amosfly

the world's eyes, the war-torn's voices

2011-04-21T19:06:00.004-04:00

the NY Times Lens blog has done a beautiful piece on the impact of chris and his work: http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/parting-glance-chris-hondros/
and, from the NY Times news coverage:

"Tyler Hicks, a photographer for The New York Times who worked alongside Mr. Hondros in several wars, paid a tribute in an e-mail.
"Chris made sacrifices in his own life to bring the hardships of war into the public eye, and that dedication created award-winning photographs that shaped the way people viewed the world."

a loss

2011-04-20T22:31:00.002-04:00

i can't believe i'm reading this headline: Acclaimed War Photographer Chris Hondros Killed in Libya. i used to see chris all the time around the agromeck/technician offices. although i didn't have contact with him after i graduated, his name would leap out at me from time to time as his work was recognized both in the media and in photographic circles (including the Duke Center for Documentary Studies). his work in kosovo was the focus of a solo exhibit at nc state some years ago. what an amazing life.

see more of chris hondros' work.

photogs: james agee on helen levitt

2010-09-12T12:53:00.002-04:00

from the always mindblowing photography blog "american suburb x," a reprinting of james agee's beautiful intro to a book of levitt's kickass nyc photos:

"I am nevertheless convinced that the photographs cannot be fully
enjoyed, or adequately discussed, on a purely naturalistic or rational
basis. Many of them prove, rather, that the actual world constantly
brings to the surface its own signals, and mysteries."

http://www.americansuburbx.com/2009/03/theory-helen-levitt-way-of-seeing.html

gonna tell you a story...

2010-07-19T11:22:00.002-04:00

once upon a time (say, a little over two years ago), i made a decision that would change my life, scare the bejeebus out of me, and drain my savings. i quit my well-paying but deathly depressing job to pursue a dream. (i know, what *was* i thinking?!)

now, two years later, i am not in demand, famous, or even making money. however, i have had two glorious years of nobody telling me what to do and when to do it. two glorious years of doing projects that make me proud and put beauty and vision above money and practicality. two years of seeing the best live shows i've ever seen. two years and more than 13,000 clicks of the shutter.

i'm not done taking pictures, but i figured this was a good time to take stock, remember how i got here, and tell the story of the first 13,000.

next time: my history of photography.

the road show @ the visual art exchange in jan 2010

2010-03-18T01:37:00.004-04:00

back in january i had a photo in the visual art exchange's first exhibit of the year. called "the road show", it featured works about life on the road -- road signs, maps, cars, roads, or road trip sights. i had shot mine through a rain-spattered car window on a road trip from philly to raleigh.
artists were allowed to submit up to two pieces in any media, and then the juror, meg rader of the uber-classy mahler gallery, selected which submissions would be exhibited. i was highly honored to have my submission included in the show and awarded an honorable mention. the awesomeness of the occasion was palpable.
here's my photo all framed and hanging on the gallery wall:

and here's the original photo:

life, the universe, and everything...

2010-03-17T21:54:00.002-04:00

my dad sent me this quote a while ago, and i find myself returning to it time and time again.

"Have patience with everything that remains unsolved in your heart. Try to love the questions themselves, like locked rooms and like books written in a foreign language. Do not now look for the answers. They cannot now be given to you because you could not live them. It is a question of experiencing everything. At present you need to live the question. Perhaps you will gradually, without even noticing it, find yourself experiencing the answer, some distant day." -- Rainer Maria Rilke

nice local review of the rebus show

2010-03-09T02:42:00.000-05:00

Plastic CameraWorks 2: The exploding plastic ephemeral by Amy White, Indyweek.com. My bear gets a shoutout. :-D

the show @ rebus works

2010-02-27T16:05:00.004-05:00

plastic cameraworks 2, feb 5-mar 27, raleigh's rebus works.

why do i resist?

2010-02-24T22:09:00.012-05:00

i don't know why it's so hard for me to make blog time. i spend so much time inside my head, i forget to come out sometimes. and it's good to get out.

so, lots of water under the bridge since august... went to memphis in september for gonerfest 6, goner records' annual blowout. took lots of pictures. discovered some awesome bands (davila 666! magnetix!), finally saw some whose performances are legendary on the indie garage and punk circuits (jay reatard, who sadly passed away in jan. 2010; nobunny), and learned how to shoot from the midst of a mosh pit without personal or camera injury.

what's it like in a mosh pit? something like this:

once you get over the "AAAAAAAHHH! lemme outta here!", it's kinda fun. as long as you manage to avoid flailing limbs and you're not trying traverse the space. in other words, you have to just go with it. kind of like life. ooo, hey -- new shirt: "Life is a mosh pit. Don't get hit in the face, and you'll be ok." (copyright 2010, me) if you say it with a forrest gump voice, it's even better.

aaaanyway, so -- memphis, good. food was awesome. thanks to my awesome friends, i had a fried chicken experience bordering on the transcendent and got to try, like, five different kinds of BBQ. *nom*!

moving on to october... again, thanks to an awesome friend, i saw one of the best shows of the year, which i wouldn't have gone to otherwise simply because i wasn't that familiar with the bands. st. vincent and andrew bird. awesome.

november brought my favoritest act, the king khan and bbq show, who did not disappoint -- they delivered their special brand of rockabilly do-wop weirdness in costume. yessss. i'll be seeing king khan again in march, this time with his other band, the fabulous shrines. last time i saw them, khan wore a big robot head for part of the show. it rocked.

and, in the spirit of exploration, i took a chance on minus the bear, who rewarded with a great, rockin' show (many, many guitar pedals). i think i was the oldest person there besides the band. i also *finally* finally got to see under-the-radar japanese noisepunks melt banana. they *do* exist! again in a mosh pit.

spent turkey day in philly with my sister, dad, and mom #2. saw "new moon" *twice*. i should probably be embarrassed. but i'm not. we had fun.

in december i got to see brendan benson, whose brilliant powerpop album "lapalco" is one of my favorites of all time, and corey chisel, who i missed at the wxpn non-comm back in may. both worth the wait. show ended with brendan and corey covering tom petty's "american girl". oh yeah.

xmas involved the rambunctious joy of my bro and his fam, plus some fake moustaches and indiana jones. it was a good time.

rang in the new year with the best xmas present ever -- a trip to boston to see amanda palmer and the boston pops. awesome times 10. maybe more. it snowed. it was beautiful. and the city was still able to function. amazing. visited edward gorey's house, which is now a museum. more awesome. and, at the boston museum of science, saw a way cool exhibit of props and costumes from the harry potter films. the details of even the least item were incredible -- care had been put into everything from the contents of student trunks and the Potions lab, to candy boxes and school papers. they even had screaming mandrake root babies you could pull up. hee!

it was extra nice to be able to start the year with an honorable mention award in the visual art exchange's january "road show" exhibit *and* rebus works' february/march "plastic camera works 2" exhibit. my hard work paid off. sweet!

long time no post

2009-08-23T13:08:00.006-04:00

when was i last here? i have been a busy little bee this summer. surprisingly (to me, anyway). i didn't feel that busy most of the time and in fact spent what felt like a good bit of time in one manic trough or another (which, if you are not familiar, consists of fun activities like being unable to get out of bed). but looking back, i'm kind of impressed. (i find it's good to impress oneself from time to time. refreshing.) sooooo...

what i did on my summer "vacation" (in chronological order):

for the second year in a row, had a photograph make it into the carrboro arts center community photography competition and exhibit. yay!
went to nyc with my dad. took lots of pictures. saw several completely awesome contemporary art and photography exhibits at the metropolitan museum. visited the mecca of low-fi pop photography, the lomography store. caressed the cameras.
shot showcase performances during wxpn's non-comm convention at the world cafe live in philadelphia. was introduced to the astounding awesomeness of black joe lewis and the honeybears. hung out with my sister.
went to see the english beat play. yay! photographed 'em. forgot to post the pictures. doh.
assembled a photographic series and self-published it. (will post the link soon)
was in one of two groups raleigh had participating in world photo walk day. shot film. still haven't scanned it in.
shot two nights of bands at the sold-out merge records 20th anniversary festival in chapel hill.
helped a friend organize and hang his first solo photography show in a highly desirable local venue.
visited my third cousin twice removed and his family in pennsylvania coal country. got the skinny on some family history. laughed a lot. scouted future photo locations.
helped my sister celebrate her birthday. saw tori amos at world cafe live. photographed her. lived a jonathan richman song by being a straight person dancing in a lesbian bar. made cookies and watched the rest of "dexter" season 2.
learned about giclee printing for photographs.
designed earrings and a necklace for my step-father to give my mom for their anniversary.

i also donated platelets twice (i get to watch a movie, people on chemo or with immuno-issues get some of my blood's clotting agent. win-win.). and read like a fiend:

"nightwatch" - sergei lukyanenko
"jonathan strange and mr. norrell" - susanna clarke
"monster" - a. lee martinez
"caught in the light" - robert goddard
"the dante club" - matthew pearl (re-read)
"the alienist" - caleb carr (re-read)
"the historian" - elizabeth kostova (re-read)
"spook country" - william gibson

reading is awesome.

"...'that one went down like a lead balloon,' said the serpent."

2009-05-21T18:47:00.008-04:00

and so goes the post-Fall of Man commentary between agents of Good and Evil in terry pratchett and neil gaiman's "good omens: the nice and accurate prophecies of agnes nutter, witch" -- aka, my recent reading material.

imagine that the long-prophesied end of the world is days away. the Powers That Be, Good and Evil, are making their respective final cosmic preparations, amassing armies, mobilizing the Four Apocalyptic Horsepersons (death, war, famine, and pollution), anticipating the rise of the Antichrist, and so forth. if it sounds strange to follow this setup with "and hilarity ensues...", you haven't read any terry pratchett before. hilarity *will* ensue, and it will be my favorite kind: literary, clever, irreverent, and with a twisted british wit.

i can't help but love a story where the characters have names like "anathema device" and the plot involves the misplacement of the Antichrist (oops!) and random cameos by tibetans, UFOs, atlanteans (as in "lost city of.."), rainforests, rare books, assorted agents of Good and Evil, and the music of Queen. an added bonus is the appearance of one of my favorite characters from pratchett's discworld novels -- the personification of Death (his friends call him "mort" and he speaks in ALL CAPS. hee!). awesome.

thank goodness for good books and twisted brits.

some current inspirations...

2009-05-17T22:51:00.002-04:00

1) David Lynch's book on meditation and creativity "catching the big fish".

i love david lynch. his stories are so weird, so fearlessly esoteric. "twin peaks" and "blue velvet" in particular made a huge impression on me. typical lynch plots have layers of intrigue and symbolism -- seediness hiding under a veneer of beauty and ideals. the viewer, like the protagonist, arrives naively on the scene and must look beyond appearances to reveal the true corrupt nature of the situation and the people involved.

his book, on the other hand, is about how he has been able to use transcendental meditation to get the most out of his creativity. way cool.

2) the televised kurt wallander mysteries (BBC).

i just saw "firewall" on PBS tonight, and the photography is *awesome* -- blue-toned and a holga-like focus (sharp on a single focal point -- usually the protagonist -- and blurry all around). it's actually done letterboxed, and the photographer uses the whole space, like cinema. gorgeous. plus, kenneth branagh is doing some of his finest work as the reserved and laconic wallander.

yay!

must... blog... ehn ehn (dragging self to laptop)

2009-05-15T19:14:00.016-04:00

all right, all right, i've procrastinated long enough... it's not like i haven't got anything to blog about, but sometimes the idea of sitting in front of the computer is such a killer. (i take great joy in having not used instant messaging at all since i quit my jobby job.)

april was pretty darn awesome. it kicked off with durham's annual full frame documentary film festival. this year i saw documentaries on free speech ("shouting fire"), the production of vogue's biggest and most influential issue of the year ("the september issue"), self-storage facilities and why we keep stuff ("steel homes"), loving movies ("supermen of malegaon"), the biggest mall in the world and why no one goes there ("utopia, part 3"), the recording of and supporting tour for arcade fire's album "neon bible" ("miror noir"), and a buddhist monk's search for the reincarnation of his recently deceased spiritual master ("unmistaken child"). i love this festival. it feeds my soul.

shortly thereafter, i saw the incomparable songstress neko case perform at the unbelievably sweet meymandi concert hall. sublime. seriously. then i heard the hilarious david sedaris read at the swank new durham performing arts center. both events were courtesy my bestest fwiend who gave me tix for my birthday and xmas, respectively. yay!

then my mom and i went to philadelphia to see my brother perform the world premiere of new pieces for the classical guitar. it was a mini family reunion -- my dad, my stepmother, my stepsister, my brother's wife, my mom, *her* brother, and me. my uncle's presence was a total surprise. we haven't seen him in *years*, and he wanted to surprise my mom. we secretly coordinated via text messaging. mom cried. it was great. :-) the day after the concert, my mom and i took my brother's two children to the natural history museum while he did some philly guitar festival stuff. we hung out with dinosaurs, butterflies, and mummies. later, cotton candy was consumed.

we were back home for less than 24 hours before mom and i took off for another little reunion. every year my mom and her sister meet up in gatlinburg, TN, for the great smoky mountains national park wildflower pilgrimage, which is several days of educational hikes and programs to benefit the park. in the past i would have left the wildflowering to my mom and her sister, but this year my cousin, who i haven't seen in ages, was able to make it, so i figured, what the hey? the freedom to see more of our far-scattered family and just pick up and go on adventures was a major reason i quit my job. so we had mother-daughter-sister-cousin bonding while learning about the flora and fauna of the mountain ecosystems. we saw bears. we breathed clean mountain air. we had pancakes for breakfast every day. we used audio equipment to track bats in flight. we looked at water bears through microscopes. we learned that the eyes of some kinds of spiders will reflect light and you can use a flashlight to see them at night like teeny blue or green gems.

it was also my one year anniversary of declaring my independence from Jobs That Suck and deciding to pursue a creative life instead. (thanks for the card, dad!).

one year ago yesterday i used my "big girl" camera (the digital canon i bought to support my ambitions) for the first time. i have since taken nearly 4000 pictures with it.

one of the first:

(blue dinosaur was sculpted by my niece, rhyana, for my birthday a couple years ago. not only is he kinda sparkly, but he glows in the dark, too. blue dino is *awesome*.)

since the inaugural shoot with blue dino, i've been steadily building my portfolio with film and digital photos. my vision has matured a great deal, and with that, my confidence and my certainty that i'm doing the right thing have grown. i've met many cool people through flickr and the art house co-op who offer support and encouragement. and i've actually had my first paying photog gig (more on that later).

to celebrate, i give you this link to a special water bears music video, courtesy of some scientist in poland: http://www.adamn.zsem.pl/Niesporczaki.3gp

fun with mustaches

2009-03-01T23:09:00.002-05:00

every once in a while, the internets bring you a special treat. Wolf Choir is one of those treats: http://www.flickr.com/photos/poopfilter/sets/72157594166365118/. in addition to "fun with mustaches", there are also 1970s-style faux school portraits, video pizza, bison interludes, and more. it's the kind of thing that makes me glad to be alive.

thank you, Wolf Choir.

it all started with this picture

2009-02-18T16:41:00.004-05:00

by "it" i mean a passion for collecting random mysterious photos. and by "mysterious" i mean either the purpose for taking the picture is unclear -- not obviously a portrait or vacation or "look at our new car!" -- or it's not clear why the photo was kept (it *is* obviously a portrait, but the subject is obscured or out of focus). my favorite ones so far are ones actually taken by family members who have passed on (so i can't ask them why they kept a portrait where the whole person is obscured by a sun flare). maybe the keeper saw the same beauty i see now...

i found that first picture in my maternal grandmother's things after she passed away in 1986. i am fairly certain that it was taken by my grandfather, who preceded her in death by a number of years, but who was apparently quite the photographer in his lifetime. there is no date or notation on the picture. the only context i have is where it was taken -- in front of my grandparents' house in st. petersburg, FL. it is pouring rain, and there is a car driving down the street. what was my grandfather looking at? the rain? the car? is the car driven by a friend or family member? is the occasion the end of a visit?

i don't know. but i've loved the picture since the first time i saw it -- a transitory moment preserved... a tempest and a traveler... a sense of trying to hold something which can not be held... an artifact, a vision left by someone lost to me.

my father's family were prolific photographers back in the day, and i recently found a treasure trove of photo randomness in a box i'd stuck in a closet a while ago. so, i've started an album. the original mystery photo will stay out on my dresser in the acrylic frame i've had for it for so many years, but i'm intrigued by the idea of treating this weird collecting impulse as a Project. like for sharing and stuff. keep your eyes peeled. more to come over time...

sketchbook project

2009-02-16T21:04:00.006-05:00

oh, man, i was so distracted by wrong baby heads, i almost forgot to mention the sketchbook project: http://www.arthousecoop.com/projects/sketchbookproject

the sketchbook project is a touring art exhibit of hundreds of sketchbooks, each one by a different artist, based on a single theme (in this case, "everyone we know"). i thought it sounded cool, so i registered, got a sketchbook, filled it up, and sent it back. my sketchbook, along with hundreds of others, will go on tour starting feb. 27. maybe the tour will come near *you*. check it out!

i've posted some pictures and explanations of my sketchbook pages on the art house co-op website: http://www.arthousecoop.com/users/amosfly

here's a graphic that never should have been made

2009-02-16T20:19:00.006-05:00

much less employed for marketing purposes, say, for tooth whiteners. if i had a freaky green baby-faced tooth in my mouth, my only concern would be to GET IT OUT.

a note to any graphic designers or aspiring graphic designers out there -- if you are thinking of putting a baby's face on an inanimate object to make it seem amusing or friendly, don't. it's like sad hobo clowns. creepy.

come to think of it, if you're thinking of putting a baby's face on anything that does not naturally come with one, do the world a favor and AVOID the impulse. you don't want to be responsible for something like this, do you?

i'm just sayin'. be kind. don't misuse baby heads.

if i were a (banana) hammer

2009-01-28T13:41:00.002-05:00

apparently one of the benefits of a -20F environment is that you can use your banana to build something (hopefully, something that will take you to a warmer place, yo).

http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/26/banana-hammer-cold/ (skip the video clip -- their comic timing is waaaay off and from the volume of pointless chatter, i'm assuming they had air-time to burn. i mean, show us the banana hammer already.)

that's pretty damn cold. right now, right here, it is an unnatural 64 degrees. which is why i'm here and not building an escape pod with a banana.

kay yow kicked ass. a lot.

2009-01-24T23:08:00.005-05:00

if there was one person i thought could kick cancer's ass from here to thursday, it was nc state women's basketball coach kay yow. and she did, *three* times, starting in 1987, the same year i started as a student at nc state. through her 38-year coaching career and her decades-long battle with breast cancer, she became an icon of strength and courage for women across the country.

among the many times she kicked ass:

1975 - nc state university hires yow as associate athletic director of all the university's women's sports and as coach of the one-season-old women's basketball team, as well as the softball and volleyball teams. she remains the coach of the women's basketball team for the rest of her life.

1981 - helps to found the women's basketball coaching association (wbca).

1986 - leads the u.s. women's basketball team to their first victory over the soviet union at the goodwill games, and to a gold medal at the 1986 world basketball championship.

1988 - recovers from bout one with breast cancer to coach the u.s. women's basketball team to olympic gold in seoul. she is the first women's coach to win both the world championship and the olympics.

1998 - coaches the nc state women's basketball team to the ncaa elite eight® and final four®. over the course of her 38-year career, her teams won four atlantic coast conference tournament championships and earned 20 ncaa tournament bids.

2000 - is inducted into the women's basketball hall of fame.

2002 - is one of the first five women to be inducted into the national basketball hall of fame.

2002 - launches jimmy v classic women's tournament in 2002 to raise money for breast cancer research.

2004 - battles the cancer a second time.

2006 – launches "hoops for hope" game to raise money for breast cancer research.

2006 – coaches her 1000th college game and becomes the first acc women's coach to record 650 victories. by the end of her career in 2009, she is one of only six women's basketball coaches to top 700 collegiate victories.

2006 - battles the cancer a third time.

2007 - establishes the kay yow/wbca cancer fund.

2008 - continues to coach and support her players in spite of a fourth occurrence of breast cancer.

in one of her hall of fame induction speeches, she said, "my career has been made possible by many people who have dug wells from which I have drunk and by many who have built fires by which I have been warmed." even as she humbly gave props to others, she gave as much to those wells and fires as she got. with her passing today, she leaves an amazing legacy of courage, dignity, empowerment, and perseverance.

new stuff for a new year

2009-01-23T20:09:00.002-05:00

have added new designs and new merch to my cafepress store: http://www.cafepress.com/amosfly.

also, i have begun to add my holga (a 120 format camera by lomography) portfolio to flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amosfly/sets/72157612868350625/.

if i'm not careful, i might actually make a go of this artist thing. heh.

coincidence?

2009-01-10T23:50:00.006-05:00

maybe it's because i still have feelings for the good old days of "the x-files", but i swear that the casting of history channel's "ufo hunters" is inspired by the beloved investigative trio, the lone gunmen. seriously. compare:

see? tell me you don't see it. there's a byers (brilliant, mild-mannered, mustache dude), langley (brilliant, hacker/gamer-type dude -- sans glasses, trade long hair for face fuzz), and frohike (brilliant, crusty-but-heart-o-gold, older dude -- with dark glasses). it's kind of awesome.

home improvement is my bitch

2008-11-22T17:42:00.008-05:00

i probably shouldn't say that until after the last nail is driven and so forth, but oh well. i'm feeling cheeky.

while i dropped off the face of the internets, i was hard at work on my "RL" habitat. it was time. in the nearly 10 years since i bought my slice of condo living, i was always to tired/depressed/overwhelmed/insert-pathetic-whatever-here to really attend to it or make it my own. i mean, although i had rearranged the furniture a couple times, things were pretty much the same (and, in some cases, in the same spot) as when i moved in. had painted (badly) the two bedrooms before moving in, had all the windows replaced a couple years ago, did some insulating, replaced the front door which had a crack you could see through, and disposed of the ugly-ass frankenshrubs which were dying slowly in my "garden" space. basically, all stuff one couldn't ignore. also, i had a rather lovely paycheck in those days, so i could afford to bring in professionals when necessary.

a year or so ago i paid a huge quantity of money to have the master bath renovated. i'll probably be paying it off until i die, but it was totally worth it to (a) have someone else manage the project and the subcontractors, (b) have the work done by people i knew i could trust, and (c) have a lovely bathroom.

but, as anyone who has been through the renovation mill knows, such projects totally disrupt any semblance of order you might have had (and i didn't have that much to start) -- all the stuff from the room you are renovating has to go somewhere else until the renovation is done, and you have to have some place to store the materials, fixtures, tools, and what-have-you for each stage of the project. needless to say, my already careless surroundings descended into chaos from which i've only recently rescued it.

freeing myself from my exhausting, grindingly depressing job was step one in my personal environment reclamation process. while this also meant freeing myself from the rather lovely income, *nothing* was worth the ongoing torture. the strange journey of personal reclamation continues it's winding, surprising path. so, six months or so down the road, i have recovered enough to actually care about my surroundings and be inspired to do something with them. (i know, crazy!)

people, i have power tools. and a work bench! seriously. in my previous couch potato life, i watched hundreds of hours of hgtv and "trading spaces". now, armed with my stanley book of home improvement, my very own tools, and a fire in the belly, i am actually doing this shit myself. i have been scraping, sanding, painting, filling, sawing, finishing, and restoring. i have replaced electrical outlets, and installed lights and a ceiling fan. i replaced my wind tunnel mail slot with a swell new one which lets the mail in but keeps the cold out.

i am totally blowing my own mind. don't get me wrong -- there are times when i think i'll snap if i have to sand one more lumpy wall or miter one more freakin molding piece. but overall, i am rockin the home improvement. pictorial evidence to follow...

finally!

2008-09-09T16:44:00.002-04:00

the mercury rev poster contest winner has been announced! it wasn't me, but it's a lovely picture: http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=89336992&blogID=431569444

slightly bummed, but mostly so glad the wait is over. it was killing me!

what i've been up to recently...

2008-09-08T20:32:00.002-04:00

(not necessarily in this order)

1) went to the beach with friends for a week: http://picasaweb.google.com/cynicalmeg/BeachTrip2008

2) created two more posters for the mercury rev contest (which *still* has not announced a winner. i think it was a lie. there *is* no contest):

poster 2

poster 3

3) submitted work for the "50 Photographers" exhibit which opened sept. 5 at the local crocker's mark gallery. my entry: http://www.flickr.com/photos/amosfly/2841697228/. you can see the virtual gallery here.

4) submitted work for two separate SPARKcon events - artSPARK image slam and the open gallery hanging.

whew! i'm tired just recounting all that stuff. :-)

screamo indie concrete crunk housecore

2008-08-14T00:12:00.008-04:00

i'll no doubt show my age with the following rant, but remember when there were, like, i don't know -- seven classifications of pop music? "rock" covered pretty much everything from bananarama to bob marley to zappa. then you had "soul", which included r&b, gospel, funk, beach music, and early rock'n'roll. "country" covered anything that had too much twang to be "rock" or "soul". "jazz", "classical" and "soundtracks" were satellites off in their own little music galaxies. the classifications didn't always make sense, but at least you had a limited number of places you had to look in order to find something. (yes, kids, there used to be brick and mortar "record stores" with bins and bins of recordings in various tangible formats, like "cassette tapes", "compact discs", and "vinyl". no google search. no mp3 clips. no digital catalogues of releases. and we felt lucky to have that analog existence. we knew the value of a limited 7" pressing, let me tell you.)

at some point, the catch-all supercategories began to be overshadowed by subclassifications, which was cool... broadening the musical horizons of the music-buying public and perhaps inspiring artists to explore new music frontiers as well. the subcategories were manageable by and, for the most part, actually made sense to consumers. for a time, they actually *helped* you find what you wanted and browse new stuff you might like. there were some weird subcats sometimes, but most of the time they preceded a genre which was about to blow up and go mainstream (or at least lucratively culty).

i was able to ride the subcat train for a long time. no prob. the more i drifted away from commercial radio and toward independently owned stores and college playlists, the more bold new musical genres i discovered. all good.

i'm not sure exactly when i got off the train and was left at the station, but the subcat train is long gone. the now-dead local annual sleazefest helped me get a pretty good grip on various subsets of modern punk and rockabilly. (nothing illustrates "psychobilly" like a performance involving a redneck guitarist wearing nothing but a dixie cup.)

but i knew i was in trouble when i started coming across terms like "twee" and "emo". and as i peruse the available musical genres on myspace, i know i am a clueless old-school dork. some of these have got to be totally made-up: concrete, electroacoustic (how can something be electro *and* acoustic?), hyphy (hyphy? what?), emotronic, shoegaze (wait, i think i ran into some leftover shoegaze fans before the sxsw japan showcase. i thought they were emo at the time.), visual (i think someone's getting their senses confused)... my favorite one is "screamo". (i hope somewhere out there is a band named "screamin' emo".) i like that they have a category for "melodramatic popular song". 'cause you want to find those bands. and apparently anyone can make a new genre by just adding "-core" to an existing genre. myspace also has a status emoticon for "crunk". i didn't think crunk was a state of mind. drink it, yes. be it? hmmm. then again, i didn't think "architect" was a verb. what do i know?

you can also choose "pirate" as your mood. so i guess if you are working with a mood spectrum that includes pirate and jedi as well as "exanimate", nothing is impossible.

hello, babies. welcome to earth.

2008-08-13T19:27:00.004-04:00

happiest of birthdays to my sister ann and my bud holden. yeah!

aren't you glad i didn't get you a cakewreck?

there are new wrecks posted, just in time for you to enjoy on your special day. show me the wrecks!

resistance is futile

2008-08-12T16:19:00.003-04:00

i have been assimilated into the myspace hive. it had to happen sometime. *technically* this is the second time around... i had a brief myspace stint a couple of years ago so i could converse with tim easton, whose musical career i've been following since he played the late lamented pine hill farm, like, ten years ago and upon whom i had a raging crush at the time (ah, youth!). almost instantaneously, spambots across the universe were aware of my existence. so, heavy with unrequited crushies and a mailbox full of offers of male enhancement (i know - the irony!), i withdrew from the world's largest single collection of the ugliest webpages *ever*. (the rest of the story: the spamathon halted almost immediately. and i still see tim whenever he's in town. cake = having + eating)

so what, you ask, has drawn me back in? no, not hot crushies on a mcdreamy singer/songwriter/guitarist, as delightful as that might be. it's a graphic design contest. ok, it's for a band poster, but it's not like that, i swear! for reals, i was not even familiar with the band beforehand. i've just always wanted to design album covers and show posters, and i couldn't resist the opportunity to design for yeproc records, who is local and whose bands i tend to like. the added bonus is that the band in question -- previously unknown to me -- has turned out to be awesome. nice!

so, the scoop is that yeproc announced the contest in their last newsletter: design a poster for mercury rev's upcoming release, "snowflake midnight", submit it to the band's myspace blog, and then wait patiently (or not) for the band to choose the winner. as those with myspace experience know, you have to join in order to post anything. so i did. (i feel so cheap ;-))

thankfully, spam filters keep getting better and myspace has taken some measures to reduce spaminocity. but as an added measure, i got a freebie web-based email account for my myspace identity.

and i have to say that working on the poster has been great fun. the whole process of researching the band's visual and musical identities, and conceptualizing while listening to their songs totally ruled. as i said, i've always wanted to design something like this, and attending flatstock at sxsw two years ago only fueled the fire.

you can see the finished product here:

http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=viewImage&friendID=403758813&albumID=459496&imageID=2430067

i'll let you know how it goes (the winner will be announced some time after aug 18).

i'm also submitting a piece to the ARTspark component of local creativity-fest sparkcon (happening in sept). i'm sure i'll soon be ridiculously in demand. ;-)

this is why i love the interwebs

2008-08-04T23:32:00.002-04:00

because without it, i would never have experienced the awesomeness that is cake wrecks. thanks be to the blog gods. and people actually willing to admit they paid for one of these cakes. there is something for everyone here -- egregious use of quotation marks for riva, the world's worst r2-d2 cakes for the lintqueen, carrot-riding mohawk babies for me...

yes, i said "carrot-riding mohawk babies". if i hadn't seen it, i wouldn't have been able to conceive of it. although really, most of the featured cakes defy all the laws of nature. gravity, color families, tastefulness, proportion, spelling -- you name it, you can see it violated by a cake decorator. if you ever had any qualms about ordering a custom cake, these atrocities will put you off *forever*. the baby shower cakes *alone* are enough to scar you for life.

i laughed so hard i wept. my throat hurts. and i keep going back and laughing some more.

lintqueen, do not -- i repeat -- do not try to consume a beverage while viewing the cake wrecks. i will not be responsible for any spewage that may occur. ;-)

quote(s) of the day

2008-07-30T11:58:00.006-04:00

if you've ever wondered how the whole thunder-as-dramatic-emphasis-in-cinema thing got started, it was probably with the 1932 film "the old dark house". which i just enjoyed with my morning beverage. (kinda makes it sound like toast)

but the slightly excessive overall dramatic license is part of its charm. and, as anyone familiar with my taste in movies knows, i am down with some excessive overall dramatic license ("i am SICK and TIRED of all the muthafuckin' snakes on this muthafuckin' plane!"). i thrive on it, really.

what all this is leading up to are the quotes of the day, courtesy "the old dark house" *insert thunder here*:

1) miss femm: "she was godless to the last. godless!" *insert thunder here*

2) gladys: "i know wind when i see it." *insert thunder here*

these moments made possible by tcm. speaking of which, tcm -- having expanded their definition of "classic movies" of late -- also broadcast the awesomely awesome "spider baby" (imdb has the most info, but tcm has *clips*) in the last 6 mos, which one of my fellow retrofantasma list members has raved about for *years*. now that i've seen it, i totally understand the why it impressed her so. *so* freaky. so very, very freaky. and, hey, turns out that sid haig has *always* looked like that. 1968, 2008, pretty much the same. freaky.

*insert thunder here*

whatever happened to baby fly?

2008-07-29T22:33:00.007-04:00

so, what have i been doing while my blog gently weeps? well, i'll tell you... although my energy level has been utter crap (there was a lot of inertia and very little leaving of the house for a while there, but i am lucky to have a best friend who knows how to help me through my nadirs: healthy doses of cheeburgers, summer movies, and flight of the conchords), i have managed to: (1) purchase my domain http://www.amosfly.com/ and redirect it to my cafepress store for the time being, (2) set up my amos email meghan@amosfly.com (heh), (3) set up my imagekind gallery shop so i can sell my photos framed, unframed, and on canvas, (4) uploaded some new t-shirt designs to cafepress, (5) begun to inventory and evaluate my accumulated antiques and collectibles (so sick of researching esoteric porcelain maker's marks and slogging thru 50 million "RARE!" eBay listings - bleh), (6) see both "hellboy 2" and "the dark knight", (7) recycle, (8) get an A++ checkup at the dentist (i love the free toothbrush thing, don't you?), (9) leave the house several times, (10) assemble a nifty rolling stacking file storage bin for my various and sundry design mags and paperful projects which seem to multiply like tribbles.

ooh, and i almost forgot -- i finally hung up my bat house! (which i've had for, like, a year) i think the solution i devised is pretty ingenious, the challenge being to put the house where it would be safe from predators and get enough sun and not conflict with our hoa covenant. once i found a good spot around the back of my house, i had to figure out how to mount the bat condo without messing with my 1940s asbestos shingles (mmm, asbestos!). in a moment of genius clarity, i stripped an adjustable nylon webbing strap off an old car seat-back map organizer, threaded it through the bat house hanging hardware, and looped it around the center support of some second-floor double windows, securing it inside the room with the buckle that came with the strap. because the strap is flat, it doesn't interfere with the window screens or with closing the windows. bat house is secured, unapproachable except by flying bats, and nothing has been contaminated by asbestos. sweet!

so, really, for a person who could barely get out of bed for a week, i have accomplished quite a bit. i have impressed myself ;-) i vaccuumed too. and threw out the ooky stuff in my fridge. nice, right?

i did fall off the wagon with regard to several of my "must do every day" activites, namely writing a page a day for my fiction project, taking a picture a day for practice, and doing at least one outdoor activity. i also suck as a sibling, having completely flaked on returning my sister's call. doh! sorry! love you! call you tomorrow!

on the upside, it's shark week! i love me some shark week. it comes but once a year. like christmas, but on the discovery channel. i've always been fascinated by sharks -- terrified also, but fascinated. i suppose the release of "jaws" in my formative years is partly responsible (i pity the kids who had to start with "jaws: the revenge". everything after the first film should be erased.). i remember also reading this book about shark researcher eugenie clark (check me out, rocking the feminist vibe even at age 8) as well as every available time-life-esque nature book about sea life, mezmerized by the science of sharks. my brother used to tape long sheets of paper together in order to draw sharks actual size. we were shark junkies.

this is all well and good, you say, but is there, you know, a point? the point is that shark week *rules*, man. it's a happy time.

the reluctant poet

2008-07-18T17:35:00.012-04:00

thanks to my dad for sending me the new york times article about the new poet laureate:

Kay Ryan, Outsider With Sly Style, Named Poet Laureate

as a fairly peripheral fan of poetry, i was expecting to glance over the article and move on without real involvement (i know -- a reluctance to commit even to news articles. sad ;-)), but i became intrigued by the description of the poet as an outsider and uncomfortable with the exposure that comes with being an artist (not to mention a laureate something-or-other).

hmmm. *that* doesn't strike close to home or anything. i've only struggled with that... mmm... i don't know... always?

at the same time i have this drive to create and communicate, those actions, by their very nature, expose me to the world. and i can't remember a time when i've ever been comfortable with that. (vulnerability = icky!) the digitalization of, well, *everything*, has expanded and intensified the opportunities of and for exposure. there's really no technology "safe zone" -- once you put your shit out there into the digital ether, it's *out there*. your control of it is limited, at best.

while that's true of any work of creation, seems like it's easier to fake yourself out about it in the analog dimension. you can *see* your acts of insulation in action (you can decide where *not* to show your painting and physically enforce the "no photos allowed" rule. you can dodge that critic lurking by the hors d'oeuvres table or pretend you don't hear your film being discussed by the people in line behind you at the grocery store. you can give your unpublished novel only to people you like, watch as they read it, and take it back). in other words, you can *feel* in control of your work, even though you lost control as soon as another person experienced the work.

the internet is another story entirely. not only is it near impossible to prevent unauthorized use of your work, but you can't control the context either. add to that the fact that the presence means pretty much anyone can track down pretty much anything about you, and you can say "hello!" to your new friend, paranoia.

i had a momentus struggle with my inner security guard before creating a substantial web presence for myself and my creations. how much of my work should i put out there and through what channels? (and, yeah, you better believe i registered everything with the copyright peeps) how forthcoming should i be with personally identifying data? i *still* struggle with that one. and yet, here i am, parading around with a personal blog. am i crazy or what? partaking of crackburgers?

here's my rationalization. if you really want to connect with an audience -- heck, if you want to have an audience at all -- you kinda have to put yourself out there. (i know. i'm as surprised as anyone at this revelation, but there you go.) i mean, what's the point of art if (a) it is not an honest expression, and (b) nobody sees it? furthermore, in my case, what's the point of anything i've done or will do, if i don't believe in it? so i take my intentions seriously enough to go from high income to no income, completely overhaul my life, then hide my light under a bushel? gonna be a wussy poser?

i don't think so. when i think of how long it took me to get here, and all the crap (self-induced and otherwise) i've managed to get through, i know i can't be half-assed now. any suckiness that could ensue can't be more sucky than the years of shitty self-esteem, self-doubt, and crushing depression i experienced when *not* pursuing my writing, photography, and design. (how's that for an endorsement?) yes sir, fear of suckiness can kiss my boo-tay. (oh, a buckaroo banzai moment!)

thus, i am putting my shit out here. gonna tell some stories, post some pictures, and otherwise channel the specialness that has been inside my head all this time.

kay ryan, who resisted her poetry-writing self as long as she could, describes her artistic epiphany as a feeling of “an absence of boundaries, an absence of edges, as if my brain could do anything.... finally i can ask the question: can i be a writer?”

her answer to herself was, “do you like it?”

funny, that was my answer too.

new look and feel - but it's still me

2008-07-17T20:06:00.003-04:00

yes, the amosfly blog has a new layout and color scheme. i loved the dots (and the darkness - but that's me ;-)), but i decided i wanted a different sidebar layout.

(so i'm telling you i wanted to improve my site usability, but i know that you know that, really, i just wanted that dr. horrible graphic to stand out more.)

joss whedon fans, rejoice!

2008-07-17T18:00:00.005-04:00

it's here! it's finally here! >> http://www.drhorrible.com/

ah, nathan fillion, how do i love thee? you can make me laugh until milk comes out of my nose. and neil patrick harris. with the singing. who knew?

did you want fries with that?

2008-07-16T14:48:00.003-04:00

http://www.wral.com/news/news_briefs/story/3216683/

i feel a t-shirt design coming on.

there is no charge for awesomeness

2008-07-16T01:17:00.003-04:00

"Kung Fu Panda". See it. Hilarious. Also some genius animated slo-mo kung fu action. With slo-mo sound effects. Two thumbs up. Would see again.

just dropping by

2008-07-12T00:13:00.004-04:00

check this out -- last sunday a.m. i'm surveying my back patio from the second floor bathroom window -- you know, expecting to see the usual post-storm detritus and be reminded, again, that i really should tidy up out there --but instead, there is actual wildlife action. a rather large bird of prey is just chillin on the top fence rail, its legs tucked up under it like a decoy, drying its wings in the sun. the way it was holding its wings out, i thought at first they might be broken... so of course like a geek i jump online to find my local wildlife rescuers (yay, interwebs!). then, secure in the knowledge that i can call in a professional if needed, i run downstairs to get a closer look.

by the time i have repositioned myself, the hawk has repositioned as well. something out there has made it sit up and take notice (and i'm hoping i'm not about to witness chipmunk-icide) but then it sees me all pressed up against the window (they *do* have good eyesight!), which makes it uncomfortable (i can't imagine why), so it flies to a branch.

clearly, the wings are ok. the emergency now called off, i can proceed straight to photo geekdom. i even went out through the front door instead of the back so i wouldn't freak it out.

based on the markings and the impressively long tail (which isn't visible in this pic -- whaddya want? i was excited), i *think* it was a young red-shouldered hawk. so awesome. look at those talons!

living downtown, i don't expect to run into raptors hanging out on the back stoop. really, i'm pleasantly surprised that we haven't wiped out all the native beasties and that we have some coexistence going on. nice!

attention-grabbing headlines

2008-07-05T22:57:00.003-04:00

When you see a headline like "What's a penis worth?", you pretty much have to click on it, right?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25526847/

independence day?

2008-07-04T18:39:00.004-04:00

i guess it's appropriate that i start my blog life today. i recently walked away from a high-paying but soul-sucking tech job. after nine (yup, *nine*) years of the soul sucking, i realized several things. mainly, that if i didn't get out, i was going to die of depression. less dramatic but still critical was the realization that a corporate job -- with its alien culture, made-up language (if i ever hear about "architecting a web site" again, it will be too soon), and non-reality-based, cookie-cutter measurements of "success" -- was quite possibly, not a good fit for me.

let me count the ways:
- issues with authority (especially if it's stupid authority)
- inability to dedicate myself to pointless tasks
- dislike having to teach my boss what my job is
- like having a soul
- believe that creativity can not be quantified
- low tolerance for assholes, idiots, and businesses who never learn from their mistakes
- need naps
- happiest when i can work at my own pace and on only one project at a time (multi-tasking sucks)
- have no regular schedule whatsoever
- like to go outside sometimes, experience things that have nothing to do with computers, emails, the interwebs, or contact with people

so, in this going-to-hell-in-a-handbasket economy, i left. to work on my photography. i'm scared out of my mind, running out of money, and learning at every turn what i *don't* know about trying to make a living as an artist. and yet, i don't regret quitting at all. freaking out (i want to hyperventilate with every report on the economy), but without regret.

i'm a crazy person. soon to be living under a bridge and sending my cats out to hunt for food.

but i am free to reclaim myself and my soul. it's a new life.

let the blogging begin

2008-07-04T17:02:00.001-04:00

Oh, look at me... blogging like a -- um, blogger?