Saw a great slide recently, “Privilege: The human version of “works on my machine”.”


Learning by Sarawut Intarob on 500px.com
Learning, by Sarawut Intarob

The American elections continue, with reactionaries on the left and right, worse on the right. Everyone has fallen on the right, except for Trump, who runs on a campaign of divisiveness and scapegoating. The educated, the ones with options, don’t seem to understand why he’s still around, still a force. The language he uses in “debates” consistently register at the fourth grade level, the “solutions” he offers are the equivalent of trying to fix a broken garburator by hitting it with a hammer. How can this man, who seems like a parody of himself, like a satirical rendition of a concept too awful to look straight in the face, be relevant? But that seems the crux of it; options. It’s easy, when you have them, to be blind to the desperation of those who don’t.

You can convince yourself anything is fine if you don’t think you have any other options.

And America’s narrative of money and power? It’s fading, and failing, and sad. Even the tech bubble seems to be slowly deflating. Meanwhile, headlines are painting a larger, bleaker picture. “World’s carbon dioxide concentration teetering on the point of no return; future in which global concentration of CO2 is permanently above 400 parts per million looms.

Yet this is the same world in which Google’s AI is writing post-modern poetry, there is less crime than ever known, and extraordinary art is being created everywhere people go. The world which provided the above photo, which I find tirelessly inspiring. It displays a glimpse of the world I want, a mix of contrasts, varied and rich in experience, with education and tools for all and everyone, no matter their circumstances. Education, tools, and options.

So, wild ones, when you try to talk with those who hold opposing viewpoints, especially those who accept the scapegoat as truth, maybe point them over here: It’s Okay To Be Gray, by GlitchedPuppet and Siderea’s three part explanation and take-down of what’s going on with Trump’s campaign, which I consider essential and file unequivocally under REQUIRED READING – The Two Moral Modes: Part One, The Two Moral Modes: Part Two, The Two Moral Modes: Part Three.

artpost: Monochromatic (the precious unconscious). Did each get a name when finally born?

Excerpted photos from 1931-1955, Doll Factories

via Mashable, via Retronaut.


Jan. 28, 1949. A worker trims the eyelashes on a pair of doll’s eyes.


Dec. 15, 1951. Freshly cast doll legs dry at a factory in England.


c. 1950


1947. Freshly cast doll heads wait to dry.

newspost: photos from the protests in the Ukraine

Business Insider: Ukraine Protest Pictures:

“The crisis began in late November when Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych snubbed a plan to sign an Association Agreement and trade pact with the EU after Russia persuaded the most populous former Soviet republic to stay in the Kremlin’s orbit.

Citizens subsequently flooded the streets and made Independence Square, aka Maidan, their base in central Kiev. The confrontations between the opposition and Yanukovych’s government have been escalating since.

On Wednesday, people poured back into Maidan to prepare for fresh clashes with police. (Here’s a Maidan live stream.)”



An anti-government protester gestures towards riot police during clashes in Independence Square in Kiev February 18, 2014.


Kiev streets have been burning throughout the protests. On Tuesday, the Maidan was particularly alight. Leading to some incredible fireworks admid the violence.


Protesters have used rocks, slingshots, catapults, and Molotov cocktails.
While crude, the mixture of flammable liquid inside the bottle of a Molotov cocktail has proven very effective.


An anti-government protester finds cover during clashes with riot police outside Ukraine’s parliament in Kiev, Ukraine, Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2014.


An aerial view shows Independence Square during clashes between anti-government protesters and Interior Ministry members and riot police in central Kiev February 19, 2014.

artpost: I have stood in both these places

The Ann Street Studio, Seeing New York:

“As a photographer I show you the world through my lens on a daily basis. We all look at New York, she demands our focused attention. I’ve been thinking about the art of looking. The importance of focusing and what we see. This past March I bought a pair of Giorgio Armani frames in Geneva, classic per usual, and I decided to put them in front of the frame. To see what I see.

To show you a day in New York through my lens…”

For more cinegraphs, visit their website Ann Street Studio.

Facebook Friend #19 – Julie Salkowski

Facebook Friend #19 - Julie
Facebook Friend #19 – Julie

Julie is a Montreal based painter, designer, and occasional horticulturist who married one of my best
friends, Michel. We met when I visited for their wedding in 2009 and I have adored her (and their four
cats) ever since. She’s quiet, but don’t be fooled, she’s mischievous, too.

Side note: I took her photo in front of Silo #5, the home of the Silophone.

My Facebook Friends Portrait project began when I hit 1000 friends on Facebook in 2012. The project is on-going and shall continue until I take a portrait of every FB friend I have.

Mike & Karina

Mike & Karina

Smootches!

Untitled

Attacks!

Mike’s girlfriend is a sweet, appealing girl with a fast smile and clever eyes. (He met her while living in Santiago, Chile). She primarily speaks Spanish, which I mostly understand but can no longer speak, while I primarily speak English, which she can read, but not easily comprehend when spoken. We both lack the complex vocabulary. Mike acts as a guide between us, he explains and untangles our words. We all laugh in the right places, though, and manage complex topics like feminism, family structures, culture maps, information design, game theory, and politics. The language gap could have been awkward had we been other people, but instead it became entertainment, a brainteaser we share and enjoy.

Facebook Friend Portrait #18 – Mike Kitt

Facebook Friend #18 - Mike
Facebook Friend #18 – Mike

I met Mike when he mistook me for a model at a dance party when we were teenagers in Vancouver together,
before he went off to travel the world as a video game designer. He is back in Montreal now, which is slightly
more convenient to visit than Santiago, and I am honoured to have such a clever and intelligent man as a friend.
My favourite thing to share about Mike might be the collection of semi-precious stone spheres he displays to
accurately represent the size of the planets of both our home system of Sol and that of the Star Wars universe.

My Facebook Friends Portrait project began when I hit 1000 friends on Facebook in 2012. The project is on-going and shall continue until I take a portrait of every FB friend I have.

I will find something good


Sergey Semonov, a Russian photographer, submitted the image to the Epson International Photographic Pano Awards,
and took first prize in the amateur category. Click through for more information and to see it full size.

Music: I ate too much.
Music: Typhoon – Summer Home.

Back in the land of suicide skies and itchy wet socks and art blind glass condominiums and witty t-shirt fashion and life locked down to a room, a computer, and an eternal quest for more work. New York I miss you already, your ornate, cake icing architecture, your brave pedestrians and perpetual strangers, even your extreme lack of green. Solid, implacable, a foundation of streets. Lay me down against your bitter cold winter, press me against your well tailored desperation, let me rest in the hollow of your inspiring anonymity. Stone to the horizon in every direction.

365: The month of June

365: 2012/06/15 - ferret foster 365: 2012/06/28 - transparency 365: 2012/06/09 - my better half 365: 2012/06/05 - I miss my chair
365: 2012/06/06 - sing to the memory of light 365: 2012/06/08 - wrecked and broken bridges
365: 2012/06/07 - googly eyed for you 365: 2012/06/02 - the emerald city 365: 2012/06/29 - "now you take one"

365: 2012/06/23 - punk rock princess 365: 2012/06/13 - basin cat 365: 2012/06/16 - expect us
365: 2012/06/22 - I go with the house 365: 2012/06/20 - his father's knife (I know the answer, but not the question)


Near the end of the private wake for friends and family of Joe “Vito” Albanese, 52, (aka Dexter Mantooth or Meshugana Joe) murdered along with best friend and bandmate, Drew Keriakedes, 45, (aka Schmootzi the Clod) at the Cafe Racer killings in Seattle. Both men performed with Circus Contraption and founded the band God’s Favorite Beefcake. This video is my only 365 shot that I am not specifically in. I believe, however, that I am reflected in everyone there. I am that moment as they were that moment. It is still a self-portrait. The best kind there is.

365: 2012/06/11 - innocent when you dream 365: 2012/06/12 - washing out 365: 2012/06/14 - the second child

365: 2012/06/17 - Flower Power 365: 2012/06/25 - here comes science
365: 2012/06/18 - the bath
365: 2012/06/10 - we fight crime

365: 2012/06/27 - if you were here now, what would you see?
365: 2012/06/24 - "as big as my head!"
365: 2012/06/01 - switching hats with sammy 365: 2012/06/03 - late nights 365: 2012/06/19 - familiar
365: 2012/06/21 - solitary 365: 2012/06/26 - politics of desire