David Jones, artist and poet (1895-1974) begins his PREFACE TO THE ANATHEMATA :
'I have made a heap of all that I could find.' (1) So wrote Nennius, or whoever composed the introductory matter to Historia Brittonum. He speaks of an 'inward wound' which was caused by the fear that certain things dear to him 'should be like smoke dissipated'. Further, he says, 'not trusting my own learning, which is none at all, but partly from writings and monuments of the ancient inhabitants of Britain, partly from the annals of the Romans and the chronicles of the sacred fathers, Isidore, Hieronymous, Prosper, Eusebius and from the histories of the Scots and Saxons although our enemies . . . I have lispingly put together this . . . about past transactions, that [this material] might not be trodden under foot'. (2)
(1) The actual words are coacervavi omne quod inveni, and occur in Prologue 2 to the Historia.
(2) Quoted from the translation of Prologue 1. See The Works of Gildas and Nennius, J.A.Giles, London 1841.
Following on from yesterday's post about QCs and SCs, among other matters, today it has been three QCs and one SC closer to home - most of Team bLOGOS/HA HA are supporters of the Bombers (Essendon Footbal Club) - as we watched together the opening presentations of the extraordinary Federal Court battle between the Bombers and ASADA broadcast live on Australian TV.
Neil Young QC for the Essendon Footbal Club
Peter Hanks SC lead counsel for James Hird
David Grace QC for the 34 Bombers players
Tom Howe QC lead counsel for ASADA
These contestants' representatives certainly knew their brief much better than QC George Brandis did his meta- business.
Being LOGOphiles and LOLphiles, we listened with a lulling rapture to their strange-poetry of the Law.
Three terms or phrases stuck :
1. over-reach (by the anti-doping authority)
2. the Latin equivalent of that : ultra vires (‘beyond powers’)
3. And we jotted this one down as we heard it - clever lawyer, leaving such a clear image to his last sentence. Mr Howe QC : "Indeed, your honour, the expression 'nonsense on stilts' comes to mind."
None of us knew that expression, but we all liked it. Our illustrator immediately set-about (see below) as others turned to Google. Turns out it is the sort of phrase one who has read Law might well recall, by the admirable Jeremy Bentham.
Jeremy Bentham by Henry William Pickersgill (detail)
full image HERE
Jeremy Bentham (February1748 – June 1832) was a British philosopher, jurist, and social reformer. He is regarded as the founder of modern utilitarianism.
Bentham became a leading theorist in Anglo-American philosophy of law, and a political radical whose ideas influenced the development of welfarism. He advocated individual and economic freedom, the separation of church and state, freedom of expression, equal rights for women, the right to divorce, and the decriminalising of homosexual acts. He called for the abolition of slavery, the abolition of the death penalty, and the abolition of physical punishment, including that of children. He has also become known in recent years as an early advocate of animal rights.
Though strongly in favour of the extension of individual legal rights, he opposed the idea of natural law and natural rights, calling them "nonsense upon stilts".
- Wikipedia
What rough beast is this then, approaching us on stilts? Tis ideoMAN. That mighty Sherrin-headed Bomber fan!
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
Yesterday, upon the stair,
I met a meta-man who wasn't there.
He wasn't there again today,
I wish, I wish he'd go away...
- opening verse of 'Are We Not Meta-Men?'
after Devo and with apologies to Hughes Mearns.
Mearns' 1899 poem "Antigonish" was originally part of a play called The Psyco-ed. It's a great title. One that suits well the meta-madness of this last week in the land of the chosen (i.e. not-rejected) whom Prime Minister Tony Abbott now refers to as (also this last week) TEAM AUSTRALIA.
So, BuzzWord of the Week : metadata
And associated with that, the problematic, generally unfamilar, BuzzPrefix of the Week : meta-
The government has indicated it plans to formalise the collection and storage of our internet metadata. But they have struggled to demonstrate to the public that even they, the law makers, understand what they are referring to when they refer to metadata.
The Prime Minister, Tony Abbott :
'Let's be clear', he begins. Then he suggests a metaphor 4 metadata :
PM_ABC.RN (6 August 2014) :
TONY ABBOTT: "Let's be clear what this so-called metadata is. It's not the content of the letter: it's what's on the envelope, if I might use a metaphor that I think most Australians would understand. It's not what you're doing on the internet: it's the sites you're visiting. It's not the content: it's just where you've been, so to speak."
But, holes soon appear in this explanation, too.
FIAPCE meta-mice infiltrate envelope metadata metaphor
Flushed with the skill and wisdom of his promotion of amendments to the 18C Free Speech legislation, George 'People do have a right to be bigots' Brandis decides that he will have a crack at it.
After all, he's already well-rehearsed this topic at a Parliamentary Committee appearance :
Fearless, he now riffs metadator live on SKY News :
click the images to view these clips
Some background for our international readers : George Brandis is not some rarely-heard inarticulate back-bencher. He is the Attourney General for Australia, the first law officer of the Crown in right of the Commonwealth of Australia.
Of the Crown, indeed, by his preference. Brandis was appointed a Senior Counsel of the Supreme Court of Queensland in November 2006. In June 2013 the original title of Queen's Counsel was restored by the Queensland Government and Brandis was one of 70 (out of 74) Queensland SCs that chose to become QCs. (Wikipedia)
Only partly off topic : how much is a QC/SC paid for their advocacy skills?
QC/SC: 1,000.00 per hour
QC/SC: 8,000.00 per day
Lawyers and Legal Services Australia :Solicitor and Barrister Prices
For our sins, George Brandis is also the Minister for the Arts.
Eventually, that naughty but clever Malcolm Turnbull, Minister for Communications, is sent in to clean up the mata-mess.
AM_ABC.RN (8 August 2014) :
MICHAEL BRISSENDEN: "Well, you do accept there was a lot of confusion over the last couple of days?"
MALCOLM TURNBULL: "Well, look, let's, let's... I'll leave you to talk about the last couple of days. My concern is simply to be crystal clear about what we're talking about. I think one of the difficulties with a term like metadata is that it can mean different things to different people. And so you have to be very clear about what we're talking about."
Over to you again, James Joyce :
"Unsheathe your dagger definitions. Horseness is the whatness of allhorse." (Ulysses, Ch 9)
And, from the world of Golden Oldie Frames between Inside-ers and Outside-ers, beween notions of content and context, here's another metablast fave from TEAM FIAPCE (-1978-) :
collection : National Gallery of Australia, Canberra
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
This...
follows on from yesterday's
T.G.T.T.
Too Good To Title
T.F.T.L.
Too Good To Label
BLOCK LABEL MUSIC material.
This...
Untitled
Photograph of
a Painter
at the Bauhaus
[ 1927 ]
by Hans Volger
This...
by F.I.A.P.C.E.
after Hans Volger
] -2014- [
_400.png&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
This...
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
T.G.T.T. by Duke Ellington must surely be both our favorite Title and meta-Title-with-twist :
Too Good To Title
T.G.T.T. is track 10 on Ellington's Second Sacred Concert album, 1968. Wordless, sung by Alice Babs. An echo of the ineffable, the nameless, the un-namable, perhaps.
As in NNFA, No Name For Art, for _rt.
As in NNFG, No Name For God, for G_d,
YHWH
T.G.T.T.
The final track of Second Sacred Concert is Titled : 'Praise God And Dance'.
Praise ___ and Dance fits well with this chromo
-lithograph (1880-1900) that we've recently had on show in the office here.
Our staff artist - who was at Festival Hall, Melbourne in January 1970 when Duke Ellington and his all-star orchestra played at that famous barn - has now re-presented the joyful scene above as 'The Piper of Bonzaview with projection-space ideogram dancers'.
En mesure, mesdemoiselles!
click image to enlarge
And did our artist know about the 2003 compilation Duke Ellington - Never No Lament: The Blanton-Webster Band 1940-1942 when colouring the 'Label Music' notation yellow, red and blue? We asked. Apparently not.
With its three CD discs of yellow, red and blue? No, apparently not.
Label Music
click image to enlarge
T.G.T.L.
_uc_ _rt, Let's Dance!
LOGOS : The Speaking into Being of the World
HA HA : from the same bag of wind and gas, disruptive other sounds - burps, farts, laughter
LOGOS/HA HA : the imperfect Word, the broken Promise, weasel words (see: biodata)
bLOGOS/HA HA : a heap of such
The extract below is the start of yesterday's Editorial in 'The Saturday Paper'. Click here to read the lot.
Suffer the children
From the gallery of press there were audible laughs. Not because it was fun but because what was being said was so appalling, because language and decency were being so defiled in the hearing room of the Human Rights Commission’s inquiry into children in immigration detention. If it were not laughter, it would have been tears.
Martin Bowles, the immigration department secretary, was being asked about the 157 Tamils held for weeks in a customs hulk before their reluctant transfer to Curtin detention centre. It could not be said how many were children, or how many were babies. The department was, he said, still addressing “biodata”.
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
Paul Klee the prodigy performs Die Mattscheibe.
[ The goggle-box; the focusing screen ]
Man Ray
Later, older, wiser. Paul Klee performs Die Pieta.
] The Pieta [
_Paul-Klee-in-his-Bauhaus-studio-in-Weimar%2C-Germay%2C_1924_400.png&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*)
courtesy : Theatre of the Actors of Regard
detail
A Person Looks At A Work Of Art/
someone looks at something ...
LOGOS/HA HA
_400.png)
_Paul-Klee-in-his-Bauhaus-studio-in-Weimar,-Germay,_1924_400.png)
