Photographer and programmer Justin Ouellette (one of the forces behind the excellent video sharing site Vimeo) just announced his latest programming project: Muxtape, a simple and elegant way to share mixtapes online. Justin reports that over 1,000 members have joined in just 4.5 hours!

It looks like the photoblogosphere has taken a liking to it; find Noah Kalina’s here, Raul Gutierrez’s here or Joerg Colberg’s here.

And see my very own Muxtape here (though, I’m sure it’ll be different by the time you look at it).

Well done, Justin. Well done.

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Whatever you do, do not take being able to swallow for granted.

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Issue #78 of Big RED & Shiny is online now and features my interview with Matthew Monteith (originally posted on this blog here).

Now is a good time to read the conversation if you haven’t already. And then, of course, take a look at the other articles in the issue.

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Green Car, Brooklyn, NY, 2007
© Shane Lavalette

I’ll be visiting from Friday until Sunday or Monday, running around with Michael, checking out this Biennial thing and probably causing a bit of trouble with Christian. We’ll see what happens.

New York friends, give me a ring at some point over the weekend if you’d like to get together. I want to see you!

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loooking at a box of Emmet Gowin photographs in the Fogg’s Study Room

On Friday, I made a quick stop into Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum to visit a friend working in the Study Room and take a peek at some work from the collection. This is a great resource to know about if you live in Boston. What better way to learn about art history than to see some amazing work up close and personal?

I was thrilled to flip through a portfolio of photographs by Emmet Gowin and hold one of my favorites. I noticed, in the distance, a girl sketching from a Diane Arbus print. This is my kind of place. I’m hoping that I can find time to visit regularly; once I was there, I wished I could stay forever.

Their hours are rather strict, though. It’s open to the public Tuesday through Friday from 2 to 4:45pm or by appointment. Browse the collection (of approximately 60,000 prints, 13,000 drawings, and 70,500 photographs and negatives) online here.

Note: gum-chewing is not allowed in the Study Room.

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envelope and contents, including Drawing #81, Binoculars, 2008
from Jason Polan (The Drawing Project)

Jason Polan has been posting daily drawings on his blog, The Drawing Project, since the end of November and making them available to the first reader to e-mail him with their name and address.

Just the other day I received Drawing #81 in the mail, a lovely little (3.625” x 3.25” in.) pen and ink rendering of a pair of binoculars. I suggest subscribing to his RSS feed if you want to grab one of these.

Thanks, Jason!

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still from Loves of a Blonde, 1966 (dir. Milos Forman)

Happy Valentine’s.

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I can’t believe I was just greeted in Lolcat.

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Pictured above is a receipt from November 11th, 2006 when I purchased a 1st Edition hardbound copy of Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency for $18.38 (with tax) from a used bookstore that, quite frankly, didn’t know what they were selling.

Underneath the dust jacket, the book is blue cloth with the title debossed on the cover above a heart symbol and stamped in gold on the spine:

cover of Nan Goldin’s The Ballad of Sexual Dependency, 1986

Vincent Borrelli is selling his copy for $400.00.

Alibris has one listed at $1100.00.

I’m never selling mine.

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“When you know that all is light, you are enlightened.”

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