[dovate.com] » 2006 » November
Today while sitting in Rittenhouse and meditating on the bizarre weather, I struggled to capture the feeling I was sensing down on paper. The air was warm and the breeze defied a season. Whatever today was, it wasn’t January-December in Philadelphia.
Weather is a powerful force on the psyche and this breeze was particularly strong. My thoughts turned to the images of a photographer I discovered last night. The themes of this photoblog are long exposures on the empty tangled streets of New York City. New York has a lot of motion and energy. Even a shot of an empty street draws in an enormous amount of that energy.
Philadelphia doesn’t usually feel like that. But tonight, something about that aseasonal breeze reminded me of these photos. The weather is warm in an almost anxious way. The oppressive veil that usually hangs over this place, has been briefly and fleetingly lifted. But enough of that, look at these photos:
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Last night I went to the Free Library to hear a lecture on post war Europe by super-scholar, Tony Judt. Educated at King’s College, Cambridge and the École Normale Supérieure, professor of history at Cambridge, Oxford, Berkley and NYU I knew Judt only by an article I read in the New York Review of Books way back in 2003. In that article, Judt argued the same points I have always argued myself about the state of Israel.
In cold historical terms, Israel was an anachronism. World War II ended with the Western World’s ultimate rejection of the ethno-religious nation state. Israel was founded on the very principles that WWII so horrendously purged. Many of Israel’s international problems of legitimacy stemmed from the fact that Western consensus ultimately rejected the most fundamental grounds on which Israel was established. In Judt’s words:
“The problem with Israel, in short, is not—as is sometimes suggested—that it is a European “enclave” in the Arab world; but rather that it arrived too late. It has imported a characteristically late-nineteenth-century separatist project into a world that has moved on, a world of individual rights, open frontiers, and international law. The very idea of a “Jewish state”—a state in which Jews and the Jewish religion have exclusive privileges from which non-Jewish citizens are forever excluded— is rooted in another time and place. Israel, in short, is an anachronism.”
This article was written in 2003. At the time it was regarded with widespread derision and even death threats.
But this is one hell of a watershed historical era. Things are happening very quickly. It can be argued (and Judt argued this last night) that Europe today is becoming much more like Israel than Israel has become like Europe.
The crucial question in Europe today – he argued – is Muslim immigration and the frightening reaction to it. If you think the backlash against immigrants in this country is ugly, you’ve seen nothing compared to the state of affairs in European politics.
Denmark’s recent election split the country between far right and far left. To put this in some kind of identifiable context, imagine the U.S. political landscape being split not between some amorphous centrist Congressional lump and a (now publicly regretted) far right executive branch, but instead between a passionate Green Party and an equally passionate Republican party led by Pat Buchanan. This comparison isn’t quite accurate, but it gives you a sense of things in Europe these days.
Judt argued that Europe is faced with its first real test since the Second World War. So far the signs are extremely discouraging.
Western Europe established the cherished welfare state in order to fend off the economic and political scenarios, which led to devastating war and the rise of fascism. Cultural homogeneity made a society based on a socialist ideal of trust much easier to establish and maintain.
What I mean by this is that, a terrible result of WWII was the near total ethnic cleansing of European nation states. The distastefully serendipitous result of that “cleansing” was the ethno-cultural homogenization of Europe. Now that these states are required to deal with visible minority populations, that trust is quickly evaporating. Old prejudices are returning as if they never left. Judt made the extremely important point that if you replace the word “Muslim” with the word “Jew” in any of the European right’s rhetoric, what you get is startlingly similar to what existed before the 20th century wars.
What we have then is a Europe increasingly based on ideas of ethnic and cultural majority identity. From state to state, these identities are based on shared myths of nationality. Muslim populations are marginalized and regarded as pariah groups different culturally, linguistically and racially.
To bring this back to my earlier point, Europe is slipping backward into the pre-war intellectual territory of the ethnically based nation state. The Israeli model, which just 3 years ago was regarded by Judt and myself as an anachronism is increasingly relevant in modern Europe.
Also following the 20th century pattern, is the United States, which in it’s own unique way is right there with Europe. The world is beginning to split again. This time the fracture is between the West and the Muslim world. Of course you already knew that, but if you’ve read this far, I hope that now you have a greater understanding of what it is that’s actually going on. That’s all for now.
The United States government does many things in many places. Intelligence services will often, willingly work with seriously disturbed criminals. If the criminals also happen to be the power brokers in a region of interest, then all ends justify whatever means are necessary to achieve those ends. Remember that photo of Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein? Remember all those articles about the United States training and funding bin Laden’s Afghan army during the Soviet/Afghan war?
It’s no secret. At this point it’s a joke. Assets become enemies, or unexpected blowback ushers in a Global Age of Terror. In the documentary Why We Fight, former CIA agent Chalmers Johnson discussed the idea of blowback. “Blowback,” he said “does not mean simply the unintended consequences of foreign operations, it means the unintended consequences of foreign operations that were deliberately kept secret form the American public; so that when the retaliation comes, the American public is not able to put it in context, put cause and effect together; that they come up with questions like why do they hate us?”
Finding out who our government is working with and what the consequences of that work may be, is extremely important. Because of the vagaries of this information and the difficulty or lack of interest is takes to find it, most of it goes unnoticed for a generation. Years ago, investigative reporter Gary Webb put together a compelling series accusing the CIA of working with central American drug dealers. During the 1980’s these dealers protected as assets in order to fund the war against the Contras. As a result of this the United States was flooded with high grade Central American cocaine, sparking among other things, the crack epidemic.
At the time, Webb’s series was swift boated. (apt analogy considering John Kerry was one of his on-camera supporters, see Dateline video) Webb himself remained an investigative reporter until he commit suicide by the extremely rare method of multiple gunshot wounds to the head. Shortly before his death, Dateline, of all programs reinvestigated Webb’s original investigation. Here is that broadcast.
Here’s a less flashy video of John Stockwell, the highest ranking CIA whistleblower to speak out on the consequences of some of The United States’ more disturbing affiliations.
This morning I installed a pixelpost addon that allows me to create tags on a google map for each of my posted photos. The map is embedded in a new section on my photoblog. I think that this is incredibly cool. Once I populate the map with all of my posted images, it will be even cooler.
Thank you so much to Schonhose for creating this addon. This is yet another in a long list of reasons that all photobloggers should use pixelpost.
Today while looking at the pictured red-bellied woodpecker, I tripped over myself and fell hard on my ass. It was a spectacular fall and made a whole lot of noise. Startled, the woodpecker flew away. By the time I got my big lens on it had landed on a tree across Ridley Creek. This is the best photo (cropped) I could get of the woodpecker that almost killed me.
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Literally. What do you get for the person who has everything? This morning I was thrilled to see that Future Horizon’s Inc. still sells the hyper-dimensional resonator, a machine full of dials, switches, head bands and time coils that allows users to travel through the usually restrictive constraints of the space time continuum. No longer is your body and your human reality an impediment to experiencing time as it was meant to be experienced!
Future Horizons sells this ‘working’ time machine for $590. Quoting the product page, “This is no joke!! Plugs into a normal 110 volt outlet.”
Years ago, I had a link to Future Horizons on my first ever webpage. I got an email from a woman asking what my experiences were with it. This lady claimed to have become vaguely unstuck in time after strapping it to her head and fiddling with the dials. I wish I still had those emails, but sadly they’ve been lost to the mists of time… or have they?
I was also happy to see that Future Horizons has expanded their product line. They’ve got all sorts of crazy shit from UFO detectors and Ion Phasors, to the cure to all diseases and HBO descramblers. For your convenience, here are more diagrams of the HDR:
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As anyone who reads this site has probably noticed, I hold in a heartfelt admiration for eccentric obsessives. This reverence is a longstanding trait of my own personality. My earliest memory of this comes from my first visit to Shartlesville PA’s “Roadside America.”
Roadside America is the batshit crazy, 6 decade long project of a very strange and wonderful man. Starting near the turn of the 20th century, carpenter and painter Laurence Gieringer began building a model village at a 3/8” to a foot scale. Over time, the village grew into a landscape and eventually into a representative model of more than 3 centuries of American life.
As a small child, Roadside America made more of an impression on me than the Grand Canyon and the Hearst Castle combined. Put simply, it was amazing.
This weekend I was driving on I-78 near Reading, and after seeing a billboard I decided on a whim to stop. I was reluctant, thinking that I’d be wasting my time and assuming that now that I’m older and wiser the place wouldn’t hold the same charm.
I was completely wrong. If anything, my appreciation for the beautiful insanity that is Roadside America has only grown. In honor of this, I present to you the most comprehensive photoessay of strange creation currently on the internet. Enjoy:
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Today is the day of the pigeon. With the exception of most species of seagulls and geese, I’m a huge fan of birds. I’m not a pigeon freak, but I have nothing against them and have always sort of liked them. I admire their ability to live happily right in the middle of human civilization. The Spotted Owl could learn a thing or two.
But anyway, while photographing an installation down at F.U.E.L Gallery (old Real World house) a pigeon came in through the front door and became disoriented. I approached the pigeon, trying to help. The idea was to pick it up (as I’ve seen done by others, but haven’t ever done myself) and carry it back to the open door. It itself seemed to be out of ideas on how to get back outside and let me get within an inch or 2, before it’s fear response kicked in and sent it flying into the windows. Eventually a window was opened and the pigeon was out in seconds. All was right in the world and the pigeon hadn’t even shit on the installation.
My photos done, I got in my car and on the radio was an interview with Andrew Blechman, author of the new book: Pigeons: The Fascinating Saga of the World’s Most Revered and Reviled Bird. [book] It was a good interview. [listen here] I listened to it all the way back to the office.
This pigeon filled day has been the culmination of a pigeon themed week. That’s why today is the day of the pigeon. Have you appreciated a pigeon today?
Because that man was out of his fucking mind. Seriously. For months I’ve been reading from my questionable internet sources that their questionable real-world sources in the military were actively questioning Rumsfeld’s sanity, but this New Yorker article seems to legitimize what’s been whispered. Here’s a telling excerpt which quotes Rumsfeld’s longtime friend, Kenneth Adelman:
“I suggested that we were losing the war,” Adelman said. “What was astonishing to me was the number of Iraqi professional people who were leaving the country. People were voting with their feet, and I said that it looked like we needed a Plan B. I said, ‘What’s the alternative? Because what we’re doing now is just losing.’ ”
Adelman said that Rumsfeld didn’t take to the message well. “He was in deep denial—deep, deep denial. And then he did a strange thing. He did fifteen or twenty minutes of posing questions to himself, and then answering them. He made the statement that we can only lose the war in America, that we can’t lose it in Iraq. And I tried to interrupt this interrogatory soliloquy to say, ‘Yes, we are actually losing the war in Iraq.’ He got upset and cut me off. He said, ‘Excuse me,’ and went right on with it.”
Now picture that scene:
Adelman: Rummy, my old friend, I’m concerned. People in Iraq are voting with their feet. They’re leaving the country. What’s plan B? It’s starting to look like were losing this war.
Rumsfeld: Are we losing the war? No we’re not losing the war. Could we lose the war? The only way we lose is if we lose faith in America. Stay the course, that’s how to win. What about me? I’m doing a great job…. (talking continues)
(15 minutes later)
Adelman: Umh… yes we are actually losing the war in Iraq.
Rumsfeld: Excuse me, I was talking. Are we losing the war? No we are not losing the war. Things are going fine in Iraq. So you have to break a few eggs to make a democracy? Yes that’s exactly what I was saying. I’m glad you agree…
So it seems that I just sucessfully installed a plug-in that shows my recent photoblog posts in the sidebar column of my wordblog. The weird thing is, the whole process went absolutely flawlessly. I downloaded the plug-in, configured it, dropped the code in my template, activated it and there it is… doing exactly what it’s supposed to do. Sure it’s a simple plug-in, but these things usually take me and my limited skills hours of frustration to configure and place. Sweet.
*edit: Credit. Oops, I forgot to give credit where it’s due. All credit to the actual writing of the program goes to Raminia. I’d give further credit, name and such but his blog is in Persain and I can’t read Persian. Thanks Raminia, this plugin is exactly what I was looking for!
*edit 2: I’ve done away with the fade effect on the photoblog. I’ve been meaning to for a long time, but until I got sick and took the day off, haven’t gone ahead and done it. Why have I done it? A photo really shouldn’t have a distracting background. The photo should be the center of the viewer’s focus.
A lot of people choose a white background for their photoblogs. I choose black. White works best in the real world, but on a computer screen, white = a lot of energy being thrown at your eyes. White on a computer is more like a lightbulb, than it is a neutral slate. It takes no energy for the computer to display black. I consider black to be less distracting when viewing photos online. But that’s just my preference.
I’ve also added a link to my photo archives on both photo and word blog pages. Now you can browse by category. That’s all for now.
I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, my favorite part of having a website is seeing what search terms bring people to it. I like sharing these things with everyone, which is why I sometimes post some of the odd hits. Today, I’ll post the search terms that brought people here on Sunday:
living ghosts
mascher dance
(edit, this search term was a name of someone I know who was apparently ‘googled’)
hunt down choke president bare hands bush
people in pa that have extra sensory powers
hawk mountain hauntings
human psychic communication
where was molly pitcher buried
dog resurrection
What in the hell kind of a website have I created? I’m not sure to be happy or wary that I’m a resource for “people in pa that have extra sensory powers” and “dog resurrection.”
So yesterday during the Ealges game I was feeling a little tired. By the end, I felt kind of sick, which was odd because they won 27-3 and I felt fine after their horrible losses over the past month. By early evening my throat hurt, phlem was building and my body temp was swinging around like an angry drunk. This morning my throat felt like I had taken a shot of battery acid and there was no way in hell I was getting up for work.
So here I am. Besides posting here, my plans for the day include drinking fluids, maybe watching a movie and waiting for an interesting animal to show up at the live African watering hole camera. All I’ve seen so far is a bird that looked suspiciously like some kind of wild fowl.
It’s Sunday, it’s raining and I haven’t stepped outside all day. This is a photo from Friday. This is Dan, the replacement for Stan the robot drummer of Seizure 17. Dan kicks Stan’s ass.
The photo is a 5th of a second exposure in conjunction with the flash. Next concert I shoot, I have to figure out how to use the strobe. I know it’s on there.
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According to my stats, the following search term led someone to this site yesterday:
“a bunch of people were in a cabin in the middle of the woods all of them were dead can you figure out what happened?”
This takes the title for most disturbing search hit ever on dovate.com.
So when you get out of work this Friday, head down to the Troc and see this show. Why? Because I like the band almost as much as I like this poster.
*note on the shot, I asked the 2 people in it to think of the most horrible thing the other had done to them. Just as the cue had time to sink in, I hit the shutter.
Just unbelievable. Wow. I mean who could have expected this? I’m speechless. For no reason at all, here are some old propaganda newsreels of U.S. atomic bomb tests:
So I’m watching MSNBC and refuse to switch over to FOX, even for a second. But anyway, response to the mural photo request has earned potential spots for the following murals… meaning - to clarify - these murals have very photos taken, or reserved to be taken of them, so don’t go out of your way to shoot them:
Wall of Rugs (Girard ave bridge)
Crystal Snowscape (10th and Bainbridge)
The Autumn Mural (9 and Bainbridge)
After the Fall (39 and Lancaster)
Passing Through (I-76 near Girard)
Larry Fine (4 and South)
Philadelphia Muses (13 and Locust)
Urban Horsemen (33 near Diamond)
Welcome Park (2 and Walnut)
Philadelphia Reads (20 and Arch)
Garden in the City (13 and Arch)
Pride and Progress (13 and Spruce)
The Mural of the boats in Manayunk… (name unknown)
Lincoln Legacy (7 and Chestnut)
Royal Theatre (near Broad and South)
I’m looking now for murals outside of Center City. Jackie Robinson on North Broad, Keith Haring at 22nd near Ellsworth… Girard Crossing, the big bugs on the East side of the Girard Ave. Bridge.
If you haven’t noticed, this is already over 12 murals. This only makes this growing competition all the better. If you want to go out and shoot murals, please email me first. I don’t want you to waste your time. Some of these murals - not listed - are already out of the running.
In other news, MSNBC just called that the shitbag Bob Casey just won PA. That’s fucking great… for what it’s worth. yay.
In better news, RICK SANTORUM LOST!!!!!!!!!!!!! WOO HOO!!!!! YAY!!!!!!!!
