Sometimes ten years doesn't seem like that long. I had my tenth high school reunion before I knew it, I didn't go but it didn't stop me from noticing and thinking, "damn what happened to the last ten years?"
Sometimes ten years seems like a fucking chasm. I work with and manage a slew of people that are in their mid-twenties and I pretty routinely wonder why the responsibility gap is so wide. Everybody that is within a year or two of me (let's for argument's sake say 27 and up) shows up on time, does their work, puts the shoulder to the grindstone and doesn't dick about at work. But the ones that are in their early twenties, up to about 24, are about as useful as poopy flavored lollipops. The come into work, the fuck around on their cell phones, they piss and moan about everything, they are repeatedly told time and again how to do the most mundane tasks and I feel like I am losing my damn mind just trying to keep track of who is supposed to be doing what. I have become a babysitter, not a department supervisor. It is very surprising and depressing.
Christmas is 19 days away and that is blessed news because it means that the shows of Christmas Carol are quickly dwindling. We are seating about 8,000 people a week between now and the 24th, then it tapers off to a steady one show a night and nothing to crazy. Right now thought we are pushing people through the turnstiles and I am forgetting what the hell day it is.
I had an interesting message exchange with my SG friend zupertelic, who is a splendid photographer and trying to make it here on the site. She did something so fantastic on a set that was titled Twice Told Tales. What I noticed about it was the fact that the wall with the tiled pages of Twice Told Tales was the focus and it had the most beautiful text on it and then the model, and equally beautiful DrJekyll, was slightly out of focus in the foreground. It smashed together three of my favorite arts all at once, I love art like that. It makes me appreciate the artistic process. I wish there was more of that on this site, but alas we don't always get what we want; which is a clumsy segue for this other thought.
I love music, it is probably my favorite thing next to flirting, and it surpasses reading by a nose. I have a hard time at amateur shows. The kinds that take place in warehouses with pretentious hipsters in skinny jeans charging me six dollars cover. Here is my thought on this. I appreciate the sound of the music, but I appreciate the art of the show. They are not the same. I know musicians that are fucking amazing and they can't play live for some reason, by the same token, They Might Be Giants (on my desert island five list) is one of the most dynamic bands that I have ever seen live. They just move the show from the start to the finish and you never have a moment to stop and think. All the great show bands do it too. In the last year I have seen Stars, Decemberists, Rilo Kiley, Andrew Bird, Marnie Stern, Barr and a host of others and the bands whose names I can remember have one thing in common. They don't stop the show unless they have a great reason. The "host of others" all stop and tune their god damned instruments between each song.
STOP THAT!
Dudes, let me explain something. You are playing in a shitty club, with a three quarters drunk audience and half blown speakers. We can't tell if your A is a little flat. Most of can't tell if your A is a G. Just play the fucking songs. Don't stop, don't tune, just Play. Trust me, it keeps the audience dancing, it keeps us interested and it sells tickets. Why do we walk away? BECAUSE YOU STOPPED PLAYING!
Now, you might be asking, what the fuck did that have to do with zupertelic, photography and the SG sets in review or that have gone pink? Glad you asked.
Pin-up sets that have a girl taking her clothes off are all studium, no punctum. So what a girl is getting naked. There are 197 pages of that on this site alone, forget about all the other places on the internet where you can see a naked person. I want more of the models and the photographers working to challenge me as a viewer, or a beholder of the art. Zup's set rocked me, and there are always photographers that rock me with their stuff. But they are like the bands that play straight through, tie one song to the next, and then leave my heart pounding all the way through. The other's are the bands that stop and fiddle with their shit and can't get a complete set in with stopping every song. The set--and the band--might be good, but honestly, who cares? Because nothing separates it from one set to the next.
I was looking at my favorite pictures and I think I can pick out one thing from every single photo that I loved, and I could tell you why it is important to the set, and why the photographer did it. I love a beautiful photo.
Whew, glad I got that out. I have been sitting on that tirade for about three months now. I keep peeking into the SG sets and the Member Reviews pages and wanting to tell all of the beautiful women, "Your set is good, but why did you do this one thing?" and if they can't give me an answer, I want to encourage them to not do it again.
Sometimes ten years seems like a fucking chasm. I work with and manage a slew of people that are in their mid-twenties and I pretty routinely wonder why the responsibility gap is so wide. Everybody that is within a year or two of me (let's for argument's sake say 27 and up) shows up on time, does their work, puts the shoulder to the grindstone and doesn't dick about at work. But the ones that are in their early twenties, up to about 24, are about as useful as poopy flavored lollipops. The come into work, the fuck around on their cell phones, they piss and moan about everything, they are repeatedly told time and again how to do the most mundane tasks and I feel like I am losing my damn mind just trying to keep track of who is supposed to be doing what. I have become a babysitter, not a department supervisor. It is very surprising and depressing.
Christmas is 19 days away and that is blessed news because it means that the shows of Christmas Carol are quickly dwindling. We are seating about 8,000 people a week between now and the 24th, then it tapers off to a steady one show a night and nothing to crazy. Right now thought we are pushing people through the turnstiles and I am forgetting what the hell day it is.
I had an interesting message exchange with my SG friend zupertelic, who is a splendid photographer and trying to make it here on the site. She did something so fantastic on a set that was titled Twice Told Tales. What I noticed about it was the fact that the wall with the tiled pages of Twice Told Tales was the focus and it had the most beautiful text on it and then the model, and equally beautiful DrJekyll, was slightly out of focus in the foreground. It smashed together three of my favorite arts all at once, I love art like that. It makes me appreciate the artistic process. I wish there was more of that on this site, but alas we don't always get what we want; which is a clumsy segue for this other thought.
I love music, it is probably my favorite thing next to flirting, and it surpasses reading by a nose. I have a hard time at amateur shows. The kinds that take place in warehouses with pretentious hipsters in skinny jeans charging me six dollars cover. Here is my thought on this. I appreciate the sound of the music, but I appreciate the art of the show. They are not the same. I know musicians that are fucking amazing and they can't play live for some reason, by the same token, They Might Be Giants (on my desert island five list) is one of the most dynamic bands that I have ever seen live. They just move the show from the start to the finish and you never have a moment to stop and think. All the great show bands do it too. In the last year I have seen Stars, Decemberists, Rilo Kiley, Andrew Bird, Marnie Stern, Barr and a host of others and the bands whose names I can remember have one thing in common. They don't stop the show unless they have a great reason. The "host of others" all stop and tune their god damned instruments between each song.
STOP THAT!
Dudes, let me explain something. You are playing in a shitty club, with a three quarters drunk audience and half blown speakers. We can't tell if your A is a little flat. Most of can't tell if your A is a G. Just play the fucking songs. Don't stop, don't tune, just Play. Trust me, it keeps the audience dancing, it keeps us interested and it sells tickets. Why do we walk away? BECAUSE YOU STOPPED PLAYING!
Now, you might be asking, what the fuck did that have to do with zupertelic, photography and the SG sets in review or that have gone pink? Glad you asked.
Pin-up sets that have a girl taking her clothes off are all studium, no punctum. So what a girl is getting naked. There are 197 pages of that on this site alone, forget about all the other places on the internet where you can see a naked person. I want more of the models and the photographers working to challenge me as a viewer, or a beholder of the art. Zup's set rocked me, and there are always photographers that rock me with their stuff. But they are like the bands that play straight through, tie one song to the next, and then leave my heart pounding all the way through. The other's are the bands that stop and fiddle with their shit and can't get a complete set in with stopping every song. The set--and the band--might be good, but honestly, who cares? Because nothing separates it from one set to the next.
I was looking at my favorite pictures and I think I can pick out one thing from every single photo that I loved, and I could tell you why it is important to the set, and why the photographer did it. I love a beautiful photo.
Whew, glad I got that out. I have been sitting on that tirade for about three months now. I keep peeking into the SG sets and the Member Reviews pages and wanting to tell all of the beautiful women, "Your set is good, but why did you do this one thing?" and if they can't give me an answer, I want to encourage them to not do it again.