From the essay entitled Within the Context of No-Context by George W. S. Trow, published in the New Yorker on November 17, 1980.
MEMBERSHIP
The middle distance fell away, so the grids (from small to large) that had supported the middle distance fell into disuse and ceased to be understandable. Two grids remained. The grid of two hundred million and the grid of intimacy. Everything else fell into disuse. There was a national life—a shimmer of national life—and intimate life. The distance between these two grids was very great. The distance was very frightening. People did not want to measure it. People began to lose a sense of what distance was and of what the usefulness of distance might be.
A great many things fell into the canyons of Trow’s “middle distance” for a great many people. Church, for instance, and community organizations like Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs.
The second of the two Laforet images in my last post totally reminded me of this painting by George Bellows. This painting is one of my favorites from the Cleveland Museum of Art.
George Bellows (American, 1882 - 1925)
Stag at Sharkey’s, 1909
oil on canvas
92.cm x 122.6cm
The backgrounds of the Laforet photos also instantly reminded my of these wonderful photographs by a photographer who shot the sides of semis as they barreled down the highway past her lens. It made for beautiful color patterns. I can’t remember her name and googling “truck, semi, photographer, color, streaks” isn’t doing the trick. Go figure.
Vincent Laforet has been shooting the Olympics. He made these incredible images toward the end of the games, apparently out of boredom. According to Laforet:
Given that I’ve shot diving from the overhead position, beneath the surface through a window, and from almost every possible side angle, I decided to take my last tilt-shift of the games, as well as to play with pans shot between 1/8th and 1/15th of a second.
You can’t make this stuff up. Apparently election officials in Ohio have been taking voting machines home with them and stashing them in their garages in the days before big elections. And it isn’t part of some elaborate vote tampering scheme. It is widely known practice, with many local election officials claiming that it makes it easier for them to transport the machines to polling sites, and that it allows them to keep watch over the machines. They call it a “Sleepover.”
This is how silly warning stickers like “Do not apply the cheese grater to your genitals” get made. First you are like “What the…?” Then you think, “Wow, that warning is specific as hell… What sick mind in Legal dreamed this up and decided that it rose above the disclaimer threshold?
Then it dawns on you: “Some knucklehead (not in Legal) actually tried this at home (and sued the company when it didn’t work out).
So now, somewhere in Ohio, a lawyer is shaking his head and drafting new voting security compliance rules which includes Rule 4: DON’T TAKE THE EFFING MACHINE HOME WITH YOU AT THE END OF THE NIGHT.
Speaking of which, apparently some of the poll workers even cast ballots on machines while on sleepover. Which will give rise to Rule #5:
“For the avoidance of doubt, in the event of a breach of Rule 4, under no circumstances shall a poll worker cast a ballot in his Home. For the purposes of this Rule 5 the term “Home” shall mean the poll worker’s house, premises and any attached or stand-alone structures on the premises including, but not limited to, garages, porches, tool-sheds, shanties and lean-tos”
The article in today’s NYTimes about Noriel Roubini, an economics professor at NYU, is a good read. According to Roubini:
“We have a subprime financial system… not a subprime mortgage market.”
Roubini believes that as a result, up to a third of the regional banks will go under.
“These bailouts will add hundreds of billions of dollars to an already gargantuan federal debt, and someone, somewhere, is going to have to finance that debt, along with all the other debt accumulated by consumers and corporations. ‘Our biggest financiers are China, Russia and the gulf states,’ Roubini noted. ‘These are rivals, not allies.’”
I recently learned that @#$%&! actually has a name. It’s a grawlix. I figured since Mort Walker (of Beetle Bailey and Hi and Lois fame) took time to come up with that name, he had probably named other aspects of the craft.
Turns out he has. He authored a book entitled The Lexicon of Comicana in 1980 and named damn near everything. The non-grawlix censored language in the strip above is composed of jarns, nittles and quimps.
What do you call the clouds of dust that hang in the spot where a swiftly departing character or object was previously standing?
The photo below was on the front page of the NYTimes yesterday. It accompanied an article about how many Muslims feel that they are being snubbed by Obama as he tries to get the rest of America to understand that he isn’t Muslim.
The caption read:
“Muslim women at an Obama rally in February. Last week, two Muslim women were not allowed to appear behind the candidate.”
The photo seems to finish the thought:
Yesterday, the campaign revised it’s position, instituting a “rafters” policy under which Muslims may only sit in the very last row of any arena lest they surreptitiously sneak into the frame of any photographs of the candidate.
What a cheap shot.
With all of the options he had, the photographer trolled the nose-bleeds looking for the Jim Crow photo, like Obama made them step to the back of the bus. I don’t condone the Obama campaign’s decision to remove the two Muslim women from behind the candidate, but let’s not insinuate the he then deposited them in the hinterlands of the arena for good measure.
What do Truck Stops, Sinners and Image Cropping Have In Common?
June 18th, 2008 by Mike
The article in today’s New York Times about a reverend that ministers to truckers, primarily out of his own rig in Breezewood, PA, is well worth a read. (Side Note: Have you ever seen Breezewood, PA? It is something to behold.)
But what I really want to talk about are the photos that accompanied the article. Each of the photographs were published with their negative borders around them. I can’t remember ever having seen that in a newspaper before. I know it’s code for “my framing is gangster and I don’t crop my images.” I guess I am just surprised that the photo editor even entertained the idea.
I realized today that I don’t think I actually ever saw the Tyson / Spinks fight. Back in 1988, my friend Jesse’s folks agreed to get the show on pay per view. I don’t remember what I was doing - bathroom break, or perhaps I lost the coin toss on who had to get the popcorn from the kitchen downstairs. But I do remember Jesse shouting “The fight’s starting!” and by the time I got back to the TV - it was over.
91 seconds. In 91 seconds, he knocked out a guy who’d never even been knocked down, whose knees had never touched a mat before.
Apparently Olafur Eliasson is installing several waterfalls in New York this summer. Very Cool. I think i might be able to see the one between Pier 4 and 5 in Brooklyn from my roof. Gothamist has more info.
Wesley Snipes is facing sentencing today after being convicted of several tax misdemeanors. He had some of his friends submit letters to the court asking for leniency and attesting to his good character. Among the letter writers were Denzel Washington, Woody Harellson, Judge Joe Brown, a Shaolin monk, and Snipes’ personal driver and personal stand-in (who presumably doesn’t have to stand in his stead in this instance).
But the winner by a mile is the letter submitted by Bokeem Woodbine which is actually handwritten on college ruled paper ripped from a spiral notebook (to his credit he did use both sides of the sheet). What on earth was Bokeem doing that he couldn’t find the time to compose his thoughts on a computer? Hell, an email to the judge would carry more weight.
Bokeem
“Oh shit! They Got Wesley? This is an injustice! I need to express myself to the judge! No… no time to log on. You know how slow Windows Vista is. I’ll just (*rip*) take a few of these sheets and put pen to paper….”
The letters can be found here (pdf). If you just want to see Bokeem’s letter, and who could blame you, it is the very last letter in the document.
I have heard about this place, but have never managed to make the trek with my brother. It would take a life time to dig through all those crates.
My brother took the reMitch out to The Thing and they shot a little video inside. It’s nice to get a sneak peak. I could lose an entire weekend in this place.
Dalai Lama Threatens to Resign
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My first thought was, “he can do that? I thought he was born that way…” Then I realized they were referring to his political role not his day job as His Holiness. #
Now That’s A Throwback
March 15th, 2008 by Mike
Vogue went all old-timey with its most recent cover which, to my eyes, hearkens back to the imagery of Jim Crow-era propaganda.
King James won’t be happy with a ring, he wants your women (all of them) too!
Dina Matos McGreevey on Silda Wall Spitzer
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As the Spitzer thing went down, I wondered what Dina was thinking. Turns out she is still pissed (and rightfully so). She calls the ex-governor of New Jersey the Queens English version of her baby’s daddy. #
The City Visible: JJ Hatters
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I am really liking this newish series in the Times. This time the article is on JJ Haters, the haberdashery where I bought my new hat a few months back (which I am in love with). The slide show is here and I actually bought my hat from this guy who, when told by my friend that he thought his hat was too big because he could fit his fingers into the space between his hat and his forehead, responded, “So what? Who walks around with fingers in his hat?” #
I told you he couldn’t be trusted!
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Remember when I said I didn’t trust that Jarvik fellow because he looks like President Bush? Pfizer is pulling the ads after coming under congressional scrutiny because - as it turns out - Jarvik isn’t a cardiologist and is not licensed to practice medicine. Apparently, his colleagues are even challenging the claim that he invented the artificial heart! Sounds like a perfect resume for an aspiring Surgeon General in the Bush Administration. #
John McCain: Bucking Everything Since 1936
February 25th, 2008 by Mike
I just realized that Senator McCain doesn’t adhere to the de facto requirement that an aspiring president’s website only use red white and blue. His banner is black[1] and gold (my high school’s colors).
Gosh John, you maverick, you.
John
Cf. Hillary
Cf. Barack
=-=-=-=-=
[1] I suppose, technically, Barack’s banner has some black in it too…
Congrats to Sheila for her four photo spread in the pulp version of today’s New York Times.
The article is here and the nine photo multimedia slide show is here. This after her first hit in the New Yorker. Looks like someone forgot to tell her she is still in school.
The Collective Snapshot
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Collages made from hundreds of digital images of the same subject (think Golden Gate Bridge, the Notre Dame Gargoyle). These images are actually quite beautiful. #
EVOL
February 14th, 2008 by Mike
After watching this short twice, I still can’t wrap my brain around how the actors managed to get so many of the facial expressions and movements right since, to make this short, the actors had to do everything backwards (the film was then reversed in post production).
The Ones We Love
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The goal was for each artist to contribute six photographs of the person who is most important to them, taken outdoors in a natural setting. It’s fascinating to see how similar many of the images are. #
Improve Everywhere hits Grand Central
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I love these guys. This might be my favorite one of all. 200 people freezing mid-motion in the main terminal is very striking. #
R & S ParkHarrison
February 11th, 2008 by Mike
I am not usually into fantastical images. I tend to be drawn to portraits and documentary(ish) photography. It’s not that such work is any less valuable, I just don’t like it.
That all went out the window this weekend when I was introduced to the work of Robert and Shana ParkeHarrison.
Masters of Fine Art Photography
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For those of you, like me, who get lost when someone mentions a photographer that isn’t Ansel Adams or Robert Maplethorpe, a nice little gallery to fill some of the gaps in our knowledge. #
Exclamations
February 11th, 2008 by Mike
It’s so cold, it makes me hate America!
- African immigrant after asking me for directions.
This efficiency totally turns me on!
- Friend upon witnessing B & H for the first time.
I recently switched over to T-Mobile after triumphantly talking my way out of my Verizon contract. Verizon’s phones suck, but I have to give it too them, their service is remarkable. I never truly appreciated Verizon’s signal strength until I got into the elevator at work while on the phone only to have my call summarily dropped. When I looked at my phone, there were three ominous letters where the bars should have been…
The intro to this song has been stuck in my head for weeks as it is the background to a car commercial I see no less than 10 times a night. I finally googled the song (which was shockingly easy to find despite me not remembering what brand the commercial was for - 2008 Ford Edge - and the fact that the snippet of the song they sampled doesn’t contain any lyrics).
I figured maybe if I put it in your head it would get out of mine.
Saw this quote (originally in the Guardian) in an email from a friend:
“If one candidate is trying to scare you, and the other’s trying to get you to think; if one is appealing to your fears, and the other is appealing to your hopes — it seems to me you ought to vote for the person who wants you to think and hope.”
Bill Clinton, 10/26/04 while campaigning for Senator Kerry (link)
In these days and times where, if you wait long enough, every mystery is solved (I still can’t believe I know who Deep Throat is?!), I simply assumed he would show his face in the States. Perhaps have some fun, showing off at a random park amidst the patzers.
Alas.
I still love that movie. I try to use the line “you’ve lost, you just don’t know it yet” every chance I get (which, admittedly, is not that often).
Manohla Dargisny’s review of Cloverfield in the NYTimes is cold-blooded
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“Smart as Tater Tots and just as differentiated, Rob and his ragtag crew behave like people who have never watched a monster movie or the genre-savvy “Scream” flicks or even an episode of “Lost” (Hello, Mr. Abrams!), much less experienced the real horrors of Sept. 11.” #
1,944 Snitches
January 9th, 2008 by Mike
Some time after 9/11 the New York City MTA created a new campaign to encourage citizens to report suspicious activity in the city’s subways. The tag line is “If You See Something, Say Something.” (as seen below… Spanish style).
Recently, the MTA has papered the subways with a new ad that celebrates the fact that, in 2007, 1,944 people saw something and said something.
That’s it? Only 1,944?
The subway ridership in New York is 1.5 billion… per year. 4.9 million per week.
This leads me to believe that the Stop Snitchin’ campaign has officially crossed over.
I mean, I alone have witnessed 1,000 incidents that could have warranted a call to 311… but I ain’t no snitch.
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