Curie Author Showcase (October 22nd, 2018)

• In the spirit of Curie's mission to promote undiscovered but exceptional content, we wish to use this twice weekly section to provide an author showcase for some of the outstanding authors who received Curie upvotes in past week. Curie curators and reviewers nominate authors for inclusion in this showcase and author approval is sought and attained.

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Featured Author: @breakoutthecrazy
Bradley Cooper & Lady Gaga - Shallow (Cover) - Break Out The Crazy

_{Image property of @breakoutthecrazy}

Before @breakoutthecrazy's cover, I hadn't heard "Shallow." Now it lines up to be among my songs of the year, thanks to endearment sparked from this beautiful cover rendition. These guys took a masterpiece, and did justice to it; one I am sure both Bradley and Gaga would be proud of. They even made a very beautiful video to go with it.

Break Out The Crazy is not new to us manual curators—I mean, not many excellent creators on Steem manage to evade EVERYONE at Curie. What amazes me is how they keep such high level of quality, and how much they commit to their craft. Here's what they have to say:

"We are unendingly grateful for the continued support of the @curie team. We pour our heart and soul into our craft so this means everything to us. This song and video was an idea that hit us suddenly, as we watched the trailer to the "A Star Is Born" film. The passion in the composition and performance moved us so much. We are currently very busy with other work but we knew we had to put this out with a proper video, so we took a break from everything else and ran out with our smartphones, tripod and speaker on a perfectly sunny fall day and shot it.

"The support has been overwhelming from our followers. We think it is because of how we fused the country ballad sound with bachata flavors, something that occurred to Chris in the spur of the moment but once implemented sounded 'right'. It also makes it something you can dance to as well. Thanks again to all of you for the support and nice comments. You can download a free mp3 on our website https://www.breakouthecrazy.com/music"

Sweet!

According to their bio, "Katya Diaz was born in NY into an artistic family. Her Puerto Rican father sang baritone at The Metropolitan Opera House."

As for Chris, he "was raised in both New York and The Dominican Republic, influenced by his father: a renown music producer/songwriter & singer."

"They have combined forces to create what can only be described as a kaleidoscope of sounds and vibes. Hence 'Break Out The Crazy'."

Go check out this amazing duo.

Featured Author: @dromzz
Fall 2018

Catch your breath (or lose it!) with this amazing view of the Finnish fall in @dromzz's 4k 60fps drone movie.

@dromzz got his break as a Youtuber when his video got viral in 2016. According to him he immediately invested 800 bucks in a DJI Phantom 3 Standard, and thence started his foray into drone filmmaking. He travels Finland and captures amazing views, like the one featured here.

Visit @dromzz's blog here

Featured Author: @kiligirl
Benjamin Britten's War Requiem performed in Johannesburg last night

_{Image property of @kiligirl}

How do you describe a feeling so well that someone thousands of miles away gets close to feeling that same feeling? Linsey figured it out. This elaborate, and almost exhaustive reflection of the Benjamin Britten's War Requiem held at Linder Auditorium in Johannesburg is the one post you had waited to read, as we close in on the centennial of the Armistice that ended the First World War. I must warn you that this one is dripping with emotions. I don't have the words to summarize this piece, so I would just leave you to the afterthoughts of its author:

"I often write posts just to get thoughts out of my system, and I wrote this one in the context of the upcoming centennial of the Armistice, from which we've clearly learned bupkis about how to keep from killing millions of each other in the name of whatever greater cause requires the sacrifice of young lives at the time. Sometimes I think that the first world war ended just because of the Spanish flu epidemic, not because of any good sense on the part of decision makers or any actual moral victory.

"The poppy has been a part of my life every November 11th as we remember the fallen on Remembrance Day, but somehow the hundredth anniversary of the end of World War 1 provides a greater impetus to reflect on the futility of that loss of young life, despite the gratitude we feel for their deaths having purchased our freedom.

"Now we sit and watch passively as millions of Yemenis slowly starve to death in a completely man-made famine, a by-product of a proxy war which serves no apparent moral purpose. What have we learned a century after the end of "the war to end all wars"? How to make fancier, more technical wars? Yay us.

"Is there a way to reach anyone who might possibly stop this kind of insanity within our lifetime? That's why a concert such as the War Requiem earlier this week moved me to write about the role the arts can play in getting ordinary people to think about the gross immorality of war, especially when a composer such as Britten combines his own musical prowess with the powerful poetry of Wilfred Owen to create such an extraordinary pro-peace piece...and over fifty years since it was first played, another group of dedicated musical professionals brought it to an audience who had likely never heard it live, nor would they get the chance again in their lifetime. It wasn't recorded, so I did what I can do to keep it alive - I wrote about it. And you honoured it by selecting my piece for @curie. Thank you, on behalf of the fallen millions, for the unlikely chance that their deaths and this music might influence someone, somewhere not to make war any more." — Linsey

I can't help the wall of text, as I really do not want you to miss out on any of Linsey's thoughts on this topic.

This post was one of the two that deservingly got resteemed on Curie blog this past week.

Experience it here.

Featured Author: @marlyncabrera
A Toy and Flower Sonnet (Petrarchan)

_{Image: Arranging Daffodils by Carl Christian Frederik Jacob Thomsen, 1894}

This is a masterfully, beautifully crafted sonnet by Marlyn Cabrera. The university teacher sets the tone with an educational refresher on what makes a sonnet, the rhyme scheme and its rhythm. A Toy and Flower is not just good writing, it is one with a soul.

"My selfishness is shy and hypothetic;
fear not the envy that my tongue rehearses,
for ingenuities make finest toys,
which make delusion seem quite less pathetic.
— @marlyncabrera

Marlyn is Venezuelan, who was "born and raised in an old Cumana of forgotten natures and eternal poets." According to her, "the world is a mirror seducing me from every angle."

Read Marlyn's poem.

Featured Author: @thetroublenotes
Live from Paste Studios at the Manhattan Center in New York City

Meet Bennet, Ollie, Flo, and of course Steffi as they play from Paste Studio in New York, in a first of a series of interviews/performances slated across North America.

The group live on the road. "Every year we travel 9-10 months," they said, "across different continents playing concerts, busking, and meeting new friends and interesting people."

"One of the great things about the way that we travel is our ability to see a city or culture from a different lens. For a time, we become a part of the creative fabric of a place, which grants us a unique vantage point."

I promise you would enjoy this one, so be sure to sit in on this fantastic performance. Also, follow The Trouble Notes to listen to and support their music.

Listen here.

Featured Author: @vadimlasca
Bitoqueao - Ya No te Quiero - I Don't Love You Anymore

_{Images property of @vadimlasca}

Would I say I saved the very best for the last? I don't think. Truthfully, I really faced a dilemma deciding the order of these posts, as there were too many favourites. Maybe look at this one as reward for sitting through the lengthy (I'm sorry) feature post, and checking out these amazing authors. Without further ado, allow me to introduce one of the best music videos in the world right now.

I consider it a special privilege to meet and interact with Vadim: super-talented filmmaker, and one of Curie's curators, helping shine a light on good quality contents. His personality is a stark contrast to his artistic "exuberance".

You don't need the English subtitle to enjoy this, even if you don't speak any other language than English. You don't even need sound to appreciate the story. That said, the music is doused with a lot of Caribbean flavor, and that is amplified by the genius of Vadim, and every body that worked on this project. Kudos, guys!

Hey Steem! Make sure you see this one. Vadim's post was the other post that got resteemed on Curie's blog last week.

Done talking!... go watching!

This Curie Author Showcase was written by Curie Curator @misterakpan(Ubokobong Akpan), often with input from other Curie curators and reviewers. All images and quoted texts are the copyright of their respective authors and publishers.