Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Succes 2014: Leon Vreme, unul dintre cei mai importanți artiști români contemporani

Leon Vreme s-a născut în 1930, la Noul Caragaci.
Studii: Institutul de Arte Plastice Ion Andreescu Cluj-Napoca, Promoţia 1957
Din 1957 participa la saloanele oficiale din Timişoara, precum şi la saloanele republicane şi expoziţiile reprezentative ale filialei UAP din Timişoara la Bucureşti.





Expoziții:
20 personale în ţară
10  personale în străinătate
50 internaţionale
45 colective şi de grup în străinătate

Arta monumentală:
În colaborare cu pictorul Luca Adalbert, 1959 Cugir, Fresca, Palatul Culturii, 1968 Băile Herculane, Fresca, Gara Oraşului, 1973 Timişoara, Mozaic, holul Universităţii de Vest

Premii şi distincţii:
2003 Timişoara, „Diploma de Excelenţă pentru merite deosebite în domeniul creaţiei şi al promovării valorilor culturale”, Facultatea de Arte din Timişoara, 2003 Premiul UAP din România pentru pictura pe anul 2002, 2003 Bucureşti, Premiul Naţional pentru Pictura, Uniunea Artiştilor Plastici
2004 Bucureşti, Ordinul „Meritul Cultural în grad de ofiţer”, 2005 Timişoara, Premiul „Pro Cultura Timisiensis” pentru întreaga activitate, Consiliul Jude]ean Timiş, 2007 Arad, Premiul de excelenta „Sever Frentiu” – Bienala 2007
2013 Premiul “Formă” pentru Excelentă în artele plastice, Deva

Lucrări în colecţii publice şi particulare din ţară şi străinătate:
Muzeul de Artă din Timişoara, Bucureşti, Bistriţa, Sofia, Reşita şi Targu-Mures, Recanati – Italia; Colecţia Elisabeta şi Gheorghe David ˆ Targu-Mures; Colecţia de artă contemporană „Artea”, Varna/Bulgaria, colecţia Muresan-Boca, Dej; colecţia Gerhard Modjesch Karsruhe, precum şi în colecţii particulare din Austria, Franţa, Germania, Anglia, Elveţia, Norvegia, Belgia, Olanda, Bulgaria, Grecia şi S.U.A., Centrul de artă „Forcalquier” Franţa. Muzeul de Artă Contemporană „Recanati” ˆ Italia.

Monday, June 9, 2014

Mircea Cărtărescu, a Romanian poet, novelist and essayist

Mircea Cărtărescu (born 1 June 1956) is a Romanian poet, novelist and essayist.Born in Bucharest, he graduated from the University of Bucharest's Faculty of Letters, Department of Romanian Language And Literature, in 1980. Between 1980 and 1989 he worked as a Romanian language teacher, and then he worked at the Writers Union and as an editor at the Caiete Critice magazine. In 1991 he became a lecturer at the Chair of Romanian Literary History, part of the University of Bucharest Faculty of Letters. As of 2010, he is an associate professor. Between 1994-1995 he was a visiting lecturer at the University of Amsterdam

 .
His debut as a writer was in 1978 in România Literară magazine.

Poetry

  • Faruri, vitrine, fotografii..., ("Headlights, shop windows, photographs...") Cartea Românească, 1980 - Writers Union Prize, 1980
  • Poeme de amor ("Love Poems"), Cartea Românească, 1982.
  • Totul ("Everything"), Cartea Românească, 1984.
  • Levantul (The Levant), Cartea Românească, 1990 - Writers Union Prize, 1990, republished by Humanitas in 1998.
  • Dragostea ("Love"), Humanitas, 1994.
  • 50 de sonete de Mircea Cărtărescu cu cincizeci de desene de Tudor Jebeleanu ("50 Sonnets by Mircea Cărtărescu With Fifty Drawings by Tudor Jebeleanu"), Brumar, 2003

Prose

Essays

  • Visul chimeric (subteranele poeziei eminesciene) ("Chimerical Dream - The Underground of Eminescu's Poetry"), Litera, 1991
  • Postmodernismul românesc ("Romanian postmodernism"), Ph.D. thesis, Humanitas, 1999
  • Pururi tânăr, înfăşurat în pixeli ("Forever young, wrapped up in pixels"), Humanitas, 2003
  • Baroane! ("You Baron!"), Humanitas, 2005

Audiobooks

  • Parfumul aspru al ficţiunii ("The Rough Fragrance of Fiction"), Humanitas, 2003

Awards and honours



  • 1980 Romanian Writers' Union Prize
  • 1989 Romanian Academy's Prize
  • 1990 Romanian Writer's Unions Prize, Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
  • 1992 Le Rêve nominee for: Prix Mèdicis, Prix Union Latine, Le meilleur livre étranger
  • 1994 Romanian Writer's Union Prize, ASPRO Prize, Moldavian Writers' Union Prize
  • 1996 ASPRO Prize, Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
  • 1997 Flacăra magazine Prize, Ateneu magazine Prize, Tomis magazine Prize, Cuvântul magazine Prize
  • 1999 Orbitor's French translation nominee for Prix Union Latine
  • 2000 Romanian Writers Association Prize
  • 2002 ASPRO Prize, AER Prize
  • 2006 Grand Officer of the Cultural Merit Order (Ordinul "Meritul cultural" în grad de mare ofiţer), awarded by Romanian Presidency
  • 2011 Vilenica Prize
  • 2014 Best Translated Book Award, shortlisted for Blinding, translated from the Romanian into English by Sean Cotter
  • 2014 Premio Euskadi de Plata to the Best Book of 2014 for Las Bellas Extranjeras (Frumoasele străine), translated from the Romanian into Spanish by Marian Ochoa de Eribe (Editorial Impedimenta)

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Success 2014: The Lemon Lovers, alternative rock band

"The Lemon Lovers" is an alternative rock band from Oporto.

 The band has an unusual music project, with only two musicians: João Silva (guitar, vocals) and Victor Butuc (drums). 

Their music has great rock influences and love to make a fusion of styles. 

They have some original songs and covers (Zeca Afonso, Janis Joplin, Eric Clapton, etc..).

The project began in early 2012.

 The Lemon Lovers is a dreamer band who tries to a new concept in Portugal.

Thursday, May 15, 2014

Sarah McLachlan, a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. As of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide

Sarah Ann McLachlan, OC, OBC (born January 28, 1968) is a Canadian musician, singer, and songwriter. Known for her emotional ballads and mezzo-soprano vocal range, McLachlan's best-selling album to date is Surfacing, for which she won two Grammy Awards (out of four nominations) and four Juno Awards. In addition to her personal artistic efforts, she founded the Lilith Fair tour, which showcased female musicians on a scale that had never been attempted before. The Lilith Fair concert tours took place from 1997 to 1999, and resumed in the summer of 2010. On May 6, 2014, she released her first album of original music in four years, titled Shine On.
as of 2009, she has sold over 40 million albums worldwide.
Sarah McLachlan was born on January 28, 1968, and adopted in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. As a child, she took voice lessons, along with studies in classical piano and guitar. When she was 17 years old and still a student at Queen Elizabeth High School, she fronted a short-lived rock band called The October Game. One of the band's songs, "Grind", credited as a group composition, can be found on the independent Flamingo Records release Out of the Fog and the CD Out of the Fog Too. It has yet to be released elsewhere. Her high school yearbook predicted that she was "destined to become a famous rock star."
Following The October Game's first concert at Dalhousie University opening for Moev, McLachlan was offered a recording contract with Vancouver-based independent record label Nettwerk by Moev's Mark Jowett. McLachlan's parents insisted she finish high school and complete one year of studies at the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design before moving to Vancouver and embarking on a new life as a recording artist, and McLachlan finally signed to Nettwerk two years later before having written a single song.
In 1994 McLachlan was sued by Uwe Vandrei, an obsessed fan from Ottawa who alleged that his letters to her had been the basis of the single "Possession." The lawsuit was also challenging for the Canadian legal system: Vandrei was a self-admitted stalker whose self-acknowledged goal in filing the lawsuit was to be near McLachlan physically. Consequently, special precautions were planned to ensure McLachlan's safety if she had to be in the same location as Vandrei at any time. But before the trial began, Vandrei was found dead in an apparent suicide. This topic was explored at length in Canadian author Judith Fitzgerald's book, Building a Mystery: The Story of Sarah McLachlan & Lilith Fair.
In 1997, Sarah McLachlan married her drummer, Ashwin Sood, in Jamaica. While she was pregnant, she lost her mother to cancer in December 2001. She gave birth to daughter India Ann Sushil Sood in Vancouver on April 6, 2002, by which time she had already completed three quarters of the production on her next record, Afterglow. On June 22, 2007 she gave birth to her second daughter, Taja Summer Sood, in Vancouver. McLachlan announced her separation from Ashwin Sood in September 2008.
As of May 2014, McLachlan was dating former NHL player Geoff Courtnall.

Mariza, a popular fado singer that sold over 1,000,000 records worldwide

Mariza (born Marisa dos Reis Nunes (16 December 1973, Lourenço Marques, Portuguese Mozambique), is a popular fado singer.
Mariza was born to a Portuguese father and a mother of partial African heritage. At age three, her family moved to Metropolitan Portugal, and she was raised in Lisbon's historic quarters of Mouraria and Alfama. While very young she began singing in a wide variety of musical styles, including gospel, soul and jazz. Her father strongly encouraged her to adopt fado; he felt that participating in the traditional music would grant her greater acceptance in the Portuguese community. Mariza has sold over 1,000,000 records worldwide.

In 1999, fado's most famous and beloved interpreter, Amália Rodrigues died. In the public remembrance and mourning that followed, fado regained much of its previous popularity, and Mariza was asked to perform a broadcast tribute to Rodrigues' memory, which caused her friends to begin urging her to record an album of fado music. She did so, and in 2001 Fado em Mim was released. It sold an astounding 100,000 copies (4,000 copies of a fado disc would have been considered successful). After this the record company made the disc available worldwide, and sales eventually topped 140,000 copies.
One of Mariza's hit songs, Transparente is a tribute to her African grandmother.
Mariza sang the Portuguese national anthem at the 2002 FIFA World Cup of football, at the game which pitted the home team (South Korea) against Portugal.
By the time Mariza's second album, Fado Curvo, was released in 2003, she was considered a member of the New Fado movement, with a voice reminiscent of traditional divas of the musical form such as Rodrigues. Her interpretations of fado standards brought her rapid international recognition, leading to her being the recipient, in March 2003, of BBC Radio 3's award for Best European Artist in World Music. Her British television debut was on Later with Jools Holland. For the Olympic Games of Athens 2004 she sang "A Thousand Years," as a duet with Sting. It was released on the official pop album of the Athens Olympics, Unity, on which fado is sung in English and Portuguese.

In 2004 Mariza won an EBBA Award. Every year the European Border Breakers Awards (EBBA) recognize the success of ten emerging artists or groups who reached audiences outside their own countries with their first internationally released album in the past year.
Mariza's third album, Transparente, was recorded in Brazil and released in 2005. She performed at Live 8; she sang at the Eden Project in Cornwall, after which she has been invited to concerts and events worldwide to promote Portuguese culture, from Australia to Finland, the United States and Argentina. That album eventually reached Top Ten in countries which include The Netherlands, Spain and Finland. Mariza, who lives in the upmarket Alcântara dockside area of Lisbon, has received many awards from countries such as Denmark, Australia, Canada, Germany, UK, Guinea-Bissau and Equatorial Guinea.[citation needed]
She has performed in venues such as New York's Carnegie Hall and Central Park, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Barbican, Hollywood Bowl, London's Royal Albert Hall, Union Chapel, Royal Festival Hall, Lisbon's Centro Cultural de Belém, Frankfurt's Alte Oper, Paris' Théâtre de la Ville, Madrid's Teatro Albéniz, Barcelona's Teatro Grec, X Cairo International Song Festival 2004, Centro Cultural de Macau, Moscow International House of Music, Toronto's Massey Hall, Sydney Opera House and the National Concert Hall in Dublin in February 2010.

Her album released in 2007 Concerto em Lisboa received a Latin Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album. The following year, she again released an album, Terra which also was nominated for Best Folk Album at the Latin Grammy Awards. This album continued to mix a variety of genres, containing basic fado influenced by jazz, flamenco, Latin and African sounds.

Tuesday, April 29, 2014

Success 2014: Zbigniew Boniek, a former Polish footballer and manager. With Juventus he won the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1984 (scoring in the final of the former) and the European Cup in 1985

Zbigniew "Zibì" Kazimierz Boniek ( born 3 March 1956 in Bydgoszcz) is a former Polish footballer and manager.
Boniek first played at Zawisza Bydgoszcz and later at Widzew Łódź. He transferred to Italian football giants Juventus in 1982. With Juventus he won the Cup Winners' Cup and the European Super Cup in 1984 (scoring in the final of the former) and the European Cup in 1985. After finishing his professional career at Roma in 1988, he had a successful business career.
As a player, Boniek was known for his blistering pace and acceleration. He was one of the best dribblers of his time and also displayed superb technique. The Juventus president Gianni Agnelli nicknamed him Bello di notte ("Beauty at night", which is a play on the title of the Buñuel movie Belle de Jour) because of his performances in European club tournament matches, which were played in the evening. Boniek was named by Pelé as one of the 125 Greatest Living Footballers and by FIFA as one of the 100 best-ever players. On 12 October 2009, he received a Golden Foot career award.

Boniek represented Poland in 80 internationals and scored 24 goals. He won a bronze medal (third place) as part of the Polish team at the 1982 FIFA World Cup.

Boniek has also coached in Italy, with stints at Lecce in 1990–91, Bari in 1991–92, Sambenedettese in 1992–93, and Avellino in 1994–96.
Boniek has served as vice-president of the Polish Football Association, and in July 2002 he became the manager of Poland. He resigned in December 2002, after just five matches (2 wins, 1 draw, 2 defeats, including a 1-0 home loss against Latvia in a European Championship qualifier).
According to reports back in Poland, Boniek had been favored to become the new Minister of Sport for his country, but he denied the claims and stated that he had no intention of taking up the job.
On 26 October 2012, he became the chairman of the Polish Football Association.

Friday, April 25, 2014

Jean-Pierre Papin, a former French professional football player who was European Footballer of the Year in 1991. He was famous for his volley shots that his fans nicknamed "Papinades"

Jean-Pierre Papin (born 5 November 1963 in Boulogne-sur-Mer) is a former French professional football player who was European Footballer of the Year in 1991.

Papin achieved his greatest success while playing for Olympique Marseille between 1986 and 1992. He later played for AC Milan, FC Bayern Munich, Bordeaux, Guingamp, JS Saint-Pierroise and US Cap-Ferret. Papin also played 54 times for the French national team. After a short time as manager of French clubs, he joined the local amateur club AS Facture-Biganos Boïen as a player in 2009, aged 45.
He was famous for his volley shots that his fans nicknamed "Papinades" from his name.

In 1996, after their eight-month-old daughter Emily was shown to have serious cerebral lesions, Jean-Pierre and his wife, Florence, set up an association "Neuf de Coeur" (Nine of Hearts; Papin's shirt number was 9) to help others in that situation and, particularly, to find and apply methods to mentally and physically educate such children.

Although Papin played only 31 matches for Club Bruges, he was elected as its best foreign player by the supporters in April 2008.

Papin scored 30 goals for France in 54 matches. He played at the 1986 World Cup finals in Mexico, where France finished third, and at the 1992 European Championships in Sweden. His last game for the national team was in 1995.
At club level, he played for INF Vichy (1983–1984), Valenciennes (1984–1985), Club Brugge (1985–1986), Olympique Marseille (1986–1992), AC Milan (1992–1994), FC Bayern Munich (1994–1996), Bordeaux (1996–1998) and Guingamp (1998).
During Papin's hugely successful spell at Olympique Marseille, with the Frenchman as striker and team leader Marseille won four French league championships in a row (1989–1992), a French league and cup double in 1989 and reached the final of the European Champions Cup in 1991, losing to Red Star Belgrade after a penalty shootout. During this period, Papin was the French league's top scorer for five consecutive seasons (from 1988 to 1992). While at Marseille he won the Ballon d'or, awarded to Europe's top footballer, in 1991. He is the only player to win this award while playing for a French club.
In 1992, Papin joined Italian giants AC Milan for a world record fee of £10,000,000, and was the first high-profile French player to join the Italian league since Michel Platini. However, he never established himself as a regular first team member with the rossoneri due to injuries and adaptation problems. He entered as a substitute during the 1993 UEFA Champions League Final where Milan lost to his former club, Marseille. Nevertheless, Papin has kept good memories of his spell in Italy and frequently cites former Milan managers Fabio Capello and Arrigo Sacchi as his models when coaching is concerned. In 1994, he was transferred to Bayern Munich where his season was again plagued by injuries. In his second season in Germany he was part of the side that won the UEFA Cup against Girondins de Bordeaux, a club that Papin would join the following season. With Bordeaux, he lost the final of the 1997 Coupe de la Ligue against Strasbourg. Papin's career ended in 1998 with Second Division side EA Guingamp.
Papin was a prolific striker on the French scene but, contrary to many other French great players, never really became dominant abroad. He was also part of the 'cursed generation' of French players that came between the Platini era of the 80's and the 1998 world champions boasting the likes of Zidane, Thuram, Henry and company. Despite some talented players like Papin, Éric Cantona or David Ginola the French national team fared disappointingly, missing the 1990 and 1994 World Cups – the later after two humiliating defeats at home against Israel and Bulgaria – and being ousted in the group stage of Euro 1992 by Denmark after a perfect record in the qualifications. It was the only period (1989–1996) in French football where clubs actually did better than the national team.
Papin was also iconic in French pop culture because of his caricature in the satirical TV puppet show Les Guignols de l'Info. At first, Papin was depicted as a rather dumb football player (a common stereotype in France), his only obsession being the many different ways to score goals. When Papin experienced difficulties in Italy, the coverage became more sympathetic, especially with the infamous Reviens JPP ! song where even God Himself would urge Papin to come back to his home country, because "France needs you !"
He was twice linked with clubs in England later in his playing career. First, in March 1994, he was a transfer target for Premier League side Tottenham Hotspur. Towards the end of his spell with Bordeaux in 1998, he was a target for ambitious Fulham, then a Division Two (third tier) side, and even expressed his desire to sign for the club. However, neither transfer ever happened and Papin finished his career without having spent any time in England.
After a short time as manager of French clubs, he joined the local amateur club AS Facture-Biganos Boïen as a player in 2009, aged 45.

In May 2006, Papin took over from Jacky Duguépéroux as the new coach of RC Strasbourg, who were relegated to the Second Division. He had previously been coaching FC Bassin d'Arcachon, an amateur team, and helped them to be promoted from CFA 2 to CFA. In 2006–07, he guided Strasbourg back to Ligue 1 with a third-placed finish but came under pressure shortly after the end of the season when internal conflicts at the club surfaced in the press. Several players, including '05 league cup final hero Jean-Christophe Devaux, also openly criticized Papin's methods. Initially confirmed as manager for the 2007–08 season, he was forced to resign a week later after it was revealed that he had interviewed for the vacant managerial job at RC Lens only hours after his confirmation at Strasbourg. He was replaced by Jean-Marc Furlan, former manager of ES Troyes AC, while Lens selected Guy Roux as their new manager. Ironically, Papin eventually became the manager of Lens after the club lost at Strasbourg, as Roux resigned only five games into the 2007–08 season. In the midst of the season, Lens and Papin were fighting to avoid relegation to the Second Division. Lens was also eliminated in the first round of both the UEFA cup and the Coupe de France by, respectively, FC Copenhagen (1–1; 1–2) and Second Division side Chamois Niortais (0–1, at home). On 29 December 2009, Châteauroux have hired the coach to replace Dominique Bijotat.He left his position in May 2010 and was substituted by Didier Tholot.