Thursday, June 24, 2010

Amigos en Concierto, courtesy of Smorgzone

Amigos en Concierto was this great concert that the
San Diego Master Chorale presented,
i was there by mister Smorg's courtesy!


fotos are not allowed at the Copley Symphony Hall
but i stole this one with my very small camera
when the usher was not looking at me! do NOT try this yourself!


here a pasted review from what i wrote him about the concert:

to confess, i wasn't that excited to go 'cause i don't really like mariachi that much and i don't listen to our classical mexican music that much... so when i read the program and read Mariachi (which i don't like very much...) but also read San Diego Master Chorale (about 80 voice on stage) and a tenor and a soprano.... AND the Romero Duo, these amazing Flamenco guitarists who won a Grammy, then i started to get sold, i went there with not very high expectations... but left with tears in my eyes!!! it was wonderful... there were some problems with the sound, with Monica Abrego's microphone but apart from that, the whole event went flawless!

the 1st part of the program was ALL traditional old mexican songs arranged for the Chorale, the Mariachi ONLY played the first two songs, and then the Chorale took over... also there was a children choir of about 20 kids, lovely voices and great arrangements... knowing & understanding all the lyrics to the songs, made a huge difference for me... so many childhood memories!!

after the intermission, i only wished my Flamenco-loving mother was there, who i knew would appreciate some serious guitar playing... those fellows from the Romero Duo were just fantastic!! you know? i grew up listening to my mom playing flamenco records, so i recognize many of the songs the brothers played... another great lovely surprise

by the end of the night, the stage was full of people!! 80 singers from the Chorale, the pianist, the mariachi, the tenor and the soprano, plus the children choir... so even if you had no idea what they were singing or you don't like that kind of music you felt like singing and dancing... a beautiful spectacle indeed!


and an outdoor shot of the Copley Hall in Downtown San Diego

Wednesday, June 09, 2010

the soul

"The soul is the weariest part of the body."
~Paul Bowles, The Sheltering Sky

Monday, June 07, 2010

the gulf oil spill

the gulf of Mexico oil spill situation
is profoundly sad,
the death of so many innocent animals
the ultimate human cruelty imposed...
and what's to do?
human power and greed seem to have non-stop



so many days, and things only get worse
hope we are learning our lesson on dealing with oil
the sights are heartbreaking...
so i comfort myself with the sight
of these 2 happy animals that arrived to my doorstep
and have become my local little furry family
wishing all nature could be safe as them


Frau Kitty, the original Reebok cat


Herr Gato and one of his photo-shot poses

Wednesday, June 02, 2010

Memorial day weekend, Paul Bowles, and easiness

i am not sure if it's the American life(style) or
my age, or the always-busy internet era, or what...
but even if i live a pretty calm life:
a regular 8 hours a day of work, practice of yoga,
prepare my meals, chase/take care of the cats,
and i only drive 10 minutes to work
somehow, i live in sort kind of 'rush'

it's not that i am stressed, not at all!
but it is just this strange internal drive
this awareness of time and that there's always...
'something else i could be doing' or
'some book that i am not reading' or
'some show that i am missing'... that
human attempt that feels like needs to be fed

this internal rush, this agony
of wanting to know 'where am i going?'
this strange fear to trap and make
life 'countable' by one's progresses,
by one's achievements...

but this weekend, while reading Paul Bowles'
The Sheltering Sky, i realized that apart from yoga
and its wonderful awareness of not being aware
(which is pretty hard to do...)
the only other activity that makes me shake off this
counting-in-life-what-i-am-doing feeling is... reading!!
reading, NOT online, but reading an old-fashioned
pages-of-paper book... 'cause
even when watching films i am somehow 'aware'
of my existence slipping by...
but when i read, a great book specially, i do get lost
in time... so just like the 3 characters on the opening
pages of The Sheltering Sky, this weekend i felt like
those three Americans seated on a North Africa cafe
who conversed quietly and "...in the manner of people
who have all the time in the world for everything..."

so for 3 days, i forgot about schedules
about achievements, about being or not being
and i cooked light meals, made some café de olla
went to Bread & Cie. but overall, i read, read,
and read... and had the least possible contact
with other humans, which always makes me feel
at ease... human interaction bring the time-counting
back to my life, solitudes, most of the times, makes
me smile and relax...


ingredients for café de olla, coffee (of course!) piloncillo and cinnamon
traditionally café de olla has to be prepared on a clay pot
but i didn't have one (mexican shame on me!) but my own pewter pot
worked very fine too... if you can, do try café de olla, it's delicious!



my order at Bread & Cie., the bread platter
3 sorts of breads (your choice) plus jams, butter, and cream cheese
i got multigrain, fig & anise, and walnut raisin breads



a berries and nuts salad with good Olde Cape Cod
Sweet & Sour Poppy Seed dressing, pretty good!




and i even had the 'time' to spell the short version of my name
with Trader Joe’s Cinnamon Schoolbook Cookies
now that's what i call a lovely
waste of time
exactly what i was looking for...


Tuesday, May 25, 2010

my new favorite TV show: Simon Schama's Power of Art

i've watched a couple of episodes
from the BBC series of Simon Schama's Power of Art
Bernini and Rembrandt episodes
on our blessed public television channel PBS

"Art is the enemy of the routine, the mechanical and the humdrum. It stops us in our tracks with a high voltage jolt of disturbance; it reminds us of what humanity can do beyond the daily grind. It takes us places we had never dreamed of going; it makes us look again at what we had taken for granted."
~ Simon Schama


the first minutes of Bernini's "Ecstasy of St. Theresa" Episode



the episodes analyze a central piece by a given artist
and around this narrative, Simon unfolds their life story

Simon Schama wrote and narrates the series, his style is fresh
and even funny at times... as when he refers to Bernini
as... "...that bastard!", a relaxed and unique style
that makes every twist and turn of the narrative
a bit dramatic, it is almost like a watching a soup-opera
where the casts are Popes, painters, sculptures, all while learning
a lot about art history, and world history, too.
I learn a lot about Amsterdam on Rembrandt's episode
these two episodes... highly recommended!

Episodes
1. Caravaggio - David with the Head of Goliath
2. Bernini - Ecstasy of Saint Theresa
3. Rembrandt - The Conspiracy of Claudius Civilis
4. David - The Death of Marat
5. Turner - The Slave Ship
6. Van Gogh - Wheatfield with Crows
7. Picasso - Guernica
8. Rothko - Black on Maroon


you can view them all online here

but just like movies on the big screen
TV series are meant to be watched, well, on your TV
upcoming episodes in KPBS, San Diego
May 27, 2010 11:00PM
June 3, 2010 11:00PM
thank you PBS!

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

veggie soup, slowdive & 40 days

not much writing now
only cooking soups
of vegetables now...
this past Sunday
made a mix of all pictured here
chopped all (except the can)
and cooked for 12 minutes
in a pressure cooker, pretty good!



and listening to old songs
this one from 1993
slowdive's album Souvlaki
40 days, don't even remember
why i used to listen to this song so much
but i still like it...



Fourty days and I miss you
I'm so high that I've lost my mind
It's the summer I'm thinking of
Fourty days and I'm blown away
If I saw something new
I guess I wouldn't worry
If I saw something new
I guess I wouldn't care
You said you're always sleeping
But if so, I'll be leaving
It's just that I'm always falling
And it makes me feel bad, yeah
If I saw something new
I guess I wouldn't worry
If I saw something new
I guess I wouldn't care
Just to try and watch you
Said I love the way that you smile, don't
Makes me try and watch you
I said I love the way that you smile, don't
Smile whenever I watch you
I said I love the way that you smile, don't
Smile whenever I watch you
I said I love the way that you smile, don't

Saturday, May 15, 2010

saturday: cat power & rosemary eggs

a bit overcast this morning
so i make for breakfast scrambled eggs with
chopped yellow onion, tomatoes,
sweet yellow pepper, and fresh rosemary



color is good in the morning

and then the sun starts to come in
inviting one out



so i leave you with a cat power song
Bathysphere, from her album
What Would the Community Think



walk out this weekend!
there's life

Friday, May 07, 2010

Beethoven, Buddha, and my mom

i've been a bit disconnected from the blog, the internet, etc.
my mom is visiting!
shortly after her arrival, we went to the Copley Symphony Hall
for a Beethoven Festival Piano concert
the program was Beethoven's
Coriolan Overture, Op.62, the Piano Concertos No. 1 and No. 2
it was a lovely evening indeed
although the pianist Yefim Bronfman was replaced by Orli Shaham
she did a good job, but i was looking forward to listen to Yefim
as he has great reviews
also was sad to miss mister Smorgthere
as we planned to meet him at the concert...
hopefully i can meet him soon!


my mom at Copley's, me on the reflection
it's an ugly picture,
but hey! photography is forbidden at Copley's!


and to close this little post
the Buddhist thought of the day:

Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared.
~Buddha...

Friday, April 23, 2010

Thursday, April 22, 2010

recycle & don't kill, Earth day

"It is our earth, not yours or mine or his. We are meant to live on it, helping each other, not destroying each other."
~J. Krishnamurti...

my little tribute to Earth Day

14 Surprising Things You CAN Recycle
taken from Star12

1. Appliances – Goodwill accepts working appliances or contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them

2. Batteries (rechargeable and reusable) – visit www.batteryrecycling.com and find out how to dispose of yours

3. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks – refurbish scratched disks with www.auraltech.com

4. Compact fluorescent bulbs – You can take them to your local IKEA store for recycling.

5. Computers and electronics – many computer manufactures take back old computers to recycle for free

6. Eyeglasses – you can donate your used eyeglasses or call your local eye care chain to see if you can recycle them there
7. Foam packing – Call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site

8. Ink/toner Cartridgeswww.recycleplace.com will pay for them or you can get them refilled at a reduced rate at most office supply stores

9. Oil – visit www.recycleoil.com to find out where you can recycle used motor oil

10. Sports equipment – try reselling, donating or trading it in at your local sporting good store

11. Toothbrushes and razors – visit www.recycleline.com

12. Tennis Shoes – Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. Visit www.nikereuseashoe.com.

13. Phones – visit www.donateaphone.com to find out how to recycle and/or donate your used phone

14. Cardboard Boxes – donate yours to local nonprofits and women’s shelters

and now on meat...
here about 16 quotes of famous characters on vegetarianism and no-meat diets
sadly, i am not a vegetarian, yet... i am a cruel as all meat eaters
but the more i think about it, the sadder i become
i hope i have the strength to change a hamburger for some inoffensive nuts
if i ever do it, it would be for the animal cruelty reason
maybe you like these famous people would like to give it a try too



"Vegetarian food leaves a deep impression on our nature. If the whole world adopts vegetarianism, it can change the destiny of humankind."
~Albert Einstein

"For as long as men massacre animals, they will kill each other. Indeed, he who sows the seed of murder and pain cannot reap joy and love."
~Pythagoras (6th century BC)

"A man of my spiritual intensity does not eat corpses... Animals are my friends...and I don't eat my friends."
~George Bernard Shaw

"My situation is a solemn one. Life is offered to me on condition of eating beefsteaks. But death is better than cannibalism. My will contains directions for my funeral, which will be followed not by mourning coaches, but by oxen, sheep, flocks of poultry, and a small traveling aquarium of live fish, all wearing white scarfs in honor of the man who perished rather than eat his fellow creatures."
~George Bernard Shaw

"People often say that humans have always eaten animals, as if this is a justification for continuing the practice. According to this logic, we should not try to prevent people from murdering other people, since this has also been done since the earliest of times."
~Isaac Bashevis

"If we cut up beasts simply because they cannot prevent us and because we are backing our own side in the struggle for existence, it is only logical to cut up imbeciles, criminals, enemies, or capitalists for the same reasons."
~C. S. Lewis

"One farmer says to me, "You cannot live on vegetable food solely, for it furnishes nothing to make the bones with;" and so he religiously devotes a part of his day to supplying himself with the raw material of bones; walking all the while he talks behind his oxen, which, with vegetable-made bones, jerk him and his lumbering plow along in spite of every obstacle."
~Henry David Thoreau

"I have no doubt that it is part of the destiny of the human race in its gradual improvement to leave off eating animals."
~Henry David Thoreau

"Since visiting the abbatoirs of S. France I have stopped eating meat."
~Vincent Van Gogh (in a letter to his brother Theodore)

"Nothing more strongly arouses our disgust than cannibalism, yet we make the same impression on Buddhists and vegetarians, for we feed on babies, though not our own."
~Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)

"As long as there are slaughterhouses, there will be battlefields."
~Leo Tolstoy

"A man can live and be healthy without killing animals for food; therefore, if he eats meat, he participates in taking animal life merely for the sake of his appetite. And to act so is immoral."
~Leo Tolstoy

"Flesh eating is simply immoral, as it involves the performance of an act, which is contrary to moral feeling: killing. By killing, man suppresses in himself, unnecessarily, the highest spiritual capacity, that of sympathy and pity towards living creatures like himself and by violating his own feelings becomes cruel."
~Leo Tolstoy

"Flesh eating is unprovoked murder."
~Benjamin Franklin

"I have from an early age abjured the use of meat, and the time will come when men such as I look upon the murder of animals as they now look upon the murder of men."
~Leonardo da Vinci

"I feel very deeply about vegetarianism and the animal kingdom. It was my dog Boycott who led me to question to right of humans to eat other sentient beings."
~Cesar Chavez

"The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated... I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants."
~Gandhi

"Non-violence leads to the highest ethics, which is the goal of all evolution. Until we stop harming all other living beings, we are still savages."
~Thomas Edison

"The eating of meat extinguishes the seed of great compassion."
~Mahaparinirvana (Buddhist)

To become vegetarian is to step into the stream which leads to nirvana."
~Buddha



more info in case you want to stop eating animals too
http://www.vegsoc.org/

i hope i find the enlightenment and discipline to stop eating meat
hopefully one day, the only meat-eaters in my household will be
Frau Kitty and Herr Gato, as cats are strict carnivores

and don't miss Earth Days
the PBS documentary
it follows the development of the ecological movement
and the first Earth Day back in 1970
very informative!
this beautiful planet and all its inhabitants
animals, insects, plants deserve something
have forgotten, they deserve our
respect

signed,
why am i growing a conscience?
it is painful and a lot of work!