White Queen Wins: All I Wanna Be Is DONE (Band Perry)...

Totally awesome -- I see this in my chessly fantazies as rather a replay of my experiences on the chessboard at this past Saturday's Hales Corners Chess Challenge XVIII, heh heh! The battle scenes on the chessboard are - well, judge for yourselves :)  However, I have to tell you that I was not handed a crown at the end of it all. Dang! 

How fitting that about ten days ago I used this song in an entirely different context, as a commentary upon what appeared to be a stalemate position at the time, in a purely political context.  Evidently the Democrats are much more accomplished chessplayers than anyone gave them credit for. 

I REALLY like this song...

On Auction at Sotheby's: El Nigromante, The Conjurer

Very interesting oil on auction May 23, 2012, Sotheby's, filled (loaded!) with ancient symbolism:

I saw this and I went WHOA!  I cannot seem to take my eyes away from it, but I'm going to try because I want to take a nice long hot bubble bath.  Hmmm, what is that I spy -- the same hand action going on with the "conjurer" as in the "pointing Queen" paintings and sculptures (including chess pieces) of old???  Well, pretty obvious, as is the use of shades of black, white and red.  At least one eight-pointed star, the old Egyptian-style "checkerboard", diamonds (always a girl's best friend and just a cockeyed checkerboard -- one of the first symbols ever put on colored pottery about 8,000 years or so ago, in the highlands of the Iranian plateau), a modified swastiska and a crux, birds galore including doves, the ancient symbol for Sophia (Wisdom) and later on, the Virgin Mother Mary...or are those "tongues of fire?"  A four-armed monkey - Mr. Don is the expert on Hanuman.  A pyramid, an altar, and what is that furry creature underneath (or inside of) the altar?  Could that possibly be the Trickster himself, a Raccoon?  Speaking of which, I chased one up a tree earlier this evening...

I'm sure the longer I look at this painting, the more I'll see!  Here are the particulars:

Offered at auction, Latin American Art
New York, 23 May 2012 07:00 PM

LOT 16
 
LEONORA  CARRINGTON
(1917-2011)

EL  NIGROMANTE  (THE  CONJURER)
oil  on  canvas
29  by  21  1/2    in.
73.7  by  54.6  cm
Painted  circa  1950
Estimate:  $200,000 - $300,000 USD

Well, a little bit out of my price range :)

Hail to the V!

Folks who have studied symbology (like author Dan Brown and his fictional counter-part, Dr. Robert Langdon) know that "V" stands for more than a science-fiction show that first appeared on network television back (1983-1985) or the more recent and inferior remake (2009 - 2011). 

This commercial should win an award!



There are Vs on the chessboard, too...

Chess!

While Sade has been coy about the inspiration for this song - describing the dancers, for instance, as representations of her emotions, I think I know what's going on in this video and in this song - it's a story about a chess game of love. 

In addition to the eight pawns, a white horse is featured and Sade is shown in many clips with a lasso, evidently an allusion to her attempting to capture the "horse."  In one brief clip she is seen in a silver outfit riding the horse, but after that second does not appear on the "horse" again.  Is the horse meant to represent "Love?" The White Horse, of course, is well known in symbolism.  The color white (of the horse) and the silver outfit Sade wears in the scenes where she is shown riding the horse or with the lasso are suggestive of the Moon.  What do you think?

Count them:  Eight pawns and One Queen...

 

From Wikipedia:

"Soldier of Love" is a single from the English recording group Sade. It premiered worldwide on December 8, 2009, and it was released on iTunes digitally on January 12, 2010. It is also the band's first new material in almost ten years, preceding their long awaited sixth studio album of the same name which was released worldwide on February 8, 2010. The song was #1 on the Billboard Adult R&B.[1] The song debuted at #58 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming the band's highest debut on the chart.[2] It has peaked at #52, making it the band's highest-peaking single on that chart since 1992's "No Ordinary Love". The track won the Grammy for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals at the 53rd Grammy Awards ceremony.

Sade's official website.

Love and Sex in the Renaissance

Probably no chess tonight - I'm chessed out - and shoveled out. More than a foot landed in my driveway due to drifting and blowing, despite the fact that "officially" we only got 3 inches. Ha! More snow due tomorrow night, up to 5 inches. So far, this December is turning out to be a near-carbon copy (as far as I remember) of a year ago, when we had near record-breaking snow fall, over 100 inches. I saw this exhibit advertised at the Met in New York - looks fascinating. I picked out threeinteresting objects from it. My take on the exhibit is decidedly different from the reviewer's article: Art Review 'Art and Love in Renaissance Italy' Eternal Objects of Desire November 20, 2008 The objects I zeroed on present goddesses and/or women (representing goddesses) in close association with dogs, in an erotic context. "Sex" is used to gloss over the underlying concepts of women's unique power to bear life and the monthly menstruation of blood during the fertile years - blood representing the life of the earth, the very rhythym of the interaction of the earth and the moon every 28 to 32 days. This association has been recorded in surviving relics as far back as 25,000 years ago. Unfortunately, the condition of women as equals of men, who each held unique places in the conception of the universe, was obliterated particularly with the advent of the "warrior god" religions (Jews, Christians and Muslims) which still, unfortunately (and with telling results) dominate the world today. As always, women and children continue to be the primary victims of the non-stop warfare carried on by males in these three religions against each other. The association of goddesses and dogs is extremely ancient, perhaps due to the possibility that it was women who first domesticated wolves who followed hunter/gatherer bands across the landscape. Canines were domesticated about 16,000 years ago, possibly even further back. There is also an association of the Triple Goddess, representing birth, fruition, death-rebirth with her companion dog as eater of the dead in preparation for rebirth of the soul of the deceased. This too, is a very ancient association. There is the association of the Goddess with the numbers 8 (in western chess, symbolized in the 8x8 board) and 9 (in Chinese chess the board is 2 sides of 8 by 4 squares divided by the Celestial River which is not played upon, and the "King" piece is confined to an area of 2x2 squares - which measures 3x3 "points" -- in Chinese chess the pieces are placed not upon the squares but upon the intersection of the squares, resulting in 9 x 8 total playing points, or 72). And there are the ancient Indian traditions of the Goddess number 4-3-2, which totals 9, and the eight-legged female spider who continuously weaves her web of the universe. Painting #1 is, I think, the most light-hearted of the lot. It is ”Venus with an Organist and a Dog,” detail, by Tiziano Vecellio, circa 1550. While the article points out the obvious phallic symbolism of the "upright organ pipes" (har!) and the "upright" trees in the verdent "nature tamed" background (implying, evidently, that the Goddess of Love could be tamed - what a joke!), Venus herself is playing with her doggy friend, seemingly ignoring the organist whilst coyly pressing one foot into the small of his back. Venus is definitely playing the Game! It wasn't for nothing, you know, that the ancient game players often used "dogs" as playing pieces. Notice the ornate red draperies and the blood-red (also known as royal purple) bed covering that Venus reclines upon. As for the organist, I think his body language and the expression on his face is self-explanatory. Object #2 is called a birthing platter, depicting the meeting of Solomon and the Queen of Sheba from the workshop of Francesco del Cossa, circa 1470-73. Ignore the then current clothing styles of the protagonists! Items of note are the outer-sanctum black and white checkerboard floor, upon which three dogs lounge, and the inner-sanctum red (there's that life blood again) and black checkerboard floor). The entire painting is set on a 3x3 grid (3x3 = that Goddess number 9) -- notice how the laticed-pergola under which Sheba and Solomon meet is aligned with the tall middle tower of the church, which is flanked by two lower domes (perhaps representative of feminine breasts - the tower being a phallic symbol). Notice what is in the center of the painting - a "grail" - i.e., chalice! "Da Vinci Code" fans will recognize the grail, er, chalice, as a female symbol for fertility - it's the classic delta shape - and the "stem" - well, I think you can figure it out. The #3 painting is the most ironic of all - it depicts a young naked virgin being pursued by a young man (the dude on the horse) whom she has rejected. He has his hunting dogs attack her in the midst of a wedding feast where she has sought aid. Irony, indeed, since the Goddess Artemis was always accompanied by her hunting dogs, whom she often set upon encroaching young men! The young naked girl represents beauty, youth, and virginity - the essential aspects of the first part of the Triple Goddess. The young dude on the horse ends up killing himself after the Virgin is killed by his dogs. The horse symbolism of potent masculinity run amok is rather obvious - continued to this day in the form of the "knight" upon the chessboard, by the way. I can well imagine what the horrified bride at the wedding feat must be thinking. However, the caption is perhaps most telling of all, and presents an irony upon irony since the article was written by a female art critic. Here is what she says: A panel by Botticelli’s workshop depicts a wedding feast interrupted by a young nude woman being attacked by dogs. In short, she rejected him and he committed suicide, two unforgivable sins. The bride and groom in both the painting and the room it decorates will know better. (Photo: Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid) Oh, really? The bridge and groom will know better? Run, bride, run!