If someone shouts, ‘don’t look’ or ‘don’t look back,’ the natural instinct is to turn and have a good look. When the Sea God Poseidon caught a glimpse of Medusa, it was a disaster. She was a beautiful young priestess with golden curls falling over her pretty shoulders and served in the temple of Athena […]
Category Archives: Blog
Message From a Cactus
The other night we received a message from a cactus and I laid in bed unable to sleep thinking about it. The cactus stands in the narrow passage at the back of our house in Cadaqués in an old pot among several plants we don’t always remember to water. Who do they belong to? They […]
The First Movie Ever Made
The first movie ever made was Le Voyage Dans la Lune (A Trip to the Moon) by the French pioneer Georges Méliès in 1902. He had shot more than 100 short films to prepare himself for the 14-minute one-reeler and left audiences aghast with a rocket voyaging into space, circling planets and alien life forms […]
THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’
In 1964 I was sixteen. I bought a black rollneck sweater and a pair of Cuban heeled boots from Anello & Davide in Coven Garden. I read The Outsider (L’Étranger) by Albert Camus. I learned how to talk with a cigarette balanced in the corner of my mouth and heard The Times They Are A-Changin’ […]
SALVADOR DALÍ AND RAQUEL WELCH
Salvador Dalí and Raquel Welch had absolutely nothing in common. He admired beautiful women without wishing to own them and saw nothing in their curves and charms to excite his surreal and original mind. Still, Dalí and Raquel were put together in 1965 as a publicity stunt by film director Richard Fleischer when he was […]
SHE BELONGS TO ME
When Paul McCartney was asked in HMV’s ‘My Inspiration’ campaign to name the songwriter who had most inspired him, he chose Bob Dylan and said his favourite track was She Belongs To Me. It was an incisive choice. As young guys – before they were famous – they must have had similar experiences with those […]
THE INCURIOUS EYE
The incurious eye misses the obvious, the subtle, the subtext. The incurious eye is glazed in a cataract of ignorance and indifference. The incurious eye is neither blind nor myopic. It is empty. If there were a God his great gift to mankind would have been curiosity. Curiosity invented fire, tools, hunting and gathering. Nuclear […]
WHAT IS CAPITALISM?
What is capitalism? The corner shop baker selling his bread is capitalism. The rock singer uploading music to Spotify is capitalism. The taxi driver with his own car taking fares is capitalism. I write books. A book that sells for £10 costs £2 to print; the publisher takes £3 and the bookshop £4. That leaves […]
THE TRAGIC MYTH OF THE ANGELUS OF MILLET
In his essay The Tragic Myth of The Angelus of Millet, Salvador Dalí interprets Jean-Francois Millet’s 1859 painting of a farmer in the fields with his wife as a depiction of male castration in the shadow of female sexuality and death. Was this Dalí being playful? Surreal? Provocative? Or was there more to Millet’s work than […]
DALÍ AND PICASSO
In the land of small minds and minor talent, Dalí and Picasso were giants. They were men with visions wider than the horizon and the stamp they left on the 20th century remains indelible. Twenty years older and already the toast of Paris, Picasso one spring morning in 1928 opened the door to his studio in […]