United We Stand

LIGHT INDUSTRY is one of the greatest underground film screening series that i have beared witnessed to in quite some time. After the closing of Collective Unconcious in the east village due to wicked rent hikes, i had almost lost complete faith in the underground uniting and finding a new venue to screen the "unsolicited". Thanx to lia and Ed, the place has found itself! Yeah, sure, they need a wall fan to get some air circulating in the space (notice it by Lia's feet in the picture) , but the film work shown here is like no other (and i ain't saying that cause they show my personal crap either....um seriously....bye)

p.s. the film image of the woman's face below is from an amazing experimental film titled, Warm Broth by filmmaker Tom Rhodes aka Luther Price

3 quotes for the day...

“If you continually write and read yourself as a fiction, you can change what’s crushing you”.
Jeanette Winterson


The Importance of Art
"the proper moral purpose of one's life is the pursuit of one's own happiness or rational self-interest;and the role of art in human life is to transform man's widest metaphysical ideas, by selective reproduction of reality, into a physical form—a work of art—that he can comprehend and to which he can respond emotionally.

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

“The whole point of civil disobediences is to make a moral statement. It’s not a competition or game to see who wins or loses. It’s all about doing what’s right regardless of the consequences.”

Ann Hansen, DIRECT ACTION, MEMOIRS OF AN URBAN GUERILLA

LONDON screening August 22. Venue change

Here is an update about all things Collision, UK 2009 .

Due to geographical distance it has not been possible for you guys to collaborate in a way that I first imagined. Not a problem! I have been discussing things with all of you just not at the same time and have attached an updated version of the dossier which contains the latest set of ideas from everyone.

One very important thing is that we have had to change venue!!!

But fear not the dates are the same 22nd Aug and the new venue is just as cool. The main reason for this change is the managers of the last venue recently had some large scale events which attracted a lot of attention from the police and local noise unit. The result of this was The Old Police Station now has a strict policy of closing all events by 11pm which means start kicking folks out at 10.30.

Any of you who have been to a Collision event before know that it is not your typical private view kind of vibes and we felt strongly that a 10.30 finish is too early. So we found this little gem...It's called the Bussey Building, an old Victorian gun factory slap bang in the middle of Peckham high street that now houses a bunch of local artists.

I know quite a few of you had specific plans for parts of the police station but don't worry there are plenty of interesting nooks and crannies that will suit, even a roof terrace with spectacular views over the Peckham Riviera.

Check it out here http://www.peckhamvision.org/wiki/Open_House_Weekend

For those of you who can I would like to arrange a meeting with all of you so you can come and see the venue and chat to each other about your plans. I'll start by suggesting Sun 26th July. I will book a viewing with the Bussey Building people. So let me know.

On last thing.....I need to get all your technical requirements asap! Anything you need let me know.

Look forward to hearing from you all.

We will be featuring filmmaker akajoey's flmwork !

Tom

Still image of "WorkInProgress" film

Here is a new still image from my current work-in-progress film titled, HOMEWRECKA.
Notice i am combining/superimposing 35mm slide film photography with marker drawing and polaroid found portraits. i am sooo excited with how things are looking so far visually !

A mystery of destruction.

There is a recurring phenomenon. EVERY SINGLE TIME I locate an interesting setting for one of my films, within a year the location becomes demolished, or destroyed, by natural causes.

Hence, here is the pool used for my last film, NICE PEOPLE. Last week i decided to stroll thru the park, where i shot the exterior scene, and alas. INSIDE THE POOL WAS A BULLDOZER!

The hospital in my film, EPISODE was burned down by arson.

The street in my film, D-BLOK SNAG was demolished and made into a posh residential cooperative.

The gorilla house for Bongo in my film, I NEED YOU was destroyed and made into a "congo".

Well, now my pool! I walked up to the maintenance guy (his name was Dick). I asked him, "Hey Dick, what happened to the pool?"

Dick said, "listen man. I just work here. Last i heard they were gonna try to make that hole into a water park. Go figure."

"Thanks Dick", i said.

ENJOY THESE IMAGES. CLICK ON EM TO MAKE EM BIGGER...

BREEDING my collection of "stuff"

I have finally begun to "breed" my collection of gathered "stuff" for my new film, HOMEWRECKA. By "stuff" i mean:

- newspaper clippings
- public library stamps
- images found stapled to bulletin lamp posts
- actual news stories
-my own personal movie idea notes

So with my "stuff" i began editing my latest film.
And honestly, i kinda hate to break it to ya
BUT- IT IS SIMPLY (um how do i say this) BLOWING ME AWAY!!!!!!!!!
STAY TUNED FOR THIS NEXT NEW FILM of MINE !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

HERE IS A SAMPLE STILL IMAGE. CLICK AND SEE WHAT I MEAN. BUDDY ...

Kindness via Commentary!

After my recent exhibition/installation for my film, MISSING GREEN i found a few amazing notes left as comments by people. The whole point of the film installation was to draw awareness to clinical depression and the plight of Missing Persons across the United States. I DID NOT expect to get such sweethearted and goodspirited commentary. It made the whole thing, and all the work i put into creating the exhibition, worth while.

CLICK ON THESE IMAGES TO READ EM BETTER :

Slideshow for Michael.

PRESS PLAY ABOVE MY SLIDEHOW for MICHAEL

this is based on my APOLLO visit on Sunday to pay respects to my first inspiration as a child.

i imitated him and knew the entire BEAT IT dance, as a child.

i wore his glitter glove (my aunt sewed one up for me), as a child.

i had the red jacket, as a child.

i owe him. he brought a lot of joy into my life.

i am still shocked at how our America loved his spirit, and then decided to destroy that very spirit they found so very special.

and in a way i am SO glad that he has gone away from us and dances in a more peaceful place.

the LAST writing on the plastic wall at the APOLLO was by ME. Read it carefully before the video fades to black.

I DeDICATE THIS DOCUFESSIONAL VIDEOWORK, TO MICHAEL.

by, akame

Every business mogul NEEDS a business card CASE

Who sayz CLAIRES is just a teenage ear piercing store chain?

Ain't ME (i.e. I)

CHECK THIS OUT: When akajoey was finally able to print out some janepublic.com cards (ummm,took him bout 3 months to figure out how to do dat with his computa) he just HAD to go find himself a case to carry em around in. Well, da MALL had da perfect case, wit a PEACOCK on it !!!!! WAHOO!

Question: Mr. aka, did the peacock try to say anything to you during purchase?

Answer: Um, I don't remember. I was too busy trying not to pee in my pants, I was so excited that the case was only $5 .

bye

love,

akame

xoxox

PaPARRAZI , OMG OMG OMG !!!!!

I GOT THE MOST CLASSSSSIC SHOT !!!!!!!!!!!!!! HARDCORE !!!! its him!!!! i swear !!!
itttttttt'ssssss HIIIIMMMMMM !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
yes it's true. i am his biggest fan!

AKAJOEY screening in UK padded cellblock

Here is the blueprint layout of the UK art gallery that will be presenting my filmwork

AUGUST 22nd, 2009. click on this link for more info...

http://www.tempcontemp.co.uk/oldpolicestation3a.html#

Paparazzi never sleeps, even if mourning.

See the struttin' blondie derelict in the middle. Yep, that's ms. CHLOE SEVIGNY.
Stood next to her at 2nd Ave and Houston for 3 min. She looked tired and rugged. Frog eyes. Glowing and hariy blonde arms. I waited for her to drift away in an effort to afford you this more "cinematic" type shot. Never a dull moment for my camera (i.e. cellphone).

aka BYE4now
xo

ps.s.s.s dammmmnn i'm good!

A few 'memorial' images

Jackson 'autopsy report' leaked
June 29, 2009 - 1:12PM

Michael Jackson was emaciated, bald and riddled with needle wounds when he died, a leaked autopsy reportedly reveals.
A post mortem examination done on Jackson following his death last week found the 1.78-metre tall pop superstar weighed just 51 kilograms, Britain's The Sun newspaper reported.
The 50-year-old's stomach was reportedly empty except for some partially-dissolved pills and his hips, thighs and shoulders were pockmarked with needle wounds - believed to be the legacy of injected narcotic painkillers.
Jackson was also almost completely bald, with just a covering of "peach fuzz" left on his scalp, the pathologist noted in the alleged report. He died wearing a wig.
The report stated Jackson several broken ribs caused by rescuers pumping his chest to try to resuscitate him after he went into cardiac arrest.
Four injection marks on his chest revealed attempts to pump adrenaline directly into his heart, The Sun reported.
The description of the dead star came as his former in-house doctor, Conrad Murray, denied having injected Jackson with a powerful painkiller before his death.
"There was no Demerol. No OxyContin," Dr Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, told the Los Angeles Times newspaper.
"He checked for a pulse. There was a weak pulse in his femoral artery. He started administering CPR."
Mr Chernoff said his client was stunned by Jackson's death.

"He was the one who suggested the autopsy to the family while they were still in the hospital. He didn't understand why Michael Jackson had died," he said.

NEW YORK (AP) — Hundreds of Michael Jackson fans circled the block around Harlem's famed Apollo Theater Tuesday for a public tribute to the pop star, some spontaneously singing their favorite songs and dancing in the street.
"I thought that in my time I'd have the opportunity to see him in concert," said Victoria Campomames, who did a brief moonwalk on the sidewalk as "Rock With You" played from a nearby store. "This is about the closest I'm gonna get."
Campomames, wearing a Jackson-style spangled black jacket, fedora and white gloves, took the day off from her job at a grocery store in Morrisville, Vt., for the all-day tribute to Jackson at the fabled venue that helped make him a star.
Thousands were expected to pay their respects at the theater, which planned to let them in 600 at a time to listen to his music, watch a video tribute and leave flowers and memorabilia.
Ebony Johnson, 19, arrived at midnight to secure a spot near the front of the line, clutching a Jackson scrapbook she started when she was 14. An image of the star was tattooed on her left arm. She said she got the tattoo last month in anticipation of his planned comeback shows in London.
"I love him so much — I can't explain that in words," she said. "I felt like Michael was my family."
Fans wrote messages on a wall of remembrance outside the 125th street theater. "God bless and be with you M. Jackson," wrote one fan. "We all share your grief. Love always," read a message to his family.
Fans began converging on the Apollo soon after Jackson died Thursday in Los Angeles. It has continued to serve as an impromptu memorial site in the days since.
The pop icon's ties to the theater go back to 1967, when The Jackson 5 won the Apollo's Amateur Night contest. The appearance is credited with helping to launch the brother act's career, which later propelled Jackson to solo stardom.

Feeling Guilty anyone?

I just got back from the Apollo memorial.

Will post visual memories later this week.

For now, a link from a person who cared -

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/music/article6595801.ece

akajoey film SCREENING at WHITE COLUMNS

CAMERA OBSCURA rocked!

SWIRLING psychedelic imagery, layered over two adorable girly women decked out in cheap thrift shop dresses. joey wanted to borrow their wardrobe but couldn't (his arm could not reach the stage). The percussionist was the Energizer bunny, hopping around, and invading others peoples spaces(i.e. pounded on the cymbals of da drummer, while da drummer pounded on his drums). the keyboardest was in a GOOD MOOD (that means that she smiled) tapping away at childrens toys for new joyous sounds over the thumping heavy/hidden bass lines. the singer was incredibly MOODY (that means that she didn't smile) and the PERFECT STARLET.

Her voice was better than on their 3 albums (and of course i loved the scottish accent), and she did not LIE to me when she complained to me on my cellphone that the backstage area was disgusting and her mood would reflect that long desperate wait to breathe the hall's "fresh air". She did like her hotel stay, they put a toy guitar on the rug for her. Get the new album.

Ummm, i didn't tell ya to download (for FREE...duh).

THAT SAID, do what ya gotta do.

and By ANY MEANS NECESSARY.

As any true activist would say after tossing paint on a coat - DIRECT ACTION !!!!

bye

akame xoxox

p.s. if you only knew what a bitch it was to get all those images out of my cellphone and into this damn BLOG for you. And what do you do for me? Nuthin. Absolutely nuthin. whateva. i was at the concert, and you WEREN't! So THERE hardy har. har.

Batman star has Garage Sale due to economy

Yes, it is terribly depressing, but I have just learned that ADAM WEST has had to have a garage sale just to pay for food money. I tried to call him and see if we could work together in a new film project but he refused because I would not supply catering service food ! horrible situation for him due to the fallen economy crisis.

Here a link to video captured at his Garage Sale he held at the actual batcave location...

http://www.funnyordie.com/videos/8b3f7778ce/batman-garage-sale-with-adam-west

URGENT paparazzi notice !!!!!

It seems that even when i go out for a simple stroll. Actually, even when i go to find a bathroom to use, there they are HUNTING ME DOWN. Yep, those Mu$%^#F&*IN celebrities.

- street hockey playin Tim Robbins. location; Houston Street and 6th Ave. Funny, Tim told me that Susan (wifey) was out thrift shopping and tryin to stay away from ME. What a dumb move, i ain't even lookin' to snap her. she ain't made a movie in like what, 5 years! ummm, WHATEVA SUSIE !!!

- Carlos Leon, yep, Madonnas latin lover BOY TOY, ex-personal trainer, and the Daddy to Lourdes (Madonna's ONLY true biological daughter). bottom pic with his bike in front of his "crib". We "chilled togetha", talked "Madonna crap", i bitched that his ole lady ain't blowin up my phone like she used to. Shared a brewsky, and i was outta there.

ok, bye for now.

aka photojournalist ME xoxoxoxoxoxo

My Friend, the blind photographer.

Carleton E. Watkins was a noted 19th century California photographer and a good friend of ME.

Carleton Emmons Watkins was born in upstate New York. He went to San Francisco during the gold rush, arriving in 1851. He traveled to California with filmmaker akajoey (ME), who later became one of the greatest filmakers of all mankind, which helped Watkins later in his career.

His interest in photography started as an aide in a San Francisco portrait studio, and started taking photographs of his own and especially of ME in 1861. He became interested in ME and in landscape photography and soon started making photographs of ME, California mining scenes, and of Yosemite Valley.

Watkins practised field photography until his eyesight failed in 1892. In the great earthquake of 1906, fire consumed his studio and its contents. It was a terrible experience for the both of us.

He experimented with several new photographic techniques, and eventually favored his "Mammoth Camera," which used large glass plate negatives, and a stereographic camera. He became famous for his admiration of ME, and also created a variety of images of California and Oregon in the 1870s and later.

Basically, He liked taking pictures of ME.

The bottome line is, CAN YA BLAME HIM???

love, me. bye.

xo

Wishing, Fishing and Dreaming.

This is a "feeling sorry for myself" Blog.
I found this image on the internet and thought to myself, WHY CAN'T I DO THIS !
HOW COME EVERYTIME I TRY TO MAKE SOMETHING LIKE THAT IT TASTES LIKE WOOD, FEELS LIKE WOOD, AND THERE ARE NO LEMONS OR LIMES AROUND?

I have decided to print this picture out, scotch tape it on the wall, stare at it routinely, look for a store that sells that nice HIGH CLASS knife (hopefully TARGET), and meditate on the possibilities that Yes ME, maybe you (ME again) can cook something that looks that nice after all.

Again. It will take time YOU know (you meaning ME). But all good things come to those who wait. I mean, look at the fish. it's DEAD.

ta ta for now.
love,
fisherman the uncookable. ME xo

Inspired by garbage picking cardboard creativity !

Photographer Miroslav Tichy, a Czech photographer:

Tichy made homemade cameras, fashioned from cardboard tubing, string, and thread spools.

Of the apparent quality of his photography Tichy says:
Photography is painting with light! The blurs, the spots, those are errors! But the errors are part of it, they give it poetry and turn it into painting. And for that you need as bad a camera as possible! If you want to be famous, you have to do whatever you're doing worse than anyone else in the whole world.

Ummm, GOD BLESS TICHY

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

WHY WAS THIS THING (LECTURE) IMPORTANT ???

It was a forced effort (as every effort seems to be these days, for me).

RELEVANT POINT-
-I drove my toyota corolla 30 minutes downtown to attend this damn lecture, and accidentally parked my car wrong and got it impounded. $185 to get it back. NO LIE.

His work appears “staged”. “planned”. There is nothing remotely “unique” about any of these photographs, these pictures, except that the people in them are foreign to me. I didn’t know who they were (until now, at least). The pictures were color portrait images of the artist's parents during the stages that led to their divorce. They divorced in the late stages of their life. The divorce led to attempted suicides, accidents, and permanent HATE for one another.

I (meaning me) raised his (my) hand in the crowded audience and asked the artist a question during the Q and A session:

“Do you feel that you are walking a dangerous tightrope since you are exploring such confessional subject matter”? “I kept hearing echoes of Sylvia Plath’s poem, DADDY, when you presented your photowork, and explained your “process” of documenting your actual parents as they crumbled apart”.

DOUG DUBOIS (the acclaimed photographer that this Blog refers to) swayed/avoided answering my question (obviously affected), but maintained direct eye contact with me. He pretended to answer my question by defending his artistic subject-matter with humor by explaining to the audience that his sister, brother and his nephew all understood what he was doing by taking these pictures.

I had to ask him again, this time more emphatically…

“THAT WAS NOT MY QUESTION”. Again (and politely) I went:
“My question to you was, DO YOU, THE ARTIST, FEEL THAT YOU ARE ENTERING INTOA DANGEROUS PLACE FOR YOURSELF EMOTIONALLY BY DEALING WITH SUCH PERSONAL AND DEVASTATING MATERIAL? MATERIAL THAT YOU USE A CONFESSIONAL AESTHETIC? AND DO YOU DISCOURAGE OTHER ARTISTS TO GO IN THIS TYPE OF A DIRECTION”?

He answered carefully, and contemplating direct eye contact with me, “YES”.

BLOG SUMMARY
Blogger criticizes photographer for not entering into therapy.

KEY TERMS
lecture divorce
Sylvia Plath tightrope

STUDY QUESTIONS
Is confessional creativity harmful to ones health?
Is direct eye contact a prerequisite for honesty?