Vitro Nasu

Happy Birthday Raphael Nadal. I will wait for your match with Federer in French Open 2007. He has a blog!!!!

Happy Birthday Alain Resnais on his 85th birthday.
His new film “Private Fears In Public Places” trailer here.
He made this film last year when he was 84 years old!

Enjoy the visual poem captured on youtube.

(previous post – Hiroshima Mon Amour, Futon and Cropped Hair)

In 1957 French avantgarde filmmaker Alain Resnais set himself the difficult task to make a film about the uncertainty of knowledge. Together with Marguerite Duras, he developped a script which was to tell “a story so banal” that it could counter the weight of the unnamable human tragedy in Hiroshima. The original script even proposed introducing the film with footage of the mushroom cloud. The premise was thus to make a film about the formalization of experience in the media and its contradiction with personal memories. At the same time, his film shows the arbitrariness of visual signs and their semantic interrelations. His film is as much a film about Hiroshima and the volatility of knowledge, as it is a reflection on the medium itself. (In the Maze, Christoph Raetzsch)

Lit bloggers are celebrating Allen’s birthday today.
America (text)

America after all it is you and I who are perfect not the next world.
Your machinery is too much for me.
You made me want to be a saint.
America on youtube.

Ballad of the Skeltons directed by Gus Van Sant

Allen Ginsberg’s Top Ten Movies

Allen Ginsberg’s neighborhood video shop, Kim’s Video, asked him for his top 10 list of movies, and this is the list he gave them:

Orpheus (Orphée), Jean Cocteau, 1950
Blood of a Poet (Le Sang d’un poet), Jean Cocteau, 1930
Children of Paradise (Les Enfants du paradis), Marcel Carné,1945
The Flower Thief, Ron Rice, 1960
Pepe Le Moko, Julien Duvivier, 1930
The Battleship Potempkin (Bronenosets Potyomkin), Sergei Eisenstein, 1925
Pull My Daisy, Robert Frank & Alfred Leslie, 1968
Heaven and Earth Magic, Harry Smith, 1962
Port of Shadows, Marcel Carné, 1938
The Grand Illusion (La Grande illusion), Jean Renoir, 1937 (via)

Note: Delphine Seyrig was in Pull My Daisy and two of Resnais films Muriel and Last Year at Marienbad.

Fernando Gonzalez beat Nadal with spectacular play.
How far will he go? We’ll find out soon.
Federer and Roddick match is tonight.

Picture of him winning the Gold doubles and Bronze singles at last Olympics.
He was born in Beijing China.

Today is Isabelle’s birthday my all time favorite cross-dresser.

Isabelle Eberhardt (Feb. 17, 1877 – October 21, 1904) was an explorer who lived and traveled extensively in North Africa.

Isabelle did not have to fake to be a princess, (unlike Johnny Weir) she was a real Russian Princess, who was imprisoned at one time suspected of spying. She died in a flash flood. Her life was a mess.
Isabelle Eberhardt was a true eccentric, flamboyant, courageous and totally unconventional.

More images of Isabelle, here.

Johnny Oscar Wilde Warhol Weir

“Weir is a charming, funny kid from rural Pennsylvania. He isn’t afraid to say anything – even to call himself “princessy” or to describe a competitor’s short program as “a vodka-shot-let’s-snort-coke kind of thing.” His favorite book is “The Devil Wears Prada” though his favorite author is Leo Tolstoy. He’s a fashionista and a Russophile. He’s learned to speak Russian and wears a vintage CCCP Sweater. He went shopping on Via Roma and considered buying a mink-lined umbrella. He calls his family ‘country bumpkins’.” (read more here.)

Now lets focus on the champion males from very recent competitions. Rufus and Plushenko won the best in show and the bad news for other competitors is that Plushenko will continue his amateur career. The Russian federation will not allow Plushenko to retire, they have no successors. The good news is his body may not hold up to the next Olympics – his specialty is executing those incredible jumps and he has been plagued with injuries in the past.

Jeffrey Buttle (thanks to David Wilson – the choreopgrapher)

Here are my picks of the best from the Men’s figure skating competition last night.

1 Jeffery Buttle’s brilliant transitional movements
(Buttle did not channel Glenn Gould last night choosing instead his more reliable old number.)
2 Happy to see Lysaceck coming back from his disasterous short
3 Matt Savoie

“Matthew Savoie delivered another beautiful program. His presentation may be understated and quiet, but it stirs the emotions of the audience. Savoie reminds me of the legendary John Curry. His skating is pure, effortless and moving. He can be proud of his Olympic experience.” (Zimmerman from yahoo) More photo and praise for Matt here.

Matt Savoie

Matt Savoie should play abbe of the diary of the country priest or Lancelot du Lac- he is the ideal skater to tackle Robert Bresson. The law school can wait, he should entertain us – see the clip of “The Mission” from US National 2006″.

See The placement here. Both Savoie and Takahashi should be on top of Joubert.

But the judging system seems to be fixed – they still manage to cheat. The order of finish, second through forth is exactly the same as last year’s world men’s championship except that Plushenko is back from injury to take the gold and move the others down a position. The new system is so complicated that nobody can figure it out – very clever.

Dale from Scribble writes about Olympics.

Before the Olympics, before Fiat, Turin’s claim to fame was (it’s true) film.
“Turin for a long time was a city of immigrants, when people from all over Italy arrived to work for Fiat,” Ponti said. “In the last several years, Turin has really been challenged. It’s not anymore a factory-oriented city, so we had to develop something else. There was a huge crisis of unemployment, so the goal of the filmmakers has been to tell about this change”
(Read more from sfgate)

The “Best of Youth” (“La Meglio Gioventu”) is a six-hour epic now out on DVD that looks at contemporary Italy through a family’s personal story, starting in the late 1960s, focusing on labor turmoil, the violent Red Brigades and a psychiatrist’s life in Turin.
(Hope to see this film soon.)

Photo sample A

Photo sample B
Another fun image from the opening ceremony shown below.
The best of young ninja climbing up and down and eventually forming themselves into the dove image of peace.

Michelle Kwan not so youthful and heavily endorsed has been providing faux news for the Corporate media. No longer a role model for sportsmanship she now faces the reality of competition too late for a graceful exit.
As of now we now await for her decision to withdraw.

Yagoogle Olympia 2006 – Torino Italy

(Images from Yahoo database and google logo montaged).

Russia’s Tatiana Totmianina and Maxim Marin lead in the figure skating after a dazzling short program, from this page and find the picture 13 . They were brilliant, almost perfect.
Inoue and Baldwin landed first throw triple axel in Olympic history – more here.

You were simply amazing! Marcos Baghdatis

A little miracle and joy spread to the world with the appearance of a young Tennis player from Cyprus.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Birthday (250 years old) of Mozart googled and rearranged for your eyes and not for wrapping chocolates in order that Tom Hanks could say the words some of us detest.

Piano Sonata (Listen)
Don Giovanni was composed in Prague, read more at Mozart Praha 2006

Quiz: Can you tell Mozart from Salieri? Listen here.

Skull mystery and his diary

“Author Mario Livio has studied the relationship between art and mathematics. He tells Michele Norris most of us are attracted to symmetry spiced by some elements of surprise… and that combo is the essence of Mozart’s music.” (from NPR)

Glenn Gould playing Mozart? Found one article on this subject and samples to listen here.
“It is precisely Gould’s wrong-headedness that makes his Mozart so interesting; that, and a keyboard technique that was the envy of six continents. Gould’s avowed dislike of Mozart’s music is impossible to fathom in view of the obvious intelligence and hard work that went into these performances.”

(I think G. G was jealous and competitive with Mozart.)

Mozart had Sun Aquarius Moon in Sagittarius (same as Yoko Ono)
“you have the qualities of an uncompromising intellectual; honesty, strong opinions, and a broad viewpoint on world affairs. … are impulsively quick to act on … ideas, advanced and revolutionary as they may sometimes be. … believe in getting things done, and done in shortest possible time, employing the most innovative methods … can devise.” from here.
His chart

Auden on Mozart: Metalogue to the Magic Flute (Kyle Gann’s Postclassic)

Mozart and films and the best of all was by Ingmar Bergman’s The Magic Flute.

Romeo and Juliet at Marshall 2005

Sasha Cohen won her first US Gold last night! The image on the right
is by Shahzia Sikander, see more at Crownpoint Press and here.

The two elegant, exquisite lolitas or (Princesses) are growing and maturing as artists – both naturally gifted one with pen and brushes, another with skates on ice. Both are endowed with genuine creative spirits.

Sasha is a Scorpio Rat “This person is generally lithe and agile as well as quick-spirited. He or she will probably enjoy all manner of graceful sport and prove able at competitive games”

Off ice Sasha takes cooking lessons, designs clothes and talks to her fans from her website.

Reflect by S. Sikander

Shahzia was born in Lahore, Pakistan and graduated from Rhode Island School of Design.
“IB: You began your interrogation of miniature painting in the late 1980s in Pakistan at the National College of Art in Lahore. What was your initial interest in working this way?
SS: I elected to work in the miniature format in 1988 during my second semester of foundation year at school. The choice itself was an act of defiance. At that time, there was no interest in the miniature painting department ” (via)

“Shahzia Sikander: No. I’m interested in the very fine play with tradition, but the intention was not to subvert or to reinvent, but definitely to take it on, to learn the language before you can talk.”
(Via A Conversation with Shirin Neshat and Shahzia Sikander)

Another Princess, Chelsea was spotted in India.
Why Chelsea Clinton visited Rajasthan? (via 3quarksdaily)
Margaret Cho visited India too, read her blog and see the pictures.