Why am I here,

In the middle of nowhere,

Shaking in fear-

Life is so unfair.

The empty rooms

echo in silence,

like haunted tombs-

In deathly cadence.

The tears flow unbidden,uncalled

Wretched I lay frozen and appalled

at my mind crowded in anarchy

Filled to the brim with lethargy.

So I sit alone and stare

Out of windows into dirty nights-

That unfold in tumultous despair.

Take me away, take me away,

From this place to the one I care.

Lift me away,lift me away,

From this hell to the clouds I pray.

And the silence screams into the darkness

Swallow me,Oh swallow me-ee!!

And the heart yearns into the stillness,

Embrace me,Oh embrace me-e!!

The fire burns down to ashes

The sun hides behind the stars.

The vacuum upon her closes,

Her screams ring from afar.

Tribute to Salvador Felipe  Jacinto Dali I Domenech.

This maestro of the brush and charcoal was born on the 11th of May,1904,Figueres,Spain. He was the son of a well-off notary and was educated in the San Fernando Academy of Fine Arts. he gave his first one man show in 1925 in Barcelona. Dali met Gala Eluard early in his life and married her later. She became his principal muse and source of inspiration.

Dali’s paintings were mostly surrealistic. His work the Persistence of Memory with the melting watches is one of the greatest works in surreal art. But in the 1940’s his style shifted to the scientific and the religious. In his classic period after the WWII Dali drew 19 canvases on religion and his thoughts of science. He evolved constantly as a painter,artist and as a human; giving expression to his opinions through his art. Here are a few of his works.

The Persistence of memory.

The Geopoliticus child

The three sphinxes of bikini

The temptation of St anthony

The ship

Sleep

Dali mused on Freudian concepts and also experimented with the edges of reality pulling it to see how far it would go. In persistence of memory he is actually thought to allude to Einstein’s theory of relativity. apparently the inspiration for that came from looking at runny cheese. he was said to sit for days on end gazing into nothingness till the sound of a clanging spoon would stir him and he’d draw the first thing that came to his mind. His eccentricity and inner arrogance also spills over in his works. He was also given to frequently assigning animals to human emotions and everyday phenomena.

Here are a few more works done in even more surreal tones.

The necrophiliac spring flowering from a piano with a tail.

The hallucinagenic toreader

And this is my personal favorite. Seldom does an artist come around full circle to paint or even contemplate painting the disintegration of his own art. Dali tread that untrodden path back to one of his paintings. He painted the Disintegration of the Persistence of Memory. For an artist that is bold and risky, for the second painting may well destroy the novelty and beauty of the first one, and invites more critique as now art lovers have a yardstick for comparing the imaginative clockwork of the same mind.

But then Dali says “Those who do not want to  imitate anything, produce nothing.”

Full circle of dreams

Here’s to the dreamy success of this surreal painter who lived half his life in our real world and half in the other dimension which most of us strive to enter and almost none of us ever understand. This is a tribute more to the definite and finite paradigm Dali created of measuring and defining surrealism rather than an appreciation of his skills with the brush (which were outstanding). This is a tribute to a man who walked unafraid in the midst of his bizarre dreams, and came back unscathed into a world where such images had no place. He took our mundane existences and turned them into celebrations of the abstract that is hidden in every one of them. He was a man who dared, who challenged. He was an artist who thumbed the dregs of Sanity and forayed into the frayed edges of the Insane and the Obtuse.

Often in life we take people around us to be like images frozen in a frame. We think that those images will live on forever. That life will remain rosy and the sun will always shine. That there will always be a tomorrow to appreciate the beauty of that picture. Or even better to appreciate and be grateful to the artist behind the image. So often we just keep our valedictories for another day. Often we just don’t think that such images need nurturing,that they might need restoration.

But one day all of a sudden,out of the blue, you realise that too many such chances have been passed up;too many images have faded;too many restorations abandoned.

So I will get to my point here..you never know where life will take you..it tends to have a mind of its own..but before you completely get lost in the jungle of your problems maybe all of us need to touch up the colors on those pictures. We all think that those who matter in our lives know it and that we don’t need to tell them or show them whenever we can. But the truth is that everyone is insecure and at the same instant that you’re thinking whether the person in front wants to be with you or wants to talk to you-99 chances outta 100 they’re thinkin’ the same thing. Everyone is insecure. Everyone needs to be reminded they’re needed and are wanted and are loved.

So it takes only a few moments of your otherwise busy lives to drop a line for these people, to paint a new picture with them. But often we’re too busy for it. So go out there and spread the colors of caring. If you care then show it and do it soon. Also do it without expectation. Do not want to get frames back because often you won’t. Often people will not reciprocate but those who do will make your efforts worthwhile. So stop being selfish and open your arms to the world. Let them in and let your colors out. Paint the world in your faith.

Do it soon…the hourglass just turned.

Good hunting and God Bless.

So I’m really tired and really bogged down with like loads of stuff to do..study I mean…thats the “loads” I’m talking about here and I have to hear lectures about brand names of labs!!! Thought I’d outgrown those when I was wearing cheap hogmarket stuff and the rest of the world was wearing Lee or Pepe..those were the painful days…so I hate brand names..NOT sour grapes I promise..this is totally neutral hating..(check out the use of oxymoron..nice hmm?)

But looks like high tech science labs can come up equipped with brand names too.!!!!  Yippeee!! YAYEEE!!!! Life is made!!! OOOhhhh!!!…okk you get the general picture of how a grad student is supposed to react to the aforesaid labeled lab. Think of how a slumdog-pauperionnaire would react to a Gucci dress…

So I got this Holier-than-thou lecture on how I should be kissing their holy rear ends because they had accepted me into their hallowed be thy Holy Holy Moley Ignatius lab..the brand name I was told would make my life. Look good on my CV. Get me into an even more highly hallowed holier-than-them lab!!!! So I was told to brush my teeth and stock up on mouthwash ’cause I was gonna hav’ to start a lot of kissing soon!!

So then the guy went on to say that it was a rich lab and how I should be grateful pathetically that it was rich and I needn’t place any limits on my thinking because hey they weren’t slumdogs..

If I was a rich girl (na, na….)
See, I’d have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl
No man could test me, impress me, my cash flow would never ever end
Cause I’d have all the money in the world, if I was a wealthy girl…naaaanaanaaa

Nice song..liked the pirates of caribbean feel…haha..

So notice how the central theme of what scientists are supposed to do and be is kind of forgotten legend. I mean ohh yeah we’re working for “humanity” and “cures” and “we care so we do”  and a lot of other stuff that has come down to getting brand named labs and hotshot publications…

So what if the rest of the world is waiting for a cure..they don’t understand what we do anyway..just tell them its complicated and more time consuming..and build your own career..Get that Gucci label on your CV. Oh and for this you need to work haaarddd…..

The trick to sounding harsh and intimidating while talking mildly is all in the intonation. All you have to do is get the right Evil Dead expression and the correct zombie voice form Thriller…put ‘em together and wham!!…you’ve got scary “wo-o-o-rk H-aa-aa-aard!!!” repeat the words a few times and you’ve got The Haunting sequel right inside lab. Add the spice of a pin drop silent atmosphere,automatons moving around, a wicked witch of the West supervising you and you’ll be set for Blairwitch project II. In technicolor!!! The only saving grace is the advisor himself who is sort of a shy sweetheart who actually seems harrowed at so many vultures picking at HIS award. Sigh…so no go..I tried..and failed…I’m not hard asssed or sacrificial enough to want to waste 5 precious years in a morgue..0oops..lab..this sad…so I’m going back to my previous hippie beer toting advisor..yayy!!

Dust to dust ,ashes to ashes..

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11 weltberühmte «Classics for Pan»

«Classics for Pan» ist eine Sammlung von elf der berühmtesten Klassik-Melodien für 1 oder 2 Panflöte/n.
Die Bearbeitung erfolgte in besonders leichter Manier, bei einigen Stücken kommen aber auch
fortgeschrittene Spieler auf ihre Kosten. Die Melodien sind auch mit nur einer Panflöte sehr gut spielbar.

Der Inhalt: Andante (Mozart), Ungarischer Tanz Nr.5 (Brahms), Für Elise (Beethoven), Freude (Beethoven),
Die Moldau (Smetana), Melodie (Rubinstein), Te Deum (Charpentier), Tristesse (Chopin), Aida-Marsch (Verdi),
Wohl mir, dass ich Jesum habe (Bach), Barkarole (Offenbach)

24 Seiten – Broschur A5 – Sfr 15.-/Euro 9.- / Bei Ihrem Musikhändler

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“Atâta vreme cât va exista dragostea de poezie, va exista şi folkul”

(Constantin Neculae)

Joia de Folk din această saptămână îi are ca invitaţi pe Raul Cârstea şi Constantin Neculae (cunoscuţi ca şi grupul Andante). Când cei doi s-au cunoscut în 1988 la un festival  studenţesc, Raul cânta folk, iar Lae făcea parte dintr-o trupă. Făcându-i cunoscută afinitatea mea pentru trupa timişoreană Abra, Lae îşi aminteşte zâmbind că la acel festival ei concurau tocmai cu Abra, care atunci a câştigat locul I.

După acel spectacol din 1988, Raul, care făcuse parte din Cenaclul Flacăra între 1982 – 1985, l-a abordat pe Lae şi i-a propus să cânte împreună. Acesta din urmă îşi aminteste că, deşi neavând foarte multe în comun cu folkul, i-a plăcut ce-a ieşit atunci când au “luat amândoi chitarele în braţe”.

Întrebat de felul în care cei doi işi scriu piesele, Lae a spus “că toate piesele sunt compuse de Raul. Împreună le rearanjăm pentru două chitare”. Prima lor piesă împreună a fost Cai în genunchi, pe versurile Constanţei Buzea. Surprinzător, piesele celor doi nu apar pe niciun disc, excepţie făcând Ca un fum de ţigară, sufletul, pe versurile lui A. Păunescu şi care se regăseşte pe unul din discurile Cenaclului Flacăra, cu acelaşi nume.

Lae a declarat cu amabilitate pentru FolkBlog că au în pregătire un album, intitulat Delta Lunară, material ce va conţine 17 piese, dintre care o parte sunt cântece mai vechi, remasterizate, iar altele sunt compoziţii noi.

Titlul albumului, spune Lae, descrie “ceea ce gândim noi despre muzica noastră: delta este mediul cu numărul cel mai mare de forme de viaţă de pe planetă, reprezintă simbolul abundenţei de viaţă şi de trăiri, iar asocierea cu luna – loc total neprielnic vieţii – se aseamănă cu locul muzicii folk în lumea pe care o trăim: abundenţa de trăiri şi sentimente într-o lume aridă, rece, care pune din ce în ce mai mult accent pe interes şi material”. Lae a ţinut să menţioneze că metafora nu le aparţine, ci vine de la titlul unei piese de pe acest album, scrisă pe versurile lui A. Păunescu.

Într-un stil uşor iscoditor, l-am întrebat apoi pe Lae dacă o chitară electrică, de exemplu, nu distorsionează stilul muzical în cauză, împingându-l în afara formulei clasice, un om şi-o chitară. Dorinţa mea a fost să aflu dacă, din perspectiva unor muzicieni cu o bogată experienţă muzicală, folkul de azi îşi pierde din vigoarea mesajului, făcând loc unor noi instrumente şi efecte, distrăgând poate astfel atenţia de la poezia în sine.

Am pus această întrebare în condiţiile în care concertele folk devin din ce în ce mai dese, apar nume noi precum Alina Manole sau Ovidiu Scridon (ca să mă refer acum strict la două abordări diferite ale genului), iar generaţia tânără devine tot mai avidă de mesajul propus de muzica folk.

Lae a fost de părere că toate aceste îmbogăţiri “ţin de formă şi de felul în care fiecare artist alege să-şi îmbrace mesajul (vezi Emeric Set), dar esenţa constă în mesaj, în ceea ce ai de transmis. Folkul nu exista dacă nu exista poezie. Forma de exprimare era primară: un om şi o chitară. Unii au senzaţia că evoluează dacă se exprimă mai complex, în ceea ce priveşte sunetul. Problema e dacă mai transmit ceva. Atâta vreme cât va exista dragostea de poezie, va exista şi folkul”

La spusele mele legate de faptul că generaţia noastră – cel puţin – nu mai are nevoie de atâtea tristeţuri, de stări de angoasă exprimate liric, Lae a răspuns că tristeţea nu e o boală, ci o stare pe care o exprimi, la fel cum exprimi bucuria sau dragostea.

Parca citindu-mi gândul, a ţinut să precizeze că “muzica noastră nu e tristă, este de dragoste. Cântăm numai poeţi, Nichita Stănescu, Constanţa Buzea, Nicolae Mocanu, Negoiţă Irimie, Ion Minulescu, Corneliu Antoniu, Adrian Păunescu ş.a.m.d.”.

Un astfel de exemplu este Cântec în ploaie, pe versurile poetului clujean Negoiţă Irimie, urmat de o recomandare literară din partea lui Lae: cartea Strada cu un singur număr, de acelaşi autor.

Şi ca să vă mai fac un pic poftă de această Joie de folk, Lae ne-a dezvăluit o surpriză: îl vom avea printre noi ca invitat şi pe poetul Nicolae Mocanu, pe ale cărui versuri cei doi au compus piesa Zădărnicie. Şi dacă vom fi cuminţi, poate vom avea parte şi de un moment recitativ.

Aşadar, dragilor şi dragelor, vă aşteptăm cu mic, cu mare, la o nouă Joie de Folk, cu muzică şi poezie, în acelaşi beci roşu de pe Memo 23.

ARTICOLE DIN ACEEAŞI RUBRICĂ

Greetings everyone!  So last night Frank and I went out to see one of his friends/colleagues  play a piano concerto with the Erie Phil Harmonic but, this wasn’t a normal date oh no.  Remember how I mentioned that I was uber anxious meeting his friends/colleagues and vice a versa…well he thought it would be a great idea to invite me to the concert while he brought a friend and I could bring a friend.  Well, in hopes of putting some of my anxieties to ease, and/or having something wild to blog about, I accepted. 

I feel I should be a little clearer as to why I was so nervous about going to these concerts with Frank. (I’ve been trying to keep Frank’s history and profession a little bit guarded considering he doesn’t know I have a blog)  Frank is a musician and these concerts are populated with a ton of people that he knows and on top of that the audience is usually filled with a ton of his peers(for example I met his boss last night).  It is kind of a big deal because I am meeting these people and while it is not official to everyone that we go on dates with each other, people, I believe make the connection and after said connection I suspect there is a pondering on their part regarding our age difference.   With that being said lets continue…

I decided to bring Steve along with me.  It seemed simple enough and I circumnavigated bringing someone for him to” officially” to meet by bringing Steve.  Frank’s gay, Steve’s gay, I’m gay, Frank and Steve already know one another…I’m in the clear right? Wrong…dead wrong.  You see the concert was at 7:30 in the evening and yesterday oh say about 2ish…I get a  phone call, it was Steve and he had to bail on me for work reasons…perfect.  I was left with two options 1) Go alone…terrifying…enough said 2) Find another friend to take…it was going to have to be someone who didn’t know Frank because no one else has met Frank.  Who ends up being my replacement?  Lauren.  Obviously I opt for option two which is fine because I love Lauren and she’s great but she also is important to me so I want the meeting to go smoothly.  I want them to like one another etc.

Lauren shows up at my work place and we are off.  In the end the meeting went rather well.  Lauren and Frank got a long swimmingly and I was pretty pleased.  Unfortunately, Frank is out of town/wildly busy for the next week and a half; I’m sad but I’m anxious to see where things go when he gets back/finished with work.  It’s really good as of right now.   I will definitely keep you guys posted.

Below are two pieces that were played last night that I found exceptionally beautiful! (Mind you these are not the people we saw just other orchestra playing the same pieces.

 This first piece Franks friend played the piano concerto part.  This is the Piano Concerto No. 2 in F by Dmitri Shostakovich (it is the second part, the Andante part)

This was one of my favorite pieces of the night.  It is Johannes Brahms 3rd Symphony in F.  It is the third part, Poco Allegretto, out of the 4 pieces of the symphony. 

 P.S. This was such a good date we went on…it was great to hear the Erie Phil Harmonic

 On a final note I just want to say thanks to those of you who have gave advice and commented over the past few blogs regarding dating and age differences etc.  It is greatly appreciated!

My legacy

Woke up this morning, from the wrong side of the bed,

The usual fresh morning looked so surreal instead.

Rushing out now it’s a new day at school-Planning ways to break yet another rule.

I’ll never let my teachers shake my sway-

I’ll never let my dreams slip and slide away.

So would you believe that I’m growing up now?

Would you believe that I manage somehow?

Looking back now we’ve made lots of green,

Though we never got to be the real dancing queen-

Scared I’ve got my hands in too many pies,

Hoping to just let sleeping dogs lie

I’ll never let the winters cave me in-I’ll never let life get under my skin.

So would you believe that my dreams have changed?

Would you believe that my heart’s in flames?

So fate looks on with eyes of pity.

As I still drain the last dregs of sanity,

So you may leave me, but I’ll still go on,

Singing myself a sad old song;

I’ll never give the devil my soul for free

I’ll never let the sun go down on me.

So would you believe that my life is tough?

Would you believe that I’ve finally grown up?

My ode

Hello Mr Moon,

The day is nigh,

The night is old,

Your story is told-Now rest you feet awhile.

Hello my friend-

The world is yet to end.

For long years now-

You must go around,

In you light the weary shall mend.

Hail thee, so bright so cold,

Your light does freeze my very soul,

Your halo burns any icy flame

Adorns the sky, so proud, so vain-

As slowly your many faces wane.

Hail thee, my hope, my prayer,

Who with the stars, the skies doth share

Who races with the fading dusk,

Basking in the little child’s trust-Given up to your tender care.

Hail thee, so white, so alone,

A reigning queen carved in stone.

Your starry kingdom bows to you as you travel all night through

Watching, waiting in silent repose.

My raga

When the leaves play gently on the harp of the wind;

When the rain sounds gaily on the chords within,

When the woodpecker beats a steady drum roll,

When the wind whistles on pipes-notes-untold-

Merging and blending a melody unfolds.

When the brooks gurgle through many a chord

When the fish chime in of their own accord

When the bird sing out a merry soprano,

When the snow falls in matching allegro-The symphony plays, filled with pathos-

Hark! The clouds thunder in mighty applause.

My illusion

Sleep on sweet child-Lest they steal your sunshine;

Lest your cradle slips and falls

Lest the heathen world doth call-Forth fears that do not subside.

Dream on sweet child-For the colours within are safe and sound

For the colours without would only get you down

For the spring inside shall last through winters outside-

And preserve the little smile so proud.

Sleep on sweet child-

The havens are lost and gone

The silver spoon doth shine no more,

The baffled seas hath no shore-

The fantasies have all come undone.

Dream on sweet child-

Lest they squeeze tears from your eyes

Lest they throw your faith to the winds

Lest the world to you does sing-

And wakes you from the tender sleep so kind.

My stolen

Time goes by without a sound,

Days of watching the sun go down

Crying into the empty nights profound-

Come morning wearily moving ahead.

Swearing to finally forgive and forget.

Dreaming all night of those promises so true-

Every dream still reminds me of you.

Life goes by, no shape no form,                                                          

Gazing at the perfect sky so toen

Nursing hearts so sick and lovelorn.

Treaidng the same old paths so tried

Searching for your flickering light.

Humming every day those songs so new-

Every song still reminds me of you.

Age goes by, and I’m still here,

Playing hide and seek with the grim reaper

Alone in a crowd, infirm yet proud,

Waiting for life to come undone

The hero inside as yet unsung.

Thinking of those golden moments so few-

Every moment still reminds me of you.

Good morning..its a lovely sunday morning…err…spilling into afternoon actually,the morning was spent lolling in bed. So my grades have not arrived and I am pretending not to be concerned. My two cats Ferdinand and Dolce are driving me crazy especially since they have an acute case of fleas….!!!!!!!!!!!!! But they’re sweet and my aunt cleaned ‘em out so all is good with the world except that I’m writing a totally pointless and not required piece of average literature and considerably boring those who have deigned to grace my blog with their presence. But people ;sometimes very mundane existences ,constitute extraordinary circumstances. Having waxed eloquent on how my hair tearingly frustrating blog can be of use to anyone…I shall retire for now. Have to attend to my daily ablutions. Has anyone ever wondered whether Cleopatra or Nefertiri ever got pimples and acne? I mean what would happen if Helen of Troy got acne…would paris have fought the war for a bee-oo-tea-phool woman…(screeech..) with err…ahem..acne? See I do believe history would have been changed if Ancient Egyptian beauties had breakouts of acne. Did they for instance use Egyptian mudpacks? If they did then I want some post haste!!!!! Besides  they used to like bathe in rosewater…I doubt we’d get such luxuries in our age..I mean you’d get the roses but theyd probably be genetically modified and sporting like three sectored colors on the same rose…wouldnt work as well as the blood red petals of nefertiri fame. Sigh…sometimes I wish I had been born like centuries ago and in a different part of the world. AAhhh…have to run to the restroom now…

Just as an aside didn’t the great warriors of all history ever have an emergency in the middle of a war? Wonder what they did then…did they jump around from one foot to the other trying to ignore the call of the wild..? Imagine Mark Antony or Alexander leading their armies on regal horses and squirming for want of proper sanitation…imagine the wars that have been decided for this reason….imagine Ceasar living because Brutus had to go attend to more urgent nature’s calls just when he was about to do his stabbing act….lol…

amen

David-Donatello

sacred and profane love-titian

So I’m gonna do like a feature on some renaissance men. The ones whose works I’m familiar with..and if I actually take art history as an elective I shall actually drop gems of wisdom on the human race. Otherwise these will just be contributions to an already crowded world of art  critique-cum-aspirant-trying-to-hide-their-inability-to-draw-a-straight-line blown away in the wind.

Here is the second movement of Mozart’s Piano Sonata in B flat major, K. 333, played by Horowitz:

This morning I heard Fred Childs on NPR’s “Performance Today” speak about tempo.  He used as an example Beethoven’s “Moonlight Sonata”; he contrasted two renditions: one was a very slow adagio, and the other quite a bit faster, more of an andante performance.

Tempos can vary from performer to performer; andante to one means a walking pace; to another, it could mean a leisurely stroll with some rubato!  Just take a look for it on YouTube. Try Moonlight Sonata – Beethoven.  This is an example of a quicker rendition of Moonlight Sonata, but it will get you “in the neighborhood” so you can compare renditions.

Interpretation needs to be taught as part of music education.  Of course it’s of no use to fly before you walk; reading the music and playing what’s there is crucial!  But afterwards, students need to be encouraged by their music teachers to express themselves and not just spit out a “cookie cutter” version of a piece.

Alex and I had to laugh. She seems to be the trend setter in this family. I remember when I swore by PC’s and had a huge Dell desktop. That was before we moved to Barcelona. Alex had a Dell laptop but she wasn’t completely happy with it. If you know Alex, you’d know she does her homework. She researched all kinds of laptops and decided on an Apple 12 in PowerBook. We were moving soon and I really needed a laptop to use in Spain. Guess what ? I ended up buying an Apple 15 in PowerBook. I’ll never go back. Matter of fact, when we moved back to Toronto, we bought a 24 in Imac.

Jump ahead to 2009. We decide it was time to upgrade our bikes. Off we go to Bikes on Wheels, our favourite bike shop in Kensington Market. Alex bought me a Fuji Absolute 3.0.

It’s a performance Hybrid. More or less a regular bike with some race features.  I joined TBN (Toronto Bike Network) which is a cycle club here in Toronto. I started riding with them and found I was really getting into it. My knee was feeling stronger and I was getting stronger on the bike. I went out and bought some accesories to help improve my riding. The first thing I bought was a Garmin Edge 705, a gps enabled bike computer.

Now I could record all my rides with all the important parameters and monitor my progress. I could track new routes when riding with TBN and return to them whenever I wanted. The next step was a big one for me. I’d never before had clipless pedals and so many riders had told me that it was the one thing they bought that made a huge difference in their riding. Especially hill climbing, which I absolutely hated. I got a great deal on the pedals at Bikes on Wheels and bought an inexpensive shoe at MEC. Off I went on my Fuji. It was a strange feeling at first. I was now attached to my bike. If I fell, I would not be able to jump off, the bike would come with me. I rode a few weeks on my own and gradually got used to them. On the last ride with TBN I had to stop fast and did manage to get out of the pedals before I totally hit the ground. Anyhow, I love riding with them now.

At the beginning of the summer, Alex began looking for a bike that would fit her academic lifestyle and found a bike she fell in love with. They gave her a great deal on it (of course at Bikes on Wheels, and no, I do NOT work for them). She bought an unknown brand (at least to us) made in Montreal and designed by a Quebec artist. The brand is Opus and Alex loves her Classico. She wrote about it in her blog and the artist sent her an email thanking her for the compliments and for buying the bike. Now THAT is class.

Alex's Classico

Meanwhile I kept riding my Fuji

At this point, I decided I wanted to do some distance riding and I started researching road bikes. To be honest, I didn’t have a clue as to where to start. Some of my new friends in TBN offered advice and I finally had a start point. I looked at mid range bikes in the $2 K range. I was told fit and components are the most important but how I felt on the bike was THE deciding factor. I first thought I would get a tri bike since I used to do triathlons and read some specs about them being designed for speed and comfort. I wrote an email to Cervello and asked them what the difference was between the Cervallo S1 (road) and the Cervallo P1 (tri) since I was considering those two models at this point of my search.

Cervello P1

They were amazing and responded within 2 days. They suggested a road bike (S1) since I would be riding with groups (tri bikes are NOT good in groups as drafting is not permitted in tris) and it would fit my style of riding as I described to them. My first swtich over, I decided that the way to go was road bike. Now, I began looking at road bikes on Internet. Obviously, I looked at Fuji, then Cervello, Norco, Trek, Aquila, Guru, Devinci, Blue and a few others. We frequently drop in to the bike shop when we’re down in Kensington just to say hi and I mentioned to Sean that I was looking for a road bike now. I mentioned Cervello and a few brands he didn’t carry but I wanted to research brands he carried so I asked what they were. Obviously, Opus came up but I paid no attention. I really wanted to give him my business so I researched Opus. It was at this point that I figured that there was no magic in the frame (at least for my skill level) and concentrated on what components the bikes had. I really liked the look of the Opus Andante and that became a potential.

Opus Andante

I kept looking at cyclocross bikes and discovered that they were just road bikes with some mods to go off road. They were actually high performance machines and I thought to myself that for city riding I could use the cyclocross wheels and if I was going into rural areas, I could switch to wheels that had a performance tire on them. I decided the Opus Stelle was the one I wanted.

Opus Stelle

I saw the Opus Spark at the bike store and fell in love with its looks but it didn’t have the components I was looking for. We had to go to Kensington to get some stuff and have a coffee and of course I stopped in to try the Spark. It felt great, really comfortable and when he told me the price, I was sold. I bought it.

My new OPUS Spark

It was a hard decision but the ones that clinched it were price, the fact I could give Sean my business, the components are not lesser quality, just heavier and also the company is Canadian and like a cherry on a Sundae, it’s a Quebec company.

Now I have the Opus Spark which once again follows in Alex’s footsteps. I do the same in beer, whatever she orders, I have the same. She makes great food choices too.

By the way, Alex now rides with TBN and she now has my Fuji Absolute to use as her performance bike

We uploaded a little video documenting ANDANTE project…

AVAILABLE HERE (couldn´t embed it within this post)

——————————————————————————–
ANDANTE : Multiangled Soundwalking in Porto
Summer School in Sound and Music Computing & SID Training School on Interactions with Environmental Sounds
Casa Da Música , Porto, Portugal
July 18-21, 2009

By Niels Böttche, Reinhard Gupfinger, Vanessa de Michelis and Pablo Sanz Almoguera.
With the help and support of the tutors Stephan Baumann (DKFI) and Bram de Jong (Freesound Project).
—-
Four dimensions of the soundscape of Porto were registered along three chosen routes within the city.

The audible range was recorded in binaural stereo together with ultrasonic frequencies, electromagnetic emissions, underwater sound and solid vibrations.

The gps coordinates of the walks were traced into a map which can be navigated with a Wii controller. It allows to change between the four sound layers, jump between the routes, move backward and forward and change the speed of the journey.

What used to be the UltraWaterExtraordinaryGigaGroup is now:

Andante: IntraSpectrum Sound Walk

The old title actually was a funny way of explaining all the different technologies that were being used to record the sounds. 3 different routes we agreed on being  remarkable for a visit in Porto were tracked by the GPS to be drawn in a audible map. The audio map contains a broad range of frequencies captured. We used a Gigahertz Sniffer to retrieve cellphones, bluetooth and wi-fi broadcastings (from 1 to 5.4 GH), than an ultrasound receiver (20 to 100KH), followed by binaural recordings and finally hydrophones for underwater and contact microphones for low vibrations.The special hidden channel of the mix was recorded with the banana mic, for the bio-protein frequencies.

Through MaxMSP we programmed the wii-controller to access this different dimensions of our routes through Porto, that can be followed in a googlemaps application, where you can go back and forth, accellerate, navigate the layers and jump through the different routes.

Route 01_Historical Center Alleys

Channel 01-Gigahertz

Channel 02-Ultrasound

Channel 03-Binaural

Channel 04-Underwater

Route 02_River and Ponte Luiz I

Channel 01-Gigahertz

Channel 02-Ultrasound

Channel 03-Binaural

Channel 04-Underwater

Route 03_Metro Trindade-Casa da Musica

Channel 01-Gigahertz

Channel 02-Ultrasound

Channel 03-Binaural

Channel 04-Contact Mic

Video

“do we have time?”

“it’s working now”

…

Cláudia, colega de Geografia na Universidade do Porto, estuda na UFSM em Santa Maria, Rio Grande do Sul. Com seus 30 e poucos anos, largou tudo no Brasil e se mandou pros lados de cá por causa de um português. Gostava de falar das filhas, uma com seis, outra com onze, se não me engano. Morava com uma senhora portuguesa, que a dispensou do pagamento do aluguel, pois gostava muito dela. Além disso, ela prestava pequenos serviços domésticos a casa.

Cláudia deixou o Porto no final de junho, em uma quinta-feira. Me visitou no trabalho no seu último domingo por aqui, aquela foi a nossa despedida. Ainda me ligou no saguão do aeroporto, enquanto aguardava o vôo, que estava atrasado. “Vamos aproveitar meus últimos minutos de Moche”, disse ela.

O fato é que ela foi pega no metrô sem pagar. Os fiscais chegaram, pediram seu ticket de viagem e ela não o tinha. Noventa e cinco euros por causa de noventa e cinco cêntimos. Após conferirem a invalidez do Andante, procede a multa. Parecem que os fiscais pedem seu nome completo, número de passaporte e endereço. Se a multa será paga algum dia? Não sei. Conheço duas meninas de Ouro Preto que foram multadas em suas primeiras semanas aqui no Porto e, até agora, nada aconteceu.

Enfim, a quinta-feira da semana passada foi um típico dia de praia. Me debandei para Matosinhos com a Josi. Mais tarde, encontramos a flatmate dela, Talita. Ela iria viajar para Frankfurt no dia seguinte. Passou a tarde em casa arrumando as malas e tentando arranjar CouchSurfing para algumas cidades que ainda faltava. Talita embarcou numa viagem longa. De Frankfurt seguia para Berlim e depois para dezenas de outras cidades. Iria tentar a sorte na Embaixada da Índia na Alemanha, a fim de conseguir o visto para uma visita ao país.

Ficamos na praia até nove e pouco. Talita queria se despedir da outra Talita que mora com elas e que trabalha a noite. Então, estava na hora de seguir para casa. Ela disse que nunca comprou o Andante mensal, sempre viajou sem pagar. Quando estavámos indo para a paragem de autocarro, ainda brinquei: “Uma amiga minha foi multada em sua última semana aqui no Porto”. Como não tinha madeira para bater, seguimos em frente.

Sentamos nos últimos bancos do 502. Talita na janela, eu no meio, Josi com a cara para o corredor. Na altura da Boavista, estavámos conversando sobre qualquer bobagem que mulheres desocupadas conversam e rindo à toa.

Josi: “Fiscal”.
Eu: “Han?”
Josi: “Fiscal”.

Eu só olhei para a camisa azul claro dos dois homens que agora estavam dentro do autocarro. A plaquinha no peito não deixava dúvidas: “Fiscal”. Olhei para Talita e repeti a única palavra que consegui dizer naquele momento: “Fiscal”. De sobresalto, as três levantaram e seguiram em fila indiana. O destino era a porta, mas antes dela teríamos que mostrar o Andante.

Josi passou na conferência. Eu enrolei para achar meu Andante na bolsa. Sabia exatamente onde estava, mas esperava que um milagre pudesse acontecer enquanto eu perdia tempo. Talita ainda tentou pedir um Andante emprestado para uma senhora qualquer que estava no banco a nossa frente. “Ele vai conferir a numeração e me xingar”, argumentou para negar o empréstimo. Enfim, ele conferiu o meu. Abri a bolsa, peguei o celular e conferi as horas trancando a passagem. “A senhora pode seguir, por favor”.

Andante: Viagens na zona urbana do porto a partir de 18 euros/mês. O meu custa 28, pois tem quatro zonas.

O autocarro parou. “Desce comigo, por favor, eu estou atrasada”, disse Talita ao fiscal. Ele disse que não podia descer, e a deixou passar sem conferência. Nós três saltamos desesperadas. E se ele viesse atrás?

Meu coração bateu forte por pelo menos mais cinco minutos. Foi inacreditável, mas, ao mesmo tempo, uma grande lição. Desespero não ajuda em nada. O negócio é respirar e inventar uma lorota de efeito rápido para se livrar da fiscalização. Mesmo assim, prefiro carregar meu Andante todos os meses, pois não é todo dia que milagres acontecem.

Concierto del miércoles de las Noches del Carmen, una semana de conciertos realizados en el Conservatorio Superior de Música de Sevilla. Espero que os guste, y perdón por el sonido de la cámara y del viento

“Por mim, palavras são pedacinhos voantes. Se bichos, não sei, mas voantes isso eu sei que elas são.

Pode escrever inteiramente o que lhe digo, senhor, que eu assino embaixo”.