Krishnamurti Interview

Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/vision/krishnamurti-interview/.

Krishnamurti Interview

The Internet can be a terrific tool, especially when it gives us the possibility to listen to such rare and valuable wisdom as in this jewel: the Krishnamurti Interview by British Journalist Bernard Levin on YouTube.

Krishnamurti Interview with Bernard Levine Reading is one thing – and normally I prefer that – however, here we literally see how fundamental thoughts and responses to questions any searching mind has, evolve into responses and answers… an amazing visual process of one of the most brilliant and enlightened minds of our times, who unfortunately passed on on 17 February 1986 at age 90. It could only be topped by having been there live… experiencing the ‘light’… but a gracious donor on YouTube is gifting anyone who is ready to look, to see, to understand…. at whatever level… with these 30 minutes of life lived without conflict – that alone is remarkable.

Bernard Levin deserves our respect for bridging so well the apparently defined and the vague, the spiritual and the profane, the here and the there… to define a path where there is none – yet having the presence of mind to close the circle with a solution ‘normal humans’ can work with.

I just have to share this and I think of our friend Laetitia Paris, who is celebrating an important birthday with a ’0? today. Listen and watch with sincerity and awareness… and observe what it sets in motion within you… the action, the processing, possibly the transformation… without pressure. Just be… “You don’t choose if you are clear.”

Krishnamurti Interview

It is fascinating to see different approaches to concepts deeply engraved into the pattern of our knowledge… our experience… our conditioning. It takes an inquiring mind, courage and openness to shed one’s skin and embrace the Unknown. The Krishnamurti Interview confronts us with a very different approach in many areas of our life… including Meditation. I am thinking of this especially as my yoga class with a terrific yoga teacher – Leora Leibovitz – always starts with a brief meditation – basically to ‘arrive’ in the here and the now and ‘on the mat’. After this we choose a topic to define a clear intent for the yogic exercises. It is amazing how each individual body then processes this intent, which clearly reflects in its ability to move – or not to move…yet, to flow – or not to flow… yet – and to express based on its individual ( ? ) life story through the different yoga positions… some of them seemingly trivial, but definitely always with a very clear purpose within the deep physical, emotional and spiritual cleansing process. Today’s thoughts brought up the concept of likening the body to a computer and our memories, emotions, experiences, the roles we play and our social conditioning etc to different packs of software and programs, some of them running over and over again… and how it’s up to us to identify and kick destructive programs out… to travel lighter…which obviously lead to the idea: what remains if we kick it all out? Tempting, isn’t it? On a long walk on the beach under the most glorious sunshine we continued the thoughts, especially as my question is: who or what puts the PC on in the first place? This brought us to Krishnamurti and his teachings, in which I found another thought-provoking statement, within his last Interview on 4th January 1986 in Madras, India, where he spoke amongst other topics about the effect of technology, the PC… and remember, you need to see this in the year 1986, quote: “That computer can do almost anything that man can do. It can make all your gods, all your theories, your rituals; it’s even better at it than you will ever be. So, the computer is coming up in the world; it’s going to make your brains something different. You’ve heard of genetic engineering; they’re trying, whether you like it or not, to change your whole behaviour. That is genetic engineering. They are trying to change your way of thinking. When genetic engineering and the computer meet, what are you? As a human being what are you? Your brains are going to be altered. Your way of behaviour is going to be changed. They may remove fear altogether, remove sorrow, remove all your gods. They’re going to; don’t fool yourself. It all ends up either in war or in death. This is what is happening in the world actually. Genetic engineering on the one side and the computer on the other, and when they meet, as they’re inevitably going to, what are you as a human being? Actually, your brain now is a machine. You are born in India and say: ‘I’m an Indian’ . You are encased in that. You are a machine. Please don’t be insulted. I’m not insulting you. You are a machine which repeats like a computer. Don’t imagine there is something divine in you – that would be lovely – something holy that is everlasting. The computer will say that to you too. So, what is becoming of a human being? What’s becoming of you?” Everyone will have to work this out for himself, however, I do believe the answer is very much contained in the above Interview of Krishnamurti that I encourage you to watch in your quiet time – and most definitely without ‘pressure’! You will smile when you realize what is meant by this. No pressure… ever!
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing. Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Spirit of Tibet

Copyright © 2010 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/online-communication/personal-development/spirit-of-tibet/.

Spirit of Tibet

There are times in life when asking sincerely for direction in a severely directionless world gets amazing answers in form of so-called coincidences. All we need is to open our hearts and inner eyes to see miracles happen and to understand them as gifts to … pass on.

Spirit of Tibet - the Dalai Lama and the Child

“Spirit of Tibet” is a unique, sensitive and inspirational portrait by French Photographer Matthieu Ricard spanning the life, death and rebirth of one of  Tibet’s most respected 20th Century teachers and meditation masters: Dilgo Khyentse Rinpoche (1920-1991). As one of his students, His Holiness, the 14th Dalai Lama candidly and humorously shares his own spiritual views and values and it is wonderful to see this mirrored by a whole nation, old and especially young. This is today’s Tibet, bending only to its Spirituality… to Peace, to Tolerance and to respecting the Environment. This gem of a DVD – superbly narrated by Richard Gere – was just one of the current ‘coincidences’ that re-confirmed a deep feeling of Wholeness within me; may it do the same for you.

Spirit of Tibet – the DVD

“Spirit of Tibet” – the DVD is in itself a meditation of fascinating images captured by someone who had rare insights and where you feel the closeness and love for every detail, each moment, each sound… the light, the depth, the symbol, the laughter… filmed in remote areas like Bhutan, Tibet and Nepal – where I had the chance to spend some time in the mid-eighties, a time that seems unreal … and yet it comes alive in this precious movie, this catalyst; we ourselves are the transformers. "Spirit of Tibet" - the DVDOne doesn’t need to be a Buddhist to appreciate true Values. One doesn’t need to believe in Reincarnation to care for our Environment and what we leave for future generations, however, imagine more people would! IMAGINE. . . The fact is, so many want to change the world instead of looking inside and starting right there: “Unless the inner forces of negative emotions are conquered, strife with outer enemies will never end.” “Spirit of Tibet” took 10 years to make… how long will it take us to transform ourselves and live according to the basic principles of its contents?
Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing. Co-Founder of YORGOO, YCADEMY and Semiomantics. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Avatar the Movie by James Cameron

Avatar the Movie by James Cameron

Avatar the Movie by James Cameron is most probably the most captivating 3D fantasy-science-fiction-action movie we have seen so far and it will definitely influence the way movies will be made in the future.

While the story has a wonderful mission and can be understood – without words – on many different levels, it touches both sides within us: the deeper knowledge and longing for wholeness and harmony with Nature … and the destructive violence of power and greed that are in constant confrontation within the fabric we human beings are being made of – and as we see it with the indigenous humanoid culture of the Na’vi on planet Pandora… it’s no different. Not yet. . .

AVATAR by James Cameron - Official PosterWhat fascinated me most was…

~ the concept of the Avatar itself – according to Cameron “… an incarnation of one of the Hindu gods taking a flesh form. In this film what that means is that the human technology in the future is capable of injecting a human’s intelligence into a remotely located body, a biological body…” which I’d like to expand into reflections as to who we ourselves actually are when incarnating in a chosen body (?) and going through a life experience or life situation;

~ the whole idea of a vast bio-botanical neural network of constant connection (think Akasha), communication and interaction – which in my view could have had much more depth, but it’s beautiful as it is presented and might just open the space to some future cinematograph who’d take these tentative beginnings much further;

~ the technical side with its amazingly photo-realistic computer-generated characters and environments

~ and the Graphic Design of it all of course!

Avatar the Movie by James Cameron

We can learn a lot from writer, producer and director James Cameron, who we all know from grand best-selling movies like “Aliens” and “Titanic”.

His goals were clearly set and he didn’t let time interfere with his vision. While he wrote the script as early as 1994 and decided that Avatar would have synthetic, computer-generated actors and a couple of leading roles “who appear to be real but do not exist in the physical world” as he expressed himself, he decided that since in his view the technology at the time wasn’t ready to translate his vision in an adequate way, he waited for the right timing and focused on refining the technology for the following years.

Until 2006.

In September 2006 he declared that he would be using his own Reality Camera System to film in 3D where two high-definition cameras would be used in a single camera body to create as perception of depth.

Additionally, Cameron used new sophisticated motion-capture animation technology to create incredibly photo-realistic computer-generated characters. The difference now was that Cameron’s new virtual cameras allowed him to watch directly on a monitor how the actors’ virtual counterparts interacted with the movie’s digital world in real time and adjust and direct the scenes just as if shooting live action – instead of the normal motion-capture systems, where the digital environment is added after the actors’ motions have been captured.

“It’s like a big, powerful game engine. If I want to fly through space, or change my perspective, I can. I can turn the whole scene into a living miniature and go through it on a 50 to 1 scale.”

No wonder, to create the Pandora complex as seen in the film required over a petabyte of digital storage.


Official Avatar Movie

I see you

“I see you” could become a code word for all those having watched Avatar – and I warmly recommend you do, ideally in 3D!

I loved it – I see you there again maybe. . .

2012 by Roland Emmerich

2012 by Roland Emmerich

With a new heat wave hitting the Cape of Good Hope down here in South Africa, the best place to be today was the sea, the fridge or … the movie theatre. So we went to see the movie “2012″ by Roland Emmerich – which USA Today called “… the mother of all disaster movies”… and truly so.

OUFFF! Disaster isn’t my cup of tea at all, but with my interest in Design and 3D Animation and being a grand movie freak, I went there for the special effects… and I got more than I wanted! In fact, I needed some time to land after having been swept across all continents by land, air and sea escaping monstruous tsunamis, tornado earth quakes, continental shifts, polar inversions etc etc and this in all sorts of ways the human race literally raced to survive after solar flares had basically set the inner earth core on fire with temperatures rising at gigantic speed and dramatically changing the planet forever. 2012 Movie Poster

2012 by Roland Emmerich

Without today’s fascinating and incredibly advanced technological possibilities – and corresponding budgets – a movie like 2012 by Roland Emmerich would very probably never be made.

The storyline isn’t that different basically from what you may remember from “The Day After Tomorrow” – when temperatures over especially North America dropped astronomically within just 7 short days and the President of the USA had to make some difficult and drastic evacuation decisions… Here we have the inversion on a global scale, we also have the ‘warning’ and the initial disbelief of the world’s political leadership in what some scientists from the other end of the world – this time at the bottom of a boiling hot copper mine in India – have to report… until things start happening… literally cooking… California disappears, Yellowstone disappears, Washington falls, the Vatican collapses. . . and there is almost no more place to go, no escape… but for those privileged 400,000 who could pay a ticket at 1 Billion Euros a piece – who of course consider themselves as the creme de la creme of the human race and worth of carrying on the species after three modern “Arks” (… well built in advance for this exact planetary situation, hint, hint… and conspiracy believers are nodding…) would place them together with some representative Master pieces of our Civilization’s Art and Culture – like the Mona Lisa, officially stolen from the Louvre – into a new dawn… to start again from scratch.

The joke for me was that this place – at the end of the movie – this new dawn… was exactly here, at the Cape of Good Hope… in the middle of the current heat wave – and the Drakensberg became the highest mountain on earth. Yeah, life would start again in Africa … and there were surrealistic vistas when, within the total apocalyptic chaos, we see helicopters transporting giraffes and elephants in biblic ‘two’s – so African safaris in the brave new world would be secured… Yet, with so much overwhelming chaos at incredible lengths and with hammering music slashing out at our emotional barometers, one was no longer drawn into the magic, it was too much, too long, too loud, too obvious, and despite the incredible Special Effects – well, less would have been more in my personal view.

I had also been interested in how the Mayan Calendar had been woven into the story, knowing that there was never a prediction of an end of the world but the beginning of a new era or epoche, called the era of “Ethics” – which I would greet with all my heart… but except in stereotypes like “If we stop caring for one another, we lose our humanity” … there wasn’t much of what I would have expected.

So if you are a fan of disaster movies and this is exactly what you expect – then the movie delivers the promise, then this is for you. You were warned!

Coco Avant Chanel

Copyright © 2009 Bianca Gubalke. Visit the original article at http://biancagubalke.com/online-communication/coco-avant-chanel/.

Coco Avant Chanel – Film Review

Coco Avant Chanel – Film Review

“Coco Avant Chanel” is the new movie written and directed by Anne Fontaine on the early years of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel (19 August 1883 – 10 January 1971). The drama is focusing on the future French Fashion icon’s legendary rise from a humble if not miserable childhood in an orphanage to her first millinery shop in 1912 to becoming the sought-after fashion designer in Paris in her 30’s and – as she prophesized with remarkable and inspiring determination and conviction while still fighting for survival – on the brink of fame and fortune… That’s where the movie ends. Before CHANEL. Before the wars. Before the glitz, power plays and intrigues that revolved around a woman that went her way alone with courage and charisma,  opening not only new ways for Fashion – where she replaced the imprisonment of the corset with comfort and casual elegance and had the audacity to introduce women’s trousers into a man’s world… just to name these two revolutionary fashion trends she (and nobody else) set – but also bringing more freedom in many ways to all women of her time.
Coco Avant Chanel - the movie poster

Coco Avant Chanel - the movie poster

Elegance is refusal

To Coco Chanel “Elegance is Refusal”  and as we follow the world through her dark observing eyes, her elegance – and refusal – expands to a form of philosophy she lives without compromise. She only talks when there is “… something to say… ” and what she says when sufficiently challenged – especially by the frivolous jet set playboys at the beginning of 1900-something – is revolutionary if not shocking . . . and never empty words – I like that.  She was different, she was apart, she was herself and not to be ‘possessed’. . . and to me this was exactly what attracted the men who could buy everything… the men she needed to go her way. Alone. Without fear. Driven by an inner knowing of  her own Ability and Greatness. This is the Message of the movie… a quiet yet profound movie that is an excellent portrayal in many ways. Beautiful French actress Audrey Tautou fuses perfectly with the famous and highly influential Grande Dame de la Haute Couture she personifies; we are quickly drawn into the story and identify with her on her fascinating rags-to-riches journey.

Fashion is architecture: it is a matter of proportions

Having always had a faible for “Chanel” and being addicted to Chanel No.5 … what interested me much more than her love affairs was what actually triggered that elegance and clarity of style, in other words her signature when it came to Fashion.
Coco Chanel Logo

Coco Chanel Logo

Although some eye-opening moments are sensitively woven into the fabric of this movie – like when the young orphan is fascinated by the nuns’ black and white robes – Chanel’s future fetish colours… and one needs to remember that at the time black was only worn by men or mourners – or when she sees all those beauties in Deauville with hats like “cakes on their heads,”  which motivates her to design a simpler silhouette… and when she starts cutting her English lover’s clothes down to fit her own slim body proportions . . . but there could have been more. If it had been the main theme, which it wasn’t. But that’s what fascinates me most with Coco Chanel, to whom  “Fashion is Architecture: it’s a matter of Proportions” and . . . “Simplicity is the keynote of all true elegance.” Simplicity is the keyword here. . . and Style – as … “Fashion fades away, but only Style remains the same”. Where did she get that unique “style”? A style and simplicity that are reflected beautifully in the perfect Company logo (see above). Perhaps we will see more of this in “Chanel after Coco”! I’ll sure be there. . . it’s time well spent and even today it has a wonderfully encouraging and liberating message – check it out and you might see. . .”How many cares one loses when one decides not to be something but to be someone.” That’s Coco Chanel – the legend lives on! . . .

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Author: Bianca Gubalke, Art, Media, Publishing. If you enjoyed reading the above, please consider following future tips and strategies by RSS reader, Email delivery, or Kindle subscription.

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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Harry Potter Film Review

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince – the Movie

Harry Potter struck again and kept as always the promise of delivering a 153 minutes high quality mix between adventure and fantasy… definitely an absolute emotional delight for all Harry Potter Fans and surely a way to escape what we understand as ‘reality’ (…TA!) and slip seamlessly into a world of Fun, Fantasy and Furore! This time with a little Amore … as even in Hogwarts kids grow up, hormones go crazy and the little Daniel Radcliffe we admired in the first Harry Potter now needs to shave… :)

Harry Potter Official Synopsis

Harry Potter Movie Poster

Harry Potter Movie Poster

Warner Bros. describes the story as follows:

“Voldemort is tightening his grip on both the Muggle and wizarding worlds and Hogwarts is no longer the safe haven it once was.

Harry suspects that dangers may even lie within the castle, but Dumbledore is more intent upon preparing him for the final battle that he knows is fast approaching. Together they work to find the key to unlock Voldemort’s defenses and, to this end, Dumbledore recruits his old friend and colleague, the well-connected and unsuspecting bon vivant Professor Horace Slughorn, whom he believes holds crucial information.

Meanwhile, the students are under attack from a very different adversary as teenage hormones rage across the ramparts. Harry finds himself more and more drawn to Ginny, but so is Dean Thomas. And Lavender Brown has decided that Ron is the one for her, only she hadn’t counted on Romilda Vane’s chocolates! And then there’s Hermione, simpering with jealously but determined not to show her feelings. As romance blossoms, one student remains aloof. He is determined to make his mark, albeit a dark one. Love is in the air, but tragedy lies ahead and Hogwarts may never be the same again. ”

Harry Potter for Children and Adults

“Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince” is the 6th movie in an amazing and as always beautifully crafted adventure series based on the superb best-selling novel by J.K. Rowling.

I love these movies not only because they can be watched on different levels of depth and understanding by both children and adults – and there is no missing of their deeply anchored Keltic roots which are emphasized by some awesome real landscape shots (… filmed in Scotland I guess…) – but because of the arts & craft of the movie itself. What I mean is the superb setting and production design, camera work, lighting, directing by David Yates and the wonderful actors which all have that touch of ‘unspoiltness’ that brings and keeps them so alive and believable episode after episode.

Harry Potter Visual Effects

And having an artistic background, I totally admire the “Visual Effects”, the brilliant and often humorous touches in many scenes, starting right from the beginning when the titles dissolve in and out. It’s not l’art pour l’art – it makes perfect sense within the story. It’s organic, it fits. I remember experimenting with these exact effects when filming inks dissolving in water over glass in the mid-eighties; it was called “Time Made Visible” by the SWF Baden-Baden… The means were minimal against what’s possible with 3D Animation and Visual Effects today, however, it all existed in our dreams and thoughts then already – and becoming reality in today’s grand movies.

The camera was outstanding, sometimes capturing well-planned and orchestrated scenes from surprising angles in single long shots…. masterful and very interesting cinematography by Academy Award nominated Bruno Delbonnel.

Just as the transitions were superb and never confusing – great editing too!

It’s so precious in our time of fast gratification and superficiality to see what special attention is being paid to each detail. Clearly, it must be special to be part of such a production and to work for such a clear purpose – and the audience receives the message and rewards this thrilling series with unwavering loyalty.

No surprise… and then we already speculate as to what comes next!!!

Harry Potter Box Office

The film opened to critical acclaim and became an instant commercial success. It broke the records for “… biggest midnight opening gross of all time as well as biggest single-day worldwide gross of all time”

Incredible but true: in only 5 days the film made $391 million, breaking the record for biggest five-day worldwide gross in history.

My Tip: make this Harry Potter Movie a “Family Thrill” – go on a wizzard trip :)

There’s nothing like a real good movie watched in a real cinema!

. . .

Equipment for Digital Art

Equipment for Digital Art

Once we’ve come to terms with our ‘inner self’ and decide on what exactly it is we want to do on the Internet following our Purpose and Passion, part of our Business Plan is to equip ourselves properly to at least give ourselves the means to become as good as possible – even an expert – in our specific field of knowledge.

Which doesn’t mean that buying the best equipment makes us an instant expert, however, just as we cannot win the Formula 1 with a rusty beetle, we cannot expect to do wonders without the right professional tools.

Digital Tablets and Digital Pens

Although “. . . it all began with a mouse. . .” as Walt Disney said, and we all use it in various versions … and this with more or less ease. . . , when it comes to the digital manipulation of images, pictures or photos – like in Photo Retouche for instance, a huge market as no picture in any glossy magazine gets around the magic retouche mill – and from here to professional Digital Advertising and Digital Art etc – this is when a mouse is not enough and you need a tool that’s much closer to how we as artists used to work: holding a crayon, pen, brush, airbrush or the like between our fingers and working on a drawing table (let’s excluse painters standing in front of their easles).

This is the way we optimally control the creation to appear on paper or – applying this to the Graphic Computer – : on the screen. . . our sensibility directing its inner flow… that finds it’s instant expression without any material obstructions.

"Troll" for TrigoPlus by Bianca Gubalke

"Troll" for TrigoPlus by Bianca Gubalke

Digital Image of a “Troll”

Although I’ve developed quite some skill with the mouse (. . . just surpassed by MadMax, my cat) – I’ve been working with an Intuos WACOM tablet a while ago when I designed a “Troll” for our TrigoPlus Project . . . and since then I know the difference!

If you intend to build a career creating digital pictures, there is no way around a digital tablet and digital pens – starting with one, but that won’t be the only one you use… just as we had different forms of crayons, brushes, pencils, pens, aurbrushes etc – it’s just part of your toolbox to create your own ‘cuisine’ as I used to call it… and I really went to work with all sorts of tools, materials and colours. From here you may find and then develop your own style, something that defines and differentiates you – or just simply do proper, clean, professional work.

Now, a big WACOM tablet – ideally Intuos – is of course the best and nothing beats it – but you may not have the space, or you want to be mobil with your laptop, or you have some financial constraints.

However, WACOM has come up with a sort of ‘simplified’ yet highly sophisticated small tablet that provides you with all you need – and this at a very fair price.

Do you believe in ‘coincidences’?

Well, I think we ’cause them to happen’ if we just focus our intent and/or desire long enough on the matter – and in my case it was definitely a WACOM tablet (and none other…) and of course the NIKON Coolpix P90 :)

The question was: while both are essential, which one first?
While I can easily get a digital camera here in the land of endless beauty when it comes to motives… there’s not even an official agent for WACOM here, at least I could not dig him out.

However, when going to my PC shop to get a new headset, something made me ask anyway – and, totally unexpectedly… I was shown the BAMBOO – brand-new and stunningly beautiful… a WACOM tablet and pen.

Irresistible!

BAMBOO by WACOM Image

Preciousness, Precision and Personalization

Needless to say where it is now… but I must applaud the producer for the precious packaging appealing directly to the senses! What a delight to literally peel the contents from an elegant, black, precious looking box with equally elegantly printed layers of papers and sachets… until the BAMBOO appears in almost lacquered black with a pen that lies ergonomically perfectly in one’s hand and those incomparable blue little lights like from out-of-space….

Quote WACOM:

“Bamboo is uniquely intuitive

Bamboo is a new way of working. It will let you use all your usual applications as well as do things on your computer that have never before been possible. The pen makes it easy and intuitive, and your experience as natural as using an ordinary pen. The ergonomics help say goodbye to sore hands. Try it. You?ll be amazed at what Bamboo can do – and by what you can do with Bamboo.
Express yourself. Make it personal.

The documents you create don?t have to be like all the rest. With Bamboo, it?s personal. You can add your own distinctive touches with handwritten notes, sketches, signatures and doodles. Bamboo sets you apart. Make it personal.

Want to know more about what you can do with Bamboo?
What you can do?
Free your imagination
Unleash your creativity with Bamboo, at work and at home. Paint, draw, retouch and create, making your work uniquely your own. Free your imagination, discover what you can do… ”

Smart Educational Tutorials

All this is accompanied by a CD with a well-designed Tutorial taking you through the main features… but only allowing you to proceed if you accomplished the tasks correctly. Educational and simply Fun!

Of course, it takes some time to get used and adapt to working with a pen again, but ideally you work with both. I’ve just started discovering or in a way ‘re-discovering’ how it feels… sort of getting on a racing horse when being used to a pony!

Not that a mouse is a pony… and I really will not separate from it, however… a new era starts and a faster and more professional one for sure!

It’s BAMBOO Time now!

. . .

Goya’s Ghosts by Miloš Forman

Goya’s Ghosts by Miloš Forman

Light and Shadow

Life is a constant display of light and shadow in many nuances – and so is Art… especially when it portraits a certain epoque, its values and people.

The skillful handling of colours by great artists to express light, shadow and depth in all their meaningfulness always fascinated me… and when it comes to cinematography there’s no movie masterpiece without accomplished lighting.

Francisco Goya Image

Francisco Goya Image

Francisco Goya

During my studies of the Fine Arts in Paris, I had the opportunity to spend some time in Spain – especially in Madrid with its Prado Museum – , where I studied, amongst others, the Spanish painter and printmaker Francisco Goya.

While Goya is an impressive chronicler of the Spanish history and its insane nightmare in form of the Spanish Inquisition, what interested me was his bold handling of paint… an element that influenced later generations of painters, eg. Picasso and Manet – and made him to be considered as the “Father of Modern Art”.

“Goya’s Ghosts” – the Movie by Miloš Forman (2006)

When I was invited to watch “Goya’s Ghosts” during one of those recent cold, rainy winter nights down here in South Africa, I was very interested to see how the famous Czech-American screenwriter and director of cult movies like “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” and “Amadeus” would integrate Goya’s unique artistic view and eclairage… while a theme like the Spanish Inquisition normally makes me run…

Goya's Ghosts Movie Poster

However, bearing in mind that Forman lost both his parents during an equally destructive epoche of human disgrace called the Holocaust, it’s not surprising he had to make this movie (… and now “Ghosts of Munich”, 2009… ). That’s how artists are…

I wasn’t disappointed…

Goya and his Art are omnipresent from beginning to end.

Forman and his Team painted – through Goya’s eyes and portraying part of his life as the court painter to the Spanish Crown… who then turns deaf and steers towards his “Black Paintings” of war disasters – a terrific, dramatic and totally evil time picture with outstanding actors – especially with Natalie Portman playing Inés/Alicia… and Javier Bardem in the role of Napoleon’s chief prosecutor alias “Brother Lorenzo”.

Although the story itself is fiction, the movie is a time picture that needs some strong nerves but that is absolutely worth watching.

At the end you may ask yourself: is there more light today… or more shadow?

Most probably… and if you are like me… you will be glad to be living today… NOW !

. . .

How to become Madonna Online

New: Online Celebrity 2009 or… How to become Madonna Online

Madonna

Madonna

“Online Celebrity 2009″ is a 70 page ebook that was recently launched (April 2009) and definitely, it’s a first of its kind.

Online Popularity

The basic idea behind it all – and a proven one – consists in the concept that it’s well within the reach of every person to achieve some level of online popularity .

How high that level of popularity will be only depends on the buyer.

How to become an Online Star like Madonna

This must-have e-book for any ‘wanna-be-star’ provides you step by step guides and detailed descriptions for becoming a famous star or a celebrity… or a well-known expert. And this in a couple of days.

How?

By leveraging the power of technology and internet.

Starter Material

Apart from the ebook itself, you are also given the opportunity and access right to the online community where you can discuss, clarify, learn and apply the tricks discussed in the book with other successful members.

The package also provides you a starter material pack of which you can use to create downloadable content. In this pack you get wallpaper schemes in various sizes what you can customize and use any way you want.

Moreover, a starter blog will also be provided to you which contains a custom made design with installed plugins and mods to help you finish the first stages of the course! It’s a unique bonus content.

Gain Popularity Online

This package is targeted to those who want to become famous pop stars, actors/actresses and everyone who needs to gain popularity the easy way (e.g. lawyers, dentists, farmers, heck maybe your local car dealer will buy a copy).

The tricks providedwill make a brand out of YOUR name, company and etc.

Example:

Every analyst in the banking sector wants to be interviewed on CNBC about his latest views regarding the market, if he becomes famous in his industry, it’s 100% sure they will ask him for an interview!

Celebrity Fame Blueprint

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Angels and Demons Film Review

Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons

Angels and Demons Film Review by Bianca Gubalke

When a friend invited me to the movie “Angels & Demons” the title rang a bell, but it was only when I saw the first breath-taking scenes – where scientists successfully start the ‘Large Hadron Collider’ and manage to create 3 vials of antimatter in CERN, one of which is immediately stolen by a killer and so the story starts… – that I knew that it was based on a best-selling mystery-thriller by Dan Brown I couldn’t put down some years ago when the novel was published.

Galileo Galilei

Galileo Galilei

The Plot of the story is based on the old and fierce conflict between Science and the Roman Catholic Church… taking up the ancient thread with the Italian physicist, mathematician and astronomer of whom Stephen Hawkins said that he “. . . perhaps more than any other single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science” … and who was tried and severely punished by the Roman Inquisition for his revolutionary view of a heliocentric vision of the Earth – meaning that the Earth is not the motionless centre of the Universe (geocentric) as the Roman Catholic Church clerics vehemently maintained… We are talking of none other than Galileo Galilei (15 February 1564 – 8 January 1642) … the genius who founded the secret Illuminati movement in opposition to the enemy, the Roman Catholic Church… A movement that was forced to go underground and was thought to have disappeared long ago. . .

So for the background of the movie “Angels and Demons” we have :

… modern Science with remarkable technological advances and playing “God” in some clerics’ eyes. . . and

… the Roman Catholic world mourning the passing of the Pope and the Vatican preparing the Conclave for the selection of the next Pope. Meanwhile, the “Camerlengo” is in charge of the day-to-day operations until the new Pope is chosen – that’s the opulent setting, embedded in the historically rich and architecturally extraordinary scenery of Rome and the Vatican… with masses of faithful Catholics flocking to St. Peter’s Square to wait and watch until the white smoke from the Conclave would be announcing the new Pope… the chosen one…

Little do they know what’s happening behind the scenes. . .

Click HERE for the short Movie Trailer (disabled for embedding…)

St. Peter's Square, Vatican

St. Peter's Square, Vatican

Here’s the sudden twist:

Just before enclosing themselves in Conclave to elect the new Pope, the 4 most likely candidates disappear… and it’s the ‘Illuminati’ – that 400-year old secret society – who threaten to kill them at 8, 9, 10 and 11 pm and to set the Vatican on fire in a “burst of light” at midnight. The bitter reality of this terrible threat is proven with fresh video footage showing the 4 kidnapped Cardinals and… the vial of antimatter, the literal time bomb.

So the clock is ticking… and believe me, you hear it in your heart… from now on it’s Action… it’s a question of life and death for many – first the victims, then the masses on St. Peter’s Square and Rome and far beyond… as the detonation power of this vial of antimatter is extremely powerful and ‘terminating’.

What or who could help in this situation?

Who could find the secret hiding place of the Illuminati… and with it rescue the Cardinals and most importantly, the antimatter… before it is too late? Before it is 8pm… 9 pm… 10 pm… 11 pm… midnight? Rescue the Vatikan… rescue Rome?

The answer is controversial author and Harvard symbologist Dr. Robert Langdon – brilliantly played by Tom Hanks – who has discovered evidence of the resurgence of this ancient secret brotherhood – the Illuminati – the most powerful secret organization in history… and who despises the Roman Catholic Church.

However, many lives are at peril and when he’s summoned to the Vatican, he follows and teams up with beautiful scientist Vittoria Vetra… and from now on we become part of a breath-taking non-stop hunt following a trail of ancient Illuminati symbols through crypts, eerie catacombs, deserted cathedrals, and into the ‘angelic’ center of the most secretive vault on earth… to rescue the Vatikan… to rescue Rome.

Film Cast and Production

I won’t tell you more as if you enjoy the topic and the thrill you better go and see it – it’s good entertainment! Having a professional background in filmmaking, I visualized a movie from the start when steaming through the pages almost 10 years ago. . . now it’s here. The film rights were purchased by Sony and besides the shootings in Rome, the rest was produced in the Sony Pictures Studios in L.A….

Armin Mueller-Stahl

Armin Mueller-Stahl

The highly successful sequel to “The Da Vinci Code” (2003) is directed by Ron Howard and features stars like Tom Hanks and a German gentleman and top award-winning actor I always admired, Armin Mueller-Stahl… unbelievable 80 years of age today…

Box office

The official release was just recently on 15 May 2009… and according to official sources, the movie “Angels & Demons” grossed $152 million worldwide in its opening weekend, and, within its first week, reached the #1 position at the Box Office – before Star Trek!

Sounds almost like Google rankings… doesn’t it?

Happy Watchin’… and though there are fortunately only a few visually brutal scenes, keep the seatbelts fastened as there’s a lot of thrill – and some really magnificent scenes… !

Bianca Gubalke

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