Roy Dupuis - Culture en Direct
 |
Desc: Televised Arts show (2000) showing Roy (and others) reading quotes from Quebec literature |
Dr Seuss was a Nerdfighter.
 |
Desc: Hell yeah he was.
And just for John and Hank, I made it shorter than 4 minutes. :)
As soon as vlogbrothers make a new video, this will be the response.
Hoo! Hah! Nerdfighter! |
Kathy Lette -- The Book Show Episode 19 -- Sky Arts
 |
Desc: Watch The Book Show on Sky Arts (sky channel 267 and in HD on 268) for interviews with top authors and our recommended reads. Visit skyarts.co.uk for more. |
Chinese Calligraphy & Painting Birds & more birds 國畫小鳥
 |
Desc: 中國毛筆繪畫A fun idea I had to paint some Egrets. I've been studying the works of Yang O-shi now and her attitude and skills at painting Birds and small birds is awesome to say the least. Inspired by Ngan Siu-Mui I managed to find two huge books on how to paint chinese style small birds and water birds. Both coincidentally by Yang )-shi. This kind of literature is RARE in england. |
Benjamin Black -- The Book Show Episode 12 -- Sky Arts
 |
Desc: Watch The Book Show on Sky Arts (sky channel 267 and in HD on 268) for interviews with top authors and our recommended reads. Visit skyarts.co.uk for more. |
1 My Indian Heroes Nobel Laureate Poet Rabindranath Thakur
 |
Desc: http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/literature/laureates/1913/tagore-bio.html
Rabindranath Tagore was born in Calcutta, India into a wealthy Brahmin family. After a brief stay in England (1878) to attempt to study law, he returned to India, and instead pursued a career as a writer, playwright, songwriter, poet, philosopher and educator. During the first 51 years of his life he achieved some success in the Calcutta area of India where he was born and raised with his many stories, songs and plays. His short stories were published monthly in a friend's magazine and he even played the lead role in a few of the public performances of his plays. Otherwise, he was little known outside of the Calcutta area, and not known at all outside of India.
This all suddenly changed in 1912. He then returned to England for the first time since his failed attempt at law school as a teenager. Now a man of 51, his was accompanied by his son. On the way over to England he began translating, for the first time, his latest selections of poems, Gitanjali, into English. Almost all of his work prior to that time had been written in his native tongue of Bengali. He decided to do this just to have something to do, with no expectation at all that his first time translation efforts would be any good. He made the handwritten translations in a little notebook he carried around with him and worked on during the long sea voyage from India. Upon arrival, his son left his father's brief case with this notebook in the London subway. Fortunately, an honest person turned in the briefcase and it was recovered the next day. Tagore's one friend in England, a famous artist he had met in India, Rothenstein, learned of the translation, and asked to see it. Reluctantly, with much persuasion, Tagore let him have the notebook. The painter could not believe his eyes. The poems were incredible. He called his friend, W.B. Yeats, and finally talked Yeats into looking at the hand scrawled notebook.
The rest, as they say, is history. Yeats was enthralled. He later wrote the introduction to Gitanjali when it was published in September 1912 in a limited edition by the India Society in London. Thereafter, both the poetry and the man were an instant sensation, first in London literary circles, and soon thereafter in the entire world. His spiritual presence was awesome. His words evoked great beauty. Nobody had ever read anything like it. A glimpse of the mysticism and sentimental beauty of Indian culture were revealed to the West for the first time. Less than a year later, in 1913, Rabindranath received the Nobel Prize for literature. He was the first non-westerner to be so honored. Overnight he was famous and began world lecture tours promoting inter-cultural harmony and understanding. In 1915 he was knighted by the British King George V. When not traveling he remained at his family home outside of Calcutta, where he remained very active as a literary, spiritual and social-political force.
In 1919, following the Amritsar massacre of 400 Indian demonstrators by British troops, Sir Tagore renounced his Knighthood. Although a good friend of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, most of the time Tagore stayed out of politics. He was opposed to nationalism and miltiarism as a matter of principle, and instead promoted spiritual values and the creation of a new world culture founded in multi-culturalism, diversity and tolerance. He served as a spiritual and creative beacon to his countrymen, and indeed, the whole world. He used the funds from his writing and lecturing to expand upon the school he had founded in 1901 now known as Visva Bharati . The alternative to the poor system of education imposed by the British, combined the best of traditional Hindu education with Western ideals. Tagore's multi-cultural educational efforts were an inspiration to many, including his friend, Count Hermann Keyserling of Estonia. Count Keyserling founded his own school in 1920 patterned upon Tagore's school, and the ancient universities which existed in Northern India under Buddhist rule over 2,000 years ago under the name School of Wisdom. Rabindranath Tagore led the opening program of the School of Wisdom in 1920, and participated in several of its programs thereafter.
Rabindranath Tagore's creative output tells you a lot about this renaissance man. The variety, quality and quantity are unbelievable. As a writer, Tagore primarily worked in Bengali, but after his success with Gitanjali, he translated many of his other works into English. He wrote over one thousand poems; eight volumes of short stories; almost two dozen plays and play-lets; eight novels; and many books and essays on philosophy, religion, education and social topics. Aside from words and drama, his other great love was music, Bengali style. He composed more than two thousand songs, both the music and lyrics. Two of them became the national anthems of India and Bangladesh.Dr Anand anandjee |
Mark Billingham 'Bedside' -- The Book Show Episode 1
 |
Desc: Watch The Book Show on Sky Arts (sky channel 267 and in HD on 268) for interviews with top authors and our recommended reads. Visit skyarts.co.uk for more. |
Obsidian Pt.1
 |
Desc: This is the first part of the 16mins short I did for my 3rd year dissertation for my film and literature degree. |
Thomas Lovell Beddoes "Mummies and Skeletons" Animation
 |
Desc: Heres a virtual movie of Anna Beddoes the mother of Victorian Gothic poet Thomas Lovell Beddoes reading her son Thomas's poem "Mummies and Skeletons".
Thomas Lovell Beddoes 1803 - 1849 romantic poet and dramatist was born in Clifton, now part of Greater Bristol southwest England. His father, Thomas Beddoes, was a radical liberal minded physician remembered in medical history as the pioneer of nitrous oxide (laughing gas)..He grew up surrounded by his fathers world of anatomical studies (some say this led to his pre-occupation with death) and in the company of his fathers friends amongst whom were many luminaries of science and literature..He studied medicine himself in several Germanic medical schools but his often drunken rowdy behaviour coupled with his radical political activism and outspoken liberal opinions led to his expulsion. His unpredictable behaviour led to many of his friends and family believing him to be mad...In 1848 after contracting a desease possibly from an infected body he had come into contact with in a Frankfurt hospital and a first suicide attempt leading to the partial amputation of one of his legs for gangrene In despair he killed himself through posioning in 1849..by his body was left a note to one of his friends in which he described himself as "food for what I am good for—worms."....
The poem is read superbly by Geraldine Monk for the Thomas Lovell Beddoes Society.....
You can find out more about Thomas Lovell Beddoes by visiting the Phantom Wooer website at..
http://www.phantomwooer.org/
Kind Regards
Jim Clark
All rights are reserved on this video sound recording copyright Jim Clark 2008
Mummies and Skeletons........
Mummies and skeletons, out of your stones;
Every age, every fashion, and figure of Death:
The death of the giant with petrified bones;
The death of the infant who never drew breath.
Little and gristly, or bony and big,
White and clattering, grassy and yellow;
The partners are waiting, so strike up a jig,
Dance and be merry, for Death's a droll fellow.
The emperor and empress, the king and the queen,
The knight and the abbot, friar fat, friar thin,
The gipsy and beggar, are met on the green;
Where's Death and his sweetheart? We want to begin.
In circles, and mazes, and many a figure,
Through clouds, over chimnies and corn-fields yellow,
We'll dance and laugh at the red-nosed grave-digger,
Who dreams not that Death is so merry a fellow. |
Fankar With Farzana - Adam Chughtai Part 1
 |
Desc: Farzana Khan with the best of Arts, Beauty, Entertainment, Music, Literature and Poetry,Tv Show with Live Calls, Farzana Khan's Guest for today is Naeem "Adam Chughtai" A well known singing poet from Birmingham, UK. |
Diary News
 |
Desc: Josh Bower and Tom Duffy take to the stage.
*Low resolution - Camera phone :(* |
Ruth Rendell -- The Book Show Episode 1 -- Sky Arts
 |
Desc: Watch The Book Show on Sky Arts (sky channel 267 and in HD on 268) for interviews with top authors and our recommended reads. Visit skyarts.co.uk for more. |
Jeanette Winterson Q/A Part Four
 |
Desc: Post-reading Q and A with Jeanette Winterson at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, Oct 11th 2007 - Part Four |
Lower Shaw Farm Documentary
 |
Desc: A short documentary on Lower Shaw Farm filmed in HD. For more information visit www.lowershawfarm.co.uk |
The Stone Gods - Reading Part Two
 |
Desc: Jeanette Winterson reading from her new novel 'The Stone Gods' at The Bloomsbury Theatre, London, Oct 11th 2007 - Part Two |
Paul Torday -- The Book Show Episode 11 -- Sky Arts
 |
Desc: Watch The Book Show on Sky Arts (sky channel 267 and in HD on 268) for interviews with top authors and our recommended reads. Visit skyarts.co.uk for more. |
Great Poet Chitta Dhar - English Version Part 1
 |
Desc: Great Poet Chittadhar Hridaya has made significant contribution to Nepali (Nepal Bhasa and Khas Bhasa) literature. His great epic SUGAT SAURAV has been translated into many languages. This documentary is uploaded here with the permission of the owner NEPAL BHASA PARISHAD and Director/Cameraman Mr. Nabin Chitrakar. Courtesy MATINA - The only international Nepalese Magazine. |
Mone Pore Aaj, Nazrul Geeti, Debipriya Das
 |
Desc: http://www.myspace.com/debipriya
Nazrul sangeet, sung by Dr. Debipriya Das on 'Geetishotodol' series, UK Bangla 'Channel S'.
Sitar - Jonathan Mayer
Tabla - Ustad Yousuf Ali Khan |