National Geographic Chases Its Own A**Hole

This Linda Hamilton look-a-like is supposed to somehow blind you into watching this pathetic program.

I don't have cable, but since everyone knows Nat Geo is a Grade A, serious class act- I just had to see the 2 hr. premiere of Nat Geo Chasing UFO'S last night. Luckily, I had a neighbor who would indulge my enthusiasm. Finally, we would be treated to a high tech, scientific, no bullshit, Nat Geo UFO Investigation Extravaganza!!! Yes, sir- everyone knows... Nat Geo does not fuck around!

I profusely apologized and left before the first hour was up. It was the same, very sad and very tired ghost searching, Bigfoot hunting in the dark and oh so scary woods exploitation formula. What was that? Did you hear that! Whoa! What the f... was that!? Did you see that? 

Yes- I have... A hundred, thousand times before- although never had I seen it from the likes of a supposedly reputable and fact based name brand. And name brand is all it was, and all it served to demean.

One eyewitness showed very clear video of a UFO (yes, that was exactly what it was- an Unidentified Flying Object) he shot from his backyard. Cool! Next stop- video analysis, right!? Certainly, with today's latest computer/digital technology they could at the very least determine if it was doctored- at the very, absolute least! Cut to commercial, and when the Linda Hamilton Terminator impersonator returns, she proclaims that they were instead... "Kickin' it old school" by investigating newspaper accounts in the local library, which in turn leads to an 1891 account of a meteor exploding locally and scattering fragments all over the neighborhood- which they then proceed to look for a hundred years later... at night!

That's right, this 'serious, in depth investigation' didn't even return to perform the most cursory digital examination of said video- and I was supposed to stay for another hour!?!?

Sarah Connor/Linda Hamilton- T2

A Well Respected Man

Not A Baby...

Guaranteed!

I went to pick up and examine said box- if not a baby, then what? But stopped and withdrew just as quickly- knowing what it was not was plenty enough for me...

(Of course, had I taken this with a D800 (Nikon still refuses to send me a free one- I know, go figure; probably too busy harassing photographers) instead of an FM3 w/Tri-X, you could easily read the finest print, load it in the latest number/letter configuration of Photoshop (whatever that might be these days), zoom it up, make a digital hologram and open the damn thing yourself...)

Nikon Continues To Play The Scared Bully!

Why doesn't NIKON act like the leading professional camera company of the world that it so desperately wants to be again- and stop acting like the kowtowing lackeys of racist, ultra-Right bullies that exemplify everything that ever was, and still is, so desperately wrong in Japan?

They should exhibit this amount of consternation when it comes to Customer Support!

The Home For Independents

A while back I wrote a couple of posts reflecting on how the world of independent photo books, as robust and productive as it currently is, is in danger of unleashing a torrent of orphans out into the world- soon to be forgotten, if ever heard of, or from again. Thankfully, there is a place that introduces them in the virtual world- but what was so sorely and obviously lacking was a refuge to actually appreciate and house them as the physical entities that inspired their very creation. Absent any known photographic organization to catalog, store and exhibit these photographic transients, along came Larissa Leclair who decided to set up shop and provide proper shelter and sustenance for these beloved photographic mongrels in Washington, DC.

The Indie Photobook Library will hopefully one day be given a more permanent and substantial home base by a more prominent and established photographic/academic/art institution. For now, Ms. Leclair continues to collect and regularly exhibit her ever expanding collection (both onsite and off w/guest curators). It certainly doesn't level the playing field with commercially published and distributed books, but it's a full step further in helping to acknowledge, legitimize and publicize their existence well into the future....

Ahn Sehong Update...

A Culture Of Madness

Who Said It?

Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the (Republican) party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.     Give up? The same guy who said this...   

You don't need to be 'straight' to fight and die for your country. You just need to shoot straight.
Makes ya kinda think- don't it?    Thank you so much TYWKIWDBI.

And as if ya needed even more proof as to how insane, deluded, or... childish these people can be:

Art Is Godd

Funny how these things work out... Monday, I posted two photography projects that received quite a bit of hype- and had as much imagination as your average butt zit. Today I'm happy to present a project utterly original in concept, and ingeniously simple in execution. The end result, Art Is Godd- a humorous and thoroughly engaging indie by Mark Page.

Compared to Monday's contrived, humorless and ill conceived art attempts- night and freakin' day!

Jeremy Scott Apologizes!

Look, I'm just a self absorbed, selfish little twit without the slightest concern for anyone but myself. If I had the slightest concern, the slightest empathy for any other human being other than myself- I would have thought twice about creating a product so obviously infused with the hateful, demeaning legacy of slavery. It's pretty apparent I'm incapable of any sincere remorse or introspection- let alone any meaningful insight into anything other than my narrow, self centered and often imaginary world of self absorption. So let's have fun and party!         -Jeremy Scott

Shackled Shoes/Shackled Minds

Hank Willis Thomas

Hank Willis Thomas

So often I'm left scratching my head about what worthwhile subject to post next- and then you get the rarity like today that seems to fall from the sky! The scathingly satirical work of Hank Willis Thomas was recently featured on Lens blog. Work that often highlights the 'peculiar' relationship between  the commercial and advertising industries, and that of the (Black) athletes they endorse and feature. Nothing could better elaborate the historical irony and definitive unease of that relationship more clearly than that of Adidas' up and coming new product pictured below. Contrast that to the work of Mr. Thomas- I'm sure there were many people who thought he just went too far to suggest and compare the (obvious) relationships and juxtapositions between slavery and modern day sports found within his art.

Of course, the brand spankin' new Adidas seen in all their arrogant, flamboyant folly below render that argument disquietingly moot. Not, that there won't be those who will still argue no such connection, real or implied, exists (besides, slavery is so... 19th century- 'lighten' up). And I'm betting designer Jeremy Scott (creator of the Roundhouse Mid "Handcuff" shoe) one of them. His slavery inspired, athletic haute couture shackle shoes at $350 a pop are the epitome of arrogance writ large. 

Ignorance and arrogance often walk hand in hand (particularly when it comes to racism), but if I'm gonna grant Mr. Scott anything- it's that even he is not that ignorant, though the latter always follow...

Jeremy Scott

Yup, it's Art. And it's Official.

I generally don't get much joy out of knocking someone's work, particularly those of photographers- lest they're major dicks who go about taking themselves and their "concepts" a tad too seriously (eg- a narcissist like Sherman or an outright thief like Prince). I'm sure I won't hurt their gallery sales; I know my place, another nameless blogger who takes photos on weekends.

The fact is, I am consistently humbled by the quality, and indeed, quantity of work that is made, published and exhibited by photographer/artists- have been for decades. And there is no doubt that more room must be made for photojournalists covering the important and the unseen, under reported stories of the day.

What I don't understand is how something like this can actually rate. Mundane snapshots of a woman jumping in a man's arms- that's gallery material! A person lying down in public venues? Whoa! How could anyone living in any major city in the world possibly think up such an original concept? Or how about these super cute and tiny faux insect memorials- that's right, it took a collective a whole lotta power lunches to conjure up those babies! These are but two (of the latest) from countless others throughout the years- I'm sure you have your own personal faves. What's next, an essay on pet cemeteries (be a step up if ya asked me. I know, I know- no one is)?

How Corrupt Is Congress?

Oh, about this corrupt... And have no problem flaunting it!

The Daily Show
Get More: Daily Show Full Episodes,Political Humor & Satire Blog,The Daily Show on Facebook

That is how a country's leaders steal a nation from its very citizens- this is how a country can steal... an entire foreign nation.

Little Archie

Conservative Parents Everywhere!!!

You guys got kids, right? I don't have a worry, don't gotta one- I'll be cashing out in another 25 years, if not sooner... just like the fat bastard so rich he spends every day spewing ever more deluded rantings no real working person with the slightest would ever believe.

But I assume you worry about your kids- right? You know, like their well being, and future and stuff... You like, love them, right? Right? Then time to embrace the Conservative in you and start facing the fact that this planet you're leaving them is... dying!  
 

I realize you think "science" all a myth- unproven, hysterical, left wing propaganda. The Great Liberal Lie! Otherwise, you wouldn't be so preoccupied with your real religion- making money at any cost, even at the very expense of the planet that keeps you alive. Just hope the religion you go through so much trouble trying to convince everyone else you really believe in comes through and Raptures your ass on up high into the heavens you're so busy polluting with your SUVs and your non regulated, profit inducing carbon emissions- cause pretty soon there aint gonna be shit to eat down here!

Not to worry- fat man's got your back! Your kids can bet on it...

Declassified

Forget the 1D asshole- did the other guy really need a 5D to shoot whatever the hell he just shot!?!?
(via BoingBoing)

NIKON Reneges...

Why is it that large, "venerable" institutions with a supposed track record of promoting artists automatically fold like the proverbial deck of cards whenever confronted with the slightest challenge? It happened to Subhankar Banerjee when Senator Babara Boxer dared mention on the US Senate floor that his photographs were proof positive that the Arctic area Republicans had set their greedy little eyes on as a prime drilling opportunity worth billions was anything but the "barren wasteland" they repeatedly described it as. His photographs vividly displaying the natural beauty of the abundant flora and fauna native to the area were immediately moved from the main viewing room in the rotunda of The Smithsonian Institution... to the basement loading dock- without explanation! And now it is happening to Ahn Sehong who has documented the so called Korean "comfort workers" who were so heartlessly exploited and abused by the Japanese military during WWII. His scheduled Nikon sponsored exhibit for later this June has been cancelled; in addition, both he and his family are now being threatened.

This could be a shining moment for Nikon- following through with what they had originally promised, and standing up to ultra right wing thuggery and repression. And in the process garnering the kind of international respect and recognition that money just can't buy! Instead, they've chosen to fold, to censor and lower themselves, insult the artist they allegedly support and, most importantly, the very people originally wronged in such an inexcusable manner. By choosing to do so, Nikon has shamefully allied themselves with all the murderous deniers and revisionists of history who have helped perpetrate such abhorrent atrocities (and who thanks to such apologists, will continue to do so).

Meanwhile, there's still time for Nikon to make this right, set the precedent, and stand tall. Help them do just that... Please, watch the video- and be counted. Send an email with the word 'Nikon' in the title and your name will be added to the petition (if you are outside the UK, please add your country).    And, as always, thank you- Duckrabbit.

I Am

...the unwilling subject of medical experimentation. Violence has been done to me...

Prometheus Unrisen

God knows I wanted to love, love, love this movie. All I wanted was a sense of wonder, a few sacred fleeting moments of complete and utter bedazzlement, the ability to temporarily lose myself in the glory of its vision and imagination. That's what I got from classics like: 2001, Terminator 2, the original Matrix- not to mention Forbidden Planet and The Day The Earth Stood Still of the '50s, and the original Frankenstein and its matrimonial sequel. I would've even settled for the cheap thrills aplenty and all out claustrophobic paranoia of John Carpenter's The Thing.

Alas, what I got instead was the Obama version of sci-fi cinema- an ever so alluring trailer package of promise writ large cleverly disguising a less than 3D reality of mediocre retreads and redundancy. No wonder, no suspense, no real vision of any lasting consequence whatsoever...

Absent

I will not be responding to anything in a rational, logical manner today. In fact, I will be completely oblivious to my surroundings until 7:30 PM Pacific Time when I lean back in that chair and get connected (remember the cable that hooks up directly to your cerebral cortex via the back of the neck in The Matrix?) to 1-2-3 floors of a gargantuan IMAX screen in living 3D to be ensnared, enthralled, and enraptured by... PROMETHEUS!

Don't bother telling me it sucks- I AM NOT LISTENING!!!

The Price Of Inequality...

Goes well with this...

Black Panthers 1968- Howard L. Bingham

If anything is abundantly evident in this photographic tribute to The Black Panthers, it's that Howard L.Bingham is quite the competent, indeed masterful, photo- journalist. And that's clearly evident in his effective compositions capturing the little gestures rife with tension and meaning. The emotion and feel of the era is abundantly ingrained in these images of Panther leaders, their followers- and their adversaries, as well as in more private, intimate portraits behind the scenes. One clearly gets the hope, optimism and militancy that the Panthers evoked and inspired in the late 60s; a positive, progressive, grassroots movement that was tragically cut short by "extra legal" governmental infiltration, persecution (COINTELPRO)- and ultimately, the carefully orchestrated and condoned murder of Fred Hampton by the FBI and Chicago Police.

THE BLACK PANTHERS TEN-POINT PLAN

1. We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black and oppressed communities.
2. We want full employment for our people.
3. We want an end to the robbery by the Capitalists of our Black and oppressed communities.
4. We want decent housing, fit for the shelter of human beings.
5. We want decent education for our people that exposes the true nature of this decadent American society. We want education that teaches us our true history and our role in the present-day society.
6. We want completely free health care for all Black and oppressed people.
7. We want an immediate end to police brutality and murder of Black people, other people of color, and all oppressed people inside the United States.
8. We want an immediate end to all wars of aggression.
9. We want freedom for all Black and oppressed people now held in U.S. Federal, State, County, City and Military prisons and jails. We want trials by a jury of peers for all persons charged with so-called crimes under the laws of this country.
10. We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, peace, and people's community control of modern technology.
    

"Overwhelming Evidence Of Massive Criminal Behavior"

Keep Me From What I Want...

More On Target Than Any Drone Strike...

                                       

UPDATE:  One of the things that Mr. Colbert reminds us of (for those outside the US who can't watch the above) is that Mr. Obama has cleverly labeled all males of military age that are killed in drone attacks as "enemy combatants" (just as anyone at Comicon is probably a virgin), thus greatly reducing the random "collateral damage" his attacks incur. As for the all the innocent women and children who are also blown to bits- well, errr, ummm... over to you, Mr. Haviv!

Real Super Powers...

After coming home from watching The Avengers I watched someone with real super powers. And this 2012 version reminded me of...  the 1996 model.

Hope This Gets Old Fast...

...REAL FAST! No matter how I tried to ignore any of these stories, it seemed the longer I tried, the more they increased in number, each one every bit as bad if not worse than its predecessor. And by that I mean... in one week we were treated to:

1. The guy who ate a man's face off (while still alive).

     2.  The guy who ate his roommate's heart and brain (I think he at least bothered to kill him first).

     3.  And yes, where would we be without... the guy who disemboweled himself and threw his own
          intestines at the cops.

UPDATE:  And how could I forget the porno cannibal who sent various body parts to the Canadian government in Montreal...