Two things that charm, one that is ugh

[oursin]

You all know me, I do not normally even glance at the sports pages, but this happened to fall under my eye, and as a long-time fan of the novel Gidget, with the ending in which Our Heroine grabs her surfboard, runs off from the two blokes who have been Romantic Interests, and Shoots The Perfect Curl (the movie had her walking hand in hand on the moonlit beach with Moondoggie, yuck to the max): ‘Pipeline’s for the girls’: surfers break barriers on Hawaii’s toughest wave

[T]heir performances have also underlined what has always been clear about women’s sports. Provide female athletes with sufficient investment, equal opportunities and appropriate stages, and they will make rapid progress, even when tasked with navigating the most treacherous waves and finding the perfect route out the other side.

***

Not so much 'why did the amphibian cross the road' (in order to mate), but how: You want them to have a fighting chance’: the world of toading:

Amphibians move en masse as soon as the weather turns mild and wet in early spring. As the roads turned into rivers in the hills above Bath, volunteers brandishing high-powered torches raced ahead of slow-moving traffic on Charlcombe Lane, picking up crawling toads, jumping frogs and statuesque newts which are indistinguishable from twigs on the dark tarmac.

***

I don't know whether 'Flaming June'* reveals a lot about Lord Leighton, but writing about it is the usual murky insight into Jonathan Jones' psyche:

Mr Hydes visiting the exhibition might notice the nipple that’s firmly visible through her dress, and the way the tight, glowing fabric reveals the fleshy ampleness of her upraised thigh. Leighton plays a double game, the ultimate Victorian hypocrite. He turns the respectable conventions of his time inside out by using his model’s covering not to hide but to accentuate the curves of her acrobatic body as she twists herself into a snug, sinuous human coil.

I suppose at least there is no speculation about the colour of her pubes....

*I always feel this should be part of a series: Flaming June, Bloody Norah, Bloomin' Ada....

Comments

[flemmings]

Jones seems to have a habit of finding paintings soulless. Projection maybe?

[azara1]

Oh, that's the "bottom-fondling audacity" reviewer! I remember you lining up some of his gems before. Certainly deserves another eye-roll or two.

[silveradept]

Amazing what is possible when you give women the opportunity to try, rather than assuming that girls can't possibly do it.

And Jonathan Jones certainly seems like the kind of person who wants to believe that art is always supposed to be serious and anyone who is having a little fun or giving the audience something fun to look at is not sufficiently Artistic to be worth anyone's while.