Off Again
Archive for July, 2009: Thursday, July 30th, 2009
I’ll be at yet another horse show this weekend taking more pictures and having fun with the horse people. I thought about posting a portrait that was sent off to Kenya a few years ago that I did back in high school. Unfortunately, I can not find the image in the CDs that I thought it would be in… and I’m too lazy to find it in any other CD at the moment. Maybe I’ll find it later next week or something.
Aside from this, I caved and bought the HBO Season 1 set of True Blood. Everyone I’ve talked to who’s watched it says its good – and for some reason HBO only has sneak peaks of it online. WHY? If ABC can put up every episode of LOST up online, why can’t HBO but at least season one on? It deeply saddens me.
And after this purchase, I thought for sure my next TV series on DVD would be Firefly… “but that’s on Hulu,” I told myself, “so you can watch that whenever you want.”
And Season 6 of Hells Kitchen on Fox has been outstanding so far and there have only be three episodes. I’m excited to see whose ass Ramsay kicks next.
Okay, so there’s my television rant for the moment… I got it all out and fell much better about all the guilt I’ve got about spending $35 on a DVD set. I just wish I had it today.
Any TV series you guys recommend?
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
These are both drawings I did in grade school… and I intended to do a whole series of them involving endangered animals and possibly sell them to donate money to World Wildlife Fund. The continuation never happened and I don’t know if I’ll ever press on. It’s definitely a possibility.
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Tuesday, July 28th, 2009
I found this article in the August ’09 issue of Vanity Fair and it got me thinking. Yes, this post is going to be a bit about me and my relationship with “new age” and “old school” culture and technology. Before you read this post, though, I ask that you read the article. It’s quite short, very interesting, and will explain the background of what I’m about to talk about.
I know I’m one of those people who enjoys the practicality and ease of those little MP3 players that hold about a million songs now a days, who has a couple of shelves lined with my favorite movies in DVD form, and who religiously reads certain blogs every week.
I do, however, also know that I am one of those people who believes that the smell, feel, and presence of a regular book with actual paper pages can never be replaced. And despite the fact that my Creative Zen (apparently the Vision M is no longer made?) comes with me on all of my road trips and is frequently connected to me stereo, I still feel as though those vinyl records are priceless. I still buy CD albums for their album artwork – I mean, someone got paid to spend all that time making those, right?
I feel, especially after reading this article, that our world is lost between technology and the culture that defines and defies personalities and stereotypes. It’s easier to carry around small gadgets that let us read whichever “book” we so desire digitally. Digital cameras can be carried around almost everywhere, but what happened to the old art of working in a darkroom for hours on end?
I know that I’m adapting to this new world of easy technology, however I still desperately cling to the artsyness that was pre-1990s.
Where do you feel you stand in this clash between cultures?
Posted in Articles, Culture, Technology | 3 Comments
Monday, July 27th, 2009
This week has been very positively crazy. As stated in my last entry, I’ve done a lot of traveling and all of it was very fun and very exciting.
I started out by traveling to Maryland on Tuesday to see one of my SACI friends. The six hour drive wasn’t all that bad and I got to see some of the pretty countryside south of where I live in New York and down through parts of Pennsylvania. And seeing my friend, Katie, was simply amazing. I went down to see a show that she and he sister wrote, and though I didn’t “get” most of it, it was still super fun to listen to good singers and watch a generally happy play. I drove back to New York at 7:30 in the morning on Thursday.
As soon as I got home, I had to repack some bags and eat something before going to my boss’s house and promptly leave for Springfield, Massachusetts. We arrived at 10:30 at night and photographed the entire horse show all weekend, leaving Saturday night. Since we didn’t want to drive all five hours back to our houses, we stopped at a friend of by boss’s house. This lady is so cool – she used to jump in Grad Prix horse competitions and coaches several Olympic riders. The fact that I got to sit down and have a casual breakfast with her was such an experience for me.
So now I’m back at the casa, planning on spending my week at the barn and in my dark room. Of course, all of this will happen after I get a good night’s sleep and get out of my human vegetable state.
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Monday, July 20th, 2009Off to Maryland for a couple of days and then straight off to Massachusetts afterwards. I love this whole go see people, holiday thing followed by a prompt helping of money making doing what I absolutely love to do. Really, could I ask any more out of life right now other than that I ask to live in Australia or Italy?
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Sunday, July 19th, 2009
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Saturday, July 18th, 2009
The most beautiful sunset I have even seen was driving down through the Gold Coast in Australia in 2004. Basically, the blurred image from the bus window explains why.
This evening, after having some really awesome BBQ ribs made by my horse trainer, I drove home while the sun was going down (about 8:45pm now-a-days). It was the first time I noticed a sunset that I could put on my list in the states. Number one, like I said before, was in Gold Coast, Australia. Number two (which I unfortunately don’t have any photos of) was in Firenze, Italy. That sunset was what made me realize why old-school artists went to Florence to study art, the light is FANTASTIC!. And Number three was this evening between Ionia and Mendon, New York. The big fluffy clouds and the colors and the light are what got me… and that’s pretty much what got me with the other two.
And because I’m a picky person when it comes to perfect sunsets, those are the only three I know I’ll have on a list for a while. And in order for me to consider it to be a perfect sunset, I have to see it with my own eyes, I can’t just take other people’s word for it, haha.
When it comes to sunrises, I’m not such a big fan. They’re too pale – or at least the ones I’ve seen are too pale… I prefer the deep, intoxicating colors of the “sets” rather than the pastel-esque tones of the “rises.” To me, that really early morning with a super-clear sky where everything is that weird shade of blue is more attractive than a sunrise. Of course, one has to get up at the butt-crack of before-dawn to experience that early/not-even morning blue. Thanks to many early mornings with horse shows, I’ve had a good helping of those sorts of mornings.
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