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Being married to a psychologist I’ve had many practice tests administered on me during her graduate degree, but never the Rorschach. I’m guessing that Amanda never wanted to know that all I ever see are vagina’s (and possibly neither did anyone else). So I’d never seen any of the infamous inkblots until today, then I read that wikipedia have shown 10 examples along with the most popular answers. Clearly the whole world is mad because they all just look like pelvis bones or bats!!! (NY Times article here)

I hate the fact that my apartment feels like a gallery of my own work. I’m torn between having none of my work up and hiding it all in storage or just using it to fill some wall space. Thankfully I have some of my friends work from school to break up the ‘Ben Hider Show.’ Jen Bekman’s 20×200 is a good way to start filling your walls with work you like that is actually affordable.

The following artist has traveled to many of the same places in the world that I did as a young student, and his work reminds me that I need to dig through my old work, or go back with my Mamiya 7ii and a bag full of film.

Red Truck on the Back Road to Manigango
by Raul Gutierrez

Muzorama from Muzorama Team on Vimeo.

I think this would be the perfect accompaniment to my all black working outfit. Can something be creepy and AWESOME at the same time? I wish I still worked in outdoor retail so I could scam product sample a free pair off a sales rep. Unfortunately I may not be able to fit into a pair due to my freakishly long toes. “People with toes of lengths that don’t match those of the shoe will have difficulty. People may experience some discomfort with the toes being separated. The shoe may rub between the toes and cause blistering or hot spots. These shoes won’t work for people with webbed toes or extra toes.” (I’m guessing the foot freak society already knew that… thanks about.com!)

I was warned away from petting him as the owner told me that he’s prone to biting people. She then continued to tuck him into her purse and hold him back as she mingled with the crowd at the Hudson Terrace. At least he’s dressed for the occasion even if he doesn’t have sufficient manners!

It may not look like amazing food, but it was. I’ve walked past it so many times and never had the time to eat anything. It was the best pulled pork I’ve ever had, but possibly not the best meal to eat before a long night of shooting!

NATIONAL ART HATE WEEK is a call for direct action against the mass acceptance of art as a phantom economy for the smug manipulative elite and their ensuing grip of control over culture as a tool for mediated emotion, market lead non-critical homogeny, and boring popularism. During NATIONAL ART HATE WEEK citizens are encouraged to visit art institutions across the land and HATE. Individuals who are unable to attend an organised ART HATE are encouraged to open a random book on any given artist and HATE what they see. If a child offers you a painting during NATIONAL ART HATE WEEK you are to turn away in disgust.

I photographed someone at an event and have kept in vague touch through facebook. They just posted that they have a personal website, so I took a quick peek to find out more about what they do. It turns out they either are extremely an successful entrepreneur, they are able to bullshit an incredible ‘about me’ page, or they just love talking about themselves (possibly all 3). Then I realised the google ad at the bottom that linked to this…

Her ‘about me ‘after the break…..

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I hardly ever actually pay for applications on my phone, but I’d read that this one worked pretty well, and wasn’t too cheesy. I used to shoot a lot of polaroid back in undergrad (didn’t most BFA students?) and have always loved watching them develop. It holds the place as my first memory of photography as a magical process which it must for most people, so it’s hard to just let it fizzle out. This application “ShakeIt” is nowhere near as cool as a polaroid but gets the final result pretty close.

In case you didn’t know, NEVER shake a polaroid it just messes up the process. If anything put the photo in a warm place like under your arm, or a big pocket!

The program (or ‘app’ as apple want us to call them) even converts previous photos you’ve taken into polaroid type files

They were filming some kind of movie (sans celebrities) last night in the station. It was going on when I got there at 2pm and then was still going at 1am on the way home. The Mandela Concert also did some UN thing in the station that day, so it must have been mayhem. Having to commute through the station I am now well versed on the inner workings of the place. I couldn’t believe that on Wednesday during the Mandela Dinner and Gala that they walked all the celebrities (including Former President Bill Clinton) through the station during rush hour!

The worst time to have dental problems are around the holidays, and of course my good friend Mr. Murphy ensures that I do not escape that law. Having just moved and finally got the apartment into a reasonable shape for guests to come over, my teeth decide to go all British on me. It was the longest weekend ever and not much better for anyone around me. Thankfully we all survived and now I’m on some heavy painkillers and have the energy to edit some pictures. I found an old and cheap fisheye/macro lens that I got with my first Canon SLR, so I taped it to my 24mm lens and shot some pictures of the fam fam.

It’s the Dalai Lama’s 74th Birthday today and many Tibetan’s around the world will be celebrating. He was born in Taktser in the border area in eastern Tibet in July 6, 1935. It’s a time for prayer and reflection among the Tibetan community for the long life of the Dalai Lama. With many health problems in recent years, it’s an ongoing concern on how his reincarnation will be handled, especially with the Chinese abducting the young Panchen Lama and instating their own successor. I have been very privileged to meet the Dalai Lama and attend many of his teachings. I photographed a few of these, one long 3 week Kalachakra ceremony and a few smaller teachings in Dharamsala. I wish I had the experience, equipment and knowledge I have now, as many of those pictures are not very good. I even lost an entire day of shooting when a co-worker deleted a file from the computer we shared. You can’t relive the past, and the future never comes… or something Buddhist like that!?