This blog appreciates all forms of art.
Content on this blog may not be suitable for all readers. Most entries are for 18+ audience and some post are NSFW.
While driving into work this morning, I heard an interview on NPR with the director, Mikhail Tkach, of a 24 minute film of Russian Lieutenant Yuri Shalayev, titled The Occupant. Shalayev was captured by the Ukrainians in early April -- Russia launched an unprovoked military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
During the interview, Tkach commented about the Russian soldiers looking frightened, "I think that Russians soldiers do not really understand what they are doing here and why they are doing that. Having our own investigation on what is their motivation, the main motivation was because they were offered to have some mortgages so that they can have their own apartment and they have some privileges if they serve."
A few years ago, Parkland happened. The Governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, was pressured to get on camera and address the issue, but not the Parkland one. A few weeks later, a shooting happened in Santa Fe, Texas. Ten people -- eight students and two teachers -- were fatally shot, and thirteen were wounded.
The Governor held a presser stating he was creating a Taskforce of key individuals -- many were hand picked based on previous support and status within the community. Their goal was to present to the Governor and the Texas Legislature recommendations.
Those recommendations were talking points that surfaced at the presser or soon after to keep students and teachers safe at school: school hardening, school resource officers (SROs), mental health, threat assessment, and fusion centers, to name a few.
Republican Texas Senator Larry Taylor authored the bill and carried it through the legislative process. It was a big victory that held a lot of promise. I for one thought so too.
Side note: the Texas Legislature is unique in that they only meet every other 2 years for 140 days to write and pass legislation.
The following legislative session, 2021, an odd one for many reasons. One being the COVID-19 restricted participation in committee hearings. The second being it provided a great opportunity for the Texas conservative leadership to pass bills without scrutiny.
One bill passed allow people to open carry a firearm without a permit. Another law prohibited government offices from preventing individuals from carrying a firearm.
A day after the Uvalde event, Governor Greg Abbott was joined with other conservative state leaders for what was a repeat of that presser he gave in 2018 after Santa Fe. He said the same thing. The only thing that was different was unexpected appearance of Abbott's challenger, Beto O'Rourke.
As a Texan, I respect the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." Even if it means ignoring "A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State." Because, let's be honest, if you can't make sense of the sentence structure then you were a bad student or had horrible teachers.
Back to my point, I respect the interpretation of the 2nd Amendment, as a Texan. However, we must put into perspective what a DDM4 Version 7 can do to a close up target. This is the same AR-style used by the gunman at yesterday's Uvalde Massacre. The damage was so incredibly bad that parents were asked to provide DNA swab samples to help identify victims.
Watch the video below what a DDM4 Version 7 can do. It's a powerful weapon, indeed. But then question yourself why it's okay for an 18 year old to purchase this gun without proper background check.
We saw how politicians respond when confronted by a citizen, a voter, a parent. They coward and deflect and respond with the same rhetoric. So, if we want change, we need to be loud at press conferences, hearings, and meetings and question our politicians.
Best known for his comic book illustrations of Marvel Comics' Conan the Barbarian and Wolverine, Barry Windsor-Smith was born on May 25, 1949 in London.
He displayed artistic abilities as an early age. He pursued an education in arts, earning a degree in Industrial Design and Illustration.
Before he turned 21, he published a single page "Powerhouse Pinups" of Marvel Comics characters for Terrific and Frantic comics. A short time after, he flew to the U.S. and met with the infamous Stan Lee who gave him the job of drawing both the cover and story of X-Men No 53.
Windsor-Smith left Marvel to become the creative director and lead artist at Valiant Comics. He was with Valiant Comics until 1993. He did work for Malibu Comics' Ultraverse, WildStorm Productions/Image Comics, and Dark Horse Comics.
In the 2000s he worked on several cover arts for Marvel Titles before publishing Windsor-Smith's Young Gods and Friends with Fantagraphics Books. In 2021, Fantagraphics released Monsters, a 366-page graphic novel.
I remember receiving the December 1994 Playboy edition and being at first excited for its thickness. The Gala Christmas Issue featured Bo Derek, a blonde bombshell best known for her role in the romantic comedy 10, opposite Dudley Moore. Plus, the issue had some good articles -- no joke.
And in the middle of the issue lived the centerfold of Elisa Bridges, a petite brunette who -- based on the Playboy write-up -- preferred being one of the guys and doing guy stuff.
In her photo spread, she's wearing a sexy one-piece monokini, a cute school girl outfit, lace tops, and the sexy small red dress featured as her centerfold. She loved lovely. A dream. To me, the image of a perfect companion.
Unfortunately, there is a tragic and sad story about this young model. A story one would expect in a crime-drama or even a challenge on Grand Theft Auto.
The five-foot brunette was born in Miami on May 24, 1973. She was raised in Texas, and graduated from Marcus High School outside Flower Mound, Texas. Her mom was Cuban-born and her father worked for an oil company.
After appearing as Playmate of the Month, she appeared in several video productions from Playboy Home Video until 2002. She was sought after and men loved her. With fame, darkness was a plenty with prescription and illegal drugs.
"Elisa Bridges, Miss December 1994, died Feb. 7 [2002] from natural causes in Los Angeles," is the statement Playboy posted on their website.
"Natural causes," was the empire's assessment. However, the LA Coroner's Office determined accidental overdose. The report said her death was caused by acute intoxication by the combined effects of heroin, methamphetamine, meperidine, and Alprazolam.
"If you were supreme, Brian Kemp Brett Favre Kramer, maybe you could live in a world that didn't threaten your sad belief that you were better than someone of another color. Let's go through history, every race of people has done it as good as Whitey -- Latinos, Asians, Blacks, every single one has done it. I will say this, Whitey did steal their ideas most of the time and make the most profit of it. And that's Critical Race Theory."
Stella Jean is a Black Italian fashion designer who recently collaborated with Kyrgyzstan women to create a contemporary design incorporating traditional Shyrdak felt stitching.
As Stella explains, "This collaboration is about an equal exchange of skills and knowledge, combining traditional craftsmanship from Kyrgyzstan with Italian design."
Check out the fall-winter 2021-2022 woman collection HERE.
Contemporary American artist Janet Fish is known for her realistic still life paintings. Many of her paintings include elements of transparency, reflected light, and overlapping patterns.
Born on May 18, 1938, Fish grew up in Bermuda surrounded by many artistic influences. Her grandfather was the Impressionist painter Clark Voorhees.
As a teenager, she was an assistant of sculptor Byllee Lang. She attended Smith College concentrating on sculpture and printmaking, and studied at the Art Students League in New York. After graduating from Smith College, she did a residency at The Skowhegan School of Art.
Fish then enrolled at the Yale University of Art and Architecture where she changed her focus from sculpture to painting. In 1963, she became the first woman to ear a Master of Fine Arts from Yale's School of Art and Architecture.
Her first solo show was at Farleigh Dickinson University in Rutherford, New Jersey. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally. And her works are included in some of the nation's important museum collections, such as Art Institute of Chicago, Dallas Museum of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and National Gallery of Arts in D.C., to name a few.
Born on May 16, 1917, Juan Rulfo was a Mexican photographer and author of two very important literary works: Pedro Páramo (1955) and El Llano en llamas (1953). The primary subject of his works focused on the Mexican people and landscape.
After his parents died, Rulfo was raised by his grandmother in Guadalajara, Mexico, and he grew up during the Mexican Revolution and Cristero war.
After graduating primary school, he attended secondary in a seminary. He moved to Mexico City where he entered the National Military Academy.
Since I was a kid I was fascinated with Madonna. Like the kid in the music video Open Your Heart, I was in love with Madonna. Express Yourself and Vogue hit right in time for puberty. Justify My Love had me questioning my sexuality.
So, I'm not a bit surprised of Madonna's new project. In fact, I feel it's a bit late. But regardless, her collaboration with Beeple to created NFTs for a good cause is innovative. Plus, it's kinda sexy.
She explained, "We set out to create something that is absolutely and utterly connected to the idea of creation and motherhood... I'm doing what women have been doing since the beginning of time, which is giving birth. But on a more existential level, I'm giving birth to art and creativity, and we would be lost without both."
The NFTs titled Mother of Nature, Mother of Evolution, and Mother of Technology, went on auction on SuperRare, a crypto art marketplace. Proceeds go to National Bail Out, V-Day, and Voices of Children.
I remember receiving my Penthouse magazine on August 1998 and setting my eyes on the Pet of the Month, Aimee Sweet. I fell in love.
Born on May 14, 1978 in Providence, Rhode Island, Aimee Sweet began acting and singing at the age of six. A few years after graduating from high school, she moved to southern California.
Story goes, she accompanied a friend to a modeling audition at photographer Suze Randall's studio. Randall's eyes were set on the 5'8" fresh All-American look and chose Aimee instead.
After being Pet of the Month, she appeared in several porn and music videos.
On the last page of its magazine, Travel + Leisure features photographs submitted by their readers. In the February 2020 issue, a photograph taken with an iPhone 8 of a flock of flamingos caught my attention.
Born in Alexandria on May 10, 1878, Konstantinos Parthenis was well-known for his abstract religious themed paintings.
Parthenis studied a short time under Karl Wilhelm Diefenbach at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna when he was young. Around that time, he joined an artistic group called the Humanitas, which became the nucleus of the early alternative movement or life reform.
In 1899, Parthenis held his first solo exhibition was in Böhm Künstlerhaus. After his studies, he returned to Greece and became an iconic religious painter.
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