Anthony Green

 

English realist painter and printmaker Anthony Green RA was best known for the narrative paintings that portray domestic life in compound perspectives and polygonal forms. 

Green was born on September 30, 1939 in Luton, Bedfordshire. He was taught by Welsh landscape painter Kyffin Williams and the Slade School of Art. 

In a seminar series in 2013, he mentioned the struggle to fit in as a "European artist" at the Slade School, "...I'm a half-French. I cut my teeth not in English art, which I thought was a kind of off-shore paled shadow of continental art, but in fact the proper art was found in Paris. As a school boy, I knew the Louvre better than the National Gallery... when I came home from my relatives in France, I was into French art. I considered to be a good European artist."

After spending some time in the United States, Green was elected a full Member of the Royal Academy in 1971. Green was sought out for exhibitions internationally. His pictorial sculpture titled Resurrection toured UK cathedrals in 2000. 

Resurrection (2000)

Springtime in Lissenden Gardens, London (1939)

The Chinese Lantern (1974)

Source: https://www.royalacademy.org.uk/art-artists/name/anthony-green-ra

Sylvia Kristel

 

I use to wait up for my parents to get home from date night. It was scary at first but then it became a routine I looked forward to. 

I was in my teens and my parents had upgraded their cable service to include the movie channels, HBO and Skin-a-Max -- I mean, Cinemax.

My parents had date nights on Fridays, and that was okay with me. My dad would take me to the video store and let me pick out two movies. I would typically get a comedy and a Disney movie. 

At the time, the house wasn't that big. It was shaped like an L with the entertainment room being in the center.

Before my parents would leave, pizza was typically order from Pizza Hut or Dominos. I had my pizza and movies ready and playing. 

By 10:30 pm, I had finished the two rental movies and ready to turn on Cinemax. 

Right on the dot. An after hours movie would begin. 

Emmanuelle.

The amazingly gorgeous 5'9" Dutch actress and model Sylvia Kristel caught my attention and I quickly fell in love with her character Emmanuelle. 

Sylvia Kristel was born on September 28, 1952 in Utrecht, the Netherlands. She is best remembered for playing Emmanuelle and eventually typecast to other similar roles that capitalized on her sexual provocative image. 

She began modeling at the age of 17. She won the Miss TV Europe contest in 1973, before starring in the role of Emmanuelle.  

In the 80s, Kristel starred in Lady Chatterley's Lover, Mata Hari, Private Lessons, and The Nude Bomb. 

In 2006, Kristel received an award at the Tribeca Film Festival for directing Topor et Moi, a short animated documentary film.  

On October 17, 2012, Kristel passed away from esophageal and lung cancer.

via Wikipedia

via rannygallery

Source: Wikipedia

Matt Harding

Where in the Hell is Matt? Better yet, who in the hell is Matt? 

Matt Harding is a video-game developer who, in 2006, decided to quit his job and travel the world. He became a YouTube celebrity after videos of him dancing in different parts of the world went viral. 

Born on September 27, 1976 and originally from Westport, Connecticut, Matt worked in the video game industry before becoming an internet celebrity.

He's credited in developing eight video games, such as Destroy All Humans! and Pirates of the Caribbean: The Legend of Jack Sparrow.

Want to smile today, check out his YouTube channel HERE and his website HERE. 

Nintendo Koppai

 

On September 23, 1889, Fusajiro Yamauchi opened Nintendo Koppai, a shop that produced and sold hand-crafted flower cards known as hanafuda. During this time, the Japanese government had outlawed gambling cards except for Yamauchi's hanafuda. Demand for the cards increased, which led Yamauchi to mass-produce the hanafuda cards as well as offer lower-quality cards known as Tengu. 

In the 1900s, Yamauchi entered into an agreement with Nihon Senbai, a nationalized tobacco company, to market its cards at various cigarette stores throughout Japan. 

In the 1930, Sekiryo (Kaneda) Yamauchi established the company as a general partnership titled Yamauchi Nintendo & Co. Ltd. 

In 1947, Sekiryo founded the distribution company Marufuku Co. Ltd. A few years later, his successor grandson, Hiroshi Yamauchi, changed the name of the company to Nintendo Playing Card Co. Ltd. and changed the name of Marufuku Company to Nintendo Karuta Co. Ltd.

In the late 1950s, Nintendo contracted with Walt Disney to incorporate the Disney characters onto the playing cards. A few years later, Nintendo became a public company and changed its name to Nintendo Co., Ltd.

The company released its first video game console, the Color TV-Game in 1977. Donkey Kong was then released in 1981, followed by the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) console was released in 1985. 

Source: Wikipedia

Maria Lassnig

Born on September 8, 1919, Maria Lassnig was an Austrian artist known for her self-portraits and theory of "body awareness."

Raised by her grandmother, Maria attended the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. In the 50s, she was part of the Hundsgruppe, a group of artists known for abstract expressionism and action painting; however, she later became known for her self-portraits.

In the 60s, she began to focus more on self-portraits exploring the human body and psyche. 

She became the first female professor of painting at the Vienna University of Applied Arts in the 1980s.

"Selbstporträt expressiv" (Expressive Self-Portrait), 1945

"Adam and Eve and a Mirror," 2001

Sources:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maria_Lassnig
http://upliketoast.blogspot.com/2014/05/rip-maria-lassnig.html
http://art-mirrors-art.tumblr.com/post/96636359299/maria-lassnig-adam-and-eve-and-a-mirror-2001
http://www.sothebys.com/en/news-video/blogs/all-blogs/contemporary/2017/03/5-things-to-know-about-maria-lassnig.html

Testing Positive for COVID-19

Recently, I was tested for COVID-19. Well, let me back up a little and give some background to this story.

I work for an organization. Not just an ordinary organization--one with a lot of kids. Anyways, I coordinated for the public health authority to come to our institution and test our staff. Of course, this was all voluntary. 

Only 16% of our staff came to get the PCR test. Sixteen percent. Dieciséis por ciento. Let that sink in a bit. Not even a quarter of a population.

Any way, although I coordinated the event and I didn't have any symptoms what so ever, I volunteered. I chose to take the swab to the back of the lining of my brain. Not fun. It felt like a stick rubbing and turning inside your face while it scratches the back of what could possibly be the furtherest anything can ever go. I tested positive.

Yup. I tested positive for the coronavirus. The results weren't instant. Nope. It took the health authority three days to provide the results. 

Thursday night my coworker and I were receiving results of the test. It was pouring in slowly. At 10 or so we decided to call it a night and check on the results the following morning.

That morning--early morning--I received a call from my coworker that I couldn't come to work. She instructed me that I shall quarantine at my home until September 20th. 

This caught me by surprise, to say the least. How could this have happened? Who gave me the virus? Was it my friend? Was it Vegas? Was it my girlfriend? The gym? Who? 

I was in denial. I took it as a joke. But then reality hit. I had to respond and think of those I was in contact with during the past week. I called my girlfriend--she was upset. I texted my ex-wife--she was concerned about our child. I told my kid, she couldn't go to school until she took an antigen test. I texted my best friend who I traveled to Vegas with because he was scheduled to pick up his daughter that evening.

I told my coworker all the people that could have been close contacts. I expressed my concerns about one of my coworkers who is a cancer survivor and asked that they list her as a possible close contact. 

Everything was flooding into my brain and I was feeling exhausted. 

My kid tested negative twice. So did my girlfriend. My best friend tested negative in the PCR test. This wasn't Vegas. It was at home, I thought. It kept me up for hours one night as I tried to remember who wasn't wearing masks. 

Living in Texas you have two breeds of the same kind. You have those who don't wear a mask, period, for political reasons. And you have those who wear a mask, period, for political reasons. Unfortunately, a piece of cloth became a political divide. 

I am here to say that I wore a mask not for political reasons. In fact, I have to admit, I chose not to wear a mask at the gym. Why, should I? I was socially distant, I argued my defense to my epidemiologist girlfriend. 

Well. The thing is, we need to wear a mask not for us or our freedom or whatever. We need to wear a mask for others. Period.

This is a new virus. We don't know much about it--we are getting there, but not yet. Our scientists and doctors are playing catch-up because we aren't allowing them time to evaluate a variant long enough to solve it. 

To put it into perspective: I was one of 16% of our staff who tested positive. Statistically, that would mean 6 out of 100 of our employees are carrying the virus and spreading it without even showing signs. 

Considering that only about 70% adults are fully vaccinated, that would mean 2 of those 6 carrying the virus would feel the effects of COVID-19. 

The one thing that is helping slow the spread is the face mask. I wear mine at work. The only time I don't at work is when I'm alone in my office. Big mistake. 

Outside of work, I wear it everywhere, except the gym. Big mistake.

I implore all of you to just consider masking and testing. Both will slow the spread of the virus. Stop with the politics. It's not you against me. It's not me against you. No one has the upper hand.

The virus doesn't care about politics. It doesn't care if you are Republican or Democrat. It doesn't care if you are a Trumper or a Bidenist. It feeds on our ignorance, period. Full Stop. 

Texas and Transgender

Pardon the Interruption

If you aren't aware of this, "Pardon the Interruption" breaks from the absolute "norm" of this blog and pops in some personal thought or commentary. If you don't care for someone's thoughts, perspective, or belief, especially when it comes to politics, jump to the next entry or check out some of my previous posts.

About a year ago, my kid came out to me and his mom. It wasn't gradual. There were no signs. 

"Dad, I am a girl," he said as he walked to his side of the couch as we watched TV. 

Dumbfounded, I replied, "okay." No follow up. Just "okay."

I raised my kid as a boy, I thought. Little league baseball. Soccer. Cars. Trucks. Thomas the Train. All boy stuff. 

He hated pink, I remembered. He wanted nothing to do with dolls, although I teased him multiple times at Toys 'R Us walking down the doll aisle. 

This was a surprise. I had no idea what to think. 

The following day I responded the wrong way, "It's your choice." I said it without knowing for a trans person that's the wrong thing to say. It's not a choice. It's who they are. 

I tried to reason with myself, not him. It's a phase. It's something he'll grow out of. It's like me when I  tried on pantyhose. It felt good but the response was more because I thought of girls. 

I recalled bullies calling me faggot, fag, or gay when I was in middle school and high school. I was odd and I had very little knowledge of the opposite sex so I was naïve. 

I knew I liked girls but just the suggestion made me think otherwise. Plus, MTV music videos clouded my feelings even more as I ventured through my teen sexual identity.

George Michael's Freedom '90, Madonna's Express Yourself, and Price's Cream made me really question my sexuality. I had no idea what gay was? I was sheltered and raised that boys like girls, period. All I knew at that age was that I felt tingly when I saw girls in very little clothing and showing their body.

So, fast forward 20 years and I'm having to figure out how to address the news my kids delivered to me. How am I supposed to respond? I know I love my kid, and I knew I would love him/her regardless, period.

She approached his mom and I and said she wants to start T-blockers. This quickly became real. 

Things around my house started changing. The first thing that went up in her room was the trans flag and a light display formed of a heart. 

The baseball boy became a girl almost overnight. I had to adjust to this setup. 

His mom and I discussed this over text and phone calls and determined to support out kid throughout. We began the process to help her navigate through this event.

Appointments were scheduled with a transgender therapist and physician, and in no time we were in their office or visiting over Zoom. The tough questions emerged. The what, when, where, and how. We were new to this, but we both knew we had to be there to support our kid. 

In the meantime, the Texas leadership decided to rein in on transgender kids. In their view, I assume, they felt parents were abusing their children by making them be the opposite sex. That's way far from the truth. 

As a parent who believes so strongly on individual rights to be a human with solid convictions, I feel more willing to support my child and their belief. She is no different than if she was a "he." 

I have no bout against the Governor of our state. He proved himself a strong leader up until he decided to pander to the far right and lead his state astray. 

He decided to call not only once but three times the legislature to address law that would suppress kids who feel whole-heartedly, their God-given right, as the opposite gender. Gender. Gender. 

I remember being called a faggot. I didn't know what that meant. My heart hurt. I was bullied without knowing what "bullying" meant. Everyone knew I was naïve and had no clue what it all meant. It hurt. I really did.

I look at my kid. And I am so proud of her. She is able to stand against the bullies and be who she is regardless of the name calling. That's true bravery. 

God Bless Prince and Tom Petty

Little Red Corvette is the first song that pops into my head when I think about Prince. I was no more than five or six and I remember that song vividly listening to it on the radio as I sat on the passenger seat driving home or where ever we were going in McAllen, Texas--a song town then in south Texas.

To be honest, I had no clue what a little red Corvette was, but it sounded nice. "Little Red Corvette, Baby You're much too fast..." Oh, the sound was so cool. 

For me, Tom Petty came much later in my life. I was probably a teen watching MTV when Free Fallin' caught my attention. Maybe it was Devon Kidd, the girl in the video, that attracted me to continue watching. Needless to say, this quickly became a favorite video of mine.

In a tribute to George Harrison, who passed away on November 29, 2001, Price, Tom Petty, Steve Winwood, Jeff Lynne, and others performed "While My Guitar Gently Weeps" at the 2004 Hall of Fame Inductions. 

This is a perfect tribute with Tom Petty leading the group but allowing the Price to give all the well deserved tribute to George Harrison.

Elise Trouw

Music Appreciation

On my return from my hiatus, I stumbled across a young multi-instrumentalist who has made a name for herself through her social media accounts creating music and mashing songs to make it her own--if I may say. 

The California native has been playing piano and multiple instruments throughout her young life. She was selected to be a member of the Grammy Foundation's Camp alumni band leading her to release her ten-song debut album, Unraveling.

Hello, Stranger

WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?

Well... I could say I'm still hiding from society and the grips of COVID-19. But that's not entirely true; although, lo and behold, I did come down with COVID-19 last week and now currently in isolation.

A lot of things have happened in my life. And to be honest, I thought perhaps no one was really reading my blog. I found other avenues to share my appreciation for art through Instagram.  And Instagram does upload to Tumblr which makes life so much easier. 

I do miss my blog page. This page has been with me way longer than the first blog post. Actually, the first post was through Facebook, and it was primarily created to keep the grandparents up-to-date of the cool things my kid was accomplishing. 

Eventually, since the blog moved away from Facebook and now public to all to see, it turned into more about my hobbies and interests. 

I don't share a lot of my personal life and I won't start now. Well, let me rephrase: I wanting to continue this blog and share more about my experiences growing up as a human. Yes, I will share my love for art, photography, music, dancing, and more. But I kind of see this blog to be more of a personal platform where I can share my experiences and thoughts. 

Now, I don't expect you to agree with me on everything. Hell, I don't agree with a lot of things I think now. But do see what I share as one human to another. Understand what I think now may change what I think tomorrow or the next year or 20 years from now. We evolve as humans and that's okay. 

So... back to the fun.  

Robert George Harris

Art Appreciation

Born on September 9, 1911, Robert George Harris was known for his illustrations of pulp and Western stories. He also worked for women magazines, such as Cosmopolitan, Good Housekeeping, and Redbook. During World War II he volunteered and joined the USO Artist For Freedom Project where he drew thousands of portrait sketches of wounded servicemen. After the war, he worked in advertising on major accounts, such as Coca-Cola. 

Young Blonde Beauty Bathing With A Family Of Peking Ducks via conchigliadivenere

Sources:

https://www.pulpartists.com/Harris.html
https://conchigliadivenere.wordpress.com/2014/06/09/robert-george-harris-1911-2007-american/
Wikipedia.org