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Friday, July 12, 2013

Luis Miguel

Noi, Ragazzi di oggi. Italia 1985

Luis Miguel en vivo 2012

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Excerpt from The Matisse Stories. This excerpt is from the last story in the collection “The Chinese Lobster”.

‘I have had this rather unpleasant letter which I must talk to you about. It seemed to me important to discuss it informally and in an unofficial context, so to speak. I don’t know if it will come as surprise to you.’
Perry Diss reads quickly, and empties his glass of Tiger beer, which is quickly replaced with another by the middle-aged Chinese man.
‘Poor little bitch,’ says Perry Diss. ‘What a horrible state of mind to be in. Whoever gave her the idea that she had any artistic talent ought to be shot.’
Don’t say bitch, Gerda Himmelblau tells him in her head, wincing.
‘Do you remember the occasion she complains of?’
‘Well, in a way I do, in a way. Her account isn’t very recognisable. We did meet last week to discuss her complete lack of progress on his dissertation – she appears indeed to have regressed since she put in her proposal, which I am glad to say I was not responsible for accepting. She has forgotten several of the meagre facts she once knew, or appeared to know, about Matisse. I do not see how she can possibly be given a degree – she is ignorant and lazy and pigheadedly misdirected – and I felt it my duty to tell her so. In my experience, Dr Himmelblau, a ot of harm has been done by misguided kindness to lazy and ignorant students who have been cosseted and nurtured and never told they are not up to scratch.’
‘That may well be the case. But she makes specific allegations – you went to her studio – ‘
‘Oh yes. I went. I am not as brutal as I appear. I did try to give her the benefit of the doubt. That part of her account bears some resemblance to the truth – that is, to what I remember of those very disagreeable events. I did say something about the inarticulacy of painters and so on – you can’t have worked in art schools as long as I have without knowing that some can use words and some can only use materials – it’s interesting how you can’t always predict which.
‘Anyway, I went and looked at her so-called Work. The phraseology is cating. “So-called”. A pantechnicon contemporary term of abuse.’
‘And?’
‘The work is horrible, Dr Himmelblau. It disgusts. It desecrates. Her studio – in which the poor creature also eats and sleeps – is papered with posters of Matisse’s work. La Reve. La Nu rose. La Nu bleu. Grande Robe bleue. La Musique. L’Artiste et son modele. Zorba sur la terrasse. And they have all been smeared and defaced. With what looks like organic matter – blood, Dr Himmelblau, beef stew or faeces – I incline towards the latter since I cannot imagine good daube finding its way into that miserable tenement. Some of the daubings are deliberate reworkings of bodies or faces – changes of outlines – some are like thrown tomatoes – probably are thrown tomatoes – and eggs, yes – and some are great swastikas of shit. It is appalling. It is pathetic.’
‘It is no doubt meant to disgust and desecrate,’ states Dr Himmelblau, neutrally.
‘And what does that matter? How can that excuse it?’ roars Perry Diss, startling the younger Chinese woman, who is lighting the wax lamps under the plate warmer, so that she jumps back.
‘In recent times,’ says Dr Himmelblau, ‘art has traditionally had an element of protest.’
Traditional protest, hmph,’ shouts Perry Diss, his neck reddening. ‘Nobody minds protest, I’ve protested in my time, we all have, you aren’t the real thing if you don’t have a go at being shocking, protest is de rigeur, I know. But what I object to here, is the shoddiness, the laziness. It seems to me – forgive me, Dr Himmelblau – but this – this caca offends something I do hold sacred, a word that would make that little bitch snigger, no doubt, but sacred, yes – it seems to me, that if she could have produced worked copies of those – those masterpieces – those shining – never mind – if she could have done some work – understood the blues, and the pinks, and the whites, and the oranges, yes, and the blacks too – and if she could still have brought herself to feel she must – must savage them – then I would have had to feel some respect.’
‘You have to be careful about the word masterpieces,’ murmurs Dr Himmelblau.
‘Oh, I know all that stuff, I know it well. But you have got to listen to me. It can have taken at the maximum half an hour – and there’s no evidence anywhere in the silly girl’s work that she’s ever spent more than that actually looking at a Matisse – she has no accurate memory of one when we talk, none, she amalgamates them all in her mind into one monstrous female corpse bursting with male aggression – she can’t see, can’t you see? And for half an hour’s shit-spreading we must give her a degree?’
‘Matisse,’ says Gerda Himmelblau, ‘would sometimes make a mark, and consider, and put the canvas away for weeks or months until he knew where to put the next mark.’
‘I know.’
‘Well – the – the shit-spreading may have required the same consideration. As to location of daubs.’
‘Don’t be silly. I can see paintings, you know. I did look to see if there was any wit in where all this detritus was applied. Any visual wit, you know, I know it’s meant to be funny. There wasn’t. It was just slapped on. It was horrible.’
‘It was meant to disturb you. It disturbed you.’
‘Look – Dr Himmelblau – whose side are you on? I’ve read your Mantegna monograph. Mes compliments, it is a chef-d’oeuvre. Have you seen this stuff? Have you for that matter seen Peggi Nollett?’
‘I am not on anyone’s side, Professor Diss. I am the Dean of Women’s Students, and I have received a formal complaint against you, about which I have to take formal action. And that could be, in the present climate, very disturbing for me, for the Department, for the University, and for yourself. I may be exceeding my strict duty in letting you know of this in this informal way. I am very anxious to know what you have to say in answer to her specific charge.
‘And yes, I have seen Peggi Nollett. Frequently. And her work, on one occasion.’
‘Well, then. If you have een her you will know that I can have made no such – no such advances as she describes. Her skin is like a potato and her body is like a decaying potato, in all that great bundle of smocks and vests and knitwear and penitential hangings. Have you seen her legs and arms, Dr Himmelblau? They are bandaged like mummies, they are all swollen with strapping and strings and then they are contained in nasty black greaves and gauntlets of plastic with buckles. You expect some awful yellow ooze to seep oout between the layers, ready to be smeared on La Joie de vivre. And her hair, I do not think her hair can have been washed for some years. It is like a carefully preserved old frying-pan, grease undisturbed by water. You cannot believe I could have brought myself to touch her, Dr Himmelblau?’
‘It is difficult, certainly.’
‘It is impossible. I may have told her that she would be better if she wore fewer layers – I may even, imprudently – thinking, you understand, of potatoes – have said something about letting the air get to her. But I assure you that was as far as it went. I was trying against my instincts to converse with her as a human being. The rest is her horrible fantasy. I hope you will believe me, Dr Himmelblau. You yourelf are about the only almost-witness I can call in my defense.’
‘I do believe you,’ says Gerda Himmelblau, with a little sigh.
‘Then let that be the end of the matter,’ says Perry Diss. ‘Let us enjoy these delicious morsels and talk about something more agreeable than Peggi Nollett. These prawns are as good as I have ever had.’

Sunday, June 30, 2013

Rules for Students and Teachers, from John Cage

[Image: A white piece of paper that seems to have been crumpled, folded, and unfolded many times. The following text is typed on it.]
“Merce Cunningham Studio, 55 Bethune Street NYC, NY 10014
10 Rules for Students and Teachers, from John Cage
Rule 1: Find a place you trust, and then, try trusting it for awhile[sic].
Rule 2: (General Duties as a Student) Pull everything out of your teacher. Pull everything out of your fellow students.
Rule 3: (General Duties as a Teacher) Pull everything out of your students.
Rule 4: Consider everything an experiment.
Rule 5: Be Self Disciplined. This means finding someone wise or smart and choosing to follow them. To be disciplined is to follow in a good way. To be self disciplined is to follow in a better way.
Rule 6: Follow the leader. Nothing is a mistake. There is no win and no fail. There is only make.
Rule 7: The only rule is work. If you work it will lead to something. It is the people who do all the work all the time who eventually catch onto [sic] things. You can fool the fans — but not the players.
Rule 8: Do not try to create and analyze at the same time. They are different processes.
Rule 9: Be happy whenever you can manage it. Enjoy yourself. It is lighter than you think.
Rule 10: We are breaking all the rules, even our own rules and how do we do that? by leaving plenty of room for “x” qualities.
Helpful Hints: Always Be Around. Come or go to everything. Always go to classes. Read everything you can get your hands on. Look at movies carefully and often. SAVE EVERYTHING, it may come in handy later.”

Cristian Vogel - Enter The Tub (Strike138)


“At first I remained outside; then, as rescuers ran into the theater and began to bring out ridiculous things, old sofas and the like, I also went over through the dark vestibule and up the grand staircase. Above was the fire. The flames were already beginning to enter the corridor through the loges from the auditorium. Suddenly a loge door flew open crackling, then a second, then a third. The huge auditorium stood open. The entire chamber is a whirlwind of glowing dust, one single, red sea of light in which vibrating atoms of fire waft upward, undifferentiated elements, not flames. These become thicker only on the periphery where the fire breaks hissing through the silk curtains of the loges and licks the roof of the corridor with long tongues. In the gallery of busts the oeil-de-boeuf windows fall clattering one after the other and a fleeting light from a flame falls on Houdon’s Voltaire, who views the wreckage ironically.”

[Journey to the Abyss: The Diaries of Count Harry Kess ler, 1880–1918 ]

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Possession: A Romance

For Isobel Armstrong


When a writer calls his work a Romance, it need hardly be observed that
he wishes to claim a certain latitude, both as to its fashion and material, which
he would not have felt himself entitled to assume, had he professed to be
writing a Novel. The latter form of composition is presumed to aim at a very
minute fidelity, not merely to the possible, but to the probable and ordinary
course of man's experience. The former—while as a work of art, it must
rigidly subject itself to laws, and while it sins unpardonably so far as it may
swerve aside from the truth of the human heart—has fairly a right to present
that truth under circumstances, to a great extent, of the writer's own choosing
or creation. . . . The point of view in which this tale comes under the
Romantic definition lies in the attempt to connect a bygone time with the
very present that is flitting away from us.
—NATHANIEL HAWTHORNE
Preface to The House of the Seven Gables


And if at whiles the bubble, blown too thin,
Seem nigh on bursting,—if you nearly see
The real world through the false,—what do you see?
Is the old so ruined? You find you're in a flock
O' the youthful, earnest, passionate—genius, beauty,
Rank and wealth also, if you care for these:
And all depose their natural rights, hail you,
(That's me, sir) as their mate and yoke-fellow,
Participate in Sludgehood—nay, grow mine,
I veritably possess them—. . .

And all this might be, may be, and with good help
Of a little lying shall be: so Sludge lies!
Why, he's at worst your poet who sings how Greeks
That never were, in Troy which never was,
Did this or the other impossible great thing! . . .
But why do I mount to poets? Take plain prose—
Dealers in common sense, set these at work,
What can they do without their helpful lies?
Each states the law and fact and face o' the thing
Just as he'd have them, finds what he thinks fit,
Is blind to what missuits him, just records
What makes his case out, quite ignores the rest.
It's a History of the World, the Lizard Age,
The Early Indians, the Old Country War,
Jerome Napoleon, whatsoever you please.
All as the author wants it. Such a scribe
You pay and praise for putting life in stones,
Fire into fog, making the past your world.
There's plenty of 'How did you contrive to grasp
The thread which led you through this labyrinth?
How build such solid fabric out of air?
How on so slight foundation found this tale,
Biography, narrative?' or, in other words,
'How many lies did it require to make
The portly truth you here present us with?'
—Robert Browning
from "Mr Sludge, 'the Medium' "

[PNR003] Pluie/Noir - Year One Compilation

Thursday, June 20, 2013

Структура фэшн-рынка. Какую одежду мы покупаем?

Мировой фэшн-рынок состоит из дизайнерских брендов и брендов массового рынка, различающихся по цене, стилю и статусу потребителей, приобретающих данный продукт. По самой простой классификации существует одежда класса luxury (люкс), premium (высокий), middle-up (выше среднего), middle (средний) и mass-market (ниже среднего).
На современном фэшн-рынке пока не существует единой четкой классификационной системы. Многие понятия являются «плавающими». Однако, значительная часть исследователей и практиков данной рыночной ниши, придерживается следующей логической структуры формирования категорий одежды, (или категорий брендов) на фэшн-рынке:

Friday, June 14, 2013

Desigual




Desigual Huesca
31V2137 \ 74,00 €
Desigual women’s Huesca dress from the Sex line. A true classic if ever there was one. Galactic and floral shapes are combined in this long-sleeved dress.
  • 55% COTTON 45% VISCOSE

Wednesday, June 12, 2013

"Stoker"


quotes:
India Stoker: He used to say, sometimes you need to do something bad to stop you from doing something worse.
India Stoker: My ears hear what others cannot hear; small faraway things people cannot normally see are visible to me. These senses are the fruits of a lifetime of longing, longing to be rescued, to be completed. Just as the skirt needs the wind to billow, I'm not formed by things that are of myself alone. I wear my father's belt tied around my mother's blouse, and shoes which are from my uncle. This is me. Just as a flower does not choose its color, we are not responsible for what we have come to be. Only once you realize this do you become free, and to become adult is to become free.

Monday, April 29, 2013

Rogue Traders. One Of My Kind

http://www.discogs.com/Rogue-Traders-Here-Come-The-Drums/master/67213

The Mighty Boosh http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Mighty_Boosh
Vince Noir http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_recurring_characters_from_The_Mighty_Boosh#Vince_Noir
Vince Noir http://mightyboosh.wikia.com/wiki/Vince_Noir

Rogue Traders - Fashion / Vince Noir - Fashion Star

Rogue Traders - Voodoo Child

Rogue Traders Vs Inxs One Of My Kind

AEON. Shadows procession



Formed in the early 90s by an italo-french duet (the two sound researchers and classically trained musicians Stephane Rapetti and Alessandro Gadoni), Aeon presented their first opus back in 1999 (signed on the highly acclaimed noise records).

review:
Formed in the early 90s by an italo-french duet (the two sound researchers and classically trained musicians Stephane Rapetti and Alessandro Gadoni), Aeon presented their first opus back in 1999 (signed on the highly acclaimed noise records). The conceptual background ecompasses the allegorical fiction of time in its endlessly forms, also examinating the labyrinth metaphor as a continuous source of questioning, enigmas, struggles, liberty and necessity. Consequently, the musical landscapes delivered on this debut album emphasizes multidirectional perspectives, delivering a "postmodern" synthesis, hybridation of various textures, sounds, moods and colors that oscillate between fictional-neurotic abstract ambiences, electro-acoustic sound industrialism, atonalism experiments, breaking electro-kinetic rhythms. The first theme introduces the listener into a majestic-hypnodelica journey of sounds, abrupt and sensual at the time. It carries on very soundtracky-punchy cinematic ambiences, always with a constant attraction to vertiginous neurotropic mindscapes. Just imagine an ecstatic sophistication of film scores written by Per Raben. The second half of the album carries on this interlocking voyage through deep isolationist atmospheres, admitting groovy orientations and schizoid pop-tronic attempts.This one will ravish fans of early experiments and challenging musical productions from Zoviet France, Beequeen, the glitch-esque dubstep efforts from Aphex Twin, cinematic interludes, the French postructural contemporary masters such as Michel Redolfi, Francis Dhomont (…) A real polymorphic musical identity, revealing consistent dynamic qualities and innovative sound treatments. Warmly recommended and a nice introduction to Aeon's very peculiar musical signature. A meaningful musical trip before to discover the upcoming Shadows procession (announced currently 2011).
@ Philippe Blache, special collaborator (progarchives.com), 2011
click to listen or buy: aeon3.bandcamp.com

Joakim – Labyrinth (Lone and Junior Boys remixes)

Rolando. Junie

The 7th Plain "To be Surreal"

discogs.com/7th-Plain-To-Be-Surreal
RA DJ Page / residentadvisor.net/dj/lukeslater
Website / www.lukeslater.com
Twitter / twitter.com/reallukeslater
Discogs / discogs.com/artist/planetary+assault+systems
Facebook / facebook.com/pages/Luke-Slater/1081324
Buy releases / Juno Records  /  Juno Download

Rolando "Junie"

discogs.com/Rolando-5-To-9-EP
RA DJ Page / residentadvisor.net/dj/rolando
Soundcloud / soundcloud.com/rolando000
Discogs / discogs.com/artist/dj+rolando
Facebook / facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Rolando/
Buy releases / Juno Records  /  Juno Download

Kleeer "Tonight"

discogs.com/Kleeer-Intimate-Connection-Tonight

Shlomo "Ghosts"

Shlohmo - Ghosts Pt. 2 (Thrupence Remix)

RA DJ Page / residentadvisor.net/dj/shlohmo
Website / www.wediditcollective.com
Twitter / twitter.com/SHLOHMO
Soundcloud / soundcloud.com/shlohmo
Discogs / discogs.com/artist/shlohmo
Facebook / facebook.com/pages/Shlohmo/21542484356

St Germain (Ludovic Navarre AKA Deepside) "Préclusion"

discogs.com/Ludovic-Navarre-AKA-St-Germain-From-Detroit-To-St-Germain
RA DJ Page / residentadvisor.net/dj/stgermain
Discogs / discogs.com/artist/st+germain
Buy releases / Juno Records  /  Juno Download

Benjamin Paulin "L'Homme Moderne"

‘Everyone is a modern man, including you’

http://www.discogs.com/Benjamin-Paulin-LHomme-Moderne/release/2567806


'The Moden Man’: Benjamin Paulin latest album cover | ‘Everyone is a modern man, including you’
 


‘Dites-le avec des flingues’ | Flowers versus gun



Benjamin Paulin: don’t call him franco-français


Benjamin Paulin - branded son of the 'generation X' by the French media
(Image: © Paul Kemler/ myspace.com/benjaminpaulin)

On his website he presents himself as ‘truly French’. His first album, released on 16 October, is called The Modern Man (‘L’Homme moderne’). Is Benjamin Paulin the new French prototype? We speak to the singer about stereotypes, contradictions and pessimism
It’s a Friday afternoon in the corner of a Parisian bistro. Despite being suited up, Benjamin Paulin has made himself comfortable; he does not compromise on style. With the view of the street blurred by the rain, he orders a coffee which arrives with a chocolate on the side - he looks for someone to give it to: ‘Chocolate?’

What a Frenchman sings about today

The singer, born in Paris in 1978, has an air of confidence about him. He has just finished recording his single Dites-le avec des flingues (‘Tell her with bullets’), mixing elements of French crooning legend Serge Gainsbourg and Swiss American musician Dorian Gray. Amongst the other singles on the album is the equally positive sounding Notre futur n’a pas d’avenir (‘Our future is hopeless’). Is Benjamin Paulin a pessimist? He sips his coffee, runs a hand through his hair and leans forward to answer. ’I am more of a realist than a pessimist. Living in the time that we do, there isn’t a lot that is positive. It’s quite bleak. You just have to look at the return of extremists. However, through my music I aim to strike a balance between happiness and sadness. But I also use a lot of irony and my lyrics do have a certain light heartedness.’ He looks for inspiration in everything, including the present. Nevertheless, society’s problems and current affairs are not his style. ’I prefer to talk about things that time doesn’t change, that are constant in history and humanity.’
Paulin has a background as a writer. He left school at sixteen to dedicate himself to literature. ’I was part of a hip hop group,’ he confides. I am baffled: the bling and bimbos typical of the music videos of this genre seem worlds away from the refined looking man I have opposite me. But Benjamin Paulin is not joking. ’In rap it is possible to say so much: things which you can break into pieces and put back together much better.’ The artist does not conform to genre boundaries. ’My music is a sort of hybrid of different styles: rock, pop, ballads, rap… I mix in a bit of each. But I try to create something new. My music and my lyrics combine established points of reference with a modern interpretation.’

The Modern Man
Why is the album called The Modern Man? ’Essentially, everyone is a modern man, including you,’ he says, leaning over and observing my scepticism before laughing and continuing. ’The modern man is the postmodern man. He lives with his contradictions, accepts them and wants to express himself.’ These conflicts are presented explicitly on the album’s cover, which has Benjamin closing one eye to aim a gun, a bunch of roses in his other hand. In another photo in the album sleeve, he seems to be trying to decide between the gun and the flowers. The impression is that his image is important to him; is he trying to convey a specific public persona? ‘Unfortunately, currently we have this need to put people into categories. We look to caricatures in order to place people,’ he replies.

‘I consider myself more as a human than a European’
 
’I don’t see myself from the quintessentially ‘franco-français’ point of view and I consider myself more as a human than a European. These days, lines blur, whether in terms of communication or political borders. I don’t feel attached to any one place.’ This said, he is very European. ’My mother is Polish and my father was half Italian, half German.’ The latter was the seminal designer Pierre Paulin who was known for his eccentric furniture and who died in 2009. Perhaps this is where Benjamin gets his aesthetic tastes and love for the unconventional. ’I travelled a lot with my father. I went to America, Japan, Korea - but never Germany,’ he politely adds, saying that my ‘charming accent’ has not escaped his notice. We go back to his new album which has just been released, but Paulin does not want to talk about success. ‘I have completed one stage. A career is full of them. To suceed is to die before you throw it all away.’ Really, there are times when Benjamin Paulin is more of a pessimist than a realist.

Images: © Paul Kemler/ myspace.com/benjaminpaulin; Video: (cc) clipetzik/ Youtube