MondayMust: Goop, Lonny and Garance

I just discovered Goop last week (I'm a little behind the times). It's a newsletter consisting of Gwyneth Paltrow's favorite things. Not sold? Neither was I at first, but I found a ton of stuff that I really like from this week's newsletter. Also, it's sort of entertaining to make fun of Paltrow. There's something about the newsletter I find kind of ridiculous. I DID get some good stuff out of it though.


Lonny Magazine
This is one of the coolest new online mags I've found. Having worked on a much smaller-scale online magazine, I have a lot of respect for those starting them up.


Garance Dore
I've followed (and loved) The Sartorialist for a long time. I even started a documentary project based on street portraits because of it. His girlfriend Garance was featured in Goop, and I must admit I like her style of shooting better. Plus she's French.

Giveaway over at off switch

OOh Ooh. Katie and off switch is having a giveaway this week. Everyone hop over there for a chance to win this awesome dress from cast couture's Etsy shop.

MakeAListSaturday: The elusive title

For my documentary class, we are making books of the photography project we have been working on all semester.



As I've mentioned before, I've been photographing a 96-year-old woman from rural North Dakota who became a hospice patient in April. For the book, I'm pairing the journal entries she's written since April with the photographs I've taken. Conceptually I know where the book is going. My obstacle right now is the title.

I want to somehow encompass the though of "journals" and "memories" but how to do that in a non-cheesy way has so far alluded me.



So I made bubble charts. Lots of them. Pages and pages. And still no clear inspiration.



Have any of you found a better way of brainstorming?

PhotasticFriday: Cat v. donkey

Milt and donkey

Photastic Friday: Dog v. human

Mort and Cristen

Big Red

In the Midwest we talk about the weather. A lot. It's ingrained in the agricultural base of our existence even if most of us have little to do with it anymore. We experience the extremes. It's not uncommon in the fall to experience a 70-degree day and wake up to 4 inches of snow the next. Let's just say we make the Weather Channel quite often.

Last week it rained several inches. And now the Red River of the North is again above flood stage. It's not at its mammoth 40-plus feet of earlier this year when the city shut down and major evacuations took place. This time forecasters say it will reach a mere 24 feet Wednesday (6 above flood stage) and slowly go back down, tapering into a cold, cruel hibernation for the winter.

Each spring, and now this fall, we watch the Red River take a giant breath. It's belly puffed out as it moves through our towns. The city tries to contain it, but it spills over north and south into the smaller communities. The Red reminds of of what nature can do.

In the spring, we are hopeful about the summer to come. After all, we just survived another killer winter in North Dakota. The Red swells and Mother Nature says, "Don't forget what I can do. See you next year."

We forget over the summer what a -50 degree windchill feels like. We get complacent as the snow tires come off and we can again drive at regular speed limits. In July and August, the wind is hot and muggy most days. In January it threatens to rip your face off. But we forget.

Then our summer quickly turns to fall. It's just a short fade into winter — usually just weeks. The Red swells and Mother Nature says, "You didn't forget, did you? Here I come again."

Halloween is all but over

I should have posted this yesterday because now it just seems old and boring, but Halloween was actually a lot of fun.



Troy's band played at The Aquarium as the Misfits, and it was quite hilarious. They've done other bands like Boston and Kiss, but this was my favorite.



I made Troy's skeleton shirt, and it looked like a 6-year-old's art project. What else can you do with short notice and nothing on hand but some felt and thread?



Someone should really consider bringing back the Devil Lock.

(For those of you that are wondering, I didn't dress up because I had to work until 1 a.m. on Halloween before meeting up at the bar. If I had worn a costume to work, it probably would have been the one time they sent me out on an assignment.)