Thursday, June 17, 2004

My old website

I tore it apart and knocked it down. I'm currently in the process of stomping the shit out of it. We shall see what resurfaces and what fades away...

You know I stopped exercising awhile back... things were getting out of hand:


Bush is Bad

A group of 26 retired U.S. diplomats and military officers said Wednesday that President Bush should be voted out of office in November for damaging U.S. national security interests and America's standing in the international community.

I say impeach the muthafucker today... think of all the damage he can still do if we wait for an election in November!

Many others seem to agree:

The Four Reasons

Impeach Bush NOW

Vote to Impeach

Art is Good

Tomorrow I'm going to spend some time with a few of my favorite people at one of my favorite places... the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art - SFMOMA.

And then tomorrow night I'm going with my friend David (pictured below in the always cool Kind Veggie Tee-Shirt) to see a fantastic singer/songwriter, Patty Griffin at The Fillmore.



Wednesday, June 16, 2004

San Francisco Rocks!

I had fun tonight. First I ate at Viet Nam II, my old favorite vietnamese seafood place. Then I caught Keith Andrew playing at Jazz Nouveau at The Cannery. And as if that weren't enough, I ran into my friend Jim on Columbus Avenue in North Beach playing guitar on the street.



Another Beautiful Day in San Francisco

Its 7:30 am and it looks like another beautiful day.

Hey, check out my buddy Dave's blog. He's off in Africa shooting a documentary film on volunteers helping refugees in Zambia.

And also stop in at PhatMike's blog. He's heading to Amsterdam for a month in July!

OK, now its 11:11 am and I just woke-up... again.

Here's a shot of my other buddy Dave in a highly inebriated late-night sitar pose.




I recently let him down inadvertently and just found out. Jeeez I feel so bad. Sorry Dave!

We all live in the world of our feelings, yet hardly anybody talks about it except lovers (sometimes), songwriters, poets and other artists. The world can be such a terrible, brutal, horrifying place. No, not all the time, but its out there... and people are worried.


Tuesday, June 15, 2004

More Photo Blogs

Here's another good list of photoblogs from Photoblogs.org.

Might just do a photo a day at fotolog.net.

I was also admiring some of Mark Hemmings photos this morning.

Some beautiful flowers from India to brighten your day.




Hey, who knew that "Son of Sam", convicted murderer Jeffery Berkowitz has his own blog?

And on an unrelated note, my buddy Bob-O was hanging out with New York's famous Concert Joe at Bonaroo last week.

Wow, Yahoo just increased my mailbox storage to 2 gigs in order to compete with Google's g-mail.

You know I got a new computer last week. Its pretty awesome!

Monday, June 14, 2004

Philotography

I'm an amateur photographer, but I'd like to become a pro and I've been giving some intensely serious thought to it.

How do I get started? What will I need to do, exactly?

I have a camera, but it isn't professional quality, so I need a new one. And some other stuff too.

Of course, my real value is my eye and sense of appreciation for what makes a good photograph. I don't know what art is, but I know what I like! (Nick Nolte says that in some movie, I forget which) Suffice it to say that I think I have what it takes to succeed.

I have a huge stock of photographs, mostly at lower resolutions, from my recent travels and from the few years before I began traveling. Can I use this stock as the basis for a professional portfolio? Can I start some small income streams by selling this stuff through stock photo houses and by publishing my various image collections in the form of postcards, notecards, greeting cards, posters, calendars, coffe-table books, gallery exhibits, etc?

Despite the goldmine I'm already sitting on (hah!), it'll be what I do now and in the future that will matter most.

What sort of work should I go after? Do I have to specialize? Should I enroll in some courses somewhere?

Its a lot to consider. Kind of overwhelming, but kind of exciting and much more appealing than going back to the kind of jobs I've had in the past.

So I'm sitting here thinking and researching and sorting and sifting through my pile of photographs.

Boy, there sure are a lot of photography magazines out there.

Uh-oh... there are a LOT of photographers out there too!

So much to consider. So much competition. So many risks. So much fun!

Why did I call it philotography? Cuz I was a Philosophy major and I try to get at the truth of the matter whenever I can. Combining philosophy with photography, for me... is philotography, but its not REALLY a word.

I like the list of items the dictionary comes up with as suggestions for philotography ...

1. phonography
2. phonographic
3. phonographies
4. phonographs
5. forethoughtfully
6. phonographer
7. phyllotaxies
8. full-timer
9. flatirons
10. phyllotaxis

Don't you think that pornographer should be on the list as well?

Sunday, June 13, 2004

Deadheads & The Haight Street Fair

I went to a nce little party last night with a bunch of my deadhead friends.




Lots of people are at the big Bonaroo Festival in Tennessee right now... but those of us who stayed home this weekend are in for a big freaky treat cuz the 27th annual Haight Street Fair is today.

The fair doesn't start until 11:00 am, but I woke up early (again) and, although I had pretty much quit drinking coffee when I was traveling, headed down the street to Cafe Abir for a strong cuppa-joe.




Strong coffee really hits me hard. Just take a look at the shocking before and after photos below:

BEFORE




AFTER




Quite a difference! Similarly we might look at before and after ganja as well:

BEFORE




AFTER