tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-55306422011-11-08T17:16:20.131-05:00It's not hoarding, it's curating!pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.comBlogger14781100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-61274308103501914962011-11-01T14:30:00.001-04:002011-11-08T17:16:20.160-05:00

To Wordpress, home of more elegant templates and The Honcho. Content will stay here for a while but it's there and unpacked at the new place. New content coming soon. Update: I changed my address to patpadua.wordpress.com

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-26766631242693478672011-10-17T10:22:00.003-04:002011-10-17T10:31:19.676-04:00

every camera I own and the photobook review will return shortly. Meanwhile my writing for other venues continues apace. DCist: Out of Frame: Gainsbourg: A Heroic Life Can a graphic novel successfully make the transition to a live action feature film? The attempts have varied wildly from sources both independent (Terry Zwigoff’s spot-on adpatation of Dan Clowes’ Ghost World) to blockbuster (

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-10120624466759677572011-10-06T14:16:00.000-04:002011-10-06T14:16:06.363-04:00

I first read about the ingeniously designed Werra on this blog post about an amazing Japanese camera shop that specializes in old lenses - the propietor's cutoff date is 1974, but the emphasis seems to be on the 1930s. The various Werras were manufactured by the legnedary Carl Zeiss plant in Germany, and was named after a German river. I'm not sure what the visual metaphor is from river to

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-85827561983747737902011-09-26T16:21:00.000-04:002011-09-26T16:21:53.627-04:00

Article first published as DVD Review: Sweet Hostage on Blogcritics. In this age of the 24-hour news cycle, we take it for granted that producers of reality television and made-for-cable movies will respond quickly to this morning’s headlines. Such was the case even in 1975, when the fondly remembered Sweet Hostage was featured as ABC’s Friday Night Movie. Today’s audiences may appreciate it for

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-81143686263862276252011-09-23T16:08:00.002-04:002011-09-23T16:10:11.377-04:00

Detail from Patrick McDonough's Doghouse at (e)merge art fair, Capitol Skyline Hotel. Photo by Pat Padua I've written that much this week despite a summer cold that's been lingering since early August. My by-lines for other outlets this week: In the Muse Arrr, it’s the Sheet Music of the Week Pirate Edition, Matey! which I liberally edited and wrote about a quarter of. Pic of the Week:

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-91214920666311572952011-09-19T16:37:00.000-04:002011-09-19T16:37:29.868-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: 26° 81°, by Joshua Dudley Greer on Blogcritics. Palm trees; orange groves; flamingo-pink houses. These are the kinds of images that the State of Florida brings to mind, and these are an integral part of 26° 81°,  Joshua Dudley Greer’s collection of large-format photos. But Greer goes deeper than that in his study of the town of Immokalee: to the trailer

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-36241007707820654832011-09-17T23:13:00.000-04:002011-09-17T23:13:26.036-04:00

I've been sick lately and may have been too hard on this. It's not a good movie but if it's sounds like fun to you, you'll probably like it. Just keep a finger on the fast-forward button. Article first published as DVD Review: Black Zoo on Blogcritics. Who is the most dangerous animal? Lion? Tiger? Robert Gordon’s 1963 thriller Black Zoo suggests the answer is man. The complicated relationship

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-90283387700308915042011-09-16T16:01:00.000-04:002011-09-16T16:01:53.392-04:00

I used to think I'd never own a Hasselblad. The combination of cost and technique seemed forbidding and out of reach. But it wasn't too long after I started revisiting photography in earnest that I had the opportunity to buy a vintage Hasselblad 500CM, with a snazzy finder, at a good price. December 2005. It's the best camera I've ever had, maybe even better than the 503CW I switched it out

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-28542545144395662812011-09-13T09:20:00.000-04:002011-09-13T09:20:59.584-04:00

Article first published as DVD Review: Bill Cunningham New York on Blogcritics. Bill Cunningham New York, the impressive feature debut from director Richard Press, may well be the best documentary ever made about a  photographer. That the photographer documents New York, for the New York Times Style section and other outlets, makes this  one of the great films about New York, all the more

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-35971245756315649252011-08-20T14:07:00.001-04:002011-08-20T14:21:29.752-04:00

The cameras produced by Japanese company Superheadz are typically also labelled Lomo, but they are not the same animal. If I had to choose between a Lomo store and  a Superheadz store, I'd likely pick the overpriced Japanese plastic camera shop. But this is not a horse race, and both manufacturers live in harmony at the ICP Shop (where I bought this) and Urban Outfitters alike. The camera is

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-2543703259980484042011-08-04T23:27:00.000-04:002011-08-04T23:27:47.909-04:00

I've been busy pushing out blog posts (like giving birth for length) before a much-needed vacation and have neglected both my photobook reviews and every camera I own posts - I'm hoping I can at least get one of the latter done before I go. Which is soon! My recent posts for that blog on the internet have been fairly evenly divided between art reviews and my weekly movie column. I've been

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-17778494701675174452011-07-24T21:23:00.001-04:002011-07-24T23:40:34.106-04:00

The Olympus XA is a compact rangefinder with a 35mm f2.8 lens and aperture-priority auto exposure. The latter is controlled by a level on the left side of the front of the camera, just under the Zombie Kitty's tongue as pictured. Set your desired aperture (and the proper film speed, on a dial just below the lens) and the XA's shutter will remain open for however long makes a proper exposure. At

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-45903276291448962302011-07-23T13:07:00.010-04:002011-07-24T11:09:34.413-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: How Terry Likes His Coffee by Florian van Roekel on Blogcritics. The ingenuity of Florian van Roekel’s How Terry likes his Coffee begins with the cover. With any photobook of these dimensions, you’d expect the pictures to be laid out in landscape orientation, and this is true of van Roekel’s photos. But the cover label is set in portrait orientation. From

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-59488205409141002102011-07-22T16:05:00.000-04:002011-07-22T16:05:50.548-04:00

Joyce McKinney From Popcorn & Candy: Manacled Mormons and Androgynous Aliens Edition, July 14, 2011. See this week's movie roundup here. Also on (ironic definite article alert) The DCist, read my thoughts on Lindsay Rowisnki's Transformer Gallery installation Trying to be There (ironic awkward pronoun juxtaposition alert) here. Tabloid What it is: Erroll Morris' latest portrait of an

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-55427091724062845252011-07-18T18:49:00.000-04:002011-07-18T18:49:25.578-04:00

The Olympus OM-1 was my first real camera, a hand-me down from my brothers. I started using this one in the late 80's and continued to use it through the early 2000s. Before I began acquiring  cameras - which not coincidentally was around the time I joined flickr,  it was my only camera. I've had it shelved for ages - the meter died twenty years ago even after repairs, and the shutter speeds

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-14298177033947133202011-07-15T14:26:00.001-04:002011-07-15T14:30:30.388-04:00

More highlights from my weekly movie column for the DCist. Visit the DCist for this week's column, See this week's column, Popcorn & Candy: Manacled Mormons and Androgynous Aliens Edition, in which I review Tabloid, the new Errol Morris film. I also reviewed three offerings from the Capital Fringe Festival this week, my favorite being the Pointless Theatre Company's Super Spectacular Dada

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-90184955397392350702011-07-12T22:00:00.000-04:002011-07-12T22:00:03.261-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: In Almost Every Picture 10: Pig, by Michael Campeau on Blogcritics. The tenth volume of the vernacular photography series In Almost every Picture, edited by Erik Kessels, is printed on a pretty pink stock. It’s nearly the color of the Financial Times, but rather than conveying fickle market trends, this tome sets in print a singular, enduring obsession.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-63179246948348337592011-07-10T22:48:00.001-04:002011-07-10T22:49:52.387-04:00

This week's camera with a kitty is a little late, owing to the usual film problems as well as a few other pieces that took priority. You can read my recent reviews of Running Drill at Transformer Gallery, and the Washington Shakespeare Company's production of Richard Foreman's Hotel Fuck, on the DCist. The Rex Junior Gevaert is a bakelite toy camera with a collapsible lens that twists out for

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-33133984371215947002011-07-08T15:21:00.000-04:002011-07-08T15:21:41.311-04:00

Dick Dyszel as Mayor Wicker in The Alien Factor. I've started writing the weekly Popcorn & Candy column, a roundup of the coming week's movies, for DCist. It's at once my most visible gig (who doesn't check movie listings?) and my most ephemeral (who's going to look up what I wrote about a video screening of Night Patrol?). For some reason this column stresses me out more than anything else I

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-40893382906620877912011-07-06T17:23:00.000-04:002011-07-06T17:23:41.977-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: More Cooning with Cooners, edited by Kalev Ericson on Blogcritics. In the last few years, the independent UK publisher Archive of Modern Conflict has released a fine streak of photobooks, from their handsome collection of Kodachromes, The Corinthians; to Larry Towell’s exquisite variation on the family album, The World from my Front Porch; to Nein, Onkel,

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-70203874856582212422011-06-30T17:40:00.001-04:002011-06-30T17:54:04.436-04:00

Market strategy for the Blackbird, Fly (yes, its name has a comma; yes, that's awfully precious) would have you believe that "many TLRs are hundreds of dollars," which I guess is true if you want a Rolleiflex. But you can easily get, say, a Yashica A (or two!) on eBay for less than the Franklin and change that this camera, comma, will set you back. And yet when I saw one at the ICP Store, long

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-75408443225528825712011-06-27T00:32:00.000-04:002011-06-27T00:32:42.957-04:00

A bonus review this week. Article first published as DVD Review: NY Export: Opus Jazz on Blogcritics. NY Export: Opus Jazz proudly announces itself as the first film conceived, created, produced and danced by the New York City Ballet. But the film’s directors have some creative cachet as well. Co-directors Henry Joost and Jody Lee Lipes came fresh from very different projects: Joost was part of

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-72417078276514012352011-06-26T06:42:00.000-04:002011-06-26T06:42:35.372-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: Love on the Left Bank by Ed van der Elsken on Blogcritics. Publishers have responded to the demand for collectible photobooks in a variety of ways. Errata Editions reissues highly valued titles, but resizes them to fit a uniform template. Not that I don't want the whole collection. The reissue efforts of Dewi Lewis Publishing may not have the depths of the

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-28995990157324085542011-06-24T17:23:00.000-04:002011-06-24T17:23:59.745-04:00

The Diana Mini is based on a classic plastic camera design from the 1960s. The Diana and her many variations took 120 sized film,  and were/are not known for build quality - and that includes the Lomo "reissue." The revamped, rainbow Diana line included a limited edition red-and-white Meg White Diana set which I didn't expect to win on eBay. In 2009 Lomo introduced a Diana that used 35mm film - a

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-57371168756677472712011-06-20T09:24:00.000-04:002011-06-20T09:24:14.317-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: Beyond Caring (Books on Books) by Paul Graham on Blogcritics. Paul Graham’s 1986 photobook Beyond Caring was made with the same instrument - the Plaubel Makina 6X7 - Martin Parr used for his photobook The Last Resort, originally released in the same year and reviewed here a few weeks ago. But the results could not be further apart. Both trained an eye on

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-88541430446209048352011-06-16T21:13:00.000-04:002011-06-16T21:13:57.229-04:00

This post is not brought to you by Mr. Popper's Penguins, coincidentally in theaters now. I don't remember how I found Pingo, only that I got him on eBay. He's your basic point-and-shoot 35mm plastic camera, with a little lever on his belly that slides a protective shield over the lens when not in use. I don't know why you'd need to protect the lens, but whatever. I recently took a picture of a

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-6703089398361222232011-06-12T23:11:00.000-04:002011-06-12T23:11:47.668-04:00

Photo by Pat Padua. I wrote more than 3000 words for the DCist last week, including a roundup of this week's new and repertory movies and a review of the Kandinsky/Stella exhibits that just opened at the Phillips Collection.  Those were on my docket as the week began. But when I woke up Sautrday, I didn't plan to write a 1200-word report on the first live stage reading (with original cast

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-65494377986993757572011-06-12T01:09:00.001-04:002011-06-12T01:09:49.411-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: Notes on Fulford's Raising Frogs for $ $ $ by Jason Fulford on Blogcritics. Jason Fulford’s monographs continue to push the limits of what is possible with the photobook, while remaining squarely within the tradition of the book. Last year's The Mushroom Collector is the  culmination-to-date of his elliptical, intelligent sequencing, but it’s hard to beat

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-82843262580706159672011-06-09T11:57:00.002-04:002011-06-10T09:26:43.643-04:00

Guest photographer Julien  A subset of the 21st Century toy camera revival is the multi-lens 35mm camera. My 1990s-era Nickelodeon Photo Blaster uses four lenses, each of which is used to take a single frame at a time, but that is an anomaly among this type of toy. The Pop Cam uses its four lenses to take four pictures in the space of a second, which can create a Muybridgean effect when

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-58212941851748810032011-06-05T09:43:00.000-04:002011-06-05T09:43:33.290-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: School by Raimond Wouda on Blogcritics. Dutch photographer Raimond Wouda's deceptively simple monograph School was taken from a five-year long project that focussed on secondary schools in the Netherlands. He decided early not to photograph inside classrooms, and instead trained his large-format camera (propped high on a ladder) and complex flash system

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-62448981797915512272011-06-03T15:49:00.000-04:002011-06-03T15:49:00.575-04:00

The superheadz wide and slim  is based on the design of the defunct but much-admired Vivitar Ultra Wide and Slim, a  plastic camera that had an unusually wide 22mm lens. A variety of Vivitar clones are made by the Japanese company Superheadz, who, like Lomo, make overpriced plastic cameras for the hipsterati. But the Superheadz models are more appealing to me, so I forgive them their

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-9902523871739935372011-05-27T17:55:00.000-04:002011-05-27T17:55:24.593-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: The Last Resort by Martin Parr on Blogcritics. The Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of summer for American beach goers. This week’s featured photobook takes a gritty but colorful look at sun-seeking vacationers across the pond. With friend and critic Gerry Badger, Magnum photographer Martin Parr co-wrote the essential two-volume  survey, The

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-73489465420802763992011-05-27T09:48:00.000-04:002011-05-27T09:48:36.551-04:00

I had double the writing obligations this week: I filed two long-ish (in blog years) pieces for DCist  - an overview of the G40 Art Summit and a roundup of movies playing in DC this week. So I am only just getting down to this week's photobook review, and hope to post that tomorrow. While you're waiting, please to enjoy this week's camera-with-a-kitty. The Miranda Automex II is a Japanese SLR. I

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-59649586598667144822011-05-19T17:21:00.000-04:002011-05-19T17:21:10.573-04:00

The Kodak Pony was originally manufactured in 1949 to take one of Kodak's proprietary formats, 828 film - the same width as 35mm film but in roll, not cartridge, form. (828 film also lacked sprockets. And now we don't dance.) I had assumed that the 35mm Pony was a replacement the 828, which was never a popular format, but the models were produced in tandem for much of the Pony's run - the 828 in

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-67442995554335502132011-05-17T23:30:00.001-04:002011-05-17T23:32:16.716-04:00

This turned out to be a rant more than a book review, but I do highly recommend the book. Article first published as Book Review: Store Front: The Disappearing Face of New York (Mini) by James and Karla Murray on Blogcritics. Luncheonette, Brooklyn. 2005. Photo by James and Karla Murray. A recent Village Voice piece under the category “My Rant” takes aim at the latest sign of what seems an

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-46072235684785303762011-05-13T14:46:00.001-04:002011-05-13T15:42:43.115-04:00

A gift from V. The Herbert George Company was a Chicago camera manufacturer named for founders Herbert Weil and George Israel. The mainstay of their bakelite camera fleet was the Imperial, a brand that was launched in the 1940s and lasted through a change in ownership in 1961, which is about when the Cub Scout Imperial Debonair was born. You can see the Imperial Debonair, sans Cub Scout

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-58472362660012898072011-05-08T14:51:00.000-04:002011-05-08T14:51:28.890-04:00

Article first published as Book Review: In Almost Every Picture #2 by Erik Kessels, Tyler Whisnand, Andrea Stultiens, and Anonymous on Blogcritics. Collections of found photography - the kind of things you find in flea markets - come along more often than the 42 bus. The angles are various - some are sociological, some merely camp, some aspire to art. The finest purveyor of the last is Erik

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-36266540811649727862011-05-06T23:13:00.000-04:002011-05-06T23:13:59.321-04:00

The Holga, along with its overpriced Lomographical-branded compatriots, is the toy camera that brought back the toy camera at the turn of the twenty-first century. I've owned two of them at a combined cost (even including the modified holga, pictured) of less than what the Lomography Holga starter kit will set you back at Urban Outfitters. But at any price, it's a keen camera, and, for a plastic

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-17725295346742847492011-05-04T22:29:00.000-04:002011-05-04T22:29:13.351-04:00

With mad props to the late Admiral Stockdale. See more of my work with Hernard Title Letters here.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-60530240872218051302011-05-01T19:54:00.000-04:002011-05-01T19:54:17.777-04:00

I suggested a photobook feature to Blogcritics and hope to get that happening soon. It will collect the photobook reviews I've been writing for them - my count is now thirteen! - in one place. Anyway, as befits my review of an iPad photobook, I composed a draft of my review on my new iPad 2, which. Keying 500 words on a tablet was not a difficult ordeal, but I fine-tuned and formatted things on

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-14514207913111080292011-04-28T22:54:00.000-04:002011-04-28T22:54:10.757-04:00

Painting by Veronica Ebert The Nikon N90 was produced from 1992-1994. I've sometimes struggled with its autofocus and switched to manual focus, but this camera has the best meter I own.  I bought mine used from a colleague who also sold me a Hasselblad and gave me a Miranda, both of which I'll feature soon.  It came with a few Nikon-mount lenses, and this critical mass of glass which is what

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-40213116486218714982011-04-26T08:47:00.001-04:002011-04-26T09:52:03.056-04:00

My week is growing ever so slightly longer but I hope to be caught up soon.  Somewhere, there are baby frogs. I would like to go there with you and raise them for free. Article first published as Book Review: Raising Frogs for $ $ $ by Jason Fulford on Blogcritics. Spring and the Easter season are a time of growth and rebirth no matter what tenets you hold dear. So whether your chosen tale of

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-71578756832873763372011-04-22T15:31:00.002-04:002011-04-22T15:50:42.701-04:00

A gift from V. The Dick Tracy camera was produced around 1947. There are several other bakelite cameras that look just like this, like the Majestic, Pickwick, and Falcon, but have different face plates - one of the keenest variations on this model is the  Brenda Starr  camera. I can't figure out what the ur-brand is of this camera but "Seymore Products Co.", as well as Falcon, originate in

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-25576833667464601862011-04-18T09:13:00.000-04:002011-04-18T09:13:46.737-04:00

A day late. Article first published as Book Review: Publish Your Photography Book by Darius D. Himes and Mary Virginia Swanson on Blogcritics. It has been said many times that we are living in a golden age of the photobook. We are also living in an age when more and more photographers are making their work available online, via social networking/sharing sites like Flickr or Instagram, and

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-13221733887239543432011-04-12T22:56:00.000-04:002011-04-12T22:56:22.125-04:00

I may not be able to squeeze in an "every camera I own" post this week, owing to the fact that my corner lab can't do b&w 127. I hope it doesn't end up fogged like my last few camera rolls. The film is on its merry way to Parsons Kansas, where Dwayne's Photo, no longer beset by ark-loads of Kodachrome, can process it in their timely fashion - but I figure it won't be ready for at least a week.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-82437512364809151422011-04-10T10:04:00.003-04:002011-04-10T10:57:20.431-04:00

Welcome to another round of photobook reviews, brought you you by another pile of books I bought a while ago etc. Article first published as Book Review: Images You Should Not Masturbate To by Graham Johnson and Rob Hibbert on Blogcritics. Images You Should Not Masturbate To is a modest tome published by the Penguin Group. You’ll likely find in the Humor section of your neighborhood bookstore,

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-29121057142924161742011-04-07T19:00:00.000-04:002011-04-07T19:00:03.241-04:00

The Brownie Hawkeye Flash was a simple Bakelite box camera. There are no adjustments to speak of; you look through the viewfinder up top, and you depress the shutter; the grey slide opposite the shutter release can be pulled up to allow bulb exposures. The camera was produced from 1950 through 1961, so there are a lot of them out there. If you pay more than $20 for one of these, you're paying too

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-78190783339970335692011-04-03T10:40:00.000-04:002011-04-03T10:40:53.595-04:00

With this review I finish writing about the stack of photobooks I bought in January (and with this post I'll start keying "photobook" as one word, a usage which seems to have legs. Although the results of a "photo book" google search are nearly five times greater than that of the one-word search, the cool kids are going for the the latter. Anyway, I've stopped buying books for a while but before

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-86814935834348182552011-04-01T23:59:00.001-04:002011-04-02T00:08:19.090-04:00

It's the first week of spring but the weather hasn't been conducive to photo walks with old cameras that have limited controls and need good light to get a decent exposure. And really, I've been unmotivated. The self-guided projects  I've assigned myself give me some sense of occasional direction but there are frequent nights when Saturn wins and I want to hide under the covers with a bag of

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-7396209340601690352011-03-27T00:51:00.002-04:002011-03-27T01:05:15.235-04:00

I filed this with Blogcritics about an hour and a half ago, which was still Saturday.  So if that's close enough for jazz I'm still caught up with my weekly photo book series. Article first published as Book Review: Foto en Copyright by G.P. Fieret on Blogcritics. I recently asked staff at Dashwood Books, New York's premiere photography bookstore, to recommend something Dutch. The Netherlands

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-49030574365860427362011-03-24T12:15:00.000-04:002011-03-24T12:15:25.822-04:00

Last week I posted  frames processed from a roll of Verichrome Pan that was in a Kodak Bantam 828 when I bought it. This pocket-sized folding camera, produced in 1935, was designed by Walter Dorwin Teague, who also designed the wonderful Beau Brownie series for Kodak. The Bantam comes with a fixed f6.3 Anastigmat lens and a shutter release placed at the bottom of the from plate of the bellows

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-62423311864698957162011-03-19T11:27:00.000-04:002011-03-19T11:27:54.065-04:00

I'm taking a brief detour from That Pile of Photo Books I Bought in January to bring you a preview of ANOTHER PILE OF PHOTO BOOKS I GOT LAST MONTH EBFORE SWEARING OFF BOOKS FOR A WHILE. The Japanese are well known for their photo books - in fact there's an English-language coffee table volume dedicated just to Japanese photobooks of the 1960's and 1970's. Your big-city chain bookstore might

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-31400133897069920812011-03-18T22:22:00.001-04:002011-03-18T22:25:19.891-04:00

The Kodak Beau Brownie was produced from 1930 to 1933, making this one of the older cameras in my collection. It came in a model 2 or 2A: the 2 uses 120 film, which is still produced today; the 2A takes the obsolete 116 format. Before film formats were standardized Kodak was all too keen to produce cameras that required their proprietary rolls. So a lot of old Kodak cameras require obsolete

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-79401570392525869972011-03-17T23:32:00.003-04:002011-03-18T16:52:27.864-04:00

I was in a pretty bad place even before world news took a tragic turn, from horrifying tour bus accidents to the seemingly immeasurable toll in Japan - a crisis that is just beginning.  I'd like to send good thoughts over there and anywhere in need but do these really help? Japanese culture has come through for me in the past, so maybe it does. So in this time of sadness I won't dwell on the

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-9086212149299093552011-03-17T14:18:00.003-04:002011-03-17T14:21:01.363-04:00

I bought a Kodak Bantam at the Antiques Garage in Chelsea last year, and have run half an eight-exposure roll of 828 Vericrhome Pan through it. I'll post those results soon, but first: there was a roll of exposed film in the camera when I bought it, and I just got those pictures back. The camera was made in 1935. The Union Jack is prominently displayed among other unseen flags. So it could be

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-21423483992350129102011-03-11T23:50:00.001-05:002011-03-11T23:58:18.777-05:00

Welcome to the next to the penultimate (or penultimate if I combine the remaining and eminently combinable volumes) episode of That Pile of Photobooks I Bought in January. Article first published as Book Review: The Mushroom Collector by Jason Fulford on Blogcritics. Jason Fulford’s The Mushroom Collector was featured on a number of lists of the Best Photobooks of 2010, and was at the very top

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-66656690000334668232011-03-09T23:11:00.003-05:002011-03-09T23:24:29.626-05:00

The Smena 8m doesn't get the Lomographic love that the company showers upon its line of overpriced Holgas and neverending series of limited edition Diana replicas (n.b., and if anybody's interested in the Meg White edition Diana kit, ping me). But this modest camera has a level of control not found in most plastic cameras: adjustable shutter speed (from B to 250) and aperture (from f4 to f16) in

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-5216583304740428302011-03-07T00:03:00.001-05:002011-03-07T00:09:33.924-05:00

Hello to those of you who have found this blog via a link from a things magazine article on collectors, in which the subtitle of the present blog, "it's not hoarding, it's curating!" is taken as a symptom rather than a disease. Lately I've been documenting my camera collection and a recent haul of photo books, the latter of which I was in the process of reviewing in toto before succumbing to a

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-55818025993560566412011-03-03T23:43:00.002-05:002011-03-03T23:46:41.279-05:00

The plan this week was to post photos from a Smena, a plastic Russian camera manufactured by the people who brought you the Lomo. But I loaded it with expired slide film that I already know will be completely magenta, and I never even got around to taking it to the lab because the last time they sent some out it came back over a week later. But instead of showing you, oh, my iPhone 4 from Verizon

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-55533098819085266452011-03-03T09:08:00.000-05:002011-03-03T09:08:17.867-05:00

Article first published as Book Review: Antonio Caballero: Las Rutas De La Pasion Mexico, 1960s-1970s by Antonio Caballero on Blogcritics. Welcome to this week's installment in The Pile of PhotoBooks I Bought in January. Antonio Caballero’s most famous image is of the Hollywood Babylon variety: at a press conference in Mexico in 1962, Marilyn Monroe stopped for the adoring press gaggle and

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-34514861975687060032011-02-26T23:06:00.006-05:002011-03-11T23:58:02.599-05:00

Photo courtesy of Little Brown Mushroom. Here is this week's literally eleventh-hour (twenty-third hour if you keep military time) photo book review, brought to you by the pile of photo books I bought last month. Last year Magnum photographer Alec Soth was commissioned to work for the Brighton Photo Biennial. But due to a last minute snaggle he was unable to get a work visa in time. At a loss

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-80089068487176227572011-02-24T13:50:00.001-05:002011-02-24T13:52:01.344-05:00

This is the second Olympus Pen F I've owned, the first one having literally fallen apart after moderate use. Olympus resurrected the Pen series in name and compact spirit for their EP line of Digital SLRs, but the quasi-retro design of those new cameras, while not unappealing, pale in comparison to the keen contours of their inspiration. The original Pen F series  were half-frame SLRs that made

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-47741742619188880592011-02-22T23:08:00.000-05:002011-02-22T23:08:15.115-05:00

The character of Jimmy the Gent started as a stock Damon Runyonesque thug-cum-Lenny from Of Mice and Men foil, but he grew into a stand-in for authorial awkwardness. In this scene Jimmy the Gent (whose name I took from a James Cagney movie) appears at the family of Mmrma/Mortimer, who the careful reader may recall is the once jawless ventriloquist dummy sho took my nanowrimo work in a completely

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-46913133811667495612011-02-19T12:40:00.001-05:002011-02-19T13:59:03.370-05:00

The Yaschia A is a Twin Lens Reflex - the iconic model of such cameras is the fabled Rolleiflex. I've always wanted a Rolleiflex - I remember staring through the window of the old Penn Camera on E Street at a model that was going for what now seems a not-bad $300. But the varieties of Yashica TLRs are exponentially less expensive, and still take wonderful photos, and I'm only

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-73206471312791645512011-02-18T22:39:00.001-05:002011-02-18T22:41:33.095-05:00

I'm going through the pile of photo books I blogged about earlier this month, and, somewhat amazingly to me, here is the third book review from that storied pile in less than two weeks. This article was first published as Book Review: Strange and Singular by Michael Abrams on Blogcritics. There seem to be almost as many collections of vernacular photos as there are pictures in your shoebox

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-54893455839095370362011-02-17T23:11:00.001-05:002011-02-17T23:11:49.771-05:00

I haven't looked at the issue of my Nanowrimo loins in some time, but I've alluded to this particular episode for some time and after some distance it's not so bad as is. Of course, tomorrow it may horrify me. I do still wonder at the sudden violent turn I took; inspired by a jaw-less ventriloquist dummy, my muse turned on itself, or I on myself, in some vicious cycle. A freeing creative episode

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-67544945517144167962011-02-17T09:52:00.002-05:002011-02-17T10:10:48.069-05:00

The Nickelodeon Photoblaster takes four pictures on one frame of 35mm film. There are a number of popular cameras that take four pictures at once on a single frame, but the Photoblaster operates more like a half-frame camera (coming soon) times two: four individual images can be taken on one frame, allowing for unusual juxtapositions or just a highly efficient use of film. The camera went out of

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-68090165877262532472011-02-11T11:52:00.000-05:002011-02-11T11:52:00.165-05:00

Welcome to the first in a series of Every Camera I Own posts. I'll be digging into the collection pretty much in a random order determined in part by what's accessible, and this series debut is brought to you by a camera that has been sitting at my desk at work for several months. My friend G. gave me a few cameras he found as he's cleaned out his apartment - the other one is a Polaroid, which

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-31768588089370155312011-02-10T09:55:00.002-05:002011-02-10T10:03:27.406-05:00

Will I review every title in the pile of photo books I posted a few days ago? Perhaps, perhaps not, but a photo book review a week isn't a bad idea. My own would be an even better idea. [Takes notes.] This week's review is of John Gossage's The Thirty-Two Inch Ruler/Map of Babylon, which I wrote about for Blogcritics and DCist, but please read the latter, with local value-added content:

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-63026087615486050772011-02-06T20:54:00.000-05:002011-02-06T20:54:26.991-05:00

These are the photo-books I acquired last month: I don't expect to have months like that all year, but I have had enough of them over the past several years to remind me why I stopped collecting photo-books. Then again: they're an investment! Two of the pictured monographs are comps - a review will be forthcoming of the John Gossage book. Most of the times were purchased the old-fashioend way

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-65001070327863534732011-01-23T22:14:00.000-05:002011-01-23T22:14:03.816-05:00

Or some of it, anyway. Every New Year I think this will be the year I take inventory of my cameras and maybe use the ones I've been neglecting - which is most of them. I don't have a rotation plan mapped out but with something like 75 cameras in the collection, this year I'll try to make use out of them. All of the working ones, at least. Which I'd hoped would include my micro Spongebob camera

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-37902163534354626852010-12-30T23:15:00.003-05:002010-12-31T01:45:25.567-05:00

The Best of Me: A year ago I couldn't have compiled this list, but I've massaged my writing brain more and more this year. And  sometimes even I like the results: 1. Nanowrimo: the more I look at the draft I plugged away at during the month of November, the harder it is to find something I want to share. Not that I'd forgive myself for not achieving perfection on the fly. No. But sometimes, it

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-68595574282813259202010-12-16T09:00:00.000-05:002010-12-16T09:00:00.993-05:00

Lenny's Girl. The complete 1,726 word output of Day 19, slightly edited,  annotated in italics. This begins the story of how a separated Siamese ventriloquist dummy triplet happened to end up wearing the skin of one Archibald Tunbridge. Chapter thirty-eight. [As we are still adhering, in principle, to the "Fifty Easy Pieces" framework] The Triplets of 42nd Street. "Well as my sistuh

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-89035154842932852062010-12-14T11:54:00.001-05:002010-12-14T12:00:29.135-05:00

I continued to follow the jawless ventriloquist dummy where he led me, but the river was  treacherous and in parts uncrossable. To fill in the plot gaps: Tunbridge, last seen on the bus talking to Mmrma/Mortimer about the fate of his beloved Crackers, had disappeared at an I-95 rest stop. His return had something to do with Woody Harrelson but I'll leave that for another day or the chopping

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-61169226332724794442010-12-09T08:55:00.000-05:002010-12-09T08:55:13.999-05:00

First stage: Not bad - it started to work here! Second stage: I guess it's okay Third stage: Hiding under the covers until spring An excerpt from Day 15, slightly edited. Mmrma climbed onto the empty seat behind Hannah. He gave her a thumbs up with his good hand. “Mmy mmhr, mmtah! Mmt mh nmnms meenn mm mn-my mwless mmntrlst mmy mmre!”” (1)Mmrma’s seat-mate, a balding New York haberdasher and

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-69061636626900611222010-12-04T01:01:00.003-05:002010-12-04T12:00:50.574-05:00

One of the many ways I procrastinated during NaNoWriMo was the time I spent finding good coffee (thank you Baked and Wired in DC, and Stumptown and Joe the Art of Coffee in New York) and a nice quiet cafe where I could sit down and write. (Note: do not try this in Georgetown on a Sunday.)  It used  to be when I walked into a cafe and saw people writing - and I mean, using pen or pencil and paper

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-14235156349212212602010-12-02T09:25:00.000-05:002010-12-02T09:25:28.803-05:00

That's how many words I wrote during November for National Novel Writing Month (affectionately known as NaNoWriMo.). The organizers of NaNoWriMo encourage those who take up this challenge, which entails writing an average of 1667 words a day for 30 days, to develop outlines and characters and notes - anything but actually writing the book. But that felt like cheating to me (outlines and notes are

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-16284234754433746222010-09-23T10:07:00.001-04:002010-09-23T10:09:28.949-04:00

The "Homewreckers." Courtesy Bright Red Rocket. Article first published as DVD Review: The Wonderful World of Kittens on Blogcritics. Microcinema International is best known for distributing video titles from outside the studio machine, and featuring, at minimum, upper-middlebrow aesthetics. Among their recent releases are Seven Easy Pieces, a survey of performance artist Marina Abramovic’s

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-90857659359139219222010-07-03T12:55:00.001-04:002010-07-03T13:09:30.012-04:00

I was a writer before I was a photographer. This year I've neglected my photography but have been writing more than ever before. If neglected this blog last month, it is in part due to the fact that I have been busy writing for three other venues: The one I get paid for, as part of other duties which I've always had a hard time explaining to people.  Trust me, I work hard for your tax dollars,

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-68704030987301799292010-05-08T21:39:00.002-04:002010-05-08T22:24:15.699-04:00

I have three different vinyl pressings of Love's desert-island-disc Forever Changes. I have two Dexy's Midnight Runner's lps - most don't realize there was more than one, but it predated "Come on Eileen" and is more informed by Northern Soul than the Celtic whatever of their second album. I have no fewer than four Sheena Easton albums (at least three of which were purchased in the last twelve

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-30175135194552988722010-04-29T13:54:00.002-04:002010-04-29T14:36:22.699-04:00

I go to New York regularly but I seldom venture out of Manhattan and even more seldom into Queens. I may complain about increasing gentrification of  the Lower East Side or the Sexandthecitification of The Bowery but I never run out of things to do there. Well for once I was at a loss for things to do, and maybe the few hours I spent in South Philly gave me a taste and yearning for a big city

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-65353111103562952532010-04-28T11:25:00.001-04:002010-04-29T13:44:03.117-04:00

Article as  first published on Blogcritics.org. Daido Moriyama, along with Nobuyoshi Araki, was part of a new wave of Japanese artists to break out of photographic traditions in the late '60s. For Moriyama, these traditions included things like focus and a level camera; his high-contrast, grainy black and white images are pure street photography, but he's just as likely to print images that are

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-19436450535223593442010-04-25T23:24:00.007-04:002010-04-26T01:41:02.922-04:00

My next stop was New York, where my usual first stop after getting off the bus or train is for the double katsu at Go-go curry, the sole American outlet of a Japanese chain that honors New York Yankees star Hideki Matsui with a gorilla mascot and an excellent roux-based curry. But I was heavy laden and saved my Japanese jones for the Tan Tan Men @ Menkui Tei in the East Village. I don't know

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-69496618459109708962010-04-21T21:23:00.025-04:002010-04-22T17:03:59.584-04:00

For my 1400th post on The Bloggy, Bloggy Dew, and by popular demand (two people asked!) I'll tell you about a weekend that started out as a Timothy Carey tour and ended up a foodie tour of two cities - three if you count the concubine's beef I had for lunch at Pete's Diner back home the day before I left. I was in Philadelphia for a limited amount of time and wanted to make sure I had one known

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-55322021537794796952010-04-16T17:41:00.011-04:002010-04-19T17:39:39.381-04:00

I went up to Philly last weekend for a four-hour program of films featuring Timothy Carey, the late great character actor who hammed his way through dozens of bit-roles. I've written about him previously. Some of his movies you've seen and love - notably his significant supporting roles for Stanley Kubrick in The Killing and Paths of Glory (his famous scene in the latter involces a cockroach);

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-33762762364146148772010-03-25T14:38:00.003-04:002011-03-12T00:01:07.137-05:00

Welcome Prince of Petworth readers. Apart from occasional blogcritics reviews, I've been neglecting this blog in favor of my tumblr, but it behooves me to produce content of a more personal nature here, being that my work blog has lately been more fun than my so-called personal blog. But before I tell you about how I was born, and what makes me cry, and how my experiments with butterscotch pie

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-76704344107270898562010-03-16T17:51:00.003-04:002010-03-25T14:09:08.331-04:00

Marina Abramovic, "Entering the other side." Courtesty of Microcinema.This post first appeared in a slightly different form on Blogcritics.org.Belgrade-born Marina Abramovic, the subject of a recent New Yorker profile, is the first performance artist to be honored with a retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art. To coincide with "The Artist is Present," Microcinema has released Seven Easy Pieces

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-1021118260880226152010-03-03T10:28:00.006-05:002010-03-03T10:34:00.835-05:00

This post first appeared, in a slightly different form, on Blogcritics.org.What do you get when you blend violence-as-humor, ironic use of racial and other epithets, casual misogyny, and the kind of relentless profanity that's the sure sign of a lazy writer who can't be bothered to come up with original verbal shock tactics? A Behanding in Spokane is what you get, and, in the case of this critic

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-65116167567416873512010-02-10T22:28:00.002-05:002010-02-10T22:32:29.119-05:00

This post first appeared, in slightly different form, on blogcritics.orgFrom episodes of Gimmie a Break and Perfect Strangers, to the real-life tweeting of reporter Ann Curry, the dramedy of being trapped in an elevator is a staple of entertainment in this age of Otis. Striking the hearts of both the claustrophobic and the Luddite who should have just taken the stairs, these tales of strange

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-32744838279967136392010-02-05T10:00:00.002-05:002010-02-05T10:00:00.853-05:00

This review first appeared on blogcritics.org.One of my favorite movies of 2009 was Henri-Georges Clouzot's Inferno (L'enfer d'Henri-Georges Clouzot), a documentary that assembled footage from the French director's doomed 1964 production. Marvelously edited and with a spanking new but era-appropriate soundtrack, the most spectacular sequences were simply lighting tests of Romy Schneider:I don't

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-6593581265804383062010-01-30T19:36:00.002-05:002010-01-30T20:33:14.290-05:00

I meant to blog this when I got back from New York a few weeks ago. I was saddened to learn that Alphaville, the antique toy shop on West Houston just across from Film Forum, is closing up shop after 16 years. I'd always wondered how such a specialized shop could make do in such a large space. The co-owner told me that wasn't a problem, as they had an understanding landlord. The prospects of an

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-8018841810332150892010-01-08T11:29:00.009-05:002010-01-10T11:35:41.560-05:00

This piece first appeared in a slightly different form on blogcritics.org.A year ago this week, near the end of a whirlwind holiday trip to South America, I walked into the magnificent El Ateneo bookstore in Buenos Aires. I looked through the Argentine DVDs for something to remember the country by. On a whim led by cover art that spoke some strange yet familiar sentiment to me, I picked up a

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-18086680260479525952010-01-07T08:56:00.003-05:002010-01-07T08:59:32.971-05:00

.flickr-photo { border: solid 2px #000000; }.flickr-yourcomment { }.flickr-frame { text-align: left; padding: 3px; }.flickr-caption { font-size: 0.8em; margin-top: 0px; } My Eyes On Stuff, a new tumblr page documenting exercises in modern identity. Am currently soliciting book offers, cases of Cristal, and money - 'cause it glows.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-18362417472947204732010-01-05T17:09:00.008-05:002010-01-05T20:26:43.215-05:00

In the 80's, I asked a high school chum, who shall remain nameless but who is a FB contact (apropriately enough, I also remember lending him a philosophy textbook, which he left in his car during a pouring rain; he returned the book to me besotted with water damage, and our Philosophy teacher pointed to it's damage as an indicator of how much its owner referred to it. I never corrected his

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-58598776142435978832009-12-29T19:49:00.001-05:002009-12-29T19:51:05.944-05:00

I've started a tumblr.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-20816491914172915402009-12-24T23:16:00.002-05:002009-12-24T23:20:23.022-05:00

I've wanted to mix these for years. Thank you, Universal Music Group.

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-31941432937232042512009-12-22T11:12:00.007-05:002009-12-22T11:39:29.128-05:00

Last night, after months of delays, and in the aftermath of a snowpocalypse of historic proportions, I tried out a continuous positive airway pressure machine, or CPAP. Some of my best friends swore their praises and curses of the machine, which either sung them into a device-assisted date with sandman, or made them to claw at their faces and sleep unadorned.I didn't claw. As uncomfortable as

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-91201870715853040252009-12-14T18:34:00.000-05:002009-12-14T18:36:33.716-05:00

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-22222903947427292802009-12-11T17:35:00.007-05:002009-12-13T14:42:23.274-05:00

Not all musical Liverpudlians were as cuddly as the Fab Four. The Fab lapinfille brought to my attention as a case in point the Reynolds Girls, one-hit wonders who are at a considerable disadvantage already by being just two and furthermore by not being Fab. Produced by the law firm of Stock Aitken and Waterman, who issued their relentless briefs and shook up the legal airwaves with such hits as

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5530642.post-30376837440484534412009-12-08T09:50:00.016-05:002009-12-10T17:43:54.329-05:00

This year's modelAs the snow falls on our little burgh and the Christmas tree is lit on the town square and we candy the oysters to leave for Santa when he visits our cozy cave, remember 'tis the season for another yuletide tradition to warm the cockles: the Charmin holiday restrooms in Times Square. Next door to what just last year was the Virgin Megastore and is today a gaping maw of unutilized

pathttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08879538643706828154noreply@blogger.com0