The Magic of the Cities.

Zen promotes the rediscovery of the obvious, which is so often lost in its familiarity and simplicity. It sees the miraculous in the common and magic in our everyday surroundings. When we are not rushed, and our minds are unclouded by conceptualizations, a veil will sometimes drop, introducing the viewer to a world unseen since childhood. ~ John Greer

Sunday, January 31, 2010

An Occurrence at Purple Wall


Ability is commonly found to consist mainly in a high degree of solemnity.
Ambrose Bierce

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Saturday, January 30, 2010

Games


Hidalgo Square in Coyoacan.

Happy Weekend!

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Friday, January 29, 2010

Rural Hopeless


A jug fills drop by drop.
Buddha

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Thursday, January 28, 2010

Telamon / Atlante


Kings, Warriors or Gods
The Atlantes at Tula are four colossal statues almost five meters in height which were discovered in a pyramid located in the archaeological zone of Tula, Hidalgo, located 40 miles from Mexico City.
Some legends tell that the Toltecs, after mysteriously abandoning the city of Teotihuacan, built a replica that would later become the capital of Toltec culture. This city was named Tollan, which for many years was ruled by a dynasty of kings, priests and warriors, descendents of Quetzalcoatl (the feathered serpent, ancient god of Teotihuacan and protector of culture and civilization). Such is the case of Toptzin, who ascended the Toltec throne, took the name of Quetzalcoatl and consecrated himself to its service. The name of Quetzalcoatl as god and Quetzalcoatl as king is said to have caused much confusion throughout Mexican history.
In present day the city of Tollan is known for its great pyramid Tlahuizcalpantecuhtli, or The Temple of The Morning Star, whose summit holds the famous Atlantes of Tula. They are representations of gods, warriors or Toltec kings that are believed to have been the pillars of a former wooden roof on the temple. One can climb up this pyramid to observe the Atlantes up close and appreciate the complex archeological treasures.
The Atlantes of Tula measure approximately 4.96 m in height by 90 cm in width. Each one is formed by four sections or blocks of wood that represent human figures. The first section represents the head, which is found covered by a headdress of feathers. The second and third sections form what would be the body, and the fourth and last were the legs and feet. It is worth mentioning that only a few of these statues have survived the passage of time, so several of them have been restored.
In regard of the “clothing” of these colossuses, the objects of great size that appear over the ears of the figures grab the attention; the chest is covered by a great plaque with the figure of a human being. The Atlantes also show anatomical differences in their faces despite maintaining the same expression, which bestows each one with a unique personality. Warriors, kings, gods and more are some classifications used to identify the Atlantes. Each one of the Atlantes holds an object in its right hand. It is known that the Toltecs were an artistic, wise and cultured people, but they were also warriors. Among their weapons was the Atl-Atl, which shot darts and arrows with lightly curved edges; however, according the current knowledge and discoveries made up to this moment, the Toltecs brandished the Atl-Atl in the left hand and not in the right like the figures of the Atlantes appear to be doing. In one of the pillars found next to the giant figures, appears the figure in relief of an individual who carries on his back a backpack or container with a sort of flame shooting out a stone. This has led some to suppose that the object the Atlantes carry is a flame thrower or blowtorch.
The legends also tell that the Toltecs, in their march toward the south led by Quetzalcoatl, arrived at Chichen-Itza (an archeological zone located in the Yucatan Peninsula) where they built a new capital fusing with the Mayan culture and tradition. The city of Tollan, in its age of decadence in the 13th century, was occupied by the Aztecs who came from the North.
The archeological zone of Tula gives visitors the opportunity to appreciate in an instant a chapter of the glorious past of the Toltecs. Despite the fact that this zone is not considered one of the most important in Mexico, it is worth visiting the city of Tollan, which has a great relevance in the history of Mesoamerica and constitutes a link in the chain of civilization of the central high plateau of Mexico.
Information was taken from “A Guide to Unknown Mexico No. 62 Hidalgo,” Sept. to Oct. 2000.

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Wednesday, January 27, 2010

El Mastuerzo


"El Mastuerzo" playing at CLETA in Casa del Lago (House on The Lake) in Chapultepec Park.

Francisco Barrios aka "El Mastuerzo" is a Mexican musician, composer, record producer, actor and drummer of the band Botellita de Jeréz. El Mastuerzo is an active composer of rolas and founder of the artist collective Kloakas Komunikantes. It participates with his work supporting social movements. Actually are in filmation of Plan B, a film of the story of Botellita de Jeréz.

Francisco Barrios, mejor conocido como "El Mastuerzo", miembro activo durante los 14 años de existencia de la banda Botellita de Jerez (1983-1997), en un acto de malabarismo quirúrgico pone al descubierto un extraño apéndice inflamado y purulento: prohibido (disco compacto y caset) que lejos de ser un estorbo al cuerpo creativo que lo ve parir, en su momento se reveló como una necesidad de expresión individual pero paralela a ese "caldo de cultivo" llamado Botellita de Jerez.

La promiscuidad que da origen a las extrañas perversiones de El Mastuerzo se remontan no sólo a las vivencias botellescas, sino a anteriores experiencias creativas con el grupo Los Nakos, colectivo artístico multidisciplinario cuyo trabajo se centra en la canción política a través de formas paródicas siempre permeadas de recursos teatrales. Los Nakos surge como brigada cultural del Consejo Nacional de Huelga durante el movimiento estudiantil de 1968; El Mastuerzo se integra a esta banda desde el año de 1976 llevando a cabo distintas realizaciones discográficas y participando en muy diversas giras, festivales y encuentros de canción y teatro en Europa, USA, Cuba, Centro América y, por supuesto, a lo largo y ancho de la República Mexicana hasta 1984.[Wiki and Trovadictos]


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Tuesday, January 26, 2010

Juggling at La Condesa


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Monday, January 25, 2010

Gente / People (Series) 6

Walkers and The Capitol

I cannot help fearing that men may reach a point where they look on every new theory as a danger, every innovation as a toilsome trouble, every social advance as a first step toward revolution, and that they may absolutely refuse to move at all.
Alexis de Tocqueville

Alexis-Charles-Henri Clérel de Tocqueville (29 July 1805, Paris – 16 April 1859, Cannes) was a French political thinker and historian best known for his Democracy in America (appearing in two volumes: 1835 and 1840) and The Old Regime and the Revolution (1856). In both of these works, he explored the effects of the rising equality of social conditions on the individual and the state in western societies. Democracy in America (1835), his major work, published after his travels in the United States, is today considered an early work of sociology and political science.

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Sunday, January 24, 2010

Gente / People (Series) 5

Girl playing and The Washington Monument

Colombia is Passion. Musical performance by Verny Varela Orch. at The Lincoln Memorial



When you think of Colombia, hearts don't immediately pop to mind. Coffee beans, perhaps, or maybe that other "c" word, but not necessarily valentines. However, as part of a new tourism campaign, "Discover Colombia Through Its Heart," the country is planning to spread the love with an exhibit of heart-shaped sculptures sprinkled around Washington.
To illustrate the idea that "Colombia Is Passion!," 47 fiberglass creations of varying designs will be installed in such areas as Georgetown, Adams Morgan, the Mall and Union Station.
The exhibit runs Sept. 5-15, then moves to New York Sept. 22-28, 2009.
The Washington Post. August 30, 2009

7th Street Northwest

Restaurant Oyamel. Cocina Mexicana

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Friday, January 22, 2010

Gente / People (Series) 4

7th St / Pennsylvania Ave NW

The Reflecting Pool (In the background The WWII Memorial)

746 6th NW Washington, DC

Washington, DC September 2009

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Wednesday, January 20, 2010

Gente / People (Series) 3


Restaurant with Cuban music in San Jacinto Square. San Angel at south side of the city.

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Tuesday, January 19, 2010

Gente / People (Series) 2


Street of city downtown
Between 2006 and 2008 the number of poor people increase in 5.9 millions, reaching 50.6 millions, 47.4 % of Mexico population. Ah, but politics are wealthy persons!

Entre 2006 y 2008, los dos primeros años de la actual administración federal, el número de pobres en México aumentó en 5.9 millones de personas, hasta alcanzar 50.6 millones, 47.4 por ciento de la población total del país, según publicó el 18 de julio pasado el Consejo Nacional de Evaluación de la Política de Desarrollo Social (Coneval), organismo oficial encargado de la medición de la pobreza en el país.

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Monday, January 18, 2010

Gente / People (Series)


Children of Tetitlan Beach, near Ixtapa.

"The great mystery is not that we should have been thrown down here at random between the profusion of matter and that of the stars; it is that from our very prison we should draw, from our own selves, images powerful enough to deny our own nothingness."
From La condition humaine [Man's Fate] (1933). Andre Malraux

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Sunday, January 17, 2010

Hills and Skies

Tlaxcala

Guanajuato


Teachings of Rumi:
I searched for God among the Christians and on the Cross and therein I found Him not.
I went into the ancient temples of idolatry; no trace of Him was there.
I entered the mountain cave of Hira and then went as far as Qandhar but God I found not.
With set purpose I fared to the summit of Mount Caucasus and found there only 'anqa's habitation.
Then I directed my search to the Kaaba, the resort of old and young; God was not there even.
Turning to philosophy I inquired about him from ibn Sina but found Him not within his range.
I fared then to the scene of the Prophet's experience of a great divine manifestation only a "two bow-lengths' distance from him" but God was not there even in that exalted court.
Finally, I looked into my own heart and there I saw Him; He was nowhere else.

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Friday, January 15, 2010

Best Photo of 2009

El Rodeo Lagoon from Xochicalco Archaeological Ruins

Xochicalco Eagle

Do anything, but let it produce joy.
From "Tropic of Cancer" by Henry Miller.

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

Haiti


Unicef

Red Cross

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Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Cubo de Herrumbre / Cube of Rust


Cubo de Herrumbre - 1980 by Mexican architec and sculptor Fernando Gonzalez Gortazar. Rufino Tamayo Museum at Chapultepec Park.

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Monday, January 11, 2010

Warm Window / Ventana Flor


Ver. B&W

"If the fool would persist in his folly he would become wise."
William Blake (1757-1827), British poet, painter, engraver. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, plate 7, "Proverbs of Hell," (c. 1793)

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Saturday, January 9, 2010

Fight Against Cold


Happy and Warm Weekend!

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Friday, January 8, 2010

Flowers

Cuernavaca

Scanned slide - Tepoztlan

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Thursday, January 7, 2010

Coyoacan

Coyoacan Mix

Volker and Rothko

Ice Creams

House

El Parnaso bookstore

Coyoacán is one of the 16 boroughs into which Mexico's Federal District is divided. The name Coyoacán comes from Nahuatl Coyohuacan, meaning "Place where they have Coyotes".
In pre-Columbian times, Coyoacán was a town of their own kind and a major centre of trade on the southern shore of Lake Texcoco. After the Spanish conquest, Hernán Cortés made his residence there.
It remained a separate town until 1950, when it was swallowed up by the burgeoning conurbation of Mexico City. Centred on two busy squares, Plaza Hidalgo and Jardín Centenario, today's Coyoacán is known as an upper-middle-class suburb, with a lively bohemian and artistic culture.
In its streets features large houses with beautiful colonial architecture, and is also lined with bookstores, cafés, and clubs and The Italian Institute of Culture.
Coyoacán was home to Dolores del Río, Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera, and also to Leon Trotsky and the houses they lived in are now both museums. It is served by Metro lines 2 (Metro General Anaya) and 3 (Metro Coyoacán and Metro Viveros).[Wiki]

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Tuesday, January 5, 2010

Rainy Day, Dream Away


Nature Morte/Dead Nature/Naturaleza Muerta

Rainy Day, Dream Away
Hey man, take a look out the window 'n' see what's happ'nin'
Hey man, it's rainin'
It's rainin' outside man
Aw, don't worry 'bout that
Everything's gonna be everything
We'll get into somethin' real nice you know
Sit back and groove on a rainy day
Yeah
Yeah I see what you mean brother, lay back and groove.

Rainy day, dream away
Ah let the sun take a holiday
Flowers bathe an' ah see the children play
Lay back and groove on a rainy day.

Well I can see a bunch of wet creatures, look at them on the run
The carnival traffic noise it sings the tune splashing up 'n'
Even the ducks can groove rain bathin' in the park side pool
And I'm leanin' out my window sill diggin' ev'rything
And ah and you too.

Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away yeah
Lay back and groove on a rainy day hey
Lay back and dream on a rainy day.
Jimi Hendrix

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Monday, January 4, 2010

Dogs

Phone Cam

Rothko

Vago

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Sunday, January 3, 2010

Inner Space


The National Autonomous University of Mexico (Spanish: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México) (UNAM) is a public university based primarily in Mexico City and generally considered to be the largest one-campus university in the Americas in terms of student population. Founded on 22 September 1910 by Justo Sierra as a liberal alternative (Thank God!) to the Roman Catholic-sponsored Royal and Pontifical University of Mexico (founded on September 21, 1551 by a royal decree of Charles I of Spain and brought to a definitive closure in 1867 by the liberals), it is the only university in Mexico with Nobel Prize laureates among its alumni: Alfonso García Robles (Peace), Octavio Paz (Literature), and Mario Molina (Chemistry). [Wiki]

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Saturday, January 2, 2010

Doors


Tane store in Polanco (Mexican silver craftwork)


Personalities

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Friday, January 1, 2010

January 2010 Theme Day: Changes



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