MUSIC SATURDAY - FADO

“Music is the shorthand of emotion.” - Leo Tolstoy
 
Anna Moura (born 1979 in Santarém, Portugal) is an internationally recognised Portuguese fado singer, and the youngest fadista to be nominated for a Dutch Edison Award. Ana Moura’s debut album was “Guarda-me a vida na mão” (2003), followed by “Aconteceu” (2005). She sang in various nightspots in Lisbon and became known on television, performing fado with Antonio Pinto Basto.
 
“Para Além da Saudade” (2007), containing songs such as “Os Buzios” or “Fado da Procura”, is the album that followed “Aconteceu”. With this album and appearances on programs such as Family Contact and Superstar, Moura became more widely known in Portugal. These television appearances helped promote this record, which was to reach triple platinum for sales exceeding 55,000 units. The album stayed in the Top 30 in Portugal for 120 weeks. For this album, Moura received a nomination for the Golden Globes in the category of Music, Best Individual Performer, losing to Jorge Palma.
 
Here is Anna Moura’s “Desfado” of 2012, showcasing her velvety voice, soulful lyrics and wonderful music. Enjoy!

LET'S HAVE A SMOOTHIE!

 
“It takes more than just a good looking body. You’ve got to have the heart and soul to go with it.” - Epictetus
 
Smoothies are a great addition to a healthful breakfast or lunch and if made with fresh fruit and vegetables can pack quite nutrition punch, while at the same time tasting wonderful. Here are three recipes to try as the seasonal produce becomes available.
 
Peach Smoothie
Ingredients
1 large carrot, peeled, chopped and microwaved with some water until tender
1 and 1/2 cup peeled chopped peaches
1 tbsp honey
1 container low fat vanilla yoghurt
2 cups freshly squeezed orange juice 

Method 
Place drained carrot, honey and peaches in a blender and pulse until chopped. Add the yoghurt and orange juice and purée until smooth. Serve with a slice of orange as decoration.
 
Strawberry Smoothie 
Ingredients
1 large truss tomato, peeled
1 cup of strawberries
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp honey3 ice cubes
1 container low fat raspberry yoghurt
 
Method
Place tomato and strawberries with the sugar and honey in a blender and pulse until chopped up. Add the ice cubes and pulse until chopped up. Add the yoghurt and purée. Decorate with a strawberry.
 
Banana Kiwi Smoothie
Ingredients 
1 cup of kale leaves tightly packed
1 ripe banana
2 kiwi fruit
1 tbsp honey
3 ice cubes
1 container low fat vanilla yoghurt
 
Method 
Place kale, banana and kiwi fruit with the honey in a blender and pulse until chopped up. Add the ice cubes and pulse until chopped up. Add the yoghurt and purée. Serve with a kiwi fruit slice.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

NAADAM & HAPPY MONGOLIAN NATIONAL DAY!

“I never think of the future, it comes soon enough.” - Albert Einstein
 
Today is the anniversary of the birthday of:

Robert the Bruce, king of Scotland (1274);

Thomas Bowdler, prude who bowdlerised Shakespeare (1754);

John Quincy Adams, 6th president (1825-29) of the USA (1767);

E. B. White, writer (1899);

Gough Whitlam, Australian PM (1916);

Yul Brynner, actor (1920);

Tab Hunter, actor (1931);

Suzanne Vega, singer/songwriter (1959).

Angelica archangelica, angelica, is this day’s birthday flower, signifying ecstasy, magic and inspiration.  Astrologically, it is a herb of the sun and under the dominion of Leo.  Candied angelica stem is that wonderfully green decorative element of cakes and pastries that always seems to go so well with the red glacé cherries.
 
On this day in 1533, Pope Clement VII excommunicated King Henry VIII of England, beginning the schism between the Roman Catholic faith and the Church of England.
 
Today is the People’s Republic of Mongolia, Revolution (National) Day. Mongolia is a vast land to the North of China with an area of 1,565,000 square km and a population of 2.5 million, making it a country with one of the lowest population densities in the world. The capital city is Ulan Bator while other towns are Tamsag Bulag, Mörön, Ulan Göm and Mandalgovi. Most of the country is an undulating plateau with rich grasslands that support the horses and cattle for which Mongolia is famous. Mountains to the North separate the country form the Russian Federation while to the South is the arid Gobi Desert. Rich mineral resources, oil, coal and gas remain still relatively underdeveloped. Wheat and other cereals are the major agricultural product.
 
Naadam (literally “games”) is a traditional festival in Mongolia. The festival is also locally termed “Eriin Gurvan Naadam” (“the three games of men”). The games are Mongolian wrestling, horse racing and archery and are held throughout the country during midsummer. Women have started participating in the archery and girls in the horse-racing games, but not in Mongolian wrestling. In 2010, Naadam was inscribed on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity of UNESCO.
 
The biggest Naadam of the country is held in the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar during the National Holiday from July 11 – 13, in the National Sports Stadium. Naadam begins with an elaborate introduction ceremony featuring dancers, athletes, horse riders, and musicians. After the ceremony, the competitions begin.
 
Naadam is the most widely watched festival among Mongols, and is believed to have existed for centuries in one fashion or another. Naadam has its origin in the activities, such as military parades and sporting competitions such as archery, horse riding and wrestling, that followed the celebration of various occasions, including weddings or spiritual gatherings. It later served as a way to train soldiers for battle. Now it formally commemorates the 1921 revolution when Mongolia declared itself a free country.
 
Genghis Khan’s nine yak tails, representing the nine tribes of the Mongols, are still ceremonially transported from Sukhbaatar Square to the Stadium to open the Naadam festivities. At these opening and closing ceremonies there are impressive parades of mounted cavalry, athletes and monks. Another popular Naadam activity is the playing of games using shagai, sheep anklebones that serve as game pieces and tokens of both divination and friendship. In the larger Nadaam festivals, tournaments may take place in a separate venue.

CHATHAM HOUSE RULE

“Take up one idea. Make that one idea your life - think of it, dream of it, live on that idea. Let the brain, muscles, nerves, every part of your body, be full of that idea, and just leave every other idea alone. This is the way to success.” - Swami Vivekananda
 
I am away from work for work for two days, taking part in a Leadership School. This is a series of professional development seminars that our People and Culture department organise in order to cultivate the talent of leaders within our organisation. Thirty of our staff of 400 have been chosen in order to take part in this development program and it provides a forum for discussions, activities and a think tank so that we can advance the strategies and goals of our organisation in an efficient way. External facilitators are in charge of the meeting and the mix of staff from different departments and at different levels in the hierarchy make for an interesting experience.
 
Frank discussions are had and people are encouraged to actively participate and state their ideas, views and opinions about things that are good or not so good within the work environment. We work together to acquire new skills and develop existing ones. Facilitators provide an environment conducive to creative thinking and an honest tackling of identified issues and problems within our work environments. We work under the Chatham House Rule, and this is something that fosters that feeling of safety and frankness when expressing one’s views.
 
The Chatham House Rule is a core principle that governs the confidentiality of the source of information received at a meeting. The rule originated in June 1927 at the Royal Institute of International Affairs, also known as Chatham House (http://www.chathamhouse.org). The rule (not “rules” as is often misquoted) was reviewed and refined in 2002, states:
 
“When a meeting, or part thereof, is held under the Chatham House Rule, participants are free to use the information received, but neither the identity nor the affiliation of the speaker(s), nor that of any other participant, may be revealed.”
 
This allows people to speak as individuals and to express views that may not be those of their organisations, and therefore, encourages independent discussion, not hampered by allegiances or “towing the party line”. Speakers are free to voice their own opinions, without concern for their personal reputation or their official duties and professional ties. The Chatham House Rule resolves a boundary problem faced by many communities of practice, in that it permits acknowledgment of the community or conversation, while protecting the freedom of interaction that is necessary for the community to carry out its conversations.
 
When a group meets, using the rule guarantees anonymity to those speaking within the context of the meeting so that better insights and free debate may be encouraged. The rule is often used internationally as an aid to free discussion. The original rule was refined in October 1992 and again, in 2002. Chatham House has translated the rule into Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, Spanish and Russian.
 
Meetings, or parts of meetings, either may be held on the record, or, under the Chatham House Rule. In the latter case, all participants are understood to have agreed that it would be conducive to free discussion that they should be subject to the rule for the relevant part of the meeting. The success of the rule may depend upon it being considered morally binding, particularly in circumstances where a failure to comply with the rule may not result in sanction.
 
Care needs to be taken not to invoke the Chatham House Rule where what is intended is that the views discussed be kept confidential. The Chatham House Rule is intended to promote public discussion of the views expressed at a meeting, but without attributing those views to any individual or organisation.

APOCALYPTIC MOON

“The moon puts on an elegant show, different every time in shape, colour and nuance.” - Arthur Smith
 
A supermoon is the coincidence of a full moon or a new moon with the closest approach the Moon makes to the Earth on its elliptical orbit, resulting in the largest apparent size of the lunar disk as seen from Earth. The technical name is the perigee-syzygy of the Earth-Moon-Sun system. The term “supermoon” is not astronomical, but originated in modern astrology. The moon will not be so close again until August 10, 2014. Supermoons occur about once every 14 full moons in a full moon cycle. Magpie Tales  has provided an image of last month’s supermoon by Julio Cortez, to inspire participants in her creative writing challenge. Here is my offering.
 
Apocalypse
 
One day I’ll tear
The thin gauze of the passing seasons,
Transcending time
I’ll pass into the infinite.
Stepping on bleeding moon
Expiring in its death throes
I’ll merge with dying breath
Of supernovaed sun
And travel through Armageddon.
 
I’ll fathom the true meaning of eternity
Seconds, days, aeons being identical,
My soul will fill to bursting
And still yearn for more;
Forever on until my eyes resemble seas
My brain engorged with newness and
With increasing understanding.
 
And ever onward,
To know,
To learn,
To understand,
To seek,
To find,
To see the reason why...

MOVIE MONDAY - JOE KIDD

“Pictures are for entertainment, messages should be delivered by Western Union.” - Samuel Goldwyn
 
We watched the 1972 John Sturges “Joe Kidd” last weekend. This was a good old fashioned Western starring Clint Eastwood, Robert Duvall, John Saxon – “old fashioned” relating to the look and feel, although the plot was a little more inventive than the cowboys versus Indians or bad guys versus good guys type of Western. We quite enjoyed it as it was short, direct and non-pretentious. Had not seen a Western for ages, so this was quite a refreshing change from the typical Hollywood pap that is served up nowadays.
 
Joe Kidd (Eastwood) is a tough, former bounty hunter in the American Southwest. When a band of Mexicans find their U. S. land claims denied and all relevant records “destroyed in a courthouse fire”, they turn to violence and eye for eye and tooth for tooth reprisals. Louis Chama (Saxon) is their charismatic leader, full of revolutionary rhetoric and mobilizing the Mexicans under him to demand land reform. A wealthy landowner with interests in the disputed area, Frank Harlan (Duvall), decides to settle things his own way – using a slash, burn and destroy policy. He hires a band of killers and wants Joe Kidd to help them track Chama. Initially, Kidd wants to avoid any involvement, until Chama makes the mistake of stealing Kidd’s horses and terrorising his friends.
 
The plot turns quite ambivalent denouncing violence on the one hand, but justifying on the other, ending up on the side of truth, justice and the American way in the end. Nevertheless, it does make for an interesting story and there are enough Western conventions in it to keep the genre fans happy. Eastwood plays his role with ease and aplomb – having been typecast to a certain extent as the tough, strong silent cowboy who rights wrongs. The other actors all do well also, even the two token females in what is essentially a cowboy and horse opera.
 
Lalo Schifrin’s music is suitably ominous and quite suited to the action, blending into the background when it needs to and as it should. Costumes, sets and wide open spaces are well done, Hollywood has enough experience in this genre to make it look right. Overall the film is entertaining and a good B-grade film with enough wry humour, action and even some morality/ethical type of questioning in order to keep it interesting. Watch it if you come across it, it’s quite good fun!

ART SUNDAY - CHAGALL

“All colours are the friends of their neighbours and the lovers of their opposites.” - Marc Chagall
 
Marc Chagall (Moishe Shagal) was born on July 7, 1887,  in the village of Vitebsk, Byelorussia. He was the oldest of nine children born to a working-class Jewish family. In his career, he was associated with several major artistic styles and one of the most successful artists of the 20th century. He was an early modernist, and created works in virtually every artistic medium, including painting, book illustrations, stained glass, stage sets, ceramic, tapestries and fine art prints.
 
In Russia at that time, Jewish children were not allowed to attend regular Russian schools or universities. Their movement within the city was also restricted. Chagall therefore received his primary education at the local Jewish religious school, where he studied Hebrew and the Bible. At the age of 13, his mother tried to enrol him in a Russian high school, which was not allowed. Chagall’s mother offered the headmaster 50 roubles to let him attend, which he accepted and Marc attended school.
 
A turning point of his artistic life came when he first noticed a fellow student drawing. Chagall would later say that there was no art of any kind in his family’s home and the concept was totally alien to him. When Chagall asked the schoolmate how he learned to draw, his friend replied, “Go and find a book in the library, idiot, choose any picture you like, and just copy it”. He soon began copying images from books and found the experience so rewarding he then decided he wanted to become an artist.
 
At age 20 he began to study painting, first in Vitebsk, then in St. Petersburg. His distinctive style was already beginning to appear in his early works.
 In 1910 he began four years of living in Paris, a city that kept drawing him back for the rest of his life. In Paris, he became acquainted with art movements of the time, including Fauvism and Cubism. He also became acquainted with leading artists of the time, including Braque, Picasso, Delaunay, Leger, and others.
 
Chagall held a very successful, one-man show in Berlin in 1914, as part of an eventual journey home.
 
At the outbreak of WWI, Chagall returned home to Vitebsk, where he married Bella Rosenfeld. He worked in Vitebsk for several years and became director of the Vitebsk Academy of Arts. He moved to Moscow in 1920 and worked on stage decor and painted panels for the avant-garde Jewish Theatre. After it was made clear he would not have the freedom to develop, given the political realities of Marxist socialism, he left Moscow for Europe in 1923.
 

After arriving in France, he met French art dealer Ambroise Vollard and started creating etchings for future publications. These were not published until years later due to Vollard’s death and WWII. Chagall’s paintings were shown at galleries in New York as well as Paris, Berlin, and other European cities. He was commissioned by Vollard to produce a series of etchings illustrating the Old Testament version of the Bible. These were also not published until after WWII. During his travels, Chagall fell in love with the Cote d’Azur. Chagall eventually moved away from Paris to a villa near Porte d’Auteuil.
 
Chagall continued to work in France despite the growing Anti-Semitism of the Nazi movement and the invasion of France by Germany in 1939. He was eventually convinced by his daughter Ida of the urgency to leave France. Marc and Bella first travelled to Marseilles, France and eventually left for the United States in May of 1941. Their daughter Ida joined them a short time later.
 
Marc Chagall arrived in New York City in June, 1941. In addition to paintings, he worked on theatre sets and costumes. His paintings were exhibited in New York, Chicago, and Paris. His wife Bella died suddenly in 1944 due to a viral infection. Marc ceased all work for almost a year. In 1946, after the end of WWII the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City held an exhibition showing 40 years of Chagall’s work. He had become very well known, and he began making plans to return to France.
 
Chagall returned to Paris in 1948 and signed Teriade (Stratis Eleftheriades) to publish his graphic works. He settled in Vence, in Provence in 1950. In addition to painting, he continued to create graphic works. Many of his earlier etchings and lithographs were finally published in the early 1950’s. His daughter Ida introduced him to Valentine Brodsky, whom he later married. In this period, he expanded the mediums in which he worked to include ceramics, stone sculptures, mosaics, and tapestries.
 
In 1958, he designed scenery and costumes for the ballet Daphne and Chloe for the Paris Opera. This led to other public commissions in the 1960s, including stained glass windows for the Hadassah Synagogue near Jerusalem, the United Nations, and several cathedrals in Europe. He designed a new ceiling for the Paris Opera House and panels for the Lincoln Center in New York. He also produced what many consider his best graphic works, the Daphne and Chloe suite of lithographs in 1961.
 
In 1966, Chagall moved from Vence to St. Paul de Vence (still in Provence). Chagall’s reputation continued to grow. He continued painting, producing graphic works, and producing public commissions. His works were exhibited at the galleries and museums throughout the world, including the Louvre and Petit Palais in Paris. He produced the America Windows for America’s Bicentennial celebration in 1977 in gratitude for America taking his family in during WWII. These windows can be viewed today at the Art Institute of Chicago.
 
He died March 28, 1985 in St. Paul de Vence, where he was buried. His long, prolific career and distinctive themes and use of color make him one of the acknowledge masters of 20th Century modern art.
 
The painting above, “The Circus Horse” of about 1964 illustrates Chagall’s style admirably with its free, expressive use of colour and sprightly draughtsmanship. The figures counterbalance the expanses of bright colour and juxtaposition of human figures and animals (a device Chagall often uses) is particularly apt here in the circus. Chagall used this theme many times in his artistic life and the bright, multicolour action of the subject suited his sensibilities.

MUSIC SATURDAY - BACH TRIO SONATAS

“I was obliged to be industrious. Whoever is equally industrious will succeed equally well.” - Johann Sebastian Bach
 
For Music Saturday the wonderful Trio Sonatas BWV 527, 1030, 1037, 1029, 530, by Johann Sebastian Bach: 
1. Trio Sonata in D minor BWV 527 [Andante-Adagio e dolce-Vivace]
2. Trio Sonata in G minor BWV 1030 [Andante-Largo e dolce-Presto-Allegro]
3. Trio Sonata in C major BWV 1037 [Adagio-Alla breve-Largo-Gigue-Presto]
4. Trio Sonata in A minor BWV 1029 [Vivace-Adagio-Allegro]
5. Trio Sonata in G major BWV 530 [Vivace-Lento-Allegro]
 
Played by:
Manfredo Kraemer [violin]
Pablo Valetti [violin, viola]
Balasz Mate [cello]
Dirk Boerner [harpsichord]
Allessandro de Marchi [organ]

FOOD FRIDAY - GNOCCHI

“I think careful cooking is love, don't you? The loveliest thing you can cook for someone who's close to you is about as nice a valentine as you can give.” - Julia Child
 
A nice Winter recipe to warm you up now that the temperature is falling in the Southern Hemisphere. If you don't have time to make your own gnocchi, you can buy fresh ones from your local deli.
 
Pan-Fried Gnocchi with Leeks and Spinach
Ingredients - Gnocchi450 g potatoes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 tsp salt, or more to taste
Freshly ground white pepper, to taste
Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
1 1/3 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 tablespoon olive oil
 
Method
Place potatoes in a large pot. Add water to cover by 5 cm. Bring to a boil and cook until potatoes are tender when pierced with a skewer, about 40 minutes. Drain. When cool enough to handle, peel and mash potatoes using a potato ricer. Set aside on a baking sheet until completely cooled.
 
On a cool, smooth work surface, gather potatoes into a mound, forming a well in the centre. In a small bowl, stir together oil, egg, salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Pour mixture into well. Using both hands, work potatoes and egg mixture together, gradually adding 1 cup of flour. Scrape dough from work surface with a knife as necessary. This process should not take more than 10 minutes. The longer the dough is worked, the more flour it will require and the heavier the dough will become.
 
Dust hands, dough, and work surface lightly with some of the remaining flour. Cut dough into 6 equal portions. Using both hands, roll each piece of dough into a rope 1 cm thick. Continue dusting as long as dough feels sticky. Slice ropes at 1 cm intervals. Indent each piece with thumb, the tines of a fork, or the back of a semicircular grater to produce a ribbed effect.
 
Boil the gnocchi in plenty of salted water. You’ll know it’s done when it floats to the surface. Drain and set aside.

Ingredients for sauce
3 tbsp butter
2 tbsp oil
1 leek, washed, finely chopped (white part only)
Baby spinach leaves, washed chopped
Sundried tomatoes, chopped
Mixed herbs
Vegetable stock
Salt, pepper
Grated Parmesan cheese
 
Method
Heat the butter in pan over medium heat until foaming. Add the gnocchi and cook, stirring, for 5-8 minutes or until the gnocchi are golden. Remove from pan, and keep warm, leaving as much butter as you can in the pan.
 
Put oil in the pan and heat. Add the leek, sauté until soft and add the spinach, tomatoes and herbs. Stir until heated right through. Add enough vegetable stock to cover the bottom of the pan and stir through the vegetables. Add salt and pepper as required.
 
Add the gnocchi and stir through. Serve topped with grated Parmesan cheese.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

HAPPY US INDEPENDENCE DAY!

“To be free is not merely to cast off one’s chains, but to live in a way that respects and enhances the freedom of others.” - Nelson Mandela
 
The Declaration of Independence, in U.S.A history, is the document that was approved by the Continental Congress on July 4, 1776, announcing the separation of 13 North American British colonies from Great Britain. It explained why the Congress on July 2 “unanimously” by the votes of 12 colonies (with New York abstaining) had resolved that “these United Colonies are, and of right ought to be Free and Independent States.” Accordingly, the day on which final separation was officially voted was July 2, although the 4th, the day on which the Declaration of Independence was adopted, has always been celebrated in the United States as the great national holiday, the Fourth of July, or Independence Day.
 
On April 19, 1775, when armed conflict began between Britain and the 13 colonies (the nucleus of the future United States), the Americans claimed that they sought only their rights within the British Empire. At that time few of the colonists consciously desired to separate from Britain. As the American Revolution proceeded during 1775–76 and Britain undertook to assert its sovereignty by means of large armed forces, making only a gesture toward conciliation, the majority of Americans increasingly came to believe that they must secure their rights outside the empire.
 
The losses and restrictions that came from the war greatly widened the breach between the colonies and the mother country; moreover, it was necessary to assert independence in order to secure as much French aid as possible.  On April 12, 1776, the revolutionary convention of North Carolina specifically authorised its delegates in Congress to vote for independence. On May 15 the Virginia convention instructed its deputies to offer the motion, which was brought forward in the Congress by Richard Henry Lee on June 7. By that time the Congress had already taken long steps toward severing ties with Britain. It had denied Parliamentary sovereignty over the colonies as early as December 6, 1775, and it had declared on May 10, 1776, that the authority of the king ought to be “totally suppressed,” advising all the several colonies to establish governments of their own choice.
 
The passage of Lee’s resolution was delayed for several reasons. Some of the delegates had not yet received authorization to vote for separation; a few were opposed to taking the final step; and several men, among them John Dickinson, believed that the formation of a central government, together with attempts to secure foreign aid, should precede it. However, a committee consisting of Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, Roger Sherman, and Robert R. Livingston was promptly chosen on June 11 to prepare a statement justifying the decision to assert independence, should it be taken. The document was prepared, and on July 1 nine delegations voted for separation, despite warm opposition on the part of Dickinson. On the following day at the Pennsylvania State House (now Independence Hall) in Philadelphia, with the New York delegation abstaining only because it lacked permission to act, the Lee resolution was voted on and endorsed.
 
The convention of New York gave its consent on July 9, and the New York delegates voted affirmatively on July 15. On July 19 the Congress ordered the document to be engrossed as “The Unanimous Declaration of the Thirteen United States of America.” It was accordingly put on parchment, probably by Timothy Matlack of Philadelphia. Members of the Congress present on August 2 affixed their signatures to this parchment copy on that day, and others later. The last signer was Thomas McKean of Delaware, whose name was not placed on the document before 1777.
 
The Declaration of Independence was written largely by Thomas Jefferson, who had displayed talent as a political philosopher and polemicist in his “A Summary View of the Rights of British America”, published in 1774. At the request of his fellow committee members he wrote the first draft. The members of the committee made a number of merely semantic changes, and they also expanded somewhat the list of charges against the king. The Congress made more substantial changes, deleting a condemnation of the British people, a reference to “Scotch & foreign mercenaries” (there were Scots in the Congress), and a denunciation of the African slave trade (this being offensive to some Southern and New England delegates).
 
The Declaration of Independence has also been a source of inspiration outside the United States. It encouraged Antonio de Nariño and Francisco de Miranda to strive toward overthrowing the Spanish empire in South America, and it was quoted with enthusiasm by the Marquis de Mirabeau during the French Revolution. It remains a great historical landmark in that it contained the first formal assertion by a whole people of their right to a government of their own choice. What Locke had contended for as an individual, the Americans proclaimed as a body politic; moreover, they made good the argument by force of arms.
 

Happy Independence Day to all USA readers of this blog!

THE SOLUTION

“More than 820 million people in the world suffer from hunger; and 790 million of them live in the Third World.” - Fidel Castro
 
Magpie Tales has provided a photograph by Yohan Musin, a talented artist to act as inspiration for followers of her blog. Here is my contribution (including my edit to the photo) to the creative writing challenge:
 
The Solution
 
A promise, a vision, a solution –
All preferable to
The present, the reality, the misery.
 
Her nails, her hair, her clothes
All ache, due to
The never-ending work, the drudgery, the need.
 
In the village, in the fields, in the house,
A constant demand for
Her contribution, her labour, her input.
 
Her sex, her caste, her age
All conspire to
Discrimination, prejudice, unfairness.
 
A city, a job, a new start,
Will they make possible
The promise, the vision, the solution?

BRISBANE GREETINGS

“I haven’t been everywhere, but it’s on my list.” - Susan Sontag
 
Brisbane is the port and the capital city of Queensland, Australia, and Australia’s third largest city. It lies astride the Brisbane River on the southern slopes of the Taylor Range, 19 km above the river’s mouth at Moreton Bay. The site, first explored in 1823 by John Oxley, was occupied in 1824 by a penal colony, which had moved from Redcliffe 35 km northeast. The name honours Sir Thomas Brisbane, former governor of New South Wales, when the convict settlement was declared a town in 1834. Proclaimed a municipality in 1859, it became the capital of newly independent Queensland that same year. Gazetted a city in 1902, it was joined during the 1920s with South Brisbane to form the City of Greater Brisbane. Its municipal government, headed by a lord mayor, holds very broad powers. The Brisbane statistical division, including the cities of Ipswich and Redcliffe, has close economic and social ties to the city.
 
Brisbane is the hub of many rail lines and highways, which bring produce from a vast agricultural hinterland stretching west to the Eastern Highlands, the Darling Downs, and beyond. The city’s port, which can accommodate ships of 34,000 tons, exports wool, grains, dairy products, meat, sugar, preserved foods, and mineral sands. The metropolitan area, also industrialised with more than half of the state’s manufacturing capacity, has heavy and light engineering works, food-processing plants, shipyards, oil refineries, sawmills, and factories producing rubber goods, automobiles, cement, and fertiliser. The city, the halves of which are connected by several bridges and ferries, is the site of the University of Queensland at St. Lucia (1909), Griffith University (1971), Parliament House (1869), the state museum (1855) and art gallery (1895), Anglican and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and many parks and gardens. Water is supplied from Lake Manchester, the Mount Crosby Weir, and the Somerset Dam. Oil is piped from wells at Moonie (west) and at Roma (northwest), which also supplies natural gas. Pop. (1996) city, 848,741; Brisbane Statistical Division, 1,488,900; (2001) Brisbane Statistical Division, 1,627,535.

MOVIE MONDAY - IRRESISTIBLE

“There are no secrets that time does not reveal.” - Jean Racine
 
I have been extremely busy with work, hence this belated Movie Monday review. Most of my days have been full of meetings and I take lots of work to catch up on at home, and as if that weren’t enough, I am getting ready to travel again. Nevertheless, we did manage to watch a movie at the weekend, so I shall review that.
 
It was Ann Hunter’s 2006 thriller “Irresistible” starring Susan Sarandon, Sam Neill and Emily Blunt. First, as it was an Australian film and made in Melbourne, it was good to see our hometown featured. We recognised the following: Citylink, Docklands, Immigration Museum, Riva Bar and Restaurant, St. Kilda, Williamstown Cemetery and Williamstown.
 
The plot revolves around Sophie Hartley (Sarandon) who is convinced that she is being stalked. She becomes increasingly certain that her husband’s (Neill) beautiful co-worker, Mara (Blunt), wants to take from her, her children, her husband and her life. However, as Sophie has been having some difficult times and she is a little fragile, no one believes her. Forced to prove her sanity, Sophie grows increasingly paranoid. But is she imagining things or is something really nasty happening? Sophie becomes completely caught up in her obsession, turning stalker herself - and makes a discovery more frightening than her worst fears…
 
The theme of the film is secrets in relationships, trust, love and family ties. Unfortunately the plot is rather clumsy and it sometimes seems a little slap-dash, or improvisational in nature. Apparently, Susan Sarandon worked with the director/scriptwriter Ann Hunter for six months to tweak the script to Sarandon’s standards before they even shot the first scene. The film is saved, however, by the good performances of the lead actors and the supporting role work by the children and Charles ‘Bud’ Tingwell, who plays a cameo role as Sophie’s father.
 
The movie labours a few points, with many twists and turns, and a final twist on a twist is unnecessary and looks like a cheap horror movie that prepares the ground or a sequel. The title is quite misleading and has nothing to do with the plot. In Portuguese the movie was released as: “Identidade Roubada” – Stolen Identity, which is a more reasonable title on many levels.
 
Don’t go out of your way to find this film and watch it, it’s the sort of thing that you may watch if you’re lazing around on a \Sunday afternoon, it’s raining and it comes on TV after you’ve made a bowl of popcorn. Watch it to pass time…

ART SUNDAY - EVELYN DE MORGAN

“The main facts in human life are five: Birth, food, sleep, love and death.” - E. M. Forster
 
Evelyn Pickering (1855-1919) was born in London, the daughter of upper-middle class parents. Her father was Percival Pickering QC, the Recorder of Pontefract. Her mother was Anna Maria Wilhelmina Spencer-Stanhope, the sister of the artist John Rodham Spencer-Stanhope (a painter within the circle of later Pre-Raphaelites who took their inspiration from the more romantic paintings of Rossetti and Burne-Jones), and a descendant of Coke of Norfolk who was an Earl of Leicester. Evelyn was homeschooled and started drawing lessons when she was 15. On the morning of her seventeenth birthday, Evelyn recorded in her diary, “Art is eternal, but life is short... I will make up for it now, I have not a moment to lose.”
 
Her early ambition to paint was discouraged by her parents but later she was permitted to become a student at the Slade School and in due course to study in Italy, in Rome and in Florence. Her uncle, Roddam Spencer Stanhope, was a great influence to her works. Evelyn often visited him in Florence where he lived. This also enabled her to study the great artists of the Renaissance; she was particularly fond of the works of Botticelli. This influenced her to move away from the classical subjects favoured by the Slade school and to make her own style. As a young woman she exhibited “Ariadne in Naxos” at the first Exhibition of the Grosvenor Gallery in 1877.
 
Her mature style, which is distinguished by a precision of detail and a fondness for mythological subjects, was derived in part from her first artistic mentor, her uncle. She was also profoundly influenced by Edward Burne-Jones who was a close friend. Her painting was admired by a circle of fellow-artists. William Blake Richmond said of her: “Her industry was astonishing, and the amount which she achieved was surprising, especially considering the infinite care with which she studied every detail…” George Frederic Watts pronounced her “…the first woman-artist of the day – if not of all time.” Evelyn Pickering married the ceramicist William De Morgan in 1887 and lived with him in London until his death in 1917. She died two years later.
 
The painting above is “Nyx and Hypnos” of 1878 shows well de Morgan’s mythological genre. In Greek mythology, Hypnos (Ὕπνος) was the personification of sleep; the Roman equivalent was known as Somnus. His twin was Thánatos (Θάνατος – death); their mother was the goddess Nyx (Νυξ – night). Hypnos’ palace was a dark cave where the sun never shone and perpetual night ruled. At the entrance were a number of poppies and other hypnagogic plants and through this cave flowed Lethe, the river of forgetfulness.
 
Hypnos’s three sons or brothers represented things that occur in dreams (the Oneiroi). Morpheus (from which “morphine” is derived), Phobetor (“one who causes fear”) and Phantasos (from which “fantasy” is derived). Endymion, sentenced by Zeus to eternal sleep, received the power to sleep with his eyes open from Hypnos in order to constantly watch his beloved moon goddess, Selene. But according to the poet Licymnius of Chios, Hypnos, in awe of Endymion’s beauty, causes him to sleep with his eyes open, so he can fully admire his face.
 
In art, Hypnos was portrayed as a naked youthful man, sometimes with a beard, and wings attached to his head. He is sometimes shown as a man asleep on a bed of feathers with black curtains about him. Morpheus is his chief minister and prevents noises from waking him. In Sparta, the image of Hypnos was always put near that of death.

MUSIC SATURDAY - LULLY

“Whether you like it or not, Paris is the beating heart of Western civilisation. It’s where it all began and ended.” - Alan Furst
 
As we progress towards the Southern Midwinter, it is good to be able to enjoy some sunny days, even though they are cold. The nights have been very cold with frost or fog, yet not unpleasant enough to not walk about in.
 
For Music Saturday, some gems from the French Baroque: Jean Baptiste Lully (1632-1687) for  L’ Orchestre du Roi Soleil. Symphonies, Ouvertures & Airs à jouer. “Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme”; “Le Divertissement Royal”; “Alceste’; Chaconne de “L’ Amour Médecin” played by Le Concert des Nations directed by Jordi Savall. In Federation Square the other day a busker was playing one of the menuets from here. Just goes to show what a cultured place I live in!
 
Jean-Baptiste Lully (Italian: Giovanni Battista Lulli) 28 November 1632 – 22 March 1687, was a Florentine-born French composer who spent most of his life working in the court of Louis XIV of France. He is considered the chief master of the French baroque style. Lully disavowed any Italian influence in French music of the period. He became a French subject in 1661.

Lully’s music was written during the Middle Baroque period, 1650 to 1700. Typical of Baroque music is the use of the basso continuo as the driving force behind the music. The pitch standard for French Baroque music was about 392 Hz for A above middle C, a whole tone lower than modern practice where A is usually 440 Hz.  Lully’s music is known for its power, liveliness in its fast movements and its deep emotional character in its sad movements. Some of his most popular works are his passacaille (passacaglia) and chaconne, which are dance movements found in many of his works such as Armide or Phaëton.
 
The influence of Lully's music produced a radical revolution in the style of the dances of the court itself. In the place of the slow and stately movements, which had prevailed until then, he introduced lively ballets of rapid rhythm, often based on well-known dance types such as gavottes, menuets, rigaudons and sarabandes.
 
Through his collaboration with playwright Molière, a new music form emerged during the 1660s: the comédie-ballet which combined theatre, comedy, incidental music and ballet. The popularity of these plays, with their sometimes lavish special effects, and the success and publication of Lully’s operas and its diffusion beyond the borders of France, played a crucial role in synthesising, consolidating and disseminating orchestral organisation, scorings, performance practices, and repertory.

FOOD FRIDAY - GARAM MASALA

“Once you get a spice in your home, you have it forever. Women never throw out spices. The Egyptians were buried with their spices. I know which one I'm taking with me when I go.” - Erma Bombeck
 
Garam masala (from Hindi: Garam “hot” and masala “spices”) is a blend of ground spices common in North Indian and other South Asian cuisines. It is used alone or with other seasonings. The word garam refers to intensity of the spices rather than capsaicin content. A typical Indian version of garam masala is: Black & white peppercorns, cloves, cinnamon, black and white cumin seeds, black, brown and green cardamom pods, mace and bay leaf.
 
Some recipes call for spices to be blended with herbs, while others for the spices to be ground with water, vinegar, coconut milk, or other liquids, to make a paste. In some recipes nuts, onion or garlic may be added. The flavours may be carefully blended to achieve a balanced effect, or a single flavour may be emphasised. Usually a masala is toasted before use to release its flavour and aromas. Here is a vegetarian recipe, which I got from friends of ours after enjoying it at a dinner at their house.

Vegetarian Masala
Ingredients
 
3 cm long piece of fresh ginger, washed, peeled, sliced
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 can peeled tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 small yellow capsicum, diced
1 small green capsicum, diced
2 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 carrots, sliced
1 and 1/2 teaspoons garam masala
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
350 g cauliflower florets
1/2 cup coconut milk
 
Method
Process ginger and garlic in food processor until finely chopped. Add tomatoes with juice and cayenne pepper, and pulse until combined. Set aside.
 
Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and capsicum, and sauté 10 minutes, or until softened. Stir in potatoes, carrots, cauliflower florets, garam masala, and chilli powder. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
 
Add tomato mixture, and 1/2 cup water. Simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and stir in coconut milk. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with steamed rice.
 
This post is part of the Food Friday meme,
and also part of the Food Trip Friday meme.

AUSTRALIAN POLITICS

“One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” - Plato
 

Well, Australian politics has once again proven that it is a volatile, yet not unpredictable, arena of power games. On the 24th of June 2010, Kevin Rudd elected Prime Minister of the Labor Party is ousted form leadership by his deputy Julia Gillard who assumed the top job, becoming Australia’s first female Prime Minister. For nearly two years, Rudd and Gillard have been playing power games, garnering support in a Government that is hanging on the edge of a precarious, small majority. Various political scandals, leaks, squabbles and leadership speculation have made the Labor Party seem like a spent force in the political stakes and the alternative on the side of the Liberals is not an option that many Labor supporters would consider as an alternative on election day, especially given the leader of the opposition, Tony Abbott never a popular choice as Prime Minister.
 

On the 27th of February 2012, Julia Gillard won a leadership poll quite comfortably, with Rudd getting 29 votes to her 73 votes of support in the Labor Caucus. On the 30th of January Gillard announced a September 12th election this year. This marked the beginning of the end of hopes of a Labor party re-election with litmus test polls making it quite clear that she could never lead the Labor party to a win in this poll.
 

On June 26th Kevin Rudd was re-elected as Prime Minister by the Labor Caucus defeating Julia Gillard 57 to 45 votes. Rudd has taken back the PM position, three years to the week after he was pushed out. It is easy to imagine that Kevin Rudd may think that this has all been about righting a wrong, seizing back what was his “by right”. He did say in the press conference immediately after the ballot results were announced: “In 2007 the Australian people elected me to be their PM. That is the task that I resume today …” The leadership squabble has been costly to the party and contributed to, although is not responsible for, Gillard’s failures. This has not surprisingly, led to Gillard’s announcement about her retirement from politics.
 

These events of the past three years have highlighted that the Australian Labor Party nationally has experienced its most rancorous divisions since the split of the 1950s. The present situation, contrary to the split of the 1950s, involves the party in government, as opposed to the 1950s when the party was in opposition. More damning now, is the reason behind the divisiveness, which in the 1950s was due to ideological and philosophical differences within the party ranks while now, egos seem to be involved. This may reflect the deterioration of politics worldwide into polls based on personality and popularity rather than fundamental differences in political policy, ideology and key strategic directions.
 

The progressive, slightly left-leaning Labor party in Australian politics has in the last two decades moved towards the right, becoming more capitalistic, more conservative and more influenced by globalisation policies that favour big company interests. The conservative, rightist Liberal party is not much different from the Labor Party in ideology and policy, but perhaps they may be more honest in the rhetoric that admits the direction they advocate. Many people later this year will have a real problem when they go to vote. We may see quite a shift towards the minor parties, the worse case scenario being one of the small parties holding the balance of power, which may make governing the country difficult. We shall see what we shall see…

THIS MOMENT

“There is no pain so great as the memory of joy in present grief.” - Aeschylus
 

Magpie Tales has provided us with a photograph, “University of Michigan fraternity party” by Stanley Kubrick for “Look” magazine. This is the springboard for several creative endeavours that followers of her blog embark on. Here is mine:
 
This Moment
 
This moment will be the moment
That will be sweet remembrance,
As the years pass, and we shall be reminiscing.
 
The acrid smell of a lighter just struck,
And the billows of aromatic smoke,
As burning menthol of cigarette just lit, sublimates.
 
The glow of your moist eyes
Illuminated by the flame of love,
Or is it lust, perhaps, or maybe just pure desire?
 
The song that was playing,
Just before it became “our song”,
Will remain forever special, even beyond our separation.
 
This moment is the moment
That right now makes time elastic
The moment lasting forever, only because we wish it so.
 
The warmth of your body,
Because of its nearness, or is it mine?
Or perhaps the fire burning, crackling in the fireplace?
 
The sound of voices,
Uttering sweet susurrations
That vocalise our innermost thoughts and desires…
 
That moment was the moment
That we remember now,
Complete in every one of its myriad of details.
 
The moment has been the moment
That defined us and our separate lives;
A photograph just found, less accurate than our sweet memories.

BELATED MUSIC MONDAY - THE CONCERT

“Music in the soul can be heard by the universe.” - Laozi
 
When one travels the routine is disrupted and one’s schedule is thrown somewhat awry. This is especially the case with work trips that are often rushed and leave one little available time for oneself. Having said that, here’s the usual Monday Movie review, slightly belated. We watched this movie last weekend and it was just right for us at the time as it combined humour with pathos, poignancy with satire. We enjoyed it thoroughly and we recommend it for viewing.
 
It is Radu Mihaileanu’s 2009 film “The Concert” starring Aleksey Guskov, Dmitriy Nazarov and Mélanie Laurent. It is a European collaborative production with contributions from France, Italy, Romania, Belgium and Russia, with the soundtrack in Russian and French. The scenario is by Radu Mihaileanua and Alain-Michel Blanc, based on a story by Héctor Cabello Reyes and Thierry Degrandi.
 
The story begins in Moscow, where the former conductor of the Bolshoi Orchestra Andrey Simonovich Filipov is now, 30 years later, the cleaner of the theatre. Andrey fell in disgrace with the Communist Party for protecting the Jewish musicians of the orchestra and was forbidden to ever conduct an orchestra again. One night while cleaning the present orchestra director’s office, Andrey reads a just-received fax and inspired by its contents, he hides the document. The fax is from the Châtelet Theatre in Paris, which has just invited the Bolshoi Orchestra to perform a concert in Paris within two weeks.
 
Andrey shows the fax to his friend and cello player Aleksandr ‘Sasha’ Abramovich Grosman who now drives an ambulance and together they decide to reunite fifty-five former musicians of the Bolshoi Orchestra to travel to Paris and perform The Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 35, by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. This is to be done secretly as they will impersonate the current Bolshoi Orchestra, which is no longer up to international standard playing.

Andrey invites the Communist leader and former KGB man, Ivan Gavrilov, to manage the orchestra and he requests from the French organisers for the orchestrea to stay in Paris for three days and the prominent violinist Anne-Marie Jacquet to play the solo violin part. When the Russians arrive in Paris, Andrey meets Anne-Marie while the musicians go wild wandering around the city, partying but also raising money by doing odd jobs. The unprofessionalism of the Russian musicians forces Anne-Marie to call off the concert; but Sasha convinces her to come to the theatre.

Meanwhile Andrey reminisces an incident with the violinist Lea thirty years ago and he struggles to keep hiding a secret from Anne-Marie. Meanwhile, the real Bolshoi Orchestra director comes to paris with his family on holiday and sees advertisements for the Bolshoi concert. Will he interfere? What is the connection between Andrey and Anne-Marie? Will Andrey find his wandering musicians? Will the concert go ahead? Will Andrey be able to conduct after all these years without even a single rehearsal?
 
The film is well produced and directed and the acting is wonderful – especially the bumbling orchestra members, the caricatured Russian officials and the exasperated Frenchmen who are trying desperately to raise cash with this special concert. The music as one would expect is wonderful and Tchaikovsky’s score is supplemented by Armand Amar’s original incidental music. It was an enjoyable and often touching film.

POSTCARD FROM FREMANTLE

“Don’t worry about the world coming to an end today. It is already tomorrow in Australia.” - Charles M. Schulz
 

I am in Perth for work for a few days and I staying in Fremantle. Fremantle is a city in Western Australia, located at the mouth of the Swan River. Fremantle Harbour serves as the port of Perth, the state capital. Fremantle was the first area settled by the Swan River colonists in 1829. It was declared a city in 1929, and has a population of approximately 25,000.The city is named after Captain Charles Howe Fremantle, the English naval officer who had pronounced possession of Western Australia and who established a camp at the site. The city contains well-preserved 19th-century buildings and other heritage features. The Western Australian vernacular diminutive for Fremantle is Freo.
 

Being a weeknight in Winter last night, it was not surprising that the streets were quite deserted even though it was still early when I went out for a walk. Nevertheless, the atmosphere was one of eerie desolation, accentuated somewhat by the sodium lamps and their amber light. Winter in Perth is much milder than in Melbourne, with the temperature yesterday climbing towards 20˚C and falling to about 12˚C at night. Very pleasant, compared to the -1˚C minimum in Melbourne the other night.

Fremantle is quite an amazing town with many old, lovingly restored Victorian buildings. The University of Notre Dame has done quite a great deal in reviving and renovating whole blocks of the West End, with many of the streetscapes reminding one intensely of times gone by. There is great architectural heritage, including convict-built colonial-era buildings, an old jetty and port, and prisons; presenting a variety and unity of historic buildings and streetscapes. These were often built in limestone with ornate façades in a succession of architectural styles. Rapid development following the harbour works gave rise to an Edwardian precinct as merchant and shipping companies built in the west end and on reclaimed land.