Latest news with #BobThompson
NBC News
27-05-2025
- Entertainment
- NBC News
Syracuse professor shows how bygone pop culture references can bridge generations
SYRACUSE, New York — University professor Bob Thompson has been 'teaching television' for about 40 years, tracing his interest in watching the tube back to reruns of Groucho Marx. 'That to me, is a medium and an art form different from any other art form in its own unique ways,' the Syracuse professor says. On a Tuesday 18 years ago, Thompson hosted an informal get-together to watch unedited TV broadcasts — beginning with the Kennedy assassination news breaks, but later transitioning into lighter content. In the following Tuesdays, Thompson would introduce episodes of 'Howdy Doody' ('ran for president … didn't win'), 'Mr. Ed' ('about a talking horse!'), and 'The Flying Nun' ('about a nun who flies!'). Other days have featured viewings of 'MASH,' 'The Twilight Zone' and the early days of YouTube. His joy in the class comes from the intergenerational sharing of pop culture. In its current form, 'Tuesdays with Bleier,' a reference to Thompson's dedicated university program on TV, sparks conversation among students and faculty of all ages and backgrounds — including janitorial staff. 'To be able to connect with people who are much older than you about stuff that they watched when they were a kid, and see them light up about it. It's really beautiful,' said Yasmin Tiana Goring, a Syracuse graduate student. Goring is also Thompson's teaching assistant. His students have left his classes with new cultural reference points, helping them at times connect with their parents. 'Out of context, I would text my mom and be like, have you seen 'Mork & Mindy' before, or ALF,'' said Sam Turin, a sophomore who brought his parents to the spring semester's final Tuesday showing. Thompson recalls that the 'Howdy Doody' class inspired one student to talk about it with his grandmother, who was in the latter stages of dementia. She began to sing the song from the show. Often, the lectures are less about the shows than the context they were originally made and viewed in. For Thompson, the class serves as a 'Trojan horse,' one where attendees watch TV for fun, but learn something about pop culture — and the world at large — along the way. 'If you want to understand the country we live in, you have to understand its presidencies, the wars that if it's fought, its political parties. But you also have to understand its lawn ornaments, its love songs and its sitcoms,' Thompson says.
New York Times
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- New York Times
Candida Alvarez's Full Life in Living Color
'Throughout my life, windows have given me the opportunity to reflect,' said the artist Candida Alvarez, who is featured in two big New York exhibitions that together show more than 100 of her vibrant works, many of them spirited abstractions. 'Windows offer the freedom to imagine, or to just be quiet and not have to explain yourself to anybody.' On a chilly spring afternoon, Alvarez stood looking out the picture windows that open onto three acres of Michigan woods behind her studio. The forested area was a big draw for her when, at the height of the pandemic, she moved east from Chicago and purchased the property in southwest Michigan. Alvarez's windows framed the first signs of the season — red-winged blackbirds flashing through the trees, fresh hoofprints from white-tailed deer. The slow transformation from muted gray to verdant green is one she anticipates each year. Soon, fast-growing vines of hops begin their dramatic climb up a neighbor's tall trellis, visible from Alvarez's easel. Cycles are on her mind. At 70, Alvarez's five-decade career is in full bloom this month. 'Circle, Point, Hoop,' a sweeping museum survey at El Museo del Barrio, features 102 paintings, drawings and sculptures. 'Real Monsters in Bold Colors,' a dual show at Gray New York, joins Alvarez's work with that of the celebrated painter Bob Thompson, who died in 1966. Both shows highlight her singular ability to unspool memory, migration and material. Over her career, Alvarez has developed a richly personal language that the impressive agglomeration of her work connects and reveals. The exhibitions also mark a cycling back to Alvarez's hometown. Born in Brooklyn, she took a path toward an art career that was shaped in her 20s by studio instruction at El Museo, which in the late 1970s was a new and lively cultural institution for Latin American artists. After more than two decades teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, raising her son with her former husband, the photographer Dawoud Bey, and mentoring a generation of artists, including Rashid Johnson (who debuted his own midcareer survey at the Guggenheim recently), Alvarez sees the moment as more than recognition. 'It's its own kind of loop,' she said. Alvarez, whose parents moved to New York from Puerto Rico, identifies as 'Diasporican,' a term that reflects her Puerto Rican roots and upbringing in the diaspora. She grew up in the Farragut Houses, a sprawling, but isolated public housing complex. From the windows of her family's 14th-floor apartment, Alvarez was transfixed by the view of cars threading along the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the glint of the Manhattan Bridge. The view offered an early education in light and motion. So did the stained glass in St. Ann Catholic Church, where she and her family attended mass every Sunday. 'I was mesmerized by the beauty of it,' she recalled. 'The detail, the gold, the garments, the light coming through those windows. That's where my eyes would go. The rainbow colors.' She still sees clearly the black of her patent leather tap shoes, the emerald green of her winter coat, the yellow ochre of one of her first purses. That relationship to memory and color mark Alvarez's El Museo retrospective. The show opens with 'Soy (I Am) Boricua,' a gallery that features some of her earliest work, as she begins to find her place as a Puerto Rican artist with a vocabulary both figurative and abstract. The painting 'She Went Round and Round' (1983—84) depicts a scene in her childhood apartment. A girl spins with abandon, in the way children do to make themselves dizzy. Alvarez paints the girl's arms blurred like frames from an Eadweard Muybridge motion study. The layered but muted colors express the fog of dizziness that can transform a modest family living room into a dreamlike space. In 'Bolero' (1984), two colorful figures embrace tenderly, cheek-to-cheek, in the traditional Latin-Caribbean slow dance against an otherwise muted room. 'Dancing felt like entering another world,' Alvarez said. 'It was a way to translate with your body, to connect to sound, to history, to something really old and passed down. You're sweating, you're twirling, you forget everything. Music is that fluid space — part memory, part reinvention.' 'Sunny' (2023), a collection of 10 framed works in paint and pencil, is, by contrast, Alvarez's contemplation of stillness. The artist says the set was inspired by Raphael's 1514 painting 'Madonna of the Chair,' an image she first saw reproduced in her mother's bible. 'I've been looking at that image since I was a little kid,' she said. 'At first, you don't really see the chair, but then you keep looking and see the Madonna, the three kids, and then slowly you see this beautiful wooden structure.' It's a kind of puzzle, and in Alvarez's versions, the colors piece together in ways that slowly unfold to the viewer. For the 'Sunny' paintings, Alvarez also found inspiration in a series of family portraits taken over the lifetime of her nonagenarian mother. In all of them, her mother sits in a chair, which, in Alvarez's artistic imagination, conjured her mother in place of the Madonna. 'Candida is able to find the bigger ideas in things that are small and quotidian,' said Marcela Guerrero, a curator at the Whitney Museum of American Art, who included Alvarez in the 2022 exhibition that focused on the art of the Puerto Rican diaspora after Hurricane Maria. Guerrero also added an Alvarez painting to the Whitney's collection. 'There's a liveliness and rhythm in her paintings, and they don't take themselves too seriously.' Alvarez imbues energy in her work by going big. Her most striking works in the two shows stand over six feet tall. She was awakened to the power of size from the New York abstract painter Jack Whitten, with whom she studied as an undergraduate at Fordham University. Alvarez says Whitten — now the subject of a celebrated retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art — saw her early drawings and urged her to think bigger. 'He said, 'Candida, if you make your paintings bigger, you could win scholarships. He was right. I've been working big ever since.' Komal Shah, a prominent collector and champion of women in abstraction, sees scale as one of Alvarez's powerful tools. 'I am always drawn to women who can conquer scale with precision,' said Shah, who added Alvarez's 2009 painting 'Black Cherry Pit' to her collection in 2024 and lent it to El Museo for the show. 'There's an amplified power in Candida's work — but there's a lot of joy in them as well.' When intimacy is the point, she keeps the canvas small. In her series 'dinner napkin,' several pieces of which hang in the show at El Museo, Alvarez alternately embroidered images of a toy elephant, a children's rhyme in Spanish, or her son's toy boat — all fragments of her own personal history captured on soft, transportable squares. Back in her Michigan studio, Alvarez has created a map of references: color swatches, family photos, an old projector and handwritten notes. One note reads 'sunshine and nice' in all caps. Beside it, she's taped a small image of a painting by Bob Thompson, who reimagined old master compositions through kaleidoscopic palettes and silhouetted figures. Thompson's work was an early influence on Alvarez — not just for his use of color, but for his refusal to accept the limits of tradition. 'Thompson's work is my liberation,' she said. 'Why not a pink, red or brown body frolicking under a tree?' For their dual show at Gray, Alvarez created six paintings that echo Thompson's saturated hues and mythic scenes, but in her visual language, featuring interlocking hues, silhouettes and improvisational strokes. Returning to the work of Thompson, Alvarez said, is a poignant point in the arc of her career. The two exhibitions add to the current constellation of shows by Black abstract and conceptual artists in Alvarez's orbit — some who have influenced her and others who have been inspired by her. 'You get older, you can kind of start to see the circles,' she says. 'Another completion, another circle. It's a gift to be able to see that and to remember it.' Through Aug. 3, El Museo del Barrio, 1230 Fifth Avenue, Upper Manhattan; 212-660-7102; Real Monsters in Bold Colors: Bob Thompson and Candida Alvarez Through July 3, Gray New York, 1018 Madison Avenue, Floor 2; 212-472 -8787;
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GivBux Announces Approaching Ex-Dividend Date for Special Warrant Dividend
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., May 21, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- GivBux, Inc. (OTC: GBUX), a publicly traded Super App and charitable giving platform, announces that the ex-dividend date for its previously declared special warrant dividend is set for June 5, 2025. Under the terms of the special warrant dividend, GivBux will issue warrants on a 1-for-10 basis, entitling shareholders to purchase one (1) share of GivBux common stock for every ten (10) shares owned as of June 5, 2025. Each warrant will be exercisable at $4.00 per share, subject to the conditions outlined in the company's Warrant Agreement. To be eligible for the warrant distribution, shareholders must purchase GBUX stock no later than June 4, 2025, as the stock must be settled by the record date of June 5, 2025. The warrants are scheduled to be distributed upon the close of business on June 5, 2025, through electronic book-entry registration. Thereafter, the company will act as its own warrant agent to process any exercise requests. Questions regarding the exercise of warrants may be directed to Secretary and Treasurer Bob Thompson at bob@ 'This initiative reflects our commitment to delivering long-term value as we continue to expand our Super App platform and pursue growth across fintech, retail, and charitable giving,' said Umesh Tim Singh, president of GivBux, Inc. Additional information, including the Warrant Agreement and shareholder instructions, will be available in the company's SEC filings or upon request by Shareholders of the Company. About GivBux, Inc. The GivBux Super App revolutionizes shopping by offering a user-friendly tool to make purchases swiftly and easily at over 100 national retailers, along with an expanding roster of local merchants. Users earn cash back on every purchase, a portion of which can be directed towards a charity of their choice, embodying GivBux Inc.'s commitment to "give back." The GivBux Super App is free to use and available now at Google Play Store (Android) and the Apple App Store (IOS). The GivBux Super App is constantly evolving and adding new enhancements and functionalities, including social networking, e-commerce, banking, messaging, food delivery and transportation. GivBux is forging a new path in ecommerce and charitable giving and aspires to build the largest community of givers, first in the United States and eventually worldwide. For more details and regular updates, visit This press release contains 'forward-looking statements.' Although the forward-looking statements in this release reflect the good faith judgment of management, forward-looking statements are inherently subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to be materially different from those discussed in these forward-looking statements. Readers are urged to carefully review and consider the various disclosures made by GivBux, Inc. in our reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the risk factors that attempt to advise interested parties of the risks that may affect our business, financial condition, results of operation and cash flows. If one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or if the underlying assumptions prove incorrect, our actual results may vary materially from those expected or projected. Readers are urged not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this release. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect any event or circumstance that may arise after the date of this release. The Company intends that all statements included herein, including those referring to future revenues and earnings, be subject to the "Safe Harbors" provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Contact: Umesh Singh, PresidentEmail: ir@ Instagram: X (formerly Twitter): in to access your portfolio
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Daily Mail
REVEALED: Never-before-seen footage of UFO dubbed The Cigar soaring over US border
An Army veteran and former border patrol agent has revealed shocking and unexplained sightings taking place at the US southern border. Bob Thompson, who spent 14 years with US Customs and Border Protection (CBP), is now showing the world a never-before-seen UFO spotted near Arizona. The unidentified object, called 'The Cigar,' was recorded by a CBP reconnaissance plane in early 2020, capturing the mysterious craft flying at a high rate of speed. Thompson told NewsNation's Ross Coulthart that the UFO had a short, cylindrical body with no visible wings or propellers. Moreover, CBP cameras didn't even see a visible heat trail from an engine, so its method of propulsion is still a mystery. Thompson said he has spoken to more than 100 CBP agents who have witnessed strange and unidentified objects flying along the US border. While coordinating the airspace along the southern border, Thompson added that he's also seen all sorts of different UFO designs invading US territory. 'I've seen orbs that were off in the distance. I've seen crafts that were cigar-shaped, I've seen triangles,' the whistleblower said. Although many of these accounts are being dismissed as drones, likely flown by drug cartels trying to sneak into the US, Thompson claimed that there's more going on that just illegal immigration and drug trafficking. Thompson is an Army veteran who went on to serve with US Customs and Border Protection for 14 years. He's now revealing what he and other agents saw in the skies above the US-Mexico border 'No one likes to talk about it freely. I think it's just still a taboo subject,' Thompson said on Reality Check with Ross Coulthart. The never-before-seen video was taken just months after another UFO sighting involving a strange craft that had the shape of a rubber duck. That November 2019 sighting took place as CBP was following a group who crossed the US border illegally in Arizona's Buenos Aires National Wildlife Area. Similar to the cigar UFO, which had no visible heat trail, the rubber duck UFO's thermal signature did not match any known planes or drones. The cigar video was taken near the same wildlife preserve and Thompson admitted that the US border patrol still has no idea what the object was. The whistleblower added that the cigar-shaped object could have been a new missile being tested, but there's simply no way to know for sure without a full investigation. Despite the Office of the Director of National Intelligence mandating that incidents like this be collected and investigated, Coulthart noted that there's been 'a deafening silence' about recent UFO cases. Thompson noted that unexplained aircraft aren't the only thing being seen along the border. CBP agents have also spotted terrifying 'portals' opening into the sky. Thompson's claim that border patrol agents have seen portals opening in the sky is similar to motorcyclist Frankie Camren of Bonner Springs, Kansas, who was driving down a quiet street when he spotted a strange black ring (pictured) appear in the sky 'I got told that they witnessed a portal opening up in the sky and there were pictures of it on a camera that I was able to see,' Thompson revealed. The veteran CBP officer added that agents knew these weren't glowing orbs or some other type of UFO and actually witnessed the portals as they were opening up out of thin air. Thompson's claims are just the latest unexplained accounts coming out of Arizona, where Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) documents show several Air Force pilots have encountered 'swarms' of UFOs in recent years. On January 19, 2025, an unidentified object actually struck an F-16 Viper fighter jet, damaging the canopy and forcing the $63 million aircraft to land. So far, the FAA hasn't found any conclusive evidence that the object was extraterrestrial. Luis Elizondo, a former government intelligence officer who became a UFO whistleblower, recently led a congressional hearing on UFO sightings and government disclosure. He told NewsNation that Arizona has become a UFO hotspot. 'A lot of people reporting a lot of things out of Arizona, particularly on the border,' Elizondo disclosed. Aside from Thompson's report of portals opening up over Arizona, government authorities have been quick to dismiss the UFO claims as drone sightings. Trump Administration border czar Tom Homan has said that many of these sightings are likely high-tech drones carrying drugs over the US border or spying on US military bases in the area.
