Zombie

George Frideric Handel, born in Halle (Saxony) in 1685, travelled widely around Europe as a young man developing his craft, especially in Italy. He settled in England in 1712 where he lived more than half his life (until his death in 1759) and studied carefully the music of Henry Purcell to develop a musical style tailored for English tastes. He became a prolific writer (opera, concertos, sacred, ceremonial) and composed much of the music that became central to British life and culture including for the London theatre and State occasions. In 1727, by a special act of Parliament, Handel was officially made a British citizen. Four months later King George I died suddenly and Handel was commissioned to compose music for the coronation of George II. He composed four “anthems” for orchestra and chorus and the most famous of these, Zadok the Priest, has been used at every British / Commonwealth coronation since and will be again next Saturday (6 May). The long instrumental introduction, with its subtle modulations, chord inversions (“slash chords”?) and unexpected harmonic shifts creating a gradual, suspenseful and uniquely memorable buildup to the eventual and deeply satisfying arrival at the home key (tonic) with the dramatic entry by the chorus, is explained here: https://realstrings.wordpress.com/2015/07/02/zadok-the-chords/ Annie Lennox plays the intro (almost) and I just love this joyous version

GA truly is the place for shared wisdom

this is Spike he’s got 15,000 fans on Facebook and he’s just been voted the world’s most popular “flightless bird” Just a suggestion, Spike - if you’re planning to cash in on your newfound fame you might wanna book yourself in for a makeover and smarten yourself up a bit…

UK usages are usually in jest or to de-emphasise “It was a trifling little discrepancy” (Uncle Ted explaining the IRS investigation) “I only had a teensy weensy piece of cake” (fat boy on a diet)

that’s why they invented a word for it - tautological

with Spartan soldiers & tightly muscled bodies?

curiously, current usage in British English is always plural “he conducted his research under the auspices of the Spartan Soldiers Society” “perusing that tightly muscled body he knew the auspices were favourable”

Happy to report “lad” is still in common use in the UK, typical usage “young lad” it’s pretty much interchangeable with “youth” (Saxon origin) curiously “youth” and “young” don’t seem to have a common origin, yet each defines the other

Kurt saw every meal as a splotch opportunity

the penguin surreptitiously got its revenge

not necessarily straight..

for no reason whatever here’s a pic of Cristiano Ronaldo’s statue in Funchal, his hometown, which er.. seems to have received much admiration and here’s another angle

Yes, autocorrect is malevolent Actually, no that’s wrong - autocorrect is pure evil👿 It’s probably scheming already with A.I. Together they’ll make the HAL 9000 computer look like Santa Clause

right, so it was a pier on a quayside

“Wigan Pier” also means the area, just to add confusion but this is an early 20th century (pre 1920) postcard pic of the legendary “coal tipper” structure as you can see the structure was bigger than the “modern” reconstruction but the site and quayside are essentially the same Still doesn’t clear up which is the best word to use for the damned thing Even the postcard printers weren’t sure, putting the word “Pier” in quotation marks

quay, wharf, pier, jetty - all kinda similar, but different… I guess I’ve never really figured out the differences properly This is George Orwell’s famous Wigan Pier, but I reckon old Georgie boy got it wrong cuz to me it looks like a quay pretty disappointing really This pic’s a tad more interesting with some local lads having a bit of a frolic

when will I ever learn??

and for those who prefer happy endings… It blinked. I screamed. It ran.

👨 Kill it! 👽 Noooooo! 👨 OK, circus attraction.

and then there’s desolation a state of complete emptiness or destruction. like the mess left behind after a penguin party…

ʻOumuamua you may remember it but would space scientists prefer to forget it…?

hopefully the invertebrates were

Sadly modern reality is that true conversation (that’s physical and face to face) is an increasingly rare communication mode. It got ridiculous in a previous work role when colleagues, sitting just feet apart, were sending each other emails instead of putting down that pie/pizza/doughnut and walking the yard or so to have an actual conversation

…which are “common in the southern and western United States“ but Encyclopaedia Britannica’s T&C don’t actually guarantee they’re not also happily nesting in other parts of the US (including behind your cupboards)