Snapshot of last week

Hola todos! I came back from the Amazons (Leticia and Amacayacu in Colombia) yesterday late afternoon and i have to say the whole thing was one of the most amazing experiences of my life - the grandness of the place, the life and fertility of the jungle, the natives, it was really amazing. we saw dolphins and monkeys and parrots and unfortunately no anacondas or pumas or snakes - only that they are around! We went for walks into the forest (not the jungle yet - we would have had to go very deep to get into the jungle) , climbed up trees up to 35 m high and i was so scared because fo the height and i was shaking and it was especially bad on the way down because at one stage we had to use a flying fox across a large stretch at 30 m height and another time we had to rappel down the rope the whole 35 m. Omg i acted like such a chicken - during this whole time the natives or people who were helping out kept telling me 'tranquilo' meaning relax - so now i know that word! Our english speaking guide was very good and we definitely have to get him when we go back - which i assume you will have to come with next time. It is so amazing. we went swimming in the amazon river with dolphins and piranhas all around us!! very cool. the air was pure and the kids were so cute.

I will write more later. I have to go now but it was wonderful, amazing and grand. Oh I also popped over to Peru and Brazil while I was there :-)

chao for now!

The legend of Sari Gelin

Oh wow, so I had an interesting chat with my Turkish-Armenian friend :-) She said the song Sari Gelin is Turkish though there are Armenian versions. It is a love song about an Armenian girl and is based on a 300 year old legend:
A Turkish Muslim sees a very pretty Armenian girl and he falls in love with her and starts to follow her around. But he is Turkish and a Muslim - she is Armenian and Christian... and their families don't want them to marry each other. The lovers end up running away together but the girl's father, a powerful man, comes after them with his men and kill the turkish man. :-(

My friend said there are other versions where she converts to islam.
The song itself is just a song by the guy singing about his love for the woman and how he wished they were of the same faith.

Or at least that's what my friend told me :-) She said that this is a very famous folk story and that there is a very interesting documentary about the problems between the Turks and the Armenians and it includes this story. Here is the documentary online, called Sari Galin: The Story.

Btw if anyone knows the story any way different, I would love to know it.

Traditional Folk Songs

I heard this version of Sari Gelin a couple of years ago:
The info about the video says the following:
"Endless Vision (nominated for Grammy award 2007 for Best Traditional World Music Album in 2006), is a live recording with Hossein Alizadeh & Jivan Gasparyan on stage in the Niavaran Palace outdoor venue in Tehran (Sept.4-6, 2003) with more than 12,000 spectators. Songs in Azeri, Armenian, and Farsi; Afsaneh Rasaee's emotional singing stands out even though she can't sing solo on stage in a live performance in Iran. Jivan Gasparyan sings the Armenian lyrics with the calmness and assurance of a true master musician. The Farsi lyrics give the song a whole other dimension when they start."

The song is Turkish (or Armenian??) I believe and there are lots of the original version, such as this. Which of course are very beautiful and poignant. But the version of the video (and don't bother watching the video - just listen to the song) is really special - it has so many layers and levels. Then in the end when they sing the song in Farsi, I can actually understand what the song is about. Anyway I am glad they are nominated for a grammy - i should try to get my hand on the cd.
Darn I couldn't find the english translated lyrics anywhere! :-( where is a turkish/armenian person when you need them! ^.^ oh I know the one... ok I will have to contact my contact! :-)

This is also a very nice traditional Kurdish song. I wish i new what she is singing about...

The Dark Knight

Ho ho ho, the trailer is in. It looks awesome... can't wait!!!
(I don't need to explain this is the sequel to Batman Begins, right?)

Camera

I have a jealous streak in me a mile long. I recently (last july) got a beautiful little cannon sd800 and I have been using it fairly often. I love taking photos, not just for capturing a moment for eternity, but also because i will forever be reminded of the moment - since my memory is kind of defective! Anyhow it is a tiny ultra compact with only a 3.8 zoom and some nice features.
Today RS told me that she wants to get a compact as opposed to an ultra compact since its zoom can be so much better and how good it is etc. I am JEALOUS!!! Now I want a good zoom!
In fact, I want a good 10x zoom in a tiny body of an ultra compact.
Did I mention, for a cheap price? :-P

Fuego Flamenco

Last night I attended a flamenco concert by Edwin Aparicio and his company in the Gala Hispanic Theater in DC and oh... my... bloody dios!!! It was such a fabulous concert and the dancers were so good and hot and the choreography was so wonderful. My heart was pounding as they were dancing and I was getting sweaty just watching them and I was smiling like a bloody fool, just happy to be watching them! I didnt know what to look at, the guitarists (there were two Richard Marlow and Behzad Habibzai, both from DC), the singers (Jesu's Montoya from LA and Fe'lix de Lola from Seville) or of course the dancers (Edwin and his company and 3 guest dancers: Norberto Chamizo, Timo Nun~ez and Genaveva). The video above is from the martinete in the opening number when Edwin was just doing some great footwork. It was amazing, at times Edwin's feet were going so fast it was like he was levitating!
Here are some of videos from some of the other dances by the company - i can't remember if the choreography was the same last night but at least the dresses were the same in two dances!


Below is a video of Timo Nun~ez that I found, performing at some other fiesta - the dancing realy gets going around the 5'30" mark.

I wanted to include it because he was a special dancer - you wouldn't believe the interaction he had with the crowd and how he flirted with the audience! His solo was more fun and cute, rather than heavy and dramatic, and my heart was pounding.
I wanted to find a video of the other wonderful male dancer Norberto but i couldn't. He was very good, very fast and pretty interactive - refined and well put.
Anyway it was a wonderful night. I loved everything - actually i love everything flamenco. I really feel it inside my me, in my heart and in my blood. I will have to continue my lessons when i go to CA. most definitely!

Hotel Mauna Kea (parody)

My good friend who is part astronomer @ NASA, part flamenco guitarist and part twinkled toes, Juan David, has made this video with his colleagues and fellow observers in Hawaii's Mauna Kea.
It is a hilarious parody of Hotel California and lyrics, music and singing are all a la NASA.
Here's what they say about the video:
"Experience the plight of astronomers at the 14,000-foot summit of Mauna Kea! Veteran observers John A., Juan D., Kelly F., Ted K., and Tim Livengood took the HIPWAC spectrometer to the IRTF observatory on the Big Island of Hawaii and were inspired to write the lyrics to "Hotel Mauna Kea". Here, Juan, Kelly and Ted perform the song and all co-investigators star in this above-the-clouds music video. "Hotel Mauna Kea" is a parody of The Eagles' "Hotel California" by Felder, Henley, and Frey."

One More Day

Mitch Albom, the author of Tuesdays With Morrie a really great book, has another book out called For One More Day - about a man who is granted his wish of spending one more day with his mother who had passed away.

The concept is interesting and it touches on something I thought about for some time, a while back - I used to wonder if you could somehow communicate with the dead, who would you pick and what would you say. In the case of the movie, i guess you can spend a day with them but the same basic idea. Btw the initial idea came from watching an episode of this reality show about a medium that could contact the spirit world.
So, anyhow, who would it be? and what would you say?

You know, it's interesting to me, but i don't know. Is there a point of being granted one day, one conversation? Probably, 95% of people, would pick someone they loved, and tell them they love them and they were sorry. For some reason or other. And maybe simply hug them and try to absorb them into your body. I don't know. Probably I would be thinking too much that I will once again be bereft of their presence at the end of the day, the hour. Getting used to them gone might hurt too much!
Probably what i would really want to know if there is a hope that you will re-unite with them in the future.

But it's funny, you think it is a simple question, but I really don't find it simple. Or am I over thinking it? %-)

Back to Reality

Yesterday I got back from my long 2 week hiatus in beach land - first SF and then Wollongong. What a time was had. In Wollongong it was mostly just changing addresses, dealing with open accounts, etc. I also spent a long bloody time at the hairdresser, going back to my natural colors - blond and red of course :-P My hair now has a cool red section on one side. I have wanted to do that for a long time but was too chicken - this time i said what the heck and ripped into it proper. I really like the color actually, it reminds me of sunrise :-)
On the last day, i also managed to catch up with some friends - most of my friends have moved away to Sydney and I didn't get a chance to make it up to Sydney until the very end when i did a marathon of visits.
Speaking of the last day, the weather most of the time was cloudy and drizzly - which was annoying because i had so looked forward to seeing the sunshine. Fear not, on the morning of the last day, as we were leaving towards the airport, the sun was out, the sky was clear and I was cursing fate for being fickle.
These are some other interesting photos I took - the top one are just the flowers of a tree which has fallen down. The one below was a hilarious, very crooked tree on St John's Ave in Mangerton. I wonder why it looks like that!