Voting "La Palanca"

I've been around elections since I was very little. My dad was in politics and eventually became an elected board member of a school district. After his tenure, he continued to support friends who ran for other offices either in the local, state or federal level. We walked streets, knocked on doors, and asked people to vote.

My dad instilled in me the importance of being involved in the community and having a voice through the voting process. I remember going with him to vote at my school, which was a polling location, entering a booth and having the curtains close behind us. Each candidate had a lever. At the very top were levers for parties, which allowed voters to vote straight party or as I grew up knowing it as "la palanca."

Lever machines were phased out and replaced with optical scan, which is similar to bubbling in Scantron sheet. Then after the "hanging chad" incident, Congress passed the Help America Vote Act of 2002, which introduced America to electronic voting machines.

Although voting "la palanca" is a phrase from the past, the idea of voting straight party is still practice.

Check out this article from American City and County, which provides a retrospect of the lever machine and how it was once promoted as "tally-fraud-proof."

Source: http://americancityandcounty.com/blog/voting-technology-develops

Enur feat. Natasja Saad - Calabria 2007

Music Appreciation

I will admit, I like the music video. Hey, I'm a guy. But this music video has a story. Sad, actually.

Natasja Saad, who is featured in the music video, was a rising music artist. She was a Danish rapper and reggae singer who died at the young age of 32. Soon after the release of Calabria, Natasja was in a deadly car accident in Jamaica on June 24, 2007.

You can see more of her music videos HERE.



Source: Wikipedia

Juan Francisco Casas

Art Appreciation

The absolute talent of Spanish artist Juan Francisco Casas transposes his photographs to oil paintings and blue ballpoint realistic sketches. The majority of his work are of beautiful women in playful and sensual settings captured in self-pic-like photos.

You can see more of his work HERE.

Seis y Cuatro Autorretrato #1 (2008) via Buamai

Fuck Artist (2009) via hypemuch

Sources: http://artodyssey1.blogspot.com/2012/05/juan-francisco-casas.html; http://www.juanfranciscocasas.com/en/galeria; http://hypemuch.com/2011/04/19/photorealistic-ballpoint-pen-drawings-by-juan-francisco-casas/

Nelly Furtado - I'm Like a Bird

Music Appreciation

Canadian singer-songwriter Nelly Furtado's "I'm Like a Bird," which is considered her signature song, was released on October 24, 2000. The song even won her the grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance.

The CGI music video featured Nelly Furtado levitating off the ground in the woods before crowd surfing.

Source: Wikipedia

Robert Rauschenberg

Art Appreciation

Robert Rauschenberg was a Neo-Dadaists American Pop Artist known for his three dimensional collages. He incorporated trash and objects found on the streets and used various paint applications and materials in his work to make political or cultural statements.

Rauschenberg is recognized for Erased de Kooning Drawing, where he basically erased a drawing by Willem de Kooning. Signs is another Rauschenberg work widely recognized for the images of Janis Joplin, Bobby Kennedy, John F. Kennedy and the 60s era.

Rauschenberg was born in Port Arthur, Texas on October 22, 1925.  He later received a National Medal of Arts in 1993.

Retroactive 1 (1964) via orangemercury

Signs (1970) via artnet

Untitled 'combine' (1963) via artmastered

Erased de Kooning Drawing (1953) via secretforts

Hot Shot (1983) via jasonaltobelli

Sources: http://www.rauschenbergfoundation.org/; http://artyfactory.com/art_appreciation/art_movements/pop_art.htm; http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/robert-rauschenberg/about-the-artist/49/; http://www.theartstory.org/artist-rauschenberg-robert.htm#; Miles, Frank J., "Partners in Love & Art," LstyleGstyle Magazine, September / October 2012, Page 27.

JoAnn Santangelo

Photography Appreciation

I recently read this fantastic article by Christopher Carbone in Lstyle Magazine of the very talented photographer originally from Boston named JoAnn Santangelo.

Santangelo's photojournalistic images tells stories. For example, her Walking the Block photo series of New York City’s West Village covers the night life of its gay residents strolling along the streets.

She is also known for her Proud to Serve series where she captured images of openly gay men and women who have served our country in the military, which was presented and well received by the U.S. President.

You can see more of her work at her website HERE.

Walking the Block 20 via junglegymmagazine



Proud to Serve 1 via forwardthinkingmuseum

Source: http://www.lstylegstyle.com/uncategorized/a-moment-in-time/; http://junglegymmagazine.com/2011/06/16/jo-ann-santangelo-walking-the-block-christopher-st/; http://english.mashkulture.net/2011/06/15/jo-ann-santangelo-walking-the-block/




 

Francois Boucher

Art Appreciation

Born on September 29, 1703, Francois Boucher was a French Rococo painter known for his "pastoral and mythological scenes"-- a departure from the symmetric form of the Broque era--and considered two-dimensional.

You can see more of his paintings HERE.

Halt at the Spring (1765) via leahmariebrown

Portrait of Marie-Louise O’Murphy (1751) via 18thcenturylove

The Toilet of Venus (1751) via mommywithapenis

Sources: Wikipedia; http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/boucher/; http://www.francoisboucher.org/

Robot, Monster and General

One of my son's doodles.

c. 2012

 

Willem de Kooning

Art Appreciation

As a 22 year old, Willem de Kooning emigrated to the United States as a stowaway on a coal ship. De Kooning is best known for his paintings of women. Like other abstract expressionists, De Kooning uses color and the application brushstrokes to express feelings.

He was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1986 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964.

Woman I (1952) via madmarwalker

Excavation (1950) via modernart2011



Interchange (1955) via poulwebb

Pink Lady (1944) via thebootedexquisite

Sources: http://madmarwalker.blogspot.com/2009/11/de-kooning-i-perception-or-projection.html#!/2009/11/de-kooning-i-perception-or-projection.html; http://www.willem-de-kooning.com/; Wikipedia

Erasure - Chains of Love

Music Appreciation

As I've indicated in previous posts HERE and HERE, I am a big fan of Erasure. I remember purchasing Pop! 20 Hits in 1993 as a senior in high school. It was around the same time I was dating two girls at the same time. Both girls liked Erasure, so I made it a point to always have that cassette tape playing.

Released in May 1988, Chains of Love is considered Erasure's mainstream breakthrough. The song is perhaps more recognized for its lyrics that seeks acceptance of homosexuality.   

Watching the music video, one might wonder whether Vince Clarke and Andy Bell were part of the Cirque du Soleil. What's funny is watching Bell in a rumba costume hoisted by metal chains.




Sources: Wikipedia