Visual Tour de Force of Pencil Artists

Charlize Theron, by Musa Çelik

I love the details, the contrasts, the textures!

Anne Hathaway, by Joanna Ladowska

A very lovely, dreamy portrait.  Befitting her role in "Les Misérables" and her song "I Dreamed a Dream."

Amanda Seyfried, by Elisabeth Frost

A confident, beatific expression ... wonderful!

Creativity Unleashed by "Gangnam Style"

1,718,881,999.  Views, that is.  If that weren't remarkable enough, what Psy unleashed was the creativity among scores of YouTubers.

This sexy Asian Western style (Is there such a thing?) of Gangnam style has, too, gone viral.  41,007,916.  Views, that is.

I'm from Chicago, and I love this local version with a touch of Greek (oppa).  The number:  6,279,605.

Even an instructional dance video has gone viral!  17,045,533 views.  Unreal.  

Singers who Understood Character and Drama

Three singers who understood, quite deftly, the character and drama, in which they were performing:

1.

Brian Stokes Mitchell, portraying Don Quixote in a stirring performance.  From the musical "Man of La Mancha," based on the masterpiece by Miguel de Cervantes.

2.

Madonna, portraying Eva Peron superbly, from her brash youth to her dying days.  In the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Evita."

3.

Anne Hathaway, portraying Fantine with the sheer pathos of this epic song.  From "Les Miserables," based on the Victor Hugo masterpiece.

Iconic Pop Songs from the 1980s

Iconic pop songs from the 1980s, that I love, for its music and lyrics and also for its intriguing background.

One night in Bankok and the world's your oyster
The bars are temples but the pearls ain't free
You'll find a god in every golden cloister
And if you're lucky then the god's a she
I can feel an angel sliding up to me

But shoot it in the right direction
Make making it your intention-ooh yeah
Live those dreams
Scheme those schemes
Got to hit me
Hit me
Hit me with those laser beams

I am the modren man, who hides behind a mask
So no one else can see my true identity

The problem's plain to see: too much technology
Machines to save our lives. Machines dehumanize. 

  

The Point of En Pointe

Ballet often calls for dancers, especially women, to dance en pointe. This way, they appear weightless and graceful, like an airy spirit (e.g., sylph).

(image credit)

I can only imagine how difficult the training is to dance en pointe. To avoid injury, one should enlist the best possible, most careful instructor.

(image credit)

A ballet dancer's personal story and tips en pointe:

(image credit)

The Black Swan's Feet

The Lillian Bassman of Michael Somoroff

Portraits of Lillian Bassman.

Where we begin is at the end. Lillian Bassman died in her Manhattan home on February 13th 2012. The chair, now vacated. Where Michael Somoroff shot her portraits.

She was decades ahead of her time. She knew that fashion could be art, and she held to this, even when her work went out of fashion. Even when she, too, got fed up and disposed of it. She advanced the notion that a photographer takes a picture twice: in the photo shoot and in the darkroom.

In the end, however, she was the picture.

"She is as important to fashion photography as Richard Avedon and Irving Penn ... She just didn't get the recognition they got."

"Because she was a woman bringing up kids in the Fifties she wasn’t allowed to be [a] careerist."

~Peter Fetterman
From Recapturing her Moments and Photographer Lillian Bassman Dies

As a student of the legendary art director Alexey Brodovitch, Ben Somoroff [Michael Somoroff's father] introduced Michael at an early age to Brodovitchʼs revolutionary philosophy, which influenced a generation of photographers, artists and designers including Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, Robert Frank, Louis Faurer, Lillian Bassman, Henry Wolf and Milton Glaser, encouraging him to make unexpected images and push the boundaries of conventional ways of seeing. Brodovitch urged his students to "Show me something I haven't seen before.", thus creating an exciting period of experimentation and innovation in media of all kinds. His influence remains a dominant force, even today, in all areas of cultural production.

From Michael Somoroff's Biography

A Google Serendipity on Dance

I Googled one thing, then discovered these photos and sites serendipitously.

dance first. think later.

Dance trio, pulling

So You Think You Can Dance

Renditions of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring"

These ladies of Celtic Woman are exquisite musicians, as they put voice and violin to Johann Sebastian Bach's endearing and enduring piece "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring."

Jesu, joy of man's desiring,
Holy wisdom, love most bright;
Drawn by Thee, our souls aspiring
Soar to uncreated light.

Word of God, our flesh that fashioned,
With the fire of life impassioned,
Striving still to truth unknown,
Soaring, dying round Thy throne.

 

Myra Hess arranged this Bach piece for piano solo, and pianist Alon Goldstein does a tour de force performance of it.

I bring "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring" as musical accompaniment to this latest video from my ReadBook concept. Which encourages adults and children to read more and to enjoy books.

Japanese Art Collection of Larry Ellison

Tech billionaire and Oracle CEO Larry Ellison shares his Japanese art collection - paintings, figures and vases - with the Asian Art Museum.

Larry Ellison unveils his Japanese art collection in San Francisco (image credit)

Here is Larry Ellison's Japanese art collection.

Maize and Cockscomb (detail), Edo period (1615–1868) (image credit)

Hmm, psychoanalyzing Larry Ellison in this way makes for a fun, though flawed, exercise.

Standing Shōtoku Taishi at age two (Namubutsu Taishi), Kamakura period (1185 –1333) (image credit)

Up Close Ballet of Polina Semionova

I love Polina Semionova's ballet, plus the music and filming of her dance! An altogether wonderful video.

Training and rehearsing in Peking.



A personal look, to the accompaniment of "Claire de Lune" by Claude Debussy.

Street Art by Christian Guémy

I discovered the street art by French artist Christian Guémy, when I simply Googled "art."  I was quite taken by it, and promptly inspired to come up with this video concept - The Urban Landscape.  

Renditions of "La Vie en Rose"

"La Vie en Rose," by Andrea Bocelli, featuring a cameo 'appearance' by Edith Piaf (wink).

"La Vie en Rose," by Edith Piaf, live (smile).

"La Vie en Rose," by Micaela Haley, my favorite version of this classic love song (swoon)

In French

Des yeux qui font baisser les miens,
Un rire qui se perd sur sa bouche—
Voilà le portrait sans retouche
De l’homme auquel j’appartiens.

Quand il me prend dans ses bras,
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
Il me dit des mots d’amour,
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
Il est entré dans mon cœur,
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause.
C’est lui pour moi,
Moi pour lui dans la vie,
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie.
Et dès que je l’aperçois,
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat.

Des nuits d’amour à plus finir,
Un grand bonheur qui prend sa place,
Les ennuis, les chagrins s’effacent,
Heureux, heureux à en mourir.

Quand il me prend dans ses bras,
Il me parle tout bas,
Je vois la vie en rose.
Il me dit des mots d’amour,
Des mots de tous les jours,
Et ça me fait quelque chose.
Il est entré dans mon cœur,
Une part de bonheur
Dont je connais la cause.
C’est lui pour moi,
Moi pour lui dans la vie,
Il me l’a dit, l’a juré pour la vie.
Et dès que je l’aperçois,
Alors je sens en moi
Mon cœur qui bat.

English Translation

Eyes that gaze into mine,
A smile that is lost on his lips—
That is the unretouched portrait
Of the man to whom I belong.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.
It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.

In endless nights of love,
A great delight that comes about,
The pains and bothers are banished,
Happy, happy to die of love.

When he takes me in his arms
And speaks softly to me,
I see life in rosy hues.
He tells me words of love,
Words of every day,
And in them I become something.
He has entered my heart,
A part of happiness
Whereof I understand the reason.
It’s he for me and I for him, throughout life,
He has told me, he has sworn to me, for life.
And from the things that I sense,
Now I can feel within me
My heart that beats.