woman in gold

This is the "Gustav Klimt, Adele Bloch-Bauer I, 1907." Adele here looks like a Mona Lisa alter-ego with her ambiguous smile and posture. If you notice, she is covering a deformed finger (ergo the positioning of the hands). Imperfect as she may be, Adele was a woman ahead of her time in the early 1900's. Aside from being a wife and mother - she hosted a saloon where the influential personalities of her day congregated. She's supposedly a Viennese manufacturer's wife but in here, she looks like a queen. Yes, the art itself is made of real gold and silver pieces. It took Klimt several hundred sketches and 3 years to finish this piece.

I don't usually comment on art, but this one is extremely extravagant and unlike the premiere classic masterpieces that rely on the sole talent and later on the name (or fame) of the artist.

This painting sold a record $135 million, the highest sum ever paid for a work of art. More than the gold and the canvass though, I think they just paid for this piece's amazing journey...

Said to be a portrait of Viennese wife, Adele Bloch-Bauer, who had a rumored love affair with the artist, this painting was plundered along with many others by the Nazis' hoarding of European art. Surfacing years later in the Viennese museum. This led to a 60-year dispute over ownership, and more recently an 8-year battle for custody between the Austrian government and the heirs of Adele Bloch-Bauer. Her dying wish was to have her portraits remain in Austria, but as fate would have it, after World War 2 their family was scattered all throughout Europe and America. Her husband rewrote his will to disregard his wife's last wishes, and left the portrait to his brother's children, of whom only 1 remains alive (Maria Altmann, 90) The latter was awarded custody only January this year.

She's not beautiful - as defined by contemporary standards (but then neither was Mona Lisa). But there's just something about her. Behind the gold trimmings, just as numerous reviews have given praise, she radiates luxe, calme, et volupté.

Stuck on Papa Cologne

I'm not usually fond of Tagalog songs. But this one original from Parokya ni Edgar is just so catchy that I've had it in my head (last song syndrome) for the past couple of days.

"Papa Cologne" has a light tone to it - danceable but not noisy or annoying. Sounds a lot like a jingle actually that's trying to sell some imaginary product. It also has a way of carrying sexual overtones that's obvious but not in-your-face, which is very cute.


Kung ang iyong problema
Ay ang iyong mukha
Wag nang mag-alala
Pagkat nandito na

Ang sagot sa lahat ng
Problema mo sa mga babae
Ang gamot sa lahat ng
Pag-kakabigo ng mga lalake
Nandito na ang papa
Papa Cologne

Mag-aamoy mayaman
Kahit na pag-pawisan
Di na mahihirapan
Diretso ng kanto
Kung saan may tindahang
Mapagbibilhan nitong
Produkto - Siguradong patok
(at wala kang putok)
Garantisado

Gumamit ng papa
Papa cologne

My name is Peter North and
I’m from Houston, Colorado
I play a lot of tennis and
I know a little judo
My darling likes me smelling good
It always turns her on
That’s why I always use
Papa Cologne

Mula sa calypso cosmetics
And now back to halina sa parokya

Internet Tax

I received this email today care of Google Adsense about the bill on Internet Tax. An open letter from Eric Schmidt *sigh* (cutest CEO ever, besides Larry). But really, this is serious...

There's a debate heating up in Washington, DC on something called "net neutrality" – and the outcome of this debate may very well impact your business. Therefore, we are taking the unprecedented steps of calling your attention to this looming crisis and asking you to get involved.

Sometime in the next few days, the House of Representatives is going to vote on a bill that would fundamentally alter the Internet. That bill would give the big phone and cable companies the power to choose what you will be able to see and do on the Internet.

Today the Internet is an information highway where anybody – no matter how large or small, how traditional or unconventional – has equal access to everyone else. On the Internet, a business doesn't need the network's permission to communicate with a customer or deploy an innovative new service. But the phone and cable monopolies, who control almost all broadband Internet access, want the power to choose who gets onto the high-speed lanes and whose content gets seen first and fastest. They want to build tollbooths to block the on-ramps for those whom they don't want to compete with and who can't pay this new Internet tax. Money and monopoly, not ideas and independence, will be the currency of their Internet.

Under the proposed "pay-to-play" system, small- and medium-sized businesses will be placed at an automatic disadvantage to their larger competitors. Those who cannot afford the new Internet tax – or who want to compete directly with the phone and cable companies – will be marginalized by slower Internet access that will inevitably make their sites less accessible, and therefore less appealing.

Creativity, innovation and a free and open marketplace are all at stake in this fight. Imagine an Internet in which your access to customers is constrained by your ability to cut a deal with the carriers. Please call your representative in Congress at 202-224-3121. For more information on the issue, and more ways to make your voice be heard, visit www.ItsOurNet.org.

Thank you for your time, your concern and your support.

Eric Schmidt
CEO of Google Inc.

P.S. -- If you are unsure of who represents you in Congress, you can look them up by zip code at http://www.house.gov. And if you would like to stay informed about this issue, and other policy issues affecting Google, you can opt-in to our policy mailing list at http://groups-beta.google.com/group/googlepolicy/subscribe (powered by Google Groups).