Category: Media

Living by Joe WilcoxJan 10, 201510:48 am

Comic-Con Heroes: The Dark Knight

For San Diego Comic-Con 2015, I am required to reverify my press status—the second time since starting to attend as news media in 2009. I submitted the required documents and story links in early December 2014 and now anxiously await my SDCC fate. If denied, I will unlikely attend this year’s Con, having missed other opportunities to register. If that happens, the world won’t end. Life will go forward. But my birthday, which occurs during the July 9-12 dates, will be somewhat sorrowful this year.

I love Comic-Con for what it represents: Storytelling and attendees being or associating with the people they wish they could be. I laid out my thoughts on the latter concept in July 2010 post “The Roles We Play“, which I adapted as the introduction to my 2013 event project: Comic-Con Heroes: The Fans Who Make the Greatest Show on Earth. I had much hope for the ebook, when published about 18 months ago. But sales were never good—and as distance grows greater from the events told, time diminishes the content’s value.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 10, 20157:11 am

Flickr a Day 10: ‘Cold Wet Saturday’

Because I authenticate Flickr photo ownership before posting pics, each new find is an adventure. With Vancouver, British columbia-based fashion photographer Kris Krüg the journey is an archaeological dig into the social web’s iterations over a decade.

I started simply, by searching Flickr for “Saturday”—appropriate given that’s today. The photo above caught my attention, for its rich, vibrant color, contrast, and composition. The EXIF data revealed the camera to be the Fujifilm SP-2000. Huh, that one is new to me. Some Googling here and raw EXIF there, and I discovered the camera was a scanner. Oh la la! Kris shot film!

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 9, 20156:56 am

Flickr a Day 9: ‘Third Age of Man’

Choosing one Neil Moralee photo to profile is an exhausting act of indecision. His candid photos are masterpieces in portrait—the majority black and white, cropped close, and set against dark background and emphasizing shadows. His subjects tend to be older, which is refreshing departure from so much photographic art focused on the young and beautiful.

I wouldn’t call self-titled “Third Age of Man” Neil’s best street portrait, but it’s captivating nevertheless. I look at the geezer and wonder: He looks so out of breath, but he’s riding not walking! I picked this pic not for what it is, but what Neil says about it, and he quotes an organization’s spiel verbatim:

News Media by Joe WilcoxJan 8, 20152:39 pm

Should I Kickstarter?

Warning: One word repeatedly used in this post will offend some people. I’m not one of them, and presumably neither is the main audience for what I propose.

Since August 2014, after acquiring domain journalism.wtf, I have pondered but not acted on launching a site that spotlights the worst—and occasionally the best—online news gathering. The question: Is there really a market for such a thing, and one that would assure financial sustainability? You can help me decide whether to proceed, and I anticipate most responses will come via social networks rather than comments on my personal site.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 8, 20157:08 am

Flickr a Day 8: Abandoned

Ontario, Canada-based Freaktography describes himself as a “self-taught photographer” whose current passion is “urban exploring”, which includes places abandoned—and it’s searching for the word on Flickr that reveals this photo among others.

I confess to being totally captivated by abandoned buildings, exploring them, and wondering what secrets they might reveal about the people who lived or worked within. Mr. Freaktography captures some amazing abandoned places, including an asylum, church (on an Indian reservation), and power plant.

According to the EXIF data, he shot this photo on March 12, 2014, using a Nikon D3200. Vitals: f/4, ISO 100, 1/3 sec, 18mm. Image is by no means Freaktography’s best work, but the story behind it is amazing, as he explains in “Abandoned House of Treasures“.

Pulp Media by Joe WilcoxJan 7, 201511:31 am

You Should ‘Begin Again’

Here in the United States, iTunes’ Movie of the Week is Begin Again. The 99-cent rental isn’t enough to pay for this delightful film, which I purchased over the holidays and watched with my wife. Grab it now.

There’s something appropriate about the movie being, if for no other reason than the title, Apple’s first cheap rental of the new year. The plot’s arc: music producer Dan Mulligan’s redemption from past mistakes. He must begin again, or be lost. With no money, and no record company, he convinces singer-songwriter Gretta James to make an album. Mark Ruffalo and Keira Knightley play the leads.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 7, 20157:00 am

Flickr a Day 7: Rain Dance

Photographer Dmitry Ryzhkov is truly gifted. His photographs of Moscow are the human-interest equivalent of Google Street View. You feel like you are present, with his subjects, embarrassingly the voyeur. His blog is appropriately called “Moments of Life“. Dimitry’s photos are that and more.

He joined Flickr in September 2011 and is active on many social media services or sites, including 500px, Pinterest, and Tumblr. The photo I select looks like it was formatted for Instagram, being it’s square.

Music by Joe WilcoxJan 6, 20152:31 pm

Surrealistic Pillow

I am quite possessive about my songs, in part because lyrics and singing are natural, but playing musical instruments is not. Posting “Empire State” and now “Surrealistic Pillow” is an exposing experience. But since both will be part of forthcoming serialized vampire thriller My Blood, now is as good a time as any to share them. Coincidentally, this one, like the other, is 1979 vintage.

Every lyric tells a story, but “Surrealistic Pillow” has one, too.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 6, 20156:44 am

Flickr a Day 6: Double-Brass Buskers

Some people can’t let go the camera. “Compulsive photographer” is how Chris JL describes himself. He uses “flickr as a scrapbook” and warns: “Don’t expect much from my stream. I capture simple things”. He is too modest. Simple evokes complex emotions.

Chis is based in London and joined Flickr in June 2009, posting just over 500 photos through the end of 2014. By their number and quality, I’d say he is quite choosy about what’s scrapbooked. Self-titled photo “Double Brass (Tequila!)” is example of a simple photo rich with eye-grabbing detail.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 5, 20156:31 am

Flickr a Day 5: ‘Style Over Speed’

At age 25, I begrudgingly got my driver’s license. How un-American, right? Or strange given I grew up in Northern Maine, where snow covers the ground seven months of the year. But anywhere I couldn’t walk, I biked. So it is with delight that today’s Flickr pic represents a bicycle enthusiast, and he has so many great photos posted (more than 26,000) choosing one is challenging. Self-titled “Style Over Speed” is by no means his best, not by any measure, but it’s such a poser I couldn’t resist.

Film director Mikael Colville-Andersen, who joined Flickr in August 2006, lives in Copenhagen, Denmark. His street photography is art. He writes: “Zakkatography is a state of mind. It’s a taste in your mouth, a warm fuzzy feeling. It’s groovy interior design shots, stunning architectural studies and it’s especially raw streetaciousness. Urban fragments with urban creatures. Zakkatography is your friend. Embrace it”. I will, and so should you!

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 4, 20158:29 pm

Who Owns that Photo?

On January 1, I started year-long project “Flickr a Day“. I choose from among the content-sharing service’s Creative Commons-licensed photos and post them here, with some backstory about the photographer. A comment on Ello got me to thinking about the process I use, which is very deliberate, and the value of explaining it.

First, digression: Last night I posted to new social network Ello for the first time. Less than 24 hours later, I see what the raving is all about. I like Ello. Fresh, and refreshing, describes the posting and community experience.

Photo by Joe WilcoxJan 4, 20158:32 am

Flickr a Day 4: Stockholm at Night

What I like about this photo is the richness of color and contrast set against the composition of the in-focus flowers lower right and bokeh street. Light flare that might be undesirable in another photo […]