Berylette O’Links

So, not many links. A small barrel. An “ette.” But a few I like and think you will like. First, some fine writing and reporting in the New York Times about…bachelorette parties. I particularly admire that the writer avoids a sneering tone – it would be so easy, given the topic.

Preserved dinosaur leg found in North Dakota. Really! Wowza. Sort of creepy to see it, and makes you feel for the little guy.

Apparently, koala bears have fingerprints that are indistinguishable from ours! Yikes! Koalas can start framing us for eucalyptus theft.

Being the age that I am, I cannot help but be excited about the new Top Gun movie – here is an important piece about Top Gun, China and Hollywood.

And just a great photograph: when Bardot met Picasso, 1956. What an image (from Life magazine archives); what an iconic pair.

Jubilee

I do not have sufficient words for Her Majesty, so I will leave it to those who do. On the occasion of her Silver Jubilee, Philip Larkin wrote this verse, which I think says it all and remains true of her:

In times when nothing stood
But worsened or grew strange
There was one constant good
She did not change

And Ted Hughes – who, I have learned, was a great monarchist – wrote this, also lovely:

A nation’s a soul
A soul is a wheel
With a crown for a hub
To keep it whole

For this extraordinary celebration, Britain’s current Poet Laureate, Simon Armitage, has written the following (please check here for his beautiful tribute to Prince Philip).

And how can I omit, as we talk all things Jubilee, this precious moment? Her Majesty is a good sport. (I love how the marmalade sandwiches are unwrapped.)