... The following images are photoshop'd!!!1

WebUrbanist has published a list of "15 Artists to Watch" in the digital illustration world. Worth taking a look at...  some of these are pretty cool. I was especially impressed with Yuko Shimizu, Alberto Cerriteño, and David Newton.  It makes my limited skills in Photoshop and Illustrator look like child's play, that's for sure.

The website also pointed me to an article about photo-manipulator and photographer Erik Johansson.  I have a love/hate relationship with the idea of photographs being created almost entirely from Photoshop.  Sometimes I feel like its a necessary evil that's not going away any time soon; the most acclaimed fine art photographers use multiple photographs to make a final image. I don't know, though... other times it just feels like a cheap trick or cheating.  Although most of it is a bit too "CG" or "optical illusion" for my taste, there's a few gems in his portfolio. I'd love to see the original photographs, prior to manipulation

 

 

... Specifically, Maruchan chicken flavor.

This photo was taken last week on the Midtown Greenway Hiawatha Bridge.  I was just messing around with 30 second exposures, and all the sudden I get a really strong whiff of Ramen noodles. Considering no one is in sight and I doubt the scent is wafting its way up from a car below on Hiawatha, I find the sudden appearance of the smell pretty odd. A few moments later I hear a bicycle bell ring out in the cold air -- a friendly warning I'm not alone on the bridge -- as someone quietly cycles by. Moving out of the way, I find that with the bike disappearing into the west, so does essence of ramen. Although my cycling passerby wasn't mid-snack, I suppose he'd just gotten off his shift at the noodle factory, or something.  Mystery solved.

Anyway, here's a few tracks that I've been enjoying lately:

__ Gui Boratto - "Telecaster" (Kompakt)    beatport | youtube
__ Jamie Matrix - "Gold Rush" (Anjunadeep)    beatport | youtube
__ Freshlovers - "So French Hymn" (So French Records)    beatport | youtube
__ Tiesto vs. Three 6 Mafia - "Feel It" (with Sean Kingston & Flo Rida) (Columbia/Sony/Hypnotize Minds)   rapdshare | youtube
__ Delphic - "Submission" (Chimeric/Polydor)   rapidshare | youtube

... History repeats itself in 'An Education'

This past Wednesday night I met my mom at the Edina 4 theater to see An Education, followed by dinner at one of my favorite Twin Cities restaurants, Salut.  Both the movie and the dinner were, as predicted, very enjoyable and are thus highly recommended to my readers.  

Newcomer and Oscar nominee Carey Mulligan gives a strong and memorable performance in the lead as 16/17 year old "Jenny," a bright, overachieving prep-school student working her way towards Oxford in a London suburb. She's smarter than your average bear -- or in this case, her female classmates -- yet she's very sheltered by her controlling father and clueless mother, who breathe down her neck making sure she's studying her Latin (after all she's only getting a B) and not daydreaming about Paris listening to French records.

Yet being savvy and wise for her age still doesn't make her worldly, and it doesn't take much effort from the flirtatious Peter Sarsgaard as "David," whose charm and lifestyle quickly prove irresistible on a young lass roughly half his age.  Culturally stifled Jenny jumps at the chance to experience new adventures with an older, sophisticated crowd -- especially when they're paying. One would think this movie could be quite predictable; young student falls for older man and proceeds to get her heart broken, while learning something on the way.  And that’s exactly what happens, but if you couldn’t figure that out from the trailer, well you’re probably the type of person who be into this movie anyway. :)

It’s a quiet movie, artfully shot and more or less a period piece (set in 1961). But what stands out here is the acting: Sarsgaard, as the Rolling Stone review puts it, “is shockingly good at walking the line between charming opportunist and sexual predator.”  24-year old Mulligan is believable and especially endearing as Jenny. The audience knows bad news is coming her way the entirety of the movie, yet while what exactly that will be remains a mystery to the audience, at least we have the upper hand on Jenny; we're mature enough to know when something is too good to be true. The heartbreaking thing to watch is that her character is smart enough to know something isn’t 100% kosher with David; yet, in the end she proves too immature to foresee that his lies and charms aren't only fooling her parents.   

My favorite performance was actually from the supporting character “Helen”: presented falsely as chaperone “Aunt Helen” to Jenny’s parents, in reality she’s a ditzy blond who’s along for the ride (literally). Unable to follow conversation about art, music, and literature with David and his culturally impressive posse (Jenny at 16 doesn’t miss a beat), Helen is only here for the clothes and jewelry. Yet the great thing about her character is she doesn’t become a caricature of herself.  Instead of being comic relief through “dumb blond” remarks, it’s all in her facial expressions. Her eyes plead for a dance with a likeness of an impatient puppy waiting to be picked up. They tell you she’s on another planet at an orchestral concert. Disgust at the tour of Oxford. And so on.  Another highlight of the movie for me was the jaw-dropping disbelief at a suggestion David’s character makes about a banana. That’s all I’ll say about that.

... Markus Schulz played some trance.

This past Friday, February 5th, Markus Schulz returned to Minneapolis, celebrating his birthday week.  And what better way to celebrate your birthday than a packed crowd at Karma singing you Happy Birthday, cake backstage, lasers, and 2 hours of hands-in-the-air trance?  As much as I love the larger shows that Sound in Motion throws (say, at Epic), I love the smaller or medium-sized shows like this show; it gives me a bit of a break from running around the whole time, making sure I get the shots I want.  Once again struggling with overexposed photos from the excessive fog (typical at Karma), I took a few extended breaks, even putting the camera away and making my way right smack in the middle of the crowd, drink in one hand, other hand in the air.  Like many headliners this past year, Markus dropped Dustin Zahn's "Stranger to Stability" (Len Faki Remix); even though only a handful of people there probably recognized it as coming from a Minneapolis local, it still elicited quite the response on the dancefloor, per usual. Another track I took note of was Schulz's mashup of Rex Mundi's "Nothing at All" vs. Marco V's "Unprepared."

See all my photos from the night at simshows.com or on facebook.

... Cameras get frostbite, too.

One of my favorite things to shoot is absolutely anything at night. The lighting can be surreal and unlike anything you'll get during the day, and something commonplace can be transformed into otherworldly. Midnight Haircut, above, I took on 35mm with an exposure of 20-30 minutes.  I am also inexplicably drawn to the use of TVs and monitors -- especially old ones -- in sculpture and photography.  In my sketchbook there are a couple ideas revolving around old monitors or abandoned TV sets. There's a very mysterious quality to what's inside or what's behind the screen.  And when placed in an unusual setting, the monitor becomes a character or presence in and of itself.

This week, Conscientious pointed me to the work of Blake Gordon, who has visited both of these topics in his "Stories" -- Nightwalks and Reality TV. The shots in Reality TV are pretty much great, except for the in-your-face narration added between shots: "American children spend more time watching TV than any other activity except sleeping." Cue "The More You Know" jingle and shooting star. I think the images are strong enough to make a statement on their own; I'm especially drawn to the photos without the presence of "the observer," like the Lake Travis, TX one above. As for Nightwalks, I can't say for certain he doesn't use his own lighting crew a la Gregory Crewdson, but assuming he doesn't, this work further solidifies my admiration for what I like to call "found lighting." It's normally referred to as natural light, but that doesn't give the photographer any credit. ;)

While I'm on the topic of "found lighting" and night photography, I'd like to give a quick local artist shout-out to Teri Fullerton, who taught a class I took last year at MCAD in portraits and natural lighting. The above photo is from her "Falling in Love at the End of the Universe" collection; it was taken using only the headlights of her car. I wish Minneapolis wasn't so freezing at night in the winter, because now I'm really in the mood to take my camera out in the middle of the night.  The last time I did long exposure night photography, my camera kept freezing (literally) and the aperture would close before I wanted it to.  Can someone knit my camera a Snuggie?

... He's still glad the stupid deer head died.

Louis C.K. returns to episodic television with the premiere of a new show simply entitled Louis, premiering on FX Thursday, April 1st.  I caught a promo (Is it a teaser if it's for a TV show?) during tonight's episode of nip/tuck, it shows him and his two daughters trying to struggle out of a packed NY subway car. His series on HBO Lukcy Louie was short-lived, airing only 12 episodes in 2006. There's not much to be found on the internet as far as what his new show Louis is all about, but it sounds like it'll be formatted a bit like Seinfeld, with a plot revolving around his own life, peppered with bits of stand up in between. After watching about half of his comedy special Chewed Up a few weeks ago, I pretty much required to see the rest of it immediately. I was also hooked with FX's other new comedy series this year, The League, which aired late 2009, so I'm hoping for a winning combination for Louis. (If you haven't spent a couple hours watching The League yet, I recommend doing so now. There's only six episodes.)

... I don't pick Avatar to win.

There's big news this morning, and it doesn't have to do with a shadow in Pennsylvania.

The nominees for the 82nd Academy Awards were just made public.  One thing you might notice is instead of the typical five noms for Best Picture, this year Oscar opens his arms and welcomes ten films into the race. This gives several films a chance for that coveted statue that, had they been released a year earlier, would have surely been brushed over. Not to say the winner will be A Serious Man or even Pixar's animated Up, but with the Best Picture nomination comes a great deal of... well, I don't know what, but it's kind of a big deal.  Best Picture nominees are: Avatar, The Blind Side, District 9, An Education, The Hurt Locker, Inglorious Basterds, Precious, A Serious Man, Up, & Up In The Air. The Academy passes on Crazy Heart, A Single Man, Invictus, and a handful of other movies that many had predicted might be thrown into the pool of ten nominees; but, overall, the nominations don't come with too many surprises.

My picks? It's hard to say when I've yet to see An Education, The Blind Side, Precious, and Up. My favorite movie from 2009 was District 9, but I wouldn't have guessed it would make it into Oscar territory. A Serious Man was another top pick for me, but, again, I don't see another statue in the Coens' future. I suppose I'll vote for The Hurt Locker or maybe Inglorious Basterds for Best Picture. If Avatar wins, I might just boycott next year.

On kind of a silly note, check out the Razzie nominations, which honor this year's (and this decade's) worst performances on the silver screen. Sandra Bullock could possibly take home an Oscar for The Blind Side and a Razzie for All About Steve.

... A coked out female has been misplaced.

 

Attention Minneapolis. Tickets for Sia's show at the Fine Line Saturday, April 24th go on sale this Friday, presales on Wednesday via a secret password to be divulged soon on her twitter. I can't promise there will be a Medusa inspired pipe-cleaner hairpiece, but I'll certainly cross my fingers. Her song "Breathe Me" is one of the few songs that can bring tears to my eyes within a few bars (if the mood strikes). To be fair, that might be due to flashbacks to the ending sequence of the series finale to Six Feet Under, but it's still a great cut. 

In addition to blowing you away on originals like "Breathe Me," or providing vocals for your favorite Zero 7 tracks ("Destiny" being one of the more recognizable), she also releases haunting covers, like Radiohead's "Paranoid Android." Dance music enthusiasts will remember her voice from notable trance songs like "The Girl You Lost to Cocaine," a feature track from Sander Van Doorn's album Supernaturalistic. The poppy "Buttons" got a lovely trance facelift from Markus Schulz a while back, I was quite fond of the "Return to Coldharbor Remix." Plus, it looks like her website was made exclusively in MS Paint, so she scores some brownie points with me there, as I began my design career with countless hours on Paint. 

Her cover of The Church's "Under the Milky Way" is featured in the newest TV ad from Lincoln, which means you and I get a free download here: http://www.lincoln.com/music/

If you don't live in Minneapolis, you're in luck -- she's all over the place this spring. 

... It's really more like 8 servings.

Mom's Tex-Mex Chili Recipe
Makes 10-12 Servings (supposedly)

Chop 2 medium yellow onions and mince 2 cloves garlic. Sauté onions and garlic in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large soup pot.  Add 2 pounds of lean ground beef and cook until brown. Spoon off or carefully drain any excess oil or fat. Add the following to the pot:

- Two 16 oz. undrained canned tomatoes (I recommend one 28 oz. can of Muir Glen fire roasted tomatoes, pictured above)
- 1 cup water
- 1 tbsp. chili powder
- 1 tbsp. sugar
- 2 tbsp. masa harina (corn flour, pictured below)
- 2 tsp. ground cumin
- 2 tsp. salt
- 1/2 to 1 tsp. ground red pepper
- 1/4 tsp. ground pepper

Stir everything together and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce to a simmer and let it hang out for 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Add more water if it looks like it's getting too think for your preference of chili viscosity. Towards the very end, maybe 20 minutes before you're done, add one 16 oz. can of kidney beans (or black beans if you prefer), and a couple chopped jalapeño peppers (or more if you like it spicy).

It made about 8 servings of about one cup each for me, but I like my chili pretty thick (I probably reduced it too much). Some recipes out there call for as many as 3 cups of water, so work it out accordingly.  This stuff freezes really well, especially if you portion it off from the get-go in handy single-serving bowls. Works on its own with your favorite chili toppings (sour cream, sharp cheddar, crackers, what have you), or works well on top of a baked potato, for example. Nothing too fancy here, but it's dang tasty.

... It's not just a phlog.

It's February 1st, 2010. Considering how fast January went by, it'll be March before I can say "not a leap year." I thought today would be as good a day as any to begin my new blog. Assuming I don't abandon this project like I have others in the past, I'll eventually link it to my domain and make this all official and shit. I've debated a name, theme, or topic for my blog for quite some time... I'll probably talk about music, movies, event reviews, and some other random stuff.  None of those in combination seemed to really create some epic idea (or even name) for a blog, so I came up with "Spoiler Alert." I'm not going to explain this every time I post, so hopefully whoever ends up reading this is smart enough to stay with me. The blog post titles are going to be spoiler alerts of what you're about to read. If you know me for real you know I don't like spoilers and love surprises, so don't write this blog off just yet; I won't be divulging the identity of Keyser Söze every time. So, I can't commit to just a music blog because I'll probably muck it up with too many photos; yet, this won't just be a photo blog because I'll talk about music or events or concerts too much, and sadly I don't think a blog can stand on my writing skills alone. Plus, I just can't take the word "phlog" seriously.