VERONESE COUTURE ETC…

” To enjoy the full flavor of life, take big bites”  ( Robert Heinlein).

jotted  down years ago , interesting wording and imagery.

then i discovered the giant that was Robert Heinlein.  American Science Fiction writer (1907-1988),   “The Dean and Grand Master of science fiction writers”. He single -handedly,  set the standard of scientific and engineering research  in science fiction writing,  a visionary world rooted in the reality of the present . He loved writing science fiction, a marginal literay genre at best, and single-handedly raised the  genre’s  literary standards and  made it into a well respected  …and most popular form of  literature.         He also uses the science fiction platform to address  issues of great concern to him:  the freedom of the individual, but a freedom conditional upon the self-imposed  responsability toward society. 

Life according to Robert Heinlein:  big flavor, big bites , big responsability .

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French slang  describing  ballet trainees , 6 to 14 of age,  studying at the  ballet school  of the Opera de Paris.  scurrying about like so many mice,  as extras and goffers during performances. Edgar Degas, French Impressionist painter in later part of 19th cent, painted extensively the world of the petits rats de l ‘Opera.

” IDIOM” : a group of words , an expression, peculiar to a language,  cannot be translated word for word.  an idiom has a figurative meaning  that paints the collective  cultural experience  of the people  who speak that language.  i like to look up idioms : a journey into the collective soul of a people.  will share with you by and by.

” il ya un os dans le fromage” .french. literal: ” there is a bone in the cheese”. idiomatic meaning:   unexpected disturbance.  cheese , appreciated for  smooth texture.  a bone in the cheese!  sacrilege. witty idiom,  a reminder how much the French love to make ( around 400 types of cheeses and counting!)  and savor cheese… with wine. c’est si bon.

” can eat bitterness”.  chinese idiom.  figuratively:  capacity for long  endurance  of  adversity.  The Chinese pride themselves for being bitterness eaters.      The word “eat”  often used in chinese idioms.  food, the lack of it,  most  important concern in chinese culture.  Chinese greeting: ” have you eaten rice yet?” . have you been able to fill your  belly yet.  yes, my belly is full, thank you.

the beauty of the desert…THEN:  “what makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere, it hides a well.”  ( Antoine de St-Exupery)

“Oye hijo mio, el silencio.  es un silencio ondulado.  un silencio donde resbalan valles y ecos y que inclina las frentes hacia el cielo.”               ( Garcia Lorca,  Spanish  poet )

__________________________________________________________________________                                The beauty of the desert…NOW : nobody gives a damn about the hidden water , only  about the hidden oil and minerals, for which the war is worth waging. thousands of people worth being killed and  maimed.

” here is my secret:  one sees clearly only with the heart.  anything essential is invisible to the eye”  “mais les yeux sont aveugles, il faut chercher avec le  coeur .”                               from The Little Prince  ( author: Antoine de Saint-Exupery.  French National hero.  writer, poet, pionner international airpostal pilot )

” No matter how fast you run, your shadow more than keeps up with you,  sometimes he is ahead”  (  forgot the author of this  witty remark)

as a kid, i loved to play with my shadow,  as an adult and an artist:  i am inspired by the shadow puppet theatre from around the world.

all right reserved. l.chan and veronese studio. copyright 2010

” i went to the bird market.  i bought birds for you, my love.                                                         i went to the flower market, i bought flowers for you, my love.                                                     i went to the metal yard , i bought heavy chains for you, my love .                                               i went to the slave market, looking for you, my love.                                                                 but i did not find you ,my love.”

translated from the poem” Pour toi, mon amour”,  by Jacques Prevert, beloved French poet extraordinaire. below:  silkdress with written poem:  pour toi mon amour.

” By all means marry.  if you get a good wife, you will be happy.  if you get a bad one, you will become a philosopher”.                                                                                                 (Socrates,  Greek philosopher of the classic golden age of Greece. 5th century BC. one of the founding fathers of Western  philosophy.  Socrates commited suicide by drinking hemlock, not because he had a bad wife! but as a protest against a bad ruler of Athens, Critias.)

“I have a thirsty fish in me that can never find enough what it is thirsty for”

Rumi, 13th century Sufi mystic and poet of Persia.

”  Listen to the story told by the reed of being separated:  since i was cut from the reed bed, i have made this crying sound. anyone apart from someone he loves, understands what i say. anyone pulled from a source longs to go back.”   (Rumi.  Sufi mystic and poet.  13th century Persia )

” There is a pathway, between voice and presence, where information flows.  In disciplined silence it opens.  In wandering talk, it closes.” ( Rumi.  beloved Sufi mystic and poet.  13th century Persia.)

“Have you heard the voices whispering on the desert winds?  they whisper silence,  they whisper stay, they whisper peace.”  ( J.A. Christensen)

A visit to the temple. i asked the disciple where the Master was:

” Somewhere in the cloud-ridden mountain,  herb gathering, whereabout unknown”

From Ancient China’s masters like these,  came  The Way of Tao, The Way of Zen and The Way of Kung-Fu, the mightiest martial arts ever devised by man.  promoting war and peace at the same time! contradiction of purposes?  not necessarily so.  by and by will explain .

Master elephant and Master mouse, best friends meeting to chew the fat.                      master elephant:  ” how come you are so tiny?”.  master mouse:  ” i was sick a lot as a kid.  how come you are so big?”.  master elephant:  ” I too was sick a lot as a kid”.    Master mouse climbs  on master elephant’s head and the two friends ride into the sunset.

To the funeral of a dead leaf, two snails were on their way.  in mourning mode,  veil and shell  painted black, the twosome  left , on a beautiful autumn evening… alas, when they reach destination, it’s already springtime. the leaves ,earlier dead, have all come back to life.  deep disappointment.  Here comes the  sun. says he:  take it easy, have a seat and a glass of beer if you fancy.   enjoy life and if you please, take the evening bus for Paris and visit the countryside. believe me , death and  funerals  are bad news. they grow black rings around your eyes and make you ugly.  shed all this black, put on  the  colours of life and celebrate the beautiful evening…  the two little snails now  slowly on their way  home, zigging zagging from too much beer, zigging  zagging  happily home .  high in the sky, the moon watching over them.

Adapted from the poem:” Chanson des escargots qui vont a l’enterrement” by JACQUES PREVERT,  beloved French  artist, poet, writer, film maker. father of the universally loved lyrics of the songs:  Les Feuilles Mortes  ( Falling leaves) and La Vie en Rose.

Queen Elizabeth I England.  17th century. John Donne,  poet , satirist, cleric of the Anglican Church, a contemporary of Shakespeare,  a thinker lightyears ahead of his time.  Poem:       NO MAN IS AN ISLAND

No man is an island

entire of itself

each is a piece of the continent

a part of the main

……………………………………

each man’s death diminishes me

for i am involved in mankind

therefore, send not to know

for whom the bell tolls

it tolls for thee.

” a hundred time every day, i remind myself that my inner  and outer life depends on the labours of other men, living and dead, and that i must exert myself, in order to give in the measure as i have received and am still receiving”.                                            Albert Einstein,  physicist and thinker.

Babylon, the capital of the Assyrian empire. 2000 BC. Present day Iraq.

an inscription in cuneiform characters, on one of the ruins:   ” If what you see pleases you, we made it by the grace of God”

A person with special skills  is a “gifted” one.  he is on the receiving end, he has been given gifts of special talents and insight. He was  chosen from above, to bring light to the rest of us. there is an IOU note here.  he’d better work hard to fulfill his share of the bargain and show he is worthy of the trust.  fine thinking, 4000 years ago.

Some words must be said, some gesture must be made…no matter the cost.

480 BC.  Greece. The battle of Thermopylae ( the gate of fire). Massive invasion of Greece by the Persian army, over 200,000 strong. King Leonidas and 300 Spartan elite soldiers made a last stand to allow the small Greek army (2000 men) to escape.

Leonidas and his braves were anihilated ,  But the following year,  Greece  rallied and stopped the invasion.

Of the 300 slain spartans, only DIECENES is granted by the  Spartans the posthumous title Aristeia:  ” most virtuous soldier”  according to the Spartan way of life.  The day of battle.  facing the multitude of Persian archers,  whose flying arrows would darken the sky,  Diecenes’ reply:  ” we shall fight them in the shade then”.

I made a sculpture to honour Diecenes:  a bronze disc pierced with so many holes , it s no longer a shield made of bronze but a shield made of holes.

Diecenes’ shield is done.   The sculpture , somehow has grown to 20 shields.  I guess his slain companions wanted their voice  heard as well.  Dont know when   , dont know how but   the sculpture will grow to 300 shields … and how many holes i would have created by then.   will report to you when the work is done.

” Imagination is more important than knowledge.  Knowledge is limited to all we now know and understand, while imagination embraces the entire world and all there ever will be to know and to understand”  Albert Einstein

“Your time is limited, so dont waste it, living someone else’s life… dont let the noise of others’ opinions drown your  own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition, they somehow already know what you truly want to become.”  Steve Jobs

Steve Jobs, walker to your own drumbeat, thank you for reminding us to keep alive the fire burning  within each and all of us.