Main Entry: slushy
Pronunciation: \ˈslə-shē\
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): slush·i·er; slush·i·est
Date: 1791
: being, involving, or resembling slush: as a : full of or covered with slush
— slush·i·ness noun
Wilson Alwyn Bentley, Snow Crystal, 1910
Marcel Duchamp, In Advance of the Broken Arm, 1915 and 1964
A new controversial, French antismoking, advertising campaign is using some pretty odd pictures to make their point. Leave it to the French to make an anti smoking campaign SEXY. No images of black lungs, malignant growths or missing digits here. Instead we have photographs of attractive under age youth posturing fellatio ? I'm not certain but I think if I was French, 14 and considering smoking, these pictures might set me off to the nearest Tabac quicker than a match on fire. You can read more about it HERE.
I'm not sure if they have television spots but if they decide to make them I suggest they use Madonna's Like A Prayer.
"When you call my name it's like a little prayer
I'm down on my knees, I wanna take you there"
Double click on this baby to see it large. It's a beaut!
"Dubbed The Boneyard, but officially known as the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Group (AMARG) facility, this sprawling US airbase is reputed to be the world's largest military aircraft cemetery. Spread across the huge 2,600 acre site, equivalent in size to 1,430 football pitches, is a collection of over 4,000 retired aircraft including nearly every plane the US armed forces have flown since World War II. Now, for the first time, a series of high resolution satellite images of the four square mile-site have been released by Google Earth. They show in incredible detail the full range of aircraft found at the site." You can read the full piece HERE at BBC News.
A few from an early morning walk about on the frigid beach at Coney Island. To be honest I'm not sure that there are any good pictures in the lot here. Making pictures is a lot like playing the guitar or most other activities for that matter. Sometimes you jut have to go out, do your exercises and practice your chops. Regardless of the quality of the results or the volume of production.
I've photographed in some pretty fetid places in the past. Out door fish markets in South East Asia with open sewage and 100 degree temperatures. Chicken coops in the dead of summer, ripe barns, fields full of manure, and dark, humid cellars draped with curing ham hocks hanging from hooks. But Friday's assignment takes the cake. Especially if that cake was made from aged beef. I had the pleasure of making a portrait in a wholesale meat purveyor. It had the tiled look and feel of a 19th century sanatorium. Complete with the perfume of aging flesh and blood splattered walls. The floor was surfaced with a quarter inch of greasy brown water spotted with generous chunks of flesh, fat and bone. Later that afternoon a dog on the street stopped while walking past me and began to lick and gnaw on my boots.
A number of publications are putting out teasers of what their content will look like on the upcoming iPad. It's easy to be seduced by the razzle and dazzle of it all and quite frankly it looks fun and impressive. Of course there are a lot of questions that simply won't be answered until a few months after this thing actually hits the street. Will readers and advertisers actually pay to be in and consume this content? We've all grown accustomed the the notion that "content wants to be free." And it has been for a good ten years now. Good luck putting that genie back in the bottle. I'm also curious about the use and interface of these apps / digital magazines. While certain functions, like pinching and swiping, are now second nature to many it appears as if each publication will also have it's own unique navigation and user interface. See the 3 clips below. This could be a nightmare. If every publication requires you to uniquely learn how to use it in order to navigate the content it's going to frustrate and exhaust new readers very quickly. I can imagine an arms race of slickness. "It's so cool but I have no idea how the hell to find or do anything." At some point, organically or through quiet collusion, all of these publishers will have to adopt some kind of universal layout and user interface. Otherwise it's going to be a dizzying mess out there.
Wired Magazine on the iPad
Interview Magazine on the iPad
Sports Illustrated Magazine on the iPad
One of the by-products of blogging is that you often find your self with extra bits, bobbles and scraps left over from previous posts. For various reasons these images just didn't work. Some leftovers though are too tasty to be discarded and they are even better if you share them.
Unknown, American, 1920's
Iranian Kool-Aide poster
North Korean propaganda poster. Translation: "Lets extensively raise goats in all families."
North Korean propaganda poster. I do not know the translation for this one. It's either illustrating a solution to how soldiers might deal with babies that have soiled diapers or it's describing the satanic like cruelty of the American military. Not sure which. You decide.
I'm sure I'm not the only one with a blog who will be posting pictures today of the big storm that just blew through town. Given the length, size and intensity of the storm I'll bet that the inter bloggo nets are silly with them. I'd almost be welling to bet that there were as many pictures taken of the storm as there were actual snowflakes. I'm just glad I'm not the one who has to plow all of these pictures off the information highway.
Robert Howlett, Isambard Kingdom Brunel Standing Before the Launching Chains of the Great Eastern, 1857
Carleton Watkins, Section of the Grizzly Giant, 101 feet circumference, 1865
Unknown Artist, Man Standing Next to Miniature Truck on the Set of Scarface, 1932
Robert Gober, Giant Mousetrap Set Among Ferns, 1999
Diane Arbus, Jewish Giant at Home with his Parents, 1970
It was another bitter cold cabin fever inducing weekend here. I did manage to make it to Williamsburg for a bit to check out the new Brooklyn Bowl. 
"Leica Camera AG and the Parisian high-fashion house Hermès joined forces to create a very special limited edition camera, namely the new Leica M7 Edition Hermès." Sweet! One could be forgiven for thinking that we are still in the year 2006. $12,950 for a 35mm camera that only works with that old timey film stuff. I think maybe William Eggleston could get away with trolling around with one of these suckers looped around his shoulder. Any one else would look like a real ass. You can read and see more HERE.
Every winter I get my favorite poetry book off the shelf and every winter I love re-reading this one poem. It's beautiful and very well written. I thought it might be a comfort to all of you. It was to me. 
Unknown, Winter Scene, 1920's
Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Dead Bird On Snow In Wire, 1960
Alfred Stieglitz, Winter-Fifth Avenue, 1892
"F u c k!
It's cold! "
The end.
Anonymous, 2010
Here in Brooklyn, President Street Phil saw his shadow yesterday morning so it looks like we're in for 6 more weeks of winter.
Big and messy ideas have a way of becoming something else entirely when they are constructed to explain and categorize. Once removed from context they they make for pretty and slightly surreal objects. From The New York Times comes a pretty pink and green chart of the federal government's 2011 proposed $3.69 trillion budget.
Alphonse Bertillon, 1909, Summary Chart of Physical Traits for the Study of the Portrait Parlé
It was brutally cold this weekend and we spent most, if not all, of our time indoors. I can't say that I was feeling any particular amount of terror or pleasure. Mostly just some cabin fever and the constant cold draft that was blasting through the windows. 
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