SATURDAY NIGHT DIRE STRAITS, ROXY MUSIC.

Dire Straits with You and your friend. Album On Every Street (1991).





Once called the greatest British rock band of the 80s by the magazine Classic Rock.



Roxy Music with Dance Away. From the 1979 album Manifesto.





For me at least, it's hard to come up with a more iconic English rock band of the 70s. Roxy Music was formed in late 1970 by Bryan Ferry, who had just been fired from a teaching job, and bassist Graham Simpson.


Good night.



MFBB.

HAPPY EASTER 2023!

Like every year, DowneastBlog wishes all its readers of good will a Happy and Blessed Easter!





If I am allowed to make a special recommendation this year - please pray for the people of Ukraine, who have had their world turned upside down, lost their belongings, and many their loved ones. Pray, even, for the Russian soldiers, for most of them have been thrown into this senseless undertaking against their will and have had their lives shattered too - and many have already paid the ultimate price for nothing other than the megalomaniac dreams of their leader.



MFBB.

DRUG WARS IN ANTWERP ESCALATING.

For the umpteenth time a bomb attack near the center of Antwerp. Serious damage in 4 streets. The house against which the explosive was used would belong to the parents of a suspect in the Sky ECC-dossier.

Buurtbewoners explosie Antwerpen: “Uit bed getrild en dan uren buiten wachten in pyjama” https://t.co/xBUNbgVFI3

— Nieuwsblad.be (@Nieuwsblad_be) April 2, 2023

The drug trade in Antwerp - main European entrance port for Colombian narcotics - is mainly in the hands of Moroccan gangs. Oh blessed Multiculturalism - the gift that keeps on giving.

Na de handgranaten en het cobra-vuurwerk is de drugmaffia in @Antwerpen toe aan op afstand gedetoneerde 🧨 explosieven… Na 65 aanslagen op 3 jaar tijd: nog altijd geen tijd om het leger in te zetten en te laten patrouilleren op de hotspots waar 90% v/d aanslagen plaatsvinden? pic.twitter.com/3edwhFMLWA

— Filip Dewinter (@FDW_VB) April 2, 2023

65 explosions over the past three years. Several dead and wounded. The genie is out of the bottle. These are the bad fruits of 30+ years of cordon sanitaire, effectively the political neutralization of Vlaams Belang, the ONLY party which is serious about organized crime.



MFBB.

THILO SARRAZIN: "DEUTSCHLAND SCHAFFT SICH BESCHLEUNIGT AB."

Thilo Sarrazin is a former high ranking German public servant, a.o. Finance Senator to the Senate of Berlin. He is also a (former) socialist (SPD) politician who has seen the light. In 2010, he made international headlines because of the publication of his book "Deutschland schafft sich ab", "Germany abolishes itself". Before that, he had already severely criticized the horrible effects of limitless immigration in his country by people who are not even willing to integrate and look upon Germany merely as a provider of free welfare:


"Integration requires effort from those that are to be integrated. I will not show respect for anyone who is not making that effort. I do not have to acknowledge anyone who lives by welfare, denies the legitimacy of the very state that provides that welfare, refuses to care for the education of his children and constantly produces new little headscarf-girls. This holds true for 70 percent of the Turkish and 90 percent of the Arab population in Berlin."


In this video clip, which unfortunately has only German subtitles, he makes the case that his prognosis for the ongoing Population Replacement was actually too modest, since it was made years before Merkel first opened the borders wide for mostly islamic Third World wreckage and the subsequent intakes in the years were rather affairs of "200,000, 350,000 or even 500,000 people", not 100,000/year as he originally envisaged.





Unfortunately, what holds true for Germany is also the case in almost all of Western Europe, where politicians by and large seem to be curiously possessed by a frantic, unhealthy desire to import as many foreign population groups as possible, preferably those from backgrounds diametrically opposed to our western cultural and moral underpinnings. It's highly bizarre, since there is not a single rational argument in favor of these Open Borders policies.


We are litterally witnessing the death of Europe as we know it. Only fools can doubt that what will replace it will be worse.



MFBB.

DISPATCHES FROM THE FRONT.

Rob Lee always has incomparable footage.

Video from Ukraine’s 72nd Mechanized Brigade in Vuhledar. It shows a Russian T-72B-series tank hitting a mine where a T-80BV, two BMP-3, and a BTR were apparently previously damaged/abandoned by mines. Two BMPs then turn around. https://t.co/qMDgNdhH3D pic.twitter.com/TEmEgiOkqy

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) February 26, 2023

It's curious, the brazenness - or stupidity - of the tank crew to approach the crossing, which obviously is a killing ground - without precautions. The T72 could have reconnoitred cross country, avoiding lurking danger.


One of many Russian blunders, not neutralizing the Ukrainian Air Force on Day 1, which certainly could have been achieved with proper planning and smart, massive deployments.

And how is your weekend? pic.twitter.com/PTE3usrTvl

— Ukrainian Air Force (@KpsZSU) February 12, 2023

How was my weekend? Rather boring. No sales this weekend, albeit progress was made in a dossier. Just trying to keep the company afloat.

Naturally, it's better than being at the front. Seeing the hardships of the Ukrainian military and population helps to put it all in perspective.


Nite.



MFBB.

REX'S HANGAR: THE HANDLEY PAGE HEYFORD.

Spending more time on Twitter has, through getting acquainted there with aviation enthusiasts, rekindled the fascination of my youth for anything that flies. This evening's topic is the Handley Page Heyford, a curious early thirties bomber design:





Nite.



MFBB.

STALEMATE IN UKRAINE.

One year into the war, the military of supposed superpower Russia has essentially confined itself to areas which even before the conflict were no longer fully under Ukrainian control. It can safely be said that the performance of the Russian armed forces - all three branches of it - is dismal.


The following video is curious since Russian mobile targets - Msta howitzers - are taken out by Excalibur rounds. I was under the impression that the GPS-controlled Excalibur shells are only used against fixed targets, what with a mobile target starting to move after the shot has been fired and some time elapses before the shell enters the target zone?

#Ukraine: Today, three Russian 2S19 Msta-S self-propelled 152mm howitzers were damaged/destroyed by Ukrainian M982 Excalibur strikes on the left bank of the Dnipro River, #Kherson Oblast. pic.twitter.com/KsoCCIFgrH

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 10, 2023

Still, the sheer quantity of videos showing devastating Russian losses should not lead one to believe that only one side is taking losses:

#Ukraine: A Ukrainian 2S19 Msta-S 152mm self-propelled howitzer was destroyed by a Russian Lancet loitering munition in #Luhansk Oblast. pic.twitter.com/SCulQVdAfv

— 🇺🇦 Ukraine Weapons Tracker (@UAWeapons) February 10, 2023

MFBB.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2023!!!

To all my followers and all people of good will, a very happy New Year!!!





Sorry for the far too light blogging but I really don't intend to quit yet. It's just that 2022 has been an exceptionally difficult year, what with my condition (multiple myeloma aka Kahler's Disease), the troubles in the company (especially personnel, but biz has been very tough also), the lingering difficulties due to covid (now luckily receding...).


Anyway, all the best and stay tuned!



MFBB.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 2022!

To all my fellow Christians and to all people of good will a heartfelt Merry Christmas!



This is the Adoration of the Kings by Gerard de Laresse (1641-1711), a Dutch Golden Age painter and art theorist.


Sorry for the almost nonexistent blogging lately, but this has been an excruciating year in more than one aspect. Hopefully 2023 will be somewhat better.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT ALTERED IMAGES, BIG AUDIO DYNAMITE.

Altered Images with Don't talk me about love. Album Bite (1983).





Scottish new wave/postpunk band from Glasgow. Founded in 1979 and, despite a couple of breakups, still around! Singer's Clare Grogan.



Big Audio Dynamite with E=mc2. From the album This is Big Audio Dynamite (1985).





Formed in London in 1984 by Mick Jones, singer and guitarist. Also ex The Clash, from which he was fired in 1983.



Hat tip for both OutlawDaughter. Would you believe it!


Slaap wel.



MFBB.

SUNDAY NIGHT ART SNACK: PEDER MORK MONSTED (1859-1941).

Peder Mørk Mønsted (10 December 1859 – 20 June 1941) was a talented Danish landscape painter in the realistic style, although some works show impressionist influences.



Green spring landscape with a sitting child at the edge of the beach (1887)



An ardent traveller, especially in the Mediterranean (Algeria, Greece, Egypt...), he produced countless sketches during these travels which he later developed into paintings. He was especially popular in Germany, where he displayed several times in Munichs Glaspalast (destroyed in a fire in 1931).



Wooded river landscape (1929)



Good night.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT THE ALAN PARSONS PROJECT, MAC DEMARCO.

The Alan Parsons Project with Silence and I. From the album Eye in the Sky (1982).





English multi-instrumentalist rock band around Alan Parsons and Eric Woolfson, active between 1975 and 1990.



Mac DeMarco with Chamber of Reflection. From the album Salad Days (2014).





Canadian singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist (often vintage) and producer.


Slaap wel.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT METRONOMY, OUTKAST.

Metronomy with Corinne. Album The English Riviera (2011)





English electronic music band, founded by Joseph Mount in 1999. Hat tip OutlawDaughter.



Outkast with Hey Ya!. Released as a single in 2003.





American hiphop duo which formed in East Point, Georgia, in 1992. Hat tip OutlawDaughter again.



Nite.



MFBB.

SUNDAY NIGHT ART SNACK: LEONARD CAMPBELL TAYLOR (1874-1969).

Leonard Campbell Taylor RA (12 December 1874 – 1 July 1969) was a British painter, mainly of portraits and interiors in a traditional style. During World War 1, he served as an official war artist.


Women playing chess


Exquisite! More on Taylor here.



MFBB.

MAY 2ND, 2022.

It's been eleven years already since my father died.





For many of my in memoriams I've been using Bachs beautiful "Ich ruf zu dir, Herr Jesu Christ" (BWV 639). And I would have done it again this time, were it not for a conversation on Twitter I had with a friend of mine whose father, too, passed away, just one week ago. That friend was asking for suggestions for musical accompaniments during the church service.


I did suggest BWV 639, but then my friend himself wondered whether Bedrich Smetana's Ma Vlast would be okay as the final musical piece, when the coffin is carried outside...


...and it suddenly sounded like a good idea to me! Not for its length, because it's a full twelve minutes, too long for this intended purpose, although you could truncate it at the 5th minute or thereabouts...


... but for its inherent optimism, and why not? For Christians, Death is not the end.


On this humble blog of mine I do not face the same constraints as the pastor who may suspect - rightfully - that many churchgoers would not be, ah, at ease with a twelve minute composition at the end of the service. So... this In Memoriam will, for once, have Ma Vlast as an homage to the excellent human being my father was:





Rest in Peace, father. You are not forgotten.



MFBB.

THE DISMAL PERFORMANCE OF THE RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES IN UKRAINE.

I can't make any sense of it. The Russians are failing on all counts. What's most obvious is that they are failing on the operational level, what with the ubiquitous footage of T-72s with their turrets blown of, charred hulks of APC's, dead bodies of Russian soldiers... and Ukrainian tractors towing away Putins tanks and mobile artillery.


Less obvious, but even more damning for the way Russia is waging this war, is the absolute failure on the strategic level. For over 60 days on end now, the Russian war machine has tried to engage the UA Army on a half-ring front beginning just west of Kiev and extending clockwise around Ukraine's eastern portion until Kherson. In the process, numerous Russian units have broken their teeth trying to neutralize city centers. During all of this, they allowed the free flow of all that is necessary for a modern army to fight from west to east - which doubtlessly happened during the night.

But if they had not wasted all those efforts in absurd and costly battles and instead staged two strong attacks, one towards the south from their foothold just West of Kiev and the other northwards from Kherson, they would have cut off that lifeline and bagged not only all of the UA Army in the east, but in the process strangled the defenses of Kiev and the other big cities as well. They don't know their own history anymore, for this area was once the scene of another big encirclement which cost them 600,000 troops with all their equipment.


Other failures presented themselves in not taking out all of the UA Air Force on Day 1, which, given the Russian Air Force's far bigger size, should have been possible to achieve. Then there is attacking just prior to the onset of Rasputista, turning Ukraines famous Black Earth, frozen until half February, into an impassable quagmire and confining even tanks to roads.


Let Michael Kofman weigh in now:

I’ve been traveling and not writing much these past two weeks. Some brief thoughts about the second phase of the war, Russia’s offensive to retake the Donbas, and implications. Thread. (map from Nathan below). 1/ pic.twitter.com/CLGRZimeLx

— Michael Kofman (@KofmanMichael) April 23, 2022

I don't know how this will turn out, but I hope the lines of communication between the West and Russia remain open, because barring a miracle, I fail to see how Russia can extricate itself from its self-inflicted disaster and still pretend it has 'achieved' its goals. Mounting losses and getting nowhere may lead the Russian top brass to employ tactical nukes, and when that happens... the road to Nuclear Armageddon lies wide open.


In light of all this, the EU's pathetic rushing of the process to accept UA's membership is utterly foolish. Instead, it should shut up now and keep quiet... while, instead of raking the fires of discontent and frustration n Moscow even higher, working quietly on a diplomatic way out of this mess for Putin so that he can save his sorry face - although the bastard by no means deserves it.



MFBB.

HAPPY EASTER 2022!

DowneastBlog wishes all its readers of good will a Happy Easter!





The painting, oil on wood, is part of a tableau in a chapel in the main church, Saint Bartholomew, of my birthplace.



MFBB.

SATURDAY NIGHT KACEY MUSGRAVES, PERTURBATOR.

Kacey Musgraves with Oh, what a world. Album Golden Hour (2018).





"Modern Country" singer/songwriter from Golden, Texas. Hat tip OutlawDaughter.



Death Squad van Perturbator. From the 2016 album The Uncanny Valley.





Despite his real name, James Kent, Perturbator is a frog. Synthwaver from Paris. Hat tip OutlawSon.



Good night.



MFBB.

SUNDAY NIGHT ARCHITECTURE SNACK: LOUIS SULLIVAN BUILDINGS.

Louis Henry Sullivan (September 3, 1856 – April 14, 1924), one of the torchbearers of the Chicago School, has been called both a "father of skyscrapers" and the "father of modernism". He coined the phrase "Form Follows Function". Some projects:


First, the Prudential (Guaranty) Building in Buffalo, New York. Completed in 1896. Sullivan designed it together with Dankmar Adler.





The Wainwright Building, St Louis, Missouri (completed 1891). Also with Adler. Steel skeleton, brick walls, terracotta ornaments:





The Sullivan Center, formerly the Carson, Pirie, Scott and Company Store (1899), a solo project by Sullivan.





Good night.



MFBB.

ONE MONTH OF WAR IN EUROPE...

By now it's been over one month since Russia's invasion of Ukraine started, and the fact that Europe now lives through its second biggest war since World War Two is no less real than on Day One. Here are some exerpts, courtesy The Washington Post, from an account by "Alex", a 38-year old volunteer with humanitarian aid in Chernihiv, a north Ukrainian town under siege by the Russian Army:

"From what I understand, they hit the water pipes and cut them off. Almost the whole city was without water for almost two days. Just this evening, the water began to flow slowly, at least in some areas. There is also no heating or electricity in most of the city. The Hotel Ukraine building was completely destroyed by an airstrike. Just last night, three Russian bomber planes hit the city and one was shot down. The humanitarian corridor is still not there. There is no passage via the Kyiv-Chernihiv highway. People who try to leave drive through a very strange and scary route on mud roads toward Anysiv. Many people do not have gas. In the courtyards of houses, people are gathering and lighting fires, cooking some kind of soup in large pots. Because there is no electricity, no gas, no heating. The grocery stores are running out of supplies. Finding meat or dairy is unrealistic. It’s a catastrophic situation with baby food. People bring some things into the city but it is in very small quantities and brought by desperate drivers under shelling along the road. So they bring medicine, baby food and diapers. But pharmacies are empty. The lines are so long, so even if you manage to get to the counter it doesn’t mean you’re going to get what you need there, because it may not just be there. The military still seems to think the city will not be taken. Multiple rocket launchers continue to shell the city. There are many unexploded shells — they are sticking out from the gardens, roofs and in the yards of houses. But on the positive side, since yesterday, our connection and the Internet are getting a little better..."

More troubling testimonies here, again per The Washington Post:





Possibly no Ukrainian city exemplifies wanton and senseless destruction more than Mariupol in the south:

3/https://t.co/wcsvqyspuJ

— Rob Lee (@RALee85) March 26, 2022

But one month of a horrible, unnecessary war has brought us, apart from the upheaval, death and destruction also knowledge...


...it doesn't take professionally trained analysts to conclude that, as happened so often in the past, the mighty Russian War Machine is prone to serious flaws and gross inefficiency. Huge errors have been made, and massive flaws emerged, and this both on the strategic and tactival levels. Russia may still win this brutal contest on account of its superior numbers. But those in the Kremlin cannot fail to fear that the West will conclude that in a war with a peer adversary, the Russian Army would get its balls handed to it on a silver platter.



MFBB.