The work of Michael Garlington is strange, mysterious and sometimes disturbing. Capturing that which may be considered off color or taboo, Garlington’s imagery maintains a level of mystery that makes his work engaging. Who are these people? How did they get here? All questions that may run through your mind when viewing his work. It’s as if you don’t know if he staged these shots himself, or snapped a few pictures while hitchhiking across the back roads of rural Texas. Regardless, Garlington’s imagery is challenging and compelling, a reminder that sometimes what we don’t understand is exactly what we need to receive.
Our good friend G*LEE is set to release her debut EP More Than This in the months to come. Sharing some insight into her upbringing and development, G*LEE’s story relates her path of personal discovery. Finding her escape in the form of poetry and music, G*LEE’s latest project is in many ways a culmination of her journey thus far. “Music became a shelter that I could always come back to,” says G*LEE, “It was the only place I could relate my true self.” A world traveler but based in New York, with years before her 21st, I think it’s safe to say that much of G*LEE’s story is still to be told.
Comedy: “A dramatic work that is light and often humorous or satirical in tone and that usually contains a happy resolution of the thematic conflict.”
Tragedy: “A drama or literary work in which the main character is brought to ruin or suffers extreme sorrow, especially as a consequence of a tragic flaw, moral weakness, or inability to cope with unfavorable circumstances.”
It’s really sad and somewhat depressing when you reach the tragic realization that you just can’t do certain things anymore. Once you pass 25, these things start to become more and more apparent the older you get, and you notice them more and more frequently. Some things we force on ourselves, for example, all of the things people say, “I’m too grown for this” or “I’m too old to be doing that.” These are limitations we put on ourselves because if you can still do it physically, you can still do it mentally. But then, there are the things that you physically cannot do or simply aren’t as efficient at anymore. This is the beginning of the tragedy of getting older. From simple things like not being able to grow hair in certain places, to not being able to hang out as long, to bigger things like arthritis: our bodies change.
It’s funny how things progress. One day you’re looking into the future dreaming about what it’ll be like when… The next day you’re there, trying to remember what it was like. When it comes to success stories, Mark Zuckerberg’s ranks up there with the greats, already. And at 27, he might just be getting started.
I wanted to share this remarkably amateur video in its entirety just to relate the fact that many great things start from something small. Often times a single idea can grow into something extraordinary. And a lot of times you’ve gotta see it before anyone else does and know that they’ll come around in time. I’m sure Mark did, and look where he is now.
It was Manu’s initiative that first brought us together. Born in Avignon, France, but currently studying in Arles, it was a simple email from French photographer Emmanuel Fauque that brought our two worlds together. At only 19 years of age, it seems as though Manu has already begun to develop his own artistic aesthetic, with flashes of nature and youthful energy expressed throughout his work. Looking to tap into his passion for photography, I recently spoke with Manu about his work, his love of France, and what makes a perfect picture.
“The internet is showing us what it thinks we want to see.”
Those are the words of political activist and internet enthusiast Eli Pariser. Highlighting the potential dangers of personalized search results in the form of filter bubbles, this recent TED talk discusses the evolving nature of internet search. Where in the past, our searches may yield the same or at least similar results in the form of relevant websites, filter bubbles are effectively creating personalized universes of information that are specifically tailored to us. On the surface, this may seem like a positive development, although I wonder if it’s right to let a computer algorithm decide what we see, and also what we don’t see. As our marriage with technology continues to evolve it will be interesting to see how this phenomena develops. I’ve done an alright job of explaining this, but I’ll let Eli take it from here. Thanks Will.
Slumdog Thrillionaires. That’s what the Daily Mail called this group of kids in Mumbai, India, who have recently gained global notoriety for their train surfing exploits. Filmed while hanging off of railway cars, the film shows kids performing some epic stunts that hinge on insanity. But don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. Quite peculiar, and definitely extraordinary.
There are few things weaker than getting arrested. I’m not sure if you’ve ever had the privilege of getting your picture taken while arguably doing your worst, but I was fortunate enough to have been captured after copping my DUI last year. With the purpose to “neither judge the guilt or innocence of those portrayed,” author, photographer and filmmaker George Seminara has compiled this collection of photographs for your viewing pleasure. Sourcing photographs from the 50′s to the 90′s, Seminara’s collection highlights the various personalities that have ended up on the other side of the law. If nothing else, use this as inspiration. You can go to jail and still be successful.
On December 14, 1974 Marvin Gaye sang the National Anthem at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum before the Raiders beat the Dallas Cowboys 27-23 in front of a national television audience. Marvin donned his iconic red beanie in the Bay Area’s temperate 53-degree weather and blessed America with its self-affirming anthem. He looked at ease, but earlier that year, on the very same field, Marvin Gaye had confronted some of his biggest demons by returning to the national spotlight… live in Oakland, CA.
In 1966, before London was burning down, London was blowing up. The city got its first taste of technology and music when Bob Dylan played his electric show at the Royal Albert Hall. Fashion became a form of self-expression with the emergence of the clean fits of the “mods”. Art and architecture were like something out of the future. Sex was becoming an act people enjoyed rather than attached their guilt and insecurities. Drugs expanded minds rather than solely killing pain. And the craziest thing happened: popular culture actually mirrored what people were feeling. People weren’t rioting. The “free world” wasn’t controlled by four or five Rupert Murdochs. In essence, London in 1966 was an awakening and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow Up was that feeling distilled into a film.
Where do we draw the line between human and animal? For anyone who’s ever felt they connected, communicated with, or understood a pet or another animal, it’s a question you’ve probably explored before. For Nim Chimpsky, exploring the complexities of that question shaped every aspect of his life. Originally conceived by Columbia professor Herbert S. Terrace in 1973, Project Nim placed Nim, a chimpanzee, in a human family, raising him in many ways as a child, in an attempt to refute linguistics expert Noam Chomsky’s theory that language was inherent only to humans.
Project Nim, released just a few weeks ago in select theaters traces the story of Nim, his family, and the pseudo-scientific research that came to characterize the study as a whole. That Nim had an lasting, immense emotional impact on the people around him makes his story powerful. The impact the study had on Nim, on the other hand, make his story disturbing, a testament to the limits of scientific inquiry, or simply a cautionary tale about the implications of truly delving into such a complex question. Either way, this is looking like a must see. Hit MORE if you need more convincing though.
I’m not sure I ever quite realized how dope the library was when I was younger. I had my card, and occasionally I’d stop by with my folks and sift through the endless supply of volumes available at one of a few Berkeley branches. This of course, was the early ’90s, and soon enough, AIM, and Napster would take their place next to TV, executing an effective coup d’etat over my fledgling attention span. Now, in the era of Kindles and iTouches, spending cuts and budget issues, libraries are in trouble nationwide. I suppose that’s why this project struck a chord.
In the spring of ’71, the town of Troy, Michigan would see its first public library open its doors. In an attempt to show local kids the value of libraries, and the enjoyment theirs could bring them, an ambitious librarian named Marguerite Hart devised a plan. Sending out thousands of letters to famous and influential public figures, Hart was humbled by the response, receiving letters, each addressed to the children of Troy, from dozens of cultural icons, including Dr. Seuss, Isaac Asimov, Saul Alinsky and EB White, to name a few. Below are a few of the letters in their original form. Might be time to do something like this.
In 1964, just as The Beatles were launching their invasion of America’s airwaves, Marshall McLuhan published Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man and transformed himself from an obscure academic into a star. Oracular, gnomic, and mindbending, the book was a perfect product of the sixties, that now-distant decade of acid trips and moon shots, inner and outer voyaging.
Understanding Media was at heart a prophecy, and what it prophesied was the dissolution of the linear mind. McLuhan declared that the “electric media” of the twentieth century–telephone, radio, movies, television– were breaking the tyranny of text over our thoughts and sense. Our isolated, fragmented selves, locked for centuries in the private reading of printed pages, were becoming whole again, merging into the global equivalent of a tribal village. We were approaching “the technological simulation of a consciousness, when the creative process of knowing will be collectively and corporately extended to the whole of human society.” Even at the crest of its fame, Understanding Media was a book more talked about than read. Today it has become a cultural relic, consigned to media studies courses in universities. But McLuhan, as much a showman as a scholar, was a master at turning phrases, and one of them, sprung from the pages of the book, lives on as a popular saying: “The medium is the message.”
Photography By Emmanuel Fauque 
