Arts: Paintings: Lucas Grassi Freire, is he infatuated with the girl with a peal earing? (Vermeer) Or just by the pearl earring?

Wikipedia (circa 1665)

 

Imagine Bach being played in the background as Lucas tours the art gallery, and spots this work during a crescendo ....

-- posted here by Love's Labours Lost

Music: Rebecca Black: Girl singer under attack

76% Of Viewers Say Rebecca Black Attack Comments Are Justified
hat Tip to Social Times (abovre)

Music: Brazil: Baseado em Que - Salomão do Reggae

Sports; Hockey; Canadiens win hilarious score over Bruins

Canadiens zero in on Bruins with wild night

Montreal 8, Minnesota 1; P.K. Subban provides hat-trick magic

BY PAT HICKEY, THE GAZETTE MARCH 21, 2011 9:24 AM COMMENTS (5)

• STORY
• PHOTOS ( 7 )

More Images »

Montreal Canadiens' Ryan White celebrates his first career goal against the Minnesota Wild with teammates P.K. Subban (76) and David Desharnais (58) during the first period in St. Paul on Sunday.

Photograph by: Eric Miller, Reuters

ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Montreal Canadiens put themselves in position to catch the Boston Bruins for first place in the Northeast Division with a decisive 8-1 win over the Minnesota Wild Sunday.

It was the most goals the Canadiens have scored in a game this season and the win gave them 87 points, one fewer than the Bruins. The Bruins do have two games in hand, but the Canadiens can strengthen their bid with a victory Thursday in Boston.

The win here could best be described as a team effort. Thirteen different players collected at least one point and it was impossible to select three stars without slighting someone.

Read more:http://www.montrealgazette.com/sports/Canadiens+zero+Bruins+with+wild+night/4474571/story.html#ixzz1HFi3DGe2

Sports: Tennis: Novak Djokovic of Serbia beats Roger Federer of Switzerland, the once-reigning champ hitherto

BBC Sports (Mar19,2k11)



Djokovic beats Federer to take 


world number two ranking

Djokovic has dropped just one set so far in the tournament

Djokovic has dropped just one set so far in the tournament

Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer in three sets to take the world number two ranking and set up an Indian Wells final against Rafael Nadal (Spain).

The 23-year-old Serbian will replace 16-time Grand Slam champion Federer in the rankings after a 6-3 3-6 6-2 win in the BNP Paribas Open semi-finals.

Djokovic took his 2011 record to 17-0 and next faces Nadal, after the Spaniard beat Juan Martin del Potro.

Top seed Nadal recovered from a slow start to defeat the Argentine 6-4 6-4.

There's not much to say about Rafa - he's a big champion, definitely showed his quality today and showed he's in really good form, but I'll step in and try to be aggressive.

Novak Djokovic

He was given a helping hand at the start of Saturday's first semi-final as Nadal made a sluggish start, missing a break point chance in the opening game before dropping serve himself moments later.

The world number one was in trouble at 4-1 down but gathered himself impressively to reel off five straight games as he took the set, with his forehand doing much of the damage.

A single break at 2-2 in the second was enough as Nadal saw out the victory to end a three-match losing streak against Del Potro and close in on a third Indian Wells title.  ...

Djokovic has been the man to beat this year and has had the better of Federer in recent encounters, including victories in the US and Australian Open semi-finals and the Dubai final.

The pattern continued in the California desert as Djokovic's movement and relentless pressure from the baseline had Federer repeatedly misfiring, with a forehand into the net giving up the first break at 2-2.

Read more from BBC Sports excellent coverage - Sportikos

Djokovic beats Nadal to take 

world top ranking in tennis

AssociatedPress (Mar21,2k11)

The official ranking is bit different from mine. 

Novak Djokovic beat top-ranked Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 to win the BNP Paribas Open title Sunday at Indian Wells, Calif.

Djokovic improved to 18-0 this year, including victories at the Australian Open and in Dubai last month. He will move into the No. 2 spot when the ATP Tour rankings are released today, having bumped Roger Federer down to third after Federer lost to Djokovic in the semifinals. Nadal will remain No. 1 with a 14-3 record.

The official ranking is bit different from mine.  Doesn't seem altogether fair.  -- Sportikos

Sport: Rugby: Ireland downs England in rout

Watch Six Nations video highlights and interviews

Tommy Bowe and Ireland demolish England's Six Nations grand slam hopes
• Ireland 24-8 England
• Rate the England and Ireland players

Sport picks

• Ireland 24-8 England
  
  Six Nations: England's bid for a first grand slam in eight years 
• was ended by a tenacious Ireland in Dublin
  237 comments 
• Scotland 21-8 Italy

Ireland 24-8 England

Six Nations: England failed in their grand slam bid but won the championship thanks to Wales's defeat
231 comments
Eddie Butler: No grand slam but World Cup hope
Read Tom Bryant's minute-by-minute report
France 29-8 Wales
Scotland 21-8 Italy
Much more Six Nations news and comment
Manchester United 1-0 Bolton
Premier League: 10-man Man Utd extended their lead at the top to five points as Arsenal drew
483 comments
United eye Shakhtar's Douglas Costa
West Brom 2-2 Arsenal
Wigan Athletic 2-1 Birmingham City
Blackburn Rovers 2-2 Blackpool
Ireland's Tommy Bowe goes over for a try against England in the Six Nations despite Tom Wood's attempted tackle. Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters

Ireland's Tommy Bowe goes over for a try against England in the Six Nations despite Tom Wood's attempted tackle. Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters


Shareul Rees at the Aviva Stadium
guardian.co.uk, Saturday 19 March 2011 19.25 GMT
Article history

Ireland's Tommy Bowe goes over for a try against England in the Six Nations despite Tom Wood's attempted tackle. Photograph: Cathal Mcnaughton/Reuters
England saved their worst for last. There was no grand slam repeat of Dublin 2003, merely the slamming of a door. The team that provided most of the illumination in a largely twilit Six Nations became a victim of their own predictability. Ireland played on England's lack of variety and feasted on errors, and Jonathan Sexton, the villain in Cardiff last weekend, was the architect of a victory every bit as comfortable and comprehensive as the scoreline suggested.

Technics: Online Privacy: USA consumers may get a 'bill of rights' to protect privacy from Facebook, et cetera

Guardian UK (Mar16,2k11)  When the Obama admin received so much disgust after its Federal Communications Commission floated some Net Neutrality proposals, seeking to forestall future Internet Service Providers and consortia from squeezing time and bandwith from little-guy consumers, it's a wonder really that this new idea is suddenly on the agenda.  Against the naysaying Tea Party, Conservatives, and Republicans, refWrite supported provisionally both Net Neutrality's basic idea and now also the Bill of Rites for bloggers and other denizens 9consumers, citizens) on the Internet.  But refWrite opposes Obama's plan to extend the length of copyrights; we want online news, for instance, to have a much shorter shelflife of special protections. Cut the copyright special protection of news items down to one-half hour!

-- Technowlb and Politicarp

US consumers to get online bill of privacy rights

Obama administration pushes for bill to establish basic levels of privacy amid concern about data being gathered on consumers by likes of Facebook and Google

• • 
    

• Dominic Rushe
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 16 March 2011 18.16 GMT

The amount of data being gathered on consumers by sites such as Facebook has raised concern in the US. Photograph: Alamy

The Obama administration is pushing for a "bill of rights" to protect theprivacy of people using the internet. The proposals were outlined by Lawrence Strickling, head of the telecoms arm of the commerce department, at a hearing of the senate commerce committee in Washington DC.

Politicians and privacy groups are increasingly concerned about the mass of information being acquired online by firms including Facebook, Google and Twitter. Strickling told the committee that a privacy bill of rights should outline basic levels of protection and ensure the regulators had the authority to enforce those expectations.

Music: Satire: Alexandra "Asians-in-the-Library" Wallace lampooned by Jimmy

YouTube Service (Mar2k11).  Click up on refWrite's channel yUT2ube.



More on yUT2ube.

Asians in the Library: UCLA Rant 

(Original Uncut Video) and Apology

Hat Tip to Flannery Fielding

Music: Lousy: Kim Kardashian

Kyte TV (Mar14,2k11)

"Kim Kardashian's new single inspired by Darfur," Ryan O'Connell (Mar2,2k11).  This is not inspired music, if it be music at all.  I'm not sure which is the nicompoop -- the reviewer, the Kardashian, or the producers -- perhaps all of 'em.  In any case, the "music" is worthless.  -- Musicman

Technics: SXSW: Austin, Texas -- forget the music, forget the movies

Economist (Mar12,2k11)

SXSW blog, day 1

Over-aged and under-powered

Mar 12th 2011, 7:51 by G.L. | AUSTIN

I'VE just landed in Austin, Texas, for "South By Southwest", known to its regulars as SXSW (in print) or just "South By" (in speech), a ten-day-long conference-cum-festival of music, film and technology. Though this is its 25th year, the tech part, SXSW Interactive, which I'm attending, has ballooned and now enjoys roughly the same status among young tech devotees as Woodstock did for their parents.

Or maybe grandparents. If you had conceived kids during an unguarded moment in the Summer of Love they'd be about my age, and if your kids were similarly fecund, their kids would in all likelihood be packed four to a hotel room within a couple of miles of me right now.

Which is why I approach this event with some trepidation. That I'll be a good 10-15 years above the median age is the least of my worries; there will be grizzled gurus of technology here too, moving among the fresh-faced youth like the rock stars of 1968. But I am neither guru nor rock star, and just as in New York you're nobody if you don't have an award-winning book or a killer business idea that you're nurturing in between your two jobs, three sports and five hobbies, I have the impression that at SXSW, not to be at the cutting edge of something, no matter how inane or trivial, is simply not to be at all.

I also worry that I will be unable to cope with the endless stream of panel discussions, secret parties, impromptu concerts, free apps, mystifying product launches and high-jargon late-night bull sessions. I will fall asleep at the parties, get lost by the jargon, crash my phone with the apps, do something stupid with the products, or just drown in the sheer idealistic ebullience of it all. Two of my techiest friends in their 30s, both of whom enjoy distinction and even a modicum of fame among the SXSW crowd, rolled their eyes when I asked if they were going. "Too much of a zoo," said one. "Can't handle it," said the other.

I will be here for three days, and I'll blog the experience—or as much of it as I can on my hopelessly uncool five-year-old Windows laptop, my lead-weighted first-generation iPad, and my iPhone, which is running a version of iOS so old that it can't even install the official SXSW events app. That is, if I can carry them all.

Toronto the Good: New Mayor: Ford celebrates 1st 100 days in office, boasts his good deeds

Mayor's email newsletter to constituents:

Mayor's Rob Ford's first 100 days 

mark improvements in 

customer service, 

reduced taxes,  

increased accountability with taxpayer dollars

Movies: Celebrity Pals: Matt Damon and Ben Affleck actors duo play poker for Africa

FILE - In this July 2, 2008 file photo, Matt Damon, left, and Ben Affleck arrive at the Ante Up For Africa charity poker tournament during the World Series of Poker at the Rio hotel and casino in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken, file)

Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2011/03/11/hollywood-political-watch-damons-latest-rambling-fireside-chat-palin-vs-griffin-and-activist-affleck/#ixzz1GY7iHxFv


-- Daily Caller (Mar11,2k11) materials ( texty by journo Ruth Graham) posted by EconoMix

Technics: Amazon: Blocks Canadians from viewing what it makes freely available in USA

Amazon.com: Kekkaishi: Season 3, Episode 30 "The Right Person for Karasumori": Instant Video

Show Summary

Sumimura Yoshimori is a normal 14-year-old middle-school student, though he always falls asleep in class. This is however due to his night duties, in which he takes on the role of a Kekkaishi (Barrier Master).

Together with Yukimura Tokine, his neighbor and childhood friend (/sweetheart), he serves as a protector for the school which holds a few ancient secrets. These secrets are slowly being unraveled, which may play a role in Yoshimori's ultimate plans.Genre: Action, Fantasy, Anime
Network: NTVWatch the Latest Episode Season 1, Episode 30

BUT

Video Playback Not Authorized


We have detected that your are not located within the US. Due to licensing restrictions Amazon Instant Viodeo customers must be located in the United States when viewing videos online. (What's This?)

So


It looks to me as if this "licensing" ploy is in restraint of the NAFTA treaty between Canada and USA.  But we all know that entertainment industries have special arrangements with the USA lawmakers.  So much for Free Trade!

-- Techknowlb

Movies: Nick Cage: Stars in Bangkok Dangerous

I'm watching a movie starring Nicolas Cage, Bangkok Dangerous.  Cage plays a morally-dark charecter, as often he does, but takes a Bangkok lowlife as his apprentice in his nefarious business.  Hopefully, more later.

-- MovieViewer

Music: Calendar: March 9-12 is Canadian Music Week in Toronto

blogTO (Mar7,3k11)
This blog carries the best Toronto, Ontario entertainment stuff -- Musikos

Canadian Music Week 2011 Preview

Posted by Igor Bonifacic / MARCH 7, 201

Canadian Music Week 

has three nites 

you can still enjoy!

This year, the annual music industry event brings with it over eight hundred artists performing at fifty-five venues over the course of five nights. Suffice to say, given the metrics of this year's event, it can be a bit difficult to decide on what's actually worth attending. Thankfully, I got you covered. For each of the five nights, I've picked what I thought were the two or three most promising concerts -- of course, if you plan on attending the festival, make sure to check out the schedule for yourself. Moreover, as with many festivals of this type, you can buy a wristband which grants you access to multiple concerts and venues -- everything you need to know about getting a wristband is located here -- however, there are some limitations to these wristbands and, where applicable, I've gone ahead and made note of those limitations.

Here are my picks:

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 9

Cardinal Chase, Michou, Eric Hutchinson, Behind Sapphire and To Tell at The El Mocambo. Doors open: 8:00 PM.
I was certainly surprised when Michou won "Artist of the Year" at this year's Verge Music Awards. It's for this reason that I'm excited to be given opportunity to go and see what the band has on offer and to form my own opinion on them.

Robot Bombshelter, DJ Jedi, DJ Medley, and Kill the Noise @ Cobra Nightclub. Doors open: 10 PM; 4 AM last call.
It's unfortunate that what might turn out to be the after party of CMW happens to be on the first night of the festival. However, that shouldn't stop it from being any less memorable. If my previous visits to Cobra on a Wednesday night are any indication, then the nightclub will be packed with some handsome people -- and a music executive or two. Dance grooves will be provided by Toronto dance-circuit heavyweights DJ Jedi and DJ Medley along with Los Angeles' Kill The Noise.

THURSDAY, MARCH 10

Hands and Teeth, Paper Lions, Allie Hughes, Behind Sapphire, Wool on Wolves, Hooded Fang and The Elwins at The Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music (near Trinity Bellwoods Park). Doors open: 1:30 PM.
I've never been to or, for that matter, even heard of the Toronto Institute for the Enjoyment of Music, but if their other concerts have lineups even half as good as this one, then I've been sorely missing out on something great. Given the time of this one it might difficult for most people to attend this one, but, for those who do manage to make it to the show, this one should be a treat.

Modern Superstitions, Molly Rankin, Memphis, Still Life Still, Zeus, Rich Aucoin and The Wilderness at The Horseshoe. Doors open: 8:30 PM.
Between Still Life Still, Zeus, Rich Aucoin and The Wilderness this one should be great show; it might also be one of the last opportunities to see a band like Zeus in such an intimate venue. As such, this one is sure to be packed, so it's best to arrive early.

Prussia, Memoryhouse, Young Empires and Yukon Blonde @ The Great Hall. Doors open: 9:15 PM.
I had the opportunity to see Young Empires when they opened for Chromeo in January, but I missed seeing their set by mere minutes and I've regretted it ever since. Thankfully, they're back and playing in the beautiful and stately Great Hall. Along with them come the excellent Yukon Blonde and, from what I've heard of their music, the promising Prussia and Memoryhouse. Hopefully this one gets the attendance it deserves because it would be a shame for people not to hear these bands.

FRIDAY, MARCH 11

James Vincent McMorrow, Kurt Vile and the Violators and J Mascis @ The Great Hall. Doors open: 9:00 PM. A limited number of wristbands will be honored so arrive early.
Honestly, it's J Mascis. Need I say more?

LA Riots @ The Mod Club Theatre. Doors open: 10:00 PM. A limited numbers of wristbands will be honored so arrive early. 4:00 AM Last call.
I've now had the pleasure of seeing LA Riots spin three times. Each time they've provided memorable tunes to dance the night away with. Note: for those who decide to check out both the Sadies and LA Riots -- the Sadies play the Mod Club earlier in the evening -- know that the staff at the Mod Club will close the venue down after the first show and then reopen it for the second show.

SATURDAY, MARCH 12

Diemonds, The Zoobombs, Dinosaur Bones and the Russian Futurists @ the Bait Shop. Doors open: 1:30 PM.
Every time I've seen Matthew Hart of the Russian Futurists perform I've been left with a slightly deeper admiration of his music. I'm sure that will be the case again.

Desperate Union, Hannah Georgas, Bombay Bicycle Club, Hollerado, Shad, Janelle Monae @ The Canadian Room (Royal York Hotel). Doors open 7:00 PM.
Artists like Hannah Georgas, Shad and Janelle Monae should be known quantities to most Canadian music fans by now, so I'll skip singing their praises. Instead, I wanted to write about Bombay Bicycle Club. This will be one of the band's first performances in North America. However, in their native UK they're already stars -- they were proclaimed "Best New Band" at the 2010 NME Awards, beating out the likes of The xx, La Roux, and Mumford and Sons. All of this to say that this is probably one of the strongest lineups of the festival.

Photo by Reza Vaziri in the blogTO Flickr Pool.

-- Canadian Music Week materials re-posted here by Musikos