Clair de Lune

Some time ago I saw a documentary about “Clair de Lune” Debussy’s well known music and found out that the music meant to sound as the waves of the sea: 7 waves, first little ones, followed by big ones!

EGAR ALLAN POE (1809-1849)

ANNABEL LEE

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of ANNABEL LEE;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.

And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.

The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me-
Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we-
Of many far wiser than we-
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Edgar Allan Poe 

The poet was born on the 19th January 1809. According to The Guardian, last Wednesday was the first time in 60 years that his faithful admirer didn't show up to put three roses and a half bottle of Cognac on his grave. Maybe he's dead himself, who knows?
Poe's poetry, however, stays with us. Forever.

Happy Birthday Mr. Poe!

DEATH AND BURIAL RITES

Photo by Viacheslav Smilyk




http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2008/06/25/10-extraordinary-burial-ceremonies-from-around-the-world/

A most interesting article that overviews different burial rites around the world

WOMEN AND THE WORKFORCE

According to The Economist, women make up already 50% of the workforce in the USA. In Scandinavia, this % is even higher.
Quoting The Economist:
"The change is dramatic(...). A generation ago working women performed menial jobs and were routinely subjected to casual sexism—as “Mad Men”, a television drama about advertising executives in the early 1960s, demonstrates brilliantly".
 This mass movement began during WW II when women had to get to grips with the jobs men did before.
Rosie the Riveter (pictured above by Norman Rockwell in the Saturday Evening Post) was an icon for this new woman.
But things are not yet as they should be: women still earn tipically less than men and a very small % of them are running big companies. In sum, lots to do yet.
You can read the whole article at:
http://www.economist.com/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15174418

Note that the Wikipedia insists that the picture of the woman The Economist has published was mistaken for Rosie. This one:

Well, the two of them are along the same lines. If you are interested, take a look at:
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter

FROM LA 64º

http://www.davidlynch.com/dailyreport/index.html

From LA, David Lynch wishing us a good 2010. Enjoy.

LHASA DE SELA (1972-2010)

CULTURAL AND ECONOMIC DIFFERENCES

Reading today the The Economist I found lots of interesting information about the ways we use mobile phones around the world. For instance:

The words used for those small and convenient machines reflect the priorities of a society. The American call them cellulars (emphasis on the technological aspect), the English mobiles, as in Portugal, Spain, etc (usually societies that once had an empire and were used to move around). The Germans, pratical as always call them Handy and the Chinese sho ji (hand machine).

Some talk, some text. The Japanese consider it rude to have a conversation that everybody can hear text a lot (as Indonesians, maybe for different reasons).
The Spanish talk a lot and don't activate voice mail that much. Americans and Puerto Ricans talk more than they text.
Whwre ant the way people use their mobiles also tells a lot about thwe way they see the town a a collective space. parisians tend to talk or text on pavements even in the street, Londoners prefer to gather at the entrances of tube stations.
In Portugal, as everybody who live here well knows, we like to share our private lives with lots of people so we tend to shout during conversations in buses, restaurants, cafés, everywhere (Brasilians are great at that too).
Coverage is also important too. For instance the Finns choose operators that work in tunnels (for good reasons, specially in Winter).
You can read all this and much more at:
http://www.economist.com/displayStory.cfm?story_id=15172850&source=features_box_main