kcline’s Neighborhood

I tried to be quiet. Vox is the place to be loud.

Its where I want to be. I realized after years of not blogging why I may have stopped in the first place. Learning photography brought me to iStock.com, iStock brought me to VOX, vox allowed me to talk to very intelligent people on the subject of photography and the likes. From you I learned a wealth of information. All of which I quickly discarded and moved on from because its my nature. But the least is I learned how to take photographs and have an eye for quality control.

My internet life has become overwhelmingly personal in recent years. With the explosion of real life users like family and friends marching on the key board, my ideas have become more and more introverted. I now sit and store all ideas and thoughts in my head simply because of the over all persona I have built to keep those I know at bay and have them think I am another robot like them. My old school blogging ways allowed me to really be may as I meandered through many travels including recovering from what I seen in Iraq and learning my ways through Fine Art. Now I find myself wanting to return to this world to place my ideas in a form for me to read and reread as needed. Maybe even for others to read and become inspired. Thankfully, timestamps will confirm that any ideas that I write, I wrote at a given time thus being mine so I don't fear those who may use these ideas. I doubt by a large margin that anyone who reads this will have any desire to do what I am doing, its suicide! I will also post photographs no larger then 800px on the largest side to protect my intellectual property. No one has my Prophoto 16bit files so I don't care who takes my 800px image and put it here or there. I print my own stuff so if someone takes my stuff and prints it, they will surely get a crappy outcome.

All in all, I look forward to writing and thinking again. I know of only one person who is sure to read these posts and for that individual I write as well as myself. For the rest, I care less about their reading of my stuff but welcome it. I will not try to bring traffic to my page nor will I try to drive traffic to other pages. This blog is being developed to publish my ideas both visually and textually.

Before I resign to another task, I will talk about the image above. A set of cards found during cleaning of a studio which belongs to an artist I work with. This studio was obliterated by time and stress for ten plus years. Dust, mouse droppings, water spills, paint, metal, you name it, it exists. It took about five strong organized hours to bring half the studio to life. The other half will be a load of work as well but its coming together and inspiring us both. Among this mess was a short set of vintage pin up playing cards. Gorgeous young and aged women grace the stack flaunting their assets in their own provocative ways.

I thought of those who may have used these cards, kids in their mid teens, gawking at these beautifully natural women of the fifties. They may have fought over the cards and a card or two may have escaped into the pocket of a boy. Maybe older gentlemen stored these in their closets as keep sakes to their past. Dare I call these times innocent? Looking at sex or sexuality today is a far cry from even the most liberal of female exposure fifty years ago. Desensitization is purely an understatement. One I am sure felt so dirty having these cards. It was their paradise in a world of shit. Today, there is plenty escapes to run to. Porn sites, drugs, alcohol, pick your escape. The escapes today seem less reflective and more... true escapes. Diving into a game for eight to twelve hours, watching porn for a few hours, smoking pot and being stoned for half your day. Drinking liqueur and killing the next day by way of hang over. It never ends.

This card offered me a glimpse of a possibly tragic moment. Like the painting "La Nascita Di Venere" by Sandro Botticelli, I start to wonder is she offering her self to the viewer or in the process of concealing herself. Mens Rea, latin for the guilty mind. Have we chose already what they are doing based on our own guilt to what we want to be done. Are we starting to choose what we do based on pleasure while factoring out moral law? This card reminds me of this idea. We have chosen for her to take her cloths off and from that point we find ourselves here today. We have allowed ourselves to view her regardless of her intention, justifying her reason for being there in the first place.

So yea I traveled into a card for a second. Did these ideas pop into my head while cleaning, not at all. Cleaning was in my head and ideas inspired by what I had found throughout this studio. Ideas still left to be talked about, maybe another night.

Birthday FUN

Daniel
Yesterday
1 comment

This is a crosspost from ...was i there?

I wish I had pictures. This was the Best Birthday on Record, sweetie!! Wow!!

So yeah, it all started with a $100 gift card from my mother. She srsly rawks. Srsly. THEN, my most amazing and much loved man surprised me! You see, I had twated at some point that I wanted one of two things for my birthday; a cabana booth at Urban Mo's with 15 people or nothing. Hahah! I was feeling bitchy and self important that day. Anyhoo. We worked all day Monday. I knew we were going to Mo's (I kinda got my way), and had my outfit all planned out. I stuck to it even tho my new fake leather jacket was calling me... All primped and ready for whatever we get to Mo's. And sit. We order appetizers, adult beverages, and read tweets and Brightkite and stuff. After a while Joelle and Mikey show up. We gab and enjoy the eats. Joelle and Richard talk about how we scored Premium Seating without having a larger party. I !
was like... okay. Then our San Diego family Sheila and her daughter show up! Yay! More booze and stuff happened. (the order of events after this point may differ from reality, thank you, vodka) Then Gooster and Gio pop up out of nowhere!! My cabana was getting full! OMG. It was awesome! also our server was our good friend Marisol! Other Mo's peeps were stopping by and giving well wished and stuff. Marisol had provided an inflatable monkey for every one to sign. Yay again! Captain, one of my good friends who actually has never, EVER attended my birthday's prior arrived. Food, fun, laughter!! Then I saw my BFF Marcus walking over! He had said he might not make it, so I wasn't expecting him. I was literally amazed at all these people to celebrate with me. I was. Then the super secret surprise guest, someone on Twitter I have been talking too lately who just seem!
s so amazing... tle="@Ub
erglitterati">@Uberglitterati!!

There was the traditional singing, candle blowing, an odd looking cupcake that I refused to eat, and shots to decline... I stayed hydrated and enjoyed many Cosmos! I tried to talk to everyone but it was overwhelming! So many people!! I have never had a birthday like that. Ever. I had no idea how to behave!! After a bit folks started leaving. I hugged my goodbyes. I so adore everyone that was there. Making an effort to go out on a Monday in December? I love you all soooo much. Nights like that really give you a picture of who in your life is important, even if you don't see each-other much. When it got down to just us gays we headed to Brass Rail for some twirling and stuff. Fun, fun, fun!

Oi. I wish I had pictures! I have the best man and best friends ever. Srsly. I could cry. You guys rock!!

Then today I found out Richard had invited the new neighbor friends too! I love him extra for that! He made a stellar effort this year... Kudos, you! *kiss*

Bittbox: Snow textures

Just a re-blog of today's offerings from bittbox.

Get the freebies from bittbox here.

I Feel Like I Just Won The Lottery...

Cat
2 days ago
10 comments

I am simply floating right now.

I got the call from my surgeon JUST NOW that the pathology reports on my lump and skin biopsy came back totally clear. I did not have any cancer cells anywhere in the samples they took. The lump was composed of fibrous tissue and totally benign and consistent with fibrocystic breast disease(not cancerous), and they found NOTHING in the skin biopsy to suggest I had IBC.

It's still a mystery what is causing the rash and swelling of the breast but I am scheduled for a consult with a dermatologist to have the rash looked at again.

This is seriously the BEST news I have gotten in like FOREVER and I am simply just ON TOP OF THE FUCKING WORLD!! I feel like this is the BEST Christmas ever, even though we are broke we have each other and our HEALTH.

I'm going to hug my kids, and bake cookies, and dance with my husband...

I love you ALL.
Seriously.

<3
Cat

Gary Goldschneider interview

lxndr
2 days ago
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Gary Goldschneider Interview (2009-11-03) 2009-10-20 23-42

Alexander Moust

Recorded for the English Breakfast radio Amsterdam, where me and Gary both live, we sat down at his home where he played me a few tunes and we had a wonderful conversation on his latest book: Everyday Astrology.

In this audiosegment only a quarter of the entire conversation is used for braoadcasting but it does give an insight into the life and the mind of Gary Goldschneider. Raised in America and being a mutually talented musician and astrologer it was clear to me that his mathematically well organised mind has been helping him thoughout the last 70 years of his life.

Gary also played a short composition for me on his grand piano- as he says- the grandest grand piano of Amsterdam-which you can hear when we play it in the back of our conversation.

Beethoven-sm

Beauty Refugee

lxndr
2 days ago
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Claudia Lisboa Interview (2009-12-1) 2009-12-21 21-29

At first glance, filmmaker Claudia Lisboa's family doesn't look all that plastic. That said, almost every member of the clan has gotten to know the knife of her plastic surgeon-brother Sergio. Her sister Juliana can't look angry thanks to her anti-wrinkle injections, Sergio himself has undergone four nose reductions, their mother has had so many facelifts she is ageless, and even their dad got his eyes done. Claudia is the only one who has been spared from the knife, and that's a real eyesore for the rest of them. She calls herself a "beauty refugee" and lives in Sweden, far away from the obsessions of her Brazilian family. In this personal documentary, Claudia Lisboa visits her parents, brother, and sister in her country of birth. They tell her in plain words that she needs an urgent breast augmentation, nose correction, or Botox treatment. The camera follows the filmmaker as she interviews her individual family members. She asks her father why he would want a girlfriend who is 26 years his junior over someone his age ("because they didn't make me horny"), and her brother Sergio informs her that no one wants to have sex with "a grandma." In conversations with her parents, Claudia tries to reconstruct her youth and examines her own penchant for perfection.

Interview was made for the English Breakfast radio by Alexander, Marc and Jamie.

61715

The Miscreants of Taliwood

lxndr
2 days ago
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George Gittoes Telephone Interview (2009-12-8) 2009-12-21 20-22

I spoke to George Gittoes after his premiere screening at IDFA of this splendid and daring film.

In The Miscreants of Taliwood, Gittoes gathers together his most surprising cast of fellow artists yet (actors, dancers, musicians, video fans, and academics) and joins and empowers their creative endeavours in the face of extraordinary odds.
Almost a simple heroic tale: but Gittoes’ work is never simple, never a single thread or theme – he interweaves and works through a complexity of contemporary, historical and personal references, until the works are ‘loaded’ and at critical mass. —http://www.gittoes.com/

Listen to the interview I and Marc had with George for the Amsterdam English Breakfast Radio

Miscreants

"THE MISCREANTS" George Gittoes (Soundtrack to War, Rampage)

Winter - some kind of wonderful

Deborah
4 days ago
1 comment

Yesterday we awoke to snow, falling, sticking. It snowed enough that Ben, Aaron and I went out to play in it.

We found bunny tracks across the snow in our front yard. I put food for the bunnies to find today. Birds and squirrels are finding their food. I've seen a few bright red cardinals.

Yesterday we had a family gathering with Ben's family and mine - Aaron and I cooked for everyone. He made an AMAZING chocolate/carmel/salted cake to celebrate Ben's mom's birthday. Everyone left full and happy to have spent the afternoon with us in our home.

I surprised my sis by bringing out a huge basket of our childhood comics. We are spending Friday night together with our old comics and toys and having a slumber party! I'm thinking cherry kool-aid and popcorn with BUTTER! It was wonderful to see the look on her face when she realized I'd saved them for us and knew she would love them.

Jess came by today and we hung out together. Love my niece - she is a great person, just like my kids and her brother. We are having family christmas tomorrow to accommodate the kids being here. Cassie will be missed!

All in all - I am loving it here. Course being back in CA last weekend with my friends was awesome too!
It's all wonderful.

Happy Alcoholidaze...

Daniel
5 days ago
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This is a crosspost from ...was i there?

I adore this song. So appropriate for this time of year and junk...

08_Alcoholidaze_Medly_CD.mp3

Champagne!

These and other wine and champagne photos available for use in brochures, magazines, websites, and other media exclusively via iStockphoto: License Wine & Champagne Photos by Donald Gruener

You can hire me to shoot photos of your products...learn more about my photography at my website.

All photos on this blog © Donald Gruener