Rembrandt Self Portrait c.1660
March 31/2010
This magnificent painting differs from many of Rembrandt’s earlier self-portraits in that it shows the master as a working artist, rather than in some assumed identity. The mood and tone of this self-portrait are controlled and relatively light and clear. Rembrandt stands erect and alert, firmly grasping the weapons – palette, brushes, and maulstick – with which he will take on the changing the art of the world. The battle dress is not an exotic costume but causal garments of a working artist.
When he painted this portrait he was fifty-four, had visibly aged, and he painted his hair as white. Only the clarity of the eyes and his own vision remain unchanged.
Rembrandt’s study of his face has clearly helps him to paint other people’s faces without exaggerating any feature. He has also subtly manipulated the light to stress the three dimensional qualities of the sitter’s form. The cool colors and the sharp contrasts of color and value also help to strengthen the work’s lively impression.
This painting proves that Rembrandt’s search for social status during his life was a self-conscious one. There is little doubt that he had grown wealthy through his art. But the mood of this self-portrait indicates a yearning for the high-social status that he was dreaming of. Many of his personal pictures therefore must have been intended for the master himself rather than for the sale to his many patrons and clients. Thanks to that today we can not only enjoy his art but also we know how he looks like.
Mona Lisa by Leonardo DaVinci
March 31/2010
Leonado Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa is the most famous painting in the word although the painter died five hundred years ago. His painting is the subject of speculation for centuries and even today we do not who Mona Lisa was. Many people say that the she is the artist himself. The painting of the Renaissance master from Florence influenced almost every artist in the last 20th century. The famous Vienna psychologist and dream reader Sigmund Freud suggests that the Mona Lisa (specifically her smile) is a manifestation of Leonardo's submerged memory of the birth mother from whom he was estranged at age four. Freud theorizes she expressed an unnatural affection toward her young son (http://www.studiolo.org/Mona/MONASV12.htm).
You may like or not like Mona Lisa, but she is not a romantic myth, which made Leonardo a famous painter. She is just an ugly woman, who does not wear any jewelry and her finger are long and thin. She is a fat woman who looks straight at you asking; what do you think about my smile? She sits upright like a doll with her arms folded, which is also a sign of her reserved posture. Only her gaze is fixed on the observer. Her surprise and confusion is well hidden in her smile; you can see this in her eyes. She wonders why you want to look at her? Since the brightly lit face is practically framed with various much darker elements (hair, veil, shadows), the observer's attraction to Mona Lisa's face is brought to an even greater extent.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Black Dogs Review
Book: Black Dogs: The Possibly True Story of Classic Rock's Greatest Robbery
Author: Jason Buhrmester
March 10/2010
The great British band Led Zeppelin gets our attention in the book by Jason Buhrmester, called Black Dogs. He introduces us to a fictional group of inept criminals led by one slightly more thoughtful mastermind. The other people’s stolen property doesn’t hold any value to them.
This is a story about the Led Zeppelin robbery which many of their fans don’t know about. In 1973, after three sold-out performances at Madison Square Garden, they had a lot of money stolen from a safe-deposit box at the Drake Hotel in what was called the single highest deposit box theft in the city’s history. Neither the evidence nor the money was ever found and no one was formally accused.
After what happened in New York City three decades after we may get some resolution from Jason Buhrmeste. This ragtag group swindles its way near Led Zeppelin on two occasions in pursuit of treasure. Nineteen-year-old Baltimorean-turned-New Yorker, Patrick Sullivan and his band of rock friends pulled off the heist. Patrick's Baltimore posse, such as it is, will never be mistaken for the Gambino Family. Hapless Alex should probably find another best pal, considering how Patrick has betrayed him. Smart-ass Frenchy lives for his guitar and little else. And Keith is the dumbest member of the group of people who aren’t that bright either. The plot twists bring even more wild characters into the fold, including Boogie, a safe-cracker with a funk band called the New York Giants, and mentally ill Backwoods Billy, a born-again biker who leads the Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang.
This book is written with passion and with love for music. It is interesting, and fun to read because of the plot and the street language. There are simple dialogues with dirty words, which are the common in the world in which the main characters live. The language sounds natural and is the way of talking to people who are twenty years old and live mostly on the streets. The female characters are so naïve that sometimes it is hard to believe how people could be naive. The boys’ characters are exactly the same from the beginning of the story to the last page. The action of the book is interesting, but the first four chapters are boring. But the book was well researched - making the story seem so much more real while you read. The characters are people we all know, many of them are around us.
Every newspaper in New York ran a major story on Led Zeppelin being ripped off. The headline read LED ZEPPLIN ROBBED OF 203 G. Black Dogs brings to life one of the infamously unsolved rock'n'roll mysteries and introduces us to a lovable bunch of knuckleheads who may have just pulled off the greatest heist in rock'n'roll history. The author has proven that he has affection for rock 'n' roll's. The book is not about a bunch of morons but about music. The book never forgets that without the music, the whole thing means nothing.
Author: Jason Buhrmester
March 10/2010
The great British band Led Zeppelin gets our attention in the book by Jason Buhrmester, called Black Dogs. He introduces us to a fictional group of inept criminals led by one slightly more thoughtful mastermind. The other people’s stolen property doesn’t hold any value to them.
This is a story about the Led Zeppelin robbery which many of their fans don’t know about. In 1973, after three sold-out performances at Madison Square Garden, they had a lot of money stolen from a safe-deposit box at the Drake Hotel in what was called the single highest deposit box theft in the city’s history. Neither the evidence nor the money was ever found and no one was formally accused.
After what happened in New York City three decades after we may get some resolution from Jason Buhrmeste. This ragtag group swindles its way near Led Zeppelin on two occasions in pursuit of treasure. Nineteen-year-old Baltimorean-turned-New Yorker, Patrick Sullivan and his band of rock friends pulled off the heist. Patrick's Baltimore posse, such as it is, will never be mistaken for the Gambino Family. Hapless Alex should probably find another best pal, considering how Patrick has betrayed him. Smart-ass Frenchy lives for his guitar and little else. And Keith is the dumbest member of the group of people who aren’t that bright either. The plot twists bring even more wild characters into the fold, including Boogie, a safe-cracker with a funk band called the New York Giants, and mentally ill Backwoods Billy, a born-again biker who leads the Holy Ghosts Christian motorcycle gang.
This book is written with passion and with love for music. It is interesting, and fun to read because of the plot and the street language. There are simple dialogues with dirty words, which are the common in the world in which the main characters live. The language sounds natural and is the way of talking to people who are twenty years old and live mostly on the streets. The female characters are so naïve that sometimes it is hard to believe how people could be naive. The boys’ characters are exactly the same from the beginning of the story to the last page. The action of the book is interesting, but the first four chapters are boring. But the book was well researched - making the story seem so much more real while you read. The characters are people we all know, many of them are around us.
Every newspaper in New York ran a major story on Led Zeppelin being ripped off. The headline read LED ZEPPLIN ROBBED OF 203 G. Black Dogs brings to life one of the infamously unsolved rock'n'roll mysteries and introduces us to a lovable bunch of knuckleheads who may have just pulled off the greatest heist in rock'n'roll history. The author has proven that he has affection for rock 'n' roll's. The book is not about a bunch of morons but about music. The book never forgets that without the music, the whole thing means nothing.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
Avatar
A good movie should touch us if does not touch it is a bad movie. Avatar ( an incarnation in human form) is a bad movie does not touch. But once again can we say that we have learned something about ourselves, the world or other people? Or can we reflect on this movie? This time James Cameron, the director of successful films like: Terminator or Titanic makes the movie industry high quality. Avatar used the most expensive animation techniques and 3D technology to date. It’s total budget was $250,000,000. It definitely made its money back and more.
The plot of Avatar is so simple and has a very poorly written script. The main character Jake (played by Australian actor Sam Worthington) is a paralyzed Marine. The mission is to replace his deceased twin brother in a scientific project on the faraway planet Pandora. Ex marine Jake Sully comes to Pandora with scientists that have bred the hybrids between humans and Na’vi. These body shells can be merged by a process with the consciousness of human Genspender. Externally, these look like the inhabitants of Pandora. This research interest collides with the tough economic interests of the Development Administration Group. The people protect its interests by a private army.
Jake runs into his new body in the jungle, at night. A Na’vi-tribesman finds him and wants to kill him first, but the daughter of the chief finds him and saves his life. He is not exactly received with enthusiasm, but the tribe always helps him. Jake will now have to constantly be shuttling between the human colony and the Na’vi. Here he is soon no longer sure which side he stands. It soon comes to the test.
The action of the movie takes place in the year 2154 on the planet Pandora. The planet Earth is already destroyed. At the beginning of the film, we can see what the technology can do. It is wonderful, the technique and the 3D effects as well as the animation get the audiences’ attention. The viewer flies over the rain forest of Pandora. They are beautiful shots but we still have those scenes from Vietnam era movies, but we know that this film is entirely a fictional world. Every tree, every rock, every vehicle, every flower, every bird, every insect was designed. We can see that technology can do a lot, but human imagination can do even more and that’s why Cameron’s vision of this movie did not impress me. He didn’t invent anything, he copied nature.
The whole movie is an allusion to the past when people on planet Earth colonized different parts of the world for centuries. At the planet Pandora, people have found a resource that could solve all their energy problems. But the planet is inhabited, with its enchanting nature of living things, the Na’vi, which are the reduction of the incredibly valuable mineral in the path.
The audience is sympathetic to the Na’vi. The big greedy company lost. The technological aspect of the movie was successful. We are impressed by the technology. But the dialogue was unimpressive. The technology overpowers our imaginations, which is why movies like this disappoint me. Imagination makes better movies than technology.
The plot of Avatar is so simple and has a very poorly written script. The main character Jake (played by Australian actor Sam Worthington) is a paralyzed Marine. The mission is to replace his deceased twin brother in a scientific project on the faraway planet Pandora. Ex marine Jake Sully comes to Pandora with scientists that have bred the hybrids between humans and Na’vi. These body shells can be merged by a process with the consciousness of human Genspender. Externally, these look like the inhabitants of Pandora. This research interest collides with the tough economic interests of the Development Administration Group. The people protect its interests by a private army.
Jake runs into his new body in the jungle, at night. A Na’vi-tribesman finds him and wants to kill him first, but the daughter of the chief finds him and saves his life. He is not exactly received with enthusiasm, but the tribe always helps him. Jake will now have to constantly be shuttling between the human colony and the Na’vi. Here he is soon no longer sure which side he stands. It soon comes to the test.
The action of the movie takes place in the year 2154 on the planet Pandora. The planet Earth is already destroyed. At the beginning of the film, we can see what the technology can do. It is wonderful, the technique and the 3D effects as well as the animation get the audiences’ attention. The viewer flies over the rain forest of Pandora. They are beautiful shots but we still have those scenes from Vietnam era movies, but we know that this film is entirely a fictional world. Every tree, every rock, every vehicle, every flower, every bird, every insect was designed. We can see that technology can do a lot, but human imagination can do even more and that’s why Cameron’s vision of this movie did not impress me. He didn’t invent anything, he copied nature.
The whole movie is an allusion to the past when people on planet Earth colonized different parts of the world for centuries. At the planet Pandora, people have found a resource that could solve all their energy problems. But the planet is inhabited, with its enchanting nature of living things, the Na’vi, which are the reduction of the incredibly valuable mineral in the path.
The audience is sympathetic to the Na’vi. The big greedy company lost. The technological aspect of the movie was successful. We are impressed by the technology. But the dialogue was unimpressive. The technology overpowers our imaginations, which is why movies like this disappoint me. Imagination makes better movies than technology.
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