tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-87027046915281151902024-03-12T20:07:54.063-07:00Not Sweating the Small StuffAlex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.comBlogger537125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-51770557705631569202023-12-07T03:32:00.000-08:002023-12-07T03:32:55.261-08:00<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #ff00fe;"><b> Gaston and His Favourite Toy</b></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0UsQ0GRyLA-ihsE4i-HeH0L7Z1RK9lB_Zeaz5afjifT9l3tOYSRmamsYovnrSJqcm7g6l34uMavLk3GfBrnzaxARgZ80ZCZnphyX2uo9MKchRR6xhMnHLpcBA9xdet1Es_DJry-Zj-XNA1sz_NDRjLUHogmwd5BGTAHoqecCEzb-h3Bz3dU5De-gB8E/s1046/Gaston%207Feb23%203.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1046" data-original-width="946" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhI0UsQ0GRyLA-ihsE4i-HeH0L7Z1RK9lB_Zeaz5afjifT9l3tOYSRmamsYovnrSJqcm7g6l34uMavLk3GfBrnzaxARgZ80ZCZnphyX2uo9MKchRR6xhMnHLpcBA9xdet1Es_DJry-Zj-XNA1sz_NDRjLUHogmwd5BGTAHoqecCEzb-h3Bz3dU5De-gB8E/s320/Gaston%207Feb23%203.png" width="289" /></a></div><br /><p><br /></p>Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-12180634390242125602023-05-13T06:52:00.004-07:002023-05-13T07:00:09.023-07:00Mozart Clarinet Concerto<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPGEKyFnkvrV7u2ZY4nEjXbkhEfdHCCcMxVeLwU1MoNv7xWpsfY01GGIjQsRgW5ZMYtpM2jEISlnzV6V_reQXXs2YboDgl3TqGe-18pMboknQbV33tKA8DKFWGctIxbmowh_JoXK6lq16y-xVSQCyOwU969a20XEfmVaXthgRhXc_ZwpZ_KswcMlj/s936/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-13%20at%2011.51.14%20pm.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="936" height="366" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOPGEKyFnkvrV7u2ZY4nEjXbkhEfdHCCcMxVeLwU1MoNv7xWpsfY01GGIjQsRgW5ZMYtpM2jEISlnzV6V_reQXXs2YboDgl3TqGe-18pMboknQbV33tKA8DKFWGctIxbmowh_JoXK6lq16y-xVSQCyOwU969a20XEfmVaXthgRhXc_ZwpZ_KswcMlj/w640-h366/Screen%20Shot%202023-05-13%20at%2011.51.14%20pm.png" width="640" /></a></div><br /><p></p>Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-17056320203737669662019-10-06T15:35:00.001-07:002019-10-06T15:37:37.318-07:00Faun<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-43544634731069148102017-11-14T06:09:00.000-08:002017-11-14T06:09:13.491-08:00Ghats<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<br />Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-34847195268367750022017-08-21T14:19:00.002-07:002017-08-21T14:21:03.374-07:00YouTube Speed<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-35324954705871308682016-09-22T03:25:00.000-07:002016-09-22T03:27:22.089-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span style="font-family: "helvetica" , "arial" , sans-serif; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="color: red; font-size: large;"><b style="background-color: black;">Prince or King Charlie, and the Loddon or Jajoweroung Tribe, Boort Creek 16 Nov 1863</b></span></span></div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-46163406092535701232016-03-23T19:16:00.001-07:002016-04-07T20:45:59.401-07:00Margot Fonteyn, Rudolph Nureyev - 'Romeo and Juliet' Autographs<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-13698323074534460012016-03-06T05:30:00.002-08:002016-03-06T05:36:49.051-08:00Vaslav Nijinsky - ‘Danse Siamoise' from the suite of dances 'Les Orientales’<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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'Les Orientales’ was a suite of dances devised for the 1910 Paris season of the Ballets Russes, replacing ‘Le Festin’ of the previous season. The theme of the suite was inspired by a visit of Siamese court dancers to St Petersburg in the 1890’s, fitting with the ‘exotic’ strand of a number of the ballets in the repertoire of the company at this time.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">'Les Orientales’ premiered on 25th of June 1910 at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra, Paris.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Nijinsky appeared in two dances in the suite: ‘Danse Siamoise’ (Music by Christian Sinding [Rondoletto giocoso, op.32/5, orch. Igor Stravinsky]) and ‘Variation’ (Music by Edvard Grieg [Småtroll, op.71/3, from Lyric Pieces, Book X, orch. Igor Stravinsky]).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">There is disagreement between Boris Kochno (‘Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes’) and Lincoln Kirstein (‘Nijinsky Dancing’) about the creators of the choreography, and the costume and set designs for ‘Danse Siamoise’.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Kochno states Nijinsky created the choreography for both the ballets he appeared in, and Kirstein that ‘Danse Siamoise’ was from Mikhail Fokine. The Michail Fokine Estate does not list the ballet in Fokine’s oeuvre, but this maybe be due to the work being considered inconsequential. There seems no dispute that the choreography for ‘Variation’ was the work of Nijinsky, being his first effort in this new direction.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As far as costume and set designs go, Kochno claims they are by Constantine Korovine (or Korovin) and Kirstein, by Léon Bakst. I suspect that Kochno may be referring to designs of another/other ballets in the suite as he is not specific to ‘Danse Siamoise’. And the extraordinary power of the invention of these exotic designs shouts Bakst to me!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The first four further photographs of the ballet I’m posting here are by Eugène Druet. They were taken in the Passy garden of artist Jacques-Émile Blanche to use when painting Nijinsky in this ballet. Images 1-3, while posed as are the studio images, have the quality of action photographs. 4 is an action photograph proper. As a set we have I think a tiny sense of Nijinsky in movement.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The next two images are sketches by Blanche for the final painting and the last, the rich glittering painting itself - replete with oriental carpet and gilded Chinese screens. A feast for the eyes!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Curiously, though, Jacques-Émile Blanche’s (Western European) idea of oriental exoticism is a quite contained tame affair compared with that of central Ballets Russes designer, Léon Bakst!</span></div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-70158439429258069872016-02-21T00:26:00.004-08:002016-02-21T00:32:56.439-08:00The World’s Oldest Surviving Dress - Egypt, 3,482 BC<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1">“The world’s oldest dress dates back to around 3,482 BC, a new study has revealed. The “Tarkhan Dress”, which now looks more like a stained and tattered shirt, has been identified as Egypt’s oldest garment as well as the oldest surviving piece of woven clothing in the entire world.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Despite its current decrepit state, the “Tarkhan Dress”, the researchers point out, was once a fashionable linen garment, featuring knife-pleated sleeves and bodice with a naturally-beautiful pale grey stripped design. The lower part of the dress is missing, which is why its original length is currently unknown. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Speaking about the find, recently published in the Antiquity journal, Alice Stevenson of the University College London said: The survival of highly perishable textiles in the archaeological record is exceptional, the survival of complete, or almost complete, articles of clothing like the Tarkhan Dress is even more remarkable. We’ve always suspected that the dress dated from the First Dynasty, but haven’t been able to confirm this as the sample previously needed for testing would have caused too much damage to the dress.”</span></div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-12666718525245169882015-06-23T07:18:00.001-07:002016-02-21T00:34:38.694-08:00Photographs of Vincent van Gogh<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Until recently, the only accepted photographs of the Dutch master Vincent van Gogh (30 March 1853 – 29 July 1890) were two taken of the artist in his youth - at the ages of thirteen and nineteen respectively. <span class="s1"></span></div>
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More of these images in a moment.</div>
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<span class="s1">Serge Plantureux, writer for the French magazine ‘L’Oeil de la Photographie’, believes that an 1887 photograph bought at an estate sale may well be an image of van Gogh as an adult.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The photograph (above) shows the painter (third from the left, pipe in hand) and group of friends including Paul Gauguin, Emile Bernard, Félix Jobbé-Duval, and André Antoine. It is a melanotype, where a positive picture is produced with sensitised collodion on a smooth surface of black varnish, coating a thin plate of iron.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">This newly discovered 1887 photograph was sold at auction on 19th June, 2015 in Brussels for an undisclosed figure, with pre-sale estimates being between €120,000 and €150,000 (~$136,000 to $170,000).</span></div>
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<span class="s1">The Seton Gallery in New Haven has displayed what they believe to be another and second image of the mature van Gogh, an 1886 cabinet photograph bought by artist Tom Stanford in a Massachusetts antique dealer’s shop in the early 1990s for one dollar. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Stanford said “I saw it and thought it was van Gogh right away, and the more I looked at it, the more I was sure”.</span></div>
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The Van Gogh museum in Amsterdam disputes that this is an image of the artist (perhaps for the obvious reasons), though Albert Harper, director of the Henry Lee Institute of Forensic Science at the University of New Haven, believes otherwise.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">Joseph Buberger, who has identified images of Abraham Lincoln and Ulysses Grant, judged the imagine genuine, comparing it with a self-portrait sketch.</span></div>
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Albert Harper said "Even the most minute detail matched up, even the smallest hairs on the beards matched up”. This might suggest that the artist made the self-portrait from the photograph.<span class="s1"></span></div>
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<span class="s1">As circumstantial evidence, van Gogh is known to have spent much time in Brussels, where Victor Morin, whose name is inscribed on the 1886 image, had his photographic studio.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Now returning to the accepted two youthful images mentioned at the beginning. Mr Buberger claims that they are in fact of the artist’s brother Theo, as they do not match any of Van Gogh's self-portraits, thus taking these 1866 and 1873 images out of the authentication by comparison equation.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As an unhelpful but interesting footnote, there is another 1886 photograph supposedly showing van Gogh and his friend, Emile Bernard, at a table beside the Seine at the Paris suburb of Asnieres.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What you think of all these images, having seen as we all probably have numbers of self-portraits by Vincent van Gogh?</span></div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-76814909855407998552015-06-23T02:22:00.000-07:002016-03-23T19:58:53.815-07:00The Inevitable Srinagar-Poodle Connection<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Now that Gaston ...<br />
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... is past the puppy chewing-up-things stage, we decided to put out a silk carpet we bought in Srinagar, Kashmir when dinosaurs walked that earth, well, 35 years ago.<br />
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<span class="s1">And, pooch with exquisitely refined tastes that he is, our little fellow immediately decided to put it to good and personal use as his new sleeping rug. Better, I'm sure he thinks, than that inferior mohair rug he has been forced to use up to now!</span></div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-25201425684360565112015-02-18T07:53:00.002-08:002015-02-18T07:54:19.615-08:00Antonio Nicolini - ‘A Pious Monk at Prayer’ <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1">And another trial post - an oil on copper we have from C17 Italian painter Antonio Nicolini - ‘A Pious Monk at Prayer’ …</span></div>
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The artist’s name can be faintly discerned etched into the exposed copper verso. It is below the late C18 or early C19 the label attached when the work was presumably re-framed.</div>
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Enjoy!</div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-6630720191422560922015-02-18T07:02:00.004-08:002015-03-08T11:15:26.410-07:00Gaston Is Testing If My Blog Is Alive<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
This Gaston upload is just to test if my blog is alive - so here goes:<br />
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So let's post this and see!</div>
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Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-5490077103120018332013-08-07T00:35:00.001-07:002013-08-07T00:35:57.158-07:00<div style="color: #666666; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>Feast for the Eyes: </b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b>A Worthy Descendant of Leon Bakst</b></span></div>
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As
you'll all undoubtably know, British gay haute couture designer
Alexander McQueen died at the young age of 41. A suicide by hanging.
Having had a partner depart this life in a similar way, I was doubly
drawn to post on this extraordinary artist.<br />
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I
remember being impressed hearing someone once say that he'd be very
sorry if, at his passing, people didn't joyfully celebrate his life.<br />
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So
it's in this spirit I've put together a selection from the designer's
somewhat Japonaise and bold geometric ready-to-wear collection for the
Paris Fashion Week of 2009.<br />
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Even
if you know Sweet F A about haute couture, it's hard to imagine anyone
not responding to these startlingly innovative designs.Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-12906334891255140582011-06-26T00:24:00.001-07:002011-06-26T00:42:44.117-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: bold; color: rgb(102, 102, 102);font-size:130%;" >Étienne-Louis Boullée - Sliding Doors</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T9UL7lvJ1QU/TgbfB4LGmJI/AAAAAAAACYA/oojPb_Yh5nQ/s1600/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 240px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-T9UL7lvJ1QU/TgbfB4LGmJI/AAAAAAAACYA/oojPb_Yh5nQ/s400/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622426408170461330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Cénotaphe à Newton (1784, sphere of 150 m or 500 ft in diameter)</span><br /></div><br />I was doing some serious time-travelling this morning, way way back into distant antiquity: my first degree in fine art.<br /><br />I was browsing one of my trusty but now metaphorically yellowing course books for a unit I took on C20 architecture, naturally from the aesthetic rather than engineering perspective. As Isipped my coffee (I wonder why 'sipping' seems such a tea thing?), I was flicking through the tome in question, my Charles Jencks's 'Modern Movements in Architecture', and was put in mind of megalomaniac and a visionary C18 architect Étienne-Louis Boullée (1728-1799).<br /><br />Boullée's abstract geometric style, inspired by C17 and C18 French Classical architecture, took geometric forms to a giagantic and simplified scale. His proposed works that were devoid of ornament and used light and shadow and a sense of movement in highly innovative ways.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NmfHPZ-2lds/TgbfBtLvgTI/AAAAAAAACX4/2Cm5NfRUdFY/s1600/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B3.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 231px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NmfHPZ-2lds/TgbfBtLvgTI/AAAAAAAACX4/2Cm5NfRUdFY/s400/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B3.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622426405220352306" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bh0WEr64biA/TgbfBUhEQvI/AAAAAAAACXw/BMEgO7Z4AT8/s1600/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B3a.jpeg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 357px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-bh0WEr64biA/TgbfBUhEQvI/AAAAAAAACXw/BMEgO7Z4AT8/s400/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B3a.jpeg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622426398598906610" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hehbYHMMnJQ/TgbfBOMlibI/AAAAAAAACXo/5PKxAjVmigA/s1600/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 244px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hehbYHMMnJQ/TgbfBOMlibI/AAAAAAAACXo/5PKxAjVmigA/s400/C%25C3%25A9notaphe%2B%25C3%25A0%2BNewton%2B%25281784%2529%2B4.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622426396902394290" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Cénotaphe à Newton: Interior</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;">'<span style="font-style: italic;">Newton's cenotaph was designed to isolate, to reinvent, the huge movement of time and celestial phenomena. Inside, the viewer is isolated too, on a small viewing platform. Along the top half of the sphere's edges, apertures in the stone allow light in, in pins, creating starlight when there is daylight. During the night a huge and otherworldly light hangs, flooding the sphere, as sunlight. During the day, the "night effect." During the night, day.</span>'<br /></div><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a7GAnKfm7PQ/TgbfA95naVI/AAAAAAAACXg/iwRvz1Wdvcc/s1600/Entree%2Bdu%2Bcimmetiere%2B0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 130px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-a7GAnKfm7PQ/TgbfA95naVI/AAAAAAAACXg/iwRvz1Wdvcc/s400/Entree%2Bdu%2Bcimmetiere%2B0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622426392527858002" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zvEWe9Iktok/TgbgLAvYvjI/AAAAAAAACYo/aMlbDez0Hps/s1600/Entree%2Bdu%2Bcimmetiere%2B1%2BLight%2Bn%2Bshadow.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 132px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zvEWe9Iktok/TgbgLAvYvjI/AAAAAAAACYo/aMlbDez0Hps/s400/Entree%2Bdu%2Bcimmetiere%2B1%2BLight%2Bn%2Bshadow.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622427664600579634" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Entree du cimmetiere (c1780-90)</span><br /></div><br />The French architect was interested in making architecture expressive of purpose, an approach his detractors termed 'architecture parlante' ('talking architecture').<br /><br />Interior space is opened up to flow from one functional area to another rather than such areas being closed off in descrete separate 'rooms'.<br /><br />By now you can see where this is heading!<br /><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pF7xqlK9Q3k/TgbgKkNNCVI/AAAAAAAACYg/VrdO3yYsxA4/s1600/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 220px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-pF7xqlK9Q3k/TgbgKkNNCVI/AAAAAAAACYg/VrdO3yYsxA4/s400/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622427656941013330" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0G3k8BGqTSQ/TgbgKO3D6qI/AAAAAAAACYY/COK0NWeiyTI/s1600/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 269px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0G3k8BGqTSQ/TgbgKO3D6qI/AAAAAAAACYY/COK0NWeiyTI/s400/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622427651210996386" border="0" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY8e_8D2URE/TgbgJ4NV1aI/AAAAAAAACYQ/dYHl4dIoiWI/s1600/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B3a.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 46px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ZY8e_8D2URE/TgbgJ4NV1aI/AAAAAAAACYQ/dYHl4dIoiWI/s400/Cenotaphe%2Bde%2BTurenne%2B3a.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622427645130429858" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Cénotaphe de Turenne</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Db0HP3OjVE/TgbgJmzBVPI/AAAAAAAACYI/Xmp-Fqf44NM/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 248px;" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0Db0HP3OjVE/TgbgJmzBVPI/AAAAAAAACYI/Xmp-Fqf44NM/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622427640456631538" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Cénotaphe égyptien (c1786)</span><br /></div><br />Of course Boullée's work was re-discovered in the late C19 and early C20, influencing architecture, even as recently as that of Aldo Rossi (1931-1997) ...<br /><br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ykGdZwOMmI/TgbhMeq9XlI/AAAAAAAACZQ/lU-o7Lb-6us/s1600/1%2BAldo%2BRossi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 257px; height: 308px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7ykGdZwOMmI/TgbhMeq9XlI/AAAAAAAACZQ/lU-o7Lb-6us/s400/1%2BAldo%2BRossi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622428789326569042" border="0" /></a><br />... in his Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_tuebQAISIs/TgbhL9MpaEI/AAAAAAAACZI/RU5RkvrAvZQ/s1600/2%2BBonnefanten%2BMuseum%2Bin%2BMaastricht.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-_tuebQAISIs/TgbhL9MpaEI/AAAAAAAACZI/RU5RkvrAvZQ/s400/2%2BBonnefanten%2BMuseum%2Bin%2BMaastricht.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622428780341061698" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Bonnefanten Museum in Maastricht</span><br /></div><br />You'll also know Rossi from his designs for Alessi ...<br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpdu8O6T8BI/TgbhLvoXMLI/AAAAAAAACZA/JeeDCwr6hzA/s1600/3%2BAlessi%2BLa%2BCupola%2BEspresso%2BMaker%2Bby%2BAldo%2BRossi.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 344px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cpdu8O6T8BI/TgbhLvoXMLI/AAAAAAAACZA/JeeDCwr6hzA/s400/3%2BAlessi%2BLa%2BCupola%2BEspresso%2BMaker%2Bby%2BAldo%2BRossi.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622428776699211954" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">'La Cupola' Espresso Maker </span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hIjOhNaZ9eY/TgbhLS4RAiI/AAAAAAAACY4/iUkbXoj0Q8k/s1600/Il%2Bconico%2Bdesign%2BAldo%2BRossi%252C%2B1986.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 400px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hIjOhNaZ9eY/TgbhLS4RAiI/AAAAAAAACY4/iUkbXoj0Q8k/s400/Il%2Bconico%2Bdesign%2BAldo%2BRossi%252C%2B1986.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622428768981287458" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">'Il conico', 1986</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KGiFG6ka8zQ/TgbhJOlGMfI/AAAAAAAACYw/3Z9C-3pnILQ/s1600/%2527La%2Bconica%2527%2Bdesign%2BAldo%2BRossi%252C%2B1982.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 311px; height: 300px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KGiFG6ka8zQ/TgbhJOlGMfI/AAAAAAAACYw/3Z9C-3pnILQ/s400/%2527La%2Bconica%2527%2Bdesign%2BAldo%2BRossi%252C%2B1982.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5622428733467406834" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">'La conica', 1982</span><br /></div><br />However, apart from a number of private houses designed beween 1762 and 1778, none of Boullée's large scale works were ever built, though his designs in engravings were circulated widely in professional circles.<br /><br />I can't help having a sliding doors moment, wondering about the course of C19 architeture had it moved forward on Boullée's ideas and not taken to its various backward-looking Gothic/Rennaissance/electic diversions.<br /><br />PS: Boullée recently-ish popped up unexpectedly at the movies. In Peter Greenaway's film 'The Belly of an Architect' (1987), whose main character, Stourley Krackite, is obsessed with celebrating the C18 French architect's work.Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-91818615762719741552011-06-20T22:46:00.000-07:002011-06-20T23:23:18.368-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153);font-size:130%;" ><span style="font-weight: bold;">Oscar Wilde Reaches Across Time</span></span><br /></div><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oi2Y454xEEA/TgAw-q5EdMI/AAAAAAAACXQ/eGRmKGXmZR4/s1600/0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Oi2Y454xEEA/TgAw-q5EdMI/AAAAAAAACXQ/eGRmKGXmZR4/s400/0.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620546188182058178" border="0" /></a><br />After recently posting on gay hero Quentin Crisp, there seemed a kind of follow on logic for one on Oscar Wild as recently I came across the only recording of the poet and playwright's voice. In which he recites nearly two verses from the fourth canto of 'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">In Reading Gaol by Reading Town<br />There is a pit of shame,<br />And in it lies a wretched man<br />Eaten by teeth of flame,<br />In burning winding-sheet he lies,<br />And his grave has got no name.<br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;"><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">[And there, till Christ call forth the dead,</span><br /><span style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">In silence let him lie:]</span><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">No need to waste the foolish tear,<br />Or heave the windy sigh:<br />The man had killed the thing he loved,<br />And so he had to die.<br /></div><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NSKuPG-KjUw/TgAw-Lt3KoI/AAAAAAAACXI/5o1dVussIMc/s1600/1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 282px; height: 400px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NSKuPG-KjUw/TgAw-Lt3KoI/AAAAAAAACXI/5o1dVussIMc/s400/1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620546179813550722" border="0" /></a><br /><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cUGxrh8dXf8/TgAw9pVkvTI/AAAAAAAACXA/s7JYjL_0SF4/s1600/2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 382px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-cUGxrh8dXf8/TgAw9pVkvTI/AAAAAAAACXA/s7JYjL_0SF4/s400/2.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620546170584874290" border="0" /></a><br />As we all know, Wilde was imprisoned in 1895 for two years with hard labour after the follow-up trials to his failed attempt to sue the Marquess of Queensbury for the calling card libel of 'For Oscar Wilde, posing sodomite'.<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wtmm4oVMtdI/TgAw_O_jtZI/AAAAAAAACXY/yC4ZbPPMxzw/s1600/Queensbury%2527s%2B%2527Somdomite%2527%2Bcard.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 201px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wtmm4oVMtdI/TgAw_O_jtZI/AAAAAAAACXY/yC4ZbPPMxzw/s400/Queensbury%2527s%2B%2527Somdomite%2527%2Bcard.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620546197872948626" border="0" /></a><br />'The Ballad of Reading Gaol' was written in France in Berneval or Dieppe on or about 19 May 1897 and was initially published under the the name 'C.3.3' - for cell block C, landing 3, cell 3 of Wilde's incarceration.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sdSBddh5ehA/TgAw9AJ-vvI/AAAAAAAACW4/IHFR1B_wWrA/s1600/10%2BIn%2Bexile%252C%2BParis%2B1900.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 332px;" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sdSBddh5ehA/TgAw9AJ-vvI/AAAAAAAACW4/IHFR1B_wWrA/s400/10%2BIn%2Bexile%252C%2BParis%2B1900.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5620546159530393330" border="0" /></a><span style="font-size:78%;">Wilde in Exile in France c1900<br /></span></div><br />The poem was inspired partly by the hanging in 1896 of a fellow prisoner, Charles Thomas Wooldridge, for the throat-cutting murder of his wife - 'The man had killed the thing he loved, And so he had to die.'<br /><br />I am fascinated to know the particular character of the poet and playwright's voice, as it must give a clue to the delivery of those deliciously paradoxical aphorisms we love to find occasion to remember and perhaps quote ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center; font-style: italic;">We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.<br /><br />A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction.<br /><br />A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world.<br /><br />A little sincerity is a dangerous thing, and a great deal of it is absolutely fatal.<br /><br />Ambition is the last refuge of the failure.<br /><br />A man can't be too careful in the choice of his enemies.<br /><br />Alas, I am dying beyond my means.<br /><br />All women become like their mothers. That is their tragedy. No man does. That's his.<br /><br />All bad poetry springs from genuine feeling.<br /></div><br />Wilde seems much more theatrical and arch than I would have imagined, even taking into account the performance tradition of the time. In this context and in retrospect, Lord Olivier used to make fun of this earlier style of delivery, likening it to singing arias in opera.<br /><br />Curiously and incidentally, Wilde's voice reminds me more than a little of the vocal manner of a particular group of older queans I knew as a kid in London and so has a further resonance for me.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;">VID<br /></div><br />This audio recording, imaginatively at least, lets me know this great writer just a tiny bit better. There is something of the quality of the living breathing human voice that reaches across time and emotionally connects up.Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-39554681719367998612011-03-15T22:26:00.001-07:002011-03-15T22:34:55.187-07:00<p style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">The Circus Really Does Eventually Come To Town</b></span><br /></p><p style="text-align: center;"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kZ0ptRrBWDc/TYA4gW6s1dI/AAAAAAAABgk/SskexLR9rpk/s1600/1a+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40.jpg"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-kZ0ptRrBWDc/TYA4gW6s1dI/AAAAAAAABgk/SskexLR9rpk/s400/1a+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40.jpg" style="" border="0" height="292" width="400" /></a></p><p>Being in Australia can at times leave you feeling just that little bit disconnected from the rest of the world and the things that go on out there.</p><p> </p><p>And, as a kid, I guess this was probably one of the driving forces for me living in England and France for five years. With numerous European top-ups since - and a year in the Peoples' Republic of China.<br /></p><p>But then sometimes the big things come to us here.</p><p> </p><p>Like the Ballets Russes visits from the mid thirties to the early forties, taking the opportunity to perform during the disruptions of World War 2 elsewhere. It came in various guises - The Original Ballets Russes, Colonel de Basil's Ballets Russes de Monte Carlo, Covent Garden Russian Ballet.</p><p> </p><p>A highlight of these visits would have been the 1940 re-staging by Serge Lifar of his ballet 'Icare' (1935), with new percussive music by Antal Dorati and with new sets by Sydney Nolan ...</p><p> </p> <p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Qx-Vj8w8Q5A/TYBCFHuf2uI/AAAAAAAABhA/4lyk98rF9qA/s1600/0b+Nolan+Drawing+of+set+2+-+Copy.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Qx-Vj8w8Q5A/TYBCFHuf2uI/AAAAAAAABhA/4lyk98rF9qA/s320/0b+Nolan+Drawing+of+set+2+-+Copy.jpg" style="" border="0" height="292" width="320" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U7sSBUGDhl8/TYBCFilQRdI/AAAAAAAABhE/uZP5OP75xNY/s1600/0c.jpg"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-U7sSBUGDhl8/TYBCFilQRdI/AAAAAAAABhE/uZP5OP75xNY/s320/0c.jpg" style="" border="0" height="237" width="320" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p>Lifar took the lead role of Icarus at the premier ...</p><p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QSOxGpe-xXU/TYBALEXIzmI/AAAAAAAABgo/ybNvkw9rkUw/s1600/00+Lifar+in+Icare+1+-+Copy.jpg"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-QSOxGpe-xXU/TYBALEXIzmI/AAAAAAAABgo/ybNvkw9rkUw/s400/00+Lifar+in+Icare+1+-+Copy.jpg" style="" border="0" height="308" width="400" /></a></p><p>... but then it was danced on subsequent performances by Roman Jasinsky ...</p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VzprMhBfAjg/TYBCGga3T9I/AAAAAAAABhM/y9mpwKPNB3s/s1600/2+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40+G+-+Copy.jpg"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-VzprMhBfAjg/TYBCGga3T9I/AAAAAAAABhM/y9mpwKPNB3s/s400/2+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40+G+-+Copy.jpg" style="" border="0" height="292" width="400" /></a></p> <p> </p> <p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Se9kKprTIPQ/TYBCHK23KgI/AAAAAAAABhQ/ctFnnFRY2mI/s1600/3+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40+G+-+Copy.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Se9kKprTIPQ/TYBCHK23KgI/AAAAAAAABhQ/ctFnnFRY2mI/s400/3+%2527Icare%2527+Oz+1936-40+G+-+Copy.jpg" style="" border="0" height="292" width="400" /></a></p> <p> </p><p>Amazingly, there's quite a lot of colour film of the performances of the Russian Ballet during these visits, including of footage of 'Icare' with Jasinsky.</p><p> </p><p>So I've cobbled together a video around Serge Lifar, Roman Jasinsky, the Ballets Russes in Australia and 'Icare', and included some black and white 1950s film of Lifar teaching the principle role to a dancer at Le Palais Garnier in Paris ...<br /></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BfEs3K8QG30/TYBBQ274z_I/AAAAAAAABgs/6mytcGl9w0Y/s1600/00a.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-BfEs3K8QG30/TYBBQ274z_I/AAAAAAAABgs/6mytcGl9w0Y/s320/00a.jpg" style="" border="0" height="244" width="320" /></a></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x9nYITNI98o/TYBBRaFPzUI/AAAAAAAABgw/v3A8ZZfp-Lo/s1600/00b.jpg"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-x9nYITNI98o/TYBBRaFPzUI/AAAAAAAABgw/v3A8ZZfp-Lo/s320/00b.jpg" style="" border="0" height="244" width="320" /></a></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bfXUIguqslQ/TYBBSP-TrOI/AAAAAAAABg0/vdzLvW8yJdk/s1600/00c.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-bfXUIguqslQ/TYBBSP-TrOI/AAAAAAAABg0/vdzLvW8yJdk/s320/00c.jpg" style="" border="0" height="244" width="320" /></a></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center; clear: both;" class="separator"><a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2PvpRGaoo80/TYBBSW16GUI/AAAAAAAABg4/lYArH8UEUdM/s1600/00d.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-2PvpRGaoo80/TYBBSW16GUI/AAAAAAAABg4/lYArH8UEUdM/s320/00d.jpg" style="" border="0" height="244" width="320" /></a></p><p> </p><p style="text-align: center;"> <a style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TF79WXY9qgQ/TYBBS9MM8nI/AAAAAAAABg8/LaqBErbF6Q8/s1600/00e.jpg"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-TF79WXY9qgQ/TYBBS9MM8nI/AAAAAAAABg8/LaqBErbF6Q8/s320/00e.jpg" style="" border="0" height="244" width="320" /></a></p>Hope you like it as much as I did putting it together! <p> </p><p></p><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzKOS5k0QJ_C4hpRLLhg8nJbaf8xE6ebJ6G33EbO_-GxCVJzeiuhHQXe74ezEzDicrFGPC0TdOeINL9C4oJfQ' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>I must say I really like ruminating on all the angles of being drawn to the arts of places elsewhere on the planet other than where you live ... while not descending into some kind of cultural cringe.</p>Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-75595941320788711002011-03-07T01:27:00.000-08:002011-03-15T23:28:22.116-07:00<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);">Caught on Film!</b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-73Q4JwmKZYQ/TXb6dFEXOAI/AAAAAAAABbY/IhUInr9dDz8/s1600/0a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-73Q4JwmKZYQ/TXb6dFEXOAI/AAAAAAAABbY/IhUInr9dDz8/s400/0a.jpg" border="0" height="220" width="400" /></a></div><br />I'm not a royalist or a monarchist but have always had a soft spot for horny old Lothario Edward VII - known fondly as 'Edward the Caresser' (as opposed to Edward the Confessor).<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WQQeMJ0J1VM/TXb6dyfUHuI/AAAAAAAABbc/KwZVpSj6KzE/s1600/0b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-WQQeMJ0J1VM/TXb6dyfUHuI/AAAAAAAABbc/KwZVpSj6KzE/s400/0b.jpg" border="0" height="218" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o7aWK5a8SLY/TXb6efn4dGI/AAAAAAAABbg/FpslmEcx6SE/s1600/0c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o7aWK5a8SLY/TXb6efn4dGI/AAAAAAAABbg/FpslmEcx6SE/s1600/0c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o7aWK5a8SLY/TXb6efn4dGI/AAAAAAAABbg/FpslmEcx6SE/s400/0c.jpg" border="0" height="400" width="330" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QF8Ei1-edYQ/TXb6fKUhP1I/AAAAAAAABbk/o3-tCGO47s0/s1600/0e.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-QF8Ei1-edYQ/TXb6fKUhP1I/AAAAAAAABbk/o3-tCGO47s0/s400/0e.jpg" border="0" height="218" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PSU9byx7_Uw/TXb6fstYJgI/AAAAAAAABbo/IPd2qFrWLo8/s1600/0g.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PSU9byx7_Uw/TXb6fstYJgI/AAAAAAAABbo/IPd2qFrWLo8/s1600/0g.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PSU9byx7_Uw/TXb6fstYJgI/AAAAAAAABbo/IPd2qFrWLo8/s400/0g.jpg" border="0" height="218" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-o7aWK5a8SLY/TXb6efn4dGI/AAAAAAAABbg/FpslmEcx6SE/s1600/0c.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div>And I was surprised, the other day, to find so much film existed of the king. In social as well as ceremonial occasions. Surprising given that the king died in 1910 at the very dawn of motion pictures.<br /><br />So I thought a compilation seemed in order - sadly now split into three cos of Blogger upload limits ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"> <a href="rtsp://v4.cache5.googlevideo.com/ChoLENy73wIaEQmjL7zzPaxfIRMYDSANFEgDDA==/0/0/0/video.3gp" type="video/3gpp"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxqflLIeW-JzHaw-jbRVxKR2V2567DUX023SuniJZ1uX-360W80iEougRnsQ1oti9QcYW7LhYWdvHvwR5G-Gw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></a><a href="rtsp://v4.cache5.googlevideo.com/ChoLENy73wIaEQmjL7zzPaxfIRMYDSANFEgDDA==/0/0/0/video.3gp" type="video/3gpp"><br /></a><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dztMKP02GnEKhYXaBqSyvDxp8OVr0P88a99paO9oyH59fhgyo5mNiqqycXfF3dXZCI0W-PX_SyiqDCatitgXw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dwDdCF93vMled-o3Qf42FQNajyLUYKGgo7biuj_fBTfzrDpPMgrctxfmZaOyxtoEp3vYcKsx-bp9CvLRCE8Iw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These little scraps of footage, some quite up-close and personal, really do give some sense of this larger than life Dionysian character.<br /></div><br />I've added, as the audio track, part of Edward Elgar's 'Enigma Variations' as this music so strongly reflects the nostalgia an empire quickly slipping away at the turn of the C20.Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-43285240825833716812011-02-28T03:34:00.000-08:002011-02-28T03:39:08.558-08:00<div style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:78%;"><b><span style="font-size:large;">Serge Lifar - 'Les Sylphides</span></b></span></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HL7LsGzmJeU/TWuEmjEEmLI/AAAAAAAABYk/nd4zuGNsvJQ/s1600/1a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-HL7LsGzmJeU/TWuEmjEEmLI/AAAAAAAABYk/nd4zuGNsvJQ/s400/1a.jpg" border="0" height="302" width="400" /></a></div><br />This is unique June 1928 silent film footage of the original now fabled Ballets Russes of Serge de Diaghilev.<br /><br />It shows Serge Lifar and rehearsing 'Les Sylphides' with a corps de ballet outdoors at the 'Fetes de Narcisses' in Montreux, Switzerland.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-79Ifbqe23_w/TWuFIxm09TI/AAAAAAAABYo/ZfUqLxKK5HM/s1600/1b+G.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-79Ifbqe23_w/TWuFIxm09TI/AAAAAAAABYo/ZfUqLxKK5HM/s400/1b+G.jpg" border="0" height="305" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zapj9E-LZrk/TWuFKUYGGUI/AAAAAAAABYs/BqNlRhxUlKw/s1600/2a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-Zapj9E-LZrk/TWuFKUYGGUI/AAAAAAAABYs/BqNlRhxUlKw/s400/2a.jpg" border="0" height="302" width="400" /></a></div><br />What makes this discovery particularly exciting is that Diaghilev never permitted the Ballets Russes to be filmed, and so this unauthorised rehearsal footage may well be the only record of the company.<br /><br />The footage was originally uploaded by British Pathe onto their website (<a href="http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=79902">http://www.britishpathe.com/record.php?id=79902</a>), unrecognised, until identified in February 2011 by Jane Pritchard, curator of the Ballets Russes (Ballet Russe) exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, and Susan Eastwood, a member of the London Ballet Circle.<br /><br />They were aided in their identification by a photograph taken during the Ballets Russes' first visit to the 'Fetes de Narcisses' in 1923, which showed the company on an outdoor stage performing 'Aurora’s Wedding'.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0Oq-xrYunKI/TWuFn4sBVYI/AAAAAAAABYw/9VFriVLg5XM/s1600/0+Ballets+Russes+%2527Aurora%25E2%2580%2599s+Wedding%2527+at+F%25C3%25AAtes+des+Narcisses.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-0Oq-xrYunKI/TWuFn4sBVYI/AAAAAAAABYw/9VFriVLg5XM/s400/0+Ballets+Russes+%2527Aurora%25E2%2580%2599s+Wedding%2527+at+F%25C3%25AAtes+des+Narcisses.jpg" border="0" height="252" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:xx-small;">The Ballets Russes, 'Aurora’s Wedding', the Fêtes des Narcisses, 1923</span></div><br />There are now many articles on the internet about the discovery including one by Jane Pritchard herself:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes">http://www.vam.ac.uk/things-to-do/blogs/diaghilev-and-ballets-russes</a></div><br />Ms Pritchard says:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>What we see is I believe the June 1928 Festival (the topiary arch indicates this is the Ballets Russes second visit to Montreux when they danced 'Les Sylphides', 'Cimarosiana' and the Polovtsian dances from 'Prince Igor'). I believe that Serge Lifar was dancing the lead role – sometimes referred to as the poet. No doubt the long wig worn confused the [British Pathe] cataloguer to suggest ‘One female dancer (representing Narcissus?).</i></div><br />The film confirms what many have said - that while the principle dancers were often extraordinary (Vaslav Nijinsky, Tamara Karsavina, Leonid Massine and so on), the corps could be a far more ordinary affair.<br /><br />I have added an audio - music from 'Les Sylphides' which does not attempt to be that of the various little mini segments of choreography in the footage.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"> <iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dz4cjCO0AzE0tAkG1rS-UHwBdIFLiYSH0limsLTagTgRpTZkGSHu8Puxfx1X1s8atfcr40EZenR69dhsoSUmA' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><br />Hope you are as bowled over by the find as I was - I never expected such a thing!Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-31064473654489032862011-02-23T05:59:00.000-08:002015-03-08T11:14:44.415-07:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<b style="color: #666666;"><span style="font-size: 180%;">A Scrapbook Memoriam of Great Charm </span></b></div>
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<span style="font-size: 78%;">Angus Fitzroy</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 78%;">Toby McCutcheon</span></div>
The other day, Art Mariano sent me the URL for a curious little <a href="http://www.queermusicheritage.us/toby1.html">85 page scrapbook memorial</a> put together by Angus Fitzroy to commemorate the thirty year relationship with his friend/lover (?) Toby McCutcheon. <br />
I thought it was absolutely charming, if somewhat slight, but have found myself coming back to it over and over again. A sure sign of something of greater interest. And for a post.<br />
The book charts the relationship between the two men in a potpourri of sketches, photographs, cards, magazine covers and stamps. Most are captioned - with pithy, erudite, thought-provoking, gay funny, or just plain quirky remarks.<br />
There are images of the two friends at home in England. And in gay company. The comments here often reflect the particular humour of the period - like a photograph of two men dancing captioned 'Foxtrot anyone?' <br />
There are pictures of Angus and Toby in all corners of the globe - from France to Cuba to Algeria to Athens to Istanbul to Egypt. One with the cute 'I was forever hungry in Hungary'.<br />
Snaps of muscular athletic men, mostly from the athletics/health magazines of the day. One sticks in my mind - of a body builder whose nipples Angus has saliently 'annotated' with gold stars.<br />
Tender reflections on the relationship - <i>Will something of me survive? And ask 'What was that?' 'You?'</i><br />
There are sketches of nudes - the one I love best is of a guy with a hard-on, captioned 'Surprise!' <br />
This is the most easy and delicious document of gay social history.<br />
Now I've probably overdone the inclusions but ... <br />
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Then, after all the gaiety and lovely lightness of the scrapbook, there is a final entry opposite a woodblock of a medieval knight ...<br />
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... which brings the notebook into closing dedicatory focus:<br />
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<i>Dear Toby, you shall forever be my number one man. My knight in armour. You will forever shine in my dreams as hero. Galahad has nothing on you. I would rededicate myself to you over and over again for all time.</i></div>
The perfect epitaph we'd all want our loved one to be able to write of us. Or vice versa!<br />
After wiping the tear from your eye, were there any entries that particularly took your fancy?<br />
<br />
The source of this extraordinary diary is JD Doyle’s site http://queermusicheritage.us/toby1.html - I hope Mr Doyle will let us keep this post but I perfectly understand if he would like it removed.</div>
Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-31540635605833056712011-02-22T05:47:00.000-08:002011-02-22T06:03:06.594-08:00<div style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-size:180%;"><b>Sing It Out Baby, Sing It Out</b></span></p></div><p class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kIixtMR_xiA/TWOpzD6j8pI/AAAAAAAABQY/auKY-HP1Irc/s1600/1+Mounet-Sully++as+Hernani+in+%2527Hernani+ou+l%2527honneur+castillan%2527+Victor+Hugo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-kIixtMR_xiA/TWOpzD6j8pI/AAAAAAAABQY/auKY-HP1Irc/s640/1+Mounet-Sully++as+Hernani+in+%2527Hernani+ou+l%2527honneur+castillan%2527+Victor+Hugo.jpg" border="0" height="640" width="444" /></a></p><div style="text-align: center;"><p><span style="font-size:78%;">Jean Mounet-Sully as Hernani in </span><span style="font-size:78%;">Victor Hugo's </span><span style="font-size:78%;">'Hernani ou l'honneur castillan'</span></p></div><p>A few months back, I saw a London Weekend Television extended biographic interview - 'Lawrence Olivier - A Life'.</p><p>And I was reminded of a section in it today, watching early C20 film, with added wax cylinder audio track, of the great Comedie Francaise actor Jean Mounet-Sully (1841-1916) playing Oedipus in 'Oedipe Roi'.</p><div style="text-align: center;"><p><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHZXdp0afCM/TWOttHPggiI/AAAAAAAABQc/G1QRHM0KAMs/s1600/2+Monet-Sully+%2527Oedipe+Roi%2527.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ZHZXdp0afCM/TWOttHPggiI/AAAAAAAABQc/G1QRHM0KAMs/s640/2+Monet-Sully+%2527Oedipe+Roi%2527.jpg" border="0" height="640" width="430" /></a></p></div><p>In fact I was almost rolling round on the floor, shrieking and kicking my legs in the air, as Mounet-Sully melodrama-ed and sang his way through the Sophocles text - way way beyond what I thought was humanly possible. And he was considered the Great Classical Actor of the French theatre of his day!</p><p>Olivier touches on this 'phenomenon' in the context of the Royal Shakespeare Company of the same period and the delivery of blank verse ...</p> <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzFdZcLpYy_mX8N9C9pv7g2h6jKR76JiY836hxdzh99vsWE9MZZK8r0ZzlRSpmFzmudRzhdN54vOiz4hP2WEg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>... with John Gielgud reflecting on how early in his career he must have seemed like 'an old operatic diva singing'! </p><p>At the beginning of the French footage, you'll need to listen behind the talking head for Mouney-Sully but by the end he's in full flight, singing out his 'aria'. Dramatic high notes, and seriously fortissimo!</p><p>So without further ado, buckle your seats belts ... so you don't do yourself a harm. </p> <div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyplMriMDKhss9vTXUx7PwXtoCCSrfEF0KFGVBQnL4zEpmxwHC81e9qx2kcpgeTtyzwMh8O91FgCFWCZJeL6w' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div><p>Any broken bones from tumbling your chair over? </p><p>But seriously, it's interesting to reflect on just how the measure of great acting (or anything much) is relative to the tastes and fashion of the time.</p>Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-28213937673635707932011-02-20T08:06:00.000-08:002011-02-20T08:14:48.315-08:00<div style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Way To Nail An Audition</span></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D635CWtuqOA/TWEvDAsWWgI/AAAAAAAABPo/Ch0H2bU3FFw/s1600/0+G.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-D635CWtuqOA/TWEvDAsWWgI/AAAAAAAABPo/Ch0H2bU3FFw/s400/0+G.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="266" /></a></div><br />This is most definitely the way to nail an American Idol audition - well, any audition for that matter ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxGyJhFlL_ti6qkOA3-wU_bYk7M5uXCFQKqnYz9o27T7L06zy2K3UMCH7q3dJxfzhlK0IWc9OSYCd2Ks7RUKw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><br />... and to see one of our own up there doing it in such style is for me icing on the cake.<br /><br />I just love how, in a completely controlled way, Jacob pours all of his heart and soul into this performance of 'God Bless The Child'.<br /><br />Delicious!Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-73711082954478272782011-02-20T07:47:00.000-08:002011-02-20T08:06:08.039-08:00<div style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size:130%;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">The Peace Hotel On The Bund, Shanghai</span></b></span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T5sZz7sAtZA/TV5wp7uLbWI/AAAAAAAABMw/R9v98tyqVlQ/s1600/1b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-T5sZz7sAtZA/TV5wp7uLbWI/AAAAAAAABMw/R9v98tyqVlQ/s640/1b.jpg" width="436" border="0" height="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"> The Peace Hotel, The Bund, Shanghai, China</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /></div>One of the great joys of travel can be the hotels and 'hotels' you stay in - whether it's a yurt in in Huahouta in Inner Mongolia ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I1hJNLLX9Ao/TV5jTyortKI/AAAAAAAABLo/6jVxG7cAJIE/s1600/0+Huahouta+and+Yerts+3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I1hJNLLX9Ao/TV5jTyortKI/AAAAAAAABLo/6jVxG7cAJIE/s640/0+Huahouta+and+Yerts+3.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="492" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PJqjqYTdrko/TV57VfihEiI/AAAAAAAABNQ/ujXYBMcT6pc/s1600/2a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PJqjqYTdrko/TV57VfihEiI/AAAAAAAABNQ/ujXYBMcT6pc/s640/2a.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="506" /></a> </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCMPWWIwBD8/TV5jWZ6h0bI/AAAAAAAABLw/-u9o_wqHkWw/s1600/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aCMPWWIwBD8/TV5jWZ6h0bI/AAAAAAAABLw/-u9o_wqHkWw/s640/3.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="416" /></a></div><br /> ... the Maharajah of Jaipur's Palace in India ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m-HsvHYEcWA/TV5j0OREKEI/AAAAAAAABL4/Jp-oSjeLLLY/s1600/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-m-HsvHYEcWA/TV5j0OREKEI/AAAAAAAABL4/Jp-oSjeLLLY/s400/2.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="267" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cLyU0vSjma4/TV5j2ZhgncI/AAAAAAAABL8/sv5JwhLqbK8/s1600/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-cLyU0vSjma4/TV5j2ZhgncI/AAAAAAAABL8/sv5JwhLqbK8/s400/3.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="268" /></a></div><br /> ... or the back-packer Sun Hotel ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT613tKU8XU/TV5kxOFEQ6I/AAAAAAAABMA/3f1Gijuks-8/s1600/6a+Sun+Hotel+0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZT613tKU8XU/TV5kxOFEQ6I/AAAAAAAABMA/3f1Gijuks-8/s640/6a+Sun+Hotel+0.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="424" /></a></div><br />... with its resident monkeys ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sNLzUFjJL0k/TV5kyboxXKI/AAAAAAAABME/sE-VXnJl6-U/s1600/6b+Sun+Hotel+5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sNLzUFjJL0k/TV5kyboxXKI/AAAAAAAABME/sE-VXnJl6-U/s640/6b+Sun+Hotel+5.jpg" width="418" border="0" height="640" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3w7NnAritPw/TV5kzm31IHI/AAAAAAAABMI/H9xY2F0FfVE/s1600/6c+Sun+Hotel+2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3w7NnAritPw/TV5kzm31IHI/AAAAAAAABMI/H9xY2F0FfVE/s640/6c+Sun+Hotel+2.jpg" width="424" border="0" height="640" /></a></div><br />... and peerless view over the Ganges and its ghats ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEEwCxysDVQ/TV5k2IHGe7I/AAAAAAAABMM/QnKHiEAAFmY/s1600/6d+From+Sun+Hotel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZEEwCxysDVQ/TV5k2IHGe7I/AAAAAAAABMM/QnKHiEAAFmY/s640/6d+From+Sun+Hotel.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="432" /></a></div><br />... at extraordinary Varanassi ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7oHn2y9Ipf8/TV5mtNrGfYI/AAAAAAAABMQ/T9ziAzbs5y4/s1600/0.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7oHn2y9Ipf8/TV5mtNrGfYI/AAAAAAAABMQ/T9ziAzbs5y4/s640/0.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="420" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xUUy1ULE1Bc/TV5muQSPpZI/AAAAAAAABMU/SC2WC0BxaDk/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-xUUy1ULE1Bc/TV5muQSPpZI/AAAAAAAABMU/SC2WC0BxaDk/s400/1.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="270" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eL0uaGfVl5U/TV5mv9gHzEI/AAAAAAAABMY/BzKi5_jB--k/s1600/2a.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-eL0uaGfVl5U/TV5mv9gHzEI/AAAAAAAABMY/BzKi5_jB--k/s400/2a.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="268" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mn4SoDcrKF0/TV5mxal7tnI/AAAAAAAABMc/06fk_U99ECs/s1600/3.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mn4SoDcrKF0/TV5mxal7tnI/AAAAAAAABMc/06fk_U99ECs/s400/3.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="261" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-NEalnutPo/TV5myVHNRnI/AAAAAAAABMg/hTGlsa1r4GY/s1600/4.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-r-NEalnutPo/TV5myVHNRnI/AAAAAAAABMg/hTGlsa1r4GY/s400/4.jpg" width="266" border="0" height="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--dpFIO2eTTs/TV5mz8KX7XI/AAAAAAAABMk/5iAjKZ5IKOg/s1600/5.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--dpFIO2eTTs/TV5mz8KX7XI/AAAAAAAABMk/5iAjKZ5IKOg/s640/5.jpg" width="416" border="0" height="640" /></a></div><br />I lived for a year in China - in 1988, just before the Tiananmen Square incident - and had another of those magic hotel experiences at the famed Peace Hotel on the Shanghai Bund alongside the Huangpu River ...<br /><br /><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tvm3N5vPN_k/TV5Xw5jbAYI/AAAAAAAABLk/POqiiLfzhjk/s1600/2b.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tvm3N5vPN_k/TV5Xw5jbAYI/AAAAAAAABLk/POqiiLfzhjk/s640/2b.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="512" /></a><br /><br />Completed in 1929 as the exclusive expatriate mens' club, the then Sassoon House was in a severe Art Deco style, but with lavish interiors ...<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8ufYj8TESFk/TV515l5OcSI/AAAAAAAABM0/xCWwRAnADp0/s1600/0a+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-8ufYj8TESFk/TV515l5OcSI/AAAAAAAABM0/xCWwRAnADp0/s640/0a+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="426" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hFpwPqcSX_o/TV516SF0ElI/AAAAAAAABM4/jjKSI4LJB9k/s1600/0a1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-hFpwPqcSX_o/TV516SF0ElI/AAAAAAAABM4/jjKSI4LJB9k/s640/0a1.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="478" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1mtxw9qDhxw/TV517CH_X3I/AAAAAAAABM8/LhiHGUAL30M/s1600/0a2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1mtxw9qDhxw/TV517CH_X3I/AAAAAAAABM8/LhiHGUAL30M/s640/0a2.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="480" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDsc8UgTq-Q/TV517uxbwaI/AAAAAAAABNA/vOhevEUCoFk/s1600/0b+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior+-+Ballroom.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XDsc8UgTq-Q/TV517uxbwaI/AAAAAAAABNA/vOhevEUCoFk/s640/0b+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior+-+Ballroom.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="426" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">The Ballroom (During Restored)</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PaJdqt45lY0/TV518QrmU8I/AAAAAAAABNE/YLnS_oCh1P4/s1600/0c+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PaJdqt45lY0/TV518QrmU8I/AAAAAAAABNE/YLnS_oCh1P4/s640/0c+Peace+Hotel+Shanghai+interior.jpg" width="425" border="0" height="640" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"> <span style="font-size: xx-small;">A Passage Way and Stairs (During Restored)</span></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnmg_NiQ7II/TV519MRbbzI/AAAAAAAABNI/ofbmclQKwzg/s1600/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Wnmg_NiQ7II/TV519MRbbzI/AAAAAAAABNI/ofbmclQKwzg/s640/2.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="480" /></a></div><br /> ... its passage ways and rooms encrusted with now priceless <span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 12pt;">Lalique glass artwork. still in evidence when </span>was stayed there.<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dzV846CVr7ujou-MMe7LBcbprT3kW6JLxa51kZZ4vaxdBz-tVJH5IndD9Ev550j_3rCpLCj-8OcAZbwmpm4Kw' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> There have of course been changes since the late '80s, not the least of which the transformation of the paddy fields on the opposite side of the river, viewable in 1988 from the second floor dining room, into the now bustling metropolis of Pudong ...<br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FFUj6cOmH6w/TV55_Va61nI/AAAAAAAABNM/HKnM8OxTS7g/s1600/2.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FFUj6cOmH6w/TV55_Va61nI/AAAAAAAABNM/HKnM8OxTS7g/s640/2.jpg" width="640" border="0" height="480" /></a></div><br />But what's in fact really amazing about this establishment is its quirky and anecdotal history.<br /><br />In 1949, with bullets flying round the streets outside the hotel, a desperate refugee from the mayhem banged admittance on the front door, only to be asked by those leaning over from an upper balcony:<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><i>But are you a member sir?</i></div><br />The reply <i>No! </i>led to a hastily convened club committee meeting to advice on the complex question of temporary membership. It's not recorded whether the motion was passed or otherwise!<br /><br />A myriad of delicious memories now come flooding back.<br /><br />A hotel employee telling me that in the 1920s at the racecourse nearby there was a sign that read 'No dogs or Chinese allowed'.<br /><br />And another that Noel Coward finished 'Private Lives' in the hotel.<br /><br />But in fact my most enduring recollection is of the jazz band that had been performing in the basement since the 1930s ...<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dydZrAjFankma_zpz-VgoDvrLFFBfm6JPjQEsU3d2slcIvXQtTExbo3zS4Y9oDeeM0tBpUpmy2Wng_dbNMD2g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> ... with its then trumpet player a dead ringer of the Great Helmsman, Mao Zedong - a totally surreal experience at 3am!<br /></div><br />So, at least for me, my accommodation can be a far greater part of the travel experience than is conventionally accepted!<br /><br />Have you guys had any such out-of-body hotel experiences?Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-44549076344008131952011-02-20T07:45:00.001-08:002011-02-20T07:45:56.167-08:00<div style="text-align: center;"><b style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102);"><span style="font-size: large;">Things That Usually Happen Only In Nightmares</span></b></div><br />A number of people have emailed me about the recent flooding in the state of Queensland here.<br /><br />And I've been thanking them for taking the time to ask and feeding back a bit about the disaster.<br /><br />The worst inundation has been about 500 miles north of Sydney and, while the loss of life and the damage to property is obviously horrific, the full and tangible impact of the catastrophe only became apprent to me today, looking at a set of photographs taken on a farm at Heidon as the Lockyer Creek ran it's banks.<br /><br />As you can see from the time on each image, the surrounding countryside was submerged in just 22 minutes - 3.16pm to 3.38pm.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkys_iwUKgk/TVcB86jMlTI/AAAAAAAABI8/wInEnl3BK8w/s1600/ATT00010.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bkys_iwUKgk/TVcB86jMlTI/AAAAAAAABI8/wInEnl3BK8w/s400/ATT00010.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wA7rSgwLlxQ/TVcB9fB92fI/AAAAAAAABJA/ZOc9oWpB5iA/s1600/ATT00013.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wA7rSgwLlxQ/TVcB9fB92fI/AAAAAAAABJA/ZOc9oWpB5iA/s400/ATT00013.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wLoJmPvJYvc/TVcB9isHITI/AAAAAAAABJE/AuV85tUxlJQ/s1600/ATT00016.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wLoJmPvJYvc/TVcB9isHITI/AAAAAAAABJE/AuV85tUxlJQ/s400/ATT00016.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="300" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gHdRbW60GLE/TVcB-buHgvI/AAAAAAAABJI/KCz10W0SHMQ/s1600/ATT00019.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-gHdRbW60GLE/TVcB-buHgvI/AAAAAAAABJI/KCz10W0SHMQ/s400/ATT00019.jpg" width="400" border="0" height="300" /></a></div><br />Like in a nightmare where legs turn to lead and you can't escape trains bearing down on you, or approaching thugs intent on robbery ... I can too easily imagine the feeling of helplessness in the face of such rapidly on-coming waters.<br /><br />Some of the footage of people telling of loved ones lost and lifetimes' work swept away has been truly heart-breaking.<br /><br />And I reflected on how easy it is to watch the litany of tragedies around the world on the evening news with chilling detachment. Pause for thought.Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8702704691528115190.post-38710971996710281382011-02-20T07:28:00.000-08:002011-02-20T07:45:22.986-08:00<div style="color: rgb(102, 102, 102); text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: large;">Question is, gentlemen, ... .</span></b></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DU8cimd40B8/TVFJ-bk-9mI/AAAAAAAABGc/8qqmD_e0pgM/s1600/1.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_DU8cimd40B8/TVFJ-bk-9mI/AAAAAAAABGc/8qqmD_e0pgM/s320/1.jpg" width="320" border="0" height="201" /></a></div><br />Question is love of which of the two following 'blast from the past' music videos would best suggest ...<br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">[1] a fine taste in popular music?</span></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">[2] unexcelled retro fashion sense?</span></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">[3] faultless appreciation of high production values?</span></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">[4] a deep understanding of the choreographic possibilities of a piece of music? </span></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="color: rgb(153, 153, 153); text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">[5] a general smoothness and all-round super and current coolness?</span></div><br />Better accompany your choice with reasons, guys.<br /><br />Courage ladies and gentlemen!<br /><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dxKDspsW_SwWBHNutszlsLezAh5hrIHSFCPeWfTeGVRKVPHSJlhpfhscFB1fSufVDNXIweeT6XGRckFMYCq9g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><br /><div style="text-align: center;"><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyRSQhZNSdadgq4-fr_mE4v75XzSzKkUvH9pr3-J688fwIlYBzL16YDapmjI8b2iBjDDdlCn5ABqc0qvsL_5g' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe><br /></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"> BTW this post is perhaps just an excuse to have two oldies but goodies out there ... yet again.<br /></div>Alex de Ravinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02451670815693819558noreply@blogger.com0