Monday, May 23, 2011

Seven maximum card variants that I created with the 84 cents stamp showing the Gates of the Valley, Yosemite National Park. The FDOI (First Day of Issue cancellation, non-pictorial, with killer bars) is from St.Louis, MO, but I would have preferred a pictorial postmark from a nearby post office

Which is your favorite, of these 7 maxicards, and why?
I like the whole set, since the 7 MCs contribute their own perspective on the subject.
A set of maximum card variants is always more interesting than any single one, for me.







"Yosemite National Park (play /jˈsɛmɪt/ yoh-sem-it-ee) is a United States National Park spanning eastern portions of TuolumneMariposa and Madera counties in east central California, United States. 
The park covers an area of 761,268 acres (3,080.74 km2)[2] and reaches across the western slopes of the Sierra Nevada mountain chain.[4] 
Over 3.7 million people visit Yosemite each year:[3] most spend their time in the seven square miles (18 km2) of Yosemite Valley.[5] 
Designated a World Heritage Site in 1984, Yosemite is internationally recognized for its spectacular granite cliffs, waterfalls, clear streamsGiant Sequoia groves, and biological diversity.[5] 
Almost 95% of the park is designated wilderness.[6] 
Although not the first designated national park, Yosemite was central to the development of the national park idea, largely owing to the work of people like Galen Clark and John Muir.[7]"



Take THAT, Manneken Pis! :)


==========
Happy Blue Monday! (meme)





Billboard Awards: Top Dance Song: Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina -- "Stereo Love". Bravo! :) http://dorincard.blogspot.com/search?q=maya. Justin Bieber, Taylor Swift, Eminem Top 2011 Billboard Music Awards | Billboard.com



"SONG AWARDS:


Top Hot 100 Song:
Taio Cruz -- "Dynamite"



Top Digital Song:
Taio Cruz -- "Dynamite"

Top Radio Song:
Bruno Mars -- "Just The Way You Are"

Top Streaming Song (Audio):
Nelly -- "Just A Dream"

Top Streaming Song (Video):
Justin Bieber Feat. Ludacris -- "Baby"

Top Pop Song:
Taio Cruz -- "Dynamite"

Top R&B Song:
Usher Feat. will.i.am -- "OMG"

Top Rap Song:
Eminem Feat. Rihanna -- "Love The Way You Lie"

Top Country Song:
Lady Antebellum -- "Need You Now"

Top Rock Song:
Train -- "Hey, Soul Sister"

Top Alternative Song:
Neon Trees -- "Animal"

Top Latin Song:
Shakira Feat. Freshleyground -- "Waka Waka (This Time For Africa)"

Top Dance Song:
Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina -- "Stereo Love"


[See again the worldwide sensation videoclip "Stereo Love"!


Top Christian Song:
Chris Tomlin -- "Our God""

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

So, Billboard Awards: Top Dance Song:

Edward Maya & Vika Jigulina -- "Stereo Love". 
Bravo! :)











Next, I want to see the song "Desert Rain" being awarded the Top Dance award! :)

I want to re-post this, by popular demand:

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"!


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




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 (RomanianRepublica 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."

==========
Happy Sunday Stamps!



Sunday, May 22, 2011

Where in the world are these GARGOYLES? This is a verification question, not a fact-finding question. I already know the answer, for some reason. :)


"In architecture, a gargoyle is a carved stone grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building. 
Preventing rainwater from running down masonry walls is important because running water erodes the mortar between the stone blocks.[1]
Architects often used multiple gargoyles on buildings to divide the flow of rainwater off the roof to minimize the potential damage from a rainstorm. 
A trough is cut in the back of the gargoyle and rainwater typically exits through the open mouth. 
Gargoyles are usually an elongated fantastic animal because the length of the gargoyle determines how far water is thrown from the wall. 
When Gothic flying buttresses were used, aqueducts were sometimes cut into the buttress to divert water over the aisle walls."

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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

    "There are 1,699,250 sites with a better three-month global Alexa traffic rank than Dorincard.blogspot.com.
    About 43% of visitors to the site come from France, where it has attained a traffic rank of 152,077.
    About 80% of visits to the site consist of only one pageview (i.e., are bounces).
    Dorincard.blogspot.com's visitors view an average of 1.5 unique pages per day.
    Visitors to the site spend roughly two minutes on each pageview and a total of three minutes on the site during each visit."



    inkling (Enthusiast)

    The best use of this site is Other.

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    Comments:
    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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