A passing resemblance
Originally uploaded by lightsoutfilms.

I laughed when I saw the original picture, and I laughed when I put the photoshop together. Now I’m laughing as I’m posting it here.

Black Cowboy with a Pringles Can
Originally uploaded by lightsoutfilms.

In the line for the tram at the San Diego Wild Animal Park. That lady in the pink dress was his escort. I cropped this, as I took it on the downlow.

1. Boot Camp, Intel Macs
Rawk. Simply awesome. Now I know what my next computer is going to be. Now I only wish they did this a year ago when I bought my G5 iMac. The ability to play games is really a great tipping point for those that wanted macs, but were too into their games.

2. Stephen Berkman
I really love this type of photography, and Berkman’s work in particular. It’s moody, scary, and most notably, done on film. In this day and age of rapid shooting digital it’s nice to see someone willing to
do it the old way. Not saying that I’m going to do it the old way, but I’m glad someone is.
http://www.stephenberkman.com/ambrotypes/index.htm

3. McSweeny’s Mammoth Treasury of Thrilling Tales
A great collection of pulp-tales with some fantastic authors. My favorite so far was Kelly Link’s Catskin. I hadn’t heard of her before this time, and this was a great introduction to her work. Strange, creepy, lyrical and off-kilter. The literary equivalent of the photographs above, in other words. An American Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/140003339X/lightsoutfilm-20

And the relationship is definitely an inverse one, as can be seen in the following graph.

The gray arrows are creativity. The more miserable you are, the more creative output you have (See countless references in history: Poe, Hemmingway, Van Gogh, Pollack and nearly every other celebrated literary and artistic star). Of course, this loneliness and misery could also be substituted by a syphilitic brain infection, but your mileage may vary.

Maybe it’s just me. Maybe I have yet to learn how to harness emotions that aren’t negative and turn them into creative output. But when you’re happy in your personal life, there’s just so much to do. You don’t want to be stuck with your nose in some journal or tapping away at the computer; you want to be out frolicking in the fields, picking flowers and drinking beer.

I envy those that manage high creative output with happiness. Of course, I don’t know any of these souless automatons, but in a way, I wish that I was more like them.

Picture in the Bathroom

Originally uploaded by lightsoutfilms.

This is at the Hotel Max in Seattle, another place I have to write about, by the way.

It’s a beautiful, somewhat erotic picture called Pony by Erin Frost. Apparently, it’s a self-portrait, because here’s another piece of her work. Definitely Not Safe for Work.

www.artatlarge.com/pages/JURIED2005/FROST.htm

Strange that we didn’t go to (most of) high school and college together, but how similar our interests our. I look forward to more of those scans.

Because I’m a cool guy who likes to do sweet art in the streets, I made this fully spec’d graffiti stencil. Cut out the black parts and do as you please. I cut it out myself. It took awhile, but it works.

PS. It’s not a huge file, but it’s big height and lengthwise. It’ll print to an 8 X 10 piece of paper.

Right now, my interest lies upon Threadless: Limited edition, non-promoy, often funny shirts. Here’s what I bought:

Nice!

Truly, though. I had my mind set on this one:

But I just can’t think of a situation where it would be appropriate to wear. I’m not sure work would be behind me on that one.

I just got my first order and I love them. Quality printing and graphics, tagless but printed with the name of the shirt like a piece of art. They fit too – sometimes that’s a problem with these things.

Like so many others, I’ve been fascinated by the case. Here are a few works of art that I think is worth looking at for anyone even remotely interested in the weird events.

“From Hell” by Alan Moore and Eddie Campbell (Artist)

Taking the title from one of the Ripper’s sign-offs, Alan Moore’s massive (thick as a phonebook), inspired graphic novel pushes forward the theory that it was Dr. William Gull that created the havoc in the Whitechapel area. This is not a comic book, but a deeply researched, well presented and historically accurate look at London in the late 1800′s. Perhaps more than any book, it shows truly what it’s like to have been a resident of the miserable streets. Dr. Gull’s dialogue serves as a tour to the times – he’s sickened by all that he sees, especially when filtered through the great history that so many of the locations hold. Although, to my mind, Moore’s hypothesis on the actual killer has been disproven, it’s still the best piece of media to digest given the history. Prepare to learn a lot.

Portrait of a Killer: Jack the Ripper– Case Closed by Patricia Cornwell My girlfriend had this book on the shelf, and I probably wouldn’t have picked it up if it wasn’t non-fiction. But I’m sure glad I did. Criticisms first: given the amount of research that this book presents, it needed both inline citations and footnotes. They appear in the back of the book, but it’s difficult to discover which sources came from where. I’m sure this is a result of wanting to appeal to a mass market, but it would have been grand. Also the book is not organized chronologically, so it both jumps around and unnecessarily repeats information.

Yet, despite these flaws, it’s the best case for the true identity of Jack the Ripper that I have ever read. Gone is the random speculation of theories past. This is one backed by both psychology and science. The book also shatters the notion that many people wrote false letters to the authorities. In reality, Cornwell believes that the Ripper wrote most of, if not all of the letters. It’s not as crazy as it sounds.

It’s an eye opening expose of a semi-famous man who definitely had a severe, psychological issue with women. It’s made all the more exciting with the inclusion of analysis of the killer’s paintings and writings. There’s some pretty damning stuff here for poor Walter.

From Hell Dir. by Allen and Albert Hughes

The movie is a great distillation of Moore’s book. Of course, it takes things its own way, casting the outstanding detective Aberline (who may have been close to solving the case), as the hero. A nice, fun ride, but Whitechapel still isn’t presented as dirty and scummy as it actually was.

Faces of Madness: Jack the Ripper by McFarlane

So, it’s a little macabre. And maybe the sharpened teeth are a little overboard. Really though, it matches with Cornwell’s description of the killer: balding, wearing a black top hat and carrying a medical bag filled with knives.