RIP: Hugo Chavez

I was shocked and saddened to hear about the death of Hugo Chavez yesterday. The highly charismatic Venezuelan president died of a heart attack in Cuba after nearly two years battle with cancer. He was just 58 years of age.

Photo courtesy of Greenreport, Italy

I don't profess to being an expert on either Chavez or Venezuelan politics, but there is no denying that he was a game-changer in Latin American politics and that he was an iconic figure in the world. Chavez did much to raise the living standards of the poorest of Venezuelans, even if it was to the detriment of the country's economic growth, as his vociferous detractors (and haters) would often accuse him. Or so they say.

He no doubt had his flaws as both leader and person, but there are many, many reasons to mourn the passing of Hugo Chavez:

Because his 'Bolivar revolution' was at least an attempt at a better, more equitable life for Latin Americans

Because he changed the lives for millions of his nation's poorest in a region where the gulf between the haves and the have nots is so immense

Because he was born poor, rose to the top and tried to make a difference as a leader

Because he made the rich and the plutocrats in his country genuinely scared and angry

Because he gave socialism a modern, Latin face

Because he was the catalyst for leftist governments to sweep into power in countries like Bolivia and Ecuador, and even the leftish turn of Argentina

Because he nationalized key state enterprises, at a time when neo-liberalism reigns supreme for the Naked Emperor that it is

Because he survived an outrageous rightwing coup in 2002 against him - and came back stronger than ever

Because he stuck it to American imperialismo whenever he could - and that's good enough for me

Because leaders like this are so very rare

Because he was Hugo

I feel for the millions of poor and socially sensible Venezuelans who are in deep shock and mourning over the death of their Comandante. He changed many of their lives forever, so I can only imagine their terrible sense of loss with his death. For all those of us who yearn for a more just and equitable world, a world devoid of the crass and neo-liberalist casino capitalism that crushes the planet, and who felt and knew Chavez was on our side, we too have a sense of loss.

He will be missed - very missed.

RIP Hugo.

RAVE: The Sublime Works of Oscar Niemeyer

Oscar Niemeyer's greatest legacy must surely be the layout and design of most of the futuristic buildings of what was to become the new Brazilian capital city, Brasilia. His sublime, futuristic design included the main government buildings and parliament building itself, some of which can be seen in the photos below:




Congresso Nacional do Brasil, Brasilia - photo courtesy of Scoop Italia




Catedral Metropolitana Nossa Senhora Aparecida, Brasilia - courtesy of Chiquero



Palácio da Alvorada, official residence of the President of Brazil, Brasilia - courtesy of Chiquero

Just compare the stunning elegance and splendor of the presidential palace in Brasilia as above, and compare it to the dowdy, fuddy-duddy neo-Classical carbuncle that is the White House in Washington D.C., and you tell me which official residence you think is more fitting of a modern president. I know which one I would choose if president. Such is the foresight and sheer brilliance of Niemeyer.

Some more of his outstanding work over the decades:




Museu de Arte Contemporânea, Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro - courtesy of Wikipedia

Casino Funchal, Madeira, Portugal - courtesy of Wikipedia



Olho Niemeyer Curitiba, Brazil - courtesy of Wikipedia

Tribunal Superior Eleitoral, Brasilia - courtesy of Wikipedia

Auditorio Ibirapuera, Sao Paulo - courtesy of Wikipedia 

His work just goes on and on and on...I never had any idea he was so prolific and so determined an architect (given his range and until how recently he was still designing outstanding works) until I started looking through his list of works today. 

Simply breathtaking.

If this man could not be given the plaudit of 'visionary' in his field, then who, pray tell, could be bestowed that honour.

Thankfully, though he may have passed at the advanced age of 104, his legacy will remain for all of humanity for many, many years to come.

RIP: Oscar Niemeyer

This past week saw the passing away of the brilliant Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer. He was most certainly one of the most influential architects and brilliant design visionaries of the 20th century.

 Photo of Oscar Niemeyer in the 1940s - courtesy of Scoop Italia

Some may even argue that he was possibly the most influential and most visionary architect of them all. 

I certainly believe more and more that he could very possibly have been the most influential and most brilliant architect of the mid- to late-20th century. This I will attempt to prove with a showing of some of his best works in my next post after this one.

As quoted in Wikipedia, it is well known that Niemeyer was "most famous for his use of abstract forms and curves that characterize most of his works, and wrote in his memoirs:

I am not attracted to straight angles or to the straight line, hard and inflexible, created by man. I am attracted to free-flowing, sensual curves. The curves that I find in the mountains of my country, in the sinuousness of its rivers, in the waves of the ocean, and on the body of the beloved woman. Curves make up the entire Universe, the curved Universe of Einstein. "

He was also a committed Marxist well into his old age, which explains why he had to go into exile in Paris during the hideous fascist dictatorship that gripped Brazil from 1964. He only returned to Brazil in the 1980s once the dictatorship had been replaced by a (type of) democracy in his home country.

Not only was he a design genius, but clearly a man of conscience too. He was also an atheist his entire life, marvelling rather in the wonders of the Universe and the human mind and immense capacity and ability, as any true humanist who doesn't believe in fairytale religiosity would believe. 

Even more commendable was Niemeyer's incredible longevity. Because he died this week at the ripe old age of 104.

Photo courtesy of The Guardian UK

That's correct - 104.

He had been recently asked to what he attributed his admirable long life and tremendous vitality, to which he simply replied was his never-die, and ultimately optimistic outlook on everything in life. 

His simple philosophy in life does make a likely mirror to his relentlessly modernist, always forward-looking and, yes, undeniably optimistic design aesthetic. 

A quiet revolutionary who revolutionized the world of architecture with an eye for design that was anything but quiet, and everything that uplifted the soul and made it soar.

An atheist who may have been, but Oscar Niemeyer was surely one of the most spiritually profound architects and artists of the modern era. 

Filho do Brasil, inspiraçao de nos todos...obrigado, Snr. Niemeyer.

R.I.P.

“

RIP: Andy Williams

Andy Williams passed away this week at the age of 84. Williams was a charming crooner with a velvet voice and a ready smile. He was not exactly a voice of my generation’s and I was not even aware that he was the voice behind so many songs like the classic “Moon River” (the theme song from Breakfast at Tiffany’s), for instance.

Yet I feel compelled to honour him in my own very small way with this post on my blog because Andy Williams is very much part of my memory and conscience as a very young boy. When my family and I lived in Luanda, Angola back in the early 1970s I was barely at an age to have conscious memory. I do have very fleeting memories of those days in Luanda of which some of my family members speak so fondly. Slivers of reminiscence flit through my mind of playing with my Matchbox dinky cars at the front of our house, watching my brothers play football in a vacant field behind our house, sitting on the beach and eating clams opened right there or going on the breezy ferry ride across to the island of Moussulo.

But memory can play tricks on us. What we think is our memory can sometimes be the vivid reminiscences of others who were older or could better recall at the time, in the case of my life in Luanda the recollections of mostly my mother and, to a lesser extent, my brothers. Photographs also bear witness to what I sometimes think may be my own recollections when they are nothing more than that – witness to what occurred, not to what I remember.

Yet music has a funny, subliminal way of seeping into our sub-conscious and indeed being the means by which we do recollect, we do remember. At least for me it does, as I am sure it does for many others. A voice, a song, an album, a soundtrack – these are my aural memory collectors, especially of my youth. That much I do know.

And for all the music that I no doubt heard during our years in Luanda, there are only two songs that have stuck in my aural memory as being synonymous with our happy, lucky time in that humid, sub-tropical colonial Portuguese city of the early 70s – and they are “Killing Me Softly” by Roberta Flack and “Solitaire” by Andy Williams.

I even to this day remember so well the album cover to Andy Williams’ “Solitaire,” which I no doubt must have seen and even stared many times during that time, and which is as moody and perfect as any album cover of the 1970s:

So, Mr Williams, I may not have grown up with all your music or even known all of your hits. I may not even have bought any of your records. But forever more your smooth, rich voice will forever be etched in my memory of when I was very young boy and my family was intact and we lived in a grand house in a beautiful colonial African city. For that alone I am forever in debt, as no doubt are many millions for having had the privilege of hearing your sublime voice that defined entire eras.

RIP Andy Williams.

RIP: Neil Armstrong

Earlier this week, the first man ever to set foot on the moon passed away.



When he took that small step, it was a giant leap not only for all of humanity, but for everything good and brave and awe-inspiring in all of us.

Small steps and giant leaps - you did it all, Mr. Armstrong. Your legacy shall live forever.

R.I.P.

RIP: Gore Vidal

It was with great sadness today that I heard that the inimitable and brilliant (not to mention unbelievably prolific) author, essayist, historian and social philospoher Gore Vidal has passed away.


They simply didn't get much more brilliant than Gore Vidal. His was a wit so razor sharp, so merciless and so exacting that I'm almost glad I was never famous (or political) enough to have strayed into his universe of critique!

This Renaissance man had a life so rich and so monumentally successful that to write any 'mini biography' in this mere blog would be, to be very frank, arrogant and affected. Instead, I think the best way to pay homage to such a towering intellect is to quote some of his more memorable barbs and sayings over the years, which included:

- "There is only one party in the United States, the Property Party ... and it has two right wings: Republican and Democrat. Republicans are a bit stupider, more rigid, more doctrinaire in their laissez-faire capitalism than the Democrats, who are cuter, prettier, a bit more corrupt — until recently ... and more willing than the Republicans to make small adjustments when the poor, the black, the anti-imperialists get out of hand. But, essentially, there is no difference between the two parties..."

- "Certain societies at certain times, usually in the interest of maintaining the baby supply, have discouraged homosexuality. Other societies, particularly militaristic ones, have exalted it. But regardless of tribal taboos, homosexuality is a constant fact of the human condition and it is not a sickness, not a sin, not a crime ... despite the best efforts of our puritan tribe to make it all three. Homosexuality is as natural as heterosexuality. Notice I use the word 'natural,' not normal."

- "Any American who is prepared to run for president should automatically by definition be disqualified from ever doing so."

- "Fifty percent of people won't vote, and fifty percent don't read newspapers. I hope it's the same fifty percent."

- "Style is knowing who you are, what you want to say, and not giving a damn."

- "I never miss a chance to have sex or appear on television."

- "We should stop going around babbling about how we're the greatest democracy on earth, when we're not even a democracy. We are a sort of militarised republic."

- "We’ll have a dictatorship soon in the US...[America] is ‘rotting away...and don’t expect Barack Obama to save it." [in an article about Vidal in the The Times of London, September 2009]

- "a triumph of the embalmer's art."  [of Ronald Reagan]

- "the stupidest man in the United States." [of George W. Bush]


And three of my favourites of his:

- "A narcissist is someone better looking than you are."

- "Every time a friend succeeds, I die a little."

and...

- "The four most beautiful words in our common language: I told you so."

How much more brutally honest can you get than that?

They do not make them like Gore Vidal any more. They simply do not. And the world is all the more impoverished for that.

RIP: Whitney Houston

I was devastated to find out early this morning that Whitney Houston had been found dead in her suite in the Beverley Hilton. She was just 48 years of age.

The first reports coming out are that she was found in the bath, possibly from an accidental death due to prescription drugs. 

What a tragedy.

For so many years now I had been so hoping she would overcome her well-documented drug addiction and demons. Whilst others made fun of her and mocked her descent into drugs and delusion, I kept hoping, hoping and hoping the Whitney I had loved would return. I even found myself defending her on more than ocassion, as if I somehow owed her that. Like millions of fans around the world, I kept willing her on, so hoping she'd make that big comeback and put all the darkness behind her and be the star once more that we had all fallen in love with back in the 1980s.

But it was not to be. An icon of my youth, the epitome of all that was good and talented and beautiful in that era, is now gone. A voice like no other, a presence like no other. Gone.

There is a reason why the photo I have included of her in this post is one of when she was younger, before the darkness descended upon her.



Goodbye, Whitney. I am so very, very sorry.

I shall miss you...very much.

RIP: Marco Simoncelli

I've been a Formula 1 fan since I was a young boy. Unlike many other motor racing fans, however, I just never got into the two-wheel variation. I found motorbikes boring - the technology and racing itself not doing it for me on any level.  Others raved about it, I remained untouched.

Until this year. I found myself flicking through some the sports channels one Sunday back in May and, suddenly, I found myself completely ernthralled by a MotoGP race. The wheel-to-wheel racing,the sheer gutsiness of the dimunitive motorbike riders, the back and forth place-swapping - just amazing!

I'd be lying if I said I'd become a huge fan of MotoGP since then - watched a few races, found some of them great, others of them quite dull, and, to be honest, also turned off a bit by the fact that the 2011 championship was being headed by racers that didn't catch my fancy (Stoner, Lorenzo, et al) and Valentino Rossi almost always mid-field due to his slower Ducati.

Be that as it may, one guy really caught my eye from the word go. Quick as lightning, incredibly audacious on the track and more often than not crashing out after one impetuous move or another. The fact that he was a total dude who happened to sport a mop of orange Rasta-like hair and happened to be Italian just made me like him even more. I really like Valentino Rossi, of course, but this ultra-fast audacious young upstart really got me excited. His name was Marco Simoncelli.

Today Simoncelli tragically passed away after a terrible crash on the 2nd lap of the Malaysian GP at Sepang. I now wish I'd watched more of him and been able to savour more of a tremendous rider who now, all too unbelievably, is no more.

If you love motorsport, there are drivers and riders you know are great but just can't like, other drivers you like but you know will never be great, and then there are those that stand head and shoulders above the rest for you. They are the ones, the very few, who really make the sport that much more thrilling, that much more alive. You watch their every move in every race, and every triumph they have is your triumph, every failure they have is yours to endure. Michael Schumacher is that man for me in F1. Marco Simoncelli would've been that man in MotoGP.

Like so many others around the world, I feel robbed of a great talent, robbed of a really simpatico guy - a real dude - who always readily smiled and waved at the camera.

Arrivederci, Marco - risposare in pace.