Clayton Cubitt is always on

My pal photographer Clayton Cubitt has launched a new art magazine/blog. It is very cool. He's famous for, among other things, creating the Hysterical Literature series, seen above.

What began for me in the placental alchemical gloom of darkrooms, the whir of enlarger fans, the cascade of water washing over silver halide prints, has, with the revelatory chime of a computer booting up, evolved into the blue under-lit glow of distributed LCDs, the whir of RAID cooling fans, and the cascade of message notifications from social media. 

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Here's a suggestion

Whose blog did you read for free last year that inspired you?

Thank them for it.

Thank you, this isn't happiness, the greatest you are at whatever you do, for your work that inspired me, motivated me, commiserated with me, entertained me, dazzled me, and intellectually stimulated me in 2012.

Where you're going

If you're not reading Penelope Trunk, you should. While most women bloggers relegate themselves to nattering on about whatever it is most women bloggers nattering on about, Trunk blogs about the stuff that you can actually use in life, if, that is, you're a woman who is interested in using her brain.

For a while, after she got married recently, she wasn't updating her blog, but now, it seems, she's back. "How to Cope with Diversity" is a great post, and classically Penelope: it seems as if it's about one thing, when, in fact, it's about something else altogether.

I guess that's a lot like life. You think you're doing one thing, but you're not. You think you're going one way, only to end up going another. You think you know who you are, when in reality you have no idea whatsoever.

Hey, it's Friday

Well, this certainly was an interesting week. I haven't been called an "asshole" that many times since, well, last week. In case you missed any of the action, you can read my pièce de résistance post on trigger warnings and why they don't work here.

After a while, the whole thing got kind of depressing, not because of comments like, "She's not warm enough or deep enough to be a cunt," but because a) critiquing feminism is like shooting fish in a barrel, b) any purported counterargument amounted to "you're stupid," and c) it is too often the case on the internet that there is a profound lack of formidable opponents.

And who wants to be the Anderson Silva of the blogosphere?

White people problems

Over at True/Slant, I blogged about two white girls who are taking heat because they decided to go live with a family from Mexico in MacArthur Park, which is in Los Angeles.

Basically, the complaint is that white people are chock full o' inherent privilege, only people of certain races or classes can write about other people in those races or classes, and if you don't follow these rules, you are not in the club.

This thinking is asinine, stupid, and also boring. Who is anyone to define journalism? Who dictates what is politically correct and what is not? At least the two broads at hand got off their asses and did something other than claim revomited content as reporting and bitch and whine because they got called gossip bloggers for spreading rumors or whatever it is they do over there.

I'm Off the Record

Going into 2010, I don't have much in the way of concrete New Year's resolutions, other than, you know, "be less fat," "get off your ass," and "stop being such a nutcase," except that I do want to, ah, spread my wings, and venture into some new territories, and try some untried things.

I know this is shocking, but sitting around blogging about random crap does not get one taken very seriously. And serious! That is what I am now! Very, very serious! I cut like a knife. Or, you know, whatever. Actually, I drink a lot of tea, eat a lot of eggs, and don't go to yoga nearly enough.

In the spirit of taking myself more gravely, as it were, I've started a blog over at True/Slant: "Off the Record." I decided to call it that because a) I couldn't think of anything else, b) it sounded super-sexy, and c) I am totally into cheesy journalisms.

All joking aside, or at least taking a rest on the Lazy Susan in the middle of the table, I will, I hope, be doing some more serious reportage there. I'm really looking forward to it. If all goes well, when I spread my tiny new wings, I will not fall to my death and splat and break my neck on the pavement far, far below, but fly like, um, a bird, or whatever.

Anyway, follow me there. There's comments and everything! Thanks to the charming Coates Bateman for having me.

Shoot

Looking for more photojournalism on the web? Like big pictures? Here are some of the photojournalism sites that I check daily ...



Lens. As usual, the NYTimes.com does it better than anyone else. Nice emphasis on keeping it timely, understanding words are as important as images, and bringing compelling stories alive in dynamic ways. Often focuses on the stories behind the images. A few favorites: "In Dark Corners, Hope," "To Publish or Not?", "Chop and Crop," "Digital Manipulation," "Afghanistan."



Photo Journal. The Wall Street Journal's online daily roundup of photojournalism. Sometimes shocking, sometimes schlocky, the large format and brilliant colors make up for what's lacking in terms of originality. Where to go to get the day's news in pictures. Here: "A mental patient participated in a therapy session at the Galuh foundation in East Bekasi, on the outskirts of Jakarta, Indonesia, Thursday. The facility houses underprivileged mental patients. (Beawiharta/Reuters)"



The Big Picture. How the Boston Globe got it right before anyone else will forever remain a mystery, but The Big Picture set the bar high on large format news pics and remains the king of visual storytelling. The only problem is that posting is definitely not daily and seems somewhat irregular. Still, searing, encompassing stories like "2009 UN World Drug Report" have no peer.