Classical Thursday

One of my favorite music pieces ever: Chopin's Nocturne (2nd movement).

Here it is transcribed for my favorite instrument: the Cello.

Enjoy!

F. Chopin, Nocturne op. 9,2 Martin Ostertag & Boris Bagger

Classical Thursday

Camille Saint-Saëns - Suite, Op. 16, Romance: Molto adagio (4/5)

A beautiful, relaxing piece that can be interpreted as having as much emotion as you wish.

Turn the sound up, though, this version of the track is quiet, for some reason.

CQ : Dragonfly

One of my all time favorite movies. Nothing intellectual about this admiration, really, just a visceral pleasure at how it is such a whimsical homage to a certain time period and place (late 1960s Europe).

Also, I'm a big fan of 60s spy spoofs. Yeah, the ones that were parodied in a parody called Austin Powers. Unfortunately, the makers of Austin Powers missed the point entirely. Whatever.

This is a charming film by Roman Coppola. Yes, son of Francis Ford and brother to Sofia (one of my favorite directors).

Below is the official trailer, and after that is an awesome piece of music from the score/soundtrack. Enjoy!

Again with the Doors

The Doors phase is still on. The summer is in full swing, hot and balmy and I feel more alive than ever.

What is it about the Doors? It's like a fine wine laced with aphrodisiac, really. It makes me feel strong and attractive. Women look prettier, my step is lighter and my usually low self esteem is given a temporary shot of awesome.

Yeah like being DRUNK. Oops.

Maybe it has to do with the fact that I discovered this band while dating my first ever girlfriend. What a pivotal, intense part of my life.

Maybe it was due to the first time I ever smoked weed- I was with my buddy Jonathan at his place, and we watched Oliver Stone's movie on said band. I kind of had a minor revelation while hearing "This is the End". Wowsers.

Anyhow, enjoy a few songs:

Ending of Spanish Caravan (awesome solo by Ray Manzarek)


Waiting for the Sun


Roadhouse Blues

Classica Thursday

Uchida conducts Mozart's Piano Concerto #20 - Allegro I

This lady is fantastic. She's SO INTO the music that it gives me goosebumps. What a musician and conductor.

Meeting Minutes + bonus sketch

Some neat but rough sketches. The last one was my signature on my buddy Chuck's birthday card.


FYI: Chuck is a kick ass photographer. Check out his stuff here:
Ottawa Photos

Retro Crush :: Nancy Kovack

I recently purchased the digitally remastered bluray of Jason and the Argonauts. Besides the INCREDIBLE stop motion animation, there was another aspect of the movie that caught my eye: Medea, Jason's love interest.

This dancing priestess of Hecate, Greek goddess of magic and crossroads, was portrayed by the charming Nancy Kovack, whom you might recognize from the 60s Batman or from Star Trek.

Below are some images to better explain. WARNING: at least one of these images contains a sultry expression of smug defiance.




Her Wiki Page

Dieting

So I'm going to attempt the South Beach Diet these next two weeks. That means no sugar and no carbs for two weeks. No alcohol either. Ouch. We'll see. I'll be posting what I ate for the day, along with a sketch. This will discipline me in two ways!

Huzzah!

Also, fixed up the sketch from last week. I'll be playing with colours next, as well as working on the gun itself.

Classical Thursday (sort of)

One of my all time favorite pieces of music: the second movement from Joseph Haydn's Cello Concerto No. 2. This performance is by the VERY talented Jacqueline du Pré.

As usual, hit play and minimize. The YouTube video here has a slideshow of Romantic Era paintings, which are quite beautiful.

I like this poem

Roger Ebert posted this poem by e e cummings on his blog. It was in response to an interesting comment about how we should stop obsessing over the debates regarding the art world and concentrate on living (turn off the computer and put a bookmark in your book so that you can go outside and kiss a pretty girl).

Anyway, here it is:


mr youse needn't be so spry
concernin questions arty

each has his tastes but as for i
i likes a certain party

gimme the he-man's solid bliss
for youse ideas i'll match youse

a pretty girl who naked is
is worth a million statues

Meeting Minutes

Don't ask.

Summer and the Doors

So I just came back from two weeks holiday. Wonderful time, really. A fantastic wedding for a fantastic pair of friends; Toy Story 3; mega sale on Steam (PC games) and generally mastering the art of procrastination.

Now that summer is in full swing and the first heat wave has hit us, I've begun listening to the Doors again. Inadvertently, during the first heat wave of every summer since High School, I've made this into a sort of tradition.


I'm not sure what starts it. Perhaps it is the glorious sun smiling down on us. Perhaps it is because of all the pretty girls in summer dresses (seriously, the image of my wife in a bright flowery summer dress will be the last thing that I will happily reminisce about on my death bed).

Regardless, this time is the Doors time. Mostly Morrison Hotel and Strange Days. God I love that band so much.

Anyhow, here is a sketch that I did this morning of one of the two bird people in Corben. This one is Gretta.