#basil hall

[shannonselin]

New on the blog

[microcosme11]

English captain's description of Napoleon's appearance

Bonaparte struck me as being different in appearance from any of the representations of him which I had at the time seen.* His face was larger and more square than it is given in the pictures and busts; and the breadth of his body, particularly across the shoulders, is considerably greater than I had expected. From the accounts we had received of his corpulency we had been prepared to meet a very fat man, but although he is certainly large in the body, it would not have occurred to me to describe him as being corpulent. His flesh looked firm and he was what is termed well-set. His legs in particular were well made, and rather small. His complexion was quite pale, approaching to white. There was not the least appearance of wrinkle either on his brow or at the corners of his eyes. Were it not for an occasional lighting up of the eyes, and a sort of determined commanding glance, which pierced, as it were, into one's most hidden thoughts, I should have been disposed to describe his look as being placid or gentle, and at all times lively, but never stern. Nor was there the slightest trace of care visible in his face or in his manner; on the contrary his whole deportment, conversation and expression of countenance indicated a mind perfectly at ease. I was particularly struck with the extraordinary play of his upper lip, but it is very difficult to describe, the moreso to me as I did not see him actually under the influence of any strong emotion, and what I did observe, therefore, served not so much to show the expression itself, as to suggest to the imagination what possibly might be the powerful effect of his eye and lip in giving character to his expression when he is strongly moved. …His manners were so good that from the first moment of the interview to the last, I felt myself not only at ease in his company, but every now and then I thought I was speaking to him in too familiar a tone. I wished, of course, to show him all sorts of respect and attention, but his cheerful and encouraging manner threw me repeatedly off my guard. *Since writing the above I have seen an excellent picture of Bonaparte in the possession of Mr. Richard Power of Dublin. It was painted in 1805 by Gerard and given to the City of Rome in 1810. Mr Power bought it at Rome in 1817. This picture has much more of Bonaparte's expression of countenance than any I have seen. It represents him, of course, smaller than he is now, but the face is extremely like, and is remarkable for conveying the placidity and sweetness of expression which is at times so very striking in his countenance.

[The only painting I find Gerard painted of Napoleon in 1805 is the one below. I don't know whether or not this is the one to which Hall is referring.]

Notes of an Interview with Bonaparte at St Helena on the 13th August 1817, written by Captain Basil Hall, Royal Navy.

[todaysdocument]

Eleanor Roosevelt, Jonas Salk, and Basil O'Connor at The Infantile Paralysis Hall of Fame in Warm Springs, Georgia, 1/2/1958.

Series: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962. Collection: Franklin D. Roosevelt Library Public Domain Photographs, 1882 - 1962. 

[wormsical]

[my-little-random-world]

A very happy 93rd birthday to dearest Prunella Scales ✨🎂

Happy 50th anniversary to Jaws 🎥🦈 (Basil reading a Jaws book)

Audrey calling her mother-in-law (some sort of headcanon crossover of mine lol 😅)

[chantssecrets]

Kenneth Hall, Portrait of Benny (Basil Ivan Rákóczi)

[strangesunny]

how’s the fit =>

ty talking-2-the-wall, literally made my day a 10/10

[basilpaste]

hello basil of basilpaste fame. do you have a favourite corru.observer character

me? have a favorite character? pshhhh nah of course not. what character could i POSSIBLY take an interest inokay no yeah its cavik.

maybe this is predictable!!! i do not know myself well enough to clock if theres a 'trend' in characters i like. but like. gestures vaguely. i need to study him. why is there a memory hole cavik that can be unityed. why does he start combat scared. WHY does he look like velzie with closed eyes!!!!!!

i also am very fond of akizet though. go girl keep committing to your current course of action !!!!! the sunk cost fallacy cant hurt you if you dont know what it is!!!!!!!!!!

(i like karik a lot also. not enough people draw the mindcores, more people should do this.)

[mylifeisfakeenjoy]

I went to El Paso Comic Con and here are some of the cool cosplays I have

[tonreihe]

“Lafcadio Hearn understands contemporary Japan better, and makes us understand it better, than any other writer, because he loves it better.” (Basil Hall Chamberlain, Things Japanese, in the entry “Books on Japan”)

[microcosme11]

Napoleon interrogates a visitor and is a bit eccentric

Illustration by Louis Bombled, Un capitaine anglais presente un lieutenant a Napoleon.

From the interview between Captain Basil Hall and Napoleon on St. Helena in 1817. Transcribed from Hall's handwritten copy. His father had studied at Brienne simultaneously with Napoleon, who remembered him.

"I am certain that your father must be nine or ten years older than I am—at least nine years—is it not so?" I replied that I believed he was correct, upon which he turned nearly half round on his heel, and laughing very heartily, nodded his head as if to imply that he had considerably the advantage of my father in being so many years his junior. He next asked how many children my father had; I said, "Nine alive." "Ah, c'est beaucoup," said Bonaparte with an air of affected gravity accompanied by a formal sort of bow, as if he felt desirous of making up for the slighting manner in which he had just been treating my father on the score of age. His next question was, "Are you married?" and on my stating that I was not, he asked in a quick, impatient way, "Why don't you marry?" I hesitated a moment, but seeing that he was waiting for my answer, I said that I had not money enough to enable me to marry. "Ah ha," exclaimed Bonaparte several times. "Faute d'argent—faute d'argent"—laughing heartily at the same time and nodding his head as if he deemed the reason satisfactory enough.

—Notes of an Interview with Bonaparte at St Helena on the 13th August 1817, written by Captain Basil Hall, Royal Navy.

[omg-hellgirl]

Jerry Hall with Joe and Eva Jagger photographed by Richard Young, 1990.

[uncle-dusknoir]

Noibat: What kind of music do you enjoy? Do you have a favorite song?

the main way i can sum up my taste in music is basically just. halloween music but not literally "monster mash". i don't usually have music playing, though, it's usually just distracting to what I'm trying to do lmao.

favorite song... there's a Halloween cover of Lay All Your Love On Me about a vampire. that can be my favorite for now

[pokkiheart]

Putting this on tumblr because i still don't know how tf i made it ^^ the ending's actually a bit off sync but that's just because i edited with bluetooth headphones like a dumdum. the rest i'm actually pretty proud of.

[dhvinyl]

A Personal History of the British Music Industry 108 - Larry Page

Larry Page, born Leonard Davies, who has recently died in Australia, is best remembered as the charismatic manager of the Troggs, but was part of the UK’s answer to rock’n’roll in the late 1950’s, and started life packing records, rather than making them. He emigrated to Australia, but this interview was conducted before then in West London over twenty years ago. I had already learned that his…

[nycmess]

The first episode of Flight to Forever premiered last night. If you weren't able to catch it, we'll give you a quick summary. Our cast this season is made up of: Braxton, Tiffany, Ethan, Ruby, Kyla, Zachary, Brynlee, Rayne, Mason, Mars, Sakura, Shin, Basil, Lennon, Aidan, Daxton.

The Matches:

kyla - mason tiffany - basil sakura - aidan mars - dax ruby - zach lennon - shin brynlee - braxton rayne - ethan

The Group Chat:

It seems that every week there will be a group chat with a question set by producers. The group chat started strong with them arguing about who wanted to swim with sharks vs who didn't. It remained with casual chatter until the producers asked who the contestants were least interested in. Results were split, but sparked out a fight with Dax and Sakura. He said that she was shallow and this caused an outburst of fighting within the group. It effectively killed the spark between Mars and Dax. Lennon began hitting on Dax during this conversation, and they talked in dms privately. This causes a few comments from people like Brynlee who calls her "Delulu". A bunch of other conversations all happen at once including Ruby and Braxton arguing about him having a 'real job', Ruby hitting on Aidan but him saying that she is too young. Zach is asked by producers, and he says hes upset with the slut shaming. In between all of this, Ruby begs for Dax to shut up.

The results of the 'least interested in':

dax - sakura due to boring/short sighted/shallowness mason - tiffany due to age ruby - braxton due to his pre-challenge info kyla - rayne due to friendship brynlee - lennon due to [no explanation given] aidan - tiffany due to age zachary - braxton due to his pre-challenge info sakura - zach due to his family ethan - tiffany due to age rayne - braxton due to his pre-challenge info shin - mars due to attraction mars - verbally attacked sakura lennon - mars due to virtue signaling basil - no answer given braxton - no answer given tiffany - no answer given

#WIGATE:

After the fight with Dax about disliking blondes, Tiffany suddenly pops up in a blonde wig.

JELLYFISH:

In Tiffany's bad luck stage, she gets stung by a jellyfish! We don't see the actual sting on camera, but we see the aftermath! Ouch!

ETHAN'S AWKWARDNESS:

We watched an incredibly awkward moment between Rayne and Ethan after he finishes getting ready then offers for her to go ahead. She gives a really awkward 'thanks..' and then we see Ethan looking like he wants to die.

MARS....ROAD TRIPS?

Speaking of awkward, Mars we have some questions. There is a scene of Mars and Mason swimming. Their conversation is about not knowing what to do post their careers (which have notably young retirement ages). Mason tells her he doesn't have a plan, but that he wants to keep looking for things that excite him. Mars asks what excites him lately and suggests two options: cafes or road trips. Is that your idea of a good time, Mars?

GRAHAM...EW!

Sakura and Zach have a distant connection between Graham being engaged to Zaara and Zaara being the close friend of Sakura. They essentially get into a giant conversation about how much Graham sucks, and how Zaara is lovely. In the words of Zach, "I'm not saying that he's insufferable, but I will if anyone gives me the chance to."".

SAKURA AND BRAXTON REUNION

Sakura and Braxton have a notable reunion together. Its obvious that they've met before from their conversation. The only problem is that their conversation sounds a little..porn-y. They don't hook up, but god it feels.. incredibly awkward to watch. They offer to 'request a coupling' for each other, but neither do.

LENNON AND SHIN'S ROOMING SITUATION

The conversation with Shin and Lennon is first seen in the hotel room. It starts out a little... awkward. Lennon seemingly didn't get the hint that Shin was trying to not sleep in the same bed as her, but weasled her way in. But despite the awkward beginnings..it actually ends up quite cute. They end up having a conversation about their careers, and share a kiss when Lennon asks. We're getting the impression that Shin just takes time to warm up.

BRAXTON'S BAD DAY

Braxton seemed to have a few no good, terrible bad days on this first episode. One of them starts out with a conversation with Ruby where they start talking about their jobs and she makes him make her a drink (with specific specifications). He ends up telling her his job, and she laughs in his face. Its really obvious that Braxton does not like this.

ZACH..NOT LIKE GRAHAM. GOT IT.

Despite his loud internet persona, we see Zach in a different light on the first episode. He ends up having a fairly genuine and kind conversation with Ruby surrounding her job.

We'll see about next week!