星期日, 4月 22, 2007

星期四, 4月 19, 2007

Beauty of Amy


In spite of illness, in spite even of the archenemy sorrow,
one can remain alive long past the usual date
of disintegration if one is unafraid of change,
insatiable in intellectual curiosity, interested in big things,
and happy in small ways.

星期日, 4月 08, 2007

2007.4.7--Love, Freedom and Aloness


--我只能對你敘述愛的品質,當你為愛所包圍時,承諾就會發生。承諾並不會讓愛發生,是愛創造出承諾的。它如同愛的影子,有朝一日愛沒有了,承諾也會隨之煙消雲散。當愛不在,你還要承諾延續,你所說的承諾是法定的承諾。
--你得去嘗試付諸行動,在你的努力當中你就能夠脫離自己建構的意義。
--愛是一朵連花,而情緒是蓮花所生長的那片泥沼。
--沒有什麼不對的,人是有性慾的動物,我們原來就是這個樣子,這就是生命要我們成為的樣子,所以我們才會出現在這哩,自然的力量無所不包,他不允許任何的意外。
--你透過性出生,所以充滿性的能量,不過事情不僅於此,這可以是個起頭;性是個開始,不是結束。
--看懂生命,不會拿任何理論硬套在生命上,只是是著去了解生命是什麼,他們了解到性是開始不是結束。性純然是一個成長的契機,讓你去超越性-但你必然深入其中去經歷它。
--你畫不出一雙平行線,因為兩條線一直延續下去的話,它們確實會交會。因為地球是圓的。
--你見過哪個靈魂是沒有身體的?
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When we were young, boys were tought to be brave and masculine, while girls were tought to be ladylike and obedient. However, as gender roles are changed, so have expectations. Nowadays, men can show their feminine side and women can present their masculine side as well.
The fact that the line between men and women has become less distinct is a sign of progress. Since no one is completely masculine or feminine, we should appreciate that both sides coexist within every individual. Terms such as 'sissy' or' tomboy' shouldn't be used to label people who naturally show more of the other side of their sexuality. Only when no one has to express his or her true natural will society have more variety and freedom.--常春藤解析英語 2007.April

星期五, 4月 06, 2007

2007.4.6--What a wonderful day!



--Love and lust(情慾) are two different words that confuse most of us.

--Try, try and never say die.

--Time on task.

--More power to you. Don't let anything change your thinking.

--When in Rome, do what the Romans do.(入境隨俗) It means you need to adapt to your environment.

--"Please!" "Thank you!" and "Excuseme!" are three magical phrases that can make good things happen.

--"Be thankful" is a magic attitude that can make good things happen.

--Cheyenne teaches me "Maintain eye contact when you talk to an individual."

--Treat other people the way you want to be treated but don't let their rude behaviors make you down.

--I don't like it! Not a bit!一點也不!

--I had a marvelous time with Ty and Che.

--People hate sexually transmitted diseases.

--Mary is not a bimbo.行為不檢點的人

--"Learn, and do better. " That's life!

--Funny how men never used to cherish their girlfriends when they are still lovers.

--I will include you in my prayers. Hope you goes through the tough time.


The book is about leaders of the world, and how they lead their people

Intervie with Israel Vice Prime Minister Peres:


You can't conquer science by killing people . What you have to do is educate your children, not to scarifice their lives. ---Peres

星期三, 4月 04, 2007

Self-Taught Artists Around the World Create Powerful and Unusual Art


http://www.voanews.com/specialenglish/2007-03-20-voa2.cfm
Today, we travel to several countries exploring the world of Outsider Art. This powerful form of creative expression usually involves art made outside the limits and rules of official culture.
Often, outsider artists have not been formally trained. They use their skills to create visual examples of personal observations, invented worlds, and even severe mental conditions.

The Outsider Art movement has many names and forms. Experts debate about the differences between terms such as Naïve Art, Visionary Art, Folk Art, Intuitive Art and Outsider Art. It would be impossible to explain the entire debate, so we will just tell a few stories about some great artists. The art itself will explain what is special about these similar movements.

Mental health experts helped bring public attention to one form of outsider art. For example, in nineteen twenty-one, a Swiss doctor, Walter Morgenthaler published a book about the art of his patient, Adolf Wolfli. Mister Wolfli was one of the early outsider artists who received popular recognition. During his thirty-five years in a mental hospital in Switzerland, Mister Wolfli created twenty-five thousand pages of drawings and stories.
Adolf Wolfli was a poor farm worker who was placed in a mental hospital in eighteen ninety-five. He soon started making color drawings that he organized into books. For example, around nineteen twelve he finished a nine-book series called “From the Cradle to the Grave.” In this work Mister Wolfli turned his sad childhood into a magical travel story. He included detailed drawings of maps, creatures, rulers, and even talking plants to help capture this imaginary world. In other books, he recreated and renamed the world and universe. He described this world using songs, poetry, and drawings.

In the nineteen forties the French artist Jean Dubuffet discovered Mister Wolfli’s works and other artists like him. He called this kind of artwork “Art Brut” which is French for “raw art”. He described Art Brut as being created from pure and real creative forces. He saw outsider artwork as being free from the worries of competition and social acceptance that define the official art world. He argued that the official culture of museums, galleries and artists had lost its power. Art Brut, he said, was still true and powerful art. Jean Dubuffet soon started collecting this kind of art made by mental patients, prisoners and even children. In nineteen seventy-one he donated his personal collection of Art Brut to the city of Lausanne, Switzerland.

--------------------------from Amy-----------------------

I think everyone can be an artist for his life. We human beings can't neither be rational nor emtional. The mental conditions are usually kind of complicated and looking for a way to relieve.

星期一, 4月 02, 2007

The Two Fridas: The Joyous and Tragic Life of Frida Kahlo






The Two Fridas: The Joyous and Tragic Life of Frida Kahlo  


In The Two Fridas , by legendary Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, two likenesses of the artist sit side by side, holding hands. The one on the right wears a traditional Mexican costume, and grips a small portrait of her husband, Diego. The heart is exposed, plump, red and whole. Contrastingly, the Frida on the left is clothed in a lacy white European gown, her exposed heart is broken and dry. This painting vividly depicts the artist's intense pain during a separation from her husband and her conflicted feelings about the different cultural influences in her life.  


Frida Kahlo was born in 1907 on a rainy morning in the small town of Coyoacan, Mexico City, to a German-Jewish father and a Mexican mother. From the time she was a young girl, she had a bold personality, full of mischief and unbridled enthusiasm. At the advice of her doctor after a bout with polio, she got involved in all kinds of sports, including boxing. She was teased because of her deformed leg, but soon learned to deal with it.  


As a teen, Frida entered a preparatory school where she was one of only a few girls. She loved reading and learning about many subjects, but she was not academically inclined. Because of her high intelligence, however, she excelled in her studies without much effort. In the meantime, she became part of a group of boys who were involved in pursuits of both troublemaking and intellectual expansion. At the age of 18, Frida's life suddenly changed course. The bus she was riding on one morning was struck by a streetcar. Frida was impaled by a steel cable, and sustained numerous broken bones.
揮灑烈愛 ─ 芙烈達的雙面人生  


在墨西哥傳奇女畫家芙烈達的畫作《兩個卡蘿》中,和畫家酷似的兩人握著手端坐在一起。右邊那位穿著傳統墨西哥服裝,手持丈夫迪亞哥的小幅肖像;她圓潤、鮮紅、飽滿的心臟裸露在外。相反地,左邊的芙烈達身著歐式白色蕾絲禮服,外露的心破裂、乾枯。這幅畫生動描繪了畫家和丈夫分離時的強烈痛楚,以及生命中不同的文化影響帶給她的衝突情緒。  


芙烈達‧卡蘿在 1907 年一個下雨的早晨誕生於墨西哥市的科約阿坎小鎮上,父親是德裔猶太人,母親是墨西哥人。自少女時代起,她便非常直率大膽、淘氣頑皮、熱情奔放。罹患小兒麻痺症後,她在醫生建議下從事包括拳擊在內的各項運動。她因腿部畸形而遭到恥笑,但很快就學會應付這種情況。  


十來歲時,芙烈達進入一所預備學校,成為該校少數幾名女生之一。芙烈達喜歡閱讀及學習多種學科,但其志趣並不在學業上。然而,由於天資聰穎,她無需費太多心力就在課業上表現突出。芙烈達同時也是一群既調皮搗蛋又追求智能發展的男生中的一員。18 歲時,芙烈達的人生遭逢巨變。一天早上,她搭乘的公車被電車撞上,芙烈達的身體被鋼索刺穿,多處骨折。




While Frida lay in bed recovering, encased in a body cast, her father gave her his box of paints and brushes and encouraged her to paint. Through painting, she found a sense of freedom from her pain and a way to express herself. Frida endured more than 30 operations throughout her life, scarring both her body and her mind.  


However, she remained bold, just like when she was a girl. She threw wild parties, swore like a sailor, and refused to shave, wax, or pluck her small mustache or her thick black eyebrows. She continued to do what she loved doing best - painting. Many of her works are self-portraits which express her suffering, passion, and whimsy. They are filled with imaginative and often disturbing images. The bright, warm colors and symbols in her paintings also reflect her rich Mexican heritage.  


The famous Mexican artist Diego Rivera first entered Frida's life while he was painting a mural at her high school. When she showed him some of her first works, he encouraged her to continue painting. Diego was clearly moved by the experience, stating "... her sparkling presence filled me with a wonderful joy." Though he was twice her size and old enough to be her father, they later became lovers and married. Their relationship was full of passion and fraught with painful infidelities on both of their parts. But in spite of their difficulties, they always came back to each other. In Self Portrait as a Tehuana and Diego and I, Frida painted herself with an image of Diego on her brow. The paintings speak of how Diego was constantly in Frida's thoughts, and of her wish to always have him close.
當芙烈達打著石膏躺在床上等待康復時,她父親送她一盒顏料及畫筆,鼓勵她作畫。透過繪畫,她找到一種自痛苦解脫的自由及表達自我的方式。芙烈達一生中忍受了 30 多次手術,身心皆受創。  


雖然如此,她仍像少女時期一樣勇敢直率。她舉辦狂歡派對,像水手一樣說粗話,拒絕剃除、用除毛蠟刮除或拔除嘴上的汗毛與濃密的黑眉。她也繼續從事自己的最愛 - 繪畫。芙烈達許多作品符都是表達其痛苦、熱情和異想的自畫像,其中充滿著想像及常令人不安的畫面。畫中明亮溫暖的色彩和象徵亦反映其濃厚的墨西哥傳統。  


著名墨西哥畫家迪亞哥‧里維拉在芙烈達的中學畫壁畫時,首次進入她的生命。芙烈達向迪亞哥展示她早期的作品,他則鼓勵她繼續作畫。迪亞哥顯然被這次經歷深深打動,他道:「……她亮眼的風采令我備感無以言喻的喜悅。」雖然迪亞哥體型是芙烈達的兩倍,年紀也足以當她父親,二人仍成為戀人並步入禮堂。他們的關係充滿了熱情和令雙方痛苦的不貞。即使困難重重,他們最後總會回到對方身邊。在畫作《穿著特旺納裳的自畫像》及《迪亞哥與我》中,芙烈達在自畫像的額頭上畫了迪亞哥的肖像。這兩幅畫顯示芙烈達時時念著迪亞哥,並希望他永遠在身旁。


Frida had her first solo exhibition in 1938, in New York. It was a great success and sent her reputation as an artist soaring. Her paintings perfectly combine dreamlike imagery with realism. In her self-portrait The Broken Column, her broken body is held together only by the straps of a steel corset. Her flesh is torn open from her neck to her belly, revealing a crumbling Ionic column within. The column represents her damaged spine. Nails large and small are lodged in Frida's face and body, while tears stream down her face. Frida stands alone, possibly because she feels isolated in her physical and emotional pain.  


Her health continued to deteriorate. By 1953 Frida was so strung-out on painkillers she could barely pick up a paintbrush. That same year Frida was honored with her first solo exhibition in her native country. She had been in the hospital for almost a year straight, but refused to miss the exhibition. She surprised everyone by having her bed carried into the gallery with her on it.  On July 13, 1954, on a rainy night in Coyoacan in the same house where she was born 47 years earlier, Frida left this world. Her last diary entry reads: "I hope the exit is joyful ... and I hope never to return – Frida." Her former home in Mexico, called "the Blue House" because of its bright blue color, is now a museum with a display of her paintings, clothing, jewelry, and things she collected. Her legacy lives on in the paintings and stories she left behind.


1938 年,芙烈達於紐約舉辨的首次個展獲得極大成功,將其藝術家聲望推至高峰。她的作品將夢境般圖像與現實完美結合。在自畫像《破碎的脊柱》中,她破碎的身體僅由鋼製束腹的帶子支撐,頸部到腹部被剖開,露出搖搖欲墜的愛奧尼亞式柱條。柱條代表了芙烈達受傷的脊柱,臉部和身體插滿大大小小的釘子,淚水從臉龐滑落。芙烈達兀自站立,或許是因為在身心的雙重痛苦下感到孤立無援。  她的健康持續惡化。到了 1953 年,服用止痛藥成癮的芙烈達虛弱到提不起畫筆。同年,她在祖國舉辦首次個展。當時她已住院整整一年,但仍不願錯過此次展覽。當她躺在床上被抬進展覽廳時,大家都震驚不已。  


1954 年 7 月 13 日那晚,科約阿坎鎮正下著雨,芙烈達在 47 年前出生的同間屋內離開了人世。她最後一則日記寫著:「我希望這次離開是喜悅的……我希望永不復返 - 芙烈達。」她墨西哥的故居由於漆著明亮的藍色,而被稱為「藍屋」,現在是陳列她畫作、服裝、珠寶和收藏品的博物館。芙烈達的精神遺產將在其遺留的畫作和傳奇中永垂不朽。