This is again going to be a disjointed vent…sorry…
Like I’ve said previously, I don’t do therapists, so this is my reclining couch time.
I am happy to announce that I did end up going out and taking pictures during Labor Day Weekend like I said I was going to do in Art Journal 1! So I’ll share those below in between the rants and ravings of a person who is still trying to figure out why the subject of people eating cats was a thing at last Tuesday’s debate…moving on…
Oh—and this piece is a panel for Uncle Scam’s Part 2 that of course took me 5 months to finish…read Part 1 HERE.
I am also working on the Z600 Part 2 to my Part 1— I did do 10 months of research, which is why I have been dawdling. Terrorgram (the Neo-Nazi side of Telegram) and 4Chan/pol/ the “politically incorrect” side of 4Chan which is populated by white supremacists and incels, has done as much damage to my brain these last couple of months as listening to Constance Hall’s Ted talks. Ten out of ten would not recommend.
I have 5 different Google Docs on the Z600 (including one entirely devoted to Ms. Hall’s antics) of citations, false starts, and an 8000 word investigative research piece that sounds like it was written by a crazy person hopped up on too much caffeine at 3 in the morning that I definitely haven’t pitched to magazines or anything or had nervous breakdowns about…
So, anyway, Part 2 will be out this weekend (hopefully) and god knows how many parts there will be…but considering how insane it all is, this time around; my 8th time writing it first time sharing it, I’m going to at least try to make it fun to read? Hopefully? Crossing my fingers…mostly because it would be nice to move on. I got other insane things I want to write about-not just mass doxxed lists of Jews.
But I do think the Z600 has some appeal—because what’s more fun than Instagram influencers shilling for Hamas? Particularly if you’re a feminist writer whose parental unit may or may not be associated with Weathorford, the oil drilling company that also may or may not have some interesting back dealings with China Russia and North Korea…(teaser)
*The honor of having a dad in the gas and world domination business doesn’t go to Hall however, but to a certain person whose first name is a citrus fruit—I’ll wait.
(click HERE to re-read Part 1, because being a novice means I definitely did not edit anything multiple times after hitting the publish button only to re-write entire paragraphs later, no that doesn’t sound like me at all...)
Now for some housekeeping—with the sequential nature of some of my stuff I am going to start adding tags for things like comics, art, thematically related and serial essays, etc but I’m a Luddite so I will probably need a day to overcome the giant molehill in my mind that makes computers, technology, and the modern world so difficult for me (it’s why it literally took me 10 years to adopt editing art in Photoshop..no I’m not proud).
With that clumsy thematic transition, I’ll move on to the photos taken two Sundays ago and edited in Photoshop (a few—not all).
I’ll start with the ugly. I like the ugly. I guess that’s a weird thing to say, but I like ugly next to beautiful, the juxtaposition is always visually pleasant to me. Give me garish paint jobs next to delicate brick work any day and I will photograph it:
Or Cambodian Buddhist Temple doorways on pasted onto cement warehouse like facades:
Here is one that didn’t work well—the light was in my eyes and I’ll probably go back and try again, but I doubt the Heineken beer can will still be by his feet when I return, which is the entire reason I took the picture. But either way—I like the image/subject. it’s the heavily ornamental beauty of the temple contrasted with how disgusting South Philadelphia is—Heineken bottle warts and all.
I also am a sucker for strange window displays, which Philly has plenty of (obviously I need to be careful not to look too creepy taking these pictures). I get a kick out of these because of the unique ways people here decorate...is that the right word here? Sometimes it just looks too insane to be decoration and looks more like a person with a hoarding problem or someone who is too lazy to take down holiday decorations so they leave them up all year. Either way—these are my people. I love random crap in windows that doesn’t seem to have a purpose.
Another subject choice of mine is random nondescript corner buildings with decaying facades:
Feels good to be walking around taking pictures again. I went from as far south as Oregon Ave and even ventured in to Center City. I think I may start making a habit of this once more. And for now—I’ll leave it here, but I’ll do it again soon, maybe even this weekend. Summarizing Constance Hall’s Ted Talk on “bullying” will require some long walks…believe me.
