For the Love of You --
"Whitney Houston was a featherweight, grand beauty, a whale of a singer and a fragile, tortured superstar who is finally free of her addiction. Her body of work is an eternal testimony to her dignity, grace and her out-of- this-world ability. Her life, which only those closest to her will ever truly know in full, tells a more complicated story"
- Dream Hampton -
Two must-see documentaries, nothing short of incredible.
Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision
EAMES: The Architect and The Painter
The Last of the Teddy Girls
The rockers in postwar Britain 1950's were called "Teddy Boys" because they adapted Edwardian-era styling cues (drainpipe trousers, long coats, etc.) to American rockabilly fashion. It's a scene that survived the fifties, kept going through the sixties, seventies, and is still around today.
While Teddy Boys had a "uniform" of drainpipe trousers and long, drape jackets, "Teddy Girls" wore a variety of styles, usually with a subtle but distinctive Edwardian influence. Often they wore mannish suits, including drape jackets, shirts with high (or wing) collars and black velvet ties, even jeans. A few young women wore their hair in short, mannish haircuts, which was then extremely unusual among women of any age.
They were not, however, limited to androgynous and masculine dress. Coolie hats, boaters, lace-up espadrilles, headscarves, up-dos, plastic earrings, all were popular among young Teddy Girls.
The Joy of Quiet
When telegraphs and trains brought in the idea that convenience was more important than content — and speedier means could make up for unimproved ends — Henry David Thoreau reminded us that “the man whose horse trots a mile in a minute does not carry the most important messages.” Even half a century ago, Marshall McLuhan, who came closer than most to seeing what was coming, warned, “When things come at you very fast, naturally you lose touch with yourself.” Thomas Merton struck a chord with millions, by not just noting that “Man was made for the highest activity, which is, in fact, his rest,” but by also acting on it, and stepping out of the rat race and into a Cistercian cloister.Yet few of those voices can be heard these days, precisely because “breaking news” is coming through (perpetually) on CNN and Debbie is just posting images of her summer vacation and the phone is ringing. We barely have enough time to see how little time we have (most Web pages, researchers find, are visited for 10 seconds or less). And the more that floods in on us (the Kardashians, Obamacare, “Dancing with the Stars”), the less of ourselves we have to give to every snippet. All we notice is that the distinctions that used to guide and steady us — between Sunday and Monday, public and private, here and there — are gone.We have more and more ways to communicate, as Thoreau noted, but less and less to say. Partly because we’re so busy communicating. And — as he might also have said — we’re rushing to meet so many deadlines that we hardly register that what we need most are lifelines.
Portraits of the Homeless - Lee Jeffries
Capturing searing profiles of over 100 different homeless people, U.K.-born photographer, Lee Jeffries has recently showcased this stunning collection of photographs. His images are very dark, detailed and descriptive of the subjects' character and life.
A new year...
Embracing a new beginning is always some sort of a challenge, but to embrace it in its definition alone brings comfort and hope in the "possible". In the changes. In the detours. In the inevitable ends.
I hope and pray we move forward in every aspect, be it - humanness, education, gratitude, grief etc.
Carpe Annum.
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