let's go swim in the devil's pool

Victoria Falls. Largest sheet of falling water in the world. Somewhere amidst the border of Zimbabwe and Zambia. Near the edge, the devil's swimming pool...

Georgia Russell

I am in love...with paper sculpture by Ms. Russell.
Oddly enough, I was skimming the pages of Marie Claire Maison when I came upon a portrait section that was dedicated to Georgia. Here is a little backround of l'artiste:
"...Georgia uses a scalpel instead of a brush or pen, and works with obsessive perseverance and patience to make her constructions of cut paper. She appropriates found materials and utilises their decorative qualities and inherent potential as she manipulates, cuts and transforms books, music scores, newspapers, currency, maps and photographs."...
"Russell's work with books and ephemera first began in Paris while she was still at the Royal College of Art. Old books have always seemed to her like sculptural objects which had their own history, 'representing the many hands which have held them and the minds they have passed through'. She resurrects her discovered materials to give them 'a new life and new meaning'. There is a simultaneous sense of loss and preservation in each work as she wants to retain and reclaim the past as much as her techniques attack it."

Music...makes the people...

"I was born with music inside me!"-Ray Charles

---Music. What is it? Define it. Hmmm, struggling eh? So was I when I thought about it. Daily I have been going through 2 musical pockets, sometimes a classical one, the other a folk-rock.(I watched 'Amadeus' last week, then the other day I put on U2's dvd...). They seem different, but are they really? Each puts me in a different mood, but why? Why do I have specific associations with certain songs...etc. Why do we get those 'earworms'? Those annoying tunes that stick for days...Parkinsons patients could often inexplicably be roused from their catatonia by music. And really, how is it that the Chinese, reap so many exceptional concert pianists?!
---I read an article recently about a book, called 'Musicophilia: Tales of Music and the Brain', by Oliver Sacks. In it Oliver states that music "has no concepts, makes no propositions; it lacks images, symbols, the stuff of language. It has no necessary relations to the world." (that last line is such an 'ah ha!' moment!) It is the very fact that each mind is attuned to music differently. Pythagoras said that "it is the sound of mathmatical, cosmic harmony, reverberating in the human soul." While on the other hand Darwin stated that it is merely "a function of sexual selection." Hmmm, I prefer the previous def. I am in complete accord with Oliver and he has definitely sharpened my desire to understand its enigma when he states that, "like life itself is universally experienced... it ultimately eludes explanation".
---There is an portion mentioned in the review about a man named Clive Wearing, "a musician strucken years ago with a post brain infection amnesia so devastating that from one minute to the next he does not know who-what-when-where-how or-why. At 69, just two things are unscathed in his life: a profound love for his wife and the ability to sing or play on the piano any piece of music set in front of him." Oliver then concludes that music, if anything is "a rope let down from heaven"...

Here is something I do know: I am going to purchase this book a.s.a.p.

Oh, and for that last WHY?
The chinese are more attuned to pitch, having had to master the precise tones used in spoken Mandarin. (yet another, 'ah ha' moment).

For now, listen to this Hebrew song that I am in love with...maybe it's the language, tone....I'm still trying to figure it out. Sheesh. That's life I guess.

Découvrez Yael Naim!

***Oh and the Yael Naim concert...was FANTASTIC! She wore a white puffy dress, one-sleeved with red polka-dots all over. And with house slippers. :) I was blown away by her voice...such a big voice from such a tiny person! Favorite song was a duet with surprise guest, french rapper Tété...it was the two of them, her in her polka dots, he is dressed à la "johnny cash" (a man in black :), her 3 male horn players dressed in Beatles-esque colorful military uniforms....twas GRAND.

tonight

NEW SOUL

Tonight I am going to see Yael Naim! Israeli-french singer...you might know this song (watch the vid above it's great!), the title is 'new soul', it was featured on a Mac commercial I think too. This will be my first concert in Paris...yay! It is at Les Folies Bergères, which has been around since 1870!I'm going with my Paris bud Sadie.

for you

French class was today. I have to wake up and be on the RER at 7.33 in order to be in class at 9 on time. My favorite part of the journey into Paris for class is when I walk down rue de Madrid. It is the street that turns into rue de Lisbonne, where my school is located. Rue de Madrid is where there are an abundance of music classes and a few music shops. Each time I stroll down the street I hear hobos, violins, piano, and the occasional police horn :). It's a joy to hear...and I thank God. Wasn't it Maya Angelou that said " a bird doesn't sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song". That is what I think of when I hear the faint hobo. On the contrary to the morning, the afternoon brought chaos, the typical hustle and bustle of this town. I passed by some mega shops on the way home, in particular H&M was extremely crowed, and since inquiring minds want to know why (sure you do...;), I entered and discovered that there was an opening of a designer known as Comme Des Garçons. I didn't buy a thing, I just casually, or attempted to casually stoll, but of course was shoulder swiped and treated like any other person there...like I was one in a herd. I couldn't believe how so many people cared to have a Comme Des Garçons polka dot shirt. Polka dots...ooo so nouveau, nouveau-NOT. Anyway, just another day in the city...whoop dee do!

Word(s) of the day:

"To claim that a god with such a wide-ranging agenda is small may seem absurd, until one realizes that any god wedded to a national policy that ascribes more worth to the rich than the poor or to the mother and child in Scarsdale than to the mother and child in Baghdad is not God at all, but the sort of nationalistic idol attacked relentlessly by Amos, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Jesus of Nazareth." -Dr. Paul Hanson


Here is a new tune from the dearly loved Tracy Chapman!

Découvrez Tracy Chapman!

la vie

So here they are: Flore, Hadrien, and Alexandre (just to clarify, he's the little one with red hair :) Just got back from Belgium. Loved it. Loved the fries, loved the waffles, loved the dogs, loved Brugges! Back in Paris. I would like to go to the Serge Gainsbourg exposition à La Cité de la Musique. Also I read that actress Juliette Binoche has some of her paintings and poetry on display somewhere...I'm intrigued and would like to see that as well. One last thing, who or what should I do my french presentation about?? Obama? Victor Hugo? Waffles? Speaking of waffles and Obama, I saw a waffle for sale in Brussels yesterday with a toothpick white flag that read 'Obama'...it was topped half with crème and half with nutella.

p.s. the song in the vid is an excerpt from a very popular tune here in France at the moment...artist: Santogold. Listen to the whole thing below!

Découvrez Santogold!

today is a tad toxic.

---I am supposed to go to Belgium tomorrow.Bruxelles, Antwerp, Bruges...now seem truly at a distance. Ticket has been purchased but I wasn't at home when DHL came by to deliver, so I am supposed to go pick it up from their office in Trappes...wherever that is. I am disappointed. Hopefully Nathalie (my host mom)can pick up my parcel this evening. And on top of all that it's raining. Bummed, I am.
---On a lighter note,(yes, you can always find humor. Humor in fact, is a way to survive...though, sadly I guess it can't solve life's problems...(that would be YOU,DHL!grr)) yesterday as the kids were being, KIDS I heard some sniffle-snuffles behind me (yes, i just said sniffle-snuffle :). It was Alexandre the great, I mean, the 6 year old. He had some white object jammed up his right nostril. It looked as if he were using some nose spray. I immediately realized that it wasn't nose spray and it was a white tube of paint. Eyes wide as a cow and jaw-dropped, I snatched it quick as a frog eating it's prey (sorry, graphic...haha)! He said matter-of-factly, "Quoi? C'est rien. C'est vide." (What? It's nothing. It's empty). I quipped a loud, "Mais, c'est toxique! Tu va mourir!!" (It's toxic, you are going to die!!) And of course, he laughed and skipped away into his room upstairs. Tube clutched in hand, I was stunned to a stand-still. Cannot believe that happened. (I'm belly-laughing right now. Yet very, very concerned...what is the generation ahead??)

Mercredi, le 5 novembre, 2008.

---I am obsessed with The Cinematic Orchestra, at the moment...this song. Be prepared to be moved. :)

---Another note, Barack Obama is president. I found out this morning, 9am french time via a french dj.There is an overwhelming support for Obama in France and no doubt throughout all of Europe/ the world. History in the making? I sure hope so. Every supporter will become his fastest critic, as they should. Historical date? Yes in deed.

Autumn delights

Spiced Apple and Pear Crumble


---There are apples in the grass. I lean down, in awe of the thought that someone could drop so many 'pommes' by accident. Then I realize I live in a region where apple trees abound.I have to admit I had a film flash-back. To the moment where Dorothy, picking apples galore from the ground floor... finds a treasure (the tin man), by his steel toes. Except this time the apples itself are the treasure and I suppose, along with the moment itself (yay for living by apple trees!!)

---As said by the authors of the Bread and Honey blogspot, this recipe is perfect with a thick scarf and a good book on your front porch swing...

Ingredients:

3 baking apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
3 ripe but firm red pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, diced, plus more for buttering the dish

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Toss apples and pears with lemon juice and granulated sugar in a large bowl. Stir in cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg and toss well to combine. Spread fruit evenly in a buttered baking dish and set aside.

Combine flour, oats, brown sugar and salt in a food processor. Add butter to flour mixture, then pulse several times to incorporate butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse meal. Evenly spread the topping over the fruit, pressing down slightly with your fingers. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until fruit is tender, juices are bubbly and topping is crisp.

Found this chez Bread and Honey

Have not attempted this yet. Today we made crepes and jack-o-lanterns with grapefruits in place of pumpkins. Ingenious little critters these kids are :)

*!*

I just love this pic! thanks cynthia leigh. This weekend my parents came from Belgium. We strolled, we ate, we went to Notre Dame. They were amazed that I could use the métro and walk so fast. My dad said it appears as though I am "gliding"...In retrospect I feel bad for walking too fast :/
I am now off to Le Grand Palais to see the Picasso exhibit, among other things.
toodle-loo!