are out in force. (Part one, I got a lot of photos. I know, these are overexposed, but the bee is adorable.)
Photos © C. Ford
Affinity
Art, Fun, & Nonsense.
are out in force. (Part one, I got a lot of photos. I know, these are overexposed, but the bee is adorable.)
Photos © C. Ford
German multimedia designer Tobias Gremmier visually captures the poetic kinetics of martial arts in Kung Fu Motion Visualization. This four minute video is the latest project from the prolific author, musician and cyber-savant. Posted to his Vimeo, Gremmier materializes the physics of the human body through digitally analyzing the movements of a kung fu drill. Each motion of the fighter’s body is outlined and traced through by a trail of digital dust particles, a mesh of geometric planes, or a stream of fractal webs.
Via The Creators Project.
Ingrid Baars; all images courtesy of Joseph Gross Gallery.
Art LeadHER is a colorful tribute to the recent rise of female artists in contemporary art. The group show, opening today at Joseph Gross Gallery, is the inaugural annual exhibition for ArtLeadHER, a platform launched by the show’s curator Mashonda Tifrere in March of this year for International Women’s Day. The platform, like the show, is dedicated to “celebrating and bringing awareness to women in the art world.”
Motorbikes by yok and sheryo.
Traditional artists try virtual reality art for the first time.
We all know that art can exist in virtual reality, from games like Adr1ft, to films such as Collisions. Virtual reality has shown itself to be a unique medium for immersing audiences in a work of art. But what about creating art within virtual reality? Google’s Virtual Art Sessions set out to experiment with exactly that.
Google invited six artists who all work with different mediums and material, to test out Google’s new Tilt Brush software. Tilt Brush functions as a palette and a brush that simulates painting in a 3D environment. Jeff Nusz, one of the people on the Data Arts Team at Google, commented in the behind the scenes video that it was interesting to take artists accustomed to working with physical things and “hand them this new medium, this new tool that no one knows how to use.”
House Speaker Tim Moore (The News & Observer)
North Carolina Republican lawmakers vowed to defy a federal order to repeal or stop enforcing a controversial anti-LGBT law.
The U.S. Department of Justice on Wednesday found the law violated the federal Civil Rights Act and Title IX, and officials ordered lawmakers to comply with those laws by next week or risk billions of dollars in federal education funding.
But House Speaker Tim Moore indicated Thursday that he and his fellow Republicans had no intention of meeting the federally mandated deadline, reported The News & Observer.
“We will take no action by Monday,” Moore said. “That deadline will come and go. We don’t ever want to lose any money, but we’re not going to get bullied by the Obama administration to take action prior to Monday’s date. That’s not how this works.”
[…]
One of their fellow Republicans, state Rep. Mark Walker, sniffed that Bruce Springsteen was a “bully” after the rock legend canceled a concert appearance over HB2.
“Bruce is known to be on the radical left,” Walker said. “He’s got every right to be so, but I consider this a bully tactic. It’s like when a kid gets upset and says he’s going to take his ball and go home.”
Aaaaand just what it is you all are doing? Mandating bigotry into law certainly seems like serious bullying to me.
The Christian Action League of North Carolina — one of the primary backers of the controversial law — offered a scenery-chewing statement urging GOP lawmakers to disobey the Obama administration:
“At the hands of his henchmen in the U.S. Department of Justice, King Obama, has delivered his message of intimidation to the state of North Carolina.
“The Administration has taken it upon itself to declare “sex” in Title VII and Title IX includes “sexual orientation” and “gender Identity.” This interpretation goes far beyond the language adopted and intended by Congress. Nevertheless, the Great Pontiff of Political Correctness holds the educational futures of our state’s children hostage, while dangling the money bags of federal funds over their heads, demanding in exchange North Carolina bow to the madness of obliterating male and female distinctives – something foundational to every society in human history.
“The battle over North Carolina’s common sense law, HB 2, has national significance. Must every state, more specifically, 28 other states, with laws similar to our own be forced to sacrifice their fundamental right to privacy and safety when using a restroom, locker room, or shower? That is the question of the hour.
“If this doesn’t make people righteously indignant, then our culture has lost any capacity for real moral outrage. We deserve exactly what we’ll get – confusion and chaos. Either truth is something evidential and verifiable or it’s purely subjective and determined wholly in the eye of the beholder.
“It is imperative the Governor and state lawmakers remain strong and fight the advancement of this misguided agenda. No federal law, approved by the people’s Representatives in Congress requires North Carolina comply with the Obama Administration’s demands.”
-Dr. Mark Creech
Well, male and female ‘distinctives’ are certainly foundational when it comes to misogyny, patriarchy, and every day sexism. They certainly do provide a framework for intolerance and remaining close-minded. All of which are great reasons to obliterate them. (As if it were possible to obliterate them. Christians do love being melodramatic.)
UPDATE:
(CNN)- North Carolina will meet a Monday deadline to respond to the U.S. Justice Department about the state’s transgender bathroom law, Gov. Pat McCrory said Thursday.
“We’re reviewing (the Justice Department letter) and we hope to have a response in the very near future.” he said, according to CNN affiliate WNCN.
When asked if the state will respond before Monday’s deadline set by the Justice Department, McCrory answered in the affirmative.
“Definitely,” he said. “We’ll have a response by Monday.”
It seems that Vaughn Ohlman will have to do some hasty rearranging, or refunding, as the case may be. I have no doubt he’ll find some way to set up his marriage stock market, but for now, the Salvation Army has said no. The story of the upcoming marriage market has gotten a lot of publicity, including being picked up by Raw Story, whose readers were less than impressed by the Quiverfull ‘retreat’.
…The Raw Story article sparked outrage among readers and many were moved to action, demanding that authorities be notified in order to protect the children who were slated to be married off young for the purpose of procreating lots of babies for Jesus.
Readers discovered that Camp Hiawatha, where the retreat was planned to be held, is owned by the Salvation Army. I contacted a good friend who is a officer at the Salvation Army’s training school in Chicago, and she responded right away to let me know the Wichita corps has already denied access to Ohlman’s group for what would have amounted to a child trafficking “retreat.”
The Salvation Army of Wichita/Sedgwick County released a statement on the group’s decision:
The Salvation Army has denied a request by the Let Them Marry organization to conduct its event at Camp Hiawatha.
Our decision is based upon our long-standing concern for the welfare of children. At The Salvation Army, we work every single day to provide a safe, caring place for children, many of whom have been left vulnerable due to the actions of adults.We remain steadfastly focused on our mission of advocating for and protecting children.
Frank Howarth once again does magic with wood. (Be warned, his galleries and videos are a serious time sink).
The 2016 National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year is open, and accepting submissions until May 27, 2016. Those of you with travel photos, get them in! (Looking at you, Saad).
This picture was taken during Mt. Bromo eruption, the horse seems a little agitated due to the sound of the eruption, © Reynold Dewantara / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest.
This image was captured very early in the morning after climbing Yellow Mountain at 3 am and waiting for few hours in the cold and wind at -4 degrees. No HDR and no Photoshop was used for the effect of this image, everything is 100% natural. The magic of the nature did its work and I have been lucky, © Thierry Bornier / National Geographic Travel Photographer of the Year Contest.
Courtesy South Dakota Historical Society
Though many attempts have been made to lock up Indians, none are as notorious and depraved as what happened at the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians.
Construction of the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians by the Bureau of Indian Affairs began in Canton, South Dakota in 1901.
“When Western doctors first entered Indian country, they brought with them a Christian-informed, European Enlightenment belief in madness as illness in the body—that is, the belief that loss of one’s reasoning ability came about through defects in the body, specifically, the brain,” says David Edward Walker in a past ICTMN piece. “Very soon, the now-abandoned psychiatric label, lunatic, was being applied to resistant, overwhelmed or merely displaced Native people who were the victims of colonization and oppression.”
But Native Americans didn’t have to be insane to be committed, as Walker points out. “To be destitute was the only universal criteria for admission. Whether he or she was drunk, angry or strange, or merely very poor, there was little distinction made when confining this newly-minted Crazy Indian.”
[…]
On Sunday, June 5 at noon an Honoring and Remembering Ceremony will be held for the 53 tribes across 17 states with ancestors buried at the Hiawatha Asylum for Insane Indians Cemetery.
The ceremony will include traditional prayers with Joe Shields, Yankton Sioux Elder, and David Grignon, director of the Menominee Tribe’s Tribal Historic Preservation Office in Wisconsin, as well as traditional drums and songs with Haystack Butte, Yankton Sioux Tribe.
Lavanah Smith-Judah, Yankton Sioux Tribe, will do a Who Will Sing My Name Prayer Ribbon Ceremony, and Yankton Sioux Veteran’s Honor Guard will offer a tribute. There will also be a 21 Bow and Arrow Salute.
Full Story Here. You can read more about the Hiawatha Asylum here.
Photo taken by Giliell. Breathtaking! Click for full size.
Photo © Giliell. All rights reserved.
Vaughn Ohlman, Quiverfull Patriarch, has now set up a ‘Get Them Married‘ Retreat, a place where Christians can look over stock, and arrange marriages.
“That our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after the similitude of a palace.”
Pardon me for not saying much, I clicked around on that site a bit too much, and I’m definitely feeling queasy.
Pat McCrory
With House Bill 2 under intense scrutiny, the signer of the controversial transphobic bill — North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory — lashed out at his critics and voiced concern he would lose his job. […] On the radio show, McCrory declined to take responsibility for the blowback and instead lamented his new pariah status.
“And now, sadly, in our nation if you have disagreement and you’re on the wrong side of that disagreement, according to the thought police, you’re dispensed of. You’re exiled,” he said. “I’ve even had some people call me, ‘Please don’t, governor, don’t show up to this event because I have people who disagree with you and we don’t want it.'”
[…]
“Society is changing quickly, and anybody who gets in the way is in trouble,” McCrory said on The Big Show. “And I might be in trouble. I might be looking for a side job over here.”
McCrory denied Cooper’s charge that HB 2 has embarrassed North Carolina, which has been hemorrhaging millions thanks to events and entertainers pulling out of the state.
“We haven’t embarrassed North Carolina by talking about something logically,” he said. “It’s logic but it’s not politically correct, apparently.”
The governor also contended that Bruce Springsteen, one of the performers boycotting the Tar Heel State, canceled his Greensboro performance because he couldn’t sell tickets. According to the Greensboro Coliseum, the show had sold 15,000 tickets and was about 100 tickets away from being sold out. McCrory also took umbrage with Fox News and Meet the Press, saying they presented him in a bad light when he was defending HB 2.
and other very cool stuff. Katybe alerted me to Canadian artist Jeff de Boer, and so far all I have is a host of “ooohs”, “aaahs” and “want!”. Other than that, I’m fair speechless. Textless. Something. The very first “Want!” was Rose:
Rose © Jeff de Boer.
Oh, there’s a lot of cat armor, too, for those who for some inexplicable reason, prefer them to rodents. Jeff is also nice enough to have some great pictorials on How to make a Samurai Cat, A giant tin toy, and a giant lighted ball.
Persian Cat, © Jeff de Boer.
Jeff has many galleries, and a whole lot of wonderful art to explore, so have a visit and look around.
https://thisfreelife.betobaccofree.hhs.gov/
The Food and Drug Administration is using young lesbians, drag queens, and transgender individuals in a $36 million advertising campaign to encourage the LGBT community to quit smoking.
The government launched the “This Free Life” campaign Monday, which encourages young people to “find their own truth” and not smoke cigarettes.
“This Free Life is a campaign that proudly celebrates the lives of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community,” the campaign’s website states. “We wave our colors high and seek to improve LGBT people’s health by encouraging tobacco-free lifestyles.”
It is pointed out at the website, and in all the articles about the campaign, that the campaign is being paid for by tobacco taxes. Facts have never seemed to stop those who aren’t in the habit of reading comprehension or thinking, though, and thanks to Franklin Graham, a passel of Christians are very upset over the preferential treatment towards those people, why the nerve, trying to keep them alive and healthy when there are straight Christians out there who are…smoking? From OpposingViews:
Graham wrote on Facebook:
Can you believe it? Our Federal Food and Drug Administration is spending $36 million of taxpayer money on an advertising campaign featuring lesbians, drag queens, and transgender individuals to encourage the LGBT community to quit smoking. Doesn’t everyone need to quit smoking, not just this group?
They’re calling it the “This Free Life” campaign and they’re encouraging young people to “find their own truth.” The only way any person is going to find true freedom is through repentance and faith in God’s Son, Jesus Christ. The real truth is, this lifestyle is not healthy—spiritually or physically. We need to believe God’s truth, not find our own truth as this campaign encourages.
Graham’s Christian followers were not swayed by the facts and slammed the cancer prevention program as he did:
“Throwing away our money on less than five percent of the people living a lifestyle we don’t agree with!!! True salvation is in Jesus Christ alone!!!”
“Just another contribution to our ever growing national debt!”
“Yes I can believe it! One more example of the government wasting tax payer dollars!!”
“Just another something unwanted being rammed down our throat by this administration. The anti-christ is here and in the white house.”
“Spend as much money as humanly possible…to crash the economy…to bring in the Jesuit New Wold Order..that has been the plan…..keep us busy at every turn, with every crazy sinful and destructive thing while building their army with our labor.”
“Wow, does our government ever spent money any more that does any good, that is so very wasteful.”
“Oh, so maybe that’s where the $$$ went instead of for a Social Security cost-of-living increase this year!!”
“They still don’t get why we’re so angry? This is why! Quit using our money for things like this! I know a lot of people who could use money for medicine or to go see a doc.”
“This is just sickening.”
“Truth, so right that God’s Truth is what everyone needs, yet satan can’t stand the truth, it is true that he is a lair and the father of lies.”
Will Marvel Films Feature LGBT Superheroes? Civil War Directors Think So.
Captain America: Civil War directors Joe and Anthony Russo believe the Marvel universe is pushing “what people’s expectation of a superhero movie are.”
The duo recently talked about the possibility of a LGBT character in the upcoming Marvel films. “I think the chances are strong,” said Joe Russo. “It’s incumbent on us as storytellers who are making mass-appeal movies to make mass-appeal movies …. It’s sad in the way that Hollywood lags behind other industries so significantly.”
Joe’s got no idea. GLAAD’s Studio Responsibility Index recently found, among other data, that there was no significant increase in LGBT portrayal in major-studio films from 2014 to 2015—only 17.5 percent.
[…]
“I think this is a philosophy of Marvel—in success it becomes easier to take risks,” Anthony Russo said. “So I think that’s very hopeful for all of us moving forward that bolder and bolder choices can be made.”
So who will it be? Maybe we can sneak in a gay Iceman while Fox isn’t looking …
