Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label inspiration. Show all posts

Sunday, March 31, 2013

We all have a story to tell . . .

Yes, indeed.  We all have a story to tell. King Adz video takes us through what goes on in our creative minds, in our critical selves that get crippled by distractions, self-created disbelief, insecurity, self-loathing.  Watch this clip and see how you feel.

STORIES from King ADZ/100proof on Vimeo.

 
  To tell my story, to know my story---It's the way I weave all the colours in my tapestry of life- orange, red, turquoise, brown, purple, blue, white and gold- that is me.  And my patterns and tension will vary but the design is beautiful.  So with that I know I keep weaving to know where it leads me next . . . 

Friday, March 1, 2013

Detroit, Sugarman, and South Africa

A story strong to South's Africa heart beat, plays a different tune for Detroit's singer-songwriter Rodriguez.

picture jacked from Google.com
  Living in South Africa and hearing the impact of his music upon adults from that generation is fact to how powerful the powerful influence of music is to our collective history.  Music's language connects personal experiences across the world.

The locational link of this particular music story-South Africa and Detroit caught the interest of my dad, who grew up in Detroit.

 He recently forwarded me this article after watching the Documentary made about Rodriguez and South African listeners: Searching for Sugarman.

 Rodriguez' lyrics and music stretched beyond the artist's imagination into a moment of history that has been shared with the world.

  Click here to read the article:

   Long before Oscar-nominated doc, Detroit writer went on his own search for Sugar Man | Movies | Detroit Free Press | freep.com

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

What All Parents Should Do . . .

Tina Fey: I want to thank my parent's for somehow raising me to have the confidence disproportionate with my looks and abilities.  Well done, that is what all parent's should do.

Thursday, January 17, 2013

Down time on a film set finds you in peculiar places. photo courtesy of Zubin Mistry

While working in studio as the on-set costumer on a commercial shoot with director Mehdi Norowzian and DOP Zubin Mistry, I found myself cuddled in the coolest place during breaks--in between the air conditioning system.

  Needless to say, the eye on set captured it on his phone.

                                       photo courtesy of Zubin Mistry

Sunday, November 4, 2012

"Grandma's clothes look incredible" MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP FEAT. WANZ (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube

My friend Mary sent me this link because I'm one of the many girls who has fly dookie brown leather jackets and 99 cent priceless Tshirt from thrift shops around the world.   Love this flavour!  Now when I go to clothes swaps, I end up holding onto the fine cotton threads I've had since 5th grade, and getting rid of the new shit... may just have to do a compilation remix of my thrift journeys from Honduras to Cape Town with Macklemore.  And I am definitely going to use this as inspiration for the next music video I work on :)

  MACKLEMORE & RYAN LEWIS - THRIFT SHOP FEAT. WANZ (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube




Sunday, October 21, 2012

Conscious Hip Hop and MC's: She The Hard Way

Eversince Lupe Fiasco released "Bitch Bad", I was thinking where the Female voice was in Hip Hop.  Nicki Menaj and Azelia are bubble gum wrappers that don't have much chew capacity.  Mc's are not absent, they are strong in all parts of the world.

  I am drawn to the sisterhood in Atlanta where the MC's are releasing lyrics to the highest super delight, no need for repetitive materialistic chants-just solid dope lyricists that don't spit from an adam's apple and represent Respect.

 I'm giving respect and spreading inspiration from She the Hard Way.  A collaboration of different poetic flow from Sa-Roc, Khalilah Ali, Stahhr, Rita J, Boog Brown.  I love the way Stahhr describes the compilation as a delicious 5 course meal.  I don't have any information on the progress of this project, but each of these MC's hold a strong place in the way Hip Hop continues to evolve towards conscious poetic messages for our global socio-polito-econo-naturalistic Earth concerns.

 

Saturday, September 22, 2012

World Rhino Day 2012: Do you care if Rhinos disappear?

 

 Our Earth loses 2 rhinos a day due to acts of killing these endangered animals for money.

 Rhinos are poached predominantly for exotic animal-part trade or medicinal mythical cures-medical ideas that have been scientifically proven to not treat or cure what they are advertised for.

 The value of protecting rhinos needs to be taught in order to replace the value of trading their parts.  Poaching is not the only problem, but it is the most important one to stop as educational projects and programmes can reverse the idea that the demand for them is necessary.

   A man in South Africa, as seen in NHU Africa's Saving Rhino Phila has begun to farm as a way to influence a flood of rhinos horns into the marketplace, thus reducing their price and striving to maintain a healthy rhino population. But farming rhinos is not a solution as it doesn't eliminate the myths of these medical 'cures' and provides a 'safe' place for killing animals that will be may one day be called "previous wildlife, now cattle".  Although there are other human-caused risks to rhinos, it is imperative to stop poaching these animals and supporting positive wildlife conservation education.


  Human-centric ideas such as rhino horn uses for human consumption only decrease the longevity of our wildlife and will drive them into extinction.  We have a responsibility to our planet to work towards becoming wildlife conservation activists in our own capacity.

  Chris Mason from Natural History Unit Africa, produced and directed this Public Service Announcement, PSA, for World Rhino Day 2012: a Call for action to support Anti-poaching projects by WESSA, The Wildlife and Environment Society of South Africa. They filmed it on Kloof Street, Cape Town City Bowl, on a timelapse and reversed the Mak 1 One art piece into a disappearing artpiece.

  It asks a question:  Do you care if Rhino's disappear?  

    Let's hope this message and many other efforts allow us to care everyday to take responsibility to the stop of poaching.  

  Ideas to combat poaching through education projects are welcome to be shared here.




  Other artists share concern about the killing of Rhinos.  The Wooster Collective showcased words and pictures from another prolific Cape Town based graffiti aerosol artist, Faith47,  painting in Shanghai, click here to see and read.  She brought the spirit of African Rhinos into Asia.


Thursday, September 13, 2012

Rollaball Skate Soccer Movie: Support This-Ability



  Serious skills when it comes to extreme sports! A sport in Ghana that was invented to suit their abilities.  What a cool story to share with the world: Big World Cinema presents a film by Eddie Edwards.

   I support anyone who spread the true sense of the word: This-Ability instead of Dis-Ability.

 A must-to-support for a must-see movie!

 Good luck!

Thursday, August 23, 2012

Meet Lorenzo, our adopted puppy.




You're making me wear this?




   We got married. We adopted a puppy. 
Adventures with Lorenzo

 Our friend Ross said, "Countdown 9 months and you'll be pregnant before the 9th month.  That's what happens when you get a puppy."  I have to say I'm love drunk for this fur-lined heartbeat creature.  But I am not convinced I'll love a unfurry human baby more.  Unless they come out hairy with a furry back.  Chances of that happening are high with Greek blood running 75%.  I'd hashtag myself #I don't-have-a-maternal-gene except for cute adorable puppies. We named him Lorenzo and we think he is the best dog anyone could ask for!

   So I made this video clip for his fan-club overseas and across the country.   This was a mission we did in our first week as puppy parents.

   He has grown to walk easily on a lead and cruises through the city with me so easily.  I took Lorenzo on an epic city walk into Cape Town Centre.  We visited the Castle of Good Hope, went shopping in the Grand Parade, and he managed to sniff out every KFC Chicken Licken chicken bone that gets thrown on the street after 1pm lunch.  Needless to say, his 1 hour cruise means he's cuddled up right next to me on the couch as I write this.  Another hashtag moment #nothing but love for the pupson.

The moat around the Castle of Good Hope

Puppy parent supplies

His winter jersey by the Vredehoek Ravine

August 23rd, why do I think he looks so mature?
Just the daily chill.
This is Lorenzo's pretty mom.  And maybe his dad behind her!? She is a Staffordshire  Terrier and dad is believed to be a pavement special: German shepherd, Africanis, mix!

First day at our home, Aug 7th.
Took this for size reference. I'm a size 8UK/9.5US.  He looks like a furry chicken deer.
This was our first sighting of him on African Tail's Facebook page.  He is 10wks here.   
  If you can adopt a dog, foster a dog, sponsor the welfare of a rescue dog or simply donate to

Click through and make a difference.  

Afterwards, tell me your happy furever story.
   

     

Wednesday, August 22, 2012

Athens Graffiti Art Tells a Tale: Anti-Violence, Anti-Racist, Anti-Xenophobic


  I used to work in Exharia, Athens-Greece.  I read the walls from the Ommonia Metro station all the way to Exharia's platia.  For me, reading the walls shared the visual pulse of the city, the issues, the political climate, the stories unheard. Today, I don't read the walls.  I live in South Africa.  But today I read the Athens News from the internet: "Racist violence escalates." Citizens hating citizens, humans attacking humans within these man-made borders we create.

  The unrest in Greece is not isolated there.  The messages I read on the walls in Greece reaffirmed why I love graffiti.  They portray different headlines and display opinions in different syntax without a web address or a printing press.  Just some spray paint, a marker or a sticker will do.

  They are public forums.  Tales are told.  I took these photos last summer and the messages still ring true.  Anti-violence.  Anti-Xenophobic.  What is Xenios Zeus, the Athens police campaign to kick out anyone without govt. papers, going to do for the betterment of our world?   To all the writers in Athens: Keep pasting, keep writing peace on Athens streets and advocate for change.

A wheat paste paper sticker on the wall with the image of HATE.  Eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.

This is my favorite of our cultural pluralism.  Freedom is a global right.

Greedy servings of the pie.  Austerity serving anyone?  Pro-Hemp stencil on the top right corner.

Anti-Nazi stencil, Anti-Prejudice, Anti-Racism, Anti-Xenophobic!

The Television will not be Revolutionised

"Running from the thoughts, I keep bumping back into it, trying to get away-keeps dragging me into"
Note: look are the Burqa stencil and then the X over it. 

In the streets near the public university 

Anyone is a Citizen member

Pissing on the Golden Dawn (far-right political party in Athens, Greece)
   

 


  

Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Athena and Chris Go to Madagascar.

  Husband and wife team weave visuals and syntax about Madagascar.   Read all about it here on Wavescape's breaking news story:  I Like to Move it : In depth about the Malagasy travels!

 and yes, it was our honeymoon.              Thank you TrueBlue Travel for organising a sweet trip!

Pirogues in in Fort Dauphin Tolagnaro-Libanona Bay

Beer at Talinjoo

Young Malagasy girl braving the warm yet winter Indian ocean

Learning French and Malagasy along the way in order to get a meal!

We thought this Lemur reminded us of Desmond Tutu-blessing us with his wisdom of the forests

What Madagascar produces: Vanilla

Young Malagasy boy fishing from a handline in Fort Dauphin Tolagnaro

Reef fish off the coast in Fort Dauphin, Tolagnaro

Ring-tailed Lemur in the Nahampoana Reserve


Monday, August 6, 2012

South African dance documentary films: "I dance as if I have gun to my head" Pop, Lock 'n Roll


There are incredible stories to be told.  And dancers who use their body to express and encapsulate emotion is a language, a story in itself.  I filmed African Cypher Dance Session on my phone at Fly on the Wall Production House in Cape Town, December 16th, 2011: Dance crews that perform and compete at contests like the Red Bull Beat Battle in South Africa and around the world.  Check the trailer link below.

  I have always been captivated by music and dance.  I couldn't resist the urge to film on my phone in the dark warehouse above Roeland St in Cape Town.  The pantsula artists had woven a whole sequence of comedy, sex, violence and gender roles with innovative movements that put the whole cypher into a hypnosis.
Now, another fresh young filmaker, Ziggy Hofmeyr, is raising funds to share a story with the world about dance, love and quest.  Pop, Lock 'n Roll -- Indiegogo: http://igg.me/p/191398

  If we support filmmakers, creactivists, dancers: Culture . . . then we will be preserving a tapestry of identity.   Go on to IndieGogo and support the projects that speak to you. Or better yet, tell us when your next project is!

Watch the film African Cypher, and support South African films like Pop, Lock 'n Roll to be made.


Monday, November 14, 2011

Bahamadia-Legend MC


   How come it took so long for me to come across the cunning crisp wordpoetress!?  This is what happens when you share music on a Sunday afternoon-you get the missing links to your music library.

  I'm inspired by her rhythmic flow and the platforms from which she expresses her wordplay. Manic Xsplosive Spontaneity.  Well explained, pure art form in lyrical soulfood.

 Her track, CommonWealth (Cheap Chicks) had me laughing, taking me back to my teenage years inside TJ Maxx.


   Play here:
 
   Bahamadia & Hezekiah: Gypsy Slang Track
Spontaneity cut

Thursday, September 29, 2011

Quite a White Ou - Ndingumlungu - Full Version - YouTube

Quite a White Ou - Ndingumlungu - Full Version - YouTube: 'via Blog this'  The Music Video Link.

 HayiBo!

I had a lot of fun helping style some uMlungu outfits with Quite a White Ou.  So cool to see how everything came together. Thanks to Ubuntu Bridge, I got also go to up my Xhosa speaking skills to a Level 2.  It was a lot of useful learning.

In this video, eMzantsi definitely shows her true style around the Cape Peninsula.


 “Learn the Lyrics” video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogoLeUj2Y2U)

Or the lyrics can be found below:
INTRO:  Mamelani eh eh mamelani eh eh  x 2  – Listen y’all!
 CHORUS:
Ndisafunda isiXhosa                                    (Im still learning Xhosa)
Ndithetha kancinci.                                      (I speak a little only)
So Khawuzekelele                                       (So Please talk slowly)
xa uthetha nami                                           (when you speak with me)  X 2

VERSE 1:
Ndithetha kancinci kuba ndingumlungu*
I talk a little xhosa because I’m a white ou.
Ngikhuluma kancane kuba ndingumlungu
I talk a little zulu because I’m a white ou.
Andikwazi ukujiva kuba ndingumlungu
I don’t know how to dance because I’m a white ou.
Andikwazi ukucula kuba ndingumlungu
I don’t know how to sing because I’m a white ou.

REPEAT CHORUS:

VERSE 2:
Andithathi iteksi x2 kuba ndingumlungu
I don’t take taxis because I’m a white ou.
Ndiqhuba Mercedes x2 kuba ndingumlungu
I drive a Mercedes because I’m a white ou.
Andikwazi ukushela kuba ndingumlungu
I don’t pick up girls because I’m a white ou.
Ndithanda ukukempa kuba ndingumlungu
I love to camp because I’m a white ou.
Ndinxiba ishortsi kuba ndingumlungu
I wear shorts because I’m a white ou.
REPEAT CHORUS:

VERSE 3:
[Andiqondi (I don’t understand), andikuva (I don’t get you) x3, eh, andiqondi]  x 2.

VERSE 4:
Cool and Nice                                    Hot and Spice
Like vanilla ice                                    like pap n rice
You know I’m down,                        Come get down
Umlungu waseCape town                with ingamla yaseCape Town
(White guy from Cape Town)        (with the Whitey from Cape Town)
Hayi bo!!                                                Hayi bo!!                                                X 2:





  

Thursday, July 28, 2011

Restless City, a film with rich visual script

Was like watching visual magic realism. Many shots used reflections upon reflections, weaving an emotional tale that engaged intimately with the two main characters, Djbril and Trini.  My favorite part about this film besides the incredible costumes, were each frame allowed your eye to digest into the detail, opening your senses to the story unfolding before you.  It all made sense when director, Andrew Dosunmu,     explained he came from a photography background.  This is a beautifully styled film that displays how essential cinematography serves as a visual script.
   Check out more on the film here: http://www.restlesscityfilm.com/#stills
   or see it Friday, July 29th at 10pm, Musgrave Centre, at the Durban International Film Festival.
    This foto was jacked from The Restless City website.  Photo by Jenny Baptiste. Respect.

Monday, July 18, 2011

Messages on the wall: Public Street Art


Meeting Os Gemeos en Atenas in 2005 was a highlight-sharing my writing style with them, checking their sketches and the motivation behind the wall they were commissioned to paint lit my street art passion into a higher gear.  The wall they painted is the whole bus station that lines the...in Gazi.  It’s images of people riding bicycles in nature, using alternative methods of transportation than diesel-guzzling motors.  Like a photo, contrast is important.  
I wonder now if there is a bike lane on that road? :)
Now back in South Africa: 
 Fear is a prison.  Fear is in the woman dressed in pink.  She says, “Excuse me, do you have permission to paint on this wall?”
“Yes, we do” 
“No, you don’t!”
“Yes, we do.”
“I’m going to call the police and . . . . Blah blah blah.”  Fear is a prison, dear sister in pink. And thank you for wearing pink but your threats we do not fear. I may rather ask for what is threatening you?  Has anyone but yourself ever solved what it threatening you?  I assure you, police are just people like you and me, and so what is there to fear? Police, more art, silence, thought, there is nothing to fear.  Don’t make up threats unless do you believe you are not free? Oh so that is why you chose the prison and threaten others to join you? No thank, we do our best to stand free, come join us, you’ll like it.
“We’ve tried to uplift this area . . .” she later explained to a listening ear.
And so what is upliftment? 
To threaten your community members is not uplifting.
Use your anger to change something in yourself.
As we express ourselves freely, we uplift ourselves freely. And if we live in this community, that we can be brave and fearless in, we are uplifted because we are not threatened or threaten ourselves because we live in fear. Just like you dress in pink, you are expressing materially on your body canvas-go head! I’ll lend you my pink sweater next time I see you in the neighborhood. 
And if we live in this world, that free expressive vibration roots into each step-changing our geographical minds. And with each step, another one is taken and shared by another free individual that crosses our path, unthreatened.  And there, two souls, moving freely, uplifted by their own choices, their inspirations and individual motivations, transform, positively, the world we live in. Upliftment! 
So thank you for painting the wall red. The contrast is beautiful-uplifting-and for the next individual to say yes to the canvas, to spread their free public uplifting expression.
 And slowly, we will all move out of the prison.



Friday, July 15, 2011

Ancestors

I am going to Greece soon. I've just finished my olives I picked in the Constantia valley.  Here is a picture of my YiaYia Chrissy when my brother George was just a single digit. I want to say this is circe 1977.  The home she was born in is one of my favorite places on Earth.  I'm so happy to be able to sleep within those walls. The very same space she was born into.

Saturday, July 2, 2011

Tehran Night Market

This picture is from my seastar's album when she visited home in July.  I want to go to Iran and smell and taste all the wonder she captured in her pictures. She says I would love it, and I know I would. I am sure I have been there before in some other lifetime.  Now's the time to retap into my Farsi-speaking skills.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Happy People on the Bus

The wheels on the bus go round and round, all through this town.  I snagged this picture of Bookface cause it made me smile.  I love when signs can be canvases.  I don't know where this is but me gusta.

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