SPINNERS: Maria Ordoñez - Classic French House

via Groovix

Pole Dance: Exotic Revolution. X

Dancer: Natallia Kandratsenko

via POLEDANCE REVOLUTION 

SPINNERS: ETNA - Melodic Techno

via DJETNA 

Cosplay is an Art: Montreal Comic Con 2026

via MaximumDiver 

Modeling: Alisa Amore

Photographer: Petter Hegre

Sources: 

https://www.hegre.com/models/alisa?locale=en

Y2K + bbno$ - Lalala

Music Appreciation

“Lalala” is one of those songs that sounds almost too simple to become a massive hit—which, of course, is part of why it worked. American producer Y2K, the professional name of Ari Starace, teamed with Canadian rapper bbno$ (Alexander Gumuchian) to write the track, releasing it on June 7, 2019. 

The two reportedly built the song during a studio session, with Y2K creating its Latin-flavored guitar riff and minimalist beat while bbno$ developed the vocal melody. The wonderfully goofy opening—“Did I really just forget that melody?” grew out of the recording process itself and became the song’s instantly recognizable calling card. 

Released through Columbia Records, “Lalala” eventually exploded through TikTok and streaming platforms, turning what began as an independent-minded collaboration into an international viral hit.

Musically, “Lalala” blends hip-hop and pop around a sparse production dominated by its plucked, Spanish- or Latin-influenced guitar figure, programmed percussion and an absurdly catchy sing-song hook. That simplicity leaves plenty of room for bbno$’s laid-back, conversational delivery. 

Lyrically, he spends much of the song joking and bragging about money, women, jewelry, his Canadian identity and his sudden success. There is a knowing silliness behind the boasting: bbno$ even describes himself as “corny,” making it difficult to take the swagger entirely seriously. 

In that sense, “Lalala” is less a profound statement than a celebration of confidence, newfound success and not taking yourself too seriously. Even its nonsense syllables—“lalala,” “shashasha” and the opening “banana-na-na”—function almost like additional instruments, giving the record its rhythmic, meme-ready personality.

The fun became even more pronounced in the official music video, released on YouTube on August 20, 2019. Directed by Alex Bortz, the brightly colored video places Y2K and bbno$ on the set of the fictional “Y2K’s Big Fun Fun Show,” with Y2K playing the enthusiastic host and bbno$ appearing as his special guest. The exaggerated sets, puppets, primary colors, oversized props and deliberately low-budget television aesthetic resemble a wonderfully warped children’s educational program—somewhere between Pee-wee’s Playhouse and a show you vaguely remember watching at 7 a.m. while eating cereal. That contrast is the joke: bbno$ delivers decidedly adult rap lyrics while surrounded by the cheerful visual language of children’s television. 

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.sonymusic.ca/press_release/y2k-and-bbno-release-official-video-for-lalala

https://www.shazam.com/en-us/song/1470480678

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GGyEDIz9jek

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Kennedymeow is Jay

via blackbookphotog 

Carl Rungius

Art Appreciation

Carl Rungius (1869–1959) is widely regarded as one of North America's greatest wildlife artists, despite being born in Rixdorf, Germany, on August 18, 1869. From an early age, he developed a fascination with animals, hunting, and the natural world, interests encouraged by his family's appreciation of art and taxidermy. 

After apprenticing as a decorative painter, he studied at the Berlin Academy of Art from 1888 to 1890. Although he found the academy's formal instruction limiting, he devoted countless hours to sketching animals at the Berlin Zoo and studying their anatomy through dissections. Inspired by hunting trips to Maine and Wyoming, Rungius emigrated to the United States in 1896, where the abundant wildlife of the American West became his lifelong artistic focus.

Rungius built his reputation by combining the precision of a naturalist with the vision of a landscape painter. Working primarily in oil on canvas, while also producing watercolors, etchings, and illustrations, he insisted on observing wildlife in its natural habitat rather than relying solely on museum specimens. 

An avid hunter and outdoorsman, he spent months each year in Wyoming, Alaska, the Yukon, and the Canadian Rockies, sketching directly from life before completing his paintings in the studio. His compositions often featured elk, moose, bighorn sheep, mountain goats, grizzly bears, and deer set within sweeping mountain landscapes. 

Rungius' mastery of anatomy, light, and atmosphere helped establish wildlife art as a respected fine art genre, and he became the first artist in North America to build a full-time career devoted almost exclusively to painting wild animals.

Among Rungius' best-known works are Wary Game, depicting Dall sheep in the Yukon; In His Prime, an iconic portrait of a mature bull elk; A Camp in the Rockies; and Lake O'Hara, which captures the grandeur of the Canadian Rockies. 

In 1921, he established his famed "Paintbox" studio in Banff, Alberta, where he created many of his most celebrated paintings. Today, his legacy lives on through major collections at the National Museum of Wildlife Art in Wyoming and the Glenbow Museum in Calgary. His work continues to be admired for i

Lake O'Hara

A Camp in the Rockies

In His Prime

Wary Game

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/carl-rungius-papers-15935/biographical-note

https://www.wildlifeart.org/exhibits/rungius-gallery

https://www.glenbow.org/blog/artist-profile-carl-rungius

ART: Erin Lynn Welch

Erin Lynn Welsh is an American painter, set designer, and photographer whose landscape paintings, inspired by her travels throughout the United States, explore themes of memory, resilience, and the relationship between people and the natural world. 

A graduate of the Pratt Institute with a BFA in Photography, she lives and works between Brooklyn and Los Angeles, creating luminous compositions that blend personal photographs with imagined elements to examine the sublime beauty of nature, the resilience of plant life, and the interplay between landscapes, human experience, and memory.

https://www.erinlynnwelsh.com/

via Uprise Art 

SPINNERS: Sara Collado - Deep House & More

via Sara Collado 

Angela Bassett

Acting Appreciation

American actress Angela Bassett was born on August 16, 1958, in New York City and spent much of her childhood in St. Petersburg, Florida. Raised by her mother, Betty Jane Bassett, a social worker, she excelled academically and developed an early interest in the arts. 

A pivotal moment came when she attended a high school summer enrichment program and heard acclaimed actress Ruby Dee perform the poetry of Langston Hughes. The experience revealed the emotional power of performance and inspired Angela to pursue acting. She later attended Yale University, earning a bachelor's degree in African American Studies before receiving a Master of Fine Arts degree from the prestigious Yale School of Drama.

Angela began her acting career in theater and television during the 1980s, taking on small roles while working steadily to establish herself in Hollywood. Her breakthrough arrived in 1993 when she portrayed music icon Tina Turner in the biographical film What's Love Got to Do with It. Her powerful performance captured Turner's resilience, charisma, and determination, earning Angela widespread acclaim, a Golden Globe Award, and an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress. The role established her as one of the most respected dramatic performers of her generation and opened doors to leading roles in major film productions.

Over the following decades, Angela built an impressive body of work across film and television. She earned praise for performances in films such as Malcolm X, Waiting to Exhale, How Stella Got Her Groove Back, and The Rosa Parks Story. On television, she became a standout performer in American Horror Story, earning multiple Emmy nominations. A new generation of audiences came to know Angela through her role as Queen Ramonda in Black Panther and its sequel Black Panther: Wakanda Forever. 

In a recent interview with AARP, Angela reflected on how opportunities for actors have evolved since the start of her career. She noted that performers today have more avenues to create and share their work, while she often faced limited opportunities early on. She also spoke about the remarkable cultural impact of Black Panther, recalling how the film connected with audiences of all ages and backgrounds, demonstrating the power of storytelling to create shared experiences and inspire pride.

Angela's personal life has been marked by the same values of commitment and purpose that have guided her career. She frequently praises her husband, fellow actor Courtney B. Vance, for his compassion and integrity, particularly in caring for family members during difficult times. The couple are parents to twins, and Angela has said that becoming a mother later in life brought greater patience and perspective. 

Following the death of her mother from diabetes-related complications, she has become an advocate for health awareness and prevention, including education about RSV and other health risks affecting older adults. Angela continues to encourage people to reject the notion that age limits possibility, believing that growth, purpose, and new opportunities remain available throughout life.

Sources:

Wikipedia

https://www.britannica.com/biography/Angela-Bassett

https://www.biography.com/actors/angela-bassett

https://www.aarp.org/entertainment/celebrities/angela-bassett-what-i-know-now/

https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0000291

https://drama.yale.edu/alumni/angela-bassett

https://www.usmagazine.com/stylish/pictures/angela-bassetts-red-carpet-style-her-best-outfits/

SPINNERS: Azura - Melodic Techno 2026

via Azura

Cosplay is an Art: Otakon 2026

via Kara Mel Photography 

Modeling: Dasha Angel

Photographer: Holy Idea

via Dasha Angel (Art Model) 

Rachel Gregor

Art Appreciation

Rachel Gregor is an American painter whose work focuses on intimate, psychologically charged scenes of daily life. 

Rachel studied painting and developed her practice through a combination of formal training and studio work, refining a figurative approach that leans into observation, memory, and emotional tone rather than strict realism. Her education laid the groundwork for a practice that balances technical control with a loose, expressive sensibility.

Her career has gained momentum through gallery exhibitions and growing critical attention, including a recent feature interview with Juxtapoz Magazine, where she discussed her interest in capturing fleeting, often overlooked moments. In that conversation, she emphasized how her compositions are often constructed from fragments—photographs, sketches, and recollections—stitched together to create scenes that feel familiar yet slightly disorienting.

Rachel recent solo exhibition at Hashimoto Contemporary marked a notable step in her trajectory, presenting a cohesive body of work that highlights her evolving style. Her technique often features softened edges, layered brushwork, and a muted palette that enhances the introspective quality of her subjects. Figures are frequently placed in quiet interiors, caught in moments of pause that suggest interior dialogue rather than outward action. 

Self Portrait in Ski Sweater, 2022

Still Summer, 2025

Girl

Sources:

https://www.juxtapoz.com/news/magazine/the-purgatory-of-adolescence-an-interview-with-rachel-gregor/

https://charlottestreet.org/artist/rachel-gregor/

https://www.artsy.net/artwork/rachel-gregor-self-portrait-in-ski-sweater

https://urbanculturestudioresidents.wordpress.com/tag/rachel-gregor/

https://www.hashimotocontemporary.com

https://www2.ljworld.com/news/2014/jul/06/new-exhibit-asks-whats-gender-imbalance-art/

RANDOM WEDNESDAY: Behind the Track - 'Loser' by Beck

via Mix with the Masters and Beck

Sleep Adventures on Vacation

My wife and I don't actually share a bed at home. It's not because we're mad at each other—we're just protecting each other's sleep. She has late-night conversations with our cat, scrolls through TikTok until who-knows-when, and her restless legs seem convinced they're training for a marathon. To be fair, she has to put up with my snoring and the occasional farts, so we're both making sacrifices.

Vacations, though, are a different story. Suddenly we're back to sharing a bed, and every night becomes a new adventure.

The first night, I dreamed Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were playing "Jumpin' Jack Flash," except Keith couldn't get past an A major chord. He just kept playing it over and over. I finally woke up...only to realize my wife was snoring that exact note.

The next night I dreamed I was riding in the car with my dad. I became worried because it looked like he was falling asleep at the wheel. I'd look over, and his eyes would be open, but he kept making this strange puffing sound every few seconds. Then I woke up and discovered my wife was lying beside me, happily puff-breathing away in her sleep.

Another night I dreamed I was asleep in the hotel room while someone insisted on vacuuming in the middle of the night. Even in my dream I remember thinking, "Who vacuums at 2:00 in the morning?" My irritation finally woke me up, only to discover the "vacuum" was my wife making this combination of soft moans and puffing noises that my sleeping brain had somehow translated into a Hoover.

Then came the grand finale.

In the middle of the last night, I felt the mattress gently bouncing and heard rustling under the blankets. Half asleep, my brain immediately jumped to conclusions. I thought, "Well...this vacation just got unexpectedly interesting." I rolled over, ready to be the supportive husband I aspire to be.

Instead, there she was—completely asleep.

It wasn't her pleasuring herself. It was her restless legs putting on one final performance before checkout.

Now we're back home, sleeping in our separate beds once again. She gets to chat with the cat, watch TikTok, and let her legs audition for Riverdance. I get uninterrupted sleep and dreams that no longer feature vacuum cleaners, classic rock guitarists, or phantom midnight mysteries.

Sometimes the secret to a happy marriage isn't sleeping together. It's waking up well-rested.

 

Yoga: Satya - Morning Yoga Practice

via Dream with Satya 

SPINNERS: Soni Lobo - Melodic Techno Mix

via SONI LOBO 

Dance: Andrea Muzikářová - Czech Aerial Hoop Open (CAHA) 2026

via Czech Aerial Hoop Open