Category: General

Categories
General Photography

Updated?

Just a quick update, as I plan to write a richer entry soon, but for those who haven’t seen: Subism.com has received a much needed facelift. (Reload to check it out some more.)

Also I finally dove into my Paris photos on Tuesday night, bits and pieces are starting to show up on Flickr but I won’t post an entry about it until the set is complete which will likely be a few days, but now that Aperture 3 has finally been released I’ll likely be posting a LOT more photos soon.

Hope all is well, this year alright is amazing. I’m excited to step up my blogging game a bit.

Also something that’s been a long time coming, I’m finally getting a handle on my Google Reader account. I unsubscribed from a lot and I’m now more focused around reading people I care about and shared items from people I respect. You can find my shared feed here. (I promise it won’t all just be Signal vs Noise.) Let me know if you’re on there I’m always looking for new shared items to read!

Also, can someone please explain to me why I should care about Google Buzz?

Categories
General Photography Theatre Travels

Leveling Up and Leveling Out

Nintendo Cartridges.

2009 has been a heck of a year. While it’s really been a year of serious ups and downs for me, it’s also been a year of growth and learning. I’ve made some mistakes, but I’ve also made some awesome friends and I’ve grown as a person in ways I never would have imagined. This year I took some life changing trips to Berlin, Paris and St. Louis that taught me how to explore and be more independent. When I moved to Chicago three years ago it was precisely for this reason. I wanted to force myself to break out of my shell and stand completely on my own. It took me almost three years but I think I finally really accomplished that goal.

Last weekend I finished my Level 1 improv class at iO Chicago (formerly Improv Olympic) and I have to say it was one of the most liberating feelings I’ve experienced in a while. In the short amount of time it took to take the class I discovered sides of myself that I had never even imagined. Improv has forced me to change the way I think and has become something I look forward to every week. On top of that, I met some great people in class I’m happy to call friends. It’s no surprise that I’ve signed up for level 2 and I’m excited already. Improv has been an outlet for me during the most stressful time of year.

Now a few random notes:

My blog with ChicagoNow has been pushed back to Q1 of 2010. More info as I get it.

Long Pork has received it’s dates and times for San Francisco Sketchfest with two shows!

The first: January 29, 8pm at the Eureaka Theater and we’ll be opening for Theme Park Improv featuring Rachel Dratch, Edie McClurg, Danny Pudi, Jessica Makinson, Janet Varney and Cole Stratton.

Second: Jan 30th, 10:30pm at The Dark Room Theater with Marvin Berry and We Are Nudes.

Needless to say, we’re pretty excited.

That’s really all for now, but things are looking good. 2010 has a lot of good things coming, more traveling, SXSWi again and the restarting of TheChicagoGuys.com and more. The future may be unwritten, but the rough draft sounds pretty good.

Categories
General Photography Theatre

Thankful

Friends laughing.

Today is the American holiday of Thanksgiving and rather than be a cynic I’m going to appreciate it this year. I have a lot to be thankful for right now.

I recently had a major job opportunity with an advertising agency come my way that would have brought with it a complete change of my lifestyle.

It was a very eye opening experience that made me assess the things in my life and what was important to me. Ultimately I turned the offer down, and while it was a really hard decision I don’t regret it at all. I would have had to give up a lot of things I do outside of my job with Apple that are my true passions, things I one day hope to be able to sustain myself alone on.

I am now in my third year of living in Chicago and I’m fortunate to have a really great group of friends a really great job and a ton of opportunities.

Long Pork is doing really well, we recently got accepted to Chicago Sketchfest and San Francisco Sketchfest and we are ramping up for a run of our new show in the very near future.

I recently signed a contract with Tribune to run the first photo blog on ChicagoNow.com an opportunity that I am very flattered and excited by. More on this soon…

I’m planning to start teaching photography classes at Pumping Station One likely in January.

There is also the little things: I’m taking improv classes at iO Chicago and am loving every second and it’s really causing a shift in my thinking. Just this week I (re)launched MailServerSettings.com a very simple, small website that IT professionals and Mac Geniuses have told me they love. Not much to it but it’s a handy little tool. Lastly, I’ll be celebrating five years with Apple officially in January a milestone I’m really proud of.

More than anything I’m thankful for the amazing people I’ve met here in Chicago and continue to meet. I often say that the most important thing to me is my friends and I mean that. I’m very fortunate to be blessed by a lot of amazing people in my life. People who believe in me, people who challenge me, people who remind me to be my best, and people who I can just have a good time with. That is really what I’m thankful for more than anything.

Categories
General Photography Travels

Berlin Day 5

Aki and friend.

Internet is down at 78 again. Although we can pick up an unsecured wireless in the big kitchen on the 2nd floor. Not sure when i’ll be able to post this.

Last night was interesting, we went to Fischladen and found the street to be swarming with Politzei. There were full riot vans filled with cops waiting for a reason to jump out. No one was quite sure as to why this was going on but as you can imagine it made things a bit tense. The cops came to the door of the bar on more than one occaision and then backed away. It’s like they were anticipating something that the community didn’t know was going to happen. Either way it ended peacefull with the cops eventually leaving as mysteriously as they had arrived.

Many members of the collective are hard at work here in the house. On Mouse’s floor alone they are installing a large kitchen and a bathroom. They both look to be the nicest in the house, I’m sad I won’t be here to see them. Downstairs they are building a bar into the front of the building. Mouse took us through it the other night, it looks to have a lot of potential as well. I’m not quite sure how or if this will compete with Fischladen which is just down the street. Mouse insists their community is large enough to sustain both.

Despite what I may have said in yesterday’s post regarding technology, this movement is strong and far from in danger of dying out anytime soon. They have built a place for themselves both figuratively and literally through hard work and dedication. There is definitely something there to be respected and admired.

Mouse is tending bar at Fischladen, we spent the afternoon lounging around there. He has mixed up Chocolate Martini’s for people with Hershey’s syrup that Aki brought back from the states for him. Apparently you can’t find that here at all.

Going to a cookout tonight at another house. Should be interesting. Tomorrow is my last day in Berlin and it looks like I have have picked up a last minute photo job as well. More details on that if it happens. That’s all for now.

oh yeah… pictures.

Categories
General Photography Technology Travels

Berlin Day 4 – Technological Anarchism

Mouse, Vanesza and Aki.

Berlin is an interesting place. We spent all of last night at Fischladen where I left off last night. When we left it was morning. While Aki worked furiously on her work for Johnson Creek; Vanessa, Mouse and I discussed the merits of Wi-Fi, Twitter and technology in general in political movements, in particular the leftist “Anarchist” movement here in Berlin.

The German leftist movement has a fear and misunderstanding of technology. Wi-Fi in many places is not allowed and approached angrily. While 78 is legally owned and inhabited many individuals here are very much afraid of being identified for their political actions. Their fears, of course, are justified, many could and would be arrested if identified. However the group fails to mobilize and grow beyond it’s existing circles from what I can tell, most don’t even have cell phones either because they can’t afford them, or they believe them to be the tools of the establishment. Their numbers, while supported internationally are not as strong as they were right after the wall fell, and they likely won’t be again unless this group embraces technology. Aki and I cited examples of Mumbai and Iran to explain the values of it but the consensus is that it will fall on deaf ears.

Now please, do not interpret this as an endorsement of the actions of this movement or their beliefs, nor do I mean disrespect to their beliefs either. I am merely a guest here and these people are putting me up and treating me as one of their own. I believe that nearly any political movement has merits and from what I can tell, these are good people who want to life their lives free of political oppression and generally mind their own business, I cannot speak for all of their beliefs, only that I can say they feel very justified in them and truly believe themselves to be doing good to help society, as they see it. It’s sad to me to see their message and beliefs get lost or downed out because they refuse to adapt to modern technology.

An interesting side note, you’ll see that most of my photos from this trip do not contain people… weird seeing as I tend to focus on portraits quite often. This is because the men and women of “78” refuse to be photographed and the ones who don’t know me react angrily to me walking about with my camera at all. While I respect and understand this concern it saddens me as many of them are amazing, beautiful, interesting people who should have their voices heard and choose to hide their face so that they can fight another day, a concern that I’m not entirely sure how realistic it is.

New photos are up, check them out…

Until tomorrow.