The Maasai Cricket Warriors

Photographer Carl De Souza documented this group of young Maasai warriors from the Laikipia region in Kenya who've formed a cricket team. Captained by 26 year old Nissan Jonathan Ole Meshami, the team are fundraising to travel to South Africa inorder to take part in the Last Man Stands World Championships. Alongside promoting healthy living, spreading awareness about HIV/AIDS and women's issues, the team aspire to become role models in their community and ambassadors for both the Maasai and Kenya.


Edit: You can donate to this cause here: www.justgiving.com/MaasaiCricketWarriors
The Last Man Stands World Championships is an annual international tournament, this year it is held in Cape Town, commencing on the 31st March till 7th April. 'It consists of amateur teams from around the world playing several T20 group matches, followed by a knockout stage and a final. LMS offers a first prize of US$10,000, receives considerable media exposure' (1)

(1) maasaicricketwarriors.bellstrike.com
Source: The Atlantic: InFocus

Oscar Niemeyer

A Vida É Um Sopro "Life Is A Breath Of Air" (2007). Documentary directed by Fabiano Maciel e Sacha



'Once I had a dream that Rio de Janeiro had never been settled. That the city had grown inland back from the hills. I saw exactly what Cabral saw when he first arrived. The stunning nature, the birds, the animals, all that. With the city further back facing inland. It would have been a paradise frozen in time. That's why one day I suddenly thought...maybe the world would be better off without people.' - Niemeyer
 

This documentary is a brilliant uncovering of Niemeyer's fascinating Architectural practice and his wonderfully witty and opined character. Perhaps most intriguing is Niemeyer himself (who is 104 years old) and is therefore like a living relic of the modernist era. Specifically; his utopian aspirations (to be attained through Architecture and Urban Design) and love of reinforced concrete. I was struck by Niemeyer's oratory style and eloquence, he is one of the more quotable architects I've come across.



I had no idea that Le Corbusier used and adapted Oscar Niemeyer's original plan and idea for the United Nations headquaters in New York.

Once, in Brasilia, late at night, we went to look at the Alvorada Palace which had just been finished. Seeing it at night, we were stunned by how lovely it was. Like a sculpture. As if it had no purpose other than its own beauty. I said "This is when true architecture is born." A shape that's new, different, that takes you by surprise. That's architecture.



Beauty is important, look at the pyramids. They make no practical sense. But they're so beautiful, so monumental, that you forget their purpose. You just admire them.





What matters to us in every sense is freedom. A sense of fantasy, something out of the ordinary, that's what counts. What stands the test of time is not well-kept little houses. It's cathedrals or monumental forms with a sense of balance.




(Apologies for the lacklustre poor-resolution screenshots)

"L' amour fou" (2010), directed by Pierre Thoretton

I'm intrigued by the infamous mystery and purported secretiveness surrounding Yves Saint Laurent, and am thus rather keen to see L' amour fou directed by Pierre Thoretton. This snippet from the film (below) shares a rare interview which captures Saint Laurent as I've never seen him before; he's jocular and cheeky, jubilantly joking, not at all the nervous, anxious interviewee he's been refereed to in the past. This particular interview with Yves' mix of honest, flippant, and elegant one-word answers highlights the simple and fascinating quality of translated subtitles accompanying a foreign spoken word. Even if most of Yves' clear-cut French answers are obvious: 'le Joie'; 'le charme'; I'm grateful for the English translation below. Yves's French accent and enunciation and the (somewhat) banal English word translation (words which somehow seem almost banal in comparison to their French equivalents) this somehow renders the interview to be quite charming to watch.



"L' amour fou" (2010), directed by Pierre Thoretton from sleek magazine on Vimeo.

Forgotten Bird of Paradise

Stills from this amazing documentary which focuses on the little-known Indonesian occupation and oppression of West Papua. As the video's description explains: '...the critically acclaimed undercover documentary, 'Forgotten Bird of Paradise', on the West Papua independence struggle... produced by English filmmaker Dominic Brown, who travelled in West Papua without the knowledge or authority of the Indonesian authorities. The film provides a rare and moving insight into the ongoing struggle for freedom being fought by the West Papua people against Indonesian colonial rule.'
























Watch the documentary in full (26mins):