SAD SUNSET

“You know, I love the sunset when I am very sad…” – Antoine de St Exupéry
 

Even though the day in Perth today started out with rain and wind, the afternoon was simply beautiful. I walked along the banks of the Swan River and enjoyed the serenity of it. As the afternoon wore on into the evening, the sun set and the air became cool again. I then felt quite far away and a little lonely…
 

Here is the perfect piece for that wistful feeling as the orange fire of the sunset gives way to the blues and mauves of twilight: The second movement of Marcello’s concerto for oboe and strings.

MANGO PUDDING

“Behave so the aroma of your actions may enhance the general sweetness of the atmosphere.” - Henry David Thoreau
 
I am in Perth for work again and the weather here has been terrible. Wind, rain and cold. So much for the sunny West and the Spring Equinox! To be fair, the weather here is usually warmer and milder, but chance would have it that the weather is terrible when I visit.
 
I had a wonderful dessert at the hotel tonight and the reason I wanted to try it is because we make it at home and it is delicious and quite light. I was not disappointed with my dessert at the restaurant, however, it was nothing compared to the home-made variety.
 
Mango Pudding
 
Ingredients
4 small bowls
1 large, ripe, sweet mango
1 packet of instant mango jelly (orange will do if you can’t find mango)
A few drops of vanilla essence
Juice of half a lime
250ml of hot water
4 tablespoons of a quality full cream vanilla ice-cream
 
Method

Peel mango and cut one slice, reserving it for decoration.
Remove flesh from the mango and place into a blender, blending on low speed for 30 seconds.
In a 500 ml glass measuring jug, add the packet of mango jelly and 250ml of hot water and stir well until the mixture dissolves completely.
Add 4 tablespoons of full cream vanilla ice-cream to the jelly mixture and stir the mixture until the ice cream melts.
Add the mango pulp and stir through, adding the lime juice and vanilla essence.
Pour the mixture into four bowls, gently tapping on the bench to remove bubbles.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least three hours to set. The mango pudding is set when it is no longer runny and a bit springy.
Serve the mango pudding decorated with slices of mango, a dollop of cream and mint leaves.
 
This post is part od the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

ST EUSTACE

“Valour is stability, not of legs and arms, but of courage and the soul.” - Michel de Montaigne
 
Saint Eustace, also known as St Eustathius, was a Christian martyr who lived in the 2nd century AD. The saint is venerated in the Roman Catholic Church and is also commemorated in the Orthodox Church, on September 20.
 

According to legend, prior to his conversion to Christianity, Eustace was a Roman general named Placidus, who served the emperor Trajan. While hunting a stag in Tivoli near Rome, Placidus saw a vision of Jesus crucified, between the stag’s antlers. He was immediately converted, had himself and his family baptised, and changed his name to Eustace (Greek: Ευστάθιος - Eustathios, “most stable”, or Ευστάχιος, Eustachios, “rich crop”).
 
A series of calamities followed to test his faith: His wealth was stolen; his servants died of a plague; when the family took a sea voyage, the ship’s captain kidnapped Eustace’s wife Theopista; and as Eustace crossed a river with his two sons Agapius and Theopistus, the children were taken away by a wolf and a lion. Like Job, Eustace lamented but did not lose his faith. He was then quickly restored to his former prestige and reunited with his family; but when he demonstrated his new faith by refusing to make a pagan sacrifice, the emperor, Hadrian, condemned Eustace, his wife, and his sons to be roasted to death inside a bronze statue of a bull or an ox, in the year AD 118. The d’Afflitto dynasty, one of the oldest princely families in Italy, claims to be the direct descendant of Saint Eustace.
 
He is one of the patron saints of Madrid, Spain. Scenes from the story, especially Eustace kneeling before the stag, became a popular subject of medieval religious art. Early artistic depictions of the legend include a wall painting at Canterbury Cathedral and stained glass windows at the Cathedral of Chartres. He is considered to be the patron saint of hunters.
 
St Eustache in Paris is a church in the 1st arrondissement. The present building was built between 1532 and 1632. Situated at the entrance to Paris’s ancient markets (Les Halles) and the beginning of rue Montorgueil, St Eustache is considered a masterpiece of late Gothic architecture. The church’s reputation was strong enough of the time for it to be chosen as the location for a young Louis XIV to receive communion. Mozart also chose the sanctuary as the location for his mother’s funeral. Among those baptised here as children were Richelieu, Jeanne-Antoinette Poisson, future Madame de Pompadour and Molière, who was also married here in the 17th century. The last rites for Anne of Austria, Turenne and Mirabeau were pronounced within its walls. Marie de Gournay is buried there. The island of Sint Eustatius in the Caribbean Netherlands is named after him.
 
The Catholic church also celebrates a second St Eustace. While his date of birth unknown, it is recorded he died 29 March, 625 AD. He was second abbot of the Irish monastery of Luxeuil in France, and his feast is commemorated in the Celtic martyrologies on the 29th of March. He was one of the first companions of St. Columbanus, a monk of Bangor (Ireland), who with his disciples did much to spread the Gospel over Central and Southern Europe. When Columbanus, the founder of Luxeuil, was banished from the Kingdom of Burgundy, on account of his reproving the morals of King Thierry, the exiled abbot recommended his community to choose Eustace as his successor.

POETRY WEDNESDAY

“I like to think that the moon is there even if I am not looking at it” - Albert Einstein
 
Magpie Tales this week has chosen Salvador Dalí’s “Venus and The Sailor” of 1925 as the stimulus for sparking the imagination of participants in her creative writing meme. Although Dalí is predominantly known for his surrealistic paintings, this particular work shows clear evidence of Picasso’s cubist influences.
 
Salvador Dali (Born: 11 May 1904; Figueres, Spain, Died: 23 January 1989; Figueres, Spain) had an artistic repertoire that included sculpture, painting, photography, multimedia work, and collaborations with other artists, most notably independent surrealist film-makers. Dali was born into a quasi-surreal existence. His brother, also named Salvador, died as a toddler, nine months before Dali’s birth. His parents told him he was the reincarnation of his older brother, which he also came to believe.
 
As a child, Dali attended drawing school, and by the age of thirteen, Dali’s father was arranging exhibitions of his charcoal drawings. In 1922, Dali went to study at the School of Fine Arts in San Fernando, where he was known as a bit of a dandy, wearing long hair and sideburns, and stockings with knee breeches in the style of 19th century aesthetes. 
During his stay at the academy, Dali tried his hand in cubism and dada. But his stay was short lived, after he was expelled a few weeks before final exams, for stating that no one in the school was qualified enough to examine him.
 
After his expulsion, he travelled to Paris, where he met Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró, who heavily influenced his painting styles. Dali continually borrowed from many painting styles. From impressionism to renaissance works, he combined all elements into single compositions, raising interesting critiques from art critics, who were unsure as how to received his works.
 
Always a dandy, Dali grew a large moustache, which was a trademark of his appearance for the rest of his life. 

In 1929, Dali began a relationship with the woman who would later become his wife, Gala. His father disapproved, and saw his connection with surrealism as a demoralising influence on his son. Upon hearing reports that Dali had created a work with an inscription insulting his mother, who had died eight years earlier of breast cancer, the elder Dali disowned and disinherited his son, telling him never to return home. Dali then married Gala and moved into a house at Port Lligat.
 
Dali spent the middle and late years of his life between the United States and his beloved Catalonia, Spain, collaborating with other artists, canoodling with social elites, and creating many stories for the newspapers. After his wife’s death in 1982, Dali lost much of his will to live, and purposely dehydrated himself almost to the point of death. There was also a mysterious fire in his apartment in 1984, from which he was saved, but many thought was a suicide attempt. He died of heart failure five years later at the age of 84 years.
 
I have “tampered” a little with Dalí’s painting, cropping it and changing the colour scheme and adding the moon, which was there even though Dalí was not looking at it. I am sure he wouldn’t mind…
 
A Flower in the Moonlight
 
We started playing with words again tonight,
The singer articulating softly our innermost desires,
Our hearts vocalising dumbly our sweetest bitter dreams.
The room so small, the light so dim,
The night so deep, the short space between us,
So immense it could in light years be measured...
 

We’ve played this scene so many times before,
Two actors on the stage fumbling with props
Struggling with our lines, trying inarticulately to improvise
Forgotten speeches that we would not dare to speak
Even if we had remembered them.
Your eyes avoid mine while a flower blooms in your hand.
 

Above us the air a prism, and a hundred light-bulb stars shine on a celluloid sky
A room with walls of music, the pasteboard moon for ceiling.
If we could only bridge the gap, dissolve the ice
If you could touch me now, think of what would be gained!

You stretch your hand, as years of silence crumble
A thousand nights, dead, are resurrected
And at last, this time on cue, you offer me
A flower in the moonlight.

ROSH HASHANAH 2012

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day.” - Edith Lovejoy Pierce

The Jewish New Year or Rosh Hashanah is a high Holy Day as it is regarded as the birthday of creation. In 2012 Rosh Hashanah began in the evening of Sunday, 16 September 2012, and ended in the evening of Tuesday, 18 September 2012. Rosh Hashanah is also a day of memorial, recalling to mind personal acts and reviewing events occurring since the beginning of time. Synagogue services express hope for the future and feature the story of Abraham’s intended sacrifice of Isaac. God’s providence is commemorated by the blowing of the ceremonial ram’s horn, the shofar.

At home, special prayers are recited for a good year ahead and wishes are pronounced over an apple dipped in honey, with the intention being for the year to be as sweet.  Special round, smooth loaves of bread are baked symbolising the smooth and prosperous New Year to be.  Orthodox Jews observe the festival for two days. The holiday also marks the start of the Ten Days of Repentance.  Sabbath-like restrictions on work for both days (today and tomorrow) in both Israel and the Diaspora.

Rosh Hashanah meals usually include apples and honey, to symbolise a sweet new year. Other foods with a symbolic meaning may be served, depending on local minhag (“custom”), such as the head of a fish (to symbolize the “head” of the year). The Sephardi and Mizrahi communities hold a “Rosh Hashanah seder” during which blessings are recited over a variety of symbolic dishes. The blessings start with the phrase “Yehi ratzon”, meaning “May it be thy will”. In many cases, the name of the food in Hebrew or Aramaic represents a play on words or pun. The Yehi Ratson platter may include apples (dipped in honey, baked or cooked as a compote called mansanada); dates; pomegranates; black-eyed peas; pumpkin-filled pastries called rodanchas; leek fritters called keftedes de prasa; beets; and a whole fish with the head intact. It is also common to eat stuffed vegetables called legumbres yaprakes.

Some of the symbolic foods eaten are dates, black-eyed peas, leek, spinach and gourd, all of which are mentioned in the Talmud. Pomegranates are used in many traditions, to symbolise being fruitful like the pomegranate with its many seeds. The use of apples and honey, symbolising a sweet year, is a late medieval Ashkenazi addition, though it is now almost universally accepted. Typically, round challah bread is served, to symbolize the cycle of the year. Gefilte fish and Lekach are commonly served by Ashkenazic Jews on this holiday. On the second night, new fruits are served to warrant inclusion of the shehecheyanu blessing.

Happy New Jewish Year to all readers of this blog who celebrate this holiday!

MOVIE MONDAY - LIMITLESS

“Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential” - Winston Churchill
 
We watched an interesting film last weekend, which combined action with science fiction, social criticism with popular culture and Hollywood capitalism with aspirations to art – a tough job to combine all of these attributes, perhaps… It was the 2011 Neil Burger film, “Limitless” starring Bradley Cooper, Anna Friel, Robert de Niro and Abbie Cornish. It had a screenplay by Leslie Dixon based on the novel “The Dark Fields” by Alan Glynn.
 
The plot centres on Eddie Morra (Bradley Cooper) a down-and-out writer with writer’s block. As his life spirals downwards, his girlfriend Lindy (Abbie Cornish) dumps him (nicely). Eddie sees his existence implode into his filthy apartment and he struggles to make ends meet. He encounters by chance his ex-wife’s brother Vernon (Johnny Whitworth) who gives Eddie a pill called NZT, a drug that is able to make the brain use 100% of its capacity. Eddie takes the pill and suddenly he becomes a genius each of his memories, anything seen and read or heard all become immediately available to him. He is able to learn languages in hours, his mathematical skills increase a hundredfold and he not only starts, but finishes writing a brilliant novel.
 
When the pill’s effects wear off, Eddie seeks out Vernon to get more of the drug. However, Vernon is murdered and Eddie manages to escape, taking a cache of pills with him. His new abilities allow him to make big profits on the stock market where he attracts the attention of big businessman Carl Van Loon (Robert DeNiro). Unfortunately, some unsavoury characters are also looking for him: Gennady (Andrew Howard), a gangster and his thugs and a strange man in a brown coat (Tomas Arana). Eddie wins Lindy back but struggles to maintain his sanity by regulating the intake of the drug, or getting it back when it is stolen from him…
 
The movie was quite engaging and its basic premise was interesting and developed well, at least initially. As the film progressed, the plot weakened and the ending was a bit of a cop out with such an overt reference to a sequel that it was almost insulting to the viewer. Nevertheless we were kept interested and entertained while we watched it. The acting was fine but the film was carried by the tight direction and a host of impressive visual effect sequences by Joe Willems (cinematographer) and Connie Brink (Special Effects Coordinator). This was a concession to Hollywood’s demands for an action, dick-flick genre denomination. The film is worth seeing, even if only for the slickness of its look, although keep in mind the weak ending.
 
Now in terms of the drug, NZT, it is interesting to think of the possibility of its future existence! However, I think that it may make the people who take it completely and utterly mad!

ART SUNDAY - WARHOL

“Everything popular is wrong.” - Oscar Wilde

Andy Warhol (August 6, 1928 – February 22, 1987) was born in Pittsburg (né Andrej Varchola, Jr). His parents were working-class Rusyn emigrants from Mikó (now called Miková), located in today’s northeastern Slovakia, part of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire. Warhol’s father immigrated to the United States in 1914, and his mother joined him in 1921, after the death of Warhol’s grandparents. Their family name was anglicised to “Warhola”. Warhol’s father worked in a coal mine. Andy Warhol had two older brothers — Pavol (Paul), the oldest, was born in Slovakia; Ján was born in Pittsburgh. Pavol’s son, James Warhola, became a successful children’s book illustrator.

Andy Warhol showed his talent for art at a young age, so it was not difficult for him to choose a career in commercial art, studying pictorial design at the Carnegie Institute of Technology, which is presently Carnegie Mellon University. After graduating Warhol moved to New York City and worked as an illustrator for various popular magazines such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar and The New Yorker. In 1949, the pop icon shortened his name to Warhol after a credit in Glamour magazine mistakenly read “Drawings by Warhol.”

In 1952, Warhol had his first individual show with the exhibit “Fifteen Drawings Based on the Writings of Truman Capote”. His first group show was at The Museum of Modern Art in 1956. During the 1960s, Warhol truly made a name for himself, with iconic works such as “Campbell's Soup Cans”, “Disasters” and “Marilyns”. He also shot several 16mm films, including Chelsea Girls, Empire and Blow Job.

Warhol started publishing Interview magazine in the early 1970s and once again, returned to painting. These later works included “Maos”, “Skulls”, “Hammer and Sickles” and “Torsos and Shadows”. In the latter part of his career, Warhol devoted much of his time to rounding up new, rich patrons for portrait commissions. By the 1980s, Warhol was being criticised for becoming merely a “business artist”.

Warhol's publication, “POPism: The Warhol 60s”, and his exhibitions “Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century” and “Retrospectives and Reversal Series” kicked off his 1980s work. He appeared on TV screen with his self-created cable shows, “Andy Warhol’s TV” and “Andy Warhol’s Fifteen Minutes”, for MTV. In the years leading to his death, Warhol's paintings included “The Last Suppers”, “Rorschachs” and “Ads”, which is considered to be his return to Pop.

Nearly 20 years before Warhol died, he was shot in his studio, which was known as the Factory. In 1968, Valerie Solanis, the founder and sole member of SCUM (Society for Cutting Up Men) shot and nearly killed the artist. Warhol died February 22, 1987 after a routine gall bladder surgery. 

In 1994, the Andy Warhol Museum opened in his hometown of Pittsburgh. Warhol combined his early experiences and influences into an art form that would be called American Pop Art. His canvases have become icons of twentieth century modern art and have been much imitated, to the extent of bathos (presuming they started higher than that – if you are not admirer of Warhol’s art). The painting illustrated above is in the Hamburger Bahnhof Museum für Gegenwart (Museum for Contemporary Art) in Berlin. Andy Warhol’s large “Mao” (1973) is one of the iconic trademarks of the museum.

SONG SATURDAY - A SAD SONG

“Yes! You are the ruin -the ruin -the ruin -of me. I have no resources in myself, I have no confidence in myself, I have no government of myself when you are near me or in my thoughts. And you are always in my thoughts now. I have never been quit of you since I first saw you. Oh, that was a wretched day for me! That was a wretched, miserable day!” – Charles Dickens
 
A wonderful Saturday. We went out for some shopping in the morning and then walked around the city for a while, acting much like tourists in our home town. We had a few laughs and even if it was tiring it was a much needed change. We came back home for some lunch and as the sun was shining we sat in the garden. The jasmine and the pittosporum made the air redolent with sweet perfume, while anemones, freesias, primroses, daisies, clivias, ranunculus and irises were in bloom all around.
 
In the evening, a return to the sweet routine of Saturday nights… The lights burning low, music playing and the shared intimacy of a meal, solving a cryptic crossword together, laughing, chatting, and the warm feeling of hand clasped in hand.
 
For Music Saturday tonight, a Turkish song from a successful soap opera, “Dudaktan Kalbe”, meaning, “from the lips to the heart”. A sad song of bad love! Subtitles translate the lyrics.

FOOD FRIDAY - SPRING!

“It’s spring fever... You don't quite know what it is you DO want, but it just fairly makes your heart ache, you want it so!” - Mark Twain
 
Spring has sprung in the Southern Hemisphere, which means it’s time to ditch all the comfort foods and put the spring back into meals. Here is a fresh and light Spring vegetable soup that is wholesome as well as tasty.

Spring Vegetable Soup
Ingredients
2 tbs olive oil
1 large leek, pale section only, ends trimmed, washed, thinly sliced
1 celery heart, stalks and pale green leafy ends, thinly sliced
2 artichoke hearts, cleaned, trimmed, quartered lengthways, thinly sliced
350 g Desirée potatoes, peeled, cut into 1 cm cubes
1 litre salt-reduced chicken stock
150 g snow peas, chopped (= mangetout peas – can substitute frozen peas)
1/2 tsp ground dried mustard powder
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs chopped fresh thyme or parsley (optional)
 
Method

• Heat the oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the leek, celery and artichokes and cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft.
• Add the mustard powder and season with salt and pepper.
• Add the potato and stock to the pan. Increase heat to medium-high. Cover and bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, for 15 minutes or until potato is tender.
• Add the peas and cook until the peas are cooked.
• Ladle the soup into serving bowls. Sprinkle with chopped thyme or parsley, if desired.

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

HOLY ROOD DAY

“He sends a cross, but He also sends the strength to bear it.” - Leo Nikolaevich Tolstoy
 

Tomorrow, September 14, is Holy Rood (=cross) Day. This is officially known as the Feast of the Exaltation of the Cross. There are a number of associations of various events to this day, some of them relating to the “True Cross” on which Christ was crucified, others relating to historical or apocryphal events surrounding the Christian symbol of the Cross or by association Christianity itself.
 

In the Greek Orthodox faith the celebration of this day is particularly splendid and solemn, and has references to the Roman Emperor Constantine’s conversion to Christianity. Just before a battle on this day in 312 AD, the emperor reportedly saw the sign of a luminous cross up in the sky with the words Εν Τούτω Νίκα (En toúto níka – “By this sign you shall conquer”). He ordered the sign of the cross to be emblazoned on his battle banners and went ahead to win the battle. Constantine then stopped the persecution of the Christians and his mother, the Christian empress Helena (Flavia Julia Helena) went on to discover the cross upon which Christ was crucified on the hill of Calvary, in Jerusalem. She demolished a Roman temple of Venus there, and built the Church of Resurrection at the site, where the remains of the True Cross were raised in 335 AD. The Orthodox Feast Day commemorates this first Exaltation of the True Cross.
 

The cross was afterwards (614 AD) carried away by Chosroes, king of Persia, but recovered by the Emperor Heraclius, and replaced amidst circumstances of great pomp and expressions of the highest devotion. The Catholic Church feast commemorates the restoration of the True Cross to Calvary in 629 AD, after the victory of Emperor Heraclius over the Persians.
 

Many churches in Britain were dedicated to the Holy Rood. One at Edinburgh became the nucleus of the palace of the Scottish kings. Holyrood Day was one of much sacred observance all through the Middle Ages. The same feeling led to a custom of framing, between the nave and choir of churches, what was called a rood-screen or rood-loft, presenting centrally a large crucifix, with images of the Holy Virgin and St. John on each side. A winding stair led up to it, and the epistle and gospel were often read from it.
 

Pieces of the wood derived from the True Cross have been traditionally kept in many churches and places of worship as holy relics in precious reliquaries, as the one illustrated above. In 1561 John Calvin wrote ironically in a tract that “…if all the pieces of the True Cross were gathered together, they would load a large ship, and would take 300 men, not one, to carry it.”
 

Some historians consider the feast of Holyrood a christianisation of the ancient Eleusinian feast of Demeter (part of the Greater Eleusinian Mysteries).  Holy Rood Day was also called Day of the Holy Nut or the Devil’s Nutting Day.  This was to mark the beginning of the nutting season when nuts began to be collected from the trees. Hazelnuts (filberts or cobnuts) collected on this day were thought to have powerful properties, but the proviso was that the nuts had to be fully ripe. Double nuts (two on one stalk) were thought to be particularly magical and could be used to cure toothache, rheumatism and witchcraft of all sorts.  The hazelnut tree (Corylus maxima and C. avellena) was thought to be a powerful and magical tree and divining rods made from its wood were considered to be the most efficacious.

A VISIT TO MONASH UNIVERSITY

“Freedom of inquiry, freedom of discussion, and freedom of teaching - without these a university cannot exist” - Robert Maynard Hutchins
 
This week I had occasion to visit two Monash University campuses for work. Both were very full days, but it was godo to be able to slip out and have a look at the campuses. Although I have visited several Monash campuses in the past, I have not had the pleasure of being able to explore fully and leisurely the campuses. One needs several weeks (at least) on each campus for that. Nevertheless, one gets a good impression of the “atmosphere” of each university campus by wandering through it and seeing what facilities are available, what each cluster of buildings is like and also if possible chat to a few students and staff.
 
Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL. Monash enrols approximately 39,000 undergraduate and 16,000 graduate students, making it the university with the largest student body in Australia. It also has more applicants than any university in the state of Victoria.

Monash is home to major research facilities, including the Australian Synchrotron, the Monash Science Technology Research and Innovation Precinct (STRIP), the Australian Stem Cell Centre, 100 research centres and 17 co-operative research centres. In 2008, Monash University attracted more than $210 million of research investment and grants from various Government bodies and external organisations.
 
The university has eight campuses, six of which are Victoria (Clayton, Caulfield, Berwick, Peninsula, Parkville, and Gippsland), one in Malaysia, and one in South Africa. Monash also has a research and teaching centre in Prato, Italy, a graduate research school in Mumbai, India. and is developing a graduate school in Jiangsu Province, China.

SEEK, AND YE SHALL FIND...

“The object in modern painting must become the main character and overthrow the subject. If, in turn, the human form becomes an object, it can considerably liberate possibilities for the modern artist.” – Fernand Léger

Magpie Tales on her creative meme page this week has fuelled participants’ imagination with a 1921 painting by cubist, Fernand Léger, called “Breakfast”. I must say that this image left rather uninspired until I turned it on its side. I then saw a sailor reaching for a spyglass, a microbiologist about to use a microscope, an astronomer gazing at the stars, a factory worker twiddling dials and machinery, but still failed to see any bacon and eggs or cups of tea!

I first learnt of this artist when I was in my seventh year of school, when I copied his canvas “The City”, of 1919. I was pleased with myself as I thought I did a very good job and remember thinking to myself in all the naiveté of my 13 years: “Well there’s nothing to this cubism thing…” I followed up by constructing my own “cubist” paintings, but my interest soon waned as I discovered the pre-Raphaelites, who appealed more to my adolescent stirrings of emotional, sexual and intellectual awakening.

I must say, however, that the ultimate inspiration for the poem was not the process that led to my inspiration (reflected in the title), but rather the fragmentary nature of the composition, the “exploded” forms and the September 11 anniversary that is commemorated today. The text in italics is from the King James Bible, Matthew 7:7-8

Seek, and Ye Shall Find

Ask, and it shall be given you;
But who has time or inclination to ask, now?
When seizing, capturing and snatching
Is the accepted form of taking what could be freely given…

Seek, and ye shall find;
But who has time to look for hidden truths, now?
When lies, falsehood and untruths
Can easily be invented and be passed off as true.

Knock, and it shall be opened unto you:
But who bothers knocking on closed doors, now?
When one can knock them down, rush in and violate,
Make public the private and break open what could easily be revealed?

For every one that asketh receiveth;
Enmity instead of friendship:
If violence is used instead of gentleness.

And he that seeketh findeth;
Coals instead of diamonds:
If cruelty replaces kindness.

And to him that knocketh it shall be opened.
Pandora’s box, full of woes, opened:
And not even hope will be lingering in its depths…

MOVIE MONDAY - DEFIANCE

“Courage is not simply one of the virtues, but the form of every virtue at the testing point.” - C.S. Lewis
 
The last weekend we saw a very good film, which despite its “heavy” theme was quite uplifting and hopeful, ending in a very optimistic note. The other positive thing about it was that it was based on a true story, which was affirming in terms of the strength of the human spirit and the ability of human beings to overcome obstacles and rise up to challenging circumstances that would be seen by most to be desperate.
 
The film was Edward Zwick’s 2008 “Defiance” starring Daniel Craig, Liev Schreiber, Alexa Davalos, George MacKay and Jamie Bell. The film was definitely something very different to Daniel Craig’s more familiar and publicised 007 role, and an affirmation that he is a good actor able to perform in a powerful and very demanding dramatic role. However, it is hard to fault any actor’s performance, with even minor characters being depicted in a powerful and believable way.
 
The film is set in Belorussia in 1941, in the midst of the Nazi invasion. The Jewish Bielski brothers manage to escape from the massacre orchestrated by the Nazis in their village where their parents were killed. They hide in the adjacent wild forest that they know well, and other runaway Jews soon join them. Tuvia Bielski (Daniel Craig), the eldest brother, assumes the leadership of the survivors and sets up a camp with tasks for everyone in the newly-founded community. However, his brother Zus Bielski (Liev Schreiber) wants to fight against the Germans and does not agree with Tuvia’s leadership. Zus decides to join the Soviet resistance fighters who believe that Jews do not fight. While Tuvia welcomes any survivor in his camp, which soon leads to the numbers of the forest dwellers swelling to many hundreds. The different ideologies and plans of action against the Nazis between the two brothers brings about a confrontation, until Zus finds that anti-Semitism among the Russian partisans is strong and vehement. Things come to a head when the Nazi forces become aware of the forest dwellers and decide to eliminate them.
 
Edward Zwick (of “Blood Diamond” fame) has created another thought-provoking film directing it in a sensitive and restrained manner, which still manages to evince beauty despite its often horrific and violent content. Even though the movie runs for 137 minutes, it managed to engage and captivate us and kept our interest up for its whole length. The cinematography was stunning and the direction faultless. Although the film does not glamourise the facts nor hide the “ugly” truth, it does introduce some cinematic elements and it does focus on some interpersonal relationships and the character development that one expects of a fiction-based movie.
 
It is a good film to watch and we would recommend it highly. It has a good balance of heavy hitting action and intense drama, and it is a bonus to know that these on-screen characters existed in real life and their courage and amazing actions were successful in saving the life of hundreds of people who would otherwise have been tortured and killed in Nazi concentration camps.

ART SUNDAY - LAUTREC

“I paint things as they are. I don't comment.” - Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec

Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), was a French postimpressionist painter, lithographer, and illustrator, who documented the bohemian nightlife of late-19th-century Paris. His art broke new ground bringing together the immediacy of drawing, the verve of poster graphics and the painterly style of the studio canvas. His use of fluid line and bold colour married well with his masterly composition and his wide thematic work challenged the social and cultural mores of his time.

The artist was born in Albi into one of the oldest aristocratic families. Henri was weak and often sick. By the time he was 10 he had begun to draw and paint. At 12 young Toulouse-Lautrec broke his left leg and at 14 his right leg. The bones failed to heal properly, and his legs stopped growing. He reached young adulthood with a body trunk of normal size but with abnormally short legs. During his convalescence, his mother encouraged him to paint. He subsequently studied with French academic painters L. J. F. Bonnat and Fernand Cormon.

He stayed in the Montmartre section of Paris, the centre of the cabaret entertainment and bohemian life that he loved to paint. Circuses, dance halls, nightclubs, racetracks and Parisian brothels – all these spectacles were set down on canvas or made into lithographs. Toulouse-Lautrec was very much a part of all this activity. He would sit at a crowded nightclub table, laughing and drinking, and at the same time he would make swift sketches.

Toulouse-Lautrec preserved his impressions of these places and their celebrities in portraits and sketches of striking originality and power. Outstanding examples are “La Goulou Entering the Moulin Rouge” (1892, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec, Albi), “Jane Avril Entering the Moulin Rouge” (1892, Courtauld Gallery, London), and “Au salon de la rue des Moulins” (1894, Musée Toulouse-Lautrec).

Toulouse-Lautrec, many of whose works are in the museum that bears his name in Albi, was a prolific creator. His oeuvre includes great numbers of paintings, drawings, etchings, lithographs, and posters, as well as illustrations for various contemporary newspapers. He incorporated into his own highly individual method elements of the styles of various contemporary artists, especially French painters Edgar Degas and Paul Gauguin. Japanese art, then coming into vogue in Paris, influenced his use of sharp delineation, asymmetric composition, oblique angles, and flat areas of color. His work inspired Vincent van Gogh, Georges Seurat, and Georges Rouault.

His alcoholic dissipation, however, eventually brought on a paralytic stroke, to which he succumbed at Malromé, one of his family's estates. Since then his paintings and posters (particularly the 'Moulin Rouge' group) have been in great demand and bring high prices at auctions and art sales.

Lautrec's 1889-90 painting “At The Moulin Rouge – TheDance” is characteristic of his work. Vivacious colour, wonderfully sparse drawing that contributes to the liveliness of the work and a composition that is beautifully balanced and focuses our attention on the dancing figure despite the carefully laid out figures of the foreground.

DISRUPTION TO ROUTINE

“A man practices the art of adventure when he breaks the chain of routine and renews his life through reading new books, traveling to new places, making new friends, taking up new hobbies and adopting new viewpoints” - Wilfred Peterson
 
Routine in our life can be a stabilising influence, a source of comfort and give us a sense of continuity and provide us with something to look forward to, if such a routine is a pleasant one. On the other hand a dull and necessary routine of an unpleasant chore or a regularly occurring inconvenience can be quite demoralising and fill our life with dullness and annoying interruptions to the things we really like doing.
 
Disruption to one’s routine can be unpleasant or pleasant depending on the underlying reason. If one voluntarily changes one’s routine, one would presume that it would be for the better. The break in routine would be quite welcome and the new experience may bring about much enjoyment. However, if routine is disrupted by external factors, then the result can be quite unsettling and the change in schedule can cause much distress. This may occur even if the routine is one what we normally dislike. Any disruption to the simple recurrences of our life may destabilise our sense of our daily reality, and the reality of the world about us; the moment we pass out of our habits we lose all sense of permanency and routine.
 
Tonight, my pleasant routine has been disrupted and it is not because I chose so. My Saturday evening habits being of the pleasant kind, have been interrupted by circumstances beyond my control and thus I sit quite miserable and I rue the events that have led to this melancholy situation. But this too shall pass and next Saturday will be much better I am sure…
 
What better consolation to turn to than some delicious music that will rest the body, calm the mind and assuage the violent emotions? Here is Pietro Antonio Locatelli’s (1695 † 1764) Sonata da camera No.12 for Violin and Basso Continuo in D minor, Op.6: 1. Adagio; 2. Allegro; 3. Andante; 4. Allegro. The performers are Fabio Biondi, (Violin); Maurizio Naddeo, (Violoncello); Giangiacomo Pinardi, (Guitar); Sergio Ciomei, (Harpsichord).


The painting above is Claude Lorrain's "View of Delphi with a Sacrificial Procession".

FOOD FRIDAY - BEETROOT SALAD

“To make a good salad is to be a brilliant diplomatist -- the problem is entirely the same in both cases. To know exactly how much oil one must put with one’s vinegar.” - Oscar Wilde
 
Some years ago, I thought that beetroot was a vegetable rootstock that one ate only cooked. We had had it frequently at home, boiled and sliced, served with its greens, as one of the basic ingredients in borscht and of course pickled. I then tried raw beetroot at a restaurant and it won me quite over. Since then we frequently have this beetroot salad.
 
Beetroot’s main benefits are that it contains no fat, very few calories and is a great source of fibre. Beetroot has for many years been used as a treatment for cancer in Europe. Specific anti-carcinogens are bound to the red colouring matter which supposedly helps fight against cancer and beetroot also increases the uptake of oxygen by as much as 400 percent. Additional studies are taking place to add support to these claims. The green leafy part of the beetroot is also of nutritional value containing beta-carotene and other carotenoids, which function as antioxidants. The leafy part of the beet also contains lots of folate, iron, potassium and some vitamin C.
 
BEETROOT SALAD

Ingredients
 
2 carrots very finely grated

2 beetroot very finely grated

The tender leafy parts of the beetroot (discard the stalks and tough leaves) finely chopped

2 Lebanese (small, gherkin type) cucumbers, julienned

3 spring onions, finely chopped

Salt, pepper to taste

1 teaspoonful dry mustard powder

Vinaigrette dressing (3 parts olive oil, 1 part balsamic vinegar)
 
Method

Mix all ingredients together except for the condiments and dressing. Dissolve the salt, pepper and mustard powder in the vinegar and then make the vinaigrette. Pour the dressing over the salad, mix well and serve with fresh, crusty bread.

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

ON PAIN

“We must embrace pain and burn it as fuel for our journey.” - Kenji Miyazawa
 
I read a story once about someone who could not feel pain. The point of the story was that he felt invulnerable physically and just kept on going. The bad thing about this of course is that the inability to perceive pain is a severe danger because the person has no way of understanding when his body is being put in mortal danger by way of cuts, punches, blows, burns, or even gunshots. The awareness of painful stimuli is an evolutionary necessity to avoid injury and death.

Congenital analgia, is seen in a cluster of rare conditions where a person cannot feel (and has never felt) physical pain. There are generally two types of non-response exhibited. Insensitivity to pain means that the painful stimulus is not even perceived: A patient cannot describe the intensity or type of pain. Indifference to pain means that the patient can perceive the stimulus, but lacks an appropriate response: They will not flinch or withdraw when exposed to pain.
 
Congenital analgia is very serious. Few people with the condition live past the age 25 years, because they are assailed by serious damage and injury, and they fail to react. Whether these people fracture bones, burn their skin, scald themselves drinking boiling water, the lack of pain can cause immense and life-threatening damage to the body, which can be left untreated.

This is serious problem for parents bringing up such children, and later on, for these people themselves for when they become older. Furthermore, these individuals have nothing wrong that can be found with their nervous system. They have normal intelligence, they have normal nerves, the nerves seems to conduct signals normally, their brain seems to be put together normally, and it doesn’t make any sense by the current theories of how pain is controlled. The condition has been traced down to a gene called SCN9A, and in affected people, the normal way in which this gene functions is disturbed.

When we are in pain we tend to feel bad about it and pray that the pain goes away. This is especially true in situations where people suffer from constant and chronic pain, for which they must be prescribed strong analgesic drugs. In other case as after an injury or an operation, we feel intense pain that makes our life miserable. We may curse pain and see it as the enemy from within. But pain has a reason and its existence serves a useful purpose, which is fundamental to our survival. Pain is like a good friend who gives us honest but unpleasant advice, which although we may not like, we know is best for our well-being.

AN APPLE A DAY...

“It is health that is real wealth and not pieces of gold and silver.” - Mahatma Gandhi
 

Our health is often taken for granted, especially so if we don’t suffer from any major disease. The everyday little hurts, aches, pains, the colds, minor infections, mild allergic reactions and short-lived sporting injuries are all of nuisance value and except for the tiny inconvenience they cause, they are all but forgotten when they pass and we get on with enjoying life. However, when a serious disease strikes or when there is need for medical or surgical intervention, when we feel miserable or perhaps when confronted with our own mortality, we realise (in some cases too late) the inestimable value of a clean bill of health.
 

Yet how many of us take care of our bodies? How many of us are actively involved in preventative health on an everyday basis? Do we look after our diet, do we exercise regularly? Do we take steps to reduce the risks of injury and disease? Do we live in a manner that contributes to our mental, physical and social well-being? Increasingly people are becoming aware that they are the keepers of their own health. The government, the media, medical practitioners and one’s family and friends can only do so much. Ultimately, one’s health depends on oneself.
 

When we get sick, especially if the disease is a serious one, the first question we may ask is: “Why me?” Unfortunately the answer in a great number of cases is: “Because you did not look after yourself!” This is not something new, people have been aware of this for millennia. Buddha has said: “Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.” The ancient Greeks wrote extensively on the topic and even folk knowledge has many proverbs and sayings that affirm the same.
 

Yet how many people regard a healthy life as a boring one where the only way to be healthy is to eat and drink what you don’t like, do what you would rather not and plan everything to reduce your risk of disease and injury. Doesn’t sound like much fun! And the younger one is the more heedless one tends to be of such practices of preventative health. Nowadays of course, there are many healthful food products that are nutritious and reduce one’s risk of serious long-term disease. Exercise programs can be fun and it is well known that regular exercise has not only beneficial effects, but is also pleasurable. One can take less risk and have fun at the same time.
 

However, the bottom line is that some preventative health measures are a drag… One need remember in that case, that “no pain, no gain!”

THE DEAD AMONGST US

“Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.” - Fulton Oursler
 
The Magpie Tales creative meme has challenged participants this week with “Summer Night”, a work by American artist Robert Bloch (August 2, 1882 – March 23, 1961). He was a Modernist artist and the only American artist associated with Der Blaue Reiter (Blue Rider), a group of early 20th-century European modernists. He was born in St. Louis, Missouri. He first studied art at the St. Louis School of Fine Arts. In 1901-03 he produced comic strips and cartoons for the St. Louis Star newspaper. Between 1905 and 1908 he worked as a caricaturist and illustrator for William Marion Reedy’s literary and political weekly The Mirror. From 1909 to 1921, Bloch lived and worked mainly in Germany. After the end of World War I, Bloch returned to the United States, teaching at the Academy of Fine Arts in Chicago for a year, and then accepting a Departmental Head position at the University of Kansas until his retirement in 1947.
 
The Dead Amongst Us
 
The dead amongst us walk,
They see, they hear, they talk;
The shades of those that lived
Of those departed, grieved,
Are here and stand and wait.
 
Those loved, and hated ones,
Ancestors, friends and sons
The daughters, parents, foes
And everyone of those
That influence our fate.
 
Dead hopes, and wishes too,
Our dreams, and a desire or two,
All patient stand and bide their time
Until the ticking clock will chime
And all shall stir, revive.
 
Dead loves, and passions fierce,
All that our heart did pierce,
The dead amongst us walk
They see, they hear, they talk
And keep all our regrets alive.

MOVIE MONDAY - FASTER

“Violence isn’t always evil. What’s evil is the infatuation with violence.” - Jim Morrison

We had a very beautiful Spring day yesterday so it was good to go out and enjoy the sunshine a little. There was definitely a warmth in the air, the sun was shining and the Spring flowers have really started to put on a show. Nevertheless, we managed to see our movie as well, which proved to be just the thing after our walk, although it turned out to be quite a dark and sombre film.

It was the 2010 George Tillman Jr movie, “Faster”, starring Dwayne Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Oliver Jackson-Cohen, Carla Gugino and Maggie Grace. It was the typical “dick flick” genre with some elements of film-noir thrown in for good measure. In any case, there was lots of action, car chases, double-crossing, double dealing, violence, drugs and a tale of vengeance and betrayal. It was also quite intelligent and had a moral.

The plot centres on Driver (Dwayne Johnson, “The Rock!”) who after serving 10 years in prison for bank robbery, has only one mission in life, to avenge the murder of his older brother who was executed in front of his eyes when they were double-crossed after the heist. Driver obtains the names and addresses of the double-crossers, and begins to get rid of them systematically. There appear to be nothing on earth that can stop him from killing all of them, except two people that are hunting him. A veteran cop (Billy Bob Thornton) only days from retiring and a young hit man (Oliver Jackson-Cohen). The plot is pretty simple, but relies on the action mainly (OK, and a couple of twists)…

Dwayne Johnson I believed has potential as an actor, however, his choice of roles has been pretty dismal since he left the world of wrestling. “The Scorpion King” was bad enough, but when one considers “The Tooth Fairy”, well, what can I say? In this film, Johnson shows that he has what it takes to play a serious tough guy role, playing it well and with restraint. He is cast perfectly as the vengeful Driver, out to deliver justice to the killers of his brother. Billy Bob Thronton is also cast well as the sleazy, drug-taking cop, while Oliver Jackson-Cohen is also good as the pretty boy killer who seems to be in it for the thrill of it rather than the money. Carla Gugino plays the tough woman cop well and Maggie Grace looks mainly decorative.

This was a violent movie, but oddly, quite entertaining too. The action and violence were not mindless and although the main theme was vengeance, this was counterpointed with forgiveness and redemption. The dialogue is sparing and there are some excellent one liners delivered with great aplomb by Thornton mainly. Original Music by Clint Mansell is very good and the cinematography by Michael Grady excellent. Overall, a good movie.