haddadadad

I will be going through my pictures and will soon update my sites. yeeha.

Last Friday, I set up some prints and paintings at the Urbana cafe, La Gourmandise Bistro. The German cafe is operated (and I think owned) by Pete Schnabel, who is really really super nice. He’s a fan of the Haddadadad nickname and now addresses me as such. Unfortunately my camera’s battery was/is dead with the charger MIA. I took this round of pictures with the oh-so-lovely droid camera. Remember when 5.0MP cameras were crazy-expensive? Ha!

Maybe I’ll actually sell something! <3 You can check out my prints for sale on Etsy, and all paintings available on Crafthaus, which I will update when I am able to get my battery charged. I got a bunch of new paintings to put up! WHERE IS MY CHARGER?! *sob*

I moved.

My studio is now within the Independent Media Center of Urbana, or IMC as the l33t say. I was hesitant to go there (hippies! a-eee!) but the monthly rent of the new place equals the amount of money I spent on gas to get to the free old one. Also, I can get to this place by bicycle, bus, or skate, all money savers. Also, this place has loads of security and a controlled climate. Also, this place is near food establishments for when I forget to pack a lunch. Also, the people I interacted with that are in charge and not overbearing socially-inept hippies and are in fact nice, friendly people grounded in reality. The vibes of a new place are overwhelmingly positive, and these feelings of renewal shall by exploited to the fullest extent of my ability. I’ve missed the chill calm that is Urbana.

I have completed one and half commissions as of this posting, and it feels pretty good. It’s like getting my school work put on the fridge. Hauling my butt to studio will be way easier now that it’s closer. My work was up at Evolve Fitness Center in downtown Champaign from the beginning of June until last week. My latest spot will be a bistro in Urbana. I’ll link it when I’m officially on the walls there.

No sales on my Etsy as of yet. I put up a large print of my favorite recent painting. Here, let me link to it for funsies. Continuing my focus on people, I’ll probably not deviate from the theme unless a commission calls for it. I like doing different type things. Focusing on one type makes the others more exciting when they occur.

I additionally acquired a new living space, one the cats were not too happy about the first day, as displayed by their pouty faces and general spastic demeanor, running through all the rooms, climbing over everything possible, and landing in the safest place they could find. Together.

This move is probably their best bonding moment. Fiona the lioness has cooled her jets since being here, being more playful towards JP with her jabbing, batting and nipping to soft bapping and virtually no nipping unless she feels the fuzz is being a twat. JP is standing up for himself in this new unclaimed world, and they are, for the most part, now at peace with each other in a large space big enough for two cat egos.

Since that first night, JP has gone back to his station in the tv stand and has held it strongly as one of his daily posts, watching all in his shared kingdom.

BONUS: Nessa! I watched her this weekend for a friend, and this cat is abso-fucking-lutely adorable even if her favorite toy is a crumbled up ball of paper.

*disclaimer: Art is good to have in your life, even if you suck at it. I’m glad that folks with even minute inborn talent strive to make pretty or ugly things for their enjoyment. Don’t expect me to always enjoy it with you. It can be a therapeutic stress reliever, a break in the day-to-day grind to make art photos. If you don’t have an eye, you need to learn how to get one. Own up and respect will always stay up with your zeal for photography. This rant is for those who do not own up.

Now then.

A lot of people in the world get fancy cameras and sort of know how to use them. A lot of them take pictures of “serious” things and think they are serious photographs. A lot of these people are sorely mistaken that their images are high quality. While I did not major in photography, I did fancy it quite a bit and focused on DSLRs, though originally trained on a film SLR in black and white. That’s right. I have black and white cred. Light that shit on fire, Shoshannah. I know when my images are shit, and I know half if not most of them will not be acceptable to be viewed by others’ eyes.

I’m sick and fucking tired of people who just take a picture and think that it’s art. There is a HUGE difference between taking a scrapbook snapshot and taking a good picture, and there is another large gap between and interesting picture and a plain one. Just because the fancy camera can take the picture for you doesn’t mean it’s a good picture.

1. Taking a goddamn picture of a goddamn river is not art. Taking a goddamn picture of a goddamn river at an interesting angle creating an engaging perspective is. Taking a picture straight on of something is a record maker, like cataloging what a thing looks like in a reference book. You want something people pay for? Fucking make it interesting. The exception to this is that there will always be people buying skyline pictures that are flat and boring. This goes for any type of landscape, with a general focus and little depth being created. These pictures are for street vendors. These pictures are shit anywhere else.

2. Taking a goddamn picture of a goddamn dog is not art. It’s a picture of a dog. Make it interesting: the dog is making a funny face, the body is engaged in motion, its fur is prickled, the main focus is the dog, the dog is not the center of the image. Capture the moment. Again, taking a straight on, centered picture is BORING. It does not tell a story.

3. Taking a goddamn picture of a dog-gammed model is not art. You want a model that gets into it, that feels the energy of the surroundings or can fake the feeling when there isn’t one. You want a model that activates the entire image. Is the model the focus or is something else in the picture? Fucking decide and focus on it, and hire someone who can act and can provide an essence in need of capturing.

4. Taking a goddamn picture in super fucking focus is a good way to get punched in the face. OH LOOK AT ALL THIS BLURRY SHIT, THERE’S ONLY ONE THING TO LOOK AT OOO ART. Fuck you, pretentious shithole, if the composition of the image is blah, Gaussian blur will not save your ass. Speaking of composition and putting the focus of the image at the center of the picture:

5. Centering your object is another good way to get punched in the face. Composition is that thing I keep mentioning and not explaining. COMPOSITION = the arrangement of the objects/scenery/models/colors/distances within the frame. If everything is in a row, it better mean something or else your picture blows ass. Should composition be messy? Only when it’s called for. Elsewise, your mission is to get the eye to move throughout the image, bonus points to those with an intended ending gazing point. If you put the main focus in the center, the eyes do nothing. There is no discovery. STOP CENTERING SHIT I HIGHLY DOUBT YOU ARE RECORDING LIFE EVENTS FOR AN ENCYCLOPEDIA.

6. PORTRAITS ARE NOT EXCUSES TO MAKE GENERIC IMAGES. Your job is to freeze that moment in time, and make it a good one. That’s it. Regardless of where you are taking the picture, it’s your fucking job to highlight the warmth/coldness/glow/emptiness and general emotion of your subject, and to do it in a fine focus that highlights their qualities without using that low focus shit that flattens the image onto the page. You want to forget that photograph is flat. You want that person to come off of the paper.

I don’t care how nice your camera is, if you are using it for anything other than “this camera is awesome, look at what it does!” you damn well better appreciate your technology and use it properly.

I’ve started up my Etsy store. Since quitting my last job at the end of January, I’ve been painting. I got a studio space, and I started making. The Etsy store will be (for now) only prints, and I will be trying to sell the actual paintings locally. They aren’t all up on Etsy yet. To see the full set of what I’ve made (and are not embarrassed of) go to my crafthaus Balance album. I’ll be updating my crafthaus album as I finish paintings.

The main page of haddadadad has a few changes to it. There may be a redesign of the haddadadad blog in the works. I like the layout, so it may be a teeny thing like a banner change. We’ll see.

I’m going back to posting important things more often again. I will be starting a series on inline skating, involving care of skates, traits to look for when buying, and road safety. It’s all been on my mind for a few months, especially whenever cyclists hop out in front of my car like they have some giant forcefield protecting them. Cyclists have more protection from the law than skaters, but they could learn a thing or two as well.

My band is starting to record our original songs. I’ll be posting them as we get less fuzzy tracks down for your enjoyment.

Basically, if I post about the future plans, I have to do it all. Right?

(12:11:25 PM) BJB: this polanski thing… gah
(12:11:38 PM) BJB: I can remain silent no longer
(12:11:39 PM) BJB: I can remain silent no longer
(12:11:41 PM) BJB: I can remain silent no longer
(12:11:44 PM) BJB: and then he switches it up
(12:11:49 PM) BJB: I can no longer remain silent
(12:11:50 PM) BJB: SMOOTH
(12:11:57 PM) SJ: whoa.
(12:12:02 PM) SJ: THERE IS AN UNDERLINE TOO
(12:12:09 PM) BJB: for EMPHASIS!
(12:12:39 PM) SJ: i like taht he had to mortgage his place for bail
(12:12:47 PM) SJ: …he didn’t have to get bailed out
(12:12:54 PM) SJ: he could have saved that money for his buttload of lawyers
(12:13:13 PM) BJB: it’s true!
(12:13:34 PM) BJB: it’s like… can i remind you that you banged a 13 year old?
(12:13:53 PM) SJ: and intoxicated her with drugs and alcohol
(12:13:57 PM) SJ: to do so
(12:14:30 PM) BJB: I guess being married to sharon tate could fuck a dude up… but that’s not an excuse to bang a 13 year old
(12:14:33 PM) BJB: let alone drug one
(12:14:56 PM) SJ: not really
(12:15:42 PM) BJB: he’s a fucked up dude
(12:15:54 PM) SJ: you mean “artsy”
(12:16:11 PM) BJB: ha
(12:18:16 PM) BJB: i will say this about him: Chinatown is one of the best movies ever made.
(12:18:46 PM) SJ: i haven’t seen it
(12:18:53 PM) SJ: i do know he is a talented director
(12:19:07 PM) SJ: i saw a thing on tv about him
(12:19:17 PM) SJ: but he STILL decided to leave the country and not come back
(12:19:19 PM) SJ: if memory serves
(12:19:27 PM) BJB: yeah
(12:19:34 PM) BJB: he needs to be in a special kind of jail
(12:19:38 PM) BJB: the asspound kind

Dear Roman Polanski,

Shut up. Seriously, shut the fuck up. You left the country to escape the United States law. You made the decision to stay out of the country since 1977 while leaving the case officially unresolved.

I read your recent statement on a pdf file. You seem to feel you’ve fulfilled your sentence for having sex with a thirteen-year-old girl in 1977 that you gave alcohol and drugs to. Have you realized that, had you stayed in the country, this all would have been over long ago? Maybe even twenty years ago?

Artistic talent is a fantastic thing to have, and people believing in your talent garner support to you. You’ve been making movies all these years, fantastic movies that so many people love. You’re still a rapist.

At this stage of the game, it’s common knowledge you banged a barely teen-aged Samantha Geimer by giving her sedatives and alcoholic drinks while you were well above the age of eighteen. It’s been over thirty years and the victim of this crime has come to terms with it, yet you haven’t actually served your term as you were never properly sentenced. That time you were held was only for psychiatric evaluation. Why do you think that you should come back Stateside without finishing what you started? For such a professional, you seem to be lacking on tying up your loose ends.

Geimer asking for the case to be dropped shows that she’s tired of the lack of resolution. Her request being denied shows that many other people feel that there is a rapist that has not paid his debt to society. You face- and ass-fucked a young teenager. Come back and serve time and you’ll be going back to making movies in no time.

Sincerely,
haddadadad

Polanski Breaks Long Silence on His Extradition ontd
I can remain silent no longer! Roman Polanski courtesy the new york times

Cute girl to drunk friend sitting provocatively with a miniskirt on: Sit up, Beth, your coochie’s hangin’ out.
Drunk friend: I can’t get up. (yelling) Does anyone on this train have a problem with my vagina hanging out?
(train is silent)
Drunk friend: See? No one cares. Vaginas are like modern art these days.
Cute girl: I guess.
Drunk friend: You could take a picture of my snatch right now, frame it, make it look like Warhol, and it would sell in the MoMA for five thousand bucks. Hell, I should be charging admission fees right now. Anyone who comes to see my snatch exhibit and doesn’t buy a copy is a misogynist.

–A Train

Hasn’t That Exhibit Been Done? overheard in new york

i’m kind of excited about it.

Hey beeches. The latest and greatest work is up on the Recent Work page. Check ‘em out. Be wowwed.

Did you know bunnies stomp their back feet when they get pissed? I do now.

I joined the new artist internet network, Crafthaus, a month or two ago when Jon and Connie showed me it. I didn’t think much of it, but they are getting to be a ton of people on there. The creator, Brigitte Martin, messaged me this morning — they put the picture of my entropic movement number one as the header for the week. Cool.

The network can be like Etsy — selling work is an option — and the profiles are similar to facebook and myspace. It’s a portfolio on the internet for all to see. Artists with or working towards BFAs and MFAs are target members. The general idea is to stick to artsy fartsy and what type of things the member is making. Bonus: Brigitte Martin is currently based in Pittsburgh! HECK. YES.

I have the sudden urge to update this website. Uh oh.

You can check out my main page up in here, browse around or whatever: me page!