American Vernacular Landscapes

political analysis (subway edition)

2012-02-03T15:03:00.002-05:00

suck it, 3hree

2012-02-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

daddy needs a job

2012-02-01T10:20:00.001-05:00

2012-01-31T11:21:00.004-05:00

2012-01-30T09:37:00.000-05:00

dope lid, hamid!

2012-01-30T09:31:00.002-05:00

visually similar

2012-01-27T09:57:00.001-05:00

visually similar

2012-01-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

image search

2012-01-26T10:47:00.004-05:00

Redshirt alerts us to this awesome new Google feature. Under image search, drag an image right into the search box, and Google will show you where else that image can be found. (Along with things that look similar). Fun to see where your own images have been appropriated...

2012-01-25T12:31:00.000-05:00

2012-01-24T11:17:00.000-05:00

spammer fronts/actual faces

2012-01-24T10:04:00.000-05:00

portraiture (spam)

2012-01-23T11:05:00.003-05:00

Hello Dear,
How are you today?I hope that every thing is okay with you.My name is Roberta and it's my pleasure to contact you after viewing your profile which really interests me.I feel like having a communication with you.If you will have the desire to interact with me so that we can get to know each other better and see what happens in future.I will be very happy if you can write me back via my personal email for easier communication and to know more about each other.I sent you my picture,i will be waiting to hear from you also and i will be glad if you can send me your picture too.I wish you all the best for your day.I am your new friend.

2012-01-20T18:11:00.001-05:00

i found somebody who likes chartreuse

2012-01-17T13:00:00.000-05:00

2012-01-05T12:01:00.000-05:00

make a gif at gickr.com

we've learned to pull hair

2012-01-03T13:00:00.002-05:00

2011-12-30T15:45:00.000-05:00

view from the boss's

2011-12-27T16:58:00.001-05:00

with the relatives in jersey

2011-12-26T11:44:00.000-05:00

2011-12-25T11:28:00.001-05:00

second acts in american lives

2011-12-20T13:18:00.002-05:00

2011-12-16T13:04:00.001-05:00

2011-12-08T19:49:00.001-05:00

2011-12-07T13:13:00.001-05:00

2011-12-06T15:52:00.001-05:00

2011-12-02T15:47:00.001-05:00

2011-12-01T13:12:00.001-05:00

2011-11-29T14:55:00.001-05:00

weekend

2011-11-28T16:42:00.001-05:00

20 compliments

2011-11-22T11:24:00.001-05:00

the sea witch opens

2011-11-21T10:06:00.001-05:00

the model car equivalents of contemporary hollywood filmmaking

2011-11-18T10:18:00.001-05:00

the waitress thought we were hilarious

2011-11-17T10:51:00.001-05:00

Lars Tunbjork

2011-11-16T13:43:00.001-05:00

Last weekend for the Lars Tunbjork show at Amador Gallery.

What to Drink?

2011-11-15T09:42:00.001-05:00

sandy hook

2011-11-14T10:26:00.001-05:00

modern art is the antidote to the frivolity of our times

2011-11-11T10:56:00.001-05:00

The performance will begin with a 30-minute section during which performers guide pieces of hay between their lips. The movement then disperses, and an acupuncture treatment (conducted by acupuncturist Laura Barnard Stelmok) begins in the other room. Paulson, who will have long grey braids past her waist, will sit in a chair, as sculptor Gavin Kenyon (www.gavinkenyon.com) chops off her locks. Meanwhile, Faurot continuously brushes her own hair with antique tattered brushes. At the same time, she holds a video monitor displaying her yoga teacher, Ruth Lauer-Manenti, brushing Faurot’s hair in a grooming ritual outside. Further back in the space, performers mimic movements executed by Ruth Lauer-Manenti on video monitors in Faurot & Paulson’s signature copy/follow style.

Tomorrow night at English Kills Art Gallery in Brooklyn. Who's with me?

2011-11-10T11:31:00.001-05:00

2011-11-09T08:35:00.000-05:00

2011-11-08T08:47:00.001-05:00

waiting

2011-11-02T10:55:00.000-04:00

2011-11-01T09:57:00.001-04:00

2011-10-25T17:22:00.000-04:00

Hôtel Americano

2011-10-24T09:18:00.000-04:00

a visit to drew university

2011-10-22T17:50:00.000-04:00

the wave

2011-10-19T08:46:00.004-04:00

Redshirt recently ran a post referencing the Stanford Prison Experiment, which turned students into prisoners and guards, with the expected resulting shifts in psychology. (The rapidity and degree of change is stunning, however, as seen in the documentary.) I had never heard of this experiment, but it reminded me of "The Wave," a class experiment originally run in 1967 (interestingly enough also in Palo Alto, although at the high school level). There was one stand-out teacher in my seventh grade, Mr. Link, and he spent a few days (it may have been just a couple, but it seemed like it went for a while) running the experiment with us. He may have used the original slogan, "Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action, strength through pride." I remember it was very appealing. There was also a salute, cribbed from the Nazis. We were only 12 or 13 , but old enough to have some awareness that we were toying with fascism. It was amazing how quickly people built allegiances in getting caught up in the game. I remember being disappointed when the experiment abruptly ended -- I had been making some progress climbing the ranks.

douchey!!!

2011-10-18T18:58:00.001-04:00

i suppose christianity will always be somewhat enigmatic for me

2011-10-14T12:59:00.001-04:00

vivian maier, 103rd and Broadway

2011-10-13T09:20:00.003-04:00

vivian maier

2011-10-12T13:24:00.007-04:00

Speaking of found negatives, Ephemeral New York has a great post on Vivian Maier, whose street photography was discovered by someone who bought the contents of a storage locker at auction. There are two great vintage New York portfolios on the Maier website, including a couple of surviving East Village corners.

weekend

2011-10-11T10:04:00.002-04:00

eastern shore

2011-10-11T08:24:00.000-04:00

1939 world's fair

2011-10-05T10:37:00.004-04:00

1939 world's fair

2011-10-04T08:42:00.004-04:00

(From a cache of negatives discovered by 3hree.)

general electric, 1939 world's fair

2011-09-30T12:11:00.006-04:00

thanks for the viewing suggestion, YouTube

2011-09-28T12:06:00.001-04:00

2011-09-27T08:45:00.000-04:00

2011-09-26T09:53:00.000-04:00

Bear City Two, now filming for spring release.

welcome back, fall

2011-09-23T10:39:00.000-04:00

2011-09-22T09:12:00.001-04:00

2011-09-21T12:19:00.001-04:00

Actually, I'm pretty sure.

pretty sure this is legit

2011-09-20T15:18:00.000-04:00

2011-09-16T17:07:00.000-04:00

Thanks for the tip, Redshirt.

2011-09-15T09:03:00.002-04:00

"Truly, Google is like Dante's after-world: the celestial rose that re-claims and restores all things, placing them in their true positions; a many-tiered hierarchical world where nobody is lost and everyone is found, and where we have all already embarked upon eternal life, divested of our still-living bodies..." -- Elif Batuman, in this month's Harper's

2011-09-14T10:46:00.001-04:00

september 2001

2011-09-13T14:32:00.001-04:00

september, 2001

2011-09-12T09:48:00.000-04:00

2011-09-11T07:00:00.000-04:00

the towers

2011-09-09T12:10:00.002-04:00

fulton ferry, brooklyn

2011-09-09T12:07:00.001-04:00

wtc/williamsburg bridge

2011-09-09T11:41:00.001-04:00

lucas wessels

2011-09-08T11:01:00.004-04:00

Thanks, slide show, for randomly popping this image up on my screensaver, 200 years exactly to the day...

My flesh shall slumber in the ground
Till the last trumpets joyful sound
Then burst the chains with sweet surprise
And in my Savior's image rise.

project runway/game of thrones

2011-09-07T08:57:00.000-04:00

2011-09-05T11:24:00.002-04:00

wtf, ssa?

2011-09-02T13:21:00.003-04:00

the country by phone camera

2011-08-29T09:22:00.002-04:00

2011-08-12T12:21:00.001-04:00

non sequitur of the day

2011-08-11T17:45:00.001-04:00

summer

2011-08-10T11:33:00.001-04:00

weekend

2011-08-01T11:21:00.001-04:00

2011-07-28T10:18:00.001-04:00

Thanks for the science, Redshirt.

star trek/existentialist dread

2011-07-28T09:39:00.003-04:00

The quiet despair of Space Trek. (Like the Enterprise plus Unhappy Hipsters.)

niece photo essay

2011-07-27T09:50:00.001-04:00

palm beach gardens

2011-07-26T10:21:00.001-04:00

khal drogo/dave navarro

2011-07-21T09:13:00.000-04:00

2011-07-19T09:05:00.001-04:00

2011-07-18T11:57:00.001-04:00

duly noted, yahoo! messenger

2011-07-15T09:25:00.001-04:00

2011-07-14T10:11:00.001-04:00

nightlife denizens, keep up your efforts on behalf of human dignity!

2011-07-13T10:12:00.004-04:00

the poetry of yelp

2011-07-12T11:53:00.006-04:00

Re: The Latte Was a Little Too Milky One Day

these facts
when laid bare
before the sweep of human history –
tsunamis, misery, starvation, despair, war, the death of a loved one –

all those things
that are
sometimes
so far
from New York City,
and sometimes right there before you –

these things are so vast and can provide such extremes of hope and despair,
that perhaps when one finds oneself angered
about the sugar provisions
or the change of chair color at a café
that one
hasn't visited
in a year,
one can only either recognize the Great Truths of Life

and plunge forward selflessly with hope

or become consumed by despair –

or one can go and write a vicious Yelp review
on the World Wide Web,
alone with one's screen

without having
to face
the human beings
it addresses,

and consider the day

well-spent.

weekend

2011-07-11T16:24:00.000-04:00

henry wessel

2011-07-07T09:07:00.003-04:00

It's the last couple of days of the Henry Wessel show at Pace MacGill. The images are black and whites, taken between 1968 and 1987, with a sly sense of humor and a great static sense.

young people of today, i applaud your commitment to peace

2011-07-06T09:22:00.001-04:00

sullivan county weekend

2011-07-05T09:24:00.004-04:00

more chios

2011-07-01T10:11:00.002-04:00

more chios

2011-07-01T08:56:00.000-04:00

chios town, greece

2011-06-30T12:39:00.004-04:00

Half of Chios' population lives in the main town, which is harried and industrial, at least by Greek island standards.

The original walled town still stands. Over the years, Genoese, Venetians, Ottomans, and Byzantines took turns controlling the island, and their eras overlap in the architecture.

The ruins of a mosque still stand, near an Ottoman cemetery. You'd think these graves would have been desecrated, but the Greeks leave them alone. I like the fez and turban tops. Take note, Christians.

chios, greece

2011-06-30T10:54:00.010-04:00

Chios, one of the largest Greek islands, is sparsely populated. It has the feel of Iceland or Ireland: rugged, ancient, and somewhat emptied out.

In 1822 the Ottomans invaded and killed or exiled much of the population. We visited a couple of 1,000-year old monasteries.

One keeps the bones of some of the victims (3,000 local women and children had sought refuge there) in a side chapel.

The towns are medieval, heavily fortified, and further protected by absurdly narrow streets. The village we stayed in, Avgonima, has been lived in for a thousand years.

Pyrgi, in the south, is charming, with black and white patterns on its buildings (cribbed from Sicily). Columbus lived here when it was a Genoese outpost.

Almost everyone we met had a New York connection. It was funny pulling up to some medieval town in the middle of nowhere and being greeted by a Brooklyn accent.