POETRY JAM - BALLAD

“The only true wisdom is in knowing you know nothing.” – Socrates
 

Poetry Jam is a meme that relates to a creative challenge issued by Mary on her blog of the same name. This week the challenge is:

•    To think of what you KNOW for sure and write about it

•    To think of what you DON’T know for sure and write about it

•    To think about what you WISH you knew for sure and write about it

•    To use one of the above quotes as inspiration for your poem

Here is my offering:

The quote by Socrates that begins this entry today made me ponder somewhat about the things that I know for sure. “Know” is a tricky word because many of us use it in ways that are not altogether the way that the meaning of the word is given by the dictionary. Which immediately made me look it up, and herewith the three main meanings of the word!

know |nəʊ|: verb ( past knew |njuː|; past participle known |nəʊn| )

1 [with clause] be aware of through observation, inquiry, or information: Most people know that CFCs can damage the ozone layer | I know what I’m doing.

• [with obj.] have knowledge or information concerning: I would write to him if I knew his address | [no obj.]: I know of one local who shot himself.

• be absolutely certain or sure about something: I just knew it was something I wanted to do | [with obj.] : I knew it!

2 [with obj.] have developed a relationship with (someone) through meeting and spending time with them; be familiar or friendly with: He knew and respected Laura.

• have a good command of (a subject or language).

• recognise (someone or something): Isabel couldn’t hear the words clearly but she knew the voice.

• be familiar or acquainted with (something): A little restaurant she knew near Leicester Square.

• have personal experience of (an emotion or situation): A man who had known better times.

• (usu. be known as) regard or perceive as having a specified characteristic: The loch is known as a dangerous area for swimming.

• (usu. be known as) give (someone or something) a particular name or title: The doctor was universally known as ‘Hubert’.

• (know someone/thing from) be able to distinguish one person or thing from (another): You are convinced you know your own baby from any other in the world.

3 [with obj.] archaic have sexual intercourse with (someone). [a Hebraism which has passed into modern languages; compare with German erkennen, French connaître.]

And hence to the challenge: I know that I love my sweetheart. Does my sweetheart love me? I wish I knew for sure if my sweetheart loved me!

Ballad

My love loves so true

All the green leaves in Springtime;

My love loves the blooms and the breeze.

The doves on the wing

The splash of the fountain,

The laugh of a child.

My love loves so well

The gold dancing wheat fields,

The poppies, the song of the lark.

A cool murmuring brooklet

In the deep shady forest

Away from the midsummer’s heat.

My love loves so much

All the bright hues of autumn

The big cool drops of rain.

The scent of wet earth,

The ripe berries

The taste of sweet young wine.

My love loves so true

Each winter snowflake,

My love loves the sighs of the wind.

The crackle of fire blazing,

The mirror of lake frozen, wan.

My love loves all of these,

But my love loves me not,

My love loves me not.

GUY FAWKES DAY

“Society exists for the benefit of its members, not the members for the benefit of society.” - Herbert Spencer
 
Today is the Cry of Independence Day in El Salvador; Liberty Day in the US Virgin Islands; Guy Fawkes’ Day in England; and is also a Dismal Day.
 
It is the anniversary of the birthday of:
Ida Tarbell, writer (1857);
Raymond Duchamp-Villon, artist (1876);
Will Durant, writer (1885);
Joel McCrea, actor (1905);
Roy Rogers, actor (1912);
Vivien Leigh (Vivian Mary Hartley), actress (1913);
Art Garfunkel, singer (1942);
Elke Sommer, actress (1942);
Sam Shepard, playwright (1943);
Andrea McArdle, actress (1963);
Tatum O’ Neal, US actress (1963).
 
The silver wattle (mimosa), Acacia decurrens dealbata, is the flower for today’s birthdays.  It symbolises sensitivity, exquisiteness and fastidiousness. Some people consider it unlucky to bring this fragrant flower into the house.
 
Please to remember
The Fifth of November,
Gunpowder treason and plot;
I see no reason
Why gunpowder treason
Should ever be forgot.
 
‘Twas God’s mercy to be sent
To save our King and Parliament
Three score barrels laid below,
For old England’s overthrow
With a lighted candle, with a lighted match
Boom, boom to let him in.
              Anonymous Hertfordshire Rhyme
 
In England, Guy Fawkes Night (also called Bonfire Night and Firework Night) is an annual celebration observed on November 5 for more than 400 years following the Gunpowder Plot of 1605 when 13 conspirators planned to blow up Parliament and kill King James I.
 
Guy Fawkes was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. People in London lit bonfires to celebrate the failure of the plot, and an act of Parliament was passed to appoint the date as a day of thanksgiving for the “joyful deliverance of James I”. This act remained in force for 254 years, until 1859.

MOVIE MONDAY - YOUR SISTER'S SISTER

“People talk about mumblecore but I prefer bumblecore, hyper-realistic bee movies about how bees really are.” - Mindy Kaling
 
Last weekend we watched a very disappointing film that convinced me once again that I am definitely getting older and that I have crossed the generation gap (possibly two generation gaps…). I am now a middle aged man heading towards the conservatism of old age, and have begun to view many of the new generation’s “culture” with incomprehension and therefore a fair degree of disdain. There! Having confessed my prejudice, you can now take my review of the film with as much salt as you care to sprinkle on it.
 
The film is Lynn Shelton’s 2011 “Your Sister’s Sister” starring Mark Duplass, Emily Blunt and Rosemarie DeWitt. This is ostensibly classified as a comedy, but “romantic” it definitely isn’t. It concerns a triangle of two half-sisters and their man friend. One of the sisters is lesbian, the other is straight and the man is the most infuriating, lily-livered, sleazy nong I have seen in recent times in films. The sisters vie for his attentions and there is a lot of talking, swearing, sleeping with each other and generally a lot of airing of “contemporary” issues – sex, lesbianism, relationships, marriage, sex, friendship, family, sex, veganism, death, sex, lies, pretensions, dirty talk, hypocrisy…
 
Now, don’t get me wrong, I am a very tolerant person and quite accepting of people’s lifestyles and sexual orientations. What I won’t tolerate is twaddle masquerading as wit, swearing masquerading as candour, and lack of a story masquerading as realism. The film was largely improvised by the three lead actors and it shows. Movies have a written script because it really does show when there is no script, as in this movie.  And actors who pretend to be real but turn out phony. The film was dull, predictable and completely lacking any charm.
 
Mark Duplass exemplified the bathos of acting in this movie, in which he was a co-producer, along with several others and Lynn Shelton the director who also ‘wrote” it. He is completely unlikeable and has no redeeming features whatsoever, I’m afraid. Emily Blunt I have watched before and she acted well, but in this film she cannot do anything with the drivel of first world problems she was subjected to act in. Rosemarie de Witt tries the hardest to make something of her cardboard cutout role as the lesbian sister, however, once again the material she has to work with betrays her efforts.
 
I watched very patiently through the first half-hour of the movie, trying to swallow the bilge, hoping it would start getting interesting… But no, it just went on and on without anybody saying or doing anything that made me think. The ending was the worst. Smug, gratuitous, predictable, self-indulgent and “mumblecore” to its core… In case you don't know what this is:

Mumblecore is a subgenre of American independent film characterised by low budget production values and amateur actors, heavily focussed on naturalistic dialogue, which began in 2002 and unfortunately continues to be made to the present. The first mumblecore movie is considered to be Andrew Bujalski’s 2002 movie “Funny Ha Ha” - another irritating movie without a plot, with people who are uninteresting, boring, whiny and aimless.
 
Watch “Your Sister’s Sister” at your risk – we felt we wasted 90 minutes of our life at the end of it. Reading some of the hype, including the critics’ quotes on the promo poster above makes me roll my eyes. What are these people thinking? Please, get a life!

ART SUNDAY - CHARDIN

“Every artist undresses his subject, whether human or still life. It is his business to find essences in surfaces, and what more attractive and challenging surface than the skin around a soul?” - Richard Corliss
 
Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin (b. 1699, Paris, d. 1779, Paris) was a French painter of still lifes and domestic scenes showing an intimate realism and a tranquil atmosphere. His paintings are infused with a luminous quality and show evidence of a masterly handling of the paint. For his still lifes he chose humble objects (“Le Buffet”, 1728), and for his genre paintings modest events (“Dame Cachetant une Lettre”, 1733 - Lady Sealing a Letter). He also executed some fine portraits, especially the pastels of his last years. He was nominated to the Royal Academy of Painting in 1728.
 
Born in Paris, Chardin never really left his native quarter of Saint-Germain-des-Prés. Little is known about his schooling and training, although he worked for a time with the artists Pierre-Jacques Cazes and Noël-Nicolas Coypel. In 1724 he was admitted to the Academy of Saint Luc. His true career, however, did not begin until 1728 when, thanks to the portrait painter Nicolas de Largillière (1656-1746), he became a member of the Royal Academy of Painting, to which he offered “La Raie” (The Skate) and “Le Buffet”, both now at the Louvre Museum.
 
Although not yet established, he was beginning to gain a reputation. In 1731 he married Marguerite Saintard, and two years later the first of his figure paintings appeared, “Dame Cachetant une Lettre”. From then on Chardin alternated between paintings of “la vie silencieuse” (the silent life) or scenes of family life such as “Le Bénédicité” (The Grace) and half-figure paintings of young men and women concentrating on their work or play, such as “Le Jeune Dessinateur” (Young Man Drawing) and “L’ Enfant au Toton” (Child with Top, Louvre). The artist repeated his subject matter, and there are often several original versions of the same composition.
 
Chardin's wife died in 1735, and the estate inventory drawn up after her death reveals a certain affluence, suggesting that by this time Chardin had become a successful painter. In 1740 he was presented to Louis XV, to whom he offered “La Mère Laborieuse” (Mother Working) and “Le Bénédicité”. Four years later, he married Marguerite Pouget, whom he was to immortalise in a pastel portrait. These were the years when Chardin was at the height of his fame. Louis XV, for example, paid 1,500 livres for “La Serinette” (The Bird-Organ).
 
Chardin continued to rise steadily on the rungs of the traditional academic career. His colleagues at the academy entrusted him, first unofficially (1755), then officially (1761), with the hanging of the paintings in the Salon (official exhibition of the academy), which had been held regularly every two years since 1737 and in which Chardin had participated faithfully. It was in the exercise of his official duties that he met the encyclopaedist and philosopher Denis Diderot, who would devote some of his finest pages of art criticism to Chardin, the “grand magician”  that he admired so much.
 
Chardin’s carefully constructed still-lifes do not bulge with appetising foods and superficial brilliance often seen in the works of his contemporaries, but are concerned with the objects themselves and with the treatment of light. In his genre scenes he does not seek his models among the peasantry as his predecessors did; he paints the petty bourgeoisie of Paris. But manners have been softened, and his models seem to be far removed from Le Nain’s austere peasants. The housewives of Chardin are simply but neatly dressed and the same cleanliness is visible in the houses where they live. Everywhere a sort of intimacy and good fellowship constitute the charm of these modestly scaled pictures of domestic life that are akin in feeling and format to the works of Jan Vermeer.
 
Despite the triumphs of his early and middle life, Chardin’s last years were clouded, both in his private life and in his career. His only son, Pierre-Jean, who had received the Grand Prix (prize to study art in Rome) of the academy in 1754, committed suicide in Venice in 1767. By that time, the public’s taste had also changed. The new director of the academy, the all-powerful Jean-Baptiste-Marie Pierre, in his desire to restore historical painting to the first rank, humiliated the old artist by reducing his pension and gradually divesting him of his duties at the academy. Furthermore, Chardin’s sight was failing. He tried his hand at drawing with pastels. It was a new medium for him and less taxing on his eyes. Those pastels, most of which are in the Louvre Museum, are highly thought of in the 20th century, but that was not the case in Chardin’s own time.
 
Chardin lived out the remainder of his life in almost total obscurity, his work meeting with indifference. It was not until the middle of the 19th century that he was rediscovered by a handful of French critics, including the brothers Edmond and Jules de Goncourt, and collectors (the Lavalard brothers, for example, who donated their collection of Chardins to the Museum of Picardy in Amiens). Especially noteworthy is the LaCaze Collection donated to the Louvre in 1869. Today Chardin is considered the greatest still-life painter of the 18th century, and his canvases are coveted by the world’s most distinguished museums and collections.
 
His “Still Life with Pipe and Jug” above, of 1737 in the Louvre, is characteristic of his still life painting.

MUSIC SATURDAY - MARCELLO

“Define a lady:  She who owns an oboe yet refuses to play it.” – Oboe Jokes
 
The illustration is Canaletto's "Arrival of the French Ambassador at the Doge's Palace".
 
For Music Saturday a delicious concerto from the pen of an Italian Baroque composer, Alessandro Marcello (1684-1750). It is his Concerto per Oboe, strings and basso continuo in D minor (SF 935 - Op.1; first published in 1717). It is in three movements: I. Andante e spiccato; II. Adagio; and III. Presto. Marcel Ponseele (Baroque Oboe) is accompanied by the Ensemble “Il Gardellino”.
 
A slightly older contemporary of Antonio Vivaldi, Alessandro Marcello held concerts at his hometown of Venice. He composed and published several sets of concertos, including six concertos under the title of ‘La Cetra’ (The Lyre), as well as cantatas, arias, canzonets, and violin sonatas. Marcello often composed under the pseudonym Eterio Stinfalico, his name as a member of the celebrated Arcadian Academy (Pontificia Accademia degli Arcadi). He died in Padua in 1747. Alessandro's brother was Benedetto Marcello (1686~1739), also a composer.
 
Although his works are infrequently performed today, Marcello is regarded as a very competent composer. His ‘La Cetra’ concertos according to Grove are “unusual for their wind solo parts, concision and use of counterpoint within a broadly Vivaldian style, placing them as a last outpost of the classic Venetian Baroque concerto”.
 
This concerto Marcello wrote in D minor for oboe, strings and basso continuo is perhaps his best-known work. The absolutely delightful middle movement is often played alone, but it wonderfully complemented by the two outer movements. Its worth was attested to by Johann Sebastian Bach who transcribed it for harpsichord (BWV 974).

FOOD FRIDAY - RAISIN BREAD

“Let there be work, bread, water and salt for all.” - Nelson Mandela
 

It’s All Saints Day today and to celebrate it we baked raisin bread. This is a relatively easy recipe that always turns out well. The secret is to let the dough rise sufficiently in order to have a soft bread.
 

RAISIN BREAD
 

Ingredients
Melted butter, for greasing and brushing
250g plain white flour
250g plain wholemeal flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
¼ tsp ground allspice
2 tsp (7g/1 sachet) dried yeast
1 tsp sugar
1.5 tsp salt
175mL lukewarm water
100 mL lukewarm milk
1 cup sugar
1 cup sultanas/raisins
2/3 cup vegetable oil
Extra water, for brushing
 

Method

1. Brush a 10 x 20cm loaf pan with the melted butter to lightly grease. Measure all your ingredients.
2. Dissolve the yeast, sugar and a pinch of salt in the lukewarm water and stir to mix. Add a little flour to make a batter. Leave to rise.
3. Add the sugar to the lukewarm milk and dissolve to stir well. Mix with the risen batter.
4. Place the flour, salt and spices in a large bowl and mix well to combine. Add the sultanas/raisins.
5. Make a well in the centre and add the batter to the dry ingredients and mix well. Add more warm water to make a very soft dough.
6. Add the oil to the dough and knead to incorporate it, until smooth and elastic.
7. Shape the dough into a ball. Brush a large bowl with the melted butter to grease. Place the dough into the bowl and turn it over to lightly coat the dough surface with the butter.
8. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel and then place it in a warm, draught-free place to allow the dough to rise.
9. Leave the dough to prove until it is double its size, between 45-75 minutes at 30˚C. When the dough is ready, it will retain a finger imprint when lightly pressed.
10. Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down in the centre with your fist and knead on a lightly floured surface again for 2-3 minutes or until smooth and elastic and returned to its original size.
11. Preheat oven to 200°C.
12. Punch the dough down and shape into a loaf. Place the dough in the greased loaf pan. Brush lightly with the melted butter. Stand the pan in a warm, draught-free place, as before, for about 30 minutes or until the dough has risen about 1cm about the top of the pan.
13. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes or until golden and cooked through.
14. Turn the loaf immediately onto a wire rack and allow to cool.Once cool, store the loaf in a well-ventilated place at room temperature.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part fo the Food Trip Friday meme.

MOVEMBER 2013

“Everything I do from now on, I’ll have a mustache. I can promise you that. I don’t care who I have to convince. If you see me with a mustache in a movie or on stage in the future, you’ll know that I pitched the idea.” - Ty Burrell
 
Tomorrow, the first day of November begins the “Movember” campaign, which encourages men to grow moustaches for the month in order to raise funds and awareness for men’s health. This has helped raise the profile of prostate cancer and encourages men to see their general practitioner and get tested for prostate cancer. Statistics such as “one in eight Australian men will develop prostate cancer in their lifetime” provide an impetus for men to be aware of the disease and do their utmost to get screened and be treated at an early stage fi they need to be.
 
Of course, prostate disease is not the only reason for Movember. Testicular cancer, mental and health issues affect men in high numbers and these diseases also are highlighted during the month, with an emphasis on diagnosis, treatment and raising of funds for research. Movember challenges men to grow a moustache for the 30-days of November, thereby changing their appearance and the face of men’s health.
 
In October Mo Bros sign up at www.movember.com, and on the 1st of November with a clean-shaven face start their Mo growing journey. Then for the entire month, these men known as “Mo Bros”, effectively become walking, talking billboards for 30 days. Through their mustache growing efforts they raise awareness for the often ignored issues of men’s health, by prompting conversations wherever they go.
 
Another crucial part of being a Mo Bro is to raise funds for men’s health. Men donate their face, and much like taking part in a run or a walk for charity, ask their family and friends to sponsor their efforts. Movember’s not just for men. The women of Movember are known as “Mo Sistas”. They play a vital role in the success of Movember by supporting and encouraging the men in their life to get involved. Mo Sistas also get involved by signing up at www.movember.com, and participate by raising funds and awareness themselves. Essentially, Mo Sistas do everything that Mo Bros do, without a mustache.
 
Since its humble beginnings in 2003 in Melbourne, Australia, Movember has grown to become a truly global movement inspiring more than 3 million Mo Bros and Mo Sistas to participate across 21 countries worldwide. In 2012, over 1.1 million people around the world joined the movement, raising AUS $141.5 million.

HALLOWEEN TRADITIONS

“It’s said that All Hallows’ Eve is one of the nights when the veil between the worlds is thin - and whether you believe in such things or not, those roaming spirits probably believe in you, or at least acknowledge your existence, considering that it used to be their own. Even the air feels different on Halloween, autumn-crisp and bright.” - Erin Morgenstern
 
Tomorrow is Halloween, which is the last night of the Celtic year and is the night associated with witchcraft, fairies, elves and wicked spirits.  In countries where the Celtic influence is strong, customs surrounding Halloween are still current and relate to pagan rituals celebrating the beginning of the Winter cycle.  Tales of witches and ghosts are told, bonfires are lit, fortune-telling and mumming are practiced.  Masquerading is the order of the night, making of jack-o-lanterns and the playing of games pass the hours pleasantly. Bobbing for apples in a tub of water is an age-old custom.  These pagan practices have been incorporated into the Christian tradition through association with All Saints’ Day on November the first.
 
The seasonal association of the apple with Halloween goes back even to Roman times.  November 1st was the time when the Romans celebrated Pomona’s festival.  She was the goddess of orchards and ripe maturity.  Her festival was the time to rejoice in the fruits of the season and also the time to open up the Summer stores for Winter use.  In Celtic tradition the apple was the fruit of the Silver Bough of the Otherworld and symbolised love, fertility, wisdom and divination. The hazel was a sacred Celtic tree and the hazelnut symbolised wisdom, peace and love. A hazel tree grew by the sacred pool of Avalon and was described as the Tree of Life.
 
As Halloween is the night when witches and evil spirits, the souls of the dead and wicked fairy folk roam the earth, numerous superstitions surround the night and have as a characteristic and apotropaic or protective function.  The fire on the household hearth should on no account be left to die on this night, else evil spirits will descend down the chimney.  Bonfires were lit on hilltops to drive off witches.  Purification by fire ordained that people jumped over the flames, in some parts even cattle driven through the embers.  In some parts many an unfortunate old woman was burnt in these fires because she was suspected to be a witch.  The fires of purification were called Samhnagan.  Often, food offerings were left out for the fairies on this night.  Travelling was to be avoided at all costs as one could be led astray by the spirits and fairies.  If one had to go out, pieces of iron or cold steel were carried on one’s person as a repellent against witchcraft.
            Hey how for Hallow E’en
            A’ the witches tae be seen
            Some in black and some in green
            Hey how for Hallow E’en.

Other traditions surrounding Samhain (i.e. November 1st and beginning of Winter), involved the reversal of order and normal values, the reign of chaos.  This involved deriding figures of authority, hurling abuse and cabbages at notable people, playing tricks and practical jokes on friends and relatives.  Parties of “guisers” went around from house to house collecting apples, nuts or money while riding a hobby horse or carrying a horse’s head.  The association of the horse with this festival may go back to the ancient Roman festival of the October Horse, the last of the harvest feasts.  Such customs are still very active in some countries, especially the USA, where Halloween has been revived with vigour, no doubt because of its appeal but also because of commercial potential.
 
It was customary at this time of dying vegetation and the fall of the year to decorate houses with evergreens such as holly, fir or mistletoe.  This harks back to druidic tradition, which ritualised Autumn’s passage into Winter, the evergreen being a reminder that all was not lost, and life went on, ever vigilant of the return of Spring.  Pliny records a Druidic ritual where the mistletoe was cut with a golden sickle, to fall onto a white cloak and not allowed to touch the ground.  Two white bulls were sacrificed and a feast held.  The ritual sacrifice and slaughter of animals at this time was also seen in Gaul and Teutonic lands.  It was as much a Winter feast and laying in of Winter stores as it was also a killing of animals to conserve the meagre fodder during the harsh Winter months.
 
In even older times, human sacrifice was practised and this was to appease the Winter gods and to ensure the return of Spring and bring fertility.  The Welsh festival of the Black Sow held at this time is a vestige of the human sacrifice rituals.  The whole village ran down a hillside as fast as each could, shouting all the while: “Black Sow take the hindermost!”. The last person down the hill was the victim to be claimed by the Black Sow, the spirit of evil, cold and death.
 
Samhain was also a time of peace and all forms of violence, warring and fighting being suspended.  No divorces were allowed, making it therefore a time for celebrating marriages.  This also made it a time of the year when all sorts of love oracles were performed. A form of love divination was practised in Scotland and Northern England with hazelnuts on this night.  A group of young unmarried women gathered around the fire and each took a hazelnut and threw it into the flames, saying:
            If you love me, pop and fly,
            If you don’t lie and die.
 
She then started to recite the names of possible suitors, her husband being indicated by the popping of the nut in the flames.  A variation on this practised in Wales was the throwing into the flames of apple pips by two lovers.  The same rhyme as above was recited and if the two pips popped simultaneously the lovers would marry happily.  If the two pips exploded at different times, the two lovers would part.
 
Another divination involved a young woman taking a candle and going alone into a dark room with an apple.  The candle was placed in front of the mirror and the apple was consumed while the woman combed her hair, looking into the mirror all the while.  The face of the woman’s future lover (or of the Devil!) would then appear over her shoulder.
 

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

LOVE'S SACRIFICE

“We don’t live in the Garden. We live far from Eden. Every life is full of heartaches. Every life, frankly, is unspeakably sad.” - John Eldredge
 
“Le Jardin de la France” by surrealist painter Max Ernst is this week’s visual stimulus for Magpie Tales’ followers who take the challenge to  create verbally a suitable response. My offering follows the artist biography.
 
Max Ernst (born April 2, 1891, Bruhl, Germany; died April 1, 1976, Paris) was a German artist. He enrolled in the University at Bonn in 1909 to study philosophy, but soon abandoned this pursuit to concentrate on art. At this time he was interested in psychology and the art of the mentally ill. In 1911 Ernst became a friend of August Macke and joined the Rheinische Expressionisten group in Bonn. Ernst showed for the first time in 1912 at the Galerie Feldman in Cologne. At the Sonderbund exhibition of that year in Cologne he saw the work of Paul Cézanne, Edvard Munch, Pablo Picasso, and Vincent van Gogh. In 1913 he met Guillaume Apollinaire and Robert Delaunay and traveled to Paris. Ernst participated that same year in the Erste deutsche Herbstsalon.
 
In 1914 he met Jean Arp, who was to become a lifelong friend.Despite military service throughout World War I, Ernst was able to continue painting and to exhibit in Berlin at Der Sturm in 1916. He returned to Cologne in 1918. The next year he produced his first collages and founded the short-lived Cologne Dada movement with Johannes Theodor Baargeld; they were joined by Arp and others. In 1921 Ernst exhibited for the first time in Paris, at the Galerie au Sans Pareil.
 
He was involved in Surrealist activities in the early 1920s with Paul Éluard and André Breton. In 1925 Ernst executed his first frottages; a series of frottages was published in his book ‘Histoire Naturelle’ in 1926. He collaborated with Joan Miró on designs for Sergei Diaghilev that same year. The first of his collage-novels, ‘La Femme 100 Têtes’, was published in 1929. The following year the artist collaborated with Salvador Dalí and Luis Buñuel on the film ‘L’ Age d’ Or’.
 
His first American show was held at the Julien Levy Gallery, New York, in 1932. In 1936 Ernst was represented in Fantastic Art, Dada, Surrealism at the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1939 he was interned in France as an enemy alien. Two years later Ernst fled to the United States with Peggy Guggenheim, whom he married early in 1942. After their divorce he married Dorothea Tanning and in 1953 resettled in France. Ernst received the Grand Prize for painting at the Venice Biennale in 1954, and in 1975 the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum gave him a major retrospective, which traveled in modified form to the Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris, in 1975. He died on April 1, 1976, in Paris.
 
Love’s Sacrifice
 
When first my heart was opened up
A garden blossomed on my lips;
Love did my selfishness eclipse
And sunshine filled my empty cup.
 
I was an angel soaring high above
I gave you wings, a key to paradise;
While you disdainfully raised your price,
Selling your heart, and spurning love.
 
To love and you, all did I sacrifice
I severed wings, and fell to earth
Believing in your innate worth,
Yet all I gave you did not suffice,
 
And your voracious greed would not be sated
Until my very soul was in your hands.
Now is my garden buried under burning sands,
My angel wings lie broken, desecrated.
 
What was so pure, so holy, freely given
Discarded lies in some dirty gutter.
The candle flame will flicker, sputter,
My very soul wrested from me, riven…

MOVIE MONDAY - THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS

“When a white army battles Indians and wins, it is called a great victory, but if they lose it is called a massacre.” - Chiksika, Shawnee
 
When I was young I read the classics of literature, some appropriate for my age, others not so. One of them I remember vividly was James Fenimore Cooper’s “The Last of the Mohicans”. This was a rollicking tale quite exotic and full of adventure, battle and a plot full of incident and brave deeds. After reading it, I remember also a version of the same novel falling into my hands in the “Classics Illustrated” series – remember those? As a consequence, the novel stayed relatively fresh in my mind, well into my adulthood. And so often it is with the classics – we read them at a young age and then they get relegated to the depths of the bookcase, to remain there and not get re-read.
 
When I caught sight of the Michael Mann 1992 movie of “The Last of the Mohicans” starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Madeleine Stowe and Russell Means, I smiled and had to get it to watch as it conjured up visions of my youth and flights of my imagination. The film did not disappoint, and sure enough it stirred up my memories and the tale was told well enough cinematically.
 
The plot takes place in the mid-1700s in the Canadian/USA border where British and French troops do battle in colonial America, with aid from various native American war parties who have sided according to different loyalties. The British troops enlist the help of local colonial militia men, who are reluctant to leave their homes undefended. A budding romance between a British officer’s daughter and an independent man who was reared as a Mohican complicates things for the British officer, as the adopted Mohican pursues his own agenda despite the wrath of different people on both sides of the conflict.
 
There is plenty of spectacle in the movie, carefully orchestrated battle scenes, hand-to-hand combat, adventurous escapades, trekking through the wild frontier and lots of noble derring-do as the forces of good do battle with evil, personified by Magua (Wes Studi), the Indian with a grudge against the British who killed his family. It’s interesting that some Indians are represented as noble and good and others as evil and scheming – rather than the typical Western where the Indians are all savages hell-bent on rampaging and killing and scalping. The British get a rather bad write-up as well, with the French being depicted as wily and diplomatic. The colonials are the stock “good guys” – perhaps with good reason, given the way that they were taken advantage of by the ruling British.
 
Academy Award Winner Daniel Day Lewis does a great job as Hawkeye, the legendary warrior who encourages the Colonial militia to desert and is definitely the hero of the movie. Madeleine Stowe plays Cora with fiery strength and sensitivity when she needs to, a perfect foil to Day Lewis’s Hawkeye. Jodhi May is the blonde Alice, Cora’s younger timid sister, who manages to rise up to the challenge of the final scenes of the movie with great aplomb. Russell Means is powerful as the Mohican elder Chingachgook who acts as point of reference for all that is noble and good in the Native American. Wes Studi plays Magua, the infamous Huron Indian, perfect as the strong, vibrant villain consumed with hatred. The cast is directed well by Mann, who keeps the pace furious and well-suited to the breathes action of the text.
 
Overall we enjoyed this movie quite a lot, although it was quite violent and graphic in parts (yes there are scalping scenes!). Definitely one for those rainy Sunday afternoons where one needs a good rollicking film to watch.

ART SUNDAY - PICASSO

“My mother said to me, ‘If you are a soldier, you will become a general. If you are a monk, you will become the Pope.’ Instead, I was a painter, and became Picasso.” - Pablo Picasso
 

Pablo Ruiz y Picasso, known as Pablo Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist, and stage designer who spent most of his adult life in France. As one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century, he is known for co-founding the Cubist movement, the invention of constructed sculpture, the co-invention of collage, and for the wide variety of styles that he helped develop and explore. Among his most famous works are the proto-Cubist “Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon” (1907), and “Guernica” (1937), a portrayal of the German bombing of Guernica during the Spanish Civil War.
 

Picasso, Henri Matisse and Marcel Duchamp are regarded as the three artists who most defined the revolutionary developments in the plastic arts in the opening decades of the 20th century, responsible for significant developments in painting, sculpture, printmaking and ceramics. Picasso demonstrated extraordinary artistic talent in his early years, painting in a realistic manner through his childhood and adolescence. During the first decade of the 20th century, his style changed as he experimented with different theories, techniques, and ideas. His revolutionary artistic accomplishments brought him universal renown and immense fortune, making him one of the best-known figures in 20th-century art.
 

Picasso was born in a poor family in southern Spain and after some early training with his father, a provincial drawing teacher, Picasso showed that he had thoroughly grasped naturalistic conventions at a very young age. After some incomplete sessions of art school in Barcelona and Madrid, Picasso spent his adolescence associating with the group of Catalan modernists who gathered at Els Quatre Gats in Barcelona. From there he moved to Paris, where he quickly found like-minded poets and painters. His work began to attract serious critical attention and praise by the time he was twenty.
 

His first mature work, dating from this time, around 1901, is classified as his Blue Period. He painted itinerant performers, vagrants, and prostitutes, all in tones of blue. Important early works include his “Self- Portrait” (1901) and “La Vie” (1903). As Picasso spent more time in Paris, his painting developed, and as he began to meet the right people, his mood lifted. His subject matter remained much the same, but his tones became warmer, or rosier, and the atmosphere of his paintings more optimistic. This is Picasso’s Rose Period, but really there was no marked technical change between this and the Blue Period; this phase of the development of his work is more like a cheerful coda to his Blue Period than a separate period.
 

In Paris, his life was punctuated by his association with several “mistress-muses”; women in his life who were his most consistent inspiration, as he reshaped their bodies in the boldest formal experiments. He always saw painting as a kind of sexual activity; he would trace back new styles in his painting to the inspiring appearance of a new mistress. Unfortunately, while his girlfriends were such a valuable impetus to his art, they seldom emerged from their association with him unscathed. Jacqueline Roque and Marie-Thérese Walter committed suicide, and Olga Koklova and Dora Maar became mentally unhinged. While Picasso’s relationships imbued life into his painting, they often destroyed the lives of the women involved.
 

Acquiring the valuable patronage of the American siblings Leo and Gertrude Stein, Picasso soaked in all the experimental energy of the Parisian art scene and, inspired by other French painters, especially Cézanne, and also the “primitive” art of Africa and the Pacific. Picasso began to create for himself a radically new style exemplified by his “Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon” (1907), which is perhaps the most revolutionary painting of the century. This prepared the ground for Cubism, a style Picasso developed in collaboration with another painter, Georges Braque.
 

Demolishing the traditional conception of pictorial space, Picasso and Braque painted objects as facets of an analysis, rather than as unified objects; they wanted to paint as they thought, not as they saw. This period of their work is called Analytical Cubism, and Picasso’s work in this style formed a kind of progression over the years.
 

The next innovation in cubism, a joint effort between Picasso and Braque, was Synthetic Cubism. Here, the defining characteristic was collage, a technique never before used in fine art; Picasso’s “Still Life with Chair Caning” (1912) is the first example. This new method allowed Picasso to play with the detritus of modern life, the handbills and the newspapers and other such cast-offs of the metropolis, which had never before been satisfactorily incorporated into the visual arts.
 

Picasso made valuable contributions to art throughout his entire life, but it was the invention of Cubism that secured his immortality. His later work, in a proliferation of styles, from Surrealist to neo-classical, shows that his artistic vitality transcends any one style. Remarkably prolific, no single technique or medium could contain the artist’s apparently boundless energy. He was one of the few artists who was remarkably successful during his long lifetime and he sphere of influence is still active today.
 

The detail from his “Les Demoiselles d’ Avignon” above shows off Picasso’s brilliant innovation to the maximum. The work portrays five nude female prostitutes from a brothel on Carrer d'Avinyó (Avinyó Street) in Barcelona. Each figure is depicted in a disconcerting confrontational manner and none are conventionally feminine. The women appear as slightly menacing and rendered with angular and disjointed body shapes. Elements of “primitive” art in the form of African masks, references to ancient Iberian statuary and bold colours with fluid line are synthesised into expanses of surface that begin to be broken up, fragmented into the cubist forms that will characterise the painter's style for several years hence.

MUSIC SATURDAY - TELEMANN AGAIN!

“Many people die with their music still in them. Why is this so? Too often it is because they are always getting ready to live. Before they know it, time runs out.” - Oliver Wendell Holmes
 

For Music Saturday, Georg Philipp Telemann again with his 12 Parisian Quartets (1730 - 1738) for flute, violin, viola da gamba and continuo. With Barthold Kuijken (flute), Sigiswald Kuijken (violin), Wieland Kuijken (viola da gambe), and Gustav Leonhardt (continuo), on original instruments.

Georg Philipp Telemann,  (born March 14, 1681, Magdeburg, Brandenburg [Germany]—died June 25, 1767, Hamburg), was a German composer of the late Baroque period, who wrote both sacred and secular music but was most admired for his church compositions, which ranged from small cantatas to large-scale works for soloists, chorus, and orchestra.

Telemann wrote a lot of very good chamber music, but these Parisian Quartets show him at his best. They are full of wonderful melodies, and some amazing rhythmic quirks. If Telemann had not been so prolific, these works would be considered absolute masterpieces on the order of the Brandenburg Concertos of Bach - they are that good!
 
This is by far the best recording of these Quartets. The Kujiken brothers are skilled players of their instruments - a great achievement for self-taught musicians. Their version of these works of Telemann is fulfilled with virtuosity and panache, doing justice for the technically demanding scores. But there’s more than just technique. You will find a treasure trove of amazing, artful and delightful music in these works and their exceptional interpretation.
 
The painting is “The Love Letter” by François Boucher.

FOOD FRIDAY - EGGPLANT PARMIGIANA

“I don’t like gourmet cooking or ‘this’ cooking or ‘that’ cooking. I like good cooking.” - James Beard
 
We bought some lovely eggplant in the market today, so it’s all stops out to cook this classic Italian vegetarian dish.
 
Eggplant Parmigiana
 
Ingredients
3 large eggplants
salt
plain flour
4 eggs, beaten
½ cup olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 cans of whole peeled tomatoes
salt and pepper
Basil leaves, chopped, plus extra leaves for layering
250 g bocconcini or fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
100 g parmesan, grated
 
Method
Slice the eggplant no thicker than 1 cm. Sprinkle the slices with salt, stack in a colander and weigh down with a heavy object. Leave for 1 hour. Pat the slices dry and lightly coat in flour. Dip into the beaten egg, shaking off the excess, and fry in hot oil until golden brown on each side. Drain on paper towel.
 
To make the sauce, heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic until soft. Add the tomatoes and bring to the boil. Cook until lightly thickened. Season to taste and add half the basil.
 
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Smear the base of a baking dish with sauce then add a layer of eggplant. Dot with slices of bocconcini, a sprinkling of parmesan and a few torn basil leaves. Continue to layer until you have used up the eggplant, and finish with sauce topped with cheese.
 
Bake for 20–25 minutes, until the top is golden. Allow to rest for 10 minutes or so and serve.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

GREEK GODS - 1

“Every people have gods to suit their circumstances.” - Henry David Thoreau
 

A myth is a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or one explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events. Mythology refers to a collection of myths and their study. All cultures have their own rich mythology that has initially been passed down the generations orally, and if that culture becomes literate, the myths are written down, some of them being incorporated into religious systems. The ancient Greeks are a good example of a people with a rich mythology, the advantage being that all of these myths were written down early in their history, surviving in their entirety to the present day. Ancient Greek religion is richly interspersed with myth, although during the Classical period, the Greeks themselves were the ones that doubted the veracity of some myths.
 

In appearance, the ancient Greek gods of myth were supposed to resemble mortals, whom, however, they far exceeded in beauty, grandeur, and strength. They were of commanding stature, height being considered by the Greeks an attribute of beauty in both men and women. The gods resembled human beings in their feelings and habits, intermarrying and having children, requiring daily nourishment to maintain their strength, and needing refreshing sleep to restore their energies. Their blood, a bright ethereal fluid called “ichor”, never engendered disease, and, when shed, had the power of producing new life.
 

The Greeks believed that the intellectual capacity of their gods was of a much higher order than those of men, but nevertheless, they were not exempt from human passions, and we read myths where the gods are driven by revenge, deceit, and jealousy. Gods, however, always punish the evil-doer, and any impious mortal who dares to neglect their worship or despise their rites is punished with untold calamities. We often hear of gods visiting mankind and partaking of their hospitality, and quite frequently both gods and goddesses become attached to mortals, with whom they unite. The offspring of these unions are called heroes or demi-gods, who are usually renowned for their great strength and courage, for example, Herakles (=Hercules), the offspring of Zeus, king of the gods and Alkmene, a mortal woman.
 

Although there were many points of resemblance between gods and men, there remained the one great characteristic distinction, namely that the gods were immortal. Still, they were not invulnerable, and we often hear of them being wounded, and suffering in consequence such exquisite torture that they have earnestly prayed to be deprived of their privilege of immortality.
 

The gods knew no limitation of time or space, being able to transport themselves to incredible distances with the speed of thought. They possessed the power of rendering themselves invisible at will, and could assume the forms of men or animals as it suited their convenience. They could also transform human beings into trees, stones, animals, either as a punishment for their misdeeds, or as a means of protecting the individual, thus transformed, from danger. Their robes were like those worn by mortals, but were perfect in form and much finer in texture. Their weapons also resembled those used by mankind; we hear of spears, shields, helmets, bows and arrows being employed by the gods. Each deity possessed a beautiful chariot, which, drawn by horses or other animals of celestial breed, conveyed them rapidly over land and sea according to their pleasure.
 

Most of these divinities lived on the summit of Mount Olympus, the highest peak in Greece, each possessing his or her individual palace, and all meeting together on festive occasions in the council-chamber of the gods, where their banquets were enlivened by the sweet strains of Apollo’s lyre, whilst the beautiful voices of the Muses poured forth their rich melodies to his harmonious accompaniment. They drank nectar, a delicious fluid, the word origin of which is derived from stems meaning “overcoming death”. They ate ambrosia, a fragrant food that was sometimes described liquid as a soup or solid like bread. Once again the word is derived from stems meaning “immortal”.
 

Magnificent temples were erected to the honour of gods and goddesses, where the divine beings were worshipped with the greatest solemnity. Rich gifts were presented to them, and animals, and indeed sometimes human beings (more so in pre-classical times), were sacrificed on their altars. Greek mythology is rich with incident and vivid descriptions of the deeds of the gods and heroes many of these myths explaining natural phenomena, the origin of many things and animals, demonstrate important moral lessons and illustrate ways in which human beings are either rewarded for good deeds or punished for wrongdoing.
 

The illustration is Raphael's fresco "The Council of the Gods".

REFLECTING ON OLD AGE

“The secret of genius is to carry the spirit of the child into old age, which mean never losing your enthusiasm.” - Aldous Huxley
 
Last night I looked at a photograph of myself that a colleague took while we were at a work lunch yesterday. It surprised me greatly as I saw a seriously middle aged man looking out at me. It was a shock as I hardly recognised myself, looking definitely much older than I feel, even on “bad” days. A world-weariness and disappointment in my face was captured by that particular shot, and my eyes certainly looked extinguished with my expression quite flat. I was never photogenic and there are few photographs of me as I don’t particularly like being in front of the camera as a subject – I’d rather be behind it, taking the photos. This particular photograph drove home several points decidedly, but once I thought about it I shrugged and dealt with it decisively.
 
It is a sign of growing older and hopefully wiser, this acknowledgement of the marks of time on one’s body. Being able to look in the mirror or at a photo and reconcile oneself with the ravages of time, is a sign of maturity – not of body, but of mind. We live in an ageist culture whether we like it or not and the older we get the more marginalised we expect to become, the more invisible. It is not surprising that most of us tend to hold on to our youthful image as long as possible. The huge number of older people undergoing plastic surgery, having personal training, subscribing to dieting and ageing-reversal regimens is compelling evidence of this.
 
In the past, in more traditional cultures old age was seen to be a privileged state and the aged held a place of special regard and eminence within the family, society and ruling classes. As the nuclear family became widespread in an increasingly urbanised world, as consumerism and globalisation spread their way across most of the world, a youth-oriented culture became the dominant moving force in society. As the aged got displaced out of the extended family model and become increasingly confined to the “grey zone” of the nursing home, it is not surprising that one wants to extend middle age, mimic a certain degree of youthfulness on one’s appearance, speech and ethos, and thus postpone one’s banishment to the grey zone as far into the future as possible.
 
When I was living in Holland several years ago, I was amazed that one of the first questions I was consistently asked by everyone was: “How old are you?”. As soon as I answered I could see the mental cogs of my interlocutors turning – there was a reckoning of age versus appearance, social status and achievements and even more importantly the calculation of my “use by date”, beyond which I would no longer matter. Certainly I was surprised by the very youthful appearance of Amsterdam – which was a city of young, beautiful and happy people. It intrigued me enough to ask of the locals: “But where are all of the old people?” The answer, half in jest and half in all seriousness was: “We export them to Belgium!” This turned out to be true to a certain extent, as Belgium was close enough to be easily accessible, but more importantly, its nursing home rates were more affordable.
 
Looking critically at this ageism that exists within our society, one has to consider the next steps. Already there is increasing debate about euthanasia. Having the right to take away one’s own life in cases where life has become insupportable due to serious disease or insufferable pain is gaining wide acceptance. Where do we draw the line? Taking away one’s life because one no longer fits into the social ideal of “young, beautiful and happy”? Shades of “Soylent Green”? It is a vexed question, but one that greatly conveniences the young – but obviously not as attractive to the aged.
 
As I come to terms with own increasing age, get acquainted with the idea of removing myself from the workforce, make plans for my retirement and beginning a new chapter of my life, I have to develop a more philosophical approach to life, the universe and everything… Old age brings with it a greater degree of introspection and one has to be comfortable with one’s thoughts, first and foremost. One has to develop new friendships, the most important such new friend being the idea of one’s demise. When death comes, one must be ready and welcoming, as if one is finally seeing a dear old pen pal that one has corresponded with for many years.
 
Confucius remarks of old age: “Old age, believe me, is a good and pleasant thing. It is true you are gently shouldered off the stage, but then you are given such a comfortable front stall as spectator…” This is certainly telling it like it is, but I intend to be an active spectator, a caustic critic of the performance, a viewer who enjoys (or not) the spectacle and is busy having a good time with my fellow spectators while we watch – booing, heckling, applauding and cheering included.

FRANZ'S JUNIPER IN THE VATICAN

“If you live long enough, you'll see that every victory eventually turns into a defeat.” - Simone de Beauvoir
 
Today is Somalia’s Revolution (National) Day II (since 1960); Vatican City’s - National Day and also an Egyptian Day (Dismal Day). Up until the 17th century in England, the Egyptian Days were commonly thought to be specific unlucky days throughout the year. Popular almanacs would list them as days on which to avoid such important activities as weddings, blood letting (a standard way of treating various illnesses), and travelling. No one knew why certain days were considered unlucky. In fact, which days were Egyptian Days seems to have depended upon which almanac was consulted; apparently, there was never any standard list that was widely circulated. Although it is not known for sure why they were referred to as the Egyptian Days, it’s possible that they were first computed by Egyptian astrologers or were somehow related to the Egyptian plagues. They were known as the Dismal Days, from Latin dies mali (meaning “evil days”).
 
Today is the anniversary of the birth of:
Franz Liszt, composer (1811);
Sarah Bernhardt, French actress (1844);
Ivan Bunin, Nobel laureate (1933) writer (1870);
Sidney Kingsley, writer (1906);
Joan Fontaine (Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland), actress (1917);
Doris Lessing, author (1919);
Robert Rauschenberg, painter (1925);
Christopher Lloyd, actor (1938);
Annette Funicello, actress (1942);
Catherine Deneuve (Catherine Dorléac), French actress (1943);
Jeff Goldblum, actor (1952);
 
Savine, Juniperus sabina, is the plant that is assigned to birthdays falling on this day.  In the past, “wicked women have employed it to very ill purposes”, its effects on the uterus being used to induce abortions.  The plant is quite poisonous and modern herbalists do not use it internally.  In the language of flowers, savine means: “The fruits of love may sometimes be bitter”.  Astrologically, this is under the rule of Mars.
 
Today is the anniversary of the day in 4004 BC, that God created the Universe, according to James Ussher (1581–1656), an Irish Protestant prelate and scholar. He was archbishop of Armagh (1625) and was greatly admired for his learning. He established a chronology of the bible that set the date of creation at 4004 BC which was long used in some editions of the King James Version of the Bible.  His chronology is described in The Annals of the World (1650).  Perhaps it is no chance that this day was chosen to celebrate as the National Day of Vatican City!
 
Franz Liszt (1811–1886) was a Hungarian composer of romantic music, acknowledged as the greatest pianist of his time. He studied with Czerny and his expressive, flamboyant and dramatic playing enraptured his audiences.  Liszt taught most of the major pianists of the next generation. He originated the symphonic poem and developed “programme music” to a high art.
 
Some of his famous works are Les Préludes  and Mazeppa (1856). The Sonata in B Minor of 1853  was marked by the transformation of themes thus changing the face of the classical sonata form.  Richard Wagner and Richard Strauss were both admiring of his works and were influenced by him.  His piano works include the Paganini Études (1851); concertos; and Hungarian Rhapsodies.  One of his characteristic pieces that I like is the Fantasy Based on Hungarian Folk Melodies of 1853.
 
On this day in 1979, Nadia Boulanger (16 September 1887 – 22 October 1979), French composition teacher died. She was a composer, conductor, and teacher who taught many of the leading composers and musicians of the 20th century. She also performed as a pianist and organist.
 
From a musical family, she achieved early honours as a student at the Paris Conservatoire but, believing that she had no particular talent as a composer, she gave up writing music and became a teacher. In that capacity, she influenced generations of young composers, especially those from the United States and other English-speaking countries. Among her students were those who became leading composers, soloists, and conductors, including Aaron Copland, John Eliot Gardiner, Dinu Lipatti, Igor Markevitch, Quincy Jones, Philip Glass, and Ástor Piazzolla.
 
Boulanger taught in the US and England, working with music academies including the Juilliard School, the Yehudi Menuhin School, the Longy School, the Royal College of Music and the Royal Academy of Music, but her principal base for most of her life was her family's flat in Paris, where she taught for most of the seven decades from the start of her career until her death at the age of 92.
 
Boulanger was the first woman to conduct many major orchestras in America and Europe, including the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, Hallé, New York Philharmonic and Philadelphia orchestras. She conducted several world premieres, including works by Copland and Stravinsky.

MOVIE MONDAY - JCVD

“The main goal of the future is to stop violence. The world is addicted to it.” - Bill Cosby
 

We watched a very interesting film at the weekend, which proved that all is not what it seems. I had bought this out of the “specials” basket in our local video store, believing it to be a typical action, “dick-flick”, judging it from its cover and its star, Jean-Claude Van Damme. However, it was quite a surprise, turning out to be a satire, with elements of action, drama, comedy and action.
 

It was "JCVD" starring Jean-Claude Van Damme, Valérie Bodson, Hervé Sogne. It was a Belgian/Luxembourgeois/French co-production with the soundtrack mainly in French, although there was some English dialogue. I am once again airing my displeasure with the producers of DVDs and BluRay discs who do not subtitle their films. While the French dialogue was subtitled on this disc, the English dialogue was not and half of it was unintelligible, greatly detracting from the enjoyment of the movie.
 

Van Damme plays himself in this movie, giving a great performance as an ageing action film star who has difficulty in getting good roles, problems with the tax department, and is in the middle of a custody case with his wife over their daughter. He tries to escape these problems in the USA by going back to his home in Brussels, Belgium. Unfortunately for him, when he goes into a Post office/Bank he stumbles into a hold-up where a number of hostages are being held by a bunch of desperate thugs. Unfortunately for Van Damme, the way in which things are perceived by people outside the post office, causes police and media alike to believe that Van Damme is the mastermind of the robbery, in order to pay his half-a-million-dollar legal bills.
 

The film opens with a signature Van Damme action sequence, with what everyone expects his movies to be like. Lots of violence, kicks, shootings, blood, gore and explosions. Typical generic guff that one sees not only with Van Damme but also with Stallone, Schwarzenegger, Willis, etc. It turns out that is just a short scene from a film that is being shot in Hollywood, with Van Damme as the star. It serves to highlight the plight of the actor who is typecast and who cannot break free from the shackles of Hollywood contracts. We are then transported to Brussels where Van Damme retreats in order to try and put his life in order. The film is episodic, with flashbacks, flash-forwards, repetition of scenes from different observer’s perspective and even contains quite an astonishing monologue where Van Damme bares his soul…
 

I was pleasantly surprised to see Van Damme act! I mean really act, rather than take part in a carefully orchestrated set of action sequences separated by a few scenes of minimal dialogue as in his usual films. The story was involving and the direction snappy and inventive. The film overall reminded us a little of the 1994 Quentin Tarantino, now classic, “Pulp Fiction”.
 

If you are interested in an action movie with a little more depth, if you are a fan of Van Damme, if you wish to see something that is unusual and rather offbeat, then watch this film. It still has quit a lot of violence in it, but it is after all a product of our times and shows the way that we parasitise violence to achieve our various ends.

ART SUNDAY - ROBERT RAUSCHENBERG

“Creativity is allowing yourself to make mistakes. Art is knowing which ones to keep.” - Scott Adams
 

Robert Rauschenberg (October 22, 1925 – May 12, 2008) was an American painter and graphic artist whose early works anticipated the pop art movement. Born in Port Arthur, Texas in 1925, Robert Rauschenberg imagined himself first as a minister and later as a pharmacist. It wasn’t until 1947, while in the U.S. Marines that he discovered his aptitude for drawing and his interest in the artistic representation of everyday objects and people.
 

After leaving the Marines he studied art in Paris on the G.I. Bill, but quickly became disenchanted with the European art scene. After less than a year he moved to North Carolina, where the country’s most visionary artists and thinkers, such as Joseph Albers and Buckminster Fuller, were teaching at Black Mountain College. There, with artists such as dancer Merce Cunningham and musician John Cage, Rauschenberg began what was to be an artistic revolution. Soon, North Carolina country life began to seem small and he left for New York to make it as a painter.
 

In New York, amidst the chaos and excitement of city life Rauschenberg realised the full extent of what he could bring to painting. Rauschenberg’s enthusiasm for popular culture and his rejection of the angst and seriousness of the Abstract Expressionists led him to search for a new way of painting. He found his signature mode by embracing materials traditionally outside of the artist’s reach. He would cover a canvas with house paint, or ink the wheel of a car and run it over paper to create a drawing, while demonstrating rigour and concern for formal painting.
 

By 1958, at the time of his first solo exhibition at the Leo Castelli Gallery, his work had moved from abstract painting to drawings like “Erased De Kooning” (1953; which was exactly as it sounds) to what he termed “combines.” These combines (meant to express both the finding and forming of combinations in three-dimensional collage) cemented his place in art history.
 

One of Rauschenberg’s first and most famous combines was entitled “Monogram” (1959) and consisted of an unlikely set of materials: A stuffed angora goat, a tyre, a police barrier, the heel of a shoe, a tennis ball, and paint. This pioneering altered the course of modern art. The idea of combining and of noticing combinations of objects and images has remained at the core of Rauschenberg’s work.
 

As Pop Art emerged in the ’60s, Rauschenberg turned away from three-dimensional combines and began to work in two dimensions, using magazine photographs of current events to create silk-screen prints. Rauschenberg transferred prints of familiar images, such as JFK or baseball games, to canvases and overlapped them with painted brushstrokes. They looked like abstractions from a distance, but up close the images related to each other, as if in conversation. These collages were a way of bringing together the inventiveness of his combines with his love for painting. Using this new method he found he could make a commentary on contemporary society using the very images that helped to create that society.
 

From the mid sixties through the seventies he continued the experimentation in prints by printing onto aluminium, moving plexiglass disks, clothes, and other surfaces. He challenged the view of the artist as auteur by assembling engineers to help in the production of pieces technologically designed to incorporate the viewer as an active participant in the work. He also created performance pieces centered around chance. To watch dancers on roller-skates (”Pelican”, 1963) or to hear the sound of a gong every time a tennis ball was hit (”Open Score”, 1966), was to witness an art that exchanged lofty ambitions for a sense of excitement and playfulness while retaining meaning.
 

Throughout the ’80s and ’90s Rauschenberg continued his experimentation, concentrating primarily on collage and new ways to transfer photographs. In 1998 The Guggenheim Museum put on its largest exhibition ever with four hundred works by Rauschenberg, showcasing the breadth and beauty of his work, and its influence over the second half of the century. Rauschenberg lives in Florida and continues to work, bringing his sense of excitement and challenge into a new century.
 

The work above is “Collection”, created in 1954 and modified again in 1955.