I just downloaded IOS 7 tonight. This Sucks!

Well, here is my response people. I am completely disappointed in IOS 7. I can deal with the cartoon coloration on the Icons. It is very Grand Theft Auto style and kind of cool. I like the photo album dividing the videos and pics. I like several of the other things. My only problem is the fact that is runs SO DAMN SLOW!!!!!!!! Like a 486 trying to run an XBOX 360 game slow. I'm about to delete my music off the phone to see if it runs better. If it doesn't I will use my free upgrade from Verizon to get a run of the mill android phone or just cancel my data plan and use one of my insurance replacement phones I kept in a box in case of emergency. So my question for the Iphone 4 users, are you having problems with processing IOS 7? Is it taking you 5 million years to type out a text message?

Frida Kahlo and Her Emotional Art

Frida Kahlo was an interesting woman to say the least. Remembered today as a famous Mexican artist, she spent her whole life expressing herself in ways that seem deviant from the status quo. There are many reasons she chose to live the life she did, but she was also very much a product of her environment. Born in 1907, just before the start of the Mexican Revolution, and using this event as a corollary for her life, she embarked on a journey that would leave a surrealistic impact for generations to come.

            Frida could have lived a more normal life if she so choose to, but some people are destined to be different. She was raised by an atheist European father and a Catholic native mother and had a life greatly affected by tragedy. As a child she contracted polio, which left one of her legs shorter than the other, and this was later complicated by a severe injury due to a trolley accident that negated any chances she would ever have of having children. She was involved in politics, as a member of the communist party and she was married to a muralist by the name of Diego Rivera, a communist also, who greatly influenced her life and her art. It was evident in her early years that she would not conform to typical societal norms. She flew in the face of tradition by rebelling against typical female roles. At times she dressed in men’s suits for photos, and had relationships with women.  It was her life with Diego, her political leanings, and her marriage that really shaped who she was in her later years. She was also plagued throughout her life with many surgeries and several miscarriages, which she expressed in many of her paintings in very great morbid detail.

            Frida’s paintings were a visual journal into her soul. Instead of painting neutral landscapes and people, all of her paintings carried a meaning beyond just the subject. They all told a story about a particular time in her life, or of a certain event, and the accompanying emotions. The paintings covered many aspects in their composition: Her love and frustration for her husband, Diego, her origins, political overtones, tragedies she suffered, and morbid representations of herself from her surgeries and suffering.

            Frida was not afraid to express her Ideas as she saw them in her head. She once said “"I paint my own reality. The only thing I know is that I paint because I need to, and I paint whatever passes through my head without any other consideration." (2) It was this concept that drove every painting that she made. It is also this mindset that propelled her into recognition. It is what set her apart from the other artists of the period.

This no restraints theme is really exemplified in a lot of her paintings. One of her paintings, her family tree picture titled “My Grandparents, My Parents, and I.” The picture depicts a surrealist timeline of how she came to be. It clearly shows her grandparents descent. The native grandparents depicted on the left and the European ancestry on the right with her parents in the middle. It is set over a Mexican landscape with the typical buildings, arid landscape with cacti, and rugged terrain. It is also another timeline within a timeline of herself. It shows her fertilization, her mother carrying her embryo, and a young naked depiction of herself. It tells the story of the reality of how she came to be and her ties to the land where she was born. This picture is also a good representation of the fact that many of her paintings told a story about Frida.

            She expressed, in several paintings, her love for her home. In one painting titled “Self Portrait on the Borderline Between Mexico and the United States.” She shows a story about her dislike for America, and her love of home. On one side of the painting, her home country is depicted. The skies are clear, and the sun is shining next to the moon. Exotic plants, and Mexican sculpting are strewn across the landscape. On the other side America is depicted with factories and clutter. Windowless buildings rise into the sky with smoke billowing out of chimneys around a representation of the American flag. It shows a stark contrast between where she is and where she came from. The technology and expanse of manufacturing are shown as a negative aspect when compared to her home where her roots were.

            Her paintings weren’t limited to her attachment to place or family, and they were not all neutral. Many of her paintings explored her pain. Pain with her marriage was one recurring topic. The marriage between herself and Diego was rocky to say the least. Many times he was referenced in his marriage was because he was being unfaithful to Frida. It is important to note that it wasn’t just Diego that was unfaithful. There were numerous occasions that Frida had extra marital affairs. One painting titled “Diego and I” clearly symbolized her pain. It depicts Frida in anguish. “Frida painted this self-portrait during the period when her husband, Diego Rivera, was having a notorious affair with the film star Maria Felix, a relationship which provoked a public scandal. The beautiful film star was also an intimate friend of Frida's as well.” (3) The symbolism of the painting relates the pain that she felt, and that she couldn’t get Diego off her mind. This was actually in opposition to what she conveyed in public, and highlighted her own inner struggle. Interestingly after their first divorce, they remarried and stayed together for the remainder of Frida’s life.

            Another topic of pain expressed in her art was related to her injury in the trolley accident. Throughout her life she had to have many operations on her back and pelvic area. This had her laid up in the hospital for long periods of time, and gave her a lot of time to think and paint. Her obsession with her failing body was shown in her painting “The Broken Column.” In this picture, she depicts herself torn open and in a strap-like medical devise. It is obvious through the visuals of tears, a broken landscape, and the nails in her body that she is in severe pain. In this picture it was related to her failing back which is depicted as a broken stone column.

            She had many other sources of pain that she also painted. Her lifetime battle with the injury took away any chances she had of bearing children. This didn’t stop her from becoming pregnant on multiple occasions, but every pregnancy ended in tragedy. This was a source of inspiration for some of her most topically graphic paintings that she ever did. Her painting titled “Henry Ford Hospital” depicted the ordeal of the abortion of one of her failed pregnancies. The picture shows Frida laying nude, bleeding, and still swollen from pregnancy on a bed with no blanket for comfort. Attached to, and surrounding her are images of the ordeal. The upper three images are one of her defective uterus, the soon to be dead fetus, and a snail. The lower three images are of medical equipment, a flower blossom, and her pelvic bone. There is an inherent significance to each of these images that shows how fragile and painful her life was.

            Painting wasn’t the only thing that she did to express her emotions. During the later period of her life she also kept a journal where she expressed her deepest feelings. It is also here that true insight can be gained into her obsession with her own death and her thoughts about taking her own life. One popular quote from her journal also delves into the aspect that she knew she wasn’t a normal woman. “I used to think I was the strangest person in the world but then I thought there are so many people in the world, there must be someone just like me who feels bizarre and flawed in the same ways I do. I would imagine her, and imagine that she must be out there thinking of me too. Well, I hope that if you are out there and read this and know that, yes, it's true I'm here, and I'm just as strange as you.” (3)

            Aside from self-expressionism through surrealistic paintings, Frida, along with Diego had an impact on politics. Both of them were firm in their communistic ideals. Throughout their lives they hosted other communists in their home, including famous figures such as Leon Trotsky. An interesting note with this was that this was one man that Frida had an affair with. Both of them didn’t have a smooth relationship with communism though. At one point they both left the party, but they later rejoined.

            Frida Kahlo was one of the most interesting painters of the 20^th century. Through the course of her short life she painted many pictures that speak to people of all ages. The paintings tell the story of her life and her emotional struggles. They show her troubles with her husband, the pain of not being able to have children, her attachment to her land, and many other aspects that made her who she was. If not for her difficult life, it is certain that society would be without her legacy.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sources:

1.    "Frida Kahlo - The Mexican Surrealist Artist, Biography and Quotes - The Art History Archive." Frida Kahlo - The Mexican Surrealist Artist, Biography and Quotes - The Art History Archive. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Mar. 2013.

2.    "Gallery." Frida Kahlo, Paintings, Pinturas, Works, Art, Obras, Self Portrait, Autorretrato, Cuadros, Significado, Meaning. N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.    

3.    "Frida Kahlo Quotes." Frida Kahlo Quotes (Author of The Diary of Frida Kahlo). N.p., n.d. Web. 29 Mar. 2013.

4.    Herrera, Hayden. Frida, a Biography of Frida Kahlo. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Print.

An Examination of Moral Leadership and Hypocrisy in Webs of Smoke: Smugglers, Warlords, Spies, and the History of the International Drug Trade.

There were many great leaders during the period of the late 1800s to the mid-1900s that held themselves to a moralistic, opium opposing code. There was a great many more individuals, and companies that fell into the pit of hypocrisy and greed, serving their own self-interests, political agendas, and bank accounts. The book Webs of Smoke gives an in depth narrative of the opium trade, and the way the web of smuggling opium was sown around the world. It provides the needed proof that the global smuggling web wasn’t a government conspiracy as many have believed.

Webs of Smoke was written by Kathryn Meyer and Terry Parssinen. Both were highly educated in general and in respect to the information throughout the book.  Kathryn Meyer graduated with her bachelors from the University of Vermont, and received her doctorate from Temple University. She was a professor of East Asian History and was a teacher at Temple University-Japan, Ohio Wesleyan University, Lafayette College, and Wright State University. She was awarded a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship for support in research for this book. Terry Parssinen graduated with Bachelors from Grinnel College and his Ph.D. from Brandeis University. Both were in history. He was a teacher at Grinnel College, Temple University, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the University of Tampa. He has previous writing experience in the narcotics trade. (WOS: about the authors) Both of these authors have significant experience necessary in order to be professionals writing a book such as this. They used countless case files, books, and interviews in order to combine all of the needed information to present a historical story of the days before during and after the peak of the illicit opium smuggling days.

            As the book highlights throughout the beginning chapters, in the middle nineteenth century, the opium trade was something that went about without much hassle. Traffickers in opium saw it as just another commodity that they could use a good profit maker because it had low bulk and high value however, this low hassle profit maker wouldn’t last long. 1906 marked the year that the British, Americans, and Chinese would work toward regulations that would rid illegal uses of opium within ten years. (WOS 2)

            There were several key players that would be at the forefront of this mission to eradicate illicit opium use: Sir Malcolm Delevingne and Harry Anslinger. They would make their careers sole purpose eradicating the practice of smuggling, and using opiates. Their careers were plagued with problems from beginning to end. They were plagued with uncooperative countries that had lenient sentences for criminals caught trafficking, politicians and movements that used opium to their advantage, wars that stalled conferences, resourceful smugglers and crime rings that found new sources when others dried up.

            It is unfortunate that their careers were so plagued with problems. Their mission would have been much more successful if it weren’t for the rampant hypocrisy throughout the world in relation to opium use. Instead of ultimate success in all areas there was an enduring legend that the political world imposed genocide among different ethnic groups, such as was the case with the article “Dark Alliance” when the author accused a link between the CIA and the cocaine traffickers that sold to the black community. (WOS 278)

            The book does a good job throughout proving that rampant political hypocrisy was the reason that certain ethnic groups fell into the grips of opium, not a global conspiracy to impoverish certain ethnic groups. Every country was guilty, to a degree, of providing china with opium to further their cause. The British, Turks, Japanese, Chinese military leaders, and even the Chinese Communist party, as well as others all had some involvement with providing Chinese citizenry with opium. When it was legal, the British were a major shipper of the drug, but they were willing to gradually reduce the supply “if the Chinese could demonstrate a willingness to end opium use in their kingdom.” (WOS 42) As all sides worked towards tighter control the supply of opium shifted from a legitimate shipping source to more nefarious illicit trafficking. That was the point in the book where the magnifying glass transitioned from countrywide scope of shipping, to the individual groups. Some were corrupt politicians that turned a blind eye, some were warlords using the opium as a source of funding, some were businessmen who needed capital; and others militant organizations looking for a way to rise in power. The interesting thing is that none of these groups could really function independently of one another. They needed cohorts from other groups that wanted either money or drugs, or both, to be able to accomplish their missions.

One interesting example was the case of Du Yuesheng, Huang Jinrong, and Zhang Xiaolin. “The men belonged to the Green Gang, a secret society that dominated the wharves and water transport along the Yangzi River.” (WOS 145) These men were involved in many things, but they were also interested in shipping opium for cash. This was troubling because being caught was never good for future business prospects. “Huang brought to the opium organization a second crucial link for success: police contracts.” (WOS 146)

This evidence is central to the premise of the book, as well as other similar tracts, because it shows that the whole government itself typically wasn’t involved with the trafficking of narcotics. It was dirty dealings between organized crime rings and corruptible government officials. Often government officials would be bribed to turn a blind eye, sometimes they were also members of the crime racket itself. It was hypocrisy of government officials, not a clandestine conspiracy theory.

Though the book is very good at narrating a general timeline but, it is slightly chopped up from chapter to chapter. Instead of a normal general from beginning to end story, it is more like a textbook used for chapter learning. All of the chapters cover and recover a slowly progressing timeline, but each chapter is a story in its own category. Such as a chapter on warlords from the period of 1916 to 1937(WOS 141), then the following chapter involving soldiers of fortune, which covers 1927 to 1937(WOS 175). Each is like its own book. The reader has to remember the names from chapter to chapter to gain the ability to put any general storyline together. Such as with the fact of the quick mention of Harry Anslinger in the beginning, and then the whole chapter involving him near the end. That choppiness is somewhat troublesome for character development. It was time consuming at times to go back and re-read a section on a specific person, such as Goto Shimpei. He was mentioned, and briefly talked about seven times, over the course of about one hundred pages.

This book could have benefited with a better linearized track from the beginning to the end. A good book to use as an example for a more linear path would be The Lizard King: True Crimes and Passions of the World’s Greatest Reptile Smugglers by Bryan Christy. Both of these books were very similar in the smugglers actions throughout them. Smugglers in both instances operated in much the same way: fake shipping labels, fake compartments, dirty deals, paid off officials, and double crosses all to make money from a low bulk item. It was just easier to follow Christy’s book than it was it follow Meyer’s and Parssinen’s book.

Webs of Smoke is definitely a book worth reading. Most people have passing knowledge of the fact that China had opium dens, but outside of movies and pop culture, most people don’t know what really happened during the war on opium. The authors do a good job of informing the prospective reader about the major events surrounding the trade, and, many minor events and players in the trade. With a little imagination, the reader is able to imagine being in the opium dens watching the users smoke opium. They are able to imagine being a fly on the wall listening to all of the backroom planning needed to coordinate a big shipment, or seeing paid off officials just brush by what they know are chests full of opium. It was an in depth historical story of the action, deals, money, and treachery of the big players on both sides of the law. It portrayed a real wild-west story during the turbulent years before, during and after the world wars.

To the Women Who Look For Love on Craigslist

Why do you even bother trolling the classifieds for something serious when the men that post here are looking for an easy score?

So what if they say they are looking for something serious and have a somewhat attractive photo?
If your even lucky enough to find a post like that, most of them are a picture of a penis or in reality the picture is 10 years old and the dude is actually fat at married?

I could tell you that I'm 23, but you would have no proof.
I could tell you that I'm fit and comfortable walking around with my shirt off, but you would have no proof.
I could tell you that I am a romantic guy, but in reality I'm just looking to get in your pants.
You just don't know.

Maybe you should get off the computer, go out with your friends, and bat your eye lashes around the bar. Maybe you should actually say hi to that cute guy in English class.
Just do something! Sitting around passively looking gets you nowhere and makes you depressed.

Anyway.......................................
If I havent scared you off yet..
And If you are.............:
Brunette
Short
Fit
Funny
Sarcastic
and have an Amazing butt. EMAIL ME!

Or if you are a SPAMMER.
Do so also, because spam is the only response anyone ever gets.
I love the random Email messages from spammers, and i get nude photos.
Its like Christmas!

Medea’s Tragic Medicine

The tragedy of Medea illustrates the actions of a woman scorned. Left by her husband and her heart destroyed she chooses how to best get back at him for his unloving deed. This play showcases the wits of a woman who has been hurt and the dark thoughts that she has in her mind. In the opening of this play, Jason, her husband, has left her for a more prominent woman in the city. Medea, left alone with her children, will choose how to exact revenge on him. Throughout the story she came up with many different ideas of how to accomplish this, but in the end she decided to kill her two sons and poison the woman Jason now loves. In killing her children Medea hopes to show Jason how wrong he has been in leaving his wife for someone else. She wants to cause Jason the same amount and kind of pain that he has caused her by going to bed with another woman. Also by killing the children it is to protect them from a life of poverty brought on by having no father to take care of them.

            In this plan there is much reluctance from Medea because of her maternal love for the children. She did manage to overcome her maternal feelings and kill both of her sons. In overcoming the hardships of this action she thinks about many aspects that will help her overcome the difficulty she blames herself for getting into the situation, when she destroyed her family to be with Jason. She tells herself that Jason didn’t treat her well and appreciate her for the way that she has treated him, and that the gods are concerned with keeping of promises. There were also several key events that pushed Medea towards fulfilling the plan. The first instance is when Creon comes to Medea’s home to banish her. Being told to leave the only city that she feels somewhat safe hurts her. Creon thinks that because of her public outcries to the chorus that she will plan some revenge. This suspected action from him starts to set the plan into a concrete resolution. Creon decided, after pleading from Medea, that she can stay one day to get her affairs in order and figure out where she is going to go. A second event that further hardened her plan was when Jason came to see her. He came saying that what he did was for the best of the family and that Medea should be grateful because the marriage to another woman furthers the whole family. He tells Medea that she is being selfish for being so upset and trying to turn him into a bad person. This makes her very angry at him because, even if it did further the family, it broke the sense of security that marriage is supposed to provide. The 3^rd point that finally would bring her plan to fruition was her friend from another city coming to her town. After talking with him about what happened she gained a place of refuge for herself, and her children, even though they wouldn’t actually be going with her.

            The audience of this play would feel somewhat tied to what happened because of the way that the chorus and the rest of the characters interacted with Medea. What happened to Medea could have very well happened to many other women at the time of the play, and even today. The ideas of moral injustice are very well suited to immersing an audience in the play. People in the audience could have felt as if one particular character or another could have very well been representing them. In society there are people who have been hurt by a lover. There are people who have left a lover. There are people who have been in the chorus’ position, and in the position of the woman who Jason was to marry.

            A character who I felt most tied to was Jason. Every man has had thoughts of leaving his current lover for another. Feelings of attraction fade overtime, especially when the initial start of the relationship was formed from an injustice. Karma comes back to get people when they aren’t morally just. Medea lost her life that she knew, but that life was formed on a bad action. Jason lost his new love, but that new love was a result of leaving a wife and children. 

Dog vs Cat in a Bag Attack

This has done real well on my YouTube page so I thought I would share with you all.

Powerblock TV Blogged My Video!

I'm just going to give you the link and not embed the video so you can see its actually come true. After years of talking about cars, someone in the auto industry blogged about something I recorded.

http://blog.powerblocktv.com/2011-ford-mustang-vs-1970-pontiac-gto/