In the bicentenary of his birth, it’s time we looked again at the forward-thinking and influential ideas of the great Victorian, writes Daisy Dunn.
— Read on www.bbc.com/culture/story/20190207-was-ruskin-the-most-important-man-of-the-last-200-years
Indeed, Ruskin was not only an astute critic but a talented artist in his own right. He likened the “strong instinct” he felt to draw to the instinct to eat and drink. Drawings of gooseberry blossom and ragwort, mountains and clouds, minerals and birds, including an exquisite sulphur-crested cockatoo he sketched at the zoo, line the walls of the London exhibition. Art, he believed, should reflect nature.
(Daisy Dunn, “Was Ruskin the most important man of the last 200 years?”, BBC.com, 2-8-19)
(c) 2019 JMN.
EthicalDative 
“Flowers” and Candy Bars
[Watercolor by Harold J. Nichols, 1924-2013]
I’ve started viewing “Flowers” on Netflix, a British series starring Olivia Colman. In episode 2, I think I heard a character ask a refreshment vendor for “two Clunks and a Milky Finger.” The vendor hands him three candy bars. Dialog goes at a fast clip in this endearingly daffy comedy, so I can’t be sure, but I’m hoping that’s what I heard. I’ve collected American candy bar names for years — O’Henry, Snickers, Butter Finger, Bit-‘O-Honey, Payday, Almond Joy, Mounds, Three Musketeers, Baby Ruth, Zero, Mister Goodbar — those are ones from the top of my head; however, their names are stale enough to have lost their laughability. If Clunks and Milky Fingers are indeed two wrapped British treats, freshness arrives.
(c) 2019 JMN.