The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Alessandra & Lorenzo
Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”

中國時區 (UTC+08:00)

“In 2016 I realized the Olympics were once again a breakthrough, and I also bidded farewell to the diving arena. Now the New Year has come and I’ll have to adjust my mentality and step down to earth. I wish you a happy New Year!”, Olympic Goddess 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) wrote today on her 新浪微博 (Wēibó) account. Photo: weibo.com/wuminxia.

New Year’s Eve

The New Year is coming and so it is time to get rid of old rusty stuff!

Sarah Rosado’s cereal art: here is her cornflakes recreation of The Scream by Edvard Munch. Photo: Sarah Rosado/Rex/Shutterstock.

Fly High

The Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” will participate in the second edition of the ballet festival “Le ali della danza”, which will be staged at the Teatro Aurora, Via San Bartolo in Tuto, 1, 50018 Scandicci, Florence, on Friday, January 27, 2017, starting at 20,45. The event is organised by Lions Club Fiesole under the patronage of the Comune di Scandicci. As usual proceeds will be donated to support a school of massotherapy for hypo-blind.

New Year’s Resolution

Wa(wes)

Mongmao, Myanmar: Dancers from the Wa community perform a traditional dance in the uniform of the United Wa State Army, the military force of the semi-autonomous region that covers northern Myanmar and part of China. Photo: Soe Zeya Tun/Reuters.

The Mermaid that Came Between Them

Olympic Goddess 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) shining like a nymphaea while appearing as a special guest at the TV reality/game show 《最强大脑4》 (“The Brain”). Photo: weibo.com/3237560660.

Behind the Smile of a Woman Who Didn’t Marry Arcovazzi

And Miss Clarice Benini, pictured seated (first from left) with her legs crossed, is brightly smiling while attending the opening ceremony of the Seventh Annual Danlon Women’s International Tournament in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 17, 1962. Photo: Jac de Nijs/Anefo/Nationaal Archief.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Swiss surrealist painter Hans Ruedi Giger was part of the special effects team that won an Academy Award for design work on the film Alien. In addition to his work on it, Giger also worked on films such as Poltergeist II: The Other Side, Species and Killer Condom. Photo: Hans Ruedi Giger.

Clarice Benini’s Swan Song

Here is Clarice Benini participating in her last chess tournament. She’s seated in the first row at centre stage (wearing a solid colour dress and a string of white pearls around her neck) at the opening ceremony of the Seventh Annual Danlon Women’s International Tournament in Amsterdam, Netherlands on October 17, 1962. Photo: Jac de Nijs/Anefo/Nationaal Archief.

What Goes Around Comes Around

• Reuters, Rodrigo Duterte says he once threw a suspect from helicopter, The Guardian, December 29, 2016

Activists light candles in front of a church in Manila during a vigil for victims of extrajudicial killings in the government’s drug war. Photo: Ted Aljibe/AFP/Getty Images.

Acts of Contortion

Germany: Practising since she was four, Russian-born former gymnast Julia Günthel, also known as Zlata, moulds her body into abnormal shapes for her latest calendar. Photo: NikitZo/Barcroft Images.

Five Minutes Alone

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin – Péter Lékó
World Blitz Chess Championship; Doha, December 30, 2016
Giuoco Piano C54

1. e4 e5 2. Nf3 Nc6 3. Bc4 Bc5 4. 0-0 Nf6 5. d3 d6 6. a4 a6 7. c3 0-0 8. h3 Ba7 9. Nbd2 Ne7 10. Re1 c6 11. b4 Ng6 12. d4 exd4 13. cxd4 d5!? More reserved than 13. ... Nxe4 14. Bxf7+!? Rxf7 15. Nxe4 d5 16. Nc5 h6 17. Ra3 Bf5 18. Ne5 Nxe5 19. dxe5 Qh4! which, however, gave Black a satisfactory play, Carlsen – Karjakin, New York 2016, World Chess Championship match game 5. 14. exd5 Nxd5 15. Qb3 Be6 16. b5 axb5 17. axb5 Ndf4 18. Bxe6 Nxe6 19. Ba3!? Quite unusually, Karjakin opts for a bold play and chooses a sharp Pawn sacrifice for the aim of the initiative. 19. ... Nxd4 20. Nxd4 Bxd4 21. Rad1 Re8 22. Ne4 Qb6 23. Nd6! Rxe1+ 24. Rxe1 Bxf2+ 25. Kh1 Bxe1?? The first and fatal blunder, but Lékó totally overlooks the Damocle’s sword hanging over his King’s crown. Correct was 25. ... Qc7 in order to answer 26. Rf1 by 26. ... Qe7! holding everything together.

26. Qxf7+ Kh8 27. Bb2 Rg8 28. Nf5 1 : 0. Mate is unavoidable. “I played the whole tournament excellently, and my game against Lékó in Round 19 was decidedly brilliant”, then Karjakin said.

Sergey Alexandrovich Karjakin was finally happy after winning the World Blitz Chess Championship. “This means a lot... after the match in New York”, he said. Photo: Chess-News.ru (‏@Chess__News).

出水芙蓉 (The Fantastic Water Babes)

“吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) dressed in her white pleated skirt, her makeup making her look very elegant. Skin may be a shell in the spotlight lighting, like a water lily”.

• 出水芙蓉！吴敏霞皮肤白嫩妆容淡雅 | Water lily! 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá): immaculate skin and elegant look, ent.sina.com.cn, December 29, 2016

While appearing as a guest at the TV reality/game show 《最强大脑4》 (“The Brain”), Diving Queen 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá), dressed in her white pleated skirt, impressed the audience with her very elegant look, and her skin like a shell in the spotlight lighting. Finally, even the host of the show, 蒋昌建 (Jiǎng Chāngjiàn), could not but praise her: “Like a water lily”. All photos: ent.sina.com.cn.

The Earth and the Moon

The Moon rises over Earth. The green glow marks the edge of the planet’s atmosphere. Photo: NASA/SPL/Barcroft Images.

Goats Head Soup

Jumpin’ Jack Flash

The Rolling Stones’ first ever concert in Cuba on March 25, 2016. “This shot was taken before it started, where thousands of kids and young people were waiting at the huge open venue, just dancing and having fun in the field. Everyone was excited, and some kids were throwing each other up in the air and catching each other”, says the photographer. Photo: Joe Raedle/Getty Images.

两人独奏

In case you forgot, here we are, just to remind you that the CCTV Sports Personality of the Year 2016 Awards Ceremony will be held on January 15, 2017 in 北京 (Běijīng), China. So stay tuned on it!

吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) and 施廷懋 (Shī Tíngmào) winning gold in women’s synchronized 3m springboard at Rio Olympics on Sunday, August 7, 2016.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Pol Kurucz, the founder of Rio de Janeiro-based creative group Kolor Collective, thinks that now more than ever there is a need for gender equality worldwide and a place for black women in society. Photo: Kolor Art Collective.

Chip ’n’ Dale

Photo: Vadim Trunov/Chess-News.ru

What If?

• Stuart Heritage, What 2016’s movie posters would look like if they told the truth – in pictures, The Guardian, December 27, 2016

Prom

Saint Petersburg, Russia: People dance during a Christmas ball. Cadets of the Naval Academy and Suvorov Military School and students of the Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet gathered for their first ball in the Saint George Hall of the Mikhailovsky Castle, restoring the old tradition of Russian officers and noble maidens. Photo: Olga Maltseva/AFP/Getty Images.

Stairway to Heaven

Olympic Goddess 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) liturgically walking towards the stairs to springboard, even though by now she is dressed in mortal clothes. Photo: lofter.com.

Water bottle flipping

FIDE gave no satisfaction to her legitimate request to equate men’s and women’s World Chess Championship systems, and she, accordingly, gave up the “privilege” of defending her title in the next Women’s World Chess Championship Knockout Tournament. But life doesn’t end there, and so the (still) Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) prepares for her new life-changing challenges. On Christmas Day she posted on her 新浪微博 (Wēibó) microblogging account a video in which she joins the viral smash hit of the water bottle flip craze, which involves flipping a water bottle in order to land it. And she is quite amazed she succeeded!

Family Planning

Inscripsit septem scelerata virorum “Se fecisse” Chloe. Quid pote simplicitus? On her seven husbands’ tombs she doth impress “This Chloe did”: what can she more confess? Cloe quella scellerata sulla tomba di sette mariti scrisse: “Opera mia questa è stata”. Chi potrebbe parlare con parole più chiare?

Martial, Epigrams, Book 9, XV
English translation by Frederick Adam Wright
Italian translation by Franco Zagato

Artwork © Cutteroz

On the Land

A fox face-plants in the snow in Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, United States. Angela Bohlke’s picture was the overall winner of the 2016 Comedy Wildlife Photography awards and the “On the land” category winner. Photo: Angela Bohlke/Barcroft Images.

Santa Claus’s reindeer

The Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna” will reopen its shining dance classes on January, Monday 9, 2017. For any details and information, we pray you to contact us. In the meantime, we wish you peace and happiness on your Christmas holidays. Above pictured is Associazione Culturale Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s Art Director Alessandra.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

Kolor Collective is a Rio de Janeiro-based creative group that challenges the struggle faced by black women in Brazil through theatrical and provocative art. It was founded in 2015 by Franco-Hungarian photographer Pol Kurucz, who often touches on his own experiences of discrimination to call out sensitive social problems. Photo: Kolor Art Collective.

The photos in the series have a distinct glam-trash aesthetic that’s very theatrical. Photo: Kolor Art Collective.

Honour Knows No Borders

Europe Échecs (@EuropeEchecs)

发言人 (Spokesperson)

Faithful to her low key approach to the star system, Olympic Goddess 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) instructed her pet dog to wish Happy Christmas to all her fans worldwide: “Little Candy wish you all a Merry Christmas! (Small eyes always sleepy) 😂😂😂”. Photo: weibo.com/wuminxia.

Tertium quid

• Andrey Fyodorovich Kartashov, Япония и Сингапур претендуют на проведение матча за звание чемпиона мира по шахматам (Japan and Singapore aim to host the World Chess Championship match), TASS, December 24, 2016

Japan and Singapore aim to host the World Chess Championship match According to FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov there is also a third candidate, another Asian country nearby Andrey Fyodorovich Kartashov/. Japan and Singapore aim to host the next World Chess Championship match which will be held in 2018, FIDE President Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov told TASS. “We can already give the name of the bidders, Japan and Singapore. Negotiations are underway, I’m planning to visit Japan and then Singapore. Furthermore, there is also a third candidate, another Asian country nearby”, Ilyumzhinov said. "Both bidding countries are able to provide the most advanced hi-tech technologies. And it suits me”, he said. [Read more].

Kirsan Nikolayevich Ilyumzhinov
Photo © Andrey Kartashov/TASS

乔托的圆

Diving Queen 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) claimed perfect 10 to win the women’s 3-meter springboard at the London Olympics on Sunday, August 5, 2012. Photo: Clive Rose/Getty Images/Fotobank.

Figure of speech

• Aleksandar Nikolić, Alisa Marić: Fišer mi je rekao da sam sjajna šahistkinja | Alisa Marić: Fischer told me I was a great chess player, Blic, October 24, 2010

Alisa Marić: Fischer told me I was a great chess player When Bobby Fischer played his century rematch with Boris Spassky in Sveti Stefan and Belgrade, Yugoslavia in 1992, I was in the audience to watch my lifetime idol’s outstanding games. At the party which followed the match, I approached Fischer and he whispered to me: “Alisa, I’ve heard a lot of good things about you. You’re a great chess player”. In that very moment, all the world was mine, and I knew all the time I devoted to chess was worth it”, Woman Grandmaster Alisa Marić told Blic. [Read more].

Alisa Marić. Photo: eKapija.

The Importance of Not Being Arcovazzi

“Sad to hear that George Michael has died. He was an exceptional artist and a strong supporter of LGBT and workers’ rights”. Jeremy Corbin

The Three Musketeers

任航 (Rèn Háng) for Beauty Papers magazine (2016).

While the Music Lasts

Here is Niccolò deeply absorbed in his chess game against someone who didn’t want to get caught by the camera of the Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”’s SuperDancer Costanza Cioni – but only because he knows that he’s not so photogenic as Niccolò! Photo courtesy of Costanza Cioni.

Last Christmas

George Michael †
(East Finchley, London, June 25, 1963 – Goring-on-Thames, December 25, 2016)

The Last Day of Atlantis

Olympic Goddess 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) speaks about her future after retirement at the Appreciation Cocktail Party held in her honour at the Water Cube in 北京 (Běijīng), China on December 20, 2016. She’ll have a wide choice, from seeking happiness for herself and her family to preparing for a career as an entertainment star. (Tencent Video).

Your Music Won’t Stop

Today in the morning a Tupolev Tu-154 plane carrying 92 people, including members of the Red Army choir as well as dancers and musicians traveling to perform in Syria, disappeared from radar after taking off from the Adler airport, and crashed in the Black Sea near Sochi, with no survivors. Although the Kremlin says technical malfunction is likely cause of crash, Russian President Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin ordered inquiry to be made. As sincere admirers of the Alexandrov Ensemble, we wish to express our condolences to the Russian people.

Breaking the Ice

London, United Kingdom: A swimmer makes his way through the Serpentine in Hyde Park during the Peter Pan Cup, an annual Christmas Day swim. Photo: Andy Rain/EPA.

A (Shy) Kiss Goodnight

Costanza Cioni & Ester Marra
Associazione Culturale “Il Delta della Luna”

From the Stage to the Studio

During the last two months China lost two Diving Superstars, 杨威 (Chén Ruòlín) and 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá), who retired due to physical reasons. The Chinese press and media, for instance sports.china.com, noted how the two girls abandoned the stage with different styles. But it’s not only a question of style, I guess. 杨威 (Chén Ruòlín) retired almost in silence, due to a serious spine injury. She’s still young (24 year-old) and so far her noteworthy career expanded quite smoothly, practically without concurrents. On the contrary, 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) retired melodramatically, amid tears and fears, and with a grand farewell ceremony held in her honour. Unlike 杨威 (Chén Ruòlín), 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) is no longer so young (31 year-old) and her incomparable career was not so smooth due to the concurrence of Diving Superstars such as 郭晶晶 (Guō Jīngjīng). Although 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá)’s personality is as strong as fragile, and some aspects of her life remain quite enigmatic, there are signs of both shyness and spontaneity in her iron self-discipline that reveal a “humanity” which call for forgiveness, even if the Goddess is objectively perfect. Even though 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) is as shy, sober and reserved as 杨威 (Chén Ruòlín), 上海 (Shànghǎi)’s girl was always able to unveil her shadow and light to others: her mother’s illness, her secret romance, her fragility, her innocent vanity. As a diver she was (is) universally adored for her grace, elegance, and aesthetic perfection. An inimitable trademark like Giotto’s O. Chinese divers are all gold machines, but 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá) is the one and only 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá), even when she doesn’t win.

杨威 (Chén Ruòlín) and 吴敏霞 (Wú Mǐnxiá)
Photo: sports.china.com

Back to School

On December 22, 2016, four-time Women’s World Chess Champion 侯逸凡 (Hóu Yìfán) and the Head Coach of the Chinese Chess Association, 叶江川 (Yè Jiāngchuān), paid a cultural visit to the 重庆市双福育才中学 (Chóngqìng Shuāngfú Yùcái Middle School) in 重庆 (Chóngqìng), China, aimed at popularising chess among the students. Photo © 重庆市育才中学校 (Chóngqìng Yùcái Middle School).