Read from popherald.com: 'Brancusi, Constantin’s 135th birthday à la Google Doodle style'. Also, cool images with his modernist sculpture artwork on maximum cards, stamps and postcards from Romania and France.

Please read: http://www.popherald.com/brancusi-constantin-google-doodle/5019

You, and me, and everybody else on "God's Green Earth" could make our own interpretations and comments upon the artwork of the "father of the modern[ist?] sculpture", Constantin Brâncuşi (Romanian pronunciation: [konstanˈtin brɨnˈkuʃʲ].
It would be interesting and inciting, in the variety of the different and even contradictory opinions of ours.

Let's read what Constantin Brâncuşi himself said:
"Brâncuşi on his own work

(French) "Il y a des imbéciles qui définissent mon œuvre comme abstraite, pourtant ce qu'ils qualifient d'abstrait est ce qu'il y a de plus réaliste, ce qui est réel n'est pas l'apparence mais l'idée, l'essence des choses." [15]		"There are idiots who define my work as abstract; yet what they call abstract is what is most realistic. What is real is not the appearance, but the idea, the essence of things." [DORIN'S underlining]
(French) "Ne cherchez pas de mystères; je vous apporte la joie pure."[citation needed]		"Don’t look for mysteries; I bring you pure joy."
(Romanian) "Am șlefuit materia pentru a afla linia continuă. Și când am constatat că n‑o pot afla, m‑am oprit; parcă cineva nevăzut mi‑a dat peste mâini." [16]		"I ground matter to find the continuous line. And when I realized I could not find it, I stopped, as if an unseen someone had slapped my hands."
(Romanian) "Muncește ca un sclav, poruncește ca un rege, creează ca un zeu."[citation needed]		"Work like a slave; command like a king; create like a god."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brancusi

Most "net surfers" might not have the interest and the patience ("the stomach"...or "the brain"? Aw, come on! People lack time and interest, most of the time - not the grey matter) to read an ENTIRE article, such as from wikipedia.org, on ANY subject whatsoever. Elementary, dear "Whatso"...
What I am trying to do is to provide such oh-so-busy readers with at least a meaningful fragment from such an article - again, on ANY subject.  In this case, about Constantin Brâncuşi.


"Constantin Brâncuşi (Romanian pronunciation: [konstanˈtin brɨnˈkuʃʲ]; February 19, 1876 – March 16, 1957) was a Romanian-born sculptor who made his career in France. As a child he displayed an aptitude for carving wooden farm tools. Formal studies took him first to Bucharest, then to Munich, then to the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris. His abstract style emphasizes clean geometrical lines that balance forms inherent in his materials with the symbolic allusions of representational art. Famous Brâncuşi works include the Sleeping Muse (1908), The Kiss (1908), Prometheus (1911), Mademoiselle Pogany (1913), The Newborn (1915), Bird in Space (1919) and The Column of the Infinite (Coloana infinitului), popularly known as The Endless Column (1938). Brâncuşi is considered a pioneer of modernism."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brancusi

Now, if you want to read more, at wikipedia.org or any other source, please do so.
Otherwise, the above quotes are what I am submitting to your attention, just in case you want to read at least that, as a nutshell, as the crux of the matter, as the essence of this artist.

Romania-France joint-issue stamps about Constantin Brancusi; notice that the maximum card above has a Romanian stamp and First Day of Issue pictorial postmark.

The maxicard below has a French stamp and corresponding postmark.

I saw this in a visit to Washington, D.C.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Gallery_of_Art_Washington

No, this is not Pisa - the photo from the postcard was not verticalized properly in manufacturing.

Now, the same  The Column of the Infinite (Coloana infinitului), photographed in even more vivid colors by the company Kruger (then- West Germany):

The problem with the wonderfully-colored Kruger postcards is that they obviously used a highly-acidic, quickly-deteriorating paper for postcard backing - just look how it appears now, after some 30 years:

That should teach YOU a lesson, you people who EXPECT and DEMAND that ALL your stamps, postcards, labels and any other paper memorabilia MUST resist for a long time.

Be happy if your LIFE resists for a long time, and don't expect the acidic paper items to do the same.

A smart thing to do is to scan or photograph whatever paper item is worth the effort, and immortalize it, until the next TUNGUSKA-level global cataclysm. :)

In the above image, you see a series of 3 stamps, and 2 more stamps (obliterated/ postmarked/ circulated) from another series, which series I apparently don't have anymore (I had the complete series when I was living in Romania; I have also visited the Targu-Jiu statuary complex that you see in the blue stamps above).

See that series here, in a cool website whose webmaster is my fellow stamp collector/ philatelist, the Romanian-Swiss Victor Manta:

http://www.artonstamps.org/Countries/Romania/Brancusi/romanian3.htm

See that 40 bani stamp above, "The Kiss" sculpture, on a pink background?

I have intentionally posted it here, at the end, for MEME purposes.

Let's say that this is my entry for today at Happy Pink Saturday meme! :)

I apologize if anybody considers that my...entry is too long, but, hey! It's Brancusi! :)

========================================

Happy Pink Saturday!

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

What is that accordion song played like once an hour on canned music stations like HOT 99.5 FM (USA)? It's "Stereo Love", the longest charting song in the history of European top Hot 100, accumulating 52 weeks. Sung by Edward Maya ( Ilie Eduard Marian, Romania) and Vika Jigulina (Victoria Corneva, Russia/Romania)

The mastermind, Edward Maya: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Maya
Featuring Vika Jigulina: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vika_Jigulina

The basic refrain of the song was inspired, and eventually settled from the copyright standpoint, from "Bayatılar"  "an Azerbaijani 1989 composition by Eldar Mansurov." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bayat%C4%B1lar

I like very much Edward Maya & Co, but "truth be told":
I would have emailed and snail-mailed a Registered Mail letter with Signature Confirmation to the Azerbaijan Composers Union about my unsuccessful attempts to contact Mr.Mansurov, the Azeri composer, about the copyright for the song. 
Even post it online, in a dated blog, or something.


If no answer, THEN and ONLY THEN I would have gone ahead with releasing "Stereo Love", in the idea that eventually the matter will be solved properly.
But at least I have written and dated proof that I have exhausted all the chances I could think of to contact Mr.Mansurov in due time.


Same thing for whoever the CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes) virtuoso from Romania (Ion Laceanu? Dumitru Zamfira?) is the inspiration for "Desert Rain", which I also like very much.

Warning! Watch "Stereo Love" once, and it will become like an itch on your brain - you'll want to hear it again...and again...and again...:)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p-Z3YrHJ1sU

While we are at it, why don't you "beat your American music station/channel to the punch" and watch/listen the new videoclip "Desert Rain" - get a haunting taste of the CIMPOI, The Romanian bagpipes!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nY49R8nz01Q

You agree, right, that some songs are not just songs - they are a symbol of good times, when you were (maybe) in a dance club or something, and the whole crowd, including you, were dancing, clapping, feeling good and worry-free, at least for some precious few moments...

Placeholder: I have to dig up from somewhere in the house some stamps and postcard with ACCORDION, as if you can't just google or wikipedia yourself and see what's all the fuss...:)

This image shows just one of the many types of accordions, and not necessarily the one used for this song.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:PianoAccordeon.jpg

Read more about accordions here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Accordion

UPDATE 13 FEB 2011: my postcard showing a group of accordion enthusiasts from the Netherlands.

I have a superb, fabulous, magnificent collection of accordions on stamps - but it consists of...only these two stamps:

(Part 2) Edward Maya feat. Vika Jigulina - Desert Rain ( Official Video ). Also, Sunday Stamps! (meme) - I feature a philatelic stamp with a CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes), whose haunting sounds will thrill you in this videoclip!

Please explore: http://www.edwardmaya.com

See the other videoclips on YouTube.com about Edward Maya , Vika Jigulina, and other versions featuring Mia Martina or Alicia.[more to come - at least one from every country in the world, I wish! :) ]

See again the worldwide sensation videoclip "Stereo Love"!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dy2nBvtkgyE&hd=1

Y'all You all have heard the sounds of Scottish bagpipes before.

But I bet you have never heard the sounds of Romanian bagpipes!

If you listen (loudly!) to this videoclip music and you DON'T just love the CIMPOI, then...what the hell is wrong with you? oh, well! :D :D :D

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cimpoi

I have already posted this separately, on Facebook:

To properly enjoy the "progressive house" music of Edward Maya, you better turn up (way up) the volume of your speakers! 

Feel the rhythm, the good vibrations, the haunting melodic line, the exquisite mastery of the Romanian bagpipes (not Scottish) inspired from the virtuoso Ion Laceanu.

[UPDATE: Somebody said that the CIMPOI (Romanian bagpipes) segment from Desert Rain song is inspired from Dumitru Zamfira, also a cimpoi master like Ion Laceanu.] 

But the best musical instrument in the world is a great human voice! 

Nonetheless, welcome to discover the Romanian bagpipes!

The stamp that I bring today to the spotlight of Sunday Stamps meme features a CIMPOI [English pronounciation: chim-poy], which is an old, traditional musical instrument - Romanian Bagpipes.
I placed that stamp at the top of this image; for your viewing pleasure, I scanned it in hi-res 300 dpi, so click on it, then click again to zoom in:

One of the greatest merits of stamp collecting/ philately is that it triggers your appetite for learning, researching and enriching your general culture.

What the heck means ROMINA, on the stamps? - you might ask as you sit there, in your neck-of-the-woods. :) :)

"Communist Romania, previously the Kingdom of Romania, was a Soviet-aligned communist state in the Eastern Bloc. The dominant role of the Romanian Communist Party was enshrined in its successive constitutions between the proclamation of the republic in late 1947 and the Romanian Revolution, resulting in the death of Nicolae Ceauşescu on 25 December 1989. Officially, the country was called the Romanian People's Republic (Romanian: Republica Populară Romînă; RPR) from 1947 to 1965, and the Socialist Republic of Romania (Republica Socialistă România; RSR) from 1965 to 1989. Today, Romania is a unitary parliamentary republic and a member of the European Union."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Republica_Popular%C4%83_Rom%C3%AEn%C4%83

==========

Happy Sunday Stamps!

Please visit http://viridianpostcard.blogspot.com/

Happy Pink Saturday (meme)! [Part 1] Pretty in pink (or any other color): Vika Jigulina, who sings in Edward Maya's "Stereo Love" (Best International Song nominee). The haunting accordion sounds and rhythm...

Pretty in pink: "The Roseate Spoonbill (Ajaja ajaja), sometimes separated in the monotypic genus (Ajaja) is a gregarious wading bird of the ibis and spoonbill family, Threskiornithidae. It is a resident breeder in South America mostly east of the Andes, and in coastal regions of the Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and the Gulf Coast of the United States.^[1][2]"

^{http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roseate_spoonbill}

^{Please visit "Pretty in pink"/ "Show us your pink" [objects, that is :)] meme here:}

^{http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog/}

"I'll spread my wings/ And I'll learn how to fly"...to international success...

Now, who else is pretty in pink (or any other color)?

Vika Jigulina, for example.

Look at her dress at the top of this page:

http://mayavinrecords.com/vika-jigulina

Have you heard the beautiful, haunting, ("progressive house"-category) song "Stereo Love"?

Watch the videoclips from the above link! :)

The rhythm, the voices, the images...and the accordion virtuoso's supreme timing and instrumental skills. 

World-class! :)

Also:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereo_Love

Stereo Love, the new hymn/hit song of dance clubs, etc. from around the world! :)

Another videoclip (that I like, too), with a cover version an official remix of Stereo Love, sung by Mia Martina:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mia_Martina

Another version, beautifully sung by Alicia, in Spanish:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gfd96rck28A

There's also a Portuguese version by DJ Osman, "image-intensive".

I expect that every country will come up with at least one version - why the hell not?

I am curious to see the exotic versions from Vatican City, Holy Mount Athos, Greenland, Saudi Arabia, French Polynesia...:)

Part 2 Fox news: Outfoxing the Cold War - The Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus), maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from USA and Romania

See my previous post for more images and info. :)

Fox news: Outfoxing the Cold War - The Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus), maximum cards/ maxicards/ dorincards from USA, Romania and (WWF) Finland

Postmark from Nome, Alaska.

Postmark from Arctic Village, Alaska.

I hate cold, but this fox species just loves it! :)

"The Arctic Fox (Alopex lagopus or Vulpes lagopus^[2]), also known as the White Fox, Polar Fox or Snow Fox, is a small fox native to Arctic regions of the Northern Hemisphere and is common throughout the Arctic tundra biome. "

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polar_fox

============================================

Happy Blue Monday!

Please visit:  http://smilingsally.blogspot.com/

Part 1 - Side-by-side comparison between European bison (Bison bonasus) and American bison (Bison bison)

The front view, of the head only, is not too conclusive for the layman, for the average person. Don't they look pretty similar, at first glance?

Captivity versus Freedom? How about Freedom made possible only thru Captivity? The fascinating true story of how the last 11+1 specimens [7 cows and (4+1) bulls] have saved the species called Wisent (pronounced /ˈviːzənt/) (Bison bonasus), also known as the European bison

I will detail this amazing story later, with more images and comments.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wisent

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY [  :) yes, I mean "long story - short" ]: this species was saved from the brink of extinction by the coordinated effort of breeding the last 12 specimens alive, all captive: 7 cows and 4 bulls of Lowland Wisent (Bison bonasus bonasus),  and 1 bull of Caucasian Wisent (Bison bonasus caucasicus) .

The eventual FREEDOM, semi-freedom or zoo captivity of the descendents was possible only thru CAPTIVITY, and selective breeding (yes, some in-breeding, too).

TBC (to be continued)

See, it might be a good idea to have a...Caucasian in your genealogic tree. :)

For comparison with the European bison: American bison (Bison bison).

===============================

Please visit the Two 4 Tuesday meme: http://www.two4tuesday.com/home/two4tuesday/index.php/2011/01/18/captivity-freedom/

Captivity – Freedom

January 18, 2011

Read from BBC: "Your Good Samaritan stories". Let's see if I can illustrate, if only with a collateral symbolic reference, these 10 true stories.

Read the whole article here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-12122809

Let's see if I can illustrate, if only with a collateral symbolic reference, these 10 true stories.

1. THE PASSING DOCTOR

"Virginia is for lovers", and the PORTABLE DEFIBRILLATOR is for restarting a heart. And a life.

2. THE PASSPORT OFFICIAL

A migratory bird flies across country borders without any passport stamp/visa...but humans may need one. Desperately. Bureaucracy vs. Open-mindedness.

3. THE MYSTERY DRIVER

Some say "we are what we drive". Others might say "we are what good deeds we can do (including while driving)". Such as quickly jumping into a car out-of-control. Then it doesn't matter "what you drive". It could be a beat-up truck, for example.

4. THE BUS PASSENGER

Maybe "the show must go on", but a bus must not, if a life is endangered and an ambulance is needed.

A bus can take you somewhere, or can have you taken somewhere.

5. THE SILENT WITNESS

You can have a fancy [motor]bike, but when you ran out of "petrol", even a 1 gallon gift can be a lifesaver.

6. THE ISLAND ANGELS

In Canada, as in any other country, some beings jump to attack you (like a hungry cougar - I mean puma or mountain lion...). Other beings jump to help you, and possibly save you from trouble.

Don't jump to conclusions until you see WHY you're being jumped.

7. THE GOOD NEIGHBOURS

It's good when you can afford to pay for your food.

It's also good to get a little help until you are able again to pay for your food.

Starving is avoidable, in many cases.

8. THE POLICE OFFICER

Some people become great winners, great champions, like Muhammad Ali. He never was an alcoholic or a smoker, said Lonnie Ali, his wife. His sports regimen and his religion did not welcome alcohol.

But even ordinary people can be winners at something, when they get good advice and gather enough self-will to conquer a potentially deadly addiction, such as alcoholism.

I could have used here, for this BBC story, the American stamp "Alcoholism: You can beat it!", but I don't have it. :)

9. THE SELFLESS STUDENTS

You don't necessarily need a sports car to be happy. Sometimes, a simple taxi at the right time is all the transportation you need to have a good time with friends and be happy.

10. THE THIRD MOTORIST

Pigs are not the only animals who produce a lot of manure. 

Sheep do it, too.

"Pigs" have also their own "manure".

The question is with whose "manure" should we put up, and for how long, if you get my drift. :)

==================

Happy PFF (Postcard Friendship Friday)!

Please visit: http://thebestheartsarecrunchy.blogspot.com/