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justinspoliticalcorner · 11 days

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Matthew Sheffield at Flux:

Despite the evidence provided by history, polling, and daily news events, there are millions of people in the United States who actually think that Democrats are just as extreme as Republicans. In a 2022 CNN poll, 52 percent of respondents said that Democrats’ viewpoints were generally mainstream, little different from the 54 percent who said the same about Republicans. A survey also done in 2022 by CBS found that 49 percent of respondents said Democrats were “extreme,” only slightly higher than the 54 percent who said the same about Republicans.

Needless to say, thinking that Democrats are anywhere as extreme as Republicans is totally absurd. Donald Trump is the only president in American history who refused to leave office after losing a free and fair election. He frequently lavishes praise on violent January 6th rioters as “great people” with “love in their heart.” He frequently promises “vengeance” against opponents and says he will imprison and execute people who disagree with him. And it’s not just Trump. Moderate Republicans in Congress have been extinct since the Trumpist hordes eliminated the few who hadn’t been swept away during the Tea Party movement of the late 2010s. The Republican Party nationally and in a variety of states devised and executed a criminal scheme to steal the 2020 election and throw out the votes of tens of millions of Americans. The American right is also much more violent than the left. Since 1970, about 75 percent of political hate crimes are committed by right-wing extremists. Only 4 percent were committed by far-left extremists.

There are no leftist members of Congress who are anywhere as radical as Paul Gosar, the Arizona Republican who was censured for posting a stylized video of himself murdering New York Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in 2021. He and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) attracted national controversy for speaking at a neo-Nazi political event just a few months later. There aren’t any Democratic members of Congress who have spoken at rallies of communists who advocate violence. The anecdotal evidence of individual members’ extreme views is also borne out when we examine Congress from aggregate statistical measures. Since 1992, congressional Democrats have moved slightly to the left, while Republicans have moved much further to the right.

On most specific political issues, Americans agree overwhelmingly with Democratic policies. Republicans’ desires to mandate school prayer, eliminate all abortions, ban same-sex marriages, give billionaires lower taxes, and block people from getting health care are terribly unpopular. (That Republicans enjoy majority support on other issues like the economy mostly stems from the fact that Democratic-leaning voters are more willing to criticize their own side than Republicans are.) A party with such extreme opinions shouldn’t be able to win elections anywhere outside of rural areas in the Old Confederacy. This is why lying to the public about supposed Democratic extremism is the core component of all Republican messaging. Trump uses the phrase “radical left” in every speech he delivers, and the talking point is repeated hundreds of times a day at Fox, Newsmax, OAN, Real America’s voice, and the entire gigantic propaganda apparatus of right-wing media.

But Republicans don’t just lie about the opposition, they are also constantly being deceptive about their own views. Under the watchful eyes of leaders like Mitch McConnell, they have outsourced their most unpopular policy viewpoints to unelected judges who can do things that could never get passed through legislation—like stopping student loan forgiveness or banning the sale of completely safe abortion medication. And under the new Project 2025 agenda being constructed for Trump by Christian nationalist extremists like his former budget director Russ Vought, national-level Republicans will move the remains of their policy apparatus from the Congress and into the bureaucracy, where they intend to do things like using an obscure 150-year-old law commonly referred to as the Comstock Act to criminalize abortions through agency rulings. Freed from having to advocate or legislate on their most controversial viewpoints, congressional Republicans are able to focus their public messaging exclusively on the few issues like immigration or the economy where they currently have majority support. They spend the rest of their time attacking Democrats through spurious investigations, like their endless hearings on Hunter Biden. None of these efforts ever results in substantive legislation. Senate Republicans scuttled their own immigration enforcement bill, Kentucky Rep. James Comer’s years-long impeachment investigations have turned up nothing, and House Republicans voted more than 60 times to repeal the Affordable Care Act (ACA) without bothering to offer an alternative.

[...] Abortion is far from the only issue on which radical Republicans are far out of step with the majority of Americans, and it’s unfortunate that millions of people are having to be the personal object lesson about what the far right wants to do to the rest of us. But at long last, it appears that the public is waking up to the unpleasant reality that far-right Republicans don’t believe in democracy and will do anything they can to restrict and control others. Democrats must act with great urgency to ensure that this process continues and expands by building an infrastructure to protect democracy.

Matthew Sheffield wrote in Flux that the Republicans' extreme views are being camouflaged in public by pushing the laughable assertion that the Democrats are just as extreme… except that even the leftmost Dems are nowhere near as extreme as GOPers.

#Donald Trump #Right Wing Extremism #GOP #Conservative Media Apparatus #False Equivalence

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lovejustforaday · 6 months

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Shoegaze Classics - Xuvetyn

Xuvetyn - Lovesliescrushing (1996)

Main Genres - Ambient, Shoegaze, Ethereal Wave, Experimental

A decent sampling of: Drone, Noise, Dream Pop, Post-Rock, Neo-Psychedelia

I'm not gonna lie - I'm super excited to gush about this record. I've been meaning to get around to reviewing this bountiful, fascinating little gem for years now. Let's hope that I can do this often unsung masterpiece the much needed justice that it deserves.

🙙

I touched on this previously in my Ride review, but for all of the talk of the 'Big 3' of shoegaze, I think that many of the younger shoegaze fans these days would agree that Slowdive and My Bloody Valentines' discographies are a cut above the Ride catalogue. Not to diss on the band, but the Big 3 is really starting to feel more like a Big 2 these days, with Slowdive's relevance to new fans only increasing over time whilst Ride's relevance seems to be stagnating.

This has left a potential vacuum in the consensus online. Don't get me wrong; plenty are still going to champion Ride as one of the giants of shoegaze, and most folks that were around for the original scene that celebrated itself are most likely still diehard for Ride as the scene's closest group to being mega rockstars.

But in terms of the legacy of 90s shoegaze, could there still be a record that is missing from all-time canonization? One that has oft been overlooked when discussing this supposed "Big 3"? Is one of indie rock's most beloved and revisited eras still hiding an elusive diamond in the rough?

In case it wasn't already obvious, that's the case I'm going to be making today. And I don't think I'm entirely alone on this one. Few shoegaze bands from the 90s have had such a considerable late resurgence like this band, though they've always had a cult following.

Today I'll be making the case for Lovesliescrushing, the creative juggernauts behind the 1996 experimental ambient shoegaze masterpiece Xuvetyn.

The Band

Lovesliescrushing are one of the rare American bands of the original 90s wave.

The project began in 1991 as the brainchild of avant-garde guitarist and producer Scott Cortez, who teamed up with the apparitional soprano voice of singer Melissa Arpin-Duimstra, a vocalist who more than any other shoegaze vocalist before or since has dedicated her artistry to using the singing voice as a medium to carry and modulate the properties of sound timbre first and foremost.

Daringly, Lovesliescrushing as a band decided to forego having a rhythm section altogether. Not even a drum machine. The band's radical ethos right from its inception would seem to have been to distill shoegaze rock music down to a purified elemental substance, achieving the platonic ideal by creating an undisturbed solution of dense and glorious blended textures.

Indeed, where reverberated guitar sounds with bizarre effects and blended vocals were what set apart bands like Swervedriver, Catherine Wheel, and Curve from being otherwise ordinary indie/alternative rock bands, the qualities I just described encompassed the near-entirety of Lovesliescrushing's early output, taking the concept of the subgenre to its logical extreme.

The band pioneered what is essentially the fusion of ambient music and shoegaze, a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. This marriage of genre ethos would give way to some of the most unyielding sublime auditory sensations that I have ever been so fortunate to have experienced.

Lovesliescrushing also had one foot steeped firmly in the murky waters of ethereal wave (particularly on the sophomore record), the goth subgenre which served as shoegaze and dream pop's most apparent predecessor and influence. Indeed, some of the band's material can be seen as building upon the prototypical blueprint that can be found in Cocteau Twins' fourth LP Victorialand which similarly removed the rhythm section in order to create pure blissful atmosphere.

Some may see Cortez's work as hero worship, and I've heard a dozen or so folks accuse this band of being "My Bloody Valentine without the melodies and drums", but this is a grossly reductionist take that does a huge disservice to just how brazenly groundbreaking and experimental this band's early work was at the time and still remains to this day.

Lovesliescrushing also regularly made their foray into other schools of experimental music like drone, sound collage, and harsh noise, incorporating these ideas into their creative process. Some of their material even sounds like experimental music with no apparent roots in any particular legacy whatsoever.

This is honestly some very radical music. I can't think of much of anything really quite like early Lovesliescrushing. Perhaps MBV is one of the closest points of reference, but then only because they were a shoegaze band that also sounded quite unlike anything at the time.

Information on the beginnings of this band is scant on the internet compared to many other shoegaze artists, and they were never well-documented by the alternative music press the way that bands like Slowdive or even Catherine Wheel were. And as far as the North American scene goes, Drop Nineteens definitely overshadowed their popularity.

I think it's a fair assessment to say that Lovesliescrushing were truly underground in the band's formative years. I remember only as far back as 2017, when I was just getting into this band through online recommendations, that even many avid fans of Slowdive and MBV had never even heard of this band. But I digress.

Lovesliescrushing released their debut LP Bloweyelashwish twice: first as a casette tape in 1992 on their own indie label with a shorter track listing, and then as a longer full-length album in 1993 on Projekt Records, with newer recordings and mastered versions of the songs.

Bloweyelashwish is a beautiful record in its own right. More generally noisy and droning than its successor, with crunchier guitar sounds, blown out distortion, and a listless melancholic atmosphere. Somewhat closer to very early Sonic Youth, or some of A.R. Kane's weirdest output. What the record does somewhat lack, at least in comparison to its successor, is relative cohesion.

Nevertheless, some very brilliant tracks on the debut LP. "Babysbreath" is music for when you need to smother your tears in a pillow with all of the lights off, "Sugaredglowing" is one of my favourite ambient tracks ever (and a surprisingly potent form of migraine relief), and "youreyesimmaculate" is a stunning and ethereal foreshadowing of what was to come next.

Speaking of which...

The Record

Xuvetyn is... what even is it?

Xuvetyn is a series of documented sound frequencies that would be made by a sentient, shimmering blue light galaxy consisting entirely of trillions upon trillions of frozen ice shard particles. Alternatively, it is the contradictory sound of the bitter coldness of the universe itself caressing the listener in a warm cocoon.

The fact that most of all of this is accomplished with guitar, pedal, vocals, and some studio effects here and there is still unfathomable to me. That is an incredible feat in itself.

Judging solely by the ability to create awe-inspiring atmosphere, I don't believe that there is any other shoegaze band that has managed to accomplish the level of mastery that Lovesliescrushing consistently demonstrates on this record. Yes, If Loveless was the zenith of shoegaze texture, then Xuvetyn is the zenith of shoegaze atmosphere. Completely surreal and captivating.

As I've described the band's sound itself, Xuvetyn really is the concept of shoegaze distilled into its essence, then manipulated ever so slightly with a delicate songcraft and expertise, in order to give these tracks a semblance of form and structure. But make no mistake - there is no solid seabed foundation to this ocean of resonant sounds like there would be on any other shoegaze record. No, this is just infinite, icy sonic fluid that flows all the way down into a multi-dimensional abyss. And holy fuck is it ever beautiful.

Which is not to say that there is no songwriting here - just that it is incredibly subtle. But also incredibly effective.

People who generally don't care for or listen to ambient music often stereotype the genre as being uninteresting, low-effort, or too non-descript, when in fact all of the truly greatest ambient musicians know that making a masterpiece is about learning how to do miraculous things with precious little. It requires immense patience (as does the listener sometimes), a keen ear for detail, and meticulous perfectionism. Unsurprisingly, Scott Cortez strikes me as being just that kind of guy.

The album is a double LP in length, with an hour and sixteen minutes runtime and a listing of 18 tracks. Most songs generally run over the five minute mark, with the A, B, and C sides of the record all padded out every one or two tracks with these really curious little intermissions that are generally less than a full minute each.

These intermissions are often the most experimental recordings on the album, like the abrasive hailstorm noise collage of "Aquan 1" and the gloomy factory white noise of "Hum VIbralux". I could see how someone might want to omit these, but personally I think it adds to the record's pacing by giving it room to breathe, and they made the right decision to let up for the last set of tracks. Plus, the little intermissions are all so deliciously weird that it kinda reminds me of the way that your brain will just plant these bizarre, inexplicable little blips in the middle of your dreams sometimes.

Also hey, can I just nerd out about something really silly for a second? Has anyone ever noticed how a bunch of the track names on this record end in an "-ed"? "Threaded", "Handed", "Blue-Eyed", "Honeyed", "Blooded". Just another cute little detail, adding to the esoteric nature of this record, and I appreciate the alliteration.

OKAY, let's just get to the track by track analysis already.

Admittedly this is one of those records that hits you with the very best it has to offer right out of the gate. Listening to "Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)" is among the most sublime feelings I have ever experienced in my life, literally ever. Not just in music but like, anything.

Think of any familiar place, or perhaps a virtual space in a piece of media, that held a sort of transcendental significance to you during your childhood, as though it carried a life of its own, a place that you may have revisited in your warmest dreams - for me, it's the lost woods in Ocarina of Time. Think of the sensation that those transcendent spaces would give you.

This track is that same sensation, only on steroids. As soon as that heavy ambient wall fades into the foreground and the sense of infinity takes hold, this gently flowing waterfall of dark sound matter creates a sort of window of reflection into wherever it is in your soul that you have ever felt the most at home. I get that music is a subjective experience at the end of the day, but I feel like what I just described would be inevitable for almost any listener, unless they simply weren't listening to this track the right way. One of the greatest songs ever? I'd wager a hard fucking yes.

The good news is that from here, you have only just begun your journey into a world of many more sublime and mysterious figures.

"Xarella Almandyne" is like the sound of a choir of angels in a massive hall the size of an entire city - the unknowable, lovecraftian, biblically-accurate seraphim kind of angel. Somehow soothing, yet oddly paralyzing at the same time. Based on this track alone, I must say that I'm not entirely convinced that Scott and Melissa are regular mere mortals of this world.

"Blooded And Blossom-Blown" is an eerie, gleaming, and loudly piercing void. I find the majority of the songs on this record to be overall comforting, sometimes somber and darkly mystifying if anything, but this might be the one odd track that genuinely unsettles me; in a way that I cannot get enough of, mind you. Compared to what we often call white noise, this piece represents sound that I visualize in the distinctly unnatural shades of negative blues and turquoises.

"Virgin Blue-Eyed" is a very rare departure in the band's early discography from their guitar ambience, focusing on the incantations of Melissa's euphonious elven voice, with clanging little bells in the background (which, funnily enough, technically makes this the most percussive track on either of the band's first two records).

My favourite of the intermissions is "Seesaw". Transitory shoegaze in a continuously elevating loop, like music for the loading screen that would take you to the shoegaze version of heaven, or perhaps the mythological world of Mag Mell.

"Golden-Handed" is soft, swirling, hypnagogic, and lamenting. This ambient ethereal wave track manifests as the faintest, loneliest light flickering in the gloomy hush of an otherwise dead midnight. Completely arresting atmosphere.

"Bones of Angels" is a two parter - first there's "Bronze Lit Feathers", a labyrinthine chorus of resplendent, inharmonious, and rippling guitar impressions, drifting almost aimlessly and forming only vague constellations with the help of Melissa's frail melody, and a foundation of ambient bass notes cutting through the discordance with great magnitude. This is contrasted by the second part "Her Tongue Pulled Out", wherein the sky parts and the drifting guitar sounds align into a shrill cry, forming a radiant column of sonic light, as if something gorgeous is beginning to descend upon the world. Music for high priestesses summoning divine power.

Xuvetyn reaches its second greatest peak with the penultimate track "Ghosts That Swirl", a piece which opens with this really foreboding orchestra of dreary, gargantuan ambient chimes, sounding as though the world around the listener was compressing in on itself and then stretching in and out of itself, like alternating waves in the membrane of the universe. This overture leads into an ominous, secluded, and crystalline dreamland soundscape, further removed from reality than any other track on the record, and unlike any other song that I have ever experienced. This is music that could only be dreamt up from the confines of a comatose slumber, wherein Melissa's whispers in your ear are the only traces connecting you to the corporeal world, though only audible as faint echoes far off in the distance of a seemingly endless cerulean.

I could go on all day but I've decided to end the track-by-track analysis here. The entire record is vividly evocative beyond what should be reasonably possible (and what I can convey words). You might get something entirely different from my descriptions of these tracks, but I guarantee that you will experience something unearthly.

What Came After That?

Lovesliescrushing followed up their first two records with a series of two records in 2002 that were more just straight up ambient music, rather than comprising an ambient shoegaze fusion.

The first of these is Glissceule, a similarly icy record to Xuvetyn with less dark edge and more of a reserved calm, plus more electronic elements. Second was the more ambiguous Voirshn which I enjoy significantly less than previous projects unfortunately.

The band has sporadically released more ambient records over the course of the last couple of decades, which I have yet to really deep dive into. Scott has worked on a few separate projects, most notably his other band Astrobrite which releases much harsher noise shoegaze records. Nothing from this band has really grabbed me like Lovesliescrushing's work, so I am not very familiar with it.

Like I mentioned previously, Lovesliescrushing's relevance in online shoegaze circles has seen a steady increase over time for a little while now. But Scott and Melissa have always been favs amongst the more hardcore followers of the scene, achieving an almost mythical status as figureheads of the experimental shoegaze micro-scene. And they're pretty much always one of the first bands I see people recommending nowadays when someone online says that they're looking for more "weird shoegaze".

And believe me, I'm one of those nerds recommending this band with every relevant opportunity that I can seize. This should be among the first dozen records we play when the aliens come down to Earth, in order to plead our case for the culture of humankind. This is a very special piece of art.

I won't pretend that this is going to be music for everyone, but if you really wanna transcend your corporeal existence in way that doesn't involve experimenting with potentially harmful substances, I can't really think of any better method. Xuvetyn is from beyond our plane of existence - some people native to our world (allegedly) just happened to manifest it one day.

Join me next time where, in case this review wasn't goddamn long enough, I will be doing a series of reviews on every major Slowdive release from the self-titled EP all the way up to their latest record 🙃.

10/10

Highlights: "Valerian (Her Voice Honeyed)", "Ghosts That Swirl", "Bones of Angels", "Xarella Almandyne", "Golden-Handed", "See Saw", "Blooded and Blossom-Blown", "Virgin Blue Eyed", "Flowered Smother", "Mother of Pearl", "Mandragora Louvareen", "Milkysoft", "Hum Vibralux", "Staticburst"

#album review #music review #list #indie rock #shoegaze #90s #shoegaze classics #ambient #experimental #ethereal wave #lovesliescrushing #xuvetyn #favourite albums #scott cortez #melissa Arpin-Duimstra

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painted-bees · 9 months

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Do you have a background in psychology or anything? I kept wondering how the characters in Woven felt so real and fleshed out but after reading your Cortez stuff I see that you just really know how to get into a characters headspace and open their brain up like a juicy melon

No background in psychology, no haha but it is a special interest alongside just understanding and relating to human behavior in a more general sense.

I just really like it. I like getting into the brains of, understanding, and being a different person. I probably get a little too into it, in a try-hard kinda way that isn't intended... I'd like to think that I make characters in order to understand real people better--but I am not confident that's true more than it just sounds very nice. After all, all of my characters begin with traits that I can related to, as a point of access--and from there they are able to develop into their own thing. But--the point stands that I have a hard time sticking with characters that are TOO too different from myself. I would have great difficulty/no enjoyment in sympathetically writing a character who genuinely, actively followed and carried out neo n azi ideology and found it nessicary to preach pessimistic/isolating religious dogma. Even as an intended villain loathed by both the characters and the narrative, I do not think I would like sitting with this character (or the kind of story they would fit into) as a writer, long enough to develop them properly.

I think people who can are very strong and very curious, and probably have a better, less consuming approach to writing and developing their characters haha! Or maybe gain a lot of power over these kinds of figures by turning them into a safe piece of fiction that they can deconstruct and dissassemble through narrative. I can't do this kinda thing beyond a certain threshold. I must be able to find some relatable delights or something scary about myself that I can work out through the character when I slither through their brain wrinkles like a parasitic worm.

My character's brains are a juicy melon!

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dontmeantobepoliticalbut · 1 year

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In a rare display on Tuesday, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York was spotted speaking with the unlikeliest of her congressional colleagues: Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida and Rep. Paul Gosar of Arizona.

Ocasio-Cortez was seen Tuesday speaking with Gaetz briefly on the House floor. The conversation between the two came as a surprise, considering how they have clashed and how ideologically different the progressive congresswoman and the House Freedom Caucus congressman are.

Speaking with The Intercept, Ocasio-Cortez said Gaetz told her that House Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy — who is vying for the role of House Speaker — was trying to convince the GOP he could cut a deal with the Democratic Party to get the job.

In response, Ocasio-Cortez said she told Gaetz that the Democrats would not help McCarthy. McCarthy failed on three separate ballots Tuesday to get the votes he needed to secure the Speakership. By the third vote, the number of people voting against him had gone up.

"McCarthy was suggesting he could get Dems to walk away to lower his threshold," Ocasio-Cortez told The Intercept. "And I fact-checked and said absolutely not."

In another turn of events, Ocasio-Cortez was seen sitting next to Gosar and talking to him, nodding, and smiling.

Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor Tuesday that Gosar, too, had approached her to ask whether the Democrats were willing to help McCarthy secure the Speakership by exiting the chamber and lowering the vote threshold. Ocasio-Cortez added to Semafor that she told Gosar the same thing she told Gaetz: Her party won't help McCarthy.

The ABC reporter Gabe Ferris also spoke with Ocasio-Cortez about the conversation between her and Gosar. The congresswoman told Ferris she would "never" walk away to clear the path for McCarthy and that she would back Hakeem Jeffries, the leader of the House Democratic Caucus.

In November 2021, Gosar posted a violent anime clip depicting himself killing her. The video prompted Ocasio-Cortez to call Gosar a "creepy member I work with who fundraises for Neo-Nazi groups" and shared a "fantasy video" of himself killing her.

That month, Gosar was stripped of his committee positions by a Democratic-led Congress. He then refused to apologize for posting the video, comparing his censure to Alexander Hamilton's.

Ocasio-Cortez told Semafor that Gosar did not apologize Tuesday for the video during their conversation.

For his part, Gosar joked about the exchange, posting a screenshot of him and Ocasio-Cortez smiling during their conversation.

"So then I says 'The combustion engine was actually a miracle of engineering that people take for granted today,'" Gosar tweeted.

Gosar wrote in a separate tweet Tuesday that he and Ocasio-Cortez were talking "about the problem of the prior speakerships having too much authority and thus minimizing each member's potential contribution to the House debate." The congressman did not say whether he and Ocasio-Cortez agreed on the matter.

AOC'S HUDDLES SPARK INTRIGUE AND IRE

Ocasio-Cortez's conversations with Gaetz and Gosar sparked intrigue. The liberal Twitter account MeidasTouch tweeted Tuesday that someone should get a lip reader to decipher the conversation between Gaetz and Ocasio-Cortez.

Meanwhile, the conversations attracted the ire of the right-wing congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has broken with her House Freedom Caucus and supported McCarthy's speakership bid.

Rebuking both Gosar and Gaetz, Greene tweeted Tuesday that "making plans with Democrats is not what any Republican should be doing." Greene also expressed concern that Gaetz, Gosar, and Ocasio-Cortez had found something in common in not supporting McCarthy, tweeting: "First Gaetz and Good, now Gosar. They never talk to her."

Representatives for Gaetz, Gosar, Greene, and Ocasio-Cortez did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Meanwhile, the House failed to elect a Speaker Tuesday as Republicans voted against McCarthy. This is the first time in a century that the House has not picked a Speaker on the first vote.

Voting is now expected to continue Wednesday.

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everydayesterday · 1 year

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happy international women's day. when asked about women who inspire them, men usually just say their mothers (at least that's what professional athletes do), which is a cop-out because their eyes are willfully closed. so, for an actual answer, her are five women that inspire me: marie-philip poulin - she's a hockey legend now. she's got 3 olympic gold medals, 3 world championships, and she's always the one leading the way in scoring, and with clutch timing on game-defining plays (seriously, she's scored the game winning goal in all 3 of the olympics she's won with canada; she's known as "Captain Clutch"). it's unreal how much she dominates. debbie - she runs the wildlife conservation center that I'll be volunteering with. it's such a personal thing for her that the center is actually located in her backyard. she also coordinates transportation of injured animals to other specialized rehabilitation clinics from all over tennessee, and leads education programs for kids and adults alike at the nature center. rihanna - forget her music (but I do like a few of her songs), I am in awe of what she did with fenty. she saw a market that was underserved and built an empire. while the traditional makeup brands seemed focused on lighter skins (one of those systemic racial issues; the lack of minority leadership in large corporations), she brought darker skintones, a rainbow of browns, to be a priority of hers/fenty. and now she's a billionaire. elizabeth warren - she's a politician, and sometimes it feels like it; sometimes she pushes/supports neo-liberal policy that I don't agree with, or doesn't take a strong enough stand (like voting "present" about the Green New Deal). but, she's very willing to step forward and run for important positions, and she hasn't been afraid to push for bold progress, calling for single-payer healthcare, employee representation in corporate leadership, greater taxation of the wealthy and of corporations, and reforming campaign finance laws. she is the reason the consumer financial protection bureau exists. another politician I could name her would be alexandra ocasio-cortez, who is unafraid in the face of threats and cruel, demeaning propaganda. edith wharton - I think she's my favourite author; she's certainly the author of my favourite book: twilight sleep. in 1921 she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize in Fiction. her writing is so, so vibrant.

#international women's day #women's day #marie-philip poulin #rihanna #elizabeth warren #edith wharton

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jonathanferraragallery · 1 year

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JOHN ISIAH WALTON is a New Orleans artist whose neo-expressionist works are internationally recognized for their commentary on race, class, identity, and current events through his irreverent, frenetic and sometimes absurdist style. His art has been on show at the Art Lab Akiba (Tokyo, Japan); the Atlanta Contemporary Biennial (Atlanta, Georgia); the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans, Louisiana); the permanent collection of the New Orleans Museum of Art; the Ohr-O’Keefe Museum of Art (Biloxi, Mississippi); P339 (Brooklyn, New York); and more. His residencies include the Macedonia Institute (Chatham, New York) and the Joan Mitchell Center (New Orleans). In 2022, he will showcase work in Tel Aviv, Israel.

Influenced by internet aesthetics, Black identity, pop culture, and Louisiana history, Walton’s subjects are often unconventional and sometimes shocking. In the tradition of Basquiat, his work frequently has hidden meanings and symbols, and his choppy brushwork endows the work with the energy and intensity that the artist is known for. Rooted in concern about the social, economic, political, and cultural structures at play in contemporary life, Walton’s best-known series sometimes encourage discomfort.

His breakthrough exhibit was 2015’s “Beaucoup Humidity,” curated by the legendary Diego Cortez. A behind-the-scenes exploration of service industry workers of his hometown, the series exemplifies Walton’s signature wit and personal experience to depict the New Orleans underbelly hidden from tourists. The series was preceded by 2012’s “Zulu Portraits,” which featured post-colonial portraiture of Black and white political leaders in blackface to remind us to deconstruct or disentangle an errant white American history. The title is a reference to the Zulu Social Aid & Pleasure Club parade krewe of New Orleans.

In 2016, Walton tackled the carceral state in a series featuring inmates of the Louisiana State Penitentiary known as Angola, portrayed through portraits of bulls and bullfighters. The series aims to examine our complacency with incarceration, and represents a more subdued but no less subversive approach to critical social commentary. The “Black Paintings,” a series Walton began in 2017, address issues of identity including visibility and invisibility, presence and absence, figure, and void. On canvases painted black, layers of neon-hued acrylic and oil stick depict scenes ranging from the mundane to the controversial.

Walton was the first African-American member of the artist collective The Front and a founding member of both The Level Artist Collective and the Second Story Gallery. He has lectured about his work to the graduate program at UNC, Chapel Hill. He attended St. Augustine High School. (1999-2002) and graduated from Sarah T. Reed High School (2003). Walton received an AA degree in 2012 from Delgado College, New Orleans.

#john isiah walton #oil painting #oil on canvas #contemporary art #artist #jonathan ferrara gallery #jfg artist

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santacrocenartes · 2 years

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El pasado 12 de octubre fuimos invitades junto a mis compañeras de la EARI de Florencio Varela Mariel Ferrario y Marcela Cortez al conversatorio “Experiencias, diversidad y cultura” organizado en la Escuela de Arte Nro. 1 de San Miguel. Esta iniciativa surgió de nuestras colegas Sofía Smaldone y Verónica Sánchez, docentes del Espacio de la Práctica IV en dicha institución. Nos encontramos con una jornada maravillosa, donde la escuela salió a la calle para trabajar juntes en torno a una fecha tan significativa y dolorosa para nuestras identidades latinoamericanas y originarias. Compartí una presentación titulada “Razas”, crisoles y diversidades: el lugar de la imagen, mediante al cual propuse sumar a la reflexión y al desafío de cuestionar desde nuestro campo artístico los discursos visuales fundados en las narrativas hegemónicas en relación al “descubrimiento” de América. Señalamos algunos desafíos posibles:

Estrategias didácticas donde lo visual no cumpla simplemente una función ilustrativa, sino un ámbito para construir objetos complejos.

La inclusión de metodologías artísticas experimentales, más allá del dominio técnico de producción de imágenes.

Diversificar las relaciones entre arte y producción de conocimiento.

Agradezco de corazón a mis compañeras por el aguante de siempre, a la Dirección de nuestra escuela hermana de San Miguel, a mi compañera Alicia Vallejos y a mis alumnas del EPD 1 de la EARI, con quienes trabajamos en la producción de imágenes experimentales en torno al tema Identidad en clases previas, y a Elisabeth Medina, mi compañera de todos los días ♥. Refutar, “hackear” y transformar el paradigma (neo)colonial para celebrarnos en la diversidad, con herramientas artísticas y poéticas disruptivas.

#12 de octubre #respetoaladiversidadcultural #culturavisual #formaciónartística #pedagogíadelamemoria

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sutrala · 4 months

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There are truly many people upon the earth who are by the very definition of the word are evil; and sadly, many of said people are women. The women I reference are soulless, contumelious harridans spawned in the pits of neo-Leninism. While those such as Hillary, Pelosi and the...

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agoobersretreat · 9 months

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Which characters do you like to write the most?

Oh, woof! That's a toughie! I mean, I know the answer, I just need to gather my focus for this one.

I'll go by blog, if that's alright with you? Easier for me to focus. Here's who I like writing for the most on the following blogs:

@agooberscast: Aiko, Erin, Mallow, Eliza, Humphrey, Melissa, Skylar, Beli, Maruko, Speckle, Suika, Zoey, Wyatt, Gertrude, Mimei, Izzy, Barbara, Chelle, Donnie, Raikita, Gwen, Mama Rau and Rina

@agooberscanons: Daisy, K. Rool, Leona, Mai, Arus, Tifa, Xion, Yuffie, Dr. Neo Cortez, Crash (and Aku Aku), Spyro, Girlfriend (FNF), Rumia, Sayori, Muffet, Laura, Ibuki, Conker, Cryptosporidium (#147), Cell-Chi (Chi-Chi AU), Chika (Love is War!), Okuyasu, Koichi, Yukako, Elma and Mikuru

@agoobersretreat: You are here and it is me/Miq, lol

@theplumpkinpatch: Punk'Anne, Vlad, Alyson, Princess, Rose, Makani, Simon, Maribelle and Seta

@softidolproject: Maki, Hanayo, Umi, Honoka, Yoshiko/Yohane, You, Kanan, Dia, Kanata, Rina, Karin and Ai

@maddys-mad-menagerie: Maddy, Berri, Red, Sweetpea, Chelsea, George, Buddy and Hannah

There ya go, hope that answered your question well enough and shows you where my focuses usually are.

#anonymous #the goober speaks #agooberscast #agooberscanons #agoobersretreat #theplumpkinpatch #softidolproject #maddys mad menagerie

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newswireml · 1 year

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Mean girl AOC called OUT for bringing in the New Year by trashing and smearing Elise Stefanik – twitchy.com#girl #AOC #called #bringing #Year #trashing #smearing #Elise #Stefanik #twitchycom

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez MIGHT have had a point about Elise Stefanik blaming HER for her own behavior and decisions if she hadn’t gone down the typical NEO-NAZI WHITE SUPREMACIST REEE road. Stefanik is responsible for herself. That being said, Stefanik is not a neo-Nazi or a white supremacist. People who use this argument are just lazy or ignorant. Or both, in AOC’s case. Her response to ‘The…

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thedjmusic · 2 years

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TDM - Discoveries of the Week 2022-10-11

DOWNLOAD: https://thedjmusic.com/music/tdm_discoveries_of_the_week_2022_10_110

DATA: 2022-10-11 TOTAL: 41 GENRE: House, Tech House, Afro House, Jackin House, Deep House, Soulful House, Funky House, Organic House / Downtempo, Progressive House, Nu Disco / Disco, Melodic House & Techno, Techno

Cover: Booka Shade. New tracks and rare compositions in the weekly mix just for you.

Arden - Why Don't You

Bob Sinclar,Riva Starr,Mark Broom,Star B - I Feel For You - Star B Extended Remix

Booka Shade,bailey,Durante - Fire & Rain - Durante Remix

Brame & Hamo - No Strangers

Chapa & Castelo - Birdman

DATSKO - ALL BY YOURSELF

DJ Tennis - Atlanta

DJibouti - Candy - Unofficial Edit

Darius Syrossian,George Smeddles - Back In The Dance - Extended Mix

Dennis Cruz - Business & Pleasure

Dj Steaw - Dance To The Rhythm

Ed Ed - The Tale Of RAA

Eli Nissan - Snow Tiger

Gavinco - Company

Goom Gum - Aposch

Groovy Drew,Shmoo - Mack Blagic (Shmoo’s Taste of Chicago Remix)

Guy Mantzur,Tamir Regev - Moongazer

Hot Since 82,Jem Cooke,Jorhav - Buggin' - Jorhav Remix

Jack Back - Feeling - Extended Mix

Jaydee - Once in a Lifetime

KRUDO,Pig&Dan,Chloé Caillet - Erational - Chloé Caillet Remix

Kolter - Get Out James!

Kungs,Boys Noize - Fashion (with Boys Noize)

Lauer - Pioneer Housing Area

Le Boom,Jordan Nocturne - Friday Night - Jordan Nocturne Remix

Max von Sternberg,Sofia Kourtesis - Moving - Sofia Kourtesis Remix

Mike Simonetti - Secondary Emotions

Orbital,Eli Brown - Chime - Eli Brown Remix

Sahar Z,Shai T - Back In My Arms - Shai T Remix

Sebb Junior - The Way I Feel

Simon Doty - Reality Check

Solee,Shall Ocin - Exhilaration - Shall Ocin Remix

Solstice (FR),Dodi Palese - Wiser - Dodi Palese Remix

Stephan Bodzin,Solomun - Rose - Solomun Remix

Steve Bug,Matthias Tanzmann - Five Miles Past Midnight

TWO LANES,Panama,Durante - Rolling Back - Durante Remix

Tony Cortez - Aqui - Extended Mix

Valentín Huedo,Igor Marijuan - Neo

Vitess - RR3

Wakka,Jay Latune - GET MY GROOVE ON

sillygirlcarmen,Karizma - Bad Blues - Karizma Bluer remix

#dj #dj music #techno #minimal #minimal techno #organic house

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byneddiedingo · 2 years

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Mona Lisa and Hilda Koronel in Insiang (Lino Brocka, 1976) Cast: Hilda Koronel, Mona Lisa, Ruel Vernal, Rez Cortez, Nina Lorenzo, Marlon Ramirez, Mely Mallari, Carpi Asturias. Screenplay: Mario O'Hara, Lamberto E. Antonio. Cinematography: Conrado Baltazar. Art direction: Fiel Zabat. Film editing: Augusto Salvador. Music: Minda D. Azarcon. Lino Brocka's Insiang begins with a scene of pigs in an abattoir that's likely to put most carnivores off their feed for a while. It sets the tone for a story whose neo-realist approach is tinged with overtones of Greek myth: a tale of revenge that centers on a young woman betrayed by her lover as well as by her mother and her mother's lover. Think of Medea or Elektra brought up in the slums of Manila. The title character, played beautifully by Hilda Koronel, lives with her tense, quarrelsome mother, Tonya (Mona Lisa), who takes out her fury on Insiang at having been left by her husband. Then Tonya takes a much younger lover, Dado (Ruel Vernal), who furtively lusts after the pretty daughter. Insiang has a suitor her own age, Bebot (Rez Cortez), who wants her to sleep with him, but she insists on waiting until they have good jobs -- unemployment is rife in the slums -- and get married. But when Dado, who has moved in with the two women, rapes Insiang and then lies to Tonya that the young woman provoked him by bathing and sleeping naked, Insiang agrees to spend the night with Bebot and to begin a life with him. She wakes up in the sleazy hotel to find that Bebot has already gone, and when she finally finds him he gives her a cold shoulder. At this point, Insiang, once mild-mannered and long-suffering, turns into a woman bent on revenge, and finds ways to inflict it on Bebot, Dado, and her mother. Lino Brocka's direction and the performances by actors drawn from his theatrical company elevate the film into something of a small tour de force: It was shot in only seven days in places where it must have been difficult to film. There are no overt political messages being delivered by the film, but it's hard to avoid the consciousness that people have been forced into lives like these and shouldn't be. Is it enough to note that Imelda Marcos hated the film?

#Insiang #Lino Brocka #Hilda Koronel

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