Mus

Mus is a Spanish card game, widely played in Spain and Hispanic America, and to a lesser extent in France. Most probably it originated in the Basque Country. The first reference about this game goes back to 1745, when Manuel Larramendi, philologist and Jesuit basque, quoted it the trilingual dictionary (Basque-Spanish-Latin).

In Spain it is the most played card game, with many Mus clubs or "peñas. The origin of the word Mus is uncertain. It could come from the Basque language, where "musu" means "kiss", the established signal of the better possible card combination (3 Kings and one Ace).  Larramendi wrote about the word mus or "musu" meaning lips or face and suggests that the name of the game could have derived from the facial gestures used while playing.]

Following another theory, the word mus comes from the latin "musso", that means "keep silent". It is conjugated as "mus" ("I keep silent"), in opposition to "talk", that is the word used to open the game.

Basque Painter Patrick Larcebal

Basque artist painter Patrick Larcebal paints the land of his roots, expressing history and his attachment to the Basque Country through his paintings.

His paintings reflect the beauty and variety of landscapes of his country and tell through authentic scenes, the life of the Basques.

Larcebal made ​​the watercolor his favorite medium because it embodies softness and lightness, while his oil paintings  express the strength and presence of his characters and landscapes.

Bunny Rugs

 

William Alexander Anthony "Bunny Rugs" Clarke (1948 – 2014), also known as Bunny Scott, was the lead singer of Jamaican reggae band Third World as well as recording as a solo artist. He began his career in the mid-1960s and was also at one time a member of Inner Circle and half of the duo Bunny & Ricky.

Born in Mandeville and raised on John's Lane in Kingston, Clarke's father was an Anglican preacher. He joined Charlie Hackett and the Souvenirs, the resident band at the Kittymat Club on Maxfield Avenue, in the mid-1960s before leading the early line-up of Inner Circle in 1969.

Clarke explained that his 'Bunny Rugs' nickname came from his grandmother calling him 'Bunny' as a child because he would "jump around the house like a rabbit" and from a member of the Third World road crew calling him 'Rugs' because of his liking for sleeping on the floor.

Rubble Kings

 

From 1968 to 1975, gangs ruled New York City. Beyond the idealistic hopes of the civil rights movement lay a unfocused rage. Neither law enforcement nor social agency could end the escalating bloodshed. Peace came only through the most unlikely and courageous of events that would change the world for generations to come by giving birth to hip-hop culture. 

The film Rubble Kings chronicles life during this era of gang rule, tells the story of how a few extraordinary, forgotten people did the impossible, and how their actions impacted New York City and the world over.

Naomi Elaine Campbell

 

Naomi Elaine Campbell (1970) is an English model, actress, singer, and author. Recruited at the age of 15, she established herself among the top three most recognizable and in-demand models of the late 1980s and the 1990s, and was one of six models of her generation declared "supermodels" by the fashion industry.

In addition to her modelling career, Campbell has embarked on other ventures, which include a novel, an R&B-pop studio album, and several acting appearances in film and television, such as the modelling competition reality show The Face and its international offshoots. Campbell is also involved in charity work for various causes. Her personal life is widely reported, particularly her relationships with prominent men, including boxer Mike Tyson and actor Robert De Niro, and four highly publicised convictions for assault.

Paul Strand

 

Paul Strand by Walter Rosenblum

Paul Strand (October 16, 1890 – March 31, 1976) was an American photographer and filmmaker who, along with fellow modernist photographers like Alfred Stieglitz and Edward Weston, helped establish photography as an art form in the 20th century. 

His diverse body of work, spanning 6 decades, covers numerous genres and subjects throughout the Americas, Europe, and Africa.

Barbara Hawk, Taos, New Mexico, 1931, a photo by Paul Strand

Peio

It was raining heavily that day in the Basque Country, and a large puddle formed in front of the village bar.

- Peio is there, in the rain but under his umbrella with a fishing pole and a string hanging in the puddle.

A tourist touched by what he sees, approaches him and asks him what he's doing there, in the pouring rain:

- "I'm fishing" Peio replies, simply.

Poor bugger, thinks the man, who immediately invites Peio to accompany him to the bar to dry in the warm and offer him a drink.

In the bar the nice tourist asks him something ironic:

“So, how many have you caught since this morning?”

“You are the eighth” Peio replied.

Miroslav Sekulic-Struja

Miroslav Sekulic-Struja is a self-taught painter, illustrator, and novelist, whose rich and profound works seek to chronicle the underrepresented struggles of a generation lost to war. 

He is best known for his Pelote trilogy, which tells the Dickensian story of orphans in wartime. In 2010, his graphic novel The Man Who Bought a Smile received the Young Talent Award from the Angoulême International Comics Festival.

In Petar & Liza, a poet and a dancer form a beautiful connection in a bleak world. A heartfelt character study, this graphic novel paints the portrait of a complex protagonist often at odds with himself. At times, Petar writes soulful, life-affirming poetry, while at others he falls into spells of depression and self-destruction. 

Petar & Liza is a work of meticulous expressionism that reflects Miroslav Sekulic-Struja's vivid artistic vision. In dazzling gouache, Sekulic-Struja conjures an earthy, street-level view of humanity, bringing to life bohemian environs of dive bars, back rooms, and crowded cityscapes. He paints a world in darkness and turmoil, in which rays of sunshine occasionally peek through.

Jan Dolsma's Citroëns

Jan Dolsma (76) from Meppel (Netherlands) became fascinated by cars as a child. He collected BSA and Moto Guzzi motorcycles, but when it comes to four-wheelers, nothing beats Citroën for him.

The oldest show horse in his stable dates from 1929: a C4. Bought in 1972. "It wasn't in very good condition. I had to do a tremendous amount of work on it. Nowadays, thanks to the internet, it usually doesn't take too much effort to get a part, but in those years, it wasn’t easy. It took a long search before I found the Bakelite horn I was looking for".

Due to his age, Dolsma, who ran an advertising agency during his working years, has thinned out his collection. A few years back, he sold his 2CV, a Citroën Traction and two Mercedes from 1960 and 1961. He still has a choice of three Citroëns to take for a drive: A C6, a C4 or a metallic green DS Palace 2300 from 1973, popularly known as a pike.

The Bikeriders

Photographer and filmmaker Danny Lyon inherited the spirit of rebellion and resistance from his mother, who regaled him with heroic tales of her brothers’ fearless crusade against the Tsar in the Russian and Bolshevik Revolutions of the early 20th century. As a young boy growing up in Queens, New York, Lyon would lie in bed at night and dream of seeing the world – never knowing his destiny was inextricably bound to history, art, and film.

The Bikeriders chronicled the Chicago Outlaws Motorcycle Club between 1963 and 1987, a Hells Angels-style biker gang that Lyon joined in 1966. In his hands the photography book took on diarist qualities, the hand of the artist making itself felt as would a poet, painter, or composer.

Now 82, Lyon charts his extraordinary journey in the new book, This is My Life I’m Talking About, a picaresque memoir that reveals his natural gifts for storytelling.

16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham

One black beret among the mourners of the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham.

On September 15, 1963, two and a half weeks after Martin Luther King’s “I Have a Dream” speech, a dynamite bomb set by members of the Ku Klux Klan erupted, just as twenty six children walked into the basement assembly room of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama. Four girls, Addie Mae Collins, Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, and Cynthia Wesley, were killed, and 22 others were injured. 

Photographs of the bombing’s aftermath–including the iconic image of blinded Sarah Jean Collins in her hospital bed–shocked the nation and helped give an emotional push for the passage of the Civil Rights Act in 1964.

Berets Rock!

 

Zoltan Kluger

Zoltan (Zvi) Kluger (1896 –1977) was an Austro-Hungarian born Israeli photographer. He is known as one of the most important photographers in Mandatory Palestine.

During World War I he served as an airborne photographer in the Austro-Hungarian Aviation Troops. At the end of the 1920s he emigrated to Berlin, where he worked as a press photographer.

In April 1933, with the rise of the Nazis to power, he arrived in Palestine as a tourist, and then received a British certificate to stay.

Kluger's prominent clients were the JNF and Keren Hayesod photography department, which sent Kluger to photograph economic enterprises and immigrants.

Zoltan Kluger died in Manhattan, New York in 1977. At his departure from Israel, he left behind a total of some 50,000 negatives.

Steffen Diemer

Steffen Diemer (1966) is a German photographer whose work appeared in internationally renowned magazines such as Der Spiegel, National Geographic and The Guardian.

Until 2013, Diemer worked full-time on social documentary reportages in war zones and areas of crisis.

Suffering from the mentally exhausting work, Diemer entered a period of reflection in 2011.

During this time, he became an enthusiast of the wet collodion procedure; a fascination that lasts until today.

It's Not A Hat, It's A Beret

 It's Not A Hat, It's A Beret

Lovers and Lollipops

Lovers and Lollipops is a 1956 film directed and written by Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin. The film was photographed on location in and around New York City and tells the story of the romance of a widowed fashion model and an engineer, and how their relationship is affected by her daughter.

The film was the second of three feature films directed and written by Engel and Orkin, who were best known for the 1953 film Little Fugitive. Like that film and Weddings and Babies (1960), Lovers and Lollipops was a low-budget film shot in a naturalistic style uncommon during this era.

The character of Peggy was notable for its realism, showing her as bratty and self-centered, in contrast to the idealized portraits of children typical of 1950s films and TV. The film gained authenticity from its use of authentic New York City locations and a realistically meandering plotline, which made the film resemble real life more than polished movie acting.

Both Little Fugitive and Lovers and Lollipops were influential independent movies in that era, and influenced the French New Wave film movement and John Cassavetes.

Benjamin Bayart

Benjamin Bayard (1973) is an activist for fundamental freedoms in the information society and a French engineer. For fifteen years he was president of French Data Network, the oldest Internet service provider (ISP) still operating in France .

A campaigner for fundamental freedoms in the information society through net neutrality and free software, his positions have made him a noted personality on the French Internet.

Why are so many People Wearing Red Berets on the Hikoi?

Following yesterday's post on Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke: why are so many wearing (red) berets on the Hikoi? 

Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke

A hīkoi is a walk or march, and especially a protest march, in New Zealand. The word comes from the Te Reo Māori language, and often implies a long journey taking many days or weeks.

This month, a hīkoi opposing the Treaty Principles Bill occurred. An estimated 42,000 people took part in the hīkoi, taking nine days to reach the parliament grounds of Wellington, with some groups beginning in the Far North and Bluff (in the far South). The Māori Queen Ngā Wai Hono i te Pō joined the protests in Wellington. Coinciding with the march was an online petition opposing the bill that received over 200,000 signatures.

Northland teenager Chelsea Reti marched with the Hīkoi mō Te Tiriti from the beginning and before reaching Wellington, her mum decided it was the right time to send down a red beret.

"When we choose to put something on our head where we know it is going to be seen there is a significance behind it and there was significance behind why I wore a red beret," she said.

Chelsea Reti 

Countless other mostly young wāhine (women) donned a red beret for the march. It's a pōtae (hat) steeped in history and symbolism for the Māori rights movement and other freedom movements overseas stretching back decades.

Chelsea says her mum remembered berets worn by Māori activists in the past. She also took inspiration from 22-year-old Te Pāti Māori MP Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke, who often wears berets on significant occasions. Maipi-Clarke's great-aunt Hana Te Hemara wore a beret when she brought a te reo Māori language petition to Parliament in 1972.

Dr Bobby Luke Campbell, a senior fashion lecturer at Auckland University of Technology, said the Polynesian Panthers popularised the beret as a freedom symbol in New Zealand in the mid-1970s, spurred by protests against the Dawn Raids. While hats are a Western symbol, they have been widely adopted and reimagined as a symbol for Māori.