Sharii, won't you draw out tonight?

If you would like to see some wonderful illustrations, visit sharii.com, the website of Shari Chankhamma.

Born 1980, in Thailand where I currently reside. I have been drawing comics for 10 years, I have worked with publishers from the US, UK and also Thailand

I speak both Thai and English, I’m trying to learn Japanese but that’s going slowly.

I work mostly with sequential art (comics, manga, graphic novel, pick your poison), but also do illustrations, character designs and merchandise designs.

So how did I hear about Shari?

She turned Michael Hanscom into "Valiant Camera Warrior."

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In which I help the Chinese government resolve a pesky issue involving John Ray's detention

I just read something in the 2008 Olympics FriendFeed room. Here's part of what I read:

BRITISH journalist John Ray has been detained by Chinese security officers for covering a pro-Tibet protest in Beijing.

Ray, of London-based ITV News, was rushing to cover the demonstration outside the National Stadium when he was apparently mistaken for a protester.

"Are you arresting me? I am a journalist," Ray is reported to have shouted as he was taken away in a police van.

He later said that he told officials repeatedly that he was not a protester, although he did not display any official media accreditation.

"They bundled me out of the park," Ray was quoted as saying by The Associated Press.

"They forced me to the floor, dragged me, manhandled me into a restaurant next door."

AFP provided further detail:

Up to seven protesters were arrested within seconds, while Ray was dragged into a nearby restaurant and forcibly held down by officers who also stamped on his hands, they said.

Ray, who is fully accredited to report in Beijing during the Olympic Games, said he was detained for around 20 minutes in the restaurant and in a police car before being released, and that his equipment bag was confiscated....

His shoes were scuffed, the back of his trousers and shirt were covered in grime and he displayed some bruising on his hand.

ITN cameraman Ben England said he tried to film the protest but was physically prevented from doing so by police who manhandled him and used umbrellas to try to block his camera.

Well, you know how uppity those press people get, so I'm sure that this story is going to get a small, inconsequential, sheep-following community riled up. So, in the spirit of Olympic goodwill, I'm going to help the Chinese by writing a press release for them. They should probably wait a few days before issuing it, but once they do, I'm sure that this will clear things up for everyone concerned.

Earlier this week an incident occurred in our city in which a visitor was asked to leave the National Stadium. We stand firmly behind the actions of our security staff, who acted appropriately to ensure the safety of the people in the National Stadium area. They took measures to protect other staff members who according to witnesses on our staff and among the general public was being investigated in an inappropriate and harassing manner. Beijing welcomes over 600,000 visitors annually; disputes and disagreements between our guests and our staff very rarely occur.

This was not an issue relating to the city's official press policy. In fact, Beijing recently made a policy change to allow press to look at dirty smutty Western Internet sites that good Chinese people have no interest in viewing. But we have to account for unrefined Western tastes.

We have heard the concerns that have been expressed, and we hope that online discussion concerning Beijing can now return to focus on the terrific sporting events we currently have on view and the many exciting public ceremonies that we are offering to support them. We thank you for your comments.

Department of Communications
City of Beijing

And yes, if the press release sounds familiar to you, I stole it.

P.S. I'm willing to bet that "John Ray" is a pseudonym. And "Ben England"? How convenient.

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Let's talk photographers - let's talk George Holliday

Since Friday, the tubes have been a'buzzing about the whole Thomas Hawk/SF MoMA/Simon Blint incident. One side benefit of this (and I believe Thomas Hawk would agree) is that it has refocused attention on photographers who have been truly persecuted when taking pictures that some people didn't want taken (I'm thinking of people like Carlos Miller and Scott Conover, who I mentioned yesterday.

As I was musing about this today, I began thinking about the most famous photographer who fits in that category.

And then I realized that I didn't know the name of this most famous photographer.

And I wasn't alone. If you try a FriendFeed search for George Holliday, you'll find that no one on FriendFeed had discussed him before today (August 12, 2008).

Now that you see the name George Holliday, perhaps some of you remember who he is. And even if you don't remember Holliday's name, you certainly remember Rodney King's name.

Here's the story from Holliday's point of view:

A story of an [A]rgentine plumber who inmigrated to the U.S. escaping from a turbulent country, Argentina in the 80’s, looking for the american dream, and suddenly gets involved in a case of police brutallity, human rights leaders, media preasure, court rooms, unfaithfull lawyers, and millionaire demands.

So how did it all begin?

Rodney King was pulled over by the police in Los Angeles, had an angry verbal confrontation with the officers, and was then brutally assaulted by several of them. Public servants gone wildly out of control, savagely kicked King, landed 56 baton blows to his body, battering and bloodying him. The beating was so loud and raucous, in fact, that it caught the attention of George Holliday in his nearby apartment. He got out of his bed and went to his window, where he witnessed the horrible scene. Holliday immediately went to get his video camera, and he captured the whole awful episode on tape.

Holliday asked questions and didn't get answers. That's when the fun really began:

Holliday was curious about what he had witnessed, so when the L.A. police would give him no details, he called local television station KTLA. Those videotaped images rocked this nation's consciousness.

Holliday noted the differences between the United States and the country that he had just fled:

Holliday reflects on how he did not realize how newsworthy his video of the Rodney King beating would be. He explains, "Coming from Argentina, it's different over there. If a criminal commits a crime, you know, the police take him in and they take care of him. For me, that's normal because that's the way I grew up."

Ironically, Holliday didn't meet King until years later:

[Y]ears later he finally met King, a chance meeting at a gas station at 10:00 at night. Recalls Holliday: "He says, 'Yeah, you don't recognize me.' And I said, 'No' and he says, 'Yeah, you saved my life.' And so then I knew who he was…”

And for his efforts, Holliday received fame, fortune, and recognition. Not exactly:

Back then, George was married and a manager at a big plumbing and rooting company. Now he's twice divorced, self-employed and scraping by. He might have been better off had he stayed in bed that night.

After he gave the eight-minute video to KTLA, his name was trumpeted in the newspapers and plastered across television screens and repeated on the radio....George received a couple of death threats in the mail—"Be careful when you start your car in the morning," one said; the other was an envelope full of drawings of daggers—and often when people recognized him they'd say: "You're the guy who caused the riots."

His first wife left him. "There was a sea of reporters every day," he recalled, sitting at my kitchen table. "Maria didn't even want to leave the house." His second marriage didn't work out either.

When he adds it up, he doesn't see that he got much on the positive side: a few thousand dollars (he wouldn't be specific) from licensing the video to filmmakers, including Spike Lee for "Malcolm X"; plaques from the L.A. County Board of Supervisors and the LAPD; and his name on a Trivial Pursuit card—misspelled as "Halliday."

I wonder - if the police had answered Holliday's questions that night, rather than stonewalling him, is it possible that the tape would never have seen the light of day?

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In defense of Simon Blint

To my knowledge, neither SF MoMA nor Simon Blint have made an official statement regarding the altercation between Blint and Thomas Hawk on Friday. (See my previous post.)

But John Harrington linked to a blog post by Simon Read. Excerpts:

On Friday, Blint asked a patron to stop taking what appeared to be some inappropriate photographs. When the man refused and continued shooting, Blint was forced to ask him to leave.

Note that Hawk would argue that he gave Blint the opportunity to review the photographs to determine if they were inappropriate or not.

I’ve known Simon Blint for years and know what a great guy he is.

Read then argues, as others have, that Hawk should not have called Blint an a-hole. However, Read goes further and says that the subject should not have been raised online at all:

Regardless of who was right or wrong, Peterson/Hawk has crossed the line. A rational human being would have simply written a letter to museum management, stating his case and asking for the situation to be put right.

But does Read practice what he preaches? Let's look at the previous post in his blog, a movie review:

I'm not entirely sure what series creator Chris Carter was gunning for when he penned the script....

Had Carter focused more on the serial-killer aspect and not dwelt so long on matters of faith and religion, he would have had a first-rate thriller on his hands. Instead, we're left with a movie that can't decide what it wants to be.

A rational human being would have simply written a letter to movie management, stating his case and asking for the situation to be put right. In other words, don't dis Chris.

Back to Hawk. Harrington also had a problem with Read's suggested solution:

Perhaps Blint should treat all his museums' visitors as if they will shout from the rooftops about bad experiences they might have. Heck Hotels.com gets the new world order concept in their latest ad campaign where hotel staff are concerned about the review they might get on the Hotels.com website....A letter to museum management would have received some apologetic form letter, and little else.

The mention of hotels.com got me curious - what was SF MoMA's rating on yelp.com? As of now, it's a fairly high 4 star rating. The two ratings since Friday concerned the Frida Kahlo exhibit, and both were 4 star ratings (they would have been 5 stars, but the lines were very long).

And, for the record, I wouldn't recommend that everyone and their mother go and give MoMA one star ratings on yelp. To truly give a rating, you have to visit the site, and so far only Hawk has run into problems there.

However, I shudder to think what would happen if Improv Everywhere were to head out west, cameras in hand.

Hmm...there is a San Francisco-based group that could do such a thing. And someone associated with the group is sponsoring this:

We need you to network a global party on Thursday 28th August 2008; the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s 'I Have a Dream' speech.

Thursday 28th Aug

If you’re a DJ, club promoter or party thrower, then all we ask of you is to build a special climactic sequence into your mix on the night of the 28th of August or anytime over the following Friday night/weekend, knowing that at the high point the audience will be ready to raise their hands to make the 'Free At Last' exclamation.

And, of course, the event must be photographically documented...

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SF MOMA Responds - Sort of - to the Thomas Hawk Affair (costarring Simon Blint as the Jerk Formerly Known as the...)

If you missed the weekend's tempest in a teapot, see Thomas Hawk's two posts here and here, and Steven Hodson's reality check here.

In brief, Thomas Hawk, who had previously praised SF MoMA's relaxation of its prohibition of photography within its premises, was thrown out of SF MoMA for taking photographs within its premises.

If you saw my FriendFeed comments over the weekend, one thing that I noted several times was that I'd like to hear what Simon Blint or SF MoMA themselves had to say about the incident. For example:

I'm waiting to hear S.B.'s view, but I suspect that we'll instead get a well-crafted statement from SF MOMA that says nothing. I hope I'm wrong.

On Monday morning, I checked the SF MOMA blog, and there was no post addressing the topic. But that didn't stop people from commenting to an unrelated August 6 post. For example, someone named John said:

I will not be frequenting your museum again until I find out Mr Simon Blint has been fired.

But he was restrained in comparison to Haywood Jablaume, who suggested that Blint be spoken to "in small, monosyllabic words."

Suzanne from SF MoMA then responded:

Suzanne Says:

Hi, this is Suzanne, I run the SFMOMA blog, and I’d like to say, to those of you posting comments here off-topic: I don’t know the scope of the complaints in either direction between Mr. Hawk and SFMOMA staff, so I can’t weigh in on what happened between the two parties. I like to keep the comment stream open and uncensored, but that shouldn’t mean any grievance, legitimate or not, should be aired here. Please keep your comments on-topic, and thanks so much! Yours, SS

August 10th, 2008 at 4:01 pm

That's the last word that I've seen from SF MoMA. There's nothing in their press room either.

However, if Suzanne does not provide a forum on the SF MoMA blog to discuss the situation, then the conversation will continue to fragment, and the situation will be discussed within the little circle of FriendFeeders, bloggers, and others that are discussing it right now.

And the coverage is seeping out of the insular blog community. Google News currently lists four items when you perform a "moma hawk" keyword search, including an Inquisitr post that has already generated a good deal of discussion on FriendFeed, and, most recently, this Jack Schofield item from the Guardian blog. Here's Schofield's conclusion:

SF-MoMA is [probably] just starting to wake up (on a Monday morning) to the problem it now faces -- not just the threat to its image, but ultimately the threat to its finances. It will be interesting to see how it tries to handle it.

And for those who state that Thomas Hawk has not suffered as much as other photographers...you're right. See what Thomas Hawk said about Carlos Miller back on February 27, 2007. Or what Carlos Miller said about Scott Conover.

And for those that believe that money talks, here are the organizations who support SF MOMA:

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is supported by a broad array of contributors who are committed to helping advance its mission as a dynamic center for modern and contemporary art. Major annual support is provided by the Koret Foundation Funds, Evelyn and Walter Haas Jr. Fund, and Grants for the Arts/San Francisco Hotel Tax Fund.

http://www.koretfoundation.org/
http://www.haasjr.org/

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Now I now why Simon Blint went after Thomas Hawk

Blint just wanted to add Hawk's camera to his "found objects" exhibit.

http://m.flickr.com/photo.gne?id=2693727716

This is part of an exhibit by SF MOMA staff that was promoted in the SF MOMA blog.

P.S. I may leave a comment on Flickr, but I will refrain from referring to holes of any type.

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The new verb phrase - Thomas Hawk was "director of visitor relationed"

You can read the story about Thomas Hawk's trip to SF MOMA at http://thomashawk.com/2008/08/simon-blint-director-of-visitor.html

Now I've only heard the one side of the story, and perhaps Simon Blint is a really nice guy, but I'm struck by the fact that a Director of Visitor Relations was responsible for throwing out a visitor.

I'm also thinking that museums would want to share art with the people. I don't care if it's Thomas Hawk or Thomas Bosley or Thomas Cruise or Thomas Lee - if a photographer is taking pictures, and if he/she isn't using flash, shouldn't the photographer be encouraged?

P.S. I don't use Digg, but if you do, please Digg the post.

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Stove Top with a Tweety Twist, 8 January 2008

When I'm not sharing items in Google Reader for subsequent reading, blogging, or commenting, I'm doing the same with my starred items in Twitter. Although I have often expressed the wish that MOBILE Twitter also allowed you to star items, I'm still able to star enough items anyway. Sometimes the starred items sit around for months (I never got around to discussing my 1969 Ray Rayner memories), but usually I try to do something with them fairly quickly. So, without further ado...

I found out about a couple of things by reading through the comments in this blog and exploring things further. For example, take my tweet on Brian Eno's "77 Million Paintings" software exhibition (in which he finally realized his dream of going to the public, rather than forcing the public to come to him). In addition, there's my tweet on a Washington Post article on "Memorandum 46".

For various personal and professional reasons, I'm interested in the storage of geographical locations for public safety purposes. Thus I ended up tweeting about a lot of things, including an August 2005 technical white paper on Oracle Locator, the Open Geopatial Consortium, and a 1999 overview of coordinate systems by Peter H. Dana.

Hey, I've almost cleared out my backlog of Twitter favorites! Just one more, and it's something that I want to explore at some point.

davewiner http://politweets.com/ tracks and ranks mentions of candidates

[mrontemp business] | [mrontemp politics] | [mrontemp technology] | [mrontemp del.icio.us tags]

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Photography Notes for the Oracle OpenWorld Bloggers

Well, some of this stuff got my interest. Let's review, shall we?

Eddie Awad:

As of now, you can use your cameraphone or any email program to email Oracle OpenWorld related photos directly into the newly created (unofficial) Oracle OpenWorld Flickr account. You do not even have to be a Flickr user. Just email your photos to:

future[zero nine]]ideas[at]photos[dot]flickr[dot]com

You can use the subject line to give your photo a title and the body to add a description. All photos will be automatically tagged openworld07 and added to the Oracle OpenWorld 2007 Flickr group and the (unofficial) Oracle OpenWorld Twitter timeline.

I'll probably be contributing some of my photos to that account. And, of course, I'll try to stick to the guidelines:

You can take photos. Partners may request that you don't take pictures of your booths. Also, we request that you don't take photos during sessions as it is distracting to attendees.

And watch out about taking pictures in older fast food restaurants:

I asked the department secretary if I could borrow the Polaroid camera (this was the 80s) to snap some pictures to help me in this retrofit. Before she could answer me, a voice rang out from one of the nearby cubicles "You can't take flash pictures in the restaurants!" It was Tony, a long time employee of the R&D department.

"Why not?" I asked.

"Because ..." Tony said, "if you use the Flash from the camera in the restaurant, the computer-operated cash registers will shut down!"

But that problem was solved, at least for this particular restaurant chain:

It was a single EPROM (a chip that can be erased by exposing it to UV light). It only had a thin white paper label over the window, The flash was strong enough to disrupt the EPROM's programming momentarily, causing the whole system to crash. The solution I proposed: black tape over the quarter-inch square window.

Could somebody make sure that the Thirsty Bear's cash registers don't have this problem?

[8 NOVEMBER 2007 - DID A LITTLE EDITING TO FRUSTRATE THE SPAMMERS.]

[mrontemp business] | [mrontemp politics] | [mrontemp technology] | [mrontemp del.icio.us tags]

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Forget Anne Geddes...THIS is art!

From the Lego store at Downtown Disney in Anaheim, California.

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Anne Geddes has an autobiography

It presumably explains her strange obsession with burying babies in bizarre disguises.

Sorry, don't care for her work.

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On the way to Anne Geddes

Downtown Disney, Anaheim, California.

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Wondering

I am at an annual conference (check my tweets - I was very excited at 10:53).

We have held this conference at the same hotel for several years now.

I have attended at least two other events at this hotel.

So I know this hotel pretty well.

But I still don't know why the hotel has a pot of grass.

(So to speak.)

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I don't think South Beach allows this

I've finally gotten to the last item in my backlog of Google Reader starred items. Hope you're hungry.

The two most important things in life (food and computers) have finally been brought together in this fantastic design for a keyboard/waffle iron.

But Jason Nicholas asks the important question:

Is there a Dvorak version?

[mrontemp business] | [mrontemp politics] | [mrontemp technology] | [mrontemp del.icio.us tags]

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What happens when the smArts BECOMES the Culture?

I have discovered a new blog via my Twitter account - Maryann Devine's smArts & Culture blog. Let's learn about it:

About smArts & Culture

Founded recently – in 2006 – by Maryann Devine, smArts & Culture connects artists and cultural organizations with their biggest fans.

You’ll always have smArts’ attention -- having attracted clients from the start, smArts & Culture serves a select roster of artists and cultural organizations, ensuring that your most vital projects receive maximum personal care. By design, smArts & Culture keeps its services affordable for organizations of any size.

In business for only a year, smArts & Culture has already helped a number artists and arts nonprofits achieve their goals through marketing and media relations.

Devine is currently attending the Technology in the Arts conference in Pittsburgh, and actually phoned in a TwitterGram during one of the sessions, presumably as an example of a way for artists to communicate.

You just have to watch out if you're a musician. Eddie Awad tried to post a TwitterGram of some music, and it didn't work that well. I don't know if the technical issue was with the capabilities of cellular phones themselves, or the limitations of the mp3 file that was used to distribute the recording. Whatever it was, I wouldn't want to use the method to secure a gig or a recording deal.

But perhaps that's the point, and some artist could justify the tinniness of the recording as art in itself. Heck, Losanjealous has an entire category of Craptastic Cell Phone Photos.

Perhaps someone will try to put a torrent of Oracle Database 11g for Linux x86_64 into a virtual museum.

As for me, I'll concentrate on my PowerPoint with a flying "T" and "%" sign.

(You don't want to know. You really, really don't want to know.)

[mrontemp business] | [mrontemp politics] | [mrontemp technology] | [mrontemp del.icio.us tags]

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The Sound Poem in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

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765 - Peter Berdovsky and Sean Stevens don't deserve to be martyrs

Ran across a new perspective on the Berdovsky Stevens thingie. 765 thinks that the charges against Berdovsky and Stevens should be dropped, but that they deserve condemnation for another reason.

The charges against Sean Stevens and Peter Berdovsky should be dropped, but these guys are not martyrs. Criminal wrongdoing should be cleared off the table so that these two can face the inevitable round of critique and ridicule due them from the street art community that they claim to represent.

It couldn't be more apt that the jackasses who executed this stunt and their controllers are charged with perpetrating a hoax. In the proliferation of category errors flying around this case, it'd be a shame to forget the deliberate deception implicit in any guerilla campaign diguised as street art. This is a hoax, but it's not a fake bomb, it's fake art....They traded their authenticity and street cred for cash, and they thought they were getting over. There's a term for the kind of person who does that, but it sure ain't 'video artist'.

guerillamarketing

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Google Image Labeler

Now this is smart. Entice two people to play a ninety-second word-matching game, and use the matched words to improve your company's service. Meet Google Image Labeler.

Welcome to Google Image Labeler, a new feature of Google Image Search that allows you to label random images to help improve the quality of Google's image search results....

You'll be randomly paired with a partner who's online and using the feature. Over a 90-second period, you and your partner will be shown the same set of images and asked to provide as many labels as possible to describe each image you see. When your label matches your partner's label, you'll earn some points and move on to the next image until time runs out. After time expires, you can explore the images you've seen and the websites where those images were found. And we'll show you the points you've earned throughout the session.

Hint - you can't put multiple labels on the same line - press the ENTER key after each label. Unfortunately, it took me a round or two to learn this.

googleimagelabeler

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Chief's got the looks, studio's got the brains, let's make lots of money

How to make money off of Chief Illiniwek.



"The Chief"

from

Visual Forms Studio, Inc.

1247 Hawthorne Lane - Downers Grove, IL 60515

Toll Free:1-866-713-6767




This Sculpture has been Dedicated

to the Memory of All

ILLINI

Past and Present







Inspired by Chief Illiniwek, this sculpture recalls the Spirit, Dignity and Pride of the ILLINI.

Destined to become a Family Heirloom for University of Illinois Students, Alumni and Fans.

Titled "The Chief", the statue is 19" high x 12' wide on an 8" diameter felt-padded base.

Handcast in "Tuffstone" it is given a beautiful antique bronze finish.

Makes a Wonderful Gift... Even Nicer to Give Yourself!

This sculpture is $159.95, (plus tax and shipping) in Illinois, $185.00

All other states $173.41

P.S. See followup. It's not just the supporters that are making money off of this.

chiefilliniwek

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Vancouver 2010 Countdown Clock Mixes Art, Sports, but mostly Business

I noticed that this blog was a little light on art and sports news. So I found an art/sports article, but it's not surprising that it has a little business thrown in.

A spectacular fusion of sports timekeeping technology and public art was unveiled on 12 February 2007 at a public ceremony celebrating the three-year countdown to the Vancouver 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games. The Vancouver 2010 Countdown Clock, presented by Omega, Official Timekeeper, marks the three-year countdown to the Opening Ceremony on 12 February 2010.



vancouver2010countdownclock

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