SoundEagle would like to belatedly invite all of you to celebrate Christmas and New Year with this multimedia post containing some impressive Orchid Christmas Trees, Computer & Web Graphics, Games & Animations, a thoughtful Poem and Season Greetings.
This relatively new and multifaceted website explores the world of orchids through a multitude of perspectives pertaining not only to gardening, botany, horticulture, art, craft, decor, culture, social media, photography, festival, event, history and research, but also to the myriad details of personal stories and human senses, unfolding across the generative processes and intersubjective journeys of discovering, appreciating and preserving the beauty and diversity of orchids, as manifested throughout people’s relationships with their plants, hobbies, professions and surroundings.
It is hoped that some of the offerings on this website can also serve as a bridge, conduit or crossing between the East and the West, between the laypersons and the experts, between the proven and the experimental, between the old data and the new findings, between the documented and the anecdotal, by way of judicious translation, edification, promotion and dissemination of information pertaining to the long cultures and traditions that have accompanied certain orchids and their ardent champions through the dynamic synergy of various pursuits and domains, including science, art, literature, poetry, gardening and horticulture.
Chinese New Year of 2014 begins on the 31st of January and ends on the 14th of February, the Valentine’s Day. This double celebration represents a culmination of the Eastern Culture (emphasizing Relationship and Kinship 關係和親情) meeting and amalgamating with the Western Culture (emphasizing Romance and Love 浪漫和愛情). It provides a good indicator and macrocosmic example of the increased intensification and extensive interpenetration of economic, social and cultural practices and relations as globalization continues to expand in the 21st century. Specifically, this can be both seen and heard in the dynamic results of musical hybridisations and cross-cultural collaborations, as the following musical performances demonstrate:
◊ 新年快樂 ◊ 萬事如意 ◊ 得心應手 ◊
◊ 財源廣進 ◊ 恭喜發財 ◊ 合家幸福 ◊
在此祝大家
前程似錦，光芒萬丈
金馬奔騰，龍馬精神
馬到成功，馬年更壯
日日月月年年皆如意
朝朝暮暮時時獲財運
風風雨雨季季笑顏開
2014 New Year House 新年第一天逃脱
Chinese New Year House Escape 逃出新年大宅
Lion Dance – Lunar New Year Celebration 2014 at Disney California Adventure
Chinese New Year 2014 Year of the Horse
Chinese New Year Song Playlist 2014 (CNY Complete Album) – 2014年中国农历新年 – 马年
السنة الجديدة الصينية سونغ 2014 (الموسيقى الصينية)
Хятадын шинэ жилийн Дуу 2014 (хятад дуу хөгжмийн)
चिनियाँ नयाँ वर्ष गीतको 2014 (चिनियाँ संगीत)
เพลงตรุษจีน ปี 2014 (เพลงจีน)
চীনা নববর্ষ গানের 2014 (চীনা সঙ্গীত)
Chinese New Year is an important traditional Chinese holiday celebrated on the first day of the year of the Chinese calendar. In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, the literal translation of the modern Chinese name. Chinese New Year celebrations traditionally run from Chinese New Year’s Eve, the last day of the last month of the Chinese calendar, to the Lantern Festival on the 15th day of the first month, making the festival the longest in the Chinese calendar. Since the Chinese calendar is lunisolar, the Chinese New Year is often referred to as the “Lunar New Year”. The Chinese New Year Day is always between January 20 to February 20 of the Gregorian calendar each year.
On this special day of 12/12/2013, SoundEagle shares a
Special Poem &
❄ Snowflakes ❅
I have a list of folks I know all written in a book,
And every year at Christmas time I go and take a look.
And that is when I realize that these names are of a part,
Not of the book in which they’re written, but of my very heart.
❄ ❅ ❆
Each name stands for someone who has crossed my path sometime,
And in that meeting they’ve become the rhythm of the rhyme.
And while it sounds fantastic of me to make this claim,
I really feel that I’m composed of each remembered name.
❄ ❅ ❆
And while you may not be aware of any special link,
Just meeting you has shaped my life more than you can think.
For once you’ve met somebody, those years they can’t erase,
The memories of a pleasant word or of a friendly face.
❄ ❅ ❆
So never think that my Christmas greeting is just a mere routine,
Of names upon a Christmas list forgotten in between.
For when I send a Christmas greeting that is addressed to you,
It’s because you’re on that list of folks whom I am indebted to.
❄ ❅ ❆
For I’m but a total of the many ones I’ve met,
And you happen to be one of those I prefer not to forget.
And whether I’ve known you for many years or few,
In some way you had a part in shaping things I do.
❄ ❅ ❆
So every year when Christmas comes, I realize anew,
The biggest gift that life can give is meeting someone like you.
And may the spirit of Christmas that forever and ever endures,
Leave its richest blessings in the heart of you and yours.
❄ ❅ ❆
Author is unknown or contested.
Many variations and adaptations exist.
Romantic Consciousness: The Strength+Sanctuary of Love+Intimacy
Authentic Power: Harmony, Truth and Love
The music video above comprises a three-hour playlist of love songs:
Frank Sinatra and Celine Dion ― All the way
Elton John ― Your song
Anita Baker ― Sweet Love
Take That ― Rule the world
Robbie Williams ― Angels
Destiny’s child ― My heart still beats
Nat King Cole ― When I fall in love
Snow Patrol ― Chasing Cars
Take That ― Back For Good
Coldplay ― Yellow
Backstreet Boys ― Shape of my heart
Destiny’s Child ― Dangerously in love
Elton John ― Something about the way you look tonight
Oasis ― Wonderwall
The Style Council ― You’re the best thing
Blue and Elton John ― Sorry seems to be the hardest word
Coldplay ― Fix you
Robbie Williams ― Eternity
Wham ― Careless Whisperer
Westlife ― Flying without wings
Madness ― It must be love
Nat King Cole ― Unforgettable
Dean Martin ― That’s Amore
Madonna ― La Isla Bonita
Shania Twain ― From this moment on
Bon Jovi ― Always
Paul Weller ― You do something to me
Backstreet Boys ― I want it that way
Dean Martin ― Everybody loves somebody
Oasis ― Don’t look back in anger
Ella Fitzgerald ― Night and Day
Atomic Kitten ― Last Goodbye
S Club 7 ― Have you ever
Robbie Williams ― She’s the one
Oasis ― Stand by me
Snow Patrol ― Run
Spice Girls ― Viva Forever
The Stone Roses ― Ten storey love song
The Verve ― Sonnet
The Script ― The man who can’t be moved
Westlife ― You raise me up
Will Young ― Leave right now
Spice Girls ― Goodbye
Whitney Houston ― I will always love you
S club 7 ― Never had a dream come true
Happy new year to Erik and all the team members at the Sound and Colour Vibration Society!
SoundEagle is new to your blog and has had the opportunity to peruse the more recent posts and to audition some musical clips, and would like to congratulate the society on the range and quality of your endeavours and results. What wonderful ways and platforms you have managed to deploy in order to convey to readers and audiences the rich diversity of music, film and art! The society ought to be highly commended for being sufficiently comprehensive in your coverage of contemporary cultures and genres, and for sharing the visions and oeuvres of musicians, film makers and artists so attentively on this collective blog.
Looking forward, SoundEagle hopes that the Sound and Colour Vibration Society continues to do very well in various domains and to excel in whatever new trappings and features to be implemented and released in 2013 and beyond, as the society strives towards being synergistically challenged and enriched by the aim of bringing forth more abiding innovations and quality representations, even venturing into new formats and styles with unfettered enthusiasms.
This is an interactive and multifaceted post from SoundEagle to you. The subject is marble, presented through the media of text, art, graphics, games, history, music and videos, then culminating in the two computer games for your amusement and challenge!
Typically made from glass, clay, pottery (including bennington and china), steel, plastic or agate, and sometimes even wood, stone or papier mache, a marble is a versatile and often attractive sphere used in ball games, street or playground games, board games, jewellery, art glass, decorative vases, spray paint cans and other industrial applications. Rare, vintage, handmade, specialty and art marbles are avidly collected by aficionados.
Marbles have been featured in family-oriented movies such as Goonies, Hook and Home Alone.
•⁰○◦●◌⃝•ᴼᴏᴑΟ°o₀Oᴼ•⁰○◦●◌⃝•
•⃝ Marble History ⃝•
•⃝◌●◦○⁰•ᴼO₀o°Οᴑᴏᴼ•⃝◌●◦○⁰•
Ancient marbles were usually made of clay, stone or glass, and were deemed to be originated in Harappan civilization in Pakistan near the Indus river. Stone marbles were found on excavation near Mohenjo-daro; whereas clay marbles were discovered in the tombs of ancient Egypt, and in Native American burial grounds and ancient Aztec pyramids. Marbles are often mentioned in Roman literature. According to MarbleCollecting.com:
Marbles, round spherical objects apparently used to play games, have been in existence for at least the past 3,000 years. They have been found in Egyptian pyramids and in North American indian mounds. An annual marble tournament has been played in Tinsley Green, England on Good Friday for at least the past 300 years. And the United States National Marbles Tournament is still held the third weekend of June in Wildwood, New Jersey.
The first marbles were round stones, nuts or fired pieces of clay and pottery. The Pretty Little Pocket Book, a Newberry book, reprinted by Isaiah Thomas in 1787, contains a verse on playing marbles. William Blake, in his book of prose, Songs of Innocence (1798), painted an illustration of three boys playing marbles for his poem “The Schoolboy”. An original copy of this can still be viewed at the British Center for Art at Yale University. This is one of the earliest known illustrations of glass marbles.
Expensive handmade antique glass marbles were produced mostly in Germany from 1860 to 1914. Mass production of inexpensive ceramic marbles commenced in the 1870s. In Akron, Ohio, the first mass-produced toy (clay) marbles came from S C Dyke in the early 1890s, whilst some of the earliest glass marbles were produced by James Harvey Leighton, and also later, by Martin Frederick Christensen on his patented machine in 1903. The M F Christensen & Son Co. manufactured millions of toy and industrial glass marbles until they ceased operations in 1917. Started by Akronites in 1911 at Clarksburg, West Virginia, Akron Agate was the next company to enter the glass marble market.
Marbles have since become a favourite game amonst children as much as bowling, billards and snookers are the staples of adult games involving hitting balls with precision. Nowadays, computer games, mobile devices, social media, modern entertainments, high-tech toys and other distractions have eroded the popularity of many ball games, including marbles. As a result, and alongside the outcomes of market outsourcing, offshoring and globalization, there are only two American-based toy marble manufacturers: Jabo Vitro in Reno, Ohio, and Marble King in Paden City, West Virginia.
Outside the United States of America, Vacor de Mexico is the largest maker of machine-made marbles, producing over 90% of the marbles in the world. It has an office in Kansas City, Montana. According to MarbleCollecting.com:
We do know that stone marbles were produced in Germany in at least the early 1800’s. It appears that pottery marbles were produced in Germany and in England, during this time period. In The Boys’ Own Book, published by Charles S. Francis, New York, 1829, the rating of different kinds of marbles was listed….
In 1905, Martin F. Christensen of Akron Ohio hit upon the idea to use a machine to produce “perfectly round spheres”. This provided the Americans with the ability to compete with the Germans on two fronts. First, their marbles were superior for shooting. Because they were made by machine, and not by hand, they had no pontils. This greatly aided a marble shooter because he did not have to be concerned with the irregularities of a slightly out of round handmade marble with rough ends when trying to shoot a straight line. Second, the use of machinery allowed the Americans to greatly reduce their unit cost of production. Thus prices could be lowered and American marbles could compete with the Germans.
By the mid-1920’s, the Germans were effectively out of the marble-making business. Almost all marbles were made by machine in the United States. The following two decades saw what is described as “The Golden Age of Machine Mades”. The large marble makers of the time began to compete with each other to produce more unique designs and more colorful marbles each season. This period of time saw the introduction of Akro Agate corkscrews and Popeyes, Peltier National Line Rainbos, swirls and Peerless Patches, and the rise and fall of The Christensen Agate Company. By the Great Depression, Akro Agate Company and Peltier Glass Company had become the largest producers of marbles. With the advent of the Great Depression, marble manufacturers became more cost conscious and brightly colored marbles began to disappear from the scene.
By World War II, Master Marble Company and Vitro Agate Company had entered the marble market. Akro Agate Company failed in 1951 and Vitro Agate Company and Marble King became the largest U.S. manufacturers, but faced stiff competition from Japanese imports of catseyes. By the 1960’s, virtually all marbles were made in the Far East. During the 1970’s, marble playing saw a steady decline, as video games became more popular and readily available. Also, marble making shifted to Mexico, with Vacor de Mexico becoming the largest marble manufacturer.
SoundEagle, a web designer, social media manager, writer, researcher, artist and musician. Feel free to explore the multimedia contents and find out more About SoundEagle, News, Press, Folio and Music. Click here to contact SoundEagle.
