Clair de Lune

Ferrari 458 Italia

2011-03-24T01:35:00.000-07:00

Boasting a new 4.5-liter V8 engine, a seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox and a 202-mph top speed, Ferrari 458 Italia is ferociously fast, with Ferrari claiming that it sprints to 62 mph in less than 3.5 seconds. Ferrari has clearly worked to produce an engine with a tremendous range of abilities, from record-setting specific outputs to enough torque to surge away from low engine speeds. Ferrari learned much developing the seven-speed dual-clutch gearbox for the California, and it has had to learn more to make the unit fit into the 458 Italia's engine bay, behind the curvaceous hatch.

The 458 Italia was designed by Pininfarina, it is heavily influenced by lessons learned in the on-site, half-scale F1 wind tunnel. Ferrari even moved one of its key F1 aero specialists across to the GT program to get it right. The little winglets owe more than a visual link to F1, because they provide downforce and feed air through the lay-down radiators ahead of the front wheels. It's designed with enormous tumblehome, so the air curves around the cabin and runs over the integrated rear tail, while underneath, a flat floor enhances the effects of the rear diffuser to create 140 kg of downforce at 124 mph. Inside, the 458 Italia takes the opportunity created by the more luxurious California to become the sportiest V8 in the family.

The 458 Italia is built alongside the California on the air-conditioned, "upstairs" new production facility at Maranello, leaving the traditional Ferrari production line for the V12-powered cars, such as the 599 Fiorano and the 612 Scaglietti.

McIntosh AP1 - iPhone/iPad App

2011-03-10T21:46:00.000-08:00

McIntosh Labs has introduced the AP1 AUDIO PLAYER - the first digital product from the legendary audio experts. The AP1 offers iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch owners the ability to listen to and playback music from their digital mobile device within the classic McIntosh experience. Featuring the signature blue meters, the AP1 gives the user access to his or her audio library in a simple yet elegant interface inspired by the line of McIntosh audio equipment. Take the McIntosh experience with you wherever you may travel - or enjoy it in the comfort of your living room attached to a dock or cable. Wherever you may be, you’ll enjoy the soothing confidence of the analog blue meters and the glow of the Legend.

Click here to see iTunes preview.

Meridien Sooloos Media Core 200

2011-03-10T21:41:00.000-08:00

Meridian keeps slimming down the original Sooloos system not only reducing the price but also its footprint. The Media Core 200 looks like a slightly puffed Mac Mini sat on its side, and requires only an iPad to complete the system, though it can also be connected to the company’s Control 10 or 15 touchscreens.

Media Core 200 contains a 500GB hard drive, storing around 1,000 CD albums in pristine lossless quality for graphical and touch-screen access via the award-winning Sooloos interface.

Click to learn more about Sooloos Media Core 200.

A way to link to a specific part of a youtube video

2011-03-09T13:52:00.000-08:00

YouTube allows you to link to a starting point within a YouTube video. Now you can jump to time segmentcut. Click here to try it.

Multiple email addresses for one Gmail Account

2011-03-09T13:46:00.000-08:00

I’m a huge fan of Google’s online applications: GMail, Google Reader, etc. One little known feature of GMail which I find myself using over and over again is the ability to add extra metadata to my gmail email address to let me know where the email came from.

Let’s say that I have a gmail address: sean@gmail.com

Now if I am signing up for a newsletter at XYZ Corp. I can register with the email address sean+xyz@gmail.com You can put in any extra alphanumeric information after the plus sign and it still gets delivered to sean@gmail.com. Furthermore you can apply a filter in Gmail to process the email a certain way based on the email address that you signed you for (sean+xyz@gmail.com).

One handy use of this feature is to track where emails are coming from so if you started to get spammed for instance you will know which address was passed onto a third party.

Source: Sean Deasy (http://www.seandeasy.com/)

Beethoven’s Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 - Tempest, Mvt. III (Allegreto) by Wilhelm Kempff

2011-03-09T04:06:00.001-08:00

Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 17 in D minor, Op. 31, No. 2 was composed in 1801/02 by Ludwig van Beethoven. It is usually referred to as "The Tempest" (or Der Sturm in German), but this title was not given by him, or indeed referred to as such during his lifetime; instead, it comes from a claim by his associate Anton Schindler that the sonata was inspired by the Shakespeare play. However, much of Schindler's information is distrusted by classical music scholars. Renowned British music scholar, Donald Francis Tovey, in his authoritative book A Companion to Beethoven's Pianoforte Sonatas, states that "With all the tragic power of its first movement the D minor Sonata is, like Prospero, almost as far beyond tragedy as it is beyond mere foul weather. It will do you no harm to think of Miranda at bars 31-38 of the slow movement... but people who want to identify Ariel and Caliban and the castaways, good and villainous, may as well confine their attention to the exploits of Scarlet Pimpernel when the Eroica or the C minor Symphony is being played" (pg. 121).

The piece consists of three movements and takes approximately twenty-five minutes to perform:
I. Largo - Allegro
II. Adagio
III. Allegreto
*Click above links to listen (via YouTube) / Click here to play all.

Wilhelm Walter Friedrich Kempff (25 November 1895 – 23 May 1991) was a German pianist and composer. Although his repertory included Bach, Liszt, Chopin, Schumann, and Brahms, Kempff was particularly well-known for his interpretations of the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert, both of whose complete sonatas he also recorded. He is considered to have been one of the great pianists of the 20th century.
As a performer he stressed lyricism, charm, and spontaneity in music, particularly effective in intimate pieces or passages. He always strove for a singing, lyrical quality. He avoided extreme tempos and display for its own sake. He left recordings of most of his repertory, including the complete sonatas of Beethoven and Schubert. He performed to an advanced age, often concertizing past his eightieth birthday. He appeared in 1979 with the Berlin Philharmonic, marking an association with them that spanned over sixty years.

The Goldberg Variations - J. S. Bach

2011-03-09T04:05:00.000-08:00

The Goldberg Variations - J. S. Bach
The Goldberg Variations, BWV 988, are a set of an aria and 30 variations for harpsichord by Johann Sebastian Bach. First published in 1741, the work is considered to be one of the most important examples of variation form. The Variations are named after Johann Gottlieb Goldberg, who may have been the first performer.
Pianist - Glen Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (September 25, 1932 – October 4, 1982) was a Canadian pianist who became one of the best-known and most celebrated classical pianists of the 20th century. He was particularly renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard music of Johann Sebastian Bach. His playing was distinguished by a remarkable technical proficiency and a capacity to articulate the polyphonic texture of Bach’s music.

Gould rejected most of the standard Romantic piano literature and shunned the performance of several of its composers such as Franz Liszt, Robert Schumann, and Frédéric Chopin. Although his recordings were dominated by Bach, Gould's oeuvre was diverse, including works by Beethoven, Mozart, Haydn, Brahms, pre-Baroque composers such as Jan Sweelinck, and 20th-century composers such as Paul Hindemith and Arnold Schoenberg. Gould was well-known for various eccentricities, ranging from his unorthodox musical interpretations and mannerisms at the keyboard, to aspects of his lifestyle and personal behavior. He abandoned the concert platform at the age of 31 to concentrate on studio recording and other projects.

Gould was also known as a writer, composer, conductor, and broadcaster. He was a prolific contributor to musical journals, in which he discussed musical theory and outlined his musical philosophy. His career as a composer was less distinguished; his output was minimal and many projects were left unfinished. There is evidence that, if he had lived beyond the age of 50, he intended to abandon the piano, and devote the remainder of his career to conducting and other projects. As a broadcaster, Gould was prolific. His output ranged from television and radio broadcasts of studio performances to musique concrète radio documentaries about life in the Canadian wilderness.
Shortly before his death in 1982, Gould re-recorded (He recorded Bach's Goldberg Variations in 1955, which was his debut album.) was Bach's The Goldberg Variations in 1955)the Goldberg Variations digitally and in stereo in the Columbia 30th Street Studio in New York City. He largely abandoned the showmanship of the 1955 performance and replaced it with a more introspective interpretation that included more calculated phrasing and ornamentation. For the 1981 version, Gould sought to unify the variations differently, through his choices of tempi: he played more of the repeats, and endeavoured to express proportional rhythmic relations between the variations. Arriving within a year of his death, the 1981 recording is popularly recognized as "autumnal", a symbolic testament to Gould's career.

In 2002, Sony issued a three-compact-disc collection titled A State of Wonder: The Complete Goldberg Variations 1955 & 1981. It includes the 1955 and 1981 Goldberg recordings (the latter remastered from analogue tapes), and a third disc with 1955 studio outtakes and a lengthy interview with Gould documentarian and music critic Tim Page.
*Click each part to play its group.
Part I
- Aria
- Variation 1
- Variation 2
- Variation 3: Canon on the Unison
- Variation 4
- Variation 5
- Variation 6: Canon on the Second
- Variation 7: Al tempo di Giga
Part II
- Variation 8
- Variation 9: Canon on the Third
- Variation 10: Fughetta
- Variation 11
- Variation 12: Canon on the Fourth
- Variation 13
- Variation 14
Part III
- Variation 15: Canon on the Fifth
- Variation 16: Ouverture
- Variation 17
- Variation 18: Canon on the Sixth
Part IV
- Variation 19
- Variation 20
- Variation 21: Canon on the Seventh
- Variation 22: Alla Breve
- Variation 23
- Variation 24: Canon on the Octave
Part V
- Variation 25
- Variation 26
- Variation 27: Canon on the Ninth
- Variation 28
Part VI
- Variation 29
- Variation 30: Quodlibet
- Aria da capo
- Epilogue
Click here to play all parts.

2011-03-06T01:44:00.000-08:00

Ascenseur pour l'échafaud is an album by jazz musician Miles Davis. It was recorded at Le Poste Parisien Studio in Paris on December 4 and 5, 1957. The album features the musical cues for the 1958 Louis Malle film Ascenseur pour l’Échafaud.

Jazz Track, an album that contains ten songs from this soundtrack, received a 1960 Grammy nomination for Best Jazz Performance, Solo or Small Group.

Générique – 2:48
L'Assassinat De Carala – 2:09
Sur L'Autoroute – 2:17
Julien Dans L'Ascenseur – 2:09
Florence Sur Les Champs-Élysées – 2:50
Dîner Au Motel – 3:57
Évasion De Julien – 0:51
Visite Du Vigile – 2:03
Au Bar Du Petit Bac – 2:52
Chez Le Photographe Du Motel – 3:54

A Bonus Track (from Soundtrack Album) : Nuit Sur Les Champs-Élysées

Kind of Blue - Miles Davis

2011-03-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Kind of Blue was both a radical stylistic experiment and an album that virtually founded a new musical style - called modalism - but it also marked the beginning of the end of the genre’s mass popularity. It’s a manifesto, a meeting of musical minds, and it’s moved millions of copies to remain the bestselling jazz record of all time. Miles Davis’ “Kind of Blue,” released in August 1959, featured what might be the finest group in jazz history.
*Click here to redirect to the video and song postings.

Some of my all-time favorite live recordings of Miles Davis

2011-03-04T03:35:00.001-08:00

The Complete Live at the Plugged Nickel 1965 (left) / Black Beauty: Miles Davis at Fillmore West, 1973 (right)

Walkin’: from Complete Live At Plugged Nickel 1965 - listen
Masqualero: from Black Beauty Live At Fillmore Wast 1973 - listen

Click here to view the original posting: Tumblr

A Dream Within A Dream - Edgar Allan Poe

2011-02-04T20:18:00.001-08:00

Take this kiss upon the brow!
And, in parting from you now,
Thus much let me avow-
You are not wrong, who deem
That my days have been a dream;

Yet if hope has flown away
In a night, or in a day,
In a vision, or in none,
Is it therefore the less gone?
All that we see or seem
Is but a dream within a dream.

I stand amid the roar
Of a surf-tormented shore,
And I hold within my hand
Grains of the golden sand-
How few! yet how they creep
Through my fingers to the deep,

While I weep- while I weep!
O God! can I not grasp
Them with a tighter clasp?
O God! can I not save
One from the pitiless wave?
Is all that we see or seem
But a dream within a dream?

The Empire of Light, René Magritte, 1953

2010-12-13T00:28:00.000-08:00

False Mirror (1928), René Magritte, Museum of Modern Art, New York

2010-12-13T00:23:00.000-08:00

Serge Gainsbourg - L'Anamour

2010-11-29T03:18:00.000-08:00

L'anamour de Serge gainsbourg
Aucun Boeing sur mon transit
Aucun bateau sur mon transat
Je cherche en vain la porte exacte
Je cherche en vain le mot exit
Je chante pour les transistors
Ce récit de l'étrange histoire
De tes anamours transitoires
De Belle au Bois Dormant qui dort
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés
De l'anamour
Tu sais ces photos de de l'Asie
Que j'ai prises à deux cents Asa
Maintenant que tu n'es pas là
Leurs couleurs vives ont pâli
J'ai cru entendre les hélices
D'un quadrimoteur mais hélas
C'est un ventilateur qui passe
Au ciel du poste de police
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés
De l'anamour
Je t'aime et je crains
De m'égarer
Et je sème des grains
De pavot sur les pavés
De l'anamour

La leçon particulière - Scène de ski

2010-11-29T03:07:00.000-08:00

La leçon particulière - Scène de conduite Miura

2010-11-29T02:58:00.001-08:00

Teenage student Olivier (Verley) meets 25 year-old Frédérique (Delon), wife of race car driver Enrico (Hossein), and start an affair. But guilt and doubt storm over Olivier's mind.

Film release ... 1968
Michel Boisrond ... Director
Nathalie Delon ... Frederique Dampierre
Renaud Verley... Olivier Fermond
Robert Hossein... Enrico Fontana
Bernard Le Coq... Jean-Pierre
Katia Christine... Christine
Martine Sarcey... The Mother
Nicole Desailly... La concierge Car : Lamborghini miura

Tout Ma Vie (The Story of My Life) The Best Short Film Ever

2010-11-06T01:00:00.000-07:00

Alessandra is walking in the city when she is hailed by a man she doesn't recognize. Even though he keeps telling her about important moments of her life, his face remains totally unknown to her...

Tout Ma Vie, Short film, 6 minutes, 35mm
Directed by Pierre Ferriere
Caterina Murino
Vincent Desagnat

Breathtaking photos of Liliroze

2010-10-29T18:15:00.000-07:00

Breathtaking photos of www.liliroze.com [thx @StellaPrime] /via @lascasartoris

Something beyond sexy - Photographs of Liliroze

2010-09-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

Carla Bley - Lawns (from the album Sextet 1986)

2010-09-17T20:19:00.001-07:00

Jennifer Steinkamp, Mike Kelley, 2007, multimedia installation, courtesy

2010-09-17T20:11:00.000-07:00

Animated tree by Jennifer Steinkamp. This mesmerizing tree twists and sways in an undetected wind as it grows and sheds leaves and flowers

Freud's intimate portrait of his friend Bacon sold for £5.4m

2010-09-08T15:31:00.000-07:00

A rarely seen oil portrait of the artist Francis Bacon, painted by his friend Lucian Freud, has been sold for £5.4m. The work, which offers an intimate glimpse into the collaborative friendship of two giants of post-war art, is one of only two oil portraits of Bacon painted by Freud and the last remaining: the second was stolen from an exhibition in Berlin in 1988.

The portrait, estimated to sell for between £5m to £7m at Christie's auction house in London, was painted in 1956 and shows the artist with a downward gaze. Bacon, who sat knee-to-knee with Freud while he worked on the painting, is said to have "grumbled but sat consistently" during the first six months of sitting, according to Christie's. It is thought Bacon left suddenly, most likely to pursue his lover, Peter Lacy, in Tangiers.

Although it remained unfinished, art critics agree it offers a snapshot into the working methods of the younger artist at a critical point of his development; Freud had begun to work in a more expansive way, using thicker brushstrokes, liberating the paint and creating a more worked complexion, more seasoned and full of life.

The portrait was part of Christie's sale of post-war and contemporary art and it was sold for £5.4 million.

Graham Sutherland, a mutual friend and artist, introduced Freud to Bacon in 1945, inviting them to his house. They formed a close friendship and saw much of one another in the following years.

Bacon had a great influence on the younger Freud and is often credited with liberating his style and fuelling his desire to depict human life. In the early 1950s, the artists sat for each other; Bacon's first portrait of Freud came in 1951, and many others followed. Freud painted Bacon just twice.

Source: The Independent, via Arifa Akbar, arts correspondent, Monday, 20 October 2008

A self-portrait of Lucian Freud sold for £2,841,250 (U$ 4 million) - Sotheby's

2010-09-08T15:08:00.000-07:00

A self-portrait of Lucian Freud nursing a black eye after a punch-up with a taxi driver sold for more than £2.8 million. Sotheby's described the rediscovered oil on canvas Self-Portrait With A Black Eye, painted in 1978, as 'the artist's most important self-depiction ever to appear at auction'. The auctioneer revealed the painting sold for £2,841,250. (U$4 million) This was under the estimate of £3 million to £4 million.

In the picture, Freud, aged almost 60 at the time, is shown sporting a swollen left eye, as the result of a row between the artist and a taxi driver, during which Freud was struck in the face.

Francis Bacon’s Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror

2010-09-08T14:57:00.000-07:00

Francis Bacon’s Study of Nude with Figure in a Mirror, 1969, a rare full-length portrait of the artist’s close friend Henrietta Moraes, which achieved Ј19,956,500 ($39,779,291) selling to a European private collector bidding on the telephone. This remarkable price follows last year’s record $52,680,000 (Ј26,581,895) for the artist at auction, achieved for Study From Innocent X at Sotheby’s New York in May 2007.

Soft Machine (with Allan Holdsworth) Montreal Jazz Festival 1974

2010-09-07T03:00:00.001-07:00