A personal, curatorial & bilingual Blog about: Artistic Movements, my Art, Creativity, Innovation, Design, Leadership, Empowerment, Sustainability, Science, Jazz, Movies and other cool pursuits - Blog personal y curatorial bilingüe sobre: Movimentos Artísticos, mi Arte, Creatividad, Innovación, Diseño, Liderazgo, Empoderamiento, Sustentabilidad, Ciencia, Jazz, Películas y otros temas.
Argentine singer Karen Souza is one of the freshest and most original artists in recent years. She has a surprising musical past in electronic music, chill house, deep house and roots in rock.
Her two most recent albums, “Hotel Souza” and “Velvet Vault”, more focused on jazz than previous albums, and with a romantic and luxurious production, show us a great artist with a brilliant career ahead.
THE BAND: Karen Souza (singer), Jaume Vilaseca (piano), Dick Them (double-bass, electric bass), Ramón Díaz (drums). David Pedragrosa (guitar).
I believe that at times like the present, where the pandemic related pains haunt us, there may be nothing better to do on a Friday evening than making a bit of popcorn and watching an old movie.
It can be in black and white or color, although, I love black and white and mono sound movies. They bring your brain down to a level of simplicity in terms of “processing power”, that is hard to beat.
For a start, the monochrome picture is asking a lot less to decipher from your brain. A full blast color 7 channel surround movie will exacerbate your brain functions so as to deal with all that complex, multi-layered information. A B&W mono sound movie just floats in, and relaxes you, while still being entertaining. On top of that, the stories are from a reality that is not our own in this day and age, so as we watch, it will feel a lot more like one of those stories mom or dad used to read to us before we went to bed.
The end result, is utter satisfaction, relaxation, and the discovery that these stories turn out to have a lot more in common with our lives that we expected, albeit far from the technological wizardry, and imbued in certain innocence that seems so distant from of our contemporary daily lives.
So, I hope you enjoy these popcorn Fridays.
TODAY´S MOVIE
A Film Noir thriller from 1946.
Unemployed veteran Chuck Scott (Robert Cummings) suffers from hallucinations and raw nerves. When he returns a lost wallet to violent mobster Eddie Roman (Steve Cochran), the man offers to hire him as a chauffeur. Not only is the job a stressful one, but Chuck gets mixed up in a plot to help Eddie’s wife, Lorna (Michèle Morgan), run off to Havana to escape her cruel husband’s grasp. But when Scott is framed for murder, they must run from both Eddie and the authorities.
Picasso’s Last Stand reveals the untold story of the last decade of the artist’s life, through the testimony of family and close friends – many of them the people he allowed into his private world in the 1960s. Picasso probably was the most important art voice of the 20th Century. On the other hand, his personal life, full of drama, turmoil, and unsavory situations contrast with his public persona.
As his health declined in these final years, he rediscovered his revolutionary spirit with a creative surge that produced some of his most sexually frank and comic artwork.
This is a great BBC documentary that puts a light on this, his final and somehow controversial years of life.
Today we hear Ana Vidović, live from St. Mark´s. Ana is a classical guitarist originally from Croatia. A child prodigy, she has won a number of prizes and international competitions. It is a pleasure to hear her play, as she is one of the best classical guitarists in the world today.
PROGRAM: Flute Partita in A minor, BWV 1013 by Johann Sebastian Bach (Transcribed by Valter Despalj) -Allemande (3:06) -Corrente (8:40) Violin Sonata No. 1, BWV 1001 by Johann Sebastian Bach (arr. by Manuel Barrueco) -Adagio (12:44) -Fuga (16:38) -Siciliana (21:19) -Presto (24:25) Un Dia de Noviembre (27:36) by Leo Brouwer Gran Sonata Eroica, Op. 150 (32:17) by Mauro Giuliani Sonata in E major, K. 380, L. 23 (41:39) Sonata in D minor K.1, L. 366 (46:28) by Domenico Scarlatti Nocturno (48:55) by Slavko Fumic Encore – Asturias (53:49) by Isaac Albeniz
I believe that at times like the present, where the pandemic related pains haunt us, there may be nothing better to do on a Friday evening than making a bit of popcorn and watching an old movie.
It can be in black and white or color, although, I love black and white and mono sound movies. They bring your brain down to a level of simplicity in terms of “processing power”, that is hard to beat.
For a start, the monochrome picture is asking a lot less to decipher from your brain. A full blast color 7 channel surround movie will exacerbate your brain functions so as to deal with all that complex, multi-layered information. A B&W mono sound movie just floats in, and relaxes you, while still being entertaining. On top of that, the stories are from a reality that is not our own in this day and age, so as we watch, it will feel a lot more like one of those stories mom or dad used to read to us before we went to bed.
The end result, is utter satisfaction, relaxation, and the discovery that these stories turn out to have a lot more in common with our lives that we expected, albeit far from the technological wizardry, and imbued in certain innocence that seems so distant from of our contemporary daily lives.
So, I hope you enjoy these popcorn Fridays.
TODAY´S MOVIE
This time it is back to Film Noir from 1947. A winner of 2 Academy awards including best actor for the great Ronald Colman.
A tight thriller, in which a celebrated actor struggles to distinguish his own life from that of his most recent stage role, Othello. The movie was directed by the great George Cukor, and it stars Ronald Colman, Edmond O’Brien, Signe Hasso.
Sometimes, it is worthwhile to have another look at art. Particularly when we talk about abstraction.
The truth is that our brains tend to analyze subconsciously every image that we come across. It is not something we are generally aware of. In fact, we may be aware of about 5% of all input information that our brain processes.
Case in point. A couple of dear friends who used to come to lunch on weekends at my house. For more than a year, there was a big abstract painting on one of the walls in our living room. The painting was big, had lots of color, had spotlights on it dedicated to show it off… it was obviously very visible.
One Sunday, as they came in, one of them said “My God! That is a gorgeous painting. Obviously new...”. Then, and as she turned to look at me, her husband responded surprised “Are you kidding? That painting has been there for about a year…“
Cutting to the chase, the truth is that it took us all a few minutes to finally convince her that, in fact, it had been there all along. Once convinced, I explained what had probably happened. Abstraction, and synesthetic abstraction probably more so, requires our brain to analyze, scan and rescan the graphisms, colors and textures as it looks for clues and decides whether it is going to give you a thumbs up or down. It is obviously looking for those things that will make you hate it, or love it.
Thank God, after a year and at least 10 or 12 visits, her brain suddenly said to her… “please, pay attention to this, it is great“… and so she “saw it” for the first time. That prompted her sudden need to tell us all how much she loved it.
That is not unusual, although it is not a rule either. For those of you with a wider artistic eye, it may be immediate (or at least it will take you a lot less time than 12 months!), to decide whether you like a painting or not.
So, I invite you to have another look at these four paintings of mine. And, above everything, I hope you enjoy them.
There is a growing theory surrounding one of the most unusual, smart and capable animals on the planet. It is the octopus.
Genetically, it is…well, weird. And certain members of the scientific community have started to theorize if this incredible animal is not, in fact, a visitor from outer space. They even have a possible home planet. Europa, one of Jupiter´s moons. And even if that is a plausible yet improbable origin story worthy of DC Comics or the Avengers, it is still one of the most incredible, intelligent and shy beings on this little planet.
I will not bore you with details. Just watch this short and fun description of how the incredible octopus may -or may not- be a visitor from…well…. who knows.
The full concert: – Black And Tan Fantasy – The Mooch – Harlem Air Shaft – Sophisticated Lady – My Funny Valentine – Kinda Dukish/Rockin’ In Rhythm – Mr. Gentle And Mr. Cool – Jack The Bear – You Better Know It – All Of Me – Things Ain’t What They Used To Be – Hi-Fi-Fo-Fum – Don’t Get Around Much Anymore – Caravan – I Got It Bad And That Ain’t Good – It Don’t Mean A Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing) – Solitude – I Let A Song Go Out Of My Heart – Diminuendo And Crescendo In Blue
The Band:
Duke Ellington: Piano, Johny Hodges: Alto Sax, Russel Procope: Alto Sax & Clarinet, Paul Gonsalves: Tenor Sax & Clarinet, Jimmy Hamilton: Tenor Sax & Clarinet, Harry Carney: Baritone Sax, Clarinet, & Bass Clarinet, Clark Terry: Trumpet, Cat Anderson: Trumpet, Shorty Baker: Trumpet, Ray Nance: Trumpet, Violin, Vocals, Quentin Jackson: Trombone, Britt Woodman: Trombone, John Sanders: Valve Trombone, Jimmy Woode: Bass, Sam Woodyard: Drums, Ozzie Bailey: Vocals
WHY POPCORN FRIDAYS
IGNACIO ALPERIN: THE ART OF THINKING OUT LOUD / EL ARTE DE PENSAR EN VOZ ALTA 