A woman in blue reading a letter

c. 1663-1664

Oil on canvas
46.6 x 39.1 cm (18 11/32 x 15 13/32 in.)

Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

This is the painting I chose to do my presentation on. I will number some details I found interesting:

1-

Vermeer has rendered an intense contrast by combining the dynamically expectant posture of the woman with a geometric composition that locks her in space.

2-The woman is placed precisely in the center of the composition.

A table and chairs erect a framework around her statuesque profile.

The strong horizontal of the bar at the bottom of the map focuses attention on her hands holding the letter.

3-

Vermeer also used color to stabilize the design.

The blue of the jacket, chair and table coverings and the light brown of the dress and map exert a calming effect.

4-

There are two light sources :

This serves to diffuse the shadows. The flow of light is subtly altered.While the chair and map cast shadows, the woman does not.

Encompassing the woman in a diffuse light separates her from her temporal framework. To intensify this effect, Vermeer went so far as to contour the figure with a line of light blue.

5-

Large decorative wall maps adorn countless Dutch interior paintings of the 17th century.

They are found in almost every conceivable environment, from the shop of the lowly shoemaker to the refined dwellings of the Netherlands’s uppermost crust.

6-

The chair is not merely a physical support and an aesthetic object; it is also an indicator of social rank.

Perhaps the most popular form of seating in the time of Vermeer was the so-called Spanish chair, two of which are represented in this painting.

7-

The still life on the table is perhaps one of Vermeer’s most austere. It shows a string of pearls, an unfolded piece of paper (perhaps the first or second page of the letter).

8-

It is believe that the blue garment, rarely depicted in Dutch painting, is to be identified as a beddejak, a garment with straight sleeves, usually blue or white satin, closed in the front with a row of bows.As implied by its name, the beddejak was a kind of casual attire worn in bed. Being made of satin, it was most likely reserved for the well-to-do. The intimate nature of this garment would suggest that the young woman has in fact just risen from her morning bed and reads her letter in the morning light.

9-

In Dutch art, depictions of women reading letters almost always have love associations..Her bent neck, parted lips, and the drawn-up arms create a sense of expectancy.

10-

This young woman has been often identified with the artist’s wife. There is no objective support even though it is well known that artists of the time frequently employed family members as models.

Citation: (2010, May 05). In ESSENTIAL VERMEER. Retrieved 12:50, May 05, 2010 from, http://www.essentialvermeer.com/catalogue/woman_in_blue_reading_a_letter.html

 

Johannes Vermeer

Warm colors, memorable faces, and lighting touched with shadow are elements found in the famous paintings of seventeenth century Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer.

In 1632, Johannes Vermeer was born in the city of Delft, in the Netherlands. According to The Life of Johannes Vermeer , his early education included a six year apprenticeship with an artist whose name is lost to history. At the age of twenty-one, Vermeer married a woman named Catharina Bolnes. They had eleven children over the course of their life together. Read the information located at Johannes Vermeer’s History , and you’ll find that although Vermeer’s paintings were well-known in Delft, his artwork was not familiar to people who lived outside the city. The article points out that most of the thirty-five paintings that Vermeer created in his lifetime were displayed in the collection of a patron who lived in Delft. Vermeer endured many financial set backs later in his life that were connected with the art dealing business he conducted. He died at forty-three, leaving his young family with debts to settle. As is the case with many gifted painters, Vermeer’s artwork was not fully appreciated during his lifetime.

There are three facts about artist Johannes Vermeer’s life and work that are surprising. The first interesting fact is that we do not know what Vermeer looked like. While some artists create canvas after canvas of their own likenesses, the physical traits of Johannes Vermeer are unknown. According to the information found at, Facts about Artist Johannes Vermeer , there is a man peeking out at the viewer from one side of Vermeer’s work, The Procuress , that may be Vermeer himself. However, the identity of the man has never been confirmed.

The second intriguing fact about Vermeer and his work is that he reportedly used a camera obscura in his painting process. At Characteristics of Vermeer’s Work , he is said to have used a small device with a dark chamber that its user peers into, to achieve the «panoramic representation» of his well-known work, entitled View of Delft . This camera obscura was still a new and controversial device for artists at that time.

The third fact of interest is discussed at Vermeer and His Masterpiece . The identity of the girl staring out of Vermeer’s painting entitled, Girl with a Pearl Earring , is still an unsolved mystery today. The article suggests that the girl in the painting may be Vermeer’s daughter, Maria, who would have been about twelve years old in 1665 or 1666, when the painting was created. Magdalena Van Ruijven, the daughter of Vermeer’s patron, is another idea put forth as to the identity of the wide-eyed girl in the painting. Once again, Magdalena would’ve been about twelve years old, the predicted age of the model in the portrait. Finally, the article puts forth a third theory, that a maid for the Vermeer family, named Griet, may be the subject in the painting. But, there are no known records that give credence to that theory. In short, trying to guess who the girl is in Girl with the Pearl Earring is part of the viewer’s enjoyment.

If you would like to enjoy Vermeer’s work in a more personal way, here are some places to visit:

Museum for Vermeer Enthusiasts : Travel here and this museum will offer information on visiting its Vermeer exhibits.

A Visit to See the Vermeer Paintings : This museum offers works of Vermeer and helpful descriptions along with the artwork.

Collection Offers a View of Vermeer : Paintings by Vermeer can be seen in this collection. In addition, enlightening details about his work are offered here.

Gallery with Johannes Vermeer : One of Vermeer’s most famous paintings is a feature of this gallery.

Vermeer Work a Treasure of This Gallery : Visit and learn more about Vermeer’s artwork at this famous gallery.

Paintings of Vermeer Add Beauty to This Collection : Vermeer’s work is well-placed among the masterpieces found here.

A Gathering of Vermeer’s Work : Examine Johannes Vermeer’s seventeenth century work using twenty-first century technology at this web museum.

Johannes Vermeer was in his early forties when he died, but the paintings he created in his short lifetime will continue to be enjoyed by art lovers for centuries to come.

 

Using an Online Dictionary and Encyclopedia

Advantages and Disadvantages

Online dictionary and encyclopedia sources offer great convenience and quick access to the information you need. These references are at their finest when they go beyond the capabilities of print, such as when they allow users to take advantage of multimedia content. You can hear famous speeches, see scans of historical documents and view helpful diagrams and charts with just a few clicks.

Many free online encyclopedias stem from collaborative efforts such as Wikipedia or compilations of FAQs. Sometimes this leads to greater accuracy as experts weigh in on their specialties, but these sites are just as likely to be overtaken with propaganda, spam and incorrect information. The best Wikis have safeguards against their misuse, but you should still be careful when using such sites as an authoritative source, and double check you data as much as possible.

 

Resource: (2009, June 8). From, Online. Retrieved 21:05, June 8, 2009, from: http://online.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Category:Online_Dictionary_and_Encyclopedia

 

 

 

 

Received Pronunciation

Received Pronunciation, or RP for short, is the instantly recognisable accent often described as ‘typically British’. Popular terms for this accent, such as ‘The Queen’s English’, ‘Oxford English’ or ‘BBC English’ are all a little misleading. The Queen, for instance, speaks an almost unique form of English, while the English we hear at Oxford University or on the BBC is no longer restricted to one type of accent.

RP is an accent, not a dialect, since all RP speakers speak Standard English. In other words, they avoid non-standard grammatical constructions and localised vocabulary characteristic of regional dialects. RP is also regionally non-specific, that is it does not contain any clues about a speaker’s geographic background. But it does reveal a great deal about their social and/or educational background.

Resource: British Library. In British Library, BL,  ( 2009, June 6). Retrieved  18:40,  May 6, 2009, from: http://www.bl.uk/learning/langlit/sounds/find-out-more/received-pronunciation/

Examples:

BBC news,

Queen Elisabeth,

 

Calentador de comida USB

 

Almorzar comida casera en la oficina es un lujo del que  hoy en día muy poca gente disfruta, a no ser que tengas una mamá que te mime eternamente. 

Creada por los japoneses de Thanko, la USB Hot Lunch Bag es una lonchera que mantiene tu comida caliente mientras esperas a comértela. Sólo debes conectar el cable a tu computador y listo!

 

The International Corpus of English

The International Corpus of English (ICE) project was initiated in 1988 by the late Sidney Greenbaum, the then Director of the Survey of English Usage, University College London. In a brief notice in World Englishes, Greenbaum pointed out that grammatical studies had been greatly facilitated by the availability of two computerized corpora of printed English, the Brown Corpus of American English, and the LOB (Lancaster/Oslo-Bergen) Corpus of British English. Greenbaum continued:

We should now be thinking of extending the scope for computerized comparative studies in three ways: (1) to sample standard varieties from other countries where English is the first language, for example Canada and Australia; (2) to sample national varieties from countries where English is an official additional language, for example India and Nigeria; and (3) to include spoken and manuscript English as well as printed English. (Greenbaum 1988)

In response, linguists from around the world came forward to discuss Greenbaum’s proposal, and ultimately to put it into effect (Greenbaum 1991). The project soon became known as the International Corpus of English (ICE), and was coordinated by Greenbaum until 1996. From 1996 to 2001, ICE was coordinated by Charles Meyer, University of Massachusetts-Boston. It is now coordinated by Gerald Nelson in Hong Kong. The ICE project involves research teams in each of the countries or regions shown below.

Australia  Cameroon  Canada  East Africa (Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania) Fiji  Great Britain Hong Kong India Ireland Jamaica  Kenya  Malta

Malaysia New Zealand Nigeria  Pakistan Philippines Sierra Leone  Singapore South Africa  Sri Lanka  Trinidad and Tobago  USA

Each ICE team is compiling – or has already compiled – a one million-word corpus of their own national or regional variety of English. Crucially, each team follows a common corpus design and a common annotation scheme, in order to ensure maximum comparability between the components (Nelson 1996). The long-term aim of ICE is to produce up to twenty one million-word corpora, each syntactically analysed according to a common parsing scheme, and supplied with the retrieval software, ICECUP.

Each ICE corpus samples the English of adults (age 18 or over) who have been educated through the medium of English to at least the end of secondary schooling. Furthermore, each component corpus is grammatically analysed using a common grammatical annotation scheme.

resource: The International Corpus of English (2009, June 6).In The International Corpus of English (ICE). Retrieved, 17:24, June 6, 2009, from: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/english-usage/projects/ice.htm  

 

SOME VOCABULARY DIFFERENCES BETWEEN U.S AND BRITISH ENGLISH

1) Apartment = Flat

2) Appetizer = Starter

3) Apron = Pinny

4) Argument = Row

5) Baby carriage = Pram

6) Backyard = Garden

9) Baked Potato = Jacket Potato

10) Band-aid = Plaster

11) Baseball = Rounders

12) Bath Robe = Dressing Gown

13) Bathing Suit = Swimming Costume / Cozzy

14) Bathroom = Toilet

15) Bathroom = Loo

16) Bathroom = WC

18) Can = Tin

19) Candy = Sweets

20) Check = Bill (at Restaurant)

21) Chips = Crisps

23) Elevator = Lift

24) Eraser = Rubber

25) Fall = Autumn

26) Faucet = Tap

27) Fill the Tub = Run the Bath

28) Fire truck = Fire Engine

29) Flapjacks = Scotch Pancakes

30) Flashlight = Torch

 

  

Resource:Associated Content (2009, May 29) In Associated Content, AC. Retrieved 20:25, May 29, 2009, from: http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/1099625/vocabulary_differences_between_british.html?cat=9  

 

American National Corpus

The American National Corpus (ANC) project is creating a massive electronic collection of American English, including texts of all genres and transcripts of spoken data produced from 1990 onward. The ANC will provide the most comprehensive picture of American English ever created, and will serve as a resource for education, linguistic and lexicographic research, and technology development.

When completed, the ANC will contain a core corpus of at least 100 million words, comparable across genres to the British National Corpus (BNC). The corpus will also include an «opportunistic» component of potentially several hundreds of millions of words, chosen to provide both the broadest and largest selection of texts (and, where available, annotations) possible.

resource: American National Corpus. (2009, May 5). In American National Corpus, ANC. Retrieved 12:21, May 5, 2009, from http://americannationalcorpus.org/

 

Tagging in delicious

Tags

What are tags?

Tags are one-word descriptors that you can assign to your bookmarks on Delicious to help you organize and remember them. Tags are a little bit like keywords, but you choose them yourself and they do not form a hierarchy. You can assign as many tags to a bookmark as you like and you can always rename or delete the tags later. So, tagging can be a lot easier and more flexible than fitting your information into preconceived categories or folders.

For example, if you save an article about how to make a certain kind of cake, you can tag it with recipes sweets yogurt or whatever other tags you might use to find it again. You don’t have to rely on the designer of a system to provide you with a category for French cake recipes. You make up tags as you need them, and use the tags that make the most sense to you.

This is great for organizing and finding personal data, but it goes even further when someone else posts related content using the same tags. You begin building a collaborative repository of related information, driven by personal interests and creative organization. 

What are some examples of tagging?

You can use tags describing an article or website’s subject, location, name, category, people, places, ideas — pretty much anything you can think of. The more tags the better! (Most people end up adding two to five tags to each of their bookmarks.)

The only limitation on tags is that they must not include spaces. So if your web page is about a two-word place like «San Francisco», you may want to tag it as sf, san-francisco, SanFrancisco, san.francisco, or whatever else makes sense to you. You don’t want to use commas, though, since a comma will be become part of the tag. You can also use tags to describe metadata about the bookmark. For example, you can use asterisks to rate bookmarks. So a tag of * might mean an OK link, *** is pretty good, and a bookmark tagged ***** is awesome. Other common tags include toread, or via:friend. Bookmarks that you want can be tagged wishlist, and ones that might not be safe to visit at work can be tagged nsfw. A tag can be anything you want.

resources: http://delicious.com/help/faq

 

NATIONAL BRITISH CORPUS

What is the BNC?

The British National Corpus (BNC) is a 100 million word collection of samples of written and spoken language from a wide range of sources, designed to represent a wide cross-section of British English from the later part of the 20th century, both spoken and written. The latest edition is the BNC XML Edition, released in 2007.

What sort of corpus is the BNC?

Monolingual: It deals with modern British English, not other languages used in Britain. However non-British English and foreign language words do occur in the corpus.

Synchronic: It covers British English of the late twentieth century, rather than the historical development which produced it.

General: It includes many different styles and varieties, and is not limited to any particular subject field, genre or register. In particular, it contains examples of both spoken and written language.

Sample: For written sources, samples of 45,000 words are taken from various parts of single-author texts. Shorter texts up to a maximum of 45,000 words, or multi-author texts such as magazines and newspapers, are included in full. Sampling allows for a wider coverage of texts within the 100 million limit, and avoids over-representing idiosyncratic texts.

Sources: NTB:  British National Corpus (BNC). (2009, April 4). In BNC, British National Corpus. Retrieved 09:27, April 15, 2009, from http://www.natcorp.ox.ac.uk/corpus/index.xml