#Chicano gangsters scene

[k-i-l-l-e-r-b-e-e-6-9]

[toddlazarski]

“This Fool”

The A.V. Club

Nobody “Motherfucker”’s like Michael Imperioli. The mother is draaawn out, fired with the snarl of a just-pulled lawnmower, peppered with a deep intestinal rancor, the fucker coming almost as the release, the exhale, the purr of pissed incredulity as to whichever injustice the world has placed before him. In this case, it is Richard Branson, or, the “space knight motherfucker” who cheap-skated his donation to Hugs Not Thugs, the “fifth largest gangster rehabilitation center in Los Angeles,” that was founded by Imperioli’s Minister Leonard Payne. It is a welcome introduction to his character, and a delightful reintroduction to the livewire frustration bits Imperioli cooked up as Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos. There he was one one of the key comedic pieces on one of the funniest comedies nobody was ever even entirely sure was a capital-C comedy.

As it happens, here he is one of the key comedic pieces on a show that leads with a much more troubling type of tone confusion. In the first two episodes of This Fool, a drive-by is played for chuckles, a gang brawl is treated with nostalgic revelry by former members slowed by time and life and sciatic nerve hangups, and “Don’t Text and Drive” displays across the screen as an epitaph with operatic flippancy.  

There’s also maybe a bigger conundrum facing the writer’s room, namely whether or not the comedy, in which Julio (Chris Estrada) counsels ex-cons, including his recently-released cousin, is actually, you know, funny. It certainly can be, as in the front-loaded first episode, where intimidating men with face tattoos perform trust falls, and Julio extolls the virtues of the place to a new arrival: “we remove more tattoos than anyone else in Los Angeles,” and offer “free legal counseling, solar panel installation classes.” Or, later, when he describes why there’s no reason he couldn’t be Bourdain: “I’ve eaten foy gray before.” To which his ex-girlfriend, Maggie, replies, “you don’t even know how to pronounce foy gray.” Imperioli, for his part, steals most every one of his scenes, especially striking an early chord on an extended lecture on failure, all wide eyes and faux wiseman profundity, his ability for humor amped by the ability to appear to take himself so stupidly serious.  

It can certainly also be, as many characters chide, repeatedly, anything seen as less than real, “corny.” A Salvadoran is irked by being called Mexican, a deceased friend nicknamed “Fatass” has, yes, “Fatass” inscribed on his urn. Vacillating between groan and cringe, Julio’s cousin, Luis (Frankie Quinones), peppers ceaseless ball-busting with “gay boy,” and the likes of “y’all talk more than the motherfucking View” or, somehow, “you need a Viagra?”  Perhaps it’s just more uneven than corny, more awkward than ha-ha, as smart as it is obvious, as oblivious as it is comfortable, taking real issues of modern L.A. — gun violence, gang culture — and setting them as backdrop thematic annoyances to be casually riffed on, as Bradley Newell might rap about the city on a Sublime track.      

Once the show settles though, finding a groove akin to the svelty Chicano Batman theme that opens each episode, and with the delightful reliance on old school Soul — Brenton Wood, Bill Withers — and palm trees and Dodgers decorum and shit-shooting around the dining room table with elderly relatives, a lived-in flow emerges, settling on a rhythm somewhere between a bilingual Modern Family and a less lesson-y Gentefied. The stakes are mostly low, it’s always sunny in South Central, even when meeting “at the park at sundown” for a brawl, and by the fourth episode even the tightest of TV reviewers may do very well to take Julio’s epiphany to heart: “how about this? I’ll stop being a little bitch.”

At that point anyone can appreciate the physical humor of, say, Julio giving his nephews fireworks to shoot off to distract the family so he can slink away from birthday engagements, or Luis putting Julio in a headlock to keep him in place while the family sings “Feliz Cumpleanos,” or an elaborate and preposterous slow-motion ball-kicking scene, an entire episode homage to Austin Powers.    

Estrada, who co-created the show and used his real life as inspiration, plays Julio with the same button-down, clean-shaven, subtly-pomaded nice guy turn that fills his standup comedian persona. He is mocked for having “lawyer hands,” is seen by his abuela as someone “always crying, just a little bit.” He is a man who sincerely and fully enjoys his pour-over coffee situation, coming off alternatively between sweet and cloying (“The life expectancy of a gangster on average is 24 years old, but the life expectancy of a punk ass bitch, 76 years old”), between big-hearted and petulant martyrdom, his use of “big dawg” renders him some varying mix of jovial and punch-worthy. As his on again, off-again ex, Michelle Ortiz breathes fire into the manic pixie ex-girlfriend template, with high-pitched outbursts turning to raunchily smitten tenderness. She steals/borrows Julio‘s Accord before berating him that the Check Engine light is on, she hits with lines like: “we’ve had sex in the backseat, it’s our car,” and interrupts‘s his date to get him to come over to help find a disappeared pet bunny, a la Annie Hall’s spider-in-the-bathroom scene, eventually trying to coax him to stay with, “I got Wendy’s.  In the obvious spirit of ying-yang buddy comedies, Luis seems overtly ex-con doltish, overplaying the easy parts, leaning brashly into the casual homophobia. It’s not 2005 anymore, as he is constantly reminded — “Tobey Maguire ain’t Spiderman no more” Julio tells him. But has he been in prison, or a coma? Were we still making Viagra jokes and asking “does that make your boyfriend jealous?” in 2005?  

Yes, it is a show about redemption. About tempering recidivism with good cupcake sales —  “people love buying cupcakes from ex-gang members, if girl scouts ever start getting face tattoos we’re fucked,” states Imperioli, in one of his many steely deadpans. And it is about family, however dumb and unfortunate they sometimes might be. So, the standard themes of any harmless Thursday night family sitcom. Of course you can watch it when you want, as one of the best back-and-forth’s, between Luis and his ex-fiance, reminds us:  

“You’re a fucking loser with a weird dick.” “Fuck you, curvy dicks are normal.” “You know Judge Judy will rule in my favor.” “Her show is over, idiot.” “She’s got a new one, idiot.” “What time? I wanna watch.” “It’s streaming so it’s available whenever.”  

Within such ping-pong banter is where This Fool finds its pocket. Like when Imperioli, uber-stoic, over-intense, gets asked about his documentary, “Game Set Hope,” a chronicle of an actual ping-pong tournament on “skid row.” A tag line at the bottom of the poster for the film that hangs in his office declares: “A film you might soon forget, but shouldn’t.” So it feels things might go here. While we seem past the peak of standup’s getting TV spots, this is the type to be lost in a sea of professionally funny shows. Once rhythm is achieved though, This Fool is joyously, even exceptionally hilarious because of what it is really about: who will watch your shitty documentary, even though they think there’s too much flute in the soundtrack; who cares enough to steal you toilet paper from work, even if it is single-ply; who makes you your favorite Tres Leches cake, even though you hate your birthday; who shows up for you, even if a “homegirl” stole their Honda; and it is about being there for your cousin, even when he won’t stop quoting Austin Powers.

[popjago]

Hip Hop Fashion Trends - Then and Now

Hip hop fashion trends are not a newcomer to the fashion scene by any means. In fact, this style has been around since the 1980's, when celebrities like Will Smith and Christopher "Kid" Reid showed youth how it should be done. Of course, hip hop fashion trends have evolved over the past two decades as tastes and styles have changed to correspond with the culture of the time. The following will offer you a brief but colorful history into the world of hip hop, with some of the current fashion design today.

Early Hip Hop In the 1980's, major brand names became synonymous with the hip hop fashion trends. Brands like Nike, Adidas and Clark shoes were sported with leather bomber jackets and brightly-colored track suits. Sports jerseys were a hot commodity, with Will Smith showing them off in his hit television show, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Aire. This was the time when heavy gold jewelry and large sunglasses came into play, creating an image of wealth and luxury in the hip hop culture of this time. In the latter part of this decade, MC Hammer and other rappers introduced hip hop fashion trends like baggy pants and baseball caps.

The Gangsta Look In the 1900's, hip hop fashion trends shifted to the gangsta look in the fashion of the Los Angeles Chicano gangsters. This style sported baggy pants that were worn low and without a belt, shirt tails hanging outside the pants and bandanas on the head. In the midst of this fashion trend, designers were also providing something that the youth of this time liked, and brands like Tommy Hilfiger, Polo and Nautica also came into vogue. At this time, hip hop fashion trends evolved into urban streetwear, with names like Mecca USA, Lugz and Rocawear coming into play.

Flash and Bling The turn of the century saw hip hop fashion trends switch to flashy ensembles and bling bling jewelry, made popular by the likes of Jay-Z and The Hot Boys. High end designers like Gucci came onto the hip hop scene during this time as well. Today, the hip hop look has toned down somewhat, with hip hop fashion trends that are more tailored and professional - preppie hip hop, if you will. However, since the hip hop fashion trends are primarily embraced by youth, this style will always be cutting edge and separate from the fashion mainstream. After more than two decades on the fashion scene, it appears that this trend is more than just a trend - it is a fashion icon that is here to stay.

Tim Yu is the owner of e-FashionSchool.com providing information on beauty tips and fashion advice about a variety of topics, such as Fashion Design, Fashion Trend, Teen Fashion, Famous Designer and etc. Go to [http://www.e-FashionSchool.com] for more information.

This article is free for republishing by visitors provided the resource link is retained.

Article Source: https://EzineArticles.com/expert/Tim_Yu/69389

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[weekendwarriorblog]

WHAT TO WATCH THIS WEEKEND May 3, 2019  - LONG SHOT, THE INTRUDER, UGLYDOLLS, EL CHICANO

This is another one of those infamous “lots of new movies taking on a juggernaut” weekends and surprise, surprise, I’ve actually seen three of the movies, although I’m going to recuse myself from actually reviewing them for reasons I choose not to get into.

Definitely my favorite of the three new movies is Lionsgate’s LONG SHOT, the new romantic comedy pairing Seth Rogen with Charlize Theron and directed by Jonathan Levine of 50/50 fame. It’s a fun politically-tinged comedy that surrounds Rogen and Theron with a great cast including June Diane Raphael, O’Shea Jackson, Jr, Bob Odenkirk, an unrecognizable Andy Serkis and Alexander Skarsgard. You can read my interview with Levine over at The Beat, and my interview with Jackson will go up sometime later this week.

I also liked director Deon Taylor’s THE INTRUDER (Sony/Screen Gems), a super-creepy psychological thriller, starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy (keep an eye on this guy!) and Meagan Good, who I’ve been a fan of since she starred in Rian Johnson’s Brick. I’m really impressed with Taylor as a director, as he continues to crank out films via his Hidden Empire production company. He actually has about four or five movies in various stages of post-production, including two that will be released by Screen Gems, so if you aren’t familiar with Taylor’s work, don’t worry… you will be. The Intruderis certainly a fun introduction, a simple psychological thriller with three solid performances. If you’re looking for something to see this weekend, you could definitely do worse than this.

I’m not sure that Ben Hernandez Bray’s action-thriller EL CHICANO, released by new distributor Briarcliff Entertainment, is my cup-of-tea, though I’ve long been a fan of the movie’s co-writer and producer Joe Carnahan. It stars Raul Castillo in the dual role of an L.A. police detective investigating a brutal gangland murder, as well as his gangster twin brother who was killed years earlier. The title character is a vigilante who comes around to stop gang violence by any means necessary, and Castillo’s character believes that it was actually his dead brother. the movie  also stars George Lopez and a mostly-Latino cast, which is quite an achievement for Bray and Carnahan. I think some people will really dig the action scenes and the character, and I hope it does well because there’s definitely some more room to tell more stories about the characters. (You can read my interviewwith Bray and Carnahan on The Beat.)

Not sure if I have much to say about STXfilms’ UGLYDOLLS, which features a musical voice cast including Kelly Clarkson, Nick Jonas, Janelle Monae, Blake Shelton, Pitbull and Gabriel Iglesias. As you might guess, it’s the one movie this weekend I haven’t seen, and I have absolutely no interest or plans to see it ever. I just don’t care. Maybe there are kids or parents out there that do, so good for them!

Anyway, none of the above matters since Avengers: Endgame will still be doing huge business in its second weekend. By the way, I finally got around to seeing that and I quite enjoyed it, especially how it defied almost all of my expectations despite not really knowing anything about the movie in advance. In fact, the only scene I saw from the movie at CinemaConended up being a bit of a red herring, something you’ll totally understand if you’ve seen the movie.

You can see how I think those movies will do at the box office on my Box Office Preview at The Beat!

LIMITED RELEASES

I’m going to start with the docs this week, cause there are some good ones… okay?

Opening at the Metrograph Friday is Gretchen Hildebran and Vivian Vazquez’s timely DECADE OF FIRE about the South Bronx in the ‘70s and how Black and Latino neighborhoods were abandoned by the city government as building after building burnt to the ground, destroying those neighborhoods until the people stood together to rebuild. (If you saw Baz Lurhmann’s Netflix series The Get-Down, you could see some of the results of what happened.) I saw the movie at Doc-NYC last year and was blown away by how well the story was told. The screening will be accompanied by a number of related panels at the Metrograph over the weekend and also next week. You can learn more about those here.

Speaking of the Bronx, the Netflix documentary KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE, directed by Rachel Lears, looks at some of the amazing women who ran for the House against incumbents last year, including the Bronx’s Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. The movie won the Audience Award for documentary at Sundance in January, and it’s opening at the IFC Center and Film at Lincoln Center in New York on Weds and will also be streaming on Netflix. I really liked this documentary a lot, mainly because like many, I’m endlessly fascinated by the amazing Ocasio-Cortez and how the ardor towards her keep growing the more she gets out there. I certainly will vote for her if she ever runs in an election I can vote for her. Lears’ movie is quite fantastic as it’s on the ground with these women throughout the political campaign process.

The next two docs played at Tribeca this past week, but I just couldn’t find the time to see either. The first is Werner Herzog and André Singer’s MEETING GORBACHEV (1091, formerly The Orchard), which compiles three conversations that Herzog had with former Soviet head of state Mikhail Gorbachev, who is now 87 years old, talking extensively about the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. It opens at the Film Forum in New York Friday.

I’m a little more annoyed with myself for missing Hulu’s ASK DR. RUTH, directed by Ryan White, because I’m definitely interested in learning more about Dr. Ruth Westheimer, the Holocaust survivor who became known as the country’s most famous expert, as it follows her leading up to the days of her 90thbirthday. This doc opens at the Landmark at 57 West and Quad Cinemas in New York on Friday, plus it will be on Hulu on June 1.

Also back this weekend is one of my favorite French filmmakers Olivier Assayas with the dramedy NON-FICTION (IFC Films), which I previously saw at the New York Film Festival. It’s about an author (Vincent Macaigne) who bases much of his work on his own life (kind of like Assayas?), and it once again teams Assayas with Juliet Binoche, who plays the wife of the author’s publisher who has an affair with him. What I liked about this over some of Assayas’ more verbose character-driven dramas is that it’s actually kind of funny, especially with its spoof of the publishing industry. I’ll probably try to see it again, but it’s opening in New York at the IFC Center and probably a few other places as well.

Normally, my favorite movie of the weekend would be a Zhang Yimou martial arts film like SHADOW (Well GO USA), because I’m such a fan of Heroand some of his other films in this ilk, but for whatever reason, this one just did not connect with me. Part of that was that I just found this story confusing, and it really dragged in between the action scenes, which certainly looked lovely, like a good ballet, but still kind of disappointing.

Abramorama is releasing Dan Pritzker’s BOLDEN about the life of jazz artist Buddy Bolden, known as the “first Comet King of New Orleans,” as played by Gary Carr, into select citiesFriday. The film also stars Ian McShane and Michael Rooker. I’m shocked that I hadn’t heard much about this movie, especially since I saw commercials during SNL over the weekend.

This week’s Bollywood release is Student of the Year 2 (FIP), directed by Punit Malhotra. As you might guess, it’s a sequel to the 2012 romantic comedy, this one involving a love triangle between a guy and two girls.

There’s lots of other odds ‘n’ ends, none of which I’ve had a chance to see including Tell It To the Bees (Good Deeds Entertainment), Clara(Screen Media), Hesburgh(O’Malley Creadon Productions), The Convent (Vertical Entertainment) and the movies Dead Trigger and Bardo Blues. I’ll be honest that I’m a little burnt out this weekend trying to cover Tribeca (which I hope to write about very soon) as well as all the other theatrical releases. I’m not sure any of these will make that big a difference in the grand scheme of things, and this is my column, so I decide what I write about and how much I write about it.

LOCAL FESTIVALS

The 18thTribeca Film Festival continues through the weekend but if you feel like going out to the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, you can check out Panorama Europe 2019, which runs from Friday through May 19. It also takes place at the Czech CenterAND the French Embassy. It opens on Friday night at MOMI with Barbara Albert’s Austrian drama Mademoiselle Paradis, starring Maria Dragus (The White Ribbon), who will be there in person. I haven’t seen the film but I love some of Albert’s previous films, Free Radicalsand Falling, both of which I think I saw at the New York Film Festival in years past? The festival continues through the weekend with new films from all over Europe, mostly playing at MOMI but with single repeat screenings at the other two venues. This is a festival I wish I had more time to cover, as I’m sure there are some great underrated films in the festival, but sadly, I just do not have the time right now.

STREAMING AND CABLE

I’ve been wanting to see Joe Berlinger’s Ted Bundy movie EXTREMELY WICKED, SHOCKINGLY EVIL AND VILE, starring Zac Efron, since I first heard about it, and I’m happy to say that it really lived up to my expectations. It’s as much about Bundy’s relationship with his girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall (Lily Collins) as it is about the trial against Bundy for kidnapping and murder dozens of women. I’m a big fan of Berlinger’s documentaries, and this is a fantastic second foray into dramatic work, working from a screenplay written by Michael Werwie based on the book by Kendall. Efron works well as the charming serial killer who is constantly in denial about his actions, but I also really liked Collins’ performance as the woman trying her best to support her man despite the horrible allegations against him.  Berlinger combines actual archival news footage with the performances by his cast to create something as compelling as any of Netflix’s crime docs. The film also stars John Malkovich, Jim Parsons, Haley Joel Osment, Brian Geraghty and more.

As mentioned above, Netflix will also stream the doc KNOCK DOWN THE HOUSE starting Wednesday, and other movies premiering this week include William Bindley’s coming-of-age film The Last Summer and Gabriela Tagliavini’sDespite Everything (A pesar de todo) on Friday. Clearly, there’s a lot of variety and options on Netflix this weekend… but lots of stuff in theaters, too (as seen above and below).

REPERTORY

METROGRAPH (NYC):

A bit of slower weekend for repertory stuff but the latest episode of the Academy Presents takes place on Saturday with Costa-Gravas’ 1969 film Z. Late Nites at Metrograph  will screen Gus Van Sant’s 1991 film My Own Private Idaho, starring Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix on Friday and Saturday night, and Playtime: Family Matinees  will screen Henry Koster’s 1950 film Harvey, starring James Stewart.

THE NEW BEVERLY (L.A.):

At Tarantino’s rep theater, people will have a chance to see Vincente Minnelli’s Gigi (1958), based on Colette’s novella, in a matinee on Weds.  On Weds and Thurs, there’s a double feature of cool indies with Miranda July’s Me and You and Everyone We Know  (2005) and Andrea Arnold’s Fish Tank (2009), starring Michael Fassbender. Friday and Saturday sees double features of Kathryn Bigelow’s 1987 vampire film Near Dark and Karyn Kusama’s Jennifer’s Body  (2009). The weekend’s KIDDEE MATINE is the 1994 Little Women, while Tarantino’s Death Proof (2007) will show at midnight on Friday. The Monday matinee is the Val Kilmer comedy Real Genius from 1985.

MOMA (NYC):

A couple new series start here on Wednesday, including the shorterModern Matinees: On the Move series, which will show Raoul Walsh’s 1930 film The Big Trail on Weds, Alfonso Cuaron’s Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001) on Thursday, and Harold Ramis’ 1993 film Groundhogs Day on Friday. Abel Ferrara: Unratedwill also begin on Wednesday with screenings of Ferrara’s 2000 film Mulberry Street, his 1995 filmThe Addiction (with the filmmaker onhand for a QnA), Ferrara’s Chelsea on the Rocks (2008) and New Rose Hotel (1998) will screen on Thursday, then his 2014 films Welcome to New York and Pasolini on Friday. (Oddly, the latter will get its first official theatrical run at the Metrograph starting Friday, May 10.) This is a fairly extensive retrospective with Ferrara and many of his actors talking about the movies after they’re shown, and that alone might be enough to get me into midtown. MOMA is also in the midst of another series called Roberto Gavaldón: Night Falls in Mexico, running through Sunday and showing rare screenings of the works of the Mexican filmmaker’s work from the ‘40s, ‘50s and 60s.

EGYPTIAN THEATRE (LA):

The Egyptian continues to slaughter… in a repertory way … with its new series Cassavetes & Scorsese: Love is Strange, a series of double features starting Thursday with Shadows (1958 and Who’s That Knocking On My Door (1967), followed by The King of Comedy  (1982) and Opening Night  (1977) Friday and Scorsese’s 1976 film Taxi Driver and Cassavetes’ Minnie and Moskowitz (1971) on Sunday. Also, the Egyptian will have the great Jean Pierre-Jeunet on-hand to talk about his Oscar-nominated film Amelie (2001) after it screens on Saturday night.

AERO  (LA):

Meanwhile, at the Egyptian’s sister theater, we get “The Fiction and Non-Fiction of Olivier Assayas” including a double feature of Irma Vep (1996) and Summer Hours (2008) on Thursday. Edward Zwick’s 1989 film Glory will be screened on Saturday followed by a QnA with Zwick, while Jean Pierre-Jeunet appears on Sunday to show his recent film The Young and Prodigious T.S. Spivet as well as a double feature of The City of Lost Children (1995) and Delicatessen (1991).

FILM FORUM (NYC):

The Film Forum’s “Trilogies” series continues with Aki Kaurismäki’s “Proletariot Trilogy” of Ariel, Shadows in Paradise and The Match Factory Girl, Roberto Rossellini’s “War Trilogy” and Satyajit Ray’s “Apu Trilogy” screening screening one final time next Tuesday. You’ll also have one final time to watch Krzysztof Kieslowski’s “Three Colors Trilogy” over the weekend. The weekend’s Film Forum Jr. is the 1962 monster battle movie King Kong vs. Godzilla.

QUAD CINEMA (NYC):

James Ivory’s 1981 film Quartet is getting a 4k restoration rerelease via the Cohen Films Collection, and Ivory himself will be there Friday night for a QnA. Isabelle Adjani won the Best Actress Award at Cannes for her performance as a woman who finds shelter with a couple played by Alan Bates and Maggie Smith after her husband is imprisoned in this adaptation of Jean Rhys’s 1928 novel set during Paris of the ‘20s.

BAM CINEMATEK (NYC):

Starting Friday and running through the month is Black 90s: A Turning Point in American Cinema, beginning with Charles Burnett’s 1990 film To Sleep with Anger, starring Danny Glover, and running along with Burnett’s short When it Rains. (Burnett will be there on Friday for a QnA after his films.) Also showing Saturday is Zeinabu Irene Davis’ Compensation (1999), Julie Dash’s Daughters of the Dust(1991) and Haile Gerima’s 1993 film Sankofa and the series will run through May 22.

IFC CENTER (NYC)

Waverly Midnights: Parental Guidance  shows the classic 1973 horror film The Exorcist this weekend, while Weekend Classics: Love Mom and Dad  goes with Mike Nichols’ Postcards from the Edge (1990) and Late Night Favorites: Spring shows John Waters’ Female Trouble (1974).

FILM OF LINCOLN CENTER (NYC):

The newly-renamed uptown is celebrating its 50th Anniversary this year by taking part in a FREE program of classic films as part of the Block Party celebrating Lincoln Center’s 60th Anniversary this Saturday.

Next week, we get more new movies including Warner Bros’ Pokemon: Detective Pikachu, the Anne Hathaway-Rebel Wilson comedy The Hustle from U.A. Releasing and STXfilms’ Poms.

[nglopez]

" She did him under.. Removed pieces.. with.. with a straight razor. She.. Hid.. pieces all over the house.... The house was locked up. Dead bolt.. windows closed.. the back door light was on.. for a few days.. The pigs found the cats eating pieces of what use to him.. You could smell it.. From 3 blocks away. Yeah... DEATH. ...! " " watthefffuuuuhhhhhh... !!! " " My older brother right... use to be with her. She has his name... { finger nail pressing skin } his name tattooed on her ! But... fuck that dude ! He's a piece of shit. Never puts in for beer. Still love him you know..... Anyway...She's waiting to go to court.. She's right here in LA.. at the.. yeah.. off the freeway. " " Let's go visit her ! " Scene. #nglopez #art #artwork #artist #artlife #artstudio #abstract #abstractart #modernart #draw #drawing #chola #la #losangeles #cholabilly #gangster #love #mexican #chicano #neighborhoodart #goth #dead #death #female #figure #ca #california #firmeart #shockart #couple

[teachanarchy]

In the 1994 cult classic movie Mi Vida Loca, the chola character known as Sad Girl describes Teen Angels as a “magazine that shows how we are really like.” As her sister La Blue Eyes flips through its pages, she turns teary-eyed when she lands on a passionate poem written by a Chicano inmate, complemented by a fine-line pen drawing of praying hands. She immediately falls in love.

Hand-drawn portraits of cholos with their lowriders and homegirls, guides to perfecting pachuca hairstyles, and poems describing the whole-hearted dedication needed for “Loving A Convict” were staples of Teen Angels, a zine that chronicled the culture of Southern California’s Chicano neighborhoods. Started in 1981, Teen Angels magazine was known as the “voice of the Varrio”, the only publication at the time that featured the artwork, poems, dedications, photographs, and essays of Chicanos, particularly those who were gang-affiliated or in prison. Until the mid-2000s, when production of Teen Angels ceased, the magazine maintained a loyal, underground following among Chicanos who could finally see themselves reflected in print.

In the 1980s, the hallmarks of Chicano gang culture – tattoo sleeves, graffiti art, and the crisp khakis and colored bandanas of cholo wear – were often viewed as signifiers of crime and violence by police and society at large. Mainstream media marginalized Chicano voices, providing a one-dimensional portrait of barrios as violent and drug-ridden.

Teen Angels cover, Issue 166. Image courtesy of Teen Angels Magazine.

Teen Angel, the artist behind the self-titled magazine, provided a counterpoint to this narrative by celebrating the artistic brilliance and originality of Chicano gang culture. Thanks in part to the magazine, which worked as a platform for Chicano inmates to disseminate their artwork to the outside, prison-style art received recognition among young Chicanos who learned to draw by tracing the art in Teen Angels’ pages. Before the age of social media, Teen Angels served as a network to readers and contributors interested in the unique fashion and tattoo styles of barrios across the country. Now that cholo culture has gone mainstream with references everywhere from Givenchy catwalks to Kanye West’s TLOP merch, the roots of cholo culture and Teen Angels’ contribution in promoting and popularizing the culture is often forgotten or taken for granted.

The LA Art Book Fair exhibit hopes to reestablish Teen Angels’ status in Chicano art history.

But this year’s LA Art Book Fair hopes to reestablish Teen Angels’ status in Chicano art history. From February 23 to 26, Los Angeles will witness the largest exhibit yet of original Teen Angels magazines and art. Included are the complete collection of Teen Angels (starting with its first edition in 1981), as well as the original artwork that graced the unforgettably vivid covers – both part of long-time aficionado Bryan Ray Turcotte’s private collection. Teen Angel’s personal items, like his desk, childhood drawings, sculptures, and original artwork published inside Lowrider Magazine and Teen Angels will also be displayed, thanks to curator and Teen Angel’s close friend David de Baca. With over 200 pieces of artwork, the Teen Angels exhibit will be the largest showcase at the LA Art Book Fair to date.

Teen Angels prison art submission. Image courtesy of Teen Angels Magazine.

For those in attendance who wish to start their own collection, de Baca, in collaboration with Turcotte, is releasing a book featuring the cover art of the first 180 issues of Teen Angels, usually drawn by Teen Angel himself. In contrast to the black-and-grey, prison-style drawings that filled the inner pages, these covers revealed Teen Angel’s preference for whimsical, chromatic recreations of street life. “He always liked the covers to have these bright, vibrant colors,” de Baca explained in an interview with Remezcla. Even when Teen Angel used inmate submissions to illustrate the cover, he would color in their black-and-grey drawings, since they weren’t provided colors in prison.

Of course, Teen Angel is mostly known for his “bubble heads.” He frequently sketched gangsters with guns in hand standing against a graffiti-covered wall, inspired by his observations of street life in Southern California. But what stood out most were their cartoonish, wide-eyed heads, which resembled animations made popular in the 1940s and 50s. These bubble heads transformed what may be viewed as intimidating scenes to an outsider into something “fun,” de Baca remarked. Many of his characters were also given nicknames inspired by those given in the barrios by gangs, like La Chorty and La Krazy, who recurred throughout in Teen Angels‘ issues.

In retrospect, Teen Angels reads like a Chicano humanities journal.

The publication, banned by mainstream carriers for its supposed support of gang violence and crime, captured cholos and cholas in moments of romance and camaraderie, telling everyday stories of the barrio. For example, one issue illustrates an afternoon in the park between lovers, with a cholo dressed in a colorful sarape and bandana while his partner sits on a lowrider bike listening to a boombox. Teen Angel also published other magazines that told Chicano stories, like Green Angels, which chronicled Chicano soldiers deployed abroad, and La Bandera, which told the history of the Mexican Revolution.

Teen Angels art submission. This eventually became the cover for issue 31. Image courtesy of Teen Angels Magazine.

In retrospect, Teen Angels reads like a “Chicano humanities journal,” says Claudia Zapata, co-founder of Chingozine and PhD student in Art History. For Teen Angel, it was important to show the value of cholos, gangsters, and prisoners, who unbeknownst to outsiders had developed a lifestyle that encompassed fashion, hair styles, lettering, graffiti, cars, tattoos, drawings, hand signs, and more.

“Maybe there are some bad things about this person, but I’m going to show you the good things about this person like the way he dresses,” de Baca said, explaining Teen Angel’s thought process. “Maybe you don’t like all this writing on the walls, but look at the style this guy has when he writes on the walls. Teen Angel looked past these negative things, and embraced what he saw as good qualities of this lifestyle and the things that they did that were unique.”

For most of his life, Teen Angel lived in obscurity, never publishing his name or photographs of himself in his magazine.

Born in Illinois in 1939, David Holland, otherwise known as Teen Angel, started drawing at an early age. He loved cars and when he traveled with his dad, a military serviceman, to California in the early 1950s, he was struck by the lowriders and Chicano culture. After serving in the 1950s and 1960s, Holland settled in San Bernadino, California in 1977, where he contributed to Hot Rod magazine and Lowrider Magazine. But when Lowrider replaced his centerfold drawings with beer ads – which Holland thought would affect Chicano neighborhoods negatively – he started Teen Angels. For decades, Holland drew, curated, designed, and stapled together the magazine in his living room with his family and a few friends, until the mid-2000s when he handed over the operation of the magazine to his sons Smiley and Payaso.

For most of his life, Teen Angel lived in obscurity, never publishing his name or photographs of himself in his magazine. Before de Baca met Holland, he imagined Teen Angel as an old school pachuco. Apparently, Holland preferred his readers to imagine the man behind Teen Angel as they wished. “When people see my drawings, I want them to feel proud of their culture. I want them to be happy and be enlightened by the artwork. However they picture me in their mind, that’s what I want them to see,” de Baca said, quoting Holland.

Teen Angels issue 177. Image courtesy of Teen Angels Magazine.

In serendipitous fashion, de Baca met Holland about eight years ago, becoming best friends with the man whose magazines had shaped him as a young Chicano. Before Holland’s death in 2015, De Baca promised to keep Teen Angels’ legacy alive.

Cholo culture is now more popular than ever with Old English lettering showing up all over high-end streetwear. But de Baca, who used to iron on the Old English-lettered name of his gang on his shirts, isn’t here for the celebrity appropriation of cholo culture. He prefers to see Teen Angels’ influence amongst young Chicano zine makers like Puro Chingón Collective and Maricón Collective as well as tattoo artists. Tamara Santibañez, a Brooklyn-based tattoo artist who references prison-style art in her tattoos, will present her Teen Angels-inspired tattoo designed in the Los Angeles exhibit.

For the young Chicanos establishing themselves in creative outlets like zines and tattoo work, de Baca hopes the Teen Angels exhibit will reveal a wealth of Chicano art that they can feel proud of.