Thursday, July 31, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Sunflowers Blossom In Bosnia
Sunflowers blossom as sunshine appears after a week of rains and low temperatures in the Bosnian town of Visoko, 28 July 2008. (AP)
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Sunday, July 27, 2008
Children Playing On A Slide - Baghdad
Children play on a slide in the park at Abu Nawas street during sunset in Baghdad, 25 July 2008. (Reuters)
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Saturday, July 26, 2008
Khalil Gibran - Resting Place
Each and every one of us, dear Mary,
must have a resting place somewhere.
The resting place of my soul is a beautiful grove
where my knowledge of you lives.
~ From Khalil Gibran's letter to Mary Haskell - 8 November 1908
must have a resting place somewhere.
The resting place of my soul is a beautiful grove
where my knowledge of you lives.
~ From Khalil Gibran's letter to Mary Haskell - 8 November 1908
Friday, July 25, 2008
Majidah El-Roumi - Beiteddin Festival
Lebanese singer Majidah
El-Roumi smiles during an interview with Reuters at her home in Kfarshima, east of Beirut, 13 July 2008.
Majidah El-Roumi, a singer renowned across the Arab world, will perform on 09 August during the festival at Beiteddin.
The festival at Beiteddin, in the Shouf hills southeast of Beirut, began in 1985 at the height of Lebanon's 1975-90 civil war - years when the glories of Baalbek's venerable festival were a distant memory and its brooding Roman ruins lay silent.
The casually dressed audience at Beiteddin were glad of a chance to escape, if only briefly, from the political tensions and eruptions of violence that beset their tiny country.
For El-Roumi the revival of Beiteddin and the other festivals proves Lebanon's resilience.
"The Lebanese people have a fighter's will. They don't surrender to death," she said in the lush garden of her family's home at Kfarshima, overlooking Beirut airport.
"The will to live is stronger than death, happiness is stronger than sadness, and peace is stronger than war."
Nevertheless, organizers still faced tough decisions before going ahead with the 2008 festivals, all planned while Lebanon was gripped by a paralyzing political crisis which degenerated briefly into street fighting that killed 80 people in May. (Reuters)
Thursday, July 24, 2008
Flamenco Girl
Flamenco Girl
Inside a family Casita at Sevilla's La Feria (spring fair), this lithesome young teen dances to the music flowing from within her - not for show, she was alone - but because the inherited, centuries old rhythms are inside her, longing to escape. ~ Frank Thompson
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Khalil Gibran & Mary Haskell
Portrait Of Mary Haskell
by Khalil Gibran
Click here or on image to enlarge
• Each and every one of us, dear Mary, must have a resting place somewhere. The resting place of my soul is a beautiful grove where my knowledge of you lives.
(Khalil Gibran's letter 8th November 1908)
• The most wonderful thing, Mary, is that you and I are always walking together, hand in hand, in a strangely beautiful world, unknown to other people. We both stretch one hand to receive from Life - and Life is generous indeed.
(Khalil Gibran's letter 22nd October 1912)
• Sometimes you have not even begun to speak - and I am at the end of what you are saying.
(Khalil Gibran from Mary Haskell's Journal 28th July 1917)
• That deepest thing, that recognition, that knowledge, that sense of kinship began the first time I saw you, and it is the same now - only a thousand times deeper and tenderer. I shall love you to eternity. I loved you long before we met in this flesh. I knew that when I first saw you. It was destiny. We are together like this and nothing can shake us apart.
(Khalil Gibran from Mary Haskell's Journal 12th March 1922)
• The relation between you and me is the most beautiful thing in my life. It is the most wonderful thing that I have known in any life. It is eternal.
(Khalil Gibran from Mary Haskell's Journal 11th September 1922)
• Source: Beloved Prophet: The Love Letters of Kahlil Gibran and Mary Haskell and Her Private Journal - Edited by Virginia Hilu
Monday, July 21, 2008
Shakira - Concert For Peace
Colombian singer Shakira performs during a 'Concert For Peace', as part of the Independence Day celebrations in Leticia, Colombia, 20 July 2008.
The concert was dedicated to those who are still held hostage by FARC (the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia), demanding their release. Shakira's
t-shirt reads in Spanish 'United and Free'. (AP)
Native daughter Shakira performed after singing
the national anthem at
a military parade presided over by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe, with the presidents of Brazil and
Peru attending.
"Today is a historic day.
We unite, unite our voices in a single shout: Liberty!" Shakira said. Uribe said 120,000 musicians were taking the stage in cities and villages across Colombia. (AP)
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Laura Coleman - Miss England 2008
Miss Derby, Laura Coleman, is crowned Miss England during the Miss England 2008 final in London, 18 July 2008. The 22-year-old, blue-eyed blonde will represent England in the Miss World pageant to be held in Kiev, Ukraine. (AP)
Saturday, July 19, 2008
Sappho - A Monodrama
Sappho At Leucadia
by Antoine-Jean Gros (1771-1835)
Click here or on image to enlarge
Sappho
A Monodrama
by Robert Southey
(1774-1843)
Argument:
To leap from the promontory of LEUCADIA was believed by the Greeks to be a remedy for hopeless love, if the self-devoted victim escaped with life. Artemisia lost her life in the dangerous experiment: and Sappho is said thus to have perished, in attempting to cure her passion for Phaon.
SAPPHO
(Scene the promontory of Leucadia)
This is the spot:--'tis here Tradition says
That hopeless Love from this high towering rock
Leaps headlong to Oblivion or to Death.
Oh 'tis a giddy height! my dizzy head
Swims at the precipice--'tis death to fall!
Lie still, thou coward heart! this is no time
To shake with thy strong throbs the frame convuls'd.
To die,--to be at rest--oh pleasant thought!
Perchance to leap and live; the soul all still,
And the wild tempest of the passions husht
In one deep calm; the heart, no more diseas'd
By the quick ague fits of hope and fear,
Quietly cold!
Presiding Powers look down!
In vain to you I pour'd my earnest prayers,
In vain I sung your praises: chiefly thou
VENUS! ungrateful Goddess, whom my lyre
Hymn'd with such full devotion! Lesbian groves,
Witness how often at the languid hour
Of summer twilight, to the melting song
Ye gave your choral echoes! Grecian Maids
Who hear with downcast look and flushing cheek
That lay of love bear witness! and ye Youths,
Who hang enraptur'd on the empassion'd strain
Gazing with eloquent eye, even till the heart
Sinks in the deep delirium! and ye too
Shall witness, unborn Ages! to that song
Of warmest zeal; ah witness ye, how hard,
Her fate who hymn'd the votive hymn in vain!
Ungrateful Goddess! I have hung my lute
In yonder holy pile: my hand no more
Shall wake the melodies that fail'd to move
The heart of Phaon--yet when Rumour tells
How from Leucadia Sappho hurl'd her down
A self-devoted victim--he may melt
Too late in pity, obstinate to love.
Oh haunt his midnight dreams, black NEMESIS!
Whom, self-conceiving in the inmost depths
Of CHAOS, blackest NIGHT long-labouring bore,
When the stern DESTINIES, her elder brood.
And shapeless DEATH, from that more monstrous birth
Leapt shuddering! haunt his slumbers, Nemesis,
Scorch with the fires of Phlegethon his heart,
Till helpless, hopeless, heaven-abandon'd wretch
He too shall seek beneath the unfathom'd deep
To hide him from thy fury.
How the sea
Far distant glitters as the sun-beams smile,
And gayly wanton o'er its heaving breast
Phoebus shines forth, nor wears one cloud to mourn
His votary's sorrows! God of Day shine on--
By Man despis'd, forsaken by the Gods,
I supplicate no more.
How many a day,
O pleasant Lesbos! in thy secret streams
Delighted have I plung'd, from the hot sun
Screen'd by the o'er-arching groves delightful shade,
And pillowed on the waters: now the waves
Shall chill me to repose.
Tremendous height!
Scarce to the brink will these rebellious limbs
Support me. Hark! how the rude deep below
Roars round the rugged base, as if it called
Its long-reluctant victim! I will come.
One leap, and all is over! The deep rest
Of Death, or tranquil Apathy's dead calm
Welcome alike to me. Away vain fears!
Phaon is cold, and why should Sappho live?
Phaon is cold, or with some fairer one--
Thought worse than death!
(She throws herself from the precipice.)
Friday, July 18, 2008
Mohammad Abdoh - Jeddah Summer Festival
Saudi Arabian singer Mohammad Abdoh salutes the crowds during his preformance at the Jeddah Summer Festival, 17 July 2008. (AFP)
Click here or on image to enlarge
Saudi fans try to reach Saudi Arabian singer Mohammad Abdoh
during preformance at Jeddah Summer Festival, 17 July 2008. (AFP)
Click here or on image to enlarge
US Olympic Stamp
An Olympic stamp issued by the U.S. on display during the launching ceremony of Volume 3 of the "Official Worldwide Postage Stamp Collection for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad" in Beijing, 15 July 2008. (Reuters) | Click here or on image to enlarge
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
First Stone Laid For Louvre's Islamic Art Gallery
Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal (foreground L) shakes hands with French president Nicolas Sarkozy (2ndR) in front of the first stone of the Louvre museum's future Islamic art department in Paris, 16 July 2008, during the ceremony marking the launch of the works. At the background, L-R, Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal's wife, princess Ameera, spiritual leader of the Shia Imami Ismaili Muslims the Aga Khan and French Culture minister Christine Albanel. (AFP)
Dayana Mendoza - Miss Universe 2008
Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela poses for photographers after winning the crown in Nha Trang, central Vietnam, 14 July 2008. (Agencies)
Miss Universe 2008 Dayana Mendoza of Venezuela poses for photographers at the Diamond Bay Resort in Nha Trang, central Vietnam, 15 July 2008, the morning after winning the crown. (AP)
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
The Daughter of Herodias
Salome Dancing before Herod (1876)
by Gustave Moreau
Click here or on image to enlarge
from
The Daughter of Herodias
by Arthur O'Shaughnessy
Read by
Classic Poetry Aloud
Her long black hair danced round her like a snake
Allured to each charmed movement she did make;
Her voice came strangely sweet;
She sang: "O, Herod, wilt thou look on me -
Have I no beauty thy heart cares to see?"
And what her voice did sing her dancing feet
Seemed ever to repeat.
She sang: "O, Herod, wilt thou look on me?
What sweet I have, I have it all for thee".
And through the dance and song
She freed and floated on the air her arms
Above dim veils that hid her bosom's charms:
The passion of her singing was so strong
It drew all hearts along.
Her sweet arms were unfolded on the air,
They seemed like floating flowers the most fair -
White lilies the most choice;
And in the gradual bending of her hand
There lurked a grace that no man could withstand;
Yea, none knew whether hands, or feet, or voice,
Most made his heart rejoice.
Monday, July 14, 2008
New Yorker Cover Angers Obama
This illustration provided by
The New Yorker magazine,
the cover of the magazine's
July 21, 2008 issue by artist
Barry Blitt, shows Democratic
presidential candidate Barack
Obama dressed as a Muslim
and his wife as a terrorist.
The couple - standing in the
Oval Office - is doing a fist tap
in front of a fireplace in which
an American flag is burning.
Over the mantel hangs a
portrait of Osama Bin Laden.
The magazine says the cover
is meant to satirize the use
of scare tactics and
misinformation in the
presidential election to derail
Obama's campaign, but
Obama's campaign called it
"tasteless and offensive". (AP)
Dafina Grozdanovska - Traditional Galicnik Wedding
Dafina Grozdanovska, a 25 year-old bride, looks through a ring
towards the groom during a traditional Galicnik Wedding in the
village of Galicnik, Macedonia, 13 July 2008. (AP)
towards the groom during a traditional Galicnik Wedding in the
village of Galicnik, Macedonia, 13 July 2008. (AP)
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Blighting White
Blighting White
by Maha Noor Elahi
Dressed in white...
Silent white...dreary white;
A writer in mourning.
Stifled by white;
A pen in defiance
Of a hand's yearning...
Of a mind's vapor.
None...blank...nothing...
Cursed white...
Haunting a loveless psyche
Whose pages used to shine
With lust's black splendor
And love's raging thunder.
None...blank...nothing...
Blighting white...
Arranging...adorning
Inspiration's coffin.
July 11, 2008
Copyright © Maha Noor Elahi
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Haifa & Ruweida - Sea Of Stars
Emirati singer Ruweida
Al-Mahruqi performs during an exclusive Sea of Stars gala dinner at a five-star beach hotel in the northern Lebanese port of Byblos, late 08 July 2008. (AFP)
Lebanese singer Haifa Wehbe performs during an exclusive Sea of Stars gala dinner at a five-star beach hotel in the northern Lebanese port of Byblos, late 08 July 2008. (AFP)
Thursday, July 10, 2008
Wednesday, July 9, 2008
Charlize Theron - Moscow
South African actress Charlize Theron arrives for the opening of the Moscow Film Festival where she is promoting her new movie 'Hancock' in Moscow,
19 June 2008. (Reuters)
Ascot Race Goers 2008
Race goers wear ornate hats on the first day of the annual Royal Ascot horse race meeting at Ascot, England, 17June 2008. (AP)
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Aline Khalaf - The Joy Of My Eyes
Lebanese singer Aline Khalaf lies on a boat during the filming of her new video 'Farhat Ainaiyah' (The Joy of My Eyes) in Rumieh, eastern Beirut, 03 July 2008. (AFP) | Click here or on image to enlarge
Monday, July 7, 2008
Umm Kulthoum - The Fourth Pyramid
Umm Kulthoum at the Pyramids.
(Photo by Antoune Albert)
Installed in a temporary building usually set aside as a performance space or to host visiting trade shows, the Institut du monde arabe's current exhibition on the life of Umm Kulthoum is an opportunity for those already familiar with the Egyptian singer's career to renew their acquaintance with the work of a performer who became something of a legend even in her own lifetime.
However, the Paris exhibition, entitled "Oum Kalsoum" in the French fashion, is also a fine opportunity for those not so familiar to learn something about the life of a woman whose career, running from the 1920s through to the 1970s, took her from occasional private performances in the houses of pashas to public spectacles in which she came close to incarnating the Egyptian and possibly also the Arab nation...
• Umm Kulthoum, the fourth pyramid by David Tresilian
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Soad Hosni - Saleh Badrah
A Haiku
by Saleh Badrah
Written:
05 Jul 2008
Soad Hosni
Your spry Springtime song
springs from the eternal spring
of timeless beauty.
Cyd Charisse - Stephen B Whatley
Cyd Charisse
(1921-2008)
by Stephen B Whatley
Stephen B Whatley painted this tribute to legendary Hollywood dancer and actress Cyd Charisse, who died 17 June 2008, in Los Angeles, CA, USA, inspired by a signed photograph that Cyd Charisse sent him in 1986 - and it was one of 24 iconic portrait tributes, celebrating the classic ladies of the silver screen, at his 1993 London exhibition, Hollywood Gold. 1992-93, Oil on canvas, 24 x 18in
Soad Hosni
A Haiku
by Saleh Badrah
Written:
05 Jul 2008
Soad Hosni
Your spry Springtime song
springs from the eternal spring
of timeless beauty.
Born To Dance
Cyd Charisse (1921-2008)
Click here or on image to enlarge
She stood tall and erect, with a posture full of grace and pride. She would then make a move, like a goddess ready to quit her pedestal. With her body slightly curving backward, her superb long legs would start the magic of her dance.
She was unique, in Hollywood and elsewhere. Her hair fell in black cascades along her lovely cheeks. Her vermillion lips gleamed in red splendour, and her midnight eyes glittered with the light of a million stars. Her marble body, perfect in its roundness, lustrous and voluptuous, made Venus blush, yet behind this fiery statuesque charm she was every inch a lady. There was nothing improper, nothing unrefined, nothing offensive about Cyd Charisse...
• Born to dance by Lubna Abdel-Aziz