Wilson Hatcher picks Mexico to win 3-2 and the USA to win 2-0.

Everette Hatcher picks Mexico to win 4-1 and the USA to win 1-0.

US looks to apply lessons learned

As much as the US men’s national team will be looking for a measure of revenge in its CONCACAF Gold Cup semifinal against Panama on Wednesday night (live, 6:30 p.m. ET, FOX Soccer Channel), the ultimate goal for the Americans remains the same as it was when the tournament began two weeks ago.

The goal: get to the Gold Cup final and a likely battle with arch-rival Mexico. A chance to win a trophy, and defeat its biggest rival in the process, is clearly at the top of every American player’s wish list.

The United States is one step away from reaching that goal, but it is a tricky step indeed. Standing in the way is a confident and dangerous Panama side that has already beaten the USA this Gold Cup, handing the hosts their first group stage loss in tournament history.

“We aren’t going to be taking them lightly,” said US captain Carlos Bocanegra. “They already showed what they can do if you don’t play well against them, and we’re not planning on having that happen again.”

As much as some American players talked about exacting some revenge on Panama, you could argue that the Central Americans have more to be seeking vengeance for than the United States. Panama has been eliminated from the past three Gold Cups by the United States.

From a brutal penalty kick loss in the 2005 final, to an overtime loss in the 2009 quarterfinal, a group that could be called Panama’s best generation of talent in its history has been denied Gold Cup glory by the United States for the past six years.

The United States won’t be worrying about history too much but will also be careful not to repeat recent history; namely, the 2-1 loss to Panama that led to some serious soul-searching and just might have lit a fire under the US men’s national team, which has won both matches since (without allowing a goal in either).

The rematch will have its differences. For starters, Panama will be missing top striker Blas Perez, who was issued a red card in Panama’s penalty shootout win versus El Salvador. Secondly, the United States will have had the chance to study the mistakes of the first meeting and work toward ensuring they aren’t repeated.

“It’s going to be a completely different game,” said U.S. midfielder Clint Dempsey. “We conceded early and they kind of sat back and tried to catch us on the counter. I think a fair result would’ve us getting back into the game because we pressed them the whole game after (going down).”

The United States will come in as a heavy favorite even after having lost to Panama, and plenty stacks up in the US team’s favor. The squad is relatively healthy, except for forward Jozy Altidore. The team is playing well, coming off a pair of matches that saw good ball movement and the creation of many good chances. Panama comes in off a grueling penalty shootout victory against El Salvador. The Canaleros will direly miss Perez, who had scored in each of Panama’s past three matches against the United States.

If anything, the best lesson the United States gained from the Panama loss was that patience was key in dealing with opponents content to sit back and counter. Panama worked that approach perfectly, but it also did so against a US team that clearly came out flat. Against Jamaica, the Americans showed patience and the ability to break teams down with a possession game.

Altidore’s absence, though costly, may have opened the door for a better possession game by the United States, as Juan Agudelo is better equipped for the type of quick and creative interplay sparked by the 4-2-3-1 formation, particularly with Clint Dempsey and Landon Donovan working passing triangles with the likes of Alejandro Bedoya and Sacha Kljestan, who have both looked shark during the Gold Cup.

The question now is whether the United States can avoid a slow start and press Panama from the start as it did against Jamaica. The Americans really wore down Jamaica, particularly in midfield, but Panama has better passers and is also playing with the confidence that comes with being the only team besides Mexico to remain undefeated at this point in the tournament.

If the Americans can start strong, Panama’s unbeaten record will fall, and the United States will face Mexico for the third straight Gold Cup final. Another slow start, however, and the United States could fall behind again and face another rough fightback.

That’s a lesson the U.S. team doesn’t sound too interested in learning a second time.

Ives Galarcep is a senior writer for FoxSoccer.com covering Major League Soccer and the U.S. national team.

Ernest Istook

John Brummett asserts that liberals are right about the cause of the deficit. He asserts in his article “Harry let us down,” Arkansas News Bureau, April 4, 2011: He is right that the actual deficit is caused by direct government spending exceeding income, an imbalance mostly caused, he will tell you with some justification, by […]

U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor at the 2009 DPA J-J Dinner U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor at the 2009 Democratic Party Jefferson Jackson Dinner, Arkansas’s largest annual political event. (Did you notice that besides Mike Ross, EVERY OTHER DEMOCRAT THAT PRYOR MENTIONS DOING SUCH A GREAT JOB IN WASHINGTON IS NO LONGER IN OFFICE, SNYDER, LINCOLN, and BERRY)

Childhood and art education

Henri Matisse was born on December 31, 1869, in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, France. After the war of 1870–71 his family moved to Bohain-en-Vermandois, France. Matisse’s father was a corn merchant, his mother an amateur painter. Matisse studied law from 1887 to 1891 and then decided to go to Paris, France, to become a painter. He worked under Adolphe William Bouguereau (1825–1905) at the Académie Julian in Paris, but he left in 1892 to enter the studio of Gustave Moreau (1826–1898) at the École des Beaux-Arts, where he studied until 1897. Moreau was a liberal teacher who did not interfere with the individuality of his pupils. He encouraged his students to look at nature and to paint outdoors, as well as to frequently visit the museums. Matisse copied paintings in the Louvre and painted outdoors in Paris.

Begins with impressionism and moves to Fauvism

About 1898, under the influence of impressionism (an art form using dabs of paint in primary colors to create an image representing a brief glance rather than a long study), the colors Matisse used became lighter, as in his seascapes of Belle-Île and landscapes of Corsica and the Côte d’Azur (coast of France on the Mediterranean Sea). Although impressionist in character, these early works of Matisse already showed a noticeable emphasis on color and simplified forms. Matisse married in 1898 and visited London, England, in the same year to study. On his return to Paris he attended classes at the Académie Carrière, where he met André Derain (1880–1954). Matisse created his first sculptures in 1899.

From 1900 Matisse struggled financially for years. In 1902 the artist, his wife Amélie, and their three children were forced to return to Bohain. In 1903 the Salon d’Automne was founded, and Matisse exhibited there. From 1900 to 1903, under the influence of Paul Cézanne (1839–1906), Matisse produced still lifes and nudes. In 1904 he had his first one-man show at the gallery of Ambroise Vollard in Paris and spent the summer in Saint-Tropez, France. In 1905 Matisse painted with Derain at Collioure; the works Matisse created there are excellent examples of Fauvism in their bright colors and flat patterning.

Fauve period

Matisse’s Fauve period extended from 1905 to 1908, during which time he completed a brilliant series of masterpieces. At the 1905 Salon d’Automne these paintings, known as the Fauves, made their first public appearance. In 1906 Matisse’s Joie de vivre was exhibited at the Indépendants; the painting gained him the title of the “King of the Fauves.”

Matisse made his first trip to North Africa in 1906. His Blue Nude, or Souvenir de Biskra (1907), is a memento of the journey. In this painting he experimented with contrapposto (an S-curve pose), and he used the same form in the sculpture Reclining Nude I (1907). He had established a studio in the former Convent des Oiseaux in 1905; this became a meeting place for foreign artists. He developed into the leader of an international art school with mainly German and Scandinavian pupils who spread his ideas. His “Notes of a Painter,” published in La Grande revue in 1908, became the artistic handbook of a whole generation. Matisse was a pleasant man who looked more like a shy government official than an artist. He never accepted any fees for his teaching so that he was not obligated to staying in one place. He did not want commitments to interfere with his creative activity.

Change in style

Between 1908 and 1913 Matisse made journeys to Spain, Germany, Russia, and Africa. In Munich, Germany, he saw an exhibition of Islamic art (1910), and in Moscow, Russia, he studied Russian icons (1911). Russian collectors began to buy his paintings. He produced five sculptures—heads of Jeannette—during 1910 and 1911, which show a resemblance to African masks and sculptures. His Moroccan journey of 1911–12 had a positive influence on his development, which is seen in Dance, Music, the Red Fishes, and the series of interiors recording his studio and its contents. They show a stern and compact style with blacks and grays, mauves, greens, and ochers (brown tones). Great Matisse exhibitions were held in 1910, 1913, and 1919.

By 1919 Matisse had become an internationally known master. His style at that time was characterized by the use of pure colors and their complex interplay (harmonies and contrasts); the two-dimensionality of the picture surface enriched by decorative patterns taken from wallpapers, Oriental carpets, and fabrics; the human figures being treated in the same manner as the decorative elements. The goal of Matisse’s art was the portrayal of the joyful living in contrast to the stresses of our technological age. Between 1920 and 1925 he completed a series of odalisques (female slaves), such as the Odalisque with Raised Arms; this period has been called an oasis of lightness.

Last years

In 1925 Matisse was made chevalier, the lowest ranking member of the Legion of Honor, and in 1927 he received the first prize at the Carnegie International Exhibition at Pittsburgh. After a visit to Tahiti, Matisse was a guest at the Barnes Foundation at Merion, Pennsylvania, and accepted Dr. Barnes’s commission to paint a mural, The Dance (1932–1933), for the hall of the foundation. During the next years he produced paintings, drawings, book illustrations (etchings and lithographs), sculptures (he made fifty-four bronzes altogether), ballet sets, and designs for tapestry and glass. In 1944 Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) arranged for him to be represented in the Salon d’Automne to celebrate the liberation of Paris from Nazi rule.

Matisse considered the peak of his life-work to be his design and decoration of the Chapel of the Rosary for the Dominican nuns at Vence, France (1948–1951). He designed the black-and-white tile pictures, stained glass, altar crucifix, and vestments (ceremonial robes). At the time of the consecration (declaration of sacredness) of the Vence chapel, Matisse held a large retrospective exhibition (a look back at the work he created) in the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

The ultimate step in the art of Matisse was taken in his papiers découpés, abstract cutouts in colored paper, executed in the mid-1940s, for example, the Negro Boxer, Tristesse du roi, and Jazz. The master died on November 3, 1954, in Cimiez, France, near Nice.

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Midnight in Paris 
Starring: Owen Wilson, Rachel McAdams, Marion Cotillard
Written & Directed by: Woody Allen
Release Date: May 20, 2011
Rated PG-13 for some sexual references and smoking

After a string of misfires in the past ten years, including The Curse of the Jade of Scorpion,Scoop, and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, Woody Allen finally recovers with an exceptionally funny film. Owen Wilson leads the cast as Gil Pender, a struggling writer who feels that he’s sold his soul to Hollywood by writing nothing but crappy screenplays. His latest work is a novel that he feels is his first attempt at serious work he can proud of. His fiancé, Inez (Rachel McAdams), doesn’t support this and tells him to give it up, so he can keep whoring out for the film studios (not quite in those exact words). On their trip to Paris, they spend time with her parents, played by a hilarious Kurt Fuller and Mimi Kennedy, and her pretentious friends, Paul (a brilliantly funny Michael Sheen) and Carol (Nina Arianda). They go dancing and wine tasting, but all that poor Gil really wants to do is experience culture from the 20s and take in the beautiful architecture. In fact, his dream is to live in Paris in the 20s and meet his writing influences, Hemingway and Fitzgerald. That’s precisely what happens when he wanders the streets past midnight. He gets in a strange car and meets Fitzgerald (Tom Hiddleston), Hemingway (Corey Stoll), and Zelda Fitzgerald (Alison Pill) at a party. When the night is over, he’s back in present time and bored again. When the next night comes around, he goes back for more fun and gets caught up in the magic of the time period. Woody Allen always rounds up a great cast for his films, but this bunch of talented actors collide and create an amazing experience. Adrien Brody plays Salvador Dali, David Lowe plays T. S. Eliot, Kathy Bates plays Gertrude Stein, Marcial Di Fonzo Bo plays Picasso, and Marion Cotillard plays Adriana, Gil’s love interest and Picasso’s girlfriend at the time. Allen has a certain style that shows only a little bit in this film, but it’s something different for him. Rather than focusing on the realities of life, death, and sex, he makes this film fun to watch. It’s not a cynical film about people ruining their lives, it’s a feel-good, smart romantic comedy. Midnight in Paris is a can’t-miss for the thinking man.

Francis Schaeffer “BASIS FOR HUMAN DIGNITY” Whatever…HTTHR

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