Heart of Darkness 4, and the good ol' Days...

Dima Decided his 3 manifest terror from last summer was to be bested, and that he'd do it all over again. Excited for this one, a week and change after I get home. Gonna get killed!

Click on to see where it all began in 2008!

I think HOD was the first Alleycat I threw. I wanted there to be more an' more an' more.
First there was this awesome poster by Zed!

Then I had Mike from the Collective do something really crazy for the event:


And here's what happened.
Read More......

Self-Taught

A year ago I met a fellow on my travels in Paris. He was American, working a fairly stable but uninspiring job on Berkeley campus, but was taking an extended holiday (or internship) in Paris. On one of his last days there we were out running around until late in the evening, he was jubilant, snapping pictures, buying things for people, and lamenting that he had to leave.

"Come back, Zach" I said. "You could live here. You speak the language, you've got everything it takes!"
He shrugged. "I can't just up and move. I have too many people relying on me at home, and nothing really set up here."
The night was fresh around us. People walking to and fro over ancient bridges, kebabs and snacks in their hands. "Seriously, my friend" I said, tossing a chip into my mouth, "It's as simple as wanting it."

He works here, now:





I need to learn to take my own damn advice. Read More......

Caravaggio, remembrances from 2006.

I was a better writer then.

Caravaggio's La Madonna dei Palafrenieri

"Three figures, light from the ambiguous front and an overhead window.
Mary is so attractive, so innocently evil, as she compels her
strangely halo-less son to crush the skull of a snake beneath his
feet. In the face of danger for the child, Mother insists, aids, yet
shields his body with her own foot. The snake's fragile, roping body
reflects the spin of the obscenely thin halos, its impotent
expiration a quiet indication of Christianity's tendency to dominate
and destroy nature. A momentous painting." Read More......