Ontem fui para este concerto mencionado a cima. Foi ótimo! Adorei as escolhas do Regente Cláudio Henrique Ávila (que, observe-se, é o Regente do Coro Coral cujo eu faço parte). As minhas peças preferidas eram: Il Barbiere di Siviglia interpretado por Jessé Bueno e Romeo e Julietta interpretada por Paola Soneghetti. Todos interpretaram muito bem a música selecionada, mas eu destaquei esses duas interpretes porque conseguiram obter um bom relacionamento com o público. Os dois têm uma ótima presença no palco, um certo rounded filling presence (uma presença completa/arredondada) que deixa o público pasmado, seguindo tudo pelos emoções e histórias contadas pela música. Foi fácil sentir ontem a noite todo mundo se apegar-se a cada nota da música.
Importante notar também os sotaques que interpretaram os cantores. Esses fazem uma diferencial relevante entre os diversos interpretações. Interessante foi também escutar a peça da ópera "Die Lustige Witwe" (The happy widow) que foi interpretada em português. Foi uma noite inesquecível! Parabéns, jovens cantores! Boa sorte!
A beautiful gift from one of our wedding guests was a set of what my mother named "wall plugs", or so I understood. With some good research online, I learnt that these beauties as figured below are called plaques. They form part of the prominent collection of Royal Copenhagen, which is a Danish porcelain manufacturer, set up no later than 1775! So yes, anything with the Royal Copenhagen mark on the back (three wavy blue lines) is truly a collectible's item, one to be treasured.
"Autumn"
Unlike typical RC pieces, which are usually white and blue porcelain plates, our wall plaques are picture reliefs on white biscuit earthenware. They have a very delicate countenance about them and are to be handled with great care. I was indeed quite jittery about stuffing them onto my handluggage and travelling cross the Atlantic with them. But they made it home safely.
Well, as I was saying, some good research has led me to learn more about these plaques. Our giftor has charmed us with two of what seems to be a collection of four plaques which together make up the "Four Seasons of Life" Royal Copenhagen Collection. These plaques depict Spring as a nubile maiden attended by putti and young boys with wreaths and baskets of fruit lie in abandon. Summer is a pair of lovers, scythe in hand, amidst a field of corn, an older woman shears the sheathes. Autumn is a domestic scene: the mother with baby at her breast, man bringing home fruit and game that he has hunted and gatd with his dog at his side. Whilst winter is depicted as an old couple warming themselves at a fire while laundry hangs on a line and a cat hogs the best spot next to the warmth. Most exquisetely, we received Spring and Summer, so fitting for a wedding gift, and now Hus. and I are willing to embark on the voyage for the rest of the plaques as the years wear on. I also had some questions about the way these delicate plaques could decorate our home. After having exhausted some home decor forums, I concluded that the best option would be to mount them on some blue velvet material, so as to contrast the white ware, and them frame with some fitting old golden frame, as so...
Hope you liked this post as much as I did writing it out and researching the topic. Good night!
É isso que gosto quando leio artigos e faço pesquisa de lei marítima, sempre acabo descobrindo lugares novos ou cantos meio-desconhecidos desta terra incrível! Aqui um post só pra dar aquele gosto da beleza deste lugar
Hoje estamos deparando um encanto submarino: a cadeia Vitória-Trindade, em inglês, Vítoria-Trindade Chain. A CVT, como é melhor conhecida, é uma cordilheira de edifícios vulcânicos marinhos localizados em frente à cidade de Vitória, capital do estado do Espírito Santo, Brasil. A 1.160 quilômetros do continente, surge a ilha volcánica chamada, Ilha da Trindade, e que fica no extremo oriental da cadeia dessas montanhas marinhas, com uma história de aproximadamente 3 milhões de anos. Junto com um outro rochedo chamado Martim Vaz, este arquipélago mede uns 9 quilômetros quadrados.
Trindade foi ocupada por portugueses e ingleses e hoje em dia está sob domínio brasileiro desde 1910. Já recebeu visitas de piratas, pesquisadores e prisioneiros políticos, como Marescal Eduardo Gomes. Desde 1957 é guarnecida pela Marinha do Brasil, com cerca de 40 homens, que permanecem na ilha por períodos de quatro meses.
A coleta de dados apontam ao fato que esta ilha é o maior sítio reprodutivo brasileiro da tartaruga verde (Chelonia mydas (Eng. green sea turtle)) e área de alimentação da tartaruga de pente (Eretmochelys imbricata, (Eng., hawksbill sea turtle)). Aqui um retrato dessas espécies:
Chelonia mydas
Eretmochelys imbricata
Até 1850, a ilha era coberta por uma floresta de árvores Colubrina Granulosa, hoje quase inexistente. Aqui um vídeo da beleza marinha do lugar:
At least it is not just sport people and political big names which made it to Rio for the World Cup, but also gigantic musico-cultural personalities. No one less than one of the Major Three Tenors Plácido Domingo and also piano genius Lang Lang, who will be performing together tonight at the HSBC Arena, Barra da Tijuca. What a privilege to think my house is situated a few kilometres away from their hotels!
Unfortunately, we didn't make it in time to get tickets (I heard about their concert just last Wednesday during the rehearsal of the Coro da Câmara). I must say such a great concert was shamefully given the backseat in place of football fanaticism.
My interest and admiration for Chinese superstar Lang Lang started some 5 years ago when I was an avid posteree on Piano Forum Italia (https://www.facebook.com/pianoforum.italia, I don't know if the forum still exists). A video I used to watch over and over was Lang Lang playing Chopin Etude with an orange...
And this is him "going mad" (or rather, feeling the music like a real pianist should):
Many people criticize him because of the show he puts on. Well, good for him, he's made one hell of a name for himself, is clearly a showman, and is passionate for music and the piano. Afterall, Franz Liszt himself was known for his flashy concert presentations, triggering interest in music lovers (women lovers too) all across Central Europe back in the mid-1800's.
Many have commented on Liszt's "manifestations" (going so far into describing him a "meretricious charlatan"). But in this letter to the editor (The Guardian), one Oxford local quotes George Eliot description of Liszt's performance in his defense:
“Genius, benevolence, and tenderness beam from his whole countenance, and his manners were in perfect harmony with it. Then came the thing I had longed for – his playing… For the first time in my life I beheld real inspiration – for the first time I heard the true tones of the piano. He played one of his compositions, one of a series of religious fantasies. There was nothing strange or excessive about his manner. His manipulation of the instrument was quiet and easy, and his face was simply grand; the lips compressed and the head thrown backward. When the music expressed quiet rapture or devotion a smile flitted over his features; when it was triumphant the nostrils dilated. There was nothing petty or egotistic to mar the picture.”
As for me, I'd say anyone with an aquiline nose and long fingers like those should flaunt it!
Well, coming back to Lang, in this interview to "O Globo" he admits that he loves exhibiting fiery pieces by Rachmaninoff because of the new energy he is able to incorporate in the piece, and similarly he has that special sensitivity for Chopin's pieces too. These all go to show his virtuosity at the piano. A true master indeed!
Interestingly the interviewer comments about Lang's jovial look. As was suggested in my recent post about Brazilian João Donato, musicians have a tact at keeping young. Puerile and innocent looks often come hand-in-hand with high-end musicians, who have learnt the skill of putting trivialities to the side and having the knowledge to embrace the beauty of music and life. Lang Lang goes on to admit that even in his mid-30's, his engrossment with anime cartoons inspire his hairstyle choices. Go figure!
Mais uma vez a secção "Cultura" do Jornal O Globo se foca em um artista brasileiro bem interessante. Aqui é João Donato, que é músico dum estilo bem misturado. Como ele mesmo explica,
— Eu não sou bossa nova, eu não sou samba, eu não sou jazz, eu não sou rumba, eu não sou forró. Na verdade eu sou isso tudo ao mesmo tempo — diz Donato
Interessante o que ele fala sobre a música, a sua ingenuidade e o jeito pueril no qual o jornalista o descreve...
O barulho da chuva é música, a onda no mar é música, o bate bola dos moleques lá fora é música, o latido do cachorro é música, a bananeira no vento também é música. Para João Donato tudo é música.
Porém, "Coisas Tão Simples", aqui o seu canto mais famoso, "Lugar comum":
From "Is Facebook sharing making us more vain?", The Guardian (2013)
A Facebook profile is often a carefully constructed public image: it reflects how you want others to see you, rather than who you actually are. Like some sort of grotesque, endless carousel, people are portrayed as constantly smiling, on nights out, or on holiday. Consumer culture encourages us to favour happy, affluent people, so it is little surprise people feel pressured to present themselves in their best light on their profiles. Pictures are vetted, carefully selected and sometimes even Photoshopped. Weaknesses, insecurities and imperfections are generally left out. The problem is, these are the very things that make us lovable human beings – the Facebook profile is just a vacuous, usually unrepresentative, projection of the user.
From online debate "You Like Me! You really like me!", The New York Times (2013)
As one paper concluded, narcissists use Twitter “as a kind of technologically augmented megaphone: A means of amplifying one’s own perceived superiority to others.” They use Facebook as “a technologically enhanced mirror, reflecting a preoccupation with one’s own image, others’ reactions to this image, and a desire to update the image as frequently as possible.” - Jean Twenge
[...] don't hate the player -- hate the game. It's just what we've been trained to do. [...] Anonymous or pseudonymous posting can relieve us of the burdens of social media, and the resulting narcissistic behavior. [...] Many of us have become so concerned with maintaining our carefully crafted online presence that expressing our true feelings and ideas often takes a back seat. Anonymous posting enables honest expression, unencumbered by identity. - Chris Poole
To be fair, it isn’t easy to know the best way to promote one’s self in a brand-driven and competitive business where style seems to trump substance. But I have a simple rule of thumb for actors: If what you’re posting can, in some way, be "shared" by "friends," post it. This includes plays, performances, openings, or television premieres. It is part of your job as an artist and entrepreneur to let us know about your work. If it’s simply good news for you, then pick up a phone, call the folks close to you, and keep in mind that most likely your 675 actor friends on Facebook are not “On Set!" like you; they are probably "At the unemployment office!" or "Counting Tips!" In other words, don’t tell us how “blessed” you are, show it … by having some grace, taste and humility. Facebook isn’t the problem. Our need to validate ourselves with outside approval is. Please share this on Facebook… - Joe Holt
Facebook will probably be passé as well as Twitter, though I cringe to think what will replace them. In the meantime I will be content to use my landline and email in private. Perhaps I am the narcissist. - Bruce McKinney
Once we understand the actual issues involved in narcissistic disturbance, we can be on the lookout for how we, and others, use and rely on social media platforms. We can even become more expert at discerning what is a healthy degree of sharing versus what is merely a compulsive pursuit for attention. - Eleanor Payson
From "Is Facebook making us Lonelier?", The Atlantic (2012)
Vickers’s web of connections had grown broader but shallower, as has happened for many of us. We are living in an isolation that would have been unimaginable to our ancestors, and yet we have never been more accessible.
What Facebook has revealed about human nature—and this is not a minor revelation—is that a connection is not the same thing as a bond, and that instant and total connection is no salvation, no ticket to a happier, better world or a more liberated version of humanity. Solitude used to be good for self-reflection and self-reinvention. But now we are left thinking about who we are all the time, without ever really thinking about who we are. Facebook denies us a pleasure whose profundity we had underestimated: the chance to forget about ourselves for a while, the chance to disconnect.
Those were just a few of my favourite of the best out there... 'bye!
It's been over a week since the cotyledons have lifted their pretty heads out of the soil, and I check on them everyday hoping I will get to see some new real life, a real stalk, something I know I can count on.
And here they are, deep in the heart of the cotylies are the beginnings of hope...
I thought it wouldn't take so long, but slowly and steadily we'll make it there.
Actually this post is not just about my reflections on botanical facts, but a reflection on my situation at the moment. The cotyledons are a temporary stage of being, just like my temporary stay in Brazil. I am pining to find that steady stalk of life to continue with the life I had before. Indeed, it is a big chance considering I was a minuscule seed in an envelope and now I am green and breathing life, but knowing that my potential is deep within and as yet locked in leaves me waiting for more, hoping for more...
The beauty of all this is that the stalk of life, the aromatic leaves which will sprout out will not be need to be planted: they come from within.
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