On A Sunday

6:42am here in Spain, translates to 12:42 on a saturday night for the East Coast, the West Coast is just opening it's doors to the night. The separation of the Atlantic Ocean makes casual conversation and friendly folly much more difficult these days. Jenna and I are reverting back to handwritten letters, slotted between hand-drawn and hand painted envelopes.

But what if the ship that carries our heartfelt letters across the ocean was overtaken by a Kraken. This will now become my excuse for mail not received on time. Kraken Attacken.

On this late night/early morning/early evening for some, here are some things to take a look at:

1. //www.lomography.com/magazine/competitions . Lomography is always putting on contests/competitions that require no more than a couple rolls of film, a simplistic plastic camera, and some photographic wit to win. The contests are always offering some limited edition throwback 35mm or 120mm film camera that will keep your friends drooling and others in a state on wonder. To beat all the hype, and the high prices of an authentic lomography cameras, you can reach the same end result by purchasing a cheap plastic 35mm camera at a thrift store, and use the camera under extreme lighting situations. The history of the lomography phase in photography is based off the LOMO CA camera that was mass produced by a cold war era manufacturer in Russia. The cheap construction, lingering timing mechanisms, and plastic mold frame, allowed the camera to have light intrusion, that altered the light-emulasion process of film shots. Now the defects in the camera are artsy and people enjoy the "light leaks." Someone's Uncle Stalin is amped on life, as his stockpile of old cameras are being swallowed by a world of scenesters and trend savy twenty somethings. Anyways, the idea of lomography cameras really are a good time. Jenna and I own 6 cameras from the Lomography collection, take a look at them, it is nothing serious, just an askew interpritation of life through a lens.

2. Brandtson: Death and Taxes e.p.

Brandtson was a band comprised from the ashes of disbanded Cleveland, OH hardcore bands from the mid-90's. In 1996 they released the Letterbox Collection. The Letterbox Collection was indicative of the sounds coming from Ohio's southern friends in Kansas and Missouri, the likes of the Get Up Kids, Casket Lottery, and tints of Chicago bands like The One Up Downstairs and Braid. Their progression in sound and popularity helped but them at the edge of possabilities with bands like the Appleseed Cast.

There is something very familiar about their records each time I listen to them. Dial In Sounds was released in 2002, that year Adam Palumbo and I drove to all points south and westward from our small town in Massachusetts in the seats of my mostly red 1995 Ford Escort and in the process of van hopping with band to band. That cd was a constant that year, songs like Cherokee Red and Guest List had the easy to learn, easy to yell chorus lines.

The E.P. that followed the next year "Death and Taxes" is the soundtrack to a sunday morning, without coffee, that would be better spent in my bed with my wife. It eases the nerves and brings me back home, even if it were just for a few moments.

3. Glory:

This movie is a non-fiction hollwoodized view of the civil war regiment the 54th. Comprised of black men, both free-born and freed slaves from southern plantations. Based out of Massachusetts, they were a revolutionary regiment for the Union, as they were the first all black regiment permitted to take part in combat missions. Each time I watch this movie, I renew my black heart for the South. I watched the movie today with my friend Will, who can trace his roots back to plantations in South Carolina, he cried, I watched and remained silent.