• About
  • Beauty
  • Petit Passages
  • Notes
  • Conversations
  • Letters
  • Reviews
  • Opinion
  • Contact

the rose garden

the rose garden

Tag Archives: arts

A sound note on music’s unique, equalising ability to evoke human emotion

11 Tuesday Jul 2017

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

academia, arts, culture, emotion, human experience, music, Opinion, sociology, thoughts, writer, writing

How to begin a manifesto? Fiery-veined passion propelled me to grasp for words that equalled Chopin’s effect. Then, having failed that, I scrambled for pictures; moving pictures, still pictures, pictures of girls posing as dryads, twirling ballerinas—I even enlisted the help of one Joe Wright, filmmaker extraordinaire. All of this, to no avail. My folly, I realised with aching clarity on this cold winter afternoon with only his music for company, stems chiefly from the vain belief that Continue reading →

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

Leonard Cohen is dead

12 Saturday Nov 2016

Posted by Betty Zhang in Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

arts, culture, death, leonard cohen, music, musician, poetry, prose, singer, writer, writing

leonard cohen.jpg

I heard it on the radio this afternoon so it must be true. When I got home social media confirmed the news, but unprecedented election outcomes in the States stunted the outpouring of grief for this legend of modern music and poetry. Much of the world is still reeling after Continue reading →

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

A letter to James Dean on sensitivity, introversion, & metaphysical relationships

10 Thursday Nov 2016

Posted by Betty Zhang in Letters

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

arts, books, celebrities, cinema, culture, hollywood, introvert, james dean, letter, literature, mind, prose, writer, writing

james dean.jpg

Dear James,

The following quote has been attributed to you but I’m not sure if you actually said it as there’s some debate online regarding its origin.

Am I in love? Absolutely. I’m in love with ancient philosophers, foreign painters, classic authors, and musicians who have died long ago. I’m a passionate lover. I fawn over these people. I have given them my heart and my soul. The trouble is, I’m unable to love anyone tangible. I have sacrificed a physical bond, for a metaphysical relationship. I am the ultimate idealistic lover.

For the sake of this letter and my sanity I’m going to assume that those words did spring from that solitary, sensitive soul of yours, because Continue reading →

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...

In defence of art

09 Tuesday Aug 2016

Posted by Betty Zhang in Opinion

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

art, arts, Beauty, books, culture, literature, love, music, poem, poetry, prose, world, writer, writing

Bowie-1975-e1452703772242.jpg

Architects design buildings, which are then built and maintained by builders, plumbers, and electricians. These buildings provide necessary living and working spaces for residents and professionals who, in turn, contribute to their society and economy. Politicians govern, lawyers defend, doctors save lives, businesses of all shapes and sizes provide essential goods and services. Scientists, physicists, engineers, and astronomers brought humanity to the moon. The world as we know it will not cease to exist without art and its practitioners but without moonage daydreamers, boy wizards, star-crossed lovers and those whose passion or profession it is to observe, think, analyse, and create, Earth is merely that which orbits the Sun, a celestial body where the passage of time is marked by births, deaths, and unexamined lives.

So here’s to poems about nature and beauty, songs about love, books that changed the world, and paintings that bewitch with their illusions of light and movement; here’s to films that enchant and inspire, to great teachers and their scholars, to thinkers, poets, writers, artists, composers, musicians, directors—to anyone who immortalised their human experience in art form.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Like this:

Like Loading...
Follow the rose garden on WordPress.com

Categories

Archives

Visitors

  • 7,982 came & smelt the roses

Top Posts & Pages

  • Meatier than wursts: big long German words
  • Sorry
  • An afternoon's worth
  • Max Errman, "Desperata: Prose for a Way Out of Life"
  • Elegy for Charlie
  • Vincent
  • A letter to James Dean on sensitivity, introversion, & metaphysical relationships
  • Prettier in purple
  • DIY or die 
  • Eyes

Blog at WordPress.com.

  • Follow Following
    • the rose garden
    • Join 87 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • the rose garden
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar
 

Loading Comments...
 

    %d bloggers like this: