#neo mirage edition

[bartoonist]

Happy 94th birthday, Grandma Honey: These two extra new editions for my memorial portrait of my Late Maternal Grandma: Helena "Honey" Stockwell my Vivid Acrylic Edition of her, made with a little bit of TomBow Watercolor markers for her eyes and skin since my fine point acrylic marker Sharpie Brand Set didn’t come with Brown and Peach colors in the 1st pic of the compilation post, and the 2nd pic in this compilation post being my Neo-Mirage Edition of her done with the old school B&W Indie Comic style gray tones done with hatching, crosshatching, and manga style hand inked stippling of course, and the 3rd to 5th pics of my memorial portrait of grandma honey are the ones you already know I previously did after she passed away sadly so. One of my good pals at my ECF Art Studio in Inglewood made two print copies my traditional B&W Edition of my grandma’s memorial portrait around two weeks before her funeral event occurred on June 1st 2024 four months ago now (as of 10-27-2024 of writing this post’s caption of course), and I just got back from my San Francisco-vacation to post this from L.A. Home since the hotel WiFi from Beresford Arms was just too wonky as it always in hotel rooms except the Lobby which seems more stable at that part of the B.A. Hotel ironically so, but at least I’m not a belated day too late this time. So I hope you folks like the two newest editions I’ve for my Late Maternal Grandmother of course. And happy birthday to you, Grandma Honey. I hope you’re up in heaven watching over me and our family and friends in the afterlife these days. I still miss you dearly.

[avinmotion]

CES 2020 | Top 20

HZ2000 OLED TV (Master HDR OLED Professional panel supporting Dolby Vision IQ and Filmmaker Mode) by Panasonic

Filmmaker Mode by UHD Alliance

Simulated Reality Development Kit (32” 8K Spatial Desktop machine) by Dimenco

ThinkPad X1 Fold (13.3″ OLED Foldable Display, up to 1TB NVMe, Win 10 Pro, up to 11hr battery) by Lenovo

Looking Glass 8K Immersive Display by Looking Glass Factory

ConceptD 7 Ezel (Pro) Notebook (with Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000) by Acer

Q950TS 8K QLED TV (Infinity Screen) by Samsung

ThinkVision Creator Extreme (27" HDR1000, 1152 mini-LED zones and 10,368 LEDs for dynamic local dimming) by Lenovo

ConceptD 700 Workstation by Acer

DoubleTake (the next-generation in digital binoculars) by NexOpticTech

ONE R 1-Inch Edition (co-engineerd with Leica) by Insta360

Teslasuit Glove by Teslasuit

Bluetooth LE Audio Standard (The Next-Generation of Bluetooth Audio) by Bluetooth SIG

Smartglasses Light Drive System (World’s first all-day transparency smartglasses solution) by Bosch

JBL Bar 9.1 True Wireless Surround Sound (supports Dolby Vision & Atmos, Airplay 2 and Chromecast) by JBL

Vidrian Mini-LED TV (World’s First Mini-LED TV) by TCL Electronics

etee (Complete Control in 3D) by TG0

Envy 32 All-in-One Workstation (with Nvidia RTX graphics) by HP

Lyve Drive Mobile System (collection of modular storage solutions) by Seagate 

Ultra High Speed HDMI Cable Certification Program by HDMI Licensing Administration

What also caught my eye

Meural Canvas II (photography—all in one frame) by Meural (Netgear)

Elevate P-Series model Soundbar (sports rotating speakers and support for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X) by VIZIO

Trio Wireless Charging Pad by Satechi

TBT3-UDZ Thunderbolt 3 and USB-C Docking Station (with 10GbE, 100W charging) by Plugable

NVMe PCIe Gen 4.0 M.2 SSD by Kingston Technology

Canvas Plus line SD UHS-II Cards by Kingston Technology

HomeKit Smart Lock (uses physical NFC keys) by Netatmo

90″ See-Through Display by Sharp

Airmega (works with Google Assistant) by Coway

OptiPlex 7070 Ultra by Dell

BLK2GO by Leica Geosystems

360 Anywhere (8K Portable 360º Camera) by Teche

EyeOn (eye-powered tablet control) by EyeTech

Smart Frame (digital picture frame) by Lenovo

VG-879 8K HDR Digital Video Signal Generator (HDMI 2.1) by AstroDesign

VA-1847 HDMI 2.1 Protocol Analyzer by AstroDesign

Mimic Go by Smart Mimic

Dock Wave (Wireless Charger, Powerbank and Docking Station) by Alogic

Ultra HD VR Eyeglasses by Panasonic

Home Center 3 by Fibaro

ATOM 500 Wireless Video System by Vaxis

XTAL 8K VR Headset by VRgineers

Pimax Vision Artisan VR Headset by Pimax

Pimax 5K SUPER VR Headset by Pimax

Amplify Glass Anti-Microbial Screen Protector by Otterbox

Go:Livecast (Livestreaming Studio for your phone) by Roland

A-88MKII Keyboard (with MIDI 2.0 and USB-C) by Roland

Tiger Lake Processors (Next-generation Core mobile platform) by Intel

DG1 Discrete Graphics Card (Xe GPU platform) by Intel

Horseshoe Bend 17″ foldable OLED Tablet Concept (with Tiger Lake mobile processor platform) by Intel

Thunderbolt 4 ( four times as fast as USB 3.0) by Intel

Portégé X30L-G 13″ Notebook by Dynabook (Toshiba)

HD 350BT/450BT Wireless Noise-Cancelling Over-ear Headphones by Sennheiser

Pro Rugged Memory Card Collection by Manfrotto

Xsens DOT (Precision Motion Tracking) by Xsens

The Wall Micro LED TV (new sizes) by Samsung

LG Signature Rollable OLED TV by LG

Project Archery 2.0 Headset Display by TCL Electronics

LG Signature 8K OLED TV R by LG

LG Cylinder OLED by LG

LG Light Field OLED by LG

H9G Quantum 4K ULED TV (180 Local Dimming Zones, 1000-nits PB, Quantum Dot WCG, Dolby Vision & Atmos) by Hisense

A9S 4K Master Series OLED TV (with support for Airplay 2 and HomeKit) by Sony

Z8H 8K Full Array LED TV (with support for Airplay 2 and HomeKit) by Sony

Laser TV L5 Series Ultra Short Throw Laser Projector by Hisense

3D Real-Time Video Camera (Light Field) by Wooptix

Predator CG552K 55” UHD OLED Gaming Monitor (120Hz Nvidia G-Sync) by Acer

M-Byte e-SUV by BYTON

Ocean EV Crossover by Fisker

Mustang Mach-E by Ford

Vision AVTR Electric Concept Car by Mercedes

Vision-S Electric Concept Car by Sony

AI:Me Self-driving Concept Car by Audi

Virtual Visor by Bosch

SenseGlove DK1 by SenseGlove

IQbuds² MAX Smart Earphone (with Hybrid Active Noise Cancellation) by Nuheara

NextMind Dev Kit by NextMind

Smart Tab M10 FHD Plus 2nd Gen (with Google Assistant) by Lenovo

ThinkBook Plus (with E Ink Display) by Lenovo

8K Signal Generator by Murideo

Wi-Fi 6E Standard by Wi-Fi Alliance

Mevo Start (livestreaming video camera) by Mevo

50mm F1.8 Anamorphic Lens (for APS-C) by SIRUI

Q9U XLR/USB Dynamic Broadcast Microphone (with XLR output and 24-bit/96kHz USB-C connectivity) by Samson

RZ-S500W Wireless Earbuds (with Dual Hybrid Noise Cancelling Technology) by Panasonic

EAH-AZ70W Wireless Earbuds (Dual Hybrid Noise Cancelling Technology) by Technics

Galaxy Chromebook (with 13.3″ 4K AMOLED screen) by Samsung

ONE R (Twin Edition) by Insta360

GPS Smart Remote by Insta360

10th-gen H-series Processors by Intel

ZenBook Duo Dual-Display Notebook by ASUS

Chromebook Flip (with Intel 10th Gen. processors) by ASUS

48″ 4K OLED TV by LG

Hexagon Light Panels by Nanoleaf

Learning Series by Nanoleaf

8TB SSD Slim Prototype Drive (with transfer speeds up to 20Gb/s) by SanDisk

Dual Drive Luxe USB-C (1TB Dual Connector Drive) by SanDisk

PowerBlock lineup GaN-Based Wall Chargers (come in 30W, 45W, and 96W) by Griffin

Omnia Series GaN-Based Wall Chargers by Aukey

Wemo WiFi Smart Plug (integrate’s with HomeKit, Alexa and Google Assistant) by Wemo (Belkin)

Wemo Stage Control Accessory (integrate’s with HomeKit) by Wemo (Belkin)

Boost Charge USB-C GaN Wall Chargers (come in 30W, 60W, and 68W) by Belkin

Boost Charge 3-in-1 Wireless Charger by Belkin

Boost Charge Dual Wireless Charging Pads by Belkin

Boost Charge Wireless Charging Stand and Speaker by Belkin

Boost Charge Wireless Car Charger by Belkin

Boost Charge Portable Wireless Charger and Stand Special Edition by Belkin

Velop WiFi 6 System by Linksys

Linksys Wellness Pod by Linksys / Origin Wireless

Wacom ONE FHD Pen Display (with support for Android) by Wacom

Soundform Elite HiFi Smart Speaker (with Google Assistant) by Belkin

Chora Speaker Range (with incorporated Dolby Atmos technology) by Focal

Concept UFO by Alienware (Dell)

Concept Duet (dual-screen laptop) by Dell

Concept Ori (folding tablet PC) by Dell

Ryzen 7 4000-series Processors by AMD

Threadripper 3990X (64-core, world's fastest processor) by AMD

Radeon RX5600 Series GFX Cards by AMD

Nighthawk AX6 AX5400 WiFi 6 6-Stream Router (RAX50) by Netgear

Nighthawk Mesh WiFi 6 System (MK62) by Netgear

Netgear AX1800 4-Stream WiFi 6 Mesh Extender (EAX20) by Netgear

Ballie Robot Assistant by Samsung

HDMI Surge Protector by Metra

Junior3 EDID Regenerator by Metra

D780 DSLR Camera by Nikon

Coolpix P950 Superzoom by Nikon

EOS-1D X Mark III DSLR Camera (FF CMOS Sensor, 4K60 10-Bit 4:2:2, Canon Log and 5.5K Raw Video) by Canon

Mirage Smart Speaker (Immersive Sound Experience with Flexible AMOLED Display) by Royole

RoWrite 2 by Royole

RoTree (display tree) by Royole

NC10 series Mini PC (based on Intel Whiskey Lake) by Shuttle

LG Signature WineCellar by LG

SoundSticks 4 (Celebrates 20 Years of Iconic Speaker Design) by Harmon Kardon

Vizio OLED TV by VIZIO

P-Series Quantum X LED LCD TV (792 dimmable light zones) by VIZIO

Hades Canyon NUC (NUC 8) by Intel

The Frame (new sizes) by Samsung

Sero TV (Horizontal/Vertical Screen) by Samsung

HDfury Diva triggering UHD Alliance Filmmaker Mode by HDfury

Q91 75″ 8K IPS LED TV (with Dolby Atmos 2.1.2) by Skyworth

RealMax 100 (100.8° Large FoV AR Glasses) by RealMax

Muzo (Portable App-enabled Sound Machine) by Celestial Tribe

LoCoMoGo (learn code through play) by LoCoMoGo

AONIC 50 Wireless Headphone by Shure

AONIC 215 Wireless Earbuds by Shure

Deco Wi-Fi 6 Mesh Routers by TP-Link

Inspire Studio by Zotac

ZBOX Edge MI643 (Mini PC) by Zotac

EF-100 Smart Streaming Wireless Laser Projectors (with Android TV) by Epson

Codi (Interactive AI-enabled Smart Toy) by Pillar Learning

Smart Doorlock (with Apple HomeKit support) by Netatmo

Nixplay N by Nixplay

Neo 2 Eye VR Headset (world’s first commercial standalone VR headset with native eye tracking) by Pico / Tobii

Thunderbolt 3 Pro Dock (featuring 10GbE) by OWC

Elite Dragonfly G2 Notebook by HP

Spectrex360 15″ Convertible Notebook (with 4K OLED Screen option) by HP

COLORFUL ProMaster H1 by Colorful Technology

HaptX Gloves by HaptX

RoomMe with support for Alexa, Google Assistant, Siri by Intellithings

ThinkCentre M90a AIO (All-in-One Desktop PC) by Lenovo

ThinkSmart View (Microsoft Teams) by Lenovo

VAVA 4K Dash Cam by VAVA

Arlo Pro 3 Wireless Floodlight Camera by Arlo (Netgear)

Kamvas 13 Pen Display (featuring dual Type-C ports) by Huion

Club ONE over-ear Headphone (with True Adaptive Noise-Cancellation technology) by JBL

Gaming/esport related

Aegis Ti5 (The World’s First HMI Oriented Gaming Desktop) by MSI

MEG381CQR (The World’s First HMI Oriented Curved Gaming Monitor) by MSI

MEG342CQR (The World’s First 1000R Curved Gaming Monitor) by MSI

Optix MAG161 Portable IPS Monitor (Type-C, 240Hz) by MSI

UpStream Pro Video Production Switch (all-in-one multi-channel mixer) by IOGEAR

UpStream 4K Game Capture Hub (capture, mix, and stream live videos in HD UVC format) by IOGEAR

BIG O 2020 Edition (features liquid cooled PC with an integrated Xbox or PS4, and an Elgato 4K60 capture card) by ORIGIN PC / Corsair

Quantum Series Gaming Headphones (with echo-cancelling boom mics) by JBL

Key Light Air by Elgato

4k60 S+ (Portable Dedicated HEVC 4K60 HDR Video Capture over USB 3.0 and/or an SD card) by Elgato

Corsair iCUE now works with ASUS Aura Sync by Corsair / ASUS

FireCuda Gaming SSD (Portable NVMe SSD, USB 3.2 Gen 2x2, up to 2TB, and customizable RGB lights) by Seagate

BarraCuda Fast SSD (Portable SSD up to 2TB with USB-C up to 540MB/s) by Seagate 

Legion M600 Wireless Gaming Mouse by Lenovo

Legion M300 RGB Gaming Mouse by Lenovo

Legion K300 RGB Gaming Keyboard by Lenovo

Xenia 15.6″ Gaming Laptop by XPG

Zephyrus G15 Notebook (AMD Ryzen 7 4800HS-powered) by ASUS

Zero 2 Controller (for Nintendo Switch) by 8Bitdo

Odyssey G9 Gaming Monitor (5120x1140 @ 240Hz) by Samsung

ROG Swift 360 (World’s First 360Hz Monitor powered by Nvidia G-Sync) by ASUS

ROG (Republic of Gamers) Strix GA/GT Gaming Desktops by ASUS

ROG (Replublic of Games) Zephyrus G14 (The World’s Fastest 14” Gaming Laptop) by ASUS

Zotac VR backpack (with Nvidia RTX graphics) by Zotac

Legion Y740S Gaming Laptop by Lenovo

Legion BoostStation eGPU by Lenovo

G5 15 SE Gaming Laptop by Dell

Alienware 25 Gaming Monitor (AW2521HF) by Alienware (Dell)

Cloud Flight S Headset (with Qi wireless charging) by HyperX

ChargePlay Base (15W) by HyperX

Archer GX90 AX6600 Tri-band WiFi 6 Gaming Router by TP-Link

Sila (5G Home Router Concept) by Razer

Tomahawk (Gaming Desktop & Chassis) by Razer

NC100 Enclosure by Cooler Master

Arcadeo Gaming Chair (The World’s First Connected Gaming Chair) by Arcadeo

LEO Cabinet System (The World's First Self Service VR Arcade) by VRLEO

AORUS RTX 2080 Ti Gaming Box (he World's First Water-cooled eGPU) by Gigabyte

AORUS RAID SSD 2TB Expansion Card by Gigabyte

AERO 15 OLED Notebook for Creators (240Hz) by Gigabyte

AERO 17 HDR Notebook for Creators (144Hz) by Gigabyte

[juliandmouton30]

"The architecture of the Americas is not white"

The Pacific Standard Time exhibitions in Los Angeles show that arts and culture from south of the border have shaped an architectural identity for the region that is much more interesting than what's found in the Northeast US, says Aaron Betsky.

As a longtime denizen of the Southwest (if California, in addition to Arizona, counts), I feel myself part of another culture than that of the more eastern parts of the United States. The landscape here is fundamentally different, but so is the quality of the place humans have built on that land.

To put it simply, everything here is as much Mexican, and thus Spanish, as it is English. The spaces we inhabit look south as much as they are the result of the westward movement of Northern Europeans. They are not white in colour or inhabitants, and their shapes are quite simply different. The architecture of the Americas is not white. It is a mix that gives force and diversity to our lives.

Despite what some demagogues would tell you, borders are, after all, political constructs. We know this in architecture. Design works from and in a particular area, defined by geology, climate, and local traditions, but is also part of a global flow of culture. So it is with the border between the United States and the states to the south.

The artificiality of how politicians apportion place has been in evidence for several years now in the exhibitions that have been part of the biannual Pacific Standard Time (PST) event. This is a group of presentations the Getty has sponsored all around Southern California to promote the notion that the West Coast of America has been shaped by the continual flow of ideas and images moving up and down the Pacific Coast, as well as those that have spread across the North American Continent.

Several of the exhibitions in the latest edition of PST, which opened this fall, are magnificent in their celebration of the complex relation between the various countries and cultures. They also feed the current debate about appropriation, by showing just how beautiful and important the results of adopting and adapting forms and images developed by other people can be.

At the Getty Research Institute, in two rooms off to the side of the museum's grand sequence of galleries, The Metropolis in Latin America 1830-1930, mines the institute's archives to show that metropolitan life shared characteristics from New York to Havana to Buenos Aires.

The message there, at least to me, is that when you get to cities over a certain size, it matters little where they are. They conform to the same grid, even if its proportions might be different depending on whether they were French, Spanish, or Hapsburg in their origins. That organising field pushed up into first hotels, office buildings, department stores, and apartment buildings, then, once the intensity of activity downtown became great enough, into skyscrapers.

The West Coast of America has been shaped by the continual flow of ideas and images moving up and down the Pacific Coast

The forms the major civic and private buildings took reflected whatever was the universal style at the time, whether beaux-arts classicism or high modernism, while the underlying structure became ever thinner and more flexible.

Put Francisco Mujica's The City of the Future: Hundred Story City in Neo-American Style of 1929 – the exhibition's show-stopping image – next to Hugh Ferris' Metropolis of Tomorrow of the same year, and you see the same creation of human-made mountain ranges, even if Mujica's sports vague memories of Mayan or Aztec detailing.

At the Riverside Art Museum, Myth & Mirage: Inland Southern California, Birthplace of the Spanish Colonial Revival (I contributed an essay to the catalog) shows how the various attempts to create an authentic style for California melded into the Spanish Colonial Revival in the Inland Empire, and how that style then became the tide of red-tile roofs that engulfed the landscape.

The flexible use of historical sources proved capable of giving image and shape to hotels such as the Mission Inn in Riverside, fast food restaurants such as Taco Bell, and hotel chains such as La Quinta, as well as homes that you can now find as far afield as China and, yes, Guadalajara.

The core of this PST edition is the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), which has done the most credible job of being reflective of the population it serves of any major museum in this country.

Two exhibitions in particular, Home – So Different, So Appealing (which unfortunately opened and closed at the edge of the PST framework), and Design in California and Mexico 1915-1985, manage to show how ingrained a common sense of place and culture have become both north and south of the United States border.

The motifs and attributes developed in the jungles of Yucatan and the plains of Mexico worked as well for houses in the Hollywood Hills

The latter exhibition traces the ways in which California (both Baja and El Norte) has looked to the heritage of the Spanish occupation of its land for more than two centuries before it became part of the United States in 1848.

It uncovers an interesting, though not quite acknowledged aspect of that appropriation: just as the English created an empire that sucked up Indian, Chinese, African, and Middle Eastern artefacts and used them to inspire art and design, so the Spanish controlled an empire in the Americas whose heritage became fair game for use by former members of that realm once it broke up.

Thus Mexican artists rediscovered their Mayan, Aztec, and Olmec roots, sensing how its forms worked with the land they occupied, but the forms also inspired architects and designers in California. It turned out that the motifs and attributes developed in the jungles of Yucatan and the plains of Mexico worked as well for houses in the Hollywood Hills (Frank Lloyd Wright's Ennis House) and movie palaces, as they did for housing the pavilion of Mexico City at various World's Fairs, starting with Paris in 1899.

The core of the exhibition shows the forms developed for haciendas and missions by the Spanish, using native materials and traditions mixed with the memories and techniques they brought with them from Europe, that is, in turn, at the heart of the shared legacy.

It is particularly wonderful to see these forms not only develop into lavish houses on both sides of the border, but also become progressively more modernist in the designs of Irving Gill, George Washington Smith, and Luis Barragán.

Design in California and Mexico's real revelation lies in its collection of craft, from the socialist bench Xavier Guerrero and Amado de la Cueva created for the Casa Zuno in Guadalajara, to the spread of the sling chair from Mexican houses to the American suburbs.

A new kind of culture is rising into a terrible beauty in which we all eat tacos and live in Spanish Colonial Revival homes

Mexican silversmiths, having learned from the Spanish and from native craftspeople, influenced their American counterparts, who brought in motifs from Native American tribes, while graphic designers in Mexico City picked up on the vibrant colours of California's brand of modernism in that field, which itself had been influenced by designers such as Alvin Lustig's and Charles and Ray Eames' travels to the south.

Some of the images are whimsical: you cannot beat the clips of Raquel Welch dancing a vaguely Carribean, vaguely Martha Graham dance in front of both the pyramids of Teotihuacan and sculptures by Mattias Goerritz.

On a more serious note, the net sculpture Ruth Asawa created in 1961 for Buckminster Fuller based on techniques she learned while studying in Mexico, show the power of learning, assimilating, and taking further the traditions of several places at the same time.

Similarly, Diego Rivera's Pan American Unity fresco of 1940, now in the San Francisco Art Institute, depicting San Francisco as the kind of metropolis, born in Spanish colonialism and on a landscape long inhabited by Native Americans, that has emerged all over the two continents.

The spaces of the American Southwest and Latin and South America are not just multicultural places, but spaces in which a new kind of culture, born in violence and injustice, but rising into a terrible beauty in which we all eat tacos and live in Spanish Colonial Revival homes while surfing the World Wide Web, has created a reality that is, I would daresay, more exciting and more comfortable then what has emerged in the frozen plains in these two continents' northeast quarter.

Aaron Betsky is president of the School of Architecture at Taliesin. A critic of art, architecture, and design, Betsky is the author of over a dozen books on those subjects, including a forthcoming survey of modernism in architecture and design. He writes a twice-weekly blog for architectmagazine.com, Beyond Buildings. Trained as an architect and in the humanities at Yale University, Betsky was previously director of the Cincinnati Art Museum (2006-2014) and the Netherlands Architecture Institute (2001-2006), and Curator of Architecture and Design at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (1995-2001). In 2008, he also directed the 11th Venice International Biennale of Architecture.

The post "The architecture of the Americas is not white" appeared first on Dezeen.

from ifttt-furniture https://www.dezeen.com/2017/10/24/aaron-betsky-opinion-pacific-standard-time-exhibitions-los-angeles/

[naijamoment]

BIAFRA NEWS UPDATE The current antics of Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, the self-proclaimed leader of the illusory Biafra Republic, brings to mind an often quoted remark by Karl Marx, who pointed out in reference to the 9th November 1799 coup d’etat by Louis-Napoleon Bonaparte in France: “History often repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second time as farce…” As if to illustrate this thought-provoking adage afresh, post-colonial Nigerian history, which first produced the immense tragedy of Biafra with its horrible litany of death and widespread destruction, is now going on to provide the world with a new version of Biafra that is being preached by the colorful duo of Ralph Uwazurike (MASSOB) and Nnamdi Kanu (IPOB). In the original historical version of Biafra, the world witnessed General Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu strutting pompously across the stage of history in a crisply starched military uniform, proclaiming for all to hear that “no power in Black Africa” would ever stop Biafra from coming into being. And now we have a fresh enactment of the Biafran tragedy, this time as farce, with Ralph Uwazurike issuing bogus ‘Aba-made’ Biafran passports to gullible youths willing to believe that an adventurer posing as a Head of State can be trusted to “actualize” the Biafran mirage, while his erstwhile employee Nnamdi Kanu has now suddenly morphed from a fire-breathing bush fighter into the self-ordained rabbi of a bizarre new Jewish religious cult. Let us hope that this new prophet can now be left in peace to lead his fellow Biafrans to much deserved freedom from the hellish confines of the oppressive Nigerian nation. Thankfully, the process will probably be swift, since Nnamdi Kanu apparently has very deep pockets, as well as unparalleled access to top political leaders in Anambra, Imo, Ebonyi, Enugu, Anambra and Abia States. Interestingly enough, a three-page spread that was published in the “Sunday Sun” of December 12th 2015 (pages 48-51) threw some very interesting light on what Ralph Uwazurike has been up to with MASSOB, as well as on who the mysterious Nnamdi Kanu actually is. In the interview he gave to the “Sunday Sun”, published on p. 48 in the newspaper’s edition of December 12th 2015, Ralph Uwazurike complained bitterly that Nnamdi Kanu was originally an unemployed youth whom he hired to supervise the activities of Radio Biafra in London due to the fact that Nnamdi Kanu had legitimate residence status in the United Kingdom. If indeed Nnamdi Kanu is who Ralph Uwazurike says he is, how did he suddenly become endowed with the tremendous level of funding that appears to have been required to rent large crowds for the unruly demonstrations all over the Eastern states, as well as in Delta and Rivers States? How was he able to fund a secret radio station within the confines of Nigeria, as well as purchase considerable quantities of sophisticated weapons in preparation for an armed uprising? Hopefully, the answer to these and many more questions may become known when and if Nnamdi Kanu and his alleged co-conspirators are eventually put on trial. In the meantime, fellow Nigerians and Ndigbo who have a sense of humor will probably enjoy the free cinema show of Nnamdi Kanu’s efforts to spread his new Jewish faith among the faithful that he has gathered in his father’s compound, clad in white priestly robes, and brandishing a highly symbolic fan artfully decorated with Biafran colors in a bid to demonstrate the nexus between the resurrected Biafra and the mythical Jerusalem that Donald Trump is apparently getting set to proclaim as the heavenly ordained capital of the State of Israel. Turning now to the possible remedy that might help quell the ongoing agitation for the birth of a Biafran nation, there have been a number of calls in the recent past for some kind of “dialogue” with Nnamdi Kanu and his followers. This kind of advice is obviously misplaced, notwithstanding the rather bizarre utterances of Bishop Kukah, who once described Nnamdi Kanu as “the most popular politician in Nigeria today”! If there can be no “negotiation” or “dialogue” with Nnamdi Kanu and his supporters, is there any means of diffusing the present unrest, short of engaging in a shooting war with the neo-Biafran agitators? Obviously, the best solution would be for the Federal Government to publicly announce that it is prepared to grant a Biafran homeland to all Ndigbo who wish to abandon the choice properties and flourishing business enterprises that they have acquired by dint of back-breaking labor and intense sacrifice over many decades in Lagos, Abuja, Benin, Jos, Maiduguri, etc. and return to Nnewi or wherever else they may choose to relocate to in a newly independent Biafran enclave. Naturally, the returnees would be unable to carry buildings or other major physical assets with them, so they would be limited to whatever they might be able to fit into a few suitcases and “Ghana must go bags,” with assistance from Eze Ayodele Fayose 1, the newly crowned paramount ruler of Ihiala. Furthermore, the new Biafran nation would be a landlocked enclave with no access to oil, since no rational indigenes of Akwa Ibom, Cross Rivers, Bayelsa and Rivers States can be expected to associate themselves with the highly illogical caper of the newly proclaimed Biafran nation, a factor that happens to have been one of the underlying causes of the collapse of the original Biafra under the leadership of the late Emeka Odumegwu-Ojukwu. It would appear that Ralph Uwazurike, Nnamdi Kanu and the bulk of their hard-core followers are apparently too young to be aware of the deep-rooted reasons for the disastrous collapse of the original Biafra! Furthermore, once they have returned to Arochwukwu, Umuahia Ibeku, Aba-Ngwa, etc., the citizens of the newly independent “Biafra” should be required to produce passports and legitimate visas each time they wish to visit any part of whatever is left of the dismembered Nigerian nation for business or pleasure, with strict customs controls to regulate the movement of goods and foodstuffs between the new Biafra and every other part of present day Nigeria. Fair enough? Interestingly enough, as any diligent student of Nigerian history is aware, there is no such thing as the “Igbo people,” because Igbo happens to be a language and not an ethnic group, just in the same way as Yoruba is a language, and not a tribe! It so happens that most of the diverse folks who speak the Igbo language – Ngwa, Ohaffia, Wawa, Owerri, etc. – never actually interacted with each other on a regular basis during the pre-colonial era. In fact, some of the dialects that are spoken in certain parts of Ala Igbo are virtually incomprehensible in other Igbo-speaking lands. Ironically, the often repeated complaint that Nigeria is an artificial creation of British colonialism would therefore also apply to any Biafran state that is formed out of an amalgamation of erstwhile antagonistic Igbo-speaking peoples, the more so as there are now many artificial traditional “kings” all over Ala Igbo, some of whom can be observed to be reigning under bizarre appellations like “Eze Donatus Ahamba 1 of Njikoka” or “Eze Jonathan Ndigbo 1 of Bende local community.” Oh dear, why all these traditional “rulers” in Ala Igbo always “1”? Why no 2, 3 or 4? Could it be that nobody in their different communities knows how to count beyond 1? Or could it be that there have never been any traditional rulers in the history of Igbo-speaking peoples before the trend was initiated a few years ago, possibly to give the famous Nigerian actor Olu Jacob an opportunity of competing with the equally famous thespian Pete Edochie for the honor of winning the Nollywood absurdity prize for best traditional ruler role? Anyway, the free cinema show of the long-awaited re-actualization of “Biafra” should be allowed to proceed unimpeded. Hopefully, at the end of the entire process, the farce would have attained such proportions that we would all be encouraged to look forward to the next episode of this vastly entertaining farce. Meanwhile, the law enforcement agencies would be well-advised to refrain from allowing themselves to be provoked into engaging in running battles with those who have declared their intention of shutting down the South-Eastern States on May 30th. On the contrary, the new breed die-hard Biafrans should be allowed free passage into the nearest available beer parlors and pepper soup canteens in each of the South-Eastern States to celebrate the past, current or future Biafran independence to their heart’s content. *Ola Balogun, 72 years old, is a Nigerian filmmaker and scriptwriter. NAN

[bartoonist]

Prime Finn meets Ice Finn a.k.a Adventure Time S7E23/Crossover-Neo Duoshade 2.0 Edition: This is my adventure time fan art remake of the adventure time title card-episode: Crossover, I finally returned to using my Neo Duoshade art style for my fan art and OC art after four years of leaving it semi-absent for awhile, only this time with a 2.0 evolutionary upgrade now, I watched a Nostalgia Critic Review of The Sword in the Stone, and when the NC himself made a verdict point at the end of his review about how such Silver Age Disney Films like TSITS have those pencil transparent outlines that were once conveyed as a sign disney animation losing it’s smooth and clean quality during Wolfgang Reitherman’s days as the lead director of those Silver Age Disney Films back in those days, somehow seem to have that sketchy charm to them as some silver age disney fans and regular Disney fans like me in look at that transparent sketch pencil outline animation as a stylistic charm for silver age disney films nowadays, that I started look at a handful of today’s Stop Mocap Cel Shaded CG animated films these days including the Dreamkeepers co creators’ transparent pencil shades underneath their digital art style that they’ve been using in their dreamkeepers that seem to now remind of that Disney silver age art style but with more digital polish these days too, that it made me decide that its time I started mixing my Cerebus/Mirage Turtles style ink shading with some Wolfgang Reitherman style pencil shading too, and that’s my new Neo Duoshade 2.0 style came to be while I had fun drawing Prime Finn meeting FarmWorld Ice Finn too, so I hope you folks like my fan art remake of my favorite Adventure Time title card episode as much as you like the new style I’m experimenting with nowadays too I tell ya' folks what. Oh and I honestly took inspiration from those two version of the crossover title card I looked on this episode’s adventure time fandom webpage in it’s image gallery just to be honest with ya' folks.