Hey Folks
I am on a conference call as I write and am totally late to a meeting right now, but blogging is addictive and I just spent the last few hours editing this footage from aether last week at Skully's. What a fantastic show, check them out at www.aethersound.com.
This is my new favorite song!
Later gator,
J
Tuesday, February 28, 2006
aether live at Skully's
Live performance of Columbus indie band, aether, at Skully's February 24, 2006. Video footage shot by Liv Gjestvang, edited by Julia Applegate
Sunday, February 26, 2006
hiya
Hey folks, welcome to my blog. I am confronting my technophobia head on with this blog thing. This is my 7th post and I am attempting to set it up so people can subscribe if they like. So, if all goes well you are here now because you received an invitation from googlegroups. Look around and if you like what's going on here, you can subscribe to the googlegroup and you will get an email whenever I update my blog. And by the way, this blog will chronicle my quest to hone my a/v skills into something worth viewing on a regular basis.
Have fun!
Have fun!
Saturday, February 25, 2006
Friday, February 24, 2006
topless barber
In my quest for a/v expertise, I set off this morning to find a story for my final DVD project in my art class. In the class we are learning how to program DVDs (I had no idea what I was getting into when I walked in there, it caught my attention because it was supposed to focus on podcasting too). Anyway, I've been tossing around several ideas and finally decided to do a project I have had in mind for years.
I am fascinated by the changing landscape all over Central Ohio...the neverending reach of urban sprawl and the consequent replacement of expansive cornfields with pre-fab cookie cutter houses. Every cornfield overturned by one of these horrid developments spells the end for delapidated barns, sheds, homesteads, etc. Everytime I see one of these old structures decaying in an empty field I want to pull over and scout around to see what traces of life are left.
So, I decided to head South toward Chillicothe, one of the relatively new areas targeted by hungry developers.
(What the hell does all this have to do with a topless barber, you are asking yourself right now. I know, I know, but I am longwinded and I need to set the scene, context is everything.)
OK, so I decide to stop first at a new development my Maronda Homes just to see what the landscape of a development in process looks like. Let me tell you, it's freaky and I will write more about it in another blog, I promise. After traipsing around this area for a good hour, I decide to head back to Columbus rather than go to Chillicothe because my camera battery is dying and I am sure I have enough material for the time being.
While driving back I am struck by the stench of garbage all around me and stop to take pictures of an electricity plant, a sewage treatment facility, a prison and a handful of abandonned factories. It's a part of the city I pass every time I drive to Cincinnati, but I've never stopped to look around. More on this later...
So, while heading home up South High St I pass this sign:
Duh, of course I pull into Buckeye Donuts for a giant U-turn. Now that I officially occupy space in blogland, everything is a potential post and I couldn't let this sign go undocumented. So, I jump out of my car, take the shot and then discover this sign on the other side of the shop:
Clearly, this George the Barber guy is a trip. Satisfied with my new blog fodder, I head back to my car and prepare to take off toward home. Just as I am about to pull away, I notice this older guy running down the street after me with an inkpen in his hand. OK, so this is South High Street and strange things happen in this part of town but it's broad daylight and I have just taken a picture of a shop and I am thinking that this running man might have something to tell me about the shop or the sign or God knows what. So, I wait for him to catch up to me and he hands me this pen that reads: "GEORGE THE BARBER 1538 S. HIGH ST. BEST HEAD JOBS IN TOWN"
That's it, he hands me a pen, smiles and then disappears into the ether.
I'm stunned because I am already having a freaky day, but I figure, alright, I am trying to do this a/v thing and this amazing guy just drops out of the universe and lands in my lap and I better go introduce myself, thank him for the pen and at least take his picture so I can include it in the blog. So, for the second time in 10 minutes I do a "U-ey" on High St., park my car and go find this guy in his barber shop. This was at 1:30 p.m. It ends up being 3:00 before I finally leave.
It turns out George is a Hungarian immigrant who left Hungary 50 years ago, right after living through the revolution that toppled communism in his homeland. He shows me pictures of it in the 1956 coverage from Life Magazine, and as if that isn't amazing enough, he then shows me a picture of him as a 9 year old boy clutching a pile of LPs as he is running from blasts in his neighborhood, a picture that is in the same edition of Life Magazine. Oh yeah, and the first thing he asked me when I walked through his door was if I told stories. This all too amazing to believe. One word...SYNCHRONICITY.
This is George:
This is me with George (it was his idea that I sit in the chair and take the picture with both of us in the frame):
Anyway, I am a novice at this stuff, but I am not stupid, so I pull out the video camera and ask him if he will talk to me on tape. He is thrilled to tell his story and immediately starts combing his hair in preparation to be on camera. I have the whole thing on tape and it's amazing, so watch for a post on my vlog as soon as I can get it edited.
Oh yeah and I still haven't explained the title, he's called the topless barber because he cut hair topless one year on April Fools Day. He said no one was doing anything fun anymore, so he set up a sign advertising "Topless Haircuts." He made the national news that day.
Here's George's Barber's Licencse:
Need I say more?
I am fascinated by the changing landscape all over Central Ohio...the neverending reach of urban sprawl and the consequent replacement of expansive cornfields with pre-fab cookie cutter houses. Every cornfield overturned by one of these horrid developments spells the end for delapidated barns, sheds, homesteads, etc. Everytime I see one of these old structures decaying in an empty field I want to pull over and scout around to see what traces of life are left.
So, I decided to head South toward Chillicothe, one of the relatively new areas targeted by hungry developers.
(What the hell does all this have to do with a topless barber, you are asking yourself right now. I know, I know, but I am longwinded and I need to set the scene, context is everything.)
OK, so I decide to stop first at a new development my Maronda Homes just to see what the landscape of a development in process looks like. Let me tell you, it's freaky and I will write more about it in another blog, I promise. After traipsing around this area for a good hour, I decide to head back to Columbus rather than go to Chillicothe because my camera battery is dying and I am sure I have enough material for the time being.
While driving back I am struck by the stench of garbage all around me and stop to take pictures of an electricity plant, a sewage treatment facility, a prison and a handful of abandonned factories. It's a part of the city I pass every time I drive to Cincinnati, but I've never stopped to look around. More on this later...
So, while heading home up South High St I pass this sign:
Duh, of course I pull into Buckeye Donuts for a giant U-turn. Now that I officially occupy space in blogland, everything is a potential post and I couldn't let this sign go undocumented. So, I jump out of my car, take the shot and then discover this sign on the other side of the shop:
Clearly, this George the Barber guy is a trip. Satisfied with my new blog fodder, I head back to my car and prepare to take off toward home. Just as I am about to pull away, I notice this older guy running down the street after me with an inkpen in his hand. OK, so this is South High Street and strange things happen in this part of town but it's broad daylight and I have just taken a picture of a shop and I am thinking that this running man might have something to tell me about the shop or the sign or God knows what. So, I wait for him to catch up to me and he hands me this pen that reads: "GEORGE THE BARBER 1538 S. HIGH ST. BEST HEAD JOBS IN TOWN"
That's it, he hands me a pen, smiles and then disappears into the ether.
I'm stunned because I am already having a freaky day, but I figure, alright, I am trying to do this a/v thing and this amazing guy just drops out of the universe and lands in my lap and I better go introduce myself, thank him for the pen and at least take his picture so I can include it in the blog. So, for the second time in 10 minutes I do a "U-ey" on High St., park my car and go find this guy in his barber shop. This was at 1:30 p.m. It ends up being 3:00 before I finally leave.
It turns out George is a Hungarian immigrant who left Hungary 50 years ago, right after living through the revolution that toppled communism in his homeland. He shows me pictures of it in the 1956 coverage from Life Magazine, and as if that isn't amazing enough, he then shows me a picture of him as a 9 year old boy clutching a pile of LPs as he is running from blasts in his neighborhood, a picture that is in the same edition of Life Magazine. Oh yeah, and the first thing he asked me when I walked through his door was if I told stories. This all too amazing to believe. One word...SYNCHRONICITY.
This is George:
This is me with George (it was his idea that I sit in the chair and take the picture with both of us in the frame):
Anyway, I am a novice at this stuff, but I am not stupid, so I pull out the video camera and ask him if he will talk to me on tape. He is thrilled to tell his story and immediately starts combing his hair in preparation to be on camera. I have the whole thing on tape and it's amazing, so watch for a post on my vlog as soon as I can get it edited.
Oh yeah and I still haven't explained the title, he's called the topless barber because he cut hair topless one year on April Fools Day. He said no one was doing anything fun anymore, so he set up a sign advertising "Topless Haircuts." He made the national news that day.
Here's George's Barber's Licencse:
Need I say more?
Wednesday, February 22, 2006
senior dating
Last week my Dad was in town and I got this great idea that he create an account on match.com. We spent about an hour creating his profile and posting it online. We picked HikerGary64 as his screen name and chose a nice picture for his profile.
Check out those great specs!:
I'm not sure this is the exact picture he would have chosen for himself, but it seemed fun to me and it captures his youthful take on life, besides that, it was the best one we could access from my sister's computer (it's a good thing potential dates can't tell he's at the gay pride parade!) Anyway, we put up the picture and his profile and waited to see what would happen.
Less than 6 hours passed by before he got his first wink (a match.com form of flirting) from this lady (she's 71 and calls herself Pearlums):
At this point he wasn't so sure about this match.com thing anymore.
Then, he gets his first email from this woman (dizzyavonlady):
Now he's really not so sure, especially when we open the email and read this message:
"Why dont you take of those stupid glasses act like beinging 64 not 4 ."
I did not touch the spelling, I swear.
Now he's ready to kill me. He's just spent $50 and so far has two less than desirable winks and one bitter email. I'm bad, but it's cracking me up because I know he'll get some good hits eventually and what a great story this all makes. By the way, Liv started harassing me two days into this whole thing because she caught me trying to send a wink on my Dad's behalf....she said it was strangely co-dependent and that I better get a grip and quit checking his site every 4 hours. I shrunk in my seat when she told me that because I know she's right, but it's kind of fun playing matchmaker.
Anyway, in the past week he has been viewed by 141 women and has had several winks from women who might be more his type, including:
She was a hot prospect until he went to dinner with her and reported back to me that she was "too weird" for him. Alas, the adventures of dating in your 60's!
Check out those great specs!:
I'm not sure this is the exact picture he would have chosen for himself, but it seemed fun to me and it captures his youthful take on life, besides that, it was the best one we could access from my sister's computer (it's a good thing potential dates can't tell he's at the gay pride parade!) Anyway, we put up the picture and his profile and waited to see what would happen.
Less than 6 hours passed by before he got his first wink (a match.com form of flirting) from this lady (she's 71 and calls herself Pearlums):
At this point he wasn't so sure about this match.com thing anymore.
Then, he gets his first email from this woman (dizzyavonlady):
Now he's really not so sure, especially when we open the email and read this message:
"Why dont you take of those stupid glasses act like beinging 64 not 4 ."
I did not touch the spelling, I swear.
Now he's ready to kill me. He's just spent $50 and so far has two less than desirable winks and one bitter email. I'm bad, but it's cracking me up because I know he'll get some good hits eventually and what a great story this all makes. By the way, Liv started harassing me two days into this whole thing because she caught me trying to send a wink on my Dad's behalf....she said it was strangely co-dependent and that I better get a grip and quit checking his site every 4 hours. I shrunk in my seat when she told me that because I know she's right, but it's kind of fun playing matchmaker.
Anyway, in the past week he has been viewed by 141 women and has had several winks from women who might be more his type, including:
She was a hot prospect until he went to dinner with her and reported back to me that she was "too weird" for him. Alas, the adventures of dating in your 60's!
Monday, February 13, 2006
February 13th
So, I spent the whole day in front of my new best friend (my imac) trying to figure out what to do for a podcast, what to do for a vlog, what to do with the rest of my life. So it goes.
I decided to get out the video camera and document my "Modern Ideas" creation, part of a fashion design project I am doing with 7 of the craziest people I know. Alas, it turned into a vlog about failing at vlogging. Follow the link and off you go!
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