If you’re anything like me today, you’re stuck at home whether you want to be or not. Mother Nature, in her infinite wisdom, has decided to visit some frozen precipitation on us–not the fun fluffy kind either. As is the custom in the South, we are huddled up inside enjoying the view from the windows, and crossing our fingers that the power doesn’t go out. It being a “hunkered down” kind of day though, that makes it the perfect time to see what’s going on in the local blogosphere.
Last week we started the week’s blog report with a picture. Well, as the old saying goes, If it ain’t broke…well you know. Photographer Ian Curcio has a new post telling us about, and showing us, some of his recent work.
I’ve been working on an off-camera lighting workshop geared towards subject-and-location-driven lighting, which simply means working with what you have. I took artist Bailie out with me and we scouted a few locations. You can find interesting and cool places to photograph people just about anywhere. This location is not much more than an abandoned warehouse off of a four-lane highway in small town USA. It’s bent and broken, grown over and spray painted. Most people would have driven right past it and not given it a second look. But when you start pulling lights out you can turn almost nothing at all into something worth looking at in a matter of minutes. This shot took about 15 minutes start to finish.
Next up, we’ve got a new post from Tammy over at Seeding Spartanburg. She’s got a few thoughts on the “blame the media” pity party Andre Bauer’s been throwing for himself since the whole “poor kids are a lot like stray animals” thing.
OKAY…who’s tired of politicians who whine about the media sensationalizing everything when in reality what is happening to them in the media is THEIR OWN fault? Me, me, me!! Over the past year, I’ve come to the conclusion that one true sign of a sorry politician is when they always blame the media for their problems. Hello. YOU made the decision…the media is doing their job to share with the rest of us what you’re doing…even when you’re doing bad or stupid stuff that doesn’t make you look so good…they still tell. BECAUSE THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE THERE FOR…
Over at The Fat One in the Middle, blogger Heidi Anderson recently posted a nice little rant about the ins and outs of the online female skeptic community, and looking at the “cool kids” from the outside.
I remember this past summer, a friend of mine called me up to congratulate me for being the new Skepchick blogger. I had no idea what he was talking about, and it turned out he had just assumed it because they announced they were getting two new bloggers at the same time I had Tweeted that I was so excited about an opportunity coming my way. He and I laughed about it, and then when I got off the phone, I noticed that my feelings were hurt.
Why? Why would my feelings be hurt that I had been excluded from a group I had not much in common with? Why did I care, when I did not care five minutes prior to the phone call? And then it hit me. In a moment of total emotional honesty, which I hope will not be used against me, I realized that I HAD felt excluded as a woman in skepticism by some of the Skepchick stuff. The inside jokes, the “reality never looked so hot” tagline, the way that becoming a Skepchick was seen as having “arrived” in the skeptic movement as a woman, the extra attention by so many of the male bloggers, the cool avatars, the fans, the pajama parties, the drunk dials, the legendary Skepchick party at TAM, the way that the name of every event featuring even one of them was changed to include the word skepchick, ALL of these things got on my nerves more than I care to admit.
Finally, we’ve got the most recent post from Gloria Farmer’s Fakeblog. It’s best not to try to analyze this one too much, just enjoy.
Back when I was on the run from the Inquisition and being aided by the Freemasons, if somebody told me that close to a millennium later I’d be typing on a laptop, sipping soy-eggnog, and jacking off to Obama’s “HOPE” poster, I probably would have been skeptical.
I think I need some help with this social internet thing. I suck at “Twitter,” and this blog was doing well but readership has dropped substantially. Isabald says I’m too impatient and just to stick with it. Yeah, easy for him to say. That bastard’s got it made. He invented some kind of computer chip thing like ten years ago and then the millions he made from that he invested in Double-Stuff Oreo’s. He’s one smart cookie.
That’s it for this week’s blog report. As always, if you know of one we’ve missed let us know in the comments, and be sure to check out Sparkle City Blogs to get your local blog fix.
Christopher George
