Still through the cloven skies they come

[teenybuffalo]

Did you all know there's a colossal metal statue outside of Gateshead-on-Tyne in England called The Angel of the North? I didn't know that till just now. Chris Lackey from the H.P. Lovecraft Literary Podcast mentioned it in passing, since he'd referred to his wife as an angel of the North and then clarified that he didn't mean the statue

Comments

[moon_custafer]

No idea if it's still called this, but I'm told that the Canadian Airmen's Memorial in Toronto was known through the 1980s as Gumby Goes to Heaven. Not all that rude, but pretty accurate.

[teenybuffalo]

I see the Gumby. I'm pretty sure I'd have seen it even if you hadn't brought it up.

[sovay]

I don't know whether I find it beautiful, ugly, or so awe-inspiring it's hard to tell.

I have to say that sounds about right for an angel.

the statue of James Joyce is the Prick with the Stick

I hadn't known that one! That also sounds right.

[teenybuffalo]

The nicknames for the Oscar Wilde statue are insulting stuff like "the Quare on the Square" and "the fag on the crag" and that won't do. The Queen off St. Stephen's Green might be better.

I'll just have to come up with a nickname for the Cuchulainn statue. The Crow and the Hairy Leg Show?

[sovay]

"the Quare on the Square"

The paper of the same name is pretty great. (I had no idea what all the different materials of the statue were.)

The entry for whatever the hell the "Bowl of Light" was is priceless: "Thrown into the Liffey in 1953. Replaced with a flowerbed nicknamed 'The Thing'."

[teenybuffalo]

For instance, Wilde's socks and shoes are made from black Indian granite while his pants are made from Norwegian blue pearl granite. His jacket is made of green jade and trimmed with cuffs made of a pink stone called Thulite from central Norway, which Osborne emphasized is very rare. The body itself visible as Wilde's hands and head were carved from white porcelain. The figure is also accessorized with a series of bronze jewelry.

I should just about think so. I'd had no idea either; I assumed he was made of enameled metal. My favorite part is still the smirk on his face.

I have no idea what "The Thing" is, but the wiki page was awfully matter of fact about that. "Sphere Within Sphere" being known as "The Half-Eaten Malteser" is pretty great too: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sphere_Within_Sphere

[rezendi]

I happened to look up while on a bus from London to Liverpool, some years ago, just as we passed it. It's forbidding and magnificent when you come upon it unexpectedly.

[teenybuffalo]

I'd freak out if I saw that thing and didn't know what to expect. It doesn't look protective or embracing. It looks like an aggressive raptor.

[alexx_kay]

I look at that statue and see Wicker Man.

[teenybuffalo]

You are not the only one who does.