I Want To Fly

I often dream that I can fly. Not in the Superman, defying gravity and flying straight up kind of way, but in the Batman, jumping off a building and gliding way. This unceasing desire drives me to search the internet every couple months for the latest and greatest in human gliding. Sometime in I will do this.

This is most dangerous sport in the world, I wonder why.

For $1500 you can get a state-of-the-art Phoenix Vampire 3 wingsuit. Its about as close to Batman as you can get.

Think of a wonderful thought...

Here are some more links,
BASE Jumping (WIKI),
Wingsuit Flying (Wiki),
Phoenix Wingsuits,
BLINC Magazine.

Spencer and his Brooks Brothers Duffle Coat

Last weekend I went to the beach with Spencer, a friend from Portland and fellow Colby student. Spencer has a modern preppy sense of style, incorporating contemporary staples like Nudie Jeans and Vans Authentics and more conventionally preppy classics like J-Crew and Brooks Brothers.

Although not preppy in the typical, Preppy Handbook way, Spencer's clothes are understated, well made, and wearable in many situations. In these photos Spencer is wearing all white Vans Authentics, a Pendleton wool shirt (under the coat), dark Nudie Jeans and a Brooks Brothers Duffle Coat (which I really like).

This block of ice was carried hundreds of feet above the shoreline by high tide, similar to the smaller blocks of ice in the mouth of the Kennebec River.

Spencer shows that preppy does not just have to be pastel polo shirts, khaki pants, and boat shoes, but can be a mix of modern and classics.

Here are some more links,
Spencer at the Beach (Picasa),
Duffle Coat (The Trad),
Duffle Coat (Wiki),
The Beach (ART).

Things To Look At While in the Loo

For my birthday I asked for books to look at when I was on the loo. Here is my reading material.

In the American West by Richard Avedon is my favorite photography book.

Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Icon Images has some really cool portraits by Annie Leibovitz, like this one of Jack Nicholson and Hunter S. Thompson.

Native Land Native People Form The Edward S. Curtis Collection needs no introduction.

Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska by photographer/writer Seth Kantner. This memoir describes his rural upbringings in Northern Alaska and his quest to find acceptance in modern society.

Relaxing and seeking inspiration while in the loo. Here is a self portrait of me looking at portraits.

Links for the loo:
In the American West (Amazon),
Vanity Fair: The Portraits: A Century of Icon Images (Amazon),
Native Land Native People Form The Edward S. Curtis Collection (Amazon),
Shopping for Porcupine: A Life in Arctic Alaska (Amazon).

A Pipe, a Remington Shotgun, and a Man Named Butch

Driving down 202 on Sunday, I spotted a man perched on his deck wearing a blaze orange hat and smoking a pipe. I pulled a U-Turn, turned on the hazard lights, grabbed my camera, and introduced myself as college student taking photos of central Maine. The old, weathered man was standoffish at first, but we eventually struck up a conversation about his 33 year career as a boiler operator at paper mill, his four years in the Marines during Vietnam, guns, his love for American made goods, and the state of Maine economy.

Butch and his Remington 16 gauge shotgun. He let me shoot it.

Butch goes through one pipe per year and smokes about a bag of tobacco per week.

He proudly showed off this one, commenting that it had, "recently been broken in."

Butch owns American made Toyota cars. When asked why he owned Toyotas, he responded, "Do you know where GM cars are made? Mexico. Do you know where Fords are made? Canada. My Toyotas are made in Texas and Tennessee, no wonder they (American Automakers) are going belly up."

I asked Butch if he was born and raised in Maine, he responded, "No I was born in Connecticut and moved to Maine when I was 4 weeks old." Butch swears by LL Bean.

After talking with him for half an hour, I finally asked him his name. "Around these parts they call me Butch." I left it at that.

Here are some more links,
A Pipe, a Remington Shotgun, and a Man Named Butch (Picasa),
Side of the Road (ART).