Il Divo - Hallelujah (Alelujah) (Live Video)

Exquisite, on so many levels! I particularly love the serenity of their facial and body language, and the precision of each of them.......and their joyful  expressions which reveal their love of their art.

"It's Time to Say Goodbye" ~ another beautifully heart-wrenching song

https://ildivo.com/

Il Divo has stood out for its mixture of opera in songs of different genres, thus becoming an icon of the crossover groups of classical music. Since its debut in 2004, the group comprising the Spanish Carlos Marin, the Swiss tenor Urs Buhler, the Frenchman Sebastien Izambard and the American tenor David Miller, triumphed on the most important stages around the world and have sold millions of records as throughout his career.

Currently, Il Divo returns with a unique and unique material that brings together the songs of love and romance of all times.

For the past 15 years, at Il Divo we have taken songs from a wide variety of genres and made them unmistakably ours. Now we wanted to make a tournament through time and overcome all the differences between the styles of different areas, with Urs, when talking about the preparations of “Timeless”

“This album represents our tribute to the eternal nature of all music…” declared David.

While Carlos said, “Timeless is for me one of the most special records we have done so far in our career with IL DIVO. We select songs from all periods that have been reproduced in movies and amazing romantic soundtracks from the 30 to songs of our days such as the mythical song “Smile” based on an instrumental theme used in the soundtrack of the 1936 film Charlie Chaplin”.

Thus arises his new and awaited album “TIMELESS”, the seventh album of his career, for the first time under the executive production of Il Divo, totally produced, mixed and mastered by Alberto Quintero in Los Angeles. In the month of August will go on sale, however the world launch will be on April 18 in Mexico and let us delight with the eternal anthems of romance, mostly famous and popular in different languages, which will bring us to the memories great unforgettable moments.

“I’m very proud of this record and I bring it to life on stage with incredible ideas. I hope you enjoy it as much as we enjoy creating it.” said Sebastien.

The tour of the album, “TIMELESS TOUR” will begin on April 20 in Mexico City and will end, after eight months of world tour, passing through Asia, South Africa, Australia and Latin America; in the United States with 40 shows giving a total of 120 annual where the public will enjoy the classics renewed in the masterful voices of Il Divo that will tour the most important scenarios .

Once again trying to take a step forward “Timeless Tour” will be an elegant, romantic, dramatic and sensual show that will include elements such as video, dancers, acrobatics and above all: Voices! A trip to the most exciting experience of Il Divo so far!Joined by Simon Cowell in 2003, Urs Buhler, Sebastien Izambard, Carlos Marin and David Miller, pioneered an entirely new musical genre when they released their groundbreaking debut album in 2004. Since then, the group of four international members has achieved success without comparison in the whole world, with more than 30 million discs sold, 50 discs No.1, 160 recognitions of Gold and Platinum in more than 33 countries and four world tours with all tickets sold.Il Divo have released seven albums to date. After the debut album that bears his name (and whose sales earned them the Platinum album), his later albums – Ancora (2005), Siempre (2006), The Promise (2008) and Wicked Game (2011) – have developed the successful combination of virtuosity and popularity of the group. With their recording of 2013, A Musical Affair, they celebrated the classics of Broadway and The West End. In 2015 they released “Amor y Pasion” compiling the best Hispanic songs, debuting in the first week at number 1 of the Latin Albums Chart, with 5 thousand copies sold in America in the first week, according to the Billboard magazine.

Un soldado a casa regreso
Y un niño enfermo se curo
Y hoy no hay trabajo en el bosque de la lluvia

Un desamparado se salvo
Por causa de una buena acción
Y hoy ya nadie lo repudia, Aleluya

Aleluya, Aleluya
Aleluya, Aleluya

Un ateo que consiguió creer
Y un hambriento y tener de comer
Y hoy donaron a una iglesia una fortuna

Que la guerra pronto se acabara
Que en el mundo al fin reinara la paz
Que no habrá miseria alguna, Aleluya

Aleluya, Aleluya
Aleluya, Aleluya

Porque la norma sea el amor
Y no gobierne la cruzión sino
Lo bueno y lo mejor del alma pura

Porque Dios nos proteja de un mal final
Porque un día podamos estar de en tal
Porque acaben un día con tanta furia, Aleluya

Aleluya, Aleluya
Aleluya, Aleluya
Aleluya, Aleluya

"Italian Men Are the Best Lovers" by Fiona Macrae

Dedication: John J. C., Jr./ A.J.T.  /  Il Divo, The Tenors, Luciano Pavarotti and Italian opera, a grin, intense "in any situation", espresso, a man’s love of flowers, teacher of men, mutual intuition, deep sensual nature/ very best ever! Smolder.... Salutare!

Bad news, men: 

Italian men are the best lovers - 
and English men are bottom of the table

64 per cent of Italian men and women are happy with their love lives
But only 54 per cent of British people are satisfied with their sex           lives

Scottish people have the lowest expectations - one in 10 expect sex to last less than two minutes, a third of Italians think over 10 minutes is the norm.

By FIONA MACRAE SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

English men might want to look away now.

Italians came out on top in a ‘sex of the nations survey’.

Some 64 per cent of the Italian men and women polled said they were satisfied with their love life.

A poll found 64 per cent of Italians are satisfied with their love lives compared to 54 per cent of English people. The survey was conducted as part of a drive, supported by rugby players Sean Maitland of Scotland (left) and Danny Care of England (right), to encourage people to seek help for their sexual health problems

England only managed a below average 54 per cent – the lowest of the six nations surveyed.

However, Scots shouldn’t be too smug

The survey of more than 6,000 people from Italy, France, England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland found Scots to have the lowest expectations.

Almost one in ten said they expect sex to last less than two minutes.

The poll also revealed Scottish people have the lowest sexual expectations. Dan Biggar of Wales (pictured) has also been involved in the campaign

In contrast over a third of Italians think more than ten minutes to be the norm.

The research, commissioned to help highlight the prevalence of premature ejaculation, the most common male sexual health problem, also found that more than one fifth of people would like sex to last longer.

Martin Tod, chief executive of the Men’s Health Forum, said: ‘Premature ejaculation can lead to feelings of frustration and disappointment.
‘It can have a real negative impact on quality of life for men and their partners.
‘It is more common than people think and men should not feel embarrassed to do something about it.
‘Help is available from your GP.  There’s no need to suffer in silence.’ 

The research was done for drug company Menarini, which has teamed up with international rugby players, Danny Care, Sean Maitland and Dan Biggar, to encourage people to seek help for sexual problems.

"There Will Be Hell to Pay"/Calls Kavanaugh Confirmation 'An American Tragedy"

‘There Will Be Hell to Pay’: Former Dean of Yale Law School Calls Kavanaugh Confirmation ‘An American Tragedy’

Robert Post described Kavanaugh as a “casual acquaintance."

By Elizabeth Preza / AlterNet

October 7, 2018, 5:00 AM GMT

1.1K

Print

94 COMMENTS

Robert Post and Brett Kavanaugh

In an op-ed published Saturday by Politico, former Dean of Yale Law School Robert Post called Brett Kavanaugh’s appointment to the U.S. Supreme Court “an American tragedy” writing that the nation’s newest Supreme Court justice is the “black-robed embodiment of raw partisan power inconsistent with any ideal of an impartial judiciary.”

Post described Kavanaugh as a “casual acquaintance,” noting he watched the judge’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary committee last month with “something approaching unbelief.”

“With calculation and skill, Kavanaugh stoked the fires of partisan rage and male entitlement,” Post wrote. “He had apparently concluded that the only way he could rally Republican support was by painting himself as the victim of a political hit job. He therefore offered a witches’ brew of vicious unfounded charges, alleging that Democratic members of the Senate Judicial Committee were pursuing a vendetta on behalf of the Clintons.”

SPONSORED

“If we expect judges to reach conclusions based solely on reliable evidence, Kavanaugh’s savage and bitter attack demonstrated exactly the opposite sensibility,” Post wrote, adding he was “shell-shocked” by Kavanaugh’s performance.

Kavanaugh, Post said, chose “ambition over professionalism” and will “remain a symbol of partisan anger, a haunting reminder that behind the smiling face of judicial benevolence lies the force of an urgent will to power.”

“Each and every Republican who votes for Kavanaugh, therefore, effectively announces that they care more about controlling the Supreme Court than they do about the legitimacy of the court itself,” Post wrote. “There will be hell to pay.”

Post warned Kavanaugh’s “very presence” on the Supreme Court “will undermine the court’s claim to legitimacy; it will damage the nation’s commitment to the rule of law.”

“It will be an American tragedy,” he said.

"Just a beginning fragment" TBC

Those of you who know be know that I love kids. Seriously!

I am aware of many adults who are somewhat apathetic, even when it is their own child. I no longer waste time wondering why.

When I was young, I always volunteered to help in kid groups which did arts, music, cooking, etc. I LOVED those times!   

That went on for years, and when I went to school to be a psychotherapist, the decision to specialize in that group of little humans was so very easy.  In the meanwhile, I had "on and off" raised three stepchildren, and then we had a beautiful little girl of our own. Being a mid-life scholar was amazing, because by then I had a deep sense of the realms I wished to walk in, practice-wise. Add to that what, at the time, was a challenge ..... adolescents.

And so, everything evolved ..... and nothing was so energizing as learning about these folks! (My daughter used to call her three "The Shorties")  

Initially, I thought that process ... well, how hard could it be? Really!  

That original opinion showed how very much I had to learn!

The first thing was that underestimating kids was a huge mistake. Oh, sure, the "books" will provide you with endless "scientific" facts, but the quickest way to put that in perspective was to spend 5-10 minutes talking with a kid about  ... well, basically anything. 

Even more fun is to simply flow with their ideas as they speak. This absolutely shows how quick their minds are.  Their thoughts dance with a tempo and velocity. One could interpret them as childish banter, but kids' banter is much deeper than we initially think.  

I think that kids often get frustrated, because they have some kiddie radar, which  rapidly sizes up intent, compassion, humor, and anger of adults with whom they interact.

(to be continued)

Jump to Navigation

  

SEARCH

Search form

Search

• ◀
  • TRUMP TRAUMA
  • ELECTION '18
  • ECONOMY
  • RIGHTS
  • EDUCATION
  • MEDIA / CULTURE
  • ENVIRONMENT / FOOD
  • HEALTH

It's True: Misogyny Is at the Heart of Right-Wing Politics

Republicans really do hate women

By Amanda Marcotte / Salon

October 6, 2018, 2:03 AM GMT

571

Print

57 COMMENTS

Photo Credit: Office of the Vice President

They really do hate women.

It's long been frowned upon to acknowledge this fundamental truth: Misogyny is at the heart of right-wing politics. Pointing out that hatred of women and a desire to keep them under the boot is an animating force of Republican politics is sure to draw pained expressions from many liberal men, certain that the feminists are being hysterical again. Surely feminists don't think it's quite as simple as that, right? Surely we understand that anti-abortion views are about a sincere belief that life begins at conception and anyway, Republicans aren't serious when they say they're going to ban abortion. That's just something they say to rile up the rubes, to trick them into voting for the real agenda, which is about economics and taxes. Certainly you women can't think you are important enough that oppressing you is a major priority for Republicans, right?

We're not hearing that argument much these days, though the price that had to be paid for the wake-up call was steep indeed: The election of a gloating misogynist who brags about his lengthy career sexual assault. Now the Senate, with Friday's cloture vote to move forward with the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh, is one step from seating a piggish frat boy who has been credibly accused of abusive sexual conduct by multiple women to the Supreme Court. Once there, he will almost certainly be the fifth vote to gut abortion rights and to start chipping away at LGBT rights and contraception access.

SPONSORED

In his famous 2004 book, "What's the Matter With Kansas," Thomas Frank laid down the argument that became almost a doctrine in some quarters of the left, which was that gender politics and the culture war and gender politic were just distractions thrown up by Republicans to bait the masses into voting against their economic self-interest. Frank wrote that culture war politics "may count when conservatives appear on the stump," but "once conservatives are in office the only old-fashioned situation they care to revive is an economic regimen of low wages and lax regulations."

"Abortion is never halted. Affirmative action is never abolished," he intoned, setting up a decade-plus of liberal men, right through the 2016 election, insinuating that feminist priorities like electing more women to office were a distraction from real issues. That pressure campaign was largely successful, leaving many women too ashamed to be frumpy feminists who were mysteriously undermining the progressive cause to get excited about the possibility of electing a feminist like Hillary Clinton.

Seems like feminists aren't being shamed into silence so easily these days. The videos populating social media from the protests at the Hart Senate Building are a cacophony of mostly female voices raised high, screaming disapproval of the Kavanaugh nomination and no longer intimidated by accusations that they are shrill, hysterical or, heaven help us, not sexy. And Republican reactions strongly suggest their misogyny is more than an act put on to bamboozle the yokels.

"I want to make it clear to these people who are chasing my members around the hall here or harassing them at the airports or going to their homes, we’re not going to be intimidated by these people," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said of the protesters.

“When you grow up, I’ll be glad to [speak to you],” Sen. Orrin Hatch snapped at a group of protesters, equating grown women with children who need a scolding.

Report Advertisement

“You needed to go to the cops,” Sen. Lindsey Graham told another protester when she confronted him about her own history of rape, implying that he --  with no information about her situation -- understood her options better than she did.

Sen. Ben Sasse dismissed the protests by women against Kavanaugh as "hysteria" three times during the original confirmation hearing, when the focus was primarily on reproductive rights and before sexual assault became an issue.

Donald Trump, of course, is screeching on Twitter about how the protesters are "paid" and funded by "Soros," because it is impossible for him imagine that women might actually have minds of their own.

Let's be clear that the women clogging up the halls of Congress are not paid or idiots or children or harpies. These protests are being led by women who are speaking out about their own experiences with sexual abuse. This dismissal of the intelligence or honesty of sexual assault survivors is sadly not surprising. That is how women's stories of sexual abuse have been discredited since forever. That's how Christine Blasey Ford's moving testimony against Kavanaugh is being discredited. This has nothing to do with what's true or most believable or most backed by evidence. It's about asserting that women's voices have no value, no matter what they're saying or how true it is.

Feminists have had fun with our jokes about "misandry" or "well-behaved women seldom make history" bumper stickers. But truth be told, most of us have still lived in the abiding hope that being good girls who ask nicely will get us closer to equality. Certainly that was the main theme of Clinton's campaign, which highlighted her hard work, her qualifications and her demeanor of grandmotherly kindness. Her supporters largely followed that lead, keeping their gripes about sexism to private Facebook groups and listservs and putting on a cheerful face to the world.

Report Advertisement

For that, Clinton got called a "nasty woman" and lost anyway.

Christine Blasey Ford's testimony was more of the same. She had a soft, girlish voice and a winsome demeanor, completely without guile. She was vulnerable, not angry. She came across as someone who really believed that if the Senate knew the truth, it would do the right thing.

Now she's getting smeared as a liar or a crazy woman and lost anyway.

In the instant classic work of feminist philosophy, "Down Girl: The Logic of Misogyny," Kate Manne disputes the naive conception of misogyny as some sort of knee-jerk hatred of women. Instead, she argues that it's about the policing of women. A misogynist is perfectly happy with women if they behave the way he wants them to, by being servile and pleasing. But when women start to resist their assigned role and start insisting on respect, justice and equality, the fangs will come out.

We saw the truth of Manne's theory play out throughout this Kavanaugh hearing. Oh, we heard so much about how Kavanaugh loved the silent, smiling women and girls who were brought out to flank him at every public appearance. A great deal of attention was paid to letting us know exactly how much Kavanaugh adores the women who populate his world and take orders from him, such as his law clerks and the girls on the basketball team he coaches.

But when women started saying no to him and started speaking up, he got red-faced, screaming and self-pitying. Republicans in Congress were so deeply moved by his performance because they, too, cannot believe these women who think they have a right to speak out. That was why it had to be Brett Kavanaugh, rather than substituting in some other right-wing judge with equivalent qualifications and fewer allegations of drunken sexual assault.  Because Republican misogyny is not an act, and the party and its followers eagerly seized this opportunity to put women in their place.

Family Alienation

Each of us must help to bring awareness to this global epidemic. Our grandchildren and grandparents spend years living with feelings of hurt, shock, sadness, bewilderment, anger, betrayal, and helplessness as a victim of the injustice of Grandparent Alienation.

Initiate conversations with others and discover that almost everyone has some level of alienation in their extended  families, or knows someone close to them who has been experiencing this.

Bringing awareness is a form of hopeful prevention. If parents have knowledge that this could happen to anyone, then they can prepare their sons and daughters at a younger age of such possibilities.  And yet, can you stop an alienator!  

False accusations and pathological lying are common.  The alienators use this devious tool to justify their behavior.  They tell untruths about the targeted grandparent to their spouse and amongst their social circle to elevate their own standing. If you don’t join this cult-like phenomenon, you are cut off.  These lies being told behind grands backs denies them the opportunity to defend themselves. 

 Alienators often use their spouse to bully their own parents. Bullies don’t expect you to stand up to them. They use fear to accomplish their objective.  

GA is about troubled marriages, neuro-linguistic programming, personality disorders, and unresolved childhood issues.  It is a form of mind control within the family. When an adult child uses their power and control (grandchildren are their pawns), they damage to their own children and their own parents. The grandchildren must go underground with their true emotions. They have no one to turn to.  They are not allowed to develop their critical thinking skills.  The effects on the child can be low self-esteem, guilt, depression, a lack of trust.  GA can be inter-generational.

Your son or daughter has witnessed firsthand, realizing that their spouse was able to get rid of you and cutting off your access to your grandchildren; that if they seek a divorce, the result could very well lead to PAS.  Not wanting their own children being turned against them, they may likely choose to remain in the marriage and agree to deny you access to your grandchildren as a means to keep peace in their family. Thus, the spouse aligns with the alienating spouse (Stockholm Syndrome/Delusional Disorder). 

Celestial......

I have done most all my chores, housework and office, accompanied in the background, by Andrea Boccelli and Il Divo albums.  They are so heavenly that the chores speed by!  There is nothing so passionate, intense and moving as Italian opera in my opinion. I have loved all music for nearly seventy years, and there is simply nothing music can't move!

Pandora radio does a wonderful job of supplying most any artist and genre you enjoy!

Since my own roots are  Italian/Albanian,  English, and Scotch, my experience is that there is simply nothing those musical roots will not cure!

"Perfect", by Ed Sheeran and Andrea Boccelli:  A perfect album!

Recalling.......

Today was one of many of those wondrous days of aging. I heard ..what was triggering that….from a person I had dated about 4 years ago. (The advantage of having the same telephone # and email for years!)

When I picked up the receiver, I heard someone speaking some sentences which sounded so familiar. Well, that can happen a lot as you age, so I just paused as this brain did a “search”. The man’s voice…… it was so very familiar … I knew from the expectant knot in my stomach. I took a breath because I had stopped breathing as I listened.

I knew that memory is, in reality, something which remains longer than we believe.  Is it a cellular memory? I know little about memory in a scientific way. 

My eyes filled.  Now that really hooked me. I literally became fearful this experience would end because…….well, was I too old to remember?  Those song words stopped , and those from another song started.

Like lightening, I remembered, I thought.  I whispered the name…

Then I heard the deepest, richest,  laugh … and it all exploded!  The wonder of the moment filled me as it connected with so many other memories about this person! So this  was the reward of living so long, loving so long. Enjoying each and every moment, almost exponentially,