| Twenty Years Later... |
[Jun. 23rd, 2008|06:51 pm] |
...so twenty years later the guy goes back to testify before congress again, and they ignore him again, even though all the stuff he said was gonna happen the first time was happening. You wanna know what happened then?
PDF file of the speech
A.M. |
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| Norwescon 08 Photo Gallery Up |
[Apr. 18th, 2008|12:00 pm] |
I've got my favorites from the 700+ shots I took at Norwescon 31 in a gallery here:
Norwescon 08
These are (mostly) costume shots from both hall costumes and the post Masquerade photo shoot.
About these shots:
These are large size, medium quality images derived from compressed files. I didn't spend a lot of time fixing these - there's just too many. (I spent more than 20 hours getting them to where they are). If I didn't get a shot of your costume - and I know there were some great costumes I didn't get - be assured that I wish I had. We just didn't cross paths at the right time. I'm considering a hall photo booth next year. Is there anyone out there that thinks that's a good idea?
Technical Details:
I worked almost exclusively without a flash, and that presents some technical difficulties. There's a lot of variation in lighting conditions around the con space, and that means many shots were shot at high ISO with large aperture settings and slow shutter speeds. It also means almost every shot has to be individually processed for color balance, exposure and noise. The images in the gallery have been very minimally post processed: I started with a medium quality jpg file rather than the RAW file. I set the color balance by eye , and I did a rough crop. I made no effort at noise control or at fixing backgrounds or foregrounds where there are problems like the backdrop edge showing. Better output is certainly possible from the files I have. Accurate color balance procedure, appropriate noise control processing, careful cropping, and fixing backgrounds would bring many of these up to much higher quality. Unfortunately, the time involved to do that dictates that I be satisfied with 'snapshot quality' for public consumption.
Getting copies:
You can grab the files as they are from the gallery, or you can buy prints from the gallery, but I can probably make you a better deal on a better print. I have the high quality files and I'm willing to spend the time (as my schedule permits) to bring them to their best - if I'm being compensated for my time. In some cases I'll provide prints and/or high quality files in exchange for your permission to use your image (signed model release). Otherwise I can provide high quality prints and/or files for compensation. In a number of cases, there are alternative shots that are as good or nearly as good as the ones in the gallery. Contact me off list for details.
Enjoy!
A.M. |
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| Old Man Dying |
[Mar. 25th, 2008|09:52 pm] |
(Warning - depressing post)
Last Saturday I left in the middle of Norwescon to spend an hour with my oldest friend. I've known B since 1967 when he and I were teens. He tells the story that the first time he saw me I was cursing a blue streak because I'd just hit my thumb with a hammer.
He's been in the hospital for eleven months now, shuttled between Redding CA where he took sick, a hospital in Yakima, Virginia Mason-three times, Kindred Care-twice now, and a rehab hospital in Kittitas. I've been visiting two or three times a week when he's in town. They are looking for a place for him close to home now. I won't see him much after he moves again.
When I got there Saturday nearly the only thing he said was he was dying.
I kinda expected this after he'd been in the hospital for the first month. But I'm not ready for it.
B has never been exactly healthy. He once told me that he sets a record every day he stays alive. I don't always believe everything he says, but there may be truth in this. He's been living without a lower intestine since he was a teenager, and that's wearing on a person. He's pretty much out-lived everybody else who had that operation back then. At this point he's only got about five feet of intestine left. The doctors have given up and he's given up. I can't blame B or the doctors. They all tried.
I've been around death, some of it pretty recent. I went to B's mothers funeral eighteen months ago. B's father died in November. My brother-in-law died suddenly in January and what's left of my family has been dealing with that.
But I've never before had someone tell me they were dying and mean it.
In my experience, there is =NOTHING= to be done or said that can ease the grief of the death of someone you love. This is what I have felt and this is what I have observed.
And that leaves me wondering what to do for a person who's not dead yet, but probably will be soon, and what to do for the people who love him.
I expect I'll find out.
A.M. |
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| Wall? Well? |
[Feb. 14th, 2008|07:51 pm] |
This is something I read about in the 60's that people like Speedy Babbs did in the 20's, but I didn't think it existed anywhere anymore. Clearly some enterprising promoter has seen fit to bring it back... It's a very amateur job of filming, but an oddity from the past none-the-less.
Wall (Well?) of Death
A.M. |
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| Continuing my political Theme |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|04:59 am] |
Confused yet because there's so many candidates?
Here's a web page that has basic information and bios on two hundred and fifty nine (259) presidential candidates. Who says you can't find anybody to vote for?
Project Vote Smart
A.M. |
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| Tired of Politics Yet? |
[Nov. 30th, 2007|04:08 am] |
It's only going to get worse...
I discovered a number of years ago that politics is more fun if you have an opinion. If you have a guy to support and cheer on. The problem is who? I mean good grief! These people are all politicians! How do you pick a good apple out of a barrel like that?
What I came up with is: ISSUES.
We all know that what a politician says in a campaign bears only passing relationship to what that politician does after the election. I've =NEVER= had two chickens in any pot of mine and I'm damned if I can see much compassion or conservatism in the current brand of leadership that tortures and kills with bombs & bullets and spends money like water on it's wars. But if I'm going to pick a man or woman to support I figure I might as well pick one that at least pays lip service to the things that matter to me.
In the 2004 presidential primary I discovered there's an easy way to compare who says what about which. There's sites on the web that do side-by-side comparisons. There's got to be more than one of these sites, and I'm willing to bet they don't all agree, so I started looking this morning and here's the first one I found. Check it out!
2008 Presidential Election Candidates
on the Issues
If you know of, or find more of these presidential politics comparison sites, please post links to them here. I'd like to see the differences. Thanks!
A.M. |
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| Stand Up and Be Counted! |
[Sep. 25th, 2007|01:05 am] |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Stand Up and Be Counted!
Participate in the Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against
Sexual Minorities
September 19, 2007, New York, NY - Susan Wright and Larry
Iannotti would like to announce the launch of the second national
Survey of Violence & Discrimination Against Sexual Minorities,
being conducted in cooperation with the National Coalition for
Sexual Freedom. This survey includes all of the questions asked
on NCSF's ground-breaking 1998 Violence & Discrimination Against
Sexual Minorities survey, and includes new questions on personal,
business, and Internet discrimination experienced by BDSM-leather-
fetish practitioners.
The link to the survey is on NCSF's website: www.ncsfreedom.org
Please take a minute to fill out this anonymous survey even if
you have not been a victim of violence or discrimination.
Demographic data and information about participation in a variety
of BDSM-leather-fetish activities are also being gathered. This
survey will be distributed for one year, and the results will be
released in early 2009.
The results of this survey will be analyzed and compared to the
1998 survey, which found significant discrimination and violence
occurring against BDSM-leather-fetish practitioners. The data may
be used in court obscenity cases to prove that sexual minorities
have been chilled on the Internet because of fear of prosecution.
The survey also includes space for individuals to write about the
discrimination they have faced, which will be helpful in
illustrating the consequences of the negative stereotypes about
BDSM-leather-fetish activities.
The survey is available on Survey Monkey (a secured survey
hosting website that is used by the professional community) and
can be accessed through the NCSF website: www.ncsfreedom.org You
can contact surveybdsm@gmail.com to receive hard copies for your
event or to distribute to your members.
Please help this community-wide effort by sending this
announcement to your email list.
###
Larry Iannotti, LCSW, is a professional social scientist and
practicing therapist getting his doctoral degree through the City
University of NY. Susan Wright is the Media Spokesperson for
NCSF, and is accredited as a research assistant affiliated with
CUNY. For more information, please call Susan at 917-848-6544, or
Larry at 212-465-1917. |
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| Something Worth Checking Out |
[Sep. 19th, 2007|10:20 pm] |
I took a class from this fellow at SEAF 2007, and found surprising similarities between him and I.
Today I received this open invitation to his latest work for free. If you haven't seen his photos, then you should. It's not porn, and most of it's not overtly erotic. It is Art with a capital A.
If you like the art he gives you for free, I can testify that what he has for sale is very much worth the money.
DEFINITELY NOT WORK SAFE.
A.M.
+++++++++++++++++++++++
Subject: Rosen Vanilla Sex
Date: Wed, 19 Sep 2007 16:48:56 -0700
From: Michael Rosen
Friends,
This is to announce the publication of my fifth photo book, Vanilla Sex: Explicit Fine Art Photographs, available as a PDF for free download from http://www.michaelrosen.com
This PDF is a reprise of a 2005 show at the Center for Sex & Culture in San Francisco. It's my latest and best work. For me, “vanilla” means the spectrum of our community’s sexuality; what we normally do. So, some photographs are of acts generally considered normal and standard (missionary position sex, for example), while others are of acts considered normal and standard only within the radical sex community. The 53 photographs are soft and romantic images of explicit sex that challenge the banality of pornography. And, check out the introduction by the preeminent photography critic, A.D. Coleman.
Think of this as an advertisement for myself and my work. For me, publication has always been about putting my point of view out in the world in the most effective manner. Last century, I chose printed books for sale; so far this century I choose a free PDF.
Support this work. Buy my art prints. Buy my books - Sexual Art, Sexual Magic, Sexual Portraits and Lust & Romance - from Amazon and other online vendors, or from me at my website, http://www.michaelrosen.com
I'm always looking for people to photograph - individuals, couples and groups - for a variety of sexually oriented projects. I pay and/or trade. Tell your friends!
I wish you all the very best,
Michael |
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