This is what I've been shooting lately. To tell you the truth, this last set of shots feels pretty bland to me.( More pictures... )

I'm trying to take the time to make friends with people right now. It's hard. You forget how much of a process friendship can be. I've been meeting huge numbers of great people over these last few months, and we're friends on Facebook, and we say "hey" and talk about our projects when we meet around town... but we don't argue with each other, we don't laugh at private jokes, and the silences are uncomfortable.

So lately I've been really making an effort to connect with the people who interest me; I stay through the superficial part of the conversation, I try and build a lasting connection, a shared picture of who both myself and the person I'm talking to are.

Unrelated, here is a picture of me taking a picture, photographed by scary_mary , who is mysterious.



Please pay special attention to my massively gnarled knee muscles. If my body was a brick house, 80% of the bricks would be in my knees and 10% would be in my calves. If I got in a kicking contest with a mule, I would win.

Recognize.

PS: I heard a person using the phrase "REAL TALK" in a conversation the other day.  They weren't being ironic.  I was terribly impressed.

This is my brother with his cat.

One of the few men in the series, and one of the few whose faces are revealed. I am trying to figure out why it seems to fit with Adam.

My new intern* sent over a transcript of the interview I did last Friday with Vicki Kelly, who recently organized a really huge art show in a section of Atlanta most people consider the ghetto.

Once you read this excerpt, I think you'll understand my hesitation to let anyone see these interviews until they've been heavily edited:

Ben: Um, yeah so, I guess, can you tell me where you’re coming from just in relation to the fourth ward art world first?

Vii: From the …uh. Well the old fourth ward is kind of you know everybody there’s my family and I’m really far away from, so I spend a lot of time there. I have the businesses are very important to me there so I wanted to bring my people and more culture to the area, and … yeah…you know bring some money to the area, and just like let people be aware of the … [stammers] nobody really knows what the old fourth ward is. Nobody knows. When I say the old fourth ward, it’s like people automatically assume like it’s a horrible place and you shouldn’t even drive through it. So it’s, just a matter of getting more people out there. Because its,.. what fourth ward I believe is can be an epitome of Atlanta, in a sense. It’s where you can go in Atlanta to experience every single level of Atlanta. You’ve got like rich yuppie people and you’ve got a whole bunch of hipster bikester… biker riders because you’ve got like the bikepack dunks, you know? Its um..not a lot of and [laughs]…then you’ve got like crack heads and people asking you for money constantly and you can get your car broken into and, I don’t know. But at the same time you can find opportunity there that I think is in one of those little sections of Atlanta, that’s easier to find.

Ben: Is there a... just to be clear that the old fourth ward is sort of harmless, chip of the card? Like the structural part between Ponce and …Memorial?

Vii: I would say, I think it ends at DeKalb. I’m pretty sure it ends from Ponce and DeKalb. Maybe North to DeKalb. Nah, I think its Ponce and DeKalb.

Ben: And the piques sort of weird too, I mean that’s an area with a lot of history, I guess. A lot happened there too.

Vii: Like Martin Luther King

Ben: Yes. Everything. you know and then..leaders from right there.[had trouble listening to it]

Vii: It’s the most visited state park, I believe in the country. Someone had told me that once, but I’m not quite sure. [Laughs]. Yeah, there’s a ton of history there.



I've included this picture from one of my most recent cat washing photoshoots as a chaser to that long block of text.

* Yay!!!!

This is what a person trying to ride a unicycle through a snowstorm looks like.

(experimenting with photoshop finishing and animated gifs)

I was going to take some first person shots of me sledding, but I don't like the cold or the wet.  This snow* had both.  Also, it destroyed my already shoddy boots.  I need to find some extra footware before work tomorrow evening - I don't think anyone wants to see me walking around with one boot tip mummified in duct-tape.

Conversation with Bradley+Adam a bit earlier:

Adam:  You want to come to Amsterdam after we're done recording?
Me:  What's Amsterdam?
Bradley:  It's this gay bar in midtown.
Me:  Probably not... gay bars make me uncomfortable.
Bradley:  It's awesome - they have all these flatscreen monitors up, and the bartenders will download whatever music video you want and play them all at the same time.
Me:  That sounds cool, but I'm gonna have to miss it this time.
Bradley:  And your first drink is free.
Adam:  No matter what you order, the first drink is free.
Me:  I'm going.

Yeah.  Whenever I'm at a gay bar, I end up getting hit on a whole lot.  Except in New Orleans for some reason - even the gay bars on Bourbon St down there are really chill.  Also, there's the music thing.  I think that would make anyone uncomfortable.

PS: is Watchmen seriously coming out at midnight tonight?

*  Thundersnow!!!

I'm going to be serving food at an upscale pub in College Park (a few miles straight South of my place). The pub is really awesome - built in a converted country house, owned by a team of British guys from Manchester, and the manager (who interviewed me) spent a year in Turkey!

So that's exciting. I'm already making a mental list of Things I Can Now Buy.

My buy priority:

1. a pair of boots not salvaged from post-Katrina wreckage.
2. 2 new pairs of jeans.
3. some sort of cyclocross style bike, with mudguards!
4. bus tickets to everywhere.

And, far in the future, I'd like to buy a better camera and a really fancy lens. But that requires untold wealth.

Like first date jitters, but my eyes get more sparkly!

Man, I am excited about this party tonight.  I haven't really gotten a chance to go out and bother people about it this week, but the other roommates have been grabbing warm bodies left and right - I think we actually may have too many people!

Also, some last minute musical guests: a pretty awesome DJ (she was at Lenny's last night), some singer-songwriters of the weird-folk persuasion, Emily K's band, and maybe another DJ.  It should be really noisy and confusing.  Hopefully, people will dance.  If things work out well, I will perform some of this on the slack line.

(I was watching this old public access break dance show, and all the dancers had cool names.  One of them was Mr. Wave, another was Pushing Perpendicular, and another was Furious.  Awesome!)

My next stop is the grocery, where I will grab veggies suitable for grilling.

Also, maybe some liver+onions for the grill - because I love that stuff.

A reminder:

675 Metropolitan Parkway
D-12-South
10pm until very late
facebook RSVP here
404.754.9469 for directions
Bring booze if you got it

We also accept: non-white housepaint, veggies, cushions, floor lamps*

* I am not joking

From D-12-S

From D-12-S

From D-12-S

From D-12-S

It does need a bit of work, but it is a huge space and fantastically cheap - $240 per month with four roommates.

(the guy with the camera is Sergio, the first person I've heard a "yes, definitely" from.)

I am so excited, I am already thinking of a cutesy name for the place:  "Welcome Home House," "Fun Fun Cube House," "Picasso House," or "Creeping Doom House."

EDIT: Em K say she wants to help organize a house show once we're settled - she's got this plan to have attendees wheatpaste one floor-to-ceiling section of wall, which should be freaking amazing.  Em is basically a combination of Tinkerbell and Mary Poppins.

I just realized that (grammatically) the true meaning of Thanksboring = mowr holes.

To celebrate, mail me an awl or other non-electrical hole-making-device. 

I will then send you whatever object I bore.  I may also send you a picture of me making the hole, depending on:

1) whether or not I'm wearing pants in said picture.

2) how awesome I look in said picture.

Either way, it should keep you amused for at least the next week or two, so you're definitely getting the better end of this deal.

Overheard at a concert: "no, I'm not homeless - I work in the music industry."

Incidentally, at the same concert, I talked to Luke Skywalker's son for 45 minutes without once mentioning Star Wars or making a single veiled reference to the Mos Eisley Cantina scene.

Also incidentally, his girlfriend makes music with the Blue Man group.

I've got the original image below the cut, just in case you'd also like to spend several hours a day looking into my deformed eyebrows.
( Those Eyebrows! )

3 avocados
several artichoke hearts (like half the jar)
a banana
some dried banana chips
a handful of raisins
pretzel sticks
pretzel sticks dipped in peanut butter
pretzel sticks dipped in ranch salad dressing (so good)
3 glasses of milk
a bit of rice
a little bowl of yogurt
handfuls of granola and Cheerios
a few mushrooms, sautéed and dipped in tomato sauce

Being unemployed does horrible things to my diet.

I took a break in the afternoon and visited Atlantic Station, one of those obnoxious mixed use developments that feels the need to advertise their existence with billboards of smiling white collar men holding their jackets swung over one shoulder and possibly white collar women laughing with their friends while drinking a diverse selection of cocktails. Here's a picture:



I could have touched up the lower right foreground a bit in Photoshop, but I sort of got a kick out of the contrast, even if it detracts from the picture's overall composition.

I guess Food Not Bombs tomorrow will help get rid of some of the boredom.  I will take my camera just in case.

Making plans to crash a house party after AC3 tonight. 

I was talking to a friend earlier, and they mentioned that Atlanta people don't seem to get to sleep at normal hours ever.  I guess that's true - I've been falling asleep at about 3am every night this week.

There's something about writing fiction, where, once you stop, you get this urge to write long unmelodious sentences consisting of mainly one or two syllable words.  Perhaps the strain of writing "well" is too much for me.

Also, something I hadn't realized about tonight!  Apparently, Michi, a popular Atlanta/Southern artist, has designed "accessories" for the AC3 fashion show.  Me and my flask are definitely showing up.



Michi is the guy kissing the paintbrush.

Soulja Boy got a F's on his most recent high school report card. In order to receive credit for his classes (and graduate) he needs to earn at least a D average. He asks his teachers to replace his F's with D's.

Also!

Phrases which include the word "deez" reflect their speakers lack of respect for the subject discussed. The longer version of the implied phrase is "deez nuts". If, for example, a school principal asked to speak with a student, the student might respond by saying, "you can speak to deez" (while pointing at crotch). The word "deez" positions the speaker as a receiver of oral sex - the object which the speaker discusses is shown in a demeaning position, as the (unwilling) giver of oral sex.

By asking his teachers to "throw some deez on it", Soulja Boy simultaneously displays his contempt for the public education system, and his reliance on this same system. Listening to the song, one wonders if Soulja Boy feels greater contempt for the system which entraps and formulates his every action, or his own futile attempts to live outside the system.

I wouldn't be posting so much, but I've got all these papers I'm working on. Which means I spend more time doing everything else in life than writing the papers. Since break began on Wednesday, I've cleaned my apartment (including scrubbing tile and shower), applied for a replacement for my camera, installed (then, earlier this afternoon uninstalled) Litestep, read another 60 pages of Gravity's Rainbow (not a book, actually an advanced form of tarot), walked 13 miles (my normal loop around the neighborhood is 1 mile), had Thanksgiving dinner with the family, and ate half a pie.


And about the family:

My aunt's been packing away the turkey these last two days. At dinner, while my parents and I put just a few pieces more than reasonable on our plates, she piled that fucker down. I think her plate may have been taller than it was wide. We're almost out of leftovers for a turkey which was originally supposed to feed 7. The Aunt was taking a nap this afternoon, and my Mom pokes into the study I've colonized, and says, "you better hurry if you want any turkey. [The Aunt]'s just woken up."

It's pretty fucking awesome.

I think, next year, they might just cook an extra turkey and leave it tied to a stake at the front porch, hoping to sate The Aunt's terrible hunger.

MY cat brought me a dead mouse AND a dead bird. The bird is hidden somewhere in my apartment. I only know it is there because of all the feathers on my kitchen floor. The mouse is right next to the trashcan.

Startbackpacking.com is gonna publish one of my old stories from Turkey. I'll let you know when it's up.

I might be one hour short of my graduation requirements next semester, but I am devising a plan.

I keep missing Dr Hyman's office hours; I want to tell her that the reason I've been skipping class is because each time I go I end up spending the next few hours feeling horrible about humanity. But I'm not sure of a good way to explain it. There's really no good way to say "it's not you, it's the students". I mean, because student stupidity is a partial reflection of a teacher's inability to teach them correctly, and I loved the last class she taught. Just not this one.

I think I'm reading at least seven books right now.

I haven't taken any adhd drugs for 2 and a half weeks. I can't tell if I'm working better because I have to push myself to compensate for lack of chemically induced concentration, or if I've just been drinking way too much caffeine (probably true), or if I'm actually functioning at 80% mental capacity and don't realize it because it's been so long since I was at 100%.

Please tell me what you think of this:

I've often heard that geographical space is constructed by the people who inhabit it, and vice versa.  We're vividly reminded of this maxim when we a read a "Southern novel", or view a gallery of "folk art":  winding red dirt roads, larger than life suns just barely above the horizon, and pervading decay, heralded by rust and kudzu throughout the typical Southern work.  Contemplating these images, I can't avoid thinking of MARTA, a political and economic machine which goes great lengths to distance itself from the decaying organic archetypes which haunt our conceptions of the "New South".  Being a somewhat twerpy young man, I decided to spend a week talking with MARTA employees and riders, building a new geography from our collective perceptions.

I've been reading some of Claude Levi-Strauss's lectures, and I'm afraid they're poisoning my carefully constructed anthropologies.

"You are here because the outside world rejects you. This is your family. I am your father. I want you all to become full members of the Foot. There is a new enemy: freaks of nature who interfere with our business. You are my eyes and ears; find them. Together we will punish these creatures. These... Turtles."

- Shredder, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990 film)

Shredder: Months of work, ruined! Oh, you imbecilic incompetent! Thanks to you, I now have to grovel before the baneful bag of brains, Krang.
Baxter: But why from a garbage heap?
Shredder: Because this is the site he chose for the trans-dimensional convergence! I think he did it just to annoy me.

Shredder: Tonight... I dine on turtle soup.

Shredder: No one can resist the Shredder... and no cow can resist salt!

- Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1987 tv series)

I live a bit to the left, a few hundred meters down that little river.



(Bitches)

Not too damn well.  The professor and I appear to be interested in entirely different aspects of Ulysses.  Also, I wrote the majority of the paper a few hours before our meeting.  Also, I was late.

If only I could say I was drunk, so as to complete the "what not to do before/during your tutorial" trifecta.

I think tomorrow is shoe shopping time.  Maybe an ADIML?

Did I mention that I solved the curtain problem recently?

I had not previously had curtains, and now I do.  It is an amazing transformation.  I no longer worry about the sanity of old ladies forced to look at my genitals in the mornings.  Beautiful.

Also, I found a bike a few weeks ago.  I don't really use it much, because it doesn't actually have any brakes, so, when I want to stop, I've gotta jam my foot down and hope, which means I end up having to apply advanced strategies to bicycle riding.  I hit a car about a week ago - not hard, it was more of a love tap than a real collision.

I have found more things, but they are not as useful.

Like a minifridge, which I ended up giving away to freecycle, as I never had enough food to bother storing.

PS:  Hello new people.  I will get around to friending and stuff soon.