Did anyone else watch Platoon last night!?
"Free your mind, your ass will follow." Juniour
[Platoon - Oliver Stone 1986]
31.7.08
Spot The Difference
Did anyone else watch Platoon last night!?
"Free your mind, your ass will follow." Juniour
[Platoon - Oliver Stone 1986]
28.7.08
Senior Swagger
A few weeks back I had the pleasure of interviewing one of London's budding talents. A former next-street neighbour and close family friend, the infamous yet stealthy Mr Jide Alakija, the London based photographer who's roots lie in Lagos, Nigeria. As a matter of fact his father was the doctor in charge at my delivery into this world some 19 years ago [*you know you are getting old the second you start lying about your age*] Anyhow, Jide may not know this, but from a tender age I always looked up to him - so much so that [according to mother]my favorite three words as a toddler were "Where Jide at!?" whenever he was out of sight.
Time has made no difference to my childish attachment to Mr A. I still look up to Jide, not only as ruthlessly talented photographer but as a man with a rare and unique altruistic outlook of our world. So join me as I journey with Mr Alakija bridging the divide between his past, the present and his visions for the future...
Time has made no difference to my childish attachment to Mr A. I still look up to Jide, not only as ruthlessly talented photographer but as a man with a rare and unique altruistic outlook of our world. So join me as I journey with Mr Alakija bridging the divide between his past, the present and his visions for the future...
When you were a child what were your aspirations and how have your aspirations changed since then?
Jide Alakija
I wanted to be an architect- but now, I just want to command respect by being a disruptively positive influence on the future.
"Disruptively positive influence" I like that - I'm going to steal it.
What was your earliest photographic memory and how has it influenced your philosophical outlook on life. Also has this memory influenced your photographic visual style!?
Jide Alakija
My earliest photographic memory was at age 10. I was home, in the back garden taking photos of everything I came across that was of peculiar interest. It's funny you ask how this would have influenced my style today, because I still very much find myself walking around various locations, much the same way I did when I was 10 scouring the terrain for images to capture. Philosophically, I guess, it just translates to the fact that I am curious about everything. You can never know too much about anything.
Give us one of your favorite shots and choose a song as a musical representation of your photo.
["Come Fly With Me" - Frank Sinatra]
She looks like a what Frankie would call a "Tomato".
Tomato as in "a ripe tomato" - it's a lady ready for seduction or even marriage...
Talk us through three of your best shots from your personal archive.
Jide Alakija
["What are they looking at!?"]
This picture captures the intimate interaction that I had with two complete strangers in a very hostile and raw environment. They are the focus of my attention and I am the focus of theirs. I think, they were wondering why anyone would be interested in taking photos of them. It was taken outside a market stall in Ajegunle, Lagos. The image illustrates the raw 'on the edge expression' of two vulnerable subjects in their unforgiving environment. This is everyday life for a lot of people on our planet.
[Micheal Jackson aka Eric]
[Taken For Granted]
I took this picture over the Christmas period in 2006 and posted it on my photo blog on New Years day. I did this because I have a huge problem with the gap between the rich and the poor. We all think we are aware of it but most of us don't know the true extent of poverty. I think the "West" needs a reality check. I just wanted to explicitly reiterate the point that the privileged of the world take everything for granted. Poverty should not be an issue in this day and age.
Deep!
All those pictures say a million and one things. Personally "What are they looking at?" is numero uno.
Do you ever feel vulnerable and unsafe when you are in these harsh environments taking pictures? how do the subjects react?
Do you ever feel vulnerable and unsafe when you are in these harsh environments taking pictures? how do the subjects react?
Jide Alakija
To be honest - initially i do feel apprehensive because, essentially I am invading peoples space, when I arrive at a location unannounced with no prior warning. Most of the time people warm to me and are supportive of what I do. Most people are friendly especially children.
As you may know - its is routine for us to ask our interviewees to share something with the world - so - which photographers inspire you the most with respect to their visual style? and please share an unfamiliar/educative website that you visit regularly.
Jide Alakija
Website wise, I'm going to get all grown up on you, its all about Ted.com and with respect to my photographic heroes, Sebastio Salgado and the Godfather of portraiture Arnold Newman. Their work is flawless, timeless etcetera etcetera. If you don't know, get in the know.
[Images via Alakija.com]
words by DanFodio
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words by DanFodio
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25.7.08
24.7.08
Sci-Hi
"I am more than machine. More than man. More than a fusion of the two." Box
Logan's Run - Michael Anderson[1976]
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23.7.08
Experiments in the Philosophy of Everyday Life
Call Yourself
Duration: about 20 minutes
Props: a silent place
Effect: double
Firstly, prepare your surroundings so they are sparse and attend to the silence, knowing you are going to speak and hear. Acknowledge it; pick up on the smallest ruffle. Prepare yourself for the intrusion of human speech.Duration: about 20 minutes
Props: a silent place
Effect: double
Now say your first name out loud. Articulate, and then repeat it, distinctly. Imagine hailing someone from a distance, across a crowded station or to the other end of a bar. From the other side of a field, or across a roaring river. Make yourself heard.
At first you just feel damn foolish: calling into space. You are calling someone who isn’t there – or who can’t hear you. It seems absurd, and you try varying your call, lengthening vowels, stressing syllables. The door is closed.
Persevere.
As the lark progresses, your voice becomes a detached body; you have the feeling of being called. It’s imperceptible at first, is that you? Concentrate. It’s your voice all right, but it’s also that other’s, over there.
Neither your voice nor you have doubled, yet there is a doubling effect. You are calling and yet you are being called. There is urgency to the call, yet you are beyond reconciling your capacity to discover what this person wants from you.
The experiment consists in prolonging this game of within and without, of calling and listening. Try and feel, from as remote a place as possible, the strangeness of this name that is so familiar. Only other people call you this; you don’t, normally, call yourself.
Continue to call, shout even, and solicit the – slightly unpleasant - sense of unease that comes when the self comes a little bit unstuck from the self.
To escape it? To bridge the gap and stick the edges back together? Simply say in a loud, clear voice, and as naturally as possible:
“Yes, I’m coming!”
Credit to: Roger-Pol Droit
The experiment consists in prolonging this game of within and without, of calling and listening. Try and feel, from as remote a place as possible, the strangeness of this name that is so familiar. Only other people call you this; you don’t, normally, call yourself.
Continue to call, shout even, and solicit the – slightly unpleasant - sense of unease that comes when the self comes a little bit unstuck from the self.
To escape it? To bridge the gap and stick the edges back together? Simply say in a loud, clear voice, and as naturally as possible:
“Yes, I’m coming!”
Credit to: Roger-Pol Droit
I Wear My Own Garms
Martin the Tailor from zero to hero.The autobiographical fable of how a man went from the Nazi concentration camps to being one of America's most renowned tailors. Peep his speech about how we are all unique,individual and perfect in our own right...
Real Talk!
Real Talk!
What Divides Us Unites Us
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21.7.08
French Resistance
Its nice to know Remi Gallard shares the same views when it comes to the police...
F.T.P
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18.7.08
F.Y.I
"It always seems impossible until its done" Nelson Mandela
A Kid Named Cudi - Kid Cudi[mixtape]70mb
*90yrs in the making*
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17.7.08
New Dance
...And it goes a lil' somethin' like this...
"Everybody" -Farnzworth Bentley ft Kanye West, Andre 3000 and Sara
"Everybody" -Farnzworth Bentley ft Kanye West, Andre 3000 and Sara
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16.7.08
i-Find
"You [humans] think that you are insignificant, while there is a great universe contained in you."Ali Ibn Ali Talib
Images[Little People]Extra[+]
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11.7.08
10.7.08
Cover Blown
I was reading the 1 Headed dog blog post about sex yesterday and everything that was mentioned in the post was entirely true. Sex is number one on everyones brain - even your local Nun gets the horn every now and then - its just that she has the self discipline to resist her temptations. [Yeah Right! - only God knows what goes on in the Nuns room after lights out] The blog post in question immediately got me dreaming about feminine spherical objects gyrating in my face - secondly it reminded me of a short film, a friend of mine Antoinette made about a year back. She juxtaposes male and female attitudes towards sex in a simplistic yet beautiful way. It also suggests that one minute men wear luminous yellow drain pipes! I need to get a pair..."Evening Star" by Antoinette.F
9.7.08
That's Saul Folks
Contrary to popular belief, creativity makes the World go round...
That is why we are always looking for extraterrestrial talent to share with our readers. So, if you have some sort of champion creative ability that is out of this world - don't be shy [musicians, visual artists, paraplegic circus monkeys etc] get in touch and send an email to blog[at]dnagenes.co.uk and if your talent is certified platinum by the goons in the back office, you will be featured on the blog and your talent exposed.
Speaking of creativity here is a short film by Saul Bass, the pioneer of captivating opening and closing movie credits. He created the most compelling sequences for some of the greatest films throughout the Sixties and Seventies including Spartacus and Vertigo. Put simply, he is the god-daddy of cinematic "Visual Crack".
That is why we are always looking for extraterrestrial talent to share with our readers. So, if you have some sort of champion creative ability that is out of this world - don't be shy [musicians, visual artists, paraplegic circus monkeys etc] get in touch and send an email to blog[at]dnagenes.co.uk and if your talent is certified platinum by the goons in the back office, you will be featured on the blog and your talent exposed.
Speaking of creativity here is a short film by Saul Bass, the pioneer of captivating opening and closing movie credits. He created the most compelling sequences for some of the greatest films throughout the Sixties and Seventies including Spartacus and Vertigo. Put simply, he is the god-daddy of cinematic "Visual Crack".
"Why Man Creates" - Saul Bass
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8.7.08
7.7.08
Free Flow Of Info
If you see something on our blog that you would like to post on your blog and share with your readers, feel free to do so but please make sure you site our blog as your source PLEASE. If not, you will wake to find horse head in your bed. Its just "Good Looking Out" - the cyber version. It kinda goes something like this...
"This Cool Kids Invasion is hurting my head!"
Matt Schnickens [BNTL]
Matt Schnickens [BNTL]
*too many bloggers*
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4.7.08
Friday's Throwback
For this weeks musical nostalgia party, we coast back in time to some classic Americano daytime TV - "To tell the truth with Rosa Parks" [1980] juxtaposed with one of my favorite tunes [inspired by the lady in question] - from arguably the greatest Hip Hop tag team of all time. Not knowing who Rosa Parks is basically saying you deserves a slap - two times - with immediate effect - followed by fly kick to the back of the bus...
"Aaaaaaahh Huuuuhh!!"
"Aaaaaaahh Huuuuhh!!"
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3.7.08
2.7.08
Connect 2wo
Ryohei Hase fantastical rabbits from his most recent art piece "Go Forward and Forward". Here the rabbit headed boys struggling against one another are competing for something unknown to us. Instantly, this reminded me of another hustling "Hill Billy" Rabbit making his way to the top. Most of yous should be familiar with him...click
1.7.08
Hello everyone
Hello! I'm Rebecca Pearson aka Rebecca aka Pearson aka Rebobo aka SuperSupermodel Rebecca Pearson. As you can tell by now, I don't have great nicknames. I am just quickly introducing myself before I head out to the 3AM Eternal exhibition in w1 and then the super duper SuperSuper party at Punk (on every Tuesday, come down! Free before 10, buy 1 get 1 free drinks, unless I fancy you and give you my drink tokens cos I am on a detox!)
Well that is it for now, apart from one very important point, which is that:
I love greyhounds *here is where I would have posted a picture of my dog, Jukebox Bob, and me, however the computer is not working*
And to make your life complete, you should adopt an ex-racer.
Love Rebecca xxx
Well that is it for now, apart from one very important point, which is that:
I love greyhounds *here is where I would have posted a picture of my dog, Jukebox Bob, and me, however the computer is not working*
And to make your life complete, you should adopt an ex-racer.
Love Rebecca xxx
F.Y.I
Reecha aka Robin Clooney. The Mayor from Ruffhousing INC just put me on his newest collabo with 3Bar Fire! Heed some advice from the "Yeeah man below" and get acquainted yeah! Also, look out for a mega rave up with Ruffhousing sometime in September. We will be there!!! In the meantime get acquainted!
Channel Ruffhousing!
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