Hong Kong: Samuel Beckett

Hong Kong -- Samuel Beckett Centenary Festival: Endgame





Written in French and entitled Fin de partie, it was later translated into English by Beckett himself.

Cast: Michael Harley, Jonathan Douglas, Jacky Andrews & David Booth, directed by Mike Ingham

When? 13-15 April 2006
Time? 8pm
Where? Hong Kong Fringe Club
Tickets at Fringe Club box office or Hong Kong Ticketing
Otherwise, HK Ticketing phone bookings (10am-8pm) 31 288 288

Looking into the abyss: Mark Rothko

No reproduction -- print or online -- can really convey the mesmerising qualities of Mark Rothko's late paintings. . .





Hong Kong Museum of Art -- The Art of Mark Rothko: Selections from the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC





Untitled (1968)

Hong Kong (31 March - 4 June): Museum of Art

National Gallery of Art, Washington DC: Rothko

Rothko's most famous paintings are profoundly contemplative works, rectangles of vibrant color that seem lit from within and that are full of subtle energy and life, like the sky or the surface of a lake.

Abstract expressionist/color field: Mark Rothko (1903-70)

My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

'Til this day Mister B has on cassette the Brian Eno/David Byrne My Life in the Bush of Ghosts.
But I never did get around to buying the CD version -- partly because when it first came out on CD the track Qu'ran had been pulled.

Despite it being one of the album's most beautiful tracks. (I think someone thought the track was offensive to Muslims.)

Now there is news the CD is being re-released in early April, re-mastered, with additional tracks, new cover, a booklet, two tracks to download/remix/share. . .

Official webpage: My Life in the Bush of Ghosts

But still no Qu'ran. Not officially. But it is available as an mp3. . . link of interest

Fifteen best skylines in the world

Guess which is numero uno?
top fifteen

(via Fat Buddha; thanks, Fat Buddha!)

Flood maps

Google map mashup: flood maps

TED webcast

Mister B stumbled upon this Wednesday evening:

TED was born in 1984 out of the observation by Richard Saul Wurman of a powerful convergence between Technology, Entertainment and Design. The first TED included the public unveiling of the Macintosh computer and the Sony compact disc, while mathematician Benoit Mandelbrot demonstrated how to map coastlines with his newly discovered fractals and AI guru Marvin Minsky outlined his powerful new model of the mind. Several influential members of the burgeoning 'digerati' community were also there, including Nicholas Negroponte and Stewart Brand.

And this: (21-25 February) TED Prize 2006 webcast

Having clicked on TED Price 2006 webcast, click on TED Prize 2006 webcast (part 2)

All of it is worth watching, but if time is limited may I suggest the section featuring Dr Larry Brilliant. Yes, that's his name. As the guy who introduces him says, "Brilliant by name, brilliant by nature". Amazing man, amazing life -- someone who has made a real difference. (Just move the play bar along to the one-hour marker.)

The Window of Controlled Chaos Slams Shut

Who says?

Networked tribes, infrastructure disruption, and the emerging bazaar of violence. An open notebook on the first epochal war of the 21st Century. By John Robb

Source: Global Guerillas

Prime numbers get hitched

The answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, the Universe, and Everything?

Forty-two

Landscapes of memory

Painting brought out Beckett's most passionate enthusiasm and even influenced his writing, writes John Banville: The Irish Times

Hong Kong: reopen Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve

Tucked away in the northwest corner of Hong Kong's New Territories, Mai Po Marshes Nature Reserve is of international significance as a stopping and feeding place for migratory birds along the East Asian-Australasian Flyway.

Flyway? WWF Hong Kong

Strictly for the birds? No, not at all. Mai Po is also home to Eurasian otters, pangolins, Chinese leopard cats, the crab-eating mongoose, seven-banded civet cats, and a lot more besides. (Mudskippers. Don't forget the mudskippers.)
Managed since 1984 by WWF Hong Kong, Mai Po was accredited in 1995 as being of international importance under the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance. So it is no surprise that Mai Po is popular with wetlanders, ornithologists, birders, school and university field trips and nature lovers as well as assorted refugees from urban life -- not only from Hong Kong but also from the rest of the world.

Unfortunately, Mai Po has been closed (by order of Hong Kong Government) to birders and other visitors since near the beginning of this year. Why? Panic about avian flu.
Well, now it is time Hong Kong Government rescinded that closure order, and that Mai Po be permitted to re-open to the public. Why? See Dr Martin Williams' letter published in SCMP on 26 March 2006: hkoutdoors

Plus, WWFHK email campaign to re-open Mai Po: WWF News
Double plus, Don't Blame Wild Birds: The Star, Malaysia

Hong Kong: choke hold

On Sunday around 25 Greenpeace China activists planted 106 crosses into the coal ash lagoon belonging to Hong Kong's major power generator and electricity distributor, CLP Power.
The coal ash lagoon is a depository for ash that remains as a result of the production cycle required for the generation of electricity at the nearby coal-burning Castle Peak Power Station.
According to Greenpeace China, the 106 crosses symbolise CLP Power’s 106-year coal burning operation in Hong Kong.
Greenpeace is calling on CLP Power to commit to a timetable to phase-out its coal burning operation in order to reduce the emission of air pollutants.
Greenpeace China is perhaps wise to focus on CLP Power, for standing behind CLP Power is the mighty ExxonMobil.
Whilst CLP Power operates the three power plants -- Castle Peak, Black Point, Penny's Bay -- that supply most of Hong Kong with its electricity, it does so on behalf of Castle Peak Power Ltd, which is a partnership between ExxonMobil (60%) and CLP Power (40%).
Greenpeace China's more bolshie bretheren Greenpeace USA have labeled ExxonMobil the "No. 1 climate criminal". Among other things, ExxonMobil continues to insist that fossil fuels aren't the main cause of global warming.
So, go after the weaker link: CLP Power.
Greenpeace China should, however, be cautious and watch their backs and keep their accounts in good order in light of recent events in the USA: Did a Group Financed by Exxon Prompt IRS to Audit Greenpeace? Wall Street Journal

Photo © Greenpeace/Alex Hofford Greenpeace China

Aidan Martin Crane, October 18, 1991 - March 19, 2006

Ancient Chinese Thought in Modern American Life:
The Useless Tree

(via EastSouthWestNorth)

The Revolution of Every Day Life

Raoul Vaneigem
Nothingness.org

Hong Kong air: fit to breathe?

Air:

Earth's atmosphere is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth and retained by the Earth's gravity. It contains roughly 78% nitrogen and 21% oxygen, with trace amounts of other gases. This mixture of gases is commonly known as air. The atmosphereprotects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation and reducing temperature extremes between day and night.

Source: Wikipedia

Air can hurt you too
Air can hurt you too
Some people say not to worry about the air
Some people don't know shit about the...
Air...

Talking Heads, Air, Fear of Music (1979)

Had a bad air day? Hereabouts, bad air days (and nights) are getting more and more frequent. . .

Namely, increasing volumes of nitrogen dioxide, sulphur dioxide, ozone, carbon monoxide and, as they say in the trade, respirable suspended particulates. Respirable? That means breathable. In other words, you can breathe those suckers in. . . But who's to say you can breathe them out?



Ya
basta!



Enough,
already!



Dr Martin Williams is circulating an email about a local Friends of the Earth petition to be forwarded to Hong Kong Government. The petition is fairly innocuous, but every email to government helps.

At the FoE page, scroll down for link to petition.
FoE: English
FoE: Chinese
For Doc Martin: drmartinwilliams.com and hkoutdoors.com
Thanks, Martin!

Hong Kong: doctors abuse antibiotics

[Professor Ephraim "Andy" Anderson's] warnings during the 1960s and 1970s of an emerging worldwide danger from multiple drug-resistance in bacteria eventually changed the views of doctors and governments.

22 March 2006: Guardian Obit

Changed the views of doctors and governments? Not around here:

The rampant consumption of antibiotics in Hong Kong and the mainland has led to an alarming rate of antibiotic resistance, leaving infected patients with a dwindling selection of treatment methods, scientists warned Tuesday.

22 March 2006: Hong Kong Standard

Annie Pang: the verdict

Good summary of the Annie Pang inquest, by Justin Mitchell: Standard
The jury's verdict?
Accidental death or misadventure.

M's boat: RIP

M's concrete-hull boat was floating nicely in the harbour of a little island in the South China Sea.

Concrete? you exclaim.
Hey, whatever floats your boat. Only the boat isn't, anymore. It has sunk.


All that is visible is a broken mast forlornly bobbing up and down on the water's surface. Nearby, the Marine Police have stationed a yellow warning buoy which has a red flashing light.

Still, all is not lost. They say that for every problem there is a solution. Maybe he could turn it into a concrete submarine? Like this one: Popular Mechanics

Cairns, Australia?

Cyclone Larry? For those concerned about the welfare of Lyn A in Cairns the news is: there is no news. Except that phone lines in her district may be down. Or some of her grandchildren are hogging the computer. For the moment, no news is good news.

By all accounts, most of the property damage was in some town called Innisfail, which is 80 km to the south of Cairns.
The term 'town', however, may be too grand a word, local reports refer to Innisfail as a 'township'. Which is bigger, a town or a township? Mister B isn't sure.
Oh, the region's banana crop has been lost. It gets worse, make that 95% of Australia's banana production has been tropically trashed. Time to buy banana 'futures'?

"Iraq" is Arabic for "Vietnam"

Hong Kong cop killer wore wig

Hong Kong has to be one of the safest cities in the world, outside of Japan. Sure, there are crimes, but violence against the person is an uncommon occurence in the public space. Gun crime is extremely rare and when it occurs is usually perpetrated by gangland robbers from mainland China. Policemen do, however, carry service revolvers -- a legacy of Hong Kong's colonial past.

What happened in Tsim Sha Tsui in the pedestrian subway at the northwestern end of Kowloon Park (junction of Canton Road and Austin Road) at around 1:15am on Friday morning is as yet to be fully determined.
What is known is that one uniformed policeman was shot dead, another severely wounded, and a third man (who turned out to be an off-duty policeman) also died of his gun-shot wounds.
Since when, the plot has mightly thickened.
The off-duty policeman used a revolver which once belonged to another policeman. . . the latter having been ambushed and shot dead with his own weapon five years ago. No one was every arrested and convicted for that murder. The missing gun was later used in several bank and jewellery shop robberies. The gun was not recovered until now.
Since when police leaks to the media include: the off-work policeman had finished a shift one hour before the fusillade, was a member of an illegal football betting syndicate, and was wearing a wig at the time of the shoot out.
Further to all that is today's news that in a subsequent search of his flat HK$1.2 million in cash was found hidden and another HK$950,000 was discovered in his locker at work. More, as they say, will be revealed.

Mister B is not big on Hong Kong gangster movies, but can recommend the 2003 beautifully cinematographic, taut thriller PTU, directed by Johnnie To. Set at night, the film has sober long shots of eerily deserted neighbourhoods, triad rivalries, cell-phone mix-ups, corrupt police and a missing pistol which needs to be recovered before dawn. PTU? As in Police Tactical Unit.

American taliban: clear and present dangers

Ideological extremism, catastrophic fiscal irresponsibility, rampant greed and dangerous shortsightedness... brought to the world courtesy of a one-party state with a trio (Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld) at its pinnacle.
Here we have a president and executive that says it is above the law and can does ignore and tear up habeus corpus as well as its country's legal principles of governance.
Fascism American-style, anyone?
Don't get me started on the so-called 'pre-emptive' invasions and occupations of foreign countries. Or on the American gulags in Cuba, Iraq and Afghanistan (what's going on in the Indian Ocean at Diego Garcia?).
Rogue state, anyone?
Oh, cry, the beloved country. It gets better, or worse depending on your point of view:

On the far right is a still obscure but, Phillips says, rapidly growing group of "Christian Reconstructionists" who believe in a Taliban-like" reversal of women's rights, who describe the separation of church and state as a "myth" and who call openly for a theocratic government shaped by Christian doctrine. A much larger group of Protestants, perhaps as many as a third of the population, claims to believe in the supposed biblical prophecies of an imminent "rapture" — the return of Jesus to the world and the elevation of believers to heaven.

From the NYT review of American Theocracy: The Peril and Politics of Radical Religion, Oil, and Borrowed Money in the 21st Century, by Kevin Phillips. Clear and Present Dangers: New York Times

Orville Schell on Journalism under Siege in Baghdad

Long article by Orville Schell on what reporting conditions in Iraq are really like. Schell's report is going to appear in 6 April issue of the New York Review of Books, but the editors of that magazine have graciously allowed for it to be viewed sooner at tomdispatch.
(Photo above? That was at the WTO Ministerial Conference in Hong Kong, mid-December, 2005.)

Race to save lives of men in drug trial

A headline to treasure:

Doctors call for worldwide help in race to save lives of men who collapsed 'like dominoes' in drug trial: Guardian

In Italy, the moving finger writes

Fancy a change? Look no further.

Friend Alison Fleming commutes between [your own word here] London and the measured pace of cittaslow in Umbria, Italy. As well as the local slow movers there are post-Etruscan, neo-arcadian, novecento surroundings with some tangentopoli thrown in, for good measure.

Fontana Buona, a renovated two storey cottage and art studio which nestles in a corner of Baschi, a small village close to Orvieto. The house overlooks the valley and backs onto a path which leads to the hills behind.

Alison assures me neither Prada frocks nor Montblanc pens are required. Wellington boots? No, idea. You'll have to ask her. For more details: write on course

Resist!

Three years ago this weekend began the illegal, yes, illegal, "shock and awe" military invasion and subsequent occupation of Iraq by military forces and private guns-for-hire contractors directed by the White House and Downing Street.

Resist!

New Marmite: a warning

As Mick S says:

"The bastards. The end of all that's good."

New Marmite: a warning

Thanks, Mick S!

Desk Top Blues

Yes, the Blues can be fun! Not the Blues as in Birmingham City Football Club, but the other Blues. You need to have your sound turned on to enjoy this site: desktopblues

Leisure activities of some Chinese peasants

For more pictures of what Joe Blow in rural China is getting up to on his days off: Bingfeng Teahouse

Le Mythe de Sisyphe

Familiar with the ancient Greek story about Sisyphus?
(By the way, that link has the Sisyphus in its title spelt wrong.)

Have ever read Le Mythe de Sisyphe by Albert Camus?

If the answer to one or both of those questions is "yes", then you will probably find this amusant: Sisyphus uploading his website

Hong Kong inquest: Annie Pang

The coroner's inquest into the circumstances surrounding the death in 1995 of Annie Pang and the discovery of her skeletal remains in 1999 in a flat owned by John Fang, a lawyer and brother of former chief secretary Anson Chan, is drawing to a close.
In court, the tale that has emerged foregrounds money, power, class, frustrated dreams, loneliness, gender relations, social as well as sexual intercourse. In part, it is very much a story of Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

Pang, a vivacious, working-class, moderately-educated, 18-year-old meets the much older, well-educated, well-connected and prosperous, but unhappily married Fang, a lawyer.

One plus one multiplied by the passions of desire? They click, the two become an item: Fang the lawyer and Pang a 'kept woman'. The arrangement is not an unusual custom among the well- and not so well-to-do hereabouts. Nevertheless, quite why is not clear but over time Fang loses or withdraws interest. The flames of passion have been reduced to embers and ashes?

Pang? She meets other men; tries a couple of business ventures, fails; gambles, gets into debt to loansharks. She occasionally hits Fang for money, a place to stay. Oh, and she does an increasing quantity and variety of prescription and street drugs. There are incidents of self-harm, overdoses, hospitalisations. Her own family cut off all contact with her.

In short, Pang spirals downwards as she trashes herself.

Sad, but nothing unusual there. Neither is the fact that lawyer Fang uses Pang as a proxy for property speculation:

Pang's guise as a property speculator was sketched out Tuesday in questioning by Mary Jean Reiner, a solicitor advocate for Pang's family, who tried to press Pang's former boyfriend John Fang about his ex-law firm's involvement in the deceased's real estate deals.
"Annie and I had many transactions - between two and 100, perhaps. If you prompt me, maybe I can remember," said Fang - a brother of former chief secretary Anson Chan - in his third and final day of testimony at the inquest.
Essentially, Reiner - whose queries were often reined in and recast by coroner Colin Mackintosh - was trying to prove that Fang used his long- time mistress as a front to flip property.
These included a flat in Jaffe Road bought in her name for HK$400,000 in 1988, mortgaged for HK$450,000, and later sold for HK$1.24 million.
"Did you use Annie as your front to purchase property to ease your cash flow," Reiner asked.
"It could be ... it could be," Fang replied. "I could have also given Annie some equitable shares. I can't be sure."
"Who was the actual owner?"
"Probably me," Fang replied.
"It was sold for HK$1.24 million. Where did all the profit go?"
"Most likely, Annie would have taken a share, but I can't remember. These things are very trivial," he replied.
When questioned about a 1991 deal involving the Golden Dragon building in Wan Chai, he said: "My staff arranged it for her. I might have also given her an equitable share."
Reiner also tried to press Fang on why Pang used his law firm's address as her home address in the Golden Dragon mortgage application.
"I think she just liked the address," Fang said. "And she didn't have a [permanent] address at the time."

Not everyone lived or lives like that but, like I said at the beginning, the tale is very much a story of Hong Kong in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

For a recapitulation (all Hong Kong Standard) :
Mystery of the missing condom 14/3/2006
Annie Pang lost her head naturally 11/3/2006
Fang tells of Annie's real estate deals 8/3/2006
Fang accused of fixing Pang's death 7/3/2006
Fang: I did not see girl's bones 4/3/2006
No-show lawyer faces court warrant 3/3/2006
Last boyfriend tells Pang inquest of breakup 2/3/2006
The "fattish" mystery man with a dog 1/3/2006
Questions hang over model's pals 28/2/2006
Guard tells of nasty smell at dead model's apartment 25/2/2006
Annie Pang died from taking drugs 23/2/2006
Inquest into model's death finally opens 21/2/2006

Strong Monsoon | Cold Weather

Giacomo Balla -- Dynamism of a Dog on a Leash (1912)

Strong Monsoon Signal
The strong monsoon signal remains in force.
Strong winds with mean speed exceeding 40 kilometres per hour are expected from the northeast. Gusts will occasionally reach gale force.
1. If you are not well sheltered from the northeast, you are advised to take precautions against strong gusty winds. Flower pots and other objects likely to be blown away should be taken indoors.
2. Those planning for water sports activities and operations at sea should take special care against high winds and rough sea conditions.
Dispatched by Hong Kong observatory at 22:46 hkt on 12.03.2006

Cold Weather Warning
The cold weather warning has been issued by the Hong Kong Observatory at 4:15 p.m.
The Hong Kong Observatory is forecasting cold weather in Hong Kong tomorrow.
The minimum temperatures in the urban areas for tomorrow will be around 11 degrees. It will be a couple of degrees lower in the New Territories.
As Hong Kong will be affected by a cold winter monsoon tomorrow, people are advised to put on warm clothes and to avoid adverse health effects due to the cold weather. You must also ensure adequate indoor ventilation.
If you must go out, please avoid prolonged exposure to wintry winds.
If you know of elderly persons or persons with chronic medical conditions staying alone, please call or visit them occasionally to check if they need any assistance.
Make sure heaters are safe before use, and place them away from any combustibles. Do not light fires indoors as a means to keep warm.
Whatever the temperature, please ensure that there is plenty of fresh air in your room when you are using an old-type gas water heater.

The Book of Disquiet

It hums there in the background: a recurring feeling of tiredness, a sense of no purpose in life, of immeasurable melancholy, but foremost a sense of being lost, alone, in a world one is not really part of, but can neither part from.
Fernando Pessoa

Ivor Cutler

Poet, songwriter and performer, born 15 January 1923; died 3 March 2006: Ivor Cutler Guardian obit
The traffic may be heavy, but here are loads of Ivor Cutler mp3s

Beating petty persons in Wanchai

Great article on those old ladies who furiously hammer bits of paper with a shoe underneath the Canal Road East flyover near Hennessey Road, Wanchai.
Who knew that the flyover is known in Cantonese as Goose Neck Bridge ?
Perhaps it is because the flyover is long and thin?
To placate the White Tiger: Hong Kong's City University

Harold Pinter

Further to the post about Samuel Beckett and upcoming theatre events. I had dinner at one of the restaurants on the waterfront of a little island in the South China Seas on Sunday evening with one half of Theatre du Pif -- Sean. The other half, Bonnie, is in Kuala Lumpur meeting with theatre people.
We'd forgotten it was Sunday and that, therefore, the restaurants would be busier than usual. So we didn't get to eat at the resto we had planned -- it was too busy, no free tables.
So. . . we went to one of the other ones. . . and it was good: chopped-up roast pigeon (including, of course, the poor pigeon's head) and other stuff.
Anyway, Theatre du Pif are at Hong Kong's Fringe Club in mid-April and are presenting/performing Harold Pinter's Ashes to Ashes.
Never heard of it? Neither had I. Apart from, that is, the track on David Bowie's superb Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps).
Digging around online unearths the following: Harold Pinter, Ashes to Ashes, 1996. More info at Royal Court Theatre,
Theatre du Pif
Hong Kong's Fringe Club.
Show dates and details to follow.

The Best and the Brightest

One of a Kind: The Rise and Fall of Stuey "The Kid" Ungar, the World's Greatest Poker Player -- New York Review of Books

Samuel Beckett

What with this year being the centenary of the birth of Samuel Beckett (13 April 1906 - 22 December 1989) there is quite a lot of Becketterania about. For a good introduction and overview? Try this by Conor McPherson: Chronicles of the human heart. Hereabouts, long-term resident of a little island in the South China Sea, Mike Harley -- that's what it says/said on his Equity card -- is one of the cast in Beckett's play Endgame, which will be performed in April at Hong Kong's Fringe Club.

Performance dates and details to follow.

Ah, Beckett. A year or so ago, I introduced one of Beckett's poems to another theatre group whose home base also happens to be on this little island in the South China Sea: theatre du pif.
Sean and Bonnie used the poem (translated by yours truly) as part of a devised theatre piece preceding Sean's performance of Beckett's Krapp's Last Tape at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre. The latter has a really boring website.
Anyway, the poem is one of Beckett's last, and one of my favourites. Beckett wrote most often in French and is, in my view, just as much a French playwright, novelist and poet as he is an Irish one. Here it is:

imagine si ceci
un jour ceci
un beau jour
imagine

si un jour
un beau jour ceci
cessait
imagine

The poem looks simple. But I have seen several translations -- all different! Beckett sometimes even translated his own poems from French to English. In the process, I've noticed he'd occasionally switch the line order, where it suited. I too have followed suit in this my own rendition:

imagine if all this
one fine day
one day all this
imagine

if one day
one fine day this
ceased
imagine

Loads
more
stuff
at
samuel-beckett.net

Drunk pig fired out of a cannon

No idea what this Soviet-era escapade is about: drunk pig

Mr Micawber: x - y = h | x - z = u

The blossom is blighted, the leaf is withered. . . Mr Micawber.
For sundry other quotations, references, dictionaries, poems, fiction, non-fiction, and loads of other assorted stuff: bartleby
Bartleby? Ah, Herman Melville's Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street: "I would prefer not to."

Dylan's Back Pages

Back Pages: 1961-96. An mp3, this one is a big 90Mb file, so it takes a bit of time to download. While that is happening, do something else: multi-task!

In the Evening When the Sun Goes Down
Farewell
Blowing in the Wind
Bob Dylan's New Orleans Rag
Lonesome Whistle Blues
It's All Right Ma (I'm Only Bleeding)
Like a Rolling Stone (Newport, 1965)
Seems Like a Freeze-Out (early version of “Visions of Johanna” with the Band)
Just Like Tom Thumb's Blues
I'm Not There (1957)
Sign on a Window
Most Likely You'll Go Your Way (NYC, 1974)
She Belongs to Me
All Along the Watchtower
Simple Twist of Fate
Blind Willie McTell
Desolation Row

The early version of Visions of Joanna (Freeze Out) has long been a personal favourite. Now these versions of Simple Twist of Fate, Blind Willie McTell, and Desolation Row have joined the list of Mister B's pantheon of Dylan great performances.
To start the process, first go to: Pound for Pound
For background on Back Pages: dylanbase

Aguas de Marco

First day of March, already.
By way of acknowledgement, here is a 1973 video of Brazilian singer Elis Regina in a performance of Tom (Antonio Carlos) Jobim's beautiful Águas de Março (Waters of March).
Watch it through to the end, it has a lovely conclusion: