This is far and away my favorite genre of film, and I’ve watched a loooooooooooooooot of these over the years. Here are my favorites (like Spinal Tap, this list goes to 11): One-Armed Swordsman: A Classic Shaw Brothers joint starring Jimmy Wang. My friend John reminded me about this movie the other day, and IContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Kung Fu Movies”
Category Archives: magpie
Ceramics Saturdays: Jizhou Ware
Though we’re through the Five Great Kilns now, there are still some really spectacular Song ceramics you should know about. We’ll start with my favorite kiln: Jizhou. Fired in Jiangxi during the Southern Song (1127-1279), these wares weren’t intensely prized at the time: their body was a relatively drab and coarse gray-brown, and their glazeContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Jizhou Ware”
Ceramics Saturdays: Ru Ware
Ru ware is the rarest of the products of the Five Great Kilns of the Song Dynasty: only about 90 examples are still extant, and on the even rarer occasions they come up for auction, they fetch millions of dollars apiece. They were thrown only at a single kiln site in Henan for a periodContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Ru Ware”
Friday Favorites: Anthem Playlist
I realized that each year I have a few songs that I listen to so often that they become anthems for the year–like “Love Runs Out” by OneRepublic, which I must have listened to at least 100 times in 2018 preparing for the K-pop style dance performance we put on for my birthday that year.Continue reading “Friday Favorites: Anthem Playlist”
Ceramics Saturdays: Ge Ware
Our fourth Great Kiln of the Song Dynasty is a controversial one. Ge ware is very similar to Guan ware, so much so that scholars cannot agree on a definitive distinction. The celadon is less green overall and the glaze crackling more pronounced—what is called “double crackle,” with both fine crazing and stark, dark linesContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Ge Ware”
Friday Favorites: Audiobooks
I thought I would do a quick list of some audiobooks I’ve listened to recently that were really good. I got all these titles through my Libby app linked to my local public library–it’s a great resource for free audiobooks, even if sometimes you have to wait for someone to turn the book you wantContinue reading “Friday Favorites: Audiobooks”
Ceramics Saturdays: Guan Ware
Song Dynasty ceramics marked “guan” were designated for use by the Imperial Court. But the term came to be associated with one of the Five Great Kilns in particular, near Zhejiang during the Southern Song (1127-1279). Guan ware is technically a form of celadon, but the precise glazing technique is not entirely understood. Multiple layersContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Guan Ware”
Friday Favorites: Dance Performances to Watch
Since I posted on K-pop this week, I thought it would be nice to do a list of some of my favorite dance performances to watch. My tastes run toward street and Latin (mostly flamenco, which I studied for 2 years), so that’s what I’m sharing here: Might as well start with K-pop then, right?Continue reading “Friday Favorites: Dance Performances to Watch”
Japanese Straw Animal Sculptures
Mammoth Straw Creatures Populate Japanese Farmland in the Annual Wara Art Festival https://www.thisiscolossal.com/2021/09/wara-art-festival-japan/
Ceramics Saturdays: Ding Ware
The second entry in our series on the Five Great Kilns of the Song Dynasty…Ding ware was produced at a kiln in the north of China, near Hebei, during what is known as the Northern Song, the first of two peaks of imperial and cultural power during the 300-year dynastic period. Ding wares are typicallyContinue reading “Ceramics Saturdays: Ding Ware”
