The Whole World is Jewish

Searching for Its Identity

"The whole world is Jewish, searching for its identity". This is a quote I overheard the other day.

A better phrasing would be: "The whole world wants to be Jewish, desiring unconditional love from God".

I've noticed this behavior in people who spend an inordinate amount of time on the Jews, either loving them or hating them.

The only thing I can come up with is that they want the same attention that God has promised to the Jews be given to them.

Yet, it is simple. He already has, and always will. It is a matter of belief, that’s all.

---

Ethiopia's Ancient Legacy

Ethiopian Paintings Remind Us of What is Important

St. George and the Virgin Mary with the Infant Christ, 17th century

(Click image to see a bigger version)

The Washington Post's recent article "Ethiopia gripped by fear of regime" is slowly uncovering the atrocities of the current Ethiopian government.

Finally, the paper has alluded to its international and American readers that this is a type of ethnic vendetta against the Amhara.

There is also a more insidious activity going on. My observations have been that the current leader Zenawi, a former communist and quite likely atheist and a Tigrean, is infiltrating the country with Muslims, promoting them into high-level positions such as judges and ministers.

He seems also to be skirting around Muslim countries like Yemen, as though aligning himself with the Arab Muslims of the region.

I’m not sure what his long-term goals are. But, I would argue that he is attempting to annihilate the centuries-long leading and ruling Amhara tribe which is staunchly Christian and probably one of the few Western allies that could be established in the region.

By placing all his bets on vendetta, Zenawi is courting disaster. This might ( I would even say will) lead to severe repercussions for his Tigre people. After all, it was the short sighted visions of his predecessors which continually undermined their people in favor of antagonism with the Amhara – and the Ethiopian people at large – that led to one of the worst famines of the continent in the 1980s. Most, if no all, that were affected came from Zenawi’s Tigre region.

Here is a beautiful 17th century rendition of Mary, the infant Jesus and St George, to show that the lasting legacy of the Amhara, as leaders and protectors of the Ethiopians, is of faith, beauty and peace.

---

Daffodils

William Wordsworth's Ode

It is still feels like winter here, there are no leaves


on the trees and the air has the iciness that the


strong winds bring. Yet, the days are getting longer


and we have peaks at the flowers of spring to come.

I wander'd lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the Milky Way, They stretch'd in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed—and gazed—but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

---

Strong Female Character

Depicting the Virgin Mary

Director Catherine Hardwicke has been chosen to direct Nativity, a new film about Mary and Joseph before the birth of Christ.

Hardwicke was chosen because she could tell the story of Mary from a "strong female perspective".

The last film from a "strong female perspective" that Hardwicke directed was Thirteen. About an out of control teen-age thief and social misfit, living with an alcoholic single mother who has a drug-addict as a boyfriend.

Let us be the judges on this one!

---

Addendum to Donne

A Play on Words

I just wanted to add that Donne's poem below has a subtle and very personal meaning.

Donne's lines:

When thou hast done, thou hast not done

is a play on the verb "to do" and Donne himself. God still has not Donne's, the poet's, renunciation and abstinence from sin, and thus has not done, accomplished His task.

Finally, through Christ, as in the lines

that at my death thy Son


Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore;


And, having done that, thou hast done;

God finally has done his task, and also has Donne.

---

Contemplation of Sin during Lent

John Donne's A Hymn to God the Father

Wilt thou forgive that sin where I begun, Which was my sin, though it were done before? Wilt thou forgive that sin, through which I run, And do run still, though still I do deplore? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more. Wilt thou forgive that sin which I have won Others to sin, and made my sin their door? Wilt thou forgive that sin which I did shun A year or two, but wallow'd in, a score? When thou hast done, thou hast not done, For I have more. I have a sin of fear, that when I have spun My last thread, I shall perish on the shore; But swear by thyself, that at my death thy Son Shall shine as he shines now, and heretofore; And, having done that, thou hast done; I fear no more.

---

Enduring Music

Not a Case of Classical vs. Nonclassical

During a recent discussion about what are “valid” musical forms, I thought the best way to answer this was by describing what I’ve listened to over the years.

So, here it is!

There was a time in college when I used to listen to reggae. And Bach. But now, I never listen to reggae, and frequently listen to Bach. That must be telling.

I think it means that reggae music doesn’t have what it takes to keep me interested over the years that Bach does. I can still find new passages, and like different passages in the same Bach pieces (the violin concertos in this example) than I no longer do in Bob Marely’s “Exodus” – which I find overplayed now.

I’ve bought pop music for a specific song. But hardly go through the whole CD.

The last non-classical CD I bought is a compilation of Jacques Brel songs, who is the European version of Leonard Cohen – who I really don’t like (sorry for LC fans.) But Brel, who is Belge, has an incredible sense of poetry, and some of his pieces could be small musical/operettas especially his song “Madeleine”. He’s a classic…

Oh yes, I just bought Kate Bush CDs, her very early works. She’s not really poppy, but more modern-classical/opera, if such a term existed.

And talking about popular opera, I suppose Kurt Weil’s “Little Threepenny Opera”, would fit that bill, which I think the secondary opera singer Julia Migenes does a great job singing.

So, I guess I like operatic pop songs, if not cabaret stylized ones.

These pop songs certainly have that quality, that I still kind of listen to:
The latest from INXS – “Afterglow”. Oasis’ “Morning glory”. Also a Canadian group called The Tea Party (a kind of more operatic U2!). And earlier a Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the bridge”. Santana’s “Black Magic Woman”. Canadian musicians Hawksley Workman’s “I’m jealous of your cigarette” and Rufus Wainwright’s whole album “Rufus Wainwright”. John Coltrane’s “My favorite things”. And the Doors!

Non classical music that, I must say, I love are the Beatles and David Bowie. Both I think are modern classics. I still listen to the Beatles over the years. Bowie is harder because he’s up and down, but his 90s works are all good (I don’t know much about his “Glam rock” days). I think the early Kate Bush – “Lion Heart” and “Kick Inside” – are also classics.

I find that bluegrass music is my most recent discovery. It sounds like a very intricate Bach riff. It sounds also partly improvised, which I think is quite amazing.

Some CDs I bought recently:

Mozart’s Horn Concertos


Albeniz’s “Asturias” and “Granados” (for piano)


Vaughn Williams’ “The Lark Ascending”


Kate Bushe’s “Lion Heart” and “Kick Inside”


Jacques Brel - compilation Vol. 1 - which includes the beautiful "Le Plat Pays", and "Madeleine"!


Dolly Parton’s “The Grass is Blue”

On my last bus trip to Ottawa I took:

Kodaly’s Solo Cello Sonata Op 8, and Duo for Violin and Cello Op. 7


Faure’s and Durufle’s Requiems


And Bach’s Violin Conertos (for two and single violins).

So, the only thing I can say about my “taste” is that I find some music has kept me interested over the years. And that I keep finding new things in them all the time.

Others, and this is usually pop music (Madonna is a great example), I find I listen to certain songs when they came out, but I never go back to them.

It doesn’t really seem to be classical vs. non-classical as much as how the music is put together, how interesting it is, and if I return to it even after one year. That is what I call enduring music. The others seem to me to be just pleasant “pop”.

---

Creating out of Nothing

Amy Adams' Ashley

One of the intriguing things about acting is how much of an imagined script can an actor or actress put to life?

Reese Witherspoon won best actress award at the Oscars for depicting June Carter, the wife of Johnny Cash. And Philip Seymour Hoffman was awarded best actor as he put Truman Capote back to life.

Hoffmann apparently watched hours and hours of Capote footage in order to personify him. Which he did to an uncanny degree.

Reese Witherspoon did the same for her role, watching footage and videos to get her "Junisms" just right, as well as learning to sing in Junes "tilting inflections".

But a quiet little movie called Junebug lost out on Best Actress Oscar. Based on a Southern boy who returns home from Chicago with his new wife, it has a ring of truth to it because the screen writer himself is from North Carolina. But the young actress, Amy Adams grew up in Colorado.

Yet, Amy was able to build this character just from the magic of the screen play to show us a fully formed, slightly otherworldly, but totally believable Ashley.

Now, who is worth of an Oscar, someone who creates a character out of nothing, or someone who assiduously studies a live one and just portrays him?

---

Oscar Looks Back

The New Lana Turner?


The art-deco, film noir, epic movies theme of the 2006 Oscars was really a bit of a mishmash, but still, some of the actresses pulled off beautiful dresses with beautiful jewellery.

What struck me was how much Charlize Theron resembles Lana Turner, whom I'd recently watched in The Postman Always Rings Twice(1946), and The Bad and the Beautiful (1952).

Lana Turner, nonetheless, has the confidence and maturity despite her age (when she filmed The Postman Always Rings Twice she was only 25) which Theron, who is now 30, lacks.

Theron may play the role of a female serial killer, or a working-class feminist. Yet I wonder if she can play a smouldering opportunist who manages to get a reasonably honest guy (despite being a bit of a drifter) to commit a murder with her, and still look beautiful.

One gets the feeling, though, that Lana Turner went into her role in The Postman Always Rings Twice understanding the full implications of the character's evil intentions and actions.

Theron, on the other hand, along with the director of the film, pitied and tried to "understand" the female serial killer in Monster.

Lana's mature acting far surpasses Theron's childish excuses.

---

Beauty in the Alleyways

Albert Franck's Toronto Scenes

Sunday Morning

Here is a lovely Albert Franck scene of the back alleys of Toronto. Although this one was painted in 1965, I see exactly the same scene in today's Toronto.

For a northern city, which is associated with drab weather and even drabber colors, these town houses and alleyways exemplify the colorful and haphazard Toronto that is really underneath it all.

Talking of snow, almost all of Franck's paintings are done in the nostalgic light and colors of deep winter.

And, yes, we do get to miss it when it isn't there!

---