merry christmas!

We here at PfRC wish you all a have happy and healthy holiday season.  We hope and trust you are able to give and receive all the gifts on your Christmas list.  Thanks as always for stopping by and tune in for more to come.

stille nacht

Composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber and set to lyrics by Father Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg and first performed in the parish church of Saint Nikola on Christmas Eve two centuries ago, residents are expecting twice the number of holiday tourists to descend on their town for this anniversary spectacle of Silent Night.
Declared an intangible work of cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011, schoolmaster and amateur organist Gruber was only rehabilitated and acknowledged for creating the melody of the carol in 1995 when the lost, original manuscript was recovered, credit having been traditionally attributed to more famous Austrian composers like Haydn or Beethoven. The venue this year’s concert is not exactly made clear as the original choir was demolished around 1890 after a devastating flood sweep through the area, but the chapel curiously (or predictably) was rebuilt as a full-sized replica in the city of Frankenmuth, Michigan, a place settled by a group of disaffected Lutherans from Fürth, near Nürnberg—which bills itself as the Christmas capital of the world. Most of the over three hundred different languages versions of the song are more or less true to the German original though “Round you Virgin Mother and Child, Holy Infant so tender and mild” is better translated “Round yon godly tender Pair, Holy Infant with curly hair”—Nur das traute hoch heilge Paar, Holder Knab’ im lockigen Haar

you don’t have to wear that dress tonight

Via Memo of the Air and Miss Cellania, we are happily reminded of how back in 2010 mixmeister mojochronic smashed up The Police’s “Roxanne” with scenes from the Rankin & Bass Reindeerverse (previously) resulting in Rudolph (You Don’t Have to Put on the Red Light).

earthrise

During the Apollo 8 mission, the first manned voyage to orbit the Moon, astronaut William Anders (it was a collaborative among him and his crewmates) on Christmas Eve 1968 photographed the emerging penumbra of the Earth rising into daybreak with nightfall crossing at the Sahara. This breath-taking image is credited as one of the most influential pacifistic and environmental photographs taken up until that point, preceding Voyager’s Pale Blue Dot by two decades, and brought with it acute awareness of the fragile beauty of our planet.

rebel for life

Prior to the formation and demonstrations of the environmental activist group Extinction Rebellion at the end of October this year, I thought I recognised the symbol suggestive of an hourglass somewhere before—finally recalling this bleak and powerful installation that pealed out a dirge for each taxon of life as they blinked out of existence at the hand of man.
The group had recently made headlines over its blockading the headquarters of one influential media outlet for its policies that accommodate climate change denial and advocate for the status quo under the auspices of equal-time. Working towards a culture and economy that is regenerative and sustainable, the group’s manifesto must acknowledge the hard truths of ecological collapse and empower those they govern the means to reframe their consumer and lifestyle choices in the significant and enduring ways that will affect real and radical change for the better.

flickering signifier

Reporting for the New York Times, Caity Weaver takes us down a rather unexpectedly fascinating rabbit-hole with an investigative piece on the nature and source of glitter that proved unexpectedly controversial and secretive for an ostensibly frivolous product. The product is examined in all facets, from its festive sparkle, surprising applications, cultural use and connotations to its environmental impact. As Weaver found out, it is anything but a flippant business and remains on some levels an enduring and abiding mystery.