The insanely astonishing universe of Karin Taylor

This is magical, fantastic, incredible, incredibly beautiful, so cute, these colors!, childhood, elephant in my garden!, amazing, and so many words pop in your head while you are browsing Karin Taylor's portfolio.

She is an Australian artist that masters many techniques that she uses to make her pieces of incredible magical universes.

She also has a blog where she wrote:

"Drawing is what gives me peace of mind, and i think that's the gift I share with the world. I am so fortunate to be able to share my heart and my thoughts through my art.

The other day, i had this little revelation, that when a pencil is available to me, it's like having a microphone in my hand. I get to say, feel, express and outwardly share what i feel in my innermost parts and dreams, I'm so enjoying this process. I'd forgotten how good it felt."

Not only a great artist, what a great woman! Go, go... Take a look at her portfolio!

Pictures Copyright

© all rights Karin Taylor

real cool art 0 Comments | Readmore...

Sandra Bullock in "The Proposal" and Mary Steenburgen in "Tender is the night"

I watched this movie yesterday and if I remember correctly she replies... "Hence..." in a sarcastic way. Now I will have to see it again just to check it and if it is not this way I'll start thinking that I create scenes that doesn't exist. It will be quite strange. Anyway...
Sandra Bullock's strongest skill is the way she is so natural when performing and I believe she has that in common with Julia Roberts. 
Mary Steenburgen plays Ryan Reynolds mother and I love her. The first time I saw her was at the 1985's miniseries "Tender is the night" based on Scott Fitzgerald novel. Although it received awards and the outstanding performance by Mary as Nicole BBC never showed it again. I don't understand why BBC hide great productions.
images via Izismile.

real cool art 0 Comments | Readmore...

Homage to the Egyptian women who did the revolution

It seems so long ago but it was last January, 25 that these young people started gathering at the Tahir square doing the unthinkable. In January, 18 Asmaa Mahfouz did a video saying that four Egyptians had set themselves on fire to protest of the humiliation, hanger, poverty and degradation they lived for 30 years and they thought that their self-immolation could trigger a revolution like in Tunisia. One of them died that day. Some people's reaction was condemn claiming that he had sinned, killing himself for nothing.
Asmaa said that she would go to Tahir Square and hold up a banner and maybe people should show some honor. After a defeat in the first attempt she asked people to unite at Tahir Square to fight not for political rights but for human rights, for dignity in January, 25.
They went and they won. It was not easy, people died and others were injured but the revolution was peaceful if it wasn't for the crackdowns. 
That's the violent side of all revolutions and let's not forget Tiananmen square. This post made this blog censored in China.Two Chinese virtual friends stopped having access to the blog. I could hardly believe. 
At El Jazeera there is an article about women of the revolution and I copied part of two of them.

Mona Seif, 24, researcher

I have never felt as at peace and as safe as I did during those days in Tahrir

The daughter of a political activist who was imprisoned at the time of her birth and the sister of a blogger who was jailed by the Mubarak regime, Mona Seif says nothing could have prepared her for the scale and intensity of the protests.
"I didn't think it was going to be a revolution. I thought if we could [mobilise] a couple of thousand people then that would be great.

I was angry about the corruption in the country, [about the death of] Khaled Said and the torture of those suspected but never convicted [of being behind] the Alexandria Coptic church [bombing].

I realised this was going to be bigger than we had anticipated when 20,000 people marched towards Tahrir Square on January 25. That is when we saw a shift; it was not about the minimum wage or emergency law anymore. It became much bigger than this, it turned into a protest against the regime, demanding that Mubarak step down and that parliament be dissolved. (keep reading)

Salma El Tarzi, 33, filmmaker

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either freedom or go to jail

"Having never been politically active, Salma El Tarzi was sceptical about the protesters’ chances of getting their demands met until the day when she stood on her balcony and saw the crowds. She decided to join the protesters and has not looked back since.
"I was protesting on my own on the 26th and 27th, but bumped into my younger brother in the crowd by chance on the 28th. We just carried on from then onward.

What kept us going was the conviction that we did not have any option - it was either stay and fight for freedom or go to jail.

My dad has been very supportive. He was getting to the point where he was telling me and my brother: "Don't run away from gun fire, run towards it."

While in Tahrir we were all receiving threatening calls telling us that if we didn’t vacate the square we would be hunted and killed. But we didn't care at that point. We were at the point of no return. (keep reading)"

I believe that Gigi Ibrahim, who became a spokesperson of the revolution in the western media, is known by most of the people who followed the revolution or is paying attention on the uprising still going on.
These young women and men made our hearts and minds dream again and believe that, yes, we can have our voices heard. But we have to start talking!
I don't understand why what is happening in Wisconsin is not being reported by any media in America. Here some news of the third month of Wisconsin Capitol protests. What is happening America? American women, guide them!

real cool art 0 Comments | Readmore...

Alexander Lebedev offered 1 million dollars reward for information about Anna Politkovskaya's killers

You might be surprised if you search for the first post of this blog. It's a Anna Politkovskaya's quotation and I have already published other posts about this woman who was fighting to tell the truth about Russian corruption and other problems.
Alexander Lebedev was the co-owner with Anna of the newspaper Novaya Gazeta and he was devastated at that time and offered the 1 million dollars reward as you can see at this video.
Now it seems he forgot about her or is frightened but I'm publishing this post because Anna's death will never be forgotten. He even forgot he said that the Russian secret services as "totally out of control".
I just watched him at BBC's interview with Stephen Sackur and when asked about Anna's killers he showed he doesn't care any more.
She is an amazing woman whose work could make a huge change in this world since she was denouncing those who work the other way. So, I will keep asking: 'Who killed Anna Politkovskaya?' and I'm not alone since Anna has fans all over the world.
At this video you will see her blood at the entrance of her house and her body being carried in a black plastic bag. This is the first time I saw it and I confess I was horrified. But it's worthy watching 'Murdering the Truth in Russia" you can find here.
For the first time I write a post like this but I cannot keep silent or touch very serious questions in a tangent way. Sometimes we have to scream to be heard and a human being like Anna Politkovskaya deserves so. This is the least I can do.
R.I.P. Anna Politkovskaya
‘People sometimes pay with their lives for saying out loud what they think,’ Anna Politkovskaya
Her books are available at Amazon.

real cool art 0 Comments | Readmore...