Something Witty

This is an article I found awhile back, but haven't had the time to post. But if I didn't post if before Christmas part of its 'magic' would be gone.

The Cellist of Sarajevo
by Swati Chopra

What do we do when faced with unspeakable horror?

Play music is what a resident of Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia, did, even as bombs rained around him. His is a story of courage and grace in difficult times

A musician walks on stage to the sound of deafening applause. He is in his coattails, dressed in black. He bows, sits down on a concert chair and takes an instrument in his hands. Let’s say it’s an old cello the color of burgundy. A few quiet moments as he prepares himself. And then, the music flows.

This is a routine every Western classical musician is familiar with. As was Vedran Smailovic, principal cellist of the Sarajevo Opera, when he decided to perform it in the middle of the war zone that his neighborhood had become. The year was 1992. The former Yugoslavia had erupted in ethnic strife and beautiful Sarajevo, with its rich theater and art traditions, had transformed into Europe’s “capital of hell”.

At 4 pm on May 27, as a long queue waited patiently for bread in front of one of the last functional bakeries in the city, a mortar shell dropped in the middle of it, killing 22 people instantly. Smailovic looked out of his window to find flesh, blood, bone, and rubble splattered over the area. It was the moment he knew he had had enough.

Smailovic was 37 at the time, widely recognized as an exceptionally talented cello player. Till 1992, he had been occupied with his involvements in the Sarajevo Opera, the Sarajevo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Symphony Orchestra RTV Sarajevo, and the National Theatre of Sarajevo, as well as playing the festival circuit and working in recording studios.

Looking back on that period, Smailovic describes himself and his associates as being “totally naive”. So great was their confidence in their unity and plurality, he says, that even when they were watching what was happening in other parts of Yugoslavia, they felt absolutely certain that similar destruction could never happen in Sarajevo, that it would be impossible to destroy such strong unity. That dream was shattered by 1992.

Smailovic felt enraged by what was happening around him and powerless to do anything about it. He was neither a politician nor a soldier, just a musician. How could he do anything about the war? Did that mean he would just stand by and watch people die, fearing all the while for his own life? In the long, dark night that followed the bread-queue massacre, Smailovic thought long and deep. With the dawn of a new day, he had made up his mind that he would do something, and that something would be what he knew best—make music.

So every evening after that, at 4 pm, Smailovic would walk to the middle of the street, where the massacre had occurred. He would be dressed formally, as for a performance. There he would sit, on a battered camp stool placed in the crater made by the shell, his cello in his hand, playing music. All around him, mortar shells and bullets would fly. Yet he would play on regardless, perhaps substituting the war noise with applause in his mind.

For 22 days, one each for the people killed, Smailovic played in the same spot. He played to ruined homes, smoldering fires, scared people hiding in basements. He played for human dignity that is the first casualty in war. Ultimately, he played for life, for peace, and for the possibility of hope that exists even in the darkest hour. Asked by a journalist whether he was not crazy doing what he was doing, Smailovic replied: “You ask me am I crazy for playing the cello, why do you not ask if they are not crazy for shelling Sarajevo?”

Smailovic continued to play his music of hope until December 1993, in graveyards and bomb sites. He had decided to “daily offer a musical prayer for peace”, he said. As his story began to filter into the press, he became a symbol for peace in Bosnia. An English composer, David Wilde, was so moved by the story that he wrote a composition for unaccompanied cello, simply called ‘The Cellist of Sarajevo’, into which he poured his own feelings of outrage, love, and brotherhood with Vedran Smailovic.

Celebrated cellist Yo Yo Ma played this piece at the International Cello Festival in Manchester, England, in 1994. Pianist Paul Sullivan, who was present, describes it thus: “Quietly, almost imperceptibly, the music began, stealing out into the hushed hall and creating a shadowy, empty universe, ominous with the presence of death, haunting in its echoes. Slowly it built, growing relentlessly into an agonized, screaming, slashing furore, gripping us all, before subsiding at last into a hollow death rattle, and finally, back to the silence from which it had begun.

“When he had finished, Yo Yo Ma remained bent over his cello. His bow still rested on the strings. No one in the hall moved, not a sound was made for a long, long time. It was as though we had just witnessed that horrifying massacre ourselves. Finally still in silence, Yo Yo slowly straightened in his chair, looked out across the audience, and stretched out his hand toward us. All eyes followed as he beckoned someone to come to the stage, and an indescribable electric shock swept over us as we realized who it was: Vedran Smailovic—the cellist of Sarajevo himself! He rose from his seat and walked down the aisle as Yo Yo came off the stage and headed up the aisle to meet him. With arms flung wide, they met each other in a passionate embrace just inches from my seat.

“The drama was unbelievable, as everyone in the hall leaped to his or her feet in a chaotic emotional frenzy: clapping, weeping, shouting, embracing, and cheering. It was deafening, overwhelming, a tidal wave of emotion. And in the center of it at stood these two men, still hugging, both crying freely. Yo Yo Ma, the suave, elegant prince of classical music worldwide, flawless in appearance and performance. And Vedran Smailovic, who had just escaped from Sarajevo, dressed in a stained and tattered leather motorcycle suit with fringe on the arms. His wild long hair and huge moustache framed a face that looked old beyond his years, creased with pain and soaked with so many tears.”

In the years since his heroic anti-war statement, Smailovic has relocated to Belfast, Ireland, where he performs, composes, conducts, and produces music locally and internationally. But the message of this story is greater than the man who made it. As American philosopher Robert Fulghum says in his book Maybe (Maybe Not): Second Thoughts From a Secret Life: “Listen. Never, ever, regret or apologize for believing that when one man or one woman decides to risk addressing the world with truth, the world may stop what it is doing and hear. There is too much evidence to the contrary. When we cease believing this, the music will surely stop. The myth of the impossible dream is more powerful than all the facts of history. In my imagination, I lay flowers at the statue memorializing Vedran Smailovic—a monument that has not yet been built, but may be.”



Source

Based on this story, the rock band Savatage composed "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24",



which after achieving critical success, led to the creation of the "Trans-Siberian Orchestra", which has graced us with successes such as "The Ghosts of Christmas Eve", and the "Christmas Trilogy".

Merry Christmas to you all!

Labels: Bosnia, Cellist, Christmas, Christmas Carols, Journalism, Music, Peace, Photos, Sarajevo, Trans-Siberan Orchestra, TSO, Vedran Smailovic, War, Wikipedia, Yo Yo Ma, YouTube

1. Schizophrenia: Do You Hear What I Hear?
2. Multiple Personality Disorder: We Three Kings Disoriented Are
3. Dementia: I Think I'll be Home for Christmas
4. Narcissistic: Hark the Herald Angels Sing About Me
5. Manic: Deck the Halls and Walls and House and Lawn and Streets and Stores and Office and Town and Cars and Buses and Trucks and Trees and.....
6. Paranoid: Santa Claus is Coming to Town to Get Me
7. Borderline Personality Disorder: Thoughts of Roasting on an Open Fire
8. Personality Disorder: You Better Watch Out, I'm Gonna Cry, I'm Gonna Pout, Maybe I'll Tell You Why
9. Attention Deficit Disorder: Silent night, Holy oooh look at the Froggy - can I have a chocolate, why is France so far away?
10. Obsessive Compulsive Disorder: Jingle Bells,! Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle,Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bells...

Priceless.

Labels: Carols, Christmas, Christmas Carols, Humor

Yes, that is right. I am dreaming of (or yearning for if you please) an "Old Christmas", just like the ones I used to know.

You all will have to forgive the corny reference to one of the most widely abused Christmas song, but after some time waiting for the "Christmas Spirit" to fall out of the sky, I realized that Christmases aren't what they used to be. Unfortunately little by little it seems we have been swindled out of our Christmas Cheer and instead offered a so-called bargain, of stress and confusion.

With only 9 days left to Christmas, I came to the conclusion that that old time Christmas cheer, has simply disappeared.

I didn't come to this conclusion to whine and moan about the "Good ol' days", but rather to set a goal for myself that I don't want a modern, stress-filled, and chaotic Christmas.

I'll take the old fashioned family loving, gift giving, (And by gift I don't mean the stressful shopping to get a gift for so-and-so or else he won't get me one) carol singing, peaceful Christmas spirit anytime. Thank you very much!

Labels: Christmas, Christmas Present, Modern, Old Fashioned

Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas) is a movie about the informal "cease-fire's" that occurred on several fronts on Christmas Eve 1914.



A good movie in almost all aspects. Most of the acting was well done, but one of the issues I have with the movie (which after looking online, most people complain about as well) is the ad-libbing of the two opera singers. But ignoring that part, the movie has a solid presentation.
Something which I found added to the realism to it, was the fact that all 3 sides (German, French, and Scottish) spoke their native language.

Here has a more detailed description as well as the historical background to both the movie, and the events covered in the movie.
Source

Labels: 1914, Cease-fire, Christmas, Movie, War, Wikipedia, World War I

Here is the official Trailer for The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Found via NarniaWeb.



Direct Links
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The production seems to be much better than The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I just hope that all of the "fancy" special effects won't detract from its simple, yet enchanting story.

Labels: Movie, NarniaWeb, Prince Caspian, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, Trailer

Here are 25 Bad Habits of Graphic Designers.

While some of them don't apply if you aren't a freelance designer, most of them are pretty spot on.

1. Taking Constructive Criticism Personally
2. Not Knowing Paula Scher, Milton Glaser, Paul Rand and Friends
3. Not Staying up on Current Events and Design News
4. Not Owning the Graphic Artists Guild Handbook
5. Charging too Little for Design Projects
6. Not Using Contracts to Cover Your Butt
7. Not Setting Deadlines for Projects
8. Doing Spec Based Work (If you like it you can pay)
9. Not Asking for a Down Payment before Starting a Project
10. Using Poorly Designed Fonts from Free Font Sites
11. Using Display Fonts as Text Fonts
12. Using the Comic Sans Font
13. Using too Many Different Fonts in One Design
14. Forgetting White Space is your Friend
15. Not Sketching Before Designing
16. Not Using Rulers on Screen
17. Relying Totally on the Computer, Especially for Kerning
18. Using Photoshop Filters After Your First 6 Months
19. Using Low Resolution Web Images for Print
20. Not Designing Logos in Vector Format
21. Making Logos Unable to Reproduce Well Small
22. Forgetting to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts
23. Not Saving Frequently
24. Not Backing up Files on an External Hard Drive
25. Not Getting Enough Sleep! Stop Drinking so much Red Bull!

Source

One of my main problems would probably be

7. Not Setting Deadlines for Projects

followed by

15. Not Sketching Before Designing

and

19. Using Low Resolution Web Images for Print

It stands to reason, however, that anyone who has...

12. Using the Comic Sans Font

wouldn't be considered a serious designer by many people.

Labels: Bad Habit, Design, Graphic Design, List

Keeping in line with my new 'lifestyle', here is a little commercial that I found on YouTube.

Labels: Lifestyle, Running, YouTube