I ran across the Huebner Family Photos Flickr account quite by accident; it was one of those things where I was so deep into a trail of searching for things that I have no idea how I ended up where I did. But I’m so glad I found this account— if you have some spare time (and if you don’t, make some), their photo collections are well worth a look or three. Basically it seems they’re going through all their old family photos from the past half-century or so, many of which appear to be slides, and they’re converting them all to digital uploads. While that in itself might not be so interesting to anyone who isn’t in their family, where it becomes of interest is the fact that these people travel a lot, and they were traveling fifty years ago, too. They have nearly 4,000 photos up there at the moment, many of which are from Europe in the late 1950s, stretching all the way through to the present day. Also, they appear to be a family of very skilled photographers, which helps.
I can’t even describe how many different kinds of photos are there— you just have to go see it for yourself. The above photo was taken from my favourite set, Czechoslovakia 1988-89. I find that set particularly interesting because I was dating a Czech guy at that time, and it’s amazing to see that his descriptions of his homeland were so incredibly accurate.
I’ve been told by a very reliable source that this is just the beginning, and there are more sets of photos coming soon, including a set from Europe, dated 1961. Can’t wait to see those.
I’m kind of fussy about visual art, drawing and painting and such. I have a few artists I really love, but mostly I’m hard to please.
Albert Cerriteño’s work, however, is simply amazing. He has an incredible eye for detail, and his sense of quirk is more than admirable. I’d love to own one of his pieces someday.
I recently downloaded the pilot of Pioneer One, the first-ever made-for-torrent dramatic series. Given the paltry budget and the fact that it was just some random people making it, I thought it probably had the potential to be total crap, but I felt like I needed to give it a chance and support the ideas behind it. Governments and media companies need to understand that p2p is not the enemy— it’s a powerful tool that benefits everyone. And even if they insist on telling themselves p2p is the enemy, they need to know that we’re not going to stop doing it, end of story, and they either need to find a way to play along and be a part of the game, or get used to disappointment. You would have thought they would have learned this lesson after the now-hilarious incident where they shut down Napster ten years ago, dusted their hands off with satisfaction and said, “there, that’ll stop those pesky file-sharers.”
Anyway, I shocked myself by absolutely loving Pioneer One. Okay, yes, it’s low-budget. I’m prepared for growing pains, that’s not a problem. The important thing is that the storyline is there. It’s an unbelievably magnetic plot, and the twist at the end of the pilot sent chills down my spine. I donated to the project so that the rest of the first season’s episodes can get made, and in return I got a great mp3 of the Pioneer One theme music, which was one of my favourite aspects of the show. Consider me a fan of Bracey Smith’s and Josh Bernhard’s work. If you haven’t already seen the show, go and download it now. Free is my favourite price. Link
Tonic.com has published a fantastic story about the merits of crowdfunding sites like RocketHub, and Hidden Anatolia is one of the featured projects. It gives me a lot of confidence to know that major web hubs are picking up on the importance of crowdfunding, and thereby acknowledging the importance of independent art. It’s a great article, and it’ll only take you a minute or two to read it (I’ve heard you’re a pretty fast reader). Link
Just a friendly reminder that the clock is ticking on the Hidden Anatolia project, so if you’ve had it in the back of your mind to get in there and become a part of it, now would be a great time! Come on, you’ve got nothing else going on right at this moment— it only takes a minute to help fuel the project, fueling levels begin at just one dollar, you get great rewards for fueling at any level, and best of all, you get to be a patron of independent art! Check it out and fuel, fuel, fuel!
I get a lot of e-mails and Twitter messages from people saying that they envy my life, and while I’m certainly grateful for what I have and the things I’m able to do, May was a sobering reminder that it’s not all wine and roses. I still have problems just like everyone else. I had a moderate health issue that took me out of commission for most of the month, and during the few intermittent days when I was well enough to be up and about, the thought of trying to get caught up on things like writing and photo projects was too overwhelming to deal with.
Things are back on the upswing, however, and as much as I hate summer, I’m actually looking forward to June. I want to get the Hidden Anatolia project fueling wrapped up as much as possible, and starting tomorrow I have a new introspective photo project starting up (details coming soon!). I think the goal is to keep as busy as possible during the hottest months, so that maybe I won’t notice how awful this whole wretched season is.
Also, I’m looking at taking a brief break from the heat— somewhere really, really north. Just for a few days. I’m thinking Arctic Circle.
Anyway, first things first: a lot of people have asked about Hidden Anatolia over the past few days, and a couple of very generous donations have come in, including a second one from LeahAndMark.com, bringing their fueling total to a whopping $200! It’s fantastic to have such amazing support from friends in the community, and you can get involved as well, no matter what your budget. Fueling levels start at just $1, and even at that amount you’ll still get your name published in the official Hidden Anatolia book! The reward levels go up and up from there, and I look forward to having as many fuelers as possible, so if you ever wanted to be a patron of independent art, now’s your chance!
Today’s Zaman runs an interesting story about a group of Antalya students who tried for the world record in group violin playing. The 500 students, aged 3 through 12, only started learning to play the violin six months ago.
I wonder what that sounded like, 500 violin beginners at the same time. Good luck to them with getting the record, although I think the Guinness Book is kind of becoming a parody of itself, what with all these groups trying to invent newer and more bizarre ways to get certified. Link
As you know, I love project-based art. It’s about stuff that isn’t just one piece, but a series of pieces that trickle in and eventually fit together to make a jigsaw puzzle of sorts. Gideon Slife (Gideon’s Life?) has embarked on a project that I really, really dig— a set of minimalist promotional posters, each based on an episode of Lost. As the show heads into the home stretch of the final season, a lot of people (including me) are revisiting old episodes in a (perhaps futile) effort to try to make sense of everything. These posters are particularly amazing because even with just a small amount of information, as soon as you see the image and read the quote you remember exactly which episode that was.
Who am I kidding, it’s impossible to choose favourites. Have a look at all the posters and you’ll see what I mean. Considering the pace of uploads, it looks to me like Gideon is timing it so that the end of his project coincides with the season finale. Fantastic stuff. Link
I’ve avoided talking about Fire of Anatolia because I’m generally not a great fan of glossed-up stage shows that are manufactured for the sole benefit of profiting from tourists, but I have to admit… I like this belly dance sequence. I think it’s the costumes I like as much as anything. I would still prefer to see a belly dancer in a remote village somewhere, but with any luck, that’ll be happening sooner rather than later.
Oddly, this is something I don’t think I’ve ever discussed here— in decades past, rather than just taking hit movies and dubbing or subtitling them, the Turkish film industry decided to remake a ton of now-classic titles. These remakes were generally direct rip-offs, starred Turkish actors, and were done on, ahem, modest budgets (you’ll see what I mean). The results are hilarious to our eyes, but when the films were made, they were often more popular than the Hollywood originals.
There’s a good starter list over at English Turkey. Some of the linked videos have since been removed from YouTube, but if you just click through on a few of them, you’ll find everything you could possibly want in the “related videos” column on the side. It’s amazing some of the films they couldn’t leave alone. Hilarious and mesmerising all at the same time. Link
