`Forbidden Colours, by Sakamoto and Sylvian

The wounds on your hands never seem to heal
I thought all I needed was to believe

Here am I, a lifetime away from you
The blood of christ, or the beat of my heart
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes

Senseless years thunder by
Millions are willing to give their lives for you
Does nothing live on?

Learning to cope with feelings aroused in me
My hands in the soil, buried inside of myself
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes in you once again

Ill go walking in circles
While doubting the very ground beneath me
Trying to show unquestioning faith in everything
Here am i, a lifetime away from you
The blood of christ, or a change of heart

My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes
My love wears forbidden colours
My life believes in you once again

My friend Hirai Mamoru posted this on Google+ a few months back, and I loved the music and video.

"Forbidden Colours" is a song composed by Ryuichi Sakamoto with lyrics by David Sylvian. The song is the vocal version of the theme from the [1983] Nagisa Oshima film Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence... was first released on the soundtrack album. 

The title of the song is taken from Japanese writer Yukio Mishima's 1953 novel Forbidden Colors; although not directly related to the film, both works include exploration of homosexual themes.

I remember reading about Mishima many years ago and feeling enthralled about his life.  I had no designs on committing seppuku, as he did in 1970 to end his life at age 45.  But I loved his artistic talent and extreme passion.

There is an intricate, marvelous web that ties us all (rf. `Cloud Atlas).  Hirai and me.  This music, and `Love on a Real Train by Tangerine Dream, both on the score for films released in 1983: `Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence and `Risky Business.  These pieces I added to my YouTube playlist in consecutive order.  My having encountered Mishima in my 20s.

`Love on a Real Train, by Tangerine Dream

`Love on a Real Train is piece composed by Tangerine Dream, recorded in 1983 and included in the score for the iconic coming-of-age film `Risky Business.

I saw the forlorn woman and the train and thought Anna Karenina.

One YouTuber made this comment a year ago, in reference to the late 19th century novel by Leo Tolstoy.  I'm dying to know who this woman is and what the context of this video is.  She is evidently from well-heeled society, decades ago, and it's hard to tell whether she is waiting for a lover on a train that never quite arrives or she is pining for a lover who left on a train.  

I was just 23, going on 24 years old, when `Risky Business came out.  It was superb drama-cum-comedy, and the young Tom Cruise brilliantly pulls off the role of Joel Goodson, living in the well-to-do North Shore suburbs of Chicago. 

Rebecca De Mornay

I lusted after Rebecca De Mornay, now 54, too, just a month younger than I, following that erotic train ride.  Such evocative lovemaking to the strains of Tangerine Dream.

Qualities of Dance and Dancers

slender and tender

youthful lovemaking

exalted lovemaking

athletic and gnarled

geometry in flight

reflective and sensual

Image credits: Choreography.

An A-Z of Popular Dance

Shot on the streets and rooftops of sunny LA, our A-Z of Dance shows you how to set hearts alight and clubs on fire. Float like an Arabesque, spin like a B-Boy, wobble like a Chicken Noodle Soup... it's time to step up! In a very special project for i-D and Diesel, director Jacob Sutton has captured the world's hottest dancers walking in the air in their Jogg Jeans and cut-offs. Lil Buck shows us the way of Memphis Jookin, super-thighs Nicole the Pole - star of Rihanna's "Pour It Up" video - takes us to a whole other level and, fresh from the Rick Owens catwalk, the Soul Step team show us how to dance to Le1f. Combining denim, jersey and 360° stretch, Diesel's Jogg Jeans allow successful krumping for all. Enjoy!

I love this video, not just for the dancing itself, but also for teaching us what is what in dance.  It's a dictionary sampling of what is so popular in our culture today.

Dancing Young at Heart and Body

The YouTuber is Tears Carpenter, and he writes:

When you think of people in a hip hop dance class, an elderly white gentleman is probably the last person to come to mind, but this is what makes this dancing granddaddy so awesome! I'm a lot younger than this man and I can't do most of these moves like he can. He's killing it! I feel so inspired after watching this. I want to get up and dance!

Before my mother died, she and my father took dance classes, and led dance segments at social gatherings.  They were well into their 70s, and quite active at church.  No, they weren't quite killing it like this fine gentleman and his dance mates, but I was glad to see them so involved and happy.  Dance was one of the things that kept them young at heart and body.

*

By the way, I've been noticing more and more curious, borderline strange sites, which articles on Facebook lead me to.  I'll write about this in another blog, but for now suffice it to say that advertisers have usurped content marketing blatantly by tapping into people's curiosity and voyeurism.  They come with sensational titles like 70-Year Old Man Shocks Everyone With His Dance Moves. Incredible!  

Yes, it's the video I posted above, except the site neither gave credit to the YouTuber who uploaded it nor allowed us to share or embed the video.  I decided to check YouTube anyway, and lo and behold there it was.  

We've entered yet another era of manipulative, questionable marketing methods.

Flower Studies I Love (3) Haunting

Still Life with a Lily of the Valley, by Josef Sudek

I found this haunting flower study on my Timeline on Google+, and was immediately captivated and intrigued.

A rustic flower study, by Josef Sudek

I was captivated and intrigued by Josef Sudek's photography, and to Google images of his work.  It reached back to analog camera and physical film.

The End of the World News

Before Instagram photo effects, there are these haunting photos on this curious Tumblr blog.

The End of the World News blog had this profile description, which was, in and of itself, quite a curiosity.  It reminded me of the emotionally harrowing closing scene of the Nicole Kidman film `Birth.  

Flower Studies I Love (2) Sensual

(image credit)

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Flower Studies I Love (1) Reflective

The tiny and delicate, against the rugged and big

Like a drop of water, captured in mid-splash, then turned vertical and mirrored

Women are flower studies in their own right

Artist Jane Perkins Puts her Stamp on Classics

Marilyn Monroe, by Andy Warhol

Mona Lisa, by Leonardo Da Vinci

Girl with a Pearl Earring, by Johannes Vermeer

Sunflowers, by Vincent Van Gogh

Each portrait or “painting” [artist Jane Perkins] has created, when inspected close up, reveals a miniature textured world of forgotten knick-knacks, somewhat like an impressionist painting. 

By creating her work from found objects, her works not only make a strong and important statement about our mass-consumption society, they also join a long line of other awesome artists we’ve covered on Bored Panda who have also created amazing works from found or recycled objects.

Reference: Artist Uses Hundreds of Found Objects To Recreate Iconic Paintings And Portraits.

I marvel at artists who can take classic pieces, and not just copy them, but rather render them with their own creative style and talent.

Artist Heather Rooney Draws Oscars Group Selfie

Heather Rooney is a 20-year old art student, and here she gives it a go with the famous Oscars group selfie.

Artist Heather Rooney invites subscribers to send a favorite head shot, and she picked Courtney to draw recently.

Courtney