Monday, February 21, 2011

Happy Presidents [yes, plural - see my previous blogpost] - Day! A philatelic item/souvenir with a circumstantial concordance, about George Washington. Plus other things (see them). Happy Blue Monday meme!

What! Did I claim that this is a FIP CfM-compliant maximum card?
No.
So, don't worry about it, in case you do! :)







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Happy Blue Monday! (meme)








Sunday, February 20, 2011

Happy Sunday Stamps meme! Tomorrow, USA celebrates Presidents Day. From my oldie but goldie stamp collection: USA presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. Nice stamps from USA and just as nice [if not nicer - OMG! :) ] from Togo and some countries 'rated R': Romania, Rwanda and Ras Al Khaima!

" Nonetheless, while Washington's Birthday was originally established to honor George Washington, the term Presidents Day was informally coined in a deliberate attempt to use the holiday to honor multiple presidents, and is virtually always used that way today.[3] Though President's Day is sometimes seen in print[12] — even sometimes on government Web sites,[13] this style is not endorsed by any major dictionary or usage authority."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President's_day


From my oldie, but goldie stamp collection: 
USA presidents George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Jackson, Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy. 
Nice stamps from USA and just as nice [if not nicer - OMG! :) ] from Togo and some countries 'rated R': Romania, Rwanda and Ras Al Khaima!

Thank you, Viridian, for bringing into spotlight, next Sunday Feb 27, the personalized stamps such as from Zazzle.  I'll be happy to share some cool images, tips and tricks about how YOU, from anywhere in the world, can design free of charge, your own zazzle stamps and many other personalized/ customized items.
You can always see examples and comments by visiting http://dorinco.webs.com and especially this blog: http://dorincard.blogspot.com, then search by label/tag: customized postage, personalized stamps, personalised stamps, P-stamps.
:)

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Happy Sunday Stamps!



Saturday, February 19, 2011

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:

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:










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Top 30 Stamp Collecting Blogs, by guidetoartschools.com

#2:
"Dorincard: Blogger Dorin C is a stamp and postcard fanatic, and luckily he's more than pleased to write prolifically and charmingly about his obsession. He has a particular bent for stamps with wild mammals on them, but his blog demonstrates an affinity for stamps of all forms and backgrounds, as long as they offer a special narrative that's worth sharing with his readers.


  • Source: http://www.guidetoartschools.com/library/best-stamp-collecting-blogs#ixzz1KirbuA4p
    "

    Some feedback received about me and my blog here

    [DORIN'S NOTE: There are over 100 million websites.]

    From alexa.com traffic rank site

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    About 43% of visitors to the site come from France, where it has attained a traffic rank of 152,077.
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    Dorincard.blogspot.com's visitors view an average of 1.5 unique pages per day.
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    The best use of this site is Other.

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    Postcards and stamps, mainly featuring mammals and birds but Dorincard also has other creations
    and interests he likes to share.
    His enthusiasm for Maximum cards (a postcard and a similar themed stamps sent through the
    postal system) shines through.
    He shows how he gets the right card, stamp and postmark together.
    Visiting his site you will also learn things about the natural world told with a dry sense of humour,
    possibly with a play on words, and a unique style of headings.
    Topical and informative both for the enthusiast and casual visitor.
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