I WISH I'D SPENT MORE TIME AT THE OFFICE

VBS

Wed, 23 Jan 2008 00:32:47 -0600

There has always been something about the tone of Vice Magazine that rubs me the wrong way. Some sort of cutesy-hipster-NYC-coke-party vibe that didn’t sit well with my fine Midwestern sensibilities (Chicago is a pretty big city, but it’s still the Midwest).

So it surprised me somewhat to finally realize that the Vibe Broadcasting System (VBS.TV) is fantastic: I spent a long time this evening watching long-form interviews with Will Oldham, H. Rollins, Chan Marshall, et al. (on the program Soft Focus).

Now all they need is an old-fashioned variety show… Then I will dig a hole and bury my TV (with rabbit ears: no cable) in the back yard.

TOWARDS A POSSIBLE SOLUTION: THE 'MIX TAPE' IN THE DIGITAL AGE

Tue, 22 Jan 2008 14:19:00 -0600

For those of you following along:

After discovering an old cassette deck I had in storage was still operational, I proclaimed that I would revive the mix tape — revive it as an object d’art and as a functional object with which to create music mixes and share those mixes with others.

You know, like how we used to do (I’m speaking to the Old People now — those of us born before, let’s say, 1980).

Well, it turns out that the RECORD FUNCTION of that tape deck does not work… So I’ve been searching for a workable alternative. As yet, I have not found one. But there is hope.

Here is a Seeqpod playlist I created. More research to follow. If you know of another interesting solution to this non-problem, please contact me. Thanks!

ENJOY!

EDIT: It appears this is not the solution (we knew it wasn’t). Already (I just built this play list a few hours ago), 2 of the 5 tracks no longer load. To make it work the way I envision it, you would have to upload MP3s of the songs you wanted to include on your own server space, then create a Seeqpod playlist from them.

Someone will figure this out, sooner or later.

Or, perhaps, nobody cares.

And: the only music I actually purchase anymore is pressed onto vinyl records. The best record labels (Touch & Go, for example) include coupons for free MP3 downloads of whatever real record you happen to buy.

A fine song by my old friend Dan, who records under the name...

Thu, 17 Jan 2008 16:50:00 -0600

A fine song by my old friend Dan, who records under the name Loss. This song is called “Standing in the Breadline”. Thank you.

Edited to add: Jeez, I can’t believe how much I like this song. Send Dan your money so he can continue to do this kind of thing. Thanks…

Edited again to add: I really like how the good people at tumblr have made it so easy to embed songs. Thanks!

"[Pythagoras] may be described, briefly, as a combination of Einstein and Mrs. Eddy. He founded a..."

Thu, 10 Jan 2008 13:09:00 -0600

“

[Pythagoras] may be described, briefly, as a combination of Einstein and Mrs. Eddy. He founded a religion, of which the main tenets were the transmigration of souls and the sinfulness of eating beans. His religion was embodied in a religious order, which, here and there, acquired control of the State and established a rule of the saints.

But the unregenerate hankered after beans, and sooner or later rebelled.

”

- Betrand Russel,
The History of Western Philosophy

While cleaning up the apartment the other day, I stumbled across...

Tue, 08 Jan 2008 18:45:29 -0600

While cleaning up the apartment the other day, I stumbled across this tape deck. I thought it was dead, but it is very much ALIVE.

I have been telling everyone that I am going to bring the cassette back as our nation’s favorite music format.

The mixtape will be back! It’s not just for underground hip-hop anymore!

Further research must be done.

Stay tuned!

NEW YEAR / NEW DESIGN / NEW NEW

Wed, 02 Jan 2008 21:15:39 -0600

Happy New Year, everybody!

As I get a portfolio book ready to get printed (the one I’ve been sort-of working on for about a year), it strikes me that the ol’ home page could use some tidying up, if not an entire re-design. The current version was designed by me, but it might be time to bite the bullet and hire someone else to do it.

Speaking of design, it would sure be swell if I could get this TUMBLR experiment to be a little less minimal and Helvetica-like. I am thinking of something like Justin O.’s. Should be easy, right?

And yet… I fear that I will damage the CSS, and become confused, and not find my way home to a clear and simple design.

It is Chicago, and it is very, very cold tonight.

WORKSONGS

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:28:00 -0600

WORKSONGS:

I hadn’t visited Andrew Emond’s excellent photo-blog in some time. Today I returned and am happy to report that it is still there and better than ever.

Mr. Edmond’s work concerns (for the most part) the exploration of urban decay and abandoned spaces. His work is sad and beautiful (I was going to say “haunting”, but I don’t say that kind of thing) and technically superb.

I am sure he will have a book out sooner or later. Stop by his site and have a look.

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They are not twins. It is the same man. It is a testament to...

Wed, 19 Dec 2007 23:31:00 -0600

They are not twins. It is the same man. It is a testament to the magic of Photoshop!

This isn’t really my thing, a cheap Photoshop gag like this, but it was for a paying client and I must admit it was kind of fun.

Also: there were certain things I didn’t think about when I shot this — things that turned out to be imperfections that would be visible if you were looking at a big print of this.

It is my hope these imperfections will not be visible at the this tiny size.

Shot during a recent portrait session. Natural light through...

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:59:06 -0600

Shot during a recent portrait session. Natural light through glass doors (overcast & snowing, mid-afternoon, suburbs of Chicago).

TESTING

Tue, 18 Dec 2007 21:49:28 -0600

Will it work? This is only a test. Which I suppose means I’ll have to eventually come back here and erase this post. Which I probably won’t ever get around to.

OK.