Oxford Ode.

The effects of film and television are incredible. This year I watched and loved the Desperate Romantics as much as the next person; now I jump at the chance to visit art galleries and gaze at red-headed Rossetti's and holy Holman-Hunt's. And I'm not the only one. On Sunday I went to the newly reopened Ashmolean museum in Oxford with my auntie and her boyfriend. I was standing in a corner and examining one pre-Raphaelite piece or another, when a middle aged lady raced up to the painting next to mine. In a state of great excitement she beckoned to her male companion and motioning to the piece in front of her she called, "Darling, darling come over here. I've found a Johnny!" Millais was my favourite too, but there again perhaps I just like the work of Samuel Barnett.


Likewise, we went to see Bright Star on Sunday too. Now, only two-hundred years too late, I'm hopping aboard the John Keats bandwagon. I left the cinema with great intentions - I would buy a book of poetry, visit the house in Hampstead, perhaps I'd even go to Rome and visit his grave. Now undoubtedly John Keats was a great poet and I'd be more than wise to invest my £6.99 in his beautiful poetry whatever the reasoning. I simply beg the question, am I interested in the real John Keats or rather was I won around by the John Keats Ben Whishaw chose to portray? Can I gain enjoyment from the film and still appreciate the art? (Interestingly enough, the pre-Raphaelites based much of their work on that of Keats. Samuel Barnett played Millais/played Keats' friend Joseph Severn in Bright Star. Connections connections.)


In other exciting news:

* Charlotte and I tidied Vicente's room, watched a long debate about conceptual art at the union and A Very Potter Musical on youtube. Charlotte gave me some lovely late birthday presents, including a pretty necklace and a vintage Doctor Who video :)
* I went to see La Traviata with my auntie on Friday. I was ill, which meant that I was one of those people, i.e. the ones that cough the entire way through an amazing performance. Oh the shame.
* Come Saturday I was feeling too ill to go to Loughborough. Instead, we went out for lunch and to visit the deer in Richmond Park. I'm toying with the idea of buying this woolly stag jumper. It was ever so warm and cozy, but would it be a little too topshop?