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♫ Mona, Markus Stockhausen et al

I created Soul Sides 20 years ago because I wanted an outlet to write about my favorite records. The blog era feels bygone — and I clearly stopped regularly updating the site years ago — but the impulse to talk about records has never faded. It’s why I’ve created podcasts and newsletters but to mark the...

“Here's a view of Saturn's moon Prometheus, made from images captured with the narrow-angle camera on Cassini on December 6, 2015. Cassini was about 37,400 km from Prometheus when the images were acquired. Part of the F ring is visible in the background at the top.” — Jason Major

What does a picture of a dark-skinned Cleopatra do in a fourteenth-century manuscript produced at the papal court in Avignon?

Our largest airport is relatively sheltered compared with other exposed locations in the UK. In terms of London it is far more exposed than areas such as Wanstead; the max gust here on January 2nd was just 50mph.Data from the Met Office revealed the following list. DateMax gust (mph)Event25/1/199087.5Burns’ Day Storm18/1/200777.115/10/198776The Great Storm16/3/199573.626/10/200273.6‘Strong winds’7/2/199070.218/2/202270.2Storm Eunice8/12/19936927/10/201369St Jude Storm2/1/202469Storm Henk

I subscribe to the TLS, which does pretty good coverage of German literature and history, including Goethe. (I have even written a few reviews in the TLS on Goethe, which you can check out online.) But I also read literary coverage generally. Often reviews of other literary traditions lead me to consider Goethe, which was the case with a recent review: The Penguin Book of Elegy: Poems of Memory, Mourning …

Bill Nelson ChimeraGet It At DiscogsOriginally planned as a mere stopgap release between albums, Chimera turned out to be a welcome showcase for Bill Nelson at his peak, commercially and creatively. Following the triumph of his 1982 album The Love That Whirls, the British guitarist built Chimera in the same vein, setting his romantic and erotic poetry to the sort of synthesized settings favored by his younger pop peers. However, …

Season's greetings from "a person of gravitas and insight, who says their prayers, and is sensitive to the potential of mission as 'parish-shaped'"Very quiet in the parish at the moment. The rotten weather isn't helping. On the way home after walking the dog over the fields, coming back along Icknield Way, I did spy a bit of commotion: some new arrivals in the village! An American family

I discussed my recent London Review of Books essay, reflecting on Labour’s economic plans, with the LRB podcast.

[Web master's note: Northern California film critic Derrick Bang — the eldest, youngest and only son of this site's primary jazz guru, Ric Bang — has surveyed the holiday jazz scene for more than a quarter century (!). Check out previous columns by clicking on the CHRISTMAS label below.] Holiday albums appear earlier every year, so I was able to begin this annual survey in October ... and, for the …

Greetings to all who are particularly partial to the long lost era of traditional, hand painted mattes and other ingenious motion picture 'tricks of the trade'. It is indeed that time again - perhaps a little overdue according to some of my faithful correspondents - for a veritable cavalcade of amazing (and in a few isolated instances, perhaps not so flash) special photographic and miniature trick shots from across the …

Turn signals - or 'winkers' as Honda refer to them - became a standard fixture with the 1973 CT90 K4 model. This followed the introduction of federal legislation in the USA that made turn signals mandatory on all cars and motorcycles.The K4 model, now with winkers thrown in.RetrofittingRetrofitting turn-signals on the older models is not difficult since - prior to 1973 - Honda had supplied them as an optional extra …

A short piece for human and machine.

I've not posted in a while, just thought to mention the reason. My elder son, Mark William Hardy, was hospitalized on Nov. 3, and died on Dec. 3. I spent that time sitting in one or another ICU and was too distracted to blog. I still am.

Arndale Shopping Centres were amongst the best-known post-war developments in Britain, symbolic of progress and economic rebirth. However, they were routinely scorned by architectural critics and developed a tawdry reputation. Arndale House, New Street, Huddersfield (Gerald H. Baxter; 1958). (© K. Morrison) Most of Arndale’s artificially lit and air conditioned malls have been revamped since the 1980s, chiefly to admit more natural daylight and ventilation. They have also been rebranded …