some big shoes to fill (Ian Holm played Bilbo Baggins in LOTR) and made a creditable Bilbo, but I agree with reviewers who say that he underplayed the role – in several scenes, the camera lingered on him a beat too long, waiting to capture an emotion that was not forthcoming. Many of his scenes could have been funnier. Best of all was the famous ‘riddles in the dark’ scene between Bilbo and Gollum, which showcased Andy Serkis’s talent and the sophistication of performance-capture. The expressions on Gollum’s face were simply stunning, and it never occurred to us that we were watching anything other than a flesh and blood character.

The production design was as good as anything from the LOTR’s gold standard achievements. The 3D was fine – I flinched at flying objects a few times but was largely unaware of it, which is perhaps the best result. The Misty Mountains song sung by the dwarves in Hobbiton was well done, but there were  missed opportunities for comedy – especially when the dwarves were first introduced – and what humour there was mostly fell flat. The film is overlong, and could have done with a polish by Christopher Nolan’s editing team. The dwarves’ arrival at Rivendell on the only day of the year when their map could be read for secret ‘moon runes’ felt contrived, as did Thorin Oakenshield’s antipathy towards Bilbo for most of the film. The giant eagle rescue sequence felt like a deus ex machina. The arbitrary nature of Gandalf’s magic irked – in some scenes he was powerless, while in others he conjured explosions and healed the wounded. Composer Howard Shore’s musical themes were familiar and welcome but occasionally misplaced, recycling LOTR tracks and inflating small scenes with too much gravitas. No one can replicate the ‘lightning in a bottle’ success of the epic Lord of the Rings trilogy, not even Peter Jackson himself. The Hobbit feels more cartoon-like (it does derive from a children’s book, after all), and its plot and characters have less at stake. Overall, The Hobbit is a satisfying effort by the LOTR team, good enough for us to see it twice in five days, and enhanced by the innovative use of HFR technology.We eagerly await the coming installments in the trilogy.

Sewell entertained the audience with all the witty asides, personal snipes and colourful anecdotes that we have come to expect from the man who said of Damien Hirst:

To own a Hirst is to tell the world that your bathroom taps are gilded and your Rolls-Royce is pink. (ES, 5 April 2012)

And of Aleah Chapin’s 2012 BP Portrait Award winner, Auntie:

… this ancient crone stands life-size, full-frontal and stark naked, heavy breasts drooping low, skin stretched and sagging, looking as though, par-boiled and with the lividity of death about her lower quarters, she has just escaped from a cannibal’s cooking-pot … this painting stimulates revulsion …  in her obsession with the ghastliness of ageing flesh, she had enlarged this repellent body beyond the scale of the head and given primacy, not to the  implications of the face … but to the belly-button and the breasts … Just think: the National Portrait Gallery took down the nudes of Freud to award a prize to this. (ES, 12 July 2012)

Sewell described his early introduction to art – his mother would take him to the National Gallery and instruct him to go off and find some paintings that he liked, then fetch her and explain to her why he liked them. This got him thinking about art appreciation from a young age, and he advocates the practise for all children.

The fraught topic of arts administration was discussed, with Sewell championing the abolition of the Arts Council (which he views as damaged beyond repair), so that something new may emerge from the vacuum. He disagrees with the appointment of prominent artists to the Council, and to the National Gallery’s trustees being made up of non-arts celebrities and other prominent individuals. Ditto for the Arts Minister, who should ideally be someone ‘entirely devoid of ambition’, who is happy to remain in the job for many years in order to understand it and do it properly. Sewell has no time for ignorant civil servants and bureaucrats.

Nor, incidentally, does he have much time for the city of Liverpool, which he humorously said should be cut away and ‘floated off’ from the rest of the UK. Sewell is an avowed Londoner.

Animals featured throughout the evening’s discussion. Sewell told of an encounter in Catalonia one morning long ago. While he sat in a cafe, chopping up a raw sheep’s lungs and windpipe on a little cane table in order to feed the local dogs, a bottle green Cadillac glided up, out of which emerged a bottle green couple. The  bottle green man couldn’t help but be taken by the vision of Sewell bloodied, with hungry canines at his feet, attempting to slice slippery organs into small chunks with a pocket knife. He approached and asked grandly, “Do you know who I am?” to which Sewell replied, robbing the man of his grand reveal, “Of course, you are Dali.” Sewell and Salvatore Dali went on to became friends. We also learned that Sewell releases tortoises into the wild whenever he gets the chance, and was horrified by Damien Hirst’s butterfly room at his recent Tate Modern retrospective. Many years earlier, attending a contemporary art installation which involved a terrified parrot, Sewell asked the gallery staff if he could please make a phone call. They obliged, and he placed his call – to the RSPCA. The exhibit was shut down.

(thanks to Channel4News for this video)

So what is Sewell’s favourite artwork? Michelangelo’s Sistine Chapel, below left. What would he save from a burning National Gallery? Titian’s Bacchus and Ariadne, below right. Which artworks does he doubt as genuine ? Many by Leonardo da Vinci, including The Lady with an Ermine, (which he stressed is not an ermine at all) - more on that here - and the National Gallery’s The Madonna of the Pinks, supposedly by Raphael. Asked which fellow art critics he admires, he was initially stumped, before coming up with the name of John Berger, famous for his Ways of Seeing book and documentary.

(The two images above are from Wikipedia)

For a short introduction to the life and opinions of Brian Sewell, try this.

(thanks to showmethemoney1975)

With his distinctive way of speaking, Sewell has inevitably been made the subject of various parodies, such as the Sewell Sampler, and this rap, below. Sewell may be at times outrageous, but he is unflinchingly honest, and never boring.

(thanks to jamesonyeahyeahyeah for this video)

For upcoming events at the V & A, click here.

You can catch up with Brian Sewell at the Hampstead and Highgate Literary Festival on January 22, 2013 – click here for details.

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

The Museum of Curiosity is at Pertwee Anderson & Gold Gallery, 15 Bateman St Soho W1D

Sir John Sulston & Andrew Brown 

Sir John shared his 2002 Nobel Prize – for “discoveries concerning genetic regulation of organ development and programmed cell death” - with Sydney Brenner and H. Robert Horvitz. In the same year he was awarded the Dan David Prize, and the Robert Burns Humanitarian Award. For much of his career the nematode worm, Caenorhabditis elegans, has been his special object of study.

Sir John Sulston 

Sulston was a Director of the Wellcome Trust’s Sanger Institute, one of several sequencing centres which contributed to the Human Genome Project. As a Fellow of the Royal Society he chaired the working group for the society’s People and the Planet report, and now chairs Manchester University’s Institute for Science, Ethics and Innovation.

Sir John Sulston & Andrew Brown 

As a left-leaning humanist, Sulston was a signatory to the most recent Humanist Manifesto, and has responded to local library budget cuts by becoming a volunteer. He also puts his money where his mouth is, being one of several people who posted bail surety for besieged Wikileaks founder Julian Assange in 2010. When I asked Sulston about this, he confirmed his support for Assange and told me he was happy to have done what he did – even though Assange was recently deemed by the courts to have broken his bail, forcing Sulston and others to pay up. He told me that several people have since tried to reimburse him for his bail debt, but the legal system does not allow this. The whole point of bail is that it must hurt when one is forced to pay it. He still urges those who want to make a difference, to donate money to Wikileaks, PEN, or similar organisations.

If your interest has been piqued, a video and podcast of the event can be found here.

(thanks to lancasteruniversity for this video)

If you don’t have the time, here’s what Sulston said about faith: from a young age, he decided he couldn’t believe in God, simply because it wasn’t at all obvious which god (or religion) was the ‘right’ one. Similarly, he does not see the logic in deriving  morals from a religious book or ideology, and instead champions knowledge of science and evolution, and adherence to the Golden Rule, as sensible guideposts to modern existence. Sounds good to me.

The next two Faith Debates feature Shirley Williams interviewed by Clifford Longley on 21st November, and Delia Smith interviewed by Alastair Campbell on 5 December.

Photos by Sven Klinge

(please credit photographer & website when using these photos)

Further reading:

• The Common Thread by Sir John Sulston & Georgina Ferry