John Humble, Prices and 10 year-old Photos
Via the excellent photoblog American Suburb X I came across the photos of John Humble, an LA-based photographer who has been capturing the banal side of the city for several decades. The Jan Kesner Gallery has an excellent overview of his images which is actually much better than the photographer's own website. Humble was the subject of an exhibition at the Getty last year and a book.
I'm posting the photo above because I like how prices on signs serve to anchor a photograph in a particular time and economic climate. In movies when they show gas stations I'm always looking at the price to try to figure out when it was filmed. This photo is from 1997. I think there's something odd about pictures that are a decade old. They sit in this uncanny valley where they seem almost contemporary, but not quite. They're not yet old enough to evoke any sort of nostalgia, which seems to kick in around the 20 year mark.
Speaking of things roughly 10 years old, I can't write a blog post about the late 1990s without linking to the Back Street Boys incomparable I Want it That Way, unfortunately not available for embedding. Still, click thru for 4 minutes of pure pop pleasure.
Slanted Lisbon
I found this image randomly surfing photoblogs. It's from Rafa Fotografia. I really like the angled perspective, the straight lines of the windows in the funicular and all the gritty detail like the little stones on the sidwalk and the graffiti on the wall.
Nine women can't have a baby in one month
project management lingo. reading the list gives me nostalgic shivers.
SFO to GRU for $850
Some years ago I set up a fare tracker alert for flights between San Francisco and Sao Paulo. I put in the absurdly low fare of $850 and I never got any bites... until today.
Avoiding Foreign Currency Charges at ATMs
If you are American and travel abroad a lot I recommend First Republic Bank's ATM Rebate checking account. They don't charge any foreign ATM withdrawl fees or foreign currency conversion fees. Chase, BofA, Wells Fargo and the like all charge up to 3% outside the US which is outrageous.
2001 Crisis on YouTube
Leftist filmaker and politician Pino Solana's documentary about Argentina's 2001 economic crisis, "Memoria de un Saqueo" is on Youtube, split up into 12 parts. Here's the first one.
Ecuador Default
Felix Salmon on the coming chance of Ecuador defaulting:
Link
that there's only one person with the ability to tell [Ecuadorean President] Correa to get a grip -- and that's Hugo Chavez. When Chavez is bondholders' best hope, you know things are pretty desperate.
Link
A Casting Choice
In Hollywood’s imaginings, over the past decade, a black President is no longer a fantastical premise; it’s an incidental plot point, a casting choice.
From David Remnick's very long piece in this New Yorker on Obama's win and what it all means..
My boyfriend, who's Brazilian and 21, said he expected Obama to win because, afterall, the president is always black in movies.
Sexy Tango Solo
Talento Argentino, the local version of America/Britain/Australia's Got Talent shows a lot of Tango and folclore related performers. Definitely a plus. [Via Tangocherie]
Iceland Winter 2008
Recent events had savaged my net worth by 60 per cent and pushed up my cost of living by more than 20 per cent. Iceland’s plight was mine, too.
On life in Iceland, after the crash. Reminds me of Argentina 2002.
"No pictures, no pictures, the boss doesn't want any pictures." ...
"Fuck the bosses! Every boss I have ever had sucks and you know what guy, your boss sucks too, he don't pay you enough for all your hard work, fuck him."
Will Steacy rants on photographing in the public domain. I like his approach.
Pared Mutante - Pintada Politica
Here in Buenos Aires (where I'm living these days) it's common to see walls which have been white-washed and then painted with large bubble letters, half-filled with some color, usually blue. They're called pintadas politicas and are usually supporting some Peronist politician but can also be for other political parties or even factions for the president of a football club [thanks Albano]. The fotolog Pared Mutante documents the successive messages painted on a single building in Buenos Aires since 2006. [Via PeruFotoLibre]
PeruFotoLibre
PeruFotoLibre is my favorite new blog. Check it out! Fascinating stuff both in Peru and around Latin America
Maciek Jasik - Lima, Peru
I've been to Lima twice, in 1997 and 1999 and I don't remember as a terribly pleasant city; big, ugly, out of control. Still, I remember even then being taken with certain visual aspects of the place. New York based photographer Maciek Jasik has a fantastic series on the so-called Pueblos Jovenes, hastily built shanty-towns on the outskirts of Lima. Lima's perpetual fog and desert, mountainous landscape give these photos an otherworldly quality, like favelas on Mars. [via Shane Lavalette]
Delaney & Bonnie - When this Battle is Over
I've been rediscovering all the classic rock I used to listen to in High School. Check out this video from Delaney & Bonnie, a southern soul/rock group from the late 1960s & early 1970s. Forget everything you know about Karen Carptenter and check out their original version of Superstar.
Pablo Cabado
This series by Pablo Cabado portrays the decay of Argentina as seen through a derelict amusement park. The guy on the right kinda reminds me of Dan Hedaya. [via Heading East]
Monkey Puzzle Desert
Image from Tacna, Peru, formerly part of Chile but before that it was Peru [long story]. I like that they planted a Monkey Puzzle Tree in the middle of the Atacama desert. Like Tequila in Alaska.
Obsession
Richard Avedon didn't just take mind-blowing portraits with an 8x10 view camera against a white background. He also made absurdly campy commercials for perfume.
Here's the SNL version:
Actually, no, that was another real one. Hard to tell the difference between camp and reality 23 years on.
Warren Buffet 1977
from the footer to some long article published by Fortune in 1977 about how stocks are like crappy bonds:
Smart guy, maybe I shoulda bought some BRK back then.
Buffett, who is now forty-six and still operating out of Omaha, has a diverse portfolio. He and businesses he controls have interests in over thirty public corporations. His major holdings: Berkshire Hathaway (he owns about $35 million worth) and Blue Chip Stamps (about $10 million). (link)
Smart guy, maybe I shoulda bought some BRK back then.
Foto sweet spot
from a photo editor:
Photography is the key. Figure out how to use it. Video online is TV. We already know that works. Text online is, well, it’s great to read at a certain length but you know, it’s always going to work better printed. Photography is the perfect medium for communication online.[link]
Disco Camel
My Brazilian friend Emerson is currently living in Dubai. I these pictures are from a nighttime camel ride. I like the flash in these pictures. You don't usually see animals photographed in this way. It's like they were props at some wild, Studio 54 type party, thrown in the desert.
Time to buy that investment property in Merced
In August almost half of all the home sales in California were foreclosures. This is astounding. Still, this can be thought of as good news because it means the market is clearing and bottom, potentially has been reached.
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This is an informal blog to write or post about whatever catches my attention. I have two other blogs which I welcome you to check out. They are ThomasLockeHobbs.com and BuenosAiresPhotographer.com
Cheers!