Tran Tien Muu

Tran Tien Muu was Tran Tien-Dan's first son.

After obtaining solid results in his studies, he began a mandarin career under the reign on emperor Dong-Khanh who preceded Thanh Thai. He was promoted to Minister of the Interior (the equivalent of the Home Secretary).

In 1891 in the second year of Thanh-Thai's reign, the Director of the Minister's cabinet put forward a petition in his favour in which he praised Tran Tien Muu's qualities of integrity and loyalty and suggested that he be promoted.

In 1894, emperor Thanh-Thai named him Tri-Huyen of Quang-Tri.

The year after, he occupied the same role but this time in Quang-Nam. In 1900, he occupied the same role but this time for the Nghe-An Province.

In 1905, he temporarily became Tri-Phu of An-Son. Then in 1907, emperor Tuy-Tan also gave him the same role.

In the beginning of 1910, emperor Duy-Tan conferred him the title "THI GIANG HOC SY" and ten months later, he names him Chief of the Nghe-An Province. He occupied this position for one year before dying of a brief illness. At his death, he was given the cult name "DOAN LANG TRAN TIEN-MUU".

His wife TA THI-THIEU (1866 - 1939) was the eldest daughter of TA PHOC-BANH, Senior Mandarin of Public Works. She gave Tran Tien Muu ten children.

Six sons including,

TRAN TIEN-DU (1887 - 1907)
-Remained single and died at 20 years of age
TRAN TIEN-THUYEN (1889 - 1928)
-Mandarin in Chief
TRAN TIEN-TRU (1890 - ?)
-Mandarin of Primary Education
TRAN TIEN-THUOC (1892-1967)
-Director of Primary Education in the Province of Quang-Nam
Chief Archivist of the Royal Library of Hue
Father of Phuong Lan my grandmother
TRAN TIEN-NGUYEN-VY (1898 - ?)
-Doctor - Deputee at the National Assembly
TRAN TIEN-TAP (1903 - ? )

Four daughters including,
THI-TUAN (1894 - ?)


Back to Tran Genealogy Index

Le Monde est Stone - English Translation

I've loved this song since I was 11.
Garou sings it pretty well. But I can't find the female vocals I liked...and no it wasn't Celine Dion's version.
Le Monde est Stone - sung by Garou

Interesting angle on the Garou video clip. I never interpreted the song as relating to a reaction to world conflict and the devastating effect of war. Although it's probably very suited I suppose. Personally, I saw it more as a person's inner struggle to deal with their different outlook on existence, their sense of alienation and feeling out of touch with everything that other people prize. I read it more as a sort of nihilist outlook compounded by a dread for life, a thirst for feeling, perhaps underlined by the accusative "the world is stone", the world is rock hard and unfeeling perhaps. Also read it as having an existentialist theme and a message about the profound meaninglessness of everything. That sort of thing.

One great song that I still very much love.
So here are the publically available French lyrics with my own English translation.


Le Monde est Stone / The World is Stone

J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir

I've a head about to burst
I'd like only to sleep
To stretch myself on the asphalt
And let myself die

Stone
Le monde est stone
Je cherche le soleil
Au milieu de la nuit
J'sais pas si c'est la Terre
Qui tourne à l'envers
Ou bien si c'est moi
Qui m'fait du cinéma
Qui m'fait mon cinéma

Stone
The world is stone
I'm looking for the sun
In the middle of the night
Dunno if it's the Earth
That's spinning in reverse
Or if it's me
Making myself some cinema (expression, actually means: dramatising things)
Making myself my own cinema


J'ai plus envie d'me battre
J'ai plus envie d'courir
Comme tous ces automates
Qui bâtissent des empires
Que le vent peut détruire
Comme des châteaux de cartes

I no longer want to fight,
I no longer want to run,
Like all those automatons
Who build empires
That the wind can destroy
Like castles made of cards


Stone
Le monde est stone
Je cherche le soleil
Au milieu de la nuit


Stone
The world is stone
I'm looking for the sun
In the middle of the night


Laissez moi me débattre
Venez pas m'secourir
Venez plutôt m'abattre
Pour m'empêcher d'souffrir
J'ai la tête qui éclate
J'voudrais seulement dormir
M'étendre sur l'asphalte
Et me laisser mourir


Let me struggle (Note: talking to many people)
Don't come and rescue me
But rather, come finish me off
To prevent me from suffering
I've a head about to burst
I'd like only to sleep
To stretch myself on the asphalt
And let myself die.

Tran Tien Dan

Regent Tran Tien-Thanh's first son, Tran Tien Dan was born in 1850. He was the third child of the regent's first wife, Luong Thi-Thuy.

Tran Tien Dan never learnt about his father's assassination.

His died at the age of 31 in 1881, two years before Regent Tran Tien-Thanh was killed by Thuyet's guards.

Tran Tien-Dan was described as intelligent and of good character. But he was not attracted to a career as a mandarin. This is attributed to the fact that when he began to embark on a career, his country, Vietnam was going through a difficult period. He therefore chose to take care of family matters which his dad, too occupied by affairs of state, had been obliged to neglect.

Tran Tien-Dan's many responsibilities included: maintaining the family house, improving the state of paddyfields and of the other land areas as they were acquired along the years.

He also occupied himself with collecting the consent of family members for the relocation of graves belonging to paternal relatives so that rather than being scattered in various places, they could be gathered around the ancestral tomb of "Thi-To".

Tran Tien Dan married Cung-Huy Thi-Nghi-Nhan (1849 - 1900). She was the fifth daughter of the Judicial Mandarin Cung The-Du who originated from Thanh-hoa. She gave him twelve children.

Five sons:
Tran Tien-Muu -(1868 - 1911)
He became Chief of the Nghe-An Province
Tran Tien Soan
Tran Tien Thuc (1875 - 1925)
Tran Tien Nhuong (1877 - 1917)

Seven daughters, including:
Thi-Yen
Thi-Hy
Thi-Tu - who born in 1879, was honored at the age of 14 to join the Harem of Emperor Thanh-Thai who was of the same age.
At the court, she was renamed Tai Nhan. Several years later, she was authorised to regain the familial home to take care of her mother. I wonder whether this return to the family home had anything to do with Emperor Thanh-Thai being forced to abdicate from the throne after the French declared him insane. Later on, in 1916, Thanh-Thai was sent to exile in the Reunion Island together with his son. Thanh-Thai's own story is fascinating.
Meanwhile, his consort, Tai Nhan had belonged to the Emperor and for this reason could not belong to any other Vietnamese. At the age of 20, she ended up marrying Au Phu Quan, a Chinese businessman from Hainam Island.


Tran Tien Dan was buried in Hue and received the cult name:
TUE GIAN TRAN TIEN-DAN

In the ninth and last year of his reign, the unpopular emperor KHAI-DINH, incidentally also a drug addict, conferred him the title:
PHUNG TIEN DAI-PHU HAN-LAM VIEN THI GIANG


Back to Tran Genealogy Index

Scorpio

An obsessive, passionate creature looming in the darkness. That's how I saw Scorpio when I first drew her. In her right hand, she holds a cup filled with some dark potion, a poisonous brew no doubt, and you can see that I've added an ominous vapor emanating from the golden cup. That is some lethal drink. This woman means business.

A couple of touches are inspired from her traditional animal, the Scorpion. One of these is a sharp hook, in lieu of pincers, that she uses to scrape at her enemies. Because you should know that Scorpios do remember everything and they will eventually get even whenever it matters. Another scorpion symbol, is a sharp set of blades that dangles from the braid in her auburn hair. It's a sort of weapon, a reminder that Scorpio can defend itself well.

Actually her pendant is also a hook...or is it a crescent Moon? I like to think it's a Moon considering the Moon's influence on mood and that Scorpio is very emotional. But the hook/moon ambiguity highlights the fact that you never really know what Scorpios are feeling, or whether they are feeling it at all, so good are they at hiding their inner emotional turmoil.

The galaxies were not in the picture when I drew this years ago. I added them because to me Scorpio is not all about dark forces and malefic will, that's an absurd stereotype. I think there's a spiritual force in Scorpio that transcends time and space and motivates the native to achieve and focus for years to arrive at their goal. Often this motivation is very intrinsic and does not depend on external rewards or material gain. I think for this reason, Scorpios can be truly spiritual in that they are moved by deep forces within.
So I have her floating like a sort of celestial body removed from all material attachments.

Strangely, no phallic symbol for this one. I've noticed that my other Zodiac girls are sporting swords, orbs, horns and other longish, tubular objects. I don't know why I omitted sexuality symbols in my Scorpio characterisation. After all, isn't Scorpio also about sexual energy? To compensate, I used a lot of black and purples because these colors have been associated with deviancy, the underworld and sexuality. Very appropriate don't you think?

Capricorn

Mara

When I drew Capricorn, a very long time ago, I had in mind a powerful sorceress. Someone who will put up with no nonsense. Someone who has lived many years and developed wisdom from experience.

There is an intensity to Capricorn, not unlike that found in Scorpio. Here she is hard at work, determined and purposeful. I placed a book on the floor to indicate knowledge and resourcefulness which I think Capricorns usually have or at least, value. The book also represents tradition. The burning candle light indicates that the sorceress is working late at night, long after we have all thrown the towel and gone to sleep.

There is often a playfulness in those earthy natives. It is illustrated here with the sorceress abandoning herself to the joyful momentum of a new incantation while ribbon-like strands of light emanate in all directions from her magic orb, creating a sort of mischievous chaos around an otherwise orderly native.

Sadly I have to admit that her orb looks a little bit like a lollipop but it doesn't bother me too much! After all, the more Capricorns age, the more youthful they become. In many ways.

The New Nude

Have just finished all my exams for this semester and feel a burst of creativity surging forth. So it's time to abandon the lab sensors and the glia obsession and dive into some sensual projects...

A week ago, I scanned some old drawings which I estimate to have completed between 1990 and 1995. I wanted to color them in for years but never got around to it, mainly because I sux at coloring.

Since then I've been using Gimp to add splashes of color but I am not a DeviantArt-worthy artist and the effect is far from my ideal effect, let's see... that would be, somewhere between Anime and Boris Vallejo. Yeah, I wish!!

I could benefit from downloading some proper drawing artsy software but I don't know much about what is available and need to research it properly before I complicate my life for no reason. So Gimp is ok for now. I would benefit from a few online tuts on coloring techniques but I'm enjoying exploring with colors per se at the moment rather than dabbling into anything too technical.

And it's wonderful! Today I came back from my exam around lunch, sat on my black leather seat in front of the computer and played for hours. I played with abandon, fixating the screen with delight until I forgot to blink and had tears in my eyes. Oh the joy! If only office work were that fun. I never even looked at the clock and before I knew it, it was 5pm!

Among other things, I've colored my first Nude today. I like to imagine that she's sensually draped in Byzantine blue velvet and waiting for her master. Love her back and enjoyed coloring it.

Roman Slave

Oh yeah... I should mention that there is a running theme with my drawings...
I like to draw women. A lot of them.
Mostly naked or in fantasy costumes and dreamscapes.

For example, twelve of my drawings feature female characterisations of the twelve signs of the Zodiac. I drew them at least 13 years ago and even gave them names. So their costume, behavior and situation theoretically matches their zodiac description. Anyway, will post more about all this another time...

So many things to do in my July break before the next semester begins.
My plan for the break:

1. Write 25 pages per week - that should allow me to complete the first draft of my historical novel but considering I ramble incessantly and always imagine additional details/scenes, I may be at it in November as well...

2. Complete my zodiac girls - and post some artsy entries on this blog. (Don't hold your breath for anything spectacular.) But it's nice to do something creative, it relaxes me so much.

3. Watch more foreign films - Aaargh! I crave films in general. I've not been able to watch many films since May. The semester was unkind. But I conquered and I'M BACK!!

4. Complete the Tran Tien family genealogy - I like to complete my blog projects properly and this is well overdue.

5. Enjoy my Sydney holiday! I've booked a 2-bedroom apartment at the Meriton World Tower so that's also part of the excitement. What could I possibly do with 2 bedrooms you ask? MMmmm...yes, I know. Well, it was a special package and I couldn't resist.

6. Make notes for my second novel. My little brain is bursting with ideas so it's time to jot them down.