Alexandre Benois, by Leon Bakst

Ballet

I am forwarding the News mostly unadorned, except for the above painting of Alexandre Benois, by Ballets Russes artist Leon Bakst.  Ballet was born in Italy.  It moved to France.  Louis XIV, the Sun-King, was a dancer.  And it reached what may be its culmination in Russia:  the Kirov, in St Petersburg, and the Bolshoi, in Moscow.  However, Sergei Diaghilev‘s Ballets Russes, an itinerant company based in Paris, spread the love of ballet to several countries, the US, etc. and several artists contributed to its success: Leon Bakst, Alexandre Benois (set and costume designers).  Its most famous choreographers were Marius Petipa (French) and Michel Fokine (Russian) and it starred the legendary Vaslav Nijinsky among other superb dancers.  It provided composer Igor Stravinsky with several commissions.

Le Chevalier de Saint-George

Joseph Bo(u)logne, Chevalier de Saint-George

There is confusion concerning the spelling of Saint-George’s name.  It seems that here George does not require an ‘s’, which is how George is written in English.  However, Joseph’s name is often spelled the way the French spell Georges, with a final ‘s’.  Saint George was/is a location.  Originally, Saint-George(s)’s name was Joseph Bologne.

To my knowledge, the recording featured in a post entitled Comments & the News: 14 September 2012 is one of the finest interpretations of Saint-George’s Violin Concerto, Op. 5, No.2 (Largo).  It is performed by violinist Jean-Jacques Kantorow and the Orchestre de Chambre Bernard Thomas.

Interestingly, while browsing, I somehow entered the British Museum and saw the picture featured in Le Chevalier de Saint-George: the Black Mozart.  That picture is attributed to George IV himself.

President Barack Hussein Obama: posts I reblogged

I reblogged two posts.  The United States has lost four fine citizens under tragic circumstances, but retaliation does not seem advisable.  If at all possible, the US should never again wage war in the Near-East or the Middle-East, or elsewhere.  America and people all over the world mourn the loss of these four lives and the US will cooperate with officials in the Near-East to find their assassins.  Using diplomacy is the better approach.  Besides, can the US afford another war?  Despite its billionaires, the United States is currently rather poor.

Mr Romney and Mr Ryan may be thinking that President Obama lacks “resolve,” but I heard that word in September 2001.  Where did “resolve” get the United States?  More lives were lost and the cost of those wars remains to be paid.  The time has come for people in the Near-East or the Middle-East to stop burning the American flag.

And yes, President Obama is the President of the United States of America.  He has faced considerable obstructionism on the part of extremists in the Republican Party: Tea Party members.  He must now be allowed to help the citizens of his country.  Why should little me in Canada be looked after without paying atrocious amounts of money to see a doctor or buy medication?  I pay my taxes.

It has become abundantly clear that the Romney-Ryan team’s main objective is to be supported by a shrinking middle-class and the poor.  The very wealthy hide their money in offshore accounts and ship too many jobs abroad where products are manufactured at a lesser cost.  They (the very wealthy) are saving money, but you aren’t.  Arithmetic was never my best subject, but it would not surprise me to learn that the price you pay for products manufactured elsewhere is the price you would pay for products manufactured in the United States.  You save on products made elsewhere when there is a sale.

The Concept of Nationhood

Rich people who want tax cuts have yet to understand the concept of nationhood.  The US has not recovered from the financial difficulties created by a former administration, a Republican administration, and Republicans do not want to pay their fair share of taxes.  So who will pay the debt, a Republican administration?  Beware.  “Fool me once, shame on you.  Fool me twice, shame on me.”  Why should Americans seek a new President when it has the best it can have?  The next face to grace Mount Rushmore should not be President Reagan‘s face, it should be Franklin Delano Roosevelt‘s, a gentleman who cared for the people.  President Obama is walking in his footsteps.

The News