Things From Today, 7/12

Has any photographer out there ever noticed that life generally looks better through a camera lens? A half crumbled statue of Madonna on a background composed of smog and city utilities sounds tragic, but looks beautiful on 35 mm film. With a camera, I can blur out the ugliness (or, rather, everything else), the excess of life (or its details) and focus on only the important (or, on the other hand, the unimportant parts), focus on only the most beautiful (or the most hideous) of this world. With one tap of my finger I can remember a moment from a whole vacation, and that's all that would matter. Photography is like a bias spark notes towards life. One could take pictures and thus remember only the good parts- this is what I call "life documentary photography". You know, you bring a camera with you everywhere and take hundreds of pictures of your friends, that you later don't even bother looking at before you upload them to facebook. Then there's artistic photography. The kind of person that would carry around a big bulky camera with them, for one picture that would take them twenty minutes to properly set up. Artistic photography captures the good, the bad- the beautiful and the wrong, the love and its upset, everything. Both are good in their own way obviously- but I am a strong follower of the artistic photographer. One would say that photography is all technique you can learn, it's not a talent but rather an aquired skill. Sure, that's correct. Anyone can take a good picture. But how many people can find a good picture? How many people have the vision to find that one great shot- who sees life automatically through a camera lens, rather than through eyes, looking through a camera lens? This is what makes an artist. Someone who can see life, but take it differently. Wether they paint pain or write wonders, if they use charcoal for change or clay for calamity or photography for pleasure, an artist can take this world apart from the way everyone else sees it and make a new world. It pisses me off when all these kids take shitty photos, make them black and white, and call it photography. No, you took a fucking picture. You took a picture of a leaf lying on the ground. It was an ordinary leaf. It had nothing special about, not even color (but we got rid of that with the photoshopping, anyway). No one can say what art is or isn't. Maybe through that leaf, they were channeling their innocence and the metaphorical fall of it in the wind. Or maybe they just have no clue what they're doing. Take a fucking class.


In other news, i recently downloaded a shitload of music.
also in other news, i wish i uploaded that music to an iphone.
That thing is so cool! I watched the video about it on Apple.com- got to admit, that is truly a visionary company. Unfortunately, the iPhone is only on At&n, and it only has a 24 hour battery life, and only like five hours of talk time. Which is ridiculous. But, on the other hand, the breakthrough tech. inside is really something. Monkey ball on your cellphone? Hell yes!


Also in other new, i spent most of friday skating around Manhattan. I started around Grand Central, right after getting lost, confused, and manhandled into buying something on korea way. Skating down the west side highway bike path (which is really VERY nice), i almost got hit by a toddler in a wheelchair. And a truck. I ended up in Greenwich Village, and got a little lost on the cobblestone side streets, but soon found myself in a beautiful guitar store, drooling over a beautiful '65 Les Paul. That thing could p'wn my V-card and i wouldn't have cared less that its a musical instrument. Walking west, I stumbled upon some live show in the park near all the NYU buildings, which was cool. I was mistaken for a law student, and invited to a seminar. That didn't go down, unfortunately. Then i found St. Marks, had like three bubble teas, chatted with the, uh, bubble-tea-maker-guy (Michael), and on my way to the D line met up with Karen and Deanna.

Back to coincidences! How could three people, out of 6 billion, that know each other, be on one street (out of thousands) in one city (out of hundreds), at the same time? Life has a funny way of throwing loops at you when you least expect it.

Then i went to brooklyn and played the Wii for the rest of the day at Andrew's, who is truly a very good kid.
We also got a free Slurpee at 7-11, cause yesterday was july eleventh and yeah FREE SLURPEE DAY WOOT!


So new music that still has to be listened to:
Muse
The Chap (amazing, i'm almost done with the album. Fantastic pop-rock, without the Clarkson. This is how pop rock was always meant to be. Mixed beats and toney guitar riffs backed up by a relatively unemotional voice ties the package together nicely)
Other Sigur Ros albums
Abe Vigoda
Bob Marley
Bright Eyes
Coldplay
Hellogoodbye


I will get onto that now! Also tell you how hellboy was! Also, if i ever get out tonight to see it.
Peace&thelove forever!

Things From Today, 7/6

Shit guys, i'm sorry there hasn't been a single post in almost a week! 

That sucked, i've been so caught up in stuff. 

But i had a few ideas that i wanted to talk about before i get to my incredibly interesting six days.  

Marriage. 

What does it mean? Imagine- taking one person, just one, till the end of your life. What is that like? What is that feeling? How is it possible, when only a handful of years ago, most newlywed were going through relationships like they were advertisements in a magazine? When love can grow and bloom and die in a matter of two months, when being honest is being silly, how could we possibly, in this world, hold onto one feeling for so long? And what is that feeling? Is it our- mine, at least- teenage love? The kind of love that when your eyes meet, your heart stops? The kind of love when you feel like you're slipping away if you're not holding their hand?

Apparently, it is not. From sources, love at fifteen and at twenty and at twenty five and at thirty is totally different. But thats not always true- i know people who are in their late sixties and have the chemistry of sixteen year olds! My sister's new parents in law (see below :]) are SO comfortable with each other. You know, when you see a couple, even in their teens- the boys hugs the girl from the back and somehow, magically, without trying ten times or practicing or making mistakes, their fingers interlock, and she moves her head and kisses his cheek, which is there and not somewhere else, and it just feels like a perfect transition between them? I know when i'm dating someone and i'm that comfortable, i begin to forget where i end and she begins...it's a nice feeling, if a rare one. Like, have you ever had an awkward relationship? It took you three dates to touch hands, six to FINALLY kiss. You walk down the hall and your fingers don't fit together that well, and you have awkward silences for no reason? It's not particularly bad. It could get better, as you two begin to learn each other. But have you ever had a relationship when their body fits into yours so perfectly, almost like a ship in water, a bird in the air? When your fingers find eachother in the dark, when her voice makes you smile and you can just look at her for hours, simply because she's that beautiful. Have you ever had that? How can love like that ever die? Apparently it can. People fall out of love... marriages fail and couples break up. Sometimes it's mutual, usually it's not. How can love exist in a world that can hurt so much? You wouldn't think it' s possible. How could there be such extremes? One moment and you're weightless, no longer tied down to anything but your heart, and a short conversation later, your stomach feels like it's made from lead. How can a couple survive in a world where divorce is so popular, where cheating is no longer that tabooed, where change is underlined and love is a silly four letter word no one really means anymore? How have my parents lasted 31 years, my grandparents 55 years together? How? It doesn't seem possible. Ten years down the road, would you still turn the coffee mug so your lips only made one mark on it? In ten years, would you still tickle her and tell her that you love her? How about in twenty? Would you hold hands? Sex, forget sex, thats a whole different blog. Would you still hold her when she's hurt? Love is supposed to last forever... why doesn't it? Is it the person you're with? Maybe it's not the right person. But would you wait a lifetime for the right one? No one wants to be alone... but i know I feel most alone when i feel for someone, and they don't feel back. So how would a marriage work in an age when holding hands past thirty five strange? How do you keep the spark going? You look at her now and you get shivers, because the freckles in her eyes and yours are mirror images, because her smile can light up cities, because you would not rather be anywhere else but here... and three years later, why is it different? How CAN it be different? I guess it really can be though. I wish people meant what they say. Don't say forever if it's not going to last forever. Don't say I love you if it's gonna die in a few months. Are we really that shallow as human beings? I sure hope not. I may be young, but i've been places and i've seen things. I've seen love thats so bright it blocks out the sun. I've seen hurt so cruel you'd think the night would go one forever. And truthfully, i'm balanced. Because truthfully i HAVE seen love. i've seen perfect, beautiful, extraordinary love thats lasted forever. And truthfully, i have seen love die, and truthfully, i know how much it hurts. So i'm not sure wether love is really just a hoax, a trick of our shallow minds, or if love really does exist, if it makes the sun rise in the morning and tucks it in at night. And i've been in love, i have. And i hope i'll be in love again, and i hope it will stay that way. I wish above all that love never really died, that it still remains somewhere in the depths of your eyes, and that when we listen to that song, or walk down that beach or catch a whiff of strawberries or the ocean, even years later, we still remember, and we still feel it, for an instant, for a moment...for a moment, we're back again and it's okay. Thats what i wish for, more than anything else. That love never really died, that love only hid inside of us, and made us stronger, or smarter, or both.

My sister got married yesterday. And you don't know how happy I am. I finished the last sentence of that big paragraph, and it washed over me, because i love her, and because she is not only my sister, my favorite person, but above all, my best friend. And i think that she found the right man that could make- and keep- her happy. And he's a good guy, and i feel like he's the brother i've never had and it's great. And i'm overwhelmed by this whole thing... i dont think i've ever realized how much marriage means. I really, really wish i'd find someone to spend my life with. NOT NOW. I'm still an idiot and will screw things up. But eventually...i think it'd be nice. Settling down would be really, really nice. Maybe in Portland, Maine. It's such a nice town, because the streets smell like the ocean, and the bookstores smell like bookstores and the sea. It has little crooked cobblestone streets and the building are no larger than three stories. There's coffee shops and fresh food and markets. I'd wake up early and make us hot chocolate and write (or blog :]) till you woke up, and we'd take walks down to the pier where the fishing boats would just be coming in and maybe i'd take along my camera and catch another picture of your smile. Maybe, Maybe, Maybe.

the rest of my week was composed of the city and wedding stuff.

If you don't listen to Enter Shikari, you should. BUT most of all, the song Jonny Sniper really sings to me these days. It's so... pretty. Really though, check out that song at least, if you're too get the rest of their stuff. Listen to it while you read that^^ it sets the mood right.

For my sisters present, I made her a journal of my poetry and my photographs. My photos i still have to scan, but my poems are all in electronic format and (with some luck) may get published soon. So i'm gonna post another post with all my poems, so let me know opinions.

New post tmrw! Because i hope i never have to make such a big break again!

peace&thelove forever!