Bad Education

Bad Education
Originally uploaded by sarah4855.

I finally got around to seeing Pedro Almodovar's latest film Bad Education (La Mala Educacion) last night. It was well worth the wait - I absolutely loved it. The film had a couple of scenes with characters diving into a brilliant blue, cool and refreshing swimming pool - these scenes, with their bright colours and beautiful juxtaposition of contrasting objects, occasional snippets of slow motion highlighting the clean lines of movement - are perfect examples of how Almodovar films seem to me in their entirety. Maybe it's because I was just in Madrid earlier this month and the relaxed Spanish mode is still with me, but in a word, I found this film beautiful.

Gael Garcia Bernal is appearing on the London stage in Federico Garcia Lorca's Blood Wedding at the Almedia Theatre soon. I'm hoping to snag a ticket and see the new adaptation.

Sarah's rating: **** out of 5

Bermuda Snapshots

Moongate
Originally uploaded by sarah4855.

Just returned from a warm, relaxing weekend in Bermuda - here are some snapshots!

Lost in Siberia

Actually, they're not lost and they are doing something totally incredible. My old friend (and first boyfriend!) Tim Harvey and fellow Canadian adventurer Colin Angus are trekking from Vancouver to Moscow using only bicycles, skis, and a rowboat. They have a great website that details their expedition with weekly updates and has fantastic photographs of their journey. They are raising the profile of zero-emission transportation along with the David Suzuki Foundation, as well as promoting an interest in culture and geography for school-aged kids.

My last email from Tim explained how he was out purchasing bear fat to smear over all the exposed parts of his skin in order to prevent frostbite. Who else can say that their first boyfriend ended up in Siberia without a hint of sarcasm?

Amsterdam Street Art

amsterdam
Originally uploaded by sarah4855.

I was in Amsterdam earlier this week and loved all of the graffiti adorning the streets. Instead of being a furtive exercise in the wee hours, I spotted many graffiti artists working on their murals in the bright light of day, often with lots of appreciative onlookers - I took the photo above near Rembrantplein. For more great Dutch graffiti art, check out this website.

Picasso's War

guernica
Originally uploaded by sarah4855.

One of the main reasons I chose to visit Madrid was to see Picasso's Guernica in person. I knew it was a big canvas, but I was not prepared for just how big it actually is and the power it has. Also, having only seen it reproduced in books, I imagined that it was a purely black and white painting, but not so. The subtle tones of cream and peach as well as the shadows that were tucked into the corners of the canvas were brilliant. In the gallery room behind the painting were a series of photographs that showed Picasso, often with a cigarette and a feather duster in one hand, working on the piece during all the various stages of its completion - fascinating. You could see some original images (like more dying horses) that he intended to put into the painting and then covered over later. There is a fabulous book about this painting called Picasso's War: The Destruction of Guernica and the Masterpiece That Changed the World. And there is a website about the book - you can even listen to a survivor speak about the bombing itself.

Seeing Guernica at this point in time is particularly apt. At the beginning of the Iraq War, the mural version of Picasso's painting in the UN building in New York was covered up while Colin Powell made a speech in front of it. I wonder what Picasso would have thought of that...
You can read the various articles about this censorship in the NY Times, Washington Times, and Los Angeles Times all on this great website.

Hola Madrid

tiopepe
Originally uploaded by sarah4855.

I recently returned from a quick trip down to Madrid, a journey made to visit the three unbelievably fantastic art galleries there: the Prado, the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum and the Centro de Arte Reina Sofia

I was particularly impressed by the Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum due to the sheer volume of its collection. In addition to all the regular figures in Italian, Flemish, Baroque, Impressionist and Post-Impressionist art, they had some glorious pieces by artists like Georgia O'Keefe, Egon Schiele, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Max Beckmann, Edward Hopper, Francis Bacon and Lucian Freud. It was enough to bring a modern art lover to her knees.

Welcome!

Hello all!
I have been rather obsessively following other blogs for some time now and have decided to become somewhat of an exhibitionist myself.
So welcome to Something Slant....a place I will be posting my general musings about things I find interesting. I imagine there will be lots of talk about travel, books, art, theatre, design, music....you get the idea.
So come often and enjoy!