Unnatural Eye

Twitter

2011-06-26T12:34:00.002-07:00

Follow me on Twitter. I've run out of time for blogging much but I am fairly active on Twitter. I'm evondy:

Salvador Duran Show

2011-06-26T12:32:00.001-07:00

I took some photos of Tucson musician Salvador Duran when he played at my conference last week. Joey Burns from Calexico accompanied him.

100 Greatest Movie Threats of All Time

2011-06-01T06:00:00.000-07:00

New Works

2011-05-31T12:00:00.000-07:00

I was in California over the weekend taking photos for the first time in months. I got back late last night and had less then an hour to work on any images. Here's 3.

God Save the Queen Banned on this Day in 1977

2011-05-31T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Sex Pistols song was banned on the BBC for being in 'gross bad taste' on this date in 1977.

George Takei Calls a School Board Member a Douche Bag

2011-05-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

Happy 81st Birthday to Clint Eastwood

2011-05-31T06:03:00.001-07:00

Happy 100th Birthday to the Late Vincent Price

2011-05-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

Bradley Cooper wants to make Hyperion into Movie

2011-05-27T06:14:00.004-07:00

Bradley Cooper, that guy who played the lame Will Tippin in Alias and is now banging Olivia Wilde, is a big fan of Dan Simmons's book Hyperion and has written a spec script for a film based on it. Hyperion is a sort of sci-fi version of Canterbury Tales featuring a group of people traveling together preparing to face something on an alien world. Much of the book is told in flashbacks as we learn why these people are where they are and those stories are epic. I fear I will have to reevaluate my opinion of Bradley Cooper now.

Zookeeper Trailer

2011-05-26T12:00:00.000-07:00

This looks better then it has a right to be

Shark Night 3-D Trailer

2011-05-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

This looks awful

The Descendants Trailer

2011-05-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Joey Ramone

2011-05-19T06:29:00.001-07:00

The New Girl - Zooey Deschanel's New Sitcom

2011-05-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

War is a Racket by Smedley Butler

2011-05-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

A reenactment of Butler's speech that he gave in the early 1930's. It's nearly a hundred years ago that the events he is talking about took place and nothing has changed.

Thomas Heatherwick on the Seed Cathedral

2011-05-18T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Birdflower Telecaster - a True Work of Art

2011-05-17T16:38:00.003-07:00

Built in Fender's custom shop. Read about it here.

Straw Dogs Trailer

2011-05-17T05:58:00.002-07:00

So they've gone and remade Straw Dogs and moved the setting from rural Cornwall to rural Mississippi. I can live with that if the message is rednecks are rednecks everywhere. I'm really not sure what to make of this trailer. James Marsden is no Dustin Hoffman but then who is. Kate Bosworth is also no Susan George. From the trailer it looks like a fairly close to the original remake - which begs the questions: why bother to remake it and why film it is Missisippi?

New Wave Songs You Should Know #20: Betty Davis Eyes by Kim Carnes

2011-05-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Today in 1981, Kim Carnes's 'Betty Davis Eyes' began a 9 week stint at No. 1 on the Billboard charts

Pet Sounds was Released 44 Years Ago Today

2011-05-16T10:00:00.000-07:00

This is a bonus track from Pet Sounds. This is the original version of 'I Know There's an Answer.' The lyrics to 'Hang on to Your Ego' were changed as they were drug related.

San Xavier del Bac

2011-05-16T08:00:00.000-07:00

My latest image is a redo of a previous image.

Groundhog Day as a Horror Movie

2011-05-16T06:22:00.001-07:00

Nuke Porn

2011-05-14T10:30:00.003-07:00

How to be a Retronaut has some insanely cool nuclear bomb images from from the Cold War like these two images above.

Justin Townes Earle - Louisiana 1927

2011-05-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

Cover of a Randy Newman song

I am an International Award Winning Photographer

2011-05-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

Yes, it's true. Here's a photo to prove it. OK, technically I am an award winning CD/DVD Artwork Designer. I took all the photos for Outskirts of Eden. Jude designed it. Outkirts of Eden is available at CDBaby, Amazon, and iTunes. Congrats Jude.

Norsigian Mistake

2011-05-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

Apparently several hundred people who have been searching for Rick Norsigian's alleged Ansel Adams images have become confused nude black an white images from this site pop up on their Bing searches. Why? The search pulls up a full page of my blog. Norsigian is on that page but there are no images but there are images by Alexander Shahabalov & Yan McLine

Ghosted Trailer

2011-05-12T06:11:00.000-07:00

The Italian Job Movie Poster

2011-05-06T06:04:00.000-07:00

Martha Marcy May Marlene Trailer

2011-05-05T12:00:00.000-07:00

Having watched John Hawkes in Deadwood I never saw his turn as intense redneck coming. He was fantastic in Winter's Bone. He looks fantastic in whatever this film is.

30 Minutes or Less Red Band Trailer

2011-05-05T10:00:00.000-07:00

2nd Green Lantern Trailer

2011-05-05T08:00:00.000-07:00

1st Conan Trailer

2011-05-05T06:00:00.000-07:00

New Wave Songs You Should Know #19: I Got You by Split Enz

2011-05-04T14:00:00.000-07:00

Lady Gaga Fugue

2011-05-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Giovanni Dettori composed this piece based on Lady Gaga's Bad Romance

Happy Birthday Thomas Henry Huxley

2011-05-04T08:00:00.000-07:00

Huxley (1825-1895) was an early advocate for evolution and as such gained the name, "Darwin's Bulldog." He is the grandfather of Aldous Huxley.

Here are two quotes:

1. What we call rational grounds for beliefs are often irrational attempts to justify instincts.
2. Irrationally held truths may be more harmful then reasoned errors.

Joseph Gordon-Levitt Raps

2011-05-04T06:07:00.003-07:00

OK, it's part of his collaborative art project hitRECord and its only 1 verse, but you can hear JGL rapping in the second verse of of this song.

B-Movie Star Found Mummified

2011-05-03T12:00:00.001-07:00

She starred in such films as Hud, Attack of the 50' Woman and Attack of the Giant Leeches. She has guest appearances on shows like M Squad, My Three Sons, and Emergency. For most of the last 40 years she's been retired. She was Playboy's Playmate of the Month in July, 1959. There's some question as to her age. IMDB says she was born in 1936. Wikipedia and most obits say 1928. Yvette Vickers died last year. She was found mummified in her home this week. A neighbor noticed cobwebs and yellowing letters and went to investigate.

The grim discovery was made by neighbour Susan Savage who noticed that letters stuck in Vickers' mail box were yellowing around the edges and that cobwebs had gathered in the doorway.

Savage had to push her way through a mountain of uncollected fanmail and boxes to find the body; a small heater was still been running next to it. At least one window was broken at the home.

A sad fate for a classic B-Movie star.

Tarantino's Django Unchained Gets a Possible Synopsis

2011-05-03T10:00:00.001-07:00

For the record, I'm not willing to believe all of this yet. There's just too little real evidence out there. Most of what we're relying in is anonymous folks claiming to have seen the script - or taken a photo of it. Still, if true, it sounds pretty bad-ass:

The title character Django is a freed slave, who under the tutelage of a German bounty hunter (Christophe Waltz) becomes a badass bounty hunter himself and after assisting Waltz on taking down some bad guys for profit, is in turn assisted by Waltz in tracking down his slave wife and liberating her from an evil plantation owner. And that doesn’t even half begin to cover it!

So Django needs to be black. Samuel L. Jackson's a bit old for the part. Maybe someone like Michael Jai White. Or maybe Donald Glover. OK, maybe that one's just because I'm a big Donald Glover fan.

Guy Pearce Joins Prometheus

2011-05-03T08:00:00.000-07:00

OK, so now Guy Pearce has joined Ridley Scott's pseudo-Alien film Prometheus along with Idris Elba, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Noomi Rapace. This just keeps getting better.

1858 Photos of Napoleon's Soldiers

2011-05-03T06:00:00.000-07:00

How to be a Retronaut has a great gallery of veterans of Napoleon's Grande Armee in their old uniforms. The images were thought to have been taken in 1858.

In Non-Bin Laden Related News Here's Teddy Roosevelt Shooting Bigfoot

2011-05-02T14:00:00.000-07:00

Bin Laden's Dead

2011-05-02T12:00:00.000-07:00

Osama Bin Laden Dead and The Pixies to Record New Album - Can this Day get any Better?

2011-05-02T10:00:00.000-07:00

According to the Guardian, The Pixies will record a new album once their current tour finishes. This will be their first album in 20 years.

Kill or Be Killed: Military Weapons and Hand-to-Hand Combat Techniques - U.S. Army Training (1943)

2011-05-02T08:00:00.000-07:00

Random Kurt Vonnegut Quote

2011-05-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

"If Jesus were alive today, we would kill him with lethal injection. I call that progress. We would have to kill him for the same reason he was killed the first time. His ideas are just too liberal."

This is from a speech at Clowes Hall in Indianapolis on April 27, 2007. It is quoted in Armageddon in Retrospect. Of course, he died on April 11, 2007 and therefore the speech was never given.

Well put

2011-05-01T21:39:00.000-07:00

You Yo Ma and Lil Buck

2011-04-29T14:00:00.001-07:00

Graffiti from Pompeii

2011-04-29T12:00:00.000-07:00

Click Here

Just to give you a sample: Weep, you girls. My penis has given you up. Now it penetrates men’s behinds. Goodbye, wondrous femininity!

Besties Night with Tommy Lee

2011-04-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

Bestie's Night from Tommy Lee

X-Men: First Class International Trailer

2011-04-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

Ken Russell Interview

2011-04-29T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Devils is one my favorite films. Ken Russell's 1971 films stars Oliver Reed as a priest charged with possessing several nuns. Its done with usual Russel surrealism and is one disturbing film. It is not available on DVD. Apparently, I have only seen the edited version too. If I were in London, I would be able to see the unedited version, which will show at the Barbicon theater Sunday. The Guardian has an interview with the 84 year old Russell who may or may not be senile.

Little Alex: All Growed Up

2011-04-28T08:00:00.000-07:00

Calvin and Hobbes on Debate

2011-04-28T06:07:00.000-07:00

Street Light Interference

2011-04-27T12:00:00.000-07:00

From about the time I was 15 until I was in my early 30's streetlights would often blink out as I passed under them. This would usually be just a stray light turning off as I drove underneath it but had happened to a row of lights as I walked under each one. I first noticed it when I was 15 and riding my bike home at night when every street light from 36th Street and Indian School to 28th Street and Indian School went out as I rode beneath them.

Could it all have been coincidence? Of course. It could be that I was just better attuned to faulty streetlights because of the incident described above. Still, it once happened with alarming regularity.

Fortean Times has an article on this phenomena. There's even a book coming out on the topic.

PedoPastors: a Running List

2011-04-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

Mojoey keeps a blog covered pastors, priests and other people of the cloth who get themselves into trouble - usually by raping minors. Why does he do this? He lists 4 reasons:

Romans 1:25 – Atheism is a mental drug for the morally corrupt. Crimes like rape, murder and blasphemy are acceptable to atheists.
John 4:16 – God is love. Atheists say romantic love is nothing but a chemical reaction. When an atheist says he loves you, he is planning on raping you. Atheists practice compassion only to get something, like sex or money.
Psalms 53:1 – Atheists are fools. Atheists are nice only for their own gain.
Corinthians 6:14 – Christians should not be yoked with unbelievers.

He has over a thousand pedopastors. About 1/4 are represented in the image above. Take a look at his Deep Thoughts blog. The accounts are frightening: sex with 13 year olds, threesomes with 17 year olds, beastiality, beating a 64 year old woman - and that's just from the first page.

Scooby Doo's No Country for Old Men

2011-04-27T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Batman Complex

2011-04-27T06:00:00.000-07:00

This would be an awesome film

R.I.P. - Poly Styrene

2011-04-26T16:30:00.002-07:00

The legendary singer of the legendary punk band X-Ray Spex died of cancer at the age of 53.

More Words of Wisdom by Will Ferrell

2011-04-26T10:00:00.001-07:00

This is a Will Ferrell parody account - which explains why I think its funny.

Jeff and Britta in (500) Days of Summer Trailer

2011-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

Star of The Killing to Star in WWZ

2011-04-26T06:07:00.004-07:00

Mirelle Enos, who stars on AMC's excellent ripoff of a Danish show of the same name, is set to star in World War Z. She will play the wife of Brad Pitt. World War Z is based on the book World War Z: an Oral History of the Zombie War. I imagined a film version to be a fake documentary that followed the books accounts of different battles. Brad Pitt would be the narrator. However, it appears that the book's unique (for the zombie genre anyway) style will be abandoned for a more traditional storyline as it, "follows the fall-out from a zombie apocalypse as mercenaries, US government officials and Palestinians all attempt to survive."

The Killing, by the way, is fantastic. Each week I look more and more forward to it. My guess is the killer is the victim's father's coworker.

New Wave Songs You Should Know #18: Lie to Me - Dirty Looks

2011-04-25T14:00:00.001-07:00

Watch a Reenactment of a Ancient Roman Murder Trail

2011-04-25T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is based on actual trail records

Alexandria, Egypt in 1959

2011-04-25T10:00:00.000-07:00

While it seems hard to believe today but 50 years ago Alexandria was a cosmopolitan city with foreign tourists flocking to it as a beach destination. Elie Moreno visited there as a college student and took some photos. Foreign Policy has a more photos from this time.

Patrick Raycroft Euologizes his Friend Chris Hondros

2011-04-25T08:00:00.000-07:00

Read the eulogy here.

GIFs can be Amazing

2011-04-25T06:18:00.002-07:00

Check out Jamie Beck and Kevin's Burg gifs, of which the above is a still from their work. There's an article on them here and their website is here - be warned it took some time for their site to load.

Summa for Strings by Arvo Part

2011-04-24T08:43:00.002-07:00

Happy Easter - or Day 114 of 2011 CE.

Morgan and Destiny's Eleveneenth Dream Date

2011-04-24T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Power of Changing One Word

2011-04-23T14:00:00.000-07:00

Steve Cuno has a great post on how changing one word can alter the view people have of something.

I asked if he and his friend might have done anything to provoke his would-be attackers.

“Yeah,” he said. “We threw beer on a couple of women.”

What may trouble you, as it did me, is that everyone hearing this tale of reckless youth erupted in laughter. No one asked what on earth had moved him to cruelly assault two human beings he didn’t even know. Everyone took it as no more than an innocent prank.

Time for me to come clean. I didn’t quite quote him accurately. He didn’t say “women.” He said “hookers.”

Cuno goes to explain how people react differently depending if he says women or hookers when relating this anecdote. Then he uses golden retrievers and then he goes on to look at whole bunch of different examples where changing a single word allows cruelty. It's about dehumanization and it's used every day.

R.I.P - Kevin Jarre

2011-04-23T12:00:00.000-07:00

Kevin Jarre died April 3rd of heart failure but word about the screenwriter's untimely demise is only breaking now. Jarre wrote three monumental screenplays: Rambo: First Blood Part II, Glory, and Tombstone. In my mind, Tombstone is amongst the greatest westerns ever made and Val Kilmer's portrayal of Doc Holliday one of the best of all time.

Random Words of Wisdom by Tracy Morgan

2011-04-23T10:58:00.000-07:00

Dirt Tracings II

2011-04-23T09:45:00.000-07:00

Submarine Trailer

2011-04-22T18:05:00.001-07:00

Movie Review: Cemetery Junction

2011-04-22T08:00:00.001-07:00

Written & directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, Cemetery Junction takes place in a 1973 factory town called Cemetery Junction and follows the lives of three young men with faint prospects. One has landed a job selling life insurance, one follows tradition and goes to work in a factory, and one works at the local train station. During the day they go about their daily drudgery while at night they get drunk and get in fights. Things go astray with the arrival of woman one of them knew a decade earlier when they were kids.

I'm surprised I had never heard of this movie. It's really good and much tamer than Gervais's normal stuff. Plus Felicity Jones plays the female lead and she, well, she should be the next IT girl. She also really reminds me of someone else and I can't figure out who so for the moment I'll just claim her as a girlfriend from a past life. Ricky, Ralph Fiennes, and Emily Watson play supporting roles in the film. The woman who plays Ricky Gervais's grandmother steals every scene she's in.

If you're expecting normal Ricky Gervais stuff then don't. This is more drama than comedy although parts are quite funny. And Ricky's work is certainly there but in more limited doses. Still, the film is very entertaining and has a talent cast.

New Another Earth Trailer

2011-04-22T06:00:00.000-07:00

The Silent House Trailer

2011-04-21T12:00:00.000-07:00

This is a Uruguyan film shot in one continuous shot. There's already an American remake in the works. The original film will not have theatrical release but will premiere On Demand on May 11.

Chris Hondros's Last Images

2011-04-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Atlantic has 21 of Chris Hondros's final images including ones from the day he was killed - such as the image above.

Outskirts of Eden Review from England

2011-04-21T08:00:00.000-07:00

Allgigs has given a 4 star review of Jude's album that includes this: "this is a fabulous double-disc package, dressed up with some Eric Vondy photographic imagery and sumptuous handiwork that major-labels could only dream of."

Bon Iver Cover Art

2011-04-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

This is the cover for the new self-titled Bon Iver album due June 21st.

R.I.P. - Chris Hondros

2011-04-20T16:01:00.000-07:00

Along with Tim Hetherington, a photographer was killed in Libya today. Chris Hondros worked for Getty and was died from brain trauma in Mistra. Here are a few examples of his work.

R.I.P. - Tim Hetherington

2011-04-20T16:00:00.000-07:00

The co-director of the Oscar nominated documentary Restrepo was killed today in Libya. Hetherington made the film with author Sebastian Junger (The Perfect Storm).

From the Wall Street Journal:

Hetherington was killed in Misrata, the only rebel-held city in western Libya, said his U.S.-based publicist, Johanna Ramos Boyer. The city has come under weeks of relentless shelling by government troops. Hetherington tweeted Tuesday: "In besieged Libyan city of Misrata. Indiscriminate shelling by Qaddafi forces. No sign of NATO."

If you haven't seen Restrepo you should. It's streamable on Netflix.

Happy 47th Birthday to Crispin Glover

2011-04-20T10:00:00.000-07:00

Creepy Robot

2011-04-20T06:00:00.000-07:00

Cello + Beatbox

2011-04-19T18:01:00.000-07:00

Skynet is Now Aware

2011-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:00

It will begin its attack in 2 days

Massacre at Iron Age Hill Fort

2011-04-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

Archaeologists have uncovered the remains of 9 women and children in a ditch surrounding an old hill fort dating from 440BC to 390BC in Derbyshire. They believe there could be dozens more buried at the site. It appears to have been a massacre where the women, teen, toddler, and baby were killed and buried along with animals in the ditch.

Point Blank Trailer

2011-04-18T06:09:00.002-07:00

This is not a remake of the 1967 Lee Marvin film of the same name. The Director previous film was called Pour Elle which was released in the US and UK as Anything for Her. It was remade as The Next Three Days.

Nirvana Debuted Smells Like Teen Spirit 20 Years Ago Today

2011-04-17T09:23:00.002-07:00

Or at least this YouTube video claims this is so...

London in the 1880's

2011-04-17T06:00:00.000-07:00

Skyscraper City has a collection of London photos from the 1880's.

The Vanishing Named Worst Remake of All Time

2011-04-16T14:00:00.000-07:00

Salon Magazine had a slideshow on the 10 worst movie remakes of all time. They did their research. Yes, there's the Stallone version of Get Carter and the David Soul remake of Casablanca but the worst remake went to the Keifer Sutherland/Jeff Bridges remake of The Vanishing. I completely agree. The original Vanishing had one of the most horrifying ending of all time. It's been 20 years since I've seen it and it still bugs me. The American version robbed the audience of that ending and went in a completely different direction. Salon will give the details but I won't so I'll provide an analogy: the ending of the American remake of The Vanishing would be like remaking Star Wars and casting Justin Bieber as Han Solo.

Sleeping Beauty Trailer

2011-04-16T12:00:00.000-07:00

Sleeping Beauty from Pollen Digital on Vimeo.

According to /Film, Sleeping Beauty is: A haunting erotic fairy tale about Lucy, a student who drifts into prostitution and finds her niche as a woman who sleeps, drugged, in a ‘Sleeping Beauty chamber’ while men do to her what she can‘t remember the next morning.

If I recall correctly this is something that happened to Molly in Neuromancer. It's part of her backstory.

Darth Lebowski

2011-04-16T10:14:00.000-07:00

Star Wars Pinup Art

2011-04-16T06:00:00.000-07:00

Geek Tyrant has some disturbing images of Star Wars Pinup Art - like the one above.

Maryland Historic Society Photos

2011-04-15T14:00:00.000-07:00

The Maryland Historical Society has a Tumblr site where they post images from their collection such as the one of TR above. Its a fascinating miscellany of old photos covering what professional photos as well as more candid photos.

New Cowboys and Aliens Trailer

2011-04-15T12:00:00.000-07:00

New Bon Iver Song Preview

2011-04-15T10:00:00.000-07:00

Untitled from Bon Iver on Vimeo.

Foo Fighters Homage to The Beatles

2011-04-15T08:00:00.000-07:00

Connected

2011-04-15T06:00:00.000-07:00

Rise of the Planet of the Apes Trailer

2011-04-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Third Reich in Ruins

2011-04-14T08:00:00.000-07:00

The Third Reich in Ruins is a website devoted to comparing historic photos of the Third Reich with those sites today. Its fascinating to go through the side looking at what was happening 60 years ago compared with today.