Of the probable dozen trips to the Field Museum perhaps two have been on weekdays, which means that usually these bones are swarmed with touchy grabby humanoids.
Catching up with the treasure trove of shots I’ve taken in the last couple of weeks, impact imminent.
Have a bunch of shots and potential write-up for the Wired NextFest going on in Chicago’s Millennium Park.
Definitely worth a visit if you’re in the area, weird vibe though. All the event staff are just that, staff there to pitch a shpeal off a cue card. I don’t expect the developers to hang around and do a little dance for me but this thing is clearly a spectacle for the average joe. Or nerd that wants to oggle things that have been linked up over the past year.
Rest of the shots will be up once I get the bandwidth.
Electric Chair by Stephane Halleux
The show was brought to my attention a short while ago over at Coilhouse and its run time just happen to overlap that of SDCC and my visit to SoCal. As my generous hosts are of the gallery venturing persuasion it was added to the itinerary before I even touched down.
I’m hardly an art buff (or one that can afford to purchase such objects) but had heard of several of the artists participating in the exhibit, mainly Stephane Halleux and the self-taught pinhole photographer Wayne Martin Belger.
While the spindly-limbed creations of Mr. Halleux were a delight to behold it was the sheer potency of the Deer and Untouchable installations that I found the most captivating. The Untouchable camera, which Belger constructed, pumps HIV positive blood as a red filter and the shots have been painted with a prickly pear tea. Mr. Belger has eleven cameras, all differently themed (underwater to one containing a chunk of the World Trade Center) and each presents a severely intentional collected process as well as finished product.
Deer by Wayne Martin Belger
The rest of the set is here (and a better one here via Coilhouse). If you have the means or dwell in the area I highly recommend swinging by. The director on hand, Amy, was extremely knowledgeable, quick to impart each piece’s background and eager to spin those creations whose kinetic nature I dared not unveil.
Device Gallery
King Lear by J. Seward Johnson over on Michigan Ave (wasn’t present at time of google drive by).
Such a prominent piece smack in the middle of downtown on the Mag Mile = shot to death. Not to mention the work itself is 26 years old. Still might have return to this thing. It replaced cyber-moose over at Pioneer Court and reminds me of nothing but the anthropomorphic buildings that plagued the Tick’s nightmares of mediocrity, what with their girder mouths and towering, malevolent smarm. It’s… admittedly a loose association at best. I’d link a shot of said buildings but oddly enough can’t. Gah.
Cool sculpture, troubled columns form a woeful golem betwixt modern skyscrapers. This recent passing brought to mind Kratos scaling its pitted back and stabbing twin swords to the hilt.
Freakin’ Lear. I think that’s the play I was reading an excerpt from, in high school, when one of my many arch nemeses (yes many) distracted the teacher long enough to smack the book from my hands in front of the whole class. Subsequent Shakespeare related reenactments turned in to thinly veiled attempts on my life at the hands of said nemesis. It’s currently on VHS… somewhere and is in dire need of some YouTubery.
Few shots from the Chicago Pride Parade, rest of the set is here.
On the Parade:
This is the first one of these I’ve attended and will definitely be marking my calendar for next year’s if in the area. Much like yesterday’s comic-con this event was one of total unabashed inclusiveness, attendees need meet no prerequisite other than an open mind. Of course the parade had a lot more skin, chiseled abs, and gyrating kaleidoscopic techno-fueled enthusiasm. Total party.
Unfortunately the combination of a marshal’s alleged float-induced injury and a brief spat of rain dampened the goings on for about an hour, but for those that remained the distant thumping bass and ensuing cacophony of ululating voices quickly snapped the party vibe back where it belonged.
On the Shots:
Here’s where, as always, I’m not thrilled with the output of my squinted shutter releases. Location was the key that I couldn’t get a fix on for the duration, having neither direct access to the route itself or a primo unobstructed vantage point. Excuses excuses, I know.
For the first 45 minutes or so we had mega sunshine and I had a few captures with my new polarized filter (using the 3.5 18-200) that hinted at a promise of something nice if only I could frame a shot. Then post rain the sky went gray and I had to contrast the bejesus out of everything just to show some color. I also could find no way around not violating the “gray sky in the frame” rule. This is mostly a historical note to myself to figure out better methods for the future. THE FUTURE.
On your Mom:
….sorry
Ah, Wizard World. The mere mention simultaneously excites and confuses, entertains and puzzles. Yes, any event with more than one person is bound to elicit conflicting emotions. Yes, I’d be curious to see if one could lasso a celestial planetary mass with strung-together XXL black t-shirts. Yes, I fucking love the con.
Good costumes, bad – even horrid. Pressing masses, faces aglow with flickering fan films, and the shuffling walls of black silk-screened cotton are the lifeblood of this beast. Inhibitions are checked at the door and one is just likely to see a female wearing nothing but electrical tape and that one overweight guy, that I swear is at every con, dressed as Sailor Moon. Truth be told there is more skin that averts the eyes than attracts but the convention remains family friendly, it being far from uncommon to see costumed adults pushing their forcibly themed spawn. Cracks me up.
Wizard World pales in comparison with a proper comic-con, namely the one in San Diego, but this year was considerably better than last. Most of the big names hold out for San Diego and the one in Rosemont is about 90 percent vendors. Managed to meet the guys from Cyanide and Happiness (class acts the lot) and Max Brooks (Zombie Historian) was signing over at the Avatar Press booth promoting his forthcoming graphic novel. This year’s Artist Alley also impressed much more than years’ past but it always bugs me how much of artwork featured is re-drawn Marvel figures.
I took a few shots last year but actually got down to business today. Those dressed to thrill are, when approached polity, usually willing to whipcrack a pose in exchange for a Thank You, a point of protocol I took advantage of while enjoying the slalom of aisles. This has replaced my previous acquisition obsession of figures, at which I’m equally relieved and saddened.
From a technical standpoint today marked the first use of my SLR in a con environment with any degree of success. Last year I was firing from the hip with my 3.5 18-200 and it was way, way too dark for me to shoot sans flash. Strapped on the 1.8 55 and, using the point-and-shoot as a side arm, was able to capture a handful of shots I was reasonably pleased with, though shooting at 1.8-2.8 at ISO 800 is noisy and focal length awkward. Will have to look in to some noise-reduction ‘ware prior to San Diego. Also, flash with diffuser.
Not a ton of toy stuff this year, and the Rosemont con doesn’t have anywhere near the video game and movie promotion of San Diego’s.
The gentlemen of Cyanide and Happiness go the extra mile. Buy their stuff eh!?
Taken at Federal Plaza around 2pm local time. Decent photo set over at the Tribune website of today’s immigration March in Chicago.
Caught Tom Morello’s rendition of “This Land is Your Land” and kind of enjoyed the near-party atmosphere despite the solid presence of, as far as I know, the unneeded cops and paramedics that were on stand by.
Pedal driven ambiance, flavored with a pinch Politic, provided by WorkingBikes.org over at the Daley Plaza for the Earth Day goings on. They seemed like nice lads and I can respect the cut of their gib.
Just pre-registered, having seen the above about 20 minutes ago during my library romp. Pretty surprised that it wasn’t already full up considering how popular he is and the fact that the Author Room seats 60.
Should be a total nerdfest.
Awesome.
Given my current work load (ha) I’ve the profound ability to peruse many a site while shackled to my corporate sponsored drudgery. As such my morning browsing reliably brings me to a few dozen sites and in it’s not uncommon for degrees of familiarity or even outright relationships to exist between two seemingly unrelated topics.
The second organizational unit in the ever-reaching branches that compose my RSS Tree (the first being _Acquaintances) is a myriad of artists I follow such as Ashley Wood, Rob Sheridan, Thomas Babbey, Eliza Gauger, Christopher McCulloch, and others. It was via Jhonen Vasquez that I first found out about the closing of Nova Express, then later over at Coilhouse.
While I detest LA, and this is a topic that seems to come up every few days in conversation, it’s a shame that yet another odd, properly unique snowflake is consumed in the flames of consumerism. I really can’t phrase it better than those previously linked did, and I think it likely that most have a similar place they can relate to in the same manner.
The next step in this vapid flow chart brought me to the flickr set of user Crashwork which accordingly led to pictures of relics from the Residenz in Munich. Being an iconic point for any tourist in the area I was unsurprised that many of the shots I took mirrored those of this particular user which were taken two years prior.
The above (Antiquarium) adorns postcards and is perhaps the most common amongst shots taken at the Residenz.
[ all shots in the left column are via Crashwork ]
The world feels just a little smaller.