MUSIC SATURDAY - A COMPOSING WOMAN

“A woman is like a tea bag - you can’t tell how strong she is until you put her in hot water.” - Eleanor Roosevelt
 
Happy International Women’s Day! March 8 is International Women's Day as commemorated by the United Nations and celebrated in many countries around the world. Women on all continents, who are often divided by nationality, linguistic, cultural, economic and political differences, come together to celebrate their Day, and they can look back to a tradition that represents at least nine decades of struggle for equality, justice, peace and development.
 
This commemorative day celebrates ordinary women as makers of history and as the foundation stone on which family is built. The idea of an International Women’s Day first arose at the turn of the 20^th century, which in the then industrialised world was a period of expansion and turbulence, social and economic changes, booming population growth and radical ideologies.
 
For Music Saturday, music by an Australian woman, Peggy Winsome Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990). Glanville-Hicks was born in St Kilda, Melbourne in 1912. At age 15 she began studying composition with Fritz Hart in Melbourne. She also studied the piano under Waldemar Seidel. She spent the years from 1931 to 1936 as a student at the Royal College of Music in London, where she studied piano with Arthur Benjamin, conducting with Constant Lambert and Malcolm Sargent, and composition with Ralph Vaughan Williams (she later asserted that the idea that opens Vaughan Williams’ 4th Symphony was taken from her, and it reappears in her 1950s opera “The Transposed Heads”). Her teachers also included Egon Wellesz.
 
From 1949 to 1958 she served as a critic for the New York Herald Tribune and took out U.S. citizenship. After leaving America, she lived in Greece from 1957 to 1976. In the United States she asked George Antheil to revise his “Ballet Mécanique” for a modern percussion ensemble for a concert she helped to organise before returning to Australia in the late 1970s. She lost her sight in the last years of living in the U.S. as a result of a brain tumour. She had this tumour successfully removed in a marathon operation and regained her sight. However, a result of this operation was her loss of a sense of smell.
 
She died in Sydney in 1990. Her will established the Peggy Glanville-Hicks Composers’ House in her home in Paddington, Sydney, as a residency for Australian and overseas composers. Major works in her output include the “Sinfonia da Pacifica”, “Etruscan Concerto”, “Concerto Romantico”, and her “Harp Sonata” which was premiered by Nicanor Zabaleta in 1953, as well as several operas. Her best known operas are “The Transposed Heads” and “Nausicaa”. “The Transposed Heads” is in six scenes with a libretto by the composer after Thomas Mann and premiered in Louisville, Kentucky on 27 March 1954.
 
“Nausicaa” was composed in 1959-60 and premiered in Athens in 1961. The libretto was prepared together with Robert Graves in Majorca in 1956, based on his novel “Homer’s Daughter.” Her last opera, “Sappho”, was composed in 1963 for the San Francisco Opera, with hopes that Maria Callas would sing the title role. However, the company rejected the work and it has never been produced. This opera was recorded in 2012 by Jennifer Condon conducting the Orquestra Gulbenkian and Coro Gulbenkian with Deborah Polaski in the title role.
 
She was married to British composer Stanley Bate, who was gay, from 1938 to 1949, when they divorced. She married journalist Rafael da Costa in 1952; the couple divorced the following year. She was also involved with Mario Monteforte Toledo and Theodore Thomson Flynn. Like Bate, many of the men with whom Glanville-Hicks was close were gay; she had few intimate female friends, and often dressed in male attire. She was an intimate friend of the expatriate U.S. writer and composer Paul Bowles, and they remained very close all their lives.
 
Here is her “Etruscan Concerto” for Piano. Glanville-Hicks wrote the “Etruscan Concerto” in 1954 for the then 32-year-old Italian virtuoso pianist Carlo Bussotti. The Etruscan was the first of three concerto-like works composed by her in the mid 1950s, followed by the “Concertino Antico” (1955) for harp and string quartet, and the “Concerto Romantico” (1956) for viola and chamber orchestra. The commission forms part of a cluster of successful works written during this decade, which was to be the most productive period of her composing career. Lester Trimble said of this work: “[It is]...riotously rhythmic in its speedy movements ...all very delicately exotic, and yet quite clear and Anglo-Saxon in its means.”

FOOD FRIDAY - PASTA AL PESTO

“Pasta doesn’t make you fat. How much pasta you eat makes you fat.” - Giada De Laurentiis
 
The basil in our back yard is in full growth spurt phase at the moment and the first few flowers have started appearing. What better to use it up gainfully than a classic Italian dish for Food Friday:
 
Pasta al Pesto
Ingredients
1 garlic clove, crushed
50 g chopped fresh basil
3 tablespoonfuls chopped pine nuts
2 teaspoonful salt
Freshly ground pepper
250 mL olive oil
50 g grated Parmesan cheese
2 servings of your favourite cooked pasta (we make it with spaghettini – it cooks in only 8 minutes, and that is a touch past al dente, as we favour our pasta softer!)
 
Method
Crush the basil, garlic and pine nuts in a mortar until the mixture forms a smooth paste.  Add the salt and pepper.  Gradually pound in the oil, then the cheese until the sauce is smooth and thick. Pour over the spaghetti and toss until the pasta is thoroughly coated. Garnish with freshly grated cheese and basil or other herb leaves, and serve immediately.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

EUROPEAN DAY OF THE RIGHTEOUS

“Do you have the right to be silent in the face of evil, do you have the right not to stand witness; do you the right to let your fear speak for you?” – Esad Kocan
 

March 6 is the European day of the Righteous, a celebration established in 2012 by the European Parliament to commemorate those who have stood up against crimes against humanity and totalitarianism with their own moral responsibility. By this celebration the concept of Righteous as worked out by Yad Vashem is broadened to all genocide cases and forms of totalitarianism thanks to the commitment of Moshe Bejski. The European day of the Righteous is celebrated every year on 6 March, the anniversary of Moshe Bejski’s death.
 

Moshe Bejski (Dzialoszyce, 29 December 1921 – Tel Aviv, 6 March 2007) was an Israeli judge, President of “Yad Vashem” Righteous Commission. Moshe Bejski’s quest for the Righteous demonstrates that it is possible to act against evil with a simple act of good, and not necessarily having to become a martyr. As long as one has the moral inclination to do so one may make a big difference. There are no barriers, neither ethnic, nor religious; neither ideological nor sociological, when one puts human beings at the centre of one’s world of values.
 

The call for the European Union and the Council of Europe to set up a European day in the memory of the Righteous came from a hundred prominent Italian and European personalities of the world of culture under the aegis of non-profit association Gariwo, the forest of the Righteous. It soon received the support of important institutions such as the Presidency of the Republic of Poland, the Václav Havel foundatioon, the association run by father Luigi Ciotti “Libera, numeri e nomi contro le mafie” and many other influent entities from all over Europe. The most famous signatories include Umberto Eco, Dario Fo, Daniel Goldhagen.
 

The educational charity Gariwo is part of the network Gardens of the Righteous Worldwide (www.gariwo.net) and was registered in Sarajevo in 2001. The organisation campaigns to develop civil courage among young people in the Balkans to stand up against ethnic and religious antagonism, bigotry, intolerance of diversity, all kinds of group prejudice, corruption, intimidation, bullying, physical abuse and violence.
 

Specific Aims of the Programme Education for Civil Courage are:
To raise public awareness of moral and social issues and their chief purpose
To encourage citizens to think in terms of their whole society rather than identify mainly with ethnic groups
To persuade citizens to take responsibility for changing their society
To inspire self-confidence that individual and collective action can succeed
To train particularly young people in the practical skills for constructive opposition.

POETRY JAM - BOTTLES

“Nothing is more memorable than a smell. One scent can be unexpected, momentary and fleeting, yet conjure up a childhood summer beside a lake in the mountains.” - Diane Ackerman
 

Poetry Jam this week bottles the good stuff with a challenge based on bottles of all kinds. “Whatever you decide, put bottle in your poetry this week”, was the suggestion. Here is my poem:
 

The Scent Bottle
 

A mislaid, forgotten bottle of your scent
I found today and opened to inhale;
A flood of memories spun a rich tale,
With costly perfumes from Tashkent,
Souvenirs of glances hidden by a veil.
 

Your pale demeanour, golden hair
Enveloped in a cloud of fragrance,
Enhancing so your silky elegance;
Reminding me, through scent so rare,
Our parting – making me despair.
 

The citrus, civet and the earthy musk
Are mixed with the delights of rose;
The smells waft, delicately to caress the nose.
The summery afternoon, the violet dusk
What marvels does a scent bottle enclose!
 

My wandering fingers on your skin
I recollect, absorbing with each touch
An aromatic kiss – in love so much!
Warm ambergris like sounds of violin,
Fading recall, as snowflake, to clutch.
 

A perfume bottle and your memory I seek,
In billows of vetiver, nard and myrrh.
My loss, the scent I smell, will now aver
Times past, of happiness gone, to speak,
As echoes of long-lost love I stir…

MARDI GRAS & ASH WEDNESDAY 2014

“Everything being a constant carnival, there is no carnival left.” - Victor Hugo
 
Mardi Gras, or “Fat Tuesday”, or “Pancake Tuesday” are alternative names for Shrove Tuesday, which this year falls on March 4. In most Western churches this is the last day of the pre-Lenten non-fasting period.  It was a day during which all remaining eggs, milk, butter and cheese in the house had to be consumed, hence the custom of making pancakes. It is also the last day before Lent for making merry, hence the Mardi Gras parades and fancy dress.
 
PANCAKES 
Ingredients
1          pint (≈ 470 mL) cream
6          fresh eggs
1/4        pound  (≈ 114 g) sugar
1          nutmeg, grated
            flour to make a thin batter 
            some butter for frying
 
Method 
Beat well the cream and eggs together and add the sugar and nutmeg.  Add as much flour as will make a thin pancake batter. Be careful as not to add much flour.  Grease the hot pan with a little butter and wipe lightly with a cloth.  Spoon the batter so that the bottom of the pan is covered evenly and thinly. Fry the pancake well on one side and then toss quickly so that the other side is also a golden brown colour.  Serve with savoury or sweet fillings.
 
Ash Wednesday is the first day of the Lenten fasting period in most Western churches, which this year falls on March 5. In the past, people who had sinned gravely were not allowed to take communion during Lent and had to prepare themselves all during Lent. They did this by wearing sackcloth and being sprinkled with ashes in the 40 days of Lent.  In the 9th century this practice began to die out, but priests retained the custom Ash Wednesday as a reminder of the need of penitence and repentance during Lent.  On Ash Wednesday, the priest takes some ashes and makes the sign of the cross on the forehead of the faithful.  The ashes are those of the palms that were used on Palm Sunday the previous year.  The ashes should remind the faithful that “they are but dust, and to dust they shall return.”
 
Beginning on Ash Wednesday and lasting until Easter, the atmosphere in churches is very subdued, with minimal lighting being used. The statues and ikons are draped in purple and the priests also wear purple vestments. This is a colour symbolising penitence and sorrow, thus being in keeping with the Lenten period which reminds people of Christ’s sacrifice for them.
            Is this a Fast, to keep
            The larder lean and clean
            From fat of veals and sheeps?
 
            Is it to quit the dish
            Of flesh, yet still to fill
            The platter high with fish?
 
            No; ‘tis a Fast to dole
            Thy sheaf of wheat and meat
            Unto the hungry soul.
 
            It is to fast from strife
            From old debate and hate 
            To circumcise thy life.
 
Noble Numbers (1647); Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

MOVIE MONDAY - 2014 OSCARS

“A wide screen just makes a bad film twice as bad.” - Samuel Goldwyn
 
Well, the 86th Academy Awards winners have been announced with:
Best Picture – “12 Years a Slave”
Best Actor in a Leading Role – Matthew McConaughey (“Dallas Buyers Club”)
Best Actress in a Leading Role – Cate Blanchett (“Blue Jasmine”)
Best Actor in a Supporting Role – Jared Leto (“Dallas Buyers Club”)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role – Lupita Nyong’o (“12 Years a Slave”)
Best Animated Feature – “Frozen” (Chris Buck, Jennifer Lee, Peter Del Vecho)
Best Cinematography – “Gravity” (Emmanuel Lubezki)
Best Costume Design – “The Great Gatsby” (Catherine Martin)
Best Directing – “Gravity” (Alfonso Cuarón)
Best Foreign Language Film – “The Great Beauty” (Italy)
 
I was rather glad to see that “The Wolf of Wall St” was shunned by the Academy, as was “American Hustle”. It was not unexpected that the Academy’s sympathies would lean towards “12 Years a Slave”, a non-fiction story, based on a memoir written in 1853, which was also the source for the 1984 made-for-TV movie, American Playhouse: “Solomon Northup’s Odyssey” (1984). I look forward to watching this movie, and in particular Lupita Nyong’o’s performance, which was Oscar material.
 
It seems that there were many things in common with the Golden Globe awards, which were handed out in mid-January earlier this year.
 
Our own Cate Blanchett won an Oscar under the direction of Woody Allen in “Blue Jasmine” and this another movie we would like to put on list of films to watch. It’s interesting that in an online interview, Woody Allen said that Cate Blanchett was his first choice for the actress he was considering to play Jasmine. He stated he’d first seen her in the movie “The Talented Mr. Ripley” and asked ‘who is this woman?’ He later said he’d heard her performances were like the hydrogen bomb. When the interviewer asked who he would have chosen if Cate Blanchett was not available, Allen said he had a couple of other actresses in mind but did not name them.
 
It’s interesting that “Philomena” did not pick up any awards, even though it was nominated for four: Aside from Best Picture, Dench was nominated for Best Actress, Alexandre Desplat was nominated for Best Original Score, while Steve Coogan and Jeff Pope earned a nod for Best Adapted Screenplay. This sounds like an interesting film and with wins in the Toronto and Venice film festivals, it is another movie that is on “to watch” list.
 
Ellen DeGeneres hosting the Oscars this year provided many opportunities for mayhem and lots of mildly amusing moments, taking the edge of many a disappointment, I think. Her wisecracks like: “Jonah Hill is nominated for ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’. Jonah, you showed us something in that film that I have not seen for a very, very long time… get it?”, were on the edge of good taste and the pizza ordering left something to be desired taste-wise too.
 
Every time an actor is interviewed about the Oscars, they always say that: “It’s an honour just to be nominated…” Surely it must be, but the $50,000 worth of goodies they get in a luxury swag bag is quite a consolation prize. The most prolific nominees (i.e. the actors and directors - writers, producers and technicians are ruled out) each receive a bag of treats for showing up to the awards ceremony. The appropriately titled “Distinctive Assets Everybody Wins” goodie bag’s contents change evey year, but the theme is usually around luxury pampering gifts and charitable items. What was in the 2014 Oscars goodie bag? Here are some of the items in the packages that 25 nominees received:
 
Polar Loop Activity Tracker ($109.95)
Narrative Clip Camera ($279)
Jitseu Handbags ($279)
Jan Lewis Designs Bracelet ($400)
Max Martin Shoes ($750)
Huntley Drive Fitness Training Sessions ($850)
Gizara Arts Print ($1,000)
Epic Pet Health Therapy ($1,571.98)
Koala Landing Resort Stay in Kauai ($2,000)
Steamist Home Spa System ($2,560)
Imanta Mexico Resort Stay ($3,300)
Rocky Mountaineer Train Trip ($4,078)
Halo Natural Pet Food ($6,142.89)
Best of Vegas Tour Package ($9,000)
Walk Japan Tour of Japan ($15,000)…

ART SUNDAY - RENOIR

“The pain passes, but the beauty remains.” - Auguste Renoir
 
Pierre-Auguste Renoir (born February 25, 1841, Limoges, France—died December 3, 1919, Cagnes) was a French painter originally associated with the Impressionist movement. His early works were typically Impressionist snapshots of real life, full of sparkling colour and light. By the mid-1880s, however, he had broken with the movement to apply a more disciplined, formal technique to portraits and figure paintings, particularly of women.
 
Renoir’s father was a tailor, and the young man took up an apprenticeship with a porcelain painter, as his artistic talent was obvious. He then had the opportunity to study at the École des Beaux Arts. It was here that he joined Charles Gleyre’s studio and met many other young French impressionist artists. His art was noted for its vibrant combination of colours. In classic impressionist style, he avoided rigid lines, and merged objects giving a sense of dream-like consciousness. He also painted many portraits of women - often in the nude. However, they focus not on the sexual aspect but often on everyday experiences, femininity and grace taking precedence over overt sexuality.
 
Initially, the art establishment was unimpressed by the new breed of painters and the impressionists struggled to have any exhibitions. Renoir, supplemented his income with his commissions for more conventional portraits. In 1881 he visited Algeria and then Italy. In Italy, he was deeply impressed by the Italian masters. After meeting Cezanne near Marseilles, Renoir sought to break away from Impressionism by developing a new structural style of his own.

Yet, he never abandoned his techniques of colour that he learnt during his impressionist period and he developed a combination of classical styles of applying paint with an impressionist perspective of colour. Towards the end of the nineteenth century he gained increasing fame and respect. In 1892, the French state bought one of his paintings “At the Piano”.
 
As ill-fortune would have it, his fame and greater renown also coincided with the onset of arthritis which made painting difficult and painful. But, he struggled on and continued to paint some great masterpieces.
 
Acknowledging modern criticism of Renoir’s sensuality, Lawrence Gowing wrote: “Is there another respected modern painter whose work is so full of charming people and attractive sentiment? Yet what lingers is not cloying sweetness but a freshness that is not entirely explicable... One feels the surface of his paint itself as living skin: Renoir’s aesthetic was wholly physical and sensuous, and it was unclouded...These interactions of real people fulfilling natural drives with well-adjusted enjoyment remain the popular masterpieces of modern art (as it used to be called), and the fact that they are not fraught and tragic, without the slightest social unrest in view, or even much sign of the spatial and communal disjunction which some persist in seeking, is far from removing their interests.”
 
Albert Aurier, an art critic and early essayist on the impressionists, wrote in 1892: “With such ideas, with such a vision of the world and of femininity, one might have feared that Renoir would create a work which was merely pretty and merely superficial. Superficial it was not; in fact it was profound, for if, indeed, the artist has almost completely done away with the intellectuality of his models in his paintings, he has, in compensation, been prodigal with his own. As to the pretty, it is undeniable in his work, but how different from the intolerable prettiness of fashionable painters.”
 
In a preview to the exhibition ‘Renoir Landscapes 1865-1883’ at the National Gallery, London in spring 2007, The Guardian wrote that: “Even Degas laughed at his friend's style, calling it as puffy as cotton wool,” but that “if we’re going to love him, we need to love his chocolate box qualities, too.”
 
Here is his “By the Water (Near the Lake)”, completed in 1880 (oil on canvas; 46.2 x 55.4 cm; Gallery: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA) and illustrating his wispy, colourful style full of light and lightness of touch.

MUSIC SATURDAY - MARIN MARAIS

“Nothing’s so dainty sweet as lovely melancholy.” - Francis Beaumont
 

Marin Marais (31 May 1656, Paris – 15 August 1728, Paris) was a French composer and viol player. He studied composition with Jean-Baptiste Lully, often conducting his operas, and with master of the bass viol Monsieur de Sainte-Colombe for six months. He was hired as a musician in 1676 to the royal court of Versailles. He did quite well as court musician, and in 1679 was appointed ordinaire de la chambre du roy pour la viole, a title he kept until 1725.
 

He was a master of the basse de viol, and the leading French composer of music for the instrument. He wrote five books of “Pièces de Viole” (1686–1725) for the instrument, generally suites with basso continuo. These were quite popular in the court, and for these he was remembered in later years as he who “founded and firmly established the empire of the viol” (Hubert Le Blanc, 1740). His other works include a book of “Pièces en Trio” (1692 – herewith presented) and four operas (1693–1709), “Alcyone” (1706) being noted for its tempest scene.
 

Here are Marin Marais’ “Pièces en Trio”, peformed by Musica Pacifica.

FOOD FRIDAY - STUFFED TOMATOES

“It’s difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato.” - Lewis Grizzard
 
For Food Friday a traditional vegetarian Summer dish from Greece. This is a delicious and filling meal, best served with some crusty bread, a full bodied, hard, yellow cheese and some red wine.
 
Domátes Yemistés (Stuffed Tomatoes) 
Ingredients
8-10 very ripe, round tomatoes (garden grown if possible)
10 tablespoons calrose rice
2 medium onions, finely grated
½ cup fresh, chopped parsley
½ cup fresh, chopped spearmint
2 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted in olive oil
1 cup olive oil
½ cup breadcrumbs
½ cup grated parmesan
2 potatoes, peeled and cut in small scalloped pieces
½ cup butter
1 glassful of vegetable stock
Salt, pepper
Pinch of cinnamon and pinch of cumin 

Method 
Wash and dry the tomatoes. Cut the tops off, about 0.5 cm down and retain the tops. Empty the flesh of the tomato out with a teaspoon, taking care not to damage the skin, so that you have an empty tomato shell, about 0.5 cm thick all around. Retain the tomato flesh in a bowl. Dust the inside of each tomato with salt and pepper. Put the flesh of the tomato in a food processor and process until reduced to a pulp.
In a frying pan, put half a cup of olive oil and brown the grated onion, adding the rice, once onion is golden. Stir through and add the pine nuts, followed by the spices. Add the tomato pulp and chopped herbs and stir through. Remove from the fire.
Fill the tomato shells with the rice mixture until they are ¾ full. Put the tops of the tomatoes on the stuffed tomatoes and place carefully in a deep baking pan, side by side. Place the potato pieces in between the tomatoes and dot with dobs of butter. Add the stock and pour a little olive oil on top of each tomato. Sprinkle with the breadcrumb/parmesan mixture.
Bake for about 70-75 minutes at 180˚C, until the tomatoes are very tender and the rice is cooked.

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

PROMETHEUS, PANDORA & HOPE

“We must accept finite disappointment, but never lose infinite hope.” - Martin Luther King, Jr
 

When it came to populate the earth, ancient Greek mythology relates, Zeus the king of the gods entrusted Prometheus the Titan and his brother Epimetheus, with the task of making man and all other animals, and of endowing them with all needful faculties. This Epimetheus did, and his brother overlooked the work. Epimetheus then gave to the different animals their several gifts of courage, strength, swiftness and wisdom. He gave wings to one, claws to another, a shelly covering to the third.
 

Man, superior to all other animals, came last. But for man Epimetheus had nothing left to give, as he had bestowed all his gifts elsewhere.  He came to his brother for help, and Prometheus, with the aid of Athena, went up to heaven, lit his torch at the chariot of the sun, and brought down fire to man. With this gift of fire, man was more than equal to all other animals. Fire enabled him to make weapons to subdue wild beasts, tools with which to till the earth.  With fire he warmed his dwelling and defeated the cold.
 

Woman was not yet made. The story is, that Zeus made her, and sent her to Epimetheus and his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from heaven; and man, for accepting the gift.  The first woman was named Pandora (meaning ‘gifted with all things’).  She was made in heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Aphrodite gave her beauty, Hermes persuasion, Apollo music. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to earth, and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Zeus and his gifts.
 

Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept all manner of noxious things, for which, in fitting man for his new abode, Epimetheus had contained there to make life easier for man. Pandora was extremely curious to know what this jar contained, although she had been warned not to touch it. Unable to contain her boundless curiosity, one day Pandora slipped off the cover of the jar and looked in. Immediately, a multitude of plagues for hapless man escaped from the jar:  All manner of diseases for his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind. These ills scattered themselves far and wide and from then on plague the world of men.
 

Pandora hastened to replace the lid, but unfortunately the whole contents of the jar had escaped with the exception of one thing only, which lay at the bottom. When Pandora listened carefully a musical, soft voice from within the jar asked her to let it out. She was now cautious and was reluctant to let this last thing out of the jar. However, the insistence and musicality of the voice, as well as insatiable curiosity finally persuaded her to open the jar once again. And it was then that the last occupant of the jar arrived into our world, and that was Hope.  So we see at this day, whatever evils are abroad, hope never entirely leaves us; and while we have that, no amount of other ills can make us completely wretched.
 

Prometheus was known for his intelligence and was honoured as a champion of mankind. The punishment of Prometheus as a consequence of the theft is a major theme of his mythology, and is a popular subject of both ancient and modern art. Zeus, king of the Olympian gods, sentenced the Titan to eternal torment for his transgression. The immortal Prometheus was bound to a rock, where each day an eagle, the emblem of Zeus, was sent to feed on his liver, which would then grow back to be eaten again the next day. (In ancient Greece, the liver was thought to be the seat of human emotions). In some stories, Prometheus is freed at last by the hero Herakles (Hercules).

POETRY JAM - TRAIN JOURNEY

“The past is a foreign country: They do things differently there.” – L.P. Hartley
 
Poetry Jam this week is celebrating trains and train journeys and has invited participants to write about something including trains. I opted for the figurative rather than the literal journey in this instance. Here is my offering:
 
Pages from the Past
 
A notebook by pure chance discovered,
Brings back old pages from the past;
As my experiences lie bare, uncovered
My feelings backwards are cast.
 
The even script, my younger self belies
My thoughts of yore, there manifest.
Old tears, laughter, truths and even lies
Appear on pages, like flowers pressed.
 
My heart’s first stirrings faithfully recorded
The bitter disappointments, and the sheer joy;
I read, and on the train of the past boarded,
Travel to foreign parts of me, as then, a boy.
 
My inner being revels and I resonate
With my younger self, my innocence engaged;
I look at my wrinkled face, surprised that fate
Has willed a youth, in body so much aged.
 
My pages from the past, the yellowed paper,
The mind’s awakening and my soul’s flight,
Captured forever and their evanescent vapour
Wafts in, a sweet aroma, a bright light…

HÄNDEL GATHERING MINT IN KUWAIT

“It is the destiny of mint to be crushed.” Waverley Lewis Root
 

Spearmint, Mentha spicata, is the birthday plant for this day.  The generic name is derived from Minthe, a nymph of ancient Greek legend. She was the beautiful daughter of the river god Cocytus. Pluto, the god of Hades fell in love with her and this being discovered, his wife Persephone, turned Minthe into the herb.  The ancient Greeks used to perfume different parts of the body with different scents, the arms being scented with mint.  The herb symbolises burning love and in the language of flowers means: “Let's be friends again”.

Today is the anniversary of the birth of:
Georg Friderich Händel, German composer (1685);
Carlo Goldoni, playwright (1707);
José de San Martin, Argentine revolutionary (1778);
Pierre Auguste Renoir, French impressionist artist (1841);
George Reid, Australian PM (1845);
Frederick McCubbin, Australian artist (1855);
Benedetto Croce, philosopher (1866);
Enrico Caruso, Italian tenor (1873);
Myra Hess, pianist (1890);
Zeppo (Herbert) Marx, comedian (1901);
(Karl-Gerhard) Gert Frobe, actor (1913);
Anthony Burgess (John Burgess Wilson), writer (1917);
Tom Courtenay, actor (1937);
Herb Elliott, Australian runner (1938);
David Puttnam, director/producer (1941);
George Harrison, of Beatles fame (1943).
 

Georg Friedrich Händel (1685-1759) was a German-English baroque composer. His music is powerful, melodic, ebullient and deeply moving at times.  By 1705 he had produced two operas in Hamburg; he spent the next four years in Italy, where he absorbed Italian style. Moving to England in 1712, he wrote music, including the famous “Water Music” (1717), for George I.

He presented operas in London until 1741. Among his 46 operas are “Julius Caesar” (1724), “Atalanta” (1736), and “Serse” (1738), with its tenor aria now known as the Largo. His masterpiece is the sacred oratorio, “The Messiah”. This is a setting of verses from the Old and New Testaments as arranged by Charles Jennens. Händel composed it between August 22 and September 14, in 1741 in his London Home in Brook Street.

His other 32 oratorios include “Acis and Galatea” (1720), “Esther” (1732), “Saul” (1739), and “Judas Maccabeus” (1747). He also composed ≈100 Italian solo cantatas; many orchestral works, among them the Twelve Concerti Grossi (1739); harpsichord suites; organ concertos; and the anthem “Zadok, the Priest” (1727), used at all British coronations since that of George II.

On this day in 1723, Sir Christopher Wren, English architect of St Paul's in London died. In 1899, Paul Julius von Reuter, German founder of Reuter's News Agency died; in 1906, Anton Arensky, Russian composer, pianist and conductor died. In 1914, Sir John Tenniel, English illustrator of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland died. In 1983, Tennessee Williams, US playwright of "A Streetcar Named Desire", "A Hard Day's Journey into Night", "Mourning Becomes Electra", died.

Today is also Kuwait's Independence Day. Kuwait has been a UK protectorate since 1899, but gained its independence in 1961. It is one of the Persian Gulf states wedged between Iraq and Saudi Arabia.  Most of the country is a low desert, its area about 24,300 square km, the population about 2,5 million people.  The discovery of rich oil deposits made Kuwait one of the richest countries in the world, sparking off Iraq's attempted annexation a few years ago.

MOVIE MONDAY - CONTRABAND

“The only medicine for suffering, crime, and all other woes of mankind, is wisdom. Teach a man to read and write, and you have put into his hands the great keys of the wisdom box. But it is quite another thing to open the box.” - Thomas Huxley
 

Last weekend we watched the 2012 Baltasar Kormákur film, “Contraband” starring  Mark Wahlberg, Giovanni Ribisi, Kate Beckinsale, Caleb Landry Jones and Ben Foster. This was a typical “dick-flick”, which nevertheless kept us engaged despite its rather predictable plot. This was largely due to the well-paced direction, good acting and a good mix of action and character interaction.
 

The plot centres on Chris Faraday (Wahlberg), who was once a smuggler, bringing in illegal items or contraband into the USA on freighters. Realising the great risk this lifestyle placed on his new family, he leaves that life behind and goes legit, setting up his own security business. Andy (Landry Jones), his young brother-in-law gets involved with Briggs (Ribisi), a drug dealer, blowing a deal. Briggs demands restitution, which can’t be delivered by Andy. So it’s up to Chris to find a way to pay him as Briggs threatens Andy and Chris’ family if he doesn’t deliver.
 

Chris and Andy board a freighter destined for Panama, the plan being to bring back some counterfeit currency. Briggs threatens Chris’ family in his absence, terrorising his wife (Beckinsale) and child. When Chris learns of this, he asks his friend Sebastian (Foster) to take care of them, which he does. Sebastian advises Chris that it would be better to bring drugs instead of the cash, something that Chris doesn’t want to do. When in Panama, however, thing go seriously wrong for Chris and Andy…
 

The film is well-made and delivers what one expects from an action film. There is strong acting, good directing, and great cinematography that takes you to New Orleans, Panama, and the freight ship. Mark Walberg is excellent as the lead character, and is believable as the man pulled back into his smuggling past to right the wrongs of his naive brother-in-law and protect his family. The director does well in building intensity throughout the film, working up to a good climax.
 

For what is, the film is good and there are no pretensions to being what it isn’t – if you want Shakespeare, go see a stage play. One has to be forgiving of the standard plot (after all the screenwriter, Aaron Guzikowski, is a rookie) and some lapses of reality. But that said, one enjoy intense action, strong acting, and great settings.

ART SUNDAY - FRAGONARD

“The dawn is not distant, nor is the night starless; love is eternal.” - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 

Jean-Honoré Fragonard (born 1732 Grasse, France, died 1806 Paris) was a French draughtsman and painter. Born in the small city of Grasse, Jean-Honoré Fragonard moved to Paris with his family in 1738. While still in his teens, he became apprenticed to Jean-Baptiste-Siméon Chardin for just six months and then worked in François Boucher’s studio. He won the Prix de Rome in 1752, then spent three preparatory years under Carle Vanloo before studying at the Académie de France in Rome from 1756 to 1761.
 

Fragonard also drew landscapes with Hubert Robert and traveled to southern Italy and Venice. Fragonard’s submission to the Salon of 1765 earned him associate academy membership, yet he opted out of an official career of history painting. Preferring to make lighthearted, erotic pictures for private clients, he only exhibited at the Salon twice.
 

He married Marie-Anne Gerard, herself a painter of miniatures in 1769 and they had a daughter, Rosalie, who became one of his favourite models, until her death at about aged 19. Later he had a son who also became an artist. His portraits made him the admired favourite of modern Impressionists, and it is interesting that the impressionist painter Berthe Morisot was either his grand-daughter or great-niece (depending on which historian you read).
 

Life and paint seen through his lightning brush were delicious; his cheerful canvases reinvigorated the Rococo style. He painted mythology, gallantry, landscape, and portraiture and drew voraciously in wide-ranging media, often signing his works “Frago”. The French Revolution ended Fragonard's career and made him a pauper. Admiring his work, the Neoclassical painter Jacques-Louis David attempted to assist by making him curator of the future Musée du Louvre. Unable to adapt to the new style of painting, however, Fragonard died forgotten in Napoleon’s France. For half a century or more he was largely forgotten, but collectors and critics discovered him again in the early 1900s.
 

The paintings of Watteau and Fragonard, more than any others, represent the sparkling frou-frou of the Rococo. Looking at an exhibit of Fragonard, one would come away with a colourful collection of frivolity, of hoop-skirts, silken trimmings and short petticoats, swings revealing interesting grey stockings, rosy cheeks and shoulders, of cupid’s kisses and love-play. The Advisory chose Fragonard’s works with care, because most of his subjects are not suitable for children. We would not call him a moral artist, but he is among the masters, and all of his paintings show sparkling verve, spirit and dash. It is astonishing with what fine feeling he arranges his colours and by what simple means he expresses life and movement. He generally used water-colours, not oil, and never painted upon a large scale, and this contributes to the air of fantasy, if not the fantastic, of most of his works.
 

The painting above is “The Goddess Aurora Triumphing Over Night” (oil on 95.2 by 131.5 cm). This was sold to a private buyer by Sotheby’s last year for $3,834,500 USD (Hammer Price with Buyer’s Premium). This early painting clearly demonstrates that Fragonard had fully absorbed the lessons both of his early masters, François Boucher and Carle van Loo, and was beginning to create his own interpretation of the Rococo style. The pendant of this painting, Diana and Endymion, is now at the National Gallery of Art, Washington. The two paintings, both grand in scale and composition, make a perfect pendant pair; they were originally on shaped canvases for placement within a boiserie surrounding. The compositions are flawlessly balanced, with symmetrically positioned sleeping figures arranged across the bottom of each canvas underneath corresponding female deities positioned above.

BOCCHERINI'S QUINTETS

“Music fills the infinite between two souls.” - Rabindranath Tagore
 
Luigi Rodolfo Boccherini,  (born February 19, 1743, Lucca, Italy - died May 28, 1805, Madrid, Spain), was an Italian composer and cellist who influenced the development of the string quartet as a musical genre and who composed the first music for a quintet for strings, as well as a quintet for strings and piano. His approximately 500 works also include sacred music, symphonies, and concerti. Here are Boccherini’s String Quintets Op.10, played by La Magnifica Comunita.

String Quintet in A major, G. 265 (Op. 10/1)

1. Andantino 0:00-20:29

2. Largo

3. Minuetto Allegro, Trio

4. Allegro assai
 
String Quintet in E flat major, G. 266 (Op. 10/2)

5. Amoroso 20:29-41:37

6. Allegro non tanto

7. Minuetto, Trio

8. Presto
 
String Quintet in C minor, G. 267 (Op. 10/3)

9. Allegretto 41:37-1:04:59

10. Adagio non tanto

11. Minuetto, Trio

12. Presto
 
String Quintet in C major, G. 268 (Op. 10/4)

13. Adagio 1:04:59-1:24:27

14. Allegro e con forza

15. Adagio

16. Rondeau Allegro

String Quintet in E flat major, G. 269 (Op. 10/5)

17. Non tanto sostenuto 1:24:27-1:44:20

18. Allegro assai

19. Allegretto
 
String Quintet in D major, G. 270 (Op. 10/6)

20. Pastorale 1:44:20

21. Allegro Maestoso

22. Minuetto con variazioni

FOOD FRIDAY - CARROT CAKE

“You ask ‘What is life?’ That is the same as asking, ‘What is a carrot?’ A carrot is a carrot and we know nothing more.” - Anton Pavlovich Chekhov
 

For Food Friday today, a rich cake full of the goodness of carrots, nuts and honey. Using wholemeal flour and vegetable oil reduces the guilt factor somewhat…
 

Carrot Cake 

Ingredients
4 eggs
150g brown sugar
300 mL vegetable oil
4 large carrots, finely grated
300g wholemeal flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup toasted and chopped walnuts
½ cup sultanas
1 tsp grated cinnamon, cloves and allspice
150g honey
 

For the icing
125g unsalted butter, softened
250g cream cheese, softened
Finely grated zest of 3 oranges
100g icing sugar, sieved
 

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Grease and line a 25 cm diameter, spring-form cake tin.
Put the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a mixer and beat for about 10 minutes, until foamy and slightly thickened. Add the oil and beat for a few minutes more.
Combine the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and sieve them into the cake mixture. Fold in lightly.
Fold in the grated carrot. Pour into the prepared tin and bake for 45-50 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Scrape the honey into a saucepan and wash the container out with a couple of tablespoons of hot water, which you then add into the saucepan with the honey. Set over a low heat and heat gently until the honey is liquid and begins to foam.
Pierce the hot cake all over with a skewer. Carefully pour on the hot honey so it soaks into the cake. Leave in the tin to cool completely before turning out.
To ice it, beat the soft butter in a bowl until smooth and fluffy, then beat in the cream cheese and orange zest. Sweeten with sieved icing sugar. Spread over the cake when it’s cold. Sprinkle with chopped walnuts if desired.

This post is part of the Food Friday meme,

and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

ANCIENT GREEK NAMES

“What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” - William Shakespeare
 
Personal names of individuals to a certain extent reflect the concerns and values of a society. This is particularly true of the ancient Greeks who, in forming their names, exploited the richness and inventiveness of their language, adapting, combining and recombining nouns, adjectives and verbs to create new forms reflecting features of their landscape, and the values of their religious, cultural and political life. Throughout the ancient world, Greek-speaking communities retained their distinct local features and at the same time shared common pan-Greek values. Their personal names reflect, and play a vital part in measuring, these differences and similarities, and can therefore throw light on all aspects of their lives.
 
The purpose of naming is to identify (hopefully unambiguously), and for ancient Greeks there were three possible elements in that identification: The given name, the name of the parent, usually the father (patronymic), much more rarely the name of the mother (metronymic); and, in certain circumstances, an indication of origin (the ethnic) or membership of a civic subdivision (demotic).
 
Conforming to the Indo-European practice found throughout most of Europe, ancient Greeks were given one personal name only. This pattern is evident already in Mycenaean texts of the 13th century BC, and in the poems of Homer, dated to the 8th century BC but reflecting an earlier age. There is abundant evidence, especially from Asia Minor and from Egypt, of Greeks bearing two names, often linked by a formula such as ‘also known as’; and famous people, such as Kings and intellectual figures such as philosophers, often acquired nicknames (King Antigonos Monophthalmos, [i.e. the ‘One Eyed’], Dio Chrysostom, [i.e. the ‘golden mouthed’, eloquent]); but these cases do not undermine the fundamental principle that the norm was one name only. Among the 215,000 individuals published in the “Lexicon of Greek Personal Names” published by the University of Oxford, only a few hundred have double names.
 
The patronymic was crucial in identifying and legitimising the individual. Nonetheless, even with this fundamentally important element of nomenclature, documentary evidence has revealed great variation in its use, especially on tombstones. The patronymic generally took the form of the father’s name in the genitive case: Alexandros Philippou - 'Alexander son of Philip’; but in areas of the Aeolic dialect (the island of Lesbos and the facing coast of Asia Minor, and Thessaly and Boeotia on the mainland) the patronymic also took the form of an adjective derived from the father’s name, Alexandros Philippeios. This usage occurs in the poems of Homer: Aias Telamonios ‘Ajax the son of Telamon’. (A second form found in Homer, in which the father’s name is given a termination with patronymic force ‘-ides’ (Hector Priamidis - ‘Hector son of Priam’) survived in the historical period but as an independent name-form deprived of patronymic force).
 
Whether the name and patronymic was followed by an indication of origin depended entirely on context. Since at home there was no need to indicate origin, the city or regional ethnic was used only when abroad. On the other hand, in cities with an internal organisation of demes, notably Athens, Rhodes and Eretria, membership of a deme was indicated by the demotic; but the demotic was not used when abroad. So, for example, the famous Alcibiades would in Athens be Alkibiades Kleinios Skambonidis - ‘Alcibiades son of Kleinias, of the deme Scambonidai’, but abroad Alkibiades Kleinios Athinaios - ‘Alcibiades son of Kleinias, Athenian’.
 
In antiquity, as in Greece very commonly today, there was a tradition of naming the first-born son after the paternal grandfather, and the second after the maternal grandfather. In leading families, whose public offices and honours are on record, it is sometimes possible to trace the grandfather-grandson name-pattern over two or three hundred years. We know less about the naming of girls, since women feature in the documentary record much less than men, but there is evidence of this same pattern. The naming of children after a parent also occurred, and was particularly popular in the late Hellenistic and Roman periods.
 
This inherent conservatism in name-giving ensured the preservation of names even after the concepts embodied in them had lost contemporary relevance, and the continuation of name-forms after the local dialects had given way to the koine. In this way, names can reflect earlier linguistic developments, even for periods for which there is no written documentary evidence.

POETRY JAM - OLYMPIAN

“Gender is between your ears and not between your legs.” - Chaz Bono
 

Poetry Jam this week has invited participants in the creative writing challenge to write “an Olympian poem”. I have chosen the definition of “Olympian” that pertains to the ancient Greek deities that resided on Mount Olympus. The poem does have a twist, though…
 

Marsyas
 

Hubris, Apollo will most mercilessly punish,
And the wretch Marsyas was flayed for it.
 

The haughty Olympian would not stand
To hear another note of the accursed reed’s shrill melody,
Even if the playing were the most accomplished.
The sweet-tempered lyre was too feeble, too sedate,
To compete with the brilliance of the woodwind
And the angered god, slighted, skinned the better player.
 

My pale smooth skin is offensive to my soul,
A violation of my mind’s image of the body it should inhabit.
The hairless breasts, the rounded curves, the full red lips
Beautiful, yet unsuited to my mannish brain that would brawn.
Virile Apollo incarnated was in woman’s flesh
And lyre she plucks placidly with polished nails.
 

A brash Marsyas within the heart that aches to play,
And so as to right the centuries of wrong,
Compels the sharpened nails to flay herself
In order to reveal the true self that hides within:
A strident march more attuned to his shrill notes
Than the short-shrift notes of her gentler lyre.
 

I was an egg, so full of promise, that hatched into a vile larva;
The only remedy, a chrysalis carrying within it promise of butterfly.
 

Footnote
In Greek mythology, the satyr Marsyas (Ancient Greek: Μαρσύας) picked up the double flute (aulos) that had been abandoned by Athena and played it. He became so adept at it that he challenged Apollo (the god of light, art and music and lyre player) to a contest of music. Marsyas lost the contest against the Olympian and Apollo flayed Marsyas alive. In Antiquity, literary sources often emphasise the hubris of Marsyas and the justice of his punishment.
 

Transgender is the state of one’s gender identity (self-identification as woman, man, neither or both) or gender expression not matching one’s assigned sex (identification by others as male, female or intersex based on physical/genetic sex). Transgender is independent of sexual orientation; transgender people may identify as heterosexual, homosexual, bisexual, pansexual, polysexual, or asexual; some may consider conventional sexual orientation labels inadequate or inapplicable to them.
 

The painting above is Jusepe de Ribera’s (1591-1652) “Apollo Flaying Marsyas”.

YEWS IN GAMBIA, UNDER PLUTO

“Happiness is good health and a bad memory.” - Ingrid Bergman
 

Today February 18, St Simeon’s Feast Day is celebrated by Roman Catholics. Greek Orthodox Christians celebrate St Leo the Pope’s and St Agapetus the Confessor’s Feast Day, as well as Meatfare Tuesday. It is also Gambia’s Independence (National) Day, commemorated since 1965.
 

It is the anniversary of the birth of:
Alessandro G. A. A. Volta, Italian inventor of the battery  (Voltaic cell -1745);
George Peabody, philanthropist (1795);
Ernst Mach, physicist (1838);
Louis Comfort Tiffany, US glassmaker (1848);
Charles M. Schwab, steelmaker (1862);
Andrés Segovia, Spanish guitarist (1894);
Phyllis Calvert (Phyllis Bickle), actress (1915);
Jack Palance (Vladimir Palahnuik), actor (1920);
Helen Gurley Brown, editor (1922);
Len Deighton, novelist (1929):
Toni Morrison, Nobel laureate (1993) writer (1931);
Milos Forman, director (1932);
Yoko Ono, famous wife (1933);
Cybill Shepherd, actress (1949);
John Travolta, US actor (1954);
Matt Dillon, actor (1964).
 

The yew tree, Taxus baccata, is the birthday plant for today.  The ancient Greeks thought that the yew tree was the nymph Smilax, beloved of a beautiful youth Crocus. As his sentiments were not returned, Crocus pined away and died, changing into the flower of the same name.  Smilax became the yew tree, presumably sorrowful for her hard-heartedness.  Unhappy lovers were remembered with wreaths of yew, willow and rosemary. Pliny wrote of the yew: “It is unpleasant and fearful to look upon, a cursed tree”.  The tree has stood for a symbol of death, sorrow, immortality, resurrection and faith since ancient times.  Many a cemetery has rows of yew trees planted along their borders.  The tree and its red berries are poisonous, a drug (taxol) being extracted from the plant and used in cancer chemotherapy treatments.
 

On this day in 1930, the planet Pluto was discovered by Clyde W. Tombaugh.
 

On this day, in 999, Gregory V, Pope of Rome died. Also on this day in 1455, Fra Angelico, the Italian artist died. Also dying on this day: In 1535, Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, German occultist; in 1546, Martin Luther, the German leader of the Protestant Reformation; in 1564, Michelangelo, the Italian artist; in 1833 Richard Wagner, the German composer; in 1855, Nicholas I, tsar of Russia; in 1956, Gustave Charpentier, French opera composer died; in 1967, Robert Oppenheimer, US physicist, father of the atomic bomb (died with a bang not a whimper!).
 

Gambia is the smallest country in Africa, with an area of about 11,000 square km and a population of about a million people.  It is situated in Western Africa and is completely surrounded by Senegal, except for the small part of the coast that looks out onto the Atlantic Ocean. The Gambia River divides this thin strip of a country in half and its capital is Banjul, with Mansa-Konko and Georgetown further upstream. The economy depends on peanut cultivation and their products, but tourism is also beginning to become more important.

MOVIE MONDAY - THE SKIN I LIVE IN

“It was not until I attended a few post mortems that I realised that even the ugliest exteriors may contain the most beautiful viscera, and was able to console myself for the facial drabness of my neighbours in omnibuses by dissecting them in my imagination.” - J. B. S. Haldane
 

Last weekend we watched Pedro Almodóvar’s 2011 film “The Skin I Live In”, starring Antonio Banderas, Elena Anaya, Marisa Paredes and Jan Cornet. The screenplay by Agustín Almodóvar and Pedro Almodóvar was based on the novel “Mygale” (Tarantula) by Thierry Jonquet. As is typical of this director, the film was quite a confronting one, especially where matters of sex and gender are concerned. However, the themes explored were multiple and interrelated, and included rape and revenge, beauty and its perception of itself (as well as its perception by others), the ethics of medical research and the lengths to which we may go in order to defend those whom we love.
 

The film is structured in three sections, the middle part being an extended flashback that does much to explain what has transpired in the first part. The third part is the flash-forward to the present where the story is concluded and the film resolves itself. The plot centres on a highly successful plastic surgeon, Robert Ledgard (Antonio Banderas) who also does medical research into skin transplantation. This research has been stimulated by the horrific and disfiguring burns that his wife sustained in a car accident before she died. His methods are highly unorthodox and his sense of bioethics completely warped.
 

The surgeon has a daughter, Norma (Blanca Suárez) who has been psychologically damaged by her mother’s death, and it is only slowly and painfully that she begins act normally again, under the guidance of a psychiatrist and her father’s care. At a party, Norma in all innocence receives the sexual attentions of a young man who nearly rapes her but manages to escape when she becomes hysterical and falls unconscious. This causes Norma to lapse back into her deeply disturbed state and is confined to the psychiatric clinic again, being unable to even meet her father, as the encounters with men disturb her. Her condition deteriorates and like her mother she throws herself out of a window and kills herself.
 

The surgeon renews his research enquiries and his obsessive need to find the perfect injury-resistant and blemishless skin seems to be crowned with success. The guinea pig he is using is a beautiful young woman, Vera Cruz (Elena Anaya) whom he keeps incarcerated in his house and with whom he has a complex relationship as she resembles very much his dead wife. Is this his wife, who did not die after all? What role does the mysterious housekeeper play? What were the circumstances behind Norma’s condition and death? Several mysterious incidents are presented and confound the viewer until the flashback fully explains what has really transpired.
 

While this movie was just over two hours long, we enjoyed it and were kept interested by the unconventional plot. It felt like a thriller/horror story for quite a lot of the time, especially as there were some graphic scenes of medical gore and violence. However, this resemblance to a horror movie is only superficial as the themes go deeper and relate to sexuality, identity gender and self-image. Revenge motivates more than one character in the film and the ambiguity of the morality of several characters makes the viewer vacillate between sympathy and antipathy on more than one occasion. It is quite a complex, rich story and one can read much into what occurs and why.
 

The acting is very good, the cinematography wonderful and there is no question about Almodóvar’s masterful direction. We recommend this film, although it will make a squeamish person’s stomach turn as there are challenging themes and gory images. The sexual themes, strong language and the graphic rape scenes may also prove to be too confronting for some viewers, so be warned.