Visions for the future

A while back I had some advice for Fear Factory. It was to update the techno parts with trance music. I suggested Buckley. Well, apparently someone else listened to my advice, and now we have this:



If you close your eyes, it is pretty close to what I was suggesting. Chugging riffs, screaming, singing, and trance beats [via Stuff you will hate].

Because I am an old curmudgeon, when I open my eyes I want to bash their brains out with my Louisville Slugger. But that's just me.

What do you think, did they beat Fear Factory to the punch? Is it too late for Dino Machino?

The transcendental nature of booze

I drink. You drink. We drink. They drink. Monkeys drink.



Go thy way, eat thy bread with joy, and drink thy wine with a merry heart; for God now accepteth thy works.

These monkeys too are my brothers. They too are boozehounds. We are boozehounds.

Maybe you don't drink. But you won't ever be a respected monkey leader now will you?

20 more eyes

Um, no...I don't need help washing my back. Thanks though.



Spider pig, spider pig, does whatever a spider pig does.



20 eyes in my head!

Magic

I can do magic. I can have anything that I desire.



I'm the one that can put out the fire.

Yeah, thanks to the office this was in my head all week. And now it is in your head all week. You're welcome.

20 Eyes

When your girlfriend alerts you to the giant spider on the bedroom wall, what should be your first response? Obviously grab the camera, mount the macro lens, and fire up the flashgun.







And yes, now I have 20 eyes stuck in my head. And now hopefully you do too.

A bloody retrospective

I've been ruminating on Peter Steele's death since I first got word, and decided to offer my perspective. First, I have been a fan of Type O Negative since Bloody Kisses came out. I remember when a friend of mine in high school first heard Black #1. She was delighted because the song was "about me", as she had dyed black hair. It was a funny song, but I thought Christian Woman had better songwriting.

Bloody Kisses was the soundtrack to many a summer for me. The hilarious version of Summer Breeze always made this a Hot August album for me.

October Rust was a great album, and the video for Love You to Death is one of my favorites, even though the album was a decidedly softer, poppier affair. World Coming Down and Life is Killing Me both took a while to grow on me, but I'm a fan of both.

I wonder if I'll never see kids wearing clever Type O t-shirts again. Those clever green witticisms, are they gone?

I had been on a Type O Negative kick for the last few months. I was sad I could not make the trip to Chicago to see them on their last tour a few months ago. That was my last chance to see them live. So now I'm ripping Symphony for the Devil onto my ipod so I can listen to them live and enjoy what it must have been like to see them at their prime. If I was one of those filesharing guys, I'd upload it for you.



It is also a retrospective on aging. I was going to reference Pete on my growing old with dignity piece. Here is Pete in the prime of life:



And here he is some ten years later.



Cocaine is a helluva drug. Notice the sunken eyes and terrible teeth. Was it meth as well as the booze and coke? No matter. I was looking forward to a new album, but we will have to enjoy what we have.

I had hopes that Peter would be the Johnny Cash of my generation. After hard living and drugs, he seemed to turn the corner and clean up his life. I could see him making some triumphant crusty old man albums, with his voice old and withered, yet still with an iron strong presence. Can you imagine that rumbling bass at 60? Oh well.

Finally, I also found him to be a compatriot who does not wear band t-shirts. Dress shirts, always dress shirts. When in need of a t-shirt, never a band shirt. Solid colors please. A pocket in corner would be nice too.



That's pretty much what I wear on casual/jeans Friday. Minus the bass guitar, of course.

I hate the morning

Morning is not a good time for boozehounds. But sometimes things like sinus infections keep us awake at the dreadful hours. So you might as well make the most of it.







Funny I went inside real quick to get my tripod and the sun goes behind some haze.

Stuff old people like: Sardines

Take it from an old curmudgeon like me, sardines are where it's at. Little fish you eat with your fingers on crackers. I prefer the smoked sardines. Now I generally avoid seafood as a rule, due to mercury, but everyone once in a while I'll roll the dice on sardines.

I'm sure you've seen cans of sardines in old timey cartoons. Today's sardines don't have heads, and the cans have a pull tab like your soups instead of the key that rolls the lid back. But other than that, it is pretty much the same thing that it was back when your great grandpa was a hungry young man. Probably less mercury in it though.

As a footnote I should add that the last of the cannery row plants closed and the last plant in America has ceased sardines production. Which leads to another old timer pastime: nostalgia.

So enjoy sardines infrequently because of pollution. Young kids will think they are gross because old cartoons have the heads on and anchovies are horribly salty. These aren't horribly salty though. They are better than tuna in terms of mercury, and if you are into the environment they are more "sustainable" too.

Night air

The wind was brisk. My jacket was warm and I didn't mind the cold air. But the metal tripod in my hand was starting to get cold, and my hand was starting to get cold so I wouldn't stay out too long.



The nighttime is the right time. Places are empty. A new world of light and shadow, and even color appears. Though often the color is the ghastly orange-yellow of streetlamps.



There is nobody here except me and the ducks.



Sometimes it is useful to get out in the clear night air to clear your mind.

Diversions

Instead of going bughunting I was distracted by some portrait work. I modeled my friend in an homage to the classic slasher flick Psycho.



I couldn't find anything to kill other than Cheerios. So it became a Cereal Killer photoshoot, and thus a reference to Green Jellÿ (né Jellö).









This was a challenging shoot from the beginning. Mixing the blood to just the right hue was time consuming and was like some Martha Stewart cake recipe. Corn syrup, food coloring, molasses, and chocolate. The bathroom afforded little room to maneuver. Getting the light right was trial and error. I used some high key light in the beginning, and by the end I had the shoot through umbrella out. Turns out my model looks best in diffuse lighting, while the shoot itself looks best with really hard light. If I had a second flash I could balance it out, I think.

And then it rained

It rained and the buds burst open and the trees were covered in a green haze. The peepers are mating and the birds are calling and life seems to convect through the air.





I'm practicing with my gear and studying up on insects, for my newest project is to shoot bugs. The fireflies will emerge soon, and I will be ready. But first, I will attempt to recreate the amazing pictures you'll find here.

From my childhood 7: Art

When I was a child I watched the most excellent show Commander Mark and the Secret City. Youtube now has my weird childhood memories available. Let's learn how to draw with Commander Mark:



Check out the secret city mural



I always liked his pseudo flight suit with pens and markers everywhere.

There is an ice cream shop in town with a secret city mural that is an entire wall. It has space aliens and weird stuff. I should take some pictures of that. Speaking of ice cream...

Don't come away empty handed

Sounds like the punchline to some masturbation joke? Oh well. I was back in Chicago, on business, and decided to stop in Binny's for that Amrut Indian whisky. They didn't have any. But I wasn't about to leave empty handed. They had two new Irish whiskeys. I bought the cheaper one, which looked to be another Cooley brand. Indeed it was.

John Sullivan whiskey. It was named after an ole' timey bare knuckle boxer. Similar to some other Cooley whiskeys I've had, like the Tyrconnell and Irish Manor. The bottle is tinted green with old Sullivan's photo glaring at me. It is a rather dry whiskey, with a citrus sweetness again similar to what I've had with the Tyrconnell and Irish Manor. Very different from the caramel sweetness in Kilbeggan.

The more expensive whiskey will have to wait for another time. It said it was from county Kerry. Could this be a new distillery? The name was rediculous. Irish wild geese and lonely heart's club band whiskey. Ok, it was really called The Wild Geese Irish Soldier and Heroes. Yeah, so on the website it looks like it is a Cooley whiskey also. So two new Cooley whiskeys in Chicago. No Indian whiskey.

There was also an intriguing new American whiskey. From Virginia it was a single malt pot still whiskey called Wasmund's. It was a bit pricey for a domestic, so again it will have to wait for another trip to the city with whiskey shoulders.

In the end I went to Binny's to get some Indian whisky and came out with some Irish whiskey. At least I didn't come away empty handed.