[dovate.com] » 2007 » March
This really, really disturbs me. No embedding, click on the asshole to redirect.
At the request of a reader, I’m adding more nudity to the site. This one’s for you [name deleted]. Also, just to clarify before you get caught off guard: Yes there is nudity and Yes I do eat meat. (of only the highest quality)
My loyalty to Sue’s Produce on 18th street (between Chestnut and Sansom) is closing in on 10 years. Simply put, if you shop at any of the other Rittenhouse Produce places, you’re an asshole. I started going to Sue’s when I worked on 39th street and lived on 46th. It’s worth the trip.
John, the always friendly (even when he’s obviously in a bad mood) owner refuses to stock and sell inferior fruits and vegetables. Want a crappy crate of late season clementines? Sue’s doesn’t have them. Want a perfect grapefruit? They have plenty of them. Need lime leaves, peas in the pod, some thai chilis, fresh bay leaves a length of horseradish root, a dozen free-range eggs, a pound of sea salt, some soft tofu and an ounce of dried morel mushrooms? You can get that too.
Sue’s is the only reason I haven’t joined a CSA. Between daily discounts on already cheap fruit, vegetables, nuts, dairy and herbs, a pay tomorrow attitude if you accidentally come up a couple dollars short, ownership I’d feel guilty not supporting and the sense of community you feel in the store itself, my sense produce morality – CSA or not – is in good working order. If you need any further inducement consider the latest items to appear the dairy case. (supplied by Claudio’s)
Gorgonzola (a soft, good quality variety) $4.50/lb (!)
Primadonna and Locatelli: $7.00/lb
Parmigiano Reggiano: I forget exactly ($10 or 11) or about half the price of that place across the street.
(!)
if you haven’t noticed, it’s very nice outside. dovate.com has responded to the weather by being outside and not inside, posting. I advise that you do the same. In the meantime, here’s a scene from the Hustler:
All the love that ever died still (p)resides in time.
Sometimes my colleagues over at the mUr4L 4r72 pro9R4M ask me how I’m able to react so well in a sometimes-hectic environment. Priorities change by the second. There’s always more than 1 thing going on. Usually there are 4 or 5 things going on. My answer generally goes along the lines of: you have no idea where I came from.
The chaos in the story below just touches on the hell that was my previous job. Actually it was the chaos described in this story that I considered to be one of the best parts of that job.
To give a little context, during college I worked full-time at a 24-hour animal emergency room. I went to school part-time and was there for 6 long years. This evening I was leafing through an old journal and found a short story I wrote about something that happened one day at work. Sorry for the excessively dramatic prose, the story is a little old. All of it is true.
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May 20, 2003
The fluorescent lights gave me energy. I felt like I was on acid, or just in some sort of trance. Like stumbling to the bathroom in the middle of the night, half asleep.
There was the chaos of the ER, the people and the dying animals under buzzing shadowless fluorescent light. To the left of me was a pit bull being restrained by 3 beautiful women. He had a muzzle on his face, a delicate gloved finger up his ass. Behind the dog was a squirrel in a small plastic box. It was recovering from a dose of ketamine, stiff and catatonic. I stared for a second. A squirrel in a k-hole. I noticed a sliver of black underwear peaking out from the scrubs of the doctor who held her finger in the dog’s ass. I saw it and I looked away.
I came back here for something, I thought. To relay a message to a doctor. But where was she? The room was small, but there were people everywhere. They were on the floor giving injections; one was crammed into an oxygen cage with a cancer-ridden schnauzer. Another doctor muzzled a constipated rat, but she was the wrong one. Then I spotted her in the back of the room, behind a seizuring beagle. She was on a computer browsing the Tiffany’s website. When I got to her, I saw that she was covered in bloody diarrhea.
I had to deliver the message.
“The owner of the Rottweiler wants to know if you need a sample of his vomit.” I said. The energy of the room made me feel completely insane, but the words came out solid. “He said his personal vet threw away his dog’s vomit.” I paused for a second. “He’s willing to dig through the dumpster behind his vet’s office to look for a sample.”
I shared a moment with the doctor as we considered the reality of the offer. We imagined the man – a Pennsylvania State Trooper in full uniform – crouching inside a dumpster and rummaging through bio-medical waste in search of his poor sick dog’s vomit and bile.
The doctor thought for a moment and responded. “I don’t think it would be of much help. You can tell him he doesn’t have to do that.”
“Don’t tell anyone that people don’t truly love their pets.” I joked. The light didn’t seem so abrasive.
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So all in all, nothing I do now holds a candle to that shit. Just for fun, here’s what I wrote in my journal immediately after penning that story:
The proliferation of cell phones is disturbing. Most people just hold them to their heads… listening. They don’t talk. Maybe they’re receiving secret messages.
And that’s all for now.
All of my energies are now set towards chili, but here’s something absolutely amazing:
That’s right, for some reason I entered the phillyskyline.com chili contest. This means that this Thursday at 8PM myself and at least 8 others will be at Tritone on South Street with a giant pots of chili.
I’m undecided on the meat, but it will definitely be some sort of wild animal. I’m leaning towards venison or elk. Possibly a mix of the two. Maybe I’ll throw some boar or kangaroo in there, or maybe I’ll just go with the D’Angelo Brother’s “hunter’s blend,” a strange looking mix of all of the above + 3 other species of ground up feral beast. I used it once before and it was pretty good.
The rest is my secret recipe. Wanna come yet?
This year the state is helping me celebrate Hitler’s birthday with a day off work and a stipend big enough for a free lunch at Reading Terminal Market. That’s right! This April 20th, I’ll be at Jury Duty. What better way to celebrate the birth of the world’s most reviled tyrant than a little American style civic duty?
Here’s for Jury Duty.
Also, if you’re wondering why I know when Hitler’s birthday is, EVERYBODY knows when Hitler’s birthday is. Also, according to Wikipedia, that baby photo is authentic.
About a month ago I sat in the passenger seat of a car heading north on I-95. To my right was the riverside industrial expanse on the eastern border of Fishtown. I stared out the window admiring the bare complexity of the industrial landscape. Coming in over the river were 2 very large birds. Judging by their size, I assumed they were Great Blue Herons. They flew north, generally parallel to the car, but on a trajectory that would bring them over the highway and into the Fishtown/Frankford neighborhood.
As they got closer I clearly saw a white head. Still thinking they were some kind of heron, I stared with growing interest. They flew more like hawks, but they were far too big. I looked for a tucked in neck, or the long legs of a large water bird, but they were absent. As they flew closer to the car I realized that these were definitely very large raptors. They also clearly had the unmistakable white heads and tails of bald eagles. In Fishtown! Heading towards Frankford! Bald Eagles!
The first bald eagle I ever saw was on the Alaskan coast. Now they live in Fishtown! Don’t believe me? Here’s an AP article from last Friday which talks about a nesting pair of bald eagles within Philadelphia city limits. Although nests have been established close to the city for years now, this is the first nesting pair inside of Philadelphia County in over 2 centuries.
Welcome to Philadelphia, eagles.
After having the blog up for very close to a year, I decided that it’s time to create an ‘about’ page. So earlier today I wrote one. As a history major, I’ve built the text on this page to retrace the history of my web-presence. It also serves as an overdue FAQ. What is a dovate? Photography or writing? Debased Crackhead? Etc…:
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In the year 1999 A.D. I, Stephen Benjamin Weinik, bought a $70 scanner. My intention was to scan my photos and put them online. At the time I had a geocities site and was looking for content. Originally titled “philly links etc.” (I spent 10 seconds thinking up that one) The site was an assemblage of crude tables and pop-up windows. I renamed the place “debased crackhead.” on the day I abandoned it. Here it is. [link]
It was sometime around the year A.D. 2003 when I decided with that with their 10mb limits, side-bar ads and fucked up url’s, geocities just wasn’t cutting it. After another 10 seconds of thought I purchased the domain name dovate.com.
What is a dovate?
The word is a dilution of a handle I originally invented as part of an anti-war poster project. The project was abandoned, but the online handle stuck. When time came to choose a domain name, I didn’t want to use my name, so I just stuck with dovate. For better or worse, I’m stuck with it now.
Like Debased Crackhead, Dovate.com was originally launched as a place for me to show my photography. Suddenly having a whole lot of bandwidth, storage and a shitty job that allowed about 6-8 hours of daily downtime, I soon added writing. Here’s what the site looked like by early 2005. [link]
Menus and layout changed, but the hard-coded site continued to grow. I have to say the photo galleries looked pretty slick for something drawn up with nothing but html and a little bit of javascript. Here’s the Paris menu: [link] and an example of a gallery: [link]
Development
Long after realizing that the site needed a real content management system I decided to learn PHP/MYSQL and create one from scratch. A few weeks later, I instead decided to use dreamhost’s one click install to create a wordpress blog on dovate.com. For photos I installed pixelpost. That’s where we are today. Although I spent years despising the blog format, (mainly just because of the word “blog”) I eventually succumbed to it. This is something that still causes some degree of shame.
What’s more important, writing or photography?
I created a website because I wanted a public forum for my photography. As a creative person I am far more mindful of my photographic work. I practice it more, I think about it more and I put a hell of a lot more energy into it.
With that said, I have always written. In my possession are stacks of old notebooks filled with writing. I’ve written obsessively for years, but I don’t think about it much. After writing a few million words I’ve developed a voice and flow unique to myself, but I don’t craft it or refine it or think much about how I could make it better. I used to think I wanted to be a writer and maybe someday I’ll still be a (paid) writer. My only A+ at college came in a writing class and my head remains slightly inflated when it comes to my self perception of my own word-crafting talents. But more than anything, writing for me is a necessity. I do it because I have to.
Why the blog?
For years I only wrote in notebooks. Existing in a small physical medium and written with a penmanship that even I have trouble deciphering, I could choose who had access, when they had it and how much I would allow. Now with the blog, 80% of my writing is public. I consider this (we)blog a long-term experiment. I don’t promote it, or really care how many people read it. I actually have an instinct of discomfort when I find out people (I know) are reading it. Still though, I do get a certain satisfaction as my stats climb.
I’m mindful of the audience I seem to be attracting, but at the same time the audience I actually write for exists entirely in my own mind. This site has no purpose. It might teach you something, it might make you laugh and it might fascinate you in a way you can’t quite put your finger on. It’s not political, it’s not local, it’s not personal, it’s not topical. It’s a little of all of these things and not really any of them. That’s all for…
Toynbee tiles:
I couldn’t end this without talking about the tiles. Toynbee tiles have fascinated me for a decade. In that time and with the help and collaboration of the Resurrect Dead film crew, I’ve become one of the world’s foremost scholars on the subject.
As of early 2007, my name registers 781 hits on google. My name + the word Toynbee brings back 527 of those hits. At this point in my life, my global existence is inextricably linked to Toynbee tiles. That’s fine with me and that’s all for now.
*Warning: this post is a “blog” post. It has nothing to do with you and there’s no reason for you to read it. It has to do with me and there’s no reason for me to write it. Consider it a rant.
So earlier this week when it was mid-May, I get an email from a friend telling me that his band was playing a farewell show before going on tour. With such beautiful weather and with my having gone to work with a hangover once this week already, (friend’s birthday) I decided to cash in one of my well-earned vacation days.
3-day weekend, I thought to myself. I’ll stay out until 3AM, get trashed and sleep in. Then maybe after a leisurely breakfast, I’ll go for a nice bike ride and take a nap in the grass.
Well it was raining last night and I decided not to go out. (Sorry Colin/Jamie, have a great tour!) Then I woke up early… pretty much early enough to go to work, but not early enough not to rush through breakfast before my girlfriend was off to work. The rest of the day has been spent in traffic, at Target, testing out the new iron I bought at Target and sitting in front of the computer editing photos for… work. Occasionally I glance out the window to see how much sleet has collected on the sidewalk and then curse under my breath.
I really should have checked the weather.
*edit: To add insult to injury, everyone got out early today. Beh.
For the last couple days I’ve been tweaking pixelpost developer “GeoS’s” Show Category Addon. I have no idea why I didn’t install this sooner, it’s absolutely essential. Before installation, if you saw a cool “New Jersey” photo on the front page and decided that you wanted to browse through my other New Jersey photos, there was no good way to do it. Photos were organized by date and by date only. Browsing by category was impossible.
Now, after installation and implementation of the addon, you can browse through any category you please. Either pick a category from the archive page, or use the handy drop-down menu on the front page to choose categories. I’m still tweaking this thing, so bugs may be present. If you have any problems comment here or email me. Thanks.
PHILADELPHIA - After talks broke down late Monday, Community College of Philadelphia president Stephen Curtis watched helplessly as his teachers and staff walked off their jobs and took to the picket lines. “It was awful.” Recounted Curtis. “I didn’t know what to do. I usually have all the power here and suddenly I was powerless.”
That’s when the CCP President decided to call in the Pinkertons. “I wasn’t sure if they were still around. But there they were in the Yellow Pages. I called immediately.”
Wednesday morning, as the aging, professors buckled up their sandals for another day of strikes, the Pinkertons descended on the scene. Donning dark blue suits and bowler style hats, 50 mustached men on horseback paraded up Spring Garden Avenue, yelling threats and spitting on strikers as they arrived.
“They stood between us and these scab workers that they harvested from local graduate schools.” recounted biology professor Ralph Piles. “They told me that if I intervened, they’d split my skull open.”
Violence did erupt briefly as a team of Pinkertons threw English professor Judith Adler to the ground after she refused to let a scab professor pass. In a separate incident, an administrative worker was reportedly kicked in the head by a horse. The worker – who was not named – and Adler were taken to Jefferson Hospital late Wednesday afternoon. This evening, they were both listed in critical but stable condition.
Although it was unclear who initiated the violence with Adler, the Pinkerton tactic of intimidation has been extremely effective. “What can we do?” asked a frail, flabbergasted professor.
The rest of the day passed without incident as the strike was strong-armed into virtual submission. Mayor Street could not be reached for comment.
It’s amazing how quickly a good mood can disintegrate into the opposite of a good mood. That’s my arbitrary observation for this evening. It’s also interesting going through the whole maturation process. Surprising patterns begin to emerge that seem totally out of character.
But anyway, enough bloggy bullshit, this evening I bring you product endorsement. If you take photos and use the internet, this free application is essential. Panda IEXIF viewer is a handy little browser utility you can use to view all available EXIF data on any photo posted online. (provided that photo has that info embedded) That means you can see what type of camera was used to take the shot, what the settings were on that camera at the time of the shot and even crazy shit like GPS coordinates. (if available)
Once installed, all you have to do is right click on an image and select the “View EXIF/GPS/IPTC with IEXIF” option. A little box will pop up with all this info. I find this application to be highly informative. That’s all for now.
Many years ago a little known collaboration between DJ Man-E of Germantown and fellow G-town-born Solomon “MC King Solomon” Masch resulted in one of the greatest comedy rap albums in the history of the world. Unless you know DJ Man-E, or King Solomon personally, you probably never heard of it. I’ve known both of them since I myself was a small child living in Germantown, so I was among the privileged few.
Now you too can enjoy a sampling of these cherished tracks. The album covers genres from West Coast (Gangsta’ Pony Ride) and Booty rap (Smell the Booty) to whatever the fuck it is that Korn plays (Rippin’ off Your Testicles) and more. These songs and more will be available at the bottom of this post. Listening is mandatory… even if you think it sounds stupid and don’t want to download these songs, I absolutely guarantee that if you do, you will laugh. Out loud. Really.
But why do I bring this up now? DJ Man-E and King Solomon are back in the studio recording a second album. It’s set to drop sometime later this year. I’ll remind you when it does. That’s all for now.
[Gangsta’ Pony Ride]
[Smell the Booty]
[Rippin’ off Your Testicles]
[Buttnaked]
Why did I go on a 25-mile bike ride with a 20 lb. bag of camera equipment strapped to my back? Because when I saw a flash of brown flying across the (100% mud) Forbidden Drive 30 yards ahead of me, I was prepared.
I pedaled through the muck to where I saw the bird and stopped to take a look around. I quickly spotted a Red-Tailed Hawk in a tree next to the trail. Although the bird turned out to be the most boring of raptors, (I was hoping for the owl I’ve spotted nearby) it was close enough for me to get some great shots with the big 300mm lens. The bird kept an eye on me, but didn’t mind my climbing up the embankment to get some photos without the sun directly behind it. I didn’t want to post all of these on the main page, but thought they deserved some exposure.
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Egyptian Style
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alert
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determining that I am neither a threat or prey
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general pose
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In flight
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My embedding attempts have failed. Click on the bird to watch the video. Trust me, it’s worth it.
This is worth watching. Best part is at 5:30 or so, so keep watching.
