TRAVEL TUESDAY 461 - NIAGARA FALLS, NORTH AMERICA

“All trembling, I reached the Falls of Niagara, and oh, what a scene! My blood shudders still, although I am not a coward, at the grandeur of the Creator's power; and I gazed motionless on this new display of the irresistible force of one of His elements.” - John James Audubon

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Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the border between the province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York in the United States. The largest of the three is Horseshoe Falls, which straddles the international border of the two countries. It is also known as the Canadian Falls. The smaller American Falls and Bridal Veil Falls lie within the United States. Bridal Veil Falls is separated from Horseshoe Falls by Goat Island and from American Falls by Luna Island, with both islands situated in New York.

Formed by the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario before flowing out to the Atlantic Ocean through the St. Lawrence River, the combined falls have the highest flow rate of any waterfall in North America that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m. During peak daytime tourist hours, more than 168,000 m3 of water goes over the crest of the falls every minute. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by flow rate.

Niagara Falls is famed for its beauty and is a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Balancing recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century. Niagara Falls is 27 km northwest of Buffalo, New York, and 69 km southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York.

Niagara Falls was formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path over and through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 348 - NIAGARA FALLS

“Our future is like that of the passengers on a small pleasure boat sailing quietly above the Niagara Falls, not knowing that the engines are about to fail.” – James Lovelock

Welcome to the Travel Tuesday meme! Join me every Tuesday and showcase your creativity in photography, painting and drawing, music, poetry, creative writing or a plain old natter about Travel.

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Niagara Falls is the collective name for three waterfalls that straddle the international border between Canada and the United States; more specifically, between the province of Ontario and the state of New York. They form the southern end of the Niagara Gorge. From largest to smallest, the three waterfalls are the Horseshoe Falls, the American Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls. The Horseshoe Falls lies on the border of the United States and Canada, with the American Falls entirely on the American side, separated by Goat Island. The smaller Bridal Veil Falls are also on the American side, separated from the other waterfalls by Luna Island. The international boundary line was originally drawn through Horseshoe Falls in 1819, but the boundary has long been in dispute due to natural erosion and construction.
Located on the Niagara River, which drains Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, the combined falls form the highest flow rate of any waterfall in the world that has a vertical drop of more than 50 m. Horseshoe Falls is the most powerful waterfall in North America, as measured by vertical height and flow rate. The falls are 27 km north-northwest of Buffalo, New York, and 121 km south-southeast of Toronto, between the twin cities of Niagara Falls, Ontario, and Niagara Falls, New York. 
Niagara Falls were formed when glaciers receded at the end of the Wisconsin glaciation (the last ice age), and water from the newly formed Great Lakes carved a path through the Niagara Escarpment en route to the Atlantic Ocean. While not exceptionally high, the Niagara Falls are very wide. More than 168,000 m3 of water falls over the crest line every minute in high flow, and almost 110,000 m3 on average.The Niagara Falls are famed both for their beauty and as a valuable source of hydroelectric power. Balancing recreational, commercial, and industrial uses has been a challenge for the stewards of the falls since the 19th century.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY 287 - MONTREAL, CANADA

“We have created a society where individual rights and freedoms, compassion and diversity are core to our citizenship. But underlying that idea of Canada is the promise that we all have a chance to build a better life for ourselves and our children.” - Justin Trudeau

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Montreal (officially Montréal), is the most populous municipality in the Canadian province of Quebec and the second-most populous in Canada as a whole. Originally called Ville-Marie, or “City of Mary”, it is believed to be named after Mount Royal, though there is some debate about this. The city has a distinct four-season continental climate, with warm-to-hot summers and cold, snowy winters. In 2016, Montreal had a population of 1,704,694. Montreal's metropolitan area had a population of 4,098,927 and a population of 1,958,257 in the urban agglomeration, with all of the municipalities on the Island of Montreal included.

Legally a French-speaking city, 60.5% of Montrealers speak French at home, 21.2% speak English and 19.8% speak neither. Montreal is one of the most bilingual cities in Quebec and Canada, with 56% of the population able to speak both official languages. Montreal is the second-largest primarily French-speaking city in the world after Paris. Historically the commercial capital of Canada, it was surpassed in population and economic strength by Toronto in the 1970s. It remains an important centre of commerce, aerospace, finance, pharmaceuticals, technology, design, education, culture, tourism, gaming, film and world affairs. See: https://nixpixmix.blogspot.com/

Being the location of the headquarters of the International Civil Aviation Organization, Montreal is one of three North American cities home to organizations of the United Nations (along with New York and Washington) and also has the 2nd-highest number of consulates in the continent. Montreal was also named a UNESCO City of Design. In 2009, Montreal was named North America’s leading host city for international association events, according to the 2009 preliminary rankings of the International Congress and Convention Association (ICCA). According to the 2015 Global Liveability Ranking by the Economist Intelligence Unit, Montreal ranked 14th out of 140 cities.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #158 - VANCOUVER, CANADA

“Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world.” - Jack Layton

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Vancouver is a coastal seaport city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2016 census recorded 631,486 people in the city, up from 603,502 in 2011. The Greater Vancouver area had a population of 2,463,431 in 2016, making it the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada. Vancouver has the highest population density in Canada with over 5,400 people per square kilometre, which makes it the fifth-most densely populated city with over 250,000 residents in North America behind New York City, Guadalajara, San Francisco, and Mexico City according to the 2011 census. 

Vancouver is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse cities in Canada according to that census; 52% of its residents have a first language other than English. Roughly 30% of the city's inhabitants are of Chinese heritage. Vancouver is classed as a Beta global city. Vancouver is consistently named as one of the top five worldwide cities for livability and quality of life, and the Economist Intelligence Unit acknowledged it as the first city ranked among the top-ten of the world's most well-living cities for five consecutive years.

Vancouver has hosted many international conferences and events, including the 1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games, UN Habitat I, Expo 86, the World Police and Fire Games in 1989 and 2009; and the 2010 Winter Olympics and Paralympics which were held in Vancouver and Whistler, a resort community 125 km north of the city. In 2014, following thirty years in California, the TED conference made Vancouver its indefinite home. Several matches of the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup were played in Vancouver, including the final at BC Place.

As of 2014, Port Metro Vancouver is the third-largest port by tonnage in the Americas (recently displacing New York City), 27th in the world, the busiest and largest in Canada, and the most diversified port in North America. While forestry remains its largest industry, Vancouver is well known as an urban centre surrounded by nature, making tourism its second-largest industry. Major film production studios in Vancouver and nearby Burnaby have turned Greater Vancouver and nearby areas into one of the largest film production centres in North America, earning it the nickname “Hollywood North”.

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TRAVEL TUESDAY #49 - QUEBEC, CANADA

“Canada is a great country, one of the hopes of the world.” - Jack Layton

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Quebec, also Québec, City of Québec, is the capital of the province of Quebec in Canada. In 2015 the city had a population of 540,994, and the metropolitan area had a population of 806,400, making it Canada’s seventh-largest metropolitan area and Quebec’s second-largest city after Montreal, which is about 260 kilometres to the southwest, respectively. Quebec is the second-largest French-speaking city in Canada after Montréal.

The narrowing of the Saint Lawrence River proximate to the city’s promontory, Cap-Diamant (Cape Diamond), and Lévis, on the opposite bank, provided the name given to the city, Kébec, an Algonquin word meaning “where the river narrows”. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, Quebec City is one of the oldest cities in North America. The ramparts surrounding Old Quebec (Vieux-Québec) are the only fortified city walls remaining in the Americas north of Mexico, and were declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985 as the ‘Historic District of Old Québec’.

According to the federal and provincial governments, Québec is the city’s official name in both French and English, although Quebec City (or its French equivalent, Ville de Québec) is commonly used, particularly to distinguish the city from the province. In French, the names of the province and the city are distinguished grammatically in that the province takes the definite article (le Québec, du Québec, au Québec, respectively ‘the Quebec’, ‘from the Quebec’, ‘in the Quebec’) and the city does not (Québec, de Québec, à Québec, respectively ‘Quebec City’, ‘from Quebec City’, ‘in Quebec City’).

The city’s famous landmarks include the Château Frontenac, a hotel which dominates the skyline, and La Citadelle, an intact fortress that forms the centrepiece of the ramparts surrounding the old city. The National Assembly of Quebec (provincial legislature), the Musée national des beaux-arts du Québec (National Museum of Fine Arts of Quebec), and the Musée de la civilisation (Museum of Civilisation) are found within or near Vieux-Québec.

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MOVIE MONDAY - MIDNIGHT'S CHILDREN

“Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts.” - Salman Rushdie

Director Deepa Mehta’s 2012 film “Midnight’s Children” starring  Rajat Kapoor, Vansh Bhardwaj, Anupam Kher is based on the novel of the same name by Salman Rushdie. The author collaborated with the director to write the screenplay. Generally, if the chemistry between the author and director is good, the results can result in excellent cinema. Unfortunately, this is not always the case…

Sir Ahmad Salman Rushdie, FRSL (born 19 June 1947) is a British Indian novelist and essayist. “Midnight’s Children” (1981), his second novel, won the Booker Prize in 1981. Much of his fiction is set on the Indian subcontinent. He is said to combine magical realism with historical fiction; his work is concerned with the many connections, disruptions, and migrations between Eastern and Western civilisations. His fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses” (1988), was the centre of a major controversy, provoking protests from Muslims in several countries. Death threats were made against him, including a fatwā calling for his assassination issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, on 14 February 1989, and as a result the author was put under police protection by the British government.

Rushdie was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature, Britain’s foremost literary organisation, in 1983. He was appointed Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of France in January 1999. In June 2007, Queen Elizabeth II knighted him for his services to literature. In 2008, The Times ranked him thirteenth on its list of the fifty greatest British writers since 1945. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States, where he has worked at Emory University and was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 2012, he published “Joseph Anton: A Memoir”, an account of his life in the wake of the controversy over “The Satanic Verses”.

I was a little wary to watch the film as Rushdie’s prose, though lush and quite literary, can also be rather convoluted and sesquipedalian, and in parts turgid. Thus is the writing of most literary authors who try “Write” with a capital “W”. And it is because of this (or perhaps in spite of this?) that their work is recognised by the various organisations that hand out literary prizes. Nevertheless, the film was very watchable and the gorgeous cinematography, grand locations, colourful costumes and beautiful music made it, if nothing else, good eye candy.

The plot commences at the stroke of midnight on August 15th, 1947, when India declares independence from Great Britain. Two babies born in the same Bombay hospital at midnight are switched at birth by a nurse. And so it is that Saleem Sinai, the illegitimate child of a beggar woman, and Shiva, the only son of a wealthy couple, are fated to live the destinies meant for each other. Over the next three decades, Saleem and Shiva find themselves on opposite sides of many a conflict, whether it be because of class, politics, romantic rivalry, or the constantly shifting borders that are drawn every time neighbours become enemies and decide to split their newborn nation into two, and then three, warring countries. Through it all, the lives of Saleem and Shiva are mysteriously intertwined. There is another mystic link with all other children that are born around midnight on that fateful date, as all these “Midnight Children” have mystical powers. Saleem and Shiva are also inextricably linked to the history of India itself, which takes them on a whirlwind journey full of trials, triumphs and disasters.

The film is a loose allegory for events in India both before and, primarily, after the independence and partition of India. The protagonist and narrator of the story is Saleem Sinai, born with telepathic powers, as well as an enormous and constantly dripping nose with an extremely sensitive sense of smell. The technique of “magical realism” finds liberal expression throughout the novel and is crucial to constructing the parallel to the country’s history.

The film was controversial, primarily because of the way India’s Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was portrayed. The same controversy had dogged the book: In 1984 Prime Minister Indira Gandhi brought an action against the book in the British courts, claiming to have been defamed by a single sentence in chapter 28, penultimate paragraph, in which her son Sanjay Gandhi is said to have had a hold over his mother by his accusing her of contributing to his father’s Feroze Gandhi’s death through her neglect. The case was settled out of court when Salman Rushdie agreed to remove the offending sentence.

The film certainly makes Salman Rushdie’s prose more accessible to the general public that perhaps is not as keen to read the novel. The film is beautiful to look at, has some fine cinematic moments in it and there are some poignant and moving parts in it. However, the screenplay is too indulgent (remember the author was responsible for it) and the direction was perhaps a trifle over-ambitious. What was worrying for me personally was that there was a disconnect between me as a viewer and the characters and action on screen. When there is not a strong emotional connection with the characters on film, it can be disastrous in a movie – especially one as long and as epic as this one. I am glad we watched it, but I can think of other more worthy films to recommend to friends to see. If you get a chance to see it, do so, it is good, but I would not go out of my way to hunt it out and watch it…

FOOD FRIDAY - GRILLED TURKEY BREASTS

“The thankful receiver bears a plentiful harvest.” - William Blake

We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving in Australia, but I think this is a great North American tradition that could well be imported into our country. It certainly is more deserving of import rather than say, Valentine’s Day or Halloween – both of which have been well and truly ingrained themselves into Australian society, especially so with the younger generations.

Here is a rather non-traditional Thanksgiving recipe that we shall be having at home, simply because we like it! I also think that it is worthwhile stopping every now and then and taking stock of all the things we have and we take for granted, and being thankful for them…

Grilled Turkey Breast Fillets
Ingredients
120 g unsalted butter
4 shallots, finely chopped
Salt, to taste
240 mL white vinegar
480 mL chicken stock
Cracked black peppercorns, and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 kg turkey breast, cut into 10 cm pieces and pounded into ½ cm thick medallions
40 mL olive oil

Method
Make the sauce:  Melt half of the butter in a 30 cm skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chopped shallots and salt; cook until golden. Add vinegar and bring to a boil; reduce by half. Add the stock and cook until liquid is reduced and thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in remaining butter and cracked peppercorns until butter is melted; set sauce aside and keep warm.

Prepare Turkey:  Heat a charcoal grill. Brush turkey with oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Grill, flipping once, until browned and cooked through, 3–4 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter and drizzle with some of the sauce; serve with remaining sauce on the side. Accompany the turkey with mashed potato, roast pumpkin, roast parsnip, mushy peas, steamed green beans and a fresh seasonal salad.

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MOVIE MONDAY - PILLARS OF THE EARTH

“Study history, study history. In history lies all the secrets of statecraft.” - Winston Churchill
 
At the weekend we started watching the 2012 eight-part mini-series “The Pillars of the Earth”. This is based on Ken Follett’s book of the same name and is directed by Sergio Mimica-Gezzan. It stars Ian McShane, Matthew Macfadyen, Eddie Redmayne, Hayley Atwell, Natalia Wörner, Anatole Taubman and Rufus Sewell. It is a joint German/Canadian/UK production and has the expansive historical cavalcade type of approach that suits the mini-series format very well – certainly a movie of this book would not have done it justice.
 
The plot unfolds in the England of 1135 AD, a dark and violent time. King Henry I’s only legitimate heir has died in a shipwreck, and the king has neglected God and the church during his reign. The priests and bishops are most eager to put a religious man on the throne after the poisoning of the king, and in return for swearing allegiance to them, they promise Stephen, the nephew of the king, to enthrone him. A fierce battle of succession ensues between Stephen and King Henry’s only legitimate child Maude.
 
At this time, a young and ambitious monk named Philip is made Prior of Kingsbridge, a town that has suffered in recent times and that is in dire need to have its church rebuilt. Tom Builder travels through England with his son Alfred, his daughter Martha and after his wife Agnes died in childbirth, they are joined by the two outlaws Ellen and Jack. Finally, Tom finds a job in Shiring, but the earl, Lord Bartholomew is conspiring against the new king Stephen and the William Hamleigh, who was rejected by the lord’s daughter Aliena. Philip, Tom and his family and Aliena are faced with several challenges and hardships, but their paths cross in Kingsbridge, and they all will play a vital role in the construction of the brand new cathedral.
 
There is intrigue aplenty, politics, love, sex, battle, violence, incest, skullduggery and lots of sweeping, inspiring panoramas of life in the twelfth century at all levels of society. The acting is good, the costumes and sets well-produced and the direction tight enough for such a mammoth undertaking of filming a novel of this scope and intricacy. Be warned that the series contains lots of violence and sex and also some very colourful language and mature themes.
 
We look forward to watching the rest of this series, but also I believe there is a sequel, “World without End”, which I would like to get hold of to watch too. This sequel doesn't rate as highly on IMDB as does the original series, but nevertheless, it does get good reviews. Definitely worth watching if you like epic historical dramas.

MOVIE MONDAY - ALL HEART

“One of the hardest things in life is having words in your heart that you can’t utter.”   James Earl Jones

Yesterday was a cold winter’s day with wind and rain. In the gray gloom of the afternoon we sat down in the warmth of our home and as we hadn’t had any lunch, we popped some corn and armed with bowls of its fragrant floccules we watched a movie. This was a movie that I had seen in a cinema when I was living in Holland when it had first come out and I remembered it as good one. When I saw it at our DVD shop I got it, as I was keen to watch it again. It is the 1993 Vincent Ward film, “Map of the Human Heart”, an Australian, Canadian, French and UK co-production. This is an ambitious film and deals with a number of significant themes, however, at the heart of the plot is a tender love story that begins in childhood and continues until the characters’ maturity.

In the 1930s an Eskimo “half-breed” named Avik lives with his only surviving relative, an elderly grandmother in the north of Canada. He encounters a map-maker, Walter, who becomes a father figure for him. As Avik learns to speak English by helping Walter with his surveying, it becomes apparent that he has contracted the “white man’s disease”, tuberculosis. Walter takes the boy with him back to Montreal where he leaves him to be treated at a sanatorium. Avik meets a fellow child-patient there, the “half-breed” French Canadian girl named Albertine. Their friendship blossoms and together they get into all sorts of mischief annoying the strict Catholic Sister Banville. Albertine is cured and departs from the sanatorium leaving Avik heartbroken. When he too is cured, he returns to his own people and his grandmother. His return is at an unfortunate time when there is dearth of game, for which he is blamed as he has now been contaminated by the “white man’s ways”. Now a young man, he teams up with Walter on a return expedition and signs up for the war. He’s assigned to a bomber group and has good luck in bombing flights over Germany. Near the end of his service time, he chances to run into Albertine again, who is working in bomber command, and the two rekindle their friendship, which has turned into something more, for Avik, at least. Unfortunately, all sorts of misfortune dogs their relationship and part of it relates to Albertine’s desire to pass herself off as a “pure blood” white woman.

Both Jason Scott Lee and Robert Joamie who play the older and younger Avik do a great job with their roles and are quite convincing as the Inuit boy who grows into a troubled “white man’s” manhood. Anne Parillaud and Annie Galipeau who are cast as the older and younger Albertine do equally well, although their roles are not as meaty as Avik’s. Patrick Bergin cuts a dashing figure as Walter until the viewer’s sympathies are alienated by his character’s development and changing behaviour. A young John Cusack as a mapmaker makes a cameo appearance and the iconic Jeanne Moreau is a convincing Sister Banville and has some memorable one-liners (“And this is Hell, where all the Protestants are!”). Ben Mendelssohn, the Australian actor, has a good supporting role.

The direction is good, although one could (in a mischievous and carping mood) complain that Ward has used every cliché in the book and that he favours melodrama and coincidence to move his story along. The movie is poignant and has a good story, which overcomes most of its faults. It is a memorable film and the tender-hearted viewer may find it quite sad and heart-wrenching, while greatly involving and engaging. The jaded cynic will be on the lookout for faults and will do much to criticise the film on every count. Vincent Ward invested his pay off for his work on “Alien” (1992) to finance this film, which says something about his commitment to it and his belief in its worth.

The music by Gabriel Yared is appropriate and underlines the drama in the film in a supportive and apt way. Eduardo Serra’s cinematography is beautiful and he does much with the lonely frozen expanses of the arctic, the fiery bombing of Dresden, the flying sequences and the panoramic views of countryside. Visually, this is a greatly stimulating film and there are many scenes in it that are quite memorable and haunting. The ending of the film is quite heart-rending and the camera work is especially good.

We saw the movie on DVD and it ran for 109 minutes, although the original film was much longer than this (4-5 hours long, I believe, perhaps one could hope that will be released as mini-series). It would be good to have watched a director’s cut as I am sure some of the abruptness of some scenes would be eliminated and some subplots would have been allowed more time to develop into stronger supporting frameworks for the main story. The sweeping epic of the story would have been allowed to flourish even more and the character development would not have been as forced.

The themes of the film relate to family, personal identity love, death, and man’s inhumanity to man. Throw in some prejudice, search for one’s place in the world and the despoliation of our environment and you have a very full bag for the 109 minutes of the film. One could classify this movie as a romantic drama, but it had more depth than a typical “chick flick” and one that most men would enjoy equally well. We found it a tough film to watch as it was intense and generated some strong emotions, however, it was also a good film, one that we would recommend to our friends (but maybe not to some of our acquaintances).

GRADUS AD PARNASSUM

“The lunatic, the lover, and the poet, are of imagination all compact.” - William Shakespeare

I really must moderate my expectations of everything, as setting them too high can so often lead to disappointment. It so often is the case with movies, especially if the marketing machine has drummed up some of these films to be so wonderful and so definitely worth seeing that one goes in and expects the great heavens to open up! We had such an experience yesterday when we watched Terry Gilliam’s 2009 “The Imaginarium of Dr Parnassus”. The film was an extremely self-indulgent fantasy which was based on a Faustian “pact with the devil” story, serving as a springboard for some hallucinatory excursions in the fantastical.

The plot is set in modern-day London where Doctor Parnassus sets up his itinerant and antiquated sideshow troupe. Accompanying him are his young daughter Valentina, the midget Percy, and his assistant Anton. The sideshow is called an “Imaginarium”, and while in trance, Dr Parnassus is able to transport anyone who enters into it into an imaginary world where their dreams come true. Meanwhile, the troupe rescues Tony, a young man that was hanged on a bridge by the Russian Mafia. Tony and Valentina fall in love with each other and the jealous Anton discovers that his competitor for Valentina’s affections may be a liar. The Doctor claims to have lived for more than one thousand years because long ago he made a deal with the devil (“Mr Nick”), in which he gained immortality. Many centuries later, on meeting his one true love, Dr Parnassus made another deal with the devil, trading his immortality for youth, on condition that when his first-born reached its 16th birthday he or she would become the property of Mr Nick. Valentina is now almost the doomed age and Doctor Parnassus makes a new bet with Mr. Nick, that whoever seduces five souls in the Imaginarium will have Valentina as a prize. Dr Parnassus promises his daughter’s hand in marriage to the man that helps him win the bet. While the race for the souls is running, Dr Parnassus must fight to save his daughter and overcome surreal obstacles, while trying to undo the mistakes of his past.

The movie belongs to veteran actor Christopher Plummer who gives a magnificent performance as Dr Parnassus. Often of course, he has to act drivel, but that doesn’t take away from his marvellous recital. He relishes the role and the character and makes the most of the material that he has. Heath Ledger, who plays Tony, gave a middling performance although once again the script failed him. It was poignant watching him not only because this was his last role (what a waste of a life!), but also because at one point he has some lines that seem to be very prophetic: “But...Rudolph Valentino, James Dean, Princess Di... All those people... They’re all dead. Yes, but immortal, nevertheless. They won’t get old or fat. They won’t get sick or feeble. They are beyond fear. Because, they are forever young. They are gods...”

As Ledger died during the shooting of the film he was replaced by Johnny Depp, Jude Law and Colin Farrell as “Imaginarium Tonies 1, 2 and 3”. The plot was convoluted enough to allow face-changing and the stitching is almost invisible. Depp, Law and Farrell were paying tribute to a fellow actor and friend and their contribution is summed up by Depp’s statement: “Well... the unfortunate passing of Heath was such an utter devastation, obviously to his family and friends, but also he was in the middle of... Dr. Parnassus with Terry Gilliam. Gilliam was kind of stuck... We got together - three actors, Colin Farrell, Jude Law and myself - and finished up the role basically for Heath. Basically, what we said was ‘just give Heath... it’s Heath's money and it should go to Matilda [Heath Ledger's daughter].’”

Valentina is played with verve by Lily Cole, and Anton is played well enough by Andrew Garfield. Percy the Midget steals the scene every time he appears, played by Verne Troyer. On the other hand, Mr Nick is a caricature, a cheap and tawdry pantomime Mephistopheles played in a rather pedestrian way by Tom Waits who at least looks suitably slimy and repulsive for the role. The remaining supporting cast is greatly variable, ranging from the excellent to the ordinary. The music by Jeff Danna and Mychael Danna was unobtrusive but not memorable and the cinematography good, although as far as imaginative computer-generated fancies go, I still prefer “MirrorMask” and “The Fall”.

An interesting aside that seasoned piano players will appreciate. There is a visual pun in the film where a giant staircase is being climbed to a lofty peak, that that refers to the Latin phrase “Gradus ad Parnassum”. This means “A Step to Parnassus”. Parnassus was used to denote the highest point of a mountain range in central Greece, a few miles north of Delphi, of which the two summits, in Classical times, were called Tithorea and Lycoreia. In Greek mythology, Mount Parnassus was sacred to Apollo and the nine Muses, the inspiring god and goddesses of the arts. The phrase has often been used to refer to various books of instruction, or guides, in which gradual progress in literature, language instruction, music, or the arts in general, is sought. “Doctor Gradus ad Parnassum” is a satirical piano composition by Claude Debussy, from his suite “Children’s Corner”, poking fun at Muzio Clementi’s original collection of instructional piano pieces called “Gradus ad Parnassum”.

I will probably see this film again in a few years time, and I shall be interested in reviewing it again. As it was, I still recommend it to others to see, having all that I have written above in mind, I am sure that you will enjoy it more than I did.

ART SUNDAY - MARIA PACE-WYNTERS

“Every child comes with the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.” - Rabindranath Tagore

I illustrated yesterday’s blog with an image by Maria Pace-Wynters, and I decided for Art Sunday to say a little about this Canadian artist and showcase another of her beautiful works. She is well-schooled, with several qualifications in fine arts in the 1980s and 1990s. She has had several exhibitions since then and is very prolific, most of her work in mixed media and much of it quirky, winsome portraits of women and children. The artist’s website has a wealth of her art, as well as links, her resumé and lots of other goodies.

Her style is individual and her palette coruscates not only with brilliant colour (reminiscent of  Odilon Redon), but also with pastel shades (Like the pink period Picasso), whose superposition creates a rich visual texture. The waif-like faces of the children with expressive eyes contrast with the red-haired vamps of the adult women that populate her paintings and create the artist’s own mythology. The circus has inspired some painting cycles with “Circus Girl” and “Harlequins” exemplifying this.

Cats and dogs wander in and out of the compositions providing pivot points for the human figures. Bright flowers decorate the backgrounds, figure on fabrics or hang suspended from the air and provide a focal point that somehow manages to concentrate one’s attention even more on the subject.

The painting above is called “The Felted Hat” and shows Ms Pace-Wynters’ skill in depicting the innocence of childhood and her mastery of colour.

WORLD INTERNET DAY & GEORGE GRIE

“The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw

According to some sources, today is World Internet Day. We depend on the web for communication, entertainment, ease and efficiency of data transfer, for research, recreation and task convenience. Our daily speech has been peppered with numerous neologisms that relate to web-based activities and services it offers. Nowadays, doing business without the internet is inconceivable. Like any other good invention, the net can be used for criminal activities and there are numerous cases relating to internet crime, stealing of personal data and identity, phishing, scamming, illegal activities of all kinds, racism, exploitation, pornography, etc. Use of the internet has made life easier and more pleasant, but also it has created many monsters that threaten us.

As today is also Art Sunday, I shall introduce to those of my readers who do not know of his work, George Grie (1962- ), an internet artist extraordinaire whose digital, neo-surrealist images can be widely accessed on the net. Grie is a Russian-Canadian artist whose classical art training stood him in good stead when he started his career as a professional fine art painter and graphic artist. His work is influenced by the well-known surrealists Dali, Magritte and neosurrealists Zdzisław Beksiński and Wojciech Siudmak.

Has art has strong visual impact and uses confronting images that engage the viewers, making them try to rationalise and question what they see. There is an underlying unstated philosophisation, inner reflection and sense of wonder in the oxymoronic images he produces. Some of his works are a social commentary on contemporary mores, others are playful imaginings, or even clever illustrations based on word play or extension of symbolic meanings into territory not explored. His palette is limited and the images are often rendered in grisaille with only occasional touches of colour. This suits the fantastical and dream-like visions he produces and contributes to the graphical quality of his work.

The image above is Grie's “The Langoliers or Inevitable Entropy”.  The Artist states the following about this work of his:
“ ‘The ultimate purpose of life is to facilitate entropy. We are the langoliers of the present reality.’ - Kurt Vonnegut

Stephen King's “The Langoliers” Book summary:
When a plane passes through a mysterious time warp, several people find themselves utterly alone when the rest of the passengers and all of the crew vanish. The survivors manage to land, where as they discover that time seems to stand still and that they seem to be the only people left on the planet. To complicate matters, mysterious creatures called Langoliers are chasing them. The Langoliers’ work is to erase moments in time that have already passed into history.

Entropy
The concept of entropy has entered the domain of sociology, generally as a metaphor for chaos, disorder or dissipation of energy, rather than as a direct measure of thermodynamic or information entropy. In the nineteenth century, a well-liked scientific notion suggested that entropy was gradually increasing, and therefore the universe was running down and eventually all motion would cease. When people realized that this would not happen for billions of years, if it happened at all, concern about this notion generally disappeared.

Entropy, historically, has often been associated with the amount of order, disorder, and or chaos in a thermodynamic system. The traditional definition of entropy is that it refers to changes in the status quo of the system and is a measure of "molecular disorder" and the amount of wasted energy in a dynamical energy transformation from one state or form to another.”
George Grie, August 2007

BACH & GOULD

“My idea is that there is music in the air, music all around us; the world is full of it, and you simply take as much as you require.” - Edward Elgar

For Music Saturday today some Bach played by the incomparable Glenn Gould. This is the first movement from the Concerto in G Minor for Clavier (BWV 1058). Pseudopurists may wince, but I think the artistry of the performer and the wonderful arrangement would have pleased Bach greatly. Bach was always one for arranging and rearranging both his music and others’. The music flows like a tumbling stream down a mountainside and the conversation between soloist and ensemble is beautiful.

Much was said of Gould and his playing not the least of which his habit of vocalizing the music as he was playing it. All I see is a consummate artist who immerses himself in the music, body and soul. He was born in Toronto in 1932, and enjoyed a privileged, sheltered upbringing in the quiet Beach neighborhood. His musical gifts became apparent in infancy, and though his parents never pushed him to become a star prodigy, he became a professional concert pianist at age fifteen, and soon gained a national reputation. By his early twenties, he was also earning recognition through radio and television broadcasts, recordings, writings, lectures and compositions. Shortly after his fiftieth birthday, Gould died suddenly of a stroke in 1982.

SCARED SACRED

“Man! The only animal in the world to fear.” - D.H. Lawrence

The weekend was one of glorious autumn weather, with beautiful fine, sunny days in which the temperature was around 18˚C, but extremely pleasant. The temperature dropped at night to single digit figures, but it meant a very comfortable night under the doona! We went for a drive and visited friends in Emerald, in the Dandenongs, on Sunday, which was very nice, but I also managed to do some work on my projects. There was even time on Sunday evening to watch a movie.

It was the rather gruelling 2004 documentary by Canadian film-maker Velcrow Ripper, “Scared Sacred”. This documentary is an intense and confronting view of some of the “ground zeros” of the world: Bhopal, India (site of the Union Carbide factory pesticide leak that killed 22,000 in 1984); the Killing Fields of the Khmer rouge regime in Cambodia (where at least 200,000 people died between 1974 and 1979); the Nazi extermination camps (where six million Jews were murdered); Afghanistan with its thousands of Taliban victims in the 1990s; World Trade Centre in New York (where on September 11th 2001, nearly 3,000 people died); Hiroshima, Japan (where on August 6th, 1945 the first atomic bomb attack occurred and killed 140,000 people); Israel/Palestine where continuing conflict claims victims on both sides; Bosnia, Pakistan and other such terrible sites…

The documentary’s punning title reflects Ripper’s wish to find some hope in the darkest moments of mankind’s history. The documentary took five years to make and Ripper had to undergo some serious soul searching himself in order to be able to cope with what he encountered worldwide. The film is intimate because Ripper narrates it and it is often in a way that is almost like a diarist writes – to satisfy his own needs. We feel a voyeuristic embarrassment by watching and listening to this exposition of mankind’s most terrible deeds in a way that forces us to confront our own fears and repressed emotions.

The theme of the documentary is violence and how we react to it. Ripper tries to convince us that while our primitive human nature seems to prompt us to respond to violence with violence, our higher civilised self motivates us to react in a different, more intellectual (and ultimately more emotionally satisfying) manner. Some of the most confronting of scenes for me were those of Palestinians and Jews who had lost their children. Children that were accidentally shot in the crossfire of the conflict. The way that the parents reacted to this loss was in an amazingly courageous and highly civilised way. Their pain was not lessened more effectively thus, nor was their loss recouped, but the way in which they acted was astounding and possessed of a magnificent dignity and altruism…

Ripper can get a little too nebulous and “flower-childlike” in some ways, taking in all of the blackness, destruction, negativity and sheer terror, and exhaling sunshine and positive energy. This Polyanna-like mentality can grate on some people’s nerves. However, he means well and the examples that he gives in support of his interpretations and reactions rescue his new-ageist point of view. In fact when the people in the midst of the disasters begin to give their own personal accounts of their survival and relate how they coped with the immensity of the grief that they had to confront, it is then that the documentary is at its most powerful.

Overall, I would say that is a documentary well worth seeing, despite its faults: It is a trifle too long, episodic and meandering, sometimes reminiscent of an amateur film (perhaps this is not a disadvantage). I suspect, however, that it is sermon that is directed towards the converted and the preaching of Ripper is only effective when it is directed towards those who are already sensitized to the sacred and scared aspects of humanity’s ground zeros.

Watch it, it’s a good one!

SONG SATURDAY - ABRAHAM'S MEMORY

“Only the dead have seen the end of war.” - Plato

Some songs stay with us for years and years, and every time we hear them the memories they evoke are as strong and as full of emotion as the first time we heard them. This is a French song by Céline Dion, which I first heard on board a plane flying to Europe on a sleepless night and it touched my heart as it syntonised with my mood and thoughts at the time. I must say that I don’t like Céline’s English songs, but she has recorded some extraordinarily beautiful French ones and this is one of them.



Abraham’s Memory

A last prayer before obeying
The nature of things and our fathers bidding
Before leaving

Just another life saved from forgetfulness
Engraved well, better than with a sword
In Abraham's memory

Long is the waiting of the hour
Heavy the sadness in our hearts
But so great our love and faith in you
Although it’s difficult to understand you sometimes.

What'll tomorrow bring? Our destinies so far away,
A little peace, love and some bread is all you need
In the middle of your hands.

Long is the waiting of the hour
Heavy the sadness in our hearts
But so great our love and faith in you,
Although it’s difficult to understand you sometimes

Lead our children to the end of time
Full of joys more than tears –
In Abraham's memory

La Mémoire D’ Abraham

Juste une prière avant d'obéir
A l'ordre des choses et de nos pères
Avant de partir
Juste une autre vie sauvée de l'oubli
Gravée bien mieux que par une lame
Dans la mémoire d'abraham

Longue l'attente de l'heure
Lourde la peine en nos coeurs
Mais si grands notre amour notre foi en toi
Et difficile de te comprendre parfois

Que sera demain nos destins plus loin?
Un peu de paix d'amour et de pain
Au creux de tes mains

Longue l'attente de l'heure
Lourde la peine en nos coeurs
Mais si grands notre amour notre foi en toi
Et difficile de te comprendre parfois

Conduis nos enfants pour la fin des temps
Remplis de plus de joies que de larmes
La mémoire d' Abraham

MOVIE MONDAY - ARARAT

“In such a world of conflict, a world of victims and executioners, it is the job of thinking people, not to be on the side of the executioners.” – Albert Camus

Last weekend we watched a 2002 Canadian/French film, Atom Egoyan’s “Ararat”. The film unites several stories quite successfully and is partly a vehicle for the retelling of the Armenian genocide of 1915, partly a film about Arshile Gorky (1904?-1948), an Armenian painter who lived through the genocide in Turkey and migrated to America and also the story of a director making a film about Armenia and the genocide.

Gorky’s last few years were miserable and riddled with disease and mishap, causing him to commit suicide at the age of 45 years in Connecticut, this being significant in the film’s plot. The film’s story is set in Toronto, where Ani, an art historian (Arsinée Khanjian) investigates the life and art of Gorky. She is of Armenian heritage and is immersed in Gorky’s story on several levels. Her son, the young Raffi (David Alpay) is in love with his step-sister, who blames Ani for the suicide of her father.

In parallel with this story is that of an ageing customs inspector (Christopher Plummer) who is on the cusp of retirement. He has a stormy relationship with his son and in order to patch things up he tries to explain his world-view to him by recounting the story of a long interview he had with Raffi, whom he apprehended when he returned from Turkey carrying canisters of exposed film. Supposedly, the film is footage that Raffi has shot in the region of Mount Ararat, to be included in a film about the Armenian genocide that is being made by the famous director Saroyan (played by Charles Aznavour, himself of Armenian heritage).

The film within a film theme brings together the characters and plot elements quite adroitly, but there is some challenging and confronting images of the genocide that will make many viewers recoil in horror. Turkey still refuses to recognise the events of 1915 as genocide which is what Armenians and over twenty other countries call the massive exterminations that took place at that time. In any case the Armenian “Great Calamity” was the cause of the Armenian diaspora and is in any case a flagrant abuse of human rights by the precursor to the Turkish state, the Ottoman Empire.

The film explores several themes, most of them quite melancholy and serious. The relationship between parents and estranged children, suicide, genocide, war crimes, the falsification of history, propaganda, incest, drug trafficking, and artistic inspiration. The film is one which is highly controversial and some people regard it as a masterpiece, while others view it as a flawed piece of cinematic pro-Armenian propaganda. Some people regard it as a trivialisation of an important historical event. I am glad I saw the film, even if it was quite confronting and in some parts badly patched together. It was quite complex and operated at multiple levels, some more successfully than others. Do see it, unless violent images shock you or disturb you.

JULY

“Begin - to begin is half the work, let half still remain; again begin this, and thou wilt have finished.” – Ausonius

July is named after Julius Caesar. This name was given to the month after Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, in order to honour the killed leader. Before that time, the month was called Quintilius meaning the fifth month (Martius being the first month in the old Roman calendar). It is of significance that this month had 31 days, because anything less would not have been good enough for honouring the dead Caesar! In Anglo-Saxon the month is called Litha, meaning the month of the Midsummer Moon. In Gaelic it is Am Mios buidhe, the yellow month. In Welsh, July is termed Gorfennaf, meaning the “Month of Completion”.

Hot July brings cooling showers,
Apricots and gillyflowers.

In Australia of course, July is the midwinter month, equivalent to the Northern hemisphere January. July 1st is also the beginning of our financial year and I ma immersed in the budgeting process for this financial year, at work!

The birthstone for July is the ruby. The name of the gem is derived from the Latin rubeus, meaning red. The best rubies are said to be of a dark red colour identical to the colour of pigeons’ blood. Natural, large red rubies are the most expensive of gems. It is an aluminium oxide, a variety of corundum. India and other Eastern countries such as Burma are associated with the mining of beautiful natural stones. Nowadays, however, synthetic rubies abound and it may be difficult for a non-expert to tell a natural from a synthetic gem. The water lily symbolises July.

Lorsque vole bas l’aronde
attends alors que la pluie tombe
(When the swallow flies low
wait soon for the rain to fall)
French weather rhyme

Juillet sans orage
famine au village
(July without storm
famine in the village)
French weather rhyme

Gather up the wheat and tie it
Thresh it, bundle it up and mill it
To your health this good cup
Give a piece of bread to me to sup.
Greek folk rhyme

Today is Canada Day, so best wishes to my Canadian friends. Canada is the world’s second largest country with an area of close to 10 million square km and a population of just over 33 million people. It was created in 1867 by the British North American Act. It comprises the great barren Arctic Ocean islands in the North, through the huge grasslands in the central South and the Rocky Mountain chain in the West to fertile farmlands in the East close to the great lakes. Mineral resources, oil, gas, timber, extensive farming have contributed to Canada’s economic success, but the majority of the country remains greatly unexploited. The capital city is Ottawa and other cities include: Montréal, Québec, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary, Regina, Winnipeg and Halifax.