March 23, 2012

Sex in the cathedral


Earlier this week, I was walking next to the cathedral in downtown. It was 6.15pm.

Right in front of me, a prostitute was hanging from the arm of an uniformed policeman. I started walking slowly to follow them and produced my camera. Unfortunately I did not get a nice shot (too many people, they were turning around, the images are not sharp...).

Still I followed them. They walked around the cathedral, around the patio and the gardens and entered the complex through a service door, said Hi to the guards in a security booth and kept walking through a big patio behind the church. I was then following them from the street, observing them through the fence, when the policeman walked much slower, and the girl was three or four meters in front of him. A man in a suit was coming in the opposite direction. The policeman said: "Good evening!", the man in the suit just nodded. He was clearly the boss.

The policeman turned his face up, to the sky and Heaven, and cursed angrily and silently. His lips said "Puta madre". Then he ran and reached the girl. They entered a bulding in the cathedral complex, and disappeared. I stopped, trying to figure out which kind of building it could be: offices (à la Monica Lewinsky), a convent (à la Marciel Maciel)...?

On the wall, I discovered this image of a burning soul. Hell!



March 22, 2012

Stop war!


Is a peace revolution through Facebook possible?

Stop war, this guy, Ahmadenijad, is completely crazy, as you can see in this interview he gave earlier this week.

Join the campaign.


Death: Enrique Metínides, Dominic Bracco II


A few weeks before getting married, this couple was assaulted in Mexico's City main park, Chapultepec. He resisted to give his few pesos and has stabbed to death.


Enrique Metínides


Some months ago, a couple was killed while driving their pick-up truck. A single bullet killed them, including the baby in the woman's womb.

Dominic Bracco II


March 21, 2012

Benedetto in Mexico


Mr. Pope is coming to Mexico this weekend. The richest Mexicans are attending his Mass from a VIP tribune. Why? Because they are Church sponsors and friends with the all those corrupt Cardinals and Bishops Mexico has to deal with.

As it happens to the rest of us, Benedetto is also a prisoner of rich businessmen. Still, he ironically smiles, such as in this awesome picture of a church in Sweden, taken by Marcus.




March 20, 2012

The Church of Useless





Earlier this week, I went for the very first time in the Sagrario, a church adjacent to the Cathedral in Mexico City. The most obvious thing the visitor will notice is the proliferation of fire extinguishers: next to the altars, next to columns, to confessionaries, they are everywere.

In 1962, a terrible fire consumed a good part of the interior of the Cathedral, so I supposed that Cardinal Norberto Rivera –a pious soul which some years ago left his church-goers to climb into a helicopter in order to attend a birthday party of one of his colleagues– wanted to prevent a fire, whatever it takes, firstly aesthetics.

But, oh, no. Fire extinguishers stopped working five years ago.

Congratulations for contributing to this Church of Useless.






March 14, 2012

Work hard to achieve your dreams



This is how Mexico City looks like. Aweful.

But we all have blue, sunny dreams...



That's why I just opened a new fast food location. Come by, it's tasty and healthy.




March 9, 2012

Minimalistic shrines: Kaaba, Apple Cube

An old shrine for Muslims, a modern shrine for consumerism...





March 8, 2012

Italian madarosis



Look at this disgusting eye lashes and the almost unexisting eyebrows. If it is not due to a desease called madarosis, then it is a sign of terrible taste – very common among German girls, who are unable to understand the beauty of a thick eyebrow, think of Brook Shields, Demi Moore, Jennifer Conelly or Hilary Rhoda, for instance, and forget Frida Kahlo.

But that is a copy of the original, which looks even sicker, have a look.


Yes, the Mona Lisa and its copy recently found in the Prado Museum in Madrid.

Poor girl... Compare it with this healthy girl, Hilary Rhoda. Yes, what make-up can do...





March 7, 2012

Planes: Alfred Hitchcock, Helmut Newton, Rodney Smith, Josef Hoflehner


Alfred Hitchcock, North By Northwest (1959)
Cary Grant


Helmut Newton, How to make fur fly (1967)



Rodney Smith, A.J. chasing plane (1998)



Josef Hoflehner, American Airlines, Arriving from Miami International (2009)

Photo booths


I was thinking about the photo booth, when I learned about an exhibition in Switzerland about this very topic. Unfortunately I am going to miss it, but it sounds great, with images by Louis Aragon, Richard Avedon, André Breton, Paul Eluard, Max Ernst, Lee Friedlander, Jacques-Henri Lartigue, Raymond Queneau, Gerhard Richter, Cindy Sherman, Yves Tanguy, Andy Warhol, David Wojnarowicz, Fluxus, among others.

After Amélie, the photo booth regained a nostalgic rebirth. I used to take pictures of myself for bureaucratic purposes, always at Alexanderplatz, right in front of Dussman, but the last time when I was there, it had been used as a toilette, and it was impossible to breath there. I never used the one around the corner at Kastanienallee...


 Amélie Poulain (2001)


Esther Bubley, Washington DC (1943)


 
Mathieu Pernot, Jonathan, Mickael, Priscilla: cabine du photomaton (1996)



 Cynthia Rose, Old photo booth at the Palais de Tokyo métro station, Paris (2010)
 

Philippe Starck, Photomaton (2010)


March 6, 2012

Canon vs Nikon


This is a great story made by Canon fans. An indie video which is worth watching.

I just think that there are two mistakes: the use of the Palestinian scarf and of fire instead of, for instance, a flash light. Other than that, just perfect, even if I work with Nikon. 



March 5, 2012

Louise Brooks, Uma Thurman


It took me years to figure out that Quentin Tarantino's inspiration for Uma Thurman's character at Pulp Fiction was the charming Louise Brooks...





March 4, 2012

Dear deer


Audrey Hepburn popularized small deers (calf) as a pet. Hers was called Ip. She even once went shopping with him.

After Bambi, calves had become synonym of sweet animals, and have been used many other times for magazine covers.


Audrey Hepburn with Ip


 Andrea Jankovic (2011)


Rachel Weisz (2011)

March 1, 2012

Méliès' female Christ



Some weeks ago, I posted a collection of female Christs. Today, I found out that Méliès shoted in 1898 a film called The Temptation of St. Anthony, where a crucified girl appears.


Visitors