Rants & Epiphanies
•••
“Wisdom that will bless I, who live in the spiral joy born at the utter end of a black prayer.” — Keiji Haino “The subject of human creativity is not an ethnic-centric, but a composite subject.” — Anthony Braxton “… It is not my mode of thought that has caused my misfortunes, but the mode of thought of others.” — The Marquis de Sade
the Ukrainian army is headed by a proud and open Azov Nazi. The BBC does not say "the Azov Nazi-run Ukrainian military". No, they leave out the explicit political marker, so that it becomes abstract and official. And of course they sanctify the militaryhttps://t.co/xMcbrwuOal
for those wondering what Otzma Yehudit is, that's the genocidal settler-Nazi party that has leading officials in the Israeli regime now, like Ben Gvir, who attends weddings where they ritualistically stab the photos of a Palestinian baby they burned alive:https://t.co/CYTW1gtwWw
O Brasil era o último país da América a acabar com a escravidão. Ao longo de mais de três séculos, foi o maior destino de tráfico de africanos no mundo, quase cinco milhões de pessoas. Grande parte dos descendentes daqueles que chegaram também fora escravizada.
...
"As vozes dos abolicionistas têm posto em relevo um fato altamente criminoso e assaz defendido pelas nossas indignas autoridades. A maior parte dos escravos africanos (...) foram importados depois da lei proibitiva do tráfico promulgada em 1831"
-- Luís Gama [rábula (advogado auto-didata, sem diploma) e fez da profissão uma forma de luta contra a escravidão]
Claudette Johnson is one of the most prominent black artists in Britain. A new exhibition at Modern Art Oxford reflects on her body of work dedicated to the representation of black bodies, particularly black women.
Johnson is a huge inspiration for emerging painter Joy Labinjo. Watch what happens when the two get the chance to meet.
Pregnant women were scanned in an MRI machine and powerful computers built 3D models of the tiny beating hearts inside their unborn children.
The team at King's College London and Guy's and St Thomas's says it will improve the care of babies with congenital heart disease.
The researchers say their approach could easily be adopted by hospitals.
…
A series of 2D pictures of the heart are taken from different angles using an MRI machine.
But the foetal heart is tiny, beats incredibly quickly, and the baby moves around inside the womb so the images of the heart look like a fuzzy blur.
But then comes the really clever bit.
Sophisticated computer software pieces the images together, adjusts for the beating of the heart and then builds an unprecedented 3D image of the heart.
It gives doctors a clear view of the abnormality.
…
Congenital heart diseases affect up to eight in every 1,000 babies born in the UK.
They can be caused by infections and some medicines, and can run in families.
…
Not being snarky ...
I know people who will quibble - … It was with the grace of God almighty!
Not thinking that if it was the case, the same God waited too much long to help.
… official trailer for At Eternity’s Gate, a biography movie starring Willem Dafoe, Oscar Isaac and Mads Mikkelsen. In theaters November 16, 2018.
Julian Schnabel’s At Eternity’s Gate is a journey inside the world and mind of a person who, despite skepticism, ridicule and illness, created some of the world’s most beloved and stunning works of art. This is not a forensic biography, but rather scenes based on Vincent van Gogh’s (Academy Award® Nominee Willem Dafoe) letters, common agreement about events in his life that present as facts, hearsay, and moments that are just plain invented.
The episodes about Van Gogh’s death are problematic. The film shows him not committing suicide, as is commonly thought, but being shot by two local boys, one of them dressed as Buffalo Bill. And as the film progresses, Schnabel emphasises Van Gogh’s near-mystic visions. The film doesn’t decide whether they were the source of his artistic genius, or symptoms of illness, or both, but leans toward the ‘mad genius’ definition of the artist. When Van Gogh says on his deathbed, “Don’t blame anyone,” he becomes Christ-like, a choice that threatens to reduce a richly defined character to a one-dimensional saint.
There is no need to share Schnabel’s interpretation, though. Agree with him or not, he allows viewers to experience the mystery of creativity in this gloriously artistic film.
Stephanie Flanders examines one of the most revolutionary and controversial thinkers of all. Karl Marx's ideas left an indelible stamp on the lives of billions of people and the world we live in today. As the global financial crisis continues on its destructive path, some are starting to wonder if he was right.
Marx argued that capitalism is inherently unfair and therefore doomed to collapse, so it should be got rid of altogether. Today as the gap between rich and poor continues to cause tension, his ideas are once again being taken seriously at the heart of global business.
Stephanie travels from Marx's birthplace to a former communist regime detention centre in Berlin and separates his economic analysis from what was carried out in his name. She asks what answers does Marx provide to the mess we are all in today.
