FLOWER VENDOR - For Diego 36" x 36" acrylic on canvas
"There are two great tragedies in my life - you and the bus crash," remarked Frida Kahlo to Diego Rivera when she caught the latter having sex with her sister. _______________
A tribute of mine to the great Mexican muralist Diego Rivera. _______________
addendum:
When I finished this piece and hung it on the wall, someone (well, most of the people who've seen it) told me that the the flower vendor looked like she's holding on to something more than just the yellow cloth to tie her basket around her shoulders. Freudian slip perhaps? Hehehe... I would've just let it be if it were not for my nephew who said it looked like a "toto". I've painted over that part since and now she's holding on to the stems of the leaves instead.
I got this from chuvaness. I regularly read her. She's a funny fasyonista.
An Obituary Announcement in Vallejo Times-Herald
After some debate on the authenticity of Dolores Aguilar's obit in the Vallejo Times-Herald, which if you recall was shockingly brutal, we got to the bottom of it all.
Turns out Aguilar's obit is real - mighty real, according to an anonymous editorial spokesperson at VHT. In order to publish the damning obit, the editor staff did something unprecedented. "We demanded to see Aguilar's death certificate brought in by a blood relative" before going ahead with the obit, our source tells us.
Also, just after SFist posted the story yesterday, the Vallejo Times-Herald pulled the obit online right-quick. It seems Legacy.com, who hosts the paper's online obits, yanked both the notice and the guestbook after receiving "over 200 responses" that bordered on cruel and offensive. (Just like Dolores!) Legacy.com, we're told, prefers its commenters to never speak ill of the dead. Good luck with that.
But if you've access to a print issue of this weekend's Vallejo Times-Herald, you can find the obit in there, or read it here. Oh, and be sure to hold onto it. That issue is a keeper.
“Duh-uh… it IS being pricked by a needle – a thousand times no!”
“Oh yeah. It’s also like putting a lighted cigarette on your skin several times over.”
“Ooooh… that hurts.”
“Ey, a man’s got to do what a man’s got to do.”
And so went my conversation with Al – a rastafarian I met at Ricky’s tattoo shop. I’ve been going back there a million times now, still undecided if I’m going to have a tattoo on my right shoulder or not.
For a hundred times, I’ve been procrastinating on having mums tattooed on my shoulder up to the side of my arms. And for a hundred times, I always end up just hanging at the tattoo shop.
Sigh…
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Just around the corner from my place is Leveriza St. It's where the cheapest grocery I've ever found is located (Liana's), the best place to find great longganisa and exotic fish (Cartimar), the best deals on bikes and the best tasting tofu from the several Chinese and Japanese shops along the area. Leveriza, at night, is also where I can hang out and watch some of the funkiest street dancers I've seen in the city.
They come in all shapes and sizes, dance grooves and what they call "gangs". There's the Batang Hippers made up of 15 to 20 year old kids who are either young fathers or moms. There's the Tropang Troopers who are still stepping into puberty but can cuss like seasoned 50-year old men. The Khool Ghurlz made up of teenage girls from the local college here in Pasay. When they step out and do their J-Lo numbers on the street, they become a magnet to all the horny salivating men.
My favorite though is the funniest, and I think the hippest. They're a group of four old transvestites, the youngest is in his/her late fifties and the oldest is Lolo/Lola - a 70-year old grandma/pa who works in a run-down parlor across my place. They would come out on Saturdays, put on their merriest and most colorful gowns and sit in front of Old Mameng's - a 24 hour eatery. Holding their grass fans, they will be fanning themselves haughtily as they watch the kids do their dance stuff. Every now and then, when a young man would catch their fancy, they'd either wink at him or purse their lips at the young creature.
The fun part comes when one of the kids would dare the Lolas/Lolos to do their stuff. With great aplomb and a shake of their tresses, they'd stand up holding their fans and start doing in a very choreographed manner, an old fandango that harks back to the slow dance steps of the fifties. Amazingly, they'd do it in a very synchronized manner - like they've rehearsed it a million times - to the tune of Rhianna's Umbrella Song. Their dance builds up. The crowd hoots and applauds. And like clockwork, near the end of their number, the kids would then all jump in and do their own beats. The Lolos/Lolas, tired from their exertion would go back to their seats, fan themselves furiously and giggle (or sometimes cackle) like a pack of teenage girls.
When I saw this video on youtube, I thought, the hiphoppers in this video could pick a thing or two from the locals of Leveriza especially the Lolo/Lolas... :-)
FLOWER VENDOR - For Diego
