Delicious, nutritious food. Who can resist! The thought of hooking up with some of my fellow food bloggers for a collaboration had me so excited, I could hardly sit still. I love food, especially when the food is not only savory and appetizing but also vibrantly healthy and good for you. I wasn't alone in my passion for this topic. Leston Paul of the popular blog "Creative DiversityTT" shared my excitement in doing the collaboration. Last but not least, the very talented photographer Kieron Anthony of the blog "Roadtoprotog" became a welcome addition as we came together to create a very special video about food!
We filmed the entire event as a food-show with two very eager hosts and two very talented cooks/foodies. Our guests were Marina Rivas
of the blog "Marisol Cooking" and Krystal Leah of the blog "Trini Vegan" (Hoorayyy for vegans, the healthiest people on the planet!). The video is packed with information about a healthy lifestyle and cooking with passion.
All the bloggers and collaborators
We really enjoyed making this video and hope you will enjoy learning from it as much as we enjoyed making it. Coming to the end of the video Leston and I tasted the dishes and both were so good that I couldn't stop eating. It was really a treat learning from these talented chefs and I will definitely be trying out the recipes they shared on their blogs. Let me know if you can relate to what our two food bloggers were saying in the two part video below and if you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments section!
Yes folks! This has been a long time in coming but it's finally here. The second part of my exploration of interracial relationships focuses on interracial relationships right here in Trinidad and Tobago. This time around, zooming in on this issue in my own country gave me opportunity to collaborate with a fellow blogger by the name of Anietha Charles. She is an amazing storyteller and hugely talented illustrator. I'll talk a little more on Anietha Charles and the collaboration in a bit. Such excitement!!!
I decided to explore IR's in Trinidad and Tobago because while doing research for part 1, I realized that there is very little said about it here. The most I could find were a few articles (about three) and they were from students like myself. There was probably one newspaper columnist who dealt with it as well. Videos were also scarce. I found one youtube video and it was from a UWI student. I couldn't say anything about how Trinbagonians feel about IR and so I chose to research the information by conducting interviews with the people of Trinidad and Tobago and recording it, thereby raising more awareness on the subject. This led to the video below, which can be seen as a general snapshot of how people in this country feel about IR's.
Over 30 people were interviewed in the course of one day and while the responses were varied, the prevailing attitudes were very similar. My camera guy, Zamfir Khan (a really cool guy. Please check out his blog) and I traversed COSTAATT university (College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of Trinidad and Tobago) and also the streets of down town POS to conduct the interviews and found many compliant folks who gladly gave their opinions. I really enjoyed the process. I learned a lot and that day. After a hard day of canvasing the streets and conducting interviews I can say I am truly proud to be a Trinidadian.
There were, of course some sad discoveries. One of the students from the college mentioned that she had a friend who was a girl of East Indian decent who was romantically involved with a boy of African decent and that the parents of the girl were "kicking against it", as stated in the words of the student. I won't pretend to be totally naive. I am aware of the racial tension between the people of East Indian decent and the people of African decent in this country but what I found to be interesting is that this mindset is primarily with the older generation. The young people of both races aren't thinking like their parents and grandparents. The younger generation have no hangups, no divisions and no reasons to be divided. They opt for unity and togetherness and that is very promising for us as a nation. So overall I must say that compared with other nations like the US and the UK, we are doing pretty good on the racial front, particularly where interracial relationships are concerned.
Collaboration with Anietha Charles
Anietha - a graphic design student - is such a talented individual. When I discovered her storytelling capabilities in addition to her artistic abilities, I was blown away. During my interviews I allowed the interviewees to tell stories about how IR couples they knew, met each other. I asked Anietha if she could illustrate these stories so that I could add them to the video. She did a fantastic job and I was so glad for the opportunity to work with her in such a way. As mentioned above she also writes a blog which is entitled "ABC Storytelling". Check it out here and look out for other fun collaborations coming soon.
Remember the blogpost I did entitled, "The Way Women are Treated by Men in Sweet TnT"? In that post I spoke about the negative way some Trinidadian men approach women in our country and in return, received many responses from Trinidadian women who said they could relate to the issues raised. Well this is a follow up to that post. I recently came across a video of a woman who, in an attempt to raise awareness for this issue, walked 10 hours through the streets of New York as a social experiment. With a hidden camera on the back of a man who walked in front of her, recording every moment of the daunting 10 hours, the results were overwhelming, far reaching and ongoing.
The video seen above shows Shoshana walking through the streets of New York as several men try to get her attention with unwanted responses ranging from a simple "hello" and "smile" to men following her and asking for her number. Men so bent on getting her attention that when they said something to her and they didn't receive a response from her they began asking her if the reason she didn't talk back to them was because they were ugly. The video depressed me so much that I knew I had to address it. This is an issue so profoundly disturbing because it infringes on a person's right to walk the streets in peace without being bombarded. It's kind of like being ambushed by a swarm of bees or mosquitoes. But these aren't unruly insects, these are men, people who have no regard for a person's right to privacy, and no respect for women or themselves. Shoshana herself agreed to be in the video because she has been a victim of this many, many times.
I used to respond when I was younger but when I realized my level of comfort while walking the streets ebbing away I knew something was up. If you are saying hello to one random person then you should say it to all. Why not say hello to every single person you see. Old men, young children, the homeless, businessmen in their shinny suits ... EVERYONE! But no. You single out one person who is attractive to you and then, whether she likes it or not, you make sure she sees, or hears you. If she exercises her free will to not respond, then something is wrong with her.
The video is linked to a movement to end street harassment called "Hollaback!" You can learn more about the video here and more about Hollaback here.The director of the whole experiment said it was exhausting to be around and to watch as guy after guy targeted Shoshana. The worst part of this for me was observing the comments of the men who viewed the video. It has been reported that after featuring in the video Shoshana recieved rape threats. Here is a small indication of what men think of the video. After featuring a snap shot of the video on my facebook page to promote the post, I received this unwelcome comment from a fellow facebooker.
In addition to these comments were the video parodies that mimics the original in a bid to make it sound as if women are making a big deal about nothing. I really laughed at this one.
Here is the best responce to the video above.
So to all the parodies I have some video responses of my own. Check out these videos. The first is a link to "The Daily Show" where he addresses the topic of street harassment using one of his associates - Jessica in a segment called "Jessica's Feminized Atmosphere". Click here to view. (Wait a few seconds for the commercial to finish) The second video below is aptly named smile and hails from a youtube channel entitled "The Get Go".
These videos made me laugh so hard! Anyway, after all the hollaballoo, let us remember that at the base of this subject matter is the issue of human dignity and respect. The women who support the street harassment movement are ordinary women. They love to be complimented and told they are beautiful, but compliments have their place and time. Let's learn to respect and honor each other as we go through this journey called life.
Those who are amateur animators like myself or even the professionals will know that there is nothing as thrilling as the process of creating an animation. There's nothing as satisfying as pouring blood, sweat and tears into a project and then standing back to watch the whole beautiful production unfold. Like a composer with his musical composition at a piano, like a painter in front of his easel, like a master chef accepting the compliments of his customers - the final product is everything and when it comes out exactly right or better then expected, there are no words to describe the thrill.
I was first introduced to animation when I took a class entitled "Intro to Motion Graphics" as part of my Graphic Design course. It was exciting moving into a new area of the program but nothing could have prepared me for the absolute obsession that possessed me once I began learning different techniques and the step by step process to reach the goal of a completed animation. Its hard work but its enjoyable and satisfying work. The lecturer of the course, Seon Thompson, was an excellent teacher. I would recommend him to anyone who wants to learn all things animation. He also writes a blog which you can find by clicking here.
Of all the animation techniques, I love the stop motion animation the best. If you've ever seen the popular "Wallace and Gromit" films "Chicken Run"or even "Flushed Away" which is a blend of computer animation and claymation, you've seen stop motion animation at its best. For those of you who have never done animation and are interested (or at least curious) to see how stop motion animations are made, click here.
The video below reveals the outcome of the first animation I worked on as part of a group for the same course. I used the image sequence option from Quicktime Player 7 to put the images together and I used imovie for the final editing of this 30 second film. The assignment was to somehow advertise products distributed among the groups in the class through the use of an animation technique. The product we were given were Fruity Gel Cups.The story behind the animation is that of a kindergarten teacher doing her best to cheer up her sad little kindergarten class.
This second video is one I did on my own and combines traditional animation with stopmotion animation. No claymation was involved.
Here are a two more projects I worked on. These aren't completed animations but can be referred to as animatics which is more like a moving storyboard or something that let's you know what your animation can look like as a series pictures.
I really enjoyed working on these projects! Let me know what you think of the videos and also if you think animation is something that annoys or something to enjoy!
In the words of singer, Jazmine Sullivan, "I'm not scared of lions and tigers and bears". Only in this case its lions and tigers and leopards. Yes folks its time for yet another art blogpost showcasing the subjects that inspire artistic desire. Once again I'd like to share some art pieces that were good fun to depict. These pieces, like the portraits of the previous post (Why I Love Portraits) were my first time attempts at depicting animals.
This tiger was a bit of a struggle for me since there is so much going on. He's supposed to be coming out of some water and shaking himself dry so I tried to capture that movement. This was done in acrylic paint on canvas.
This white leopard was done mainly in pencil. I used chalk pastels for the colour in the eyes, the nose and the tongue. I really tried to capture the intensity in his eyes. There was so much mesmerizing tension there. I also used charcoal for the darkest areas. The drawing was done on cartridge paper.
This sleeping leopard was the most adorable subject. I borrowed a book based on wild animals from the library and the pictures there were so beautiful. When I found this leopard, I knew I had to paint him. This was done with acrylic paints on cartridge paper.
This lion was a bit difficult for me as far as getting proportions right. If you hadn't noticed, the nose is a bit twisted but considering how hard I worked on it I was quite pleased that I found my way to the end. This was done quite a few years ago so I want to try another one soon to compare with this and see how my skills have improved. I may have a lion depicting contest coming up in a future art blog between me and a few other artists. If you want in on the contest let me know in the comments and I'll arrange to have your best depiction of a lion in that particular blogpost. Here I used acrylic paints on cartridge paper.
Just as a little bonus I'd like to post two more paintings. As you can see they aren't animals but they are paintings that reflect the nature around us. Both animals and nature are definitely something to enjoy!
I love dogs. My sibblings and I have had many dogs as pets growing up. They are so entertaining and lovable and they make great friends. Loosing pet dogs to old age or disease has caused me to shed more than my fair share of tears. It felt like loosing a part of my family - loosing a part of myself when one of them died or got lost. (Still haven't gotten over my dog Bambi... sob, sob) Dogs are special. In addition to being cute and cuddly, and a host of other things, they also make wonderful protectors. I remember one of our dogs, a female german shepherd, who we never trained to attack and was very playful. She protected us very well since her appearance alone would scare away most people.
This brings us to the subject of scaring people. There are different categories of dogs. Of all the dog breeds to choose from, why would someone choose to have a dog categorized as a "dangerous dog" as a pet? Is the answer protection? Okay! Fair enough. Maybe you're a thrill seeker and you like to live on the edge. Okay! Maybe you have a certain image to uphold and that particular dog suits the purpose. Okay! You perhaps can't help yourself, you simply love them. Still reasonable. I get it... I understand. I've seen the show "Pit Bulls and Parolees" from the Animal Planet channel. I can't relate but I can certainly understand. Even if you would choose to have such a dog as a pet, why not take responsibility and do EVERYTHING IN YOUR POWER to ensure that it would never be able to hurt the innocent? I am so disgusted by the accounts of dangerous dog attacks on children, on other defenseless dogs, on unsuspecting individuals incurring serious injury or senselessly loosing their lives because some idiot refused to put a savage cross breed on a leash.
Pitbulls, dobermans, bulldogs, rottweilers, alsatians, boxers and wolf hybrids among many others
breeds of dangerous dogs have stuck fear into the hearts of the innocent with attacks becoming more and more prevalent in recent times. Governments (including TnT's own) have put laws in place as a result of the rising figures of brutality, injury and death caused by some of these dogs. Yet the cases keep coming in. Dog owners, trainers and others rush to their defense and the battle between dangerous dog lovers and innocent suffering victims continue thereby perpetuating the cycle. Yet no one is addressing the real issue. How do we keep these dogs away from the wrong types of people?
Some owners are highly irresponsible. Don't get me wrong. I am not referring to ALL people who own dogs categorized as dangerous. I know people who own some very scary dogs who keep them in a place where they cannot hurt anyone. They keep them on a leash and know how to take care of them and how to handle them. I am referring to those owners who are selfish human beings who would rather see a child laid up in hospital for weeks on end rather than realize that they cannot contain or control their dog. They get highly offended or irritated when they are asked to give the dog up even though they know that their dog could viciously attack other individuals. They don't take precautions to ensure that their neighbours and the public at large are protected from such attacks. Some owners are careless enough to let their dogs run around their neighborhoods without so much as a warning to others. I have had experiences where I've been walking along the streets in my area and I had to stop dead in my tracks or quickly change course because I saw huge vicious looking dogs just happily roaming the streets as if they owned it. I no longer feel safe in my own neighbourhood.
This is how I look at it. Animals like lions, wolves, grizzly bears, tigers, all have their place. We see them at the zoo, we see them on animal planet or the discovery channel or the national geographic channel, living in the wild, happy and free where they belong. We know we must keep them where they belong because they are capable of posing a real threat to human life. We cannot control them. What am I getting at? If the animals that cannot be controlled are kept where they belong, where they cannot pose any threat to human life then how or why are dogs, capable of killing, being given over to irresponsible owners?
Now I know there is a huge fan base for certain dogs like the pit bull for instance. These dogs can be described as loveable, friendly and man's best friend. Dog trainers and other dog enthusiasts would know more than I would about these dogs and I respect their expertise. I say this to re-emphasize my point that there is a place for these dogs where they can be well cared for and loved and appreciated. There are people who are highly capable of maintaing and controlling these dogs. There are even professions where these dogs are very useful. (The police profession, businesses who need guard dogs for protection on their property, the "Pit Bulls and Parolees" tv series).
Tia Maria Torres, a pitbull trainer and the star of reality series "Pit Bulls & Parolees
They should not be left unattended in the streets, without a leash, roaming free to terrorize the unsuspecting and creating phobias in the hearts of little children who manage to survive an attack. They don't belong in a place where small pets can be murdered at anytime simply because someone wanted to take their dachshund puppy for a walk. This has been a topic that has left me a little more than annoyed. Let me know how you feel about it!
