January 15, 2020
Deepfakes: How Are They Good, and How Are They Bad?
We know there’s a lot of false information to be found on the internet, but sometimes, it’s legitimately difficult to tell if something really is false. Enter the deepfake — computer-synthesized video or audio recordings that look and sound indistinguishable from the real thing. Media experts have already sounded the alarm, afraid that these deepfakes …
Deepfakes: How Are They Good, and How Are They Bad? Read More »
Mix Photos and Words, Add a Dash of Wit
Three Bay Area artists who banded together in the 1970s to explore conceptual photography are the subjects of a fascinating exhibition that just opened at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. Led by Lew Thomas and joined by Donna-Lee Philips and Hal Fischer, they created works that question or explore the normal meaning of …
Is it “Just Us?”
Award winning choreography in Hollywood, dance festival week 2 in West L.A., urban Latin dance in Beverly Hills and motocross goes cirque in Elysian Park as dance warms up in 2020. 4. From the streets to the big top In its 41st and latest endeavor Volta, Cirque Du Soleil spotlights street sports and acrobatics associated …
Kelly Grace Thomas: Three Poems
How the Body is Passed Down My mother unzips the body. Passes it down. The dress tailored too tight. Leaves red indentation of buttons. Pressed hard as apology. My mother was still hungry. Royal with fridge glow. Learned that loneliness eats with its hands. My body has always been a window I cannot throw myself …
Here Comes the Light…Again!
A “solar harp” I coined that expression to describe the perceptual ambiance of a building on my university campus that has a multistory atrium open to sunlight which, as it changes, and when combined with the light entering through generous windows, creates a fascinating ensemble of perceptual effects akin to harp music. The feature image, …
The Gay Origins of the Hindi Word for ‘Friend’
The Sanskrit and Hindi word for friend is “Mitra”. It is also the Nepali word for it. The Sinhala word is ‘mitura’. Vernacular languages and dialects in North India often have related words as “Meet” and “Mitwaa.” However, few ponder their origin. The word’s etymology has surprising, stark and vivid homosexual connotations. Had the incumbent Indian regime’s …
Trap Heals and Represent Justice Present: PROXIMITY
TRAPS HEALS, founded by CEO and cultural architect Damon Turner and co-chaired by activist, artist, organizer, educator, and founder of both Black Lives Matter and Yes on R, Patrisse Cullors, is set to hold the first-ever public activation in South Central LA, PROXIMITY, which will focus on building a connection with local organizations to help …
Trap Heals and Represent Justice Present: PROXIMITY Read More »
Review: Boat Burned by Kelly Grace Thomas
Kelly Grace Thomas is a master of metaphor. Her first collection of poems, Boat Burned, recently published by YesYes Books, is a testament to this fact. Tightly wrought and gorgeously written, these poems speak to what happens when there is no turning back, when we disembark on a new shore and then burn the boat …