segunda-feira, 30 de abril de 2012

''CHRISTOPHER ONDAATJE'S SEVEN WONDERS''


The funder of the Ondaatje prize, awarded to the book that best evokes a spirit of place, picks the highlights of his well-travelled world ... 
After growing up in Ceylon and England, Christopher Ondaatje moved to Toronto and flourished as a stockbroker. He branched out into publishing, exploring and writing, and represented Canada in the Winter Olympics in the bobsleigh. He now funds the Ondaatje prize, awarded by the Royal Society of Literature to the book that best evokes the spirit of a place. 
London.jpgVIEW Uluru, Australia
Nothing is as wonderful as the first sighting of the magnificent red mass of Uluru, or Ayers Rock, in the middle of the outback. It’s higher than the Eiffel Tower or the Chrysler Building, measures over five miles around, and extends a mile and a half down into the ground—only a third of it is visible. You can walk to the top, which takes about two hours, but I didn’t do it because I was with some Aboriginal guides and they didn’t want me to because of the songlines. They believe it’s a sacred rock, and made a deal that it wouldn’t be climbed by tourists—but people do climb it. I spent several hours walking around it and exploring the caves and the rock art. It is a massive, rugged structure—the Alps are feminine by comparison.
BEACH Weligama Bay, Sri Lanka
The tiny fishing village of Weligama is south of Galle on the south-east coast of Sri Lanka. A broad, semi-circular, sandy beach curves around Weligama Bay, dotted with rocky outcrops and bending coconut palms. Taprobane Island, once owned by the Count de Mauny, lies just off the beach, and you can walk across to it. When we were children we used to stay there often with our parents. At low tide we could wade across to the beach, but when the tide was high the water was above our necks and we’d have to be carried across by the servants. It was a wonderful life before we left for England in 1947. Weligama was badly hit by the tsunami, but it has recovered now and it’s beautiful and much the same as it was.........

''giraffe women''


Did you know that Zoóide means having a form of animal or a part of an animal?

Generally, it is said of the living being that has the shape of animal or animals in which characters predominate. Could we call the woman zoóide giraffe?The transformations in the body are cultural and reflect what the most original and peculiar to each society. Are notable bodily transformations that they undergo the African Congo, for example.Through scaling of objects in the cartilage of the nose, ear lobes and lips, especially, they radically distort the shape of their original features creating huge holes, stretches overblown.
Another method is a very common type of burn that creates a texture on the skin full of rashes. These African practices are absolutely cultural purposes, with meaningful rituals.Another eloquent example of this cultural manifestation through the body is practiced by the "Giraffe Women" of Ghana, which increase the length of the neck with the use of metal collars ...In Asia, some women also "exert traction" (deform) around the neck promoting a stretch of up to 25 cm, which became known as the giraffe-women.
Ethnic Kayan traditionally wrap their necks in metallic rings (forming a spiral-shaped collar) placed since childhood.

According to the folklore of their tribes, arrived in central Myanmar around 2000 years, originating from the Gobi Desert - Mongolia today.Today, the last 12 of the Kayan villages are located in Kayah state, between the capital Loikau and Lake Inle called peaceful landscapes, famous for its fishermen paddling with the foot ...Already knew women-giraffes in Africa, but the origin of this habit in Asia has several interp
retations legendary:
- The collar would have been a punishment for adulterous women of yesteryear;- A protection for farmers against the tigers that attacked the throat to drink your blood while working in the fields;- The men would have done it with their wives to make them ugly, not let them be kidnapped or, rather, ornamenting them that way to show their wealth and to be respected;- The collar surprised the nats - supernatural forces for which the Burmese animist (who worship nature) and even build Buddhist shrines under large trees - the nats good send good vibes from the sky, while the bad meddle in earthly affairs;
- Also one of the explanations is that, for padaungs, the soul is the center of the neck. So, to protect the soul and identity of the tribe, women protect the neck rings, between five and 25, each with 8.5 mm diameter, old gold, and today, copper or brass.

''HORNS OF PLENTY''



Rhinoceros horn was more precious than gold in the 16th century, and only the most skilled artisans carved it. Fiammetta Rocco, the Books and Artseditor of The Economist, describes the first-ever auction entirely devoted to rhinoceros-horn carvings ...


Rhinoceros-horn carvingsHunting for rhinoceros in the 16th century was quite a business. There were no sporting rifles or telescopic sights. Instead the animals, short-sighted and short-fused, were trapped in holes in the forests of Java, Sumatra and India and killed with sticks.
Still, it was worth the effort. Rhinos were thought to be related to the unicorn, and their amber-hued horn was believed to crack or change colour if it came into contact with poison. This made rhinoceros horn much sought after for drinking cups. The raw material was more costly than gold, and only the finest carvers were commissioned to work on it.
Many cups have been ground down over time for the supposed medicinal properties of the horn, but about 4,000 survive. Most are in museums in France, Britain and Israel, as well as Ireland, where the Chester Beatty Library in Dublin has probably the most beautiful collection in the world.....

''ABBA''


Hoje em dia as vendas do grupo já se aproximam de 400 milhões de cópias mundialmente, o que faz do ABBA o quarto maior vendedor de discos da história.Além disso, a Indústria Fonográfica Mundial (IFPI) estima que a banda ainda venda de 2 a 3 milhões de discos por ano, o que faz do ABBA a banda inativa que mais fatura nos dias de hoje. Mesmo o ABBA não sendo tão popular como nos anos 70,eles continuam tendo o titulo de maior banda POP de todos os tempos

''Whitney Elizabeth Houston''


Whitney Elizabeth Houston (Newark, August 9, 1963 - Los Angeles, FEBRUARY 11, 2012) was an American singer of R & B, pop, gospel, and actress emodelo. Whitney Houston was the most awarded artist of all time, according oGuinness World Records, and his list of awards include two Emmy Awards, Awards seisGrammy thirty Billboard Music Awards, 22 American Music Awards, in a total of 415 awards won in his career by 2010. Houston was also one of the most successful artists of the music world, having sold over 200 million copies worldwide.Inspired by several prominent soul singers in his family, including her mother, Cissy Houston, Dionne Warwick and her cousins ​​Dee Dee Warwick and her godmother, Aretha Franklin, Houston began singing with the junior gospel choir of the church of New Jersey to 11 years of age. After she began working alongside his mother in nightclubs in New York City, she was discovered by Clive Davis, manager of Arista Records. So far, Houston has released six studio albums and three soundtrack albums, all certified diamond, multiplatinum, platinum and gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
Their selftitled debut album, released in 1985, became the biggest selling debut album by a female artist with 25 million copies comercializadas.Seu second album, Whitney (1987), became the first album by a female artist First debut on the Billboard 200.Whitney has achieved great successes in the popular music charts as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with his video How Will I Know, allowed several african-American female artists to follow their success.

Houston's first role in cinema was in the movie The Bodyguard (1992), which was a huge success as a protagonist. The original soundtrack of the film won the Album of the Year Grammy1994 His first single, I Will Always Love You, became the most sold by a female artist in music history. The album is one of the only female artist in the top five best sellers of all time, ranking fourth. Houston continued to star in films and contributed to the soundtrack of the same, including the films Waiting to Exhale (1995) and The Preacher's Wife (1996)
Three years after the release of their fourth album, My Love Is Your Love (1998), Whitney renewed her contract with Arista Records Records.Ela released their fifth studio album, Just Whitney, in 2002, and the Christmas album with the title One Wish: The Holiday Album in 2003. Amid widespread media coverage of his personal and professional turmoil, Houston finished his 14-year marriage to singer Bobby Brown in 2006. In 2009, Houston released his seventh and last studio album, I Look to You
Whitney was recognized internationally as one of the greatest artists of all time, due to his talent, legacy, and especially to his distinctive voice and legendary. Thanks to this remarkable vocal talent, Whitney was often called The Voice (Voice). Whitney is often compared to great artists of the past, such as Frank Sinatra, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley and is also among the Top 500 artists of all time in Rolling Stone.
Whitney died on February 11, 2012. The award of the Institute of Criminology in Los Angeles said that Whitney Houston's death was accidental. The singer drowned in the bathtub, but according to experts, two other factors contributed to her death: a disease in the arteries of the heart and traces of cocaine were found during the autopsy.