Venice in Black & White & November

At the mere mention that high winds are expected later today, the power is starting to go in & out. I'm serious--the wind has not kicked up yet. So here are three photographs by an old friend from Strasbourg days. He took these on a trip to Venice in a November. The little boy's name is unknown. Trying to think how old he'd be now is making my head hurt. Ahem. The photographer & friend (it's not me but I've not asked her permission yet so I'm not showing a third that focuses on her) are very sporting about the pigeons. Bernd claims that he remained unscathed during this shoot. I called him a liar (on Facebook!) & as usual he took massive teasing with equanimity.

Bernd was prescient about taking photos in Venice (& France, Germany, Switzerland) that many of us would value so much later. I hereby apologize publicly for all the times I rolled my eyes when asked to stand still...for a second. Or two. I am now painfully aware of how obnoxious I look when exasperated. See here for explanation...or I'll just tell you. I unwittingly took a video of myself trying to figure out the web camera. It's excruciating but I saved it as a reminder. (Here's a link to a digital library of World War II photographs, including Venice.)

As black & white as these are, I think they are very warm. I like that they are not super-sharp. They are much, much larger in their original print. (Venice in November by Bernd Krause)

Kristallnacht

Link to Giulia Geranium. Photograph by D Sharon Pruitt.

A Dark & Stormy Night in Ferrara

and in Washington, DC. I'd hoped to have one of several posts ready with much more than this...but people have not answered their emails with permissions. Ferrara is a lovely Renaissance town though I don't profess much familiarity with it. I just read that it is a UNESCO heritage site. Very nice. With that, I better shut things down as the rain is now much, much more than background noise. Time to put the kettle on. Cheers. (Ferrara::1 by MisterKey via deviantArt)

Atonement

"Was everyone else really as alive as she was? For example, did her sister really matter to herself, was she as valuable to herself as Briony was? Was being Cecilia just as vivid an affair as being Briony? Did her sister also have a real self concealed behind a breaking wave, and did she spend time thinking about it, with a finger held up to her face? Did everybody, including her father, Betty, Hardman? If the answer was yes, then the world, the social world, was unbearably complicated, with two billion voices, and everyone’s thoughts striving in equal importance and everyone’s claim on life as intense, and everyone thinking they were unique, when no-one was." --From Atonement, by Ian McEwan

Some pretty photographs for the next few days & I hope they will divert bizarre people away from my blogs. I'm being comment-spammed like mad. Found out last evening that my mailing address has been changed (for some things, not sure of extent yet) & much is missing.

I do not apologize for one single thing I have said or written (or thought) the last several days & weeks here...certainly I have much to atone for in my life. But my crime of late, if anything, is silliness. Which never killed anyone. Unless they died laughing. If I die laughing, many years from now (!), I shall be grateful.

I shall respond to your lovely comments & emails. Soon. Difficult week (more than usual) ahead. Cheers, everyone.

[Atonement stills by Alex Bailey - the "happy ending" Briony, in her guilt, her atonement, granted to Cecilia & Robbie. I just reread the novel.]

Week's End - Down By the River

The war is over & there are bathing fashion shots in 1947 France. Nina Leen for LIFE. Yes, I know what the song is about, so I'm not putting in the lyric. I still like it though--wouldn't do for me to ignore the dark side of things. Though, rather mean remarks in e-mail & non-published comments indicate, nay, insist I should. Back with cheerfulness (or something like it) later. But no pink unicorns. (If you like them, fine, I've nothing against unicorns, pink or blue...). Cheers.

Sunday Shopping - Sailor Stripes

I hate to see people taken advantage of. Ending on a preposition & I do not care. My mother dressed me in these (& sailor collars) from about 3 weeks old - yes, I remember. Late last night, I flipped through a J. Crew catalogue; they've been pestering me with their 20% off emails (one offer ends today - I shall let it go, please read on). In one scenario, a stick-insect girl (not like egret-girl--there is a difference) dripping in frippery. Twisted behind her, a suspiciously familiar striped shirt. I thought: eh what? Only on-line. Hmmm. I just looked.

The Saint James shirt is more expensive than buying it from France (including shipping!). Mine are from France & I did not pay these amounts, so I'm cheesed off on behalf of others. Depending on the number of items purchased the weight, etc. you might be assessed customs/douane. But if you're in the market for one shirt, for heaven's sake do not buy it through J.Crew. Here's a link to Brittany-boutique. It must be the connection between Brittany & Wales. My Welsh is up. Fume.

If you want to buy a coat or several shirts, it may well do to break up your purchases. E-mail the nice guy who runs the shop. If you're in NYC or will be & just cannot wait, well go for it at Saint James boutique. Who am I to tell you that instant gratification is wrong? But I'm not linking to them (unless they buy me off with a free shirt. I'm only half-kidding. But I'd tell you, I really would.).

If you want a similarly made/designed striped shirt, go looking--they're ubiquitous. But I'm telling you, most of the fashionista sites are showing shirts over $USD85 (or made by enslaved people). A good place to look is agelessbeautyalways or go ask Sasha at Liberty London Girl for responsible & fashionable recommendations.

More important: it's the 66th anniversary of D-Day--the Normandy Invasion. If you think that's ancient history, I submit that you are out of your mind. Go stand on those beaches & imagine a cold, horrible Tuesday (it was) with all those Allied soldiers & sailors waiting to wade into that. I can barely think about it. (See? Flaming liberals have feelings.) I decided not to do posts on Giulia Geranium (here's last year's - June 6, 1945 - Only the Beginning ) or here this year. Still...

Back to work. I'll be seeing you.

(photographs via brittany-boutique (dot) com/Audrey T. from a cute site Pink Peony--to the author: props to you for discussing cruelty-free diamonds)

A Kiss in Times Square

I wasn't going to post today but Edith Shain (see above--she's the nurse:) will be an honored guest in The National Memorial Day Parade today. How could I resist? If you're in DC & see this, here's a link to parade info--it begins at 2pm. There will be live video (I think). Have a safe holiday (anywhere you happen to be).

Update, Later that day: Dear Anonymous Weisenheimers, I well know just what the day commemorates. NACP - No. Anonymous. Comments. Period. If you're that angry, froth elsewhere. Cheerio.

[Kiss in Times Square on V-J Day, Alfred Eisenstaedt, August 14, 1945 via LIFE Archives]

Week's End - Mirage/Mirare

Some additional The English Patient stills (by brilliant Phil Bray). I've used them to help with some research/writing prompts & as I'm metaphorically stuck in the desert/Middle East (& Italy), they continue to resonate. The shots in the Cairo apartment were not done there but I could swear they were shot in the Garden City quarter. Those maniacal production artists.

By the way, I recently read the late (so sad) Anthony Minghella's award-winning screenplay & it is well worth buying for any would-be adapters, fans of the film & novel. You'll find that many things you think are in the novel are not - they're in the screenplay; since it didn't bother Michael Ondaatje, it sure doesn't bother me. I am sorry there aren't more stills available of the Hana/Kip story thread; I have some in folders, but that can wait. I'm beyond indulging myself here. [many images from www.availableimages.com/movies/1996/english-patient-the/pictures; other credits, from here. But everything really comes down to Phil Bray.]

Have a great weekend.

Geranium Kiss

The kings of Tyrus with their convict list/Are waiting in line for their geranium kiss- B. Dylan

The top image is by Hazel Smith of The Clever Pup & The Plum Plum. She generously whipped it up at the last moment for Giulia Geranium's 2009 blog anniversary. I've been caught up short again this year & thank her for allowing me to use it.

Always loved the image from Bob Dylan's Sad-Eyed Lady of the Lowlands...& somehow it reminded me of the other photographs. These young women are searching for their perfect geranium mouth. I know that cosmetics were in short supply during & at WWII's end, but what a weird (& funny) way to choose a lipstick. From Nina Leen's wonderful 1945 shoot for LIFE.

I'm too tired to whip up & fold in the kings of Tyrus to the mix. Just enjoy musing on it, if you like.

Mille grazie, Hazel.

Dim-out Fashion

A way to divert attention away from one's waistline. And making do...[Andreas Feininger photo essay in LIFE archives/1943]

Week's End - Albert in Black & White

Camus, A Romance by Elizabeth Hawes is quite enjoyable. Here's an amusing review about literary obsession. Back to work.

Update: That's it. The end. (I mean for the week.)

bonne nuit

[molto famoso photograph by H. Cartier-Bresson/Magmum; other photographs of Camus at work & play by Loomis Dean via LIFE archives]

Jung & Klee in Tunisia

"It's the birthday Carl Jung, born in Kesswil, Switzerland (1875). He was the founder of analytic psychology. He noticed that myths and fairytales from all kinds of different cultures have certain similarities. He called these similarities archetypes, and he believed that archetypes come from a collective unconscious that all humans share. He said that if people get in touch with these archetypes in their own lives, they will be happier and healthier." From Writer's Almanac, 26 July 2009.

Yes, another Westerner-tromping-about-in-Tunisia post. Actually, two of them. But first...

Having a Jungian analyst friend can be daunting, useful; it can also lead to heated discussion. I took an afternoon seminar on Jung with this person; I'd not seen her in action with fellow Jungians & wow. I knew artists & writers can be competitive &, yes even, cruel. All that soothing talk of mandalas went right out the window after about 30 minutes, first session. Things settled down somewhat after I interjected a 'there is a first-among-equals-here' comment. (It was a paid-for thingy after all...some deference should be paid...call me old-fashioned.)

It reminded me of the time three German graduate students took me to Freiburg with them to hear a lecture by a famous philosopher. (I'd like to say it was Karl Jaspers but since he died in 1969, it would have been quite something to hear him lecture in the 1970s. Perhaps a student of his, memory fails me here.) I don't speak German, though I got along with minor shopping, errands, & so on. A philosophy lecture, non. That's OK, it was fun to go, probably as their mascot. (One was a painter & I posed for his classes, maybe that was it. However, to be clear, I was clothed on the train & at the lecture.)

While having some post-lecture beers, a heated default-to-German discussion erupted. I asked lamely for English or French, but things were already out of control. Some Swedish guy chimed in, I don't know if to help or to argue, completely unclear. Then, one threw his beer into the other guy's face. (I ducked.) Great outrage on everyone's part. On the train home, I joked that it was not only embarrassing to watch two grown men act so absurdly, but I'd (secretly ) looked forward to one (just one) cinematic drink-toss into an as-yet-to-be-determined man's face. Someday. When I was young enough to get away with it & he really deserved it. Now, well.... This got the laugh I'd hoped for & while simmering continued now & again, beers remained in glasses.

Back to the free-for-all at the Jung seminar. I didn't disagree with anyone except someone rhapsodizing about Jung's writing about Tunisia in Memories, Dreams, Reflections. His analysis of Tunisia & the people was close to plain dumb. Even though he qualifies it with "...as a European...", he still makes pronouncements that were cringe-inducing when I was 18 & worse, at, uh, my age now. Talk about colonial-infected interpretations...oh my. So that was my little contribution/warning to the group seminar. Then I sat back for 7 or 8 more Wednesday afternoons & watched the show. Relieved that I had nothing to prove or refute, I took a great deal of pleasure from the discussions. The best thing, though, was watching my friend. interact with the others. She'd become very tentative & insecure in other parts of her life over the years. Here, she was "back." It was wonderful to see & hear her express herself so clearly & at times forcefully (not rudely). No beer was thrown. (Rats!)

Two Paul Klee images. He travelled to Tunisia with August Macke & others in 1914. & it changed his painting. (He was also interested in dreams & analysis.) With Europe about to explode, it must have been a relief to be hit with the sun & light of North Africa rather than bullets. A brief respite, then WWI, another restless simmering respite, & then WWII. This time, even worse. This was ever-present in Strasbourg, every time a WWI or WWII anniversary approached; there are so many in Alsace.

Have a great Sunday or Monday, depending on where you are. xo

[Klee's Tunisian Gardens from Paris WebMuseum; le ville, Kairouan via Tunisiaonlinenews/com/2009/03/maghreb-mouled-conference-opens-in-kairouan/. The WebMuseum is in right sidebar as clickable icon, as well.] Hazel, author of The Clever Pup has an excellent January 2009 post on Der Blaue Reiter (the Blue Rider) group in Munich, here.

Malèna

I've been thinking about Sicily a lot lately. Some people have seen a version of this in the GG blog (some pix are different). Here's the post in Giulia Geranium. By the way, the reason I'm not soliciting comments by asking questions is because it seems an imposition. I don't know why because I don't feel that way about other blogs. Perhaps someone can explain it to me. At a loss.

Last night I rewatched Roman Holiday...all cleaned, restored, & impeccably groomed. But of course:) Many new pix of Rome are also cheering me up...& those will be later today & during the week. ciao belle...

[Malèna credits; Alone in the Sea & Alone with the Sea by Giampaolo Macorig; LIFE archive, uncredited Sicilian scene]

Another Roman storm approaches...

Museo della terme, Roma. Fun making it look like it felt--humid, electric expectation, yellow, thrilling (saturation, tint, & who knows what else I did to this, can't remember, doesn't matter...) Leaving in the clickability feature, whatever feedburner says. It's weirder in larger size. ciao.

Villa Giulia in Sepia

...an October storm was on its way. Villa Giulia, Etruscan museum, Rome. (for later)

I'll Be Seeing You

For Memorial Day. Picasso & Lee Miller, one of my very favorite photographers, in his studio during the Liberation of Paris. A woman applying lipstick on a break, near Washington, DC's Union Station. My grandmother's favorite song. I'll burst into tears if I say anymore. (I'm used to hearing Peggy Lee's version but can't find a video.) Julie London sounds as good as possible on a dial-up connection. (Please let me know if it's too awful. I can't figure out how to center it right now. )She is lovely, though & Julie the Cat is pleased (all that matters to a cat). Well, I give up, darn it. Now, the blasted thing won't come up on the screen at all. Here's a link anyway.

The Miller photograph is from a scan via personal copy of The Lives of Lee Miller, put together by her son Antony Penrose. Info here. There are so many gruesome war images in this apartment, including this book. They are necessary but I don't want to put them on the site.

ciao.

Gyges & Desert Dreams

Promise to find Phil Bray, the still photographer. (photo credit) [Update: 28 June 2009. Here is provisional link to Phil Bray's Credit site.] These are crazy with color & saturation & stuff like that. I did some of it because, again, the photos online are a mess. Might as well make them crazier looking. Feeling hallucinatory anyway. 'night.

Famous Blue Raincoat

Aha. Never trust a writer, particularly one who is underemployed...so no, not 4am, not NYC. Was thinking about Leonard on tour (here a few days ago in DC...of course I couldn't go) & love triangles & so on. And I wanted to get these shots into the archives, & oh well. Cohen isn't satisfied with the lyrics & I understand why. I don't know anyone who is satisfied with most things they do. Here's a quote to BBC Radio, years ago:

"The trouble with that song is that I've forgotten the actual triangle. Whether it was my own … of course. I always felt that there was an invisible male seducing the woman I was with, now whether this one was incarnate or merely imaginary I don't remember, I've always had the sense that either I've been that figure in relation to another couple or there'd been a figure like that in relation to my marriage. I don't quite remember but I did have this feeling that there was always a third party, sometimes me, sometimes another man, sometimes another woman."

That isn't the 'trouble.' By the time you rework some things, you can forget your name, or would like to, or that was the purpose in the first place (if you admitted it). Also one suspects he's like everyone else: who wants to remember?

Still looking for a site for the still photographer listed in TEP credits (Phil Bray). This is also one of those it's-Egyptian-desert-Cairo-but-really-Tunisia deals. It's difficult to believe that I stood not far from where the top photo was shot, some years earlier; that was some taxi ride. Remain fairly obsessed by it (the desert). What is "fairly" obsessed? I don't know. Will edit. Maybe. [photographs are saturated, cropped, detailed, tinted, & sepia-ed by me. They were a mess on original downloads anyway. I think there's an actual making-of book & I'd love to have it. Maybe. Have to look at it first & then win the lottery.]

Off to ultra-scary dentist appointment...& no doubt people arguing about mustard on the Metro. (Yes, I'm talking about people talking about the President's moutarde choice. Criminy.)

[photo credits /Phil Bray]-Update: 28 June 2009. Here is new link to Phil Bray Credits - looking for individual website, still.

Fragments of Memory, Italy

The English Patient stills are by Phil Brady; from various sources that are less-than-forthcoming. One is here. I'm still searching for Bray & a site for him. [Update: 28 June 2009; here is a Phil Bray Credits site. More as possible, especially if I can find one without irritating music snippets.]The snail shells that Kip made into little flares for Hana to follow reminded me of Venetian Alice Lucchin's photograph of a snail (la chiocciolina), it is much smaller than those in the film, but I like it. More pieces to come but the patterns in Ondaatje's novel...they're very much like a formal poem. Snails have repetitions in their anatomical chambers. Not exactly an original thought, I realize. I'm just trying to work something out here.

I couldn't resist putting in a photograph of a Tuscan landscape by one of my favorites, Giampaolo Macorig. Terrific guy & he concentrates on Rome, the South, & Sicily; but has a few Tuscan photos. Must overcome aversion to posting scenes in the region; it's not Tuscany's fault that it has been reduced to cliché.

I've seen the film only 3 times; twice when released in 1996. I accompanied a legally-blind friend (& poet) to help her "see" it, but she could make out nearly everything on her own; I think I was as excited as she was about the successful outing. She was so happy. The third time was the DVD a few weeks ago. I'm more familiar with the novel. However, the fresco scene brought me to tears in both the novel & film. And I've always said that if anyone gave me the gift of flying past frescoes, in Arezzo or anywhere else, I would marry them on the spot. Whether they wanted to or not - ha.

It's right there, in black & white

Indulge me (once again). I'm exhausted & decided any two photos in My Pictures that go together, I have to make up a title no matter how dumb & literal & schedule it to post. No matter what. Once a day, five days a week. And I promise it will be better than this very soon. The Giulia Geranium blog will be one-year old on May 4th. Then, we'll see. I was never naive enough to think that Sudan would be settled by now, but I thought we'd be in a building/rebuilding period. And no, I do not think World War II was "romantic." At all. I just like these photos of a great film...I call one "the news isn't good" & the other "a toast to the end of war." Seems like we'll always need those two phrases.

I can't even remember where I got these photos...I think those "screen capture" thingies. I'll come back & do the right thing. For now, this is it. Go see Hazel at Clever Pup who has done her Theme Thursday on Fire...& then go read The English Patient if you've not...if you have, you might not have read Ondaatje's poetry. That's why his prose is so beautiful: he's a poet. His heart must be breaking with the news out of Sri Lanka. It just gets worse & worse.