Plane of Focus
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Now and then somebody signaled a right turn and cautiously left the line to feel their way toward an exit ramp. The bigger exit signs overhead were completely invisible [in the fog], but sometimes it was possible to see one of the smaller ones down at road level, right where the exit lane began to peel away. So it always had to be one of those last-possible-minute decisions.
Doc figured if he missed the Gordita Beach exit he’d take the first one whose sign he could read and work his way back on surface streets. He knew that at Rosecrans the freeway began to dogleg east, and at some point, Hawthorne Boulevard or Artesia, he’d lose the fog, unless it was spreading tonight, and settled in regionwide. Maybe then it would stay this way for days, maybe he’d just have to keep driving, down past Long Beach, down through Orange County, and San Diego, and across a border where nobody could tell anymore in the fog who was Mexican, who was Anglo, who was anybody. Then again, he might run out of gas before that happened, and have to leave the caravan, and pull over on the shoulder, and wait. For whatever would happen. For a forgotten joint to materialize in his pocket. For the CHP to come by and choose not to hassle him. For a restless blonde in a Stingray to stop and offer him a ride. For the fog to burn away, and for something else this time, somehow, to be there instead.
Inherent Vice by Thomas Pynchon -
Instead of a video this week…
…here’s a link to this live kitten cam I’ve been watching for about two weeks now.
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Walker Pickering’s “Nearly West” Explores Where South Meets West in Texas
Kudzu from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2010Walker Pickering’s Nearly West hovers somewhere amongst Robert Frank, Walker Evans, and Stephen Shore. He seems to be channeling several eras of Shore all at once: the tight, sharp interiors feel like they could be in American Surfaces and the carefully composed exteriors could be right out of Uncommon Places.
Bulb from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2011
Pickering uses Frank’s repeated symbols, with vintage cars and worn out store fronts showing up throughout the series just as Frank honed in on jukeboxes and the flag. The road trip is there, too, but full of places that feel empty and without a human presence.
Meal from Walker Pickering’s Nearly West, 2009
Pickering seems to be following Evans in a geographic and aesthetic sense. Many of the images feel like he’s revisited the same places as Evans, to give us an update, or to show us that there’s no need for an update, everything is still the same. Nothing seems new or even young in Pickering’s images. They almost seem like static monuments to themselves, a testament to a past that has been fading away since before it was built.
(Source: fototazo.com)
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“I’m a person who’s lucky because I have friends.”
Apparently some guy is living under the Damen Silos.
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Chicago is my kind of town.
(via successisnotanoption)
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I’m pretty jazzed about the Roy Lichtenstein retrospective opening at the Art Institute tomorrow. It runs until September 3rd, so be sure to see it!
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A Brief History of John Baldessari as narrated by Tom Waits
This, this is the best thing ever. I can’t really imagine anything better.
I’ve seen this posted on more blogs than any other video I can remember.
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SONO, Chicago, 2012
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[Flash 9 is required to listen to audio.]
“Animal” from Miike Snow’s eponymous album
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Emil Kozak: “Its basically walking until I get scared, or can’t go any further…take the photo and go back…”
46°52’31.2038”N 9°52’28.331”E from his series “Big Black Nothing”Emil Kozak has an awesome design studio (and blog for that matter), but I recently discovered his wonderfully creative photography. This guy has an eye for awesome, I’m telling you.
41°26’33.0479”N 2°8’26.1067”E from the series “Big Black Nothing”With “Big Black Nothing” Kozak says he’s exploring boundaries by following one simple rule: walk until you get scared, then take a photo of that point. I love this series, partly because it totally captures the vibe of walking around alone at night. Areas that seem safe by day — and are almost surely safe by night — become terrifying as soon as you’ve heard one too many strange noises. Or, really, for me, as soon as my mind has had enough time to run through the terrifying possibilities that the night contains. That’s when it is time to turn around.
38°49’50.1085”N 0°8’54.7465”E from the series “Big Black Nothing”I’d like to see the map of the boundaries Kozak is exploring, with little fingers for each path he has taken out into the darkness before turning around. Or perhaps the boundaries are purely psychological as Kozak tests his own limits of comfort.
(Source: booooooom.com)
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The most absurd chart ever, but it is optimistic at least!
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![This merits a mother’s day reblog.
imwithkanye:
Happy Motter’s Day. [image]](http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m3yuc72qNW1qanm80o1_500.jpg "http://blog.ztdavis.com/post/22992815432/this-merits-a-mothers-day-reblog-imwithkanye")
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