A snippet of what I’m currently working on.
View photos without text in a slideshow. Looks good with a black background, but you’ll be missing out on commentary.
Sept. 24-26, 2010 Harrison and I were invited to an annual group camping trip at the Green River Reservoir in northern Vermont. We were invited by one of my favorite persons I know: Jeff Ledlrsdafnr. A list of firsts for me:
- being in Vermont
- camping in the truest sense of the word
- canoeing (i think)
- experiencing autumn outside of the city
- seeing a bear in the wild (just kidding)
We drove, picked up our canoe, tethered it to the roof, arrived at the reservoir very late and canoed four bodies and all our stuff to the island in the light of a full moon. We were later met by some of Jeff’s friends and we camped the shit out of that campground. Some of that, and the rest, is as follows:
driving through vermont, stopping at a rest stop
through the flap, saturday morning
looking up in the tent
potty
franklin!
beaver dam
beaver chew!
beaver!
beaver damage
beaver heaven
beaver hell (they hate pizza)
driving home
at an apple cider mill. available as a desktop wallpaper option for Windows 98.
there is a UFO in this image, first quadrant. See appendix A.
Appendix A
Before we started on our west coast tour, Lisa had a little birthday celebration at a karaoke bar, and Lisa was master of the mic (surprise, surprise).
Justin with his loyal fans Lisa and Danny.
I did sing karaoke for the first time. Lisa and I sang Step by Step by New Kids on the Block together, although there are no good pictures to prove it.
The next day, we hit the road for Seattle.
Approaching Seattle from the highway.
Seattle is a really pretty city. If it were a clear day, I would have been able to see mountains past the cluster of downtown and industrial buildings. But the clouds were thick and low, affording me only a glimpse of the mountain range called the Olympics. Also, the city is hilly. Even downtown’s streets and buildings were undulating.
After Seattle, we headed back to Portland for the night.
Talkdemonic’s show at the Doug Fir was pretty incredible. It was sold out and totally packed. Afterward we had a hairspray party in the greenroom with a can of aqua net that Lisa picked up earlier to de-static her dress. Everyone in the show and their friends were in on it, no bangs were spared.
Next we drove to Eugene, Oregon, and from there all the way to San Diego.
Oregon
Oregon
Oregon
Somewhere. Probably California.
California
We drove till late and stopped at the only place we could in the desert. All that was there was our hotel and an IHOP attached to a gas station. We had an evening hot tub sesh even though the air was cold. In the morning we woke up and ate at IHOP.
This was across from where we stayed. The dirt and dry bushes stretched for miles. I caught a tumble weed here and then threw it back.
California
When we were just about to San Diego, we stopped at a beach that was right off the highway.
Lisa and the van.
Kevisa
Kevin was tossing pretzels to the seagulls and this one is about to win the prize.
Once we got there, we had some time to walk around San Diego before we headed to the Casbah, one of my favorite venues. It’s located right next to the airport so if you’re outside you can see and hear gigantic airplanes boom overhead, almost grazing rooftops.
Talkie D at the Casbah
Talkie D at the Casbah
The next day, after having breakfast on the beach, we made our way to Los Angeles. I was lucky enough to meet up with Gail and Ross from Boston, who both now live in LA.
The view out the door of our house of stay.
Lisa and Willie at a bar after the show.
The following day, we headed to San Francisco where Talkdemonic played at the Rickshaw, another really likable venue.
On the road.
Happy cows. I need not include the antithesis of this scene, “cowshwitz,” the cow factory farms we also witnessed along the agricultural California highway.
A quickie jump-out-of-the-car then jump-back-on-the-road picture.
After SF, we drove all day up to Portland.
Mt. Shasta through Lisa’s blue blockers.
The end.
I spent a lovely last day in florence today, just me and the city, and the weather was the most beautiful I’ve seen here yet. And now I guess I’m going to go home, for the last time. My apartment really is my home. And tomorrow, it will be very hard and very sad to leave it for the last time, and to leave my keys behind, knowing I won’t be going back in.
I’ve been wondering when the saddnes was going to come, and now it’s coming.
I wonder what I’ll do tonight to pass the time. Then tomorrow morning, I leave at 10 to go to the airport, and then that is that.
This past weekend, I went to Calabria and Sicily! And I met Molinaro family! I sought them out and actually found them. It was a surreal experience.
Because of my unfortunate computer circumstances, it is hard to say when photos and a full story will be up…
I love the south.
Here’s a little bit about the research I did on the health benefits of garlic, because I love it so.
Garlic (Allium sativum) is one of the most useful and widely appreciated herbs in the world. It has an extensive and telling history of human adoration, and it aids the body in numerous ways. From treatments for specific disorders to everyday prevention of sickness and disease, garlic is an invaluable food from which we can benefit greatly, and it’s an herb we should consume daily.
… Or Fantasma Meringue in Italian!
(correctly pronounced “mehr-een-gay” with a soft g, in Italian. Meringue is plural, meringa is singular.)
Little Halloween treats! Or if you love meringue as much as I do, make them twice a year as snowmen during Christmas!
(adapted from this recipe)
Ingredients:
For about 12 meringue
2 egg whites, room temperature
tiny pinch of salt
tiny pinch of cream of tartar
3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
tiny silver candy sprinkles (chocolate or little seeds) for eyesSpecial equipment:
pastry bag with 1//2-inch tip
or
a large plastic freezer bag with the corner snipped off
Dark chocolate and shredded coconut optional.
Preheat oven to 200F, racks in the middle.
Get everything ready ahead of time. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a Silpat mat. Perhaps set up your pastry bag in a tall empty glass to make it easier to fill. Have a spatula on hand. It is important to let your egg whites come to room temperature as they will yield the most volume. Also, make sure all your bowls, whisk, etc are spotlessly clean and free of any grease.
Place the egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar in a large mixing bowl. Start whisking the egg whites at medium speed with an electric mixer. This stage is all about watching the egg whites transform and letting them tell you what to do next. Avoid turning your mixer on and off. When the whites are frothy and have a bit of volume to them, start sprinkling in the sugar, a bit at a time over a minute or two, leaving the mixer on the entire time.
Keep mixing, it usually takes 15 -20 minutes to get the appropriate volume, but all sorts of variables can effect this time – weather, temperature of the whites, etc. The whites will become glossy and will resemble marshmallow cream. At this point you need much more volume out of the whites, so keep mixing. Try to imagine making a dozen 2-inch cookies out of the mixture. Whisk, whisk, whisk. You will see the volume start to increase, and the whisk will be leaving a more definitive trail in the meringue. At this point, gradually slow down the whisk, and try to lift it out of the meringue, leaving a stiff structured peak. The mixture needs to have structure if you are going to pipe this out onto the cookie sheets. If you stop too soon, your ghosts will just collapse into a puddle.
Working gently (but quickly) fill the pastry bag, using the spatula. Try to avoid air pockets in the pastry bag, they make piping more difficult. Close the bag by rolling the top down a few times.
Pipe about 12 two-inch tall ghost shapes onto the prepared baking sheets. Making tiny circles all the way up may be a good way to control the shape of your ghost. Press the candy silver balls into your pointer finger, one at a time, and place them on the ghost – quickly but carefully.
Place the meringue in the oven for an hour. After an hour, open the oven door an inch or two and cook for another 30 minutes. If you touch one at this point, it should not be gummy or wobbly. If they are still too moist, leave them in the oven until they are not. Turn off the oven, and leave the meringues inside until it comes down to room temperature.
At this point, you can eat the ghosts! Or, dip them in a bit of melted chocolate and then shredded coconut.
If you are storing them, do so in an air-tight container.
On November 2, 2007, TIME Magazine published an article about British graffiti artist Banksy titled Banksy Unmasked? A Graffiti Mystery, by Alex Altman. The article displays and discusses a pixelated camera-phone image of a man crouched down with a paint brush in front of Banksy’s latest piece, as confirmed by the artist’s spokesperson. What is still in question, however, is whether or not the man in the photo is in fact the artist whose identity has long been concealed.
The tone of the article is written such that Banksy becomes a mythical and, even worse, mystical creature. According to the author, he “shrinks from cameras like a vampire from the sun” and the possibility of spotting him is likened to “bagging the Loch Ness monster.” Realistically, while Banksy’s artwork is well known, he maintains the same necessary low-key identity as any other graffiti artist, as he remains prolific on the street. Banksy has also voluntarily and successfully entered the art market, and the author of the article drives a spectacular punch home by slipping in the names of Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as a couple of his buyers to really illustrate the weight of the situation. And, naturally, this means he must be good.
The article goes on to discuss the political and witty nature of Banksy’s work, giving a few examples. However, the author seems to have completely misunderstood the artist’s use of irony, which is latent with tongue in cheek political statements and satirical criticism, for sheer contradiction. This paragraph is particularly embarrassing:
His art is often pegged as anti-capitalist or anti-establishment. But he seems gleefully eager to subvert even the most pervasive presumptions about him. For example, while he is generally described as antiwar, at a 2003 peace demonstration in London he reportedly distributed signs reading: “I Don’t Believe in Anything. I’m Just Here For The Violence.” Banksy specializes in a strange brand of self-promotion: he’ll sell six-figure creations and then sermonize on the evils of consumerism. Such behavior doesn’t seem to deter buyers. In April, the auction house Bonham’s sold his Space and Bird, a spray-painting on steel, for almost $600,000, and recently a set of 10 of his works went for more than $1 million.
I’m not entirely sure that an anti-capitalist artist selling their work can be so demonized, because regardless of what beliefs one maintains and the changes one wishes to make, it is nearly inevitable to continue to take part in the world as it currently stands. I am equally unsure that the kind of consumption within the art market is the same kind of consumerism that Banksy regularly criticizes (see 1, 2, 3, 4, 5). And even in the instances that he does point a finger at the art world, as in “Mind the Crap” at the Tate and in this image, it’s important to accept the possibility that making a ruckus within the industry with which one is associated can bring important attention to the concern at hand (consider the Guerrilla Girls).
Further, his participation in the 2003 peace demonstration in London is more readable as a satirical criticism of the general public’s apathy, intending to be thought provoking and to strike a chord that hackneyed protest procedures can no longer manage to hit, rather than the self-centered playful trickery as interpreted by the author of the article. In missing the underlying concept of the work and suggesting that these contradictions might deter buyers, the author devalues the artist’s irony instead of recognizing it as an integral part of the work.
The author begins to question the consequences that public exposure might have on Banksy by first establishing that his work and his notoriety depend on his mysterious covertness. Let’s save ourselves this romanticism of “mystique” and accept the fact that Banksy is not putting on a performance with his surreptitious behavior. Although appreciated by some, what he does is illegal, considered vandalism, and is responded to stiffly by many establishments, and it is for this reason that he must conceal his identity. It should go without saying that Banksy’s notoriety has little to do with the fact that we don’t know what he looks like, and more to do with the cleverness, wit, and awareness he wields upon the public.
What is more interesting than the supposed image of Banksy is to consider who was behind the camera and to contemplate that someone knowingly took (or created) this picture and then give it to the press, interfering with something bigger than themselves.
Who cares if we know what Banksy’s digitized profile looks like? How much does this reveal about him anyway? The only people who would aggrandize something like this are those who like to (or get paid to) perpetuate sensationalism in pop and, sadly, in underground culture. From Banksy, I think the most reaction we might get is just another clipping on his web page.
See Banksy Unmasked? A Graffiti Mystery.
See Photos: The World According to Banksy, TIME photo essay.
See Banksy.
See Guerrilla Girls.
