Category Archives: Futurism

As we begin the new year, Code Switch takes a moment to look back at some of the extraordinary, influential and interesting people whom we lost in 2014.

Sam Greenlee during the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival. John Heller/WireImage via Getty hide caption

Sam Greenlee during the 2004 Los Angeles Film Festival.

Sam Greenlee

A native Chicagoan, Greenlee drew on his own experiences as one of the first black Foreign Service officers to write The Spook Who Sat by the Door. Published in 1969, the novel centers on a government conspiracy to eradicate black America and the well-trained Army that the country's first black CIA agent or "spook," in agency lingo assembles to foil the plan.

The idea was intriguing enough that the novel was made into a 1973 movie that has gained a cult following. (The fact that the movie opened and then disappearedall the copies of the film had been hijackedinspired a documentary, Infiltrating Hollywood: The Rise and Fall of the Spook Who Sat By The Door.

Greenlee lived quietly for several decades, but he was a constant presence in Chicago's black communities, writing and supporting his hometown's cultural life. A few years before he died, he told a Chicago radio journalist he couldn't have written the novel today. "The idea that street gangs that are now dope-dealing thugs would start a revolution is a historical absurdity," he snorted. "Now, when I wrote [The Spook Who Sat by the Door], the gangs had political consciousness." Greenlee kept his till the end. He died in Chicago on May 19.

Fred Ho

Ho was an avant garde jazz musician who didn't like to describe his work that way. He believed the term "jazz" was initially used to denigrate black musicians. Ho liked to refer to his genre as "Afro-Asian Futurism."

You couldn't miss him in a crowd: Ho always dressed colorfully, in brightly-patterned clothes he often designed himself. The colors were often riotous, but the form Mandarin-collared jackets that closed with silk frogs were a direct reference to his Chinese heritage.

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2014 Remembrances: Honoring Some Exceptional Lives

Vividly energetic designs influenced by constructivism costume/design workshop for The Bolt, 1931.

. Photograph: Grad and St Petersburg State Museum of Theatre and Music

In Soviet Russia in 1930, the cultural energies of the revolution the jazz, the constructivist art, the Meyerhold experiments in theatre were still alive and bubbling. But Stalin was already turning revolution into a brutal state orthodoxy. With the launch of his 1928 five-year plan, and its attendant political persecutions, artists found themselves in serious danger if they were considered to have fallen foul of the official cultural line.

One early victim of these hardening times was The Bolt, a 1931 ballet with designs by Tatiana Bruni, music by Dmitri Shostakovich and choreography by Fedor Lopukhov. Its currently the subject of an exhibition at Londons Gallery of Russian Art and Design, which showcases a fabulously intact collection of Brunis costume designs and even a few of the actual costumes.

The designs have a vivid energy. Theres the clear influence of constructivism and Soviet poster art in their bright blocks of colour, their vibrant patterns and geometric lines, but also a dash of futurism and even a possible reference to Parade (the 1917 cubist ballet designed by Picasso) in the comically stereotyping costumes worn by dancers representing the American and Japanese navies.

That mix, however, was already too avant-garde for a state rapidly embracing the ersatz traditionalism of socialist realism, and the ballet as a whole was too playful. Despite its seemingly impeccable narrative of industrial espionage being routed by heroic factory workers, its creators were too tempted to have fun with their cast of baddies (the Lazy Idler, the Petty Bourgeois Woman, and the decadent, western types satirised by the local amateur theatre troupe). They were too obviously bored by the decent workers, the earnest members of the local Komsomol group the young communist league.

The Bolt was judged to have shown a dangerous levity in the handling of serious issues; Shostakovichs flippant score veered too close to western dance music, and the innovative wit of Lopukhovs choreography was condemned as grotesque. One critic complained about the dancification of industrial processes, while the chorus of Red Army cavalry, sitting astride a line of chairs, was considered an outrageous mockery.

The ballet was banned after just one performance, and Lopukhov was sacked from his position as artistic director of the Mariinsky or the Leningrad State Academic Ballet as it was then called. Yet, as precarious as this ballet had proved, in 1935 Lopukhov and Shostakovich attempted one more collaboration a comedy set on a collective farm. The Bright Stream was acclaimed at its early performances at the Maly theatre in Leningrad, but when it transferred to Moscow it came under the close scrutiny of Stalins cultural police. After Pravda denounced the work as ballet falsehood, the librettist Adrian Piotrovsky was sent to the gulag, and a fearful Shostakovich cancelled the premiere of his newly composed Symphony No 4.

Lopukhov, whod been in line for directorship of the Bolshoi, had to remove himself fast, and spent the next eight years as an itinerant ballet master, travelling as far away as Tashkent. Even though he was briefly back in charge of the Mariinsky (by now the Kirov Ballet) during the war years, and was kept on in the company as a teacher, his choreographic career was essentially over.

One of the great questioning talents of the Soviet ballet was thus more or less relegated to a footnote in history, and much of his choreography was lost including these two offending ballets, although theyve been recently and very successfully re-created by Alexei Ratmansky for the Bolshoi ballet.

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How Shostakovichs The Bolt changed ballet history

Camille Saint-Sans Studio n.5 Alberto Pizzo futurism Vers

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Camille Saint-Sans Studio n.5 Alberto Pizzo futurism Vers - Video

Pune, India (PRWEB) December 29, 2014

Futurism Technologies today announced that it has been appraised at Level 3 of the CMMI Institutes Capability Maturity Model Integration (CMMI). The appraisal was performed by KPMG, one of the leading audit firms in the world. This immense triumph is a tremendous step forward for Futurism Technologies.

An appraisal at maturity level 3 indicates the organization is performing at a defined level. At this level, processes are well characterized and understood, and are described in standards, procedures, tools, and methods. The organizations set of standard processes, which is the basis for maturity level 3, is established and improved over time.

The audit process involved analyzing over 44 projects currently being worked on by the organization, both in the development and maintenance stages of their respective lifecycle. The goal to acquire CMMI Maturity Level 3 status was achieved due to the diligence and hard work of many members of the Futurism team over the course of several months. http://www.futurismtechnologies.com/awards-and-certifications.php

Speaking on this brilliant achievement, Sheetal Pansare, President and Global CEO, commented, CMMI will help Futurism Technologies discover the true value we can deliver to our clients, by enhancing the capabilities of our team members and processes. This advancement will help us further our capabilities and realize more goals as we step into the New Year.

About Futurism Technologies Futurism Technologies http://www.futurismtechnologies.com/ has emerged as one of the most sought after, leading, next generation information technology solutions & services company committed to establish a cost-effective quality end to end information technology business solutions and services alternative for the entire spectrum of businesses worldwide. The company operates out of offices across America, Europe, Asia and Australia.

About CMMI CMMI is the result of more than 20 years of ongoing work at Carnegie Mellon University by members of industry, government, and the Software Engineering Institute. Powered by Carnegie Mellon, the CMMI Institute is working to build upon CMMIs success, advance the state of the practice, accelerate the development and adoption of best practices, and provide solutions to the emerging needs of businesses around the world.

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Futurism Technologies Appraised at CMMI Level 3

Acemo - Futurism
Spacey and bassy from this new guy Acemo. Wish there was more of those bangin drum fills. From the new compilation by Ghostly Intl. and Adult Swim - #39;Ghostly...

By: Gavin Rapaport

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Acemo - Futurism - Video

Book Review | The History Of Futurism: The Precursors, Protagonists, And Legacies
BOOK REVIEW OF YOUR FAVORITE BOOK =--- Where to buy this book? ISBN: 9780739173886 Book Review of The History of Futurism: The Precursors, Protagonists, ...

By: Grave-Bam Midori 39485

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Try Again ft. Esza Kaye (Futurism Golden Sand Remix)
Try Again ft. Esza Kaye (Futurism Golden Sand Remix) Protoxic 2013 Phantom Recordings Released on: 2013-06-17 Auto-generated by YouTube.

By: Various Artists - Topic

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Try Again ft. Esza Kaye (Futurism Golden Sand Remix) - Video

Muse - Futurism live @ Tokyo Zepp 2013
hahahaa aaa this concert, i hate my life.

By: Hogoro GIGIda #39;lessio

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Muse - Futurism live @ Tokyo Zepp 2013 - Video

Muse - Futurism - Live at Zepp Tokyo - Pro Shot
Muse #39;s 2014 Christmas Present, enjoy! Get the latest Muse News on albums, gigs, competitions and more on http://www.muse.mu.

By: EpicNinja

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Muse - Futurism live at Zepp Japan 2013
Muse Christmas present 2014 - Fantastic perfomance of this rarity!

By: Tom Beale

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Muse - Futurism live at Zepp Japan 2013 - Video