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মঙ্গলবার, ৪ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Carmen Maria Vega - Arts & Entertainment - Broadsheet Melbourne

f all the French artists we?ve spoken to ahead of So Frenchy So Chic in the Park in January, Carmen Maria Vega is probably the most removed. She resides in Lyon, a two-hour train ride from the French capital. But it?s not just geography that separates her from SFSC artists like Melanie Pain and Nadeah Miranda, who live and work together in Paris?s creative 10th and 11th arrondissements. Carmen Maria Vega?s inspiration comes from an entirely different place ? a love for film and an education in the arts.

Chatting over the phone, she has a beautifully soft French accent, full of cheeky little laughs and upward inflections. She speaks less English than many of the other SFSC artists and explains that while she would like to sing in English (like Miranda and Pain), she feels much more comfortable expressing herself in French. ?We have a lot of French groups who sing in English, like Revolver or Phoenix,? she says in broken, meandering English. ?I think sometimes it is more easier to express yourself in English because the language is more musical. The French music is very direct, but for me, I don?t really speak well in English and it?s much easier to sing in French.?

While her voice is hushed over the phone, Vega?s songs ripple with condensed French phrasing and powerful vocals. This is the thing that separates Vega from many French artists. Her songs are arranged and styled like British pop music, but her execution is distinctly and utterly French.

And that is where Vega?s music derives much of its energy. There is a tension in all of her songs between light and dark, joy and despair, English and French. When asked of her influences, she says her musical upbringing was a little rebellious ? she was always trying to find music her parents didn?t listen to. ?In Lyon there is a lot of French music. Not so much rock. I started music at school and I discovered Pink Floyd and Queen and U2,? she says.

Vega discovered influences from America and Britain before she even thought about music from her local Lyon or wider France. ?I grew up with pop music, but my parents didn?t like English music,? she recalls. ?They listened to Edith Piaf and older French music.?

Vega?s live show, which was crafted in the small bars and caf?s in the heart of Lyon, is key to her artistry. After picking up her playing partner, guitarist Max Lavegie, in 2005, the pair have amassed a huge number of shows together. ?I was counting with my manager the other day and I think now we are passed 600 shows. We made the albums at the same time?I never slept, that is my secret,? she laughs.

Vega was approached by Universal Records without even so much as a demo tape in 2005 and began recording her first record in 2008. The self-titled debut was critically acclaimed, going on to be nominated for prestigious Prix Constantin (the French equivalent of the Mercury Prize). For the album she recruited guitarist Sebastien Collinet and drummer Toma Milteau, with the band recently growing to include bassist Oliver Smith, who played on Vega?s sophomore album Du Chaos Naissent les Etoiles.

Before Vega heads out onto the streets of Lyon to do some grocery shopping, we broach the topic of her acting career. Earlier this year she had a supporting role in Le Jour de la Grenouille, a French drama directed by Beatrice Pollet, and she hopes to incorporate more of her skills from acting into her live show and continue both careers into the future. ?People from cinema want me to be an actress, because they saw me at my show. I hope to do both,? she says.

Vega is a little apprehensive about singing in Australia, because she doesn?t portray the soft side of Melanie Pain or the sass of Nadeah Miranda. What she does have is rare confidence and presence on stage. ?I don?t have time to translate all of the songs (for Australia), but I think the music is universal. So we are going to translate between the songs so people understand what the song is about,? she says.

Carmen Maria Vega and her band are playing at So Frenchy So Chic in the Park on January 20, 2013. For more information visit the festival website.

Racing round the antique desks of Glorious Goodwood | Christian ...

Channel 4 is on to a winning streak with its new series The Aristocrats, showing there?s a lot more to running a stately home than garden fetes and antique bookcases.

Recently, Ribble Valley viewers watched James Spencer-Churchill ? the wayward heir to the Blenheim Palace estate ? trying to prove he was capable of taking over the reins when his father, the Duke of Marlborough died. On 29th November, the dashing Charles Henry Gordon-Lennox, Earl of March and Kinrara, showed the pressures he was under managing the Goodwood estate on behalf of his father, the 10th Duke of Richmond.

Goodwood House has been their family seat since the 17th Century, but is more associated with speed than antique oak pedestal desks . Most Ribble Valley residents have heard of the racecourse and of Glorious Goodwood, the highlight of the flat-racing calendar. The Grand Prix race track is equally famous, putting on major events like the Festival of Speed each year.

With an aerodrome, golf course, organic farm, hotel and other facilities, Goodwood is one of the few country estates to be totally self-sufficient ? something that has largely been achieved through the efforts of Lord Charles Henry March. However, much of the revenue is ploughed straight back into the house, and in what he refers to as ?mortmain? (literally ?hand of the dead?) he describes the pressure he is under to keep his inheritance in good repair.

Aristocrats live a life of wealth and privilege that most can only dream of. However, anyone can visit an antique dealer and in Preston there are Victorian mahogany partners desks , antique dining tables and other fine furniture to add a stately touch to any home.

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Source: http://blog.christiandaviesantiques.co.uk/racing-round-the-antique-desks-of-glorious-goodwood-2781.html

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Texans clinch playoff berth, down Titans 24-10

Houston Texans quarterback Matt Schaub (8) gets a pass away as center Chris Myers (55) blocks Tennessee Titans defensive tackle Sen'Derrick Marks, right, in the first quarter of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Joe Howell)

Tennessee Titans quarterback Jake Locker (10) tackles Houston Texans inside linebacker Tim Dobbins (52) after Dobbins intercepted a pass by Locker in the second quarter of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Joe Howell)

Houston Texans running back Arian Foster bows to the fans after scoring a touchdown on a 2-yard run against the Tennessee Titans in the second quarter of an NFL football game on Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Wade Payne)

Tennessee Titans tackle David Stewart is helped onto a cart after breaking his right leg in the first quarter of an NFL football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Dec. 2, 2012, in Nashville, Tenn. (AP Photo/Joe Howell)

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) ? The Houston Texans are heading back to the playoffs for a second straight year and already have set a franchise record for wins in a season.

Their defense made sure they didn't need overtime for this latest win, 24-10 over the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Rookie linebacker Whitney Mercilus recovered a fumble and had two sacks as the Texans (11-1) remain tied with Atlanta for the best record in the NFL with their sixth straight win. After needing overtime the past two games, the Texans forced six turnovers they turned into 10 points and had six sacks of Jake Locker when the Texans weren't batting down a handful of other passes.

Houston swept Tennessee (4-8), the team it replaced in Houston, for only the second time. Matt Schaub threw for 207 yards and two touchdowns, and Arian Foster ran for a TD.

The Titans debuted new offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, but they didn't help him out much as receivers repeatedly dropped balls.

Tennessee scored on a 34-yard pass from Locker to Kenny Britt late in the third quarter to pull within 24-10. The Titans even had third-and-3 at the Houston 7 early in the fourth quarter before Jared Cook had a pass go off his hands, then Locker was sacked on the next play. Tennessee turned it over on downs with 4:28 left after driving to the Houston 33.

Darryl Sharpton got the third interception off Locker with 2:05 left. Locker finished with two fumbles and three interceptions.

The Texans avoided all the late-game dramatics needed in beating first Jacksonville, then Detroit in overtime in a span of five days. But their injury list grew.

Linebackers Bradie James and Brooks Reed, cornerback Johnathan Joseph and right tackle Derek Newton all sat out. Cornerback Brice McCain hurt his foot and couldn't finish. Tight end Garrett Graham also suffered a head injury and couldn't finish.

Houston improved on last season's 10 wins with Schaub completing four of his first five passes for 78 yards on the opening drive. Schaub also connected with James Casey on a 5-yard pass for a 14-3 lead in the second quarter. By halftime, Schaub was 15 of 24 for 167 yards with a 110.9 passer rating, and he finished 21 of 35, completing passes to eight teammates, including himself off a batted ball he pulled in for a 6-yard loss.

Shaun Cody tipped Locker's pass to Houston linebacker Tim Dobbins, a Nashville native, who ran it 7 yards to the Tennessee 3 before Locker knocked him up into the air. Arian Foster scored on a 2-yard TD run two plays later for a 21-3 lead midway through the second quarter. Shayne Graham added a 50-yard field goal in the third quarter after Mercilus recovered Locker's fumble forced by Antonio Smith.

That was all Houston needed on a day where the defense disrupted Tennessee repeatedly, even though the Titans wound up with a 354-332 edge in total offense.

J.J. Watt had another sack, giving him 15 1-2, adding to his franchise record for a season. Smith also had a sack and recovered a fumble by Chris Johnson that he ran to the end zone where the lineman waved the ball in the air, thinking he had a TD in the second quarter.

But officials had whistled the play dead at the spot of the turnover.

___

Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP_NFL

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/347875155d53465d95cec892aeb06419/Article_2012-12-02-Texans-Titans/id-1618b559f5224dd988a3c129f4cd3b3e

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সোমবার, ৩ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Carly Rae Jepsen Covers Cosmo, Talks Justin Bieber

Source: http://www.thehollywoodgossip.com/2012/12/carly-rae-jepsen-covers-cosmo-talks-justin-bieber/

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Video: Obama: GOP holding middle class tax cuts "hostage" (cbsnews)

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Source: http://news.feedzilla.com/en_us/stories/politics/top-stories/267731058?client_source=feed&format=rss

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রবিবার, ২ ডিসেম্বর, ২০১২

Fiscal Cliff Progress Suffers As Republicans, Democrats Remain Divided

By Mark Felsenthal
HATFIELD, Pa., Nov 30 (Reuters) - With barely a month left before the "fiscal cliff," Republicans and Democrats remained far apart on Friday in talks to avoid the across-the-board tax hikes and spending cuts that threaten to throw the country back into recession.
While President Barack Obama visited a Pennsylvania toy factory to muster public support for tax hikes on the rich, portraying Republicans as scrooges at Christmas time, his primary adversary in negotiations, Republican House Speaker John Boehner, continued to describe the situation as a stalemate.
The argument will resume on Sunday when Boehner, along with Obama's Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, and others, take to weekly political talk shows and pick up further steam next week with a possible confrontation in the House of Representatives between Democrats and Republicans over the timing of a vote on tax hikes.
Lawmakers are nervously eyeing the markets as the deadline approaches, with gyrations likely to intensify pressure to bring the drama to a close.
The markets, in turn watching the politicians, fell as Boehner spoke, but recovered afterward. It was a repeat of the pattern earlier in the week when the speaker offered a similarly gloomy assessment.
The latest round of high-stakes gamesmanship focuses on whether to extend the temporary tax cuts that originated under former President George W. Bush beyond their Dec. 31 expiration date for all taxpayers, as Republicans want, or just for those with incomes under $250,000, as Obama and his fellow Democrats want.
After five days of increasingly confrontational exchanges, the work week drew to a close with an announcement by Democrats of a long-shot effort next week to force an early tax-hike vote in the Republican-controlled U.S. House to break the deadlock.

MEDICARE, SOCIAL SECURITY
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said she would undertake the rarely successful effort unless Boehner agreed by Tuesday to bring a bill to the floor allowing taxes on the wealthy to rise, something Boehner is highly unlikely to do until he is ready.
"The clock is ticking," Pelosi said at a news conference. "The year is ending. It's really important with tax legislation for it to happen now. We're calling upon the Republican leadership in the House to bring this legislation to the floor next week."
While Boehner offered no immediate response to Pelosi's threat, Cathy McMorris Rodgers of Washington state, recently elected by Republicans to be the fourth-ranking party leader in the House, told Fox News in an interview not to expect any tax vote next week.
Amid the competing statements from the two sides, there were some actual, albeit modest, signs of potential movement.
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell threw Republican proposals into the mix for reform of Medicare, the government health insurance program for seniors, which has exploded in cost in recent years and is a major contributor to the country's soaring deficit.
McConnell of Kentucky told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Republicans would agree to more revenue - although not higher tax rates - if Democrats agreed to such changes as raising the eligibility age for Medicare and slowing cost-of-living increases in the Social Security retirement program.
Rodgers, in her Fox News interview, declined to completely rule out a much-discussed potential compromise in which Republicans would accept some increase in tax rates on the rich, but not to the level desired by Obama.

'A LUMP OF COAL'
More House Republicans - although still just a handful -expressed flexibility beyond that of their party leaders about considering an increase in tax rates for the wealthy, as long as they are accompanied by significant spending cuts.
Most House Republicans refuse to back higher rates, preferring to raise revenue through tax reform.
Obama, speaking in Pennsylvania, said he was encouraged by the shifting views of some Republicans, and urged House approval of a bill that has already cleared the Democratic-controlled Senate that would lock in the middle-class tax cuts and raise the rates for the rich.
"If we can get a few House Republicans on board, we can pass the bill. ... I'm ready to sign it," Obama said.
But neither he nor the other principals in the debate budged from their basic positions.
Instead, Obama turned up the pressure on Friday, hitting the road to drum up support for his drive to raise taxes on the wealthy and warning Americans that Republicans were offering them "a lump of coal" for Christmas.
In a visit to the Pennsylvania toy factory, Obama portrayed congressional Republicans as scrooges who risked sending the country over the fiscal cliff rather than strike a deal to avert the tax increases and spending cuts that begin in January unless Congress intervenes.
"We already all agree, we say, on making sure middle-class taxes don't go up. So let's get that done. Let's go ahead and take the fear out for the vast majority of American families so they don't have to worry," Obama said at the Rodon Group factory, which makes K'NEX building toy systems as well as Tinkertoys and consumer products.
In Washington, Boehner said Obama's plan to raise taxes on the rich was the wrong approach.
"There is a stalemate. Let's not kid ourselves," the Ohio Republican said. "Right now we are almost nowhere."

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Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/12/01/fiscal-cliff-progress_n_2221917.html

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