a stupid calm

Sydney, Australia. Blog since circa September 2010. (formerly hooked-into-machine & theroundocean)

[theinternetarchive]

wall tile with lotus flower, iran c. 1300-50.

[maxxie-or-smth]

STOP making me pay for things on my computer. it is literally Not real

[florad0ra]

first project of 2026

[nellygwyn]

One of my favourite paintings that we have at work (and one that a lot of visitors asks about) is this Godfrey Kneller portrait of Michael Shen Fu-Tsung 沈福宗  (1657-1691): 

Shen Fu-Tsung was born in Nankin in China and would later convert to Catholicism. With his Flemish friend, the Jesuit priest Philippe Couplet, Shen Fu-Tsung travelled all over Europe, including to the court of Louis XIV of France. He taught King Louis how to use chopsticks and how to write Chinese characters. He also travelled to England, to the court of King James II (the first recorded instance of a Chinese person visiting England period) and taught King James a lot about China and Chinese customs too. King James was so delighted with Shen Fu-Tsung that he commissioned the court’s most popular painter to produce this portrait.

Whilst in England, he also catalogued the Chinese books in Oxford’s Bodleian Library, as well as describe their content, something which nobody had been able to do until then. He also showed Oxford’s librarian the correct way to hold a Chinese book.

[ghostofava]

god i need something so bad. but what is it

[redlipstickresurrected]

David Cass (Scottish, b. 1988, Edinburgh, Scotland) - Slow, 2024, Paintings: Oil, Oil Bar on Primed Board

[caats]

[ottisbuns]

Post that also work from the perspective of the cat.

[aeschylus-stan-account]

What if I started blogging in the style of middle-schoolers who are trying to translate Latin?

[aeschylus-stan-account]

The snow having fallen much today, it is necessary to place boots on myself. It is difficult to walk, for the snow is deep. I have arrived at the house very tired because of walking.

[nijaded]

Poetry in Motion — the phenomenal Florence Welch

[prettylittleproblem]

Kimon Loghi. Romanian, (1873-1952). Ballad, circa 1905.

[classicalcanvas]

The Dream City (1919) by Thomas Moran

[wrong-but-right]

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

being friends with english majors is so fun you'll send a text like hey are you free for brunch and they'll respond with some shit like "haven't the faintest clue, my schedule is utterly fucked"

[going2hell4everythingbutbeingbi]

english majors so used to talking like 19th century british aristocracy they think this is a joke about busy schedules

[papayajuan2019]

paper and pen seems so powerful now. on account of all the. surveillance

[marmorada]

[dailyclassicart]

Edward Henry Potthast - "The Witchery of the Moonbeams" (1906)

[kosmogrl]

trauma dumpling

[kosmogrl]

🥟

[goldensunset]

per my last desperate howl at the heavens,