A Russian billionaire (sure seems to be a lot of those lately) is building an army of cyborgs…while man-powered robotic spiders are now a reality, courtesy of a British software and electronics engineer. On the other hand, this seems like a pretty good idea. Oh, and it turns out that disco isn’t dead, but merely trapped in a Cleveland-area netherworld.
Despite a long list of shortcomings that includes listening to Bon Jovi and keeping a man-eating tarantula on her desk, today marks Shirlee’s 13th anniversary with helveticka. She must’ve started with the company when she was 12.
Her drink of choice is Patrón (shudder), so be sure you buy Shirlee a shot the next time you see her.
Victoria Ertelt, library administrator at Mount Angel Abbey, poses next to one of the Alvar Aalto chairs on display at SPOMa. Victoria, who was instrumental in securing the permissions necessary to display some of the pieces from one of the largest collections of Aalto’s furniture in the world, was in town last weekend.
Bob Nixon, left, and Glenn Davis visited SPOMa over the weekend. Nixon, who served as a partner at both Walker & McGough and with Royal McClure, is an accomplished photographer whose work plays a prominent role in the exhibit. Davis, who likewise worked at Walker and McGough, proved to be an invaluable and near-limitless source of information, historic imagery, and ephemera from the era. Photo by CK Anderson.
It’s a pity the digital age has somewhat lessened the impact of album cover art. Storm Thorgerson, who died yesterday, was one of the best artists/designers in that particular medium. The co-founder of Hipgnosis created, by his own count, more than 300 covers over a nearly 50-year career. Farewell, Storm. May flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.
If this headline doesn’t reach out of your computer screen, grab you by the throat, and provide a vigorous demonstration as to why you should immediately stop what you’re doing and start reading right now, I don’t know what will: 8 Facts Revealed by Genetic Analysis of the Platypus.
This is the sort of thing I love about the English language: seemingly arbitrary, yet also somehow rational—not to mention poetic. From Lapham’s Quarterly:
In a comment on yesterday’s post, regular reader and photographer extraordinaire (and, full disclosure, long-time friend) Derek Helt raises an interesting question: Because the use of physical media for storing and playing music is generally perceived to be “outdated technology,” is Spokane actually ahead of the curve by not offering a full-service music store?
Let’s open this up for a little discussion. (Yeah, I know, there are only three or four people who read this blog, but try to humor me. I’m genuinely curious.) How many of you regularly purchase CDs or LPs? If you do, where do you get them? And are your tastes in music such that you don’t need to go too far out of your way to find what you’re looking for? And for those of you who download your music from iTunes or Amazon or a similar provider, do you purchase individual songs? Entire albums? Do you listen to your music primarily through earbuds or headphones, or through loudspeakers?
I’ll go first: I buy music almost exclusively on CD. Why? Because unless you’re purchasing lossless files, digital downloads are compressed to such an extent that dynamic range is compromised. That’s fine if it’s the flavor-of-the-month hip hop song, but not so good when it’s Bruckner. Plus, I dig the album art and liner notes. I purchase most of my CDs at Amazon; sometimes I buy directly from record labels or other outlets (ArkivMusic, Burning Shed, Discipline Global Mobile, et al.) if Amazon doesn’t have what I’m looking for. My tastes run from Stockhausen to Bowie to Coltrane to Bach to the Dead. I listen with headphones at work and over a stereo at home.
Your turn. Tell us about your music-buying and -listening habits.
Walla Walla has a population of 32,148; Spokane 210,103. Walla Walla has an honest-to-God record store; Spokane doesn’t. Discuss amongst yourselves.
Ed Edmunds, star of the Travel Channel’s Making Monsters, poses with two of his creations for ILF Media director of photography Jim Swoboda. Ed and his wife Marsha own Distortions Unlimited, where, out of a nondescript warehouse in Greeley, Colorado, a group of “designers, artists, carpenters, sculptors, painters, pourers, patchers, seamers, welders, woodworkers, mold makers, sprayers, shippers, seamstresses, cutters, electricians, assemblers, managers and office personnel” work together to create the stuff of nightmares.
Setting up a shoot at downtown Greeley’s Café Panache, a Parisian-style crêperie where, in addition to sweet and savory crêpes, you can get soups, salads, and your very own beret. Executive producer Cary Seward (left) and director of photography Jim Swoboda (right) are from ILF Media in Spokane; at center is John Pantaleo, public information officer for the City of Greeley.
Tim O’Hara (left), a commercial photographer based in Fort Collins, Colorado, poses with Armando Silva (center) and our fearless leader during a photo shoot in Greeley last week. To combat the rampant misperceptions of Greeley as the exact opposite of Hawaii, Silva is one of a group of people chosen to reflect Greeley’s unexpected characteristics.
At Milne Auditorium on the University of Northern Colorado campus, CK (second from left) poses with belly dancer Ann Martinez and members of the Persian Music Ensemble. At a population of fewer than 100,000, the city of Greeley is a surprisingly diverse community.
After a week in Greeley, Colorado, it’s good to be home.
Not that there’s anything wrong with Greeley. On the contrary, it’s not at all what you’d expect if you labor under the fairly common misapprehension that it smells, that it’s dangerous, that it’s nothing but cows and cowboys.
Don’t laugh. People who have never even been there will swear that it’s all true. Which brings me to why CK and I were visiting. The City of Greeley has hired helveticka to change those misapprehensions; to communicate that Greeley’s got it going on. So last week, on our third visit to the area in less than a year, we were shooting stills and video footage for an upcoming awareness campaign.
Over the next few days we’ll share some photos from our trip—like the one above, taken by CK, of a downtown mural by performance/visual artist Armando Silva. By the end of the week, you’ll want to go there yourself.
CK and I will be on a photo and video shoot in Colorado this week (CK’s already there, as a matter of fact; I’ll be joining him tomorrow). Blogging will be spotty at best, so I figured I’d give you a little something to keep you occupied for a while. Behold: Meenakshi Amman Temple. Not every photo is great, but each is worth seeing.