#acapulco mexico documentary

[therealslimsanji]

I... I really want to cry. I just read on instagram what could be the most chilling comment ever.

This person basically said "The only cause I care about is Palestine. Talking about casualties without mentioning palestinians is worthless".

I'm mexican and currently living in Mexico. Last year a strong hurricane reduced Acapulco to rubble. Finding piles of dead immigrants all cramped up into trailers or other tight spaces has happened more times than it should. Drug cartels will execute entire communities just because "they felt like it". I still remember the pain of Maricela Escobedo (there's a documentary about her story on Netflix, but it's not for the faint of heart). Maybe these ocurrances are nothing next to a genocide. But there is pain, suffering and death.

I was happy with Taz's statement. It felt sincere to me because I interpreted that he addressed all the injustice in the world, including my country's. What I understood is that a tragedy is a tragedy no matter how small or big, and they all deserve to be addressed. We all deserve help. But some people wanted his statement to be only about them.

I really, REALLY wanted to respond to this one commenter: "oh so then you don't care about the indigenous people in Mexico who are either murdered or forced to leave their homes without nothing? I should assume then that you are a racist". You know? Apply the same logic they used to harrass Taz, twist their words, expose them to others as "not-so-saint-and-noble-after-all". But I couldn't. I just don't have the heart. Besides they would probably answer with something like "yeah but at least there's not a genocide as big as Palestine's in your country".

I cry for my people. I cry for the people of palestine. I cry for those that are going through similar tragedies.

But this one commenter, and maybe many other like them... they do not cry for the rest of us.

You absolutely should have! Because it IS the same logic. Death is death. Suffering is suffering. Innocents are INNOCENTS. If I see their comment on Instagram then I might just say your reply for you. Just to get their reaction. I understand a natural disaster is very different from a deliberate genocide. But, as you were saying, the situation with the Cartel is still murder. And God KNOWS how many people the Cartel have COLLECTIVELY killed. I live in Texas and I worked with this manager who would go between Texas and Mexico a lot for medical procedures because they're cheaper for him in Mexico. We used to talk about the Cartel and the amount of people they've murdered while trying to come to America and what not.

But yeah you 100% should have played that reverse uno card on them.

[byneddiedingo]

Gael García Bernal in Y Tu Mamá También (Alfonso Cuarón, 2001) Cast: Maribel Verdú, Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, Daniel Giménez Cacho (voice), Diana Bracho, Andrés Almeida, Ana López Mercado, Nathan Grinberg, Verónica Langer, Maria Aura, Juan Carlos Remolina, Silverio Palacios. Screenplay: Carlos Cuarón, Alfonso Cuarón. Cinematography: Emmanuel Lubezki. Production design: Marc Bedia, Miguel Ángel Álvarez. Film editing: Alfonso Cuarón, Alex Rodríguez. Alfonso Cuarón's Y Tu Mamá También is kept aloft for so long by wit and energy, and by the skills of its actors, director, and cinematographer, that it's a disappointment to consider the way it deflates a little at the end. It is, on the whole, a brilliant transfiguration of several well-worn genres: the teen sex comedy, the road movie, the coming-of-age fable. Cuarón has credited Jean-Luc Godard's Masculin Féminin (1966) as a major inspiration, but I think it owes as much to François Truffaut's Jules and Jim (1962), not least in Daniel Giménez Cacho's superbly ironic voiceover narrator, who provides a larger context for the actions of the three main characters. It's the narrator, for instance, who tells us that the traffic jam that holds up our middle-class teenagers was caused by the death of a working man who tried to cross the freeway because otherwise he would have had to walk a mile and a half out of his way to use the only crossing bridge. Or that Chuy, the fisherman who befriends the trio when they finally reach the secluded beach, will lose his livelihood to developers and commercial fisheries and wind up as a janitor in an Acapulco hotel. Somehow, Cuarón manages to avoid heavy-handedness with these comments, injecting the necessary amount of serious social commentary into a story about two horny Mexico City teenagers and the older woman who goes in search of a beach called "Heaven's Mouth" with them. Even in the story, the subtext of social class in contemporary Mexico keeps peeking through: There's a slight tension between the upper-middle-class Tenoch (Diego Luna), whose father is a government official, and the lower-middle-class Julio (Gael García Bernal) that's suggestive of Tenoch's sense of privilege. Similarly, Luisa (Maribel Verdú), who was trained as a dental technician, confesses to a sense of inferiority to her husband, Jano ( Juan Carlos Remolina), Tenoch's cousin, and his better-educated friends. The screenplay by Cuarón and his brother, Carlos, deserved the Oscar nomination it received for these attempts to provide a deep backstory for the characters. Even so, the film owes much to the obvious rapport between Luna and García Bernal, and to the steady centering influence of Verdú, all of whom participated in rehearsals that were often improvisatory embroidering on the Cuaróns's screenplay. Cinematographer Emmanuel Lubezki, who would go on to receive three consecutive Oscars for much showier work on Cuarón's Gravity (2013) and on Alejandro Iñárritu's Birdman (2104) and The Revenant (2015), here maintains a strictly documentary style of camerawork, though often with the subtle use of long takes and wide-angle lenses. As I said, I think the film deflates a bit at the end with the revelation of Luisa's death: It seems an unnecessary attempt to moralize, to provide a motive -- knowing that she has terminal cancer -- for her running away and having sex with the boys, turning it into only a final fling. Would we think less of Luisa if she were simply asserting her right to be as pleasure-driven as her philandering husband? Were the Cuaróns attempting to obviate slut-shaming by giving Luisa cancer? I hope not, because the film shows such intelligence and sensitivity otherwise.

[tvrundownusa]

tvrundown USA 2022.12.16

Friday, December 16th:

(exclusive): "Litvinenko" (AMC+|SundanceNow, bio-pic drama, all 4 eps), Far From Home (netflix, Nollywood teen drama, all 5 eps), A Storm for Christmas (netflix, Norwegian mini-series, all 6 eps), "The Recruit" (netflix, spy thriller series premiere, all 8 eps), Paradise PD (netflix, animated comedy, season 4 available, all 10 eps), Cook at All Costs (netflix, competition premiere, all 8 eps), Summer Job (netflix, Italian Gen Z reality competition, all 8 eps), Beast of Bangalore: Indian Predator (netflix, true-crime, all 3 parts)

(streaming movies): "Snow Day" (Para+|NICK, movie musical remake of 2000 comedy), "Nanny" (amazonPrime, supernatural horror-thriller), "The Apology" (Shudder|AMC+, horror-thriller), "Private Lesson" (netflix, Turkish rom-com, 90mins), "BARDO, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths" (netflix, Mexican dramedy, 160mins), "The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari" (netflix, documentary), "Le pupille" (dsn+, film short), "If These Walls Could Sing" (dsn+, Abbey Road Studios documentary)

(shows streaming weekly): Slow Horses (apple+), "Echo 3" (apple+), The Mosquito Coast (apple+), Mythic Quest (apple+), Acapulco (apple+, season 2 finale), Shantaram (apple+, series finale), Play-Doh Squished (freevee), America's Test Kitchen: Next Generation (freevee), Three Pines (amazon, next 2 eps), "LOL: Last One Laughing - Mexico" (amazon, season 5 opener), Dance Monsters (netflix, competition in CGI costumes, first 3 eps)

(primetime specials): Joe Bob's "Ghoultide Get-Together" (Shudder), Metallica Presents: "The Helping Hands Concert" (Para+), The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock, season 3 finale), The Hollywood Christmas Parade (theCW, 90th annual event, 2hrs)

(original made-for-TV movies): "Snow Day" (NICK|Para+, movie musical remake of 2000 comedy), "The Housewives of The North Pole" (BRAVO, earlier, 2hrs), "Holiday Heritage" (HALL, Kwanzaa, 2hrs), "A Christmas to Treasure" (LIFE, 2hrs+), "Bound by Blackmail" (LMN, 2hrs), "The First Noelle" (BET, 2.5 hours)

(hour 1): Lopez vs. Lopez (NBC, fall finale) /   / Young Rock (NBC, fall finale)

(hour 2): The Greatest #AtHome Videos (CBS, "Holiday Special"), The UnXplained (HIST, season 3 finale)

(hour 3): The Last Cowboy (CMT), We're Here (HBO), Battle of the Bling (HGTV, 60mins)

(hour 4 - latenight):   The Graham Norton Show (BBCAm), Sex Diaries (HBO, reality series premiere, ~60mins), Random Acts of Flyness (HBO, ~70mins)

[laresearchette]

Friday, December 02, 2022 Canadian TV Listings (Times Eastern)

WHERE CAN I FIND THOSE PREMIERES?: CHRISTMAS WITH THE CAMPBELLS (AMC+) SLOW HORSES (Apple TV+) DARBY AND THE DEAD (Disney + Star) THE GREAT AMERICAN BAKING SHOW: CELEBRITY HOLIDAY (The Roku Channel) HOTEL FOR THE HOLIDAYS (CTV Life) 7:00pm MATT ROGERS: HAVE YOU HEARD OF CHRISTMAS? (Crave) 10:00pm

WHAT IS NOT PREMIERING IN CANADA TONIGHT? A BIG FAT FAMILY CHRISTMAS (Premiering on December 04 on Crave at 12:40pm) CLOUDY WITH A CHANCE OF CHRISTMAS (Premiering on December 08 on CTV Life at 7:00pm) THE CROODS: FAMILY TREE (TBD - YTV) DESTINATION FEAR (TBD - DTour) FATAL FAMILY REUNION (TBD - Lifetime Canada) HOW DO THEY DO IT? (TBD - Science)

NEW TO AMAZON PRIME CANADA/CBC GEM/CRAVE TV/DISNEY + STAR/NETFLIX CANADA:

AMAZON PRIME CANADA THE CROODS RICHES (Season 1) THREE PINES YOUR CHRISTMAS OR MINE

CBC GEM MY OLD SCHOOL QUESTION TEAM SISI STAY TOONED

CRAVE TV 1UP COCAINE, PRISON & LIKES: ISABELLE’S TRUE STORY (Episodes 1-3) COMEDY CENTRAL’S JEFF DUNHAM – ME THE PEOPLE DEEP HEDGEHOGS THE HUNGER GAMES THE HUNGER GAMES: CATCHING FIRE THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY: PART 1 THE HUNGER GAMES: MOCKINGJAY: PART 2 A LITTLE PRINCESS MATT ROGERS: HAVE YOU HEARD OF CHRISTMAS THE POWERPUFF GIRLS MOVIE     TITANIC (1997)

DISNEY + STAR DIARY OF A WIMPY KID 2: RODRICK RULES MICKEY SAVES CHRISTMAS PENTATONIX: AROUND THE WORLD FOR THE HOLIDAYS

NETFLIX CANADA FIREFLY LANE (Season 2 Part 1) HOT SKULL LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER MY UNORTHODOX LIFE (Season 2) SCROOGE: A CHRISTMAS CAROL "SR." SUPERMODEL ME: REVOLUTION (Season 1) WARRIORS OF FUTURE

FIFA WORLD CUP SOCCER (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 9:45am: Korea Republic vs. Portugal (TSN2) 9:45am: Ghana vs. Uruguay (TSN/TSN3/TSN4/TSN5) 1:45pm: Camaroon vs. Brazil (TSN2) 1:45pm: Serbia vs. Switzerland (TSN/TSN4) 9:00pm: Match of the Day

NLL LACROSSE (TSN3) 6:00pm: Wings vs. Thunderbirds

NHL HOCKEY (TSN5) 7:00pm: Sens vs. Rangers (TSN3) 8:00pm: Blue Jackets vs. Jets

NBA BASKETBALL (SN/SN1) 7:30pm: Raptors vs. Nets (TSN2) 7:30pm: Lakers vs. Bucks (SN1) 10:00pm: Bulls vs. Warriors

MARKETPLACE (CBC) 8:00pm: Investigating CDI College and uncovering a pattern of using misleading information to enroll students; the questionable claims about accreditation and revealing the real cost of dropping out.

RODEO NATION (APTN) 8:00pm: It's the moment we've all been waiting for! Cameron, Lionel, PJ and Jake travel to Las Vegas, each determined to become the next world champion. Cameron goes head-to-head with past champ, Jayco Roper, while Lionel attempts to recover from some big buck-offs.

MY SOUTHERN FAMILY CHRISTMAS (W Network) 8:00pm:  Under the guise of a journalist, Campbell has a chance to get to know her biological father for the first time -- without him ever knowing who she really is.

CATERING CHRISTMAS (Super Channel Heart & Home) 8:00pm:  Fledgling caterer Molly Frost is hired by perfectionist Jean Harrison for the renowned Harrison Foundation's annual Christmas Gala, but things get complicated when she falls for Jean's nephew.

TRAVEL MAN: 48 HOURS IN… (CBC) 8:30pm:  Richard Ayoade is joined by comedian Joe Wilkinson for a 48-hour fling around the historic city of Krakow. Poland's second city is known for its culture, fairy-tale old town and baked goods.

CATWALK 2: THE COMEBACK CATS DOCUMENTARY (CBC) 9:00pm: Exploring the stories of the people and cats involved in the competitive cat show circuit.

TRANSPLANT (CTV) 9:00pm: Bash's psychiatrist suggests an unexpected form of therapy; Mags gets evicted and meets an old patient who holds a grudge; Theo makes some questionable choices with a patient's mother; June's personal and professional worlds collide.

THE REAL HOUSEWIVES OF CHESHIRE (Slice) 9:00pm (SEASON PREMIERE):  Reality series which looks at the homes, and lifestyles of Cheshire's most glamorous residents.

SUNDOWN (Crave) 9:00pm:  A wealthy man is vacationing with loved ones at a resort in Acapulco, Mexico until he receives a phone call. There's been a death in the family, and everyone must return home. However, the man pretends to lose his passport, which delays his return.

CANADA'S DRAG RACE: CANADA VS. THE WORLD (Crave 2) 9:00pm: You're invited to The Weather Ball on this week's episode of Canadas Drag Race: Canada vs the World.

1UP (Starz Canada)  9:00pm: Valerie is a competitive gamer whose impressive skills have landed her a place on her university's male-dominated esports team. Told she'll never be a starting player, Valerie forms an all-girl team to take down the guys at the national championship.

CRIME BEAT (Global) 10:00pm: Terrie Ann Dauphinais, a young Metis woman, is found dead in her home; her death was deemed a homicide, but no charges were ever laid, and the case went cold; new developments in the investigation lead to a dramatic turn of events.

CASEY ANTHONY: HER FRIENDS SPEAK (Super Channel Fuse)  10:00pm:  More than seven years after her acquittal, Casey Anthony's friends recall their tense interviews with police and the media circus surrounding her high-profile trial in which she faced the death penalty after her daughter was found dead.

[don-lichterman]

IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD? ACAPULCO, MEXICO

IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PLACE IN THE WORLD? ACAPULCO, MEXICO

Acapulco which has been classified as the most dangerous place in the world some years. In the year 2020 it is classified as the 3rd most dangerous place in the world with a number of 107 homicides per 100.000 inhabitants. I’m in Mexico City exploring the town and I wanna find out if it is dangerous and why it is dangerous. In the coming video I will be releasing the magic city of Cholula and you…

[architectnews]

The ten best modernist buildings in North America are "sculptures that you can live in"

Nonprofit organisation USModernist documents, promotes and preserves North America's modernist architecture. Here, director George Smart names his ten favourites including an airport terminal by Eero Saarinen and a beach house by John Lautner.

Based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USModernist has been working since 2007 to document modernist buildings, some of which are under threat, across the continent.

Top: A house by Alber Frey in Palm Springs. Above: George Smart is the founder of USModernist

"Just like stock car racing or sushi, modernist architecture is not for everybody," Smart told Dezeen.

"There are some people that just don't like it, and that's fine," he explained. "The important thing is that, because there are so few of them, that we recognise that many of these houses are really sculptures that you can live in".

"We wouldn't take a piece of art and go tear it to pieces. Similarly, we want to try to keep these houses, which are like works of art, from being destroyed."

Smart noticed a particular uptick in threats to modernist buildings in the 2000s, which prompted him to found USModernist. Now the organisation has documented upwards of 8,000 buildings.

"Modernist architecture is very optimistic," he said. "It tends to point us towards a future that's going to be better and happier."

"Most people who don't like modernist houses have never spent the night in one, they just don't get the vibe that is brought about by designing a house differently," he continued.

"I think people who know and love these houses and buy them just adore the feeling that their house gives them."

USModernist also has a huge, free-to-access digital library of 20th-century architecture magazines as educating the wider public about the importance of these buildings is central to USModernist's goals.

"We want to avoid what I call the Priscilla Presley syndrome," said Smart. "Priscilla, wife of Elvis, who took a perfectly wonderful John Lautner modernist house, and turned it into this Italianate villa, when what she should have done is just gone out and bought an Italianate villa."

Read on to discover Smart's favourite 10 modernist buildings in the USA (plus one in Mexico):

Frey II in Palm Springs, California, by Albert Frey

"This last, final home of Albert Frey is the perfect small weekend getaway with one of the best views in California (above and top). It is also an incredibly efficient use of space and was built around a giant rock, which sits in the living room.

"On a more reverent note, there are people, including myself and the architecture curators at the Palm Springs Art Museum, who consider this 1964 house to be the high temple of desert architecture, as it is the epitome of a building integrated into the earth around it."

Catalano House in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Eduardo Catalano

"Argentinian professor Eduardo Catalano created one of the first hyperbolic paraboloid residences in 1954, which instantly became an international sensation.

"The house was tragically destroyed in 2001 after years of neglect. This loss inspired the creation of what became USModernist. Bold, dramatic and fun to live in, it continues to amaze us, even 20 years after its demise."

TWA Flight Centre at JFK Airport by Eero Saarinen

"The recent renovation, restoration and addition to Eero Saarinen's TWA Flight Centre at JFK Airport is one of America's finest restoration projects. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey get huge credit for not tearing the building down in the past 30 years.

"Instead, they kept it in mothballs until the right developer could come along. And the right developer did. The main terminal, plus the two new hotel wings, make for a perfect overnight stay – but the real secret is the 50,000-square-foot underground conference facility designed by Lubrano Ciaverra, which has barely been covered by the media. It's the only major conference facility at the airport."

Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms House in Palm Springs, California, by E Stewart Williams

"In 1947 Frank Sinatra commissioned the first of a couple of Palm Springs houses, this one by E Stewart Williams. It put Williams on the map as an up-and-coming architect.

"It was famous for a rollicking fight that Frank had with his then-wife Ava Gardner; you can still see cracks in the bathroom from when she threw a bottle at him. Where most living rooms had a phonograph and radio console, this one has professional audio recording capability built-in.

"I think it's an urban legend that the pool is shaped like a piano, it's just a coincidence. The house is open for Modernism Week every year, for tours and parties (where you'll find us); the rest of the year, you can rent it."

Holy Comforter Lutheran Church in Belmont, North Carolina, by Odell Associates

"This tiny 1959 church is way off the beaten path, about a half-hour from Charlotte in Belmont. Less known than others on this list, it was designed by Odell Associates but the real genius came from the project architect Charles Lyman Bates.

"His geometric stained-glass panels throughout the interior create a modernist spirituality in a way that still feels entirely original. The feeling I got, walking in, was a spiritual combination of religion and progress; the space is imbued with deeply gorgeous light. It's like God has a really swanky new house."

Via 57 West in New York City by Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG)

"All I want for Christmas is an apartment in this building, which sets the tone for a new era of modernism in New York City. Bjarke Ingels is this century's Frank Lloyd Wright and I'm going on record with that statement.

"It's fun to see the building from the air on Google as well as from the water if you're on an architectural walking or boat tour (often sponsored by AIA New York Chapter); it's a departure from any other building on Manhattan's skyline. On a personal note, please find me if you have a lead on getting in!"

Ralph Atkinson House in Monterrey, California, by Gregory Ain

"The LA architect Gregory Ain was on the FBI's watchlist for decades because he dared to advocate on behalf of integrated housing in 1950's California. He and partner James Homer Garrott, an African American architect, designed this house in Monterrey in 1959 when they had an office in Silver Lake.

"On a tall and steep cliff over the Pacific, it is not an exaggeration to say that this home is one of the most beautiful, spectacularly sited houses in America.

"We often try to track these houses and to learn about their owners; this one was last sold in 2020 to a mysterious buyer, who has stayed anonymous with the help of a lot of lawyers and accountants. But if you're ever in the area, it is everyone's dream Instagram post."

Casa Marbrisas in Acapulco, Mexico, by John Lautner

"Lautner in Mexico. John Lautner is the architect of record, the project architect is Elena Arahuete. Together they designed one of the most amazing residences in Mexico. Or anywhere, for that matter.

"It's an incredible fusion of sky and sea and water, even though it's high up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Not open to visitors, the house has been featured in several Lautner documentaries."

Desert House 1 in Palm Springs, California, by Jim Jennings

"This is a desert example of complete efficiency, a one-bedroom, one-bath house that perfectly bookends Frey's home of 45 year's earlier.

"Once inside the walls, you are part of completely relaxing, simple, minimal space, at the same moment inside and outside, very private, cloistered. I'd call it monastic."

Victor and Elizabeth Hunt House in Malibu, California, by Craig Elwood

"Designer Craig Elwood had a red Ferrari and was a master of promotion in mid-century Los Angeles. Derided by the architecture profession, of which he was formally not a member, he rose to fame via three homes that were included in the iconic Case Study Houses published by Arts and Architecture magazine.

"The Victor and Elizabeth Hunt House in Malibu was immaculately restored in 2020 by Ellwood-whisperer Barton Jahncke, who specializes in Ellwood restorations, for its loving new owners and noted preservationists, Diane Bald and Michael Budman."

The post The ten best modernist buildings in North America are "sculptures that you can live in" appeared first on Dezeen.

[babylon-crashing]

SANTA MUERTE'S BLACK CANDLE

While the Lady of the Shadows is the saint of the margins par excellence, her strong appeal to one particular group, which has suffered persecution throughout the ages, is unparalleled. LGBT Santa Muertistas constitute an inordinately large sector of devotees in North and Central America and beyond. I had noticed her special attraction to those who aren't heterosexual from the outset of my research eight years ago, but in the rush to publish I wasn't able to go beyond a passing reference. From the most prominent devotional leaders to anonymous believers, the disproportionate number devotees to death can't be ignored.

The majority of top Saint Death leaders in the United States, Britain, and the Philippines are LGBT, with gay men predominating. In Mexico the trend isn't as pronounced, as the three most prominent devotional authorities there are straight. However, Dona Queta appears to be grooming a gay devotee as the successor to her Tepito throne. Among rank-and-file Santa Muertistas in Mexico, images of the Powerful Lady have become commonplace at gay pride parades in Mexico City, where rainbow-colored death saints process alongside their festive owners. On the other side of the border the strong presence of LGBT devotees is particularly noticeable on social media where they seem to compose the majority of Euro-American Santa Muertistas on Twitter and Facebook groups dedicated to the Bony Lady.

Without doubt the skeleton saint's zero-tolerance policy on discrimination is one of the most important appeals to LGBT devotees. While great strides have been made in both Mexico and the United States over the past few decades in terms of gaining equal rights and creating greater social acceptance, lesbians, gays, bisexuals, and especially transgender individuals still suffer from discrimination, homophobia and persecution.

It's the enduring discrimination in rural and small-town Mexico that set the stage for Arely Vazquez, who has appeared in numerous media reports and documentaries, to become the pioneering Santa Muertista in New York City. Raised in a small town outside of Acapulco, Arely started to feel uncomfortable with her natal male sexuality in her preteens. She quickly realized her attraction to other boys wasn't acceptable with the rigid social and religious confines of her hometown. In fact, when Arely confessed her sexual orientation to the parish priest, he instructed her to pray for conversion, which, of course, is still popular in some Evangelical and Catholic churches. Realizing life would be difficult for her in her hometown, Arely moved to Mexico City in her late teens, and it was there that she discovered the skeleton saint through her aunt and quickly became devoted to death.

Arelys new devotion to Saint Death helped her to move again, this time to the "other side" (as Mexicans often refer to the United States). She already had some relatives in New York City, which, by late 1980s, was experiencing a boom in Mexican immigration. Queens neighborhood of working-class Latin American immigrants, Arely believes the Powerful Lady has empowered her to deal with the challenges of being a transgender immigrant who doesn't speak English. Most significantly, the Bony Lady gave Arely the strength and courage to change her gender to female, which has entailed several surgeries and hormone therapy. It s one particular surgery that Arely views as one of the great gifts of her matron saint. Several years ago I asked her what had been the most important miracle that the Pretty Girl had granted. She immediately clutched her bosom and exclaimed "these!" The breast implants had cost her thousands of dollars. Arelys transgender friends and fellow devotees appear to have asked the White Girl for the same miracle.

As a sign of her fervent devotion and gratitude to her matron saint for empowering her to overcome all kinds of obstacles, Arely has promulgated devotion to the Skinny Lady like nobody else in New York City. A few years ago she started a weekly Sunday prayer service, which is usually held at her Queens apartment and attended by some ten to twenty devotees. In a bid to increase her following, Arely recently affiliated with Enriqueta Vargas, currently the top devotional leader in Mexico, who, from her home temple in Tultitlan, Mexico, presides over a network of some twelve temples and shrines throughout Mexico, called Santa Muerte Internacional, and is attempting to expand into the United Kingdom and Colombia. Enriqueta has attended Arelys annual August fiesta in Queens for the past three years in a row. Attendance at Arelys 2016 fiesta was markedlyless than previous years, possibly due to concerns over the threat of violence. A rival Santa Muertista, headquartered in Kansas, had allegedly made threats against both Arely and Vargas shortly before the 2015 anniversary celebration, which led the transgender diva to hire extra security.

The protection of the Powerful Lady figures as another compelling draw to LGBT devotees. Enduring discrimination and even persecution at times makes the fierce, female skeleton saint especially attractive to those who've been ostracized, taunted, or even subjected to physical violence because of their sexual orientation. This is especially the case for the small group of Filipino devotees in Manila, all of whom are gay men. A devotional leader, Yashagaro Hasegawa, told me, "Santa Muerte does not discriminate. I feel discriminated in Filipino society. There is the idea of making fun of the gay here in the Philippines. There are rules in the Asian culture so I have to be careful because of jobs, and I have to be respectful, to be on the safe side. Also when I'm out at night with the boys I feel her black robe protecting us from dangers in the street." And since Rodrigo Duterte became president in 2016, death squads targeting alleged narcos have made Manila's streets even meaner.

(R. Andrew Chestnut, Devoted to Death, pages 126-132)

[thepause]

Infowars Mini-Documentary: Anarchapulco, The Rise of Anarcho-Capitalism Anarchapulco February 14-17, 2019, Acapulco, Mexico Anarchapulco 2019 tickets now available at: Originally Published On Resistance News here:

[aion-rsa]

Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection Brings Clarity to Underground Film

https://ift.tt/eA8V8J

Alejandro Jodorowsky’s films are confounding, grotesque, beautiful and healing, often within the same frame. The post-violence images of the opening sequence of El Tropo are made more horrific as they are reflected through the eyes of a seven-year-old boy, still naked from a rite of passage. Jodorowky’s films are a gateway drug. The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection of his cult classics Fando y Lis, El Topo, and The Holy Mountain, as well as his new Psychomagic, A Healing Art, are a first taste. The most surrealistic of the psychedelic filmmakers had no special effects, or even fancy cameras in his earliest days. He had visions, and created a physical world to capture those visions inside of a camera.

No stranger to psychedelics, it was John Lennon who first brought Jodorowsky out of the after-hours circuit and into the daylight, which colored the films. Jodorowsky became the “father of midnight movies” because his 1970 spiritual western epic, El Topo, played at midnight or 1 am every night at the Elgin Theater in Manhattan’s Chelsea district. Lennon and Yoko Ono caught it a few times and advised their advisor, manager Alan Klein, to buy it. The ex-Beatle went on to fund The Holy Mountain, and ABKCO Films went on to have as problematic a relationship with Jodorowsky as the British quartet had with Klein. It was patched up, of course, by evidence of this brilliantly restored set of films.

The Holy Mountain was deemed controversial at the 1973 Cannes Film Festival because of its sacrilegious imagery but Fando y Lis, Jodorowsky’s first feature, caused a riot when it premiered in Acapulco, Mexico in 1968. Jodorowsky escaped hidden in a limousine as he was chased out of town by an angry mob, but the film established the Chilean-born son of Russian immigrants as an auteur of surrealist cinema. He became one of the most influential and creative forces on mainstream science fiction when the script, notes, storyboards, and concept art to his mid-70s would-be adaptation of Frank Herbert’s 1965 novel, Dune, made it to major film studios. You can see their shadows over Star Wars, Flash Gordon, the Terminator series, The Fifth Element, and 1979’s Alien.

You can feel shadows in this collection as well. You don’t need to look in Dune notes to find as diverse a gathering as the bar scene in Star Wars. There are enough varied character looks in the black and white film Fando y Lis, which has cannibals, zombies, vampires, freaks, horny old ladies, an army of transvestites, a man playing a burning piano, and a degenerate Pope played by Tamara Garina.

Jodorowsky made the film on weekends with nothing but a one-page outline. The film, which is an adaptation of the absurdist play by Spanish-born French author Fernando Arrabal, is Jodorowsky’s transition from live theater. Jodorowsky created a theater company while still at the University of Santiago. Alternating between Paris and Mexico City, he collaborated with Marcel Marceau for his mimeograms like “The Cage,” directed Maurice Chevalier’s comeback, and directed staged works of surrealistic and absurdist playwrights like Eugene Ionesco and  Samuel Beckett, launching the Panic Movement, which staged shocking theatrical events.

Jodorowsky had staged Fando y Lis, a story about young Fando (Sergio Klainer) and his paraplegic lover Lis (Diana Mariscal) as they quarrel their way to the magical city of Tar. But on film, the sparse natural landscapes and its vibrant and varied population take on surrealistic qualities by the very grain of the filmstock.

The real-life mime, which is being rehearsed at one point, is a microcosm of the varied worlds and the boxes they come in. Set in some post-apocalyptic rubble, the film travels through a world of perversions, murders, pedophilia, and sadomasochistic narcissism to make the viewer conclude the real world is an illusion.

El Topo is a Robin Hood western and Jodorowsky’s band of thieves are very merry men. They laugh at death. They also laugh at pain, suffering and any number of weapons. The film is  told in the mixed styles of Federico Fellini, Luis Buñuel, and Spaghetti Western auteur Sergio Leone, who found himself impressed by the work. “Sergio Leone, he went to see El Topo,” Jodorowsky told Den of Geek while promoting Psychomagic, a Healing Art. “And I cannot believe he appreciated it. I admired him a lot. He was a real artist of industrial movies. He understood what’s in industrial movies. You need to be very intelligent to do that, and he did it. The picture, all of his pictures, I love these pictures.”

Jodorowsky plays the enigmatic master-gunfighter whose nickname, “The Mole,” supplies the title for the film. His son is played by the director’s real life twelve-year-old son Brontis Jodorowsky, who spends the entire film nude and half of it either on a horse or collecting arms. It is the boy’s seventh birthday. His first day as a man, and he has to bury his first toy and a photograph of his mother, then he has the entire world washed away as The Mole goes off to duel only to be left to die in the sun. El Topo doesn’t die though, he wakes up 20 years later to find himself worshipped by a cult of dwarves in a subterranean community. They raise the cash to tunnel out of the cave only to find the world a vastly different and darker place.

The Holy Mountain (1973) opens with the fly-covered Thief (Horacio Salinas) who is hung on a cross by a gang of young, naked boys and a deformed man who lights cigarettes with his elbows. Jodorowsky plays the Alchemist, who transmutes the Thief’s shit into gold. The film is a satire of capitalism, consumerism, and militarism. Tourists pour into the central town to film public executions while chameleons and toads reenacts the Spanish conquest of Mexico. There are “Christs for sale” signs on display throughout the streets. Jodorowsky’s work is about transformation, and the Alchemist, the Thief, and seven wealthy thieves from seven different planets go on a metamorphic pilgrimage to kill the Nine Masters of the Summit in exchange for eternal life.

Producer Allen Klein wanted Jodorowsky to follow The Holy Mountain with an adaptation of Pauline Réage’s S&M classic novel Story of O, but Jodorowsky threw himself into the Dune adaptation. For the comic allegory The Holy Mountain, Jodorowsky cast transvestite actors he found at Max’s Kansas City in New York. He famously avoids working with stars, but for the science fiction adaptation, he assembled a cast which included Salvador Dalí, Orson Welles, Gloria Swanson, Mick Jagger, and David Carradine; he brought in Pink Floyd and the prog band Magma to do the score; and Swiss artist H.R. Giger and French comic book artist Moebius for design. He would try his hand at a mainstream film, with mainstream stars with his 1990’s The Rainbow Thief, which starred Peter O’Toole and Omar Sharif. But his greatest works are his most intimate.

Jodorowsky developed a form of personal therapy he called “psychomagic” in the 1980s. The practice combined Jungian psychology, the tarot and confrontational art. In 1965, Jodorowsky’s avant-garde “Movement Panique” gave a four-hour long performance called “Sacramental Melodrama,” in which he got whipped, symbolically castrated a rabbi, slit the throats of two geese, and nailed a cow’s heart to a cross. He is no less confrontational when faced with trauma. For Psychomagic, A Healing Art, the director escaped his emotion prison to enter the pain of the world.

The film contemporaneously breaks the wall between reality and performance. The documentary is intercut with scenes from some of Jodorowsky’s films. In a revealing clip from his movie The Dance of Reality, a mother teaches her son not to be afraid of the dark by having him strip nude and be painted black to match the hue of darkness. The healing concepts of Psychomagic are personal yet universal, and the film continues themes Jodorowsky has explored since he began making movies.

Jodorowsky supervised the color correction of the restorations. The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection also contains the 1957 short film Le Cravate, a mime adaptation of a Thomas Mann story about a young man, played by Jodorowsky, who falls in love with a French woman who owns a shop where you can buy human heads. In all these films, you see why he has been cited by everyone from Steven Spielberg to Marilyn Manson, to Kanye West, whose “Yeezus” tour was inspired by The Holy Mountain.

The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection is essential viewing for visual artists and fans of the visual arts. The images may have lost the full power of their brutality because of the subsequent works they inspired, but the messages are all applicable today, and will be tomorrow. Art can heal or destroy, Jodorowsky shows how it can do both and still be a work in progress.

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The Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection is available on Blu-Ray now. Psychomagic, A Healing Art is also available on Alamo on Demand.

The post Alejandro Jodorowsky 4K Restoration Collection Brings Clarity to Underground Film appeared first on Den of Geek.

from Den of Geek https://ift.tt/33OZVWS

[dd20century]

California Mid-century Architect John Lautner Part Two

Read “California Mid-century Architect John Lautner: Part One”

John Lautner’s Career During World War II

During World War II, the architect John Lautner joined the Struction Company, working on military engineering and construction projects. This would prove invaluable experience for the architect. During his tenure at Struction he was exposed to the latest “developments in construction technology” (2). In 1944 Lautner worked as a design associate for Douglas Honnold’s architectural firm. “He collaborated with Honnold on several projects, including [two] Coffee Dan's restaurants on Vine St., Hollywood, and on Broadway downtown Los Angeles and a remodel of the Beverly Hills Athletic Club” (2). According to Lautner, he designed about 150 projects under Honnold, with about 15 of them actually being built (4). That same year Lautner’s Bell House was featured in “the article "Three Western Homes" in the March edition of House & Garden” (2). The home was photographed by Julius Schuman marking the beginning of a career-long working relationship between the two (2).

Lautner’s Post-war Commercial Work

Launter left Honnold’s firm in 1947 as a result of Lautner’s affair with Honnold’s wife, Elizabeth Gilman. Lautner’s first wife, MaryBud took the children and moved back to Michigan. Lautner and Gilman married in 1948; Lautner moved into the Honnold residence with Gilman and established his architecture firm there. Despite all that had transpired, Douglas Honnold and Lautner remained good friends (2).

Publicity for Lautner’s work like the House and Garden spread gained the architect several significant commercial commissions: Henry’s Drive-in (1947), Googie’s (1949), Coffee Dan’s (chain 1946 -1949), the UPA Studio (1949) and the Desert Hot Springs Motel (1948) (4,6).

John Lautner, Coffee Dan’s Restaurant (1946), Los Angeles (demolished). Image source.

These works helped define the term “Googie Architecture.” Although “Googie Architecture” had its roots in the streamlined Art Deco structures of Southern California, the style took off as the car culture exploded in the years after World War II. Lautner’s aforementioned Googie’s. Coffee Dan’s, and Henry’s Drive-in were iconic examples. This style of architecture made use of strong geometric shapes and bright colors that would attract the motorists’ attention as they sped down the highway. Other features included “large pylons with elevated signs, bold neon letters and circular pavilions” (1). Along with Lautner, the architects Donald Honnold (Lautner’s former employer), Louis Armet and Eldon Davis became well-known practitioners of the style (1). In the decades after the 1950s “Googie Architecture” was derided for being “it too flashy and vernacular” (1).  In more recent years, however, with the publication of Alan Hess’s Googie: Ultra Modern Road Side Architecture the public has gained a greater appreciation for the style (1).

Lautner’s Outstanding California Mid-century Modern Residences 

“The Southern California climate and light allowed John Lautner to use large planes of glass, exposed wood, and other elements that brought nature into his designs,”(5) along with his superb engineering skills, he designed some of the most unique and memorable California mid-century modern residences. It was during the 1950s and 1960s when Lautner would design his most iconic residences: the Leonard J. Malin House (1960), also known as “The Chemosphere”, the Reiner Residence (“Silvertop”) (1956), the Russ Garcia House (1958-62), and the Paul Sheats House (1963).

The Chemosphere was built in 1960 on a steep slope in the Los Angeles hills. The unique structure consists of an eight-sided structure encircled in wide horizontal picture windows, supported by “a 50-foot concrete pillar that rests on a massive concrete pad 20 feet in diameter and 3 feet thick, buried into the rocky hillside” (2). The building has been used as the location for several movies and television shows. In 2000 “German publisher Benedikt Taschen purchased” (2) and restored the Chemosphere.

John Lautner,  Leonard J. Malin House “The Chemosphere” (1960), Los Angeles. Image source.

In the 1956 Reiner Residence, also sited on a sloping piece of land in Los Angeles features a cantilevered concrete driveway and a “curving living-room window wall … made of five hanging glass panels” (7). Lautner employs the curve as a recurring device used throughout the structure: the walls, the driveway, and the swimming pool – all are curved. There is no straight wall in the home. Due to financial issues original client, Kenneth Reiner never got to an opportunity to live in the house which remained unoccupied until 1976 when the house was bought by Philip and Jacklyn Burchill (7).

The Russ Garcia house “built from 1958 to 1962” (7) is comprised of two structures united under one arched roof. Lautner’s use of the curve is also prominent in this structure (7). A distinctive feature of the Garcia House is “the colored panes of glass in the living room” (2) which earned the house the nickname “the Rainbow House.” The Garcia House was used as a location in the film Lethal Weapon 2 (1982) (2).

John Lautner, Russ Garcia House (1962), Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Julius Shulman, 1975. Julius Shulman photography archive. The Getty Research Institute, 2004.R.10  Image source.

In 1963 Lautner designed the Paul Sheats House for a college professor and his artist wife. The Sheats House is often compared with Frank Lloyd Wright’s Ennis House (1924) for its use of structural concrete, its stunning views of Los Angeles and the complex engineering techniques used throughout the building (8). Unlike the Reiner and Garcia Houses, the triangle replaces the curves as the prominent design motif. The living room features a dramatic triangle latticed ceiling. This house has earned the nickname “The Big Lebowski House” after it was used for a scene in the 1993 film. Its most recent owner businessman James Goldstein “donated the house and its contents to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in 2016” (8).

John Lautner, Paul Sheats House, living room interior (1963), Los Angeles, CA. Photo credit: Tom Ferguson. Image source.

Other notable Lautner designed residences located in Palm Springs, California include the Elrod Residence (1968) and the Hope Residence (1973) (6).

John Lautner’s Later Work

In the late 1960s Lautner designed a project for low-cost housing in Jerusalem, but the project was never built (6). In the 1970s Lautner’s major work included the Arango Residence (1973) in Acapulco, Mexico, one of Lautner’s few commissions outside of California and the Crippled Children's Society Rehabilitation Center (1979) in Woodland Hills, CA. Most of Lautner’s projects during the end of his career were remodeling projects (6). Lautner continued to work until his death in 1994 despite failing health and “loss of mobility” (2) that hampered his productivity.

John Lautner, Elrod House (1968), Palm Springs, CA. Image source.

Recognition of John Lautner’s Work

In 1970, John Lautner was made a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects for Excellence in Design.  He received the Gold Medal from the Los Angeles AIA chapter in 1993 for his lifetime achievement (3). Fifty years after Lautner hitchhiked his way to the Olympic Games, he was named as “Olympic Architect for the 1984 Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles” (2). In 2008, Lautner’s work was the subject of a retrospective exhibition at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles, and the following year Lautner was the subject of a documentary feature film directed by Murray Grigor, Infinite Space: The Architecture of John Lautner (2). In 2011, to commemorate the anniversary of the architect’s 100th Birthday, the City of Los Angeles designated July 16 as John Lautner Day. 2

References

Wikipedia, (2019). Googie Architecture. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Googie_architecture

Wikipedia, (2019). John Lautner. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lautner

Lautner, Judith, (2008). Biography of John Lautner. John Lautner Foundation. https://www.johnlautner.org/wp/?p=33

John Lautner, (1986). Responsibility, infinity, nature oral history transcript.  Marlene L. Laskey, interviewer; University of California, Los Angeles. Oral History Program. https://archive.org/stream/responsibilityin00laut#page/n77/mode/2up

Los Angeles Conservancy (n.d.). John Lautner. https://www.laconservancy.org/architects/john-lautner

John Lautner Foundation, (2008). Project List Report. http://www.johnlautner.org/wp/wp-content/uploads/ProjectList.pdf

Louie, E., (14 June 1990). For 50 Years, Architect Lets Nature Call the Tune. New York Times Online Archive https://www.nytimes.com/1990/06/14/garden/for-50-years-architect-lets-nature-call-the-tune.html

Riefe, J. (19 February 2016). Inside the Big Lebowski house – a masterpiece donated to Lacma. The Guardian Online. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/feb/19/big-lebowski-house-architect-john-lautner

[tecmarcos]

On the frontline of Mexico's drug war

On the frontline of Mexico’s drug war

Mexico’s official murder rate last year was nearly 30,000 people. The worst year since the government started counting bodies 20 years ago.

It is widely assumed that this is almost entirely caused by the drug wars raging between the country’s Narco Cartels and the government.

Murdering business or political opponents is taking over from legal action and the ballot box.

We travelled to one of the…

[tvrundownusa]

tvrundown USA 2021.11.05

Friday, November 5th:

(exclusive): Animaniacs (hulu, season 2 available, all 13 eps), "Being Blago" (hulu, Rod Blagojevich docu-series, all 4 parts), The Oprah Conversation (apple+, talkshow special "Will Smith"), Tampa Baes (amazon, reality/docu-series premiere, all 8 eps), Big Mouth (netflix, season 5 available, all 10 eps), Pete the Cat (amazon, next 6 eps), "Hello, Jack! The Kindess Show" (apple+, preschool series, all 7 eps), Bill Burr presents: "Immoral Compass" (ROKU, dark comedy anthology premiere, all 10 eps), The Club (netflix, Istanbul dramatic series premiere, first 6 eps), Glória (netflix, Portuguese spy drama, limited series, all 10 eps), Narcos: Mexico (netflix, season 3 available, all 10 eps, series finale), Joyelle Nicole Johnson: "Love Joy" (Peacock, stand-up comedy special), The Unlikely Murderer (netflix, Swedish crime drama, limited series, all 5 eps)

(streaming movies, etc.): "Finch" (apple+, original sci-fi film w/ Tom Hanks), "A Man Named Scott" (amazon, Kid Cudi music documentary), "The Electric Life of Louis Wain" (amazon, artist biopic), "Love Hard" (netflix, Christmas rom-com, ~110mins), "Yara" (netflix, Italian thriller, ~95mins), "Meenakshi Sundareshwar" (netflix, Hindi rom-com, 2hrs+20mins), "We Couldn't Become Adults" (netflix, Japanese romantic drama, 2hrs++), "Zero to Hero" (netflix, Chinese sports drama, ~100mins), "A Cop Movie" (netflix, Mexican dramatization/documentary)

(streaming weekly): Dickinson (apple+, final season 3 opener, first 3 eps), Swagger (apple+), Invasion (apple+), Acapulco (apple+), Foundation (apple+), The Morning Show (apple+), The Great British Baking Show (netflix), "Maradona, Blessed Dream" (amazon), I Know What You Did Last Summer (amazon, penultimate), Tooning Out the News (Para+), The Amber Ruffin Show (Peacock, primetime)

(original made-for-TV movies): "Gingerbread Miracle" (HALL, ~2hrs), "Her Fatal Family Secret" (LMN, 2hrs), "The Deep House" (EPIX, haunted house thriller, 90mins)

(also new): The UnXplained (HIST, season 3 opener), The Center Seat: “55 Years of Star Trek" (HIST, docu-series premiere)

(hour 1): S.W.A.T. (CBS), Penn & Teller: Fool Us (theCW), Shark Tank (ABC), Home Sweet Home (NBC), Sydney to the Max (disney) /   / Gabby Duran & The Unsittables (disney), The Loud House (NICK) /   / Tooned In (NICK)

(hour 2): Magnum P.I. (CBS), Nancy Drew (theCW)

(hour 3): Blue Bloods (CBS), Day of the Dead (SyFy), Eli Roth's History of Horror (AMC, season 3 finale), Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO), Tha God's Honest Truth (COM)

(hour 4 - latenight): The Graham Norton Show (BBCAm)

[repeat, returning next week: Disney's Magic Bake-Off (disney) ]

[smilystore]

Why Are You Still Doing Bikram Yoga

While disgraced yoga guru Bikram Choudhury hides out in Mexico amid allegations of rape and harassment, women all over the world are still giving him their money.

In the southwestern Spanish town of Murcia, some 60 yogis spent nine weeks last spring in sweltering heat learning the 26 postures and 2 breathing practices of Bikram yoga, so that they might go home and teach it. The guru himself sat onstage, broadcasting instructions with his microphone headset. Bikram Choudhury, often wearing nothing except a black Speedo and a gold Rolex, is notoriously brutal at his teacher training, but his devoted followers embrace and value his methods so much so that they all paid between $12,500 and $16,600 to be there.

This fall, dozens more will pay the same amount for a teacher training in Acapulco, Mexico. Choudhury and his students the majority of whom are women will spend nine weeks at a Sheraton resort on Mexico’s Pacific coast, equipped with an 18-hole golf course, pools, bars, restaurants and “an outstanding wellness area,” according to the program description.

Acapulco is a convenient place for Choudhury he decamped there following several lawsuits, an arrest warrant and allegations of rape and harassment against him. This raises the question of why so many people worldwide continue to give him their money. For many, it appears to still be the highlight of their yoga careers. For others, those nine weeks with Bikram Choudhury were the most horrific experiences of their lives.

Jill Lawler, a former student of Choudhury’s from a 2012 training, filed a civil suit against him for rape and harassment in July after her first complaint in 2016 was held up in Choudhury’s company’s bankruptcy lawsuit. Lawler and her legal team are going straight for the jugular in a civil suit, seeking punitive damages from Choudhury himself.

“Teacher Training was intense and demanding,” the lawsuit says. “Unbeknownst to [Lawler], Bikram Choudhury referred to them as ‘one big brainwashing session.’”

While some in the yoga community specifically the Bikram yoga community have taken lengths to distance their practices from the man himself, others have ignored the allegations altogether, or shrugged them off and given him thousands of dollars. In fact, the majority of his students are women, and the bulk of his wealth has come from them, despite his alleged predation.

“It’s bizarre to me that people still go to these trainings. I find it very hard to understand how someone could look [at the allegations of rape] and have questions about what happened,” said Jessamyn Stanley, a yoga instructor whose presence in the industry has inspired more diverse bodies to pick up the practice. “We as a community need to recover from this and look at this.”

The Money That Flows To The Guru

Choudhury developed what he has since called his own practice of doing yoga in the late 1960s the now-notorious 26 postures and two breathing practices that must be performed in a carpeted, 105-degree room. He brought it to San Francisco’s North Beach neighborhood in 1973, and in the decades since, America experienced what Stanley referred to as “the Bikram craze” a global franchise led by teachers who had to be trained by Choudhury himself to obtain certification. The cost of this recertification is between $750 and $1,200, and it must be repeated every three years. The locations and trainings became increasingly lavish in the 2000s as celebrities and public figures began to flock to his studios. At the height of the Bikram craze, there were 650 studios in America alone, and as the franchise expanded, so did Choudhury’s wallet.

Initially, Choudhury didn’t franchise the studios he just controlled every aspect of their development with specific contracts that studio owners had to agree to. Certified instructors are required to teach “The Dialogue,” a word-for-word replica of Choudhury teaching a class. Later, Choudhury began to franchise the studios, and per a 2015 report, the cost of opening a Bikram studio is $10,000. There are hundreds of studios in the U.S. alone, and in Europe, Asia and Australia, too. Beyond that start-up fee, Bikram is also owed a percentage of sales, a 5% gross revenues royalty fee, and a 2% gross revenue advertising fund fee per studio. (HuffPost reached out to the Bikram team several times for comment and an update on the franchise fees and received no response.)

It was at the height of this craze that Choudhury allegedly began taking advantage of his more vulnerable students, many of whom seek out the practice due to mental health issues or physical injuries.

Lawler was 18 years old when she spent her college tuition money on a 2012 Bikram yoga teacher training in Las Vegas. She wrote to Choudhury, asking if she could attend despite being three years under the required age, and she was quickly accepted, according to her lawsuit.

“At the time, Jill was proud to be the youngest student at [teacher training], not realizing that her youth and indebtedness to [Choudhury] made her vulnerable and of interest,” the lawsuit reads.

The next several months would include humiliation and degradation at the hands of her guru, the lawsuit alleges, starting with requests for hourslong foot and body massages and culminating in being raped in his hotel room more than once. Because of her financial situation, of which Choudhury had been aware since she reached out to him, Lawler could not simply pack her bags and fly back home.

The lawsuit alleges that Choudhury “has a practice of singling out individual students, both for negative and positive attention. In particular, he singles out female students, compliments and insults them, and requires them to brush his hair or massage him. [He] also manipulates his students, particularly vulnerable women in whom he has a sexual interest.”

In 2016, a Los Angeles jury awarded Choudhury’s former legal adviser, Minakshi Jafa-Bodden, $6.4 million for sexual harassment. A 2016 HBO documentary hosted by journalist Andrea Kremer explored allegations of rape from Lawler and two other women. In the documentary, Kremer visits Choudhury at his Beverly Hills home, where he tells her that his accusers, his former students, are “trash.”

“Why would I have to harass women? People spend 1 million dollars for a drop of my sperm,” he said.

In some ways, he’s not wrong.

“He was my guru,” Lawler said. “I really, really loved him.”

In the midst of several legal battles, including his wife’s filing for divorce for “irreconcilable differences,” Choudhury’s company, Bikram Yoga Inc., filed for bankruptcy in 2017.

But none of these allegations and legal challenges have fully deplatformed him. He has dodged criminal charges and made a comfortable home for himself in a resort town just out of reach from prosecution. In two months, women from all over the world will pay five figures for the opportunity to rub his feet until their fingers are raw.

Separating The Practice From The Guru   

In my first Bikram yoga class, I nearly threw up twice: first from the smell of the carpet and again because I had underestimated how very dehydrating the practice can be. (I nearly threw up a third time reading Lawler’s July lawsuit against the predatory guru.) The sweat is no joke, nor is the actual work of the practice. If you must rest, you’re meant to do so staying upright. Drinking water during practice is discouraged except when the instructor permits it. It’s not uncommon for students to get up and walk out of the class for air, or because they hate it.

For some, the practice is invigorating and healing, and for others, it’s 90 minutes of trying not to vomit or pass out. Often, it is both. Many yogis are attracted to it for its consistency no matter what studio you’re in, because of The Dialogue, you will do the same routine. Though the practice wasn’t for me, there is no shortage of praise for what Bikram yoga has done for people with injuries or respiratory, mental or spiritual health issues, and that praise is valid.

But ignoring the dark side of the guru behind it is irresponsible.

Beyond the many accusations of rape and harassment, Choudhury has claimed that Bikram yoga can cure AIDS and Parkinson’s disease. When a Black woman called him out for making homophobic statements, he told his assistants to “get that Black bitch out of here” and called her “cancer.”  He has also said that “Blacks don’t get my yoga.”

Last year, in ESPN’s “30for30” podcast, reporter Julia Lowrie took a deep dive into Choudhury’s past and met with a relative of Choudhury’s guru, Kavya Dutta, who told her that the routine Choudhury has been trying to copyright all these years is actually a routine her family grew up practicing.

“It’s not his,” Dutta said. “I’m sorry to say that.”

Many studios have begun to change their affiliations with Choudhury, “de-branding” from the guru and referring to their classes as “hot yoga” or “Bikram-style” instead of just “Bikram yoga.” This, on top of his company’s bankruptcy and his many legal battles, has understandably hit Choudhury hardest, in his ego and in his bank account. Choudhury has long been aggressive about owning the practice in 2012, he filed an unsuccessful copyright lawsuit against Yoga to the People, a New York City studio run by a former student, for using his teaching style in his practice. Before that, he had for years been trying to copyright the poses or asanas. 

Nevertheless, the yoga community (marketed to and driven predominantly by women) continues to enjoy his practice much like the many cinephiles still drawn to the catalogs of Woody Allen or Kevin Spacey, or the die-hard fans who will defend Michael Jackson (reportedly a Bikram enthusiast) to their graves.

This speaks to the personality culture of yoga, on the one hand. “It’s celebrity culture on overdrive,” said Stanley. “It comes down to the internalized misogyny and rape culture that the American style yoga community has always been about.”

Stanley still practices Bikram, if not as often as she used to. “He has very little to do with the power of yoga itself. No one owns yoga,” she said.

By Jenavieve Hatch

The post Why Are You Still Doing Bikram Yoga appeared first on Smile store.

source https://smilystore.com/2019/08/10/why-are-you-still-doing-bikram-yoga/

[architectnews]

Ten need-to-know modernist buildings in North and South America

From Frank Sinatra's house in Palm Springs to a cliffside home in Acapulco, here are 10 beautiful pieces of modernist architecture that non-profit USModernist is fighting to preserve.

USModernist director George Smart has picked 10 of his favourite examples of mid-century architecture across North and South America.

"Just like stock car racing or sushi, modernist architecture is not for everybody," Smart told Dezeen.

"There are some people that just don't like it, and that's fine. The important thing is that, because there are so few of them, that we recognise that many of these houses are really sculptures that you can live in," he explained.

"We wouldn't take a piece of art and go tear it to pieces. Similarly, we want to try to keep these houses, which are like works of art, from being destroyed."

Based in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, USModernist has been working since 2007 to document modernist homes and buildings across the continent. Its staff and community of modernism fans comb through the archives of notable modernist architects and track down their built works to photograph and document them.

USModernist also has a huge, free-to-access digital library of 20th-century architecture magazines. Educating the wider public about the importance of these buildings is central to USModernist's goals.

"We want to avoid what I call the Priscilla Presley syndrome," said Smart. "Priscilla, wife of Elvis, who took a perfectly wonderful John Lautner modernist house, and turned it into this Italianate villa, when what she should have done is just gone out and bought an Italianate villa."

Smart noticed a particular uptick in threats to modernist buildings in the 2000s, which prompted him to found USModernist. Now the organisation has documented upwards of 8,000 buildings.

"Modernist architecture is very optimistic. It tends to point us towards a future that's going to be better and happier," Smart says on the appeal of the style.

"Most people who don't like modernist houses have never spent the night in one, they just don't get the vibe that is brought about by designing a house differently," he explained.

"I think people who know and love these houses and buy them just adore the feeling that their house gives them."

Read on to discover Smart's top 10 modernist buildings:

Frey II in Palm Springs, California, by Albert Frey

"This last, final home of Albert Frey is the perfect small weekend getaway with one of the best views in California (above and top). It is also an incredibly efficient use of space and was built around a giant rock, which sits in the living room.

"On a more reverent note, there are people, including myself and the architecture curators at the Palm Springs Art Museum, who consider this 1964 house to be the high temple of desert architecture, as it is the epitome of a building integrated into the earth around it."

Catalano House in Raleigh, North Carolina, by Eduardo Catalano

"Argentinian professor Eduardo Catalano created one of the first hyperbolic paraboloid residences in 1954, which instantly became an international sensation.

"The house was tragically destroyed in 2001 after years of neglect. This loss inspired the creation of what became USModernist. Bold, dramatic and fun to live in, it continues to amaze us, even 20 years after its demise."

TWA Terminal in New York City, New York, by Eero Saarinen

"The recent renovation, restoration and addition to Eero Saarinen's TWA Terminal at JFK Airport is one of America's finest restoration projects. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey get huge credit for not tearing the building down in the past 30 years.

"Instead, they kept it in mothballs until the right developer could come along. And the right developer did. The main terminal, plus the two new hotel wings, make for a perfect overnight stay – but the real secret is the 50,000-square-foot underground conference facility designed by Lubrano Ciaverra, which has barely been covered by the media. It's the only major conference facility at the airport."

Frank Sinatra's Twin Palms House in Palm Springs, California, by E. Stewart Williams

"In 1947 Frank Sinatra commissioned the first of a couple of Palm Springs houses, this one by E Stewart Williams. It put Williams on the map as an up-and-coming architect.

"It was famous for a rollicking fight that Frank had with his then-wife Ava Gardner; you can still see cracks in the bathroom from when she threw a bottle at him. Where most living rooms had a phonograph and radio console, this one has professional audio recording capability built-in.

"I think it's an urban legend that the pool is shaped like a piano, it's just a coincidence. The house is open for Modernism Week every year, for tours and parties (where you'll find us); the rest of the year, you can rent it."

Holy Comforter Lutheran Church in Belmont, North Carolina, by Odell Associates

"This tiny 1959 church is way off the beaten path, about a half-hour from Charlotte in Belmont. Less known than others on this list, it was designed by Odell Associates but the real genius came from the project architect Charles Lyman Bates.

"His geometric stained-glass panels throughout the interior create a modernist spirituality in a way that still feels entirely original. The feeling I got, walking in, was a spiritual combination of religion and progress; the space is imbued with deeply gorgeous light. It's like God has a really swanky new house."

Via 57 in New York City, New York, by Bjarke Ingels (BIG)

"All I want for Christmas is an apartment in this building, which sets the tone for a new era of modernism in New York City. Bjarke Ingels is this century's Frank Lloyd Wright, and I'm going on record with that statement.

"It's fun to see the building from the air on Google as well as from the water if you're on an architectural walking or boat tour (often sponsored by AIA New York Chapter); it's a departure from any other building on Manhattan's skyline. On a personal note, please find me if you have a lead on getting in!"

Ralph Atkinson House in Monterrey, California, by Gregory Ain

"The LA architect Gregory Ain was on the FBI's watchlist for decades because he dared to advocate on behalf of integrated housing in 1950's California. He and partner James Homer Garrott, an African American architect, designed this house in Monterrey in 1959 when they had an office in Silver Lake.

"On a tall and steep cliff over the Pacific, it is not an exaggeration to say that this home is one of the most beautiful, spectacularly sited houses in America.

"We often try to track these houses and to learn about their owners; this one was last sold in 2020 to a mysterious buyer, who has stayed anonymous with the help of a lot of lawyers and accountants. But if you're ever in the area, it is everyone's dream Instagram post."

Casa Marbrisas in Acapulco, Mexico, by John Lautner

"Lautner in Mexico. John Lautner is the architect of record, the project architect is Elena Arahuete. Together they designed one of the most amazing residences in Mexico. Or anywhere, for that matter.

"It's an incredible fusion of sky and sea and water, even though it's high up on a cliff overlooking the ocean. Not open to visitors, the house has been featured in several Lautner documentaries."

Desert House 1 in Palm Springs, California, by Jim Jennings

"This is a desert example of complete efficiency, a one-bedroom, one-bath house that perfectly bookends Frey's home of 45 year's earlier.

"Once inside the walls, you are part of a completely relaxing, simple, minimal space, at the same moment inside and outside, very private, cloistered. I'd call it monastic."

Victor and Elizabeth Hunt House in Malibu, California, by Craig Elwood

"Designer Craig Elwood had a red Ferrari and was a master of promotion in mid-century Los Angeles. Derided by the architecture profession, of which he was formally not a member, he rose to fame via three homes that were included in the iconic Case Study Houses published by Arts and Architecture magazine.

"The Victor and Elizabeth Hunt House in Malibu was immaculately restored in 2020 by Ellwood-whisperer Barton Jahncke, who specializes in Ellwood restorations, for its loving new owners and noted preservationists, Diane Bald and Michael Budman."

The post Ten need-to-know modernist buildings in North and South America appeared first on Dezeen.

[politicalfilth-blog]

Anarchy Is Apocalypse, Claim The Powers That Shouldn’t Be [VIDEO]

“DO NOT TRAVEL TO CHERAN, MEXICO”

Those are the official words of warning issued by the benevolent US State Department to all Americans.

We know the government doesn’t like competition, so whenever a community organizes peacefully and prosperously without a big brother state extorting them, it’s time to ramp up the propaganda machine… for your safety, of course.

Well, in the spirit of refusing to believe anything crazy Uncle Sam says, one of the best things I did in 2018 was decide to visit Cherán myself, along with journalist Luke Rudkowski, to see what the hype was all about.

Anarchapocalypse is an upcoming documentary we were interviewed for, in which filmmaker Chris Harrigan explores the relationship between individuals and governments, from Acapulco to Michoacán.

The world needs to hear about the brave men and women of Cherán, the indigenous community that, in an uprising nearly a decade ago, threw out the local cartels and corrupt politicians—all of them—to end a cycle of violence and deforestation.

Enjoy The First Teaser Clip From The Film:

“The people of this land have been well-known for not letting themselves [be] dominated by someone else,” said Rodrigo, a native from the city, “right now, the situation was with the cartels and the government—they were taking advantage of them in a horrible way.”

Indeed, as we drove in, we were greeted by a checkpoint—except this “security measure” was designed to keep out politicians, those identified with a political party, and police.

Cherán is a beautiful, peaceful, and thriving example of what’s possible without the prying arms of the state, so it was really important to be able to tell this story.

Watch The Full Coverage From We Are Change:

Real world examples of functioning anarchy on large scales continue to emerge. It’s part of the reason that Anarchapulco—The World’s Premier Liberty Event—has exploded in popularity.

It’s expected to break attendance records again this year, and the whole theme is LIFE UNCHAINED, so prepare for the wildest experience imaginable.

Anarchapulco 2019 is honored to have Cherán Town Elder Jose Merced presenting on the main stage, along with incredible visionaries like Dr. Ron Paul, Andrew Napolitano, and David Icke.

There will be so many freethinkers you’ll have the chance to meet and network with. Tickets are expected to sell out soon, though, so if you still haven’t, be sure to BOOK NOW while you can.

    The post Anarchy Is Apocalypse, Claim The Powers That Shouldn’t Be [VIDEO] appeared first on The Dollar Vigilante.

from The Dollar Vigilante https://dollarvigilante.com/blog/2019/01/11/anarchy-is-apocalypse-claim-the-powers-that-shouldnt-be-video/ via The Dollar Vigilante

[carlosmendozaphoto]

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