Say hello to Finn MacCool and the Pooka for me

More and more I am beginning to think that, stereotypical though it may be, I need to be half lit to read some of these books we're assigned for my Irish Novel class. I'm loving the class and for the most part enjoying the reading we're doing, but something in the back of my brain is telling me they would go down a lot easier if I had a cold Harp in my left hand.

We just finished James Joyce, which despite all the Latin, I really enjoyed. I'm sort of seeing what the Big Deal about Joyce is because like it or not, man was artful in his use of words. I'm not about to rush out and nab Ulysses just yet or anything, but I'm developing an appreciation. Still, there were points where I felt like I could have gotten more out of the text had I had a healthy buzz going on.

Currently I'm reading At Swim, Two Birds and more than ever I feel like a I need a drink to get through it. It's a good book — cheeky and funny, artful too — but it's a frame story within a frame story within a frame story...within a frame story? And some of it deals with Irish Mythology. And...how do I say this? The bending of worlds? Like the Narrator of the story creates this character who creates other characters who then come to life, kind of, only he holds them hostage in the basement of a hotel. And seduces one of them. Or something?

See what I mean about needing a drink?

So I propose that we follow Dylan Thomas' suggestion. When asked for his opinion of At Swim, Two Birds, he said, "This is just the book to give your sister if she's a loud, dirty, boozy girl!" I'm starting a book club. Nature of the book club: We meet at the bar, get hammered, and read. Who's in?

IIIIInnteresting, Veeerry Interesting

From my July horoscope:

The month will end on a terrific career note. Your first indication that you're on the right track will come on July 20, when Mars in Taurus will signal Uranus, the ruler of your house of professional status. An unexpected victory could take you completely by surprise.

You'll be just cranking up!

By the full moon, July 29, plus or minus four days, you are due for an even bigger career development. By this time, Mercury will have regulated its orbit, so if you have had to negotiate a contract or sign one, you will be able to do so any time after July 16. By month's end, talks may conclude - and you should be very pleased with the way things pan out. With Mercury so beautifully angled to Uranus, there will be a twist that you would never expect. Lovely!

Huh. Well, what do you guys think?

Taste Sensations

If you eat Honey Nut Cheerios, drink all the dregs of milk, and then take a sip of your Wawa Hazelnut Coffee with French Vanilla Cream, it will taste like coconut.

I've enlightened you, see?

Everyone must see this movie

I'm seriously sitting in my cubical with tears in my eyes and chills down my spine.

No End In Sight.

Go see this movie.

Never in my life have I been so sorry to say, "I told you so."

There are SPOILERS in this post

Have you finished reading Deathly Hallows yet? If not, stop reading. No, I'm serious. Stop reading. I don't want to ruin this for you. STOP. READING.

Are you gone? Let's check, shall we?

Voldemort becomes good and lives out the rest of his life as a drag queen in Diagon Alley.

A-HA! I see you peeking! I told you to go away! I meant it too. Get! You can come back after you've finished. I've warned you!

Everyone else, here we go:

Overall, I really liked the book. I thought it was a fitting and just end to the series. I felt such a pang of sadness when I broke spine on my never-before-opened book and had the flash of This Is The Last Time... And J.K. Rowling's inscription just slayed me. I forget precisely how she worded it but along the lines of "To all of you who have stuck with Harry through the last 6 books," but much more elegantly. And I heaved a great sigh and began the reading.

There was so much stuff in this book! It was all over the place! Action packed! I need to go back and reread because once I started I was insatiable and devoured the entire thing as fast as possible. Which also makes me sad, because I wish I had savored it more.

ANYWAY, I of course had some problems with the book. Let's go through them:

• Like everyone else in Harry Potter Fandom, I was upset with the way Fred's death was handled. The Twins were some of my favorite characters in the book, not just because they're across-the-board awesome as well as funny, but because I feel a special affinity with twins. My mother is a twin, my grandmother was a twinless twin, and deep down I've always known that someday I'm going to have twins. Call it a spidey sense or woman's intuition or whatever, but it's this deep feeling in me. Killing Fred off, while awful and heartbreaking, was understandable (Even though I so wanted it to be Percy. You may have come back Percy, but you're still a PRAT in my book). Not showing George grieving and coming to terms with his twin's death (aside from a half sentence describing him as "kneeling at Fred's head") is inexcusable. Especially given the fact that aside from a very brief scene in OotP, we've never seen the twins apart. They are inseparable. Give us paragraph showing us George's loss at losing his brother, best friend, partner in crime, business partner, other half. It's only fair.
  
  
• Lupin and Tonks. Fine, they died. I was of course sad about it, but I saw it from a fricken' mile away, especially after they made Harry godfather to Teddy. Like everyone else, I was upset that their death happened offscreen, as it were, and we didn't get to see or really digest what happened to them. Both of them were pretty cool-ass wizards and deserved their moments of glory, etc. Lupin especially, as he was the last Marauder and Harry's last connection to his father.
  
  
• Speaking of Tonks, go read Amy's thoughts because she has a point and I sort of agree with her.
  
  
• Along those same lines, Ginny! I hate how everyone just shoved her out of the way and she basically took it. Especially since in OotP and HBP she's revealed herself to be not only a powerful witch but also a determined spunky young woman. No way she would have stood for that crap.

Stuff that I really really loved:

• Neville. NEVILLE ROCKED MY WORLD. There were times of just pure fist pumping glee when Neville came into his own and stood up for Hogwarts and all things good. Here's this unsure screw-up kid with a heart of gold really proving beyond a shadow of a doubt that he could have been The Boy Who Lived. Neville is so, so awesome. Love.
  
  
• Luna. For the same reasons as Neville, but mostly because of her sweetness. Those paintings in her room? Her speech for Dobby? Killed me.
  
  
• Dumbledore having flaws. I liked seeing his past and seeing him not being this perfect being. It makes his wisdom and power all the more believable.
  
  
• Snape being good! YAY! Goddamn, Snape is a cool character. Back in OotP, during "Snape's Worst Memory" I guessed that it was because he loved Lily. Then I thought, no, that's too predictable. And while it turned out that I was right, J.K. kept me guessing right up until the end. I liked the way she handled it, we never saw Snape professing his love for Lily to anyone other than Dumbledore, he goes through his entire life unloved, dies alone and despised by his true allies, and his last dying wish is to see the eyes of the woman he loved. How completely tragic he is.
  
  
• "Here Lies Dobby, A Free Elf." Dear God, that was so sad. For as annoying as the S.P.E.W. storyline was throughout the books, it felt like it finally came full circle and paid off with the death of Dobby. Poor Dobby, who I never really minded, but never really got into as a character either -- making the ultimate sacrifice for Harry not because was ordered to, but because he freely chose to come to Harry's aide. And Harry recognizing this and digging the gave himself without magic, Ron taking off his shoes and socks for Dobby. Just so sad.
  
  
• Mrs. Weasley unleashing a wand of whoop-ass. As much as I wanted Neville to be the one to finish off Bellatrix, I loved seeing her as this ferocious mother dragon guarding her eggs.
  
  
• Kingsley Shacklebolt. I just love him. He’s cool.
  
  
• Seven Horcruxes, seven people to destroy them. Drives the point home, I think, that while Harry may have been the Chosen One, bringing down Voldemort was not something that could have been done alone.

Crap that I’m nitpicking:

• Polyjuice Potion now works for hours on end, apparently.
  
  
• I still just don’t get how the Secret-Keeper Charm works. Stephanie and I had a confusing discussion weeks ago via Google Chat where I tried to make the point that I thought just because the Fidelis Charm is cast doesn’t make the place invisible or unplottable per se, just makes it impossible for others to find it as the “secret place.” For example, if I was the Secret- Keeper for your hideout, it’s not that people wouldn’t be able to see it or find it, just that it would appear that you’re not there until I choose to divulge that you are. Well, Deathly Hallows proved me wrong on that part. But then! How did Harry get to/find Shell Cottage if Bill was Secret-Keeper? And then Bill promptly told Harry about the Burrow even though Mr. Weasley was Secret-Keeper there. And! According to JKR’s website, she once said that when the Secret-Keeper dies the secret goes with them. But in Deathly Hallows, everyone became Secret-Keeper for 12 Grimmauld place. Huh?
  
  
• The Epilogue. Oh, the epilogue. Yes, it was cheesy. But since the rest of the book was so action-packed and heavy, I was OK with it being a little cheese-tastic, even if it was Velveeta processed. I would have liked more resolution with outside characters – LUNA, for example, Dean, all of the Weasleys, more Neville of course (although I loved that he went on to teach at Hogwarts), and more importantly more about the Wizarding world at large post-Voldemort.

Is it really over, you guys? I’m so sad. Post your thoughts in the comments, if you have any…

Big ups to Rosemary

Rosemary was in my writing workshop last semester. She identified herself as a fiction writer and in her first class exercise expressed a slight discomfort with being the oldest in the class. A single mom of two, her face was smooth, youthful, and alert. Only the graying dreadlocks gave away her true age.

When the time for in-class criticism came, she was the first to volunteer both praise and thoughtful critique. Her expressive eyes wide, her wise hands gesticulating, her regal profile leaning in the circle to enthusiastically offer her suggestions and thoughts. But when she was done, she would take it all back. She would settle back into her chair and shrug a shoulder saying, "Of course that's just my unpublished opinion." Stop saying that, we told her. Just because you haven't been published yet doesn't make your thoughts or writing worth any less.

Rosemary was easily the best writer in the group. She made writing look easy, words artfully spilling forth on her pages forming simple and elegant paragraphs. Her writing gave us glimpses into her life — it was a nonfiction writing course, after all — which made me admire her all the more. Her writing was always engaging, funny, and complete, but you could feel her frustration boiling beneath the surface, her longing to break out and be this amazing success that her life constructs blocked her from. Here there were no saccharine happy endings, just resolutions. Rarely would I have critique for her pieces other than, "Perfect. Publish." I envied her talent. I rooted for her from the sidelines.

Today, I am pumping my fist in jubilation. Rosemary's story Being Zarathustra has been published in Wheelhouse Magazine. Go read it. And join with me in congratulating her, because believe me, there is no one more deserving. Way to rock it, Rosemary.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

I've finished.

Call me if you want to talk about it.

First Harry Potter and now this?

Oh my God, this is the best day EVER.





I think I just came a little bit.

Don't be spoiling!

It is T-minus 14-hours and an counting until Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows! I'm very excited!

It's interesting to be this excited for what is essentially a children's book, but damnit it's a fun kids book and I like it. Tonight I'm hanging out with some friends and picking up our copies at midnight and spending the evening like über dorks reading. I've never gone to a midnight release before, but Stephanie convinced me to go basically saying that this would me my last chance to experience such a thing and tempting me with promises of her delicious vegan snacks. She's trixie, that Stephanie.

In the meantime, keep mum if you know any spoilers (they are everywhere it seems, and also, screw you New York Times for publishing a review that gave away plot points two days early). I might say that I can't wait, but I in fact can and would like to.

Happy reading everyone, I'll catch you on the other side of the weekend.

Oh, let me catch my breath for a second!

We're talking about The Picture of Dorian Gray in my Irish Novel class, and all I can think of is this:

Retouched

Yet another issue I have with the magazine industry.

Do I even need to say anything else? How about "immensely fucked up."

Dorky Weekend Recap

This weekend RULED.

Friday night I never made it to Blobfest. I decided that it behooved me to stay in one place, so I sat on a balcony and drank mojitos and ate kabobs with Miss T, Miss M, and Miss R. It was grand fun.

Saturday I headed Blobfest with Renee. It was rad.



The actual Blob used in the film.



The shooting script.



OK, see the woman in white, sitting at the table, with the sunglasses? That's Mary Jo Pehl from MST3K! We were totally trying to stalk her so we could rush up to her all Ohmygod we love Mystery Science Theater! We're MSTies! We think you're, like, so funny! We love you! Remember that one episode? The one where you riffed "Hamlet"? Or what about "The Touch of Satan"? That was SO FUNNY. And oh my god will you sign this? But Mary Jo was too cool for us. She didn't have a table but was walking around with the common folk just sort of chilling and special guesting it up. Shortly after the costume contest we lost track of her, and sadly, this is as close as we got to her. Come back next year, Mary Jo! We'll geek out in front of you!



I developed a weird crush on the Invisible Man. I took, like, 17 photos of him. I have no idea why.



This little girl won the costume contest. She was awesome.



Ahhhh! The Blob is EATING your CHILDREN!

Mid-afternoon we headed over to Eastern State Pennitentary for the Bastille Day Celebration.

I have to say, I was a little disappointed with the street-fair portion. It was mainly just food stands from different resturants, featuring a lot of crepes.



But the storming of the Bastille did not disappoint.







Let them eat TastyKake! Er, NOT TastyKake. See, every year, ESP asks TastyKake to sponsor the event or at least help out with the 10,000 Butterscotch Krimpets needed to chuck at the crowd. And every year, TastyKake says no. So every year they chuck Twinkies out of spite. Lord, get on it already, TastyKake.





After storming that Bastille, we went back to Renee and Justine's for a fat kid dinner — and don't ask me about it, I'm still in a shame spiral — followed by a late show viewing of Harry Potter. (Yes, I saw it again, and I KNOW. Second viewing provided more thoughts which I may write about)

All in all, it was a pretty awesome weekend.

Dance, Dance, wherever you may be...

Fair warning: This is going to be a post about religion. And dancing. And the idea of dance as a form of prayer. I know, that's weird.

I was poking around on the internet on Friday with the hopes of finding an old friend's email address, and I went searching through his blog, which I almost never read as it's a blog about Catholic music. Anyway, while searching, I came across a post about liturgical dancing. Mainly, it referenced this "incident" and expressed disgust and outrage that dancing was allowed in the liturgy.

Now, call me a liberal heathen, but I don't get what the big deal is. Growing up in Catholic school, we did liturgical dancing all the time. Those dresses the girls are wearing? Not that horrible. Not that great, and not what I would necessarily wear to church, but it's not like they were wearing bikinis or their boobs were hanging out or whatever. That first picture? My guess is that it's just been taken at an unfortunate angle during a moment of motion and the dance move wasn't quite as provocative as it appears.

Regardless, this "incident" has been slammed on a number of Catholic blogs (mainly conservative ones) along with the opinion that dance has no part in the liturgy. One of the blogs has a quote from the Pope, back from when he was a cardinal that said,

"Dancing is not a form of expression for the Christian liturgy. In about the third century, there was an attempt by certain Gnostic-Docetic circles to introduce it into the liturgy [...] The cultic dances of the different religions have different purposes--incantation, imitative magic, mystical ecstasy--none of which is compatible with the essential purpose of the liturgy [...] It is totally absurd to try to make the liturgy 'attractive' by introducing dancing pantomimes (wherever possible performed by professional dance troupes)...None of the Christian rites includes dancing. What people call dancing in the Ethiopian rite or the Zairean form of the Roman liturgy is in fact a rhythmically ordered procession, very much in keeping with the dignity of the occasion."

And this is why I'm annoyed. I think dancing absolutely can be a form of expression in Christian liturgy. Dancing can be very spiritual. Back when I was in marching band in high school (Color guard, REPRESENT, yo) I remember a band instructor told us, "There's only two reasons to preform: To uplift and raise the human spirit and to give grace and glory to God." If what he said was true, then dancing most certainly fits in with the liturgy.

The Pope's quote above sort of hints that dancing is too "Pagan" for Catholic services, which to me, is a weak argument. If that's really your concern, then you're going to have to rearrange the church calender since Christmas and Easter were placed on the calender for their close proximity to the solstice and equinoxes. Also, give back St. Bridget.

This whole outrage on dancing is bugging me because the majority of liturgical dancers are women, and this is a way for them to connect with their faith using their whole bodies, a way of being spiritual in a faith that is notorious for pressing them down and shutting them out.

This also illuminating why I don't particularly care for the Pope. Along with his recent "Protestant denominations aren't real churches" announcement, he's making a lot of statements recently that are upsetting a lot of people. Last year he made a statement that associated Muslims with violence, for instance (which he later apologized for, but the sting remains). And while I didn't always agree with John Paul II, I could at least get where he was coming from. Benedict I feel is more conservative for conservatisms sake. And he's pissing a lot of people off.

Add this onto the long long list of Things I Don't Get about my former religion. While I don't practice Catholicism actively anymore, a lot of my identity is wrapped up in this religion. From kindergarten to grad school I've attended Catholic institutions, it would be impossible for me to disengage completely. I still hope though, that someday the Church will live up to what my vernacular thinks it should be.

Weekend O' Fun!

I am gearing up for what may just be the BEST WEEKEND OF THE SUMMER. So much cool shit is on deck, I just don't know what to do with myself.

In an Oh-My-God-I'm-Such-Ditz move, I double booked myself for Friday night. I never do that. See, some of you might make fun of me and my day planner (BRIAN), but this is why I need it. I forgot that weeks ago Miss T invited me and my friend/coworker/boss Miss R over for dinner and drinks tonight. Miss R is moving to West Virginia in a few weeks and this is sort of a goodbye dinner for her. So I can't miss that. But! Foolishly I forgot about this because I didn't write it down and instead got Renee and and Haven riled up for Blobfest '07, which also begins tonight. The solution, I think, is to try to do both. I'll miss the running from the theatre and the tin foil hat competition, but hopefully I'll still get there in time for some silly antics. My thanks to all parties involved for being so understanding about my retarded scheduling.

Saturday morning it's back to Blobfest for the street fair, possibly the parade, and the stalking of this woman, who I am all a-flutter of the prospect of meeting. I'm such a MST3K dork, this is going to to be awesome.

After dorking out, we're headed for more dorky awesomeness at Eastern State Penitentiary where we will be attending the Bastille Day Celebrations. I'm so stoked about this as I've been planning on attending since I found out about it last year. There's a festival, and then they re-enact the storming of the Bastille. AND instead of saying "Let them eat cake," Marie Antionette says, "Let them eat TastyKake," and then (I swear I'm not making this up) they chuck 2,000 Butterscotch Krimpets at the crowd from the tower walls.

I KNOW. How fabulously ridiculous is that? This is going to rule.

I am super excited. I'm taking my camera to all events, of course. I'll catch you on the flip side.

Tom got married!

My friend and coworker Tom got married a few weeks ago. It was such a great time. Lovely weather, sweet little ceremony, super fun reception. Predictably, I took 10 bajillion photos.

Of all the photos I took, this one is my favorite:



This photo shows the wonder of what a little cropping will do. The original is here, but I think this is much better version.

A couple other favorites:









Yeah, they did the thing where the smear cake all over each other. They were nice about it though.



There's nothing I can say about this photo, other than it's awesome.



As always, many more photos are here.

OOOOOOOOOOTP!

I think I need more coffee. I am very tired.

I may or may not have seen Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix last night. At midnight. On IMAX. Where the last 20 minutes were in 3-D. While wearing a team shirt made for me by Stephanie.

I have fully embraced that I am a raging dork.

Initial Thoughts (with spoilers, natch)

I liked it. The 3-D stuff at the end was so flippin cool, most especially the climactic duel between Dumbledore and Voldemort. It was so totally worth the $16 ticket. But I'm always disappointed on what the directors/writers cut out or change. In the book Harry is an annoying, frustrated, pissy little punk. While reading you understand why he is all these things, and you sympathize, but you also want to climb in the book, twist him by the ear and yank him off his huffy bike. The movie sort of glosses over this a bit. Like, you see maybe 2 scenes of him being pissy and then he's normal Harry again.

I hated the woman who played Mrs. Figg. She was flat and monotoned. I wished I could have seen more from the Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes storyline (although the Fred and George attack on Umbridge did not disappoint). Imelda Staunton did an awesome job as Umbridge, you hate her hard core the entire time, just as you should. The movie did a really good job of showing the bond between Harry and Sirius, your heart just breaks at the end. As always, big ups to my boy Alan Rickman who I adore as Snape (oh god, I can't wait to see what he does with the role in Half-Blood Prince). Michael Gambon needs to delve a bit deeper as Dumbledore.

Overall it's good fun. My favorite movie is still Prisioner of Azkaban, which I think really captures both the storyline and the essence of the book the best. Roger Ebert pans OOTP a bit, and I sort of know where he's coming from. The movie is missing something, it's hard to put your finger on what exactly. My guess is that because the book is so huge the movie has a lot to slog through, in this case it may feel as if the exposition fairy is laying it all out for you in the script and lines, instead of showing it and letting the camera do the work, especially if you haven't read the books. Still, I enjoyed it. It's worth seeing it in the theater, and the IMAX experience is worth it too for that neato 3-D.

Now, just 10 more days until Deathly Hallows!

Turn the page

I don’t quite know how to begin discussing this cohesively, but there’s a definite problem facing the magazine industry. Well, at least the section of the magazine industry I’m interested in.

Yesterday, Jane announced it was folding.

Today, I found out Punk Planet is ending.

I’m obviously more upset with the Punk Planet news, which I only found out about because I happened to pick up the last issue at Rosemont’s bookstore. But Jane is worth mentioning as well considering the kind of publication it was intended to be.

Jane was started by Jane Pratt as a follow up to Sassy – essentially to cater to the grown up girls Sassy left behind. For awhile I was reading Jane pretty regularly, but eventually felt a shift as the magazine’s publisher merged with Condé Nast, and even more so when Jane Pratt left the magazine itself. While it wasn’t the best young women’s magazine, it was better than the vapid recycled articles of Cosmo or Marie Claire. This past weekend, while delayed in the Providence airport for an hour, I popped by a book vendor and picked up my first issue in at least a year. I read the entire thing on my flight home and have to say: It sucked. The entire thing was such a mess, start to finish, from the design and layout to the article content. The issue I bought is this one (now the last issue, I guess) and several times while reading I thought to myself, What the hell am I looking at? It was just so…disorganized and …empty? So much of the writing seemed like fluff. Oh, and that “You + This Move = Sex Goddess” headline on the cover? The move was rated a 4 by the girl and a “6, I guess” from the guy in the test couple. How that makes you a sex goddess, I don’t know, and when I realized this was the move they were boasting about on the cover I actually thought, “Congratulations, Jane. You’ve become Cosmo Lite.” How completely disappointed I was.

Punk Planet, on the other hand, is going under due to some bad distribution deals, which explains a lot. I used to steal Kelly’s issues of Punk Planet when they came in the mail, and when her subscription ended I would buy it whenever I saw it on the newsstands. In the past couple years, though, I stopped seeing it so much, not even at the now-defunct Tower Records, and now I know why. Because their distributor went under and lost a lot of newsstand spots. This led to less issues being sold, led to the loss of ad sales, led to the demise of the publication. Sad.

I guess my point in mentioning all of this is that there are so little interesting magazine publications out there. With so many magazines being owned by huge publishing conglomerates, everything seems to be a copy of a copy of a copy and it’s distressing. Not to mention boring.

It worries me, this crazy industry that I’ve decided to make my living in.

Wait, scratch that. Reverse it.

OK, so remember how I was all, "Well, looks like we're moving?"

Only, not so much. Because: I am stupid. Here's how it all went down. Mike and I sent a letter in with our July rent checks saying basically, "We love living here, but later skaters. We won't be renewing our lease." We did this becaue I knew we needed to give our landlord 2 months notice of departure, and so I made an ass out of U and Me by assuming that this meant they needed to be notified by July 1st.

Turns out they needed to be notified by June 30th. And since July 1st fell on a Sunday and they didn't get our rent checks until, like the 2nd or 3rd, our lease renewed itself automatically and now? We're stuck there for another year. Kelly, who actually has common sense, is off of the lease since she told the landlord right away when she decided to move out. Mike and I hemmed and hawed for awhile trying to decide what we wanted to do, and now we're stuck.

Part of me is really annoyed at them for being such sticklers (we've been model tenants and it's the difference of, at most, 3 days), but a larger part of me is sort of relieved. I love that apartment and I was really sad at the prospect of leaving it. Plus I hate moving. A lot. And thus far our search for new apartments had turned up bubkis.

Mike seems to not mind the idea of breaking the lease, but the price of breaking the lease is high. He may not mind breaking it because he can afford to drop $400+ a night at the strip club (and believe me, he has), but me? On the poor side. So breaking is not an option as far as I'm concerned.

It looks like we'll be looking for a 3rd roommate (I already have one in mind...) or covering the rest of the rent ourselves come September.

Greetings from Rhode Island!

I'm in Rhode Island with my triplets and I'm writing to you to say:

1. Hi.
   
   
2. Sorry that I haven't updated recently. I've been busy.
   
   
3. I have stories to tell you. I also have a bazillion more photos to show you, mostly from Tom's wedding, but also from Fourth of July and the photos from this weekend.
   
   
4. Kate, Becky, and I went to a flea market this morning. Guess what I bought? Another camera.
   
   
5. Shut up.
   
   
6. I know, like I needed it, right? Shut up.
   
   
7. Ok, you know what? It was an antique. A Brownie. For only $2. COME ON. I couldn't pass that up.
   
   
8. I also found (in a separate Brownie camera) a roll of exposed film. From at least the 70s. So I finagled that as well and I'm going to send it off to Colorado, the only place in America that still develops 126 film, and see if there's anything on it. Probably not.
   
   
9. I may, or may have not, had a couple glasses of wine with the girls. I'll leave that much up to you.
   
   
10. I love you.
    
    
11. See you kids Monday or Tuesday when I update properly.

Silly Slaymo Boys

A week and a half ago (oh my god, has it been that long? Really?) my friend Mike, along with his fellow band members Steve and Brandon, asked me to take some pictures for their band, Slaymo. I was more than happy to help out since I love any excuse for using my camera, but I was also slightly apprehensive. I don't mind taking photos for people, not at all. I'm just worried that they'll discover that I really have no clue what I'm doing. I worry that the pictures won't come out and I'll let them down.

I'm not saying this to be all humble or anything. I have little formal training when it comes to photography. Aside from my camera, I have little equipment -- I don't even have an external flash. And while I'm aware of things like lighting, composition, framing, etc., the truth of the matter is that I look through the viewfinder and if I like what I see, I click. The end. There are many many MANY photographers out there that are better than me.

But then again, you get what you pay for, and I'm as cheap as free, so there you go.

Still, I was feeling nervouth, especially when I remembered the last time someone asked me to take photos for them, for what they described as a "sales seminar" but turned out to be "a room paneled in mirrors with lights turned completely off while this guy does a power point presentation" and I had to be unobtrusive, so I couldn't use a flash. Which, yeah, resulted in a lot of dark, grainy shots, and me feeling like an utter failure. And then the drummer Brandon asked me if I "had any ideas," and I think I responded by saying something along the lines of "Um."

Luckily those Slaymo boys have a great concept for a website, one which I will not reveal here, but resulted in this photo:



And also, this one:



And perhaps this one too:



And before you ask, no, they are not a psycho punk version of the Village People. At least, I don't think they are.

The Slaymo guys are very fun. We had to take some "serious photos" for their press kit, but for me, the best photos came when they were goofing around, playing dress-up, and when they were rocking out. And the guys were anxious to get the serious shots done and over with and get straight to the shenanigans.









All right, seriousness over. Commence with silliness.



Steve wins! Suck on that.



Brandon and Mike dispute the rules while Steve clearly thinks he is posing for Tiger Beat.



Steve is from Boston. The other guys don't hold it against him. Well, not much anyway.

Ok, enough dicking around. Time to rock.












OBLIGATORY STORY ABOUT HOW I'M A KLUTZ

So the practice room where the guys rehearse is sort of small. And when you have a drum kit, plus miscellaneous music paraphernalia, plus three grown men, plus a computer desk...well, there's not a lot of room to maneuver. Or, you know, photograph stuff. So I was crammed in a corner, trying to figure out a way to get some better angles, when I spied the desk chair. And I thought that if I stood on the chair, I might get some good perspective for some of my shots.

I think you all know where this is going.

The desk chair was leather. By this point in the evening I had kicked off my shoes for comfort and was wearing only my socks. My weight shifted, I slid while trying to regain my center, and the chair spun out from under me. I caught myself with my elbows on the corner of the walls. I barely avoided breaking my ass. The result? This photo and scrapes on my elbows making it look as though I've contracted a bizarre skin disease.



I had just discovered the black and white setting on my camera (told you I'm a tard at photography. Christ, I've had this camera for close to a year), and I think it looks kind of arty. Like I meant to do that. Shhh...we won't tell them the truth.

Related: The last time I took photos of Slaymo. Even MORE photos are here and here.