Sean Jacobs's Blog, page 641
June 4, 2011
No more plastic
Congo-Brazzaville will ban the production, import, sale and use of plastic bags in a move to fight environmental pollution, government spokesman Bienvenu Okiemy Okiemy said. Plastic bags have been blamed for causing floods and landslides by blocking drains, especially in urban areas.
Rwanda led Africa's fight against plastic bags, banning them five years ago.
Read the story here.
June 3, 2011
Street Photographer
Charlie Ahearn's new documentary of Brooklyn photographer Jamal Shabazz screening on June 26 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
Music Break
I don't know much about South African musician Fifi the Rai Blaster but I like this song, and the video. Watch out for more music put out by the Johannesburg label Iapetus Records.
Andrew Dosunmu's 'Restless City'
I recently missed out on seeing a special screening (at BAM in Brooklyn) of "Restless City," the new film by Andrew Dosunmu, "… the story of Djibril, an Africa immigrant surviving on the fringes of New York City where music is his passion, life is a hustle, and falling in love is his greatest risk."
Links to the film's website, an early review, a short interview with director Dosunmu, or just follow the film's twitter feed.
An Ordinary Killing
Riveting piece of journalism in this weekend's New York Times Magazine as well as an accompanying video piece (narrated by correspondent Barry Bearak) on the ordinary murder of a Zimbabwean migrant and widespread mob "justice" in Diepsloot, a squatter camp to the north of Johannesburg. The piece is generally good. As one friend remarked: "To his credit, he's clearly made an effort at getting to know Diepsloot and writing a good story. It just had a whiff of Rian Malan's 'Hammerman' tale towards the end, with the white man's discovery of and fascination with muti, etcetera. But it is generally good, and didn't stray into laziness."
Out of Africa
Vanity Fair's June issue has a profile. of Hillary Clinton. It contains tons of information about her working relationship with President Barack Obama, how she made up with Samantha Power, the Obama ally and Harvard professor, who referred to Mrs Clinton as "a monster," speculates on Clinton running for President in 2016 (she still wants to), and that she "offers continuity with Condi Rice's policy on aids and Africa." In other words familiar ground. Then there's this throwaway reference: "… She resists movies (despite a weakness for anything with Meryl Streep, especially Out of Africa) …"
June 2, 2011
Louis Vuitton goes all Zimbabwean
Nyasha Maronhodze, the new face of Louis Vuitton, entered the modelling world just two years ago after winning the UK Elite Model Look competition in 2009. Legend goes that the Zimbabwean-born Maronhodze was scouted on the streets of the Northamptonshire town in which she now lived, and invited to London for a casting – for which she showed up in her school uniform.
And now, she will be couture clothed by Louis Vuitton's creative head, Marc Jacobs, and shot by fashion photographer Stephen Meisel for a featuring new faces. Maronhodze's angular, healthy beauty will (hopefully) ensure that the campaign won't deteriorate to the degradation and pale anorexia that Jacobs is usually famous for cooking up.
Louis Vuitton goes Zimbabwean
Nyasha Maronhodze, the new face of Louis Vuitton, entered the modelling world just two years ago after winning the UK Elite Model Look competition in 2009. Legend goes that the Zimbabwean-born Maronhodze was scouted on the streets of the Northamptonshire town in which she now lived, and invited to London for a casting – for which she showed up in her school uniform.
And now, she will be couture clothed by Louis Vuitton's creative head, Marc Jacobs, and shot by fashion photographer Stephen Meisel for a featuring new faces. Maronhodze's angular, healthy beauty will (hopefully) ensure that the campaign won't deteriorate to the degradation and pale anorexia that Jacobs is usually famous for cooking up.
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