Solar eclipse 2012: in pictures

Michael Chow, AP Photo/The Arizona Republic  photos.oregonlive.com

At first glance one may think that this fantastic photograph by Michael Chow is portraying the moon; but it actually is an image of the sun during the solar eclipse which took place on May 20, 2012. As the moon is passing between the earth and the sun, it obscures the view of the latter; this type of eclipse, however, is called annular because the moon's apparent diameter is smaller than that of the sun, and thus the latter eventually looks like a ring. It obviously is an amazing event to look at, but I must say that I was more amazed by the pictures themselves; the works of Nick James and Cathleen Allison are characteristic examples.

Nick James britastro.org 

Cathleen Allison/AP Photo photos.oregonlive.com

During an eclipse I suppose that everybody is staring at the sky; inevitably, and predictably, so. Which is why I was fascinated to find out that some photographers were apparently interested in portraying what the world looks like in the unique light of the eclipse, as in these exceptional shots of the Huangpu River in Shanghai by Aly Song, and Hong Kong's Victoria Harbour by Bobby Yip.

Aly Song/Reuters  newsfeed.time.com

Bobby Yip/Reuters  darkroom.baltimoresun.com

The annular phase of the May 20 eclipse was visible from the Chinese coast, northern Taiwan, southern Japan, and the western part of the United States. This kind of eclipse is also addressed as 'ring of fire', a metaphor which is eloquently brought up in the work of photographers such as Katsuro Okazawa and Albert Cesare.

Katsuro Okazawa/Aflo/Zuma Press  newsfeed.time.com

Albert Cesare AP Photo/Odessa American photographyblog.dallasnews.com

Thank you, Tim Berners-Lee

allaboutjazz.com

If there is one person we need to thank for being able to communicate the way that we do, this of course is Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web. Moreover, the significance of inventions exceeds that of their technical aspects, however ground-breaking the latter may be. Technology is not a neutral domain, but a social product, bearing political and cultural significations. And the invention of the World Wide Web is inseparable from the politics of an open and participatory internet culture. As James Curran argues, Tim Berners-Lee placed a public service ethic above market values, and rather than promoting his work through a private company, the World Wide Web code was released as a free gift to the community (James Curran and Jean Seaton, Power without responsibility, the press, broadcasting, and new media in Britain, 7th edition, London: Routledge, 2010, pp. 262-263).

Tim Berners-Lee is sometimes asked if he is upset about not making a lot of money from the web, and he has a quite interesting reply on the matter (Weaving the web: the original design and ultimate destiny of the World Wide Web by its inventor, London: Orion, 2000, p. 116):

What is maddening is the terrible notion that a person's value depends on how important and financially successful they are, and that this is measured in terms of money [...] Core in my upbringing was a value system that put monetary gain well in its place.

So thank you, Tim Berners-Lee.

Innocence

In a dream place somewhere across the universe...

17 May 2012...

Red Guitar: brand new work by Cassandra Wilson

Photograph by Clay Patrick McBride  sfgate.com

Cassandra Wilson is one of the most important figures in the contemporary jazz world: an award-winning vocalist, musician, and songwriter, instantly identifiable by the trademark richness of her voice, who never rested on her laurels. Her course over the past twenty-five years incorporated elements from blues, country, folk, and occasionally pop music, and resulted in a highly original and diverse body of work. The albums New Moon Daughter and Loverly, which won her two Grammy awards in 1996 and 2009 respectively, may serve as a fine introduction to her work together with Travelling Miles (1999), Belly of the Sun (2002), and Thunderbird (2006). The latter includes a great favourite of mine, her incredible cover of Blind Lemon Jefferson's Easy Rider, a beautiful live version of which you can enjoy below:  

The good news is that Cassandra Wilson is back with a new song, Red Guitar, which offers a first view of her upcoming seventeenth studio album Another Country. As Jeff Tamarkin of the Jazz Times reports, most of the songs on this album have been written by Cassandra Wilson herself, or in collaboration with Fabrizio Sotti, the guitarist and producer with whom she had also worked on her 2003 album Glamoured. Another Country displays a guitar-based sound, and its track list is as follows:

                                                              1.  Red Guitar
                                                              2.  No More Blues
                                                              3.  O Sole Mio
                                                              4.  Deep Blue
                                                              5.  Almost Twelve
                                                              6.  Passion
                                                              7.  When Will I See You Again
                                                              8.  Another Country
                                                              9.  Letting You Go
                                                            10.  Olomuroro

theurbanflux.com

Perfect Sense, by David Mackenzie

Wikipedia

A profound appreciation of what it means to be alive. But most of all, a shared urge to reach out to one another.

Perfect Sense tells the story of two people falling in love as the world falls apart. David Mackenzie's direction is superb, and so are the performances by Eva Green and Ewan McGregor; but Perfect Sense is not only a well-crafted film, it is also one with a heart, and a rather strong one. The love affair unfolds against the backdrop of an epidemic robbing every one of their senses; and the loss of each sense is preceded by enormous emotional turmoil, including the intense experience of grief, despair, and anger. This juxtaposition is particularly engaging as the lovers, wittingly portrayed as an epidemiologist and a chef, struggle with themselves for a relationship which seems to be nothing more than a lost cause; but isn't this the very essence of romanticism? Perfect Sense has much better things to offer than soothing or reassuring answers; it is a film about the brightest, warmest, and most courageous aspects of the human condition. This is a world where people may have lost their sense of taste, and yet restaurant critics continue to write reviews, commenting now on the temperature and the texture of food; where lovers seek each other out until, and despite, the inevitable end; where life refuses to give up and comply to the most harsh and devastating reality.   

Film quotes #3: She's So Lovely

listal.com

She’s So Lovely was directed by Nick Cassavetes in 1997. The screenplay was written by the independent film pioneer John Cassavetes, and is the only work of his to be posthumously released. His insightful focus on unconventional characters and his unique exploration of emotion are naturally ever-present. The film includes stunning performances by Sean Penn and Robin Wright as Eddie and Maureen Murphy Quinn, a couple deeply and madly in love. Half way through the film, Eddie gets arrested; he will be held in a psychiatric hospital for ten years, and Maureen will remarry. They will subsequently meet again, and claim each other; however, this is their last and particularly moving scene together while Eddie is in detention:

EDDIE: I think we ought to start our life old. And we have all the pain, and we’re feeble, and we look at our friends, and they’re feeble, they’re a hundred. But every day we get younger, and we have something to look forward to.

MAUREEN: You start out old, and then you get young?

EDDIE: You can’t take care of yourself but... there’s hope. And then, when you reach twenty, nineteen, twelve, ten, every day is really a new day, and it’s really a miracle.

MAUREEN: Eddie, you gotta get outta here.

EDDIE: And then you’re a baby, and you don’t know your life is ending, you just suck on your mother’s tit, and then you die.

Very much so

Em. Benaki St., Athens, 17.02.2012