Wednesday, March 30, 2005

Well-known

Vincent Van Gogh is so well-known that Google celebrates his birthday (March 30 of 1853) by making its logo Van Goghian for today:



Hope you enjoy it as well as I do. It is not only Van Gogh's brilliant style that make one wonder and feel the emotions behind every single brush stroke, but also the process that drove people to know him and made him one of the top three well-known painters in the world is very interesting: you can find about his biography and his work here.

Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Thanks !

Last week Tameshk had some problems: first it was a blank page as white as snow,and then it wasn't in order and...

Well, it was easy for me: like always I asked, a friend of mine, Roya who is my problem solver, to help me.

Thanks to her and the time she spent on Tameshk, Now I can continue publishing my posts.

I am blessed to have a friend like her.

Thursday, March 24, 2005

Beauty of Life

If you want a golden rule that will fit everybody, this is it: Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." (Morris, from The Beauty of Life,1880)*

Many people were born on, 24th of March, which is today. Many people will be born on March 24th in years to come.

171 years ago on March 24th 1834 William Morris was born in England. He intended to become a religious man, but his reading of the social criticism of Carlyle, Kingsley and Ruskin led him to leave the church and devote his life to Art. Well, till now his biography is maybe similar to many artists, but what is Art for him is the most interesting part for me.

Before his time, art is what we call today : High Art or Fine Art, which is Painting, Architecture, and above all Sculpture. (There were some arguments about Poetry whether it is art or not ? since Renaissance). One can say O.K. but art supposed to be Painting, Sculpture and Architecture. My point would be clearer if I tell what wasn’t considered art then: Crafts, Hand made objects, Designs for fabrics, Carpets, Jewelry, furniture and Cloths. All of the things that today we consider them and categorize them under the Decorative and Graphical Design.



Morris was one of the many geniuses whose work shaped the decorative art and Arts and Crafts Movement in the later half of the 1900th century. He encouraged return to handmade objects and rejected standard tastes. It is important for many people especially women in history, people whose hand made works considered Low Art for many years and maybe even today.
Morris’s designs for: fabrics, wall papers, tiles are so well-known that you have to have a certain kind of talent to miss them. Probably you didn’t know that they are Morris’s because they are everywhere, and so familiar to everyone.
*

Tuesday, March 22, 2005

Norooz

Afghans, Tajiks, Uzbeks and Iranians celebrate Norooz*, once again.
Happy New Year to all of those who honor the Spring.






*Norooz is the oldest Iranian holiday. Together with Mehregan (entrance of Libra to the house of Sun), it was one of the "two" New Years of the ancient Aryans. Mehregan was the first day of the "cold" year (autumn and winter), and Norooz was the beginning of the "warm" year (spring and summer), it is said that Norooz was chosen as the official holiday by King Yama (Jamsheed), the ancient Iranian king and hero of myth who expanded the earth. According to the story, when Yama expanded the earth three times, he ordered the day of the last expansion to be called Norooz, which was to signal a "new day" for the people living in what is now Iran. The truth most likely lies somewhere in between the story and the fact that Norooz is the beginning of spring. It could be that Norooz was already a holiday for the Aryans, but when it coincided with an important event in the region of Jamsheed, it was chosen to be the "special" holiday.

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly *

I guess I should have admitted that I loved Animated Films (cartoons) before a lot of thing happened. Old fashion or computer animation, no matter when or where it is shown: on TV or in the Movie Theater I will be there to watch it. My personal taste to choose animated films over movies when we get to the cinema theater bothers my friends and family: in many particular cases my lovely husband. I think at first he thought what a lovely, innocent taste she has, it was later on that he realized that it is not going to end unless he puts an end to it**.

What could have done that: well, well, well how about a Bad Animated film. I didn’t believe a Bad Animation, I didn’t think that it can exist until last night, when we watched Shark Tale.

Here you are, animation lovers: a bunch of great stars as Voice Overs, a confused script-writer and a bad director, the result is a Bad Animation Movie.

* What Is Good? The Good is a Good animation film.
What Is Bad? The Bad is a Bad animation film.
What Is Ugly? The Ugly is the Time and Money you spend on realizing that a Bad Animation Film exists.

** He probably didn’t know that it can be done so easily, and he didn’t think that when he agreed with borrowing Shark Tale, he is beginning (a process of***) putting an end to it.

*** You know, it is a process: I still Love Animated films a lot, but I think I have changed my mind about existence of a Bad Animation Film.