Myspace Pile 2
Wednesday, November 29, 2006
Photography Explained
The nature of photography, as a tool for capturing and displaying things as beautiful, has a very interesting duality. Elements that are amazing in their size and beauty, like the view from a high vantage point, can never be adequately captured on film…one always ends up with a photo of empty space, and boring content. On the other hand, elements that are very small, and brief, and often over looked, can be preserved and displayed as a thousand times more momentous and elequent than they actually are.
It is a practice that can be taught in many ways; the asthetics of what makes a photo appealing are borderline intrinsic, and the tips and suggestions of the education system when applied fully can produce a good photograph. A great photograph, however, can only be accomplished through creative improvisation of these rules, or by mere accident…mirroring the nature of human discovery in general.
I believe photography to be conservative by nature…for as it’s the purpose of all art to command perspective, photography is the only branch that demands one use the content as it lay, rather than rearrange things to one’s will like a painter or a sculpter. A photographer must take what is given to him/her, and make the absolute best of it. I have never used photography as a form of expression, or as a tool to curry favor, or as a trade to make profit…it has always been, for me, an act of utter selfish preservation for things that I observe, enjoy, and want to posess forever.
Confessions of the easily amused.
Approximately five minutes ago, while enjoying a cool moment under the stars, I fell into one of my all too common solitary fits of laughter…and was busted by an approaching stranger, who gave me a funny little smile and said hello. This seemed to quell my fit for the moment, though a week or two ago, while I was washing my hands in my brother’s bathroom, the same thing happened, and hearing him call out "what the hell are you laughing it" only seemed to make it worse… I am afflicted, I must confess, with an all too easily accessed sense of humor. In short, I am very easily amused.
I suppose it’s my parents fault, as are most things that make us what we are. All things less than life-altering-serious that came up during my nurturing years were percieved, displayed, and appreciated for their irony. All negative aspects of life that presented themselves were viewed, and laughed at, from their opposing perspectives.
Now, however, I can not stand to have any sort of serious humor-less discussion on matters that are not strictly relevant. Specifically; matters that concern the past or future in any reguard (though for the momentary sake of argument I’m leaving out humor’s converse, the other thing I greatly enjoy applying to the past and present). Some people I know were raised with serious humor-less conversation only and discussions I have with those particular people can be quite dreadfull if I’m not directing the conversation.
If it’s not worth laughing at, then it’s not worth contemplating, in my humble opinion….and unfortuantely for me, nearly everything is worth laughing at, so my list of contemplations is is going to be a regular chore. Why, I even work on it in my free time…when I’m simply taking a moment away to look at the sky.
1:28 AM – 7 Comments – 6 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
jesus loves u.. he’s just not IN love with u
I believe you are blessed to have such a penchant for laughter. Those brief moments are some of the closest we can comet to bliss. Do all you can to bring them into your life as often as possible.
You are gem Gabriel!
Posted by jesus loves u.. he’s just not IN love with u on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 3:32 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
monique
And do you find, that in those moments when laughter might not be the most appropriate response it comes out in more abundance than ever? Like when someone slams their fingers in the garage door… or their favorite pet duck bites the dust? You can just imagine the endless mishaps Dylan provides me with. The back pew in church is especially hilarious and once you start…….
Posted by monique on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 7:43 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Holly
where you really laughing at the sky? that’s funny…
Posted by Holly on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 10:06 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Ahna Maria
I miss that laughter! Get your little butt back down here!
Posted by Ahna Maria on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 11:04 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Ari
i can recall a few times we thought your life was going in belly up as you knew it and… so many times there was hysterical laughter because, for christ sake, our lives were f’ed for a moment there to be frank. my life was going in a shit direction… you were losing your job. yet the very thing that WAS left that we COULD/DID do was laugh.
it was rather funny in hindsight. but you know, laughing with you about things truly made everything so much easier to deal with. i have this in common with you. i rarely find this trait in others.
it was gut busting, deep down laughter. it came from so far down that even if ever the serious issue at hand DID hurt, certainly laughter of that magnitude could easily aid in overcoming all those feelings of "impending doom."
it works like a charm every time. =)
Posted by Ari on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 5:20 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Nel
Have you seen the movie True Romance?
There is a scene where the girl, Alabama, is getting the shit kicked out her, like to the point of potential death, and just when you think she’s given up or almost dead, she raises her head, smiles her bloody and laughs.
I try to use the stregnth of laugher as taught to me by Alabama in True Romance, you are very fortunate to have gotten this lesson early on.
Posted by Nel on Friday, November 24, 2006 at 9:04 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Gary
Ah my friend, humor is what brings us together…but does anyone else here(besides Monique and G) find they are laughing at completely inapropriate things?
examples:
Yesterday while waiting for the the bus I amused myself by listening to 4 Japanese kids, 2 boys, 2 Very attractive girls. There are Many people waiting for the bus. It is cold and the sidewalk is all ice and chunk. As the people push and shove to board the already crowded bus, the cute Japanese girl in front o
f me totaly Bites Asphault. I laugh aloud…a little too loud. No one wanted to sit next to me…
Homeless, penniless. Walking to WorkForce! with the other slaves. I suddenly realise that I have gone at least 36 hours without eating. I find this to be horribly amusing…my companions inquire: I explain. We four all have a good laugh.
Pushing a 1.5 ton cart full of soot and sludge. Thoughts of little children in Steven Kings "Black House." You can laugh as loud as you want in the factory…no one can hear anything.
The bus driver slams on the breaks to avoid squashing a nut who runs across the road. She yell’s "OH SHIT!" I, "WAHAHAHA." (not something you expect from a bus driver.) Everyone is thrown to the ground…old people, children, me and my book. Oh the comedy…but it gets better…the crazy bitch who ran in front of the bus, causing this calamity, want’s to get on board!? rofl rofl rofl. The bus driver nearly explodes in anger….rofl. Still, no one wants to sit next to me…
I think I might be crazy:)
-gary
Note to self: Remember to miss these things…
Simon and Garfunkel strolls in the fog. Heavy lines, long shadows, Britts, puddles, photography, and romantic notions.
Johnny Cash sunday mornings. Youth, strength, yellow sunlight, dirt, facial stubble, newspapers, coffee, optomistic resignment, and cigarettes.
Mazzy Star in the woods at night. Deep green, coconut scent, wet summer warmth, sweet endless future, and romantic satisfaction.
Muddy Waters coffee on the river. Anxiety, drawls, pan handlers, chess, isolation, market street, and anonoymity.
Dr. Dre in the Valley. Orange sun, endless rolling desert, red grandam, aviators, mexicans, blunts, sweat, fear, and windmill fields.
Nitty Gritty Dirt Band in the Fog-cutter. Root Beer, Tron, pool, freighters, the ferry, the wharf, tools, and a dirty truck.
Wilco under the California stars. Ultimate surreality, endless stars, palm trees swaying, hot springs, dead quiet, alcohol, strong 80 degree breezes, and the gold miner’s daughter.
Santo and Johnny in the Albany. Blue concrete, record juke box, early memory fog, cold water only, innocence, and crackers with butter.
Dean Martin in my bedroom. Red light, soft blankets, wine, dancing, humid summer air, and roaring fans.
Jim Croce in Cross Village. The beginning, saw dust, snickers, dirt roads, orange filter of sight, wet leaves, and rolling hills.
5:37 AM – 6 Comments – 6 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Ahna Maria
Reading this made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Damn you!
You’re the best optimistic pessimist I know.
Posted by Ahna Maria on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 1:25 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Ari
now this, i Like. 😉
Posted by Ari on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 1:37 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Nel
This blog validates feelings that should not so much be missed as they should be remembered fondly and thought of on those occasions when pleasant memories become vital.
Posted by Nel on Monday, November 20, 2006 at 4:51 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Kristenopolis
Music molds our soul. You make it so apparant. I especially live by Dr Dre. xo
Posted by Kristenopolis on Tuesday, November 21, 2006 at 8:50 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
miss val
le sob.
Posted by miss val on Wednesday, November 22, 2006 at 3:33 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Her hands were small and fluttered up…
I see a woman with soft features, dark hair, and closed eyes facing a mirror with a smile of relief on her face. Something next to her bursts open and a wall of water explodes on her with a thunderous crash. Time stops briefly during the moment of impact…white curls of foamy water extrude from the long blue streaks of the water’s mass, and half-coat the woman who appears to be glowing with unusual pleasure, before the immage fades away.
I see a young man strolling alone down a long hallway towards a window, stopping there, and peering outside. All is artificial lighting and earth tones. I see the reflection of the hallway in the window, and the bend at the end of it, from which the fuzzy figure of a elderly looking woman in an apple-red buisness suit slowly walks around. The hazy reflection of the woman stops in the center of the hallway, and the young man’s eyes are suddenly seized with inexplainable terror. All falls down…
I see a middle aged couple sitting contently in a living room. The wife has her feet up on the coffee table and is wrapped in a dark blanket reading a book. Her husband is nearby, in a chair, watching the fire place with watery eyes. The light streaming through the windows is the blue light of a snowy winter’s afternoon, and the fire burning in the corner of the living room is awkward and ill placed. With the softest rounding effect, rendering the action just a moment longer than flicking off a light switch, the blue light coming through the windows melts to darkness, and the room follows suit, despite the fire which crackles but seems to offer no light. The barely visable sillouette of the man never moves, and the dark outline of the woman’s head never looks up from her book…
5:21 AM – 3 Comments – 4 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Microsuck
Microsoft recently released it’s answer to the iPod, the iZune (sound familiar?) A low rate, thrown together, immitation of the iPod with such additional features as more weight, anti-virus software, protection from the use of files that are not bought directly from microsoft itself, and an fm radio. The only songs that can be used by it are songs that are purchased from the microsoft website, which can only be purchased in five dollar blocks, as opposed to one at a time. Just in time for the holiday marketing season, I hope you do your part to stifle the growth of technological innovation.
The following is an exerpt from the Findings of Fact by the US district court.
412. Most harmful of all is the message that Microsoft’s actions have conveyed to every enterprise with the potential to innovate in the computer industry. Through its conduct toward Netscape, IBM, Compaq, Intel, and others, Microsoft has demonstrated that it will use its prodigious market power and immense profits to harm any firm that insists on pursuing initiatives that could intensify competition against one of Microsoft’s core products. Microsoft’s past success in hurting such companies and stifling innovation deters investment in technologies and businesses that exhibit the potential to threaten Microsoft. The ultimate result is that some innovations that would truly benefit consumers never occur for the sole reason that they do not coincide with Microsoft’s self-interest.
1:01 AM – 0 Comments – 0 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Monday, November 13, 2006
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain…
Caught the tail end of The Wizard of Oz, tonight. It was, perhaps, the first time I’ve seen the ending of that movie since I was very young. It’s more or less one of those stories that you just intrinsically know without ever having to watch…a Kansas girl getting whisked away to a strange place, where everybody breaks into song whenever they get a moment. A place where monkeys fly, midgets dance, and witches roam… essentially, a place of utter surreality.
Now, as of late I’ve had no creative impulses what-so-ever, as we’re all more or less under the pointy boot heel of the Wicked Witch of November. However, I was curious to note the subtle points of the movie as I watched, particularly concerning the great and omnipitant, of not benevolent, Wizard himself… and the nature of his promises and rewards for our merry band of misbegotton Oz misfits.
The overall point of the story being that all things sought are already within us, more or less; courage, compassion, contentment, and intelligence. When the travelers petition the Wizard (or God, allegorically speaking) he sends them into terrible trials to manfiest what they seek within themselves… for is it not the nature of the Father to throw us into terrible circumstances so that we may change, and find the things within ourselves that we didn’t know existed? Perhaps it’s the trials and tribulations that -create- those things in us… or, rather still, perhaps God just waves his magic wand and makes it so, as a reward for the suffering… who am I to tell?
I think most answers and desires lie inward, and that perhaps our consciousness and sense of reality prohibit us from looking in that direction. I also feel that the nature of terrible circumstances, as destroyers of reality and preconcieved ideas, permit one to access it…as it is usually accessed, in that nature, without conscious thought.
Art is another one of those tools and methods of destroying the real, and seeking out the core root of things. Did Jesus himself not take a moment to bend down and draw in the dirt while onlookers, waiting to stone Mary Magdalene to death, waited for his response to the matter? Retreating inward for a moment before recovering, and delivering, his brilliant and disarming response;
"Let he among you who is without sin cast the first stone."
3:17 AM – 3 Comments – 4 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Kristenopolis
Thank you. I hate it when God hits you in the head with how it really is. Thank you for being a tool (in a good way).
Posted by Kristenopolis on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 9:07 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
miss val
great insight gabe. i’ve watched the wizard of oz countless times, i mean it’s a classic, right. but i’ve always watched with complete ignorance, utter joy, and sheer naievity…never seeking deeper meaning in it’s contents even though i’ve always sensed it…but you nail it on the head with one blog.
Posted by miss val on Thursday, November 16, 2006 at 9:28 PM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
monique
If we decide not to seek the wonderful wizard, do we automatically become flying monkeys? No, honestly, I think so many things that happen in our lives will become clear when we’re at the end looking back.
Posted by monique on Sunday, November 19, 2006 at 10:32 AM
[Remove] [Reply to this]
Thursday, November 02, 2006
further attempts to define beauty
Beauty is anything that perfectly contradicts it’s overwhelming enviornment within a particular context.
A forgotten man-made obelisk amidst a sea of time and vegetation; a young fragile person among a group of older and harder persons; Jesus Christ in the den of thieves (or simply in the world, period); an act of bloody vengence by an otherwise peaceful person; a bright light and a moment of strenght in an hour of darkness and despair; an evil seed sewn into the fields of righteousness…
6:37 AM – 2 Comments – 4 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Monday, October 30, 2006
Awake, at last.
Crawled out of bed today for the first time in a week or so, body restored. Noticed it was a rather warm evening so I decided to take a walk, despite the fact that many of the bridges I tried to cross seemed to be in flames. I wondered if I did that, as I sought out the next bridge…perhaps sometime during my dillusional fever week. I don’t recall. Luckily, it hardly matters. Though I much prefur to let them just get erroded by time and left derelect, a large explosion full of flying splintered wood and masonry can be fun as well.
My stroll took me down to the water, smoking and whistling the theme to taxi driver. Something, besides the smell of fresh water and subtle fish, started filling up in me. Emptiness began to dissolve away…something I can only describe as God; the peace behind things. The shadows of motion itself, the subtle scent behind every scent.
My feet took me down the long cement path to the lighthouse; destination adolecent memory. I faced the sparkling lights of the city and began whistling taxi driver again. I plopped down in a familiar spot and found myself several years younger faceing the fuzzy memory light of a sunrise. I was wearing shorts and a white shirt, and was quite haggard from whatever I had been into the night before. I rolled a euro and shared it with a stranger, though after only a few tokes I awoke again to darkness, twinking lights, my wool coat, and the theme to taxi driver…
8:11 PM – 1 Comments – 0 Kudos – Add Comment – Edit – Remove
Monday, October 23, 2006
"Sometimes you wanna go…
…where everybody has no idea who you aarre!!"
CHEERS, to sweet social anonymity! It’s hard to sip on one’s morning coffee while walking home, when every time I bring the cup to my mouth I’m interrupted by a hello from a friendly face. One of the perks about the City I suppose…It would also be nice to be able to gape, shamelessly, at anybody I thought was interesting, without any concern of whether or not I might one day be forced into talking with that person. The city doesn’t help with that much, as random acts of gaping can lead to getting one’s ass kicked, so perhaps I just need to do a little tour de small-towns…I’ve acquired enough little small town locations that I want to visit, that are reasonably close, so all that’s left is for me to simply larry-the-cable-guy it…