Blakey French
@blakeyfrench.bsky.social
4K followers 630 following 270 posts
(Act III) field philosopher (nascent) #Lostness #Doubt #Degrowth … immigrant, likely to repost pictures of hares. blakeyfrench.substack.com ProfilePics: Big beard, straw hat & shades; with a vista of daunting hills.
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blakeyfrench.bsky.social
I miss my father more deeply with each passing year; your lovely woodcut print is, I think, by Dorothy Blackham.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
On Sunday, about 250k in Amsterdam protested, the largest demonstration in decades, much more reported on in EU than in UK - the first words spoken, by an organiser, in this Dutch news report, translate as : 'There's never a wrong time to protest for human rights'. nos.nl/video/258528...
Museumplein in Amsterdam vol voor rode lijn-protest tegen Israël-standpunt kabinet
De demonstranten eisen actie van het Nederlandse kabinet om het genocidale geweld van Israël in Gaza te stoppen. Volgens de organisatie zijn er dit keer 250.000 mensen aanwezig.
nos.nl
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Solidarity from Amsterdam : #RodeLijn
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Such a pleasure last night, to come across the fine playing of Dimitrios Tsiotas (at the Kring, here in Amsterdam) : #jazzsky #jazzguitar www.dimitriostsiotasmusic.com/bio
Bio | DIMITRIOS TSIOTAS
www.dimitriostsiotasmusic.com
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
A lesser-taken path towards restored faith in humankind: #doncherry #jazzsky
LP cover for 'Om Shanti Om' by Don Cherry, recorded in 1976, shared by Black Sweat Records.
Reposted by Blakey French
enzoreds.bsky.social
There are two kinds of reactionary centrism:

1. "The radical left are lunatics, the far right has legitimate concerns"

2. "Vote for me and uphold zombie neoliberalism or else you are helping the fascists"

They are inconsistent but people like Starmer, Marcon & co switch between them all the time.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
This one goes out to @wendyo.bsky.social ... 'Compleat Imbiber' spirits glass by Frank Thrower for Dartington Crystal ... so 1972:
A sinuous crystal goblet; 70s shape in a 60s candle-lit palm.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
"Aristotle was profoundly right ... ethics is concerned with how to live and human happiness ... this sort of 'practical knowledge' is ... wider than the sphere of 'science' ... and a cultural necessity if we are to arrive at a sane and human view of ourselves or of science." Hilary Putnam (1978)
'Trad Night' at Mulligan's, Amsterdam; a group of musicians huddle around a bar-room table, summoning Irish music, deep, old & sprightly - enchanting onlookers.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Disclosure: 'Unfollow situations' arise whenever AI bilge or X bilge bubbles up in my 'following' feed. I now have & use a drain plunger.
Lamplit still life with brutalist Dutch vase and comical drain plunger.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
"Becoming troubles and exceeds our ways of knowing and acting. It pushes us to think against the grain, to consider the uncertain and unexpected ... to care for the as-yet-unthought ... We are tasked with the otherwise." João Biehl & Peter Locke (2017)
Book cover for 'Unfinished - The Anthropology of Becoming' (2017); a youth, blurred by motion, chases a bright red wheel spun forwards on dusty earth.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
"Instead of being left behind, old evils return under new names ... human beings are no more reasonable than they have ever been." John Gray (2018)
An Edwardian china doll, a young girl with dark hair and dirty feet, glowers from under a soft shawl.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
"The idea that the human species realizes common goals throughout history is a secular avatar of a religious idea of redemption." John Gray (2018) ... kicking off :
Book cover for 'Seven Types of Atheism' by John Gray (2018).
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
In other news ... the Sunday morning concert at Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was not sh*t; Brahms & Strauss were actually rather wonderful:
Interior of a classical concert hall; standing ovation from a large crowd for Radio Filharmonisch Orkest, Groot (Mannen) Omroepkoor, Karina Canellakis, (dirigent) & Sophie Harmsen (alt).
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Medium becomes toxic substrate; internet search is now a bare-faced raft for product placement; obviously, AI will also distribute embedded ads.
Mayser Hats, high-quality German headwear since 1800, have not been paid for the dominant foregrounding of this straw hat; a divine lakeland landscape can, just, be glimpsed beyond.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
What's next, burning books? So very callow.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Ruefully, adieu! Posting hellscape content on here is, for me, an 'unfollow' situation. I wish you well, but, hey, BlueSky decorum first.
Reposted by Blakey French
janeym.bsky.social
We're seeking a PhD researcher interested in outdoor gear and how people dress for the weather. ☔ 🧥 This 4-year student position based at VU Amsterdam is part of the NWO-funded project 'Synthetic Adventures' supervised by me! #fashion#outdoors#weather#sustainability
#waterproof Apply here:
Vacancy — PhD position in Design Cultures
Are you interested in the impact of synthetic textiles on the environment? Do you want to interview people about what clothing means to them? You will connect with people and discover how dressing for...
workingat.vu.nl
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
What's not to like ... a sassy debut EP from Aâma (out of Lille); Emma Prat on vocals, Bertrand Maïlar on guitar - fine musicians, creating genuine 'fusion' - a treat:
The CD cover, a group portrait.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
Bluesky reminds me today ... Arvo Pärt is 90; when I was drowning, as a young lawyer, the sure stillness of his music was so what kept my head up:
A sweeping coastal landscape; sea-washed boulders, salt-marsh, Lindisfarne castle atop its rock, all under a thunderous sky, yielding to freshness, light and azure calm.
blakeyfrench.bsky.social
"Although we are well aware that we know much that earlier generations did not, we are much less conscious of what they knew that we do not." Peter Burke (2024) #doubt
The paperback cover of 'Ignorance - A Global History' by Peter Burke; a cartoon ostrich had its head plunged in the sand.