Martin Cid's Blog: Martin Cid Magazine, page 1087

Outlander season 2 has acquired 5,000 new shoes!

Outlander season 2 is coming. Yes! The American-British historical drama TV series, based on the novel series of critically-acclaimed author Diana Gabaldon, will premiere on Starz on April 9, 2016. Are you excited? For sure!

Outlander season 2. Sam Heughan as Jamie Fraser and Caitriona Balfe as Claire

There are talks that Claire Fraser/Claire Randall (Caitriona Balfe) will get the opportunity to go back to her own time and meet her first husband, Frank (Tobias Menzies) again. However now, their relationship will be complicated because Claire is in love with Jamie (Sam Heughan) and any time travel can change a true love.

Anyway and while we see Claire and Frank together, we can enjoy the luxurious atmosphere of the Court of Louis XV in Paris and Versailles. Remember that Starz has just released some of the key art for Outlander season 2 and it showed Jamie and Claire in Paris dressing their parts. Do you like them?

One of the photos shows Claire in ‘The Red Dress,’ which was a familiar chapter in the second book in the series titled Dragonfly in Amber by Gabaldon. Beautiful!

Terry Dresbach, the costume designer for Outlander, confirmed that she got herself a great task with the upcoming season: 6,500 hangers were used in proofs! Also, Dresbach insisted that the costumes for Season 2 are completely different from season 1. They recreated the fashion of the 18th century France, one of the most well-documented periods of fashion in the world!

Furthermore, Outlander season 2 also acquired another 5,000 shoes! I cannot wait to see Sam Heughan and Caitriona Balfe again! And you? Tell us your opinion now!

Enjoy your day, Yareah friends. Art is everywhere and up to you!

Outlander season 2 rocks! Take a look at this video!

**Outlander is an American-British television drama series based on the historical time travel Outlander series of novels by Diana Gabaldon. Developed by Ronald D. Moore and produced by Sony Pictures Television and Left Bank Pictures for Starz.

What do you expect from Outlander season 2?

Portraits of Castro, Pinochet and Brezhnev by Leon Golub at the National Portrait Gallery in London

Striking portraits of some of the twentieth century’s most powerful leaders including Castro, Pinochet and Brezhnev by the American artist Leon Golub are to go on display at the National Portrait Gallery on 18 March, it was announced today (Monday 14 March.) They are being shown for the first time in the United Kingdom.

Fidel Castro I by Leon Golub, 1977. Ulrich Meyer and Harriet Horwitz Meyer Collection. Photograph by Michael Tropea, Chicago

With four portraits of the Spanish general Francisco Franco at different stages of his life and including one of him ‘in casket’ following his death, the display comprises 18 portraits of 13 men in a variety of positions of power. These range from politicians such as Henry Kissinger, John Foster Dulles, Valery Giscard D’Estaing and Michael Foot to revolutionaries such as the AlgerianHouari Boumediene and American mayor and police chief Frank Rizzo.

Leon Golub Powerplay: The Political Portraits (18 March – 25 September 2016) will focus on the artist’s political portraits from the 1970s. Comprising paintings of heads of state, corporate, military and religious figures, derived from their media representations, the display explores the evolution of the masquerade of power in the artist’s pictorial language.

Best known for his large-scale paintings of mercenaries, interrogations, torture and riots, Leon Golub (1922-2004) explored the effects of power upon the body through not only facial expression, but also gesture and dress, investing his dramatic scenes with psychological tension and depth. His source material came from the mass media – showing how power is imaged through the camera lens – a process which he saw as serving political, military or social interests.

Leon Golub said of these portraits in 1982: ‘I think of the political portraits as skins or rubber masks – realistic, but expressionless. They are empty, non-existent – lacking bone or sinew. With a Renaissance portrait we see an individual who is a political reality possessing agency. My portraits depict people who, if they act at all, do it irrationally, irregularly – puppets on a string even if they claim to be running the show’.

The display is curated by Professor Jon Bird, Middlesex University, in association with Paul Moorhouse, Senior Curator of Twentieth-Century Collections, National Portrait Gallery, London.

Dr Nicholas Cullinan, Director of the National Portrait Gallery, London, says: ‘We are pleased to be able to show for the first time in Britain the Political Portraits of the great American artist Leon Golub, a great addition to the Gallery’s Interventions series focusing on themes of representation in twentieth-century portraiture.’

Professor Jon Bird, Middlesex University, curator of Leon Golub Powerplay: The Political Portraits, says: ‘Golub’s portraits vividly display the ways in which the figures in the public gaze pose for the camera, encouraging us, the viewers, to project our own fantasies and anxieties of power and authority upon them.’

Paul Moorhouse, Senior Curator of Twentieth-Century Collections, at the National Portrait Gallery, London, says:

‘Among the twentieth century’s leading artists, Leon Golub’s interrogation of power is the most penetrating. We are delighted to be showing his Political Portraits. These are fascinating paintings that expose the face of political leadership to that very revealing, critical gaze.’

Born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1922, Leon Golub received his B.A. in Art History from the University of Chicago in 1942. From 1943 to 1946 Golub served as a cartographer for the US Army Engineers stationed in Europe in the Second World War and from 1947 to 1949 he studied, under the G.I. Bill, at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, where he met the artist Nancy Spero, to whom he was married for nearly fifty years. Golub died in New York City in 2004.

Selected solo exhibitions of Golub’s work have been presented at the Serpentine Gallery, London, England (2015); Museo Tamayo, Mexico City, Mexico (2015); the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia, Palacio de Velásquez, Madrid, Spain (2011); The Drawing Center, New York NY (2010); The Brooklyn Museum of Art, New York NY (2001); The Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin, Ireland (2000); Ulmer Museum, Ulm, Germany (1993); Museum of Fine Arts, Boston MA (1984); Institute of Contemporary Art, London, England (1982); Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago IL (1974); among others. In 2002, Golub’s work was included in Documenta XI in Kassel, Germany.

He received numerous awards, including the Ford Foundation Grant (1960), the Cassandra Foundation Grant (1967), the Guggenheim Foundation Grant (1968), American Academy of Arts and Letters, the National Institute of Arts and Letters (1973), the Skowhegan Medal for Painting (1988), and Honorary Doctorates from several art schools and universities. In 1995, Golub and Nancy Spero were jointly awarded the 3rd Hiroshima Art Prize.

Leon Golub Powerplay: The Political Portraits is the latest display in the Gallery’s Interventions series, a programme of special twentieth century displays that focuses on unconventional approaches to portraiture by important, internationally recognised artists. Since 2006, the displays in this series have featured artists who have explored alternative means of representing a sitter, including Francis Bacon, Anthony Caro, Jack Smith and Andy Warhol.

Leon Golub Powerplay: The Political Portraits is made possible with support from Hauser & Wirth, and with additional support from Middlesex University.

TV Shows Today, March 14: The Bachelor, Supergirl, Blindspot

We’re back and we have three great telelvision shows today. First, we recommend the series The Bachelor. 8:00 pm on ABC. From Wikipedia: The Bachelor is an American reality television dating game show that debuted on March 25, 2002, on ABC. The show is hosted by Chris Harrison

Our second choice is for Supergirl. Today’s episode: Falling. Season 1. Episode 16. 8:00 pm. CBS.

And our last recommendation is for Blindspot. Today: Erase Weary Youth. Season 1. Episode 13. 10:01 pm. NBC.

We hope you enjoy the shows. Have a very nice day, dear friends.

TV Shows Today, March 14 Video: The Bachelor Ben Higgins – Finale Promo

Birthdays Today, March 14: Stephen Curry, Albert Einstein, Ansel Elgort

Well, he is bvreaking all the records with the Golden State Warriors this season. He is absolutely great, fantastic… he’s Stephen Curry and he is our Top#1 Famous Birthdays Today, March 14. From Yareah, we wish him and his family all the best in this special day. Congrats and happy birthday, Stephen Curry!

Famous Birthdays Today, March 14: Stephen Curry of Golden State Warriors. Source: flickr. Author: Keith Allison

Every time I rise up, I have confidence that I’m going to make it.

Stephen Curry

I’m not the guy who’s afraid of failure. I like to take risks, take the big shot and all that.

Stephen Curry

Moree famous birthdays today, March 14: Albert Einstein, famous scientist born in Germany in 1879; and Ansel Elgort, actor born in New York City in 1994.

Have a very nice day dear friends.

Insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.

Albert Einstein

You can’t blame gravity for falling in love.

Albert Einstein

Birthdays Today, March 14 Video: Stephen Curry Full Highlights 2016.03.12 vs Suns – 35 Pts, 7 Threes, 15 Pts in 4th Quarter!

Sunday Poerty with Gypsy Woman, Jenean C. Gilstrap. Today: the leaving of the green

Sunday Poerty with Gypsy Woman, Jenean C. Gilstrap. Today: the leaving of the green. Photo Jenean C. Gilstrap

THE LEAVING OF THE GREEN – For many, the month of March celebrates Irish heritage and culture.  During the time of the French Huguenot Revolution,  my paternal ancestors, the Gaillards [of the Chateau Gaillard south of Paris], fled France for Ireland [and Scotland], making their new life in County Antrim.  There, for many years, they lived  with other family, including the McTaggarts and Rowans, until the great famine forced them to leave their homes once again – this time for the eastern shores of the United States.

 

The family of my grandmother [shown in image], several generations back, were part of that mass movement from France and then from Ireland.  The poem below tells the story of their leaving Ireland, the land of the green, for the United States.

 

the leaving of the green

from islands and highlands

from shores of emerald green

from mountains high with rushing streams

they came to live their life-long dreams

leaving behind the place of their birth

traveling here in a third class berth

they brought with them the crest of their clans

from the lovely lands where it all began

danced their jigs and told their tales of yore

of life and love on those far shores

here they lived and here they died

for a better life they truly tried

and so it is that their own offspring

now long for kilgary and dancin’ the fling

yearn to return to the home of their hearts

to live their dreams right from the start

on islands and highlands

and shores of emerald green

~

Vikings season 4. Who is Loki, the naughty god of Norse mythology?

Vikings season 4 is thrilling! Every episode surprises us and one of the most exciting characters is Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard), who helps and betrays Ragnar (Travis Fimmel), and is always smart but absolutely “peculiar.” Anyway, he is the guardian of Norse traditions as well as able to survive any danger and punishment. Is he Loki, the naughty god of Norse mythology?

Floki (Gustaf Skarsgard). Vikings TV show

Loki, the same as Floki, sometimes assists the gods and sometimes behaves in a malicious manner towards them. He is also smart and has a deep relation with the marine world. In fact, Loki is a shape shifter and in separate incidents he appears in the form of a salmon, a mare or a seal.

Difficult god as Floki has a difficult behavior. Nobody knows his fate but we enjoy his adventures.

Once, Gabriel Turville-Petre comments (1964) that “more ink has been spilled on Loki than on any other figure in Norse myth. This, in itself, is enough to show how little scholars agree, and how far we are from understanding him.”

What do you expect from Floki in the upcoming episodes? Is he Loki? Tell us your opinion now!

Enjoy your day, Yareah friends. Art is everywhere and up to you! Vikings TV show rocks! Don’t you think so?

Who is Loki? Who is Floki? Take a look at this video!

**Vikings TV show is inspired by the sagas of Ragnar Lothbrok, one of the best-known legendary Norse heroes and infamous for the scourge of England and France. The show is an Irish-Canadian historical drama television series written and created by Michael Hirst for the TV channel History. Filmed in Ireland, it premiered on 3 March 2013 in Canada and the United States. On March 26, 2015, History renewed Vikings for an extended fourth season of 20 episodes, which premiered on February 18, 2016.

The dynamic tradition of narrative art among Native nations from the Great Plains at NMAI

Unbound: Narrative Art of the Plainsreflects the dynamic tradition of narrative art among Native nations from the Great Plains. The exhibition traces the evolution of the art form from historic hides, muslins, and ledger books to more than 50 contemporary works commissioned by the museum. Illustrating everything from war deeds and ceremonial events to notions of modernity and identity, the selected artworks are as diverse as the individuals who created them.

Narrative art among Native nations. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (26/8817)

Beginning in the 18th century, Plains narrative art took shape through various media, such as painted deerskin war shirts and buffalo robes. During the 19th century, as trade broadened, artists created elaborate battle scenes on large canvas tipi liners and used muslin cloth, as well as hides, to record winter counts, some documenting more than 100 years of history. When ledger books became available, artists filled their pages with narrative drawings. Native artists began reviving “ledger art” in the 1970s, creating a vibrant art form that takes on contemporary topics, uses a variety of media, and is widely collected.

Curated by Emil Her Many Horses (Oglala Lakota), Unbound features historic masterworks from the museum’s collections by fourteen artists—11 of them known by name—including: Long Soldier (Lakota/Nakota), Mountain Chief (Blackfeet), Bear’s Heart (Southern Cheyenne), Zo-tom (Kiowa), Black Chicken (Yanktonnai), Canté-wani′ća/No Heart (Yanktonai), Chief Washakie (Shoshone), Spotted Tail (Crow), Old Buffalo (Lakota/Nakota), Rain In The Face (Lakota), and Ćehu′pa/Jaw (Hunkpapa Lakota).

The exhibition also unveils new works commissioned by the museum exclusively for Unbound by Dr. Ronald Burgess (Comanche), Sherman Chaddlesone (Kiowa), David Dragonfly (Pikuni), Lauren Good Day Giago(Arikara/Hidatsa/Blackfeet/ Plains Cree), Darryl Growing Thunder (Assiniboine/Sioux), Juanita Growing Thunder Fogarty (Assiniboine/Sioux),Terrance Guardipee (Blackfeet), Vanessa Jennings (Kiowa/Pima), Dallin Maybee (Arapaho), Chester Medicine Crow (Apsáalooke [Crow]), Chris Pappan (Kaw Nation/Osage/Cheyenne River Sioux), Joe Pulliam (Lakota), Martin E. Red Bear (Oglala Lakota), Norman Frank Sheridan (Southern Cheyenne/Arapaho), Dwayne Wilcox (Oglala/Lakota), Jim Yellowhawk(Cheyenne River Lakota).

Generous support for the project is provided by Ameriprise Financial.

**Photo details: Lauren Good Day Giago (Sahnish [Arikara]/Minitari [Hidatsa]/Niitsitapii [Blackfoot/Blackfeet]/Plains Cree), A Warrior’s Story, Honoring Grandpa Blue Bird, 2012. Muslin, wool cloth, dye, brass, cotton thread, brass beads, satin ribbon, imitation sinew. Purchase made possible by Devon Hutchins. Photo by R.A. Whiteside, NMAI. (26/8817).

Birthdays Today, March 13: Leigh-Allyn Baker, Jordyn Jones, Kaya Scodelario, Common

Well,,first of all, have a very good Sunday and… our Top#1 Famous Birthdays Today, March 13 is for the actress who played the role as Ellen on Will & Grace. She is Leigh-Allyn Baker, she was born in Murray in 1972 and, from Yareah, we wish her and her family all the best in this special day. Congrats and happy birthday, Leigh-Allyn Baker!

Famous Birthdays Today, March 13: Leigh-Allyn Baker at Disney Channels new Original Movie “Bad Hair Day,” starring Laura Marano (Austin & Ally) and Leigh-Allyn Baker (Good Luck Charlie, The 7D) premiere event red carpet at Walt Disney Studios.. Source: flickr. Author: Red Carpet Report on Mingle Media TV

Our traditions have been waking up on Christmas morning and feasting on a southern breakfast. I’m from the South. We eat grits and biscuits and gravy and eggs with Ritz crackers and country ham, bacon, you name it.

Leigh-Allyn Baker

Even though I would love a little girl for me, personally, I love being a mom to boys.

Leigh-Allyn Baker

More famous birthdays today, March 13: Jordyn Jones, dancer born in California in 2000; Kaya Scodelario, ffy Stonem on the E4 series Skins; and Common, rapper and actor who starred on the series Hell on Wheels, born in Illinois in 1972.

Happy birthday to all of them. Have a very nice day, dear friends.

Famous Birthdays Today, March 13 Video: Leigh-Allyn Baker at Disney Channel’s Good Luck Charlie Season IV Press Day @L_A_Baker

Game of Thrones season 6. What we can see on the official trailer?

Game of Thrones season 6 is thrilling! Cersei Lannister chooses violence and she has Ser Robert Strong aka Mountain-stein on her side. Also, her brother Jamie has just returned with Myrcella’s corps, “Everything they’ve taken from us we’re going to take back, and more,” he promises. Then, Lancel and his Sparrows are on risk! Even when it seems that Queen Margaery Tyrell joins the Faith Militant to free herself.

Game of Thrones (HBO)

Once again, it’s not clear Jon Snow’s death. Melisandre can try to resurrect Jon Snow and there’s a high chance that Sansa Stark reaches Castle Black. What will happen with this family now? Arya is blind but Bran Stark meets the Night’s King! Interesting! Because this means that we will get to know more details about the Night’s King and the White Walkers.

And how about Ned Stark? Is he back? Definitely, we are going to see some flashbacks. In fact, we are going to see the Tower of Joy flashback. This is important as it will give us information about Jon Snow’s parents.

In Game of Thrones season 5 things weren’t looking good in Meereen because the Sons of the Harpy nearly managed to kill Daenerys and her dragons. In the trailer we can see a really sad Queen and Tyrion having a tough time trying to contain the Sons of the Harpy. Too dangerous sects!

What do you expect from Game of Thrones season 6? Tell us your opinion now!

Game of Thrones season 6. Official trailer.

** Season 6 of Game of Thrones was formally commissioned by HBO on 8 April 2014, following a substantial increase in audience figures between the third and fourth seasons. The season premieres on April 24, 2016. The season consists of ten episodes which began filming in late July 2015 and concluded on December 17, 2015.

Enjoy your day, Yareah friends. Art is everywhere and up to you!

Enjoy the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction

Enjoy the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. Sotheby’s Hong Kong Spring Sales on 5 April 2016.

De Beers Millennium Jewel 4

Sotheby’s Hong Kong is honoured to present the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’, a rare and superb Oval Internally Flawless Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond weighing 10.10 carats – the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction (Estimate HK$235 – 280 million / US$30 – 35 million), at the Magnificent Jewels and Jadeite Spring Sale on 5 April 2016. Offered for sale from an Asian private collection, ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’ is the only oval-shaped stone among the twelve rare diamonds – eleven blue and one colourless – that form the world-renowned De Beers Millennium Jewels collection unveiled by De Beers in 2000 in celebration of the millennium. Each of the eleven blue diamonds in the collection boasts a combination of colour intensity, even saturation and brilliance that are rivalled by few other stones.

The ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’ will be exhibited in New York, London (15 March) and Geneva (16 March) on an international itinerary, and in Singapore (13 – 14 March), Taipei (19 – 20 March) and Hong Kong (1 – 4 April) in Asia before going under the hammer on 5 April at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre.

QUEK Chin Yeow, Deputy Chairman, Asia, and Chairman International Jewellery, Asia, said, “Over the years Sotheby’s has had the honour to bring to the market many important coloured diamonds, including the Blue Moon of Josephine that set the world auction record for any diamond last November. The market for coloured diamonds has gone from strength to strength and this spring we are thrilled to present the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 4’, the largest oval fancy vivid blue diamond ever to appear at auction. Fifteen years ago I had the great opportunity of seeing this magnificent stone for the first time and it is an absolute delight now to have it in one’s hand, to admire it again and to offer it for auction in Asia. This beautiful blue stone combining Nature’s rare beauty, superlative colour, unusual shape and illustrious provenance offers yet another wonderful collecting opportunity for connoisseurs worldwide.”

“To be able to unveil not only one diamond but a collection of such rarity that most of us will not see its like again is, I think, the only adequate way to mark the passage of 2000 years of man’s history.” Harry Oppenheimer, Former Chairman of De Beers, on the “De Beers Millennium Jewels.”

DE BEERS MILLENNIUM JEWELS: A ONCE-IN-A-MILLENNIUM EXPERIENCE.

To celebrate the millennium in 2000, De Beers, together with The Steinmetz Group, showcased an exceptional collection of rare and valuable diamonds, namely the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewels’, in a specially designed exhibit at London’s Millennium Dome. Assembled over decades, the collection consisted of the 203.04-carat colourless diamond ‘Millennium Star’ and eleven phenomenal blue diamonds (pictured right) of various shapes and sizes, totalling 118 carats, all expertly cut and polished. Nine out of the eleven blue diamonds have been graded by the GIA as of Fancy Vivid colour, the highest possible colour grading for coloured diamonds, and two of Fancy Intense colour. All of them originate from the Cullinan Mine in South Africa and each was specially inscribed with a De Beers Millennium number using a proprietary branding technique. Since their initial appearance at the Millennium Exhibition in 2000, only one of these diamonds have ever come into the open market, when Sotheby’s Hong Kong sold the ‘De Beers Millennium Jewel 11’, a 5.16-carat Internally Flawless Pear-shaped Fancy Vivid Blue Diamond, in April 2010.

BLUE DIAMONDS.

Extremely rare and highly coveted in history for its captivating blue sparkle, blue diamonds owe their colour to impurities of boron during the stone’s formation, and many are naturally modified with a grey secondary tone, or an uneven saturation with areas of colourless windowing. Blue diamonds make up much less than 0.1 percent of all diamonds recovered at the Cullinan mine, and to discover one annually of quality and size is an extremely unusual occurrence. Very few stones have the intensity or even saturation as these Millennium blue diamonds and it is this combination of colour, saturation and brilliance that make them truly miracles of Nature.