Mítico título de pandilleros motorizados que elevó aún más a Marlon Brando (quien utilizó su propia moto Triumph en el film) como ídolo de la época por su espléndida caracterización del personaje de Johnny, cuasi impertérrito líder de un numeroso grupo de moteros ausentes de las normas y el orden cívico que rigen la convivencia de una pequeña localidad americana.

Fuente:http://www.alohacriticon.com/elcriticon/article1094.html

En los años cincuentas Estados Unidos empezaba a recuperarse de la segunda guerra mundial y la industria automovilística crecía a gran velocidad. Los show cars proliferaban y entre ellos estaba el  Dodge  Zeder Storm Z-50.

Se buscaba a los grandes carroceros italianos para crear elegantes y llamativos trajes a medida de los chasis americanos. En concreto, el Zeder fue diseñado por Bertone sobre una plataforma y motores Dodge  para Chrysler. Destaca el larguísimo capó motor y una cabina retrasada. La parte trasera empezaba a mostrar unos tímidos aletines que ocultaban la caída de la zaga, que recuerda a algunos Ferrari de la época. No he podido encontrar mucha más información sobre este elegante Gran Turismo italo-americano.

Fuente: bertone.it

The Queen and Duke of Edinburgh land in Bermuda for an official visit despite a diplomatic spat between the island and the UK…. From BBC News. Full story

This site may contain information about: flight+transportation. The blog is also related to: lax airport.

1953, by Graham Downey
Exploration @ La Mama
Sat. 14 Nov. to Mon. 16 Nov.

It was nouveau avant garde and all that and I don’t really understand this play but it’s got something very fascinating about it and the story had such charm and put it so nicely—that—that—that—

— Sir John Gielgud discussing David Storey’s Home

My faux-Beckettian dialogue that basically sums up my feeling about this play:

VLAD.:      Ah, Downy, today you learned me a fine thing. A fine thing indeed.
DOWN.:    Me?
VLAD.:      You.
DOWN.:    And what fine thing would that be then?
VLAD.:      O, a very grand piece of learning. Very grand.
DOWN.:    When? Just now?
VLAD.:      This only night.
DOWN.:    Nothing occurs.
VLAD.:      While you were doing that thing up there.
DOWN.:    O, the thing with the light and the book? Is that what mean?
VLAD.:      Yes. That was it. A fine thing indeed. Gielgud, Sir John … his life and times. Troubles … triumphs … bitter medicine taken … sweet draught of success. Wasn’t it all wonderful?
DOWN.:    Yes. Yes it was wonderful.
VLAD:.      Yes.
DOWN.:    Yes.
VLAD.:      I was learned another fine thing this day … but … what was it? What was it? What. I’ve forgotten. Yes. Forgotten. It’s gone. O, but this. This, I shall not forget, Graham Downy. This thing I shall remember.

Graham Downey is one of Melbourne’s great contemporary playwriting talents. That is, of course, a different thing from saying that he’s one of Melbourne’s great playwrights, or that he’s ever written one of Melbourne’s great plays, but I’ve never seen anything of his and not thought, wow, this guy can write.

For this little exploratory piece, Downey has wittily built two characters from a bit of suitcase learning and, pitching them together in a sort of leanto arrangement, established with them a neat dramatic argument, of sorts. But not one, I think, likely to hold together given any long duration.

The characters are, however, great. The first is Sir John Gielgud, 1953, the year he was arrested and fined for ‘importuning’. He is in New York, making a public performance of his private sentiments, esp. homosexuality and England, a thing he in fact did only posthumously, with the publication of his private letters, 2004, which are, according to Vladimir, a key source material for this production.

The other character is Vladimir, Beckett’s transient tramp from Waiting for Godot, première, 1953. Vladimir stands outside Gielgud’s spotlight, interrupting with a post-Beckettian critique of Gielgud’s performance as Gielgud, Downey’s performance as Gielgud, and Downey’s performance as Vladimir, as well as regurgitating such biographical material as couldn’t be worked into the Gielgud routine.

It’s a charming scenario and holds together well. But there’s an air of apologia about much of what goes on. Vladimir in particular seems aggrieved by the play he finds himself in and keen to apologise for it. This manner does not seem entirely appropriate, as though it were an especial indulgence to write in a semi-absurdist style.

Naturally, it is an indulgence, but hardly one far above the ordinary indulgences of theatre, one that needs be expounded in the almost derisive manner of Vladimir.

 ”Warmongers will be forced to pay a costly price,” the North’s main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary carried by the official Korean Central News Agency. “We never utter empty words.”

North Korea is again threatening South Korea over something that North Korea is to be blamed for.

Over the years after the split in 1953, North Korea has instigated bloodshed battles with the South but in North Korea, it seems like South Korea is the one who started all. In fact, due to media that’s run by the government and huge propaganda, North Koreans believe that North Korea is very innocent and defensive and that South Korea and the U.S. are the ones preparing for a possible attack.

The recent clash at sea between the two was only about a week before Obama’s visit to South Korea. North Korea enjoys playing these psychological games which I think is redundant and very childish indeed.

Obama is in South Korea now and will meet with the president of South Korea and North Korea’s nuclear problem is going to be indeed the top issue that will be dealt in the summit.

Kim Jong Il seems to love showing the world how brave he is and that he won’t back down.

                           Sonnet II

Don’t look back at the long road. Pave ahead!

For things behind us are so. Save your eyes!

Don’t strain your mind remembering. Rise instead!

For things behind us are. So rise, man, rise!

Wisdom of the East held world respect.

Senseless is progress it would claim.

The world looked on in genuflect;

As verb, to orient is still one’s aim.

But Orient stagnated. Move brought fears -

A game of chess check-mated. See them now!

Ancestors were worshipped, spilt milk caused tears.

A great past re-created, made them bow.

Don’t use beer to cry in, ‘stead save your drink.

You make the bed you lie in. Man, man, think!

Retrogression? Worthless! Imprisons the will!

Surge forward! Forward your search! Man, keep strong!

Life’s so short, while the road ahead, so long!

©Sonnet II 53.5 Definitely Didactic;   Arlene Corwin

                            Sonnet

Man has a goal and that is this: Be fair.

This goal will lead to all that he could want.

Man has a goal and that is this: A faire.

A faire les choses et voir ce que les homes font.

Be fair to your mind, be fair to your corp,

But fare all tu fais in the best way tu sais,

For fairness will pay the right fare to board;

To board Good Street bus which rides Life’s Highway.

For this bus arrête few times dans une vie,

And discriminates as to its farers.

The far is nor fer and not money indeed;

Not inherited from one’s forebearers.

Strive for this fairness, it’s really worthwhile.

Earn the bus fare cause it’s well worth the mile.

©

Sonnet 53.4 Definitely Didactic;   Arlene Corwin

The Black Rebel Motorcycle Club (BRMC for short) is an American alternative rock band from San Francisco.  They formed in 1998 and took the name from Marlon Brando’s motorcycle gang in the 1953 film, The Wild One.  In the film the gang was referred to Black Rebels MC.

But, I smell a legal battle because Marlon Brando’s estate signed off on a new project with Triumph Motorcycles to debut Brando-related apparel at the company’s dealerships. As you may recall Brando played a tough biker gang leader Johnny Strabler and rode a 1950 Triumph Thunderbird 6T.  The Triumph Legends Line will offer replica leather jackets inspired by the movie.  The replica includes key features of Brando’s original jacket right down to the embroidered ‘Johnny‘ name tag and the BRMC (Black Rebel Motorcycle Club) distressed print on the back of the jacket. They are also developing Brando print men’s and ladies’ T-shirts.

All of this will likely add to the “what-to-wear” debate and whether you’ll get beat down for imitating or wearing so-called “colors” of a motorcycle club (i.e. SOA: Son’s of Anarchy or BRMC).  Maybe you’re indifferent.   If so you wreak more Brando than you think.  He was famous in the movie for being outright contemptuous for contemporary middle-class society.  Asked what he was rebelling against and his response was “What have you got?”

Photo courtesy of Triumph

All Rights Reserved © Northwest Harley Blog

Hello

July 5th – not Independence Day, but nonetheless a day that will go down in history as the day when Roger Federer finally won 15 grand slam tennis titles – saw another historic milestone. Yes, that’s right: book club no.30! If only we’d realised this at the time we might have made more of an effort to celebrate it.

The text before us was “The Doors of Perception & Heaven and Hell” – two separate, short works of non-fiction prose (our first foray into this genre) by renowned English bohemian and all-round literary dabbler, Aldous Huxley.

The group was reduced to a core of four personages – Owain (host), Sophie (hostess and sous chef), Pete (watching the tennis) and Ed (late). Nonetheless – and despite a certain amount of trepidation about how to approach these tricky, ambiguous books – the session was immensely fruitful and thought-provoking.

Debate started by considering Huxley’s motivations for writing the book, a description of a mescalin trip he took in 1953 and its impact on his thinking about mystical or visionary experiences. Pete argued that Huxley in some sense through this book helped give birth to the Californian movement (which has been so important in the modern West) which focused on self-realisation and consciousness expansion, and that this book was particularly influential in giving credence to the drugs movement that became emerged during the 1960s. When considering why these books remain in print and are regarded so highly, we felt that Huxley’s status as an outsider – an English aristocrat arguing for drug legalisation – was significant.

We also discussed how Huxley’s attitudes to drugs in these books seem to differ from that in “Brave New World”, where his invented drug ’soma’ is used to keep the masses in a state of soporific acquiesence. And we considered the relationship of this book to previous book club authors, including JG Ballard (who wrote a cursory introduction to our edition of the text) and Thomas Pynchon, the former developing Huxley’s interest in how drugs began to permeate mainstream, ‘respectable’ society during the second half of the twentieth century, while the latter was clearly influenced by Huxley’s description of the paranoia that drug trips could bring on.

However, despite the interesting ideas raised by both books, the group found them on the whole rather disappointing. “The Doors of Perception” – with its greater narrative drive – was agreed to be the stronger of the two, but “Heaven and Hell” came in for particular criticism, especially from Ed who commented on Huxley’s pro-drugs stance and the distinct lack of a “hell” in his description of what drugs such as mescalin do to people’s minds and behaviour.

Owain (who chose the book) was particularly let down by it, finding the narrative description of Huxley’s trip – though its strongest part – still weak and unexciting, while he felt the other sections looking at the role of mysticism in art and religion were simply poorly argued, biased and subjective. We also agreed that the pieces of art shown or played to Huxley during his trip by his wife and friend – Cezanne, Mozart, Botticelli, Van Gogh – demonstrated a canonical bias of Huxley’s time and place without shedding too much valuable light on the impact of the drug trip itself.

All in all, there was much to discuss – including genre, the status of the book as ’scientific’ or otherwise, its Western bias and Orientalist attitudes, and its wider cultural impact – but our feeling was the book was not all it was cracked up to be.

The baton is passed over to Fleming (host of one of our favourite ever book clubs) even though he couldn’t be bothered to turn up this time.

Pete

This weekend I watched the John Ford classic, Mogambo, starring Clark Gale, Ava Gardner and Grace Kelly. The film was great – Africa, exotic animals, love triangle and of course the clothes. wait…the pearls! how can I forget that. Ava Gardner is simply stunning.

Deliciosas escenas musicales, sobre todo de la espectacular Marilyn

Director: Howard Hawks.
Guión: Charles Lederer (Novela: Anita Loos).
Reparto: Marilyn Monroe, Jane Russell, Charles Coburn, Tommy Noonan, Elliott Reid, George Winslow.

“Madame de…était une femme très élégante, très brillante, très fêtée. Elle semblait promise à une jolie vie sans histoire.”
“Rien ne serait probablement arrivé sans ce bijou…”

Am 17.Juni 1953 gab es einen Aufstand des Volkes der DDR. Zu tun hatte das mit der vorherigen Unterdrückung der Bevölkerung, der Erhöhung der Arbeitsnorm (sprich: längere Arbeitszeit für gleiches Gehalt) und die Unentschlossenheit der SED. Wie es genau zum Aufstand kam? Hier ist die Antwort:

Protestierende Bewohner schwenken die Flagge der BRD

Juni 1952

Walter Ulbricht verkündete den sog. Aufbau des Sozialismus. Dem Volk wird ein Paradies vorgegaukelt, da die schlecht liegende Wirtschaft in der Nachkriegszeit den meisten Menschen Probleme bereitet haben.

In den folgenden Monaten kommt es dann zur wirtschaftlichen Krise. Der Alltag wird immer mehr durch Versorgungsengpässe und Mangelwirtschaft geprägt. Der Verdienst eines Arbeiters beträgt 1952 0,80 Mark pro Stunde. Zum Vergleich kostete ein billiges Kilogramm Butter 4,20 Mark. In einem sog. HO-Laden (Handelsorganisationsladen) der in der DDR immer häufiger vorkam betrug der Preis sogar 24 Mark. Das sorgte für erste Zweifel in der Bevölkerung.

HO-Laden der DDR

März 1953

Stalin, der Herrscher Russlands verstirbt. Das Erzeugt die Hoffnung bei vielen Bewohnern auf eine Midlerung des strengen Herrschaftssystems. Außerdem wollte man Verbesserungen in Sachen Versorgung mit Lebensmitteln und Konsumgütern.

Josef Stalin starb am 5.März 1953 an den Folgen eines Schlaganfalls. Er wurde 74 Jahre alt.

Mai 1953

Die SED beschließt eine Erhöhung der Arbeitsnorm um 10%. Wenn man 40 Stunden in der Woche gearbeitet hat und so sein Geld verdiente, musste man für den selben Lohn ab jetzt 44 Stunden arbeiten. Außerdem erfolgte eine allgemeine Preissteigerung. Bereits hier beginnen vereinzelte Streiks in der gesamten DDR.

Das SED-Regime

Noch im selben Monat kommt eine neue Regierung in Russland an die Macht. Die DDR, die in der Besatzungzone liegt, profitiert nun aus Sicht des Volkes. Die SED wird gezwungen, mit Hilfe des “Neuen Kurs”, den Gürtel zu lösen. Sowohl die vorherigen Maßnahmen als auch die  Einschränkungen aus wirtschaftlicher Sicht, verzapft durch SED, müssen aufgehoben werden. Die Bevölkerung atmet auf.

Juni 1953

Zwar werden Einschränkungen und Maßnahmen aufgehoben, allerdings bleibt die Normerhöhung beim alten. Unverändert sorgt das wieder für Unruhen und Bewohner der DDR Zweifeln langsam an der Fähigkeit der SED.

16.06.1953

Ganz Ostberlin Streikt. Die SED sieht jedoch zu und ignoriert die Forderungen, die gestellt werden. Die Arbeiter wollen endlich eine Rücknahme der Normen, einen Rücktritt der Regierung, wegen Unfähigkeit und freie Wahlen, die zuvor ja nur so aussahen, dass man entweder für, oder gegen die Regierung stimmen konnte, und keine konkreten Parteien hatte. Spät am Abend gingen die streikenden nach Hause.

17.06.1953

Der Volksaufstand. Am Abend des 15. Juni’s berichtete der Radiosender im amerikanischen Sektor (kurz: RIAS) über einen geplanten Aufstand. Die Belegschaft von großen Betrieben versammelte sich auf den Straßen und Plätzen der Städte. In ca. 500 Städten, wie neueste Forschungen ergeben haben, verweigerte man den Arbeitsdienst.

Hierbei wurden 11 Kreisratgebäude, 14 Bürgermeistereien, 7 Kreisleitungen und eine Bezirksleitung der SED besetzt. Hauptsächlich waren die Streiks in Berlin und Industrieregionen, wie z.B. bei Halle. Man schätzt die Zahl der Beteiligten von 400.000 bis 1,5 Millionen. Der Sachschaden der allein in Berlin entstand betrug geschätzt 500.000 Mark. 46 Polizisten wurden verletzt, darunter ganze 11 schwer.Die Polizei war so überfordert beim Unterdrücken des Aufstandes, dass die Regierung in den Schutz der Sowjets nach Berlin-Karlsruhe gingen. Deshalb vermutet man, dass die sowjetischen Truppen dazu beitrugen, die Aufstände wieder zu unterdrücken.

Erst sehr spät meldete sich die Regierung:

Um 14 Uhr wurde eine Erklärung des Ministerpräsidenten Otto Grotewohl im DDR-Rundfunk ausgestrahlt: Darin wurde ausdrücklich noch einmal die Rücknahme der Normenerhöhungen erklärt. Der Aufstand jedoch sei „das Werk von Provokateuren und faschistischen Agenten ausländischer Mächte und ihrer Helfershelfer aus deutschen kapitalistischen Monopolen“. Alle „Arbeiter und ehrlichen Bürger“ forderte er auf, mitzuhelfen, „die Provokateure zu ergreifen und den Staatsorganen zu übergeben“.

(aus dem zugehörigen Artikel von Wikipedia.org)

Der Aufstand wurde von sowjetischen Truppen niedergeschlagen. Insgesamt kamen 34 Mitbürger um ihr Leben. Zu Gedenken von 11 Bürgern wurde ein Grab errichtet (siehe Bild unten)

Chitragupta is known as a music director, but just like a few other fellow music directors, he too had come to Bombay hoping to make it big as a singer, rather than as a music director. He became the assistant of S N Tripathi and then soon landed his first movie as an independent music director in 1946.

While composing songs, he sometimes sang in his songs too. Here is a lovely song from “Manchala”(1953). The song is “Bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa par tera pataa maaloom nahin”. It is written by Raja Mehdi Ali Khan and Chitragupta himself was the music director as well.

Now a days this has become a forgotten song but this song was quite popular when it was first released. And listening to this song is sung a nice experience.

Song-Bhagwan tujhe main khat likhtaa (Manchalaa)(1953) Singer-Chitragupta,Lyrics-Raja Mehdi Ali Khan,MD-Chitragupta

Lyrics

Bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa
par teraa pataa maloom nahin
Bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa
par teraa pataa maloom nahin
ro ro likhtaa jag ki bipdaa
ro ro likhtaa jag ki bipdaa
par teraa pataa maloom nahin
Bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa

tujhe buraa lage ya bhalaa lage
teri duniyaa apne ko jami nahin
tujhe buraa lage ya bhalaa lage
teri duniyaa apne ko jami nahin
kuchh kahte huye dar lagtaa hai
yahaan dushton ki kuchh kami nahin
maalik
maalik tujhe sab kuchh samjhaataa
par teraa pataa
teraa pataa maaloom nahin
Bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa
par teraa pataa maaloom nahin

mere sar pe dukh ki gathri hai
mere sar pe dukh ki gathri hai
raaton ko nahin main sotaa hoon
kahin jaag uthen naa padosi isliye
zor se main nahin rotaa hoon
tere saamne baith ke main rotaa
par teraa pataa
teraa pataa maaloom nahin
bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa
par teraa pataa maaloom nahin

kuchh kahoon to duniyaa kahti hai
aansoo na bahaa bakwaas naa kar
bakwaas na kar bakwaas na kar
aisi duniya mein mujhe rakh ke
maalik meraa satyanaash na kar
maalik meraa satyanaash na kar
tere paas main khud hi aa jaataa
par teraa pataa
teraa pataa maaloom nahin
bhagwaan tujhe main khat likhtaa
par teraa pataa maaloom nahin

This is the fifth song from “Shikast” (1953) that I am posting here. This shows that this movie had some lovely songs in it.

This song is sung by Rafi and Lata and it is picturised on Dilip Kumar and Nalini Jaiwant. Shailendra is the lyricist and Shankar Jaikishan composed the music. This song appears twice in the movie with slightly different lyrics. Here is one of the versions.

Song-Nayi zindagi se pyaar kar ke dekh (Shikast) (1953) Singers-Rafi, Lata, Lyrics-Shailendra, MD-Shankar Jaikishan

Lyrics

ho o o
ho o
ho o

nayi zindagi se pyaar kar ke dekh
iske roop kaa singaar kar ke dekh
ispe jo bhi hai nisaar kar ke dekh
nayi zindagi se pyaar kar ke dekh
nayi zindagi se pyaar kar ke dekh
iske roop kaa singaar kar ke dekh
ispe jo bhi hai nisaar kar ke dekh
nayi zindagi se pyaar kar ke dekh