Occupy This! by Justin Bristow

When reading this title, go ahead and picture me with my right hand firmly grasping a particularly insulting part of my male anatomy, while the other hand has its longest and centermost finger pointing skyward. 

Just kidding. Even if I may not agree with Occupy’s complaints and desires, or how they go about expressing them - Hey, I have an idea. Let’s stage a protest because there are people that have a whole lot of money, and we don’t have as much as we think we should have. How will we protest? I say we go and just sit around all day and night right outside where they go to WORK everyday! - , I am a southern man with a certain level of class, and would NEVER grab my genitals in anger toward anyone.

And I do not intend for this to be a for or against Occupy Wall Street piece anyway. I want to take a look at the mindset of the Occupy crowd, and present a theory as to why it is they think the way they think, anger the way they anger, and feel the way they feel. And what conclusion did I come up with? What is the only logical explanation for the Occupy way of thinking? Easy. Blame Hollywood.

Is popular culture truly fractured, or do we all still enjoy the same stuff? Also, thank God for the Internet. by Daniel Ford

There have been many arguments made lately concerning how popular culture has become fractured and divided, and that there now exists subsets upon subsets upon subsets of niches, each with its own group of followers. For example, gone are the days when the majority of America tune in to watch one particular show on one particular network; instead, there are now 1000 different channels with 1000 different programs. And the same goes for all types of popular media, including books and magazines, music, TV and movies, and of course, the ubiquitous web. With so much available, many of us begin finding our own favorite things that our friends and family may not like—or even know about.

The following is a rundown of my own personal Internet stomping grounds, both as an effort to give the reader a few sites to check out, and as an experiment to find out how many other people visit the same places on the web. Or maybe you just need more distractions from work.

What We Like: The Polaroids of Mikael Kennedy

Mikael Kennedy began documenting his life and travels via Polaroid photographs in 1999. He wandered around the U.S and abroad for a decade, capturing hauntingly beautiful images of what he saw and who he met.

Kennedy has published 9 volumes of artist books, and his Polaroids are permanently archived on his blog, Passport to Trespass. His work is represented by Peter Hay Halpert Fine Art, NYC and has been exhibited all over the U.S., including an exhibition of 500 Polaroids at the Chelsea Hotel in New York. His work can also be seen as part of the permanent collection at Houston’s Museum of Fine Art.

There is a calming charm in the subtleness of his work. Each photograph feels as if you just pulled it out of an old shoebox that had been tucked away in your attic for years. You feel as if each landscape is a wonderful place you’ve visited, and that each portrait subject is a dear ol’ friend. There’s a certain comfort in familiarity, a sense of home. 













Mikael Kennedy

Passport to Trespass