December/January
Letter from the editor :
Table of Contents Theatre:
Hello. Here at DF we are excited about this issue. There are fantastic photos by Brian Barbier of the beautiful model Nicole Winfield and a marvelous photo-shoot by Daniela Riojas. A ballerina shares her view on the art of jumping, and so much more. We’d also like to give a special thanks to Mika Locklear, for photographing the Frontbottoms when they played in Austin Texas. And a special special thanks to Karina Alexandra for taking time out from her busy schedule. She was so fun to photograph and meet, a real professional! If you are reading this and would like to contribute a piece of writing, some photography, visual art, or want us to cover a musical event, fashion show, or theatrical production, send us an email to dfpublications@gmail.com. Happy new year!
Ballerina Katherine Morgan
Music:
Fun Fun Fun Fest - The Front Bottoms Led Liver Bounty Hunters The Limousines
Firework Photography: RodolfoLozano IV
Model:
Jaime Santos
Photography:
Cock Fight by Daniela Riojas
Cartoon:
Andy Thorton
Television:
Beauties and the Boss Reality TV star Karina Alexandra
Poetry:
The Thing with the Thin Line by Ilo Ivy
Photography: Brian Barbier
Architecture:
Christopher Alexander
Cinema:
Beauty and the Beast Jean Cocteau
Art:
TAMIU 2011 Student Show
Poetry:
Ice Bears by Russell Hoban
Katherine Morgan Soloist, New York City Ballet
Jumping by Kathryn Morgan
on Monday, November 28, 2011 at 4:18pm Jumps are what make an audience gasp. And exceptional ones can give you the appearance of flying! So, how do you work towards making your jumps higher? It begins at the barre. If you don't have a good, strong plie, you will shorten your jumps and will be at risk for injury. Make sure you are getting to your deepest plie at the barre- don't grip. Just let it go. If you tense up this will carry over to your jumps. Make sure you are using your feet properly on tendus. If you are just sticking your foot and and putting it back, you aren't building any strength. By really feeling your feet and using them, you are training them correctly for jumps. In the center when you start to jump, don't just depend on your feet. This puts way to much pressure on them and you will barely get off the ground. Use your tush and the backs of your legs. When you find those muscles in order to jump, you can build up the height. That is the secret-power comes from your legs and seat. However, make sure you use your whole foot to point- not just the ankle. Make sure those toes point all the way! Building up your jumps takes time. An exercise to help you is this. Put one leg out in front in a lunge. Keeping the knee bent, spring and point your toes off the floor as if you were jumping. Do this 10-15 times and repeat on the other leg. This mimics the motion and muscle usage of a jump without putting all the pressure on your legs. The real secret to jumps is practice! I did not start off with a great jump. But over time, mine improved. Yours will too!
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M83
at the Beacham, Orlando Florida, November 2, 2011 By Eric Quitugua
At the core of M83 is a massive ball of beautiful, extraterrestial light. Over the years Anthony Gonzalez has specialized in channeling the stinging nostalgia that swells from the hearts and minds of his fans, many of them probably teenagers when the popular Before the Dawn Heals Us dropped in 2005. Having slowly gotten into Hurry Up, We’re Dreaming, I jumped at the chance to catch them. I just first had to get out of a lecture on social media and journalism before getting downtown to the Beacham. The cool thing about being tucked away in the back at a show? Nothing. This sweet crowd position o’ mine proved my theory that the whole world comprises impossibly tall and burly behemoths. Every couple of minutes or so came a major shoulder check from a drunk, v-neck wearing bruiser. There’s also little dancing in the back. However, despite the lack of enthusiasm from this side of the surprisingly huge Beacham (1200 capacity!), there was plenty to be psyched about. The great nu gaze band M83 brought blistering noise to the theatre after ticket demand moved the show away from the tiny Social. Icy synths, thunderous bass and hazy, jarring guitars (not to mention those lush vocals by Morgan Kibby) fulfilled a night rich in atmosphere and packed with distorted punch. From their shoegazy anthems like “Teen Angst” to their dreamy dance numbers like “Midnight City”, M83 woke Orlando the fuck up and unified a crowd of faithful followers nearly 1,000 people deep.
The band were also keen on setting themselves on fire. Thank God the MyTouch 3G’s camera captures such scenes with clarity.
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Photographs by Mika Locklear
Acoustics, horns, percussion, keyboards, dance, indie rock, pop, folk, and instrumentation at it’s best is what you’ll get when you meet the folks from The Front Bottoms. Brian Sella (vocals and guitar) and Mathew Uychich (drums and bullhorn). Yes, I did just say all of those things to describe them, that’s just what they sound like, it’s just who they are. If you catch them on tour, you’ll also get to see their friend Drew rockin’ it out with the keys and bass. I got a chance to meet the guys when they came to The Parish in Austin, Texas, earlier this November. I was totally stoked to see the show. Even more, to meet the guys. I had listened to their music and read so much about them, I almost felt like I knew them. They are just about the nicest down to earth people you will ever meet. Brian and Matt met in elementary school and were friends throughout the years and then graduated from the same school in Westwood, New Jersey. After playing in dorm rooms and friends parties during their college years, Brian and Matt got signed to Bar None records. They’ve been on tour, and I can say from first hand experience, these guys know how to get the crowd going. With songs like “The Beers” and “Maps” they have been drawing in crowds and making new friends throughout the US. When I first heard their music, it was like a new style of poetry. The guys do the near impossible, they make everyday life sublime. That’s not easy to do, all at the same time. So get online and go to The front bottoms.com and see for yourself how great this band is. If they come to your town, buy those tickets and bring all your friends cause you’ll be kicking yourself later if you don’t! By: Nancy Santos
left to right: Matthew Uychich (drummer) Brian Sella (vocals and guitar) Drew on keys and bass
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ousins, Bo DePena (guitar/vocals/harmonica)
and Buddy Hachar (drums) spent the majority of 2011 rocking up and down I-35 and south central Texas, filling bars, clubs, and small festivals with their gritty, soulful, and sexy blend of blues guitar, rock drumming, and crooning vocals. Moving into 2012, look out as these two musicians depart from their adventures in blues rock and roll into their own solo endeavors. Guitarist, Bo DePena, has moved to New York City to explore musical opportunities up east as a solo performer (http:// www.bodepenamusic.com/). Drummer, Buddy Hachar, is in Austin collaborating with local musicans and producers as a freelance drummer and sound engineer (www.thegrooveswitch.com). Taking a little break from LLBH, Bo and Buddy both agree things won’t be quiet for too long. “The Liver rocks! We had a blast killing it all over Texas last year. We’ve met some badass musicians, and have great friends who come out to the shows to jam with us. It’s too fun to give up. We’ll be back soon!” Until then, the Led Liver Bounty Hunters have records for sale along with a soon to be released live recording of a recent performance in Kerrville (www.ledliverbountyhunters.bandcamp.com).
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The Limousines By: Nancy Janette Santos Inspired by bands such as Depeche Mode and Aphex Twin, The Limousines are far more than just some pretty boys jamming out to “Internet Killed the Video Star.” They are Bay Area Californians Eric Victorino (songwriter/vocalist) and Giovanni Giusti (multi instrumentalist), an uber cool duo with an electro pop sound that is sure to get you off your butt and on to the dance floor. You may have first seen them on YouTube, and then heard them on MTV. Recently, Down For Magazine caught them live in Austin, Texas. They had the crowd dancing in no time. The stage pulsated to the techno pop beats. Their genesis is strange. Surprisingly, the guys worked separately on several songs before they actually met. They later realized that it was a match made in heaven and they have been collaborating ever since. The track “Very Busy People” on their Album “Get Sharp” focuses on what they deem the nonproductive productiveness of today’s society. As for fashion, they describe themselves as Burglar Chic. Eric Victorino says, “If you can leave a club, and rob a house successfully, you are dressed well.”Be sure to check them out and stay tuned to see what these guys are up to. There is no doubt in my mind, what lies ahead for them will be something you won’t want to miss!
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Giovanni Giusti
Eric Victorino
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Who you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear what you say. -Emerson
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photo by Rudy Lazono
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photo by Rudy Lazono
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model: Jaime Santos 38
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Cock Fight Designer: Mandi Gallegos MUA: J Anthony Martinez Hair Stylist: J Anthony Martinez Photographer: Daniela Riojas Models: Timothy Lai and Nelson Nathaniel
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Check out more of Andy’s work at: thorntoons.wordpress.com
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Art alone makes life possible – this is how radically I should like to formulate it. I would say that without art man is inconceivable in physiological terms.. ..I would say man does not consist only of chemical processes, but also of metaphysical occurrences. The provocateur of the chemical processes is located outside the world. Man is only truly alive when he realizes he is a creative, artistic being.. ..Even the act of peeling a potato can be a work of art if it is a conscious act. ::: Joseph Beuys :::
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Karina
Q: When was the first time you knew you wanted to be a television personality? I used to spend a lot of time watching old T.V. shows. When I was a teenager. And Mary Tyler Moore, Lucille Ball, and Elizabeth Montgomery are some of the T.V personalities I was influenced by. And on the Latin side, Christina because she was such a role model as a talk show host growing up. Q: How did you land “Beauties and the Boss?” I started working with Monica Weitzel and she collaborated with 8th Wonder. And then they casted me for the Pilot that was originally called Sabores, a show that was based on her promotional Modeling Agency called AFA, which stands for Assorted Flavors Agency. They knew that the stories she had about the girls would make for great reality television. I saw it as an opportunity to inspire young latinas and I knew it would be a challenge, but I was ready to take the risk. :) Q: What was your best day on the job? The best, was the first day of shooting because it was the episode of Monica’s parent’s Anniversary party and it was in February, the month of love. There was no drama. Q: What was your worst day on the job? The episode with the Car Wash at Home Boy’s because when the girls threw the sponges at me, It smeared my make-up and ruined my hair. I felt like no one could feel as low as I did, but I kept it all bottled up inside. Q: What would you like people to know about you that they may not know after watching the show? I would like for them to know that it’s been such a wonderful journey and that I am thankful for all the fans that watch and support the show on the Mun2 and on all the other websites like facebook. They have helped me through the hard times and with out them, I wouldn’t be where I am today. I love all of them and hope that they stick around forever because I’m all about having long-term relationships. Q: Who is your favorite designer? Betsey Johnson, she seems like such a free spirit and I feel I can relate to her. And it’s also what I’ve been wearing to some of the red carpets ,but I’m not all about wearing just designer clothes. Although it is nice. Q: Who is your Hollywood crush? Brad Pitt and Angelina, I love them both. Q: What other shows or programs have you been in?
photo by Thomas Green
Karina Alexandra is an actress on the popular show “Beauties and the Boss” seen on Mun2. Check her out on television or Mun2’s website. All the episodes are available. Be careful, they are addictive!
The Voice, Americas Best Dance Crew, and the Doctors Show.
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photo by Thomas Green
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The Thing with The Thin Line By: Ilo Ivy
There is a thin line between logic and fear. There is a thin line between spontaneity and impulse. There is a thin line between wants and needs. There is a thin line between crazy and genius. There is a thin line between common sense and insecurity. There is a thin line between freedom and loneliness. There is a thin line between confidence and arrogance. There is a thin line between perception and interpretation. There is a thin line between respect and shyness. There is a thin line between possibility and opportunity. There is a thin line between passion and control. There is a thin line between attack and defense. There is a thin line between self and ego. There is a thin line between trust and naivety. There is a thin line between generosity and condescension. There is a thin line between missing and remembering. There is a thin line between love and joy. There is a thin line between us. How do I know, precisely, when I am standing on it? 60
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Model: Jaime Santos
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Designer: Mandi Gallegos Make up: J. Anthony Martinez Model: Nicole Winfield 66
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Photograph taken at:
San Antonio International Airport
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Mankind Symphony silenced as war-ish fanfare sliced open the sky. Rather than sulk he found a glimmer. Hope plays a haunting tune more so if you’re waiting on nature’s melody. She dies when men desist and become like erosion swift to lift hand against itself. The nothingness that forth comes is mankind. By Luis Lascari
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La Seine, Paris
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especially influential in software engineering where patterns have been used to document collective knowledge in the field.
grew up in England and started his education in sciences. In 1954, he was awarded the top open scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge University in chemistry and physics, and went on to read mathematics. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in Architecture and a Master’s degree in Mathematics. He took his doctorate at Harvard (the first Ph.D. in Architecture ever awarded at Harvard University), and was elected fellow at Harvard. During the same period he worked at MIT in transportation theory and in computer science, and worked at Harvard in cognition and cognitive studies. Alexander was awarded the First Gold Medal for Research by the American Institute of Architects in 1972. He was awarded the Seaside Prize in 1994. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 1996. In 2006 he was one of the two inaugural recipients of the Athena Award, given by the Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU). On 5 November 2009, at a ceremony in Washington D.C., he was awarded (in absentia) the Vincent Scully Prize by the National Building Museum. In 2011 he was awarded the lifetime achievement award by the Urban Design Group. The Timeless Way of Building (1979) described the perfection of use to which buildings could aspire: There is one timeless way of building. It is a thousand years old, and the same today as it has ever been. The great traditional buildings of the past, the villages and tents and temples in which man feels at home, have always been made by people who were very close to the center of this way. It is not possible to make great buildings, or great towns, beautiful places, places where you feel yourself, places where you feel alive, except by following this way. And, as you will see, this way will lead anyone who looks for it to buildings which are themselves as ancient in their form, as the trees and hills, and as our faces are. A Pattern Language: Towns, Buildings, Construction (1977) described a practical architectural system in a form that a theoretical mathematician or computer scientist might call a generative grammar. The work originated from an observation that many medieval cities are attractive and harmonious. The authors said that this occurs because they were built to local regulations that required specific features, but freed the architect to adapt them to particular situations. The book provides rules and pictures, and leaves decisions to be taken from the precise environment of the project. It describes exact methods for constructing practical, safe and attractive designs at every scale, from entire regions, through cities, neighborhoods, gardens, buildings, rooms, built-in furniture, and fixtures down to the level of doorknobs. A notable value is that the architectural system consists only of classic patterns tested in the real world and reviewed by multiple architects for beauty and practicality. The book includes all needed surveying and structural calculations, and a novel simplified building system that copes with regional shortages of wood and steel, uses easily-stored inexpensive materials, and produces long-lasting classic buildings with small amounts of materials, design and labor. It first has users prototype a structure on-site in temporary materials. Once accepted, these are finished by filling them with very-low-density concrete. It uses vaulted construction to build as high as three stories, permitting very high densities. This book’s method was adopted by the University of Oregon, as described in The Oregon Experiment (1975), and remains the official planning instrument. It has also been adopted in part by some cities as a building code. The idea of a pattern language appears to apply to any complex engineering task, and has been applied to some of them. It has been
A New Theory of Urban Design (1987) coincided with a renewal of interest in urbanism among architects, but stood apart from most other expressions of this by assuming a distinctly anti-masterplanning stance. An account of a design studio conducted with Berkeley students, it shows how convincing urban networks can be generated by requiring individual actors to respect only local rules, in relation to neighbours. A vastly undervalued part of the Alexander canon, A New Theory is important in understanding the generative processes which give rise to the shanty towns latterly championed by Stewart Brand, Robert Neuwirth, and the Prince of Wales.The Nature of Order: An Essay on the Art of Building and the Nature of the Universe (2003-4), which includes The Phenomenon of Life, The Process of Creating Life, A Vision of a Living World and The Luminous Ground, is Alexander’s latest, and most comprehensive and elaborate work. In it, he puts forth a new theory about the nature of space and describes how this theory influences thinking about architecture, building, planning, and the way in which we view the world in general. The mostly static patterns from A Pattern Language have been amended by more dynamic sequences, which describe how to work towards patterns (which can roughly be seen as the end result of sequences). Sequences, like patterns, promise to be tools of wider scope than building (just as his theory of space goes beyond architecture). The online publication “Katarxis 3” (September 2004) includes several essays by Christopher Alexander, as well as the legendary debate between Alexander and Peter Eisenman from 1982. Among Alexander’s most notable built works are the Eishin Campus near Tokyo (the building process of which is soon to be outlined in his forthcoming book Battle); the West Dean Visitors Centre in West Sussex, England; the Julian Street Inn (a homeless shelter) in San Jose, California (both described in Nature of Order); the Martinez House (an experimental house in Martinez, California made of lightweight concrete); the low-cost housing in Mexicali, Mexico (described in The Production of Houses); and several private houses (described and illustrated in “The Nature of Order”). Alexander’s built work is characterized by a special quality (which he calls “the quality without a name”) that relates to human beings and induces feelings of belonging to the place and structure. This quality is found in the most loved traditional and historic buildings and urban spaces, and is precisely what Alexander has tried to capture with his sophisticated mathematical design theories. Paradoxically, achieving this connective human quality has also moved his buildings away from the abstract imageability valued in contemporary architecture, and this is one reason why his buildings are under-appreciated at present. Michael Mehaffy wrote an introductory essay on Christopher Alexander’s built work in the online publication “Katarxis 3”, which includes a gallery of Alexander’s major built projects to date (September 2004). Apart from his lengthy teaching career at Berkeley (during which a number of international students began to appreciate and apply his methods), Alexander was a key member of faculty both of The Prince of Wales’s Summer Schools in Civil Architecture (1990–1994) and The Prince of Wales’s Institute of Architecture Alexander’s Notes on the Synthesis of Form was required reading for researchers in computer science throughout the 1960s. It had an influence in the 1960s and 1970s on programming language design, modular programming, object-oriented programming, software engineering and other design methodologies. Alexander’s mathematical concepts and orientation were similar to Edsger Dijkstra’s influential A Discipline of Programming. A Pattern Language‘s greatest influence in computer science is the design patterns movement. Alexander’s philosophy of incremental, organic, coherent design also influenced the extreme programming movement. The Wiki was invented to allow the Hillside Group to work on programming design patterns. More recently, The Nature of Order’s “deep geometrical structures” have been cited as having importance for object-oriented programming, particularly in C++. Will Wright wrote that Alexander’s work was influential in the origin of The Sims computer game, and in his later game Spore. The fourth volume of The Nature of Order approaches religious questions from a scientific rather than mystical direction. In it, Alexander describes deep ties between the nature of matter, human perception of the universe, and the geometries people construct in buildings, cities, and artifacts, and he suggests a crucial link between traditional beliefs and recent scientific advances. Despite his leanings toward Deism, Alexander
has retained a respect for the Catholic church, believing it to embody a great deal of accumulated human truth within its rituals. -Wikipedia
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Beauty and the Beast
Forty five years before Disney adapted "Beauty and the Beast" into an animated feature and hit Broadway play, Jean Cocteau brought to the screen a far more magical and visually stunning version. Photographed with stark black and white imagery without mountains of special effects, Cocteau's 1946 Beauty and the Beast (La Belle et la BĂŞte) showcases his theatrical, ballet, and artistic talents in his finest creation. A must
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see film
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“Children believe what we tell them, they have complete faith in us.
They believe that a rose plucked from a garden can bring drama to a family. They believe that the hands of a human beast will smoke when he slays a victim, and that this beast will be ashamed when confronted by a young girl.
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They believe a thousand other simple things. . .
-Jean Cocteau
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You better watch out You better not cry Better not pout I’m telling you why Santa Claus is coming to town He’s making a list And checking it twice; Gonna find out Who’s naughty and nice Santa Claus is coming to town He sees you when you’re sleeping He knows when you’re awake He knows if you’ve been bad or good So be good for goodness sake!
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Model: Adriana Villalobos
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2011 Student Show Texas A&M International University’s Art Organization, Art Ink, and the Art Faculty hosted this year’s annual exhibition. The students selected Janet Kruger, a local artist, to be juror. They promoted the event by creating flyers to post around campus and sending postcards via U.S. mail. Every TAMIU student enrolled in an art class during the Spring or Fall semester was eligible to participate. After paying a five dollar application fee, the artists had an opportunity to win cash prizes in “Best of Show,” 1st place, 2nd place, and 3rd place categories. This year we had an exciting range of artists that showed off some very interesting and interactive pieces. There were a variety of works, such as traditional portraits, ceramic pieces, and drawings. Also featured, were contemporary art pieces that required the participation of the audience as part of the “live” artwork. Some of my favorite pieces were the ones that dealt with the issues we face having the drug war so close to our city, Laredo Texas. We had a very good turnout from the TAMIU students as well as the Laredo community and look forward to seeing you at this annual event. Teresita de la Torre TAMIU Art Ink President
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Photo by Rudy Lazono
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Photo by Rudy Lazono
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Ice Bears By Russell Hoban
Huge, silent-moving like white dreams hungering for the yester-prey, what will they do when the ice is gone? Will they move south, wear brightly-coloured sports shirts, drink Coca-Cola? Will they sleep in cardboard boxes, beg for small change? Russell Hoban, a prolific author who created Frances, a girl who appeared in the guise of a badger in seven books for children, and Riddley Walker, the eponymous narrator of a widely praised postapocalyptic novel for adults, died on December 13th in London. He was 86. He will be greatly missed.
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Or will they, knowing how things end, swim on and on and on into the darkness when the ice is gone? 97
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Thanks for joining us See you soon :)
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