The New Boredom

That right after you get a haircut, you end up using way too much shampoo because you’re all calibrated for having more hair?

DEEEP THOUGHTS (and conditioning) to end September.

Thanks for making this the busiest month ever around here!

October has a lot to live up to. But Top 5’s will be back, Steve Wentz is moving in (sort of and then leaving to trot the globe), it’s sweater season, bmx street ride season, Veloswap shananagins, there’s a ton of chicks in wayfarers abound, a T-rex party, the Hitchcocktail party, about 35 awesome shows including Patton Oswalt, Where the Wild Things are premiering, and I found a stash of still viable Kodachrome 16mm film to shoot fall colors with… oh wait- October is going to kick. fucking. ass. Stay tuned (or “logged” I guess if you wanted to modify the term to be more interblagy).

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Time to bring out the A-material….

First off, killer video quality. Good though not ridiculous use of lensbaby optics. Good angles, clean dolly shots, variety. Hell yeah.

Second- perfect use of Buck 65 in a video holy crap. Better song for this video does not exist.

Thirdsies- Cam Wood is a god damn shredder. That line at 1:21 cranks the fun knob up to 11.

Thanks for making my day you short little amazing bmx video.

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It’s a Jump!…. to conclusions mat!

Guys can drink green tea and take Jack Russell Terriers for walks. But having all those characteristics means lacking others. It means, for instance, they aren’t tough guys. It means they aren’t Humphrey Bogart grabbing you tightly and kissing you with cigarette breath.

This started off a little rocky for me but then ended with a big loud bang. Thanks Why There Are No Girls In San Fransisco, possibly my favorite new bloggy blog.

I also love their critical feedback on the left edge of the screen and how it includes: ““Mildly funny…But…a lie.” - SFist.com“
I’ll be reading through that whole site today.

In other news, here’s something interesting to consider- the difference between living in poverty and squalor. It’s maybe not completely accurate but it certainly is an interesting paradigm in which you can view the world. I’d like to think I’m poor but then I go and blow a few hundred dollars on some new camera dork thing and realize that’s what a significant portion of people in the world earn in a year. And then I feel like a total dick for fifteen minutes. Gah, I’m part of the problem.

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Still… Nona Mecklenberg crushing.

Shawn and I were talking about current photo aesthetics, particularly within the mountain bike industry, and how that’s changing. Used to be that we were so amped on off camera flash lit action shots and for a little while, that’s all that mattered. But we both haven’t really taken a flash out of our bags on the hill for at least a year. It’s like we figured out how to do that stuff and now we don’t care anymore. Unless you’re doing it really well, it just looks boring and “too perfect” and sterile.

Same goes for movies and television. 60 fps capture, super high shutter speeds, ridiculous amounts of color correction and manipulation… it’s everywhere. They are trying to make everything so smooth and real looking that it’s becoming super-realistic. Well that’s not what I go to movies or watch TV for. I want an escape from reality. I think that’s a significant portion of why Shawn and I both enjoy animation so much. It’s already a big degree removed from reality in its medium regardless of its content. I enjoy shots in movies that have crazy focus  issues (Assassination of Jesse James) or there’s tons of motion blur from a dragged open shutter (Chunking Express or even Slumdog Millionaire). I want my cinema to be cinematic, not crisper and “more real” than looking out the front door.

So with that in mind, here’s some interesting stuff I stumbled upon this morning after a ridiculous party night.

France wants you to put a disclaimer on all manipulated photos (aka, ALL photos!)

and here’s two videos of a photographer whose work I don’t always agree with but that I do respect. Haters gunna hate.

I am looking forward to the pendulum swinging away from the super polished and unrealistic-realistic look of things and back to a more honest portrayal of people and a more personal artistic imprint on images.

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I liked this photo at first sight.

And I loved it at second sight when I noticed that he has a little lint roller on his desk.

Here, watch these. They are swell.

First up, Charlie Crumlish showing the world that creative street is not just park tricks transplanted to a new setting. He looks way different without the helmet, glasses, and goofy awesome hair.

This is a recording of Beck right after Midnight Vultures came out. He’s doing the song Debra which kicks a ton of ass. I was recently reminded of this song by Kate who was bringing up a certain sister drama situation that I got myself into when we were living together. Oh fond memories of that mess. Also, I think this song sounds like Flight of the Concords but ten years earlier.

And finally this one has been playing a lot lately around these parts. I posted it back in the time but it’s damn well worth a revisit.

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Spoooooky.

We should probably go investigate.