Torschlusspanik?

In der letzten Zeit hoere ich von vielen Freunden um die 40'er Jahre herum, dass sie, so scheint es zumindestens mir, auf einmal nur dauernd Sport betreiben wollen. Und das auch aufs ausgiebigste berichten. Nun, es freut mich, dass es sie freut. aber muessen sie denn taeglich den Ablauf beim Rennen, Radeln, Felsenklettern......allen lautstark sagen?

Was  die Herren der Schoepfung betrifft, kann ich es - fast - noch verstehen. Sie haben eventuell eine neue - auf alle Faelle juengere - Frau am Arm, und wollen daher rank und schlank und 'buffed' aussehen.

Aber es sind es auch die Frauen, die ins Rennen kommen. LoL.
Ja, sie rennen auf einmal alle.
Wollen auf einmal beim Marathonlaufen mitmachen,
sogar bei dem Biathlon oder dem Eisernen Mann (Iron Man competion in Hawaii). Vielleicht sollte man das umnennen.  Eiserne Person, vielleicht.
Oder Eiserner Mensch?
Mir kommt es vor, als ob sie alle mesmeriert wurden.

Und nicht nur bezueglich Sport, aber auch der Diaet gegenueber.

Na, bitte, haette eine(r) Celiac Krankheit, dann auf alle Faelle isst er eine beschraenkte Diaet. Warum aber froenen auch solche, die pumperlgesund sind diesem,  ist mir ein Raetsel. Denn anders als Wahn kann ich es nicht bezeichnen, wenn einer allem auf der Liste oben entsagt, ob er/sie es gar nicht muss!! 
Kein Tempura, Keine Torten, Keine Nockerl, Knoedel oder Tatschkerl, kein gutes Bauernbrot, Wachauer Laiberl, Semmerl....... usw.

Falls Sie, liebe Leser mit Rennen oder Radfahren oder ??? nicht genug haben, schlage ich Ihnen vor vielleicht folgende Sportarten ins Repertoire aufzunehmen:

Die Eleganz des Sumo

Hoehenangst ist dabei ein Hinderniss

Nicht fuer Nichtschwimmer, sag' ich

Zum Schwindlig werden, eh?
 

Ist das eine Ameise? Oh, nein nur ein Mensch

Luftbretteln? Schneebretteln?
 

Eine Art Roller Coaster?

Mehr aufregend als normales Radeln, ja!

Ruminations

Lately I have been thinking weird thoughts.
Well, weird in the way that they are disjointed and disconnected from my daily life!

Rummaging around my CD library seeking out symphonies by Mahler, Schubert, Dvorak, Beethoven, who all died before completing a tenth symphony.

Then pulling out recordings by Callas, then Piaf.
And then it hit me:

Piaf's voice, to me, is possibly the only voice that can beat Callas's .

  

Both singers have that rare raw, heart wrenching deeply felt sound.

And when it comes to concert music, I’ve always enjoyed listening to recordings more than live performances, and I have attended live performances in St. Louis, Houston and elsewhere. But at home  I can close my eyes and just enjoy. Or I can listen to it with my ears, while reading a book. Or I can sit with legs up, glass of the bubbly beside me and enjoy it all in my own personal space!
I can get up if I have to, twist around if I must, and not worry I may disturb neighbors at a concert! Sure, CD's are polished and edited to create that perfect sound balance. But when it comes to concerts I say why not! Perhaps, because I do not play an instrument and so am not mesmerized by what players do on stage!

Now when it comes to opera. I am of the other opinion.
Opera, as Theater, MUST be experienced live. Flaws and all.
The voice is not a perfect instrument, the voice varies with age, experience, health.. and yet can produce sounds that awe, stun and transport. Nothing, IMO, beats a LIVE performance.
And soon I will have them at the OH and HGO. I may then blog on the performance I have seen!

In a dire emergency, I can watch a DVD, if I must just,  that I not suffer withdrawal symptoms ;-).

And as I also enjoy hockey, I say the same for that. LIVE is better than on Television, but if that's all there is, I will condescend to watching on the tube, as long as it is a very BIG one, lol!
And that is now again possible, albeit by a drive to San Antonio

Rampage vs Icehogs

, or elsewhere, since our Houston team was moved north.

Now, I do admit, that I may travel to see opera in Santa Fe

Loretto chapel, mystery staircase

,
Boston

Boston

and other cities.
But would not as readily do so for hockey. 
Well, I have been an opera fan longer than an hockey fan :-).

Of course, going somewhere where I can have both,
plus musea... that to me is the perfect holiday!
Which is coming up in December!

Tampa bay Lightning Home!

Florida, here we come!

Existential Crisis

Pperhaps. So, you think you know what that is, do you?

Have you read the papers recently? Anything that does not conform to the norm, constitutes a existential crisis. So what does that mean?

Perhaps Jean Paul Satre could explain it. Or perhaps Albert Camus. Even Soren Kierkegaard faced the problem how to describe existentialism. So who am I to try to explain it. After all every journalist of note is using it to describe everything from banking problems, politics and even questions of the human existence!

Perhaps this painting by Antje RIETSCH  represents an existential crisis. She title it Blattgestalt Nr. 1

Which somehow explains it all, doesn't it? The convoluted contortion just scream crisis to me!

GAME TWO Rampage versus Rockford 3-1

 A new day dawns

Antti Raanta

And Game Two of Rampage, versus Rockford, gets underway at 7 PM. The ice seems better, fewer falls;
and the air is more frigid in the ATT Center this night.
 

In pain

To the bench and ultimately off ice!

The game starts on a sad note, Rockford's Antti Raanta (net minder) lies in pain, but bravely gets up and stops some more ( 4 of 4 sogs) then finally limps off with the help of teammates.
And in  comes BUG Kent Simpson, who did yeoman service. He let in just 2 goals by Matsumoto in the 2. (on a PP) and 3. periods. Goal 3. was an empty netter by Petrovich.

Simpson says NO you won't

A quick sip and I am ready:Simpson

Veteran net minder Clemmensen has his moves down pat

And later, another Icehog left the ice injured. not an auspicious start for Rockford!

Over all it was fast game;
many, many sogs by Rampage; a  team high, we have been told, of 56!

Rockford only managed 25 even though they did reve up their shooting in the 3rd to 10, when one of the Broadhursts (Alex) got the only goal for the Icehogs.

Sadly, IMO and Better Half's, too, Kent Simpson did not get any Star.  
He should have. He was very active and successful.
Chers Reader you can tell I am pro Kent ( lol)

Icehog Viktor Svedberg (Nr. 8) at 6 ft 8 (the new Chara lol?)and 235 pds does not have far to reach to catch a stray puck ;-)!

He stopped 51; Raanta 4; and the 56th sogs was, after all, an empty netter.

Clemmensen stopped 24 and he did get Nr. 2 Star.
Matsumoto Nr. 1-deservedly, and Alex Broadhusrt the 3.
A little fighting to enliven the scene!Here a scuffle between Selleck (Rampage Nr, 15 and Rockford's Nr.6 Jared Nightingale.
Note: Selleck never lost helmet, Nightingale did!

 

Hockey is still alive and well in Texas.

Even though the Wild pulled out. 
BTW The Minnesota Wild lost both game, this weekend, in OT!

A little Hockey in San Antonio 2-1 for Chicago!

Woolly white clouds gamboled across an unbelievably blue sky on the way to our first hockey game.

San Antonio's New Hyatt

Which was Rampage versus Wolves. Both teams had a former Aeros on their rosters. Ortmeyer as 41 for Rampage, Locke  as 84 for Wolves.

Locke Goal in 1.

And - no surprise there, Locke snuck a wrap around the net, guarded by Dov Grumet Morris, for the first goal of the game. Wolves Jaskin scored again in the 2. period while the Rampages' Robak

Robak Goal in 3.

got one goal  during a PP in the third, to end the game with a 2-1 loss for Rampage. IMO the teams seemed to have trouble staying upright.. lost of spills and falls. In the 3. Rampage appeared to have found their ice legs (lol) and the game showed some more spirit.

No that one did not go in!

Bodies allover but no puck in net :-)

Over all the Rampage out shot the Wolves with 42 Sogs vs 23 Sogs. Credit and #1 Star went to the Jake Allen in goal for the Wolves, who has improved his game over what we used to see previously in Houston. Jaskin (for his unassisted goal)was the Nr. 2.
 and Robak the Nr 3.

Melee in front of Grumet Morris

 The crowd was a bit disappointing.. only 5671, but they sure were very vocal, those Rampage fans!  So it seemed much bigger! And before I forget, a little amusing factoid: The wolves had a Hanson (Christian) skating, the Ref was also a Hanson (Trevor) ... and I am sure (am I?) that neither was related to the Hanson Brothers of Slapstick fame. Tee hee. ;-)

Puck went that a way!

Will that be a goal for Wolves ?

It still goes on...

The tyranny of Stalin remains alive in Russia today. 

This is a bit off the normal path for me,
but after reading this I just have to remark on it.


I have read also One Day in the life of Ivan Denisovich.. 
That one is a novel, of course, but her detailed letter comes very, very close.

But how did she get that  accusatory letter out?
That I really would like to know.
I don' t doubt the conditions are far below what a western mind can accept, but again.. with the kind of control she describes, how did her letter pass censoring?

I have also read descriptions of concentration camp survivors,
and those, too, seem to be similar!

And descriptions of female prisoners at Japanese WWII  camps...similar horror.

However all those were published after the prisoners survived.

Just makes one wonder why Snowdon asked for  asylum.. in Russia, no less. A *Putineske* Russia. What was he thinking???? Probably not that! ;-).

Staccato Thoughts

those two little words , uttered by FB friend S. from Oklahoma, just stick in my mind.
Staccato!
Thoughts!
So here I am.....wide awake!
Those pesky *staccato thoughts* just wouldn't disappear..
All night long they pounded away in my brain! Maybe it's a new dance craze *the staccato*.? How would that look?

Did they really do that?
Or is it a Staccato more:

Like Horowitz?

Ratatat: Or like that

 Rataplan: maybe like that:

or even like that:

But never like that:

 

NOW, I wish I could type *staccato*!  

Having *staccato thoughts* alone is no good.

I cannot make my fingers to *the staccato* on the keyboard...lol!

 

 

Where is Stephen Hopkins with his magic fingers...

now I know HE could do *the staccato*

Hmmmm... is there a sensor in the clouds?

Sure seems that to me.

After scrolling through several posts of the past 5 years (has it really been only 5 yrs ago that I started this artandhockey blog?) I noticed several pictures are missing,
some were, admittedly, a bit *revealing* in the lingerie department.

And others were *modern art* and therefor also a bit revealing.

Anyway, just noticed that. So chers readers, I am sorry (maybe not too) that you are missing out on such *things that perhaps upset* someone somewhere, somehow!
Enuf said!

A haven for artandhockey???

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324009304579042812665917786.html?mod=WSJ_LifeStyle_Lifestyle_5
This was written up in the WSJ today.



SONG OF LIFT 2013 2nd prize

Martijn van Wagtendonk's installation in 3-D :"Song of Lift’ is a 5-minute long, fully automated, viewer sensitive opera. A fourteen-armed circular structure hangs in the center of the blackbox’s 25-foot ceiling. Its 12-foot arms hang down like a closed umbrella. From the arms, strings hang over a hundred winged objects just above the ground. This is the center of the play. A quarter machine, like you might find on mechanical horse rides for kids, allows the viewer to set the opera in motion. As the viewer deposits a coin in the quarter machine, the gallery lights dim. The opening, soft, long notes of violins become barely audible (the first movement of Henryk Gorecky’s Symphony No.3 Op. 36, also known as Symphony of Sorrowful Songs). As the piano intersects with its staccato keystrokes, an automated light show starts creating an ever-changing atmospheric environment. At this moment the first pairs of wings begin to flap."
I am off to Grand Rapids MI, also home to the 22nd*best beer of America city*, right? Looks a bit like Florence to me, but then.. after a few beers it just really might do that ;-)

Well, not exactly. BUT -if I had known earlier...
2 weeks of ART; see above.

Plus "Sweeney Todd", 

several Symphony performances  - not sure if the above excerpt will also be played just then ;-)!

and ending with an early October of: "The Jersey Boys"


AND The Grand Rapids Griffins
 vs Milwaukee Admirals on 10/18.




For what more could an artandhockey lover ask???

Enlightenment - just around the corner at MFAH.

Sky over Galisteo

Turrell

Mother Nature's outside light show in New Mexico.
And so I was reminded when visiting the installation of Kames Turrell's The Light Inside at the MFAH.

Turrell's Deep Sky

The rooms are filled with may hued colors. Some are small lit up forms, others are in surround color - :-)! To enter the fuchsia hued (at the time of my passing through) cube (up the steps in black) one dons booties. The color suffuses walls, ceiling, floors..one feels like in a multi hued womb. Others show back lit walls, which just asks visitors to start finger shadow games.. just like when we were young. Or didn't you. chers readers? And some just Tsk'ed, Tsk'ed...guess they did not have imagination enough to create their own 'art'? Perhaps they thought it a desecration  :-)!
 And then there were the black on white prints.

After a surfeit of color filled rooms I ambled over to the wall of Posada's Calaveras prints.
What was it that  inspired several artists to portray their world as skeletons?  The Mexican Posada lived 1852-1913.

 Mexican Tour de France on drugs :-)?

A newer painter, John Alexander, born Beaumont, Texas 1945, also paints similar satirical images!

 

Are these meant to be parodies of local life, politics and religion?
Posada's art becomes folk art especially for the Dia de los Muertos November 2. Which in Europe is celebrated as All Souls Day, while November 1 is All Saints Day! In Mexico as also in most European countries these are the days to visit cemeteries.

Posada's take on society:-)



Posada: Addressing the nation ;-)?

Posada: Cleaning up the city? :-)

And then there was the Belgian artist James S. E, Baron Ensor, 

born 1860-1949... got a bit sidetracked there. Anyway.. it was an interesting, although tiring visit despite walking with my trusty - guess I am not as 'back to normal' after the prolonged PIB and subsequent cortisone shots, as I thought!

James Ensor's take on society?

Ensor's Skeletons warming themselves at a fire









The Blame Game

Now, I just read in the WSJ that robots may advise you how to invest your hard earned money!
Really!
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323477604578654101591319918.html?mod=ITP_journalreport_0

So if the robot is wrong you can just blame the robot, not your lazy self!

And then - eureka - THE revelation for today!
We have become a society of the committee decisions!
It is just too dangerous to make any decisions unless a committee has met numerous times to 'yeah or nay' the thought! Isn't it?
So we waste a lot of time pushing the envelope around the table.
Our society has become a society of  never stepping forth and accepting:  It IS my mistake!
No, it's: "I wouldn't have done it, if ...." or "You said it would be OK, but..."

And that's from the top down! Yes, all the way!

Isn't it always 'the' parent's fault.
Or the School's. Or the teachers'. Or the smart phones'.
Or the Universities'. Or the boss'.

Or the Congress'. Or the House of Representatives.

I have an idea: let's put a robot in the house!
And let it make decisions for the Country!
What could go wrong?
If it doesn't work..  Blame the robot!
If it does work, pat yourself on the back for being so smart to have used a robot!

Now those 'not I's' have another one to blame.
Just...
"Blame it on the Robot". 
Blaming it on the Bossa Nova is soooo pre-historical, after all.
Right?

If anyone actually still remembers Eydie Gorme.

Tomorrow will, undoubtedly, bring another idea to tongue lash!
But for today: That's all!