At @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social in Oxford today I noticed that the Sultan’s daughter (c.1630) has a little boost to her height, making her “nearer to heaven … by the altitude of a chopine” as Hamlet says.

The Judgement of Paris (frankly he looks a little embarrassed) on one panel of a casket, Venice c.1400-30 - today at the @ashmoleanmuseum.bsky.social

Film you've watched more than six times with a gif. Hard mode: no Star Trek, Star Wars, LOTR, Marvel, Disney, or Ghibli.

Tea will be taken when the half moon is directly above the tower of the Cathedral; the ancient regulations regarding astronomical timekeeping are quite strict on this, so there’s no point complaining. 🏏 🌖 🫖

Multitasking as the week ends: Worcestershire out in the middle; Bach (Jesu, meine Freude) on headphones (not visible); ‘Andreas’ by Hugo von Hoffmannsthal on Kindle; pale ale in foreground.

Cricket at @worcestershireccc.bsky.social - first home game of the season 🏏

“Athena stood behind Achilles, son of Peleus, and grabbed him by his chestnut hair.” (The Iliad Book 1, tr. Wilson)

Celebratory babgulyás tonight

“Doran’s love of both #Shakespeare and Sher burns through the book.” www.theguardian.com/books/2026/a...

Péter Magyar victory speech: "We want to make a country where no one is persecuted because they think differently or because someone loves in a different way to others." He may not have campaigned as a liberal. But this is a huge change of direction and rhetoric from Orbán’s anti-LGBTQ+ crusade.

🇭🇺 - #TISZA - a river, a shoe, and now a victorious Orbán-ejecting political party (and a very big party in Budapest, I’m sure). www.tiszacipo.com/shoes/comfor...

— got my political shoes on #Tisza

hello—on Monday 20 April @curzon.com Soho is showing Lost For Words, a beautiful film about language, nature & hope based on The Lost Words by me & Jackie Morris. Jackie & I will both be there for a Q&A. Please let others know who might be interested—& come join us! www.curzon.com/films/lost-f...

For #UnicornDay, an angry Armenian unicorn. — from the play Bussy D’Ambois (1603) by George Chapman

A Moment’s Escape by Richard Church (from The Solitary Man, 1941)

The Fallow Field by Richard Church (from Lyrical Poems, 1942-47)

The beauty of the returning County Championship 🏏 - @worcestershireccc.bsky.social slowly batting out a tense & hard-earned draw in the early evening sunshine of the fourth & final day at Derby.

Illustrations for a long weekend (a short series) The Chancery Lane Safe Deposit: Its History & Usefulness (1886) - Cover / Plan* / Identification Lobby / Ladies’ Writing Room. (* Does the plan provides a little too much information; such as might be useful to those with felonious intent?) 1/x

In which the Daleks kill Brian Cant … www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...

#Bosnia ! ⚽️ !

Renaissance Society of America (#RSA) ending access to Early English Books Online (#EEBO) in July; which I suppose means me ending my membership of RSA. — does anyone know of any other way an independent scholar can get reasonably priced access to EEBO?

Rising Conservative Star Just Guy Wearing Nazi Armband And Crying https://theonion.com/rising-conservative-star-just-guy-wearing-nazi-armband-1849855062/

So… I can now watch #TNTSports via the new #HBOmax app (but not on the old #Discovery+ app) and I can watch #HBO shows on the #NowTV app, but not on the #HBOmax app. Got it.

Pop Leo asked if he should put on gloves to turn pages in the gorgeous Renaissance Bible and the librarian explained why it’s better to do so with bare hands. Glorious reaction. Every rare books librarian & archivist feeling very seen, I gather. www.instagram.com/reel/DUcpEBY... #BookHistory

A reminder to REP members that despite our text of Volpone being a bespoke reduced version for the King’s Men 1617 revival - known as the #SlimNano edit - we are still starting at 7pm UK time (because Ben Jonson)

This is a dance off. If you see this, repost a dance, or you’re eliminated.

Farage is a piece of absolute garbage. (I know this isn’t news, but worth repeating when he finds new ways to prove it to be true.)

"a delight in the contemplation of bestial vice, and the expression of low sarcasm, which is, I believe, the most hopeless state into which the human mind can fall" --- Santa Maria Formosa, Venice. --- Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, 3. #grotesque #art #architecture #renaissance #Italy

Tonight in REP we read The Chances written by John Fletcher for The King’s Men in 1617

From the Point of View of a Cat ~ Karel Capek (translated by Dora Round - originally published in Intimate Things, 1935)

Attn @gillo.bsky.social - Calcagnetti =chopines

This is a really important @katiesurma.bsky.social piece on the strategic state silencing of land & water defenders in Ecuador—including colleagues of mine—as Noboa’s gov. moves to intensify mining & drilling (Trump playbook). Please share widely. insideclimatenews.org/news/1003202...

Trump says US Navy sank Iran's warship off the coast of Sri Lanka because "it's more fun" to sink ships than capture them.

This week in REP: Monday: Our palaeographers count the costs of herbs & flowers. Tuesday: Our playmakers are writing songs for beggars. Wednesday: We’re reading Court Masques again.

Lion’s mane mushrooms (which are a new ingredient to me) with a slow cooker curry sauce, giving a meaty taste and texture. (2nd picture, the mushrooms in their uncooked state).

A reminder for REP members: tonight’s reading of The Devil Is An Ass begins at the earlier time of 7pm (because Ben Jonson).

Keir Starmer when you were running for Labour leader you promised to introduce this legislation to stop the UK being dragged into illegal wars - it's time to show you were serious about that.

“The co‑host of the tournament has murdered the head of state of the third‑ranked team in Group G.” www.theguardian.com/football/202...

The Sunday dozen George Méliès and Elvis, Dennis Potter and British blondes, Christopher Marlowe and Honoré de Balzac, Virginia Woolf and video games, and more... www.illuminationsmedia.co.uk/the-sunday-d...

The dead in stone & marble lie about the place; restful - and I envy them their pillows.

Wonderful news this morning - Hannah Spencer has been elected in Gorton and Denton as our 5th Green MP! 💚🎉💚🎉 Let’s make this happen everywhere: join.greenparty.org.uk

note how the Tories and Libs Dems weren’t even on the pitch in Gorton

Introducing Hannah Spencer MP 💚

Well, it’s nice to wake up to some hope 💚 ✅

First & last paragraphs from Texts (1990) by Ursula Le Guin, collected in ‘Space Crone’. [in the intervening sections she reads texts in waves on the beach and then in patterns in a piece of lace.]

✅ - Today would be a good day to #vote #Green

"Nurul Amin Shah Alam, a nearly blind refugee from Burma who Border Patrol agents dropped off at a doughnut shop Thursday and left to find his way home, 5 miles away, has been found dead." To read the words is to damn all involved, from Trump on down.

Shafts of sunlight; reflections from inside; looking out the window of the late afternoon train.

Good heavens! Strange days indeed.

- various domestic reading arrangements (from ‘La Vie De Ménage’ (1945) illustrations by Zig Brunner. [tag yourself]