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Werner Herzog's Cultural Life

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  Werner Herzog is a truly remarkable person. This BBC Sounds programme profiles his life, told in an extended interview, and was recorded to coincide with the release of his memoir, which is called 'Every Man for Himself and God against All: A Memoir', which I need to get a copy of. Werner Herzog recalls his impoverished childhood in a remote Bavarian valley at the end of the Second World War.  He says that, as a teenager, his discovery of a book about the Lascaux cave paintings was ‘like a bolt of lightning’ to his creative imagination, and led to him making a documentary film about prehistoric cave art many years later.  He describes how his films often start with a vivid or unusual image, and how he seeks to capture a sense of awe at the power of the natural world.  Werner Herzog discusses the extremely arduous and dangerous conditions in which he made some of his best known films, including Fitzcarraldo and four other films starring the temperamentally volatile lead act

Blue Sky thinking

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For the last few months I've been keeping an eye out for invites to Blue Sky - an alternative to Twitter / X, where I have a large number of followers (almost 8000) which I have built up over a period of 15 years. The changes since Elon Musk took over have degraded the experience, increased the pointless ads, and also connected the experience of using Twitter - now renamed as X for some pointless reason - with the views of Elon Musk - someone with the money to change the world for the better... but whose businesses are changing it for the worse. I even offered a free copy of my book: 'Why Study Geography' for a working Blue Sky code. Finally, thanks to the author Julian Hoffman , who is working away on his latest book, I received a code earlier today and set up my new account. My follower account is currently rather lower than 8000... but I'm finding a few familiar names there, and will connect with others in the weeks and months ahead I'm sure. I'm also takin

OFSTED Subject Report Livestream

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A GA event, with Mark Enser, Alan Kinder and Denise Freeman,  I am very much looking forward to this! A chance to talk to @The_GA members about the new @Ofstednews geography subject report. Book your place and come with questions. https://t.co/7S4s20GRCr — Mark Enser 🌍 (@EnserMark) October 20, 2023  

The Cuillins

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New from Robert MacFarlane The great @juliefowlis & I worked together on a new song/single, “Who Is This?”, inspired by mountains, Gaelic poetry & Skye. It’s just been released & we’d love our song to find listeners. You can stream here: https://t.co/wxaJTEjruS & download here: https://t.co/im6jJGmx9G pic.twitter.com/HNMf9myG0C — Robert Macfarlane (@RobGMacfarlane) September 30, 2023  

Simon Armitage in the Arctic

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  This piece in 'The Guardian' looks at a recent visit made by the Poet Laureate (and geography graduate) Simon Armitage to Svalbard. It talks about a new poem called 'The Summit', which is featured in the piece. He travels with Jemma Wadham, whose recent book 'Ice Rivers' is excellent... How it was poetry - not quite #geography - that took #SimonArmitage to 4 points of the compass "I’m a #geography graduate. Part of the attraction was exotic field trips, though I ended up monitoring bus-stop activity in Portsmouth - not the Atacama" https://t.co/pGf8HD2K1T — Steve Brace (@SteveBraceGeog) October 7, 2023 The poems from the series are available in a special signed Faber pamphlet  which I have a copy of. 

Humanities 2020 Podcast

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The humanities prepare students to be good citizens and help them understand a complicated, interlocking world. The humanities teach us critical thinking, how to analyse arguments and how to imagine life from the point of view of someone unlike yourself. Martha Nussbaum It was a pleasure on Wednesday afternoon this week to sit and chat with Anthony Barlow  to record a podcast for the Humanities 2020 website and project. The project has a manifesto. Primary schools have a duty to equip children for the challenges of the 21st century. We believe that the primary school curriculum in England is failing to do this or to fulfil the legal requirement for a balanced and broadly-based curriculum. Literacy and numeracy dominate the curriculum while other vital aspects of learning are often ignored. This is wrong. We want young children to be literate and numerate, but much more than that. We affirm that every child is entitled to rich, stimulating and engaging learning experiences. We want chil

Voyager

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I've blogged previously about the space probe Voyager, which left the solar system a while ago. It has featured in one of the early Star Trek movies and elsewhere. It carries a Golden Record which provides details on the location of the Earth and sounds and images representing life on earth. The contents of the record were selected for NASA by a committee chaired by Carl Sagan of Cornell University, et. al. Dr. Sagan and his associates assembled 115 images and a variety of natural sounds, such as those made by surf, wind and thunder, birds, whales, and other animals. To this they added musical selections from different cultures and eras, and spoken greetings from Earth-people in fifty-five languages, and printed messages from President Carter and U.N. Secretary General Waldheim. The band Big Big Train have a track called Voyager, which is all about the space probe. Some selected lyrics: Heading further out To reach uncharted shorelines Setting sail for the distant stars The won