Cost Combat "Retail Boot Camp" Class"

On Thursday January 19th, 2012, Evan Wright will be leading a free seminar at the Sewickley public library to teach about the basics of retail spending and saving. Please attend it if you are in the Pittsburgh area because this class could be very helpful to you.
"What I want to do is give an overview of the whole process," said Wright. "I'm thinking on doing other classes focusing on different sections of the book."
Please click here to know more about the seminar.

Naomie Labaty

Born in Haiti after the ousting of Jean-Claude Duvalier, Naomie Labaty describes herself as a person with a creatively incoherent mind; therefore, she decided to write poems.

"I always have tragic thoughts in my mind,"said Labaty, who writes about Haiti, love (especially love that is unfulfilled) and other entities that she is deeply drawn into. 

She partly grew up in Haiti where she completed her primary education at Saint Francois D'Assise and spent two additional years at Centre D'Etude Secondaire.  At age 13, Labaty moved to the United States and finished high school there.
Labaty spent three years at a university in Boston, but  couldn't decide what career path to take. It wasn't until the massive earthquake in Haiti (12/01/10) that she realized that her actual goal in life was to be helpful to her country. Thus, she moved to Florida to feel closer to Haiti and to study political science and international relations at Florida International University.
Labaty also became involved in many cultural activities promoting the Haitian society. She even had the chance to perform in a spectacle called Ayiti Manman Libete, which focused on dance, music and poetry to support the culture of Haiti.
Along with a friend, she founded Boukan, a cultural night, at Moca Cafe in Florida.
In addition, she enjoys reading and reciting her poems, and to share those poetic thoughts with others, she videotapes them and uploads them on youtube. Above is one sample of her videos recounting the animated life of the haitian youth in a first person scenario. She had received great feedback for it and explained that many thought that she was telling her story.
"When something speaks to them, they give so much back," said Labaty.
Labaty, who describes speech as her forte, also host a show on Island T.V., called Plezi Soley, at 8 p.m on Fridays. 

She has a blog, Anthology of a Heartbreak, where she shares writings and videos pertaining to the subject of love. Please take a look at it at http://naomiel.blogspot.com/. I find her poems conversational and undisguised with just enough literary devices. 

Do not forget to follow her if you enjoy her poems. ☺
Labaty is currently working on a CD version of her most praised poems and short essays. 

Here are additional links to her facebook page and youtube channel.
http://www.youtube.com/user/naomiel1

https://www.facebook.com/naomielayiti?sk=wall

Photography, Jazz and Heather Pinson

Photo provided by Heather Pinson

There are many photographic books on Herman Leonard, but what makes Heather Pinson's book, The Jazz Image, unique is its focus on the life of Herman Leonard and his jazz photography, representing symbolic images of jazz players.
He was a photographer from the mid 1900's and worked for famous magazines, such as Playboy magazine and Life magazine.  He was also a commercial photographer and took pictures of album covers for major record companies.
Aside from his other works, Leonard, who loved Jazz, was a good friend of some of the jazz musicians and used to frequent Harlem where the African-American culture culminated. He would follow the jazz musicians from New York to Paris and took many pictures of them.
Even though he was not the only photographer to capture the life of jazz musicians, he was given credit for creating that jazz image. One of the main features of his photographs was his focus on smoke. Even in a dark background, Leonard was able to capture the immersing smoke, which helped symbolized the jazz image.
Even though those pictures were taken during the 1940's and 1950's, he only became famous in 1988 when he had an exhibition, titled The Image of Jazz, at The Special Photographer's Company in London. People started seeing his jazz photography and paying attention to his emblematic and amazing images. This show helped relaunch his career.
"Herman caught them at the right time in the right place," said Pinson, referring to Leonard's importance in photography pertaining to jazz.

Herman Leonard and Heather Pinson. Photo provided by Heather Pinson

Pinson wanted to write about how Leonard represented jazz in his photographs and created the visual culture of the jazz music. She also had the great pleasure of meeting this legend and interview him for her book.
"[this book] contributes to a view point about jazz that people don't look at," said Pinson. "It is about visual photography and music."
Her book is very important not only because it tells the story of the culture of jazz but because it is the last book written before the death of Leonard.

http://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Image-Leonards-Photography-American/dp/1604734949

Luca Guardabascio

Photo by Noah Purdy © 2011 noahpurdy.com 

Not too long ago, I met a very kind and extraordinary man walking along the campus of Robert Morris University; his name was Luca Guardabascio, and he was one of the visiting scholars for the Fall 2011 at this school.

I soon realized that Guardabascio was a very intriguing artist and a very dedicated soul to the Italian cinema. At six years old, Guardabascio published his first collection of short stories- 70 short stories to be exact. 

He always had an interest for eccentric movies, especially The Twilight Zone. As a matter of fact, Guardabascio formed a new genre for movies, called marron, that he introduced to the Italian cinema.

"Marron is a genre that I build from thriller and film noir," said Guardabascio. 

The first movie that he produced under this genre was Dismophobia, a short story about a man who has fallen in love with a woman who rejected him. The movie is in black and white with a single scene in sepia, and has a very original ending. 

Guardabascio, who is also an actor, took part in many cinematic projects in Italy, such as  Con Rabbia e con Amore and Anime Nera. 

He is also a screenwriter and a novelist. His book, Una Guerra Privata, depicts a friendship between an Israeli and a Palestinian. They both live in Italy under the same roof, and fall in love with the same woman.

In the story, both friends realize that despite the political and ethnic conflict between Israel and Palestine, they are not so distant as people. Nonetheless, falling in love with the same woman has created another type of conflict between the two friends, and at the end of the book, an unlikely resolution is revealed. 

"I'm very interested in other culture," said Guardabascio about the book. 

He wrote another book about the summer of 1983, entitled Ancora Un'estate o un'estate Ancora.
He further explained that it was an important time period because there was a lot of issues that were being raised in world, such as the discovery of the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). 

"In Italy, with Betino Craxi in charge, the socialist party went into power for the first time," said Guardabascio. "It was a very good period of time. Italy went into G7."

As he mentioned, many other things happened during that time. A girl by the name of Emanuella Orlandi was kidnapped in Vatican and no one knows what happened to her until this day. In addition,  Israel invaded the South of Lebanon, which became the tragic first Lebanon war. 

As a result, the book emphasized on the growing fear among Italians of the world outside of home. The story focuses on a man who kills a shy singer because of jealousy and hides the body in the sea. People begin to speculate that the shy singer is kidnapped.
I have the impression that this is just one aspect of the book as the book seems to incorporate many more. Although I do not speak Italian, this book is definitely something that I would like to read. 

Below are a few links on Guardabascio and his accomplishments.
http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1029841/
http://books.google.com/books/about/My_own_Una_guerra_privata.html?id=3OWoPAAACAAJ
http://www.ilviolinoedizioni.it/web/quarto-libro/

Evan Wright, the retail guru

Just a few months after graduating college, Evan Wright decided to write a book about his experiences with spending and also based on his academic background in marketing. Yet, writing is an experience that Wright never thought would happen to him.
"I did not always think that I was going to be a writer," said Evan. "Since I was younger I always focus on ways to spend smarter and make good financial choices."
Written with a spark of humor and a rich content, the book is a collection of experiences and offers advices truly necessary for an average buyer.
The first chapter highlights questions that need to be answered before purchasing an item with exclusive examples of what could happen if the item is purchased without real incentive.
Throughout the book, Wright offers vivid and comical examples of what not to do when spending. Many of them are silly mistakes that we make and are most of the time unaware of. He uses gorilla vs. guerilla as the metaphorical example of distinct buyers while guiding the readers to how to transition from a gorilla state of mind to a guerilla state of mind. By the end of the book, Wright is hoping that the readers will acquire all the knowledge needed to become the ultimate retail guerilla.
 Wright also advises the readers on how to go about using loyalty programs and stressed on what types of loyalty programs are to be used and what other types are to be dismissed.
In the book, Wright does not only focus on what not to do, he also depicts many deals that readers ought to jump on.
"The only way to save is not to save money but to spend in a better way," said Wright, pretty much summing up the whole book.
I definitely think that it is a book worth checking out.
Wright self-published the book through createspace.com (Amazon). Below is the link for the book.
http://www.amazon.com/Cost-Combat-Guerilla-Tactics-ebook/dp/B005IRNLBK

Aton, A Work in the Making

Anthony Louis-Jeune, known artistically as Aton, is a 26-year-old artist who has the ability to put his hands on many different projects.

A native of Haiti, Aton has been drawing since primary school.

“When I started, my mother did not want me to draw,” he explained. “She would even tear up my drawings.”
This did not stop Aton from living his dream, neither did being colorblind.
"I feel normal because I never saw colors. I was born this way," he said.
Aton still manages to create colorful, dazzling paintings.
"I have a concept of the colors," he explained. "I concentrate more on the intensity of the colors. I know that yellow is brighter than orange and green is paler sometimes."
He buys tubes of paint and pencils that have the names of the colors written on them to help him. 

"I always knew I wanted to draw," said Aton. 
He was inspired by those artists or those minds per say who created the comic books he owned.
"I wanted to be like them when I get older," he explained.
Aton explored the idea of pursuing drawing as a profession when he sold one of his drawings to a band in Haiti as a logo for 300 USD at just 15 or 16 years of age.
"I was like 'man, I can make money out of it'," he said.
As a result, he began working for a marketing company named Graphcity to create logos. He then created his own company, Aton Concept, and freelanced. 
When asked about what his company offers, Aton listed graphic designs, illustrations and logos.
"[For graphic design, I make] business cards, billboards, shirt designs, [and] anything related to designing...[something]," he added. "I can conceive it and people can do it."
Aton also worked for other Marketing Agencies, such as Image & Marketing and Publi Gestion, and illustrated for big companies, such as Comme Il Faut.
In addition, he illustrated for the famous Haitian writer's, Gary Victor, popular series, Djamina, shown below.

Aton actually comes from an artistic family. 
"We all have some sort of love for doing stuff," he said.
They each embrace a different type of art. For instance, his grandmother is a dressmaker.  "She draws also,"  Aton added.
His mother is also artistic.
"My Mother... is really manual," Aton explained. She sewed the curtains for her house.
None of the members of his family, however, use his/her artistic skills as a profession. 
"I am the only professional artist," Aton explained. 
He does admit that one of his cousin is considering using her skills professionally.
"She's working on it," he said.

 Among Aton's art projects is a poster that he recently designed for a juice company in Haiti.

“[The poster is designed] for them to post anywhere they are selling,”he explained.

Aton is currently attending Altos de Chavon in the Dominican Republic, where he is getting a degree in Fine Arts/Illustration. Here are a few more of Aton's works:

Right-handed Aton drew the self-portrait, shown above, with his left hand. This was his first time using his left hand.
"In school, they teach us how to draw with our left hand and ...our feet," he explained.

 

 

Aton also enjoys to rap, which is a hobby for him. He did a remake of Gregory Isaacs' Night Nurse.

He also recorded his own song called "Get Foktop," which gained him fame on campus. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXy6quhpWgI

Aton would actually like to release an album with 15 songs ranging from Hip Hop to House.

An Irish evening with Batt Burns

On Friday October 14, Batt Burns performed at the Penguin Book store in Sewickley, PA for the book-signing event of his collected short stories, The King with the Horse's ears and Other Irish Folktales. This book can now be purchased at the Penguin Book store.
His other published works, including two CDs where he recounts stories of Ireland, were also available for purchase.
He performed a couple of well-known Irish folktales and sometime with an old Irish accordion played by his beloved wife.
At the end of the performance he chatted with the audience and offered more in-depth information on the spectacular story of Ireland.