Browsing the channels and coming across the Democratic National Convention was the biggest waste of the last 30 minutes of my life. I’m still astounded by the unnatural, insaneness that occurs when Hillary entered the stage. I understand that she’s still trying to unify the party, but seriously, it’s crossed over into just theatrics. It’s also events like this that really brings up my root problem with politics - it’s overblown during elections and the rest of the time we’re completely in the dark about what’s going on in our country and the rest of the world.
We get to judge candidates based on a very limited knowledge of who they are as people and instead have to decode pre-written responses and past choices. Realistically it’s like Carlin said, “they don’t give a shit about you, they don’t give a shit about you.” Politicians play the game and it’s difficult to really connect on any level considering their position.
So no voting, that’s my short reply. I’m disappointed at the system and I don’t believe that anyone working within it really can do what’s right. I find it entirely ironic that of all the “democratic” nations, ours - which seeks out to install “freedom” in other countries - cannot even institute a voting system that says whoever gets the most votes, wins. No - we’re still too stupid to make our own decisions and therefore big business and banks will continue making them for us and thinning the middle class out until we’re back to the haves and the have nots and no one in between.
Alright, I’ll turn off the tube, as usual it’s rotting my imagination and depressing me.
Lara Logan, Chief Foreign Correspondent for CBS News, was on the Daily Show with John Stewart last night, not to promote a book or movie but to bring the issue of the war in Iraq and Afghanistan back into the focus. It was very interesting to hear her take on being a journalist and her “responsibility” to bring what’s going over there to the world and specifically the American people. They chatted about the numbness that has formed and how news organizations know that Americans are sick of hearing about the war and have begun tailoring their news cast to appease those sentiments. I think one of the most moving things Lara brought up was that she’s seen dead American soliders, but the majority of Americans at home haven’t, because we’re being sheltered and because gruesome images like that may actually resonate loud enough for people to really be infuriated and get passionate about speaking out against our government’s actions.
Do we all just look to electing a new president that’s going to come in and sweep the floors for us? Does it matters that years of apparent silence and ignorance to the rest of the world and our troops appears as consent? I think so. Lately I’ve gotten the feeling that everyone one I meet is more or less against the war, and I acknowledge that it has a lot to do with my circle of friends, family and where I live, but we don’t talk about it - as if it were old news, something that’s been hashed over so many times and that we feel helpless about since nothing changes. I logged on to myspace this morning and found this posted by a friend and it’s just so sad that we don’t have inspiration like his to look to anymore.
As a follow up to our previous post, 1/6 World; Going Down in History: This American Life, we revisited Mark, his characters and the world he created to share his work with others. Some of the images are Mark’s photographs, some are just frames from the video. Note that some of the imagery is violent.
UPDATE: Since we discovered that the name used in the show was altered, we found that Mark does share his photography with other 1/6th scale action figure enthusiasts. You can find his work, photos and descriptions of the work, on this site, The Ultimate Soldier. You’ll have to search through the photos for hogie309 to find his work, but there’s also plenty of other cool photographs from other artists as well to check out. Also a quick google search provided links to galleries and events that he has participated in. - Nicole
Click on a thumb to view detail — there are more images after the jump.
We are fans of This American Life. Last night we watched a new episode with the theme “going down in history.” Each episode has a few different stories all with the same theme. This episode showcased high school year book photographs, two inmates who tried to escape from prison using a dental floss rope, and a man who recreated WWII fantasy scenarios at 1/6 scale. This is a man who I cannot find any publication about; who creates stunning scale models. This man is an artist. His name is apparently Mark Hogancamp.
This man was severely beaten by a group of men outside a bar which left him with brain damage. His photographs were then taken as revenge plots against the men who had beaten him. Using 1/6 scale WWII model action figures he would live out his fantasies. He would use bright red nail polish for blood. He would fantasize with action figures in his own little 1/6 scale town that he built in his backyard. There were bars, houses, stores and roads; all with lights and perfectly to scale. His photographs are amazing. He would re-create fantasy love interests in a model home using an action figure that surprising looked just like him. He explained how the women with green hair from the future would visit him and would snap soldiers necks for him; showing how much she loved him. The photographs were amazing. The construction and detail is impeccable. This man is alone living through these fake action figures. He talks to no one and lives in a small mobile home spending all of his time in the 1/6 world that he created.
I wish I could find information about this man. I wish I could see more of his photographs taken with a small cheap consumer camera. I wish I could hear him talk about his photographs.
All I was able to find were these two sentences. “The second profiles a man who, after a brain injury resulting from a vicious beating, turns to World War II re-creations using scale models, incorporating revenge fantasies that he discusses freely. It’s a sad story, and as powerful as almost anything I’ve heard in years of listening to - and now watching, with growing admiration” - “This American Life.”
UPDATE: We collected images and put them in a new post, Mark Hogancamp Photos. Thanks Jim for the corrected name and we appreciate the info you’ve provided, especially since it seems the This American Life really edited his story to appear much different. I think it’s great that he shares his photography somewhere and I look forward to finding more out about the 1/6th action figure community. - Nicole
Congrats California - one small step to equality for all… now we just need the rest of the states to follow suit and stop discriminating against same sex marriages. I know my girl Mary is overjoyed; you can help support her in the Maryland area by visiting Maryland Equality and getting involved.
Jerry Falwell died last year, and for most people it was a good thing. His sermons were subversive and often spoke out against homosexuals, feminists, pagans, and anyone else that didn’t fit in with his religious views as the factors for a deteriorating American society. You know that people like him exist, but why is it that the most ignorant and hateful people get the most attention and those sharing peace and love are so easily written off?
Recently Falwell’s sons, Johnathan and Jerry Jr., have been in the news since they have continued the tradition of being ministers and preaching to their congregations. Although they have extreme pressure to live up to their dad’s legacy, we can only hope that they fail miserably in continuing a tradition of spreading hate and ignorance.
The news buzz reminded me of this great songwriter, Frank Hoier, and his performance of “The Death of Jerry Falwell.” Watch the video and then check out Frank’s myspace page through the link above.
I know I shouldn’t be so glad that someone’s dead
I know that man was as dangerous as a half a loaf of wonder bread
But when you use your time on our beautiful earth
To preach of what a person’s worth
By who they love or how they pray
Then I will view your final day
As a victory in the battle for truth, and
I’ll sing hallelujah Jerry Falwell’s on that black train
and rides in the caboose Frank Hoier
“Polar Bears in Space, uses the metaphor of the polar bear to talk about the larger issues behind global warming. We often fail to fully understand and gain knowledge about and push to the back of our minds many issues that affect us socially and on the global level.” Julianne Gadoury’s Artist’s Statement
A few weeks back one of my friends who graduated with me from the Marist Art program wrote a disturbing email blast about how her work at SUNY Stony Brook was being censored by the administration. Julianne Gadoury is studying for her MFA and had created a series of works using the polar bear as a metaphor for global warming. One part of her installation was a wire sculpture that was to be suspended above the pool in Charles B. Wang Center on campus. After receiving the go-ahead from building supervisors and maintenance staff everything was looking good. On the opening day of UNBOUND, the President Shirley Strum Kenny ordered the sculpture to be removed citing that it didn’t fit her aesthetic view of the building and therefore censored the artwork.
I came across this digital fact book today and it’s quite handy. Most of the stuff you should know if you are in the field, but it’s great reference for those times you need to explain something or settle a dispute over a technical term. It’s a free pdf file which you can download from Quantel’s website.
Just last weekend I was chatting with friends about freelancing and talking about the pros and cons of working for yourself. At the time I had just come off a two week period where business was slow and I was starting to get bored (although that’s when I found the time to launch this site). Now it seems that business is picking up rather quickly and soon I’m going to find myself in a position where there’s not enough time! Ahh, the woes of freelancing…. but I can’t really complain - things are going well and hopefully in the near future I’ll have some new designs and sites to share.
I’ve also started putting more energy into collecting inspirational work by other artists. Our friend Jeff over at Go Media posted a design for Designs By Humans T-Shirts and through searching the site I found a few illustrators that I think do really awesome work. Check out their sites:
I read this little article in the most recent fast company issue. It’s pretty interesting and I think if a lot of the big companies take this route it probably is one the easiest solutions to helping our environment. I like the idea of working less… don’t you? It’s funny to me how many people/companies claim to be “green” but yet won’t hesitate to print out hundreds emails, letterheads, brochures, etc. Or they stay in their office for 24hrs a day running lights, heat, faxes, computers, etc.. On another note: I’m glad I barely drive and have a train less than a block away- I’m not sure what gas is like near you, but it’s over $3.70 for us.
This was my first tutorial done for Computer Arts Magazine. I did it a while back for their January issue, but thought it would be fun to post it here anyway. Here’s the link to the actual tutorial.
This is my second tutorial for Computer Arts Magazine that I did a few months back. I go over some basic techniques for getting movie files to play on cell phones and other mobile devices. Here’s the link to the actual tutorial.
![](http://www.haleyandnicole.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/tomwaits.jpg "Tom Waits \\"Glitter and Doom Tour\\"")
