the face of the earth

As kisses go, it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary.. The alkaline lips, Her fingers wrapped around my belt...She had to go, She took a step back in and then she started to smile, I heard a funny sound, And everything seemed to shift,.. yeah

A crazy wail, A funny shutter of a bad magnetic event, A ghost ran through us, Moving like a shadow of a cloud... I wasn’t sure, I thought that something happened but I didn’t know what, The moment seemed to fade, And I turned my eyes back to her.. That’s when I saw, I freeze the look of pre-alert and study it still, her smile starts to loosen, her pupils yawn wide And then she's blown... From the face of the earth

There wasn't any wind, No noise, No nothing just a body jerked skyward, limbs flailing like an unloved marionette, At impossible speed, Receding away like a far away dot...I can see her still, scream for help but no one answered... She turned end on end like a long lost astronaut, I felt the summer air reclaim me, the chirp of a bird, the whisper of leaves, And I was frozen... To the face of the earth

I never really knew the way she lived her life, I tried a couple numbers but they never called back, I didn’t know her family or friends at all... With no one to call, summer turned into fall, I gave up... It’s been a couple years and I guess I’m fine about it, It’s not like we were married It was three or four months, And nothing’s really different Though it seems like I've spent My life in planes, Which is kind of strange, But I don’t know....... yeah, yeah, yeah, No, no, yeah……

- Dismemberment Plan, "The Face of the Earth"

everything was beautiful and nothing hurt

Feeling rather depressed tonight. Not sure why, although I'm sure exhaustion has something to do with it. Been working overtime to prepare for the first day of classes on Monday. Strangely enough, the last couple of weeks has been enjoyable in the sense that the start of the school year really brings energy and focus to my work. There's a sense of urgency and teamwork that's energizing. But for some reason, I feel off tonight. Bleah.

I'm re-reading Slaughterhouse Five...it's been many years. I'm about halfway through, and what's struck me right off the bat is how Jacob's Ladder, the early Tim Robbins film, bears striking resemblance to Vonnegut's novel. Specifically, Tim Robbin's character, like Billy Pilgrim, the main character in the novel, becomes "unstuck in time." (Robbins plays a Vietnam vet. In Slaughterhouse Five, Pilgrim is a veteran of World War Two). This theme can also be found Tim O'Brien's excellent collection of stories about Vietnam called The Things They Carried. Only in O'Brien'scase, he writes about himself as someone who shuttles willingly between past and present, deliberately blurring the line between memory and fact. What these stories share in common is a protagonist who has problems distinguishing what is real. What is real, as opposed to what is a dream (Jacob's Ladder), or what is a story (The Things They Carried), or what is the future (Slaughterhouse Five). Sure, it's easy to make the link between the chaos of war and protest art. But war and alternate realities has an equally venerable tradition which doesn't get nearly as much press (I should also point out Joseph Heller's Catch 22, which I've not read, would seem to also fit in this conversation).

You'd think that a book or movie which offers a disjointed view of reality,
which makes an effort to confuse the reader or viewer, is bound to be nihlishtic. Strangely enough, both Jacob's Ladder and The Things They Carried end on an affirmative note far from nihilism or despair. That is, perhaps, the most remarkable thing about these stories. Take The Things They Carried:

But this too is true: stories can save us. I'm forty-three years old, and a writer now, and even still, right here, I keep dreaming Linda alive. And Ted Lavender, too, and Kioa, and Curt Lemon, and a slim young man I killed, and an old man sprawled beside a pigpen, and several others whose bodies I once lifted and dumped into a truck. They're all dead. But in a story, which is a kind of dreaming, they dead sometimes smile and sit up and return to the world. (Tim O'Brien, The Things They Carried, Penguin: 1990, p. 255).

Brave New Dentistry

Seen on a marquee outside a dentist office in Dubuque: "Conscious Sedation"

the limits of digital photography

I recently posted a link to an article in the New York Times about HDR, a new phenomenon in digital photography to make pictures even more accurate in terms of exposure, lighting, and color. Just days later, the Times, in some kind of yin-yang reporting, interviewed John Coffer, an old-schooler who specializes in tintypes, a medium popular during the nineteenth century. Coffer also lives a nineteenth-century pioneer lifestyle, living in a log cabin he built himself. His photos on the NYT website are beautiful, and a reminder of the limits of digital photography (regardless of Photoshop). There is something magical and mysterious about old photographs - especially daguerrotypes, tintypes, ambrotypes, and the like.

a family torn asunder

Heartbreaking article from the New York Times about a family torn apart by the Israeli-Hezbollah conflict. A reminder that the wages of war are too often paid by civilians, on all sides.

HDR and digital photography

Vancouver HDR Landscape
Originally uploaded by Buffett Jr.

After casting about on Flickr for a while, I've come across something called HDR, or high dynamic resolution. This is a photograph consisting of several photographs - all of the same subject - which have been taken at different exposures. The result is a photo with a wide range between shadow and light. For example, if you shoot someone standing at an open window, you can expose for the person, which means the window will be overexposed, or you can shoot for the window, which means the person will remain in shadow. HDR takes both exposures and combines them for the best of both worlds. I was originally suspicious of the technology, but this article in the New York Times makes a good argument for it.

seen on a t-shirt

"Sports do not build character; they reveal it."

Photography and Truth

To Hizbullah With Love!
Originally uploaded by khawaja.

Another stunning photo from Flickr. At first glance, it appears that the children are writing taunting messages to Hezbollah on the missles. But at least one Flickr member has disputed this, saying that this photograph was actually taken at an anti-war rally. The writing on the missles appears to contradict this interpretation, but it makes me think about how slippery the meaning of photographs can be, and how easily people can use photographs to push their own agendas, sometimes contrary to the intent of the artist.

Wheel Tree

Wheel Tree - 2
Originally uploaded by menlo.

Now that I've uploaded most of my photos to Flickr, I've found some time to settle down and explore the site. There's so many talented photographers - it's both inspiring and humbling. Occasionally, I will come across a photo of something local, like this wheel tree, and when that happens, I'm always surprised - especially given how many millions of photographs are posted on Flickr. It's like finding a long lost friend. There's something amazing about finding someone else who found something in your corner of the world and thought it worthwhile not only to photograph, but share with the world.

This photo is tagged "Durand, Illinois", but there's a nearly identical sculpture outside of the Don Q Inn in Dodgeville, Wisconsin. This picture transforms something that's merely unusual into something beautiful and mysterious.

The funniest photo I've ever seen

lol cat XD
Originally uploaded by miles-away.

Yeah, it's probably Photoshopped. But still. I could NOT stop laughing when I saw this on Flickr! And I still laugh every time I see it!