FIRST ®- A Jamaican Magazine | Peter Dean Rickards » First

Don’t shoot the blacks with cameras!

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:35:23 +0000

First just got back from the United States. Took some photos and no problems, not once…

Jamaica has a new telecomms monopoly – claims MiPhone

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:28:41 +0000

When Digicel arrived to break-up the lousy Cable & Wireless monopoly we all cheered. And now, “I can badly hear what your saying…my credit just ran out!”

All along MiPhone has been a sleepy third place company. But that was until the world’s second richest man Carlos Slim of America Movil (AMX) – Bill Gates is poorer – bought the company.

Among other things they’re making aggressive noises about their main competitor. Oh, and they have the exclusive rights to the Apple iPhone in Jamaica, which will run on their soon-to-launch 3G network.

The Mexican owners are accusing Digicel of using ‘monopolistic’ powers to drive up the cost of calls. That’s the same cost of calls that the Irish-based company has used to fund expansion into other developing countries in the Caribbean, Latin America and Pacific regions.

So have we exchanged one monopoly in Jamaica for another? We’re too nice.

Back when the Caribbean looked classy to tourists

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:28:35 +0000

A long, long time before butu tourism. So old they were actually encouraging them to come to Kingston.

Art.com has a wide range of vintage tourism posters from here and the Caribbean, especially Cuba.

See more HERE

Source: BNN

Harry Belafonte is one great Jamaican (documentary)

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:28:27 +0000

Schooled in Kingston, Harry Belafonte went on to break billboard records in the US while introducing Caribbean music; became a Hollywood star and perhaps above all, his role in the Civil Rights Struggle. A speech he gave here the other week merely reminded us of the stature of the man.

And today we have the deejays…

When the Mafia ran Cuba (documentary)

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:28:17 +0000

Before Castro took over, the Americans preferred the Mafia to run the place. They controlled tourism – an industry which Cuba has only returned to in recent years – and made fortunes promoting the island as a place to lose your inhibitions.

The CIA even hired them to help kill Castro.

This three-part documentary maybe in Spanish…but then you can tell us what it says…

Toni Ungerer of the Three Robbers

First — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 13:28:05 +0000

French-born illustrator Toni Ungerer made children’s books with names like ‘The Three Robbers’ – that and other work about weird erotica.

Ungerer just thought children should be credited with having a slightly darker view of the world.

His work is undergoing a revival at the moment. Publishers Phaidon are reprinting his books while the Weinstein brothers are making an animated film version of ‘Robbers’.

The Man in Black: Unseen photographs

First — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:19:13 +0000

Johnny Cash used to have a home in Jamaica, by the Rose Hall Estate in St James, where he wrote the song about the far, far badder Annie Palmer.

These black and whites spent 45 years stuck in the archives of Columbia Records and then in the attic of the widow of photographer Marvin Koner.

Just before Cash made it big.

See more HERE

Source: The Guardian

Passiveaggressivenotes.com

First — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 17:58:22 +0000

Simmering with petty rage and spitefulness, this archive of warning signs that your roommate may be a timebomb is an interesting look into the minds of seemingly normal humans, just before they explode and run out into the street shooting people with automatic weapons.

See more HERE

Source: http://www.passiveaggressivenotes.com/

RCA Vehicle Design 2008

First — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 16:26:51 +0000

Who’d have thunk it? An art school whose graduates don’t end up dead in a crackhouse!

Indeed, with RCA alumni like Peter Horbury (who brought Volvo back from the edge) and Peter Schreyer who designed the original Audi TT, suddenly the idea of ditching dentistry for design classes may not mean the automatic disinheritance you were expecting. That is, if you can draw cars and don’t colour them outside of the lines.

See what we’re talking about by looking at these submissions from RCA students to the 2008 Pilkington Automotive Vehicle Design Awards. Pretty interesting designs even if you get the feeling that they would look a lot better if there were girls in metal bikini’s standing near them.

See the doodles HERE

Source: Wallpaper

Cox & Kings: Eiffel Tower

First — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 00:37:46 +0000

Saatchi & Saatchi, Mumbai, India