2 December 2010, late evening
My friend Jonah was giving away rolls of Kodachrome. His only condition to claim a roll was was that you had to actually use the stuff before Dwayne’s — the last place in the world that still develops the stuff — stopped processing the film. I wanted to shoot with the film at least once in my life and so I told him to save a roll for me. The film I was given was Kodachrome 64, from 1992. That makes it 18 years old. I shot all 36 frames on my birthday, mostly taking portraits of my friends hanging out in my parents backyard. Some photos are better than others. This photo I quite like.
Photography
1 December 2010, late at night
We have a new mayor in Toronto. It’s his first day and there is already so much stupid. At least I’ll be able to ride a gravy train to Scarborough. I miss Miller.
[3] Toronto
29 November 2010, early morning
WikiLeaks has released 250,000 classified US diplomatic cables. I haven’t looked at them all, but I am guessing this is the best one:
PERHAPS THE SINGLE DOMINANT ASPECT OF THE PERSIAN
PSYCHE IS AN OVERRIDING EGOISM. ITS ANTECEDENTS LIE
IN THE LONG IRANIAN HISTORY OF INSTABILITY AND INSECURITY
WHICH PUT A PREMIUM ON SELF-PRESERVATION. THE PRACTICAL
EFFECT OF IT IS AN ALMOST TOTAL PERSIAN PREOCCUPATION
WITH SELF AND LEAVES LITTLE ROOM FOR UNDERSTANDING POINTS
OF VIEW OTHER THAN ONE’S OWN.
— By Victor L. Tomseth, from the Tehran Embassy, Cable 79TEHRAN8980, NEGOTIATIONS.
This was written/sent a few months before the hostage crisis. He was one of the top three ranking people captured when the students took over the embassy. He is on LinkedIn, which is both strange and interesting.
Update: This was originally just a link-post.
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