Tuesday night tango: Cafe Tortoni in Buenos Aires

Tuesday night tango: Robin and Kyla at Princeton

Thursday night tango

Yes, usually it's Tuesday night tango, but just because...

Tuesday night tango: Gotan Project's Milonga de amor

Tuesday night tango: Oslo

Tuesday night tango: Las quejas del bandoneon

And the official video of the Siracusa International Tango Festival

Playing golf 'adds five years to your life', says the Telegraph, but tango's more fun

Via Don Surber, Playing golf 'adds five years to your life': The Swedes say so,

But golf could have greater health benefits than walking and even more strenuous forms of exercise, according to research in Sweden which shows that playing the game adds an average of five years to your life.

The study's authors, from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, calculate that this adds an extra five years on to the average player's lifespan.

How is that, pray tell?

"A round of golf means being outside for four or five hours, walking at a fast pace for six to seven kilometres, something which is good for the health," he said.

Walking?



What do you mean, walking?

Prof. Ahlbom continues,

Prof Ahlbom said that other factors outside the golf course, such as the fact that people who enjoy sport also generally lead a healthier lifestyle,

I'm all for drinks at the clubhouse and walking instead of taking the golf cart, but it's not looking like my lifespan will extend for 5 more years, because

The lowest death rates were found among players with the lowest handicaps.

Alas, my handicao is in the low four figures. Tell Tiger Woods that for my funeral I want everyone to go for drinks and dinner at Triumph.

Tango, however, has significant health benefits:

According to a study conducted by the Society for Neuroscience, challenging leisure activities such as dancing not only keep the aging body in shape, they also help to sharpen the aging brain by requiring memorization of dance steps and sequences which boost brain power and improve memory skills.

The New England Journal of Medicine found that ballroom dancing at least twice a week made people less likely to develop dementia while some people with Alzheimer's disease were able to recall forgotten memories when they danced to familiar music.

Better yet:

"Tango is a culture. It's a kind of healing. It's for people who have forgotten how to touch, how to look into each others eyes, how to respect a woman and how to respect it when a man leads. It's a lifestyle basically," she said, echoing the sentiments of others.

And there's also the shoes...



Share on Facebook

Tuesday night tango: Mala Junta x 3

Natacha Poberaj and Eduardo Villegas

Same song, Natacha Poberaj and El Gaucho


Same song, with Gabriel Rodriguez and Geraldine Rojas

Tuesday night tango: Masochism, and Roxanne's

First, Masochism Tango via Mamacita


and Roxanne's tango

Tuesday night tango: Natacha & El Gaucho

Tuesday night tango: Leeds, UK

Natacha Poberaj & Eduardo Villegas


I just got back from a fascinating group panel discussion on Prof. Mickey Edwards's new book, Reclaiming Conservatism: How a Great American Political Movement Got Lost - and How It Can Find Its Way Back. More on that tomorrow.

Tonight, however, I'll be one of Rick Moran's podcast guests at 8PM Eastern.

Tuesday night tango: La Cumparsita

Tuesday night tango:

Miguel Angel Zotto and Erica Boaglio


And another couple:

Tuesday night tango: Y todo a media luz

Here's a Julio Iglesias medley,

But I prefer the Libertad Lamarque version where you understand every single word.
Lyrics:

A MEDIA LUZ
1925
Letra de Carlos César Lenzi
Musica de Edgardo Donatto

Corrientes tres cuatro ocho,
segundo piso, ascensor;
no hay porteros ni vecinos
adentro, cóctel y amor.
Pisito que puso Maple,
piano, estera y velador...
un telefón que contesta,
una fonola que llora
viejos tangos de mi flor,
y un gato de porcelana
pa que no maúlle al amor.

Y todo a media luz,
que es un brujo el amor,
a media luz los besos,
a media luz los dos...
Y todo a media luz,
crepúsculo interior,
que suave terciopelo
la media luz de amor.

Juncal doce veinticuatro,
telefonea sin temor;
de tarde, te con masitas,
de noche, tango y amor;
los domingos, te danzante,
los lunes, desolación.
Hay de todo en la casita:
almohadones y divanes
como en botica... cocó,
alfombras que no hacen ruido
y mesa puesta al amor...

Tuesday night tango: Club Espanol's tango waltz

Tuesday night tango: Antonio Banderas

Antonio.
Need we say more?

Tuesday night tango: El dia que me quieras

Tango lessons on Monday night, tango YouTube on Tuesday:

An absolutely beautiful song, "The day that you love me"
side-by side translation
Acaricia mi ensueño
el suave murmullo de tu suspirar.
Como rie la vida
si tus ojos negros me quieren mirar.
Y si es mio el amparo
de tu risa leve
que es como un cantar,
ella aquieta mi herida,
todo todo se olvida.

El día que me quieras
la rosa que engalana,
se vestirá de fiesta
con su mejor color.
Y al viento las campanas
dirán que ya eres mía,
y locas las fontanas
se contaran su amor.

La noche que me quieras
desde el azul del cielo,
las estrellas celosas
nos mirarán pasar.
Y un rayo misterioso
hara nido en tu pelo,
luciernaga curiosa que veras
que eres mi consuelo.

El día que me quieras
no habra más que armonía.
Será clara la aurora
y alegre el manantial.
Traerá quieta la brisa
rumor de melodía.
Y nos daran las fuentes
su canto de cristal.

El día que me quieras
endulzara sus cuerdas
el pajaro cantor.
Florecerá la vida
no existira el dolor

La noche que me quieras
desde el azul del cielo,
las estrellas celosas
nos mirarán pasar.
Y un rayo misterios
hará nido en tu pelo.
Luciernaga curiosa que veras
que eres mi consuelo.



Share on Facebook

Lessons from tango

Before we all go and check the Superduper Tuesday Carnival of the Insanities, here's a tango report:

Yesterday I had the pleasure of participating in the Tango for Parkinson's fundraiser. I ended up learning the first steps and danced for a total of four hours. It was so much fun I could have stayed for an additional four hours if I hadn't had family obligations.

Loved every minute of it.

I learned a couple of things:

• You're never too old to tango, but you probably can be too young for it.
• You don't get tired while learning the tango.
• Never judge a guy by his cover: Young long-haired hippies, chubby old guys, nerds with thick eyeglasses and shy guys with thick foreign accents all are stars of the tango ballroom.
• The most beautiful woman also does the best tango. Yes, life is so unfair.
• Argentine tango is challenging because you need all your concentration.
• You have to concentrate in what you're doing but at the same time you have to be totally focused on how the guy leads you.
• Regardless of its image as sex-in-the-ballrom, acquiring the body memory to get to that point requires all of your mental skills. Tango might have originated in the brothels of Buenos Aires but it takes a sharp mind to get it together.
• It does take two, but you have to practice your technique on your own, too

I took a couple of pictures with my new camera phone; once I figure out how to download them I'll post them here.

For those of you who want to know, I was wearing the right shoes. See below.

Here's a Reuters report on tango tourism in Buenos Aires


Here's Sally Potter:


That clip is from Potter's movie The Tango Lesson, which is the fantasy of every middle-aged woman who's had to do extensive structural repairs to her home - she gave the keys to her contractor and left for Argentina to learn the tango while the work was being done (and the work was miraculously finished - and done the right way - when she got back):


--------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's shoes, for tango practice:
Two of the girls who danced very well wore dansneakers

I wore the classic Capezio character shoe with a Dr. Scholl's innersole for the whole four hours, and could have lasted another four hours. There were at least ten other women (including two instructors) wearing these:

If I ever progress beyond the clunky-beginner stage I'll be looking at these, or perhaps something from FeatherLite:


Many men wore the Capezio oxfords

--------------------------------------------------------------------
This week's WSJ's Five Best books on conspiracy theories, selected by Mark Holland:






Share on Facebook

The 5 stages of voting, in the afternoon roundup

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance... in the Republican primary
--------------------------------------------------------------------
The Anchoress is asking, What's Wrong With the World? and she wants you to answer in 100 words or less.

It's a sign of my present state of mind that I can't even start to tell you, but it has a lot to do with politics.

I'm looking into taking tango lessons: Tango is difficult enough it should take all my concentration to do well in it, and the physical activity should keep my mind off politics when I'm not blogging about... politics.

I must be going through some developmental stage, or maybe one of the above primary stages.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
A friend and I were discussing this article, The Failure of Normality: The unhappy lessons of the Thompson campaign

Thompson didn't give off the usual political vibe: the gnawing need to please, the craving for the public's love. A few voters and journalists found this refreshing, many more found it insulting. Some just found it fascinating, in a clinical sort of way: What kind of politician isn't consumed by politics--and what kind of campaign would such a politician run? Well, now we know. If Thompson could plausibly avoid an overnight campaign trip, he did, preferring to return home to his wife and children in suburban Virginia. He spent an inordinate amount of time with his briefing books.

When I remarked to my friend that Fred's exactly the kind of guy I like, he replied that I obviously like guys that are too sane to be politicians, a point Andrew Ferguson makes in his article,

The man or woman who seeks out such a life and enjoys its discomforts is not normal. Not crazy necessarily, but not normal, and probably, when the chips are down, not to be trusted, especially when the purpose of it all is to acquire power over other people (also called, in the delicate language of contemporary politics, "public service" or "getting things done on behalf of the American people"). The case is made, in defense of the contemporary campaign, that this is an efficient if unlovely way to choose leaders: It winnows out those who lack the stamina and discipline necessary to lead a rich, large, powerful, and complicated country. By this argument, Thompson failed because he deserved to.

But the opposite case is easier to make--that the modern campaign excludes anyone who lacks the narcissism, cold-bloodedness, and unreflective nature that the process requires and rewards.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerard has Obama: A Progressive for Progress! Now with Liberal Substance!

But artists like Fairey, and they are legion in our society, are really just -- like their fans -- playing at feeling oppressed. They actually have no experience with a real oppressive society. If they had their lives and work would not be nearly so glib.

An alternate point of view is on display daily at a site called "The People's Cube." This site is run by a talented artist who grew up under real oppression in the Soviet Union and managed to get out and start a new life here; a life who's liberty he values. He's not a "pretend" propaganda artist, but a man with experience in the real thing. His name is Oleg Atbashian.

Over at the People's Cube I found this: Roger Waters Brings 'The Wall' To Muslim Countries

Roger Waters takes 'The Wall' Concerts to 57 Islamic Countries to Protest against Sharia Law and Execution of Homosexuals by having Walls Fall on Them

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Babalu has a Cuban black bean soup/chili for Super Bowl Sunday.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Doug Ross asks, "Would you be apprehensive about driving across The Millau Viaduct?". while Matt Sanchez posts on the Bible banging French.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Bill: "We Just Have to Slow Down Our Economy" to Fight Global Warming

Why don't you start flying commercial, Bill?

Richard asks This is global warming?
--------------------------------------------------------------------
Tango time:




Share on Facebook

Tuesday night passion