Ron Manton
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ronmanton.bsky.social
Ron Manton
@ronmanton.bsky.social
180 followers 180 following 930 posts
Unit of capitalist production. Never TPFP. Aspiring musician. Keeper of wolves.
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ronmanton.bsky.social
Sorry. Bit art house, but just wanted to join in on a great thread. An erect PRS and (unfashionable) GT5 guitar effects processor. I bloody love my PRS.
A Paul Reed Smith electric guitar on a stand, pointing skyward. In the foreground the brown wood of the fret board, and the silver stings and fret wires. On the floor behind is a blue, metal guitar electronics box with orange numbering on the pedals. A black guitar lead snakes across golden oak flooring.
December 6, 2025 at 8:39 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Festive season quiz. Name the London pub which sports this chandelier. For those of a certain age you can send answers on a postcard to London W1A 1AA. Clue: think "Monopoly", yellow, £280.
A crystal chandelier, with a ring of candle bulbs, hanging from a public house ceiling. One bulb has failed. The chandelier is probably around a yard in length (drop). The overall colour palette is of shadowy browns, along with light brown and cream on a square column behind the chandelier. The bulbs are warm white. Small red (Christmas) decorations adorn the ring to which the candle bulb holders are attached.
December 2, 2025 at 9:54 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
I'm Inching towards complete uncertainty, and embracing that inevitable fact. #PhilSky #BookSky
Cover of "Skin in the Game" (2018), by the trader-risk mathematician-philosopher, Nassim Nicholas Taleb; the 5th volume in his "Incerto" treatise. The book is subtitled, "Hidden Asymmetries in Life". The artwork for the Penguin Books (2019) imprint is by Fabio Amargo, with cover design by Richard Green. It depicts, I suspect, chance, risk and uncertainty as a chess player, sitting in front of the pieces which are laid out on an octagonal table. There is one player, whose head is rendered as the top of the King piece. I think the symbolism might mean that the chess pieces (of real life) are moved by those who have little to lose whatever the outcome of the game.
November 6, 2025 at 6:19 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Spent most of today thinking about someone on the other side of the world. Love. "The trick...is not minding that it hurts".
Peter O'Toole in David Lean's (1962) masterpiece, "Lawrence of Arabia". In this scene he is doing the "match trick". You know the one. You hold a lit match between fingers and thumb, letting it burn down to the skin, snuffing out the flame. Onlookers think extinguishing the flame is some sort of trick, but it's simply "mind over matter". William Potter, one of the soldiers in the map room in Cairo, tries, and burns himself. He asks Lawrence, "Ouch, what's the trick?" Lawrence, ever the philosopher, replies: "The trick, William Potter, is not minding that it hurts". Here we see O'Toole holding up the burning match, gazing at the flame.
October 24, 2025 at 7:32 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Seriously getting into Janáček. Unexpected. Rewarding. #MusicSky
Deutsche Grammophon recording from 1972 of the piano works of Leoš Janáček (1854-1928). This 2D set features the great Czech pianist and pupil of the composer, Rudolf Firkušný (1912-1994). Symphonieorchester des Bayerischen Rundfunks (BRSO), my favourite ensemble now, is conducted here by, of course, the immense Rafael Kubelik (1914-1996). The cover has a colour, line drawn portrait of Janáček, dressed in jacket and tie, in front of a window open to the fields and mountains. The classic Deutsche Grammophon bright yellow scrolled logo is atop the artwork, but at a slight angle. The colour palette of the.portrait is predominately orange and ochre. The composer has silver grey, brushed-back hair, and matching colour moustache. Light falls on his late middle-age visage. His expression is of steadfast calm; an almost probing stare. Cover illustration by Jürgen Gesang.
October 24, 2025 at 10:46 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Woke up this morning, and I felt trapped in my life. There's someone I care about very much, and I know it's not to be. It's all in #GrahamGreene. Everything. I just know where things are going. Nothing is "written", but some paths are no longer open.
The front cover of Graham Greene's masterpiece, "The Heart of the Matter" (1948). The cover is a grainy, black and white photograph of (possibly) a West African village. It is framed by the dark trunks of tropical trees. A dirt track with a rough building on the right leads to another structure in the near distance; this is presumably a school house. It has a pitched roof, and there are the vague outlines of children sitting outside the front. The author's name in black capitals, and the title in black mixed type appear inside a white, black-bordered rectangle towards the foot of the cover. Graham Greene 1904-1991. Cover photograph: W. Eugene Smith/Magnum. Penguin Twentieth-Classics Edition, 1978.
October 12, 2025 at 10:58 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
The gift of a book. My beautiful 1909 edition of Thomas Mann's masterpiece, "Buddenbrooks", subtitled "Verfall einer Familie". This was gifted to me when I was in my teens by a lady from Graz. I have always treasured it. #BookSky
The cloth cover of Thomas Mann's (1875-1955) novel, "Buddenbrooks" first (published in 1901). 1909 edition. The fabric of the cover is light grey and finely mottled brown. It has the rough texture of an old wallpaper. Woven into the fabric in thin, red cotton is the depiction of the front aspect of what appears to be a fine town house. Beneath this drawing, also in red, is the title. The spine is of brown leather with gold lettering. The title page of the novel, published by Deutsche Buch Gemeinschaft in 1909. The author's name appears at the top in black capitals. Under it, the title, ”Buddenbrooks”, in elaborate, cursive text. Centrally placed on the page is the subtitle, „Verfall einer Familie”, in rather diminutive, non-cursive, mixed case. Towards the foot of the page is the publisher's logo, comprising a sort of weighing scales made up of a balance arm with letter d at one end, g at the opposite, and b at the fulcrum; this rests on a wireframe representation of a globe, which in turn sits on top of a book placed on its side. Under the logo is the publisher's name, again in small capitals („Deutsche Buch Gemeinschaft”) and, at the very bottom, „Berlin”, in a cursive script. The title page is framed by a thin black line border. The first page of "Buddenbrooks", in a traditional, "gothic" typeset. I could be wrong; I'm no expert here. The publisher's page, in a gothic style script. Its logo appears at the top, under which „Dieses Werk ist eine Veröfferentlichung der Deutschen Buch Gemeinschaft”.
October 2, 2025 at 10:58 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Working on my indefinite leave to remain.
A small pile of books on a table, stacked on their side. From bottom to top: "Fowler's (English Usage)", Roget's Thesaurus, a Collins (Compact) English dictionary, "The Approach to Latin (Part I)", "My Grammar and I" and "i before e".
September 30, 2025 at 1:49 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Magnificent as E.P. Thompson's magnum opus remains, I don't think he got into the soul of working class existence quite like this. Different planes, I know: theoretical, philosophical versus a drama of day to day life. Brilliant fiction lets you understand the essence of something. #BookSky
Cover for the Penguin (1982?) edition of David Storey's gritty, "working class novel", "This Sporting Life" (1960). It shows an illustration of a street in a northern English industrial town, with red brick terraced houses on each side of a cobbled road, and a solitary figure walking along the pavement. At the back of the houses we see the top of rugby posts and a glimpse of green pitch. Above, the sky is uniformly light grey. The author's name appears in large purple capitals over a blue break in the sky. The book title is in black text under the street scene. Cover picture by Peter Melnyczuk.
September 23, 2025 at 12:37 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
After my all too short sojourn Down Under. #NowReading #BookSky #Dymocks
Image of the cover of Jennifer Mills' book "Salvage", published by Picador (2025). The scene is a rough dirt road, meandering into the distance. Predominately on one side, the right, is dark undergrowth and a tree silhouetted against the sky. The sky is a cosmic backdrop of plasma, stars, galaxies and nebulae; it resembles a Hubble Telescope deep space image. At the top of the cover, overlaid onto the artwork is the title, in bold, off-white type; at the bottom is the author's name. Printed vertically on the left edge of the cover in small text is: "A novel of great imagination and prescience" HANNAH KENT.
September 17, 2025 at 4:23 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
About to push the button on this. A haunting, plaintive but, at the same time, hugely dynamic opening. It just grows from there. My favourite account of the symphony by some margin.
#MusicSky
Looking down on a CD sitting patiently in its black CD player tray, just waiting for me to hit Open/Close and then Play. The disc is white and the Denon CD player is made of black plastic. Symphony No. 1 and Violin Concerto by Sir William Turner Walton (1902-1983), BBC Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Edward Gardner; violin soloist Tasmin Little. Recorded on Chandos (2014).
September 17, 2025 at 12:05 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Owing to a personal limitation of bandwidth, and finite biological resources, I have today come to the decision to zone out sport and focus on electric guitar. I feel better now that I am on the other side of this decision. (Might still watch some #NRL). #MusicSky #PaulReedSmith #FenderAmplification
The dark wood fretboard of my Paul Reed Smith electric guitar, pointing skywards and blurring as it reaches down to the blue body and cream-edged pick ups. On the floor behind the guitar is a blue metal BOSS GT5 guitar effects processor, connected to the instrument with a black lead, and to a sound system via a shocking pink lead.
September 13, 2025 at 5:38 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Don't think I'll ever hear a better account of "Burleske" by Richard Strauss than last night's from Andrea Lam. Simone Young and the #SSO were immense, but the beauty of the piano.... Left the Opera House thinking that's definitive. @petroc.bsky.social, hope Andrea features on "In Tune" sometime.
Cover of booklet for a programme of music by Richard Strauss at the Sydney Opera House on September 3rd 2025. Simone Young (principal conductor) is shown conducting the Sydney.Symphony Orchestra. She faces the players with baton raised in the right hand. Her left hand curls expressively. We see a very small section of the orchestra's strings from behind, bows slanted.
September 4, 2025 at 8:35 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Surprisingly tranquil in the city. View from the #Sydney #YHA roof terrace, looking north across the bridge. If I could I think Sydney might be where I would want to make my last stand.
View from the Sydney YHA roof terrace, looking northwards. In the foreground are the slate rooftops and chimney stacks of the terraced houses in the adjacent street. Beyond is a clock tower. In the background the south pylons and superstructure of the Harbour bridge. Overhead is an almost flawless blue sky with just two solitary white cotton clouds.
September 2, 2025 at 9:19 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Legs still basically functional. Thanks very much to the people of #Sydney for #Sydney2025. What a great #42k, and the weather gods smiled upon us too. Iconic course locations, superb volunteers (thanks everyone), nice placards, and excellent organisation. A new world major is born.
A tired marathon runner holding his shiny, metallic finisher's medal for the Sydney 2025 42k event. He is wearing his trademark England cricket cap (white, no nationalism, it was just given to me by Mom) along with a favourite blue Venice (2018) Marathon running top; over the top of the shirt is a black "RunSmart" running harness. The sky in Sydney is a perfect azure. 31/9...what a fabulous day.
August 31, 2025 at 6:46 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Still no sign of the pebble.
#AGNSW
A small stone statue of the Buddha on a cylindrical plinth, backlit in sky blue and sandy yellow. The installation rests inside an alcove with a semi-circular arch. Outside the archway is darkness.
August 28, 2025 at 6:20 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Delicious and gone.
#Poke #Sydney
A Poke bowl along with wooden chopsticks. The bowl contains salmon sashimi, kale, beets, edamame, red onion, roasted sesame dressing, seaweed salad, tobiko, crispy shallots, wasabi peas, tofu and a brown rice base.
August 27, 2025 at 5:51 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Or I could just hurt my head a little more.
Cover of "Anti-fragile" by Nassim Nicholas Taleb. A red background with the black tentacles of an octopus overlaid. The book rests on my leg, as I sit in a long haul aircraft.
August 25, 2025 at 1:27 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
So, only 3687 miles left to Dubai, and then another 13 and a half hours to Oz. What you don't need at this point is to find the in-flight "entertainment" system returns 0 hits for "Supergrass". I'll whistle the first album, then... No, look, it just would have been nice...that's all. No dramas.
LCD display on the back of a seat in an Emirates Airways A380, en route to Sydney. A search for "Supergrass" in the in-flight entertainment interface returns nothing. How can that be?
August 25, 2025 at 1:21 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Been doing a mental stock check on influential books. This one lives with me. Brilliant, bitter reportage. A universal and ever important theme. Read and prepare to be troubled for the rest of your life. #BookSky
Cover art for Chloe Hooper's (2008) non-fiction work, "The Tall Man. Death and Life on Palm Island". The book title is in large capital letters, the colour of which resembles the ochres and oranges of aboriginal rock painting, against a dark, almost black, background.
August 16, 2025 at 9:52 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Got some lucky, lucky friends at the Isle of Wight Festival. #Supergrass not on until late in the day. Guess I'll just have a crack at it from here.
Sheet music for "Late in the Day" by Supergrass. The head of my PRS peeps over the top of the music stand. Enigmatic opening chords: Dmaj7, Fmaj7, Am, A13.....You could float a thousand miles on that 13th chord.
June 21, 2025 at 7:25 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
In these times, much needed reading. #BookSky #PhilSky #NowReading
Cover of the Penguin Classics (2004) imprint of letters by Lucius Annaeus Seneca (c. 4 B.C. - 65 A.D.), selected and translated by Robin Campbell. The cover image shows detail from a bust of Seneca, in the Archaeological Museum, Naples. (Photo: The Art Archive/Dogli Orti). The subject is shown in later life, with a thin beard on the chin and jaw, and locks of hair falling across the forehead. The overall impression of the face, its expression, seems (to me) to indicate both contemplation and weariness.
June 19, 2025 at 5:21 PM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Is it a bumper year for Harlequins in the UK? Seems so. They are everywhere I look. #InsectSky
Harlequin Ladybird larva (Harmonia Axyridis) on a Deutzia Crenata leaf in my garden. The insect is black with bright orange flashes across its back. The orange markings are also spiked in appearance. The leaf is a matte mid-green with delicate vein indentations. The larger veins are somewhat lighter in appearance, almost white. I'm given to understand this insect is an invasive species.
June 15, 2025 at 10:47 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Has there ever been a better line-up? 1964 recording, Wien Musikverein. #Janowitz #Waechter #BerlinerPhilharmoniker #Karajan #NowPlaying #MusicSky
Title page of the CD booklet for the 1989 Deutsche Grammaphon remaster of an original Polydor 1964 recording: Johannes Brahms, "A German Requiem" („Ein Deutsches Requiem“). Soprano - Gundula Janowitz, Baritone - Eberhard Waechter, Vienna Choral Association (Singverein), Organ - Wolfgang Meyer, Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Herbert von Karajan. The cover is white with a yellow, black-edged trim. Top left is the yellow, scrolled Deutsche Grammaphon logo. Top right is the "Galleria" logo for Deutsche Grammaphon's digitally remastered recordings. In the centre of the frame is an illustration of a square-fronted church tower, "Isle Abbots" by John Piper. The church stone is predominantly of a golden yellow hue; either side of the tower is the impressionistic representation of the foliage of tall trees in the churchyard.
June 7, 2025 at 10:52 AM
ronmanton.bsky.social
Training update. Hard today. I think you get the picture. Self-doubt is a powerful thing. Start again tomorrow.
A light blue tee shirt soaked in sweat after an hour on the bike trainer. Full throttle. Worked so hard I felt sick. Don't do this at home.
May 30, 2025 at 7:11 PM