Reminds me of the many holiday seasons that I have spent in Japan. Especially the year that I spent chasing Hiroshige in Tokyo. |
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beauty. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Season's Greetings!
Friday, September 22, 2017
Jhene Aiko's new album! Listen to 'Trip' here
"Laced with 22 tracks, Trip shreds the public's perception of Aiko and allows everyone to walk into the life of Penny, a nickname she was given by her great-grandfather when she was a child. For the first time, Aiko gives listeners a front row seat and allows them to watch her undergo a whirlwind of emotions, including love, pain, depression and, ultimately, triumph."
- Carl Lamarre, Billboard
RIP Miyagi!
Monday, August 21, 2017
Hope You Had a Happy Solar Eclipse
#Eclipse2017 time lapse captured from Easley, South Carolina by Gary McNeillie [6 minutes in 30 seconds] https://t.co/4diLr3jWv7 pic.twitter.com/bXqEZRQ1kb— Massimo (@Rainmaker1973) August 21, 2017
The eclipse over Empire State Building by Gary Hershorn #newyork #nyc |
Saturday, July 29, 2017
Good Morning Rabih Alameddine
by Gregg Chadwick
Along with his literary work, Alameddine is a master at social media, especially twitter. If you are on twitter, follow Rabih Alameddine now. His feed is full of surprises, especially his engaging threads of artworks. Have a Happy Weekend!
Rabih Alameddine is a San Francisco based author whose most recent novel, The Angel of History, is a masterful act of remembering. The scourge of AIDS ravaged the queer community in the 1980's. Alameddine honors the lost in his book that echoes Mikhail Bulgakov’s satirical, elegiac work The Master and Margarita. For those who have been asking me lately for book suggestions, these are both must reads.Good morning— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) July 29, 2017
Happy weekend pic.twitter.com/bU6Kc42wGO
Along with his literary work, Alameddine is a master at social media, especially twitter. If you are on twitter, follow Rabih Alameddine now. His feed is full of surprises, especially his engaging threads of artworks. Have a Happy Weekend!
Good morning, Velázquez pic.twitter.com/31wBaLrOrP— Rabih Alameddine (@rabihalameddine) July 29, 2017
Saturday Morning at Gregg Chadwick's Studio |
Tuesday, July 25, 2017
The Dance of Life
He told ISIS he would rather die than stop dancing. Now he's training and performing in Europe. pic.twitter.com/ENctcJkadi— AJ+ (@ajplus) July 26, 2017
Tuesday, July 11, 2017
Elephant Break!
More please!Can you imagine? Look at the people in the pool. pic.twitter.com/fr574730yD— Yashar Ali (@yashar) July 11, 2017
Tuesday, May 23, 2017
U2 "Miss Sarajevo" at the Rose Bowl - May 20, 2017
Video by Gregg Chadwick
U2 "Miss Sarajevo" at the Rose Bowl - May 20, 2017 with powerful visuals commenting on the civil war in Syria. Moving snippet added by Bono at the end with the words at the base of the Statue of Liberty. There were many beautiful musical moments at the Rose Bowl, from Edge's chiming guitar, to Adam Clayton's deep, fat bass, to Larry Mullin's powerful drumming, to an engaged Bono. For much of the evening, U2 performed in front of a giant video screen filled with Corbijn's evocative new imagery, and later filmed tributes to women's rights and the plight of Syrian refugees. As Bono says to Andy Greene in Rolling Stone,
"Let's meet one such immigrant who he wants to turn away from the shore. I commissioned french artist J.R. He didn't have much time to do it. Where are we going to find this girl? He finds her in Zaatari in a camp in Jordan, which I visited with my daughter and [my wife] Ali a year ago. He finds this incredible spirit, Omaima. She talks about America as a dreamland. She closes her eyes and J.R. asks her in another segment of the film we don't broadcast, 'What do you see when you think of America?' She goes, 'Oh, it is a civilized country and they are a good people.' It was just heartbreaking."
A giant banner bearing a photo of Omaima, the young Syrian refugee featured on the large screen, was carried through the crowd during Miss Sarajevo.
"Miss Sarajevo"
U2
Is there a time for keeping your distance
A time to turn your eyes away
Is there a time for keeping your head down
For getting on with your day
Is there a time for kohl and lipstick
A time for curling hair
Is there a time for high street shopping
To find the right dress to wear
Here she comes, oh oh
Heads turn around
Here she comes
To take her crown
Is there a time to run for cover
A time for kiss and tell
Is there a time for different colors
Different names you find it hard to spell
Is there a time for first communion
A time for East Seventeen
Is there a time to turn to Mecca
Is there time to be a beauty queen
Here she come, oh oh
Beauty plays the clown
Here she comes
Surreal in her crown
Dici che il fiume
Trova la via al mare
E come il fiume
Giungerai a me
Oltre i confini
E le terre assetate
Dici che come fiume
Come fiume
L'amore giungerà
L'amore
E non so più pregare
E nell'amore non so più sperare
E quell'amore non so più aspettare
Is there a time for tying ribbons
A time for Christmas trees
Is there a time for laying tables
And the night is set to freeze
The New Colossus
by Emma Lazarus
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"
Full Concert Video by Chrisedge below:
Saturday, December 31, 2016
Happy New Year 2017 and Some of the Best Things that Happened in 2016
by Gregg Chadwick
Happy New Year 2017!
It’s raining this New Year’s Eve in Santa Monica. The haunting voice of Gil Scott-Heron singing Winter In America fills our living room. My thoughts trace a circuit from this moment back to an earlier New Year in Japan as 1989 rolled into 1990. I was in Tokyo following the spirit and artworks of Ando Hiroshige. That winter in Japan, I clutched a large volume by Henry D. Smith II and Amy G. Poster on Hiroshige’s One Hundred Famous Views of Edo and trekked on rail, foot and car across the historic core of what was Edo era Tokyo. Sponsored by the Nippon Seiyu-Kai's 30th Anniversary Award, I endeavored to create a series of new paintings inspired by Hiroshige’s woodcuts. Time, place, memory, mystery and lore all mixed in my artworks.
Gregg Chadwick
Passing View of Shohei Bridge
30"x24" oil on linen 1990
Today, on the Brooklyn museum’s Tumblr page, Alison Baldassano posted a photo of one of the most mysterious images from Hiroshige's One Hundred Famous Views of Edo. She wrote,"People aren’t the only beings who gather together for special celebrations on the night before a new year dawns. In this woodblock print by Hiroshige, foxes come together on New Year’s Eve to receive directions for the upcoming year and emit ghostly flames, the size of which helps predict the next year’s crop…. And, as the foxes could say in the morning, 明けましておめでとうございます (akemashite omedetou gozaimasu) or Happy New Year!"
Utagawa Hiroshige (Ando) (Japanese, 1797-1858)
New Year’s Eve Foxfires at the Changing Tree, Oji
( No. 118 from One Hundred Famous Views of Edo)
9th month of 1857 Woodblock print
Brooklyn Museum
And some of the best things that happened in 2016!
(Please scroll to the end for all 51)
Thinking about the past year and inspired by a series of tweets by Canadian Astronaut Commander Hadfield, who is back on Earth after living aboard ISS as Commander of Expedition 35 , I have put together a list of positive achievements from 2016. Yes, it has been a difficult year with the Trumpian circus and the deaths of far too many in Aleppo, Iraq, Turkey, Nice, and Berlin. Not to mention, the untimely passing of artists from David Bowie, to Prince, to Carrie Fisher and so many more.
1. It’s easy to forget that this year saw a great many positive accomplishments. Let’s take a look:
2. The Colombian government and FARC rebels committed to a lasting peace, ending a war that killed or displaced over 7 million people.
3. Sri Lanka spent five years working to exile the world’s deadliest disease from their borders. As of 2016, they are malaria free.
4. The Giant Panda, arguably the world’s cutest panda, has officially been removed from the endangered species list.
5. @astro_timpeake became the first ESA astronaut from the UK, symbolizing a renewed British commitment to space exploration.
6. Tiger numbers around the world are on the rise for the first time in 100 years, with plans to double by 2022.
7. Juno, a piece of future history, successfully flew over 588 million miles and is now sending back unprecedented data from Jupiter.
8. The number of veterans in the US who are homeless has halved in the past half-decade, with a nearly 20% drop in 2016.
Thank you Michelle Obama and so many more!
Army Sgt. 1st Class Nicole Howell, 8th Theater Sustainment Command public affairs operations noncommissioned officer, talks with a homeless veteran ahead of the annual Veterans Stand-Down in Honolulu, Aug. 5, 2015.
The stand-down was part of the Mayors Challenge to End Veteran Homelessness initiative announced by First Lady Michelle Obama as a way to challenge the mayors in major cities to provide services and supplies to homeless veterans such as food, shelter, clothing, medical, dental and benefits counseling with the hope of getting them off the streets. Courtesy photo
9. Malawi lowered its HIV rate by 67%, and in the past decade have seen a shift in public health that has saved over 250,000 lives.
10. Air travel continue to get safer, and 2016 saw the second fewest per capita deaths in aviation of any year on record.
11. India’s dogged commitment to reforestation saw a single day event planting more than 50 million trees, a world record.
Hundreds of thousands of people in India's most populous state Uttar Pradesh planted 50 million trees in 24 hours.
(AP Photo/Rajesh Kumar Singh)
12. Measles has been eradicated from the Americas. A 22 year vaccination campaign has led to the elimination of the historic virus.
13. After a century, Einstein’s theory of gravitational waves has been found verifiable, in a ‘moon shot’ scientific achievement.
14. China has announced a firm date for the end of the ivory trade, as public opinion is becoming more staunchly environmentalist.
15. A solar powered airplane flew across the Pacific Ocean for the first time, highlighting a new era of energy possibilities.
16. Costa Rica’s entire electrical grid ran on renewable energy for over half the year, and their capacity continues to grow.
17. Israeli and US researchers believe they are on the brink of being able to cure radiation sickness, after successful tests this year.
18. The ozone layer has shown that through tackling a problem head on, the world can stem environmental disasters, together.
19. A new treatment for melanoma has seen a 40% survival rate, taking a huge step forward towards long-term cancer survivability.
20. An Ebola vaccine was developed by Canadian researchers with 100% efficacy. Humans eradicated horror, together.
21. British Columbia protected 85% of the world’s largest temperate rainforest, in a landmark environmental agreement.
Spirit bears are the best known part of the unique flora and fauna of the Great Bear Rainforest that will be protected under an agreement finalized in B.C.
Spirit bears, also known as Kermode bears, are black bears with a unique genetic variation that gives them their cream-coloured fur. (Photo by Ian McAllister)
22. 2016 saw the designation of more than 40 new marine sanctuaries in 20 countries, covering an area larger than the United States.
23. These marine reserves include Malaysia’s 13 year struggle to complete a million hectare park, completed this year.
24. This also includes the largest marine reserve in history, created in Antarctica via an unprecedented agreement by 24 nations.
25. Atmospheric acid pollution, once a gloomy reality, has been tackled to the point of being almost back to pre-industrial levels.
26. Major diseases are in decline. The US saw a 50% mortality drop in colon cancer; lower heart disease, osteoporosis and dementia.
27. Uruguay won a major case against Philip Morris in a World Bank ruling, setting a precedent for other small countries that want to deter tobacco use.
28. World hunger has reached its lowest point in 25 years, and with poverty levels dropping worldwide, seems likely to continue.
29. The A.U. made strides to become more unified, launching an all-Africa passport meant to allow for visa-free travel for all citizens.
30. Fossil fuel emissions flatlined in 2016, with the Paris agreement becoming the fastest UN treaty to become international law.
31. One third of Dutch prison cells are empty as the crime rate shrank by more than 25% in the last eight years, continuing to drop.
32. Homelessness in the United States declined by 35% since 2007, and Los Angeles committed to $1.2 billion to help get more people off the street. Amanda Hoover in the Christian Science Monitor writes,"The decreases nationwide, especially those involving chronic homelessness, come in part thanks to a push for permanent housing options rather than temporary placements that are no longer seen as a good path to getting people 'back on their feet.' Communities, such as Boston, that have explored supportive, long-term options have seen more of their vulnerable citizens thrive, and some say an expansion of that plan could eradicate the issue of homelessness entirely."
33. @BoyanSlat successfully tested his Ocean Cleanup prototype, and aims to clean up to 40% of ocean-borne plastics starting this year.
34. Israel now produces 55% of its freshwater, turning what is one of the driest countries on earth into an agricultural heartland.
35. The Italian government made it harder to waste food, creating laws that provided impetus to collect, share and donate excess meals.
36. People pouring ice on their head amusingly provided the ALS foundation with enough funding to isolate a genetic cause of the disease in 2016.
37. Manatees, arguably the most enjoyable animal to meet when swimming, are increasing their population.
38. The United States now feeds healthy lunches to more than 30 million children, is about to ban trans fats, and has enacted one of the biggest overhauls of nutrition labels in decades.
http://www.vox.com/2016/10/3/12866484/michelle-obama-childhood-obesity-lets-move Thank You Michelle Obama!
39. Canadian PM Justin Trudeau announces ban on transgender discrimination
40. In December, Gambia became the latest African country to show that voting does count, and dictators do fall.
41. The Gates Foundation announced another 5 billion dollars towards eradicating poverty and disease in Africa.
42. Individual Canadians were so welcoming that the country set a world standard for how to privately sponsor and resettle refugees.
43. Teenage birth rates in the United States have never been lower, while at the same time graduation rates have never been higher.
44. In 2012, the US and Mexico embarked on an unprecedented binational project to revive the Colorado River. By 2016, the results had astonished everyone.
45. SpaceX made history by landing a rocket upright after returning from space, potentially opening a new era of space exploration.
46. Black incarceration rates fell in the United States. Not fast enough, but certainly something worth celebrating.
47. The proportion of older US adults with dementia, including Alzheimer’s, declined from 11.6% in 2000 to 8.8% in 2012, a decrease of about a million people.
48. Mobile phones made significant inroads in the fight against rabies, a disease that kills more people annually than all terrorists combined.
49. In November, the Obama administration followed up its March announcements by banning offshore exploration and drilling for oil and gas in the Arctic until 2022. http://www.politico.com/story/2016/11/5-year-drilling-plan-arctic-waters-obama-231615
50. The World Health Organisation released a report showing that, since the year 2000, global malaria deaths have declined by 60%.
51. Katherine Johnson, 98, was able to see her life's work as a mathematician realized, recognized, and appreciated. #STEMwomen
There are countless more examples, large and small. If we refocus on the things that are working, our new year will be better than the last.
Thinking of all of you this holiday season!
We remain hopeful in this dark moment and send healing thoughts your way.
Thank you for your love and support!
Gregg
This is an update from an earlier letter. I will be sending these out as the situation develops.
It is my goal in these updates to point out the injustice our country faces and actions we can take to find peace and overcome this tide of hate coming from DJT supporters and DJT ideas and policies.
I have posted the content of my first letter without personal details on my blog Speed of Life -
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