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.

THe Pentax Attack

Hard Times Walking Past

I have been working around the house a lot today with Jenna, letting the ipod play on shuffle can be an adventure in music and hearing. But the old classics keep on catching my ear, songs I have not been able to let go of for the past 10 or 12 years, because they connect with a time and place where I needed them. Now as I am getting older, I take a look and listen at the music scene today and the quality of output bands are creating, the heart has been lost somewhere. As in everything, there are exceptions, but in 1999, spending 5 dollars for a show that you would see 4 bands at, was a life experience, a life lesson. Enjoy some good music.

We Weren't Awarded Bones Simply Weigh Down Graves

Jenna and I moved to Rota, Spain in April of this past year. Well let me rewrite that. Jenna and I were supposed to move to Rota, Spain together in April of this year. I received a new assignment overseas with the Navy, due to red tape and the misunderstanding of the meaning of Dual Citizenship within the State Department and the Passport Services Office in Washington, Jenna did not arrive here until May 24th.

We have been married for 10 months now, though at times it seems like 2 months and other moments, our familiarity with each other makes it seem like 10 years. Our goal for our relationship and life together, has been to always be intentional with our relationships with others and the method in which we live. Prior to moving Spain, we had dreams of living in a beach side villa with enough rooms for offices, beer making closets, guest bedrooms, and a master bedroom. Due to the instability of the American Dollar and the abundance of mediocre housing on the navy base, we have been confined to government housing. Though we live in Spain, the housing development on base looks much like a suburb of a Florida golfing community. After a month or so of disappointment, we have adapted and overcame. Our walls have gone from a sterile hospital white to shades and hues of blue, grey, and yellow.

Jenna has been appointed the captain of the interior, I fully trust in her ideas and expectations for our ever-progressing domicile. My domain has been the small amount of land outside the home. The backyard of our home is surrounded by an aging wooden gate around a 50'x50' area of semi-sun bleached grass. The front of the home is a 20'x20' plot of land mostly covered in concrete door landings and stepping stones. Even in these constraints, we attempt to be intentional.

After moving into the house in the beginning of June, Adam Palumbo, Jenna, and I broke ground for our vegetable and herb garden in the backyard. What started as a small 5'x5' plot has become a 12'x6' plot and a 10'x5' vegetable plot in the corners of the backyard. The Spanish sun beats down from 7am until 9:30pm each day, allowing for ample amounts of sunlight to kick start and continue the growing process.

I write about this, because to my excitement, the gardens garnered their first bounty today. Under the huge leaves of the zucchini plants, we saw 2 zucchinis growing, ready for harvest next week. In the other garden summer snap peas grew off their sprouts, meaning they were ready to be raised and affixed to a rise fixture, helping the sinews grow vertically. The large garden is filled with three beds that include: Zucchini, baby carrots, beets, mixed greens, corn, thyme, basil, cilantro, and chives. The smaller side bed has fully germinated all the plants that include: cucumbers, yellow summer squash, watermelon, garlic, and snap peas. Even the smallest growth has been a triumph.

My personal ideal for this garden is that we have the understanding and ability to grow from the earth something that will be beneficial for our lives both nutritionally and financially. The beginning investment was 10 bags of organic compost/manure at $7.00 a bag, 5 bags of organic fertilizer at $3.50 a bag, 10 packs of various plant seeds at $1.79. My outlook and expectation for the gardens is that we will harvest approximately 50 Zucchini, 25 Summer Squash, 1 bushell of peas, 50 ears of corn, 100 beets, 40 carrots, 4 pounds of each of the 5 herbs we are growing, 25 cucumbers, 10 pumpkins, and 10 watermelon. From each of those plants, we will be able to retract seeds that will be reused for next spring's planting. All of the unused vegetables will either be canned, frozen, or dried for later use. The remnants of withered and dead plants will be mixed in the continuous compost pile we keep and turn each week, giving back to the garden itself.

It is early Tuesday morning here, about 12:30am, I am going to be posting photos of our progress in the morning. Planting and maintaining this garden has been a bit of a stress reliever for me, working the narrow plots of land gives me time to reflect on the possibilities we have to totally change the small things in our lives. The families that live around Jenna and I are constantly popping their heads over the fence, looking at the flowers growing, seeing the vegetables, and seeing the interior decoration that Jenna has brought to life in our home and they are confused. They are mostly confused because most cannot see past the objects that are pushed on them from department store circulars and popular culture. People have forgotten how to work with their hands, they have forgotten how to create life and change with their imagination rather than their credit cards. Co-ops in Orlando, used by people like Cole Nesmith and Casey Stewart excite me, because their is promise of rediscovering the simplicity of our roots through the planting of roots.

Here is a link to a co-op farm on 2 acres of land, they are doing it for real: http://tinyfarmblog.com/

On an entirely different topic, to the dismay of many people in the states, I have decided to shoot nothing but film for the rest of the year, less iphone photographs that are meant to display specific objects rather than artistic representation. This year marks the 35th birthday of my favorite camera, the Pentax K1000. I have personally owned the camera since I was 12 years old, a gift from my grandfather. It has travelled with me and has been dropped on 5 continents, 30 states, and 45 countries. To celebrate our travels and adventures together, I will give it the lead on my life, displaying life through my right eye. In addition, I am brushing off my old 120mm/220mm, 110mm, 260mm film cameras and using them in an attempt to substantiate having a collection of over 150 cameras. I owe this to a couple things:

1. My hardheaded belief that digital photography is the downfall of an art form, I keep preaching it, but never take action in my personal life to challenge myself.

2. Jenna has allowed me ample room in the house that could be used to store and show off many other things, in order to store my cameras and equipment. I need to show that I actually use them, rather than keeping them on the shelf to be eccentric.

I will continue to either self-develop my photographs or use local processors in Spain, they will be scanned, but not edited in anyway. Most of the photographs will be posted on here once I get my act straight.

America, we miss you, but a warm Spanish summer with late nights has brought a way to ease the home sickness.

Mixtape 27 July, 2009:

1. Bane - Bold and Beautiful

2. Have Heart - Bostons

3. Have Heart - Hard Bark on the Family Tree

4. Ian North - Skates

5. Texas is the Reason - Back and to the Left

6. Two Tongues - Crawl

7. Lucero - Summer Song

8. Bon Iver - For Emma

9. Hopesfall - Decoys like Curves

10. New Found Glory - You Have a Friend In Pennsylvania

11. Shai Hulud - Given Flight By Demon's Wings

12. Saves the Day - Through Being Cool

*Texas Is The Reason - Back and to the Left

Bear Attacks Happen: The Start of Something

My wife is a champion of the blog, I am the champion of nothing at this point. I have not yet harrnessed the trecherous power of the internet. I read the same 5 websites daily, liberal foreign newspapers, a site about hardcore/punk/metal, and various other sites that numb my brain.

This blog will hopefully be the equal to Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing for others like me, who are attempting to match the level of internet expertise that 10 year olds display. Most likely you will encounter useless rants about nothing, photography, tattoo, skating, and music links, and photographs from my 40 year old stand-by camera. Good Luck and Godspeed. Please, let your mothers and grandfathers and close friends know about this. Ode to Casey Stewart.

Things That I Waste My Time On:

1. http://day19.com/text/

This is an amazing husband and wife team that hail from L.A. and NYC. Though I have a deep rooted hatred for the traffic and the sports teams in both of those cities, their work as photographers and mind blowers is great. They mix the mediums of film photography and also toss it up with digital media aka what is known as digital photography. We will get to my sentiments of what photography is later on. I am not ready to offend half the world yet.

2. http://lambgoat.com/

I currently live in Spain, we see more flamenco shows than we do any punk/metal/hardcore shows, however in saying that, we saw a Spanish punk band covering NOFX last week. Lambgoat is a mindless way to waste at least 30 minutes a day reading about obscure bands most people do not care about. Also, reading this site, I have realized that I am 27 this year and way more out of touch than I had ever thought. Apparently, bands that formed 10 years ago are not as cool as they used to be.

3. http://boston.com/

This is how I substantiate telling people I am from Massachusetts. I read the Boston Globe website a couple times a day, keeping up on bad construction projects running the state in debt, local political conspiracies, Arts and Entertainment that I will not partake in, and the obvious Boston Red Sox baseball talk. I am able to stay relevant in conversation with my grandfather this way as well.

4. http://pinapplesaurus.blogspot.com/

This is the blog that my wife writes daily or whenever she feels like it. This most likely should have been the first link I added, and I will most likely get some flack for this, but I don't know how to reformat, copy and paste is an unfamiliar foe. She is brilliant, her right and left sides of her brain are in constant contention with each other, nearly causing mild seizures. She sees life in a way I am unable to.

5. http://twitter.com/hamelb82

There is absolutely no need for me to use twitter. However I do enjoy reading the well thought out witty remarks of people who are too famous for me to ever interact with. For about 2 days, I was thought to be Brian Hamel, a State Senator from Maine. It garnered me about 30 followers, that immediately jumped ship when the true Brian Hamel revealed himself. Maine was never my scene anyways.

6. http://royalgold400.etsy.com/

In March, Jenna and I were residing in an apartment in Saint Augustine, Florida that was built in 1890 and once housed a butcher shop and a brothel, simultaneously I hope. There was an abundance of shelf space and closets to hide my pack rat tendancies with old film cameras and photographic accessories. However, we had to move, that means that right before the unwaivering blue eyes of my wife, I emptied the past 10 years of my camera collection, numbering around 150 cameras, 200 rolls of film, countless filters, and flash bulbs from the 1960's. I am like a coke addict with these cameras, attempting the let them go gives me the shakes and cold sweats. We have found Etsy.com, it is a place that I have been slowly handing off old antique and vintage cameras to people who are just starting their obsession that will most likely lead to relationship problems and obsessive compulsive counseling needs. This is progression.

7. http://caseyrobert.livejournal.com/

There are those people that you meet in life that have a poor ability to grow facial hair, long alien like bodies, and are able to lighten the mood and tempo of any situation. This man is known as Casey Robert Stewart ( SGT. Meowenstein). Hailing from the land of bad beer and cheese, he moved himself to attain a life long goal of becoming a sound technician for the likes of Helix and Ratt. He then found himself lifelong lessons on life, then woke up on a plane to Alaska not knowing how he got there. One of the most solid people I know, unwaivering in the art of impulsive actions and holding fast to his progression of the love of life and people. He is in Ketchican, Alaska teaching deep pocket elderly citizens and russian defactos how to zipline through the alpine regions of a salmon fishing town. He is most excellent. He is a dirty dancer.