Welcome to Eyes of the World. On this site you will find articles about the Entertainment, Sports, Arts and Political world that you may not have seen in the mainstream press. You will also occasionally find my opinions on these subjects.
Today marks the 134th birthday of the artist synonymous with modern art: Pablo Picasso.
The artist was a painter, sculptor, ceramicist, printmaker, designer and more; he often credited as an inventor of collage and as the founder of Cubism. He was so in demand that Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard put him on a celebrity watch list.
His politics were militant and his views on women were questionable, but his lasting influence on Modern art is indisputable. His career began around 1900 in Parisian cafes, where he painted colorful versions of cabaret performers, flaneurs, beggars and drinkers.
Through his blue and red periods he continued to paint in a relatively traditional style, but soon he developed a revolutionary Cubist style in collaboration with artist George Braque. However, with one of the most recognizable aesthetics of any modern art museum, Picasso is almost a genre of his own.
To celebrate his birthday, here are eight quotes—some sweet, some extreme—from the prolific artist.
Pablo Picasso, Guernica (1937).
On Painting:
“Painting is not made to decorate apartments. It’s an offensive and defensive weapon against the enemy.”
“Painting isn’t an aesthetic operation; it’s a form of magic designed as mediator between this strange hostile world and us.”
“There are painters who transform the sun into a yellow spot but there are others who with the help of their art and their intelligence transform a yellow spot into a sun.”
On Copying:
“Success is dangerous. One begins to copy oneself and to copy oneself is more dangerous than to copy others.”
“Good artists copy, great artists steal.”
Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles D’Avignon (1907). Photo: Wikipedia.
On Women:
“For me, there are two kinds of women — goddesses and doormats.”
Pablo Picasso, Bull’s Head (1942) Image: Ben Davis
On Art School:
“Academic training in beauty is a sham. We have been deceived… The beauties of the Parthenon, Venuses, Nymphs, Narcissuses are so many lies. Art is not the application of a canon of beauty but what the instinct and the brain can conceive beyond any canon.”
Pablo Picasso, The Old Guitarist(1903) Photo: Wikipedia Commons
The St. Louis sports community, baseball, hockey and soccer are at the center of Jose de Jesus Ortiz's columns.
Ortiz: St. Louis enjoys hate-watching Cubs
Actor and native St. Louisan Jon Hamm sports a 1908-era Cardinals hat for Game 3 of the World Series in Wrigley Field. (MLB.comphoto)
CLEVELAND • You can take the Cardinals out of the playoffs, but you can’t take their fans' disdain for the Cubs out of St. Louis.
The St. Louis-Chicago rivalry is a passionate one regardless of the sport, whether in Major League Baseball or the National Hockey League. And if St. Louis ever gets an Major League Soccer team one day, you can bet folks in the Gateway to the West will learn to hate the Chicago Fire as well.
For now, the hatred is reserved for the Cubs and Blackhawks.
Blues fans hate the Blackhawks, and the feeling is mutual. Cardinals fans haven’t had to worry about the Cubs much throughout their glorious history, so it was easy to ignore the Lovable Losers until the 2015 Division Series.
When you have 11 World Series titles, including two over the last decade, it’s easy to dismiss the Lovable Losers who haven’t won a World Series title since 1908.
Yet, the 2016 Cubs that ran away with the National League Central title with the best record in baseball are dominant enough to foment the hatred among Cardinals fans.
So when you get a large group of St. Louisans together, you can bet your toasted ravioli and gooey butter cake that most of them will pull loudly against the Cubs.
That much was evident Saturday night at Scottrade Center during the Blues’ game against the Kings.
The crowd of 18,631 erupted Saturday night when the jumbotron showed a replay of the Cleveland Indians scoring their third run to take a 3-1 lead in the third inning against the Cubs in Game 4 of the World Series at Wrigley Field.
The Blues’ fans celebrated as the Indians took control for an eventual 7-2 victory that put Cleveland within a victory of the World Series title.
That roar was arguably the third loudest ovation of the night, trailing only the reaction from the crowd when Blues legend Bob Plager was shown on the jumbotron in honor of his pending sweater number retirement and the raucous celebration after Jaden Schwartz scored the winning goal in the third period.
The Cubs staved off elimination by winning Game 5 on Sunday at Wrigley Field, so St. Louisans must still wait to celebrate their demise. Now the Indians will try to claim their first title since 1948 on Tuesday night at Progressive Field or, if necessary, in a winner-take-all Game 7 Wednesday night.
You don’t have to be at Scottrade Center of Busch Stadium to know which team St. Louisans want to win the World Series.
Wednesday, July 27, 2016
Gary Johnson Could Trip Trump, Poll Suggests; Stein Hurts Hillary
(AP Photo/John Raoux)
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Gary Johnson could put a crimp in the plans of Donald Trump, suggests a Reuters/Ipsos poll showing a strong potential for a third-party candidate to take enough of the vote to influence the presidential outcome. Jill Stein of the Green Party could upset Hillary Clinton's apple cart.
Americans' demand for an alternative to the two main presidential candidates has surged, according to Friday's poll based on 2,153 interviews, underscoring the unpopularity of Trump and Clinton, reportedReuters.
The poll found 21 percent of likely voters will not back Trump or Clinton. That compares with about 13 percent of likely voters who opted out of the two main choices at the same point in the 2012 race between President Barack Obama and Republican challenger Mitt Romney.
The poll also showed a majority of American voters have an overall "unfavorable" view of both main candidates, with 46 percent of Clinton supporters and 47 percent of Trump supporters saying their top priority when voting will be to stop the opposing candidate from reaching the White House.
Demand for an alternative could be decisive in hotly contested battleground states. In Florida in 2012, for instance, Obama won by less than 1 percentage point. If this year's race is just as tight, third-party candidates could draw enough support to flip the state from one major party to the other.
Despite this, both Johnson of the Libertarian Party and Stein have a problem that make their influence hard to predict -- most voters still do not know who they are. Of likely voters, 23 percent say they are at least "somewhat familiar" with Johnson, a former governor of New Mexico. That drops to 16 percent for Stein, a physiJohnson could appeal to both liberals and conservatives. He wants to legalize marijuana and replace income and payroll taxes with a consumption tax.
Stein could make a strong bid to backers of U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who ran a close race with Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination. Stein wants to abolish student debt and raise the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour. She also aims for the country to run on renewable energy by 2030.
Stein’s communications coordinator, David Doonan, said that the campaign is working to boost her numbers and that the Green Party is circulating a letter that directly appeals to people who supported Sanders. “He also started very low” in the polls, Doonan said.
So far it appears that Johnson and Stein draw support evenly from Clinton and Trump when they are included in opinion polls. In a four-way race, 45 percent of likely voters support Clinton, 34 percent Trump, 5 percent Johnson and 4 percent Stein, according to a separate five-day polling average on July 8.
That compares with 46 percent for Clinton and 33 percent for Trump in a two-way race.
Given a little more information about the two alternative candidates, respondents who back Johnson and Stein draw more deeply from Clinton’s support.
Some 44 percent of likely voters support Clinton, 34 percent Trump, 7 percent Johnson and 5 percent Stein, after reading the following statement, according to the poll: "Jill Stein, the Green Party candidate for President, has taken an environmental position supporting a strong government role limiting carbon-based fuels, such as coal. Gary Johnson, the Libertarian candidate for President, has supported severely limiting the government’s role, including slashing taxes and reducing programs such as Medicare and the military and broadly decriminalizing currently illegal drugs."
Thursday, April 21, 2016
Bill Walton Is All About the Bike
From his childhood days in San Diego, the basketball legend’s life has been as much about the bicycle as the game that made him famous
In my cycling life, I’ve talked to a lot of charismatic bike nuts—men and women who believe bikes are magic, cars are meaningless, love to ride more than any other human activity, and may sleep in Lycra pajamas and a tiny hat, dreaming of ascending Provence’s Mont Ventoux.
But I don’t think I’ve talked to someone who loves to ride a bicycle as much as Bill Walton.
“I love to ride all day,” Walton told me on a recent afternoon, in a telephone interview. “My dream is to do 100 miles a day. Get up, have breakfast, get going, ride all day, stop for lunch, ride, come home, take a swim, take a Jacuzzi, have a hot shower, have dinner, go to bed, get up and do it again, day after day.”
You see what I mean.
AdvertisementWalton, of course, is primarily known as one of the greatest basketball players of all time—a red-haired, free-spirited 6-foot-11 big man for John Wooden’s historic UCLA Bruins, and then in the NBA, winning a title and an MVP with the Portland Trail Blazers and then another ring with the Boston Celtics. But from his childhood days in San Diego, Walton’s life has been as much about the bicycle as the game that made him famous.
“I’d ride to the gym, play basketball, ride home, ride to school, and ride for fun, just ride all around town.” Walton said. “Then I went to college and immediately fell in with a lot of the Olympic and pro cyclists who were living and training in Los Angeles, including (Olympian and one-time bicycle land speed record holder) John Howard, with whom I am still very close today.”
“He’s always been very energetic,” Howard said Wednesday. “While he is not fast, he makes up for it with a great deal of enthusiasm.”
When Walton lived in Portland, he rode his bike to Blazers games and the city’s 1977 championship parade. He rode around the Columbia River Gorge and up and down the Willamette Valley. When he moved to the San Diego Clippers as a free agent in 1979, Walton rode with riders from the U.S. national team who stayed at a hotel not far from his home. But he often rides alone.
“Bicycling is like basketball in that you don’t have to wait for anything—you just go,” he said. “These other sports, you’re standing around with other people, waiting for action to come your way.”
If you have ever heard Walton being interviewed, or followed Walton’s post-basketball career as a television analyst, you know how loquacious and passionate he can be. You could ask Walton what he had for dinner, and by the time he’s through describing it, you’ll be ready to vote his dinner for president.
ENLARGE
From left to right: Bill Walton, Eddy Merckx and Greg LeMond.PHOTO: BILL WALTON
It’s the same way with bikes. I had briefly run into Walton a few years back at a Tour of California stage in downtown Los Angeles, and I was struck by his fever for the sport. This was a guy who once dragged a writer for Sports Illustrated on a two-day, 150-mile odyssey down the Pacific Coast Highway, who speaks lovingly of Hans Ort’s long-gone bicycle shop near UCLA, who has ridden with icons like Tour de France winner Greg LeMond, Belgian all-timer Eddy Merckx, and, of course, the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir.
(“He’s more of a mountain biker,” Bill said of Bob.)
Like every cycling obsessive, Walton can get wonky about the minutiae. He can talk stems and cranks and shoes. (The Italian bike shoe manufacturer Sidi made a shoe that fits Walton’s size 17 foot. “It’s a whole new world!” he exclaimed.) He rides custom road bikes made by the acclaimed San Diego builder Bill Holland, with a seat tube height that Walton said is 70 centimeters (the most common men’s cycling frames tend to run 54-56 cm.) “I love the team aspect, the science, the technology, the exercise physiology, the nutrition, the gels, the powders, the chews…”
Walton didn't want to give the wrong impression, however. “I am not a good cyclist,” he insisted. Over the years, he said, he’d acquired nicknames like Crash and Always Lost. With a pair of fused ankles, he doesn't have an optimal pedal stroke; only recently had Howard talked him into finally using clipless pedals. “Most people don’t like to ride with me because I ride so slow.”
Walton told a story about a charity ride he was on from San Francisco to San Diego in which the former U.S. pro Christian Vande Velde came up from behind him. “I hear, ‘Bill, let’s go!’” Walton recalls. “Then he said as he passed me: ‘Bill, I didn’t know it was humanly possible to ride a bike that slow and still stay upright.’”
Said Vande Velde the other day: “He is the definition of legend.”
Walton is 63 now. He said he hasn't played basketball in decades. Often injured as a player, he has spent much of his life grappling with pain—agony and recovery he chronicles as part of a new memoir, “Back From the Dead,” published by Simon & Schuster last month.
In it, he writes: My bike is the most important thing I have. It is my gym, my wheelchair and my church all in one.
“I see him riding everywhere,” said Howard. “Even late at night.”
“I’m more comfortable on my bike than anything else I do,” Walton said. “The longer I ride, the better I feel.” These days, he said, he has no pain, and takes no medication.
“My bike is my medicine,” he said. “I’m always sick of something or somebody, and I know that when I go out on my bike, my bike makes me happy.”
I’m not going to argue with any of that. If you ride, you know exactly what Bill Walton means.
The Associated Press Monday, November 7, 2005; 9:30 PM
TAMPA, Fla. -- Two Carolina Panthers cheerleaders were charged after their arrest at a bar where witnesses told police the women had sex in a restroom. Renee Thomas, 20, of Pittsboro, N.C., and Angela Keathley, 26, of Belmont, N.C., were taken to Hillsborough County Jail early Sunday.
Carolina Panthers cheerleaders, Renee Thomas, left, and Angela Keathley, shown in these Hillsborough County, Fla., Sheriff's Office booking photos, were arrested early Sunday, Nov. 6, 2005 after a bar dispute that broke out after patrons complained the women were allegedly having sex in a bathroom stall. (AP Photo/Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office)(AP)
Witnesses said the women were having sex in a stall with each other, angering patrons waiting in line to get into the restroom at the club in the Channelside district. Thomas was charged with battery Sunday after allegedly striking a bar patron when she was leaving the restroom, then landed in even more trouble after police said she gave officers a driver's license belonging to another Panthers cheerleader who was not in Tampa. Thomas, who made the trip to Florida for Sunday's game between the Panthers and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, was released from jail on $500 bail before police learned she was not the person she claimed to be. Providing police with a false name is a misdemeanor. However, Thomas was charged Monday with giving a false name and causing harm to another _ a third-degree felony punishable by probation or a jail term of 1 to 5 years, said police spokeswoman Laura McElroy. Meanwhile, detectives are trying to determine how Thomas gained possession of the driver's license of the third cheerleader. Keathley, charged with disorderly conduct and resisting arrest, was released on $750 bail about an hour before the Panthers played the Bucs at Raymond James Stadium. The cheerleaders were not in town to perform at the game.
