Coachella Art

Radiohead full concert (o una probadita)

Contrail

Hipsters, bike fans, riders, lend me your ears! How would you like to not just ride your single speeds, but leave a mark while doing it? And I'm not talking about leaving a mark in a metaphorical sense (like riding for cancer or something of the sort). I'm talking about literally leaving a trail of chalk when you ride your bike on the streets of downtown Vancouver!

If you're a little intrigued/excited, take a look at Contrail.











(And yes, it's environmentally friendly and no animals were hurt during the production of the chalk)

City of Others

I'm planning to launch a website to showcase some of my recent photographic work. Therefore, I've been researching ways to display the photographs on the website and create a layout that is exciting for my viewers. By mere coincidence, I bought a pair of jeans from an L.A. brand called City of Others and followed the instructions on the tag, which led me directly to this amazing photo display! (I wonder how many hundreds of hours of programming it took to create it)

---------------------------- update Feb 21 -----------------------------

That amazing photo viewing application is called TiltViewer and you can download it for free.

For activists

And walking around the city today after an inspiring talk by Edward Burtynsky, I saw this inscription on a wall:

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world. It is the only thing that ever has." Margaret Mead


Feliz Cumpleaños, Andrés!

Obama does it again

Yes, the Illinois Senator delivered again. He explained with surprising calm and detail every part of his economic policy. He gave convincing reasons why McCain's healthcare policy, tax cuts, and neoliberal politics would fail miserably...without using the word miserably. Yes, Obama was above McCain's anger and desperation because he was enjoying the calm that comes from knowing that your words are grounded on sound theory. He explained that McCain's policies were indeed a repetition of Bush's 8 years of flawed decisions. And yes, he defended his pro choice stance and treaded through that delicate ground by reaffirming that the term "pro abortion" is wrong. Obama showed that far from being confrontational, his mind invites dialogue and favors argument over dogma. Given that his country is haunted by a medieval religious lobby, seeing Obama today at the third presidential debate was a relief.

As for McCain... I'll leave it to the Gossip Girls and MoveOn.org:

Don't Photograph Landscapes

Here is the article that I wrote following Herzog's talk last week. The Ubyssey newspaper published an edited version in last Friday's culture section...but it's Sunday and I've decided to privilege my blogfans with the original version. Enjoy!


Don't Photograph Landscapes

“I’m not here to show my work, I’m here to start a dialogue” said Fred Herzog, as he introduced himself to the eager crowd of aspiring photographers that attended UBC Photosociety’s first annual general meeting at the SUB on September 25. “I hope I can be interrupted often, and I hope you get used to my accent.” At that moment, a projector was fired up, marking the beginning of a memorable evening with the renowned Vancouver photographer.

Herzog’s work needed no introduction. After forty years of photographing street scenes in this city, his images of Vancouver have become as common to photographers as the totem poles in Stanley Park. Yet, it was the photographer’s presence, his own voice explaining his photographs that filled the evening with magic. The kind of magic that exudes from Herzog’s lively, colorful prints.

Born in Germany, Herzog moved to Vancouver in the 1950s and soon began capturing the life of the city with his camera. He separated himself from other photographers by shooting mostly in Kodachrome, a color slide film that was hard to turn into prints. This limited his ability to exhibit because “Making cibachrome prints was not feasible. It was almost impossible for me to make a profit selling the prints.” Thus, although his collection of slides continued to grow, his work remained in the dark for decades.

In a way, however, this initial marginalization helped to turn Herzog into a living legend. His images were taken decades before the were finally shown in galleries, turning his exhibitions into colorful odes to nostalgia. It takes only a minute or two of glancing at the impressive colors and contrast in his photographs to understand the power of images that bring back to life an era that is generally remembered in black and white.

Moreover, anyone that attended Herzog’s fantastic retrospective at the Vancouver Art Gallery last year understands that there is something very personal about his work. His images occur in the most public spaces, yet they remain deeply intimate. As spectators, it feels as if Herzog has suddenly allowed us to take a glimpse into the private life of his subjects, making us all voyeurs of life in an epoch that is foregone but never forgotten.

As a projector showed us some of Herzog’s famous images, Herzog explained that photography is about looking, about waiting. He mocked people who carry a bag full of expensive lenses saying “the picture has to be in your head, not in your camera bag” and underlined the importance of concentrating on a moment, on a sudden detail that makes an otherwise irrelevant scene unique. With this, Herzog revealed his place in the long tradition of documentary photographers who, like Cartier Bresson, causally roamed the streets waiting for the instant précis to capture a unique event forever.

Considering the inherent difficulty of shooting people on the streets, Herzog was quick to explain that it is imperative to look for body language, which includes clothing. Stopping the projector at a picture of a woman with a cigarette in her hand, he said that first impressions matter because humans automatically make judgments of the people they see, and thus, a photograph has to capture a gesture or a detail that gives a strong first impression. He then added, that “if you look long enough, you can find vitality anywhere.”

When asked about the risks of photographing strangers, Herzog first shared that “people have shouted at me, people have told me to get away, people have told me to get off their property, and people have threatened me with calling the police.” Thus, he suggested that we “shoot first, and ask questions later!” However, he confessed that in his particular case it has been easier since by the time he started exhibiting, most of the subjects in his pictures were too old to care. Almost jokingly, he suggested to wait thirty years before publishing a picture of a stranger because “a dead person will not take you to court!”

As the evening came to an end, Herzog delivered his most poetic moment. “To me, the city is a stage and the people on the streets are all actors.” In this sense, Herzog stressed that “We need to record how people look in their natural state…it’s the reality of how we look.” He explained that if photographers don’t accept the task of showing people with no interference, without staging them, then we will lose any visual evidence of the way we really were.

As a closing remark, Herzog comically reminded us for the twentieth time that in order to succeed as photographers, “don’t photograph landscapes, everybody does it, and nobody cares.”

En Donceles...

...me topé unos stencils.

Brad Mehldau, Bravissimo!

Oh, the indescribable joy of jazz festivals! I've just come home from a tremendous performance by the Brad Mehldau Trio at the Vancouver Centre for Performing Arts. The venue was perfect, and the crowd eager to clap and make noise after every single solo. Mehldau was very cool at his piano, keeping the rhythm by sliding his shoulders from side to side...his hands dancing over the ivory keys as he glanced occasionally at bassist Larry Grenadier.

There is a certain air of reverence at jazz festivals that has always surprised me...it feels as if the audience acknowledges that jazz musicians are a different breed, magicians that have a superior level of understanding about music. The stage becomes an altar of improvisation, in which creation occurs every instant and the sound is indescribably authentic. If you've lived through a 10+ minute piano solo, where the suspense grows with every note as you realize the music can take any direction, you might understand what I'm trying to say.

Back to Brad. They started off with a Thelonious Monk masterpiece. Then I believe they played a Coltrane song (please correct me if I'm wrong), and an Ella Fitzgerald classic. The common denominator in these songs was Brad Mehldau's incredible ability to improvise...to simply sit in his piano, feel the sounds coming from Jeff Ballard's drums, and reinvent songs that have been going around for decades.

After the fourth piece, Mehldau suddenly grabbed the microphone to tell us its story. He told us he dreamed the song while watching the movie "Easy Rider" on an airplane. He said his song was an imaginary eulogy that would be delivered by Wyatt (Peter Fonda) to George Hanson (Jack Nicholson) after his death. Priceless!

Then, unexpectedly, the trio began playing Sufjan Stevens' "Holland"! They started slowly, softly, in that very melancholy Sufjan mood...and then picked up the pace, stopped for a couple of solos, and suddenly bang! Holland appropriated by Mehldau!

And like a true maestro, Brad Mehldau saved the best for last. Yes...as you might have expected, he treated the audience with a Radiohead cover. (I must confess that the first Mehldau song I ever heard was his version of "Paranoid Android", about 5 years ago. I bought his "Largo" album and became an instant follower. One of the reasons why I wanted see him tonight was to hear one of his Radiohead covers). Fortunately, on this beautiful night in Vancouver, Brad Mehldau surprised the audience by finishing his performance with a magnificent version of "Exit Music (for a film)"!

I left my seat (orchestra, T-30) humming the last song and thinking that, although I adore the unpredictability of jazz (and the beauty of trying not to get lost in every song, thanks to my ADD), there is something inherently attractive about listening to an alternative version of a song you know by heart.

Forget Obama

Look, I've got certain information, certain things have come to light, and uh, has it ever occurred to you, man, that given the nature of all this new shit, that, uh, instead of running around blaming me, that this whole thing might just be, not, you know, not just such a simple, but uh--you know.

(You might be wondering what on earth I'm blathering about.)

And I'll tell you what I'm blathering about! I got information--new shit has come to light and--shit, man! The Dude and Walter are running for office!














Well sure, look at it! The Nam veteran and the bum, in the parlance of our times....what a pair! I mean, hasn't it ever occurred to you, dear readers?

(Much obliged, Diana)

Dude's script.

Reader reviews the Gospel

And now, a little pearl of opinion. This was a review posted for the Bible (King Jame's edition) sold on Amazon.

The Gospel? (spoilers)
by Mark Plant

I picked this up because I heard it advertised as the Gospel, which translates to "good news." It opens up by telling the reader how the human race is doomed because two poorly developed characters ate an apple that a snake told them to eat.

That's not good news.

I can't say I found much good news at all in this. It actually closes by telling us that the world is going to end, and how we should all be prepared.

I would not recommend this book to others. It does not deliver on many of its advertised promises, and features weak characters and archaic diction.

(Thank you Rodrigo)
(Thank you QualityNonsense)