Liza P.

  175, 80-57-90

Liza P. is a model from Kaliningrad. 

The Russian Triumph Modeling Agency describes itself as specialized on the development of models' international careers since 2010. "Our girls work in the world’s leading modeling agencies, on fashion Weeks from Paris to Tokyo and with the famous magazines."

Anthony Toney

A painter, muralist and long-time teacher at the New School of Social Research in New York, Anthony Toney was born to Syrian immigrants in Gloversville, New York on June 28, 1913.

He received a university stipend to study in Paris in 1937. Alarmed by the fascist movements sweeping Europe, Mr. Toney sneaked across the Pyrenees into Spain and joined the volunteer Abraham Lincoln Brigade fighting against Gen. Francisco Franco's forces in the Spanish Civil War.
Wounded at the Battle of Ebro, he returned to New York and worked again for the WPA. During World War II, Mr. Toney served as a flight engineer in the Army Air Forces in the South Pacific and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.”

Toney, who took advantage of the GI Bill to get a doctorate in fine arts and education at Columbia , began teaching at the New School in 1952.  He painted two enormous murals at Syracuse University, one of which, Man and the Universe (above), includes portraits of nearly a hundred scientists and is still on view.

His work is marked by an intellect that looked at the world and saw a complex reality. For him realism was not a mirror of the natural world, but a more abstract idea which included political and psychological forces. His strong aesthetic was influenced by the movements that preceded him- impressionism, expressionism and cubism as well as the foundations of the old masters.

He moved to Fairfax, California in 1997 and, with his beret and sketchbook, became a familiar figure around town. He volunteered at the local elementary school, delighting kids whose portraits he did.

La Bouchée de Pain

La Bouchée de pain (The Bite of Bread) is a painting by Fernand Pelez on commission from the Ministry of Fine Arts in 1881 on the theme of “Charity”.

The implementation of this large composition did not begin until after 1900 and was completed in 1908. Ten preparatory sketches are kept at the Petit Palais. They are painted in shades of brown in the style of ink washes. The characters are represented in groups or individually, life size.

Urban poverty primarily affects low-skilled workers and sick people who are left jobless and destitute by economic crises. Faced with the delay in social reforms, Catholic organizations still occupied a predominant place in charitable action at the end of the 19th century. Opened on rue Cujas, the work of the Bouchée de pain was named in reference to the last meal of Jesus with the apostles.

Fr Paul Mayer

Paul Mayer (1931–2013) was a German-born American peace activist. Mayer is best remembered as a leading radical pacifist of the 1960s and early 1970s, taking part in acts of civil disobedience in an effort to speed an end to the Vietnam War.

Paul Michael Mayer was born in Frankfurt, Germany to Ernst and Bertha Mayer, German Jews. His father was a concert violinist who made ends meet working as his salesman, while his mother worked as a nurse.

Following the rise to power of Hitler and his Nazi party, Mayer and his younger brother were expelled from school by government edict, contributing to his parents' decision to emigrate to the United States in 1938. He spent a year living in an orphanage before his parents were financially able to obtain an apartment for the family in New York City.

Mayer converted from Judaism to Catholicism in 1947, at the age of 16, drawn to the church, he later recalled, by an "adolescent drive to belong." Aspiring to become a priest, Mayer joined a Benedictine monastery, where he lived for 18 years.

Mayer was deeply affected by liberation theology in the Catholic church, with its emphasis upon aiding the poor by battling unjust economic, political, and social conditions.

During his last years Mayer became involved with the Occupy Wall Street movement, expressing an affinity for its radical political ideology and anti-poverty efforts.

 

Suzy Lake

Suzy Lake RCA (1947) is an American-Canadian artist based in Toronto, Canada, who is known for her work as a photographer, performance artist and video producer.

Using a range of media, Lake explores topics including identity, beauty, gender and aging. She is regarded as a pioneering feminist artist and a staunch political activist.

Her adopted personas highlight the possibilities for deception involved in posing for the camera. An example is "Suzy Lake As Patty Hearst", a project Lake made in collaboration with Bill Jones, featuring the artist as the eponymous Hearst.

American artist Cindy Sherman has cited Lake's photo-performance as an influence on her work.

How to Gracefully and Beautifully Wear a Military Beret

Following yesterday's post, on the shaping of a US Airborne Forces beret, this video shows this strange practice takes place in Russia just the same. 

"How to gracefully and beautifully wear a military beret", is its title. 

How to Shape your Military beret

The strange practice of soldiers around the world feeling the need to shape (or abuse) their berets uniformly...

In this video, a soldier explains how to do this with a maroon beret of the US Airborne Troops.

National Indigenous Veterans Day

National Indigenous Veterans Day (also known as National Aboriginal Veterans Day) is a Memorial Day observed in Canada in recognition of aboriginal contributions to military service, particularly in the First and Second World Wars and the Korean War.

Korean War veteran Allen Derouin, of the Ojibwe First Nation 

It occurs annually on 8 November. The day was first commemorated in 1994. The special memorial was created because before 1994 Indigenous veterans were not recognized in Remembrance Day activities.

Indigenous veterans had to overcome many obstacles to serve Canada in these wars, including adjusting to new cultures, sometimes learning to speak new languages (usually English) and travelling long distances to enlist.

The memorial was inaugurated in Winnipeg in 1994 and has since spread nationwide.

Ian Wallace

Ian Wallace (1933-2021) belonged to the generation of ornithologists who did much to popularise birdwatching. 

He made major contributions to two of the most widely read ornithological works of his day: A Field Guide to the Birds of Britain and Europe, and the nine-volume Handbook of the Birds of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa, to which he contributed key sections on field characters and behaviour.

Rare birds were Ian’s lifeblood: from 1963 to 1968 he was chairman of the British Birds Rarities Committee, and by the late 1960s he had seen a wider variety of species in Britain than anyone else.

Antonio Quezada

Antonio Quezada, a Marine Corps veteran from the White Mountain Apache tribe, participates in the Native American Veterans Association's annual Veterans Appreciation and Heritage Day Pow Wow in South Gate, Calif., Nov. 9, 2014.

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos

Béla Szakcsi Lakatos (1943 –2022), also known by the mononyms Szakcsi or Sa-Chi, was a Hungarian jazz pianist, keyboardist, arranger and composer.

Born in Budapest, Szakcsi Lakatos studied at the Béla Bartók Conservatory and started his professional career in the mid-sixties. In the 1970s he was part of the Aladár Pege’s quartet, with whom he performed at the Montreux Jazz Festival to great critical acclaim, and later he was part of the bands Rákfogó and Saturnus, as well as leader of his own ensemble. He recorded 16 albums and composed several musicals.

Szakcsi Lakatos is regarded as a key figure in the spreading of jazz and fusion genres in Hungary. During his career he received numerous honours and accolades, including the Kossuth Prize and the title of Meritorius Artist of Hungary.

Mattias Olsson

Mattias Olsson (1975) started his career as a classical percussionist playing in orchestras and big bands on Ekerö outside of Stockholm. As a sideline to recording and producing bands Mattias Olsson writes music-related articles for several Swedish magazines.

He was born in Hong Kong to Swedish parents. In 1981 he moved to Stockholm. Starting as a drummer at eight years old he started off playing in big bands, pop and classical ensembles.

Olsson joined Swedish pop band Pineforest Crunch who have so far recorded three albums. Pineforest Crunch had a very strong D.I.Y ethos and recorded six demos before getting signed to Abbas' old label Polar. The band had a hit from the first album, "Cup Noodle Song". The single was a hit in Sweden and Japan and led to intensive touring. The second album, Watergarden, was recorded in England with Radiohead producer Jim Warren. Watergarden mixed orchestral textures with Mellotrons and experimental guitars. Parallel with Pineforest Crunch, he started playing drums and occasional keyboards with Reminder.

He has since then played in numerous projects and is now active as a record producer.

DIOR

Taste, and especially 'good taste', is a tricky subject. 

However, when seeing the new berets by Christian Dior (selling at approximately $1000.00), designed by Maria Grazia Chiuri, it is hard not to make a strong statement about poor taste.

It never fails to amaze me what sort of money people are happy to spend only because of a label and name...

Chad Elish

Chad Elish is an event architect, engineer, technologist, director, DJ, and VJ, from Pittsburgh that loves finding new creative ways to fix problems.

Chad is a driving force in the Maker Movement. He helps facilitate making as HackPGH’s President, by producing Maker Faires across the US, and is a founder of Nation of Makers.

He travels across the world to speak and grow the maker community. He’s here to aid in the movement and to help all of the people who weren’t able learn these important maker skills.

Claron McFadden

Claron McFadden (1961) is an American soprano who studied voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, finishing her degree in 1984.

She gained international fame when making her Glyndebourne Festival Opera debut in the title role of the opera Lulu, conducted by Sir Andrew Davis.

 As well as singing many of the major oratorio works, McFadden became particularly world-famous for her interpretation of modern and contemporary music. McFadden is currently based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands.

Ismail Hekimoglu

İsmail Hekimoğlu (1932 - 2022) is a Turkish retired non-commissioned officer, writer, journalist and columnist.

His real name was Ömer Okçu, and the pen name "Hekimoğlu İsmail", is the name of his grandfather. He graduated from the School of Armored Troops in 1952 and retired from the Turkish Armed Forces in 1972.

He wrote the novel Minyeli Abdullah in 1967, which was banned for a while and then released.

Due to his articles, lawsuits were filed against him at various times since 1950 and he was taken into custody, was brought to the State Security Court several times and was tried under Article 163.

He was sentenced to one year and spent 72 days in prison on the grounds that he violated the Article.

After suffering a stroke in February 2002, he has difficulty using his left leg and left hand. He was mostly seen with his beret on, not giving up the habit of wearing a beret that he started in his military life. He passed away on January 15, 2022.

Château de Roquetaillade

Château de Roquetaillade is located near Bordeaux in south-west France.

The château has been in the same family for over 700 years and present Franco-British castle owner Sébastien de Baritault gives a tour of the castle, (restored in the 19th century by French architect Eugène Viollet-le-Duc).

Many interesting anecdotes, including the use of the chateau by Roger Moore.

Rutene Irwin

Rutene Ahuroa Irwin of Te Aitanga a Mahaki and Te Whakatohea descent, enlisted into the Army at the age of just 14.

This documentary depicts Rutene’s only dream of wanting to make military his career.

Ebenezer Teichelmann

Ebenezer Teichelmann FRCS (1859 –1938), known as 'the little Doctor' to his friends, was an Australian-born surgeon, mountaineer, explorer, conservationist and photographer in New Zealand.

He was a survivor of the sinking of the SS Marquette in 1915. He achieved 26 first ascents of mountains and seven first ascents, or crossings, of passes, cols, or saddles, and is credited with reviving climbing in New Zealand when the sport was almost dead.

A keen photographer, he used a full-plate glass camera, which was hauled up many mountains. His photographs were used in books and advertisements and helped to achieve conservation status for West Coast reserves.

Aston "Family Man" Barrett

Aston Francis Barrett, CD (1946 –2024), often called "Family Man" or "Fams" for short, was a Jamaican musician and Rastafarian.

He was best known as the bandleader of Bob Marley's backing band, as well as co-producer of the albums, and the man in charge of the overall song arrangements.

Barrett's "Family Man" nickname came about before he had any children of his own. Barrett foresaw his role as a band leader and started to call himself "Family Man". He subsequently fathered 41 children: 23 daughters and 18 sons. He also claimed to have 23 grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.