More MEM and also Joan Didion

I was perusing Mary Ellen Mark's website and came across this photo of Joan Didion and John Dunne. She is a great photo subject and the picture itself is beautifully composed. This type of picture of her only ever serve to remind me of the fact that her writing just, you know, SPEAKS to me (...man).

Her husband, John Gregory Dunn, is said to be an equally prolific writer. I admit to never having read any of his works.

Her fiction is good. Solid. Play It As It Lays particularly stands out as a compelling and disturbing work. What I like best though, is her volumes of essays. Her ability to say so much with so little, and in such a small amount of space never fails to move my senses.

JD then JD now













I recommend:

• Slouching Towards Bethlehem (first collection of essays/articles)
• Play It As It Lays (arguably best work of fiction)
  

The Dopeness

I have been listening to the soundtrack to The Wackness for a couple of weeks now and I encourage anyone who likes hiphop in any way, shape, or form to give it a sit-down. Chock full o a sweet mix of smooth beats and some jams starting to border on gangsta (before that shit blew up), it's an excellent mix. Throw in a Mott the Hoople track and it's all good.

For those not in the know, the film takes place in the mid 90s when hiphop was thriving somewhere between Tribe and DMX. Summatime, kid sells green from a ice cart, falls in love, all to a dope soundtrack.

Sidenote - Method Man (who, in '94, was a member of Wu-Tang Clan) plays kid's supplier.

After seeing the movie a second time (once I had the soundtrack) I noticed a bunch of songs in the film that weren't on the offish score. Most noticeably the Wu's own C.R.E.A.M.

Anyway, for a sick dose of mid-nineties hiphop before things REALLY got gangsta, check out The Wackness. It's also a pretty good movie.
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RE. below post - Fairey was arrested as he was entering his ICA opening. He appeared in Brighton and Roxbury district courts a couple days ago.

faireys

I've been a fan of Shepherd Fairey since I first started becoming aware of and researching graf bowmbers/public artists a number of years ago. Now that the world is becoming saturated with his images (especially the iconic Obama/hope print) I feel the need to spread the love even more (and remind the posers that I was a fan first).

Fairey dog has been screen printing/sticker bombing/etc. for almost 20 years. He's best known for his Andre the Giant obey rorschach-esque print. Little do people know, the Obey campaign was preceeded by the lesser-known Andre the Giant Has a Posse campaign:


Sprung from an inside joke with a friend who wanted to learn how to screen print. Cuz, like, who wouldn't want to be in A the G's posse?

In writing this post, I came accross several spoofs of the print, from one advertising Charles Darwin's posse (seriously scary, I am a member) to my personal favorite:






Tony Danza is a bad mama jama.


Look also for Parker Posey's posse and Darth Vader's dark side posse.

Anyway, if you live in Boston you are probably experiencing even more the over-saturation of Mr. Fairey cause he has a show (opened two days ago) at the ICA. Which, by the way, if you haven't been to their new location (well not so new anymore) on the waterfront, it's worth the trek. I'm planning on checking out the exhibit. But just remember - I liked him way before all ya'll.

fine art photojournalism

Recently I became slightly enamored with the photojournalism cum fine art works of Nan Goldin and especially Mary Ellen Mark. Mark has a knack for portraiture that makes it seem as though the subject is so at ease with her there isn't even a camera present. People in her photos seem to be just sitting with her and not posing for a picture.

She takes exquisite photos of celebrities. From Cloris Leachman to David Bowie to Al Gore to please please go to her website (www.maryellenmark.com) and look at William H. Macy. Because of the way her website is configured, I can't link to specific pieces/photos in it.

Mary Ellen Mark, however, also capture the darker side of humanity, the pieces that are difficult to look at and some of her images can be very chilling. "Ward 81" documents the 36 days in 1976 Mark spent in the women's locked ward at Oregon State Hospital, a state-run mental facility. It's very much out of print, but all of her books are available on her website, complete with the accompanying text. "A Cry For Help: Stories of Homelessness and Hope" will break your heart.

labelbuddy

My label buddy came in the mail earlier this week and things have been getting seriously labeled over on Haskell Street. There will be zero confusion as to what anything is if you enter my house. Aside from the obvious ones-






-certain somebodies have realized themselves to be quite the label savant:

And I took some quality time to combine my new love of the label buddy with my re-flowering devotion to polaroids:

ROIDS cont.

Continuing my love affair with polaroids...

p.o.l.a.r.o.i.d.

I like polaroid cameras because you only really get one chance. No multi-shot photo sessions to make sure no one's blinking, everyone's smiling and shit is apprope for facebook posting. Polaroid photos are nice to look at because they are grainy sometimes and the colors are hugely contrasted and if you get too close they're blurry. The flash hides NOTHING - brightest mothereffing thing since lightning. Polaroid pictures show the world the way I see it - but just a little shinier.

a softer world

this is my new favorite webcomicish:
a softer world

chick takes photos + boy adds captions + courier font = sweet strips

DYMO

I just bought a label maker so I will soon be able to make seriously sweet labels like this one:



Details of my labeling adventures to follow.



(Thank gawd for amazon.com)