Pretty Amazing...

One more reason man should not be allowed off this planet! And one of them dots a very expensive camera...

Scary!!!

Like opening scene in sci-fi thriller scary- as (20x more toxic than CO2) methane is released en masse from melting Arctic ice cap...
Photo: Alamy

For what it's worth...

Don't know what, if anything, the debate proved last night. Obama, yet again, demonstrated he was the more presidential, and McCain showed he wasn't quite as dumb as his messianic running mate. I suppose I keep wanting Barack to go in for the kill shot a la a Malcolm X who could do it via fact, wit or humor. Drop a cage on ya (of your own making) and poke ya with a big fat stick should you so much as protest.

Maybe it's as simple as the difference between growing up in an island paradise, as opposed to an asphalt one.

SCIENCE!

I got a theory that most artists are failed scientists at heart, but that's another post... Science however has been in the news of late: from the very beginnings of life, to the very beginnings of our universe as we know it, from the furthest depths of our sight, to the very realms beyond our mortal vision. Myths and legends of man creating life abound since we bummed around in caves- and now it appears we may be reaching that most dubious distinction. So how do we ever top that one?

How about finding out what goes on beyond this mortal coil? Science always gets queasy and weak in the knees when technology has not blessed it with the instrumentality necessary to achieve its objectives. If it doesn't have the technology necessary to measure, define and reproduce the object of its desire- it simply doesn't exist! And if it's anything that quantum physics has taught us- it's how little we do understand our everyday world, and everything else around us!

Trouble The Waters

Despite all the combined coverage concerning Katrina that you've no doubt seen, Trouble The Waters is the first documentation that provides one a hint of what it was actually like to endure and survive both the storm and the flooding as it occurred- courtesy of two of The Ninth ward's most resilient and endearing residents, Kimberly and Scott Roberts, who we then follow as they strive to survive its aftermath.

Creative Writing 101

McCain campaign stylee!

What part of this don't Americans understand?

Are we just stupid, or terminally masochistic?

Photography on the Mind- Photo Ed circa '73

Part ll- Photo education overview via New York Magazine's Photo on the Mind 5/28/73 issue...

Competitions...

Planet Magazine has a travel photo competition (1st prize is kinda nice!), Fraction is taking submissions for an online group show on typologies, and for the truly exotic, there's... The Phodar Biennial.

Fraction

Fraction is a photo webzine I just Johnny Come Latelied that has some nice essays in the current issue including those by Bill Schwab- 22 Landscapes; and Samuel Portera- Wetlands.

Who's Laughing Now???

America is going broke and the whole world knows it- except the Americans! The history books will remember 2008 as The Panic of 2008.

I posted on Gerald Celente back in January when everyone was too busy laughing at him- sterling reputation be damned!

Every Bitch Has Her Day!

While I found Greenberg's vampire and monkey shit shots of McNasty both thoroughly tasteless and juvenile, I must confess... this one is both masterful in concept and execution- and right on mark!

Bravo! Pity she didn't stop there...

PS-- While not a fan of the "b word" when referring to the opposite sex (even in "casual" conversation), I do find it most appropriate here in light of : a) the gender appropriate context regarding the original idiom; and b) the nothing is sacred, break all barriers person it refers to.

Congratulations ABC-TV!

The ABC PrimeTime Special on UFOs Tuesday night was the most "comprehensive" and level headed look at the UFO phenomena on mainstream television to date. Absent was the pronounced giggle factor that often accompanies such airings, and the skeptics and naysayers that usually dominate the discussion were also noticeably toned down. "Abductees" however, were still presented as delusional- by the same Harvard psychiatrists who fought long and hard (before ultimately losing) to oust the late Dr. John E. Mack as head of the Pscyh Dept there- simply because he believed the phenomena to be very much real. But it was refreshing to see a significant portion of the program devoted to the experiences of trained, professional observers involved in sightings with multiple witnesses. And thank you, Dr. Michio Kaku who said it was high time to start taking the whole phenomena seriously and conduct the necessary science to investigate this... AMEN!

Foto First!

This is something I'd never have thought possible in my lifetime- an actual photo of another planet in another solar system 500 light years away (that's 6 trillion miles to the light year folks)!

UFO Alert!

Have no idea how bad (0r good?) ABC's PrimeTime Special on UFOs will be tonight, but seems it may actually have a more open mindset to the subject than just sheer ridicule. Could it be that mainstream media is finally acknowledging the long, now historic trail of well documented cases by trained, professional observers? Only a question of time...

35 Years Ago...

Thirty five years ago the photography world was a far different color- monochrome to be exact. 35mm Tri-X was still legal tender and photo gallery hopping in NYC was a one stop affair at The Witkin Gallery on E59st. Well stocked bookstores carried five photography monographs: E100st by Bruce Davidson, the Diane Arbus monograph (kinda like The Old and New Testaments); Glory, Robert D'Allesandro's brilliant little chronicle of post sixties America, and the aptly named Sidetripping by Charles Gatewood, which documented the future of sixties excesses - and I'm sure there was an Adams in the mix .

Photography was just beginning its major thrust into the art world, and as you can read in this first installment entitled Why Are You Wearing A Camera? from Photography on My Mind in the May 28, 1973 issue of New York Magazine, apparently, photography wasn't the only thing on everyone's mind- the more things change...

I'll follow up in the next couple of days with the remainder of the issue's photography themed articles that include Gurus of the Visual Generation and Blow-Out: The Decline and Fall of the Fashion Photographer (had to happen sometime). Meanwhile, enjoy the man on the street interviews (esp Ann Myers), and the latest technology...

Photography Book Now- Awards Ceremony

Blurb's Photography Book Now Awards Ceremony will be held at Bimbos in San Francisco on Friday, Sept 19 at 5:30-8:30. I don't have a dog in the fight, but figure I'll check it out nontheless. Say hello (if so inclined)- I'm the thin guy, shaved head (involuntary), brown pork pie, soul patch.

The George W. Bush Sewage Treatment Plant

I have a proven track record of voting for losing presidential candidates, but come this November, this is one can't lose proposition- one shining example of civic pride and patriotism at its utmost and absolute best!

Sanity & Reason v Fear & Emotion

Guess which side of the equation the Republicans are on! Guess which team Americans will support!

As smart and charismatic as Obama is, unless he wakes up and realizes he's in a street fight, he's gonna go down in flames a la: Carter, Dukakis, Gore, Kerry...

Republicans got this down cold- appeal to the most basic, primitive fears and emotions and you got 'em by the short hairs each and every time!!!

Ber Murphy- Sleeping Giant/11101 Rezoned

I used to walk the streets of the Long Island City area to escape the ever maddening, ever crowding Manhattan canyons. A haven of small industry, LIC streets were virtually desolate on any given weekend (you could actually walk several blocks without seeing anyone) and you felt a world removed from bustling Gotham just one subway stop across the East River.

That unique sense of place and isolation will soon be relegated to yet another forgotten corner of NY history as towers of luxury condos now rise on its once "idle" streets. Fortunately, Ber Murphy (large format in hand) has managed to capture that area in transition, revealing both the architectural detail and atmosphere that compromised its solitary uniqueness and character, as well as its current transition from isolated neighborhood into upscale, 21st century, urban backyard. His Blurb book Sleeping Giant/11101 Rezoned is one of the highlights of the recent Photography Book Now competition- more info at his blog Pelicula 64.

Just "Muddling Along"

Illustration: Barry Blitt

“Often my haste is a mistake,” McCain conceded in his 2002 memoir, “but I live with the consequences without complaint.” Well, maybe it’s fine if he wants to live with the consequences, but what about his country?
-Frank Rich

And then there's this little bit o' nastiness...

Amy Stein?

It looks kinda Domesticated, and while a fan of Ms. Stein, this one's via the wife, a big fan of the more than appropriately named Cute Overload. And (in certain cases), I can see why...

Subhankar Banerjee

Photo: Subhankar Banerjee- Exposed Coffin from Oil & Caribou Essay

A recent post on Photography Lot got me to thinking about Subhankar Banerjee again. Long story short- in 2003, the guy has a show on the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge in the premiere exhibition rotunda at The Smithsonian, and within days of the Republican Senate discovering the photographs contradicted the lies they were selling the public on behalf of big oil, his exhibit was moved to the... basement loading dock!

I wish I could report that every professional photographic, media, and journalism organization (not to mention Democratic Congressman) was so up in arms that the show was moved back, or rescheduled- or maybe that he was at least duly compensated otherwise. Of course, none of the above occurred, and today journalists and photographers can be arrested with impunity simply for doing their jobs in this land of the...

Tom Tomorrow

Sometimes (often) when you wanna get real, you have to go well beyond the news column or (god knows) photo essay to get at what really goes on in the heart and mind of John Q. Citizen. And that's where comedy comes in- a la Stewart, Colbert or Tom Tomorrow... The comic strip as ultimate insight into the American political psyche- laugh till it hurts.

Of course, lest anyone think we Americans a naive and cartoon like lot- just look how much our geography has improved...