Auguste Rodin and The Gates of Hell

     One of the greatest and most prolific sculptors of the 19th century, Auguste Rodin was born November 12 1840 and died November 17 1917.His masterpiece The Gates of Hell many recognize as the greatest sculptor of all time.It was a project that Rodin was engrossed in until his death in 1917.

       The Beginning 

of this masterpiece came in 1880 when Rodin received a commission from the French government to design monumental doors for a proposed new museum. His starting point was Dante's Inferno, but the many figures he created in plaster for his Gates of Hell including models for The Thinker 1880 and The Kiss 1886 came to represent the sculptor's own vision of humanity's battle with good and evil.

    The sculpture itself  stands at 6 m high, 4 m wide and 1 m deep and contains 180 figures. The figures range from 15 cm high up to more than one metre. Several of the figures were also cast independently by Rodin.

  The following all appear in the Gates of Hell

Adam And Eve

In 1880, Rodin proposed to Turquet, the Undersecretary for fine Arts, to flank his 'Gates of Hell' by two colossal statues: Adam and Eve, the first sinners.more....                                                      

The Kiss

'The Kiss' is inspired by Dantes'Divine Comedy. In Canto V of the 'Inferno', Dante and Virgil meet the illicit love couple Paolo and Francesca in the Second Circle of Hell, where the carnal sinners are punished. Dante's narration is based on historical facts that must have deeply impressed him as a young man.

Fugitive Love

Fugitive love' is a version of the popular theme of lovers, carried by the wind. Rodin detached this group of lovers from the The Gates of Hell, where it replaced The Kiss around 1887 as the dominant group at the left door. Again, the love couple represents Francesca da Rimini and Paolo Malatesta, who were murdered for their illicit love affair and eternally damned.

 Meditation

The free-standing version of 'Meditation', which Rodin modeled in 1885, is slightly larger than the small body included as damned soul in the composition of the 'The Gates if Hell' in the right corner of the tympanum.

Ugolino and His Sons

The plaster in the Musée d'Orsay shows Ugolino still with a raised head; in the final version, included in 'The Gates of Hell',  the sculptor goes the last step: the Count is facing down like an animal, no longer able to maintain a reflective distance; as a last human gesture,  his left arm is supporting the head of his dying son, the other son still clinging to his father's back.

Gates of Hell

    Rodin was not only a sculptor of public monuments but a tireless artist who produced numerous small and intimate sculptures. These works range from highly developed pieces such as Eternal Spring, The Burghers of Calais and his first piece The Age of Bronze.

 Rodin's Final Year

 

      In 1917 Rodin married Rose Beuret on 29 January in Meudon. Rose died on 14 February and Rodin died on 17 November. He was buried in Meudon on 24 November, next to Rose. Their tomb is dominated by The Thinker

Auguste Rodin Quotes

      There is nothing ugly in art except that which is without character, that is to say, that which offers no outer or inner truth.

     Nothing is a waste of time if you use the experience wisely.

 

     There are unknown forces in nature; when we give ourselves wholly to her, without reserve, she lends them to us; she shows us these forms, which our watching eyes do not see, which our intelligence does not understand or suspect.
 

Paulo Coelho One his Favorite Artist Auguste Rodin

Roots Reggae Bob Marley and Johnny Nash

Reggae descended from Jamaica's mento dance music  and influenced by American R and B.It took root in Jamaica, then expanded to Europe, the United States, Africa and South America. Reggae has many mixes which include ska rocksteady dub dancehall and ragga.Bob Marley's was branded as roots reggae.

       
       Although religious themes are common in mainstream Reggae,the lyrics of Roots Reggae are predominantly in praise of Jah (God). Other song themes include poverty, resistance to oppression, African unity, black nationalism, anti-racism, anti-colonialism, criticism of the political and socio-economics , and the ideals of the Rastafari lifestyle.

      The colors associated with Reggae as well as the Rastafarian movement are the colors of the Ethiopian flag red, gold and green, with a fourth color, black, sometimes added. Each color has its own significant meaning, and together they represent the Rastafari way of life. Red is for the blood of all living things, gold is for the sun and Jah's light that shines on people,green represents the Earth, and black for the African people.

    
     1960 Oh Carolina,by Rastafarian elder Count Ossie,is cut at Prince Buster's first-ever recording session at radio station RJR's studios.It is referred to as the

First Reggae song Oh Carolina

Bob Marley and Johnny Nash

          Bob Marley was born in a small village in Jamaica on February 6, 1945. At birth he was named Nesta Robert Marley but an official later swapped his first and middle names.

When Marley was 10 years old, his father died of a heart attack in 1955. Throughout his youth, Marley was a victim of racial prejudice because of his mixed heritage and he suffered from a racial identity crisis throughout his life.

       1963, Bob Marley formed a ska and rocksteady group with Livingston, McIntosh( Peter Tosh), Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith named The Teenagers. The group later settled on the name The Wailers. However, by 1966, The Wailers were left with just Marley, Livingston and McIntosh

      Many of Bob Marley's and Peter Tosh's songs are recognised as roots reggae. Songs  like I Shot the Sheriff, No Woman No Cry, Exodus, Could You Be Loved, Redemption Song and One Love.

      Bob Marley died on May 11, 1981.Marley's body was taken to his birthplace at Nine Mile, on the north of the island, where it now rests in a mausoleum. Bob Marley was 36-years-old.

One Love

Roots Rock Reggae

  Johnny Nash

    Born in Houston, Texas on August 19 1940. He began to have small hits in the late fifties and in 1959 had his first experience with Jamaica, filming parts of  Take A Giant Step there, when he was 19. The movie is a conventional coming of age story about Afro-American teen trying to find his way in a white-man's world.

    He then used his production skills and was in some demand as a songwriter, penning the hit “What Kind of Love Is This” for Joey Dee in 1962 and at this time he started his own record label Jad.His songwriting skills were heavily influenced by Sam Cooke and the following is a number 104 hit for Nash in 1962.

Some of Your Lovin Johnny Nash

    He made a return  trip  to Jamaica in 1968  to promote his music. He heard in Jamaica’s laid back rhythms labeled rocksteady at the time, not yet reggae, a new foundation for his  vocals and decided to record there. Nash sought out the pioneering Byron Lee at  Kingston studios in 1968 and recorded Hold Me Tight .The song, which Nash wrote himself, hit the top five in both the United States and England.

     Nash became friends with future reggae stars Bob Marley and Peter Tosh. They introduced Nash to marijuana. “It was very new to me,” Nash said But I was in Rome, and that was the order of the day.” Nash recalled the spiritual Marley fondly. “Bob was a fun guy,”  he had the uncanny ability to deal with a lyric and use a double entendre. It was just so innocent. If you didn’t listen closely, you’d miss it.” Members of Marley’s band, the Wailers, served as backup musicians on a series of moderate reggae hits Nash made in Jamaica a remake of Sam Cooke’s Cupid hit the top ten in Britain in 1969, and in 1971 the catchy Marley-penned “Stir It Up” which put Nash back in the charts in the United States.A year later I Can See Clearly Now was worldwide massive hit.

He recorded several more Marley compositions after this and scored a number one hit in England in 1975 with Tears on My Pillow.

 Hold Me Tight

Stir It Up Bob Marley

I Can See Clearly Now

President Obama

                  Barack Obama born in Hawaii August 4, 1961.

    His mother was from Kansas and father from Kenya. Barack's parents  divorced, and after his mother remarried, he lived in Indonesia for a time before returning to Hawaii to live with his grandparents. He later moved to New York, where he graduated from Columbia University in 1983. 
      He was called Barry throughout his childhood, he was born, Barack Hussein Obama II. Hussein was their middle name as Barack Obama Sr.s father had adopted Islam but originally they were Christians.

      Barack Obama has admitted that he struggled through his initial childhood years to find answers about his multicultural, multi racial heritage.  In his own words he says that he had a middle class upbringing. During his teenage years, he even used cocaine, marijuana and alcohol to deal with his internal conflicts, something which he regretted later.

Obama Latest Speech

     

     While in U.S. Senate Foreign relations Committee, Barack visited Iraq to witness the war. He also traveled to Russia and Africa. Right through his career he has spoken about his opposition to the Iraq war.

 True to the values of empathy and service that his mother instilled in him, Barack put law school on hold after college and moved to Chicago, where he became a community organizer with a church-based group that was dedicated to improving living conditions in poor neighborhoods. For example, helping poor people work with service agencies to get their plumbing and heating fixed and to find jobs for unemployed. It was here that he realized it would take changes in our laws and politics to truly improve the lives of the people in these impoverished neighborhoods. 

 Dinner with Ghandi

  Obama declared his candidacy for the 2008 Democratic Presidential nomination in February 2007 .A large number of candidates filed for nominations as presidential candidates it came down to two in the contest Senator Hillary Clinton and Obama. In August 2008, Barack Obama accepted the nomination and he was in race against the republican nominee John McCain. On November 4, 2008, Obama won the presidential election by a big margin. He delivered his victory speech at Chicago's Grant Park in front of thousands of supporters. There were, not only nationwide but, worldwide celebrations on his victory even in his fathers home country, Kenya.

Victory Speech Chicago 

Obama's Books and Music Preferences

                                            According to FaceBook
    Favorite musicians are Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees.
  
     Favorite Movies Godfather 1 & 2, Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

    Favorite Books  Song of Solomon , Moby Dick,Shakespeare's Tragedies.

     Barack the author of Dreams of my Father a memoir of his youth and early career and The Audacity of Hope  published in October 2006. The book has remained at or near the top of the New York Times Best Seller list since its publication.

Barack Obama Quotes

  Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we've been waiting for. We are the change that we seek.

But what we can do, as flawed as we are, is still see God in other people, and do our best to help them find their own grace. That's what I strive to do, that's what I pray to do every day.

The Obama Family

Muhammad Ali

       Born Cassius Marcellus Clay, Jr. on January 17, 1942, in Louisville, Kentucky. Later to become Muhammad Ali, he was not afraid of any fight inside or outside the ring. Growing up in the segregated South, Ali experienced firsthand the prejudice and discrimination that African-Americans faced during this era.

Muhammad Ali Interview 

 

     At the age of 12,his bike was stolen, and Ali told a police officer, Joe Martin, that he wanted to beat up the thief. Martin also trained young boxers at a local gym and advisd him to learn how to fight first.

  Ali started working with Martin to learn how to box, and soon began his boxing career. Three years later, he won the Golden Gloves Tournament of Champions and the Amateur Athletic Union's national title for the light-heavyweight division. In 1960, Ali won a spot on the U.S. Olympic Boxing Team and went on to win the Gold medal and the black superman had arrived.

 Black Superman

     
  When he returned he went professional and in 1964 upset Sonny Liston in Miami to become heavyweight champion of the world. The next day, Clay announced to the world that he was a member of the Nation of Islam and that his name was Cassius X. The X reflecting the unknown name that was taken from him by the slave owners centuries before.

Malcolm X Interview  

  The national response was immediate, negative and intense. Cassius X, soon to be given the name Muhammad Ali, by NOI founder Elijah Muhammad.  Ali continued to defend his crown against all comers, then 1967, as the Vietnam War was escalating, Ali was called up for induction into the Armed Services. Ali refused induction on the grounds of religious beliefs. The boxing association took away his title and suspended him from the sport for three and a half years.
   In 1970, while his case was still on appeal, Ali was allowed to fight again.Ali returned to the ring and fought Frazier in October of that year for the world title but lost when Frazier hit him with a left hook in the final round.

Rumble in the Jungle 

      In the summer of 74 after two losses to Frazier and Norton Don King arranged a purse of ten million dollars for Ali to fight Foreman for the world title in Zaire Africa.Sponsored by the dictator of that country President Joseph Mobutu.

 Foreman younger and stronger man, who had never lost and had knocked out 37 of his 40 opponents. His last eight fights had all ended inside six minutes. Foreman had destroyed Joe Frazier and Ken Norton, the two men who had beaten Muhammad Ali. He was surely unbeatable in the same way that Sonny Liston had been.Ali had a plan to defeat Foreman it was called

Rope A Dope Ali began the bout by lying on the ropes and letting Foreman punch him, without any attempt to attack Foreman. As a result Foreman spent all his energy throwing punches in a oven like heat, they either did not hit Ali or were blocked in a way that would do little damage to Ali. This loss of energy was the key to the "rope-a-dope" teachnique.

Thrilla in Manila September of 1975, for the third time, Ali fought Joe Frazier.The fight lasted 14 grueling rounds in temperatures approaching 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Ali won many of the early rounds, but Frazier staged a comeback in the middle rounds. By the late rounds, however, Ali had reasserted control and the fight was stopped when Frazier was unable to answer the bell for the 15th and final round his eyes were swollen closed. 

Ali won the title for a record third time in 1978 against Leon Spinks.He retired in 1981.

Sam Cooke and Muhammad Ali Gangs All Here 

 Ali Quotes

  At home I am a nice guy: but I don't want the world to know. Humble people, I've found, don't get very far.  

Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee

He who is not courageous enough to take risks will accomplish nothing in life.

I figured that if I said it enough, I would convince the world that I really was the greatest.

I know where I'm going and I know the truth, and I don't have to be what you want me to be. I'm free to be what I want.

I wish people would love everybody else the way they love me. It would be a better world.

Picture This The Beautiful Deborah Harry

 

   Born in 1945 in Florida, Deborah Harry was adopted at about three months of age by Richard and Catherine Harry. She was raised in New Jersey, where as a teenager she said of herself "I used to dress in black every day and pretend to be tough"  

  

    She spent most of her twenties working odd jobs as a secretary, cocktail waitress and Playboy bunny, while rubbing shoulders with the Warhol set.

In October 1973 Harry began both a musical and personal relationship with Chris Stein. Together, Deborah and Chris formed Blondie. The name of the band Debbie said she got the idea from the lurid shouts of passing truck drivers "Come on Blondie, give us a screw!"

Deborah Harry Interview

It was only in Australia they succeeded to begin with and in 1976 the song In The Flesh became a number one hit in that country.Internationally Blondie battled for success for another year or so until late in 1977, 'Denis' reached number two in the British charts. 'Heart of Glass' was Blondie's first worldwide hit, reaching number one in both America and Britain.   

Sunday Girl

 

    Harry's glamorous platinum blonde looks, keen wit and creative musical style propelled Blondie to mega stardom, and the group had several number one hits, including 'Call Me', 'The Tide is High', and 'Rapture'.

Call Me

 

   Today the 64-year-old Blondie vocalist said she would still like to wear revealing clothes when performing, but although she recognises she should dress more for her age, doesn't feel comfortable wearing suits onstage.
She said "For me, performance is about forgetting what I'm wearing. Just putting it on and knowing it's right. I'd like to wear hot pants  honest, guys, I really would  but those days are gone.
"I had someone say to me, 'You should just wear Chanel suits.' I tried. I wasn't comfortable."
 The singer also said she thinks the internet has ruined the mystique surrounding rock stars, and it is harder to surprise people than her heyday in the late 70s

One Way or Another Live

  

                                                           Pretty Baby Live

 

 

  .

Winston Churchill

Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill  

Born at Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire on 30th November 1874

    

British politician, best known as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during World War II. In 1893 he enrolled in the Royal Military College. He graduated two years later ranked eighth in his class. He was appointed Second Lieutenant in the 4th Hussars cavalry.

     Winston Churchill was a war correspondent in the second Anglo-Boer war between Britain and self-proclaimed Afrikaaners in South Africa. He was captured in a Boer ambush of a British Army train convoy, but managed a high profile escape and eventually crossed the South African border to Mozambique.

He first stood for Parliament in 1899 and serving as an MP in the House of Commons from 1900 to 1922 and from 1924 to 1964

 Winston Churchill during World War II

     At the outbreak of the Second World War Churchill was appointed First Lord of the Admiralty on Chamberlain's resignation in May 1940. Churchill was then appointed Prime Minister and formed an all-party government. In response to previous criticisms that there had been no clear single minister in charge of the prosecution of the war, he created and took the additional position of Minister of Defence.
His speeches at that time were a great inspiration to the embattled United Kingdom. His famous "I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears and sweat" speech was his first as Prime Minister. He followed that closely, before the Battle of Britain, with "We shall defend our island, whatever the cost may be, we shall fight on the beaches, we shall fight on the landing grounds, we shall fight in the fields and in the streets, we shall fight in the hills; we shall never surrender." 

QUOTES

Although prepared for martyrdom, I preferred that it be postponed.

  Attitude is a little thing that makes a big difference.

Continuous effort - not strength or intelligence - is the key to unlocking our potential.  

Courage is what it takes to stand up and speak; courage is also what it takes to sit down and listen.

If the human race wishes to have a prolonged and indefinite period of material prosperity, they have only got to behave in a peaceful and helpful way toward one another. 

It is a mistake to look too far ahead. Only one link of the chain of destiny can be handled at a time. 

Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on. 

If you are going through hell keep going. 

Orson Wells with Funny Churchill Story 

Nobel Prize in Literature 1953

       Churchill was also a notable historian, producing many works and he was awarded the nobel prize for literature in 1953.The aAmerican author Ernest Hemingway was also in the running that year but the Prize was awarded to Churchill "for his mastery of historical and biographical descriptions as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values."

 Some of Churchill's Works

   The World Crisis detailing the First World War and The Second World War are highly autobiographical, telling the story of the conflict.

The River War - Published in 1899  Kitchner's reconquest of the Sudan in 1898.

Savrola  Churchill's only novel. Published in 1900
Lord Randolph Churchill - A two volume biography of his father.
The World Crisis 6 volumes covering the Great War
My Early Life - An autobiography covering the first quarter century of his career.
Marlborough - A biography of his ancestor, John Churchill, 1st Duke of Marlborough 

The Second World War 6 volumes

A History of the English Speaking Peoples
The Scaffolding of Rhetoric  a 1,763-word essay on oratory.
Painting as a Pastime a short appreciation of painting

 Funny Churchill Stories

 

An aide brought Churchill the morning paper with the news that one of his Cabinet Ministers would have to resign because he had been caught having gay sex with a Grenadier Guardsman in Green Park the night before.

Churchill said: "It was cold last night was it not?"
the aide replied: "Yes Sir, only 23 degrees" (that's -5 in new money)
Churchill replied: "Makes you proud to be British" 

Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your drink.’ Lady Astor to Winston Churchill
Churchill's reply ‘Madam, if you were my wife, I would drink it.’ “

 

The Tragic Sam Cooke Story

         Sam Cooke was born Samuel Cook on January 22, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. Sam’s father was Charles Cook Sr a Baptist minister and his mother Annie May Cook. They had Sam and 7 other children. Charles was a travelling minister in the Church of God, a section of the Baptist faith which started around 1900.
     When Sam was 15 years old he became the front man of a teenage gospel group called the “Highway QC’s” where R.B. Robinson, baritone singer of the Soul Stirrers, trained him. With the QC’s he travelled on the gospel circuit and performed on radio shows.

    When the Soul Stirrers’ R.H. Harris left the group because he was sick of the business a very young Sam Cook was asked to replace him. He did an audition and was accepted as a member of the Soul Stirrers. This all happened in 1950 when he was only 19 years old. In 1957, as he himself said, financial situation, caused him to explore the possibility of crossing over to sing popular music.

      He became a successful solo artist from 1957 until his death in 1964, with hits like Wonderful World, Good Times ,Send Me Some Lovin,Cupid, Only Sixteen, Soothe Me and many others most written by Sam himself. Two hits that are always associated with the great Sam Cooke are You Send Me and A Change Is Gonna Come. 

The Sar Story

      Another part of his legacy which has'nt seen the light of day as yet is as a record company owner and record producer.Cooke and his long-time friend and singing associate J. W. Alexander started the Sar label in 1957. It was dissolved shortly after Cooke's death in 1964. The rights to the recordings and the publishing were bought up shortly thereafter by Allen Klein, who was Cooke's last manager. 

   Fifty-seven singles and Four LPs were issued on the Sar label and 11 45s and two LPs on Derby Records.
Many of the records have a strong Sam Cooke sound. All Sar and Derby records remain very collectible.

         Hopefully, someday someone will plot out sensible compilation LPs of most of the issued cuts and the best of what may remain unissued.
   The artists on the label are largely singers and musicians that Cooke and Alexander knew through their years on the "Gospel Highway" as quartet singers .

Valentino's

 I Gonna Forget About You

Sam's Death

   Just remembering Sam is not around to defend himself.

I am not saying that this is not how it happened.There is always two sides too a story, anyway its a long time ago now.History!

      Lisa Boyer was the name of the woman Sam met on the evening of December 10, 1964. She was a singer as well. She was dining with friends, and Sam was to sing the last song of his life, Good News. Apparently he offered to give Lisa a lift home, and ended up taking her to a club called PJ’s. Sam had some sort of altercation there, and they left. He offered to take her home, but he was fuming from the altercation, and drove very fast, all the way to the Hacienda Motel on South Figueroa.
 
  He registered under the name Sam Cooke, at 2:35am. The woman that signed him in was called Bertha Lee Franklin. She noticed that he was not alone, so she made him change the name to Mr. and Mrs. Sam Cooke. You must be morally correct to sleep in a 3 dollar a night room. They got to the room, and everything fell apart.
   According to her testimony, Sam began ripping her clothes off, and yet still proclaiming they were "just going to talk." Lisa was positive she was going to be raped. She asked if she could use the bathroom, but the door wouldn’t lock, and she couldn’t get the window open. When she returned, Sam was naked. He went into the bathroom after her, and she saw this as her cue to escape. She grabbed her clothes (and apparently some of Sam's), ran out the door, and started to pound on the manager’s door. No answer. (Bertha was on the phone to the motel owner, Mrs. Carr) She fled, to find a phone booth, where she made a call to the cops. By the time the manager opened the door, Lisa was gone.

Lisa’s call was logged in at 3:08 am. "Will you please come down to this number. I don’t know where I am. I’m kidnapped."

       Meanwhile, Sam blows a gasket. He goes to the manager’s office, positive she is in there. He pushed his way in, demanding, "You got my girl in there!" They got into a scuffle keep in mind Sam was wearing only a sport coat at this point nothing else. He tried to shove his way into her apartment, positive that Lisa was hiding in there. He searched it, couldn’t find her, then grabbed Bertha and demanded to know where the girl was.    
   Bertha grabbed her trusty .22 and shot Sam three times. One of the shots was made only an inch from him, blowing a hole in Sam’s chest, collapsing both lungs. "Lady, you shot me," were his last words.

 There was an event only a few months prior to his death which tragically had an effect on the family. Sam and his wife Barbara lost their 18-month child in a swimming pool drowning. They also had two other daughters, age 11 and 4 at the time.

     At Sam's funeral, about 200,000 fans showed up to pay their respects. Lou Rawls, Ray Charles, and Bobby "Blue" Bland all performed at the service. He was buried in Glendale, California at Forest Lawn Memorial Park.

Sam's Epitaph

   Sam Cooke's photo laying against a wall after being shot dead.

A change is Gonna Come 

Cooke wrote this as a protest song to support the civil rights movement, as black Americans fought for equality. Up to this point, most of his songs were either touching ballads ("You Send Me") or lighthearted uptemo tunes ("Twistin' The Night Away"). When Cooke heard Bob Dylan's "Blowin' In The Wind," he became determined to write something similar - he couldn't believe Dylan's song wasn't written by a black man.

Blowin in The Wind Sam Cooke

Good Times

        This was one of the last songs Cooke wrote and recorded before he was killed on December 11, 1964. One of Cooke's lighter songs, it's about enjoying oneself at a party. It's an example of one of Cooke's songs that was accessible to white audiences.

Good Times Rolling Stones 

Love this clip 

Mick looks so young 

and looked like he was enjoying himself

Cupid 

       Rolling Stone magazine's Top 100 songs, Sam Cooke's producers had the idea for him to do a song for a girl they had seen on a Perry Como TV show. "She didn't do anything but just look up at Perry Como in the most wistful-type manner," said J.W. Alexander, Cooke's business adviser. Cooke decided to drop in the sound of an arrow being fired "Straight to my lover's heart" whenever the song called for it.

 Johnny Nash Reggae Cupid

Bring It On Home to Me Live Harlem Club

Somebody Would Ease my Troublin Mind Eric Clapton and Sam Cooke

The Amazing Leonardo Da Vinci

    (1452-1519), Florentine artist, one of the great masters of the High Renaissance Leonardo da Vinci who's profound love of knowledge and research was the keynote of both his artistic and scientific endeavors. His innovations in the field of painting influenced the course of Italian art for more than a century after his death, and his scientific studies particularly in the fields of anatomy, optics, and hydraulics anticipated many of the developments of modern science. 
      He was an astronomer, sculptor, geologist, mathematician, botanist, animal behaviourist, inventor, engineer, architect and even a musician. He was all of these things and more.  Leonardo da Vinci remains one of the most fascinating people history has ever known. He once said that "things of the mind left untested by the senses are useless." Leonardo left little untested. Leonardo Da Vinci's numerous skills have earned him the title of renaissance master.

Leonardo Da Vinci (1452 - 1519)

 Da Vinci's Paintings

            The Last Supper

Leonardo da Vinci was already a well known artist when he created his masterpiece The Last Supper. He painted it on the back wall of the dining hall at the Dominican convent of Sta Maria delle Grazie in Italy. The reason the painting is laid out the way it is is that Leonardo was trying to "extend the room", to make it look like Jesus and his apostles were sitting at the end of the dining hall. This painting became an instant famous work, for many reasons. 

 Mona Lisa

     

    One of the most famous paintings in the world, the portrait of the Mona Lisa is referred to as simply the Mona Lisa, La Joconde, or La Gioconda. It is an oil on board painting that is 77cm high and 53cm wide. It is thought that the portrait is the wife of the wealthy socialite Francesco del Giocondo, Lisa Gherardini.
  People wonder why it is that her facial expression seems to change depending on the direction from which you look at her.
Given the fact that Da Vinci manages to capture so many different emotions and character-traits in one painting, it seems natural that every time one looks at the Mona Lisa, one sees something different, irrespective from which direction the painting is looked at.

   The mouth often tells the truth about a person, and Mona Lisa's suggests balance, in mood and in personality. This is a woman that is young, but displays a calm and sobriety normally associated with an elderly person.the Mona Lisa "may have been painted to mark one of two events.. either when Francesco del Giocondo and his wife bought their own house in 1503, or when their second son, Andrea, was born in December 1502 after the death of a daughter in 1499. The delicate dark veil that covers Mona Lisa's hair is sometimes considered a mourning veil. In fact, such veils were commonly worn as a mark of virtue. Her clothing is unremarkable. Neither the yellow sleeves of her gown, nor her pleated gown, nor the scarf delicately draped round her shoulders are signs of aristocratic status."

 Leonardo Drawings

Paintings

Da Vinci's Secrets 

His Machines 

Study of Flight

His Inventions

    Parachute

  Leonardo's parachute design consists of sealed linen cloth held open by a pyramid of wooden poles, about seven metres long. The original design was scribbled by Da Vinci in a notebook in 1483. An accompanying note read: "If a man is provided with a length of gummed linen cloth with a length of 12 yards on each side and 12 yards high, he can jump from any great height whatsoever without injury."

 Flight

Leonardo Quotes

The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding.

There are three classes of people: those who see. Those who see when they are shown. Those who do not see

Where the spirit does not work with the hand there is no art

Iron rusts from disuse; water loses its purity from stagnation ... even so does inaction sap the vigour of the mind.

Lady Ga Ga

This week we are going with Lady Ga Ga for our unique personality.We will take a look at her beginning,her influences and her amazing concerts. 

  
Stefani Germanotta to Lady Ga Ga

    Before there was a whole lot of styling and theatrics there was a brunette girl with a very good voice. Lady Gaga was Stefani Germanotta. She was a very talented singer and pianist with not a very terribly distinctive look other than looking like any girl, every girl, anywhere.  

 

Captivated and Electric Kiss 

 

I absolutely love Lady Gaga. A talent and creative gift she is an inspiration to all orginators to stick at it until the fame arrives.

 

Developing her craft as a songwriter she was taken under the wing of Akon and honed her performance skills in night clubs such as Mercury Lounge, The Bitter End, and the Rockwood Music Hall.

She was born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta. When looking for a stage name, and being a big Freddie Mercury fan she receives a text message referring to the Queen song Radio Ga Ga and screams, "That’s it, I’ll be Lady Gaga from now on."

  

Finally GaGa's hard work paid off when her first studio album called "The Fame" hit the U.S. stores on August 19 2008. "It's very 70's, with early 80's Prince-like guitars and 80's synths. It's a bit retro, a bit glamorous, and you can dance to it. It's very futuristic, very fresh, and very dramatic, sort of like theatrical pop," she commented on the effort. The Fame tour followed and was a huge success. 

 

  Then came the monster.The Fame Monster album followed by the amazing tour with the mind boggling stage shows. Here are some of Ga Ga's amazing live performances plus if you search You Tube you will find many more brilliant performances by a super talent and entertainer.
  

Ga Ga is presently in the studio putting down her third album and by her tweets she is even sleeping in the studio Here is a twitpic link of her in bed at the studio.

http://twitpic.com/2gclgt 

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