Gica Manescu – La Bella Italia (2)

Al doilea episod din amintirile de calatorie ale lui Gica Manescu in Italia este dedicat Venetiei. Intamplator tocmai am vazut un film al carui actiune se petrece aproape in intregime in orasul gondolelor si al carnavalului (si al festivalului de film), voi posta cronica lui probabil maine.

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Am  gasit zilele trecute la ARTE un documentar scurt despre Piata San Marco si persoanele intalnite acolo. Cum fusesem in  decursul anilor trecuti de trei ori in orasul din Laguna  Adriaticei am scos amintirile din minte si vi le redau.

Nu mi-am propus decat sa descriu unele aspecte si impresii care m-au miscat si mi-au atins  mintea si sufletul. Istorie si geografie fac altii mai bine decat mine.

Noutatea a fost ca n-am mai avut bataia de cap sa schimb, in minte bine inteles, preturile din lire, in shekeli sau $.Totul era in Euro, dar in unele locuri se mai afisau preturile vechi in lire.

Apa lagunei tot tulbure, vaporetti si barci cu motor – taxiuri strabat canalele in toate sensurile, iar gondolele legate de debarcader, leganandu-se, asteapta clientii sau lento, lento, strabat  canalele.

 

source http://www.carnivalofvenice.com/?page_id=1551

 

E  singurul oras din lume unde exista profesiunea de gondolier, chiar si prin mostenire.

De turisti n-­am ce spune. Intr-o localitate cu ceva mai mult de 400.000 locuitori, intra si se perinda in fiecare luna, cam doua milioane de turisti. Din toata lumea si e o incalceala de limbi  ca la Turnul Babel.

 

source http://www.nalon-weddingsitaly.com/wedding_ceremonies_in_venice.htm

 

Calugarite si elevi italieni cu ghizi, nemti, japonezi marunti, dar de o mobilitate desebita, cu aparatele foto in actiune permanenta si  rapida. N-au lipsit, ca pretutindeni, isralienii. I-am  intalnit grupati, in fostul ghetou si la sinagoga veche, cladire de muzeu. Alaturi este un  camin al Comunitatii evreesti venetiene, pentru cei  batrani.

Curios mi s-a parut si nu am stiut, ca e  un  oras cu multe biserici renumite si un cult pentru sfinti. Am gasit strazi si statii de vaporetti, cu numele lui San…

Locul de “adunare” e Piazza San Marco. E  singura cu aceasta denumire, altele sunt “Campo“. Acolo se nasc si cresc mii de porumbei. Am  vazut un  fotograf, care de 40 ani isi face meseria si are un porumbel  de care nu se desparte si pasarea il  recunoaste.

Oboseala turistilor e potolita, prin pauzele sezande pe podetele stivuite, folosite la inundatiile dupa ploi.

Vanzatoarea de seminte pentru pasari, nu pridideste cu ambalarea si vanzarea lor.

 

source http://www.toms-travels.net/?p=8117

 

Aceasta Piata lunga de 170 m si larga intre 56  – 82 m. este locul cafenelelor cu sau fara formatii muzicale – Florian in frunte – a magazinelor deosebite si a fost in  trecut locul activitatilor politice sau religioase, fiind flancata de Bazilica San Marco din 1094  si Palatul Dogilor.

 

source http://www.narratives.co.uk/Details.aspx?ID=5737&TypeID=1&searchtype=&contributor=0&licenses=1,2&sort=REL&cdonly=False&mronly=False&images=True&video=True&documents=True

 

In Bazilica, cu o taxa mica, se poate admira “Altarul de aur“ o capodopera artistico-religioasa din sec. 14.

 

source http://www.chinaoilpaintinggallery.com/g-giovanni-bellini-c-58_73_804/san-zaccaria-altarpiece-p-21215

 

Mi s-a recomandat sa vizitez biserica San Zaccaria, unde o pictura din 1505 a  necunoscutului mie, Giovanni Bellini,  reprezinta pe “Maica Domnului cu pruncul in brate”. Mama cu o privire deosebita spre prunc si admiratoarele din jur.

 

source http://www.lapalazzinaveneziana.it/english/venezia.asp

 

Peste drum  de statia fluviala, pe  bratul opus al Canalului Grande este  mareata Bazilica Santa Maria della Salute ‚ a sanatatii. Cu constructia octogonala, din marmora alba, cu sute de simboluri ale Mariei, e o perla arhitectonica, de admirat.

Un pod e la dispozitia pietonilor.

Palatul dogilor, maiestuos, estre vizitat de sute de oameni pe zi.

Adoptand tehnica moderna, are un lift care ne urca pana la etajul 4, coborarea pe scari, e mai usoara.

Patrunderea in salile uriase, impresionante prin picturile si tavanele aurite te aduc parca in alte locuri. De-a lungul peretilor banci din lemn  lustruit te invita sa te asezi  pentru odihna si meditare.

 

http://www.allpaintings.org/v/Mannerism/Tintoretto/Tintoretto+-+The+Last+Judgment.jpg.html

 

Sunt in deosebi de admirat cele doua picturi, semnate de Tintoretto in sec.16 – „Judecata de apoi”. Pacat ca lumina zilei patrunde greu si sursele de lumina artificiala sunt insuficiente.

Daca este un motiv  sa fie asa, nu stiu.

Piese de mobilier nu exista, lasandu-i–se fiecaruia libertatea de imaginatie.

 

source http://www.forumlive.net/proposte/muri%20e%20ponti/pontifamosi/index.htm

 

Prin culoare si coridoare inguste, se ajunge la usa “Puntii suspinelor” prin care comdamnatii intrau in drumul  fara intoarcere.

 

source http://www.hotelbepielciosoto-venezia.com/venice-hotel-en/hotel-marghera-da-non-perdere.asp

 

Podul  Rialto, construit intre 1588 – 1591, la o parte ingusta a Canalului Grande,  facea o legatura intre partile componente ale orasului si e loc de activitati diverse.

Nu ma interesau si alta data nu am dat atentie, magazinelor cu papusi, masti si tot felul de accesorii de Carnaval,  care are loc in februarie. Preturile sunt piperate,  lucrari de arta si probabil, clientii sunt turistii straini.

In urma cu ani nu tineam seama unde urc sau cobor si peste cate podete ale canalelor, paseam.   Data asta, s–au mai adaugat niste ani in carca  si am numarat. O  idee anormala. Au fost 400 de poduri, totalizand 150 de trepte. Sunt  sigur ca am mai  gresit.

Acum, prin usoarea febra musculara a gambelor, le-am simtit existenta,  dar nu ne-am dat batuti.

A venit si ziua plecarii. Vremea ne-a favorizat . Programul comod, si nu am repetat ce stiam si vizitasem anterior, cum sunt insulele Murano, cu productia de obiecte din sticla,  de o varietate incomensurabila si  Burano, cea cu dantelariile si ale carei case multi colorate  sunt asemeni cuburilor de joaca.

Am ajuns in  25  minute la aeroport, convinsi ca soferul taxiului acvatic,  impertinent dar cotcar, ne-a ridicat pretul. Am inghitit galusca, in tacere.

Cu o aterizare de o ora la Viena, austriecii ne-au adus la Ben Gurion.  Eram  acasa.

 

Posted in Gica Manescu, travel | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Electoral Films Year (Film: The Ides of March – George Clooney, Ryan Gosling, 2011)

2012 is an electoral year in the United States, and every electoral year is preceded by a few months by the electoral films year. It must be a few months in advance which makes the electoral films year be a little different than the calendar year, but, hey, we do have the financial year, not to speak about various religious years and all are different. There are at least two good reasons for the electoral films year being different than the calendar year – the Oscars season, of course, and the fact than by June or September the real thing becomes too interesting for the Americans to care about movies any longer. So the time to watch electoral movies is about now, and The Ides of March is probably the first significant movie of electoral films year 2012.

 

source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1124035/

 

George Clooney is again here in front of the cameras as democratic presidential candidate governor Morris and behind the cameras as the director of Ides of March. I liked his work in Good Night, and Good Luck and I liked it here again. He has a precise hand, a good cinematographic feel, is inspired in casting and directs well his actors. However the show is completely stolen by Ryan Gosling, the actor who seems to dominate the season and is better and better each film I see him in. In a focused performance Gosling succeeds to bring to screen the vision, the hope, the doubts, the ambitions of political manager Stephen Meyers who in a matter of a few campaign days apparently makes the transition from idealism to real-politik campaigner and has to decide on the delicate balance between personal truth and the greater goals of politics. Philip Seymour Hoffman who has disappeared from my radar screen after a few great roles is back with a key role in the story, Marisa Tomei has a smaller role than I would have liked but it’s always a pleasure to see her, Paul Giamatti and Evan Rachel Wood are fine in a balanced and well directed cast. The Ides of March works well without being astonishing.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=McCt-_yYLpo

(video source trailers)

 

Passionates of the genre and of American politics, George Clooney and Ryan Gosling’s fans will all love the film. The rest of us can watch it as a reasonably well made and well acted political thriller, and as a story of political coming-to-age in today’s American system, as well as an undeniable sign that the electoral films year has really started. There is one story line which seemed all by neglected to me and this is the personal tragedy of the young intern which is just a pretext in the development of the drama of the main characters. For once I think that what this movie lacks is a small dose of melodrama.

 

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Love, Janis

I seldom find myself in such a deep disagreement with the rating of the viewers at IMDB as with the documentary Love, Janis directed by Ray Muller (BTW, I would love to see his two documentaries on Leni Riefenstahl). Of course, seven viewers votes is not a  good statistic sample, but then only an average of 5 for an almost perfect documentary on one of the greatest artists in the history of blues, the woman and the voice who changed the perception of people and audiences about who can sing the blues. Then I looked at the age information and I realized than only one of the seven voters was in the 45+ category, in other words he was five years old at least when Janis died. Yes, a two generations gap makes the difference. And yet …

 

source http://shop.history.com/love-janis-paperback/detail.php?p=299251

 

Love, Janis is inspired by the biographical book with the same name (including also Janis’ letters to her family) written by her sister who is also interviewed in the film. In 50 minutes director Muller succeeds to bring the essential information about the young girl from Port Arthur, Texas, who rebelled against the environment and the mentality, discovered her immense talent, ran away to San Francisco, landed there at the pick of the beat and hippie revolutions, made her way in the music industry and conquered the picks of the tops and love of the audiences, fought the daemons of loneliness and personal crises, and eventually succumbed to an overdose of drugs and alcohol just when it looked like her career was getting back on track. Interviews with people like Dave Getz and Sam Andrew (who played with her in The Big Brother and Holding Company), photographer Bob Seidemann (who took her famous nude photographs), John B. Cooke her tour manager (who at that time was also working with Bob Dylan), and music critic Joel Selvin throw light on various moments of her life and career, and bring back with admiration and affection the image of a girl, a woman who lived and created with a rare intensity. The best way to describe her life and art is to say that she burned like a flame, consumed way too early. The only critic I can bring to the film is that there is too little music, but we do have other films, recordings and youTube for this.

 

(video source bsubejo)

 

Here is caught on screen (and the documentary tells something about the story of the filming) the moment of the first breakthrough of her career – the festival at Monterey in 1967. The song is Balls and Chains – try to overcome the sound problems at the beginning.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7JVxE2SYxo

(video source Sincro)

 

This version of Piece of My Heart (originally recorded by Erma Franklin in 1968) is quite far from the best known version of the song, and this live feature which must be from 1968 does not have the best sound, but I prefer it as it shows Janis on stage, giving all she had to her audience.

 

(video source arkenciel2z)

 

The social component was very much part of her singing. It is more than visible in her famous a capella – the jewel called Mercedes Benz.


(video source MantasiaHater)

 

1969 was a year of changes, ups and down. Janis was at Woodstock (here she is singing Try) but was not at her best. We could not have imagined however the pick moment of the rock revolution without her presence.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzNEgcqWDG4

(video source korkhammaregon)

 

The tour in Europe the same year was however a great success. She conquered the UK and other European audiences. Here she is performing George Gershwin’s Summertime in Sweden.

 

(video source warholrock93)

 

1970 started in crisis but later in the year she was recovering and she recorded Pearl. The destiny decided that she did not live to see it released and become her most successful album ever. There could be no better ending for the film than the sounds of Me and Bobby McGee written by Kris Kristofferson and Fred Foster.

Posted in blues, music | Tagged , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

A Beautiful Love Story Disguised in Violent Action (Film: Drive, 2011)

Certainly, ‘Drive’ is a thriller. A different and unexpected type of thriller. Whoever has seen this film will remember maybe the story line, and a few action sequences, some of them extremely violent. They will remember first of all the two principal characters and their almost unreal lover story, they will remember the calm and focused look of Ryan Gosling (we never get to know the name of his character, he is just the Driver) which blurs into tenderness when he crosses the restraint smile of Irene (Carey Mulligan). One kiss followed by a violent kill, this is the only physical contact the two will ever make on screen.

 

source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0780504/

 

It may take a good 30 minutes for the viewer to decide what this film is about, but then things become clear. It is the most impossible and most beautiful love story we have seen in a while, disguised in a violent action movie. He is a stuntman, and a potential race driver who does not get to the race tracks, but races for burglars, helping them escape the location of their crimes. She is her floor neighbor, she has a kid and a husband in jail. When things seem to converge to some domestic low class drama located in the non-privileged area of Los Angeles, the husband returns from jail, gets soon into trouble, and the Driver is the only one who can potentially help him. Or drive him to his destiny. From here the second half of the film becomes one of the most violent I have seen recently on mainstream cinema, all packaged by director Nicolas Winding Refn in 70s style cinematography mixed with classic cars races.

 

(video source hollywoodstreams)

 

The sincere and straightforward acting and the day to day appearance of the main characters make the violence (and there is violence!) even more striking. And yet, the overall impression ‘Drive’ left to me was of one of the most sensible films I have seen recently, with emotion surging up from a very unexpected place. My only problem is that I am not sure to whom this film would be recommended. Action films fans may find a little bit too sentimentality here, romantic movies fans may be shocked by the violence. To all, give this film a try!

 

 

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About Architects, Love and Fate (Documentary: Incessant Visions, 2011)

As the saying goes some of my best friends are architects. Well, maybe the saying does not exactly go like this, but this is actually true, and this is not the only reason I hold in high esteem their profession. With my friends in mind I went last night to see at the Herzlya cinematheque the documentary Incessant Visions written and directed by Duki Dror and dedicated to the life and work of one of the greatest but maybe not that famous as he would have deserved architects of the 20th century Erich Mendelsohn.

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/an-architects-life-erich-mendelsohn

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/an-architects-life-erich-mendelsohn

 

Incessant Visions is by no means a dry documentary about architecture or just a biographical feature about a great architect. It is also or maybe first of all a love story. A love story about a young German Jewish architect named Erich who writes letters to his beloved girlfriend Louise (herself a gifted cellist) from the trenches of the First World War. These are not however usual letters from the trenches, they are beautiful love letters, and they include visions – visions of fantastic buildings inspired by the dunes and the hills of the unfamiliar Eastern European landscape, dreams about structures the soldier architect may build one day if he survives the nightmare.

 

(video source zvuki999)

 

Erich Mendelsohn did survive the nightmare, and back from war he married Louise and became one of the fashionable architects of Berlin after the war.

 

source http://www.architectureinberlin.com/?cat=15

 

One of the first clients after the war was Albert Einstein, who required to build in Postdam an astronomic observatory which could help prove his relativity theory. The Einstein Tower stays until today one of the most famous works of Mendelsohn, and it started from sketches made during the war.

 

source http://www.urbanrealm.com/news/287/Mendelsohn_Symposium.html

 

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schaubuehne_am_Lehniner_Platz_2009_IMGP1721.JPG

 

With fame came a lot of significant projects, many of them in Berlin, one being the Universum Cinema, today the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz theater which was the first big scale cinema theater in Europe. I will not say too much about the style of his works, as my architect friends may read the blog, what I heard is that it does belong to the International Style or Bauhaus, but with an evident twist in the rounded forms taking inspiration mostly from nature rather than from the artificial structures. On the other hand the concrete and steel structures are in line with the technology developed and used by most of the significant architects of the period.

 

 

(video source ateliritalia)

 

Here is a clip I found on youTube about another work of Erich Mendelsohn in Berlin, the Metal Workers Union Building. During this time his relation with Louise was not that smooth, as while he was absorbed by his work and growing fame, she got involved with the playwright and revolutionary Ernst Toller, an affair which lasted until Toller comited suicide in 1939.

 

source http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:De_la_warr_front_view.jpg

 

The ascendance of the Nazis to power led quickly to Mendelsohn being deprived of his position as one of the lead architects of Germany, and soon of his right to work. He took the road of exile, with the first stop being England, Although he did not stay long, he created in England one of his major works in the Southern England coastal town of Bexhill on Sea, the De La Warr pavilion, which stays until today a landmark of the city.

 

source http://wis-wander.weizmann.ac.il/the-daniel-wolf-building

 

The meeting with Haim Weizman, head of the Zionist movement and later the first president of the State of Israel was decisive in his decision to traval to Palestine in 1934. In 1935 he opened an architecture office in Jerusalem. During his stay here he created a little more than ten buildings, but his influence on the path taken by the architecture in Palestine and future Israel was tremendous. Among his major works here are the Hadassah hospital on Mount Scopus, the Rambam hospital in Haifa, the Anglo-Palestinian bank in Jerusalem and several buildings in the Weizman Institute complex in Rehovot, including the house of the first president and the Daniel Wolf building above.

 

(video source zvuki999)

 

With the German forces advancing in North Africa, Eric Mendelsohn feared that the German Nazis would conquer Palestine and flew in 1941 to the United States. He settled in California at Berkeley and the clip above talks about his period there. Actually only part of the filmed material here made it to the film, or at least to the version of the film that I saw yesterday.

 

source http://www.hughpearman.com/articles5/bexhill.html

 

The theme of the film is that Mendelsohn is today an almost forgotten figure, although his contribution in the history of architecture deserves higher recognition. It may have been his fate of never being at home any place he went – a Jew in Germany, too short time in Palestine to become a man of the land, and then a ‘German’ refugee in America. His dreams however, the ones he was drawing on sketches in the trenches of the first world became at least in part reality wherever he worked. “Architects think they leave something eternal. Their buildings are carved in stone and steel, but they too finally decay and vanish” wrote Louise Mendelsohn in her journal. The memory of Erich Mendelsohn has maybe a second chance with this film.

Posted in documentary | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Art in the Factory

Connecting art and factories and relating art with the working classes may seem like communist ideals, but here is one big ‘capitalist’ industrial corporation that invested in art and the results are more visible and beneficial. French car-maker Renault started in 1967 a project of forging links with some of the top artists of the time and sponsoring their work for almost two decades. The result is a valuable art collection with a specific identity, reflecting at the same time its moment in the history of the art in the second half of the 20th century, as well as the relation with the industry visible in at least part of the works without being a mandated component. For the last few years parts of the collection have travelled to different places around the world and a section of it was exposed at the Museum of Israeli Art in Ramat Gan (sorry, the Web site is only in Hebrew). It’s quite an unusual kind of exhibition for this museum which focuses almost exclusively on Israeli artists, but the exception was worth being made, and the overall idea of the show works even better because the museum building itself is a former industrial structure in what was once the periphery of Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv, now on the outskirts of one of the most active business area of central Israel.

 

source http://www.renault.com/en/passionsport/la-collection-d-art-renault/pages/les-artistes-jean-dubuffet.aspx

 

Many interesting artists are present in the Renault art collection and most of them had works in the exhibition in Ramat Gan. Juan Miro whose collaboration with Renault did not last long had one but significant painting here. Three of the fantastic machineries of  Jean Tinguely were exposed.  Jean Dubuffet had several of his panels made of industrial materials in three colors (red, blue and black) present here, above is a photo of one of them named Fisto la filoche. Victor Vasarely who also re-designed the logo of the company in the 70s is present with a number of works that seem precursors of computer graphics, I could just wonder what he would have done with the technology available nowadays.

 

source http://www.robert-doisneau.com/fr/portfolio/automobiles-renault.htm

 

A separate section of the exhibition is dedicated to Robert Doisneau, one of the greatest French photographers and photojournalists (author of the famous Le baiser de l’hotel de ville). The origin of his works here are different that the rest of the collection. Doisneau started his career in 1934 at the age of 22 as an advertising photographer for Renault, and between 1934 and 1939 took many pictures reflecting the life, the work and the people who worked in the Renault factories. From this period dates Ouvriere de Renault which already reflects the empathy and the focus on human feelings that will be characteristics for many of his later and more famous works.

 

 

(video source renault)

 

For a more complete information about the collection, here is a short film about the history of the collection and the relation with the company.

 

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Carte: Ion Vianu – Apropieri

Apropieri: titlul sugereaza o privire de aproape asupra unor subiecte din sfera literara, istorica sau a ideilor. In acelasi timp, Apropieri poate sa insemne demersul de a sesiza proximitati acolo unde aparent exista numai departari.’ Asa incepe introducerea de pe coperta a patra semnata de Ion Vianu la editia publicata de Editura Polirom, 2011 a colectiei sale de eseuri si note de lectura. Un titlu cat se poate de potrivit pentru aceasta adunare originala de ganduri bazate pe trairi, lecturi si evenimente recente. Nimic nu este fortat in aceste apropieri ale departarilor aparente si de fiecare data perspectiva originala a autorului, experienta sa de viata si experienta profesionala de medic si de psihanalist adauga valoare si intaresc originalitatea care sta la baza interesului pe care cartea o trezeste in randul celor care au sansa de a-i fi cazut in mana.

 

sursa http://www.observatorcultural.ro/Apropieri*articleID_26103-articles_details.html

 

Apropieri este impartita in trei sectiuni. Primele doua sunt colectii de eseuri, cea de-a treia cuprinde apropierile propriu-zise.

 

sursa http://www.hotnews.ro/stiri-cultura-4572301-ion-vianu-contaminat-virusul-occidental-necomunicarii.htm

 

Prima sectiune intitulata Eseuri in libertate debuteaza cu o reflectie asupra varstelor, a trairii si asumarii imbatranirii cu poverile si cu avantajele sale. Urmeaza un eseu politic care demonteaza mecanismele supunerii personale in regim dictatorial, pentru a continua cu o analiza a rolului poporului rus in istorie si aici facem cunostiinta cu prima dintre temele care vor reveni in volum, ca si cu perspectiva necrutatoare din care Ion Vianu caracterizeaza aberatia bolsevica, aici prin prisma scrierilor filosofului rus Berdiaev, refugiat in 1924 din Rusia si devenit din perspectiva crestina unul dintre criticii si expozatorii (putin ascultati in epoca) a celor care se petreceau in imperiul slav cazut sub dominatia necredicionsilor: ‘Bolsevismul – ramura castigatoare in Revolutie – este, dupa Berdiaev, “sinteza dintre Ivan cel Groaznic si Marx”‘ (pag. 33). Eseul principal al sectiunii este o continuare intr-un fel a acestui articol, o analiza detaliata a unei teme dostoievskiene pusa in cuvinte in romanul Idiotul ‘Frumusetea va mantui lumea’. Dostoievski este de altfel unul dintre reperele constante ale gandirii lui Ion Vianu asa cum este exprimata de acest volum si eseul ii prilejuieste scriitorului reflectii despre raportul dintre estetic si etic si despre puterea sociala a frumosului.

 

sursa http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/lucas-cranach-the-elder/the-fountain-of-youth-1546

 

Specifice acestei sectiuni sunt si repetatele referinte la opere de arta si in special la tablouri ale unor maestri de la Cranach la Picasso. O editie ilustrata a acestui eseu ar fi o delectare pentru privire si ar intari puterea textului.

 

sursa http://www.terminartors.com/artworkprofile/Holbein_the_Younger_Hans-The_Body_of_the_Dead_Christ_in_the_Tomb

 

A doua sectiune a volumului se intituleaza Psihanalitice si este sectiunea in care experienta profesionala a lui Ion Vianu vine in ajutorul analizelor sale si propune o viziune originala asupra multora dintre subiectele aduse in discutie. ‘Cum devine boala ideologie: reflectii despre romani’ propune o lectura paralela a trei ganditori care in prima jumatate a secolului 20 au incercat sa dea raspunsuri intrebarii ‘cine suntem’ din punct de vedere al identitatii culturale: D.D. Draghicescu, Emil Cioran, si Mircea Vulcanescu. Pozitiile ideologice si conceptiile politice ale celor trei sunt juxtapuse cu receptia lor in epoca si cu destinul foarte diferit al celor trei, legat insa fiecare in parte de modul in care si-au construit argumentatia. Persoana si ideologia, destinul individual fata de modul in care sunt percepute de fiecare tipologie si destinul neamului sunt aprpiate in mod original in acest eseu. Am mai retinut in aceasta sectiune ‘Romania fara Freud’ care cuprinde o scurta istorie a psihanalizei romanesti incluzand aspecte legate de rolul autorului in aceasta evolutie, dar mai ales eseul cel mai intins al sectiunii in care sunt adusi intr-o prezentare comparativa doi ganditori din prima jumatate a secolului 20 – G.G.Jung si Rene Guenon – intr-o incercare de a explica prin intermediul scrierilor lor (vizionare in anumite aspecte) elemente ale crizei lumii contemporane si ale raportului intre culturile occidentala si cea orientala (in special islamica), intre conservatorism (sau chiar regresiune inspre o tanjuita epoca de aur a valorilor morale stabile) si ideologia ‘progresista’ a occidentului.

 

sursa http://virtualmuseo.com/tag/madonna/

 

Sectiunea cea mai interesanta a cartii este cea de a treia numita ‘Portrete interioare’. Este vorba despre un mozaic de vreo 50 de articole (nu stiu daca au fost publicate deja unele dintre ele in presa) de format constant (2-3 pagini, pana la vreo 1000 de cuvinte), si care formeaza un mozaic de impresii de lectura, cugetari pe marginea unor aniversari culturale, portrete ale unor personalitati cu impact cultural si politic. Spatiul de discutie oscileaza in permanenta intre exil si Bucurestiul natal care pare a revini ca spatiu geografic de referinta si de suflet al autorului oriunde s-ar gasi fizic. Repere constante sunt Dostoievski pe care l-am mentionat deja, dar si Emil Cioran, fata de care Ion Vianu pare a simti afinitate  (poate si din cauza comunalitatii exilului) in ciuda distantarilor ideologice explicite.  Din siragul multor memorabile apropieri as mentiona notele de lectura la Nabokov, von Rezzori, Coetze, Pamiuk si la Les Bienviellantes a lui Jonathan Littell, potretele lui Beckett si Gafencu sau analiza psihologica a relatiei dintre Hannah Arendt si Heidegger (incheiata cu o fraza de o ironie taioasa, in contrapunct cu aparenta seriozitate a analizei). Inedit pentru mine este personajul lui Raymund Netzhammer, episcopul catolic al Bucurestiului din vremea regilor Carol I si Ferdinand, ca si perspectiva din care este prezentat volumul din memoriile reginei Maria care se refera la anul 1926. Scriitorul Dominique Fernandez (de la Academia Franceza) devine cel psihanalizat prin prisma raportului cu tatal sau Ramon Fernandez, comunist transformat in colaborationist, pe care academicianul nu l-a cunoscut aproape deloc, dar despre care si-a petrecut o mare parte din timp si i-a dedicat o mare parte din paginile scrise in incercarea de a intelege mecanismele aderarii acestuia la extremismele totalitare din prima jumatate a secolului 20. Cele mai emotionante mi s-au parut insa doua portrete care descriu doua femei exceptionale (si nu ma pot opri sa nu constat ca lui Ion Vianu ii reusesc parca mai bine portretizarile feminine). Una este Lena Constante, artista plastica arestata si intemnitata in 1950 pentru 11 ani, in mijlocul unei vieti care avea sa-i fie sortita sa fie indelungata si marcata in final de succese si recunoastere: ‘Un destin e o totalitate. Miezul vietii ei a fost suferinta, dar intraga ei viata nu a fost numai suferinta‘ (pag. 238). Cealalta o evoca pe Sanda Stolojan si povestea ei de iubire platonica cu Constantin Noica, relatie aflata sub semnul supravegherii continue a Securitatii in anii 70, si care se incheie cu intrebarea-verdict ‘Sa fie oare triste toate povestile de dragoste?‘  (pag. 283)

 

sursa http://sealmaiden.tumblr.com/post/364251020/pablo-picasso-blind-minotaur-guided-by-a-girl-in

 

Spatiul de referinta cultural al lui Ion Vianu este cel al formatiei clasic europeene. De cate ori se aventureaza spre frontierele cu spatii diferite este grijuliu in a ne avertiza, cum ar fi in eseul mentionat despre Rene Guenon, sau in frumoasa apropiere care se refera la un episod din Mahabharata, unde il surprindem parca glossand in stil eminescian: ‘Credinta indiana ilustrata in acest pasaj este ca anumite legi nu pot fi incalcate fara ca pedeapsa sa se abata nu numai asupra faptuitorilor, ci si asupra celor care depind de ei. O singura rotita este deranjata in mersul ei, si intreaga mecanica a Universului se corupe. Legea Naturii si legea moralei sunt identice.’ (pag. 266) Cititorul insusi trece printr-un proces de ‘apropiere’ de temele aduse in discutie si totul se petrece prin intermediul unei lecturi placute si incitand permanent la dialog si gandire.

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War of the Universes (‘Fringe’ – Season 3)

With its third season ‘Fringe’ became my uncontested preference out of the TV series choices currently offered on the not-so-small-any-longer screens. Sure, one may say that the offer is not great at this moment in time, but I need to say that Fringe does get better and better. What started like a series of investigations on scientific, retro-scientific and most often para-scientific subjects, with a triangle of heroes (father – son – platonic girlfriend) certainly too naive and too ingenuous to be true, but unfit enough to the real world in order to solve unreal mysteries developed gradually into something completely different.

 

source http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119644/

 

Comparing ‘Fringe’ with ‘The X-Files’ is one of the preferred games for critics, fans and haters. It may actually be a fact that many of the followers of Fringe are recruited from the audiences that were following agents Mulder and Scully 15 years ago, and that the relation between Peter Bishop and Olivia Dunham almost plagiarizes the sexual tension between the other FBI guy and girl. But then the universe or better say the universes where the two series happen differ radically. I believe that ‘Fringe’ owns much more to the creator of the series J.J.Abrams and it resembles more and more to his huge success ‘Lost’ although frankly speaking it did not yet reach the depth of the ocean around that island. The third season gathers and provides logic to many of the facts prepared in the first two seasons, with its story of two parallel universes which are doomed to clash because the rules of separation were at some point in time broken. It also blurs the good vs. bad system of reference, providing an ambiguity which is not deprived of a certain sense of humor. Not only is the clash of the Universes originating in actions performed by one genius scientist on this side, but also the other side politics where the Towers never fell and the Kennedy’s are presidents cannot be that bad, not to speak about the fact that the FBI was dismantled and Fringe police is the one that took its place.

 

(video source ZonaFringe)

 

For a TV series (or a film, or a book), even for a science-fiction or fantastic one, in order to be really good it must have a human dimension that the viewers or readers can identify with. To its credit, this never lacked in ‘Fringe’. When emotions are let to run the show it gets much better than when moralistic or mystic explanations are called in help. One of the best episodes of the season involves a couple of old people who have lost each of them the other in the alternate universes. He appears to her and she appears to him as ghosts, and never did a ghost stories seemed so true and so moving to me. The relation between Walter and Peter Bishop goes through the ups and downs that any relation between father and son can go for almost two seasons, to be amplified and to receive a very different perspective in the third one. Supporting characters around have each their own stories (sometimes more than one as we have the characters in this universe (‘ours’) the ones in the parallel one). One memorable such character is Phillip Broyles, acted by Lance Reddick which was also wonderful in ‘The Wire’ also in the role of the big-heart chief of the police unit. John Noble, Joshua Jackson and Anna Torv are playing the main roles in the triangle around which the whole series is being built.

 

(video source FRINGEPROMOS)

 

Can it get better? I certainly hope so. We have again a disppearance to solve in season 4, and another central character to bring back. There are certainly many science, retro-science and especially para-science mysteries waiting to be brought into light. Dr. Walter Bishop did not probably run dry on the tool-set of tricks of the 70s, and certainly not on the nostalgia or appetite for candies. The Watchers will certainly continue to play a role in making sure that the equilibrium of the universes is being preserved. And beyond all I hope that the moments of real human emotion will not be missing.

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Don Cherry and his Pocket Trumpet

The first jazz musician I am writing about in 2012 is Don Cherry. Mezzo TV showed in the last few weeks a video of him made in Paris in the 70s and a recorded concert from 1991, drawing my attention on a personality who left his imprint on the history of free jazz and world music.

 

source http://www.allaboutjazz.com/php/musician.php?id=5668

 

Cherry was born in Oklahoma City, and much of his paying career is associated with the cornet and especially the pocket trumpet – with the latest he permanently experimented with different shapes of the instrument and sounds.

 

(video source jazzhole13)

 

Since his early 20s he was associated with Ornette Coleman, a collaboration that continued with ons and offs for several decades. Here is a recording of  Ramblin from Coleman’s album Change of the Century recorded in 1959 and released in 1960, with Cherry part of Coleman’s ensemble.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ON3d89NRxB4

(video source JazzVideoGuy)

 

In the early 60s he worked with many well known musicians mostly associated with the free jazz movement, among them John Coltrane, Archie Shepp and Albert Ayler. Here he is with Sonny Rollins, Henry Grimes and Billy Higgins playing ’52nd Street Theme Live’ for the Italian TV.

 

(video source freeavantgardevideos)

 

Starting with the 70s he started to experiment in world music and fusion. From this period I found an interview and several songs recorded in 1976, again for the Italian TV

 

(video source dubom)

 

The film I saw on Mezzo was from 1991, when Cherry played in Stuttgart, several of his songs belonging to the CD Multikulti released two years earlier. Here is Peter Apfelbaum’s ‘Until The Rain Comes’ which was the song that opened the concert that I saw (or at least the part that was on the film)

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aNXePvT5H0s

(video source boricujazzz8)

 

 

live performance with Herbie Hancock filmed around 1986 in New Orleans

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a thriller that deserved a better name (The Lincoln Lawyer – Matthew McConaughey, 2011)

My preferred movie critic Roger Ebert spends about half of his review of the film explaining the title of this film. I will not repeat it here in order not to spoil your pleasure of reading it. I will just say that despite Roger’s elaboration I believe that this intelligent crime movie, maybe the most intelligent of the year (and no wonder as it is bringing to screen a novel by Michael Connelly) would have deserved a better and smartest name. Or maybe the title was intended to be one more riddle for the non-American viewers? Just kidding …

 

source - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1189340/

 

It takes some time to decide whether to love or to hate Mick Haller, the Matthew McConaughey. He is a lawyer, son of a lawyer, he drinks in tune with all Californian private eyes in films and crime novels, he keeps guilty people out of jail, and sometimes innocent people in jail to avoid harsher sentences. Slowly you realize that he is not only smart and knowledgeable about the labyrinths of the system, but that he also would do the right thing eventually and he will do it in a smart way. And then his ex-wife is played by Marisa Tomei and his investigator partner by William Macey, so with two such partners on screen how can’t we end by liking him. (both Tomey and Macey are wonderful actors doing here two wonderful supporting roles.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU4ReVEemN0

(video source ClevverMovies)

 

With a well written story which succeeds to be interesting and clear to the viewers all the time, with many characters on screen that go beyond the standard typology defined by their roles and find to themselves a reason to be in the movie at the right time ‘The Lincoln Lawyer’ directed by Brad Furman (at his second long feature film only) stands one step ahead of the crowd as the best crime film of the season. If you are looking for good entertainment that does not leave you with the feeling that you wasted your time by the end of the screening, this could be your pick. Now, what other good title it could get? 🙂

 

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