Blacklodges

#customerservice, #replypromptly, #gofuckyourself

Brian Awitan — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 15:37:34 +0000

an open letter to all the fashion blah-ggers…

Brian Awitan — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:18:52 +0000

the phenomena that anyone with internet access and a tumblr account is suddenly a sartorialist, style-maven that popular culture should follow makes me nauseous. the fact that every nerd can reblog and post pretty pictures of fake stuff from every other ‘zeitgeists’ blogroll, claim said affectation, somehow convince themselves they are original in their re-purpose and then misinform future generations of some Nth-time-twice removed-waterdown-provenance makes me wanna kick their dads in the nads for doing such a poor job of child-rearing.

look, i get that we are all born empty vessels…i accept that one has to experience many things with which to form some discrimination, develop a palate, shape their own opinion and become enlightened. what i can’t excuse is when these funk-fakers simply skim the bookcover of said pop culture and pass themselves off as having a deep, meaningful understanding of any number of subjects…simply regurgitating the same dribble their faux-futurists peddled and cliff-noted before them. this dilution and cut-n-paste ’sophistication’ actually whittles down any awareness. it squelches wonder & enthusiasm, creating a supposed short-cut to learning, understanding, instruction, insight, refinement, illumination and ultimately any cultivated wisdom.

for this very reason, i’m so suspect of all these ‘20-somethings’ so primed on all things iconic from the 60/70’s when their fathers were still wiping their future DNA off his stomach watching reel-to-reel skin flicks or ‘cutting-edge’ VHS-tapes…glint in his eye, indeed.

so so many ‘today-somethings’ drafting off of what ‘cool’ has been fed to them, whilst they were really trapped by The Goonies & The Sandlot. let’s face it…i realize it’s oh-so-much-more romantic to namecheck all the paragons of yesteryear…me? well, i’ll breakdown the real-real…

i wasn’t informed by the Wild Ones, Easy Rider or Che’s motorcycle diaries…i was informed by:

- The Lords of Flatbush
- Bad News Bears
- Little Darlings

i wasn’t introduced to the M-65 by Taxi Driver…i was informed by:

- My Bodyguard

i wasn’t around for any original screening of Bullet, The Great Escape or Two-Lane Blacktop…i was informed by:

- King of the Mountain
- Streets of Fire
- Thunderbolt & Lightfoot
- Corvette Summer

badasses to me weren’t some well-dressed, dashing & debonair Clark Gable…it was a dirty-ass ‘Falconetti’ from:

- Rich Man, Poor Man

…so, yeah, be yourself! you probably wouldn’t be liked anyway.

#neverenoughdanger

Brian Awitan — Sat, 30 Jul 2011 17:44:49 +0000

Hollywood based photographer RJ Shaugnessy just sent us his latest series, “Attack!”. The images were shot after Shaugnessy rescued an underfed German Shepherd, now named Rusty, from a homeless man in Echo Park and discovered that it had been trained as a police/K-9 attack dog.

if you’re in harm’s way, you’re going my way…

Brian Awitan — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 05:19:13 +0000

crystallizes my thoughts, eloquently…

Brian Awitan — Thu, 30 Jun 2011 02:13:08 +0000

Volbeat

Derek Gusikoski — Mon, 20 Jun 2011 22:02:50 +0000

One of my good friends just put me on to this Danish band. A nice and unique mixture of metal, blues and punk with an excellent singer.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=tR_-PAWM9es

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ts19Nn-xyGs

This song features the singer of Napalm Death.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfBw52SQn5Q

lifecycle

Brian Awitan — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 04:57:18 +0000

Black Lodges to Ink N Iron

Brian OK — Fri, 10 Jun 2011 19:12:41 +0000

So it appears as if two of the East Coast Brothers of the Lodge are making our way to Ink N Iron to do some work…..Brother Nick Schonberger and I will be there to represent and get after some truths…..

Cross Pollination

Steven — Mon, 02 May 2011 09:11:22 +0000

More here.

…you’ve just gotta fight your way through.

Brian Awitan — Sun, 01 May 2011 16:21:06 +0000

“Nobody tells this to people who are beginners, I wish someone told me. All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste. But there is this gap. For the first couple years you make stuff, it’s just not that good. It’s trying to be good, it has potential, but it’s not. But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer. And your taste is why your work disappoints you. A lot of people never get past this phase, they quit. Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this. We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have. We all go through this. And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know its normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work. Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you will finish one story. It is only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions. And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I’ve ever met. It’s gonna take awhile. It’s normal to take awhile. You’ve just gotta fight your way through.”
— Ira Glass