Team Wet Dog

The Harikaraoke Band ...

2012-02-29T13:00:00.000Z

Ventured a little east of 16th St. last night, over to Room 11 and then Wonderland Ballroom for the Harikaraoke Band and Gong Show. I woke up this morning and realized I was out of coffee. Disaster.

The 42 Bus ...

2012-02-28T11:10:00.001Z

I love songs about metro and D.C.

If you ever lived in Mount Pleasant, then you learned to love, hate and love the 42 bus (along with, it must be said, the S2, S4, S9, H3 and H4*). But mostly the 42, which runs from Mount Pleasant, through Adams Morgan and Dupont and further south to Metro Center.

Turns out local singer Renè Moffatt has the same nostalgia for that route, and captures it all pretty perfectly in this song. Definitely check out his web site, http://www.the42bus.com/.

* No one likes the S1 line.

Monday Morning (Hoboken) Crap ...

2012-02-27T11:36:00.000Z

Burned building in Hoboken. Took the bus up to NYC over the weekend. I wish there was a better way, but there really isn't. Four hours on a bus for $20 or so, v. $200 on a flight or ~$80 for the train.

Photos and Phones ...

2012-02-24T12:55:00.000Z

Sometime circa 2006 I got the Motorola Razr phone — I believe this was my first phone that included a camera. That's it right there, next to my first camera.

I shot a lot of photos with the phone, going so far as to put together what an awkwardly-titled "The Cell Phone Project: Connecting With Imperfect Images." My idea was that the technology to make some kind of art had become ubiquitous, and the only thing holding people back was a fear that their work simply wouldn't be good.

The text of the project is unabashedly new-age-hippy-ish, and while I still agree with the sentiment there are parts I'd tone down. I still love the images though. The Razr had a way of turning out unpredictable photos, much the way people today love the random-ish output of the Holga. I always considered the early cell phone cameras to be digital Holgas.

One of my favorites from the cell phone project, shot in Georgetown,

Strange how far we've come in a few years. Now, my phone has a higher resolution than the pair of Nikons I shoot with. The phone auto-corrects for lighting. The editing software on my phone is probably more powerful than the computer I was using in 2006 to complete the project.

The photos (and video) on my phone are varied now. Random snaps of foods and pets and people and places and events. The phone is a diary now, a visual log of where I've been, as well as a tool for actually making photographs.

The sort of automatic-quality the phone creates amazingly spawned a correction, in apps like Hipstamatic and Instagram, which add back in the unpredictable and vintage look through filters and cropping and borders. The damn phone is so perfect you need special programs to make it imperfect.

Maybe there's such a thing as too-perfect. Maybe there are windows of time when tools are evolving and create malleable and unpredictable outcomes. But once all the kinks are smoothed, perhaps there's less consciousness involved. Maybe "effortless" isn't always more.

Overreaction ...

2012-02-24T12:03:00.000Z

Quote by the late Warren Zevon:

"Back in the late 70's, I was working on the album "Excitable Boy" and I decided I needed a vacation. So I went to Kawai in the Hawaiian Islands. I wrote this song late one night on wet cocktail napkins after a long day of improbable and grotesque mischief. Obviously, I survived all of that. But I learned something from the experience. I never take vacations."

I don't know what "grotesque mischief" is, but it doesn't sound like the sort of thing that would put me off vacations.

Eastbound & Down in Myrtle Beach? ...

2012-02-23T11:51:00.002Z

I watched episode 1 of Eastbound & Down, Season 3, the other night. There are no words for my excitement. It appears they're setting it in Myrtle Beach, S.C. (hopefully it stays there beyond the first episode).

Shot this in October. Shows up in a couple of scenes.

This is perfect beyond words. Kenny Powers was made for Myrtle Beach, and it's more than a little surreal to see that town featured in this show. HBO completely nailed the tackiness, the cheesiness, the landmarks, the people. From the confederate-flag ocean float to ... well, everything.

How HBO shows Myrtle Beach in Eastbound is how I remember it. And that's just amazing.

"It sets the tone ..."

2012-02-22T23:21:00.000Z

Sometimes people say exactly what they mean. This is from The Washington Post:

Frederick County makes English its official language

Frederick County, where massive growth in the past decade has been driven by Asians and Hispanics, passed an ordinance yesterday making English the official language of the county. The county commission vote was 4 to 1.

“It sets the tone,” Commissioners President Blaine Young said, according to the Frederick News-Post. “I do not see what the big deal is.”

I'm sure you don't, Sir. I'm sure you don't.

"This medium-sized mammal normally walks upright ..."

2012-02-22T13:29:00.000Z

Image is from a touchscreen at the Baltimore Aquarium, where you can learn about different animals.

Reminded me of Douglas Adams.

Self Portrait #203 ...

2012-02-22T11:28:00.001Z

I was going through photos last night. idly flipping through a half-year's worth of random vacation images, when I stumbled on a random shot I'd taken in the mirror. It was in Louisville, at Hotel 21C, in front of a very trippy art installation.

In a nutshell: As you wait for the elevators you can see in the mirror all these letters falling around you. And as you move into the letters, they bounce up and float around. Very cool.

I'm not sure my edited version is any more interesting than the off-angle original. It's blurry and out of focus and tilted and just odd. And yet I sort of like it.

A Day at the Baltimore Aquarium ...

2012-02-21T12:36:00.000Z

Had a brief conversation with a man about just how good it would be to eat this guy. We both agreed frying is best.

Spent a couple of hours Saturday at the Baltimore Aquarium. I have to admit that aquarium's strike me very slightly like zoos — I'm not a huge fan, but I was impressed. The place is beautiful.

Jellyfish: Simultaneously icky, angelic and ethereal.

The thing which stands out is not the actual aquarium or fish, but the reactions of all the kids. The "Oooohs" an "Wows" just bounce around nonstop, and listening to kids be amazed or enthralled or happy to be learning is a ridiculously positive experience. It's completely familiar, and it reminded me of being a kid and my own parents taking me to the zoo or Discovery Center or anywhere they thought might get me more interested in the world.

This takes me back to childhood.

I'm sort of opposed to zoos, at least in part because I think they're boring and seeing animals in captivity is depressing. Aquariums are different I guess, seeing as most fish have a brain the size of ... a fish brain. Which I'm assuming is small and mostly used for swimming in circles.

I walked away pretty amazed and happy. The aquarium is beautiful and an experience unto itself, but somehow just being around a bunch of kids who were enthralled by something new was a positive and infectious vibe. I don't have kids and am probably set on trips to the aquarium for the next decade, but something about the experience really did stick with me.

Pictures of drinks ...

2012-02-20T14:41:00.000Z

It occurred to me this weekend that I have a lot of photos of drinks on my phone, and no idea what they are or where I ordered them. This one does look tasty, however.

See this crappy motel? ...

2012-02-16T12:35:00.000Z

... This is kind of how I feel this morning. I'm tired. Tried to go to the gym and I think I survived 17 minutes.

I Hate Advertising ...

2012-02-14T12:23:00.000Z

Random thoughts. No answers. Not even a good idea in this post.

I signed up for Spotify Premium last week, which in a nutshell means renting all the music you want, ad-free, for $10/month. This is the model of the future (or perhaps more accurately, the present). Spread across three different computers I have thousands of mp3s, but I haven't used iTunes in months. I've used a mix of Pandora and Spotify, and quickly that's changing to just Spotify.

I really hate ads. I mute commercials and use an ad blocker and skip previews, so ad-free music is my ideal. But I started wondering if this model would work for other mediums. Netflix is basically the same thing, just with a smaller catalog of media (and I ditched Netflix months ago). So how much would it be worth to have instant access to virtually all video media (TV and movies)?

Assuming I could ditch cable with such a service, I'd guess around $100/month. Cable already runs what, like $70 or so? Hmm ... Sure, I guess I'd like to pay $100/month for all my media but such a service would probably be more expensive.

So in my head I've got this perfect service. Like Netflix and Spotify had a crazy love child and it serves up virtually every TV show and movie and song ever made. And for this I pay a monthly fee and consume all the media I could ever want, and do it ad free.

Doesn't work.

What happens to advertising? I just destroyed an entire industry. And how do I find out about new movies and television shows if I consume in a bubble?

I don't have an answer because on some level I might actually like the bubble. I'd watch a lot of Northern Exposure and X Files reruns, finally finish 24 and give Twin Peaks one last shot. But I have a hunch I'm not anyone's ideal consumer.

I've got no answers. Online news outlets have already faced this and failed to make it work. People want their news free, though I'd happily pay. The New York Times put up a pay wall so porous that it was never intended to be a real wall. What does Spotify really offer? Is it convenience or legitimacy or ...

I got nothing. But it turns out Bob Dylan once did a Christmas album, and it was not good. I didn't know that before this morning.

It's 24 degrees right now ...

2012-02-13T12:17:00.000Z

... But when I woke up yesterday it was 75 degrees and the world outside looked like this. Something has gone wrong.

Spent two days in Nassau doing nothing. Drank a lot of local beer and stared at the ocean and not a whole lot more. We ate a lot of conch fritters and had two surprisingly good meals, including finding an Italian joint that did a great osso bucco -- not what I was expecting to eat in the Caribbean, and yet it was actually fantastic.

The photo is from the hotel balcony, and on the last morning I sat out there and wished I could find a way to make this view permanent. I didn't come up with much.

Back home I watched a Walking Dead marathon and then caught Episode 1 of Comic Book Men, which was surprisingly hilarious (though perhaps that's to be expected when it looks like every person on the show is very stoned from opening credits to the end).

I'm on vacation ...

2012-02-09T23:53:00.002Z

... Back on Monday.

Unless ...

35 cents, the Global Economy and a Harmonica ...

2012-02-07T11:27:00.000Z

During last year's family trip to the beach we hit, as always, the arcade for an afternoon of Skee-ball and Whack-a-Mole and any other hyphenated game that would spit out worthless tickets you could redeem for buckets of crap.

This is, of course, 100% awesome.

Redeeming tickets is a tough art, because you're forced to choose between items which are simultaneously virtually-worthless and almost certainly not going to perform as intended. The harmonica above, for instance, doesn't make any sound resembling music. And yet these decisions can take a long time to make; when every choice is likely a poor one, you really have to work hard.

For no real reason, I was curious about how much these little trinkets actually cost (does this qualify as "intellectual curiosity" or is it just "boredom?"). A web search for "Rhode Island Novelty" led me to a web site that sells the crap that they give out in arcades and dentists offices.

Rhode Island Novelty actually sells several harmonicas, but I believe this one sells for 35 cents. For $4.20 you can get a dozen harmonicas and outfit an entire band that will make no music you want to hear. It's genius. They may as well have left the box empty.

What's the point of all this?

It's mind-boggling to me that you can produce an item in China, screen print a box for it, package it up and ship it to the United States for THIRTY FIVE CENTS.

Yes, I generally understand wholesale pricing, economies of scale and how it's a non-negligible benefit to pay your workers close to $0/hour. But at the end of the day that harmonica cost THIRTY FIVE CENTS. If I walk into the grocery store next door I'm not sure I can actually walk out with a single piece of food for that price.

All that nonsense aside, I love the box the harmonica came in. So ... well, so weird. Apparently this harmonica is not intended for musically-inclined pumpkins three years-old or younger.

Monday Morning Crap ...

2012-02-06T12:47:00.000Z

Monday. Monday Monday Monday. Monday Monday. Monday. Damnit.

Heading back from Atlantic City ...

2012-02-05T18:05:00.001Z

... a serene weekend staring at the shore. Or something like that

Whoa. Weird. ...

2012-02-04T12:11:00.000Z

Yup. Title says it all ...

My Commute, Part II ...

2012-02-03T13:24:00.000Z

On the bus, heading north on 16th St. NW.

Groundhog Day (DC style) ...

2012-02-02T15:13:00.000Z

Well, it's Feb. 2, which means it's Groundhog Day. That's more or less irrelevant when "winter" seems to mean temperatures in the 50s, 60s and maybe even the occasional 70. But fake-winter or not, the good folks over at Dupont Festival this year decided to hold a Groundhog Day festival of their own, a couple of hours after the more famous event in Punxsutawney.

Pennsylvania had Punxsutawney Phil and now D.C. has Potomac Phil.

I've actually been to the event in Punxsutawney, many years ago. Thousands of people show up absurdly early in the freezing cold, huddled in blankets, sipping whiskey to stay warm and reveling in the absurdity of it all. It's a fun, absurd, whimsical, silly event.

Washington, D.C.'s version?

I'd like to see it work and grow, just because absurd and whimsical are things we need more of. But the event this morning went off without a live groundhog — which at first glance seemed pretty silly, on second thought seemed downright awful, but wound up being fantastic for all the right reasons.

D.C. takes itself seriously. D.C. press also take themselves seriously. And as the crowds began growing ("We've got almost 20 people here now!" someone announced), the media went into full media-circus mode. People were interviewed. Photographers took photos of children and stuffed groundhogs. Other photographers took photos of photographers shooting the stuffed groundhog. Heard among the TV affiliates and photojournalists:

"I can't believe we're here."

"Let's try not to give away the money shot." (Meaning the stuffed rodent)

"This is like a circus."
"It's a slow news day."

It was a microcosm of event journalism, playing out during the morning Dupont commute in front of a stuffed rodent. Woodchuck. Whistle-pig. Land-beaver. Whatever.

And of course, no event in any way associated with any animal is complete unless PETA shows up to protest. Which really, in this case, is even more absurd than the original event.

Fantastic.

My Commute, Part I ...

2012-02-02T12:02:00.000Z

Up from the bowels of Metro, and into the office desolation that is Rosslyn.

Strange cheese pricing ...

2012-02-01T12:00:00.000Z

We were over at Ardeo-Bardeo the other night, and this was their cheese list. As-written, this list doesn't make a lot of sense. You order 1 cheese or 4, right?

I do like a lot about that restaurant though. Amazing Brussels sprouts, good looking bar ... somehow though it always looks like a movie set though. Like it's not quite real. I sort of like that.

I remember, years ago, way back, when Bardeo served pate instead of butter with the bread. So damn good. And for a while there was a great black rice-stuffed pepper on the menu, but it's tough to sell squid ink. Alas.

Books ...

2012-01-31T11:19:00.008Z

My bathroom reading stack.

When I turned 12 years-old, my mother took me to get a library card. It was important, she told me.

Books were important — not just the stories or words but the physical books themselves. They represented something larger that just entertainment or knowledge; books were something to be respected.

Most of that is still true, except for the physical item part. With most of my reading these days now done on a computer, phone or e-reader, the physical aspect of holding a book and turning pages has changed forever. The way we consume books has changed, and now looks a lot more like how we watch television or listen to music.

Bedside table stack.

When you consider that the same device you use to read a book now also plays television shows and movies and games and the new Jay-Z album, I have to think the significance of books is changing. I remember being raised to believe that reading was an intellectual form of entertainment while TV was mindless. But they don't see so separate anymore, not quite so distinct.

The Weekend ...

2012-01-30T11:16:00.000Z

Spent Friday night in Cleveland Park, which of course means a stop in at Ireland's 4Ps -- because that's the name of the bar, no matter what they're calling it these days.

The place has been around since 1976 but was supposed to be shuttered last November due to a rent increase. Apparently they've extended their lease on life for a while and reportedly will be around until April. So there's still time for a few more Guinness and cheesy-but-perfect bar music.

Checked out Shake Shack for the first time on Saturday. The meal was all that I'd ever imagined or hoped. ... I think I may have eaten too much this weekend.

I don't get it ...

2012-01-29T21:51:00.000Z

I must be the only person on the planet to think Showtime's "Homeland" is a boring, ham-fisted, awkward and unbelievable show. Everyone seems to love it, and I just ... disagree.

"Homeland" is not as good as you think it is.

Barely a photograph ...

2012-01-28T01:00:00.000Z

This monstrosity is barely a photograph. So much editing, so much toying with it ... One of those situations where you want to make something good, so much that you wind up turning out a big steaming pile of nonsense.

There are headlights and cars removed, a construction crane gone, the sky jacked up ... Yeah.

I once had a background in photojournalism. Now I apparently try to paint using a Nikon and PhotoShop. No bueno.

Early mornings wandering downtown ...

2012-01-27T12:58:00.000Z

Bah. Not much of a photo. Should have saved it for a Monday, but since I missed "Monday Morning Crap" this week, here's a late entry.

Skee Ball ...

2012-01-26T14:34:00.000Z

Shades of childhood: Grimy arcades, worthless tickets, neon lights and a little hand-eye coordination.

How did this blog have no "childhood" label yet?

Unsure how I feel about spelling "skee ball."

Skee-ball.
Skee ball.
Skeeball.
Skee Ball.
Skee-Ball.

Probably doesn't matter, but can I get an AP style check on this?

Early morning at the Washington Monument ...

2012-01-25T22:50:00.000Z

Woke up at 5 a.m. yesterday, and took the S2 bus down 16th St. to K St. Basically my morning commute (half of it, anyway), only three hours early. But instead of finding empty buses, I was reminded of just how many different worlds there are in D.C.

The S2 was still at least half full, even before 6 a.m. And it still dropped off most people at K St., though none of them were wearing suits or carrying leather bags. These were the people who work in the restaurants and coffee shops that would be filled with lawyers and lobbyists later in the day. It reminded me of making the same kinds of trips years ago — late-night buses back from waiting tables; walking a couple of miles because it was cheaper than a metro ride.

I got off at K St., and walked down to the National Mall. It had been forever since I got up early to shoot some photographs, and so I decided to go with the simplest, most phallic symbol in the city. It's hard to mess up photos the Washington Monument.

When I got there, the lights were still illuminating the monument. I didn't realize it at the time, but the lights didn't work with the long exposure times I was using (4, 8 and 10 seconds think). So the first half of my photos were blown out and useless.

It felt good to be out shooting again. I like the photos, though none are amazing. I can improve on all of them. But just breaking that morning routine, being productive, out moving around, stealing moments between sleep and work to do something personal made it all worthwhile.

An early morning ...

2012-01-25T10:20:00.000Z

Awake now, at 5:16 a.m. Coffee.

Usually my alarm sounds around this time but I go back to sleep. This morning I'm heading to the National Mall, for a little pre-dawn photo session with the Washington Monument. No real reason why, but it feels good and it's been forever since I went somewhere specifically to shoot photos.

Ok, 5:18 a.m. doesn't actually feel good. That's probably never going to happen.

Sunrise at 7:19 a.m. I'll post the photographs tomorrow.

Lost key ...

2012-01-24T12:23:00.000Z

So simple and familiar, yet completely anonymous.

A Sanctuary & The Fear

2012-01-24T12:21:00.000Z

I played pool the other day, a strange match against a guy who is better than me. On the way home I walked by the flower shop on 18th St., and was surprised at how peaceful and inviting it seemed inside.

That was the "Sanctuary" part. As for the fear ... I've said before that pool doesn't mean much — but it can say a lot — and the match the other day was a good example. I got ahead 4-0 in a race to 5, and that's when the fear kicks in.

I don't mind playing better players — I prefer it, in fact. You've got nothing to lose because you're not supposed to win. And so it's possible, easy, even, to just come out swinging, stay loose and hope for the best. But once you get a lead, that changes.

This isn't the first time. I'm always at my most nervous when I'm ahead 4-0. Because once you get to that point, where you only need one game to win a match, that's when you're supposed to win. Doesn't matter anymore who your opponent is, or how good they are. Once you just need one game, and they need several, you're supposed to win. And that's what scares me.

So I got ahead 4-0 the other day and came to a wide-open nine-ball table. Shooting on the three, there was this ridiculous, improbably-difficult combination I could play to try and make the nine and win it right there. But it was a silly shot, such a low-percentage that it wasn't worth considering.

I shot it anyway. Missed it, of course, and I could feel it then. The other guy knew it too. I was afraid of him. I tried to end the match quickly, impossibly, because I was afraid I couldn't do it any other way.

I lost that game but won the next, winning 5-1. Afterwards, when it seemed no one wanted the table, my opponent said to me "let's just play for some action, until someone needs the table. You name the stakes."

He was angry, convinced he was better than me, convinced, perhaps correctly, that my win was a fluke. I didn't play him. He knew I was afraid, and I knew it too.

A week ago today ...

2012-01-19T12:50:00.000Z

... we were catching a flight to San Francisco.

I feel like I have vacation hangover or something. Photo is from the Seghesio winery, the first place we stopped in Sonoma.

Came back to this ...

2012-01-18T12:59:00.000Z

Sigh. After about a week on the West Coast, where the weather flitted between "perfect" and "so freakishly perfect that global warming is the only answer," this was the scene on the way back -- chilly, rainy, nasty. Alas.

Always tough to come home.

Flipping through my photos of the past week, I don't have a lot. So let me just say that the trip was a complete success: Amazing food, wine, good times with friends, gorgeous scenery, stunning weather, a Ravens win, more wine, more food, more wine ...

Perfect trip, the kind that makes it so hard to come home and face reality.

Seriously contemplating some time on the West Coast.

Back from California ...

2012-01-17T12:49:00.000Z

Got back home last night after a full day of travelling -- up before 5 a.m. to drive back to San Francisco for the cross country flight. It was dark most of the way to the airport, but as we crossed the Bay Bridge you could see this perfect orange light reflecting off ships below.

Tough to come home after a week of wandering (and perhaps doubly so, given how beautiful the West Coast was).

It was raining when we landed. Figures.

Three more from the West Coast ...

2012-01-16T05:32:00.000Z

Heading back home tomorrow morning. Pretty reluctantly. It's been an amazing trip.

San Francisco ...

2012-01-13T16:22:00.000Z

3 Lamps ...

2012-01-12T16:58:00.000Z

... In a San Francisco bathroom.

Woman In Gallery ...

2012-01-10T11:55:00.000Z

I've been up since 4 a.m. There's no other explanation for this image.

Actually, I guess there is: I took a snapshot in the Hirshorn Museum and then ran it through a bunch of PhotoShop filters while under the influence of insomnia. This is the result.

Ah, insomnia.

On the other hand, I actually got some work done. Ordered some photos and matting supplies. Drank coffee. Drank more coffee.

Limited productivity. Today is going to be rough.

UFO between D.C. and Baltimore ...

2012-01-06T13:41:00.000Z

Note the saucer-shaped object above the treeline, lower right side of the image. Shot New Year's Day, heading back from a party.

Washington, D.C. ...

2012-01-05T12:38:00.000Z

The other night I sat on the couch and watched caucus returns in Iowa.

I watched MSNBC, which sounded a lot like ESPN -- strategy, good graphics, commentators all weighing in, conventional wisdom repeated over and over. A lot of hypothesizing as to story lines and goals and outcomes.

No idea who their target audience was. I don't think I understand politics.

A Rubber Ball ...

2012-01-04T12:58:00.001Z

I really like this piece, in the Hirshhorn Museum's permanent collection.

The piece (art, phrase, words, installation?) is by Lawrence Weiner, a significant figure in the conceptual art of the 1960s. I like the basic question that seems implied: If the artist, through a few words, can make the viewer imagine an object then do you really need to see it? Is the art those seven words, or is it the image or idea?

Tacos for lunch, at Oyamel, topped off with gin and tonics. Pretty good way to start the year.

Cranes ...

2012-01-03T10:52:00.001Z

A while back I heard this terrible joke about how cranes are the unofficial bird of Washington, D.C.

That's all.

Monday Morning Crap (except I kind of like it) ...

2012-01-02T13:28:00.000Z

I kind of like this. Not a lot, but a little.

2012 ...

2012-01-01T13:17:00.003Z

So this is it. A new year. 2011 is gone with a simple flip of the calendar, and we're on to 2012.

I realize this is significant to no one but myself, but last month I made a blog post every day. Perhaps, just maybe, something is coming back.

In 2006 I published a book. I hesitate to call it a "book" because in my mind there are certain things wrapped up in the idea of a book -- traditionally, before the intarwebz and inexpensive printers and the e-readers, "books" were things that you submitted to a publisher and they accepted and printed.

In the 80s there were "vanity press" publishers who print your work if you paid them.

These days, anyone with a cheap computer and a few thousand words can print a book. Which is a good thing, to be sure. And yet for my own purposes, mired in my own self loathing at times, I balk at calling it a "book." To say "I wrote a book" sounds pretentious, perhaps, and doubly so if you printed it yourself.

And yet the project is one of my favorites. It doesn't necessarily represent me anymore; there are things I would change now. But at the time, it was perfect, my best effort, and it represented what I wanted to say exactly.

Shortly after the book, I hit a lull. A long lull.

There was a series of postcards around 2008, I think, but after that I didn't write much or shoot much. Three years of creative silence, almost. I don't really care if my shit is *good* or not, I just care that I'm making it. And for three years, I didn't.

But something is changing these last months. I can feel that urge to make something returning, and I care less and less about what other people think of the work. That's the key, I think. You've got to either be fearless or not care -- and since fearless is really tough, and not caring gets you to the same place, I'll take what I can get.

So this is it. My resolution for the New Year. Make some shit. Good or bad. Doesn't matter. Just make it.

From "The Book: ...

1.

In a field full of swarming
though not stinging
bees
I am playing croquet

I do not know the rules
and have never played before
not really
save a game on someone's lawn
as a child

The person in front of me scores
three points somehow

Soon it will be my turn

Theoretical Art (the porn edition) ...

2011-12-31T16:54:00.000Z

Two theoretical artworks -- things I probably won't make, but think would work...

1. String a series of porn images together into a slide show, and scroll through them so fast the conscious eye cannot comprehend them. They blur together into a moving, frantic image that is projected onto a wall.

2. Take stills from porn films, and then make a shoebox dioramas imitating them.

Both of these ideas seem great to me. As to what they projects say, well ... no idea.

Off today ...

2011-12-30T14:41:00.000Z

Took today off, burning the last of my PTO this year. Four day weekend ahead: concert, museums, NYE ... should be good. It's sad, really, how excited I get over long weekends. It really shouldn't be that difficult or rare to take time off, but it always seems so.

Crappy photo, but a gorgeous morning.

Miami to Key West ...

2011-12-29T12:24:00.016Z

Been forever since I was in Key West, but a trip down may be in the works. Fly to Miami and then drive south a few hours, across miles of bridges and gorgeous water. ...

Key West itself, well ... I haven't been there in years. A decade, or maybe a little more. When I was there last it was an odd place: part caricature of its past, part spring break, part .... maybe that's it. I'd love to visit circa 1972, say, before Key West was what it is now, back when it was a spot on the edge of things, a refuge for weirdness and artists and maybe anyone who just didn't fit.

Or maybe that's just how I think of it. If nothing else, the entire trip is worth the drive. One direction, straight ahead, blue to either side, don't stop, just watch the water and the sky and US 1. You stare out the window if you can forget the car suddenly it's all blue, on all sides and above.

I have an image of this perfect bar. It doesn't exist, just a place in my mind off the road in some small key. The back of the bar is open, faces the water. The inside is dark, a breeze blows through and you can faintly here the traffic on US 1 across the way. The drinks are all simple, the bartender is bored, and everyone is looking to escape the madness just a few miles to the north.

A Brief Political Thought ...

2011-12-28T11:48:00.000Z

I realize in these nasty political times of ours (or perhaps politics is always nasty), the idea that our representatives don't really represent us — they don't look like most Americans, don't understand most Americans' daily struggles — I realize this is not a new thought. But a story circulating yesterday laid it out in bluntly:

New York Times on the net worth of our representatives:

"Congress has never been a place for paupers. From plantation owners in the pre-Civil War era to industrialists in the early 1900s to ex-Wall Street financiers and Internet executives today, it has long been populated with the rich, including scions of families like the Guggenheims, Hearsts, Kennedys and Rockefellers.

But rarely has the divide appeared so wide, or the public contrast so stark, between lawmakers and those they represent."

And then this, from the same piece:

"What is clear is that members of Congress are getting richer compared not only with the average American worker, but also with other very rich Americans.

While the median net worth of members of Congress jumped 15 percent from 2004 to 2010, the net worth of the richest 10 percent of Americans remained essentially flat. For all Americans, median net worth dropped 8 percent, based on inflation-adjusted data from Moody’s Analytics.

Going back further, the median wealth of House members grew some two and a half times between 1984 and 2009 in inflation-adjusted dollars, while the wealth of the average American family has actually declined slightly in that same time period, according to data cited by The Washington Post in an article published Monday on its Web site.

With millionaire status now the norm, the rarefied air in the Capitol these days is $100 million. That lofty level appears to have been surpassed by at least 10 members, led by Representative Darrell Issa, a California Republican and former auto alarm magnate who is worth somewhere between $195 million and $700 million. (Because federal law requires lawmakers to disclose their assets only in broad dollar ranges, more precise estimates are impossible.)"

I like this piece. It's just numbers, and those numbers tell an important truth. I don't think anyone is arguing that we need to elect plumbers and cashiers and teachers and truckers to Congress (though it's not a completely bad idea, imagine the legislation we'd get). But the simple truth is, being elected to Congress is worth a lot of money.

Lawmakers are growing very wealthy representing the interests of people struggling to make it day-to-day. How is that possible, if Congress fairly represents the people who elect them?

A Christmas Eve Mystery ...

2011-12-27T12:36:00.000Z

I believe it wound up being Miss Scarlett, with the Knife in the Kitchen.

Christmas Eve was board games and drinks at Bedrock Billiards, music at Madams Organ and falafel and fries at Amsterdam.

Love the holidays.

Monday Morning Crap, the Airplane Edition ...

2011-12-26T12:15:00.001Z

Don't do this. It's bad.

For Christmas ...

2011-12-25T14:35:00.000Z

I give you not ONE boring photo, but FOUR. It's a Christmas miracle.

My morning coffee. Espresso cup is from Ecuador.

Rock Creek Park, walking home after dinner.

Louisville bar. Decent brisket.

Garage Bar in Louisville. Very cool place.

Take a Chance (on color) ...

2011-12-24T12:04:00.004Z

Something about it ... I dunno.

I want to like it more.

Winning and Warehouses ...

2011-12-23T13:37:00.004Z

Won at pool the other night. League. Tuesday nights.

It means what you make of it, and the vast majority of people don't make much of it — which, to their credit, is good. It's an escape. Everything else means more, and an 8-ball league is a way to just leave it all behind.

For me, it's different. I need these things to mean something, and so they do. My hands shake and my heartbeat rises. I was a fencer for 10 years and I played poker for rent money, and my hands still shake when I play Tuesday league.

They shake and I get nervous and sometimes you still make the shot and you wonder what it means. And maybe it means nothing, but at least it tells you something.

The warehouses were at Wild Turkey distillery, outside Louisville.

A Visit to Wild Turkey ...

2011-12-22T12:40:00.000Z

Visited the Wild Turkey bourbon distillery outside Louisville over the weekend. It's a huge operation, certainly not a small place doing craft bourbons and lots of single-barrel stuff. And in a way, it was more interesting to see how one of the country's largest bourbon makers can turn out millions of bottles from a relatively small geographic footprint.

Don't get me wrong — Wild Turkey takes up a lot of acreage. But the fermentation vats are relatively compact and a lot of space is allocated to warehousing barrels.

They recently (last year, I think) built a new distillery and are in the process of dismantling the older one. The guide warned us, "it's an eyesore right now." I must be one of the only people who think things like this (basically urban decay, even if this was decidedly not "urban") are beautiful.

You Might Still See Them in the Dessert ...

2011-12-21T12:17:00.000Z

Actually, these clouds are neither little, nor fluffy. And you would not find them in an ice cream sundae, which for some reason is the odd thought stuck in my head right now.

Is it too early for non sequiturs and bad word jokes?

Possibly.

Did Steve Jobs Fake His Death? ...

2011-12-21T08:19:00.001Z

Siri doesn't even search for the information, but brings up other dates of death with no problem.

Serious Illuminati-style clues ...

Self Portrait #9,110 ...

2011-12-20T12:10:00.001Z

Stayed at the 21C Museum-Hotel in Louisville over the weekend. It's definitely the most interesting hotel I've ever stayed in -- the entire hotel doubles as a museum, open to the public 24-7. There are pieces of art tucked into unexpected areas, and entire galleries on the bottom floors.

The spaces in front of elevators each have installations, like this one where your image is projected onto a screen, surrounded by falling letters which will bounce off of you.

Tough to explain. Pretty amazing place.

Take a Chance ..

2011-12-20T12:03:00.000Z

This is one of those photos that could wind up being an "Almost" -- where you're certain there was a really good picture to be made, and yet it just didn't happen.

I shot a bunch of this with my iPhone, and then came back the next day and shot with the SLR. I'm not entirely happy with this version, and will probably wind up posting more in the next week. There's a color version I like, and the composition here seems off to me.

The problem is making the "Take a Chance" window the center — unless you can really balance it out, putting your main focus in the middle of the image is tricky.

After I shot this, I started to wondering about the missing "A" -- was it painted there, and then the window was broken, or was it never there? On closer inspection, I think the words were written around the broken pane. Just a hunch, and it doesn't really matter.

Back from Louisville ...

2011-12-19T11:42:00.000Z

It was a perfect trip. I'm not saying I want to live in Louisville, but really, I thought it was a nice city. Friendly, helpful, good food, lots of bourbon, not too expensive. I'd definitely go back for another weekend.

Short story project (aka, making something physical) ...

2011-12-18T10:12:00.002Z

It's been too long since I made something. I mean, something physical -- blog posts, these anyway, aren't cutting it.

So I've got a couple of pieces of short fiction that I like. And my plan is to print and distribute about 1,000 copies. I have a lot of editing to do, and the cover is just the beginnings of an idea. But I like the basic thought. I want to go dark (both pieces are), sort of a noir-ish magazine cover look. It will be small, probably less than 30 pages. Saddle-stitched or stapled. A short story pamphlet?

Except I have no real design skills and no graphic/illustrator skills. So, we'll see. That's not the image I'll use, but it does sort of match up with the overall feel I want.

Smoke and Barrel ...

2011-12-17T18:53:00.003Z

I finally got over to Smoke and Barrel in Adams Morgan. Ordered ribs, pulled pork and brisket. The bourbon was my favorite part of the evening. Bar is gorgeous.

A Tree ...

2011-12-16T06:40:00.000Z

Heading to Louisville today. Looking forward to a few days with nothing to do.

Overheard ...

2011-12-15T18:17:00.002Z

Walking down Kalorama, I passed a woman in blue-tinted sunglasses talking to a man in an orange safety vest.

Woman: "And that turned out to be the love of her life."

Continuing as the World's Greatest Pet Portraitist ...

2011-12-15T14:17:00.000Z

Poignant. A quiet moment, just before going hay.*

*Hard as a Yorkiepoo.

Post No Bills ...

2011-12-14T14:10:00.000Z

This photo reminds me of something I shot a long time ago. I was covering a marathon in Columbia, S.C., and came back with a shot of a runner stretching in front of a construction wall that was covered in signs that said "Post No Bills."

It was raining and the runner was anonymous, covered in a blue hooded sweatshirt. The overcast day gave everything a very rich, saturated feel.

When I got back to the newsroom and started processing, the other photographer working that day said he really liked the photo. In fact he asked the sports editor to make it the lead, dropping his own stuff to secondary, and asked me for a copy of the photo.

Later I told this story to another photographer working for the paper. She looked at the photo and said, "I like it, but I wouldn't hang it on my wall."

There you go.

I've Made a Huge Small Mistake ...

2011-12-13T11:30:00.000Z

I cleaned my apartment last week. And now I can't find anything. Stacks of photographs, books, random crap, cans of pens ... gone. On the plus side, the apartment looks bigger and a little brighter (which is saying something, considering it's a dark, first-floor studio). But how do you lose that much stuff in an apartment with one room?

I remember as a kid, my bedroom would be a giant mess. And I'd always swear to my parents that I could find anything in the jumbles of clothing and stacks of books. But now, as an adult ... it's the same. If I clean, it's gone; if I leave the place a mess, I can follow a path of crap to find what it is I'm looking for.

Photo is from Little Miss Whiskey's.

Monday Morning Crap - UFO edition? ...

2011-12-12T11:06:00.001Z

I was walking down 18th St. when I felt a mild vibration in the air. Looked up and saw this hovering in the sky ...

... or, it's a contrasted-out elevator button.

Heading to Louisville on Friday for a few days of bourbon, BBQ and hotel living. Sounds pretty awesome.

Portrait Gallery ...

2011-12-11T10:37:00.000Z

... was beautiful, as always.

Favorite #15 ...

2011-12-10T12:49:00.000Z

I'd do it a little differently these days, and I'd like to think it would be better as well. But I do like this photo of the Dupont Circle fountain. I like the way the light bleeds through the background, and the dry fountain base, and the way the guy is leaning as he sits in the background.

A free day in D.C. ...

2011-12-09T12:46:00.003Z

I took today off from work, using up some vacation days. No other reason, nothing specific, no real plans. Love days like this, when everyone else is working and it's just me and the city. Mine to do with as I choose.

All the little spots you take for granted, this is the day to visit. You can waste it, you can abuse it, you can savor it, you can squander it, you can fill it with great things or sleep it away. A full day to just be me in D.C.? That's pretty amazing.

So, my pseudo non-plan for the day:

Watch the New York Times documentary, "Page One," sitting on the couch in a bathrobe.
Head over to Tryst in Adams Morgan, to read and drink coffee and people watch.
Harass friends who are working today.
Check out the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery.
Pool at Bedrock Billiards.
Dinner ... perhaps Churreria Madrid?
Futurebirds, playing at Rock and Roll Hotel.
Drinks on H Street.

Sounds like a damn fine day to me.

In/Out (burger?) ...

2011-12-08T11:38:00.000Z

I had dinner last night at Cedar, and I have to say I was pleasantly surprised. It's a downstairs space, and I'm always wary of those -- first, they seem so dark. And second, if you choose to put your restaurant in a basement I guess I start wondering about what other choices you're making.

That said, dinner was actually very good. The space is cozy and attractive. Service was solid, knowledgeable. A braised pork appetizer was pretty dry, but the duck breast was phenomenal. I'd have eaten another plate of it.

Yesterday was a rainy, bastard of a day. The kind of day that can suck your soul out of you. Gray and wet and colorless.

Hotels ...

2011-12-07T12:46:00.000Z

I thought I had already posted this photograph, but apparently not. Sam's Corner, in Garden City, S.C. I once ate four foot-long corn dogs here. And then played some killer skee-ball.

The New York Times recently ran this story on hotels. I love it. I have a friend that hated it for some reason I didn't understand, but I love this article. It's about love for hotels, and the other world and Other Us they seem to represent and bring out.

Sometimes I imagine there's a director's cut of Lost in Translation, where Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson never leave the hotel.

Soundtrack for my life?

2011-12-06T13:17:00.000Z

Over the weekend, I stumbled on this web site that provides royalty-free music. It's oddly fascinating. I don't need any music for commercial purposes, but it's still fun to listen through stuff.

Anyway, I decided that in the movie of my life this would be a good montage song. Is this my soundtrack?

One More of The Wall ...

2011-12-05T11:52:00.000Z

Not much to add here.

Speed Rack ...

2011-12-05T11:50:00.000Z

Spent yesterday afternoon at the Speed Rack event, at Jack Rose. Drank a lot of cool cocktails and watched some awesome bartenders do their thing (quickly). Great weekend all around.

A character - Stephen and Judith ...

2011-12-04T13:52:00.000Z

Stephen played pool well enough, but not good enough, and had the easy talking manner of an ex con, which he was, having done six years in lockup for three offenses. His longest stint was four years for assault on an ex girlfriend, but that was back in 1985, a mean time in the middle of the Reagan years when there was more space in prisons. These days he’d do six months.

He was tall, a bit over six feet, with a short scraggly beard and too-long blue jeans rolled up, where he tucked a pack of cigarettes.

“Play for a beer?” he’d say. But he’d say it in a way that sounded fun, and after all, it was just the one beer. Except he could never pay up if he lost -- which he did from time to time. But even then he was forgiven. He was Stephen . Everyone loved Stephen, except when he was too drunk and then he'd get kicked out, stagger out and drive to Judith's trailer.

When Judith started coming to Angles poolhall, in February, there was a still a little snow on the ground. It was a cold winter, for South Carolina.

Judith was a mess. Her phone would ring and occasionally she would answer it screaming at her husband. She lived in a trailer out towards Gilbertsville, while her husband lived in town with her son. Her son, not his. She had all of her teeth pulled. She came into the bar wearing a purple surgical mask. “The dentist know how I love purple," she said.

She told everyone she had her teeth pulled "because I never liked the way they looked."

Dinner at Cashions, Adams Morgan, Places That Stick ...

2011-12-03T15:38:00.001Z

Dinner at Cashions last night - fantastic as always. Right now I'm drinking a Guiness black lager. Not sure how I feel about it. It's a little sour for me. I do love black lagers though.

I've shot photos of this building before - somewhere on this site there's another of it that I really like. Actually, I have a print hanging in the kitchen. Sometimes places stick with you.

Invented a new word ...

2011-12-02T15:26:00.000Z

"Rambabbling." For when I go on and on, rambling and babbling about nonsense.

Six or Seven Days ...

2011-12-01T15:46:00.000Z

... Nothing to do with shoe repair.

I've been slowly reading Bukowski's "Women," though I don't particularly like it. Not compared to "Ham on Rye," and definitely not compared to "Pulp," which was pure genius and then some more genius. This book, "Women," it just seems a little too repetitive -- and then I drank more wine and then I had sex with this woman and then I drank more and then this other woman called ...

I think it's the lack of a plot, direction, that bothers me. It's certainly not the wine and women. But yeah, it all feels a little repetitive.

And then this morning, on the bus to work, I read this line and I loved it. It's absurd and true and that's what makes it stand out. Earlier in the book, a woman coming to visit asks if she'll be distracting him from writing. And he tells her, Definitely not. It's a sickness, and he can't stop, even if he wanted to.

And then I read this ...

"I haven't been writing. I think it's over for me."
"How long has it been?"
"Six or seven days."

Self Portrait #4,012 ...

2011-11-29T11:16:00.000Z

I was in Toronto recently, working, and in the hallway of my hotel there was an amazing mirror.

I'm not entirely sure what made the mirror so fantastic, but it was. Probably the open space it was in, and the way its shape mimicked a wide screen, movie shot. It was all hard lines and open space with a power outlet below.

The photo doesn't do it justice. There was something weird about this mirror. Something great.

Woke up at 5:30 a.m. I need to get to the gym. Lot of stuff to do today.

Random thoughts:

I want to go to San Juan;
Still loving this mashup;
Going bourbon tasting in Louisville in a few weeks;
Wednesday night I'm going to try to create something different;
I can't get into Bukowski's "Women;"
This weather is crazy. I miss the cold. It is November, right?

"Insert Soul ..."

2011-11-28T12:20:00.002Z

This would have been so much better if the person had decent handwriting. Still, I love the idea.

Is D.C. Mayor Vincent Gray covering up a UFO crash site?

2011-11-23T11:56:00.000Z

I mean, really ... what else can it be? The intersection of Kalorama and Champlain has been walled off for a week, with crews seemingly there 24 hours a day. Obviously, some sort of alien craft crashed here last weekend and the city is covering up the incident.

No other explanation makes sense.

UC Davis pepper spray incident and an 'intellectual impasse' ...

2011-11-21T11:41:00.000Z

I try not to get political in this blog -- it's mostly about art and food and random crap, and it's largely light-hearted. But I have to post this, even though you've probably already seen it.

Regardless of how you feel about the Occupy protests and the protesters -- maybe you support them, or maybe you see them as aimless and entitled and silly and smelly -- I think it's impossible to watch this video and not be disturbed. (The actual pepper spraying occurs very early in the video).

Campus police deliberately, methodically pepper-spraying peaceful, passive protesters is ugly, vicious stuff. I think it calls into question the role of the police, and just what we expect from them.

The Washington Post has a good column about the incident, and its potential implications here.

I'd like to think this could be some sort of turning point, where outrage peaks and the tide starts to change and as a country we're forced to collectively say "this isn't who we are." But honestly, I'm a bit more cynical. For a lot of people in the U.S., this is what they want to see.

Post critic Phillip Kennicott makes an excellent point in his column:

"Indeed, the disjunction between how the UC-Davis police read this video (they see an officer doing his job) and how many others read this video (they see a man in a uniform causing great and unnecessary pain to unresisting students) indicates that we have reached a kind of intellectual impasse about what kind of police we want and what limits should be placed on their power."\

This is what scares me most, I think. That idea of an "intellectual impasse" over something like this. That many will see this video as entirely appropriate police action.

Monday Morning Construction Crap ...

2011-11-21T11:07:00.000Z

Helped a friend move on Saturday morning -- always a fun thing. As we drove by Union Station we passed some construction that had kicked dust into the air. Everything was shrouded in haze, and I snapped this as we went by.

Random: The new iPhone 4s software update, designed to fix battery life issues, seems to have made mine worse. Way to go, Apple.

Elton John, My Father and Graphical Images

2011-11-19T13:24:00.000Z

Ok, there's no wind. Just the candle. Whatever.

During the trip down to South Carolina, my dad mentioned two things about my photography. Two things which are undeniably true, because he's a smart guy and he knows my work and he tells me true things.

First, he said "you should shoot pictures of people."

Second, he said "you make graphical images."

Both are probably right. I have a background in photojournalism and so taking pictures of people used to come naturally -- I'd shoot first and then get their names, because most of the time it just didn't work the other way around.

But somewhere along the way, I became a bit skittish shooting people. Ironically it was probably around the time I finished the Mount Pleasant Project, which was supposed to be all about people. And a lot of those photos were of people (you can check it out here). But towards the end an odd thing happened: I felt like the camera was actually creating distance between myself and others, and that bothered me and made me hesitant to shoot.

I really like this style of photography though. My father was right, I tend to create (what I hope are strong) graphical images. Lately I amp up the contrast and saturation and these days I'm attracted to squares (which he always said is the most boring shape, but I'm not sure I agree on that one).

Anyway. I like the image above. Candle left on all night was still barely burning this morning. LIKE IT WAS IN THE WIND.

Gotta bring these things full circle, even if they make no sense.

Toronto ...

2011-11-18T11:38:00.000Z

After playing with the new iPhone, I can safely say it does not replace my SLR. Still tempted by the Nikon 1, however.

Monday Morning Crap, November Style ...

2011-11-14T11:06:00.001Z

Headed to Toronto for a couple of days. Work conference.

Dinner at Little Serow ...

2011-11-12T13:30:00.000Z

I had dinner last night at Little Serow, the new Thai restaurant by Komi's Johnny Monis. ...

The food was great, but maybe as much as the food I really liked the space and concept. No choices, $45 pre fixe. No reservations, very simple decor. Unmarked door, which always gives me the "is this the place?" feeling. Service was fun, food was bright and interesting.

I spilled half a glass of wine working on a new pinkie high five (implying that yes, there is an old one). I am not yet an adult, it seems.

Funnel Cakes ...

2011-11-10T12:47:00.000Z

Probably just a couple more from the beach trip. I like the empty stools and the vacant window, despite the vibrant colors and "OPEN" sign.

Stormy beach, with jellyfish ...

2011-11-09T12:46:00.000Z

It was like a jellyfish apocalypse, though in this photo you can only see one.

I finished reading "The Sun Also Rises" yesterday. I was surprised by how sad and lonely the book is, despite all the characters being together and most of the book taking place in a huge festival.

"It has no artistic quality."

2011-11-08T12:53:00.000Z

Washington Post has a story up on "lomography," which basically translates to "using a crappy camera to take an interesting and artistic image." It's what the Hipstamatic and Instagram phone apps (the ones which I either love or hate, depending on the day) strive to replicate.

The Post quotes Alexis Lodsun, a sophomore photography student at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Georgia, as saying: “I use Instagram every day. It has no artistic quality.”

Myrtle Beach hotel, shot last week.

Leaving aside the question of why you'd use something every day which has no artistic quality ... I kind of agree with him. But can it have no artistic quality and still make good or interesting images?

I realize this topic is becoming an obsession with me. I need to stop.

Obsession 2011 ...

2011-11-08T02:24:00.004Z

I shoot this structure every year during my family's annual trip to Myrtle Beach.

You can see past attempts here and also here.

I really like these versions (especially the top image), even though I'm not sure how to feel about the process used to create it.

Conflicted vacation photos ...

2011-11-07T04:22:00.024Z

I'm pretty conflicted over the Hipstamatic camera app, and others like it -- mostly they apply an interesting looking filter to an otherwise uninteresting photo. And because the filter replicates old style and imprecise cameras, the result is somehow ... interesting? Better? Good?

I'm not sure. But I do know that a lot of these images require no thought or intent to create. What you like when you view these is often something the photographer had no part in generating.

But the flip argument - and it's a good one - is that the app and filters are simply new tools. And if those tools help people make good images, then it's really just the final product that counts. On some level that is definitely true, but I've always been obsessed with process and so I remain conflicted.

However, I just got back from Myrtle Beach. I spend a week there every year with the family, and it's place I know well. Invariably I come back wanting to spend a little more time, just shooting photos of the decaying beauty (while also wanting to leave the state as quickly as possible). While it's a certainly a tacky, at times ugly and uncomfortable area, it's also historic with an aging beauty representing changing culture and economic decline.

So here's the thing: The area looks gorgeous when shot with those filters I hate. Because the filters replicate an era, and that era was Myrtle Beach's zenith.

At the end of the day, I like these photographs (and others). Maybe that's enough, I'm not sure. I don't feel total ownership of them, but then again I'm the one who shot them and so I don't know who else you'd credit.

The green 'R' ...

2011-11-06T14:43:00.000Z

A week of bourbon and the beach. We had lunch one day at Prosser's BBQ, an all-you-can-eat buffet place with freakishly good Southern food. Nothing fancy, nothing pretending to be something it wasn't. All locals, real food. Fried chicken, fried flounder, fried shrimp, fried ... everything.

By the door there's a rack for people to put their business cards. Loved that these two were next to each other:

Vacation and Lono ...

2011-10-28T17:37:00.000+01:00

I'll be spending the next week staring at my feet. And if I look past my feet, I'll see the ocean. Basically this position, plus bourbon. And bourbon.

It's the annual family beach trip, where we howl at the moon and curse cars as they pass by and decide once and for all that the Waltons are an odd lot, best either left to themselves or exiled to beach houses where they can do little damage. Our true element may be on the edge of the world, where you only have to watch one direction.

Fittingly - as The Rum Diary comes out tonight - this book just arrived in the mail ...

It's one of Hunter Thompson's odder books, written about his time in Hawaii in the early 80s. The damn thing is huge - I don't think it will fit in my luggage, but I have to try. Otherwise, I'll be reading: The Sun Also Rises, something by Chuck Klosterman and ... that's probably it. We'll see.

I always have lofty reading goals and I usually fail. This does not bother me at all.

Lost ...

2011-10-28T16:32:00.000+01:00

Bulletin board in the laundry room of my building.

Sad scene in Dupont ...

2011-10-26T13:18:00.001+01:00

There is something about this Winnie the Pooh tent being used by the homeless that really hits hard. Maybe it's just the innocent childhood symbol in such a neglected situation. Maybe the no parking signs, or the recycling bins. Maybe it's the guilty, fleeting thought, "as makeshift shelters go, this person is doing pretty well."

But maybe it's one step further, also: Realizing that the only people buying that tent are the ones who will never be homeless themselves.

Bored to Death brilliance ...

2011-10-26T00:27:00.000+01:00

"I try to improve, but it seems easier just to make the same mistake over and over again."

- Bored to Death, Episode 3, Season 3.

How can you not love this show?