A few months back, I tried, in my own clumsy way, to write about the tragic spate of teen suicides brought on by bullying. The video below is a much better attempt at addressing this issue and it's one of the most affecting things I've seen in a while. So all I can do is echo the fact that it really does get better.
31 October 2010
10 October 2010
Fall or Summer?
Gah! The leaves say fall, but the heat/humidity (yes, humidity in October) say summer. What is this world coming to?! Well, the one constant, I guess, is that the Twins got swept by the Yankees. I guess some things never change....
23 September 2010
They still make phone books?
Well, maybe it's just that no one uses them anymore. This one certainly hasn't been used in a while. Found it in NE near an abandoned warehouse.
In another note: the Arcade Fire concert was one of the best concerts I've been to. And I've been to like 5 or 6, so yeah. So much energy. Great Crowd. The songs and performance didn't hurt either!
In another note: the Arcade Fire concert was one of the best concerts I've been to. And I've been to like 5 or 6, so yeah. So much energy. Great Crowd. The songs and performance didn't hurt either!
21 September 2010
B+W+Valencia
I set off just as the sun set this evening to Target Field, to try to catch some cool shots of people streaming in for the Indians-Twins game (top of the 8th as I type. Prediction: Valencia 3 run hr to win the game. Sox lose, Twins clinch the division.). Anyway, none of the shots of the field really turned out nicely, but I did get a few keepers as I meandered through downtown at dusk. Enjoy and go to my photostream to view more...
20 September 2010
Holga Out & About
Late last week, a tiny package arrived in the mail. It was my beautiful little Holga 135BC! I knew that my productivity school- and work-wise would get as close to zero as is currently scientifically possible. (Science!)
The first two rolls were a disaster. One, a B+W roll, was completely underexposed. My dumbass believed that 400 ISO film would properly expose using only the normal shutter speed (and, coincidentally, the only shutter speed) on my toy camera. The second roll went a little better, it was a color 400, but I took my pictures furtively on an overcast day, so many were very dark. One trip to National Camera Exchange later, I had a goofy little tripod (with bendable legs that grip onto lampposts, etc.) and a shutter cable which allows me to open the shutter for as long as I want. Finally, the pictures started to get better. Below is a slideshow from my Flickr account, at www.flickr.com/photos/jadammel, of some pictures I took at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the Basilica of St. Mary, and nearby downtown last night. Enjoy! There will be more to come...
The first two rolls were a disaster. One, a B+W roll, was completely underexposed. My dumbass believed that 400 ISO film would properly expose using only the normal shutter speed (and, coincidentally, the only shutter speed) on my toy camera. The second roll went a little better, it was a color 400, but I took my pictures furtively on an overcast day, so many were very dark. One trip to National Camera Exchange later, I had a goofy little tripod (with bendable legs that grip onto lampposts, etc.) and a shutter cable which allows me to open the shutter for as long as I want. Finally, the pictures started to get better. Below is a slideshow from my Flickr account, at www.flickr.com/photos/jadammel, of some pictures I took at the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, the Basilica of St. Mary, and nearby downtown last night. Enjoy! There will be more to come...
10 September 2010
The Lo-Fi Itch
It's funny how sometimes the latest/greatest technology elicits almost a Newtonian tug in the opposite direction in me. I get a new Macbook but lust over a 1960's Italian typewriter. Or, I get a fancy road bike only to find myself favoring a mutant 80's singlespeed.
This time, it's my new (completely amazing) iPhone 4. And no, I didn't go out and buy a rotary (although the thought has crossed my mind) -- I bought a cheap, Chinese toy camera. Huh? Let me explain. As I began the fun yet often unsatisfying slog through the App store, the photo apps caught my eye. The basic iPhone camera, though high quality for a phone, is also pretty bare bones in terms of its features. You point and and you shoot. Some of these apps (like the one I got) put a cool effect onto the pics in your phone's camera roll. It's an effect similar to those ambiguous photos that indie bands put on the insert of their albums. Super saturated colors, blurry, almost haphazard photos that look like they were either taken by toddlers without sufficiently good motor skills or by some coked-out hippie in the 70's. Like this one (a quickie I took on my iPhone of my shelf of vinyl):
Cool, right? I guess, but it felt a little empty. It felt like I was cheapening the effect and artistry of these photographs, like tacking a chintzy aftermarket exhaust onto an utterly vanilla sedan. A few hours of internet sleuthing later, I was becoming immersed in the culture of lo-fi photography. Sometimes called lomography after the famous Russian LOMO camera, this genre elicits the cries of adoration of many as well as the collective groans of perhaps many more. The same criticisms of bands like Best Coast or Wavves, that the fuzziness of the work is only a cover for a lack of talent (so not true wrt Best Coast!), befalls many artists partaking in lomography.
And so, in spite of the flack I'll catch for already being an insufferable "hipster", I decided to take the plunge and try lo-fi photography the way it's meant to be.(1) My new Holga 135BC will be shipping out this weekend and a whole new obsession will begin. But that doesn't mean my other obsession (records!!) will end. No, no, no -- I plan to take my new toy to visit my other toys at the record store very, very soon.(2)
Anyone want to go on a photo adventure with me??
FN1. Well, "almost mean to be" because the true lo-fi photographer would purchase the Holga 120, which uses an odd-sized film (120) that I'm pretty sure no lab in the Twin Cities processes. And, since I AM on a students' budget, a 35mm camera makes a whole lot of sense. Especially since I'm probably not going to be very good at this.
FN2. Oh, and if I ever become that sad-eyed hipster, slinking around the shadows of a party with a smug look on my face and with a whisper of a mustache tickling my upper lip, nursing a PBR, please kick me hard in the face. Thanks!
This time, it's my new (completely amazing) iPhone 4. And no, I didn't go out and buy a rotary (although the thought has crossed my mind) -- I bought a cheap, Chinese toy camera. Huh? Let me explain. As I began the fun yet often unsatisfying slog through the App store, the photo apps caught my eye. The basic iPhone camera, though high quality for a phone, is also pretty bare bones in terms of its features. You point and and you shoot. Some of these apps (like the one I got) put a cool effect onto the pics in your phone's camera roll. It's an effect similar to those ambiguous photos that indie bands put on the insert of their albums. Super saturated colors, blurry, almost haphazard photos that look like they were either taken by toddlers without sufficiently good motor skills or by some coked-out hippie in the 70's. Like this one (a quickie I took on my iPhone of my shelf of vinyl):
Cool, right? I guess, but it felt a little empty. It felt like I was cheapening the effect and artistry of these photographs, like tacking a chintzy aftermarket exhaust onto an utterly vanilla sedan. A few hours of internet sleuthing later, I was becoming immersed in the culture of lo-fi photography. Sometimes called lomography after the famous Russian LOMO camera, this genre elicits the cries of adoration of many as well as the collective groans of perhaps many more. The same criticisms of bands like Best Coast or Wavves, that the fuzziness of the work is only a cover for a lack of talent (so not true wrt Best Coast!), befalls many artists partaking in lomography.
And so, in spite of the flack I'll catch for already being an insufferable "hipster", I decided to take the plunge and try lo-fi photography the way it's meant to be.(1) My new Holga 135BC will be shipping out this weekend and a whole new obsession will begin. But that doesn't mean my other obsession (records!!) will end. No, no, no -- I plan to take my new toy to visit my other toys at the record store very, very soon.(2)
Anyone want to go on a photo adventure with me??
FN1. Well, "almost mean to be" because the true lo-fi photographer would purchase the Holga 120, which uses an odd-sized film (120) that I'm pretty sure no lab in the Twin Cities processes. And, since I AM on a students' budget, a 35mm camera makes a whole lot of sense. Especially since I'm probably not going to be very good at this.
FN2. Oh, and if I ever become that sad-eyed hipster, slinking around the shadows of a party with a smug look on my face and with a whisper of a mustache tickling my upper lip, nursing a PBR, please kick me hard in the face. Thanks!
15 August 2010
Vinyl Blotter, Vol. 4: Crate Digger Milestones
Preface: Apologies for the long absence from this blog. Hopefully my absenteeism here contributed to my presence at places featuring real, live people. Yeah, unlikely. I've mentioned this before, but it's like I only post when I'm actually busy (i.e. during finals) -- when I'm not busy, the urge to write long screeds on vinyl, politics, and science mysteriously vanishes. Strange, isn't it? Well, to the one, possibly two, but not more than five people who have stuck with me on this blog, thanks, and here's a new post. I've been trying to write it for a long time. Call it my Chinese Democracy.
One thing that hasn't changed this summer (well, actually, nothing has changed) is my adoration for all things vinyl, of the record variety. Sure, my friends are getting married, buying houses, and getting promotions, but I bet none of them found a Japanese bootleg of a Bob Dylan w/. The Band concert from 1974. Here's a list of some notable crate digger milestones from this summer.
With the decision to move my turntable and big floor speakers to my room based in part on the availability of shelf space I thought would last for at least another year, this summer saw that rationale tidily ticked off of the list, "Reasons for Moving All This Shit Into My Bedroom." I probably have 350-400 records now and I've definitely surpassed that ever-important milestone in any crate digger's life: my records weigh more than I do. The only side effect of this accomplishment is the growing dread I feel when thinking about the prospect of ever moving out of this place.
Most people, upon hearing of my vinyl addiction, react with a sort of bemused look on their face that absolutely says, "Oh, umm, that's weird, isn't it? I mean, they have this thing called mp3 players...they play music without the grooved plastic...like, on a computer...it's not like you have a typewriter, do you?" I do. But some people get it. I like those people. You can almost see the wheels churning when they mention the record player lying fallow at their parents' house, the boxes of black gems awaiting discovery by these intrepid explorers. I shared in a few friends' vinyl awakening this summer and it felt good. I'll trade crate digging competition for more people to enjoy it with any day.
I've never gone on a Civil War road trip as my name is not Sarah Vowell. Nor have I seen a baseball game played at every Major League ballpark across the country. And I'm still reluctant to get on the Bieber Express (Bieber or Die!!) and follow that cute little lesbian as she flits from town to town, impressing the tweens. But put a big felt tipped line through the bucket list entry, "Record Road Trip". After driving 10 hours for the perfect wedding, I wasn't too keen on driving all the way back to Minneapolis without more entertainment than the Ira's Flatow and Glass could give me, try though they might (and did). So I googled "Best record stores, Chicago[/Madison]" and programmed my GPS to land at Reckless Records (Chicago), Dusty Groove (Chicago), and Strictly Discs (Madison). And although it contributed to a dangerously low balance in my checking account, it was well worth it. Don't get me wrong -- I love the record stores in Minneapolis. I talk and think about them often. But it's also a little like driving a perfectly fine sedan only to drive a friend's luxury sports car; you don't know what you're missing until you know. A lot of this might be the exotic excitement of things new, but the organization and care that went into the stores I visited hints that it was also something more.
I'm already planning my next vinyl road trip!! Ok, that's not true, but I wanted to convey just how revelatory of an experience it was. So fire up the Bieber Express if you must -- anything for another vinyl road trip.
School (and volunteering and working and being on a journal and still working on interacting with human beings) is set to begin in a few weeks, so expect an curious uptick in posts...
One thing that hasn't changed this summer (well, actually, nothing has changed) is my adoration for all things vinyl, of the record variety. Sure, my friends are getting married, buying houses, and getting promotions, but I bet none of them found a Japanese bootleg of a Bob Dylan w/. The Band concert from 1974. Here's a list of some notable crate digger milestones from this summer.
With the decision to move my turntable and big floor speakers to my room based in part on the availability of shelf space I thought would last for at least another year, this summer saw that rationale tidily ticked off of the list, "Reasons for Moving All This Shit Into My Bedroom." I probably have 350-400 records now and I've definitely surpassed that ever-important milestone in any crate digger's life: my records weigh more than I do. The only side effect of this accomplishment is the growing dread I feel when thinking about the prospect of ever moving out of this place.
Most people, upon hearing of my vinyl addiction, react with a sort of bemused look on their face that absolutely says, "Oh, umm, that's weird, isn't it? I mean, they have this thing called mp3 players...they play music without the grooved plastic...like, on a computer...it's not like you have a typewriter, do you?" I do. But some people get it. I like those people. You can almost see the wheels churning when they mention the record player lying fallow at their parents' house, the boxes of black gems awaiting discovery by these intrepid explorers. I shared in a few friends' vinyl awakening this summer and it felt good. I'll trade crate digging competition for more people to enjoy it with any day.
I've never gone on a Civil War road trip as my name is not Sarah Vowell. Nor have I seen a baseball game played at every Major League ballpark across the country. And I'm still reluctant to get on the Bieber Express (Bieber or Die!!) and follow that cute little lesbian as she flits from town to town, impressing the tweens. But put a big felt tipped line through the bucket list entry, "Record Road Trip". After driving 10 hours for the perfect wedding, I wasn't too keen on driving all the way back to Minneapolis without more entertainment than the Ira's Flatow and Glass could give me, try though they might (and did). So I googled "Best record stores, Chicago[/Madison]" and programmed my GPS to land at Reckless Records (Chicago), Dusty Groove (Chicago), and Strictly Discs (Madison). And although it contributed to a dangerously low balance in my checking account, it was well worth it. Don't get me wrong -- I love the record stores in Minneapolis. I talk and think about them often. But it's also a little like driving a perfectly fine sedan only to drive a friend's luxury sports car; you don't know what you're missing until you know. A lot of this might be the exotic excitement of things new, but the organization and care that went into the stores I visited hints that it was also something more.
I'm already planning my next vinyl road trip!! Ok, that's not true, but I wanted to convey just how revelatory of an experience it was. So fire up the Bieber Express if you must -- anything for another vinyl road trip.
School (and volunteering and working and being on a journal and still working on interacting with human beings) is set to begin in a few weeks, so expect an curious uptick in posts...
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