#Source: The Gordon Parks Foundation | Explore Tumblr posts and blogs

random-notes-and-jottings · 2 years ago

Text

Harry and Meghan Archewell Foundation raised $13m and donated $3m helped buy 12.6m COVID vaccines

By James Gordon For Dailymail.com and Martin Robinson, Chief Reporter For Mailonline 03:22, 30 Jan 2023 , updated 10:25, 30 Jan 2023

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Archewell Foundation has raised $13million since its formation after Megxit in 2020 - with $3million given away to their chosen causes including cash towards 12million Covid-19 vaccinations, it was revealed today.

The money raised by the Sussexes' charitable organization was also also handed to charities supporting refugees from Afghanistan and Ukraine.

Top Stories by Daily Mail 00:36 01:00 Exclusive interview: Proof the Prince Andrew photo wasn't faked 2010: Annie Wersching attends '24' series finale party in LA Police smash window of a car to rescue dog trapped in hot vehicle Gove: the Prime Minister sacked Zahawi only after a full investigation Bernadette's mum 'gave her a day' before reporting her as missing Prince Harry and Meghan Markle arrive at Prince Louis' christening Island near Ibiza covered in snow as Spain witnesses coldest week 2022: Clare Drakeford and husband vote in local government elections PM says 'no issues' were raised about Nadhim Zahawi tax affairs before Cabinet appointment Sunak orders investigation into Tory chairman Zahawi amid tax questions

Archewell's first 'impact report', says its money helped pay for 12.66 million Covid-19 jabs around the world while working with anti-poverty charity Global Citizen.

Their report, published Sunday, does not contain accounts. But Yahoo News columnist Omid Scobie, one of the Sussexes' favoured reporters, said that Archewell had donated 23 per cent of its income.

He tweeted: 'In their first year of operation they raised $13million and distributed $3million in grants'.

The money raised by the Sussexes organization was spread across a variety of areas including vaccine equity, relief centers, refugee resettlement, as well as 'building a better online world'

Harry and Meghan say Archewell, named after their eldest son Archie, is also spending money on 'building a better online world'.

It included cash donated to a foundation which provided an online guide 'for promoting gender equity by fostering positive masculinity in boys and men' and aimed to 'challenge harmful gender stereotypes'.

The Duchess of Sussex has handpicked several projects herself. These include one scheme in Antioch, Tennessee, where children can receive free hair braiding. After visiting the Uvalde massacre vigil she also chose to a play park for local children after seeing their 'grief firsthand'.

Archewell will spend the next year working on 'three main pillars' - building a better online world, restoring trust in information, and uplifting communities.

In a 24 page report, the philanthropic foundation describes how it:

Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation has released its 2020-22 'Impact Report' which reveals how in their first year of operation the charity raised $13million and distributed $3million in grants

The name Archewell originates from the Greek word arche, meaning source of action, which inspired the name of their son Archie Mountbatten- Windsor

Prince Harry and Meghan Duchess of Sussex, holding their son Archie Harrison Mountbatten-Windsor

The Foundation helped procure 12.6 million COVID vaccines through their partnership with Global Citizen. Prince Harry is pictured onstage during Global Citizen VAX LIVE in 2021

COVID vaccines

Archewell invested in The People's Vaccine alliance, a coalition of 100 organizations, health experts, and heads of state, which has been working to ensure equitable access to vaccines, tests, and treatments across the world.

They also partnered with Global Citizen and played a significant role in helping to equitably distribute COVID vaccines globally. The alliance chaired the VAX LIVE concert in Central Park, which they claim mobilized hundreds of millions of dollars in funds.

The VAX LIVE concert alone held in 2021 in California mobilized 26 million doses, and raised $302 million towards vaccine equity, resulting in a further 60 million COVID vaccines being committed as part of the same campaign.

The Foundation states that as a result of their advocacy efforts, they were able to secure 12.66 million COVID vaccine doses for distribution around the world.

Harry and Meghan touted this figure on a quick overview of Archewell's main achievements.

A letter from the co-executive directors of the foundation describes Harry and Megan as 'showing up, taking action ... to uplift and unite communities.'

The report goes into detail on each of the Foundation's accomplishments

Afghanistan and Ukraine

When it came to the war torn countries of Afghanistan and Ukraine, the foundation says its partnership with the Human First Coalition received a grant that enabled them to move almost 8,000 people from Afghanistan to safety.

The grant also helped the coalition provide aid to more than 10,000 individuals in Afghanistan and Pakistan and provide living expenses for 1,000 Afghans in safe houses in both countries.

The grant helped Team Rubicon assist 4,000 refugees in moving in, setting up their homes, the Sussexes explained. The donation also directly helped 853 families move into new homes.

In Ukraine, a grant provided critical funding to the HIAS Jewish charity, which expanded their humanitarian efforts across Ukraine, Poland, Moldova, and Romania following the outbreak of war in the country.

The funding helped to increase housing, food, and transport assistance and provided legal assistance for an unspecified number of refugees.

The grant also helped train men and women to remove landmines and avoid being injured by explosives. It funded 373 sessions with the Halo Trust, helping an estimated 10,000 people learn how to avoid being injured by discarded explosives.

Afghan refugees are processed inside Hangar 5 at Ramstein Air Base in Germany in September 2021

Gender

When it came to the subject of gender the organization had partnered with several groups including the National Women's Law Center to support women, girls, women of color, and LGBTQ+ individuals in their efforts to live, learn, and work with safety, dignity, and equality.

The group are said to have supported research that examines the financial impact of COVID on women, both at work and as caregivers, as well as the gender pay gap.

The organization also details how it is working closely with multiple organizations to advocate for affordable childcare, greater access to family healthcare, and increased access to education.

The Archewell Foundation has partnered with the charity Smart Workers to create the Female Unemployment Index, which will help the nonprofit understand the reasons why women in the UK end up out of work.

In addition, the Archewell Foundation has partnered with the charity Smart Workers to create the Female Unemployment Index, which will help the nonprofit understand the reasons why women in the UK end up out of work.

The organization also partnered with Equimundo's Global Boyhood Initiative to develop a resource guide promoting gender equity by fostering positive masculinity in boys and girls

The organization has also supported Georgetown University Law Center's Initiative on Gender Justice, which helps support marginalized and disadvantaged girls affected by labels and biases.

Furthermore, the organization has partnered with the VING Project, an initiative that invites young people to nominate an inspiring person for a $1,000 grant.

Through a joint initiative with VING, young people aged 14 to 18 were able to donate $1,000 grants to inspiring women in their lives who are experiencing financial need, totaling $1 million in handouts.

The organization also partnered with Equimundo's Global Boyhood Initiative to develop a resource guide promoting gender equity by fostering positive masculinity in boys and girls.

This guide has been downloaded by 3,673 people in 122 countries.

Community outreach

One of the Foundation's first partnerships was with Chef José Andrés of World Central Kitchen that saw Archewell join forces to improve local communities around the world through the use of food.

The Foundation reportedly assisted during climate disasters, including the aftermath of hurricanes in Puerto Rico and Dominica and helped supported WCK's relief efforts around the world, which includes providing emergency food aid during floods, fires, earthquakes, and conflicts.

Archewell touts that WCK has been able to serve 50,000 meals worldwide, including hot meals and food kits, all tailored to the specific needs of each community as a result of the collaboration

The couple's Foundation dished out 50,000 meals through a partnership with World Central Kitchen. Pictured, Chef Jose Andres, left, the founder the World Central Kitchen

Chef Jose Andres is the founder the World Central Kitchen which partnered with Archewell

In 2021, Winter Storm Uri swept across the American Southwest, causing severe damage in the state of Texas.

As a result, Genesis Women’s Shelter & Support - which provides crucial support and resources to thousands of domestic violence survivors in the Dallas area - suffered major damage and flooding.

Genesis offers a variety of essential services to families affected by domestic violence, including emergency shelter, transitional housing, counseling, and pro bono legal services.

Following the storm, Genesis was forced to close its doors for the first time in its almost 40 years of operation.

To support their recovery, Archewell provided financial assistance to replace the shelter's roof and make repairs at Annie's House, their transitional housing facility for women and children.

Shortly after, Genesis Women's Shelter was able to resume its usual operations at Annie's House, and expand its services by opening an additional outreach site providing critical, life-saving domestic violence support services to women and children in southern Dallas.

The couple's organization also helped to repair the roof of a women's shelter in Texas following Winter Storm Uri

Following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas in May last year, which saw 19 small children and two teachers killed, Meghan, went to visit the community to show support

Following the Robb Elementary School shooting in Uvalde, Texas in May last year, which saw 19 small children and two teachers killed, Meghan, went to visit the community to express her support.

Archewell remained in contact with the community to understand their long-term needs and collaborated with the city and KABOOM! to construct a play area for children and the community at DeLeon Park.

The playground was designed to serve as a space for play therapy and healing and symbolizes the hope and strength the city has displayed in its ongoing recovery following the tragedy.

KABOOM! involved the community in the design of the park which has since been opened.

The Foundation helped fund a new playground at DeLeon Park in Uvalde, Texas 'to bring hope and healing for kids and families in Uvalde' following a massacre at Robb Elementary School in June 2022 which killed 19 students and two teachers

Improving the online experience

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have spoken many times of how the internet has affected various aspects of people's lives, including trust, mental health, and the increase in hate speech.

Through the work of Archewell the Foundation states it has a mission to 'create a technology ecosystem that is safe, inclusive, and promotes innovation.'

The organization reportedly has formed partnerships with experts in academia, industry, and want to hear the stories and experiences of parents and families who have been impacted by the online world.

The group partnered with the UCLA Center on Race and Digital Justice and has received multi-year funding for research and programs.

The Institute is currently looking at some of the heightened concerns of online users, namely that of hate speech, harassment, misinformation, and privacy - particularly on social media.

Prince Harry also recently met a group of young adults from The Gifted Young Gravesham, a British-based organization that partners with the 5Rights Foundation to empower youth in shaping a positive digital future.

During the meeting, the group shared their personal experiences and insights on how social media impacts their emotions, mental health, and relationships with peers, teachers, and family.

Prince Harry recently met a group of young adults from The Gifted Young Gravesham, a British-based organization that partners with the 5Rights Foundation to empower youth in shaping a positive digital future

The Foundation hope that such perspectives will help provide an insight into negative effects of the internet and help push for solutions to address the difficulties that young people and parents face in the digital world.

In once instance, Archewell hosted five families seeking accountability from the social media industry.

They shared their personal experiences on the effects of social media on their lives and expressed their thoughts on the future of technology and how it might affect young people.

The Foundation say they hope to continue to bring together parents affected by harmful online experiences in the hope of creating a more positive future when it comes to tech.

In another instance, Archewell hosted five families seeking accountability from the social media industry in that hope of sharing their experince to affect change in the future

Mental health

Both Prince Harry and wife, Meghan, have spoken of the importance of mental health in recent years - and this often taboo subject also appears to be a key focus for their Foundation.

Archewell has backed the efforts of Project Healthy Minds, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting modern mental wellness.

The organization developed a comprehensive resource guide that can be easily searched based on emotional state or type of service needed.

The Foundation has also supported the creation of guides and resources related to gender and mental health in conjunction with Meghan's Archetypes podcast, to assist listeners who may have been impacted by the issues discussed on the show.

Support has also been provided to The Loveland Foundation and Therapy Fund which prioritizes providing affordable and accessible mental health resources to black women and girls.

Archewell has backed the efforts of Project Healthy Minds, a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting modern mental wellness

Following Prince Harry and Oprah's series on mental health, The Me You Can't See, which was focused on breaking the stigma surrounding mental health, Archewell helped create Mental Health Emergency Rooms in Palestine, Israel, and Greece

These emergency rooms are said to provide Psychological First Aid during times of crisis to communities and refugee camps that lack access to mental health support.

Funding from Archewell was reportedly used to train 150 young people and 100 key community members as mental health first responders and offer therapy services to a minimum of 3,000 children and young people.

Archewell, which is based in Beverly Hills, is a mix of for-profit and not-for-profit business organizations founded in 2020.

The group includes the Duke and Duchess' nonprofit charitable foundation, as well as their lucrative for-profit business divisions focusing on media production, Archewell Audio and Archewell Productions.

The name Archewell originates from the Greek word arche, meaning source of action, which inspired the name of their son Archie Mountbatten- Windsor, two.

They had set up a similar 'not-for-profit' organization, Sussex Royal, but were banned from using the word 'royal' when they quit official duties.

The couple were met with criticism in 2020 after they continued to use their official cypher, which features their initials H and M intertwined with a crown on top, after stepping back from royal duty.

They then declared that they planned to become 'financially independent' members of the Royal Family with the pair switching to using the logo for Archewell instead.

Since stepping down as senior royals in January 2020, the couple moved to Los Angeles with baby Archie to start their new life and turned their attention to their new Foundation.

Their decision to leave the United Kingdom was based as much about financial as personal freedom and the huge sums gives them the capital to pursue their new lifestyle and public goals.

Prince Harry dropped spoke of his own mental health struggles also revealing how at one point his wife, Meghan, was suicidal

Both Oprah and Prince Harry are said to have had 'very personal and deep feelings about destigmatizing conversations around mental health and mental wellness'

The couple announced they had secured a deal with Spotify in 2020 and a six-part Netflix series was released earlier this year.

It was commercial deals such as this that put the couple at odds with the impartiality required of those in public service and seemingly led to the permanent split within the Royal household.

Sunday's report goes into detail on each of the Foundation's accomplishments after working with partner organizations which specialize in helping one particular segment of society.

Archewell's focus is on issues the couple have been championing including racial justice, gender equity, climate change, mental health, online hate speech and empowering diverse voices.

Exact amounts donated to each partner were not disclosed, but in some cases the Sussexes were able to state the precise number of people their funding had helped.

0 notes

justaddgame · 3 years ago

Text

GOTY 2021: #1 - Black Mesa

This was it. This was easily my favorite video game of the year and was the clear winner after reaching the credits. Not to sound overly dramatic, but Black Mesa is one of the finest video games in existence today.

In order to unravel my bold claim, it’s important to examine this one a little more closely. At its heart, Black Mesa began as a mod of Valve Software’s Half-Life, which released on PC back in 1998. First-person shooters were rapidly growing in both technology and innovation at this time, with id Software being responsible for more than a few—Wolfenstein, DOOM, and Quake. What all three had in common were the impressive technical feats that pushed video game graphics forward, and a new level of immersion where you, the player, were front row and center to the carnage and chaos with enough weapons to make a gun shop owner blush.

But Valve rocked the genre once more by integrating a narrative element into the formula to give the player more urgency, where previously everything you needed to know was in the initial splash screen.

You are Gordon Freeman, theoretical physicist at the Black Mesa Research Facility—located somewhere within New Mexico—and part of a team performing an experiment on “anomalous materials” that goes haywire in the worst way possible. The facility is overrun by creatures from a neighboring dimension, pouring in through the tears created by a resonance cascade, and as one of the scattered survivors, you have to do whatever you can to make your escape.

Part of what makes the narrative of Half-Life special is that it is delivered unbroken, foregoing cutscenes entirely in favor of real time interactions. It’s a technique in video game storytelling that I argue is underutilized—you’re never taken out of the experience.

Wanting to improve upon an already influential game, Crowbar Collective—the studio behind Black Mesa—was formed with the goal to properly remake Half-Life, after the 2004 Source port from Valve was met with a lukewarm reception—Source being Valve’s proprietary engine. It was a project of passion from the start that wouldn’t see an official release until 2015 as an Early Access game on Valve’s digital storefront, Steam. With this release, Crowbar informed their community of eager fans that they were finally satisfied with the majority of Black Mesa’s content but were choosing to hold back the final act in order to give it the extra attention it needed.

The final act of Half-Life, known collectively as “Xen” was infamous in Valve’s original release for having been rushed and not as polished as the remainder of the game. Crowbar Collective spent an additional five years to get it right this time around, essentially rebuilding Xen from the ground up using their combined talents until, in March of 2020, Black Mesa achieved 1.0 and left Early Access.

They not only got it right, but they also blew the whole damn thing out of the water. Black Mesa resets the bar for first-person shooters.

It has the benefit of being built on top of Valve’s solid foundation, while every facet has been shined to a modernized edge with improved physics, graphics, and more. Those first moments in Xen are simply awesome, and it was so well received that it’s been said even Valve, while researching during the development of their VR title, Half-Life: Alyx, Black Mesa’s version of Xen was referenced in favor of the original Half-Life.

Something I’ve always appreciated about Half Life’s level design, is that everything feels “lived in” and generally operates like you would expect as you explore offices, parking garages, maintenance areas, and more. Black Mesa raises that level of detail and soaks every environment with a density of atmosphere and memorable sequences spanning its 20 chapters.

The masterstroke that ties it all together is the superb direction, with spot on timing in its adrenaline-fueled crescendo moments, of which there are many. One in particular, in Black Mesa’s 12th chapter, “Surface Tension” features one of the coolest moments I’ve witnessed in a game—it’s a magical combination of these elements working in tandem with the game’s composition.

The credit for Black Mesa’s stellar soundtrack goes to Joel Nielsen. Give this man’s work a listen sometime on his YouTube page, JoelNielsenMusic, and I promise you’ll be impressed. Within Black Mesa, these tracks hit even harder with emotion, and are cued perfectly to the action on screen. It was convincing enough to relate with Gordon Freeman’s agency for his task and, frankly, I could’ve based my entire reasoning for choosing Black Mesa as my #1 game solely on its soundtrack.

But it would be a disservice to leave anything out. Black Mesa is a massive journey and one hell of a satisfying experience—and I could write pages and pages about it. But I’ll end here with this message.

To the modern first-person shooters, look here. To the Hollywood directors trying to translate video games to film, look here. To the future video game historians, remember Black Mesa.

#goty 2021 #black mesa #video games #crowbar collective #valve software

4 notes · View notes

brokehorrorfan · 5 years ago

Text

Blu-ray Review: The Omen Collection

In the pantheon of religious horror, the holy trinity consists of The Exorcist, Rosemary's Baby, and The Omen. Although The Omen arrived last, opening on June 6, 1976, it arguably offers more excitement than its satanic brethren (which is not to say that it is a superior film). Likely to be considered a slow-burner by today's standards, the picture builds tension and unravels a mystery at a meticulous pace, but it's punctuated by elaborate, Rube Goldberg-ian death scenes.

The Omen spawned a trilogy of films, a made-for-television sequel, and a modern remake. Scream Factory has collected all five movies in The Omen Collection, which is limited to 10,000 units. Besting Fox's earlier Blu-ray set - which omitted Part IV and featured some of the worst box set packaging known to man - each film is packaged in an individual Blu-ray case with original artwork within a rigid slipcover case. It boasts a deluge of extras, new and old.

In the original film, American diplomat Robert Thorn (Gregory Peck, To Kill a Mockingbird) and his wife, Katherine (Lee Remick, Anatomy of a Murder), adopt a baby named Damien (Harvey Stephens) after their own child is stillborn. Beginning with his fifth birthday, a string of mysterious deaths surround Damien. Upon being presented with convincing evidence by a photographer (David Warner, Tron), Robert becomes convinced that his son is none other than the antichrist, and he is faced with the task of stopping him to prevent Armageddon.

Firing on all cylinders, The Omen is an exemplary horror film. Working from a well-constructed script by David Seltzer (Shining Through, Prophecy), director Richard Donner grounds the story firmly in reality. The fantastical elements are easy to swallow, as each and every incident in the plot could be mere coincidence. Peck brings a gravitas to the production, leading a strong cast in which Remick also holds her own. Even the six-year-old Stephens, who never acted before and did very little after, is convincingly malevolent.

John Richardson's (Aliens, Harry Potter) special effects for the proto-Final Destination deaths - including one of the greatest beheadings ever committed on celluloid - remain shocking after more than 40 years. Cinematographer Gilbert Taylor (Star Wars: A New Hope, Dr. Strangelove) captures it all with clean camerawork, while Jerry Goldsmith (Alien, Gremlins) provides a chilling orchestral score elevated to pure evil with choral chanting.

The Omen has been newly mastered in 4K from the original negative, approved by Donner, for the new release. The result is a pristine presentation with improved detail and color saturation over Fox’s previous high-definition transfer. The Omen carries a whopping four audio commentaries. One, featuring special project consultant Scott Michael Bosco, is new. His audio sounds compressed - as if it were recorded on a cell phone - but it's dense with details focusing on the theological aspects. Bosco often digresses, but I appreciate the fresh perspective rather than a historian reciting IMDb trivia.

The other audio commentaries include: a track with Donner and editor Stuart Baird (Lethal Weapon, Skyfall), in which the two old friends reminisce about the highs and lows of the production; a track with Donner and filmmaker Brian Helgeland (Mystic River, L.A. Confidential), which features as much good-natured joking as it does insight; and a track with film historians Lem Dobbs, Nick Redman, and Jeff Bond, largely focusing on Goldsmith's score. A lot of information is repeated across the commentaries, but the varying viewpoints make them all worth listening to.

Seltzer and actress Holly Palance (who plays the nanny whose suicide by hanging is among the film’s most memorable moment) sit down for new interviews. Seltzer's chat is particularly enjoyable, as he's candid and humble. He openly states that his script is not as good as the movie it birthed. He also shares what he would have done if he had the opportunity to write the sequel. Palance, the daughter of the great Jack Palance, recounts her naivety about working on her first film and shooting her iconic death scene. The final new extra is an appreciation of The Omen's score by composer Chris Young, who says he looked to Goldsmith's progression across The Omen trilogy as he was scoring the Hellraiser films. It's fascinating to hear one accomplished professional praise another in their field.

All of the archival extras are ported over: a thorough, 15-minute interview with Donner from 2008; 666: The Omen Revealed, a 46-minute retrospective from 2000 featuring crew members along with religious experts to provide context; The Omen Revelations, which is essentially a streamlined version of 666, recycling much of its footage in 24 minutes; Curse or Coincidence, in which the crew recounts a variety of curious incidents that nearly derailed the production; an introduction by Donner; a deleted scene with commentary by Donner; an older interview with Seltzer, which features a lot of the same information as the new one; and an interview with Goldsmith about his score. There's also an appreciation of The Omen by filmmaker Wes Craven (A Nightmare on Elm Street), in which the master of horror waxes poetic about the influential picture for 20 minutes; Trailers from Hell trailer commentary by filmmaker Larry Cohen (The Stuff), who cites The Omen as one of his favorite movies; the trailer; TV spots; radio spots; and four image galleries: stills, behind-the-scenes, posters and lobby cards, and publicity.

Following the massive success of the first film, Fox fast-tracked a sequel, Damien: Omen II, to open in 1978. Having narrowly survived the events of The Omen, a 12-year-old Damien (Jonathan Scott-Taylor) now lives with his affluent uncle, Richard Thorn (William Holden, Sunset Blvd.), aunt, Ann (Lee Grant, In the Heat of the Night), and cousin, Mark (Lucas Donat), in Chicago. Damien is ostensibly a well-adjusted kid, unaware of who - or what - he is, but those who cross him wind up dead in freak accidents.

Omen II's plotting mirrors that of the first film, but the mystery aspect that made the original so effective is gone. The viewer knows from the start that Damien is, in fact, the antichrist, so they're left waiting for the characters to catch up. The plot dedicates an inordinate amount of time to Thorn's business enterprises, which is only vaguely paid of in the next installment when Damien rises to power. On the bright side, there are several admirably inventive deaths in the tradition of the first, from a bird attack that would make Alfred Hitchcock jealous to a visceral elevator bisection to a harrowing scene of a man trapped in a pond under ice.

Since Donner had moved on to Superman and Seltzer was either uninterested or not asked (depending on the source) to pen the sequel, a new creative team was employed. Stanley Mann (Firestarter, Conan the Destroyer) and Mike Hodges (Get Carter, Flash Gordon) wrote the script, with the latter set to direct. Hodges only shot for a few days, during which he quickly fell behind schedule, before being swiftly replaced by Don Taylor (Escape from the Planet of the Apes). Goldsmith returns to score with a worthy successor, retaining the signature sound while expanding it to incorporate electronics.

Leo McKern is the only returning cast member, reprising his role as archaeologist Carl Bugenhagen in the prologue. Peck's formidable presence is sorely missed, but Holden - who, incidentally, turned down the lead role in The Omen - and Grant bring some prestige to the production. Scott-Taylor is a convincing surrogate for Stephens, but the child acting leaves a bit to be desired. It's offset by a supporting cast that includes Lance Henriksen (Aliens), Lew Ayres (All Quiet on the Western Front), Sylvia Sidney (Beetlejuice), Allan Arbus (M*A*S*H), and Meshach Taylor (Mannequin).

Damien: Omen II's Blu-ray disc features new interviews with Grant, who is proud of the sequel and shares a funny anecdote about discovering her first wrinkle while filming; Foxworth, who was able to get to know Holden, one of his heroes, on their daily commute; and actress Elizabeth Sheppard, who proudly discusses working with Holden as well as Vincent Price (on The Tomb of Ligeia). In a separate featurette, Sheppard narrates a gallery of her personal photos from the shoot, offering a behind-the-scenes look at the bird attack sequence.

Since Omen II's mythology has little biblical foundation, Bosco's new commentary features even more tenuous tangents, but it affords him the opportunity to discuss the franchise more subjectively. An archival commentary with producer Harvey Bernhard proves to be a bit more informative. The disc also includes a vintage making-of featurette consisting of clips, interviews, and footage from the set, along with the trailer, a TV spot, a radio spot, and a still gallery.

The Omen trilogy came to a conclusion in 1981 with Omen III: The Final Conflict - although it proved not to be final after all. As prophesied, Damien (Sam Neill, Jurassic Park), now 33 - the same age as Jesus when he was crucified - has risen to political power. Following the U.S. ambassador to Great Britain’s ghastly suicide, Damien is appointed the position, which was once held by his adoptive father. The only true foe for the antichrist is, naturally, Christ himself. Rather than bringing about the apocalypse, as the franchise had been driving toward since the beginning, Damien attempts to prevent the second coming in a sanctimonious conclusion to the story arc.

While no successor could top the original Omen, its first sequel smartly embraced the gratuitous death scenes. For the third installment, however, director Graham Baker (Alien Nation) made a conscious effort to avoid them. Instead, he delivers inept monks trying to assassinate Damien with the Seven Daggers of Megiddo, while the antichrist’s legion of apostles murder newborn males who are the potential Christ child. Andrew Birkin's (Perfume: The Story of a Murderer) script leans further into religiosity at the expensive of the horror elements while interjecting silly mythology akin to Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers.

Omen III: The Final Conflict's Blu-ray disc features new interviews with Baker, who takes a truly retrospective look back on the film, comparing the society of today to that of when it was produced; Birkin, who hadn't seen The Omen when he first met for the gig and wasn't particularly impressed when he finally watched it; and production assistant Jeanne Ferber, who explains how she was among those polled by Bernhard to help choose the lead, with Neill selected unanimously.

For his final commentary in the set, Bosco is back to pointing out the film's connections to scripture, leading to a lengthy tirade comparing Christianity and Judaism. An archival track with Baker has a few nuggets of information among extended gaps of silence, but most of his points are addressed more concisely in the new interview. Special features are rounded out by the trailer, TV spots, and a still gallery.

Although The Omen’s main storyline continued with two more book sequels, Fox opted to use the familiar title for a made-for-television movie on their budding network in 1991. Although dubbed Omen IV: The Awakening, the film largely serves as a remake of the original film but with a female antichrist. After numerous failed attempts to get pregnant, politician Gene York (Michael Woods) and his wife, Karen (Faye Grant, V), adopt an orphan girl. Seven years later, Delia (Asia Vieira, A Home at the End of the World) becomes increasingly violent and manipulative, leaving a trail of bodies in her wake.

Similar to Omen II's production troubles, Omen IV started with Jorge Montesi (Turbulence 3: Heavy Metal) in the director's chair, but he was fire mid-shoot and replaced by Dominique Othenin-Girard (Halloween 5: The Revenge of Michael Myers). Writer Brian Taggert (Poltergeist III) keeps the basic structure of Seltzer's original script intact, but the details of each beat are altered and the death scenes are subdued for TV. In addition to gender-swapping the creepy kid, it's the mother who is proactive this time around.

Despite maintaining the general outline of The Omen, the plot is harder to believe this time around, stretching the required suspension of disbelief to include psychics that can read auras. The most ludicrous plot point comes in the form of a shoehorned connection to The Omen mythology. This "twist" canonically positions Omen IV as a sequel rather than a thinly-veiled remake, but it feels more like a low-budget knockoff than an official installment in the franchise.

Omen IV: The Awakening doesn't have any audio commentaries, but its Blu-ray debut includes a new interview with Taggert, who breaks down several of the major choices made in the script. It also contains The Omen Legacy, a feature-length documentary on the franchise that aired on TV in 2001. Narrated by Jack Palance (City Slickers), it finds cast and crew members (including a couple of folks who don't appear in any other special features) and religious figures (the Church of Satan’s high priestess among them) discussing all four films while playing up the alleged curse. The trailer and a still gallery are also included.

Amidst the onslaught of horror remakes that dominated the early 2000s, Fox shrewdly capitalized with The Omen in 2006 - on 6/6/06, to be exact. Director John Moore (Max Payne) offers slick production value and an inspired cast, but it feels wholly unnecessary considering how closely it follows the original script. Seltzer is the only credited writer, but it's unclear if his 40-year-old script was simply polished off or if he was involved in re-writes, as there are some subtle changes to contemporize it. While it fails to bring anything new to the table, it’s a stronger effort than Omen IV.

Liev Schreiber (Scream) and Julia Stiles (10 Things I Hate About You) star as the Thorns. Talented as they are, they lack the chemistry of Peck and Remick. Seamus Davey-Fitzpatrick is successfully creepy as the new Damien, while the role's originator, Harvey Stephens, makes a quick cameo. In a particularly motivated bit of stunt casting, Mia Farrow (Rosemary's Baby) plays the antichrist's new nanny. David Thewlis (Harry Potter) and Pete Postlethwaite (The Lost World: Jurassic Park) also have supporting roles.

The remake is the only Blu-ray in the set that doesn't offer any new special features. The existing extras cover a lot of ground, but it would’ve been interesting to hear the crew reflect back on it. Omenisms is a 37-minute documentary exploring the pressures of making a movie with a release date set in advance, even showing Moore losing his temper and yelling at a producer. It feels very of its time, with director Stephen French treating the piece like a hip art film, but it contains a lot of great material.

Moore, producer Glenn Williamson, and editor Dan Zimmermann participate in an audio commentary that's fairly informative but doesn't touch on many of the trials and tribulations showcased in Omenisms. There's also a featurette about Marco Beltrami (Scream) recording his score at the legendary Abbey Road Studio; Revelation 666, a cheesy TV special tracing the history, interpretation, and theories of 666; unrated, extended scenes, including a longer version of the ending; and theatrical trailers.

While The Exorcist remains the be-all and end-all of occult horror, The Omen franchise as a whole is more consistent. The first three Omen films comprise a cohesive trilogy, while Part IV and the remake each offer a fresh, if flawed, perspective on the material. Between the movies, commentaries, interviews, and featurettes, The Omen Collection contains over 30 hours of content, making it an unbelievable value and a must-have for any horror collector.

The Omen Collection is available now on Blu-ray via Scream Factory.

#the omen #gregory peck #damien: omen ii #omen iii: the final conflict #omen iv: the awakening #mia farrow #scream factory #dvd #gift #review #article #damien thorn #liev schreiber #julia stiles #lance henriksen #lee remick #william holden

30 notes · View notes

blackkudos · 5 years ago

Text

Keegan-Michael Key

Keegan-Michael Key (born March 22, 1971) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer.

Key co-created and co-starred alongside Jordan Peele in Comedy Central's sketch series Key & Peele (2012–2015) and co-starred in USA Network's Playing House (2014–2017). He spent six seasons as a cast member on Mad TV (2004–2009) and has made guest appearances on the U.S. version of Whose Line is it Anyway? on The CW. He also appeared alongside Peele in the first season of the FX series Fargo in 2014, and had a recurring role on Parks and Recreation from 2013 to 2015. He hosted the U.S. version of The Planet's Funniest Animals on Animal Planet from 2005 until 2008.

Key has had supporting roles in several films, including Pitch Perfect 2 (2015), Don't Think Twice (2016), and Toy Story 4 (2019). Also in 2015, he appeared at the White House Correspondents' Dinner as the Key & Peele character Luther, President Barack Obama's anger translator. Key and Peele produced and starred in the 2016 action-comedy film Keanu. In 2017, Key made his Broadway debut in Steve Martin's Meteor Shower.

Early life

Key was born in Southfield, Michigan on March 22, 1971, the son of black father Leroy McDuffie and white mother Carrie Herr. He was adopted at a young age by a couple from Detroit, Michael Key and Patricia Walsh, who were both social workers. Like his birth parents, his adoptive parents were also a black man and white woman. Through his biological father, Key had two half-brothers, one of whom was comic book writer Dwayne McDuffie (1962–2011). Key only discovered the existence of his siblings after they had both died.

Key attended the University of Detroit Mercy as an undergraduate, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in theater in 1993, followed by a Master of Fine Arts in theater at Pennsylvania State University in 1996. While at the University of Detroit Mercy, he was a brother of Phi Kappa Theta.

Career

Mad TV

In 2004, Key joined the cast of Mad TV midway into the ninth season. He and Jordan Peele were cast against each other, but both ended up being picked after demonstrating great comedic chemistry. Key played many characters on the show. One of his most famous characters is "Coach Hines", a high school sports coach who frequently disrupts and threatens students and faculty members. On the penultimate episode of Mad TV, Hines revealed that he is the long-lost heir to the Heinz Ketchup company and only became a Catholic school coach to help delinquent teenagers like Yamanashi (Bobby Lee). During seasons 9 and 10, Key appeared as "Dr. Funkenstein" in blaxploitation parodies, with Peele playing the monster. Key also portrayed various guests on Real **********ing Talk like the strong African Rollo Johnson and blind victim Stevie Wonder Washington. He often goes "backstage" as Eugene Struthers, an ecstatic water-or-flower delivery man who accosts celebrities. There is also "Jovan Muskatelle", a shirtless man with a jheri curl and a shower cap. He interrupts live news broadcasts by a reporter (always played by Ike Barinholtz), annoying him with rapid fire accounts of events that have happened frequently exclaiming "It was crazy as hell!" Celebrities that Key impersonated on the show include Ludacris, Snoop Dogg, Roscoe Orman (as his character Gordon from Sesame Street), Matthew Lillard, Bill Cosby, Al Roker, Terrell Owens, Tyler Perry, Keith Richards, Eddie Murphy (as his character James "Thunder" Early from the movie Dreamgirls), Sherman Hemsley (as his character George Jefferson on The Jeffersons), Charles Barkley, Sendhil Ramamurthy (as Mohinder Suresh), Tyson Beckford, Seal (originally played by Peele until Peele left the show at the end of season 13), Sidney Poitier, Lionel Richie, Barack Obama, Kobe Bryant and Jack Haley (as the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz). He also played female celebrities, including Phylicia Rashād, Robin Antin, and Eva Longoria (as Gabrielle Solis on a Desperate Housewives parody).

Key & Peele

Key and his former Mad TV castmate Jordan Peele starred in their own Comedy Central sketch series Key & Peele, which began airing on January 31, 2012 and ran for five seasons until September 9, 2015. Key and his comedy partner Jordan Peele starred in an episode of Epic Rap Battles of History, with Key playing Mahatma Gandhi and Peele playing Martin Luther King Jr. The pair returned to Epic Rap Battles of History with the "Muhammad Ali versus Michael Jordan" battle, with Key portraying Jordan.

Key was introduced by President Barack Obama at the 2015 White House Correspondents' Dinner as Luther, Obama's Anger Translator, one of Key's characters from Key & Peele.

Friends from College

Key plays the most prominent male character, Ethan Turner, on the Netflix ensemble comedy Friends from College, about a group of Harvard University graduates and friends now in their late 30s living in New York City. He plays an award-winning fiction writer who is being encouraged to start writing for young adult fiction audiences.

Other work

Key was one of the founders of Hamtramck, Michigan's Planet Ant Theatre, and was a member of the Second City Detroit's mainstage cast before joining the Second City e.t.c. theater in Chicago. Key co-founded the Detroit Creativity Project along with Beth Hagenlocker, Marc Evan Jackson, Margaret Edwartowski, and Larry Joe Campbell. The Detroit Creativity Project teaches students in Detroit improvisation as a way to improve their communication skills. Key performed with The 313, an improv group formed with other members of Second City Hollywood that appears around the country. The 313 is made up primarily of former Detroit residents and named for Detroit's area code. Key also hosted Animal Planet's The Planet's Funniest Animals.

He made a cameo in "Weird Al" Yankovic's video "White & Nerdy" with fellow Mad TV co-star Jordan Peele. In 2009, Key hosted GSN's "Big Saturday Night", and has co-starred in Gary Unmarried on CBS. Key was a panelist on the NPR comedy quiz show Wait Wait, Don't Tell Me... on March 27 and July 24, 2010. Key has been in several episodes of Reno 911! as the "Theoretical Criminal".

Key and Peele were featured on the cover and in a series of full-page comic photos illustrating The New York Times Magazine article "Is Giving the Secret to Getting Ahead?" on March 31, 2013. A live-action video version was also featured on the Times' website. Key co-stars in the horror-comedy Hell Baby. Key is one of the rotating "fourth chair" performers in the 2013 revival of Whose Line Is It Anyway?.

In addition to Key & Peele, he also co-starred in the USA Network comedy series Playing House, which began airing in April 2014.

Together with his comedy partner Jordan Peele, Key played an FBI agent in a recurring role in the 2014 FX crime drama Fargo.

Key was involved in audio episodes for the marketing campaign, "Hunt the Truth" on the website for the video game Halo 5: Guardians, voicing a fictional journalist and war photographer named Benjamin Giraud, who investigates the Master Chief's background.

Key has had small supporting roles in numerous films, including 2014's Horrible Bosses 2, Let's Be Cops and the animated The Lego Movie, as well as Pitch Perfect 2 and Tomorrowland in 2015. Key and Peele are currently working with Judd Apatow on a feature-length film for Universal Pictures.

Key is one of several hosts of the podcast Historically Black by American Public Media and The Washington Post.

In the summer of 2017 Key returned to the theatre after what he characterized as a "19-year detour into sketch comedy" for a production of Hamlet at New York's Public Theater, playing Horatio opposite Oscar Isaac in the title role. Key, who is a Shakespearean-trained actor, fulfilled his lifelong dream to play Horatio and received rave reviews for his performance. The Hollywood Reporter's David Rooney noted that Key's comedic skills were on full display, "...but his ease with the verse and stirring sensitivity [was] a revelation."

Key voice acted in The Star, the animated film based on the Nativity of Jesus. He later went on to voice Ducky in Toy Story 4 and Kamari in The Lion King.

In 2017, Key made his Broadway debut in Steve Martin's comedy Meteor Shower.

Brain Games

Key currently hosts Brain Games on National Geographic

Personal life

Key was married to actress and dialect coach Cynthia Blaise from 1998 until 2017. They were legally separated in November 2015, with Key filing for divorce the following month. He married producer and director Elisa Key (formerly Elisa Pugliese) in New York City on June 8, 2018.

Key is a Christian and has practiced Buddhism, Catholicism, and Evangelicalism in the past. Being biracial has been a source of comedic material for Key, who told Terry Gross in an interview for NPR, "I think the reason Jordan and I became actors is because we did a fair amount of code-switching growing up and still do."

Philanthropy

Key has worked with the Young Storytellers Foundation as an actor for their annual fundraiser alongside Max Greenfield, Jack Black and Judy Greer.

#03/22

6 notes · View notes

bishopsbox · 5 years ago

Photo

source: bishopsbox

Showgirls playing chess, 1958

by: Gordon Parks: The Gordon Parks Foundation

#american photographers #afroamerican photographers #gordon parks #1958 #art photography #50s #documentary photography #showgirls #rest

8 notes · View notes

sgtbluebacon · 5 years ago

Text

What are Sovereign Citizens?

To give you the full picture, I have to take you back in time. The original intent of this essay was to be a foundation for future sovereign citizen videos on my Youtube channel, and before I began my research, I thought they were harmless and ridiculous. I didn't expect it them to have such a dark history, or such dangerous members.

We begin in 1776. A group of influential men have been secretly writing one of the most important documents in American history. On the 4th of July, after almost a year of war with Britain, delegates from the 13 Colonies vote to approve the Declaration of Independence. In 1781, all thirteen states ratified the Articles of Confederation, which outlined an early system of Government. Two years later, the war with Britain ended, and in 1788, the Articles of Confederation were replaced with our current Constitution.

In 1865, the 13th Amendment was ratified, stating: "Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, shall exist within the United States."

In 1868, the 14th Amendment was ratified, stating: "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, are citizens of the United States."

In 1909, the 16th Amendment was ratified, stating: "The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, "

This is important, because these documents and amendments are the basis upon which the original Sovereign Citizen arguments were built. Modern Sovereign Citizens use different documents or parts of the Constitution, but I’ll discuss those arguments in future essays.

In 1946, Wesley Smith formed the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, which promoted the idea that only white people were the children of God.

In the 1950s, a right-wing movement was formed, called the Tax Protest movement. They claimed the 16th Amendment was in violation of the 13th Amendment. Forcing someone to pay taxes was involuntary servitude. This movement continued for decades without any real success.

At least, until the arrival of William P. Gale, a former officer in the US army who had reportedly served as General MacArthur's aide during WWII. In the 1960s, he became a disciple of the Church of Jesus Christ Christian, alongside his friend, Richard Butler, who would later form the Aryan Nations. In 1969, Gale formed the Posse Comitatus group, and using a combination of biblical ideology, racist beliefs, and legal knowledge, claimed the 14th Amendment of the Constitution was ratified to strip power away from sovereign citizens, forcing them to submit to the government. By refusing to pay taxes, or accept government identification, one could free themselves from government control. His preaching was widely accepted thanks to regular radio broadcasts, not only by white supremacy movements, but by the tax protest movement, which had gained traction during the Farm Crisis of the 70′s and 80′s. With multiple organizations backing him, Gale formed a platform from which he spread his sermons, encouraging citizens to use vigilante justice against government officials who did not support their beliefs.

In 1978, William Luther Pierce, the former editor of the American Nazi Party's quarterly journal "National Socialist World," and co-leader of the National Alliance, an organization designed to help white nationalists overthrow the federal government, wrote a novel titled "The Turner Diaries." The book was about a future race war, where homosexuals, jews, and others, were ethnically clensed in an "absolutely necessary" war by a group of white nationalists known as The Organization.

In the early 1980s, the Posse Comitatus movement changed into the Sovereign Citizen movement, and it became brutally violent.

1983 Gordon Kahl became involved in a shootout with the police, after failing to pay his taxes, violating his parole for, you guessed it, not paying taxes.

For those of you who don't know, parole is basically a prison sentence outside of prison. You get to live your life, and are expected to not break the law. If you do, your prison sentence gets completed inside of prison.

Two police officers died in the shootout, and Kahl fled. For four months, police hunted him down, until they finally caught and killed him in a second shootout, during which one more officer died.

Also In 1983, Robert Jay Matthews, a member of the Aryan Nations and the National Alliance formed a group called "The Order," an anti-government militia named after the inner leading circle of The Organization from William Pierce's novel. They financed themselves by creating counterfeit money and by robbing armored cars throughout the 80′s. They protected themselves through violence and even murder. Their goal was to bring about the creation of a white supremacist society.

In 1994, the Montana Freemen, a variation on the Sovereign Citizen movement, seized a courthouse in Garfield County, offering bounties as high as 1 million dollars for the county judge, attorney, and sheriff to be brought to them, dead or alive. A year later, police would stop an armed attempt to kidnap the same judge that the bounty had been placed on.

On April 19, 1995, Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols parked a truck full of home-made explosives under the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building, in Oklahoma City. The detonation destroyed the north side of the building, and damaged over 300 buildings nearby. 168 people died in what is currently the deadliest domestic terrorist attack in the United States.

McVeigh and Nichols were actually taken to trial wearing bulletproof vests because it was believed the public might try to kill them. The only Terrorist attack on American soil with a higher body count occurred on September 11th.

In 1996, the Montana Freemen made news again when, after failing to leave property they had been evicted from, 3 members were arrested by FBI agents. Other members of the Freemen barricaded themselves in the property's residence, and the FBI began an 81 day standoff, waiting for them to surrender.

Looking at their history, its clear why the FBI classifies the Sovereign Citizen movement as domestic terrorism. They might currently lack the organized leadership of the 70′s and 80′s, but they remain dangerous as individuals.

In 2010, a man who is believed to be a sovereign citizen, and at the very least a member of the anti-tax movement, flew a plane into the Austin Texas IRS building.

In 2012, Four sheriff's deputies in Louisiana were shot in an Ambush. Two died. The attack was carried out by four sovereign citizens. Searches of their residences revealed multiple illegal weapons and pipe bombs. It was also discovered that two of the attackers were on domestic terrorism watch lists.

In 2016, an ex-marine identifying as a Sovereign Citizen shot and killed three officers in Baton Rouge.

Technically he was Moorish American, and I'll be explaining what they are in another video. Those examples are just the premeditated murders. There are plenty of other reports of officers being killed in the line of duty by sovereign citizens. Their influence is growing again. The FBI is devoting more resources to tracking them again. If you are a sovereign citizen, it didn't work then, and it won't work now.

#Sovereign Citizen #History

12 notes · View notes

edinburghbusiness-blog · 6 years ago

Text

Former Scotland boss Gordon Strachan takes football foundation to Edinburgh

For the past eight years former Scotland boss Gordon Strachan’s football foundation has helped turn around the lives of hundreds of youngsters.

But now Muirhouse-born Strachan is bringing the programme “home” to Edinburgh, using football as the driving force to help kids who have fallen through the cracks of the conventional education system.

In conjunction with Spartans Community Football Academy - of which he is patron - Strachan is aiming to give hope to around 20 local youngsters who will combine studying at Edinburgh College with coaching in the sport in which he excelled with Aberdeen, Manchester United and Leeds United.

And he hopes it will be the first step towards launching similar programmes throughout Scotland in places such as Glasgow, Dundee and Aberdeen.

Operating out of a training complex in Rugby in the English Midlands, Strachan is rightly proud of the results his foundation has brought, happily spouting a string of statistics to highlight the successes.

Since it was formed in 2011, more than 300 kids who started off with few academic qualifications into full-time employment, a further 20 or so have won scholarships at universities in the United States and a few have embarked on a professional football career.

Luke Leahy for example played more than 100 games for Falkirk and a Scottish Cup final but, Strachan revealed, a number had moved into football in other areas, as coaches, nutritionists, video analysts and so on.

Stressing the scheme isn’t looking for youngsters with outstanding football skills, although trials will be held at Ainslie Park on May 30, Strachan said: “We specialise in recruiting kids between the ages of 16 and 19, youngsters who, for one reason or another have left school with few or no qualifications.”

While football is undoubtedly the hook, it isn’t, however, just about kicking a ball around - the youngsters will play in Scottish Student Sport leagues and cups - but developing the kids into well rounded individuals with a simple rule, fall behind in your studies and you don’t get a game.

“We had one kid from Nottingham who had gone to school just five days in three years but didn’t miss a day’s training with us - and he had the travel the furthest of all the boys we had.

“When these youngsters walk in through the door for the first time they have insecurities and issues with self-confidence. They leave as different human beings, ready to take their place in the world.

“They learn to work together as a group. They may not be the best football players in the world, but they are better people. After a year with us I’d happily send any of them for a job interview and know they wouldn’t let themselves down.

“We’ve proved it can work, it’s worked in England, where we currently have around 80 students, so it’s a no-brainer. I’m really excited at bringing my foundation to my hometown. But it’s not restricted to kids from Leith or Edinburgh, it’s an opportunity for everyone.”

Source: https://www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com/education/former-scotland-boss-gordon-strachan-takes-football-foundation-to-edinburgh-1-4931137

1 note · View note

somersetlevels · 6 years ago

Photo

Benedictine Monks, 1955.

Source: The Gordon Parks Foundation.

2 notes · View notes

trascapades · 3 years ago

Text

💕🎨#ArtIsAWeapon

Reposted from artist @bisabutler: "I picked up a camera because it was my choice of weapons against what I hated most about the universe: racism, intolerance, poverty.

I could have just as easily picked up a knife or a gun, like many of my childhood friends did... most of whom were murdered or put in prison... but I chose not to go that way. I felt that I could somehow subdue these evils by doing something beautiful that people recognize me by, and thus make a whole different life for myself, which has proved to be so." - Gordon Parks 1912-2006

Mr. Gordon Parks used a camera to fight what he hated the most and I use my sewing machine and fabric. These are the times when I can feel almost hopeless but then I look at what those who came before me did to make positive changes in this world. I look at the barriers that stood in their way and I read about how they defeated them. If they tried there is no way I can say this is too hard.

I am so thrilled to announce that my first artwork using the incredible photographs of Gordon Parks as a source will debut with the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery @jeffreydeitchgallery this June at Art Basel @artbasel Switzerland!

This quilted Art work titled Mobile Madonna is just the first in my new series. The entire collection will debut at the Gordon Parks Foundation @gordonparksfoundation and the Jeffrey Deitch Gallery in NYC ,tba.

*There is zero paint on this artwork

Mobile Madonna (inspired by Mobile, Alabama 1956 by Gordon Parks) 2022

Cotton, silk, wool, velvet and lace

Quilted and appliquéd

97” x 45”

Photo by @johnnyjbutler_

*fabrics by @vlisco @freespiritfabrics , thread by @superiorthreads

#bisabutler #gordonparks #BlackArtists #jeffreydeitch #blackmoms #artbaselswitzerland #achoiceofweapons #quilt #dutchwax #vlisco #howarduniversity

#fightracism #enddiscrimination #blackmaternalhealth

0 notes

kristopher404 · 3 years ago

Text

9/17 Wilis Reading

‘In 1967, I visited the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s exhibition, “Harlem on My Mind.” It was the first experience I had in a major museum where photographs of African American were presented’ - Deb Wilis

Untitled, Shady Grove, Alabama, 1956

Source : The Gordon Parks Foundation

The comparison I can make between the quote and the photograph has something to do with the subject of racial segregation, granted that the years aren’t that far apart while segregation occur. Deb Wilis is surprised at the fact that there are art and photographs, music, quotes representing African Americans for the first time in a major museum because they were not given any attention before due to segregation. This connection was made since Deb Wilis is around 19 during 1967.

The photograph taken in 1956 is a example of why blacks weren’t represented in museums back then, they were always segregated from the whites and are limited to what they can do. See how little space is given to the ‘colored’ line and the massive amount of waiting space for the ‘whites’. If they’re even limited to the amount of space given to buy ice cream, then it’s even impossible to be even admission your work into a museum being a African American.

This photograph has every little detail from the segregated line to the amount of space, and the location for the line to give enough details to allow a person make a understanding and judgement of the photograph. It’s individual vs society due to society has decided to form this rule of limiting certain people’s freedoms and those people have to live with it without a choice.

0 notes

vladtheunfollower · 7 years ago

Text

Gordon Cornwall update on "Burnaby 15" injunction hearing, which concluded yesterday:

Kinder-Morgan got their injunction, as expected. However, we (the two defence lawyers, David Mivasair and myself (self-represented)) managed to beat it back in scope, if not duration: from a 50 m 'buffer zone' around KM properties (Westridge and the tank farm) to 5 m, with exceptions carved out for public trails and roadways, parks, schools, private property, the reservoir, etc. The duration, unfortunately, is for the duration of the project - which, we still hope, will be terminated prematurely.

Here is what I told the court when I finally got to speak yesterday:

"I want to explain my reasons for standing in Bayview Drive and holding out my hand to stop construction-related traffic from entering Westridge Terminals. I will also present three reasons why the injunction, if it must be granted, should be limited in scope and duration.

In their lawsuit against the defendants, Trans-Mountain claims that, by blocking Bayview, we delayed their work, cost them money, and caused them harm.

I took the actions I did in an attempt to prevent a greater harm from being inflicted on myself, my family, and society by Trans-Mountain and the rest of the fossil fuel industry.

I respectfully ask the court to take judicial notice of the broader context of global warming caused by manmade greenhouse gases.

Tran-Mountain’s proposed pipeline expansion is not compatible with Canada’s Paris commitment to make best efforts to keep global temperatures from rising beyond 1.5 ° C above pre-industrial levels.

Average global temperatures have already risen by 1° C, and harm is evident around the world. Looking at BC alone, we have seen in recent years a trend towards hotter, drier summers. The summer of 2017 broke records for lack of rainfall, and the result was a record year for wildfires. The cost to BC taxpayers of fighting the 2017 fires was $500M, and that does not include the military response. Figures for the damage caused by the fires – hundreds of buildings lost, 1.2 million hectares of forest destroyed, 400,000 hectares of rangeland made unproductive, cattle and wildlife injured and killed, the impact on tourism – the dollar value of that damage is not yet known. Nor is the cost of the health impacts on British Columbians across much of the province, including the Lower Mainland, from breathing smoky air for weeks on end. Nor is the psychological cost to many people who lived last summer in fear of losing their homes and cottages, their animals, and potentially their lives. For two months, my wife and I watched the Elephant Hill fire rip through 100 miles of forest from Ashcroft north to Sheridan Lake, where my family has owned a summer place for 60 years. Our place was saved by a fluke, a lucky change of wind.

The threat of global warming is one of imminent harm. No one knows exactly how it will play out, which parts of the world will be hit next by what disasters. We can see clearly that, unless we stop expanding fossil fuel production as Canada is still doing, unless we rapidly convert to a renewable energy economy, we are on a path to a global temperature increase perhaps as high as 4 ° C. That would cause unimaginable harm.

If an injunction must be granted in favour of the applicant, this harm being perpetrated by Trans-Mountain and other corporate entities is a reason to limit its scope and duration.

Also, legal cases naming the applicant, Trans-Mountain Pipeline ULC, specifically referencing the Trans-Mountain pipeline expansion project, are currently before Canadian courts.

Among other cases, I refer to the Trans Mountain Expansion Project judicial reviews consolidated under file number A-78-17, currently before the Federal Court of Appeal. The applicants include the Tseil-Waututh Nation, the Musquam Indian Band, Aitchelitz et al, the Upper Nicola Band, the Squamish Nation, the Coldwater Indian Band, Chief Ron Ignace of the Stk’emiupsemc Te Secwepemc Nation, the Raincoast Conservation Foundation and Living Oceans Society, the City of Vancouver, and the City of Burnaby. Respondents include the National Energy Board, Trans Mountain Pipeline ULC, and the Attorney General of Canada.

The seven day oral hearing concluded in Vancouver at the Federal Court of Appeal on 13 October 2017. The court’s decision is still pending. In their May 25, 2017 prospectus, Kinder Morgan warned its shareholders that if the applicant is successful in this consolidated case, the Trans Mountain Expansion Project may be stopped altogether.

I refer also to the case brought by the BC Government appealing the NEB decision that permitted Kinder Morgan Canada to bypass two sections of the City of Burnaby’s bylaws on land and tree clearances.

I refer also to the City of Burnaby’s application for leave to appeal the same NEB decision.

As a result of these and other active court cases, the Trans-Mountain construction activities which have been described as lawful in this courtroom, may soon be found to be unlawful. That is another reason for limiting the scope and, especially, duration of any injunction granted to the applicant. A third reason for limiting the scope and duration of the injunction, if it is to be granted at all, is the concern expressed by many Burnaby residents in the neighborhood of Westridge Terminals and the Burnaby Tank farm, about the impact of any injunction on their normal activities and enjoyoment of the area. In addition to the evidence presented yesterday by my friend Mr. Leggett, I wish to draw the court’s attention to the affidavit of Maurice Jackson, who, with another Justin Trudeau Brigade participant and the help of two neighbours collected signatures from local residents expressing opposition to the injunction. The affidavit says 38 signatures, but by my count there are 40."

A couple of points:

The judge (Justice Kenneth Affleck) had the opportunity to deny my request for him to take judicial notice of the facts of global warming, but he did not do so. In this court, unlike the NEB hearings, evidence of global warming is admissible. I also, unexpectedly, hit the bulls-eye by describing last year's fire summer. Justice Affleck made three remarks during my submission. One was to say he didn't need to be convinced of the threat of climate change. The second was to remark that he too had a home or cottage threatened by the fires last summer, but his burned to the ground! (I expressed my sympathy.) The third was to point out that he could not, in those proceedings, rule on whether Trans-Mountain's project was good or bad. I told him I understood.

Trans-Mountain's lawsuit against the 15 named defendants, including me, is still pending. Their lawyer went out of his way yesterday to say that they may still pursue it. "Why wouldn't we?"

source

#kinder morgan pipeline #burnaby mountain

6 notes · View notes

orbemnews · 4 years ago

Link

As Online Shopping Surged, Amazon Planned Its New York Takeover When the pandemic gripped New York City, it propelled an enormous surge in online shopping that has not waned, even in a metropolis where stores are rarely far away. People who regularly bought online are now buying more, while those who started ordering to avoid exposure to the virus have been won over by the advantages. The abrupt shift in shopping patterns has made New York a high-stakes testing ground for urban deliveries, with its sheer density both a draw and a logistical nightmare. It has also highlighted the need for an unglamorous yet critical piece of the e-commerce infrastructure: warehouse space to store and sort packages and satisfy customer expectations for faster and faster delivery. Amazon has spent the pandemic embarking on a warehouse shopping spree in New York, significantly expanding its footprint in the biggest and most lucrative market in the country. It has snatched up at least nine new warehouses in the city, including a 1 million-plus square foot behemoth rising in Queens that will be its largest in New York, and today has at least 12 warehouses in the five boroughs. And it has added to its roster more than two dozen warehouses in suburbs surrounding the city. No other large competitor has a single warehouse in the city and Amazon has largely left most of its chief rivals, like Wal-Mart and Target, behind. “Amazon had people making deals,” said Adam Gordon, whose real estate firm Wildflower owns several warehouses in the city. “And they were outcompeting.” While New York’s narrow streets, chronic traffic jams and brutal lack of parking are all formidable challenges, the city also has a severe shortage of warehouses just when they are most needed to properly grease an efficient delivery system. New York has about 128 million square feet of industrial space, far less than many smaller cities. Indianapolis, whose population is just one-tenth that of New York’s, has nearly double the space. Chicago is the nation’s leader with more than 1.2 billion square feet. Many packages come to New York from New Jersey and Pennsylvania, where there is room to build bigger and cheaper warehouses. And in the past year Amazon has added 14 new warehouses in New Jersey and on Long Island, totaling more than 7 million square feet. But having warehouses in the city is more cost effective and can trim roughly 20 percent off delivery expenses compared with deliveries that originate in New Jersey. “We are excited to continue to invest in the state of New York by adding new delivery stations,” said Deborah Bass, an Amazon spokeswoman, adding that the company’s goal was to “become part of the fabric of New York City by embracing the people, the needs, and the spirit of the community.” Amazon’s rapid expansion in New York has also drawn more scrutiny to the treatment of its workers, an issue that the company has faced in other parts of the country. Amazon has sought to quash efforts by warehouse employees to form unions — including on Staten Island — and a high-profile battle is currently being waged in Alabama. In New York, the attorney general has sued Amazon over conditions at two of its local warehouses, accusing the company of failing to properly clean its buildings and conduct adequate contact-tracing, as well as of taking “swift retaliatory action” to silence employee complaints. An Amazon spokeswoman disputed the allegations and said the company cared “deeply about the health and safety” of its workers. Amazon’s growth in New York comes two years after it abandoned plans to build a gleaming new headquarters in Queens. A chorus of lawmakers and progressive activists had opposed granting one of the world’s wealthiest companies billions of dollars in government incentives that the giant retailer had won by making cities compete against each other. But New York remains an alluring prize, and Amazon’s string of warehouses in the city puts it in a strong position to benefit from the huge spike in online shopping set off by the pandemic. Roughly 2.4 million packages are delivered in the city every day, nearly half a million more than before the pandemic, and city data shows that 80 percent of deliveries are to residential customers, compared with 40 percent before the outbreak. The torrent of e-commerce crosses all categories: daily grocery deliveries have more than doubled, restaurant and prepared food deliveries have increased by 12 percent and household goods deliveries have jumped by 24 percent, according to an analysis by José Holguín-Veras and Cara Wang, professors at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute who work on transportation issues. “The challenge now is urban deliveries,” Mr. Holguín-Veras said. “And if you look at the numbers, they are only going to increase.” While there will likely be some decline in orders as the outbreak eases, the overall trajectory is clear, experts say. “The pandemic has accelerated the adoption of e-commerce by five years in one year because users have been forced to adapt,” said Marc Palazzolo, a transportation consultant for Kearny, a consulting firm that has advised the city’s business leaders on e-commerce. By 2045, the total volume of freight moving through New York City is expected to hit 540 million tons a year, up from 365 million tons today, according to city data. Still, the online shopping boom will only worsen problems like congestion and pollution that were already bad before the pandemic, sending flotillas of delivery trucks across the city and flooding sidewalks and lobbies with packages. It has come during a perilous period for New York’s small businesses, which have been battered by the pandemic with nearly 3,000 having closed for good as of last August, according to the most recent data available from the city comptroller’s office. Small businesses struggle to compete online with retailers that typically charge less for the same items and have a far more robust delivery infrastructure. “Building e-commerce capabilities isn’t easy,’’ said Jonathan Bowles, executive director of the Center for an Urban Future, a research organization. “It requires a lot more than just having a website.’’ For larger retailers, having warehouses closer to consumers will become more crucial in an increasingly competitive online market. But the city, once a manufacturing center filled with factories, is not particularly welcoming. To try to protect residential neighborhoods from pollution and traffic, zoning rules limit the construction of warehouses to designated manufacturing districts. “There’s no more space to build new warehouses, so it’s leaving most retailers out of the growth,” said Gabriel Cepeda, the founder of Pickups Technologies, a storage and logistics company. Construction is underway or about to begin on new factories that will have roughly 8.7 million square feet of space in all, including a 1.2 million square-foot UPS site in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Three warehouses under construction will have multiple levels, which is common in Asia, and multiple loading docks that can be used by one company or divided among several. Amazon has signed leases at two of them. The opening of warehouses has brought some economic benefits, leading to the hiring of thousands of workers — some part-time jobs start at $17.25 an hour — at a time when many city residents are jobless. Mr. Cepeda is creating a homegrown distribution system of “mini-warehouses.” He has recruited more than 1,000 residents in Manhattan and Brooklyn who will get paid to use their apartments to store goods for retailers and send them out for delivery. Amazon, which owns Whole Foods, has also used the grocery stores to fulfill online orders, with its workers often outnumbering store customers. Walmart had a warehouse in the Bronx through Jet.com, a now-defunct shopping site it owned, but later vacated the property, which is now leased by Amazon. Wal-Mart — which has no stores in the city — uses warehouses in Pennsylvania to serve online customers. Target, which started same-day delivery in the city in 2017 and has about two dozen stores in New York, has used its stores as mini-distribution hubs, in part because it is cheaper to fulfill an online order in a store than at an out-of-town warehouse. Many smaller companies are feeling the pressure to expand their online and delivery operations. Stop & Shop has hired hundreds of workers to increase its online grocery service in the New York area, including at a warehouse in nearby Jersey City. Pat LaFrieda Meat Purveyors, the butcher for many high-end restaurants, has spent more than $1 million on its online and retail sales operations, selling to shoppers on its website and through Amazon Fresh and ShopRite. That business made up as much as 90 percent of the company’s sales in 2020, up from 15 percent before the pandemic. “Home delivery will be prominent for the next decade,” Mr. LaFrieda said. “It will be key to our success.” The company has reconfigured its New Jersey warehouse to prioritize retail sales and designed new packaging for online customers. While Amazon is laying the foundation for online dominance in New York, Mr. Gordon, the owner of several warehouses, said other retailers would also need to become more nimble to respond to the new ways people are buying. The e-commerce demands also place added pressure on warehouse workers and drivers to fulfill and deliver orders on time, as customers now expect. “Just-in-time delivery and last-mile delivery is what it means,’’ Mr. Gordon said. “You need to be very close to your customer to provide the level of service that people now expect.” Source link Orbem News #Amazon #Online #planned #Shopping #surged #takeover #York

0 notes