Month: January 2015

disturbing

it was this month’s february 2015 issue of cosmopolitan, which is being sold in a plastic bag, that taught me something i was not seeing elsewhere. regularly plastered on the front is a sexified celebrity with loud colors and text about all the sex columns within, but for one month, cosmopolitan took its turn with bringing news to the forefront, in a very emotional and arresting way. i praise cosmopolitan magazine and the karma nirvana fund for this.

i stared…and then i read. i read for hours about what this cover meant. (see links below)

the cover depicts shafilea ahmed, a british girl who lost her life by the hands of her parents, and their religion. she was suffocated to death by her mother and father while her siblings watched. this is what is known as an honor killing.

an honor killing is the murder of a member of a family member by other members of the family in their belief that the family member has brought dishonor upon the family name and/or religion. common reasons for dishonor are refusing an arranged marriage, being in a relationship that goes against family desires, sexual activity outside of marriage, seeking a divorce, being a victim of rape, homosexuality, or as minor as dressing inappropriately. some family members are even forced to commit suicide in front of their family members.

honor killings/ honor murders are an epidemic around the world. “according to the united nations, some 5,000 women are murdered by family members in honor killings every year.” – cnn

within certain religions, honor killings are seemingly ‘ok’ by unwritten law. “although islam and muslim codes of law are often used to justify the use of stoning as a punishment for adultery, there is actually no reference to stoning in the koran.” – policy.mic  furthermore,  “there is nothing in the quran that justifies honor killings. there is nothing that says you should kill for the honor of the family,” said taj hargey, director of the muslim educational centre of oxford in england.” – cnn

“but one vocal british campaigner against honor violence points out that not all the crimes are perpetrated by muslims…. “significant cases are happening within south asian communities, be it pakistani, indian, sikh, muslim, kurdish, iranian, middle eastern communities,”” – irshad manji, the author of “allah, liberty and love: courage to reconcile faith and freedom,”

nazir afzal of britain’s crown prosecution service voiced his poignant view that “at the end of the day, murder is murder. there is no faith on earth, no community on earth that justifies this,”- cnn

my heart goes out to the women and girls of these communities, families, and sometimes religions that face this horrible, unjust punishment. i am not writing about my opinion here. i am simply trying to spread the word that this is happening. this piece is neither an anti-religious piece, nor is it to bring negativity towards certain religions. i have traveled the world and i am proud to say that i respect and am tolerant of other cultures and their religions beliefs, however, i will never be tolerant of any action that harms humanity. above all, we have to have respect for life. writting this, i feel very blessed to come from a community where i am not punished for how i express myself as a woman, and i wish this and more for my peers around the world. in time, i believe that time will teach and time will heal. by kgb

CATEGORIES: earth related, read

candide thovex: just one of those days


this is just one of those days… when it is this cold you might as well be in the snow chomping on some freeskiing. this gets us in the mood to move some powder. now talk about insane skiing, candide thovex puts everyone else in a bag with this video. i’m still sitting here geeking out on the shot at 0:17 and how the hell they did that. the view is a self portrait of thovex’s done as a POV but there is no camera visible in the mirror, then the goggles come over the camera lens… of course after a few hours of some serious head-scratching i think i figured it out, and what they really did was pretty plain and simple… a smart cheap camera trick if you will, but a good one… the mirror i reckon is tilted to the side and the hands in the frame are actually not the hands of candide, but the DP… now it seems obvious you say, but so does the invention of the wheel, no? in any case this dude was born in annecy, france and wet his paws on the french alps. hes one damn good skier. take a peek but do not try this at home, especially if you live on mount fuji, chamonix, mérida, K2, or olympus mons (mars).  by ars

CATEGORIES: surf-skate

mlk: i’ve been to the mountain top

“i am in no way even attempting to assume that i know anything about the political/social realities at play in the world at the moment, but at quick glance it seems as though violence breeds more violence. the people who changed the world, were the ones who laid down their arms – chose to forgive – to restore – to love – people like jesus, mandela, gandhi, martin luther king.

just before he was assassinated on april 3rd, 1968, martin luther king preached the sermon ‘i’ve been to the mountaintop’. it’s a profound account of hope, amidst despair – where he considers the significance of being born into the turmoil and unrest of the twentieth century. his outlook provides unique context for pain and suffering as he says ‘only when it is dark enough can you see the stars’.

he goes on to say; ‘men for years now have been talking about war and peace. but now no longer can they just talk about it. it is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it’s nonviolence or nonexistence. that is where we are today.’

he modeled a way of non-violence – and it cost him his life.

inspired by his words one night i cut together this clip using old archive footage from the prelinger archives – those words are as poignant today as they were back when he first spoke them – if not more (for me personally at least).”- Salomon Ligthelm

by dd

CATEGORIES: lovely, musings

john galliano actually rocks maison martin margiela!!

i’m john galiano, and i’m back…





from maison martin margiela spring 2015 couture collection

wow! who knew? for one, i’m completely surprised and amazed. not that i ever doubted john galiano’s genius, and that is despite his drunken mean heartedness a few years ago when he uttered a few anti-semitic and other racist remarks towards asians which then unleashed upon him an unwarranted level of fines and hardship back in france, but because i always saw galliano and margiela as oil and water. how can some one so flamboyant and ornate as galliano do anything with a brand like margiela who is so modern and minimal? the odds were against him, even from his fans… but galliano is back to prove us all wrong. i suppose he managed to find it in his heart to go there, out of need, or necessity, or passion. but he got there. the line speaks of minimalism, extravagance, humor, and deconstruction. galliano was always like a shark that had to swim… or die otherwise. he had to come back, in order to live. we are happy for him, and sorry for him too. especially now, in the wake of the horrible events in paris, one can not help but ponder why was one’s freedom-of-speech so much more important than another’s? as voltaire once said:” i may not agree with what you have to say, but i’ll defend to death your right to say it” there should be no exceptions.  by kc

CATEGORIES: fashion

je suis a human being…

charlie hebdo: the publisher killed for publishing cartoons

ahmed merabet: the french officer killed protecting the bureau

bad people do bad things. good people do good things by pointing it out. lets not let bad people take advantage of innocent lives lost to pursue their racist views. that’s when bad people win and good people lose… and let’s not forget this. by ts

CATEGORIES: earth related

adieu au langage: jean luc godard

goodbye to language

interview with jean luc godard

so even the god of cinema has succumbed to the 3d camp in his 2014 film “adieu au langage” or “goodbye to language”. or did he? this is godard’s 39th feature film and it does not fail to impress, all this  despite his age and a terrible car accident that damaged his scull that contains that god damn genius brain of his.

“the idea,” in godard’s own words, “is simple. a married woman and a single man meet. they love, they argue, fists fly. a dog strays between town and country. the seasons pass. a second film begins…”

i just saw the film finally and have not read about the piece but here are my observations: to me the film is really a 21st century contemporary painting, with a nod to picasso and the cubists, cezanne, and monet. godard uses 3D to recreate cubism for the modern viewer. he flattens the colors to analyze surface and depth and the frame itself. areas painters and artists explored only on canvas. the film is also a child’s curiosity with 3D. it is as if the camera was given to godard who did not know how to use it and he simply did what he could, but in that way, it’s honest and pure unlike anything else in the produced world of cinema and 3D. his experiments will be used for decades to come in the future of cinema… that is to be sure of.

to break with the cliches of new wave, this time he did not have the lovers part ways in the end, and the love story was not about the couples at all but his love story with a dog who has apparently replaced anna karina and his past affairs. the dog in the last frames of the film walks away into the woods, just like his female protagonists did, “but will she return” the voice over beckons? the very last frame is the dog coming towards the camera and the words “and she returns”. proof that godard has not yet lost his sense of dark humor.

one of my favorite sections in the film was how godard reworked his mastery of montage adapting it to the 3D format. godards double exposures are legendary, but in “adieu au langage”  he used a new technique. the end result was disorienting as my eyes had never experienced such a thing. i got lost and confused. i had to close one eye and then the other to understand what i was seeing. what godard did was instead of superimposing two images he simply shot each scene with one part of the 3D lens creating a scenario that one eye was seeing one scene and the other a completely different scene (both are of course 2d and flat, disregarding the silly effects of 3D). with both eyes open under the 3d glasses your brain attempted to decode the signals that your eyes were sending it, but it failed to resolve it. closing the scene godard has the man in the right lens enter the scene of the woman in the left lens and using a gradual dissolve he finalizes the phrase and proceeds in conventional 3D. it was simply genius and i sat there with a smile on my face in this empty theater with no more than 4 others at 12:30 midnight. i suppose in the end that is what i can only dream of, to do what godard does to me, to just a handful of people in this world with what ever work it is i’m doing. that is more fulfilling than all the riches of this world. a tough task to accomplish.

of course this all means nothing and you should see the film for your self. it is advisable to see it in theaters and in 3d, however leave it to godard to shoot a 3d film disregarding all the perceived effects of 3D and focus on how best he can capture a flat surface and deconstruct the whole 3D genre. the film is showing at the ICF in new york staring héloise godet, jessica erickson, kamel abdeli, richard chevallier, alexandre païta, and zoé bruneau. do catch it if you can. by dd

CATEGORIES: must see films

if it is going to snow, then go

we are sitting here at the ts headquarters in nyc thinking about the kind of winter we have already been greeted with this year; snow and below freezing temperatures. but there is not much beauty to it unless we get play in it. so if you aren’t a blogger and you can get away, we highly advise finding yourself in following situation. oh, and while you’re out there, feel free to send us a thank you email at ts@tomorrowstarted.com.

“this is the fireside resort in wilson, wyoming just outside jackson hole and grand teton national park. convenient central location 10 minutes from the slopes at jackson hole mountain resort, less than 15 minutes from jackson and about an hour from yellowstone. super-mod cabins are a contemporary take on the area’s historic homesteader cottages. situated on eight wildlife-filled acres where moose, elk, red-tailed hawks, bald eagles and deer roam and nest, you’d never know fireside resort was a mere seven miles from jackson’s bustling town square. just south of grand teton national park with views of the grand teton mountain range from the property, fireside resort offers the intimacy of a boutique hotel, the atmosphere of a wooded campground and the ambience of a cozy vacation home.
walk into your personal one-bedroom cabin, designed in a modern rustic style, and any ideas of cowboy kitsch disappear. constructed from recycled wyoming snow fence, the sleek structures have gas fireplaces, plush chocolate leather couches and bright contemporary art, all softened by the gnarled exposed wood beams overhead. each comes with a furnished deck, a full kitchen, and a tempurpedic pullout couch (in addition to the comfy king-sized bed in the bedroom). HD flat-screen tvs and rain showers add to the contempo-cozy charm.
there is no restaurant or even a central building; most guests cook in their kitchens or eat in nearby restaurants. but the staff can guide you to the top local pros-in-the-know who will assist you in biking, rafting and fly fishing trips in the summer, or skiing and snowmobiling in the winter. the fireside resort experience is simple: it’s a comfortable, tucked-away haven to relax, rejuvenate and set up headquarters for all your jackson adventures. and while it might be tempting to hole up by the fire in your homey pied-à-terre, yellowstone national park, jackson’s saloon-filled downtown and the world-renowned jackson hole mountain resort are all an easy drive away.” – sam storms for jetsetter.com. by ad

CATEGORIES: architecture, hotels, other places