Media Publicist

Shallow not Stupid

2012-01-10T10:04:00.000-08:00

by Vivien Lash

Never has there been as fat a lie as the one about beauty being on the inside. Unless it’s the one about fashion magazines making their readers anorexic. Glossies don’t start trends, they follow them. And someone at Conde Nast has a sense of humor, judging by the funny-lookin’ ladies they’ve been hiring since last century. Diana Vreeland offset her unconventional appearance by playing up her eccentricity, while Anna Wintour's crash-helmet bob is more iconic than a Disney character. And what of her addiction to Chanel, which makes everyone look like a frosted cupcake? Tina Brown was allowed to keep her nose, but she’s intelligent and from England, where nobody cares what they look like.
Everyone knows that fashion magazines are about the pictures, but every now and then they get intellectual and fall flat on their liposuctioned asses. The dialogue they're aiming for is not so much with the reader as with each other. No sooner had US Vogue profiled the bland, blonde wife of Syrian President Assad, the tyrant going after the Devil of the Desert trophy once reserved for Muammar Gaddafi, than UK Vogue hitched a ride on the camel with a piece about Libya that’s about as interesting as a plate of undercooked falafel. Libyan women wore make-up while civil war raged in Tripoli? You don't say.

They could have saved the story by sneaking in a few shots of young Colonel Gaddafi before he’d had Botox and started his long, slow audition to take over for Pete Burns. Who can deny how glamorous Muammar looked in 1969, when he came to power wearing sunglasses and a mysterious smile, with no tent dresses in his wardrobe yet. Like all good anti-heroes, the Colonel came to a bad end, and tragically on a bad hair day. If dead Colonels could talk, I’m sure he’d agree that beauty is skin deep.
It used to be as simple as making sure you didn’t have any blackheads. The most complicated is got was Marilyn Monroe visiting Madame Renna on Sunset Boulevard every day at noon for a facial, then having an enema prepared by her creepy housekeeper to keep her skin glowing. But fashions have changed and now celebrities are buying faces that look so much like bums that you worry a poo will appear when they open their mouths.

Failing eyesight is a friend to the aging celebrity. And a good photographer, not a bad surgeon, is a vain bitch’s soul mate. Instead of failing to look the same in the mirror, you can look perfect in old pictures. Just don’t go spoiling it by being seen in public.

The moral of this story, obvs, is don’t buy a new face just because you can afford it.

ART>FRAGILE

2011-12-24T07:05:00.000-08:00

^{Exhibit>21st Dec to 12th Jan 2011. 11am to 8.30 pm (Sat – Thu)

An idea from the thought of drawing shadows… outlines of shadows,

Imprints, temporal and often to trace a dream. All make the realm of fragile...

Eight artists weave the personal language of their minds into the visible.

ARTIST CONCEPT NOTES.

Alireza Fani

«A Memorial For Today» is a reflection of how we pass our days　and our private moments with tremendous passivity...　

A chronic passivity which we have apparently voluntarily invited into our lives.　

Our acceptance of this passive way of life has led us to turn a blind eye to our alternatives.　

It has become our daily norm.　

Perhaps our issues with «social un-relation» are an outcome of adoption of our passive practices or do we just blame the outside world, as usual.

Kaif Ghaznavi

My work deals with situations of uncertainty and awkwardness, fear and pleasure, pain and endurance. I like to investigate these possibilities through conducting interviews with people with various backgrounds.

In this work Maang, I consider the measure of cycles o rural villages where women follow lunar patterns of understanding time. She maps out this passing of time and space through circular rythms that elide linear duration, in an esoteric charting of the body.

Mohsen Sadeghian

The boxes of　 Sadeghian, in their rigid and unusual forms, more than anything, are the expressions of one's desperation with oneself and with the status quo. However they are not reflections of despair from a solely　perspective, but that the artist is showing the complex dialectical, social, and psychological processes.

Socio-thematic selection of works prevents the artist from being limited and solely psychologically identified. This strategy makes the interpretation of his works for the audience quite sophisticated as well s multi-faceted. The artist's references to place and space take shape with a delicate skill.

The works have been designed in the shape of boxes, smaller models of place and space, in which symbols and things are visible, like a mesh of similes that from a discursive view that is expressive and resonant. The general color of the boxes, inside or out, are in most cases dark, and parts of the outside surfaces are covered by glass.　

　

Parul Thacker
City of light or a crystallized light all netted to form one truth of light – which is all illuming forever with a fragrance of beauty. The interconnected fibers are knotted together to form the base/a map of a region above our terrestrial existence that beholds this city of light.

Crystals which are truly an embodiment of light and energy are used as healing minerals by occultists and professional healers. It is with the same intention I use them, to spread its pure energy. Mesmerized by its form we are naturally drawn to them, at times for their colour or at times for their formless form and at times for the unusual glitter it has about a light unseen. I have been intuitively drawn to these minerals whose origin is untraceable but purpose and intent remains unchanged – that of parting with light and energy.

The fiber used is of nylon thread – translucent yet strong it holds these minerals together to form one complete form or map. My own creative map or perception of the land of crystals all held together by one thread, entwined to form dimensions of textures giving the illusion of space and depth. The angular pyramidical stitches form the invisible structures of light or energy. Each one formed by its own dynamic momentum, one leading to another by a single thread of faith, consistently mapping itself until at last the city unveils itself.

My process doesn’t end here, in fact it has just begun, a task to create not just one city of light instead the city growing into a land, a land enlarging itself on earth and the earth spreading its light on the entire universe.

Samira Nowparast

For me, painting is the representation of a world I travel in it mentally. This is a world acquainted with nature; there you can smell the scent of the mixture of mud and straw, and hear the voice of horseshoes. There is no human, but you see his tracks. I trace these tracks. And sometimes I find human-made things; some of them are soft and delicate like a tanned skin, and others are hard and sharp like a razor, gearwheel or a piece of metal detached of something I don’t know what it is, but it seems to me a worn-out thing starts to move suddenly and take possession of something from the future, and claw at my day just like a memory that revives the old sorrows and tears.

Things, whatever they are, challenge the creatures of my paintings. These creatures are "Animal-likes" that have a human identity for me. Sometimes they have abstract forms, and sometimes they appear as more figurative subjects; like horses struggle to escape from a space combined with gearwheel, strap and bridle, or stay and get acquainted with them, as in the series "Permanent Sketch of Mind", "Sanctum" and "Horse Factory". I didn’t find any human-made thing in the "Estrogen" series. The "Animal-likes" are blooming and fertile, and float in a ruddy seclusion; in seasons nobody knows their time, or in a utopia whose seasons were forgotten.

Shivani Agarwal}

^{Through my art practice I depict the transient nature of things, people, situations and emotions.

I have been using the red thread as a metaphor to express the same, which transforms, changes and binds.

It takes different forms and entangles and then changes back again. The dichotomy of attachment and separation, bondage and freedom is hence discovered.

I use painting and photographic images also positioning and painting them to create an almost surreal situation.

I work with multiple images as it helps in expressing change and movement.

Tender, sensitive, easily hurt and broken all these words refer to the transient states of mind we experience.

Thoughts, memories and feelings are born one moment and disappear and sometimes change in the next, I am trying to gather these fragile moments and knit them into a story in my work.

They are feelings so fragile that if they are not dealt with, they will perish in no time.

I am trying to define fragility through transience.

Pooj Iranna

Through my work, I present man made structures, which talk of human beings, their presence, expressions, mind and emotions without their physical existence.

I was born in Delhi which fast grew into a metropolis along with me. Much before I could realize the metropolitan life around me became my cultural background.

This is what eventually became the prime medium of expression for me as it predominated my whole self.

Human persona has so many facets to it that I find it increasingly stimulating to portray it in my language using different mediums. My water colours revolve around the same vocabulary. The visual language here is not very complicated and even the colour palette is less complex. There is a intermingling of nature and man made structures to create spaces. These represent strength of structure on the surface and vigor of human convictions at the subconscious.

The latest works in which I use staple pins to make my sculptures is very synonymous to my concept of shaping of human life. It is about building of intellectual and spiritual character of people. Staple pins joint together determine the strength and energies of people coming together. These works represent human endeavor , not only for existence but making life harmonious from inside and outside.

My choice of medium is guided by my thinking, reasoning and understanding of what I wish to express. Working with different materials but using the same underlined expression gives me a sense of gratification.

Prajakta Palav Aher

Prajakta Palav Aher paints every detail from a multitude of photographic references that she has archived over the years. The candid medium of photography allows her to unpretentiously penetrate the many aspects of middle class life in India, and capture its varied truths.

Her works in acrylic on canvas depict images from her own background and reflect the insecurities and complexities of middle class life. With great skill and photographic perfection Aher paints pictures of fake plastic flowers adorning doors and staircases; newspaper stacks lying behind wooden cabinets; suitcases and bags perched on top of the cupboard; torn papers and documents covered in plastic sheets filling old wall units; and the iconic image of Lord Ganesha, the remover of obstacles, traveling the routes of an everyday commuter.

Although the artist’s portrayals are realistic, they do not come across as documentaries but instead, allow the viewer to realize the disposition of the situations, and find humour in them.}

Kris Van Assche Forays Into Fashion Films

2011-12-12T10:30:00.000-08:00

http://vimeo.com/krisvanassche/a-moment-in-time

As if Dior Homme wasn't enough, Belgian designer Kris Van Assche keeps busy with his own men's line, characterized as much by mood and nostalgia as French chic and savoir faire. His first fashion film, showcasing spring 2012, centers on the extraordinarily ordinary moment, as director Joost Vandebrug would describe it, when two old friends meet again...

Mark Ryden’s carnival of curiosities

2011-12-01T07:48:00.001-08:00

Fuzzy bunnies, big-eyed girls, meat, magic, and mystery

Limited to 50 copies, this eight-color fine serigraph is a perfect reproduction of an original Mark Ryden painting made especially for TASCHEN. The print was meticulously crafted by the fine print-makers at Pressure Printing. It is printed on finely handmade paper from Bhutan, and carefully dyed and aged; the work is embossed with a beautifully hand-sculpted bee and printer’s chop. The edition is numbered, signed by Mark Ryden and available only with the first 50 copies of the book Pinxit, published by TASCHEN. Includes certificate of authenticity signed by Mark Ryden.

The artist:

Mark Ryden received a BFA in 1987 from Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. His paintings have been exhibited in museums and galleries worldwide, including a retrospective Wondertoonel at the Frye Museum of Art in Seattle and Pasadena Museum of California Art, and in the exhibition The Artist’s Museum at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.

Everything is a Part of Itself >Photographs by Rameshwar Broota

2011-11-18T02:51:00.001-08:00

Everything is a Part of Itself - Photographs by Rameshwar Broota
29th October 2011, 7.30pm onwards at 1x1 Al Quoz

“Everything is Part of Itself:” Meronymy, the Flâneuristic Gaze, and the Polyphonic Imagination of Rameshwar Broota

The power of the recent photography of Rameshwar Broota lies in the way his images open up new spaces for imagination about the body, the built environment, and our human to the natural world through what is called a “polyphonic” visual language. This polyphony—a harmonious symphony of different possible understandings of the work—is produced by the technique of “defamiliarization of the familiar” through juxtapositions in which the human subject is constituted in an indexical relationship to the various contexts presented. What this means is that the possibility for multiple meanings of the signs mobilized in Broota’s work (often images from the natural world, the built environment, humanly made objects or human life) are possible because of the way he manages to disrupt our familiar optics, by switching the background or the frame that makes us look again, and think again about what we are seeing. In doing so, he opens up the possibilities for re-vision—for re-thinking, re-seeing and re-knowing ourselves and our world.

Even when human being appears to be absent from the tableau, the human's absent presence is still felt and exerted through the distinctive flâneuristic gaze of Broota's lens. Like the way of seeing the world that made the “flâneur” of 19th century literature an icon of seemingly paradoxical detachment in the context of well-traveled cosmopolitanism, and worldly experience, characteristic of modernity, Broota’s camera facilitates a similar disengaged engagement in our own gazes.

This diverse body of work is unified by a practice that utilizes ephemeral juxtapositions of the natural/organic/bodily to the constructed/inorganic/mechanistic in order to rupture these very binaries. And it is precisely this set of shifting binaries that gives voice to the polyphonic visual discourse that characterizes Broota's practice across genre and subject matter. In some works, the body is iconically treated as terrain, while in others, the terrain, or landscape (both the built and the natural, and sometimes an amalgamation of the two) is animated by the cosmopolitan, urbane gaze of the well-traveled flâneur who becomes part of the very landscape his gaze constructs. In some works, photographic interventions recast the body as part of a larger mechanism or machine, in others the possibilities of the self seem to be both framed and delimited by geometric space.

—Maya Kóvskaya, PhD

1x1 Art Gallery
Warehouse No 4, Plot No 364-22, Al Quoz Ind 1
P O Box 214723, Dubai
T: +9714-3411287 F:+9714-3472321
E: 1x1artgallery@gmail.com W: www.1x1artgallery.com
Location Map: http://bit.ly/pqbuPz

Rameshwar Broota, born in New Delhi in 1941, graduated from the College of Art, New Delhi in 1964. As the head of the Department of Art, Triveni Kala Sangam, New Delhi, Broota has been teaching and inspiring many artists of the younger generation.
Since the beginning of his career Broota has been deeply involved in the contemporary human situation that degrades individuals and pollutes relationship between them on the social plane. His early oil paintings, showing, 'humanized' gorillas, were corrosively satirical and showed the artist's concern for the socio-moral being of man. Over the decades, though not a prolific painter, Broota evolved a technique of painting mostly in monochrome: On the canvas surface, usually painted in matte black, he works with a sharp, thin blade to bring in light and forms, exposing the white surface below, creating deep spatial dimensions. In this phase he focuses on monumental humans, wounded, hardened and somehow dehumanized. In some paintings he shows man against a forbidding wall on which appear illegible hieroglyphics, suggesting the inscrutable destiny of man. His highly personalized technique less painterly in application of paint, has the quality of a graphic print.

His paintings have been shown in many solo and prestigious group shows, namely 'Pictorial Space' presented by the Lalit Kala Akademi, New Delhi (1 977), 'India: Myth and Reality', Museum of Modem Art, Oxford (1982), 'Modern Indian Painting', Hirsch horn Museum, Washington D.C. (1982), Biennales in Tokyo and Dhaka, 'Art for Man', Saddam Centre for International Art, Baghdad, (1 986), International Art Fair, Cagnes-sur-Mer (1976).

Broota lives and works in New Delhi.

Indian Grand Prix >28-30 Oct'2011@Noida,India

2011-10-30T13:08:00.000-07:00

Just a few years ago, India would not have ranked among the countries you'd commonly associate with Formula One racing. Today, however, the nation has its own F1 team in Force India, has bred two F1 drivers in Karun Chandhok and Narain Kathikeyan, and hosted its first grand prix this year. Despite all this, Force India chief, Vijay Mallya, thinks his home country still has more to offer the world of motorsports

Trulli: Target kept Chandhok out
Jarno Trulli has insisted that the decision not to have local hero Karun Chandhok race for Team Lotus at the inaugural Indian Grand Prix was purely a racing one, with the team determined to lock down 10th place in the Constructors’ Championship.

None of us wants to lose this opportunity to finish 10th in the championship.

Lotus tester Karun Chandhok has lost out on the chance to race in front of his home crowd at this weekend’s inaugural Indian event, after the team decided to retain regular line-up Heikki Kovalainen and Jarno Trulli for the New Delhi race. Chandhok, however, will be in action in the T128 during Friday's opening practice session.

Many had predicted that Team Lotus would attempt to maximise appeal in India by putting Chennai-born Chandhok in the T128 for the F1’s newest race, especially as the Indian racer recently utilised Red Bull Racing’s simulator in a bid to learn the track. However, prior to the team’s arrival at the Buddh Circuit it was revealed that Chandhok will be restricted to driving in Friday’s first free practice session.

“There is a lot of investment made by the team for the future, for next year, in order to make (the) step into the midfield and I think none of us wants to lose this opportunity to finish 10th in the championship,” said Trulli in Thursday’s official FIA press conference. “This, I believe, is the main reason for not giving Karun another chance. But it is not down to me, honestly, to talk about it. This race is the only thing I can think about.” And eyeing Sunday’s race, Trulli admitted his initial impressions of the circuit were positive.

“I arrived only last night but the circuit itself looks pretty good,” he said. “The layout seems very interesting. Obviously the question mark is about how dirty and dusty it is. I have been around this morning cycling and it was very dusty. I hope they can clean today and tomorrow morning and see how the circuit develops over the weekend. But it is definitely something that looks pretty good.”

Looking further ahead Trulli said the team was expecting to take another step forward in 2012, though he added that the team did not need to make a huge leap in order to achieve their immediate targets. “We have several new things coming in which should make us take a step forward in terms of performance,” he said. “We really hope that we can do what we haven’t done or what we were not able to do this year. We were expecting to be fighting the midfield and we were not quite there, so for next year I think Tony (Fernandes) and everybody is determined to make this step and they are working very hard on next year’s car and there are several deals in place in order to get a good package together for next year’s car so we are very confident of making this step.

“If you look at certain results we don’t really need (a big) jump,” he added. “We just need a little further step, as we are in a situation that the car in front is slightly quicker than us and the cars behind us are definitely slower than us, so we just need a further step to be in the midfield. “Obviously If you want to think about winning races it is different. You need a further jump but you need to take things step-by-step. Rome wasn’t built in a day and the team was built just two years ago.”

“I am very excited about driving at the new Buddh International Circuit in FP1 in front of my home crowd and while I am obviously disappointed that I won’t have the chance to race on Sunday, I accept the team’s decision to opt for the experience and talent they have at their disposal with Jarno and Heikki,” explained the 27 year-old.

Karthikeyan senses ‘historic moment’

HRT driver Narain Karthikeyan has admitted he is looking forward to what will be an “historic moment” when he becomes the first Indian driver to race in Formula One on home soil this weekend.

It is a huge day for Indian motorsport and those first few laps tomorrow are going to be very special.

Karthikeyan has been handed a race seat at the new Buddh International Circuit in Delhi ahead of regular driver Vitantonio Liuzzi and despite the pressures on him as the only Indian driver pencilled in to race, Karthikeyan said he would just try to enjoy himself this weekend, with his main target being just to finish the grand prix.

“The realistic thing with our car is to possibly finish the race and beat your team-mate,” he said. “If you do that, I think at the moment, we can’t expect much more. It is an historic and symbolic moment that an Indian driver is on the grid and, of course, there is a lot following Formula One for a long time. There will be a lot of fans here. It will be hard to explain but it is what it is. I want to enjoy the weekend, have a lot of fun, and try and do the best I can do.’ The HRT driver, who made his F1 debut with Jordan in 2005, admitted he had expected to compete in a grand prix on home soil, and that Friday, when the cars take to the track for the first time, will be a “huge day for Indian motorsport”.

“I did not think in my racing career that I would be racing in India and here we are just around the corner. I’ve had thousands of requests for passes,” he smiled. “I just need to relax and from tomorrow it is going to be different, you are in the car a lot. I just want to enjoy the whole atmosphere. My family, everyone is coming. It is a huge day for Indian motorsport and those first few laps tomorrow are going to be very special, yes.”

The Indian driver has been impressed with the track, too. “With the circuit, again like everybody else, it is wide in some places, I am sure lots of different lines you are going to see, lots of overtaking. It is definitely a very challenging circuit, with lots of run off areas and so on, so they have done a very good job, no doubt.”
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'It’s complete, it’s finished. The race is happening, it’s real, it’s a dream come true' - Vijay Mallya

Sahara Force India boss Vijay Mallya has admitted that the Indian Grand Prix is a “dream come true” and an event he did not expect to witness in his lifetime.

Vijay Mallya: "A lot of people were sceptical, and I think we proved them all wrong."

Connected to the development of the track since its inception, Mallya said that all those involved had proved any doubters wrong. “A lot of people were sceptical, and I think we proved them all wrong, which is very, very nice,” he said of the circuit’s opening.

“I drove around the track a couple of times yesterday, I spoke to several drivers. They simply love the track. It’s complete, it’s finished. The race is happening, it’s real, it’s a dream come true. “I have a huge vested interest,” he added. “Over 30 years ago I drove my Ensign Formula One car here in India and I never thought I would ever see a Formula One car race around India in the future.

“As the chairman of the ASN responsible for motorsport here, we have been trying to promote motorsport in this country for over three decades and this is like a dream come true. When I acquired the then Spyker team, I re-named it Force India and there was a lot of strategy and meaning behind it, as it was meant to put India on the Formula One map. We have had an Indian team since 2008 on the Formula One grid and now a grand prix here in Delhi. This is unbelievably fantastic.”

Asked if the Indian Government would now become involved in the event financially, Mallya said that the Grand Prix would continue in the hands of private enterprise. “In a country like India, with the profile of our people, with the number of under-privileged people we also have, it would be too much of an ask if we went to government and said ‘subsidise motor sport’,” he said. “So this initiative here at the Buddh International Circuit is a private initiative by the Jaypee Group – God bless them, they’ve done a wonderful job and invested a lot of money and they haven’t depended on any sort of government grants.”

The Sahara Force India boss was then asked about reports contrasting the glamorous nature of F1 with the underprivileged population he had mentioned. “In every country there are the privileged and the under-privileged. We have under-privileged people in our country, but that doesn’t mean that the country must be bogged down or weighed down,” he said. “India is a progressive country, we have a strongly growing economy, a large economy. The government is doing all it can to address the needs of the poor or the under-privileged people but India must move on.

“Back in 1990, we consciously made a decision to integrate ourselves into the world economy, to open up from an era of total government control and so the country must move forward. The Commonwealth Games were held here in India, now it’s Formula One. I’m sure there will be several more global events in our country, because this is a world-class country in many ways. Sure we have our problems but those are being addressed.”

Sebastian Vettel gets pole position, Narain Karthikeyan almost last in maiden Indian Grand Prix

It was an action packed qualifying session, the traffic snarls at the venue were legendary with the snarls extending to late evening when I was passing by the track. Spotted a few team folks in various cars Team Lotus prefers the Renault Fluence to travel in style.

Sebastian Vettel grabbed another pole position showing the dominance of his Red Bull, he is just three wins shy of Michael Schumacher’s record of most wins in a formula one season and looks all set to equal that if he continues his current form.

“The car was fantastic since yesterday and throughout qualifying,” said Sebastian Vettel. “In the end there was a little bit left in the first sector.
“I’m extremely happy and it’s good to be here. It will be a very interesting race on a challenging circuit.
“You have to really make sure you stay on the line and the circuit here is not forgiving mistakes. It’s not easy but I enjoy what I do and I was excited when I came here.”

Lewis Hamilton was second fastest in qualifying however due to a penalty he was given on Friday, he got thrown back three places and will start fifth on the grid. Fernando Alonso who will start third on the grid and seemed pleased with Hamilton’s penalty :

“With Hamilton’s penalty, starting third will be even better,” The Spaniard said

Teammate Brazilian Felipe Massa could manage only sixth position in contrast. He has been quite a press favorite with certain Indian tabloids going gaga over his resemblance to his brother whatshisname Massa.

Meanwhile Narain Karthikeyan would have entered the bad books of Michael Schumacher. Narain impeded the German champion in his hot lap and was penalized five places. Needless to say that generally means Narain Karthikeyan would be starting last on the grid. However since Timo Glock is approved to race despite being too slow, Narain wont be last on the grid.
Adrian Sutil of Force India qualified in eight position impressing new boss Subrata Roy (in photo with Nico Hulkenberg). Force India fans will remember Sahara bought stake in the team rechristening it the Sahara Force India formula one team.

Pos	Driver	Nationality	Team	Points
1	Sebastian Vettel	German	RBR-Renault	374
2	Jenson Button	British	McLaren-Mercedes	240
3	Fernando Alonso	Spanish	Ferrari	227
4	Mark Webber	Australian	RBR-Renault	221
5	Lewis Hamilton	British	McLaren-Mercedes	202
6	Felipe Massa	Brazilian	Ferrari	98
7	Nico Rosberg	German	Mercedes	75
8	Michael Schumacher	German	Mercedes	70
9	Vitaly Petrov	Russian	Renault	36
10	Nick Heidfeld	German	Renault	34
11	Adrian Sutil	German	Force India-Mercedes	30
12	Kamui Kobayashi	Japanese	Sauber-Ferrari	27
13	Jaime Alguersuari	Spanish	STR-Ferrari	26
14	Paul di Resta	British	Force India-Mercedes	21
15	Sebastien Buemi	Swiss	STR-Ferrari	15
16	Sergio Perez	Mexican	Sauber-Ferrari	14
17	Rubens Barrichello	Brazilian	Williams-Cosworth	4
18	Bruno Senna	Brazilian	Renault	2
19	Pastor Maldonado	Venezuelan	Williams-Cosworth	1
20	Pedro de la Rosa	Spanish	Sauber-Ferrari	0
21	Jarno Trulli	Italian	Lotus-Renault	0
22	Heikki Kovalainen	Finnish	Lotus-Renault	0
23	Vitantonio Liuzzi	Italian	HRT-Cosworth	0
24	Jerome d'Ambrosio	Belgian	Virgin-Cosworth	0
25	Timo Glock	German	Virgin-Cosworth	0
26	Narain Karthikeyan	Indian	HRT-Cosworth	0
27	Daniel Ricciardo	Australian	HRT-Cosworth	0
28	Karun Chandhok	Indian	Lotus-Renault	0

Tattooed Wonder>Rick Genest Goes from Mugler to Mainstream

2011-10-14T02:25:00.000-07:00

It looks like Rick Genest (aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka Nicola Formichetti’s Mugler main squeeze) might be on his way to becoming fashion’s latest unconventional muse. The tattoo aficionado—who’s no stranger to the spotlight, having previously made the rounds as a star attraction in a Montreal circus (yup, we’re not kidding)—seems to be making the leap from sideshow to the main stage. In addition to appearances on both men's and women's Mugler catwalks, Genest currently stars in Mugler's new fall campaign, shot by Mariano Vivanco, to be released later this year. The stark black-and-white images provide the perfect backdrop for the brand’s graphic tailoring and Rick’s cranial facial decorations (what kind of SPF does he uses?). If that weren’t enough, he also stars in a meaty editorial for the new GQ Style, which hits .

There are some things for which money, distance, even the law, are no object. If you have a muse, this won't be news to you. Here's the incredible but true story of how Mugler's new creative director Nicola Formichetti discovered Rick Genest—aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka that guy with the mad skull tattoo on his face—and got him to walk in his debut men's collection, basically becoming the face of Mugler. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a little encouragement from Lady Gaga (who, by the way, snapped up half the collection, with the other half in Rick's inky hands).

It looks like Rick Genest (aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka Nicola Formichetti’s Mugler main squeeze) might be on his way to becoming fashion’s latest unconventional muse. The tattoo aficionado—who’s no stranger to the spotlight, having previously made the rounds as a star attraction in a Montreal circus (yup, we’re not kidding)—seems to be making the leap from sideshow to the main stage. In addition to appearances on both men's and women's Mugler catwalks, Genest currently stars in Mugler's new fall campaign, shot by Mariano Vivanco, to be released later this year. The stark black-and-white images provide the perfect backdrop for the brand’s graphic tailoring and Rick’s cranial facial decorations (what kind of SPF does he uses?). If that weren’t enough, he also stars in a meaty editorial for the new GQ Style, which hits newsstands tomorrow. Dark, brooding,

There are some things for which money, distance, even the law, are no object. If you have a muse, this won't be news to you. Here's the incredible but true story of how Mugler's new creative director Nicola Formichetti discovered Rick Genest—aka Rico, aka Zombie Boy, aka that guy with the mad skull tattoo on his face—and got him to walk in his debut men's collection, basically becoming the face of Mugler. Of course, it doesn't hurt to have a little encouragement from Lady Gaga (who, by the way, snapped up half the collection, with the other half in Rick's inky hands)...

Lee Carter: How did you find Rick Genest?

Nicola Formichetti: I found Rico on Facebook.

You stumbled across his profile?

I had his picture on my wall forever. I saw it one day on Google. I thought it was amazing Halloween make-up done by Peter Philips or something. I mean, I've done so many shoots with skull make-up. And then, in October I got my first tattoo, a triangle with a circle inside, an ancient Japanese symbol meaning centeredness. And the tattoo artist who did it, my friend Maxime, who has this tattoo magazine called Sang Bleu, saw that picture and said, "Oh yeah, that guy is Zombie Boy. He lives in Montreal.

So you sought Rico out on Facebook and asked him to model for you.

Yeah, I just wanted him to be the face of whatever we were going to create. At that point the clothes were, you know, proper suits and shirts and very clean. I just needed to have some kind of a twist to it or...

An edge.

Yeah, so after seeing his pictures on Facebook, I just thought he was so inspiring. Just by looking at his pictures I changed the whole collection.

You changed the whole collection?

Well, I added more, by taking stuff from him, making it a bit darker and gothicy. So basically I Facebooked him and was like, "You know, I'm doing this thing in Paris and I would love you to be there in two weeks." He emailed me back straightaway and he was like, "Yeah, sure, I would love to, but I don’t have a passport." And then I start thinking how the fuck is he going to get a passport in time?

Like it's a crime to have a tattoo on your face? What did you do?
I had no idea what to do. I was calling my lawyers, saying we have to get this guy to Paris. But then I thought, maybe he doesn’t need to be there physically. Maybe I can do a film or pictures. So I told him I would go to him in Montreal in two days. I called my friend Mariano [Vivanco, photographer] and my manager. We got together the first week after the holidays as I was about to leave for Paris to work on the last bit of the collection. I remember thinking I have to do this, I just have a gut feeling, I have to work with this guy. Everyone said he's a freak, why would I want to do that to a luxury brand? I didn’t listen to anyone and just went. I brought some clothes, a couple of suits, and I actually made lots of clothes the night before I left New York. I had pieces sent from Paris and was just making stuff in my house, and then took everything to Montreal and we did a photo shoot and video. The photos are the ones we just launched as a visual campaign.

I saw those. Beautiful.
It was so inspiring. Then I showed it to Gaga and she was like, "Oh my god, you have to do a show." I always loved her song Shiza. For me, Shiza is in the spirit of Mugler, kind of like a dirty Berlin club meets glamour. So she’s like, "Okay, I will remix it and make it amazing for you." I had just wanted to do a film projection, not a show, but I thought, fuck it, let’s do a show.

Okay, so how did you get Rico to Paris in time?
Right, then we found out why he couldn’t get a passport, because he was homeless. He had a lot of fines or something, because he was always sleeping on the street.

Ah, so Mugler paid them? Were they very much?
It was a lot.

A few thousand dollars?
Like ten or twenty.

Whaaa?
Yeah. And he just kept telling me, "I'm not a criminal, I'm not a criminal." It took him so long to tell us. Oh my god, he was so emotional. He was crying and saying how this was going to change his life. It was a beautiful moment.

That was really nice of you guys.
I paid it myself. I really believe in him. He was only in Paris for two days. You kind of imagine him to be a freak, some punk. But it's actually inspiring to hear him talk about shades, which are the dots that create the 3D effect of his tattoo. It becomes more and more refined when it’s shaded.

Wait, is his whole body tattooed? Like a skeleton?
It’s a skeleton theme, yeah. Well, except his uh, there. (Laughs.)

It's good to know some things are still sacred.
Yeah, but not because he didn’t want to. He didn’t have the money.

So eventually he’ll get it done. Sounds painful.
(Laughs.) Maybe it'll be a selection of cock rings. I just really fell in love with the way he lived. In a way his story is similar to Gaga, in that there's no going back. You do what you believe. You are that, you are what you’re creating.

Rick Genest (born August 7, 1985) is a Canadian artist and Fashion Model born in Montreal. He is also known as Zombie Boy for being tattooed like a corpse across the majority of his body. Genest grew up in Châteauguay, a suburb of Montreal. According to his mother he waited, out of respect for her and his father, until the age of 16 to get his first tattoo. He then left home at 17 after graduating from high school, but it was not until the age of 21 that he would first come to Montreal tattoo artist Frank Lewis, since then responsible for inking the majority the designs on his body, which they create together. This has taken over three years, Genest spending thousands of dollars on the artwork, conceived by him to be "about the human body as a decomposing corpse – the art of a rotting cadaver.", and "also a tribute to horror movies", a favourite genre of his. He would become popular in Montreal's "underground scene", but struggled for money and eventually found himself homeless.

Nicola Formichetti (Italian pronunciation: [niˌkɔːla fɔɾmiˈketti]; born 31 May 1977) is an internationally prolific fashion director and fashion editor of mixed Italian and Japanese heritage. He is most widely known as the new creative director for the French fashion house MUGLER, and for being a frequent collaborator with singer-songwriter and performance artist Lady Gaga. Formichetti is also known as fashion director of Vogue Hommes Japan, is a contributing editor of several other fashion magazines, and is fashion director for the clothing company Uniqlo. In November 2010 he was named one of the "most influential creative forces working in fashion today." The following month he was awarded the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator at the 2010 British Fashion Awards.

Remembering Ravan

2011-10-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

There is a park across my house where Ramlila happens every year and then on the day of Dussehra, the huge effigy of Ravan stuffed with firecrackers is burnt. On the auspicious day, a huge crowd gathers in the park and on the highest floor of the nearby buildings to be a part of the ritual. Ravan is one character in Ramayan which has always intrigued me. So on this day of Dussehra, I thought of doing some research on the Demon King and stumbled upon many rather unknown facts about him (they were unknown to me at least) which I would like to share with all of you.

Ravan was the great-grandson of the creator of the universe, Brahma and son of the Brahamana sage Vishrava and younger brother of Kubera(the deity of wealth). His mother, Kaikesi was an asura. Kaikesi’s father Sumali wanted her to marry the most powerful man in the world so that he gets an exceptional heir. He kept on rejecting many kings but in the end Kaikesi chose Vishrava to marry. Ravan was hence half Brahmin and half Asura.

Ravan’s original name was Dasamukha. Following his conquest of Lanka, Ravana went to appease Lord Shiva at his abode in Kailash. Unknowingly and whimsically Ravana attempted to uproot the mountain Kailash. Shiva was annoyed by Ravana`s adamant nature and pressed his little toe under the mountain and pinned him firmly. Ravana cried out in pain so loudly that whole world shook in earthquake. He started to appease Shiva until Shiva was satisfied and made him free from the bondage. Shiva was so impressed by Ravana`s bravery and devotion that he gifted him a powerful sword known as Chandrahas (moon blade). Ravana became a life long devotee of Lord Shiva. Ravana was famous for his dance worship, which is called `Shiva Tandava Stotra`. Shiva was pleased by his dance and named him as Ravana, which means `one who roars terrifyingly`. .

Ravana also performed an intense penance to Brahma (the creator god), lasting several years. Pleased with him, Brahma offered him a boon. Ravana asked for immortality, which Brahma refused saying everyone has to die someday. Ravana then asked for absolute invulnerability and supremacy before gods and heavenly spirits, other demons, serpents and wild beasts. Contemptuous of mortal men, he did not ask for protection from them(that is why Lord Vishnu incarnated himself as a human in the form of Lord Ram to kill Ravan). Brahma granted him these boons, and additionally great strength by way of knowledge of divine weapons and sorcery.

Lanka(the city made of gold) was designed by Vishwakarma for Kuber who was Ravan’s brother. Ravan demanded Lanka from him and Vishrava also advised Kuber to hand over the city to Ravan as he was completely undefeatable by now. Lanka florished under Ravan’s rule as he was a very able king.

Initially Ravan used to force himself upon any woman who rejected his advances. One such incidence was with the sage-woman called Vedavati. Vedavati was performing a yagya to appease Lord Vishnu to marry her when Ravana met her at her hermitage. She, however, rejected his advances. After mocking her dedication to Vishnu and her penance, he attacked her, viciously, by pulling her hair. Her chastity and reputation destroyed, Vedavati immolates herself by building a pyre, while Ravana watched. The second was his encounter with the apsara Rambha, upon whom he forced himself. Rambha was betrothed to Kubera‘s son, but Ravana did not cared. Angered at this, Kubera’s son cursed Ravana that his ten heads would fall off his head if he forced himself upon any woman from that point. This curse is said to have protected Sita’s chastity while she was Ravana’s captive for nearly a year.

Ravan also acquired the capacity to change his form, and in the Ramayana he is described as having ten heads and twenty arms. He was endowed with the strength of moving the seas and splitting the tops of mountains. Ravana’s body bore all the marks of one who had fought the devas: the thunderbolt of Indra, the tusks of Indra’s elephant Airavata, and the discus of Vishnu had all scarred him.

In the Bhagavata Purana, Ravana and his brother, Kumbakarna were said to be reincarnations of Jaya and Vijaya, gatekeepers at Vaikuntha, the abode of Vishnu and were cursed to be born in Earth for their insolence. These gatekeepers refused entry to the Sanatha Kumara monks, who, because of their powers and austerity appeared as young children. For their insolence, the monks cursed them to be expelled from Vaikunta and to be born in Earth. The all-merciful Vishnu agreed that they should be punished but agreed to mitigate their curse. He asked them whether they would want to be undergo seven births as devotees of Vishnu or three births as enemies of the Lord. Since they wanted to get back as soon as possible, they agreed to be born in three births as enemies of God. In the first birth, Jaya and Vijaya were born as Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha. Vishnu incarnated as Varaha and Narasimha and killed them both. In Treta Yuga they were born as Ravana and Kumbhakarna and were killed by Rama. Then in Dwapara yuga, and in their final birth, Jaya and Vijaya they were born as Shishupala and Dantavakra and killed by Sri Krishna. After the end of three births, they returned to Vaikunta.

So that’s all folks. Happy Dussehra to all of you!

Linda McCartney>Life in Photographs

2011-09-08T08:04:00.000-07:00

A retrospective of Linda McCartney's life and photography

In 1966, during a brief stint as a receptionist for Town and Country magazine, Linda Eastman snagged a press pass to a very exclusive promotional event for the Rolling Stones aboard a yacht on the Hudson River; her fresh, candid photographs of the band were far superior to the formal shots made by the band’s official photographer, and she was instantly on the way to making a name for herself as a top rock ’n’ roll photographer. In May 1968, with her portrait of Eric Clapton, she entered the record books as the first female photographer to have her work featured on the cover of Rolling Stone. During her tenure as the leading photographer of the late 1960s’ musical scene, she captured many of rock’s most important musicians on film, including Aretha Franklin, Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, Simon & Garfunkel, The Who, The Doors, and the Grateful Dead. In 1967, Linda went to London to document the "Swinging Sixties," where she met Paul McCartney at the Bag ’O Nails club and subsequently photographed The Beatles during a launch event for the Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band album. Paul and Linda fell in love, and were married on March 12, 1969. For the next three decades, until her untimely death, she devoted herself to her family, vegetarianism, animal rights, and photography.

From her early rock ’n’ roll portraits, through the final years of The Beatles, via touring with Wings to raising four children with Paul, Linda captured her whole world on film. Her shots range from spontaneous family pictures to studio sessions with Stevie Wonder and Michael Jackson, as well as artists Willem de Kooning and Gilbert and George. Always unassuming and fresh, her work displays a warmth and feeling for the precise moment that captures the essence of any subject. Whether photographing her children, celebrities, animals, or a fleeting moment of everyday life, she did so without pretension or artifice.

This retrospective volume—selected from her archive of over 200,000 images—is produced in close collaboration with Paul McCartney and their children. Included are forewords by Paul, Stella, and Mary McCartney. As such, it is a moving personal journal and a lasting testament to Linda’s talent.

The photographer:

Linda McCartney (née Eastman) was born in New York in 1941. She took a photo course with Hazel Archer and studied art history at the University of Arizona before settling in New York City, where she began her photo career shooting rock portraits. Outside of her photography, which has been exhibited in over 50 galleries worldwide including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the National Portrait Gallery, London, the Bonni Benrubi Gallery, New York, and the International Center of Photography, New York, Linda McCartney is known for her passionate animal rights activism and her staunch vegetarianism. She wrote cookbooks and founded her own brand of frozen vegetarian meals, all the while raising a family, continuing to take photographs, and participating as a Wings band member alongside Paul McCartney. She died in 1998 at the age of 56.

Beauty Duty>Gaultier, Kokorico and the French Male Psyche

2011-09-06T08:32:00.000-07:00

by Stéphane Gaboué

If the new men's cologne Kokorico didn't bear the imprint of Jean Paul Gaultier, we might have taken its name the way a French ear would, as the humorous onomatopoeia of a cockcrow. The rooster is, after all, a symbol of Gallic pride. But the word's alliteration suggests the feisty designer had something more, well, cocky in mind. Or maybe we're too naughty. Never mind.

In customary Gaultier fashion, the fragrance examines the complex, conflicting forces that make up masculinity. The juice is a spicy, unequivocally virile explosion of fig leaf, cocoa bean, patchouli, cedar and vetiver. But Gaultier can't withhold campiness for long, unleashing here it in the black, lacquered bottle sculpted in the shape of a male profile, with Kokorico printed in Moulin Rouge style. The TV spot, directed by Jean Baptiste Mondino, stars Spanish model Jon Kortajarena in a feathered tuxedo dancing the flamenco and ends with a voiceover by Victoria Abril, a Pedro Almodovar favorite.

The launch party, held during Paris couture week, was attended by a bevy of male models, including Andrej Pejic in a sequined dress and feather fan, and brawny Rob Evans. It's been a while since we've seen so much oh la la in the staid world of men's fragrance—and it feels good. Unfortunately, while Kokorico hits French stores this fall, it won't reach American shores before 2013. But hey, why wait so long ? Just make a trip to Paris. Maybe you'll get to know why French men identify with flamboyant roosters.

"Poke the Box"-Seth Godin

2011-09-03T23:30:00.000-07:00

3 Marketing Lessons from Seth Godin’s New Book "Poke the Box"

You might be a fan of the good ol’ Facebook “Poke,” but you probably never thought much of the act of poking. Well, that is going to change when you get your hands on Seth Godin’s new book, “Poke the Box.”

The fundamental message of "Poke the Box" is to start new things and dare to take initiative. David Meerman Scott, HubSpot's Marketer in Residence, was able to catch up with Seth about his new book and you can watch their interview below:

We put our marketing hat on and found 3 key lessons businesses can learn from "Poke the Box:"
1. Take Initiative

It is difficult for people to take initiative, but that is where a lot of value lies. The people who make an impact, Seth notes, are those who don’t take “no” for an answer. There is plenty of risk along the way but if you do the work you are capable of, you will achieve innovation. As an example, Seth points out Apple and the way the company now dominates the tablet computer market.
2. Embrace Failure

Failure should be cherished. Embracing failure helps companies learn fast and adapt to rapidly changing business environments. "The cycles of success for companies are dropping from 80 years to 40 years to 20 years," says Seth. "You cannot sit on a success for longer than five years now." But if you fail enough times and build a culture of failure, it is likely that your winning initiative is going to be brilliant.
3. Create Experiences

Seth offered two versions of his physical book—the standard edition and a custom, premium edition. The reason we buy stuff is not because we need the information anymore, he explains. It is because of the experiences they offer. Books are special, they are magical—we share them, we collect them. This type of experience is why people ultimately purchase your product. As a marketer, think about ways in which you can create similar experiences.

Did you read Seth's book? What marketing lessons did you identify?

Seth Godin on his new book Poke the Box from David Meerman Scott on Vimeo.

Paging Loewe

2011-09-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

by Jenny Studenroth

Although its Italian counterparts hog a good portion of the luxury limelight, high-end Spanish leather brand Loewe has been turning out stylishness since the mid-1800s, and continues to do so today with Stuart Vevers as its creative director. To celebrate its illustrious history, the house is putting out an unusual art book by artist Robert Clarke.

Echoing Loewe's bold sense of color and whimsy, the entirety of Masters of Leather, as it's called, was written and illustrated completely by hand. Submerging himself in Madrid and Barcelona, visiting Loewe's ateliers and meeting its artisans, Clarke left no bag unturned. The result is a clever, unconventional look into the world of fine Spanish craftsmanship one and a half centuries in the making.

Available mid-September in all Loewe stores.

Show of Hands

2011-08-18T19:01:00.000-07:00

Say what you will, it takes a well-dressed pair of hands to get a point across.

photography Joshua Scott
styling Brit Cato
model Ginally Parts Models LLC

Terry Richardson, Still Pantsless - David Webb Fall 2011 Ad Campaign

2011-08-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

One might argue that Terry Richardson is all over the place these days, yet we do always appreciate the less serious take of the photographer on fashion and life in general, infusing a more laid back look and style into brands that would otherwise never been on peoples radar.Terry Richardson's pantsless, plaid-shirted, positively pervy vinyl toy doll, made in collabs with Uncle York, made its way into fine jeweler David Webb's fall ad campaign, shot by Richardson, styled by Carine Roitfeld(former Vogue France editor in chief). , and modeled by Eniko Mihalik. A behind-the-scenes look.

Making of the David Webb Fall 2011 Ad Campaign

Exclusive behind-the-scenes video of the making of the David Webb Fall 2011 ad campaign features Eniko decked out in provocative David Webb jewels playing with a Terry Richardson doll.

This star-studded mashup plus the Terry Richardson doll is quite peculiar but makes for a provocative and alluring ad campaign that is sure to capture the attention of many.

Carine Roitfeld was working with Terry Richardson at his studio earlier this week — given Stephen Gan's presence, the collaboration was likely for V — but another one of their recent projects just made its debut.

Richardson photographed and Carine Roitfeld styled Eniko Mihalik — holding plastic, plaid-shirted Terry Richardson dolls — for David Webb's three-image Fall 2011 jewelry campaign. This is the company's first set of ads in over 20 years, says new Webb co-owner Sima Ghadamian, who hired Roitfeld and Richardson to help reinvigorate the brand. “We wanted to reintroduce David Webb to the world with a new look, but with having all of the original designs he made when he was the biggest designer of his time,” Ghadamian added, describing the three ads as “sexy, young, abundant” and “full of saturated color.”

Mood Board>Barbara Kruger

2011-07-18T17:08:00.000-07:00

Barbara Kruger's latest exhibit, a mix of trademark slogan works and new video installations at L&M Arts gallery, Los Angeles, May 14 - July 9

ART>Luminous Works>Dharmendra Rathore

2011-07-18T13:12:00.000-07:00

Rathore commitment to art is also visible in his experience as an art restorer for over a decade.

Rathore has participated in several exhibitions both in India and abroad. His works have traveled world wide.

His most vivid memories of growing up are the colors in Rajasthan. The sounds of the musical instruments, the miniature paintings, the colorful clothes- all inspired his creative instincts.

Born in Rajasthan in 1966. He completed his Diploma in Painting from Rajasthan School of Art, Jaipur in 1990 with a First Class. In 1993, he obtained his MFA from Delhi College of Art. His works have traveled to Denmark, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea and Mauritius and have featured in key exhibitions in the country. He has also participated in the First Biennale of Contemporary Art held in Arid, Romania in May 2005. Rathore has also won various scholarships from AIFACS, Rajasthan State Lalit Kala Academy and a fellowship from Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India

Mood Board by Rad Hourani

2011-07-06T00:48:00.000-07:00

Here, exhibition images to launch a book of photographs by Rad Hourani, published in collaboration with Mykro magazine. The book follows distinguished former model Viviane Fauny, a top model of the 70s who worked with Richard Avedon, Irving Penn, and Helmut Newton, and who Rad says reflects his vision.

Indian Eyes/French Window by Peter Briggs

2011-07-03T23:48:00.000-07:00

Peter Briggs presents 'Indian Eyes/French Window' at the I'Identite Remarquable, 4 rue du Bourdon Blanc,45000 Orleans, France.

Showing from the 19th of May to the 20th of June. Open day and night, visible from the street.

Six translucent ocular prostheses brought back from Delhi are fixed to the inside surface of the glass with white plasticene. During the day they can be seen through the circular holes cut out of the black vinyl that covers the shop window, at night they are lit up from the inside of the shop.

Luxury by the sea- Summer treat at Hidesign hotels in Pondicherry

2011-06-30T03:40:00.000-07:00

If Pondicherry is on your itinerary this season, then beat the heat in style this summer. Hidesign’s twin luxury hotels Le Dupleix and The Promenade have exciting summer packages and special offers for you.

Relive the splendour of French colonial architecture during your stay at Le Dupleix which was originally the residence of the Pondicherry’s last French Governor. The boutique hotel showcases some of the best examples of French Pondicherry wood work and antiques and offers a unique selection Indian, Continental and Creole cuisines. Le Dupleix offers packages for 2 nights and 3 days priced at Rs.10,999 for Deluxe rooms, Rs.12,999/- for the Penthouse and Rs.14,999 for Suite. The package includes breakfast, lunch and dinner at the ‘Governor’s Lounge’ restaurant and free use of the swimming pool at Hidesign’s Promenade Hotel.

Pamper yourself at the luxurious Promenade hotel facing The Bay of Bengal. The Promenade offers packages for 2 nights and 3 days that includes scrumptious spreads for breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets at its ‘Blue Line’ restaurant. On weekdays take a pick from our a la carte menu for lunch. The packages are priced at Rs.10,999/- for Deluxe rooms and Rs.12,999/- for sea-facing rooms. The Presidential Suite and the Lighthouse Suite can be availed at Rs.19,999/- whereas the Governor’s Suite and the Promenade Suite are worth the Rs.22,999/-

All packages at both Le Dupleix and The Promenade are for two adults and two children below the age of 6 and include two complimentary drinks on arrival. Facilities for an extra adult or child (6 to 12 yrs) with mattress can be availed at Rs.2500/- and for extra child without mattress at Rs.2000/-. This includes meals on fixed basis for 2 nights and 3 days. All packages are extendable on pro-rata basis.

Special offers

In addition to our summer packages, Hidesign brings you tempting weekend and weekday specials all through this summer.

Lazy Sunday brunch - you can enjoy Promenade’s king size spread with live music and complimentary drink on Sunday afternoons. Tuck into your plate at a leisurely pace while you hear the waves roll by.

Happy hours - On weekdays indulge your self at The Promenade. If you love to unwind after a hard day’s work, you’ll love our happy hours from 3-7pm on week days. Buy 2 get one free!

Mango Fiesta – Celebrate the king of fruits Hidesign style! Tingle your taste buds with a wide range of sorbets, margaritas, daiquiris and desserts at Le Dupleix and The Promenade everyday.

Pizza by the sea – Enjoy our fresh, original stone oven Italian pizzas available at Promenade every day from 2 pm to 10.30 pm. If you like thin crust pizzas, it doesn’t get better than this!

Beat the heat – Relish the goodness of homemade ice creams and sorbets. Take your pick from a delectable range of fresh fruits and spicy cocoa flavors at Promenade and Le Dupleix all through the summer. With no added preservatives.

The Promenade

by Hidesign is a luxury boutique hotel on the ocean front of one of India’s most beautiful and romantic towns Pondicherry. The Promenade sits comfortably in the heart of the town's ancient “French Quarter”. Colonial villas, leafy parks and attractive cafes surround the hotel on all sides. While the interiors are ultra modern with its clean minimalist lines, the outside is colonial French. The gorgeous suites by the sea overlook the shimmering waters of the Bay of Bengal.

A five star property, the hotel provides everything luxurious and in style. The Promenade offers some of the best known dining and lounging options in Pondicherry. Lighthouse is a charming rooftop restaurant that gives the most amazing views of the majestic Bay of Bengal and is towered over by the town's ancient Lighthouse. It offers a tempting barbeque and grill menu for dinner at its roof top open air restaurant. Blueline is a fine, round the clock, restaurant that serves a wide range of authentic Oriental and Mediterranean dishes. Check out the indulgent and elaborate buffets that Blueline is well known for. Risque, the exotic leather lounge with contemporary music overlooking the pool at The Promenade has a fine selection of international wines, mocktails and exclusive blends of coffee. Ask the bartender to make you a special drink from his amazing repertoire of exotic cocktails.

The Promenade’s beautifully landscaped porch overlooking the sea by Made Wijaya is a great place to spend a relaxed evening. Promenade has a beautiful Balinese motif lounge pool and the in-room reflexology and spa massages make it the perfect place to relax and rejuvenate your senses. Other facilities include wi-fi access, movie rental, laundry service, travel assistance and doctor on call.

Le Dupleix

a fine example of a designer heritage hotel that rightly strikes the delicate balance between modernity and tradition. It was originally built to serve as the residence to French Mayor of Pondicherry. The structure is elegantly rich and boasts of the beautiful wood work, commissioned by Pondicherry’s last Governor Dupleix, perhaps the finest example of French Indian art. The antique French furniture, high wooden ceiling, large windows send out a warm, lived in feel. Each and every room is designed differently - an experience in itself and they have been restored using local craft and antiques. The clear glass floor that gives a beautiful view of water bodies of the hotel, the gorgeous hand woven chairs that line the hotel’s passage and the antique gold leaf mirrors accentuate the uniqueness of Le Dupleix.

With a round up of 14 luxurious rooms, the hotel offers all standard amenities including a highly personalised service to its guests. At Le Dupleix, a 200 yr old mango tree forms a beautiful canopy in the open air courtyard restaurant. Here guests can choose from an exclusive menu which comprises of a careful selection of Indian, Continental, French and Creole cuisines. The Governor’s Lounge Bar at Le Dupleix is an ideal haunt for a quiet long evening in the company of close friends. The magnificent embroidery by Jean Francois Lesage and the exquisite wood work on the ceiling make for some great story telling. Also the first Bar in town, the Governor’s Lounge serves some of the best wines and cocktails. The Martini and Mojito are a must try here.

About Hidesign

Founded in 1978 by Mr. Dilip Kapur, Hidesign is a lifestyle group, which re-defined the vision of luxury in India through an ethos of high quality, ecological values and personalized service. Hidesign has established its name through its iconic leather brand based on strong heritage of craftsmanship and innovation. Staying true to its core values, the group has extended its concept of lifestyle by opening two luxury boutique hotels in Pondicherry, Le Dupleix and Promenade.

By keeping its focus on a classic contemporary fashion statement with timeless yet edgy design, Hidesign caters to a highly savvy and sophisticated urban professional. The leather collection includes handbags, clutches, briefcases, wallets, laptop cases, belts and garments. Hidesign stands out for its high quality natural leather and the smooth soft glow of its solid brass fittings.

With a global presence, the group has become one of the first Indian brands to be retailed at premium international outlets John Lewis, Selfridges and House of Fraser in the UK, Myers and David Jones in Australia, Stuttafords in South Africa, Parksons in Vietnam and Robinsons in South East Asia. Hidesign has grown to 68 exclusive stores and a distribution network in 23 countries. In India, the collection is available at all exclusive Hidesign outlets and leading retail stores like Shoppers Stop, Lifestyle, The Bombay Store, Westside and Landmark.

FOR RESERVATIONS

For more information and online reservations log on to www.sarovarhotels.com

The Promenade: 23, Goubert Avenue, Pondicherry - 605 001
Tel.: +91 413 2227 750 │Fax: +91 413 2227 141
Email: promenade@sarovarhotels.com

Le Dupleix: 5, Rue De La Caserne, Pondicherry - 605 001
Tel.: +91 413 2226 001-05 │Fax: +91 413 2335 278
Email: ledupleix@sarovarhotels.com

Burberry Acoustic

2011-05-26T01:11:00.000-07:00

'Alleyway' by Life in Film

Burberry is a 155 year-old global brand with a distinctly British attitude - synonymous with luxury, quality, innovation and timeless style, anchored by the iconic trench coat. Under the creative vision of Christopher Bailey, the Chief Creative Officer of Burberry, every aspect of the brand has evolved with a modern and pure expression that retains the original values and heritage of the house, founded in 1856

Watch it here> http://youtu.be/D-KtEBsFcuI and http://in.burberry.com/store/content/experience/acoustic

To celebrate London Fashion Week, the BFC/Bazaar Fashion Arts Foundation and music partner Sony have announced a music album entitled ‘The Collection for London Fashion Week‘, curated & compiled by a different fashion luminary each season who will give their soundtrack to LFW.

The first compilation is ‘Burberry Acoustic – The Collection for London Fashion Week‘, curated by Burberry Chief Creative Officer Christopher Bailey. Not only does the album, which features all British musicians, play host to some big names – Elton John, David Bowie and The Pogues, it also includes four special Burberry Acoustic tracks recorded exclusively for the brand by emerging British bands Ramona, Patch William, Life In Film and Good Shoes.

The artwork for the album has been designed by Christopher Bailey and the package is a lavish hardback book, housing the CD and stunning Burberry photography.

Christopher Bailey, Burberry Chief Creative Officer, said ‘We have collaborated on so many projects with new and young emerging British bands over the years. For this album we have put together an incredible group of acoustic tracks from some of the finest talent coming out of the UK, bringing them to a global audience.’

ART>MONA NAQSH>RETROSPECTIVE “SILENT SERMON”>Pakistan

2011-04-20T18:13:00.000-07:00

"Painting is an on going process - a series of experiments. The more you suffer the more you dare. That is why each painting is a part of another painting." Mona Naqsh

MONA NAQSH

Visiting Mona Naqsh at her residence is a revitalizing experience. One may liken it to entering an oasis where fresh flowers bloom. These are the models the artist uses in her unique Perceptual art, a method that stresses the importance of visual interest. Mona has a meticulous, unique technique, with delicately painted leaves and petals formed by gradient colours and flowing strokes. Her compositions reflect a refinement that contrasts subtly with the realities of urban society of the present age. As I arrived, elegantly framed paintings were ready for dispatch to Twelve Gates Art Gallery, and we viewed the work for exhibition, canvases of varying sizes; the compositions joyfully filling surfaces with glorious colour. Gazing at those images, one felt the pin-pricks of daily routine gradually dissolve and in their place, a wider understanding of nature’s bounty optimistically prevailed. Mona paints only flowers that grow wild; daisies, lilies, almond blossom, frangipani, cornflowers and numerous gifts of nature that grow triumphantly in arid vistas. These are arranged in crystal vases and ceramic bowls. Her private collection includes large scaled palette knife compositions, the manifold hues emerging from multi layered surfaces with dazzling intensity. These artworks, taking months of work, are labours of love, presented to her husband, who is an artist in his own right. Gifting her family is a tradition she has inherited from her father, whose marvelous paintings are a feature of Mona Naqsh’s home.

The language of flowers in art is rich and subtle having diverse symbolic meaning in different cultures. Artists in Chinese history evolved a secret language discernable only to the initiated thus forbidden subjects were articulated. In Italy, the goddess Flora, depicted against a mass of blooms, was an ancient flower deity, a fertility symbol able to create fecundity in barren stock. In Western art, flowers were portrayed in vanitas schools of painting and referred to the transitory nature of life, often with insects hidden among the leaves. Modern artists such as Georgia O’Keefe and Elizabeth Blackadder have taken flowers as a subject far from the banal images of Victorian floral paintings; while Hockney and Patrick Proctor are among those famous artists who turn to flowers for a respite and solace from their complex work and lives.

Few artists in Pakistan take flowers as their subject; Mona Naqsh is a rare exception. She discovered her vocation early in life, her source of inspiration springing from an appreciation of nature nurtured by an exquisite sequence of `Still-Life’ executed by her father, Pakistan’s acknowledged Modern Master, Jamil Naqsh. As she recalls from childhood, no one was allowed to enter her father’s studio while he was working, and the flower studies he painted for a friend, she viewed for the first time when they were completed. The beauty of the paintings with exquisite detail deeply affected the young girl. That night she lay awake, too aesthetically stimulated and excited to sleep. At the first light of day, she rose from her bed and, going into the garden, picked some flowering shrubs, and in her own modest little studio she arranged them in an arrangement that pleased her and began to paint.

Growing up in her father’s house, Mona looks back on the art guidance she received as comparable to the equivalent of a master’s art training. From the beginning, she imbibed her father’s working pattern spending hours in the studio, balancing scholastic achievements with the process of art. Working on a painting she would patiently wait for her father to enter her space, view the work and point to a certain area that, as he would remark: “needed attention.” Then he would move on, and Mona would be expected to know what he meant and act accordingly. No questions were asked.

Mona Naqsh began to exhibit her work in 1987, portraying great masses of wild flowers with light and colour. Her eye for detail is a signature feature of her work, veined leaves and play of light creating myriad shades and patterns, often interpreted by observers as symbolic of the freedom of aesthetic thought that exists even in the most restricted circumstances.

Where once the dominant element of Mona’s work was a young artist’s discovery of nature’s beauty, her work now is tempered by mature contemplation, with brushwork that appears to transfer the artist’s expression to a textured surface. She continues to work many hours of the day, while raising her children, who are now, showing promise with their own views on art, so the Naqsh tradition continues. In Mona’s work one is aware of not only the overt beauty and strength of the organic matter alone, but the artist’s reaching out to communicate the ultimate triumph of nature.

Mona Naqsh studied under her father Jamil Naqsh, considered to be one of the great living Pakistani modern master artists. She has no official academic training in painting. Since first showing her work in Karachi in 1987, Naqsh has carved a unique niche for herself by painting decorative floral arrangements housed in crystal and porcelain vases. For the past ten years she has exhibited in Karachi several times as well as in London in 2002. This marks her first solo exhibition here in the US.

"For me painting is all about relationships. The object of common use becomes an object of knowledge. It is a discipline and a sense of character. Through painting we establish relationships with the past and make history synonymous with our souls. It is the mirror of ones soul." Mona Naqsh

Naqsh's paintings possess an ethereal quality. She creates dreamlike portraits of beautiful flower arrangements with a strong focus on line and technique.

"Mona paints only flowers that grow wild; daisies, lilies, almond blossom, frangipani, cornflowers and numerous gifts of nature that grow triumphantly in arid vistas.... she has a meticulous, unique technique, with delicately painted leaves and petals formed by gradient colors and flowing strokes. Her compositions reflect a refinement that contrasts subtly with the realities of urban society of the present age.... Few artists in Pakistan take flowers as their subject; Mona Naqsh is a rare exception. She discovered her vocation early in life, her source of inspiration springing from an appreciation of nature nurtured by an exquisite sequence of `Still-Life' executed by her father, Jamil Naqsh" Marjorie Husain, International Art Critic

Naqsh, a mother of two girls, who are also aspiring artists, currently resides in Karachi, Pakistan where she works out of her home studio.

Naqsh has created a niche for herself by being one of the few Pakistani artists to take flowers as her subject, specifically the still-lifes she creates by arranging wild flowers in either porcelain or crystal vases. Her floral portraits are filled with the vibrancy of life the actual flowers contained when first placed within their companion vases. Naqsh has generated her own uniquely meticulous technique through the act of creation that endows her images with an ethereal quality. Her oil paintings on canvas reveal the full range of her technical abilities. The above floral portrait of orange-hued blossoms cascading up and out of a wide, circular crystal vase is a prime example of her dreamlike compositions. Petals and leaves are delicately painted with flowing strokes that create a free-form sense of being and movement; the flowers appear both part of and yet apart from our world. The crystal vase stands in stark contrast to the natural depiction of the flowers, whose crisp lines mimic the way light reflects off of the infinite facets on its exterior. The table and cloth the vase rests upon are not as crisply delineated; their subtle shades and lines are akin to the otherworldly expression of the blossoms exploding forth from the painting.

Texture is prominent is her canvas paintings through the layering of colors and juxtaposition of techniques applied to flowers and vase. The painting above is one of a few where space is virtually non-existent. In all of Naqsh’s floral portraits the emphasis is on the arrangement, which encompasses the entire picture plane, and the space it is set within is secondary, at least delineated by a line separating ground from wall. Here, while the reflection of light from the vase gives a sense of a ground, the background space is filled with a textural gradient of color that flattens the plane, pushing the floral arrangement to the front of the picture and making it pop outward. Yet the floral arrangement remains connected to the background because of the textural technique applied to the flowers’ depiction.

By contrast, her paintings on paper have a crisp clarity born out of Naqsh’s methodical application of line and color. Her eye for detail comes to the fore in her depiction of light, such as the reflection off of the porcelain vase onto the bare table, and the shape and form of blossoms and veined leaves that spring forth and droop out of their container. In these images color is at its most vibrant, and the flowers are almost painfully bright with their luminosity. It is intriguing that her images on paper feature porcelain vases while her canvas paintings contain the crystal ones.

Yet it is the sole ink pen drawing that stands apart from and above the other images. Primarily black and white with a few subtle additions of color at the neck of the glass vase and within the heart of the flowers, this is a composition unique from Naqsh’s other ones. The floral arrangement is still prominently at the center, but the surrounding space has taken a more conspicuous position as part of the composition. A window, from which light filters through, can be distinguished in the upper left corner of the image. The diagonal ray of light strikes the flowers and a column in the back right of the interior, a ghostly architectural presence that adds depth to the space. There is more movement here than in any other piece, from the diagonals of the light and verticals of the column to the directions of Naqsh’s strokes as she built up the forms and contrast. This interior is her most developed one, but she also plays with abstracting it. The space is broken up into rectangular areas as if she drew the image piece-meal, focusing on one small area before moving on to the next, so there is little cohesion to the physical space which results in a flattening effect. Of course, the floral arrangement is where Naqsh truly shines, and while the background is dynamic and intriguing your eye is drawn back again and again to the delicate petals that cling to their source, faces open and reaching up and out to the light.

MONA NAQSH “SILENT SERMON" > A SOLO EXHIBITION

ON SATURDAY, 23rd APRIL 2011, 05:30 PM – 08:30 PM
EXHIBITION CONTINUES TILL 30th APRIL 2011.

ALSO LAUNCH OF MONA NAQSH’S RETROSPECTIVE BOOK.

at

UNICORN GALLERY,
D-116/1-A, Block 4, Clifton,
(Near Chinese Consulate) Karachi, Pakistan.

Phone: (+9221) 35831220/ 35877625
Fax: (+9221) 35832737
Email: info@unicorngallery.net
Web: www.unicorngallery.net

Vijay Iyer’s Tirtha / IAAC

2011-04-06T14:11:00.000-07:00

Tirtha is a phenomenal trio featuring three powerhouse musicians who at once honor and traverse the streams of tradition. The trio will launch their exciting new album,Tirtha, at the Asia Society.

Indian-American pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, Chennai-born guitarist-composer Prasanna, and Hyderabad native and tabla player Nitin Mitta are already highly accomplished artists who shift easily among multiple musical languages. Together, they have achieved a fully realized, deeply thoughtful, and truly innovative collaboration. Combining the elemental directness of rock, the chamber-like intimacy of raga, and bebop's hard, angular drive, Tirtha achieves a profound interplay of melody and rhythm that characterizes the best jazz.

TIRTHA : Vijay Iyer - Prasanna - Nitin Mitta

The Sanskrit word tirtha (THEER-tha) literally means a ford, or a shallow place in a river that can be easily crossed over. Within a spiritual context, tirtha denotes a holy place near a body of water - somewhere where everyday struggles fall away, and where one passes easily into a deeper and more profound state of being. Aptly, Tirtha is now also the name of a phenomenal trio featuring three powerhouse musicians who at once honor and traverse the streams of tradition. It is also the name of their exciting new album on ACT.

Individually, Indian-American pianist-composer Vijay Iyer, Chennai (formerly Madras)-born guitarist-composer Prasanna, and Hyderabad native and tabla player Nitin Mitta are already highly accomplished artists who shift easily among multiple musical languages. Together, they have achieved a fully realized, deeply thoughtful, and truly innovative collaboration. Combining the elemental directness of rock, the chamber-like intimacy of raga, and bebop’s hard, angular drive, Tirtha achieves a profound interplay of melody and rhythm that characterizes the best jazz.

In his album notes, the award-winning Iyer describes the group’s genesis: “Tirtha (the band) formed in response to an invitation. In 2007 I was asked to put together a concert celebrating 60 years of Indian independence. Normally I’ve steered clear of fusion experiments that attempt to mix styles - to “create something,” as John Coltrane famously admonished, “more with labels, you see, than true evolution.” For this event I hoped to avoid those pitfalls, and offer something personal.

“I invited along Prasanna and Nitin Mitta, two outstanding musicians from India who have settled in the States. None of us had collaborated previously, but at our first rehearsal we felt a jolt of recognition. There was no question of “fusion,” no compromise, no attempt to sound more or less “Indian”; just a fluid musical conversation among three individuals, an atmosphere of camaraderie, a sense of beginning.”

Prasanna continues the thought from his unique vantage: “Tirtha is a logical extension of what I have been doing for many years in my own way - looking at global music today from the perspective of a Carnatic [south Indian classical] musician and looking at the rich tradition of Carnatic music from a contemporary Jazz/Rock/Classical musician's perspective. In a trio that fosters as much space as Tirtha does, these concepts take on a musical life that is shared with a unique synergy. Music eventually finds its own simple solution.”

These artists’ musical and cultural experiences are part of their creative DNA. Immediately, for example, you hear the distinctly South Indian, meticulous ornamentations of Prasanna’s guitar in dialogue with Iyer’s gloriously spacious harmonic palette, and Mitta’s superbly crisp Hindustani (north Indian classical) grooves and virtuosic, grounding presence. You hear familiar structural elements of jazz, Hindustani, and Carnatic music. However, the group completely shuns any musical clichés or previously heard “fusions” of those genres.

Instead you hear a band with ideas: the Reich-like rhythmic shifts of the driving opener “Duality”; the rhythmic vocalizing and drummed responses on “Tribal Wisdom”; “Abundance,” an Ellingtonian hymn with Carnatic nuances; the surprise post-punk anthem “Gauntlet”; the subtle majesty of the title track; the shimmering melodies of “Entropy and Time.” The pieces (alternately composed by Iyer and Prasanna) methodically open up to reveal the beating heart of the band’s improvisations: dynamic, astonishingly alive, with a deep sense of purpose.

Tabla player Nitin Mitta describes what the band means to him: “The Great Vocalist Ustad Amir Khan once said music is something which the Soul speaks and the Soul hears. Tirtha to me is this spiritual journey. Music is universal and Tirtha is a true example of this; a combination of Jazz, Carnatic and Hindustani, elements of each merging together to evolve into music with no tags. I have never felt more challenged thus far in bringing out my creativity as I do with Tirtha.”

Tirtha at once acknowledges and celebrates its diverse heritages, and yet is not restricted or easily reduced to any stereotypes about who these musicians are - or who they “should” be. What the band offers instead is an impassioned and beautiful act of self-definition.

Iyer summarizes: “For us Tirtha represents a unity that only recently became possible, after several decades of South Asian global mobility, transition, and flow: it’s the sound of a new reality.”

Asia Society and INDO-AMERICAN ARTS COUNCIL Presented - Vijay Iyer’s -Tirtha Asia Society, 725 Park Ave, NYC- April 1-2, 2011

Hindi Play>Jungle Mein Khulne Waali Khidaki

2011-02-25T00:07:00.000-08:00

Synopsis

'Jungle Mein Khulne Waali Khidaki' raises questions about the growing culture of rat racism, material comfort and hypocrisy

Written in 1981, the play rises relevant questions even today... Do we ever think about the tribal who gets displaced from his home because a brute capitalist looks at it as a profitable mining business? Have we ever bothered to worry about the man on the street that sleeps hungry every day? Is the displaced farmer in Nandigram anywhere a part of our thoughts?

What happens when a bored housewife, a filthy rich industrialist husband and a young idealist boy spend a night together?

Written by Jitendra Bhatia, 'Jungle Mein Khulne Waali Khidaki' raises questions about the growing culture of rat racism, material comfort and hypocrisy

On the surface packed with suspense, status war, sexual tension and thrill the play however is a social drama. It's a simple story of a married couple coming to their bungalow in Khandala to spend a weekend. An unexpected guest who joins them surprises them. He is initially taken with a pinch of salt, however later the husband in his zest to enjoy the weekend makes him play cards, drink scotch whiskey and makes fun of him. There is also constant physical attraction between the wife and the boy. In a lost card game when the husband wants the boy to put his cherished knife on bait, something dramatic happens...

Our theater group will perform a Hindi Play "Jungle Mein Khulne Wali Khidki". Directed by Mr.Lalit Parimoo and Written by Mr. Jitendra Bhatia. Wishing you all the very best for this year 2011.

About the Theatre Group
NATSAMAJ is a socio-cultural organization that aims to perform low cost and socially relevant plays in different areas of the country to educate people and bring social consciousness among them. The objective is not entertainment alone, nor is it only to create extravagant productions. We are making an effort to bring awareness among masses about existing social problems. We want them to challenge injustice and exploitation and get them in action. In future, the group desires to become a self-sufficient economic unit.

About the Director
MR. LALIT PARIMOO is a professional actor, working for the last fifteen years on stage, radio and television. Born on 28th of September, 1964 he graduated from Delhi University in the year 1985 as a Political Science Graduate and since then has been active as an Actor. He has so far appeared in Forty stage plays, three hundred radio plays and fifty six Television Serials & Films. Although he has the capacity and talent to perform various kinds of characters, which he has done in the past with considerable ease and naturalness, but the main forte where he excels extraordinarily is the characters moulded in classical form. Influenced and a believer of the Method School of Acting, he is a serious and disciplined actor and is undoubtedly one of the finest talents available in the country. His work so far has been acclaimed and appreciated highly both by the audience and the media.

He also sincerely believes that the craft of 'ACTING' can help in the development of an individual's personality, if one understands and practices the art of chanellizing one's emotions. Instead of chasing the mad race for stardom, he believes that one should aspire to become a true and healthy 'actor' who plays harmoniously all the roles assigned to him on the world stage, by the supreme father who himself is the greatest actor/director as Lord Nataraja. Also because an actor has an impact on the society, particularly the youth, it is the duty of an actor to have an ideal in front of him of an evolved human being, so that he can be a source of inspiration to the masses to lead a life of values and set high moral standards.

Venue; Sathaye Auditorium (Ville Parle(E)) on 27th Feb at 7:00 p.m.

For More Details :Contact Mr. Lalit Parimoo: 91-9820094808

Draupadi – Will my spirit live on?

2011-02-12T11:27:00.000-08:00

“Draupadi", a play in English, interweaving tales from the epic past with contemporary Indian life.

The play draws attention to the roles of women in society throughout the ages, through an exploration of the dramatic and compelling figure of Draupadi herself.

The play is set to be both a poetic piece of drama and a truly dazzling affair. Some of India’s foremost names in the arts have joined together to create a wonderful spectacle, with Ritu Kumar designing costumes, Aman Nath conceptualizing the set design, Anjolie Ela Menon’s intense painting being the signature of the play, and Shubha Mudgal lending her wonderful voice to the production.

Draupadi - Will my spirit live on?
(a Shivani Wazir Pasrich Production)

Roy Arias Theatre, NYC.
March 16-20, 2011

To purchase tickets for Draupadi – Will my spirit live on?, please click on: https://www.sulekha.com/ticketsV3/buytickets.aspx?cid=602336

Dates & times:
March 16th – 18th at 8 pm
March 19th at 2 pm and 8 pm
March 20th at 5 pm Theatre location:
Roy Arias Theatre
300 West 43rd Street (between 8th & 9th)
NY 10036, New York

Synopsis of the play

Centuries have gone by since the Mahabharat war, yet Draupadi is still here. Stuck between heaven and earth, roaming the streets and pondering her fate and her choices.

Her only confidant is Lord Krishna. She tries to resolve with him why women must continue to suffer as she had in the past.

Krishna, the orchestrator of fate, leads her to Maaya- a woman of today, who has suffered much abuse at the hands of society. A distraught Maaya attempts suicide, but Draupadi stops her and offers her help in return for a favor.

Maaya treads through her life in Draupadi’s footsteps, and in the end she too must make a choice- will she choose revenge or resilience? Will she be Draupadi’s salvation? Will Krishna be able to address centuries old smoldering wounds?

Re-looking once again at the most misunderstood Nayika in Indian Epics… Shivani Wazir Pasrich Productions Presents "DRAUPADI"

Length: 90 min

The Indo-American Arts Council is a 501 ©3 not-for-profit secular arts organization passionately dedicated to promoting, showcasing and building an awareness of artists of Indian origin in the performing arts, visual arts, literary arts and folk arts. For information please visit www.iaac.us

Directed by

Shivani Wazir Pasrich has been working on the contours of the depiction of Draupadi and comprehension of her spirit. The idea of doing a play based on Panchali germinated as she produced her last stage production about Karna. Draupadi is an icon of strength, determination and achievement and this play uses the story to inspire and share experiences of courage.

Professional Odissi dancer, actress, compere, director and producer Shivani Wazir Pasrich has planned this production as a ‘Spectacle with Soul’. Shivani has acted in musicals, like ‘Annie’ and ‘West Side Story’, in plays, like ‘The Maids’, ‘The See Saw’ and ‘Kamana’ and in comedies like ‘The Dear Departed’, ‘Black Comedy’ and ‘Who Done It’ written and directed by Shah Rukh Khan. She played major roles in three of Mahesh Dattani’s plays ‘Dance Like a Man’, ‘Where There is a Will’ and ‘Bravely Fought The Queen’ and performed in ‘Larki Seedhi Rahegi’ at the NSD theatre festival in Bangalore. She also acted in films like Yash Chopra’s ‘Dil to Pagal Hai’. Shivani graduated from Delhi University in Economics Honours and then completed her Law degree. She won the Miss India Worldwide and Miss Talent title in 1992. She was part of the launch team of Lok SabhaTV. Now she is set to embark on the mega store production.

Tina Johnson has worked professionally in New York city and Johannesburg and cape town at the Market theater and the Baxter theater. She has directed such plays as; Hamlet, lysistrata, the coolie odyssey, a colored place and the award winning plays: Itsoseng and Out of Bounds - both of which won firsts at the Edinburgh Theater festival and were performed successfully in London. She has also trained actors and directors, worked as a mentor for university students at the Grahamstown national arts festival, worked as the artistic director for the playwrights festival at the market theater and the Sibikwa theater festival and served as the deputy chair of the Gauteng theater practitioners, as well as written extensively on arts policy for the performing arts.

Cast and Crew
Team-
Produced and Conceptualised by - Shivani Pasrich
Directed by - Tina Johnson & Shivani Pasrich
Costumes by - Ritu Kumar
Signature Design by - Anjolie Ela Menon
Music by - Shubha Mudgal
Set Design by Aman Nath

Cast-
Shivani Pasrich as Draupadi
Charu Shankar as Maaya
Dilip Shankar as Krishna
Sanjit Bedi as Kaurav Aggarwal
Arjun Fauzdar as Arjun Aggarwal
Aniruddha Das as Arjun
Supriya Bagga Manchanda as Ammaji
Ashish Paliwal as Sukaran Bheduri

SWINE FLU'ED FOR THOUGHT

2011-02-04T15:40:00.000-08:00

Long ago, before media hype and the i-pod application, I would be suffering from a 'bad cough'. As usual, the smelly child brought it home from school, where all the other smelly children go to spread infections by wiping snot on each others clothes.
The kid, being made up of cells tougher than an unprotected Gouda, came home with a bit of a cough and a bunged up nose. Yesterday she got a nosebleed of epic proportions that scared the teachers so much we had to go and pick her up.. anyway..

I have a cough... or is it a cough!?.... my mum has taken the liberty of declaring to the rest of the family to "stay away... they all have swine flu!", I looked on the interweb at swine flu symptoms;

headache
temperature
loss of appetite
nausea/vomiting/diarrhoea
a cough
blocked nose
fatigue
aches and pains
swollen glands
chest pain

any one or all of the above.. sounds pretty vague to me. Couldn't these signs also indicate, glandular fever, appendix, vomiting bug, m.r.s.a, e-coli, porridge poisoning, red gannet fever, tapeworm infestation, pigeon wee poisoning, wheels disease, AND A BILLION OTHER THINGS.

I feel particularly shite, for a normal cough.. but, I can still drag my arse out into the gale force winds and torrential rain to feed all the useless animals...despite having swollen glands, a tight chest, a cough, a blocked nose, extreme fatigue, pains in my kidneys, and squinty eyes.... surely if I had a terrifying thing such as SWINE FLU, I'd be unable to move from my position in bed and spontaneously die as soon as I did?....

Ishara International Puppet Festival 4-14 Feb

2011-02-01T04:27:00.000-08:00

Karma Kala Manch

2011-01-20T07:02:00.000-08:00

Karma Kala Manch Celebrates 1st Anniversary with 4 Performances

They believe in something called teamwork, and they know " teamwork means more 'we' and less 'me' " . Karma Kala Manch(K2M), as they call themselves a 'cooperative theatre group' has just set another example of good TEAMWORK by completing one year of their formation. "We stuck to one principle that we can't win alone. So we worked together over a period of one year to reach where we are today. And the credit goes to each & everyone who is associated with K2M, be it our members, our supporters or our sponsors" says president Manav Jain Dedhia.

K2M, established on 25th DEC 2009 by an enthusiastic & passionate group of theatre artists, focuses to make theatre reach as large as audience as possible. "If people can go, spend good money & watch a movie over a weekend, then why should not they watch a play instead? Afterall its like a live movie. Moreover theatre is the real test & taste of an actor" says their lead actor, Saby.

When asked about competition Azaad, secretary of K2M, with a confident smile adds "we have no rivals nor we are competing with anyone. Our competition is with the negative energy within us. Our goals are clear & we are proceeding towards it slowly, and it goes without saying that 'slow & steady wins the race'. There's a healthy sense of competition amongst our directors and actors, wherein they try to out do each other to better one's skills and to switch on the best in each other!".

The idea behind Karma Kala Manch was described in a very simple but powerful manner by Kunal, lead actor & vice president of K2M. "we believed we have 'kala' within us. All we needed to do is 'karma' for which we needed a 'manch' & K2M gave us the 'manch'. So our punch line is 'KARMA kar, KALA hai, MANCH hai'".

This enthusiastic group of theaterians are celebrating their successful completion of one year by presenting an event of four plays "Kala Ke Chaar Jaam", on 23rd JAN 2011 at Sathaye College Auditorium, Vile Parle (E), where in they are premiering four new plays, TAX FREE, BADI BADI BAATEN, NAINA & NO SMOKING, directed by the director duo Manav-Azaad. To our surprise three of these plays were written by three different K2M members!!.

"We discovered a writer within us when we were going through the ups & downs in the past one year. So we thought why not think out of the box, why to be dependent on someone else's script? And the result is infront of everyone" adds Renucka, lead actor cum writer.

"This time it's definitely going to be bigger. 'Kala Ke Chaar Jaam' is going to make you high with entertainment and this I am saying out of my vast experience in theatre . My team is working hard to design the set, and hope it goes beyond our directors' expectations" says set-property & production manager & actor Vilas Kundkar.

The entire group is expecting this event to be a huge success. "We are putting our body, heart & soul to make this event successful & reach as many number of hearts as possible" says lead actor Amitt, who is also the stage manager of K2M.

"As you can see, everyone's role in K2M is distinct, everyone's doing something extra apart from acting or directing. That's how we manage our group. We are like the fingers of a hand, and we are going to give you a punch of entertainment at 'Kala Ke Chaar Jaam' " says choreographer Subhash Shukla.

"K2M doesn't only do commercial shows. We also do plays & street plays to aware people on a social issue. That's the beauty of K2M that we are sticking to one of the oldest form of play & arts." Says actor Mussarat Momin.

The Team : Manav Jain Dedhia, Azaad, Kunal Mehta, Amitt Saxena, Renucka, Vilas, Saby, Subhash, Mussarat Momin, Sunil, Swarnim, Suneet, Aarti, Brijesh, Alok Parchure, Moushumie Ghosh & Kiran Bhatia.

Sunburn Festival@Goa>Dec 30' 2010 (Editorial Coverage)

2010-12-29T19:45:00.000-08:00

The Ultimate Lifestyle Experience with Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010

This year, it’s going to be a Carnival!
Get ready for the ultimate lifestyle festival experience as Asia’s Premiere Dance Music Festival and world’s number 9 (cnn.com), ‘Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010’ is back this 27th, 28thand 29th December at Candolim Beach, Goa. In its 4th year, Percept Limited takes the Sunburn Experience to the next level with a three day extravaganza that promises to be bigger, better and packed with a line-up of over 60 acts! Festival goers are not only going to witness the most sensational electronic dance music on the planet but also live through the experience of a lifetime!

Percept Limited is proud to announce that Tuborg is the presenting sponsor for Sunburn Goa 2010. Associate sponsor is SJ XXX Energy Drink and Co-Sponsored by Vh1, MTV, Bailey, Saint Juice, Eristoff and Bingo.

This year, Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010 brings the best DJs from the Electronic Dance Music (EDM) scene. To start with, Ferry Corsten consistently ranked in the TOP 10 DJs of the world, Axwell, who's fame as a solo artist and a member of the Swedish House Mafia has exploded globally... and Brian Transeau a.k.a BT - an absolute legend and considered by many to be the Godfather of Global Electronica. Richard Durand, who this year has taken over the reign of the epic "In Search Of Sunrise" compilations from Tiesto, Pete Gooding- one of the top British DJs and Producers, Sultan / Ned Shepard, John 00 Fleming, Aly & Fila, Funkagenda, Pearl, Jalebee Cartel, Ma Faiza, Protoculture (live), Xerox & Illumination (live) and B.R.E.E.D. to name a few. With 300 Early Bird Tickets selling out in 22 minutes and 500 Pre-Booking Sale Tickets sold out in 12 hours already, the buzz around Sunburn is on fire! For all those who haven’t booked their tickets, the right time is NOW on http://mtvindia.com/sunburnfestival

Said Mr. Shailendra Singh, Joint Managing Director, Percept Limited, ”Sunburn brings together some of the best DJs across the globe at the world’s most popular tourist destination Goa, with the dual objective of consolidating and showcasing some of the most amazing global talent and fostering a spirit of community and harmony through the universal medium of music. This festival has been in line with some of the largest international music festivals and has also been ranked by CNN as one of the ‘Top 10 Festivals in the World’. The response we have received from the Indian audiences over the past 3 years has been amazing which just goes to prove that this genre of electronic music has been catching on at a rapid pace across India. Sunburn 2010 will feature some of the best global talent and promises to be an unforgettable electrifying experience!”
Says Nikhil Chinapa, Festival Director, Sunburn and Music maverick, "Sunburn has a life unto itself that extends far beyond the music that's played there, or the three days of the festival in Goa. For some of us, getting Sunburnt' is slowly evolving from merely being in Goa... to a philosophy and a way of life. I for one can't imagine December without it.”

Says Devapriya Khanna, Director Marketing, Carlsberg India, "We are proud to associate with the Sunburn festival that represents fun and music. The essence of Tuborg - The Fun Starter is centered around Fun, using music as a platform, which has greatly increased its popularity among the youth world over including India. The brand is associated with some of the biggest international music events and is synonymous with Green Fest in Europe, Roskilde Festival in Denmark and the Download Festival in Great Britain. As the worldwide slogan "The Fun Starts Here!" suggests, the brand is aimed at consumers who are youthful, "with it", social and who want to live life to the fullest. Sunburn Festival provides us with the perfect platform to reiterate our core messaging amongst our target audience."

Says Mr Sachiin Joshi, Vice Chariman, JMJ Group “I am once again happy to be associating with Sunburn, a festival charged with extreme excitement and an experience of a lifetime. And this is what my brand, XXX Energy drink, reflects also. Our positioning “Xperience Xtreme Xcitement” is a perfect brand fit with Sunburn and is the right platform to reach the high energy youth of India. XXX is honored to play its part as an Associate Sponsor at this amazing 3 day event! We hope our association with the Sunburn goes from strength to strength in the years to come because at the end of the day, Sunburn stands to deliver unbridled excitement and unforgettable experiences and that is precisely what we as Associate Sponsors stand for”

Sunburn also continues in its mission to nurture emerging talent in India - this year focusing on music producers. These are the people who make the music, which DJs play. Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010 has created a brand new Sunburn Anthem & Video Contest. The contestants will be given original parts of the track of a renowned International Artist, which they will need to remix into an original super-fresh composition. All entries will go through a rigorous short-listing process via an established jury of the DJ world, comprising of Sultan, B.R.E.E.D., Nikhil Chinapa, BLOT, Kurnal Rawat & Elsie Nanji. The winner will be awarded the opportunity to savor their moment of glory on the Sunburn Main Stage. Not just that, the winning track will also be featured on the Sunburn Anthem compilation along with acclaimed international & domestic artists. The winner shall also enjoy VIP treatment in Goa by winning an all-expense paid trip to Goa. The runners- up will also have their mix featured on the Sunburn Anthem compilation, and will also win free passes to the festival and loads of Sunburn goodies

In its effort to bring forth all the elements of the EDM scene, Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010 is giving a chance to all visual jockeys (VJs) to showcase their talent. All contenders will be given a 60 second B.R.E.E.D. track to create a visual extravaganza on. The winning entry will get the opportunity to be part of Sunburn’s New Experimental Stage, get their hands on loads of goodies and get free entry to Sunburn Goa 2010
For the first time, Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010 presents the People’s Choice Award. This year, the Sunburn community can be part of the contest even without contesting as they can vote for their favorite audio producers.

For 3 years, Sunburn has been continuing to pull crowds for the music, beaches and experience. With all this and so much more coming your way, Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010, is something that you just cannot afford to miss!

Tuborg presents Sunburn Goa 2010 is proud to be partnered with Submerge, 360 CMS (creative & web), BookMyShow.com (official ticketing), Indivibe (clubbing and community), MyFavDJ (promotional), ElectricMotel.com (Middle East), Party Hard Drivers (social responsibility).----

Mr. Shailendra Singh JT MD of Percept Ltd quotes: "Sunburn since its inception has been close to all our hearts and I am sure it’s been the same for all Sunburn fans who travel to Goa every year for the festival. This year at Sunburn, we are tapping into a higher plane, bringing you 3 of the top 10 DJs of the world to the festival. Ranked as the #9 festival in the world, we want to deliver the most spectacular combination of talent, ambience and overall experience – creating a vibe like no other festival in Asia. So with that in mind, I am, on behalf of team Sunburn announcing our third headline act this year – the world's No. 6 DJ - Paul Van Dyk!"

He adds, "Paul Van Dyk and BT co-wrote a track which most fans recognise as the world's first Global Trance Anthem. It was a track called “Flaming June”. This track is held in high regard and even now, is considered as “ground zero” for the entire trance genre. Having Paul Van Dyk play alongside Ferry Corsten and Axwell, completes a truly global triumvirate of headliners at Sunburn Goa 2010!!"

Paul Van Dyk, has had sold out tours that cross each continent, some of the gigs reaching a total crowd of 1 million people. Just like his music, his laurels don’t have any boundary. Winning Best Global DJ, Best NuNRG/Euro Track, Best Producer and Best Mix Compilation for The Politics of Dancing 2. In addition, PvD was voted "America’s Favorite DJ" for 2004 and 2005 by BPM Magazine and was the big winner at the 2004 Dancestar Awards, taking home 3 awards: Best International DJ, Best Event and Best Music in a Commercial (Motorola) he has done it all! This year Paul Van Dyk has promised to bring something special for all the fans at Sunburn! Its going to be an absolute carnival !! Watch out for more on Paul Van Dyk!
Grammy nominated artist, globally acclaimed DJ and audio architect Paul van Dyk continues to dominate the electronic music charts and appears at the pinnacle of every Top DJ list around the globe.

PvD, as his fans have nicknamed him, has been ranked the World’s No. 1 DJ by DJ Magazine’s "Top 100 DJs poll" two times something less than a handful of DJs have ever achieved. PvD is credited as one of the hardest working artists in electronic music, with sold-out tours that cross each continent, headline spots at every major festival, and a hugely successful recording career. With over 3 million albums sold worldwide, van Dyk travels around the world over 16 times each year to sold out performances internationally.

Paul van Dyk listened to the radio where he discovered his passion for music that extended beyond Techno music – he wanted to create a different, more unique sound. In the early 1990’s Paul van Dyk was spinning regularly at various clubs in Berlin before releasing his first album 45 RPM in 1994. But it wasn’t until the release of his second album Seven Ways which catapulted him into the Top 100, followed by the release of his hit single "For An Angel," which began to earn him praise across the globe. Paul Van Dyk is the goliath of the EDM community and his sets cannot be missed out on!!
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Flying straight in from Sweden, Albin Myers landed in Chennai to jump start the Sunburn pre-release tour. The party was slated to be at the Park Hotel, in a massive ballroom (everyone had to be there!) Albin sparked off the madness by dropping a massive tune from Anjuna Deep. The night just kept getting better, as he shifted from one track to another playing remixes of Axwell and David Guetta the crowd was swept away by his track selection and flow.

The tour then shifted gears and took off to Delhi. F-Bar was the perfect setting for an artist of Albin’s caliber. He started with a complete ripper of a tune, ‘Tear the Club Up’ . Sunburn revelers were mesmerized as he skillfully controlled the vibe in the club, building the energy through his set. He ended to thunderous applause, with a mix of the Swedish House Mafia - One, that really did seem to rip the roof off the club.

Albin Myers' music (and mohawk!) Were just a sneak-peek and a teaser to what you can expect at Sunburn Goa 2010. It's going to be an Epic festival this year!!
In a career now covers a little over 12 months Albin is considered as one of the Swedish Giant label Joia Records leading production and remixing talents. Albin's next 12 months looks to eclipse the heady days of the first - remixing artists such as David Guetta & Kelly Rowland Erick Morillo Tom Novy EDX Don & Greg CerroneDBN Tommy Trash for MOS Australia and supply original productions for Serial Peck Doll and the UK's own Defected.

Albin’s venture into playing at Sunburn Goa2010 is a complete deal-maker, as he showcases his unlimited talent and love for dance music.
--Ferry CorstenThink Ferry Corsten and think on the lines of numero uno. For the Dutch musician, playing across the globe to thousands of culturally diverse fans, comes naturally. Having acquired a universal appeal he has managed to do the ultimate- unite different people through his music and belt out best-selling albums, and nearly a dozen gold singles, all simultaneously.

He is known for his dance classics under his aliases System F, Gouryella,Veracocha, Pulp Victim, Albion, etc.. and his current dance hits and remixes under his real name Ferry Corsten such as Rock Your Body Rock, Fire, Punk, Made of Love, Beautiful, and many more. He has remixed tracks from all genres of music from U2, Faithless, The Killers, Moby, Nelly Furtado, to Public Enemy and has collaborated with various dance and pop artists such as Duran Duran, William Orbit, Howard Jones, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Novastar and many more.

Over the years, he has released artists albums under the names System F and Ferry Corsten. His last artist album is entitled “Twice In A Blue Moon”, containing the hit single “Made of Love”. He also has a myriad of successful compilations such as Trance Nation, Passport, and his latest release Once Upon A Night (OUAN).

Ferry is best enjoyed with a lot of enthusiasm, applause and excitement, and that is exactly how we are receiving him this year at Sunburn Goa 2010, with bated breath.
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1.Can you tell us what you personally think about EDM culture in India - what is your perception of the country?

My perception of the EDM culture in your country is hard to say for me. I think in some markets it’s still growing but in other cities it’s become more popular (Bangalore/ Goa). Indians definitely have a feel for the music though. I saw that the last time I was there.

2.Are there things you are looking to experience in India outside of clubworld?

I don’t know my travel schedule as we speak but if I have time I’ll surely check out a bit of Goa.

3.On it's fourth year running, what have you heard about the Sunburn and what are you most looking forward to at the festival and Goa?

I am really looking forward to perform there. I know Armin, Above & Beyond, Carl Cox have played in the past years.

4.What was it about dance music that made you want to be a part of it?

The melody. It still is my thing. It’s all about the melody for me.

5.Who and what are your inspirations inside and outside of music?

Could be anything, things I see or things I hear. On my last artist album I made a track for my newborn daughter Gabriella Skye for example.

6.In a nutshell describe your sound as a DJ and producer. What can India expect?

My sound can best be described as an energetic fusion between house and trance. I’ll be playing some of the Corsten’s Classics too, like System F – Out Of The Blue, Beautiful, Made Of Love.

7.What kind of music do you like to listen to other than EDM, music in your IPOD or the stuff playing in your car...?

I usually listen to Indie bands or female vocalists, or some instrumental stuff to relax. Or I listen to a track I made to see if it’s still what I thought it was when I made it in the studio.

8.What are some of the tunes in your collection consistently never fail on the dancefloor?

Yeah there are a lot . Out Of The Blue, Punk, Made Of Love and my remix of Barber’s Adagio For Strings always do the trick on the dance floor. Still proud that I made them back in the days.

9.Are there any DJs, labels, producers you believe are truly timeless?

It’s hard to be timeless as label, producer or DJ. The sound is changing constantly so you need to keep up as label, producer or DJ.

10.Can you tell us what your tech-rider consists of when you're performing as a DJ, as well as when you're doing a live act?

Are there any pieces of equipment both in a club environment and the studio that you can't do without? 3x CDJ 2000’s and a DJM800 mixer. I don’t do a live-act so this is all I need. In my studio I work with Cubase and a lot of pluggins.

11.What do you prefer, DJing or producing music? The joy of playing to people or the satisfaction of creating a dancefloor stomper?

I prefer to produce a track and then play it for a crowd. I could never chose really. I think I’ll be a DJ for as long as I like it and will be a full time producer when I retire as a DJ.

12.What have been your favourite collaborations over the years? Who are the artists you've really gelled well with?

I have worked with Tiesto on the Gouryella project and I worked with Armin a while ago to produce a track for his new artist album, for my previous artist albums I worked with Simon LeBon from Duran Duran, Marc Almond of Soft Cell to name a few. Right now I am preparing my artist album a I am looking into some collabs to. We’ll see what ends up on the new album.

13.Are there any upcoming/latest projects we should be keeping an eye out for?

Like mentioned above, I am in the studio now preparing my new artist album. So that’s pretty exciting!

14.India's EDM scene is blossoming at a rapid pace, what advice would you give to upcoming DJs and producers in the country?

Try to be original and try to find your own unique sound and melodies. Nowadays I get some many demo’s that all have the same presets. So be original and keep on trying!

15. What does the future hold for electronic music?

I hope we get to see new talents flourish because of the technology. You don’t need a whole studio to produce a track, just a laptop and producing software is enough. This could mean we get a lot of new talents or a lot of really bad music. We’ll see!

16.Crazy groupie stories... Tell us one!

Someone stole my headphones while my tour manager was holding them. They grabbed them and they were gone.

17.A message to your fans in India and the Sunburn festival goers.

Hope to see you all there. I am really looking forward to visiting and performing in Goa. In the meantime follow me on facebook.com/ferrycorsten or twitter.com/ferrycorsten.

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Nadia Ali

Nadia Ali, an absolute vocal prodigy has her roots in Libya, but has grown up on the global music scene after her first single Rapture stormed the U.K Singles Chart by gaining the most coveted # 2 position. In 2006, her single “Is it Love” boomeranged her to the #1 position on the US Billboard Dance Chart.

Nadia’s instant success and passion for her profession remain unparalleled which fueled her to excel ever more. Her collaborations with Armin Van Buuren, Rosko, Roger Sanchez and Deep only accentuate her prominence amongst the world’s best DJs. In 2009, her single “Love Story” once again topped the Billboard's Hot Dance Club Play Chart, rendering her as truly unstoppable. She achieved the ultimate by providing vocals for the track “Feels So Good” by the God himself- Armin Van Buuren, which was released on his latest album Mirage. Her track “Love Story" was also recently nominated for the Best Progressive/Tech House track at the Winter Music Conference, 2010 and International Dance Music Awards, 2010. It is also Sunburn’s festival anthem for 2010!

==
1) Tell us about your journey so far?

I started singing as purely a hobby when i was a young girl and dreamed of one day recording music for a living. I have been fortunate enough to say that 2011 will mark a decade of my career in electronic dance music.

2) How would you define your style?

I am a singer/songwriter in the dance genre.

3) Your musical influences?

My influences include lots of eastern music due to my ethnic background. My other big influences come from classic rock music. Of course i should mention artists like madonna and michael jackson whom have given me a great appreciation for pop and dance music.

4) Besides music, what is it you are most passionate about?

I'm very passionate about my family and personal life. I think those relationships help you stay grounded amidst the musical roller coaster ride

5) Your forte?

Honestly, there are very few things in the world that make me feel more alive than music.

6) What’s next on your mind?

I am starting to gather ideas for my 2nd solo artist album that i’d like to release in 2011. i also have a number of collaborationscoming in 2011 that i am really excited about.

7) How much do you listen to your own music?

Every now and then i do like to listen to my own music, both to enjoy and to listen from a critical perspective to find ways that i can improve as an artist.

8) Your favourite indian and international artists?

I am a huge fan of a.r. rahman as well as amr diab. another amazing foreign artist is alejandro sanz. The world has so much great music to offer it’s truly amazing.

9) Is there any cultural influence on your work, or rather multicultural if i may say?

It’s definitely multicultural. besides the fact that i grewup in a eastern household, living in queens, nyc since i was 5 years old played a huge role in the diverse music i was exposed to like latin, caribbean, asian, urban, rock just to name a few.

10) Love story became a big hit and is also the festival anthem for sunburn, what do you think works best for you?

I truly feel honored that it was chosen as the sunburn anthem! it’s so amazing that it was embraced for such an important event.

11) How did you happen to associate with sunburn?

aAe you looking forward to it? sultan & ned shepard who are dear friends of mind couldn’t stop raving about the festival and i knew that if they spoke so highly of something, it could only mean that i should take a part. I can’t tell you how excited i am to be invited to india for the first time and most importantly to be part of one of the coolest festivals in the world.

12) How aware are you of indian music? what do you think of the indian music scene?

I have always been a huge fan of indian music since i was little girl. My parents would play indian movies all the time and for the first several years of my life, it was all of the music i was exposed to. my whole family still watches bollywood films all the time so every so often i will watch a movie.

13) Would you consider getting into bollywood? and have you been approached for any such project?

I would be open to having my music featured in a bollywood film again. It was hosted in 1 or 2 movies in the past which was nice.

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"Kandhar" the MOVIE (Ganesh Venkatraman, Mohan Lal & Amitabh Bachhan)

2010-12-17T13:48:00.000-08:00

Upcoming Film "KANDAHAR" starring Ganesh Venkatraman, Amitabh Bachhan and Mohanlal. A trilingual - Tamil / Malayalam/ Hindi releasing in December-January (Ganesh Venkatraman's Bollywood debut) directed by Major Ravi.

Kandahar is one of the most awaited films from the Mollywood industry this year not only because it deals with a hard hitting storyline of the true incident of the hijack of the Indian Airlines flight 814, but also because it brings together two powerhouse actors from Indian cinema Mohanlal and Amitabh Bachchan.

Director: Major Ravi Cast: Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan, Ganesh Venkatraman, Sumalatha, Kaveri Jha, Ananya, Lal, Anoop Chandran, Major Ravi, Jaffer Idukki, Major Kishore, Kannan Pattambi Genre: Thriller

While Mohanlal played as Major Mahadevan, a character from Keerthi Chakra and Kurukshetra, Ganesh Venkataraman plays Captain Suryanath Sharma, an NSG Commando. Big B and Mohanlal given incredible performances . Their combination scenes are the highlight of the movie. Malayalam Kandahar movie, a very well narrated story with good patriotic and emotional scenes. About the movie, First half is slow than 2nd half. Amithabh Bachan with Ganesh (as Big B’s son) appeared in good emotional scenes and Mohanlal and Big B given heart touching. Overall Kandahar is a very big film with excellent patriotic scenes and a very good movie to watch.

Story Line :"Kandhar" is a fictionalized portrayal of the hijacking of IC-814 incident. It is supposed to be a high voltage action-drama.

Although the hijacking incident took place when the Indian Airlines Airbus A300 was flying from Kathmandu to the Indira Gandhi International Airport in New Delhi, the Major Ravi project has been primarily shot in the cities of Ooty and New Delhi in India. However all aerial shots showing the aeroplane midair have been taken in Russia. While the performances are wonderful, it is the locations which have taken our breath away.

Every actor, especially Mohanlal, Amitabh Bachchan and Ganesh Venkatraman do justice to their roles and the fact that Big B did not accept a single rupee for the project in spite of being offered a huge amount just goes to show how much these actors are dedicated towards films that bear a social message. Mohanlal doubles up as producer of ‘Kandahar’ and going by the critics’ reviews, he will surely recover his money very quickly.

The surprise element in ‘Kandahar’ is the music of the Malayalam movie. Shamir Tandon’s compositions will touch your heart. Every song is aptly placed in the film. Though the narrative style may seem to drag in certain portions of the film, it is good news for the Kollywood and Bollywood that ‘Kandahar’ will soon be dubbed in Hindi and Tamil.

After his acting debut -- Radhamohan's Abhiyum Naanum, Ganesh got to share screen space with super stars Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal in Unnaipol Oruvan.

Ganesh plays a dashing commando and Amitabh Bachhan’s son in the film is absolutely thrilled with the outcome of the film. Sources say that recently when Amitabh Bachhan saw the rushes of the film he was very happy with the result and had some very good things to say about the young actor. He blogged on his popular website about how happy he was with the result.

Ganesh plays an ‘Angry young man’ like Mr Bachhan played in his younger days. His life changes when he meets Major Mahadevan played by Mohanlal, who convinces him to join the army and gives him a purpose in life. The elaborate military training sequences of Ganesh were shot in Indian Military Academy(IMA) in Dehradoon. Ganesh is all praise for his director Major Ravi who gave him valuable inputs to train for the commando role and has spared no end in shooting the film in all realistic locations. The film also marks the entry of kannada actress Ragini Dwivedi who plays Ganesh’s heroine in the film.

When asked, Ganesh said “My 3 favorite actors are Amitabh Bachhan, Kamal Haasan and Mohanlal. And i am really lucky to have worked with all of them in a short span of time in my career. It has indeed been a huge learning curve for me just observing these great actors and sharing screen space with them”. This is my Malayalam debut and I don't think I could have asked for a better debut than this. I am extremely thrilled.

The actor is thrilled that his Bollywood debut is with Mr Amitabh Bachhan, he says "The father-son relationship is central to the plot of the film. Its indeed a dream come true !!!" he signs off.

"Pinocchio” The long-nosed Puppet

2010-11-02T08:11:00.000-07:00

"Once upon a time, there was ... 'A king!' my little readers will say right away. No, children, you are wrong. Once upon a time there was a piece of wood…." thus begins “The Adventures of Pinocchio”, the long-nosed puppet who is one of the world's most immediately recognizable characters since his creation more than a century ago by the Tuscan writer, Carlo Lorenzini, better known as Carlo Collodi.

My earliest association with Pinocchio goes back to 1962 or ’63. Pinocchio (the Disney version) was the first film I recall seeing in a theater. I was only five or six. It was a film that my father took me and my younger brother to see in when we lived Connecticut. The film was followed by a trip to the Children’s Museum in West Hartford, where we were introduced to our first dinosaur. What remains of memory is subject to the spurious random moments of life. I recall eating non-pareils out of a box. I remember how the movie theater was dark and cold, cavernous and cathedral-like and eerily reminiscent of the scene where Gapped is swallowed by the whale like Jonah. I too, was half certain that I could hear an echo. I remember the blue fairy who was both intoxicatingly beautiful and sobering indifferent. While I lacked the articulation to say so, I grabbed onto the films potent subtextual messages, how a father’s love can be transformative, and that emancipation and autonomy comes at great cost. I also understood the cautionary tale that lying was a grave sin, self-evident and would reveal itself in the most unbecoming manner. I related to the underlining fear that Pinocchio reacts to, which is the fear of being laughed at, to be exposed, the inability to conform. I was a Pinocchio. Perhaps every man is a Pinocchio.

“When poverty shows itself, even mischievous boys understand what it means.” Carlo Collodi

The story of Pinocchio appears threaded throughout my life. When I was summarily transferred from parochial school, Our Lady of Sorrows, a name which should reveal all, to public school, Clinton Elementary, (named for Dewitt) in 1966, as a typical third grader my desire was only to fit in and conform, as task not easy accomplished. I was as conspicuous as Pinocchio was trying to fit into his Italian schoolroom, (although a wisecrack never left my lips). Our classroom teacher, Mrs. Nichols who I just adored, wore a mini with a wide black patent belt and ribbed top, was like my blue fairy. So when It was announced that the class would be presenting “Pinocchio” as our theatrical event for the year, naturally I wanted to campaign for the role of Pinocchio. Alas, nominations were made by the class, written on the chalkboard post haste, and I was nominated to play the part of the elderly Geppetto. (In my blog “Grey Matters” you will learn that has a child I had grey hair, which was a constant source for alienation and isolation as a child, it was both remarkable and disturbing.) So it was no surprise that I was put up for the role against several other boys. The memory is partially repressed, and I only recall that it was announced in class that since I already had grey hair, naturally I should play the aged Geopetto. Unfortunately, there was no rock large enough in the playground to hide under. When I returned to school from lunch (this was the old days when children went home for lunch, as our mothers seldom worked outside the home) I was cornered by the girls in the vestibule, they were third grade power brokers, Nancy Simpson, Amy Blumenthal and Andrea Klein, and summarily told that they would vote for me if I voted for Andrea Klein to be the Blue Fairy (there are few good girl roles in Pinocchio). “The dye” as thy say, “was cast” and in powder blue. During the next week or so, Mrs. Nichols read from the Collodi text, which was infinitely fascinating to me. It was not at all like the sanitized Disney movie, which I had now seen on TV. Pinocchio was macabre, violent and wonderfully wicked. And now so many years later I vaguely remember that performance. I do recall that I was not a good Geppetto. I recall that I had only a few lame lines. The play was forgettable, thank God. I then went to work safely burying Pinocchio in my memory.

In the winter of 1976, I was a freshman at Edinboro State College in Pennsylvania. I was majoring in duel programs, Fine Arts and Early Childhood. At the time, there were few men involved in teaching pre-schoolers. It was like finding a man in Home Economics, it seldom occurred, but Early Childhood interested me, and being the only male in the department worked to my favor…very. I was offered the opportunity to work with the famed Child Psychologist (and holocaust survivor) Bruno Bettelheim who was just finishing his seminal text, “The Uses Of Enchantment” which remains one of the most fascinating texts, and analytical interpretation on the subject of fairy tales and their use. I was selected to spend several weeks at the University of Chicago to study under his tutelage. One text that repeated came up in discussion (although not as much in the book) was Pinocchio. Pinocchio was already a story I favored, knew well, and had some deeper understanding about. It would be a fair assessment to say that I was very young, inexperienced and Mr. Bettelheim was not enamored with my ad-hoc interpretations. Indeed, he was 100% correct in his assessment. We periodically engaged in heated debates, which I gather he enjoyed, and nearly came to blows in class over the merits (of lack of) of the works of Richard Scarry, who I adored, and Bettelheim reviled. Bettelheim was a formidable figure, brilliant, dark and demanding. We did not see eye to eye. Regardless, I did pick up an extraordinary amount of insight and information from my brief encounters with him. Giving credit where credit is due, as I proceed later with my analysis of Pinocchio, please note that much of it is forged directly from Mr. Bettelheim’s superior intellect.

"How do you know I am lying?" "Lies, my boy, are known in a moment. There are two kinds of lies, lies with short legs, and lies with long noses. Yours, just now, happen to have long noses."
Pinocchio, not knowing where to hide his shame, tried to escape from the room, but his nose had become so long that he could not get it out of the door, from “Adventures of Pinocchio”.

Like Pinocchio, Sometimes we forget whom we were/are. In the late 1980’s when my grandparents had both passed away, we were going through things tucked away in closets and came across a Florsheim shoe box filled with schoolwork and photographs that my grandmother had kept. There in the bottom of the box was the handmade invitation to Pinocchio that I colored for my Grandmother. It is on careful cut manila paper, and done in a soft buff brown and pale yellow Cray Pas. My printing inside is methodical, neat, and carefully composed, albeit in pencil. It shows a child that labored over illustrating Pinocchio in profile, and his nose is so long that it runs off the front of the card and cleverly onto the back of the card with a happy green leaf poking off the tip, with the sentiment “please come” in tiny–tiny little script below. The font is so sad and small, almost leaving you with the sense that it is okay if you cannot come, I understand. But my Grandmother did come, she did say I was very good, the best in the play, and asked how I remembered all my lines. She saved the invitation, and to me its one of the most precious and unexpected gifts I have ever received. It reminds me that throughout our lives we are so loved, that our actions have consequences, and that we have impact on each other’s lives. This is of course parallels some of the conclusions that Pinocchio makes.

As we decipher the complexities of what make a man, the story of Pinocchio is pertinent. In many respects, every man is a Pinocchio. We all want our freedom, but are less likely to accept its consequences. We all want to experience fraternal bonding that is rich and transformative. In so many ways, every man is a Pinocchio.

Pinocchio first appeared in print in 1883. Pinocchio was carved from a piece of pine by a woodcarver named Geppetto in a rustic Italian village. The name Pinocchio is a Tuscanword meaning "pine nut". Lorenzini became fascinated by the idea of using the amiable, rascally character of Pinocchio as a means of expressing his own convictions about life through allegory. In 1880, he began writing “Storia di un Burattino”, "The Story Of A Marionette", also called “Le Aventure di Pinocchio”, which was published weekly in “Il Giornale dei Bambini”, the first Italian newspaper for children.

Few intimate details are known about the life Collodi. We know he was a lifelong bachelor (with no progeny. Born Carlo Lorenzini, on Florence, on November 24, 1826, he chose to take the pseudonym of Collodi, the name of his mother's native town near Pescia in Tuscany. Collodi came of age as a writer during the "Decennio di Preparazione," the decade from 1850 to 1860, when Italy was moving toward unification. We do know that Collodi, like many of his generation, was a participant in the 1848-49 battles for Italian national independence, and unity and that throughout the 1850's he was very active as a journalist, writing under a variety of names and on many topics, including politics and music. It could be safely assumed that Colodi, who witnessed the horrors of war including soldiers who became amputee’s, provided some of the metaphorical elements of Pinocchio what with his wooden limbs.

If you are only familiar with the Disney film of 1940, you would be surprised to read the original text, which is Grimmian graphic, frightening, centers on physical abuse, poverty, hunger and a brutal society, ultimately leading up to Pinocchio being hung to death. That being said, the text is tempered with moments of lightheartedness, amusement, humor and grandly sarcastic.

Diametrically opposite from the original text, the Disney film is given the Hollywood sanitization, but is visually stunning with a great score including the standards, “
Hi-Diddle-Dee-Dee”, “I've Got No Strings”, “Give a Little Whistle” and the still iconic, “When You Wish Upon a Star”, which help to temper some of the gross characterizations of the character, “Stromboli” who may play with a broad Italian accent, but is clearly illustrated a propagandized Nazi Jew, with hook nose and Semitic complexion. As America was entering the war, it’s odd to see such an offensive characterization coming out of the Disney Studios.

Pinocchio includes a complex web of moral questions. Critics have noted its antiauthoritarian/parental tone, the contrast between wealth and poverty, and distaste for the hypocrisy of the judicial system. When a moralizing cricket gets in Pinocchio’s face, it is squashed. This did not occur to Jiminy Cricket in the Disney version. Eventually Pinocchio grows from an egoistic child, guided by the pleasure principle, into an adult who understands the feelings of other people.

Without giving too much away, the original Collodi text opens up on a distraught Gepetto, weeping inconsolably over his wife’s grave; she has died in childbirth along with her infant son, thus assuring the end of Geppetto’s lineage. Gepetto, who is poverty stricken cannot afford flowers to decorate the grave, so he plants some pine seeds, hoping a pine tree will grow to shelter his wife and child’s grave in the heat of summer, and provide warmth in the winter months. Gepetto dutifully visits the grave for years and years, watering the seedling with his tears, until the tree grows to maturity. Then one day Gepetto believes, he hears his son’s voice falling him from the grave, but Gepetto is mistaken, his son is calling him from the tree. Gepetto realizes that the power of his love is transformative and helped to create a faux child. As if the tree’s roots have penetrated the pine coffin and released his dead child’s soul. The child instructs him to cut off a knotted limb that looks eerily like a face with nose and carve himself a wooden child. Gepetto in an act of desperation goes about creating a young boy, a wooden puppet approximate how old his son would have been.

From a distance, we are introduced to the Blue Fairy who has had a hand in creating this magic. The Blue Fairy is like a surrogate mother, dressed in blue like the Virgin Mother, and like the Virgin Mother somehow capable of creating life. The puppet's birth is accomplished without any maternal involvement, but his rebirth, and eventual elevation to full human status takes place under the sign of the mother, as if Collodi realized that a motherless creation is inevitably monstrous (à la Frankenstein) and doomed to exclusion from humanity.

Pinocchio perfectly symbolizes the dual nature of man; there’s our physical self, and our spiritual self. Pinocchio doesn’t actually transform into a real boy until he has gone through many trials and tribulations, what are rights of passage, and eventually learns to control himself, and express his more virtuous traits. Similar to the way Massai warriors are sent out to prove their manhood. In the majority of the story, Pinocchio is naive, lazy, dishonest and indifferent to the needs of others. Yes, he promises to change when he is shown the error of his ways, but invariably he makes the same mistakes.

Collodi would have been a devout Catholic, and taught that it is the soul or spirit was created in God’s image. We are designed to realize that this is our true identity. In fact, we need to know that we are not solely physical beings who have a soul, but rather we are souls who have a physical being through which we act in this world.“

“A thousand woodpeckers flew in through the window and settled themselves on Pinocchio's nose.” Carlo Collodi

One of the most potent images presented in Pinocchio is that his nose grows whenever he tells a lie. A device that nearly every parent has adopted at some point to discourage their children from lying. It’s an ingenious metaphor to demonstrate that there is something in us that wants to get caught. Many men will cop to acknowledging that they are not the most versatile liars.

Like many men who feel that their life is a façade, a pretence, Pinocchio is wooden, stiff and not fully actualized. He is psychologically frozen. Pinocchio is afraid of being laughed at. When Pinocchio is transformed into a real boy, it occurs through throw the power of love and redemption. It’s transactional. But there is not a happy ending, reality is fraught is substantive problems.

“How ridiculous I was as a Marionette! And how happy I am, now that I have become a real boy!” Carlo Collodi

ART>Bliss by Siddharth Choudhary

2010-10-15T02:28:00.000-07:00

Paintings & Digital works Exhibition By Siddharth Choudhary
2^2nd Novemver - 22^nd November, 2010 / Preview: 1^st November @ The Stainless Gallery, C-0, Ground floor, Mira Corporate Suites, 1&2, Old Ishwar Nagar, Next to Tata Indicom Building, Okhla Crossing, Mathura Road, New Delhi -110065

Bliss is a series of paintings and digital works, which offers an alternate perspective on our pursuit of endless needs, wants, desires and dreams. The exhibition is an attempt to explain how we go to great lengths and extent, to seek a blissful life. This more often than not manifests itself in our dependence on external, material factors. The images in this exhibition are a starting point. They pose the question - Is it possible that we do not need to look any further than within ourselves in this pursuit? That Bliss, itself is contained within us? That the day, when everything looked right, was because we felt right, within?

Invite you to engage in this dialogue and to look at “Bliss” by drawing from your own personal experience.

About Siddharth Choudhary:

Siddharth Choudhary is a self taught artist. He lives and works in Paris. He started painting in 2005 after a trip to Paris which played a pivotal role in his artistic development. He started his career as an actor and his earlier paintings have borrowed from that experience. (eg. “I wish..” 2008, solo exhibition with Ashish Balram Nagpal Galleries , Mumbai). As an actor, he appeared in several TV Commercialsand tv shows. His last acting assignment was the film “Don” released in 2006. He has also worked briefly with NDTV as a camera person.

As an artist he has greatly benefited from his diverse work experience. With his upcoming solo exhibition “Bliss” at The Stainless Gallery , New Delhi , he sets to explore digital and video art alongside paintings.

Siddharth Choudhary has held the following Exhibitions before:

2009 – Indian Contemporary Art Show: a group show at Hong Kong Visual Arts Centre, Hong Kong
2009 – It’s a beautiful life: a group show with Nitanjali Art Gallery, New Delhi
2008 – I wish …: a solo exhibition with Ashish Balram Nagpal Galleries for Contemporary Art, Mumbai
2005 – Her moods & moments: a solo exhibition with Ronak Art Gallery, Mumbai

COMMISSIONS AND COLLECTIONS

2005 – 2008: Ashish Balram Nagpal Galleries for Contemporary Art, Mumbai

Collectors include JW Marriott, Bollywood personalities (Pooja Bhatt, Vivek Oberoi Konkana Sen, Isha Koppikar etc.), Media Houses (Times of India network, Excel Entertainment, etc.)

About The Stainless:

The Stainless, spread over 5500 Sq ft, technologically endowed, state of the art gallery is a force to reckon with in the contemporary space of art. It is the brainchild of Mrs. Deepikaa Jindal, Managing Director JSL Lifestyle Ltd. and Founding Director of the Stainless Gallery, for whom stainless steel is nothing short of an engaging and rewarding passion. The Gallery invites artists from diverse spheres of art to render their artistic imaginations and visions for creating sculptures and works of art using this medium. The Stainless is one of its kind gallery that provides not just an exhibition venue but also infrastructural support to create these artworks.

The Stainless Gallery began its journey with an enigmatic exhibition held in 2007, titled ‘The Lazy Forest’ by eminent designer Alex Davis. The Gallery continued its journey with ‘Saptarishis’ showcasing works of seven sculptors of the country, followed by ‘Ashtanayika’, an all-women show exhibiting artworks of eight female artists. ‘God & I’ by Vibhor Sogani, an innovative, young product designer & ‘Ekant’ by architect, Vishal K Dhar, were landmark shows for The Stainless. This state-of-the-art gallery not only has its own unique collection of eclectic art but also offers its space as an exhibition venue to other artists and galleries to showcase their works.

Going beyond Steel Art, It endeavors to host cutting edge and creatively charged exhibitions marked by concepts & creativity by contemporary painters, photographers, sculptors and artists from various walks & fields of art.

Films from Bengal > Nov 2010 by (IAAC)

2010-10-14T08:12:00.000-07:00

A Conversation with Srijit Mukherji and Nandana Sen,Rituparno Ghosh and Deepti Naval & Aparna Sen and Rahul Bose on there films @'BEAUTIFUL EVOCATIVE FILMS FROM BENGAL: Japanese Wife, Memories in March, Autograph (with English Subtitles) by The Indo-American Arts Council

AUTOGRAPH> A struggling young director & his Matinee Idol

Directed by SRIJIT /INDIA, 2010, 128 min. US Premiere. Bengali (with English subtitles)
@Thursday, November 11 @ 6.00 PM @ SVA Silas Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uuM-pf-qRyc

Synopsis:

Autograph is the story of a struggling young director who musters up the courage to approach the reigning matinee idol of Tollywood with an idea for a film. This matinee idol is an arrogant man at the peak of his career. To prove a point to his detractors that he is perpetually one-up on destiny, when the daily horoscope predicts a particular day is inauspicious for business ventures, he blindly accepts any proposal submitted on that day. As luck would have it, the middle-of-the-road script is offered by the director on this very day. And much to the dismay of his cronies and secretary, the matinee idol accepts it. Here onwards, the film gets split into two parallel stories. One is of the story of the film within the film and the unconventional relationship brewing between the star and the leading actress. The other is an even more unconventional triangle between the director, the actress and the matinee idol. The two narratives are entwined as reel and real life converge and diverge through situations. The climax is where they converge. How this climax changes three lives forever forms the finale to this reel meets real story.

Director Srijit Mukherji:

An economist, statistician, actor, writer, and director, Srijit Mukherji has become a master of many trades. His foray into filmmaking started when he assisted Anjan Dutt on Madly Bangalee, apart from writing songs and acting in the movie as well. His next assignment was even more prestigious– assistant director, lyricist, and actor in Aparna Sen’s Iti Mrinalini. Autograph is his debut feature film as a director, where he has also written the story, screenplay and dialogues.

CAST: Prosenjit, Nandana Sen, Indranil Sengupta.

This Directorial debut ‘Autograph’ was a surprise addition to the line up at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival October 14. The highly anticipated Bengali film will be screened in the Showcase section, the festival’s selection of outstanding feature films from around the world. Offering the local audience an accomplished work by a talented first-time director, whose choice of cast and material is remarkable.

Prosenjit, the numero uno of Bengali cinema for more than a quarter century, is steadily and surely extending the parameters of the famous and colourful and kitsch Poshenjit image to explore alternate avenues in screen performance. He has proved that he is one of the most versatile actors in the industry with a range that has acquired maturity and mellowness over the years. For the first time in his long career Prosenjit is playing himself on screen – not as Prosenjit but as a superstar who can twist the Bengali film industry around the little finger of his left hand. The name of the film is Autograph produced by Shri Venkatesh Films in association with Cinergy Pictures and directed by ace theatre person and Ph.D. dropout Srijit Mukherjee. Prosenjit plays Arun Chatterjee, a superstar. We nailed him down for a first-person interview about his views on this strikingly unusual role in a career spanning nearly three decades.

MEMORIES IN MARCH> Tries to dissect issuess of acceptance

Directed by SANJOY NAG, INDIA, 2010, 104 min. US Premiere. English, Hindi, Bengali (with English subtitles)
Friday, November 12 @ 6:30 PM @ SVA Silas Theatre

Synopsis:

Arati Mishra, a middle-aged art curator based in Delhi, has her world crashing down on her when her beloved son, Siddhartha, a successful copywriter in his twenties living in Kolkata, is killed in a fatal car accident. As Arati comes to terms with the loss of her child, she is strong and conducts herself with dignity and poise. When she arrives in Kolkata to collect Siddhartha's things from his flat and office, she is brought deeper into his world when she meets his colleagues and is surrounded by his belongings. As the memories of her dearly departed son flood Arati's thoughts, she discovers a surprising part of Siddhartha's life that she refuses to accept. Arati must reevaluate the close relationship they used to have and rediscover a part of her son she never knew or thought could be.

Director Sanjoy Nag:

Sanjoy Nag, born and raised in Kolkata, started out with documentaries before branching out to television films and shows. Not much of a conformist, he learns faster when he goes against the rules. When he is not shooting he loves traveling or checking out food joints. He is also an obsessive daydreamer. Memories in March is his debut feature.

Cast: Rituparno Ghosh, Raima Sen, Deepti Naval, Pradeep Rai

Deepti Naval: The unexplored talent of veteran actress Deepti Naval who did a brilliant role in Firaaq & many more movies to her credit played the lead role in Sanjay Nag’s under-production Hindi film Memories in March. The film in Hindi has now been given the new title of. “Written by Rituparno". She is Arati Mishra, an art curator who lives in Delhi. Through his friends and colleagues, she discovers that they knew him in ways different from the way she knew him as his mother.” She also finished directing her first film, Do Paise Ki Dhoop Char Aane Ki Baarish which she wrote herself. It is about a prostitute with a disabled child and a struggling songwriter who is gay. Memories in March is being produced by Shree Venkatesh Films. Debajyoti Mishra and it is cinematographed by Soumik Haldar.

"Memories In March", has made it to the Pusan IFF 2010. The film had its New York premiere at the MIAAC film Festival, 2010/World Premiere at 15th PUSAN International Film Festival 2010 (Memories In March has been selected in the New Currents section at PIFF 2010 - the only international competition section featuring the first or the second feature films by the future leading directors of Asian cinema. This year’s New Currents Award given to two best feature films selected from works of new Asian directors in New Currents - a competitive section of PIFF. The jury consistes of world-famous film experts will choose winners with the hope to encourage continuous endeavor of discovering hidden jewels of Asian cinema, and US$ 30,000 will be awarded to each film.) Another jewel in the crown has come in the form of "MIM" being selected for the 12th MAMI International Film Festival held in Mumbai.

Great time ahead for Bengali cinema! - Ghosh

Though Kolkata-born director Sanjoy Nag's name is on the print as first-time director, Memories of March bears many of the imprints of Bengali filmmaker Rituparno Ghosh (Choker Bali, Raincoat), who both wrote and executive produced the movie, takes a co-lead role, and is also a prominent gay rights activist. Several of Ghosh's own movies could almost have worked as plays, and Memories, with its two-character conversations in rooms and cars, is no exception, though the film never feels cramped thanks to Nag's smooth, good-looking direction.

The script's "twist", which finally comes around the halfway point, is hardly a surprise, and it's only then, as Arati's conservative mother and Ghosh's clearly gay ad agency executive are thrown together to work out their shared grief, that the film finally gets down to business. Using occasional soundtrack songs to expand on the underlying tone of sadness, the movie is at its best when the three lead characters share memories of the young man they all loved in various ways: his bright, optimistic voice is heard on the soundtrack in letters that strikingly contrast with the melancholy of the present.

Where the script falls down is when it tries to dissect issues of gay "acceptance": the dialogue here seems arch and old-fashioned, and hardly natural in such intimate conversations. Arati, however, is generally very good, and develops a chemistry with Ghosh (who began his career in the ad business) that even makes his overplayed role as the son's older, mincing lover seem valid in some scenes. As the young female colleague who confesses she once had a crush on the son, Raima Sen is notable, moving easily between caring and media-type no-nonsense.

THE JAPANESE WIFE >The Japanese Wife is about a long-distance marriage between two introverts

Directed by APARNA SEN / India, 2009, 105 min, NY Premiere. English, Bengali, and Japanese (with English subtitles) @Saturday, November 13 @ 6:00 PM @ SVA Beatrice Theatre

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hl139sXacbU

Synopsis

A delicate – and improbable love story about three gentle and shy souls. Snehamoy, a school teacher in the beautiful Sunderbans, writes letters to Miyage, a sweet shy Japanese girl in Yokohama. Over these letters, they fall in love and get married despite having never met. Sandhya, a widow, takes refuge in Snehamoy’s home and is soon always by his side, bringing a piquant twist to this home in the Sunderbans, and the love between Snehamoy and Miyage. Will Sandhya find her solace with Snehamoy? Or will life finally unite Snehamoy and Miyage?

Director Aparna Sen:

Aparna Sen is a critically acclaimed Indian filmmaker, writer, and actress. She has won three National Film Awards and eight international Festival Awards. Sen made her debut as a film director with 36 Chowringhee Lane – a film about an aged Anglo-Indian teacher living in Calcutta. She has made films such as Paroma (1981), Sati (1989)mYugant (1995) which examined the feminine condition in modern-day India. Mr. and Mrs. Iyer (2002) was a love story set against the harsh backdrop of Hindu-Muslim communal violence in India, and won National Awards for Both Sen and her daughter KonkonaSen Sharma. AparnaSen is a resident of Kolkata, India.

Cast : Rahul Bose, Raima Sen, Chigasu Takaku, Mousumi Chatterjee, Rudranil Ghosh

>Aparna Sen’s Japanese Wife, based on the novel of the same name by Kunal Basu, is the most offbeat love triangle one can hope to come across.

The film is being shot in English though there will also be a smattering of Bangla and Japanese because of the international canvas of the film. Rahul however, does not agree with the love theory. "Where do you find love in Snehamoy’s life, tell me? You need a woman to fall in love with. Snehamoy has her mashi hovering around him. He has his pen friend Miyagi, a girl he has never met, in far away Japan. He has this continuous correspondence with Miyagi. And there is this marriage conducted only via letters. Where is the love you are looking for in all this? I love to work under the directorial baton of Aparna. I get totally involved in whatever I am doing at any given moment, be it rugby or my welfare work with the poor children of Andamans. Snehamoy, on the other hand, is an escapist. He is not even prepared to fight life’s battles. He is aware of the rat race across the river on the other side. He feels safer on this side, the Sundarbans." He concedes that Snehamoy is the most complex character he has played in his career. "My choice of Rahul for three of my films in a row is because I can deconstruct him completely and mould him differently in any which way I can. Few actors have this kind of malleability. According to me, this is purely a love story from beginning to end because there is no ideological agenda or political baggage I am carrying, like there was in Parama, Sati and Mr & Mrs Iyer. The character Raima is portraying, that of a young village widow, is the quiet type, silent and sad most of the time. Raima has done an excellent job," says Aparna.

With MR. AND MRS. IYER, when Aparna Sen made it, she unraveled a pair of sensitive actors in the form of Rahul Bose and Konkona Sen Sharma and with THE JAPANESE WIFE she has once again confirmed that Rahul Bose is indeed one of the fine actors whose talent needs to be exploited in a much better manner.

In the melee of commercial films that are being released THE JAPANESE WIFE comes as a breathe of fresh air, as it harks back to the old world romance and commitments of the lifetime, based on trigger of an emotion that evolved on account of the series of letters that were exchanged between an Indian male and a Japanese lady.

THE JAPANESE WIFE is a film that would appeal to the international audience as well, as it has got a deluxe feeling to it. It is worth pointing out on this occasion that letter writing as a genre has been one of the favorite subjects of the Hindi film industry, and scores of films and songs have been composed eulogizing the virtues of the written word.

Now that THE JAPANESE WIFE has rekindled the romance and passion associated with the written word on a piece of paper, it is only hoped that more such freshness to approach would be adopted by the Indian film makers to weave a miasma of charm around the written word. After all, an SMS stored in a handset is not able to evoke any nostalgia that a forgotten letter in the book, found again does.

Sen crafts her tale well. The lush visuals and overpowering landscape become characters in their own right. Then there are some standout whimsical moments. Some underlined with a genteel humour, like Miyage sending a Polaroid camera to Snehamoy with the rider that she couldn’t find a Bengali manual for it in Japan. Or the rousing sequence when Japanese kites are flown high in the Bengal skies by Snehamoy, as if to show how far his love can fly. However, these quixotic touches are not knit together well; the narrative lacks fluidity and moves in fits and spurts. The stilted dialogues and rehearsed accents are a let-down.

Some of the characters on the side are more real and interesting, be it the caustic aunt (Moushumi’s flashy reappearance) or the quaint ayurvedic medicine man. Things do suddenly light up when Sandhya (the Bengali girl Snehamoy refused to marry) comes back as a widow to stay in his house. It’s their relationship, fuelled initially on some stolen glances, that feels far more beguiling than the cross-country marriage. You can see how it’s growing to take a meaning and significance of its own. Especially endearing is the scene where Sandhya shifts some of the dishes from her lunch plate to that of Snehamoy’s. She does it with an easy sense of ownership and possessiveness of a woman in love. It’s this real relationship, constantly kept in denial, that has far more possibilities than the mundane and dull one unfolding through the letters. Unfortunately, it doesn’t get the cinematic exploration it deserves. Nor does Raima, who is simple, self-assured but luminous as Sandhya.

A premise like this doesn't quite promise much entertainment in the offing. However, for a regular moviegoer, the least which is expected is a dramatic enhancement to the narrative to keep his attention on screen for those 2 hours. However, the film doesn't keep the same momentum from start to finish and also turns overtly depressing towards the latter part that keeps you longing for that sunshine. Nothing wrong with the subject or the treatment here; after all this is how Aparna Sen wanted to bring fore the tale of her protagonists.

Thankfully, if one leaves the entertainment quotient of the film aside, what one carries home is Rahul Bose. He is excellent as a character which doesn't have any qualms admitting his struggle with the English language. Chigusa is decent though she doesn't get much scope to perform since the film is primarily told from Rahul's point of view. Raima is okay as a silent suffering widow whose heart pines for Rahul. Comparitively Moushmi Chatterjee, as Bose's aunt, brings light on screen every time she appears. As a forward thinking woman who encourages child education, widow remarriage and long distance marital relationship, she makes one wonder why is she is not seen on the big screen more often.

Regarding those who wish to watch a film from the artistic standpoint, then well, the sad truth is that number of such people is abysmally low. So another question is - 'Why to make a film which has extremely limited audience? Is it only to satisfy the artistic urge in you as a film maker? In that case, why not have a direct to DVD release because theatrically (especially with the kind of marketing effort that has gone into the film) THE JAPANESE WIFE doesn't come with any scope whatsoever.

Aparna Sen’s adaptation of the Kunal Basu story is engaging and emotive only in parts and not profound enough to linger on in your mind.

Genesis by Simran KS Lamba

2010-10-13T02:40:00.000-07:00

Simran KS Lamba

Art Work

"From being behind the camera to wielding the brush"

Simran KS Lamba debuted with a solo exhibition at the Indian Habitat Centre, Visuals Arts Gallery (inaguarted by Maharaja of Udaipur), getting a great response, followed by an exhibition on invitation at at the Goa Kala Academy (ingurated by Goa CM) in association with the South Asian Film Foundation during the South Asian Film Festival in Goa on from September 17 – 20 2010. Lamba will be exhibiting at the Jahengir Art Gallery Mumbai in October from 20 to 24.

He is working on a very unconventional medium which is coal tar, lead and aluminum. Each of the canvases is 3-D and completely textured. In the case of the Kali the hair is in wire and coal tar and comes out of the painting. In case of the phoenix as it rises out of the ash; glass, wood, tar, lead, aluminum and wax is used to create the whole painting along with oil paints. In the bull series an assortment of canvases has been used at various dimensions on wood to create a texture that has been held together with lead and tar.

Titled: Genesis

Aptly titled ‘Genesis’; Simran KS Lamba’s art work is the beginning of a journey in arena of mixed media. Coal tar, lead, aluminum; have been used in bold abstractions in this series and are the self taught artist's foremost work mediums. Gauge, mesh, wax, bolts and nails, are the other resources which find a way into the paintings. The inspiration too stands as diverse as the technique, style and materials used by the artist. From animals to beetles to funerals to abstract, the muse is as varied as the artists’ style of amalgamation of various mediums, forms and techniques. Nothing stops at a single stage. Each stage is constantly layered and eventually metamorphoses completely as tar blends in with wax, lead, aluminum, gauge, mesh, wax, bolts and nails creating a mélange of abstraction that finally rests in Genesis: The Beginning.

Profile:

Simran KS Lamba who works on a completely new medium, which is coal tar, lead, aluminum, and oil paint. The medium is mixed. Coal tar and lead are heated and when in the molten state are used to create artwork. Each of the canvases is 3-D and completely textured. In the case of the Kali the hair is in wire and coal tar and comes out of the painting. In case of the phoenix as it rises out of the ash; glass, wood, tar, lead, aluminum and wax is used to create the whole painting along with oil paints. In the bull series an assortment of canvases has been used at various dimensions on wood to create a texture that has been held together with lead and tar. The exhibition is scheduled for the Jahengir Art Gallery Mumbai in October 20 to 24 th, he has already showcased at the Indian Habitat Center from 29 July to 1 August, Delhi followed with an exhibition at the Goa Kala Academy in September by invitation by the SAFF in association with the Goa government .

Also would like to bring to your notice that it’s a privilege for Lamba also a filmmaker to show at the IHC and Jahengir art galleries, the most prestigious galleries of India at his first showing.

Frida Kahlo – Retrospective>1 Sep - 5 Dec 2010

2010-10-12T01:17:00.000-07:00

Retrospective from 1 September to 5 December 2010 in the Vienna Bank Austria Kunstforum.

(Video Clip) Ausstellungsdoku Frida Kahlo im Bank Austria Kunstforum (© leisuregroup.at/Rudolph)

Vienna - In autumn 2010, the Bank Austria Kunstforum is presenting the first ever comprehensive Frida Kahlo retrospective in Austria.

The myth surrounding the Mexican artist has taken on global format; Frida is an icon with star character: an identification figure of Mexican culture, forerunner of the feminist movement, a brand promoted in a mega-merchandising machine, glitteringly exotic film subject for the Hollywood cinema.

Kahlo’s art is inseparably tied in with her life. Paintings and drawings are not only the mirror of her life history, which was marked by physical and mental affliction – Frida suffered the whole of her life from the injuries caused by a horrific bus accident.

During the last years of her life Frida was confined to her bed. Her oeuvre in painting and the graphic arts comprises one of the most complex chapters in the period between the wars, between Neue Sachlichkeit – New Objectivity – and surrealism. During the 1920s she created graceful and delicate self-portraits, oriented on the figural ideal of Renaissance painting.

In the early thirties her paintings show the first tendencies towards surrealism: her strategy was one of combination, influenced by the cadavres exquis, the spontaneous graphic collages of the surrealists with whom Frida was in keen contact; an approach which produced iconographically complex compositions springing out of her inner life.

Around 1940 Kahlo’s self-portraits gain in expression. Instead of a neutral glance we see the “authoritarian eye”: Frida takes the stage like a saint “worthy of adulation”; her dominant aura is inescapable.

The exhibition Frida Kahlo – Retrospective contains around 60 paintings and 90 works on paper. These are joined by a representative selection of photographic documents, compiled by Frida’s great-niece Cristina Kahlo. Among them are iconic photos taken of her by Nickolas Muray: enthralling examples of the selfscenario she projected and which contributed decisively to the construction of her myth.

Most of Kahlo’s artistic legacy is in Mexico and the USA. In view of the marginal number of paintings Kahlo produced (the catalogue raisonné lists no more than 143), the lack of Kahlo’s oeuvre in European collections, and the sparsity of exhibition projects in Europe, we may regard this show as a sensation for Vienna.

The exhibition is being held in cooperation with the Martin-Gropius-Bau in Berlin. The exhibition curators in Vienna are Ingried Brugger and Florian Steininger.

(Video Clip) Frida in Fashion: Couture by Ingried Brugger & Thang de Hoo, Styling by BUNDY BUNDY, Jewellery by Heldwein (© BUNDY BUNDY/Inge Prader)

"How to Do Business in India by Bernice Paolozzi

2010-10-08T11:15:00.000-07:00

"How to Do Business in India - Do's & Dont's of doing with business with the fastest growing large economy in the world". - Bernice Paolozzi

One of the most important keys is to respect and blend into the culture and society of India. India is a country of both diversity and continuity.

One of the fundamental components of Indian culture, vital for success in doing business with India, is an understanding of the traditions and ways of communicating that form the basis of India’s society. It is a very creative blend of cultures, religions, races and
languages.

India’s identity and social structure are protected by a rich cultural heritage that dates back at least 5,000 years, making India one of the oldest civilisations in the world. In India, religion is a way of life and must be respected in order to maintain successful business relationships. The traditional caste system, which was a direct outcome of Hinduism was eliminated. Despite this attitudes still remain and both aspects of Indian culture still influence the hierarchical structure of business practices in India today.

Indian culture is a very spiritual one which gave birth to the concept of fatalism. The notion of Karma and that everything happens for a reason is still significant in the decision making process of many Indians. It also influences the concept of time in India and as a consequence business negotiations may take longer and are never rushed.

India’s strong sense of community and group Defined orientation mean a greater acceptance of hierarchical settings. In India, there is a noticeable lack of privacy and a smaller concept of personal space, where several generations often live together under one roof. For Indian business practices this places an additional importance on interpersonal contacts, avoidance of conflict and a more indirect approach to communication.

Meetings in India will generally begin with friendly small talk. This may include personal questions about your family and is seen as a way of building rapport and trust before business.

In India, the family unit is highly valued, therefore showing interest and respect towards your Indian counterpart’s family is vital for establishing successful relationships.

In Indian culture disagreement is rarely expressed in a direct manner. The word ‘no’ is often avoided and is replaced by other non-verbal cues and indirect communication.
During negotiations, trust and well-established relationships with your Indian counterparts must be in place before any form of business can take place.

Indians appreciate punctuality but may not reciprocate it. It is advisable to make appointments at least one month in advance and confirm them when arriving in India. A flexible schedule will prove useful. Business appointments should ideally be made for late morning or early afternoon, between the hours of 11 and 4.

Making decisions is often a slow and thoughtful process in Indian culture. Deadlines

should not be rushed as impatience is seen as aggressive, rude and disrespectful.

Within the system of hierarchy in the Indian work place, senior colleagues and especially elders are obeyed and respected. Discussions are almost always lead by the most senior person.

Final decisions rest with the highest-ranking business executives, therefore it is important to maintain strong relationships with senior figures in Indian business.

It is the responsibility of the senior management to monitor, check and look after their Indian subordinates.

Face and self-esteem is an essential part of Indian culture, therefore any individual criticism in business situations must be done carefully and with sensitivity.

Despite the distinguished hierarchical system, the relationship between an Indian boss and his employee can be similar to that of close relatives. This is a direct influence of the community life experienced for thousands of years in India.

Do use titles wherever possible, such as “Professor” or “Doctor”. If your Indian counterpart does not have a title, use “Mr”, “Mrs”, or “Miss”.

Do wait for a female business colleague to initiate the greeting. Indian men do not generally shake hands with women out of respect.

Do remain polite and honest at all times in order to prove that your objectives are sincere.

Don’t be aggressive in your business negotiations – it can show disrespect.
Don’t take large or expensive gifts as this may cause embarrassment. If you do take a gift make sure you present the gift with both hands.

Don’t refuse any food or drink offered to you during business meetings as this may cause offence. In addition, it is useful to bear in mind that traditionally, Indians are vegetarians and do not drink alcohol.

”Top Tips to Achieve Optimum Personal Health" & 5 tips for optimum health integrating Eastern culture into Western life.?

One of the key most important top tips is always waking up in the morning with a positive attitude and always going to bed at night with a great sense of gratitude for the day that has just been achieved no matter how crazy, challenging and unusual the day was.

Learn the science of yoga breathing. Pranayama is the breathing exercise practiced in Yoga. When we find ourselves in a stressful situation one of the best techniques to calm and centre ourselves is to take a deep breath. When in a chaotic and stressful situation, if we have not been trained, the automatic response is to hold our breath. When we do this it completely tenses up our whole body and we become rigid. We go into a FREEZE not FLIGHT or BREAKDOWN not BREAKTHROUGH solution frame of mind. The Importance of Breathing is it is the only means to supply our body and its various organs with oxygen.

There Are 4 different stages of breathing, High breathing, low breathing, middle breathing and complete breathing. Breathing exercises improve your blood pressure and heart function

Learn to love your liver. More than ever, now with the stressful chaotic daily lives we require to know how our liver functions and why it is considered the engine centre of our bodies. With today’s chemical and toxic environment and so much processed food it is important to keep our liver detoxed. 3 detoxes a year will keep our liver in good order. Fix the liver and good health will always follow. Do a liver detox every 3-4 months.

Take Epsom salts baths as much a possible. The name Epsom comes from mineral waters found in the area in England called Epsom. Epsom salts has dozens of health benefits.
A daily hectic and chaotic stress full life can drain the magnesium from our bodies, Magnesium is necessary for the body to bind adequate amounts of seratonin, a mood –elevating chemical within the brain that can create feelings of calm and relaxation. The magnesium sulfate of Epsom Salts acts as a muscle relaxant, and by easing muscle pain it helps the body to eliminate harmful substances. Epsom Salts neutralizes any body odours and softens the skin. A 20 min soak in an Epsom salt bath before bed is a amazing way to guarantee a wonderful night’s sleep.

Learn to weed the garden of your mind. For the first time in history it is now being accepted that we are what we believe and we are not what our genes and family health was. It is now not accepted that just because your mother or father had a heart health problem then you are at higher risk to have the same. Our minds have full ability now through
Visualization techniques and balancing the 3 frequencies within our brains, to change each organ and function of our bodies to better and more. Just as we have talked about how our breathing can balance all our body the mind has the same power. In India meditation is taught from an early age. In the culture of most Asian societies it is believed that once you can calm the mind you can calm the rest of the body. There are lots of meditative techniques now available on the internet. We have 50,000 thoughts a day and each one of them manifest. Then they come back around to us like an echo or boomerang. If you take what we see in front of us as a projector of our minds then we have to take responsibility to keep our minds calm and clear, just like our liver.

Learn to love yourself right now. In today’s society when you ask someone do they love themselves, they usually can’t answer you. It has been proven through scientific research if a child or person does not love themselves enough first they will feel isolated and alone. It is most important to love our body and mind as we are today. We have become an over-entertained culture. There has been for many years now lots of media advertisement and so much information on how we should look, what we should wear, so a lot of people of now are in a sea of confusion of what they really want and who they really are and what they really like.

So it is time to stop, take a deep breath, take an Epsom salt bath, quiet the mind and love yourself for who you are today.

On Being Citizen of the World, Asian/EMEA Executive, Award winning Entrepreneur ( "Best Female Entrepreneur in Europe, Middle East and Africa & "Special Judges Award for Ethnic Entrepreneur"), Corporate Culture & Spirituality, Minister of the Eucharist. & What role you have to play being all of that? & What do you think & how do you think about the Enterpreneur's role as/on a larger perspective. & about Corporate Culture & Spirituality as & how far have it succeeded, & what's there future.

To me being a Citizen of the world keeps me in the awareness that every action I take daily affects the eco system I live in, every other person on this planet and every other living organism. So I take responsibility of living consciously and choosing my actions wisely and considering everyone around me plus the global picture. That's how I consider being a citizen of the world.

I believe that currently the financial/corporate world is receiving a teaching that they must take responsibility for every action they take and consider that their new approach to the commercial world is more ethical with a higher level of Governance. I would call this putting a "conscience into the business/commerce world".

India has a very big role to play in showing the western world what the new world leadership model is for the commerce world considering India has a very high population of young people, just like Ireland has a very high population of young people. It is these young people who now have to be supported to become the leaders to find the innovative solutions to sustain and maintain and tidy up any negative residue from the old traditional model that is obvious has served its time and now must be replaced with the new innovative model.
As a mother of a 21 year old and a 15 year old, I consider them to be the new leaders of the now and the future of a positive environmental citizen of the world global village.

Your study & take on Religion (Hinduism, Buddhism, Sufism, Christianity) , what’s difference & similarity they all share, Religion & Spirituality - how does one go about finding it knowing it or following it?

The one strand that I have learned through all the different methodologies and modalities of all the different religions I have studied is that meditation helps the person and the mind to take responsibility and see clearly for making decisions that would affect their daily lives. Also that some religions have become too big and institutionalised and lost touch with the people whom they were designed to support. The young people of today do not feel comfortable with the old models of institutionalised religion and the young people are much more comfortable with interfaith and interculture religions that integrate modalities of music, dance and environmental beauty of nature. So just like the old financial system has to be remodeled, so do all the world religions so they are better suited to the new young Dynamic citizens.
Everyone is an aspect of each other, so we are all brothers and sisters. Its much easier to do business with someone you consider to be your brother or sister.

What is WorkthatWorks and Avant Garde all about?

Works that works is the brainchild of Archana Trasy. It is a dynamic innovative marketing and entertainment model that has its finger on the pulse for the local Indian and Asian market and also the global market. With Archana's extensive Bollywood experience and contacts, we make a great dynamic team due to having the same ethical belief and value system. I consider it is good to view and treat everyone in front of you with respect like your brother and sister and then its easy to create a sustainable family business model. Work That Works infrastructure is created on this smart thinking model.

In addition to this I am also involved with Anushree Priyadarshini in Avant Garde Consultancy which is a publishing agency building bridges between Western authors and Eastern publishers, providing opportunities at both ends to have a new market and variety content respectively.
As an Advisor on Smart Thinking, What you define Smart Thinking as , and how you potrey the World to be doing some Smart Thinking, if yes how, if not why not? What you have to say in context to Asia ( focus on the value of an ethics based approach in dealing with today’s challenges in the Global Re-Mix )?

Smart thinking for me is using the whole mind. Not just the left brain model. An example - our current global environmental issues have come about through linear left brain thinking not whole mind creative mind thinking. As an example, I have found Asians are very naturally smart mind thinkers / whole mind thinkers / holistic mind thinkers. They Understand the concept of cause and effect and that for every action there is a reaction. In Asia I have also seen how anything that has a life force running through it is respected and considered negative to destroy. Many studies have shown that a really good holistic or whole mind creative thinking team with both men and women of different ages tend to achieve the unusual targets that others cannot. Most young people I meet or know, are natural smart thinkers because they have a very relaxed, positive outlook to challenges in their lives.

Tell us more about IAHV/EICC Corporate Cultural Spirituality Leadership in Business & Ireland India Trade & Tourism Forum?

For clarity these are two different events. The IAHV CCS is a non government organisation second biggest NGO in the world so their values are based on ethics and governance in the corporate world. My visit to the Ashram in Bangalore showed me that the organisation is very much based on service to humanity including having a very strong ayurvedic medical centre and a very unique prana breathing technique that I believe is beneficial to all people to learn.

The Ireland India trade & tourism forum were events organised on the ground in Ireland to bring awareness of India to business in Ireland to expand their horizons.

Social & Commercial Enterprise? Your role as a Social & Commerce Business Developer & about efforts on Empowering Youth? Restoration Projects? About the Connect 4A Model?

Due to the demand of questions being asked about how to do this and that I created the executive mentoring model on my website and made it affordable and accessible to everyone involved as I was beginning to be asked the same questions from different people in east and west. I use the Connect 4A methodology through all my initiatives and projects. That's how it came to be formed.

What you have to say about- New Wave Trends for Marketing Books,

As I said in my transformational article, since the 1960s the digital Age and computer are the only way for people to market themselves in the global village whether you are marketing a book or a service the future of anything to do with marketing is the computer and the internet in the worldwide global village.

Your being an Executive Mentor & Counsellor? Role, Plans, Efforts, Future?

Being an executive mentor/counsellor is very easy for me to do due to my extensive knowledge and experience both in professional and personal. My plans for this is to let it organically form as I have created an infrastructure around myself for easy access and awareness through my website

Efforts & Role for Health & Wellness & Environmental Issues

The way forward for health wellness & environmental issues is positive thinking. We are currently in a major transformation in health wellness & environment so we have to take each day as a unique day and we have to forget yesterday at the start of each day. We have to wake up thinking, "great a new day" rather than negatively. Our daily thoughts are much more powerful than people know. So once we stay focussed on positive thinking and say positive words and have much gratitude for every little thinking we then will keep balance for hew and live in a very progressive and comfortable environment.

Small business will play a key role in this local and global transformation. The current so-called recession is not a recession, it is a slowing down to allow for a transformation to happen". Comment & give feedback on this one.

When a business is in transformation or when a person is in transformation it is much more sustainable if it happens slowly. If the transformation and change happens too fast it can bring shock to the system or company, so slow change is much more sustainable and it also gives breathing space to enjoy the new fresh emerging ideas from individual people rather than from big corporate models. Small businesses with the internet networking them together is a fun new unusual way of doing business and it brings a strong sense of community and of equality and sharing. As they say in the East, letting go the old makes room for the new to have the space to breathe inspiration into the environment.

Ireland
Mob: +353 85 1913 707
Skype: bernice.paolozzi
berpaolozzi@gmail.com &
info@bernicepaolozzi.com
Web: www.bernicepaolozzi.com
www.ipositivenowhealth.com
www.epositivehome.org

Italy
0039 327 9785007
bernice@italymeetsindia.com
www.italymeetsindia.com

Faisal Abbas

2010-10-08T08:20:00.001-07:00

~ Zindagi ki dhuup main ghup andhairay sa sama...
Apno ki inayat nay khoob kiya isay ayaan...
Dhool parri ab zulfoon main jahan gajjray khaila krtay thay...
Zakhm haray hain maazi k haal huwa bayhaal yahan...
"Sayyan"

Faisal Abbas (Pakistani Singer) was born on 15 april 1977 in Peshawar Pakistan. Inspired by Kumar Sanu's voice he decided to become a musician and learned auto didactically with a tape recorder. He did a playback singer training by Mr. Kenneth Williams from Pakistan.

He started working as a tv drama's playback singer in 1996 & then later in 1999 he started working as a Music Director, Lyricist and Singer.

Faisal says he had no music education ,its all God gifted!

In 2004 his first album "Sayyan" released. The song Sayyan became a super hit & proved out to be a fantastic album and gave very good response. His second album "Udasiyaan" released in 2009.

H gave many music in TV plays, like Chamak,Tumharay Liye, Chingaari, Tareekian, Zid, Khandaan, Shaeen Ki Dua & sang 2 songs for Pakistani Air Force.

Produced four video songs: Sayyan, Udasiyaan, Mohabbat Ne Mara Hai, Dil Ka Kya Karein, Faisal worked as a music director in 25 TV plays. He did 70 jingles. The title song of Khawab Say Khawab Tak created by him, The two other title songs of Pas E Aina and Dard Ka Rishta (after struggling from past 10 years this was his first opportunity) are sung by him.

He currently is looking forward to join the Bollywood Industry & wants to bring up Pakistani Music Industry at an International Level.

Some of his favourite songs - Others : Teri Yaad Aye (Ali Zafar) - Minta Day Naal (Malkoo) - Tum (Bobby G) Own : Yaadein Hi Yaadein.

~ Abhi aadhay pannay baaqi hain bayjaan zindagi k...
Mushkil say raastay hain kyun aasaan zindagi k...
Khawab say khawab tak...
"Sayyan"

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Faisal-Abbas-Sayyan-fanpage/143838768986769?ref=ts

http://www.facebook.com/abbassayyan?ref=ts

Guft-a-gu (Gaurav Kapoor In Discussion with Faisal Abbas)

>1.Well tell us about your childhood! how was the support of your parents and relatives?

I was born and have spend my childhood in Peshawar.i was a very naughty boy. My parents n relatives were always there by my side to help me and they have encouraged me a lot in every phase of my life.it was the dream of my father (M.Ashraf Awan) To see me as a Rock Star. So he proved to be very supportive one.

>2.If not a Singer what would you have been ? Well did you ever decided to took up anything else as your Career/Education wise, or got any professional education in any other field, thinking of taking up as a Career etc.

Well if i wouldn't have been a singer, i would have joined the Air Force. But i hadn't got any professional training for this. After 10th standard music became the main goal of my life. I got my self involved in singing n got training from a number of experienced people, one of my best trainer was Kenneth Williams.

>3.How do you find other Pakistani Singers, and what is your take on the Music overall in Pakistan, DO you find it any different from the rest of the world?

According to me Pakistani singers are doing a fantastic job,they have got very good voice quality.so they are famous in many other countries as well. Pakistani music is fabulous,it is a blend of different sounds which makes it very unique and most of all it represents Pakistani Culture.Yes i found it some what different from the rest of world as Pakistani rock & Sufi Rock have explored a new dimension for Rock music lover.

>4. How was your journey frm a Teenage boy to a Singer, Tell us something about it? The hardships and the happy moments! What all you went through to be at a stage you are right now?

One thing I would like to share is that when I was in 6th standard our school organized parents day on which they called a singer who due to some reason couldn't come so on that day I was asked to sing that song and this was my first on stage performance after which the enthusiasm of becoming a singer had born in my heart.

After this the real hardships started.there were many hurdles for me i had to face many problems.but as I had the support of my parents, I faced everything patiently because it was my believe that my interest would take me to the height of success.

The first happy movement was when I gave my first playback in a drama series (Pas-E-Aina).And then I was introduced as a lyricist and Music Director in Pakistani TV Drama Industry. In this way the time passed and I reached the goal for which I had done a lot of hard work.

>5. What is it that you are concentrating right now on to, What is is that you are working on right now, and what are your future plans! Share it with us!

I m concentrating and working nowadays on the lyrics and composition of my 3rd music album.which would soon be released and later on i would be joining Bollywood industry. Inshallah you people would listen me in Bollywood in future.

Editorial>Zodiac & Activities

2010-10-08T06:35:00.001-07:00

"Tree of Knowledge” Projekt “M” by Milind Soman & Madhu Jain at Commonwealth Games 2010

2010-09-25T15:29:00.000-07:00

“Tree of Knowledge” installation by Projekt “M” by Milind Soman and Madhu Jain. “Tree of Knowledge” will be the first segment of the opening ceremony of Commonwealth Games 2010 and will cover a duration of 9-10 minutes of the 50 minute event.

It is proposed to source unique fabrics with the help of Madhu Jain’s years of expertise in the field working with the country’s fading craft traditions, and fashion these fabrics into as many as 25 panels, which will be put together to create a 110-foot-high, 40-inches wide tree trunk for THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE.

Cadbury - Spots v Stripes Campaign 'launches its biggest ever marketing initative to celebrate the run up to the London Olympics'

2010-08-04T11:57:00.000-07:00

Cadbury is taking its role of 'official treat sponsor for London's Olympic and Paralympic Games' in 2012 seriously, with the launch of its Spots v Stripes campaign to build anticipation in the run up to the games.

Based on the insight, like Gatorade's Replay, that people maintain a competitive spark no matter what level they are playing at, the campaign aims to change the fact that 30% of people in the UK claim they have no time for games.

The campaign will reignite the spirit of play through a series of playground favourites such as thumb wars, sleeping bag racing and even kiss chase, creating the biggest series of games ever. Encouraging participation is key to the campaign, so any game counts!

So - pick your team on facebook - sign up to either stripes or spots and get ready to compete at the games that are being hosted for the rival teams at festivals, universities, village fetes and sports centres around the UK.

Although the campaign is scheduled to run for the next couple of years building up to the games, Cadbury hopes that its legacy will stretch much further. Demonstrating its commitment is the fact that this is the brand's largest and most integrated marketing campaign ever - running through a TV commercial, shown above, social networks, digital, PR, events. And, a team of over 2000 Game Ambassadors will travel the country building anticipation and participation to a fever pitch.

The campaign is being managed by key agency partners including Fallon, London, PrettyGreen, Brave, Drum PHD and the charity Groundwork, who will be running a grassroots play initiative.

Although the campaign website only officially launches this week, over 5000 people have already signed up via Facebook and through the Game Ambassadors, who have been on the road since June. Opportunities about for participation, and also for the rival teams to take the campaign on and make it their own, competing in any way they see fit.

www.spotsvstripes.com

MEDICAL FAIR ASIA '15-18 Sep 2010

2010-08-04T11:33:00.000-07:00

ASIA'S LEADING AND MOST COMPREHENSIVE HEALTH CARE SHOWCASE!

8th International Exhibition on Hospital, Diagnostic, Pharmaceutical, Medical and Rehabilitation Equipment and Supplies. The exhibition will open its doors at Suntec Singapore from 15 to 17 September 2010. MEDICAL FAIR ASIA is one of Asia’s most successful events on medical and health care, attracting more than 400 exhibiting companies from 30 countries including national groups and pavilions from Australia , Austria , China , France , Germany , India , Japan , South Korea , Singapore and Taiwan . The exhibition will showcase latest solutions to the region’s healthcare providers, highlights include surgical robot, host of diagnostic, electromedical, and consumable solutions.

Singapore will play host to Messe Duesseldorf Asia's premier medical and health care platform for the 8th time. MEDICAL FAIR ASIA will provide vital access for companies penetrating both the Asian markets. The changing demographics in terms of declines in fertility, longer life expectancy and the aging population will have an enormous impact on the need for better healthcare. Where medical tourism is concerned, many of the healthcare institutions are in need of new equipment, solutions and better initiatives to serve the medical and healthcare needs.
MEDICAL FAIR ASIA will present to the region the best in the business for hospital, diagnostic, pharmaceutical, medical and rehabilitation equipment and supplies. It will serve as a platform for medical suppliers, industry professionals, government bodies, hospital administrators, doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals.

Join us in bringing global healthcare technologies to one of the most dynamic regions in the world.

Exhibition Hours
10.00am to 6.00pm, 15 to 17 September 2010

Admission
Admits all involved in medical and health care by registration only.

Admission is FREE.

More information can be found at www.medicalfair-asia.com