Henryk Fantazos is a wonder. His story is as unlikely as his paintings are good. My first encounter with his work was the "Face of the South" collection, which is the focus of this article, and from which all of the works displayed here come from. These paintings move with the fluidity of the Mississippi and sway with the cotton fields of Georgia. Even submerged in the murky bayous of Louisiana, his paintings still shine with a light of fantasy that is most unique. Below is an interview with Mr. Fantazos which covers such subjects as a blushing peach, wal-mart shoppers, and of course his singular take on the intrinsic beauty of the South.

JD: My first thought when I saw your "Face of the South" collection of paintings was, "Where did this come from?" because it seemed so otherworldly, but at the same time still captured an inherit beauty of the South that is not easily seen. You took two seemingly opposite elements, the rural/conservative South as a subject, and painted it through a surrealist eye, which is obviously about as non-southern as you can get. Was there a specific inspiration for meshing these two contrasting elements together, or did it occur naturally?

HF: That is well observed: indeed there is blending of metaphorical language which I bring with the subject usually depicted in a softly sentimental way by others. The results are, I hope unique.

JD: Who are some the artists that inspired you to begin painting, and who shaped your early work?

HF: I never really had a true choice. Painting chose me and one does not diddle with Fate.

JD: Who are some contemporary artists that you admire?

HF: The list is very, very long of artists I admire. They come from gloomy Flanders and from sunny Italy but they are not my contemporaries. If you are in love with a woman it would be practical that she’d be your contemporary, but in painting it has no significance.

JD: What inspires you to paint?

HF: A vision flies into my mind and demands to be painted. I have learned not to respond by reacting: ”but, dear gods, you are too weird, too irrational for the Wal-Mart shoppers to accept!” and instead I throw all my resources at building that vision, making it convincing and artistically solid.

JD: In another interview you stated that "modern art" is "grotesque," can you expound on this idea?

HF: To clarify- I said that grotesque is the proper language for depicting our times. Now, "modern art" is not “grotesque” in my view. There is some decaying cadaver still offered for reverent viewing by art-market manipulators as “modern art” but it is wise to keep enough acquaintance with the development of Western culture to see it is rubbish, like hoola-hoops, experimental poetry and cacophonic music.

JD: Your rural Southern depictions capture its intrinsic nature, but not by conventional means. You pick scenes and characters that are unusual, but still dead on to the Southern phantasm. Can you talk about this subject further?

HF: Well,that is a huge subject. In the first place, because it is so important; I never initiate work on some composition by conceptualizing about the South and forcing some ponderous and clever contrivance. I know it would have the fetor of formaldehyde cerebrations and falsity of plaster of Paris kisses. It has to be authentic, originating in the depth from which all true visions come.

JD: Can you expound on your personal relationship to the South, how you came to settle in the South, if it was a conscious decision, and what effect it has had on your work, and what it means to you?

HF: When I still lived in Europe I fed richly on Flannery O’Connor, Katherine Porter, Carson McCallers, Faulkner, Walker Percy, Truman Capote, Tennessee Williams. Later, looking for America in America I found that the Holy Land of the South is my home to grow into, to love and deserve. Living here has daily, constant and direct influence on my work. Indeed every element I include in my paintings is taken from my Southern surroundings.

JD: It seems as if people are blind to their own beauty and the beauty that is around them if they stay in the same place, or if they grew up in a place they take it for granted. Do you believe that you being an "outsider" to the South allowed you to see it anew and discover fresh qualities about it that before were untapped?

HF: So very true! To be a painter you have to remain an observer, an exited peeping tom. Reality, to which we are all newcomers, is actually shocking and sensational. I look at the blushing peach and I am shocked!

JD: Have you ever been influenced by your last name, since a lot of your work has a fantasy/fantastic quality to it?

HF: Yes, I feel in some overarching, large scale way obligated to live up to the promise my name carries. Of course if I chose to be a funeral-parlor beautician or a tax-collector that obligation would disappear.

JD: Who are some of your favorite author's and their works?

HF: From the blessed moment when my English has firmed itself in me and I was able to taste Shakespeare I mostly stay inside of His Continent.

JD: Some of your favorite musicians?

HF: Mozart, Brahms, Puccini, Rachmaninov, & Orff.

JD: If you could collaborate with any artist dead or alive, who would you choose?

HF: Jan van Eyck, but he would not have me,alas! He would glance at my efforts and shook his head with a sigh-not good enough.

JD: If you were a celebrity impersonator, dead or alive, who would you be?

HF: I impersonate myself and do a less and less credible job of it.

JD: What’s the best day you can imagine?

HF: A long day of love and wide-ranging conversations.

JD: If you could live anywhere in the world where would that be?

HF: Several places to reside there for a while and move to the next, already comfortably appointed . Probably New Zeeland islands, Bali, Portofino, Santorini and more.

JD: What are some of the other ways you utilize your time besides painting?

HF: I grow antique roses, talk with a few well selected friends, but I have very little time to spare :To get good at what I do takes all my time.

I would like to give full credit to Conway, Arkansas based Oxford American Magazine for introducing me to the wonder of Henryk Fantazos. Oxford American was founded in 1992 with an editorial mission to "explore the American South." They are devoted to the art, music, and writing that spews from the fertile lands of Dixie.

]]> http://vishalsinghal.wordpress.com/?p=89 Thu, 21 Aug 2008 03:45:02 +0000 vishalsinghal http://vishalsinghal.wordpress.com/?p=89 I haven't written anything in entertainment category till now. Thus, I start today...something that everybody is a part of and something that everybody goes if not more atleast once in his or her life time...i.e... Movies...

Recently some companies have started the movie rental services in Delhi and they are bieng flooded equally by new - memberships and onlookers (who visit these store just to browse what's latest that has come in DVDs) both.

Below are three big services available in Delhi these days...

Seventymm: The large menu includes — apart from the usual suspects — some regional and world cinema as well as TV series from Mahabharata to Grey’s Anatomy (imagine a McDreamy marathon!!). Navigation is easy; subscriptions start at Rs 250 a month plus security (six movies a month; four days’ time limit per film). My friends told me, deliveries were a tad iffy, though —  they, waited for two days just to get some not so old movie picked up.

Moviemart: Currently restricted to south and west Delhi. The collection is smaller but as varied — movies, PC games, concert videos, Yoga demos et al. Plans start at Rs 499 per month plus security for unlimited movies. The response time is good. They let us select the exact movie we want instead of following the “queue” system of the others. Have'nt tried but is generally having good opinion of masses.

Bigflix: The huge collection (they are the biggest, and newest of the services) is well categorized and also includes documentaries and plays apart from a variety of English, Hindi and regional films and TV shows. Navigation and search is very easy. Subscriptions start at Rs 299 a month plus security for unlimited movies — no time limits except on very new films (48 hours in that case). This one is considered by far the best managed service by most in the city, with the quickest response time.

So easy now to give the crowded multiplex a miss!
Seventymm: 60600070 / www.seventymm.com; Bigflix: 39885454 / www.bigflix.com ;Moviemart: 41444877 / www.moviemart.in

I stumbled upon this story about John Rich yesterday, and it caught my attention. The first few lines simply made my eyes bulge.

When John Rich recently took a Florida stage to support the presidential campaign of John McCain, he said, "Somebody's got to walk the line in the country. They've got to walk it unapologetically," before singing Johnny's song, "Walk the Line."

"And I'm sure Johnny Cash would have been a John McCain supporter if he was still around," John said.

Beverly goes on to quote Cash's daughter Rosanne in dispute of Mr. Rich's comments. Her comments are quite enlightening. I recommend you checking it out.

Here is the link-

http://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080819/COLUMNIST0501/808190330

Now, I would like to add my two cents to this argument.

I never had the opportunity to meet Johnny Cash. I can tell you that I have been tremendously influnced by his music as well as many of the platforms for which he stood for. I consider Johnny Cash a hero. Not just for his music, but for his stance on spirituality and the human spirit. I only knew the public Johnny Cash, the same one that millions of others got to know, but I never knew the man. Neither did John Rich.

I do not know if John ever met Mr. Cash on a personal level, but I find it hard to believe that if they did meet, politics ever came up in conversation. To say that John Rich knows who Johnny Cash would vote for is as ridiculous as that stupid fur coat he wears. Futhermore, to even hint to the fact that John Rich and Johnny Cash have politics in common is just as silly as saying "Ring of Fire" is in the same category as "Save A Horse, Ride a Cowboy" musically. I just can't wrap my head around the fact that the "Man In Black" would have a lot in common with "The Man In Fur".

I am not undermining the success that Rich has had in recent years. He has had many hits for other artist, as well as for his now "on a break" duo Big and Rich. Rich has written huge hits such as "Mississippi Girl" for Faith Hill, "Hick Town" for Jason Aldean, and many more. All that being said, "Coming to your Citaaay" is no "Folsom Prison Blues".

I am not saying that in his statement he was comparing himself to Cash as an artist. I am just pointing out the vast differences between the two. John Rich will NEVER be anything like Johnny Cash, and for him to say something that even hints that he would know anything about him on a personal level is preposterous.

If you want to talk politics, then let me remind you of the 35th Vice Presidental debate held in 1988. Then Senator Dan Quayle was in a debate with democratic nominee Senator Lloyd Benson. In a heated exchange, Dan Quayle compared himself to former President John F. Kennedy. The response has become legendary.

Quayle: " I have far more experience than many others that sought the office of vice president of this country. I have as much experience in the Congress as Jack Kennedy did when he sought the presidency. I will be prepared to deal with the people in the Bush administration, if that unfortunate event would ever occur."

Bentsen: Senator, I served with Jack Kennedy: I knew Jack Kennedy; Jack Kennedy was a friend of mine. Senator, you're no Jack Kennedy.

I never met Johnny Cash, though I was (and still am) a huge fan of his. I certainly did not know Johnny Cash on a personal level. Therefore, I can honestly say, I have no clue who he would vote for. While I commend John Rich for speaking out for what he believes in politcally, I don't think it's fair for him (or anyone else for that matter) to use someone else's name to endorse his/her candidate. Especially if that person has passed away and is not around to agree or disagree. In my opinion, it is no different than former Vice President Quayle using JFK's name to further his own political aspirations.

I'll say it again. I do not know who Johnny Cash would vote for.

All I am saying is John Rich doesn't know either.

Love Ya'll

d

I couldn’t explain,

Our world seems so small,

We both belong from the south,

Each day you pass by,

Each morning you start your day,

And end the day,

By unnoticeably leaving me behind

A new day starts,

The sun continues to shine,

But I’m always left watching from afar,

Always looking for signs of you,

I guess I’ll have to wait,

When our paths would entwine,

When things would no longer be complicated,

For now, I’ll only have memories of you.

I would encourage everyone to head north-east for their next holiday, even if one of the biggest plus points of our 10 days was the peace and quiet of almost everywhere we went (such as the Yorkshire Sculpture Park below).

The over-riding impression of our road trip north - avoiding motorways and dual carriageways whenever possible - was the quality of life.

And yet our trip coincided with claims by a right-wing think-tank that those living in the north should abandon their homes and move south.

The fact it was such a stupid suggestion aside, we didn't see too much evidence of why Policy Exchange would come to such a conclusion. There seemed plenty of evidence of prosperity and plans for the future, albeit mixed with social and economic issues. But these issues are impacting on the whole country, not just one extended region.

What was really interesting was the reaction of those living and working in the region - they simply shrugged their shoulders, laughed at the silliness of southerners and went about their everyday lives. A good lesson in treating ignorance with the contempt it deserves, rather than rising to the bait.

Anyway, back to the trip and our first stop-over was at YSP.

In truth the reality didn't meet expectation. Certainly the work of Sophie Ryder, Helen Escobedo, James Turrell and Nigel Hall made the visit worthwhile, but the park felt a little under-populated in terms of exhibitions.

Maybe that was because we'd been left in little doubt that large swathes of the park were off-limits to us by one over-officiousness of one staff member.

We booked a motorised scooter for Rachel to get around the park and whereas the man who fetched it for us was helpful. Yet one of his colleagues literally barked a set of "do not's" at us from behind the reception desk that left us wondering if there was anything we could actually do with the scooter and any exhibitions we were actually allowed to visit.

To make matters worse she informed us we weren't allowed to travel to the other side of the park to visit one of the gallery spaces as the scooter's battery life wasn't big enough, but she didn't tell us that we could take a free shuttle bus instead. We were told plenty of "you can't go there's", just not enough "but you could do this instead's".

Still, I came away a big fan of Crossing (Horizontal) and Kiss, Deer Shelter and Ryder's human-hare hybrids.

On to the North-East and our base in County Durham. Rachel is getting around to uploading all sorts of photographs of our trips - from Barnard Castle to Seaton Carew (home to the infamous disappearing canoeist) and the Angel of the North to the surfers at Saltburn-by-Sea.

Also making an appearance will be Owen, the carrot-crunching old stager who occupied the field behind our cottage and spent his days eating grass, bewitching Rachel and ignoring the bunny rabbits hopping around his patch.

What was great - but surprising - was the lack of people.

It reached comical proportions when we stopped at one country hotel outside Barnard Castle - the Jersey Farm - and I went in to see if they were serving food. Despite wandering around for a good few minutes through reception, bar, restaurant, resident's lounge and calling out, I saw no-one.

It was the Marie Celeste of County Durham hotels and I felt sufficiently spooked to jump straight back in the car and drive away as quickly as possible. I still don't know where everyone had gone and I'm not sure I want to to find out.

Indeed, I spent most of the week wondering where everywhere else had gone.

Stunning countryside and coast, yet open roads, half-empty pubs and cafes and a feeling of space I haven't felt in this country for quite some time.

Admittedly the weather wasn't great, but reports suggest the UK's usual suspects - the South-West, Lake District et al - were still seeing good numbers of visitors.

The places we did visit and eat in provided a fantastic level of service, surpassing the experience of those same usual suspects.

We certainly plan to return, next time heading north of Newcastle.

Our journey back included a night in Hebdon Bridge and a visit to the David Hockney galleries at Saltaire, on the outskirts of Bradford, followed by a meandering route through Dales and Peaks towards home. Once again, there was plenty to recommend in the north.

Maybe Policy Exchange had a point, but just got their soundbite-friendly conclusion slightly askew.

It isn't that the people of the north should abandon their homes, it is more like the rest of us have abandoned their region.

Its time to hit the north.

Deadly bombings hit Algerian town

Eleven people have been killed and 31 injured by twin car bombs near a hotel and a barracks in Bouira, south east of the Algerian capital, state media say.

Witnesses said the blasts went off in quick succession.

The attacks come one day after a car bomb killed 43 people and injured a further 38 at a police college near Boumerdes, east of Algiers.

In recent months Algeria has suffered regular attacks blamed on Islamist insurgents linked to al-Qaeda.

The country has been rebuilding with the help of oil and gas profits after a brutal civil conflict in which Islamist militants led an insurgency against state security forces.

Many recent attacks have happened in the area east and south of Algiers, which borders the mountainous Berber region of Kabylia.

Passenger bus

Wednesday's bombs went off near the Hotel Sofi and the military headquarters in Bouira, which is about 100km (62 miles) from Algiers, state media reported.

The blast at the hotel hit a nearby passenger bus, reports said.

One of the bombs ripped off the front of the military headquarters, and the blasts could be heard in a radius of several hundred meters, witnesses said.

Just a day earlier, a suicide car bomber drove a car packed with explosives into the entrance of a paramilitary police college in Issers, near Boumerdes, about 50km (31 miles) east of Algiers.

ATTACKS IN ALGERIA 2007-2008 19 August 2008: 43 killed by suicide bombing outside police college in Issers 10 August 2008: Eight killed by suicide bombing outside police station in Zemmouri 8 June 2008: French engineer and driver killed east of Algiers 5 June 2008: Roadside bomb kills six soldiers east of Algiers January 2008: Suicide bombing kills four policemen in Naciria December 2007: Twin car bombs kill at least 37 including 10 UN staff in Algiers 8 September 2007: 32 die in bombing in Dellys 6 September 2007: 22 die in bombing in Batna July 2007: Suicide bomber targets barracks near Bouira, killing nine April 2007: 33 killed in attacks on government offices and a police station in Algiers

That attack hit military police recruits who were waiting outside the building before an exam.

The government said 41 of those killed were civilians.

After Tuesday's attacks, Interior Minister Yazid Zerhouni said militants were trying to "loosen the net closing around them".

Algeria's government has long said Islamist insurgents are desperately seeking to raise their profile as they are isolated by security forces.

There have been no immediate claims of responsibility for this week's attacks.

Previous bombings have been claimed by the North African branch of al-Qaeda, known as al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb.

Those included twin suicide car bombings in Algiers - one against the offices of the UN - that killed at least 37 people in December.

In recent years, Algeria has been slowly recovering from a conflict that began in 1992 when the army intervened to stop hardline Islamists winning the country's first multi-party elections.

Violence has been greatly reduced since the 1990s, but since last year there have been a series of devastating suicide bombings and several attacks against international targets.

The attacks have largely been claimed by al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, which was formed from the remnants of Algeria's insurgency and was previously known as the Salafist Group for Call and Combat.

Racial Slur Defaces African American Church In Virginia

The Costs Of Marital Rape In Southern Africa

Mayor Of London Backs Slavery Memorial Honoring Enslaved Africans

HIV/AIDS Afflicting Blacks Disproportionately In Deep South

Zimbabwe Inflation Hits 11,200,000 Percent

I don't know why.
Or how.
I hate it a little bit.  Okay I lie.  I hate it a lot.
I wish I wouldn't be so angry all the time, I wish I wouldn't be so easy to piss off.  Because it's annoying as fuck.  And I only see it getting worse.  Especially with school starting and all that bullshit.
Especially with school.
Gar.
Why is this shit happening to me?
I remember being a happy little shit when I was a kid.  Sure things weren't great, but once puberty started damn my life went south.
It got worse in 7th grade, when I was depressed almost the whole school year.
I don't know how many times I tried to kill myself, that year alone.  Way too many.  I pretended that things were good.  They weren't.  That was the year me and Andrea weren't friends.  Because, I was too angry at things, too sad and shit, and we argued a lot.
Then eighth grade came and I don't know what happened there, but it was good.  I don't remember many issues.  Sure I had a few, but not enough to count.
Then we moved.
That's what everything happened.  Or started to get twisted.  I started the hallucinations a little after school started, I think.  I started getting really back n forth in my moods.  I started having issues.
Then HE came into the picture, and I was went into these mood swings,  simply based on if he was at school or not.
Then it's just gotten worser and worser.

Damn it.

I need a way to not be so angry all the time.  Or I will seriously end up freaking on a teacher or something (okay, flipping on Mason, not any of the others, I think).  Depends on who I have though.
Probably will flip on someone.  Because I have nobody to flip on anymore.
I have to keep it all inside and pretend that it's okay.
And you know what?  That fucking sucks.
I HAVE to fucking vent somehow.
And I have a feeling that means yelling at a random someone......
Great!

South Park TV

Voici un site qui permet de regarder South Park en streaming legal et gratuit sans rien telecharger

Next time you're out of town you happen to be down South. Finding yourself in the same situation you ask for a soda. The waitress whose middle name is "Ann" and prominently displayed on her name tag gives you the same blank stare. Sharing Becky (or Susan) Ann's confusion, you ask for a pop, to which she replies, "Oh you mean a coke?"

"I need to lay off the caffine can I have sprite?" you ask.

"Sure thing sugar," she replies before yelling back to the kitchen, "ONE SPRITE FLAVORED COKE PLEASE."

So for those who have some traveling left this summer here is a map of the United States broken down by region, and what they call their carbonated beverages.

As you can see most of the country calls it "pop".

Soda gets it's name from the sodium carbonate used to give it the bubbles. Pop, like most things on this site has more of a fuzzy history. The "legend" varies a bit from source to source, but they all have to do with the sound it makes when opened (whether it be bottle top or a cork in the old days).

One thing that remains a mystery is why each region calls it "Pop" "Soda" and "Coke" and why we're all so passionate and uppity about it.

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How Democrats can take back the South

The author of "Blue Dixie" says don't give up on the region -- but don't pander to it with Clintonian centrism.

Editor's note: Read Thomas Schaller's response to Bob Moser here.

Salon- By Bob Moser

Aug. 19, 2008 | When a couple of fellows in North Georgia started hollering last week that they'd bagged a Bigfoot, I couldn't help sniffing out a big, ungainly political metaphor. With apologies in advance, it goes like this: As I've chronicled in my new book, "Blue Dixie: Awakening the South's Democratic Majority," Democrats have been stalking an elusive beast in Dixie every four years since the Voting Rights Act broke apart the dominant old Democratic Party in the South. The beast has gone by several different names: the Social Voter, the Reagan Democrat, the NASCAR Dad, and the just plain White Swing Voter. It's been viewed, by many a non-Southern liberal, as somewhat akin to a Bigfoot, in that nobody could be sure that the phenomenon really existed -- and if it did, it was likely only half-human. But the hunt for this ghostly creature still struck most Democratic strategists and consultants as absolutely essential, because you supposedly couldn't win Southern elections (no matter the region's sizable numbers of black voters and progressive whites) without capturing a fair amount. Also, of course, because no Democrat in U.S. history has won the White House without carrying at least five states in Dixie, a historical pattern that seems particularly relevant as we head for what looks like a close presidential election.

The Democrats' hapless pursuit of the Southern Sasquatch yielded its fair share of tabloid-worthy farces through the years: Jimmy Carter's ill-conceived Conference on American Families, which ended up turning evangelicals against him; Michael Dukakis' holding forth atop a hay bale in South Carolina to extol his Massachusetts Miracle; Bill Clinton's shameless Sister Souljah moment. It motivated any number of Democratic candidates to take heavily photographed hunting detours from the campaign trail, feign an appreciation for stock-car racing, learn to work the word "family" into at least every other sentence, and babble about their sincere regard for "states' rights." And it spawned the once-powerful Democratic Leadership Council, whose co-founder Clinton helped reshape the party into a Wall Street-friendly, free-trading, Bible-quoting, culturally moderate shell of the New Deal coalition -- every last compromise justified by the pressing need to woo those crucial Southern whites.

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