February 2012
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Y’know when you read the author’s introduction to a book and all you can think is “wow this guy comes off as an egomaniacal prick / stop trying to sell me on this story before I’ve even started reading it my / desire to do so is actually dwindling as we speak”? And then you finally finish the book and dislike it a lot. Yup. Ender’s Game. Not into it. Too...
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January 2012
17 posts
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120dB Photo Show - A Recap!
Just want to thank everyone one more time who came out for the opening of the 120dB Photo Show at Fort Useless on Friday night, and congratulate again all the amazing ladies exhibiting work. The picture above is a mockup of the prints I had on display: clockwise from the top left is Florence + The Machine, The Antlers, Phantogram, John Maus, and CSS. I brought my camera along but actually did...
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I started out not particularly liking The Hunger Games trilogy - the first book struck me as a watered-down imitation of Battle Royale, and I was in no particular hurry to finish the series. However, I’m happy I did, as the change in tone from the first to the second and third is rather startling. Spoilers about all three books behind the link…
The main thing that irked me about the first...
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I wasn’t in my dream last night, just experienced it from a third-person limited omniscient perspective. There was this girl who was dog-sitting at someone’s house for the summer, only they were there a lot, a husband and wife and their baby. The girl was taking some kind of class at a school, and at the end of the semester the teacher ate all the students alive, then went to a staff...
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I didn’t intend to spend the whole day today sitting around in my pajamas and reading, but that’s what happened. After finishing You Deserve Nothing I started and finished Never Let Me Go, which was quite excellent. I don’t want to divulge too much about the plot because this is definitely one of those cases where going in blind is best, but I will say that this really...
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So I maybe should’ve made it my new year’s resolution to stop reading books that I know there’s a good chance will make me angry. Take You Deserve Nothing, for instance; I was intrigued by the cover and description when I saw it in Barnes & Noble, then read the Amazon reviews and got familiar with the surrounding controversy. After the long slog through 1Q84 with only...
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December 2011
5 posts
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Favorite Albums of 2011
The usual caveat applies: these are not the best albums of the year. I don’t know what the best albums of the year are, because I have a very hard time being objective about music. No, these are my favorites, the ones that hit a nerve for whatever reason, or that I listened to on repeat endlessly, critical reviews or lack thereof be damned. I sometimes try to write about why albums are my...
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Favorite Shows of 2011
My final tally for 2011 in live music comes to just under 120 shows attended, and over 300 bands seen, many multiple times. I started with the intention of making my usual list of 10 favorites plus a few honorable mentions, but had to swell it to a top 20 - truly, I was lucky enough to see and photograph a bunch of incredible shows this year. The list, and links to more photos for almost all of...
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March 2011
1 post
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SXSW 2011 Recap
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
After spending the past few years enviously following along as hordes of music media types, photographers, and fans made their annual pilgrimage down to Austin for a whirlwind week of bands and beer, this year I was determined, to hell with my anxiety over flying, to join them. I thought that spending the past couple of years covering CMJ...
January 2011
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Favorite Albums & Songs of 2010
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
Copypasting last year’s caveat, as it still applies:
I’m always hesitant to make lists of the best albums, in particular, in a given year because I never listen to as many new releases as I want/plan to. Those I do listen to take time to grow on me, be digested, and oftentimes it won’t be until months later that I decide, hey, this...
December 2010
3 posts
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Favorite Shows of 2010
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
Around mid-December my show-going schedule slows to a crawl and then a full stop, which means it’s time to take a look back on the year that was and do some tallying. This year’s final count came to around 110 shows, and a little over 200 different bands - some multiple times, of course. These were my favorites.
1. Jeff...
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Favorite Live Music Photos of 2010
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
This gallery is too large and too inconsistent in quality for me to truly call it my best of the year, but over the past few weeks I went back through the photos from all the shows I shot this year, tagged my favorites, and wound up with this. Some of these made it into my portfolio, or were serious contenders; others had certain lighting...
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Favorite Albums & Songs of 2009
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
A caveat before I start: I’m always hesitant to make lists of the best albums, in particular, in a given year because I never listen to as many new releases as I want/plan to. Those I do listen to take time to grow on me, be digested, and oftentimes it won’t be until months later that I decide, hey, this __ album is really freaking...
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10 Favorite Shows of 2009 (+3 pleasant surprises)
(archiving selected content from my old Wordpress blog!)
I started off the year with the goals of going to/taking pictures at least one show a month, and finally stepping it up and getting photo passes for things instead of shooting on the sly from the crowd all the time. Check and check! In the process, I logged way too many hours on NJ Transit (when I wasn’t missing trains altogether),...