Archive for the Category »Culture «

Feb
27
NY Carioca
Dan

Despite the extremely fickle nature of the art world at large for abstracts, the works have a very palpable potency to anyone who has the right rods and cones to pick up color.  In large cities, where the contemporary art world demands a kind of stern adherence to a new post-structuralism that needs to maintain an aesthetic that is almost anti-beauty at times, these works can stand as a kind of oppositional statement, and invite in the kinds of visual pleasure that are, at root, more populist than any other ideology.  The sense of design and splendor of the New York boutique hotels have a similar effect, and it is a welcome sight to any eye, but especially tired ones.

It’s rather a delightful thing, then, when artists like Beatriz Milhazes can find a home for their works here.  For this Brazillian-born visual artist, however, it’s not just one single gallery, but her work is represented in some of the big cultural giants.  With works in the permanent collections of MOMA, the Guggenheim, and the Met, it might be safe to say that she has landed.  In many respects, the work here is almost gravy for a career that has seen plenty of opportunities to reach fresh eyes.  Her work has showings all over the world, is popular in Brazil, and has a secure position in the Parisian art scene as well.

What’s truly extraordinary about her work, however, is the acute sense of design.  At first glance, it might be easy for art snobs to dismiss it as simple bright colors put together to attract attention, surely, but devoid of content.  That is certainly not the case, as a closer look reveals a great deal of attention to the history of abstract art, drawing on a wealth of European influences while remaining firmly in a Brazilian Tropicale sensibility.  This is but another example of how Brazilian culture is continuing to gain force in popular conceptions, being recognized at last for its deep and evolving contribution to global visual culture.

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Jan
25
Brittany Murphy Was Born in Atlanta, Georgia
Dan

Brittany Murphy was born in Atlanta, Georgia in November of 1977. She demonstrated talent and a personal magnetism and charm at an early age. She was also a talented singer. Her mother moved the two of them, her parents had divorced when Murphy was two, to Los Angeles in part so that the young performer could pursue her career there. The world is now aware of Brittany Murphy due to the unseemliness and tragic nature of her death and most people associate her with Los Angeles though residents of Atlanta known she was one of their own. Even the tourists who may have heard about her death in the lounge or lobby of an other wise quiet Atlanta hotel may have been surprised to discover she was from that city.

Murphy stared in several Hollywood films during her short but successful career. She first gained popular attention for her appearance in the film Clueless, though she had appeared on various television series prior to that role. Clueless was a comedy and was released in 1995. It was loosely based on the Jane Austin novel Emma, though the stress on this is loosely. Alicia Silverstone and Stacey Dash were two other stars of this comedy. The film was not a huge commercial or critical success though it did inspire a television spin off as well as a book series.

Girl, Interrupted was the first film in which Murphy was strongly recognized for her skill and performance. It was released in 1999 and starred Winona Rider and was directed by James Mangold. Angelina Jolie also gained enormous attention as the troubled Lisa Rowe who was a resident in the mental institution in which Rider was admitted. Murphy played another girl in the institution, Daisy Randone, who was a pathological liar. The film was based on a memoir by the same name written by Susanna Kaysen. In her book Kaysen tells the stories and experiences she encountered during her time in a psychiatric hospital in the 1960s. Kaysen was diagnosed as having borderline personality disorder.

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Dec
30
Summer Festivals in Toronto
Dan

With the spring and summer time festivals in the city of Toronto, Canada it is no wonder that many people are choosing to relocate to the city with the help of TransGlobe Property Management.  The company will find the best location to suit your needs, and to locate your home or your business in the heart of it all.  Winters in this city are difficult, but with a difficult winter comes a culture that explodes as soon as the first signs of great weather begin to bud.

After my first winter in Chicago, I was a bit amazed to hear the first beautiful day.  Meaning, this came in the form of people driving their cars with their windows down and the radio blasting.  By the end of my second winter in the city, I did the same thing.  Winter, a true and serious, snow filled winter is great at first snow fall, but when it continues on for months, people get a bit bottled up, in their houses or in their coats and scarves and hats.  So come the first sign of spring, it all gets released.  This is the same in Toronto, as the festivals begin in June and continue on through the warmer summer days.  Businesses in the area, managed by TransGlobe Property Management, spring to life as the Pride Week and Fringe Festivals get underway.

Pride Week fills the city with rainbows and the Fringe Festival, carrying on the traditions of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, will fill your calender with many avant garde and innovative theatrical performances.  Boy’s Night Out happens in July, and gives the men who smoke cigars and drink whiskey, and the women who do too, an outlet to let it all hang out.  This is also a charitable event, donating the proceeds to the research in prostate cancer, which draws many from far and wide to participate in the fun, the fun that goes to a great cause.  In sum, the city of Toronto has much to offer all year through, and will always amaze and delight those who chose to make it their home.

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Nov
16
Mumbai Dense Culture
Dan

Check into one of the many four star hotels Mumbai has to offer. Strap your money belt close to your chest. Strap on the walking shoes and hit the dense human experience of this extreme city. Mumbai was once a lushious strand of seven islands, the  Matunga-Sion, Parel, Mahim, Wadala, Old Woman’s Island, Mazagoan, and Colaba, that was the Raj’s most sparkling jewel. It was given to the Portuguese Princess Infanta Catherine de Braganza when she became the wife of Charles II of England in 1661. Her dowry has become a bustling commercial mecca of old civilization trying to become at one with the new modern world.

Mumbai is the extremes of human existence. There are thirteen million people living here among the great distance of the rich and the poor. The streets are crowded with people scrapping for a place to work, eat, live and play. Vendors are scrapping for money with everything that is new or used. There is the Stock Exchange making over night millionaires or destitute citizens. There are wealthy industrialists with their high rise buildings. Flashy film stars make the Bollywood scene come alive. Many everyday workers and career people who try to contribute good things to the city.

The historical buildings still can be found nestled between the modern towers. One of the notables is now the Mani Bhavan Museum. This is located inside the bit sad and tiny building that housed Mahatma Gandhi during his stay in Bombay from 1917 to 1934. Visitors can see the tiny room where Gandhi stayed. This is the same room where he figured out his philosophy called satyagraha which translates to truth, nonviolence and self sacrifice. It is from this old building that he launched his civil disobedience campaign in 1932. The campaign that finally brought the British rule to its end.

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Nov
09
The Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum
Dan

A major railroad was proposed in the late 1800’s, the headquarters to be located in Baltimore, Maryland. This is the B&O Railroad, also commonly referred to as the Baltimore and Ohio railroad. The original design was presented at a trade show, but was not accepted, however it now is one of the artifacts in the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum. This museum has one of the most comprehensive collections of historical artifacts on the railroad industry in the country.

It is no wonder that the center of the industry is located in the working class city of Baltimore. Plumbers, construction workers, fishermen and civil servants make up just a few of the kind of personalities in the city, the tough and the hard working people, and in the museum you will be exposed to the lives of these men and women that toiled each day beginning in 1829, working on this site, the birthplace of the railroad in America. The museum is located on the site of the Mt. Clare Shops, in one of this historic neighborhoods on the southwest side of Baltimore. The work that began then, continues today.

The museum is just one of seven museums in the country to be affiliated with the Museum of the Smithsonian Institute is an important educational institution as well as the preservation and collection of the artifacts. The collection includes items from other railroads throughout the country as well, including the Western Maryland and the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroads. Technology is kept on the continuum time line from the beginnings through current advances, with more than two hundred pieces of the trains themselves, as well as uniforms, fine art, memorabilia and furniture.

In 1990, the museum became independent from corporate interactions an became a non-profit institute for education. Following the roof cave in due to heavy snowfall in 2003, the city began rebuilding and renovating the structure of the Round House, and after twenty-two months, the museum re-opened amidst celebration. The facilities had been expanded and improved upon, public educational programs had been re-evaluated and the damaged artifacts had been repaired. The museum draws more the 200,000 visitors each year, and for those with a love of the railroad and the mystery of trains, this is one museum in Baltimore that is just right for a day or two tour, and a walk through history.

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