Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Salvador Dali played football?

Salvador Dali played football?

In 2006 David James wrote a piece for the Observer called ‘Salvador Dali and Wayne Rooney - what a pair of artists’. In it he says “I love certain artists. Salvador Dali is one. He's technically superb. Dali can match the Renaissance art of Michelangelo, but he also does the abstract. Simply put, Dali is your Wayne Rooney equivalent: he can do the technical stuff but he can also do a bit more. He also invested meaning and emotion into his paintings.”

David James writes? Draws? Okay, just being cheeky, says the grammatically challenged copywriter, I’m a creative(with language), hate me. I am sure at the time James had no idea that Salvador Dali played football in his youth but neither did I until today. But still,that' some deep shit James.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2006/nov/18/salvadordaliandwaynerooney

When you think Dali, you think eccentric, never football and to quote James again in his element…


“Football and art have yet to really make a connection. Horse racing and cricket, athletics and even golf have made it into the classical arena, but football has been left behind. The few examples of football and art that I have seen tend to be static and devoid of feeling - the antithesis of the game itself. Perhaps the problem stems from football being part of popular culture.”

But by no means is Dali confined to just art in a classic sense, his creative range is quite immense. He contributed to theatre, fashion, photography and much more. He gave us the Lobster telephone and The Mae West Lips Sofa. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/art/3604018/Object-of-the-week-the-Mae-West-lip-sofa.html

He created jewellery pieces, 39 in fact giving us the "The Royal Heart", which is made of gold and is encrusted with 46 rubies, 42 diamonds, and four emeralds and is created in such a way that the centre "beats" much like a real heart.

He collaborated with Disney for a short film showing his artwork interacting with Disney animation. He also worked with fashion designers most famous being Christian Dior to create ‘ a special 'costume for the year 2045'. Photography with Man Ray, movies with Alfred Hitchcock and god knows what with Freud. He even collaborated with Romanian mathematician Matila Ghyka for ‘Leda Atomica’, organising it to a rigid mathematical framework following the divine proportion.

http://artchive.com/artchive/D/dali/leda.jpg.html

He designed the logo for Chupa Chups lollipops. Even Andy Warhol nicked his muse Ultra Violet, well sort of...

http://planetgroupentertainment.squarespace.com/the-uultra-violet-interview/

But football, really? and to the point of why I even began writing this piece. I am an arb info junkie to some, who hops from link to link on my pc or of my mobile, gobbling bits and pieces for no good reason. It is how I got here, but holds me in good stead for my current career as that is what is demanded of me:)

It all started with quotes from Dali, automatically, next stop Wiki, then links to make sure Wiki was not being tricky. And it was confirmed. Dali’s childhood friends included future FC Barcelona footballers, Sagi Barbá and Jose Samitier. During holidays at the Catalan resort of Cadaqués, the trio played football together.

http://www.biographyonline.net/artists/salvador-dali.html

But these were not just average Barcelona players, they were future stars. They were prominent members of the brilliant FC Barcelona team coached by Jack Greenwell.

Sagi Barba played 455 games and scored 134 goals for FC Barcelona and is best remembered for forming a successful partnership with the legendary Paulino Alcántara.

José Samitier scored 326 goals and is second only to Paulino Alcántara as the FC Barcelona's all time top goalscorer. As a player he pioneered the midfield general role and was nicknamed El Mag (The Magician) and Home Llagosta (The Grasshopper Man) due to his style. As a manager he led CF Barcelona to a La Liga title in 1945 and as a scout he recruited another CF Barcelona legend Ladislao Kubala.

That's some esteemed company to be knocking a game of holiday footy and holding your own. Then you get it, aha! He comes from Catalunya!

So this got me thinking, Salvador Dali in football? Would his shirt read like the Brazilians do? Would it be Dali, Salvador, Don Salvador or Avida Dollars(;p)? But most exciting, what would his post match interviews be like, his quotes.

You think Eric Cantona…

“When the seagulls follow the trawler, it is because they think sardines will be thrown into the sea.”

"I am not a man, I am Cantona"

“I didn’t study; I live.”

http://www.goal.com/en/news/2377/top-10/2010/11/28/2235602/top-10-eric-cantona-quotes-seagulls-water-carrier-terminator-and-

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/5206945/Eric-Cantona-in-quotes.html

You think Jose Mourinho…

“Please don’t call me arrogant, but I’m European champion and I think I’m a special one.”

"For me, pressure is bird flu. I'm feeling a lot of pressure with the problem in Scotland. It's not fun and I'm more scared of it than football."

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/86/italy/2009/07/10/1375062/10-classic-jose-mourinho-quotes

Now here’s a taste of Dali’s quotes to give you an idea…


At the age of six I wanted to be a cook. At seven I wanted to be Napoleon. And my ambition has been growing steadily ever since.

Every morning when I wake up, I experience an exquisite joy — the joy of being Salvador Dalí — and I ask myself in rapture: What wonderful things is this Salvador Dalí going to accomplish today

The secret of my influence has always been that it remained secret.

There are some days when I think I'm going to die from an overdose of satisfaction.

I seated ugliness on my knee, and almost immediately grew tired of it.

There is only one difference between a madman and me. The madman thinks he is sane. I know I am mad.

It is not necessary for the public to know whether I am joking or whether I am serious, just as it is not necessary for me to know it myself.


What is an elegant woman? An elegant woman is a woman who despises you and who has no hair under her arms.

In the subconscious you fuck ugly people, never beautiful, because the libido always desires something repulsive.

“Happy is he who causes a scandal”

“I shall be so brief that I have already finished”

“Let my enemies devour each other.”

Liking money like I like it, is nothing less than mysticism. Money is a glory.

The only difference between me and the Surrealists is that I am a Surrealist.

You have to systematically create confusion, it sets creativity free. Everything that is contradictory creates life.

I have Dalinian thought: the one thing the world will never have enough of is the outrageous.

http://www.artinthepicture.com/artists/Salvador_Dali/Quotes/
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/s/salvador_dali.html
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Salvador_Dal%C3%AD


#The beauty of reading online is always knowing Google is at your side to enquire further, use it, don’t use it, I’m just saying. Another mad rambling by Luciano Vandyar

Michael Jackson and Prince (no, not MJ's son) - Bored at work, awaiting clients approval 7pm going on past 8

So I sit here at my desk and I say to myself, let's go look on the interweb to see what I can dig up on the 2 and their so called rivalry, yes I needed answers on the gloved one and his purple highness, so sod off if I offend you with my curiosity.



I was surprised with what I found...



(for dramatic effect ala E!)...One had Neverland, One had Paisley Park. One had Thriller, the other Purple Rain. One is dead, the other is alive!



Did you know that at a James Brown Concert in 1983, James Brown spotted Michael Jackson in the audience and asked him to come up on stage to do a lil something. Michael obliged, then after whispered into James ears that Prince was in the crowd to, and James had him come on to. So Michael and Prince have appeared on Stage together...watch it unfold on youtube.



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHaFj7gOWh4



From what I gather on the net, it goes that MJ actually wanted his song BAD to be a duet with Prince, but that idea fell through after the two had creative differences over lyrical content and Prince refused the project. Prince stated later that he thought the song would be a hit whether he was in it or not. Fans speculate that the lyrical content in question was the opening lyrics‘ "Your butt is mine".



A bit more FROM MTV Newsroom…



‘But did Jackson and Prince really dislike each other? The evidence suggests that the rivalry was for real, if not a bit one-sided. On his 2004 album Musicology, Prince had a lyric that went, "My voice is getting higher/And Eye ain't never had my nose done/That's the other guy."



He also ducked out of the Jackson-helmed "We Are The World" sessions (though he did end up donating a song to the benefit album).



However, recent interviews with former Prince band members reveal a more genial side. "They'd shoot hoops at Paisley Park," longtime Prince drummer Bobby Z told the Star-Tribune. Prince had a deep-seeded competitive nature, so it's easy to see where he would measure himself against Jackson's success. Engineer David Z told a story about Prince's attempt to play ping-pong with Jackson. "Michael drops his paddle and holds his hands up in front of his face so the ball won't hit him. Michael walks out with his bodyguard, and Prince starts strutting around like a rooster. 'Did you see that? He played like Helen Keller.'”



http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/06/29/michael-jackson-vs-prince-the-forgotten-rivalry/



The hoops bit and competitive nature of Prince chuckles me straight back to the raconteurs of Charlie Murphy(Eddie Murphys brother) on the Dave Chappelle show about playing hoops with the Purple one and Eddie at Paisley Park :)



For the most part though I think their rivalry was good for fans and themselves as it kept challenging them both to be better artists, well, in the 80’s and 90’s that is;)



Prince though had finally this to say when he was asked about his feelings on the death of Michael Jackson, reluctant, not wanting to dwell on the subject answered: “It is always sad to lose someone you loved."