Blog Mule

What's new at the Explosion 5000?

2009-05-23T12:15:00.000-07:00

It's been almost two months since I updated Blog Mule readers. Sorry folks! Fortunately, plenty has been happening over at The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000. If you haven't dropped by in awhile, check out my new "about" page. I've added links to various non-Explosion places where my photos have been published/exhibited.

So, what else is new? Well, immediately upon arriving back in Seattle, I embarked on a bar crawl through the University of Washington's "U-District." Several days later, I attended an extremely hip party to kickoff Product Runway. WTF is Product Runway? It's fashion, models, designers, fancy drinks and wild creativity.

Shortly after blogging about fabulous fashion, I jumped on a plane to St. Louis and spent time at the world class Boeing Leadership Center. When my week of wining-and-dining Boeing style wrapped up, I hopped another flight to Chicago. I caught Starfucker (for the second time in a week) at the Empty Bottle and hit up a Cubs game with the boys. Kyle Koster of the Chicago Sun-Times saw some of shots and posted them on his blog.

After my swing through the Midwest, I returned to Seattle and checked out our new soccer team, The Seattle Sounders. I went with the Bungalow, so of course some shenanigans ensued.

Drinking in Seattle is serious business. As a blogger, I felt it was my civic duty to attend Hop Scotch, a benefit for the Seattle International Film Festival. Like any good citizen, I drank my fair share of microbrews while managing not to break/lose my camera.

Sure, I've been partying and having fun. Don't worry though, I'm still trying to do some serious stuff. I kicked off a new series called "Scene from 99." Every couple of weeks I'm going to post a new image of Seattle's iconic Highway 99. The first installment is up, and I hope to shoot more soon!

Don't be a stranger... stop by and check out what's new at Explosion5000.com. If you like or hate something, please drop me a line or leave a comment. I love comments.

Why do you want to go to New York?

2009-05-20T18:20:00.001-07:00

(If I can cover beauty queens, I can cover this.)

Help me faithful Blog Mule readers.

PepsiCo is sponsoring a handful of journalists to head to NYC at the beginning of June to cover Internet Week.

I'm working on my application now, and since social media tools (blogs, Twitter, Facebook, cell phone cameras) let everyone become part of developing stories, I want to invite all of you to become part of my application.

Please please please answer this question in a comment to this post:

Why do you want to cover Internet Week NY for PepsiCo?

I'll use your responses in my application and be very grateful to all of you. If I get the gig, I might also end up staying with some of you in NYC.

More on the opportunity below. Thanks yall!

From mediabistro.com:

Join an elite team reporting on all the events and companies during Internet Week NY. PepsiCo will sponsor nine social media journalists to cover Internet Week across all digital platforms. Internet Week NY runs June 1-8. These communicators will file stories based on interviews, reporting, tweets and video/photo features, which will be redistributed as Internet Week content on a special section of PepsiCo.com and other digital platforms. Possible assignments include the CM Summit by Federated Media, the NY Tech Meetup, Digg Meetup and the Webby Awards. Communicators will receive an honorarium, an Internet Week press pass and a Flip Camera.

Submissions will be accepted May 15 until midnight on May 22. Applicants must be based in New York City or be willing to fund their own travel expenses there, and have professional journalism experience, currently be a journalism student or work as a social media professional. Each applicant must have demonstrated skill with digital media.

Submissions must include the following: 1 paragraph (250 words or less) stating why you want to do this; 1 tweet stating why you want to do this; link to your LinkedIn profile or your resume; 1 sample of work either 1 video, 1 podcast link, a set of photographs or a blog post (brevity is important here); confirmation that you have at least three of the following (or relevant equivalents): profiles on MySpace or Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube or a personal blog. Submissions should be sent to pepsicointernetweek@gmail.com. Selected participants will be notified by May 28.

Really sweet Mario video and cool photos too

2009-05-11T08:46:00.000-07:00

My buddy over at 10,000 words :: where journalism and technology meet threw up this post on composite photography the other day. Some cool mash-ups.

Of course, the many ways to create a composite photograph are not lost on the folks at Blog Mule. We've stitched together photographs in Photoshop--like Dave's recount of a recent lunar eclipse, sent with the caption "Froze my butt off, but it was worth it;"

Or my happy mistake/multiple exposure experiment in the Holga.

But I really put this post together to share this video. It is a mash-up of 134 tries to beat a level in Mario. Just for the record, I probably would never beat this level. Then again, I gave up playing at Mario 3. The flying was too much for me. But this video is way cool.

100 posts...finally

2009-05-07T07:48:00.000-07:00

Happy 100th post to us!

This post was a long time coming. The Blog Mule faithful have noticed that we've sat on 99 for weeks, swinging at every pitch coming our way and striking out.

But we did it. And while we don't think we hit a home run, we're on base.

So without further banter, we present our 100th post (via a gmail thread)

(For those who can't read the tiny type, check out a larger version here)

Thanks for sticking with us.

tinynotebook: The big write off that wasn't

2009-04-14T23:21:00.000-07:00

More barroom adventures at tinynotebook.

"I was guilty of nearly everything I detested about the man who defaced my dollar, except his jacket—leather, shiny silver spikes sprouting here and there. Go home little punk. But I had come to the bar penless that night, completely unprepared for the writer battle about to go down all over George Washington's face.

I rubbed the tips of my thumb, index and middle finger together, warming them up for the quick snatch and write I would have to execute as soon as I looked down at the dollar. I contemplated throwing out an American sentence, an Allen Ginsberg poetic form I had spent the day studying. Take that you uneducated barroom writer fighter. I've got the Gins.

He pulled his hand away. I leaned in, looked down."

Read the rest at tinynotebook.

Explosion5000.com: Kay Kay, The Croc 2.0 and MSU

2009-03-28T16:45:00.000-07:00

Check out The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 for coverage of last night's excellent Kay Kay and His Weathered Underground set at The Crocodile.

Also, bonus coverage of Seattle celebrating Michigan State's big win over Kansas in the NCAA tournament.

Show me your backhand, Anna K.

2009-03-27T10:06:00.000-07:00

Anna Kournikova was on Jimmy Fallon last night to play a few rounds of beer pong.

Despite her exquisite form, she sucked. Fallon wasn't much better. Kind of sad.

And the best part, when the crowd starts chanting "Chug. Chug. Chug." College!

Previous Blog Mule Beer Pong Coverage: Explosion 5000: Beer Pong, photos from the WSBP IV

I welded a bunch of stuff together

2009-03-25T20:15:00.000-07:00

I can weld!

And you're thinking, welding, really, Aaron? Is this the same Aaron who always forgets which way to turn screws to make them tighter and looser?

Yup, and now this mechanically declined nincompoop knows how to operate a Mig (like the jet) welder.

And all after only one class at SmartShop Metal Arts Center. Tuesday was my first "Tools and Techniques" class. I am the marketing coordinator at SmartShop and about a month ago, Holly Fisher, the woman who runs the place and all, offered me a scholarship for a class.

"Yeah," I said, sort of hesitantly, because, well, let's be honest, I am not that great with tools (how I didn't manage to make a complete idiot out of myself while working for a late model race team, I don't know) and I'm not an artist like that.

I can write, take photos, fool around with PhotoShop and InDesign to make cool things, but to actually create things with my hands. No way. I can't paint, draw or make things out of clay. I gave up being that kind of artist in second grade when I showed a friend a drawing I made of VW bug, and he said it looked like I had traced it. Busted. I had. Destroyed.

Ok, but I showed up Tuesday night, a little nervous. Artists and tools that shoot sparks, they both make me nervous.

Holly made it easy. Within the first hour, we all had those cool welding masks on and were doing tack welds on scrap pieces of steel. If you've never welded, those welding masks are strange. When you put them on, everything is kind of dark, you can still see, but it is like wearing five or six pairs of sunglasses on top of each other. When you pull the trigger on the welder, and it starts shooting out super hot wire and fusing pieces of metal together, everything goes black. All you can see are the sparks and a little green dot from your weld. Sparks are flying everywhere, nailing you in the face, which is covered by the welding mask, and landing on your head, which is not covered by the welding masks. I'll wear a bandana next time.

So when the sparks started flying, I closed my eyes. Real smart. In my hand I have superheated metal, and I close my eyes. It made welding sort of difficult, but once I figured out that the sparks weren't going to destroy my face, I kept my eyes open. And that's when I realized.

Welding is pretty easy when you open your eyes.

So I continued, tack welding, welding thick metal to thin metal, turning corners, running beads. I mean, NASCAR is not going to be calling anytime soon, but it was all pretty good.

Just don't ask me to write my name…or the word jello with a welder. Maybe next class.

Btdubs, I made that scuplture at the top. I call it "process 1." During the class, I just started welding all my practice welds together.

Grand Rapids Press reports on Facebook update

2009-03-18T11:54:00.000-07:00

This is not news.

From the Grand Rapids Press portion of the mystery of www.mlive.com:

GVSU student Derek Copp posts to Facebook page 'live in peace,' first message since shooting
Tuesday March 17, 2009, 3:23 PM

GRAND RAPIDS -- Derek Copp, the Grand Valley State University student shot during a drug raid at his apartment, recently posted an upbeat Facebook page message that calls for everyone to "live in peace."

Copp is recovering at Spectrum Health Butterworth Hospital from a bullet wound to the chest after a West Michigan Enforcement Team officer fired one shot at him during an evening raid last week.

"All we can do is hope, wait and live in peace" he wrote on his Facebook page Monday evening. "Soon things will change. Let's keep on supporting each other. Love always, for everyone."

But for the Grand Rapids Press, it was news on Tuesday. Part of me doesn't want to blast the Press for reporting on the Facebook update. I'm a journalist. I know what it is like, grinding it out, looking for stories, meeting quotas, satisfying a "news-now" culture. The article is not long and probably didn't take much time to put together. It updates the reader on a big news story and probably got the Press some much needed page views. After finding the story buried in my neglected Google Reader, I clicked on it twice today.

Still, it worries me that an update to a Facebook page was newsie enough to warrant a separate story, especially because on between March 17 and March 18, the Press posted 5 different stories about Copp. Couldn't the Facebook update been weaved into one of those stories.

And watch out when believing what you read on Facebook. If Calvin College has taught us anything, it is that sometimes, people login onto other people's Facebooks and write stuff.

All that aside, a reporter at the Press stumbled on this gem and blasted it over the Internet. I think the comments left below the story sum up people's reaction--and mine.

sys700

buffaloBill7

Nevrforgive

ferrisphil

lookingout20

Copp's page, according to the press, is open to members of his networks, including GVSU and Grand Rapids. Or you could just friend him.

Ladies & Gentlemen, LIVE in London

2009-03-16T17:54:00.000-07:00

Who wants to hop a BA flight to London with me?

Explosion5000.com: New Deals and Little Bitches

2009-03-10T18:03:00.000-07:00

Head over to the Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 to see pictures of the FDR Memorial and a little bitch... well, I'm just assuming the dog is female.

Barbie turns 50...gets new tatt!

2009-03-10T12:31:00.001-07:00

I wasn't going to blog about Barbie (the doll) turning 50, but then I overheard this conversation between the cook and the waiter at a small restaurant in Kalamazoo:

tramp stamp

Yes. Barbie, the plastic doll whose hair you either combed affectionately or whose head you ripped off in an act of prepubescent (let's hope) rage, turned 50. To celebrate-in addition to "tricking out" Barbie's real-life Malibu Dream home, according to CNN.com, Mattel released "Tattoo Barbie" just a few days ago. The doll features a tatt on her lower back.

So I guess when you reach your mid-life crisis and already have your man (Ken), an awesome best friend (Skipper), tons of pink convertibles and dream homes on every beach and in nearly every living room in the world, you get a tramp stamp.

It's a big year for bombshells turning 50, some even made of just as much plastic as Barbie. From AARP Magazine, the following hotties will hit the big 5-0 this year:

Wonder what they will get for their 50 birthdays?

*****BONUS CULTURAL LESSON VIA K-COLLEGE STUDY ABOARD*****
[explicit language below, may not be suitable for teens/tweens]

The German slang for the tramp stamp is Arschgeweih, which translates into ass antlers. Love zee Germans.

Alt-Country-Indie on your iPod

2009-03-09T14:57:00.000-07:00

Inspired by Aaron's earlier post about his Art Hop mix, I decided to share a playlist that currently lives on my iPod devices. I originally developed this mix for my dad; it's an attempt to sample a range of current artists that he might like (based on his affinity for pedal steel guitars and Commander Cody). That's right. I'm 27 years old and the best I can do for my dad is hand him a burned CD with 'cool' music on it. And oh yeah, speaking of PhotoAup, did you know that you can follow him on Twitter at @FKA_viD? Yeah, really.

Anyway, this playlist has been a go to solution in many situations.

Driving from Philadelphia to Washington DC and bored with all your music? Alt-Country-Indie.
Morning coffee at a cabin in the Cascade Mountains with mixed company? Alt-Country-Indie.
5 hour cross country flight? Alt-Country-Indie. Well, you'll need that, a cocktail, a bag of pretzels and hopefully a seat-mate that is reading something interesting for you to nonchalantly glance at.

Here's the list (with fun links):

Page France - Chariot
Okkervil River - Lost Coastlines
These United States - First Sight
The Avett Brothers - Paranoia In B Major
Fleet Foxes - Blue Ridge Mountains
Lightspeed Champion - Number One
Lightspeed Champion - Galaxy of the Lost
Shugo Tokumaru - La La Radio
Eels - Railroad Man
The Flaming Lips - Mr. Ambulance Driver
Fleet Foxes - He Doesn't Know Why
The Dodo's - Walking
The Dodo's - Red and Purple
Cotton Jones - I Don't Suppose
The Avett Brothers - Shame
Grand Archives - A Setting Sun
Lightspeed Champion - Everyone I Know Is Listening to Crunk
Fleet Foxes - English House
Sea Wolf - Leaves In the River

I consciously repeated a few bands to add a little consistency to the mix. On a recent drive from Mt. Baker to Seattle, Sharat (the well established music taste maker) actually asked "who's this band playing?" each time The Avett Brothers came on. Don't tell anybody, but I think he secretly likes them.... shh.

What do you think? This mix awesome/lame? What is everyone out in the BlogMule-sphere listening to these days? Drop us a line and let us know!

Dan Deacon in Whitefish

2009-03-09T06:20:00.000-07:00

Dan Deacon put the finishing touches on his new masterpiece, Bromst, at Snow Ghost in Whitefish, Montana. Snow Ghost is a house that is setup to function as a kick-ass recording studio... kind of like my parents' living room circa 1996. The juxtaposition of profound nature and the dizzying technology present at Snow Ghost seem appropriate considering the electro-acoustic wonder that the setting produced. Having spent some time in Whitefish myself, I am more than slightly jealous of his setup out there... if I only had XLR mic inputs in my closet!

Watch all four installments at Pitchfork.tv.

Art Hop 3.2k9 mix CD

2009-03-08T17:48:00.000-07:00

Thanks.

Last Thursday, I needed help and you all were there. When I asked for suggestions on what songs should be on my mix CD for March's Art Hop at the gallery, yall responded [via twitter/facebook/SMS].

Sometimes I feel out of place at the gallery or pressure to be artsy. I didn't know what genre of music artists listen to or what type of music -- alt country, indie 80s dance pop, the local college radio station -- to play at the gallery. So nervous.

The suggestions were great.

But I didn't use any of them. I know, JERK, right?

Two things, 1) I'm not good a stealing music via the Internet, and 2) I don't have the Internet at my house.

I had to rely on the old lappy and the music I listened to during my senior year in college (2006). I worked hard, thought hard, listened to the first couple seconds of a lot of songs and made a playlist.

IT WAS A HIT! People were dancing, and they played my CD twice!!!

If you're interested, here is the playlist:
The Word - Joyful Sounds
A Tribe Called Quest - Can I kick It?
Bloc Party - Hunting for Wtiches
Tom Jobim & Elis Regina - Aguas De Março
The Beatles - The Night Before
Scissor Sisters - I Don't Feel Like Dancin'
Supergrass - Pumping On Your Stereo
Smashing Pumpkins - Today
The Strokes - 12:51
The Postal Service - Brand New Colony
Phoenix - Too Young
Paul Oakenfold - Starry Eyed Surprise
The Mountain Goats - Dance Music
Of Montreal - The Party's Crashing Us
Weezer - Buddy Holly
Neutral Milk Hotel - Holland, 1945
Slighty Stoopid - Waiting
Lifesavers - Me
David Bowie - Starman
Bright Eyes - June on the West Coast
Her Space Holiday - The Young Machines

We have another Art Hop on April 3, and I'll be asking for suggestions for another mix then. Maybe this time I'll be able to buy/steal/burn/download/stream/podcast/XM satellite radio some of the songs.

Explosion5000.com: Cabin Fever

2009-03-03T19:59:00.000-08:00

Over at the Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 I am blogging about Cabin Fever. Are you prepared for the rest of winter? Find out.

Surviving the Michigan Winter Beerfest

2009-03-02T21:03:00.001-08:00

It's a Michigan thing.
It's a beer thing.
It's a Michigan beer thing.
How else could you convince hundreds of people to stand around in the parking lot of Fifth Third Ball Park in February?

Jessica French, co-owner of Ypsilanti tap houses The Sidetrack Bar and Grill and Frenchies and a Michigan beer expert, and I bundled up and saddled up to some of the best micro-brews in the state this past weekend during the Michigan Winter Beerfest. As a beerfest rookie, I learned a bit about how to survive the winter beer drink-a-thon.

First, have a plan.

Forty-two brewers showed up at the festival and brought with them somewhere around 230 different brews. You are not going to drink all of them...or are you?

Second, stay warm.

Wear hats: Be them red........................................or dead.

Warm jackets: When is that animal in season?

Facial hair: For those hard to reach cheeks (Seriously Andy, did I look like that?)

or to snuggle in.

And a really big fire.

Third, beer. Of course

That includes tokens to get beer...

Kegs to hold the beer...

And taps to pour the beer.

Look mom, no hands!

Beer+marshmallow+fire=Short's S'more stout.

Fourth, Food.
Beer is good but better with food. Food is good but better when it is a giant turkey leg.

Fifth, friends.

Drinking alone is, well, drinking alone. Invite your friends, or make new ones.

Sixth, rest.

We suggest finding a more comfortable spot...

like the JW Marriott in downtown G Rap.

So that's it yall. Thanks to The Sidetrack for hooking me up for the weekend, and to Jessica for helping me rediscover a love for stouts.

Alexander von Humboldt

2009-02-26T11:15:00.001-08:00

Who wants to learn about history? If you do, keep reading. If you don't, go waste your time elsewhere on the memesphere. I read and write about history. That is all I do. Sometimes I actually read and write about something I really enjoy. A few months ago I wrote a little review about the historical monograph The Humboldt Current by Aaron Sachs, which is about the 18th century explorer-scientist Alexander von Humboldt. Humboldt was, in my recently formulated opinion, the father of American environmentalism and was likely a more important early explorer-scientist than Darwin. Ah, did I pique your interest with that one? Obviously my measley review does not do Sachs much justice, so if you like what you read here go pick up the book - it'll knock your socks off. If this sort of shit interests you let me know. Allah knows I have plenty more of it.

“Often, they [American explorers] focused on understanding the interrelationships of peoples and landscapes they encountered in the wild, and they wound up questioning the values of their home civilization—in part, at least, because they were trying to follow in Humboldt’s footsteps.”

Alexander von Humboldt believed an interconnectedness exists between humans and the natural world. In his book, The Humboldt Current, Aaron Sachs examines the life, travels, writings, and theories of the eighteenth century German scientist-explorer in an effort to demonstrate his impact on the way subsequent explorers, scientists, writers, and artists understood the world around them. Primarily focused on four American scientist-explorers - J. N. Reynolds, Clarence King, George Wallace Melville, and John Muir - Sachs argues that Humboldt’s legacy, or ‘current’, ran through each scientist’s respective explorations and was reflected in their perceptions of the world. Additionally, Sachs reveals the relationship between Humboldt’s environmental disposition and twentieth century American environmentalism.

Organized into chapters based on the geographic region explored by each scientist-explorer (Humboldt in the East, Reynolds to the South, King in the West, Melville and Muir to the North) Sachs’s book provides an intellectual inquiry into why Humboldt and Humboldtian exploration slipped away into obscurity during times when politics favored exploitation over scientific discovery; why the resurrections of Humboldt and his legacy are important to historical inquiry; and where Humboldt stands within the discussion of modernity. Additionally, Sachs argues that Reynolds, King, Melville, and Muir each embraced a Humboldtian way of life. Like Humboldt, they each practiced a generalized science, each had tumultuous personal relationships, and each man challenged the existing social hierarchies of their time by placing value on other cultures. Furthermore, Sachs challenges traditional historical perspectives of post-Columbian exploration, which argue that exploitation was a byproduct of exploration. On the contrary, Sachs explains that some explorers believed, and even explained to the public, that the purpose of exploration was to exploit the natural world and its inhabitants. Through an exploration of Sachs’s narrative, this essay will elaborate on Sachs’s goals and also identify the limitations of his approach. Additionally, this essay will describe the obstacles faced by those who attempt to live a Humboldtian lifestyle during times of emptiness and environmental destruction.

In the initial part of the book, Sachs primarily interprets two of Humboldt’s most influential publications, Personal Narrative (1814) and the five tomes that make up his Cosmos (1845-62), in order to investigate the character of the man himself. Sachs relies heavily on these sources because, whether Humboldt destroyed them or they merely vanished over time, no records of the explorer’s personal correspondence exist. In this section, Sachs examines Humboldt’s romanticized theory of natural interconnectedness, which expressed humility toward nature and understood all organic beings to be connected in the natural world. As he believed all things in nature were connected, he also believed that all branches of science should be combined to study nature and that physical emersion in the study was essential. Humboldt felt that a scientist must actively explore the natural world to gain a full understanding of it. Thus, Humboldt was a generalist scientist: he combined ideas of meteorology, geography, geology, and hydrology to formulate many of his theories regarding the connectedness among various climatic systems on the planet.

Sachs points out that Humboldt’s belief in interconnectedness led him to a humble view of humanity’s place in the world. “His vision of resource use depended on free institutions, and on an ethic of prudence, care, respect, and egalitarianism.” Based on those beliefs, Humboldt often denounced colonial ventures that infringed on such principles. However, to garner public and governmental support to practice his science, Humboldt’s explorations were often financially supported by colonial powers for reasons he loathed. As Sachs states, “His science could locate diamonds, but it could also light volcanic fires.” The notion of interconnectedness also brought Humboldt to value indigenous cultures he encountered during explorations. He “believed that every human group, no matter how superficially bizarre or savage, was equally capable of contributing to those arts and sciences, and special contributions, which could not have been developed in any other place by any other group.” Following his consideration for native peoples, Humboldt spoke out against slavery, deeming that “development [should] be shared equally among all social groups - natives and blacks, too.”

During Humboldt’s lifetime, his theory of interconnectedness was the dominant scientific trend until it was eclipsed by Darwin’s theory, which focused on the “struggle for existence.” As soon as Darwin introduced his theory, there was no place for Humboldt in the modern world. Darwin’s theory, unlike Humboldt’s, validated Western imperialism, expansionism, and exploitation. Rather then paying respect to the natural world and native groups based on a universal understanding of interconnectedness, Western imperialists turned to Darwin’s scientific findings of social and natural hierarchies to justify their exploitative ventures. In addition, Humboldt’s legacy faded away because his type of generalized scientific practice was replaced by an increased importance on specific scientific practices. In the late nineteenth century, “fieldwork lost its appeal as laboratories proliferated and microscopes became more powerful.”

As Humboldt’s scientific legacy was shoved to the margins in the wake of Darwinism, Sachs explains that the explorer’s personal life was also marginalized. His favor for homosocial relationships likely attributed to his distance from mainstream society. The absence of female companionship in Humboldt’s life was contrary to social standards of the time. Humboldt never married and, as Sachs infers from a limited amount of source material regarding Humboldt’s personal life, “had a fairly well-known preference of intense bonds with other men.” The homosocial character of Humboldt’s personality likely contributed to his desire to constantly explore and live among nature. In the company of his fellow male explorers, emerged in nature, is where Sachs postulates that Humboldt was the most comfortable. Thus, during the dawn of the modern era, with ramped industrialization, colonialism, and natural resource exploitation Sachs illuminates that Humboldt, as a man who favored homosocial relationships, a generalist scientist, “proto-environmentalist”, and abolitionist, was a social, political, and professional radical during his lifetime. With this first section of the book, Sachs sets the stage to demonstrate Humboldt’s influence on four other explorer-scientists.

The second part of the book focuses on the connection between the life and career of explorer-scientist J.N. Reynolds with that of Humboldt. In this section Sachs draws on various primary sources, as well as interpretations of Reynolds’s publications, to demonstrate how the explorer became increasingly more Humboldtian over time. Reynolds led a conflicted and “thoroughly unsettled life.” In an era of increased professional specialization, Reynolds was a generalist: an editor, writer, self-trained scientist, expedition planner, and explorer. Due to his contemporarily unconventional lifestyle, as well as the fact that he never settled into a domestic heterosexual relationship, Sachs explains that Reynolds was a marginalized member of society just as Humboldt was. Reynolds’s inability to settle into a “normal” life and profession likely contributed to his conflicted character and his constant yearning to explore.

Unlike Humboldt, Reynolds was not independently wealthy and had to work his way up into a career as a scientist and explorer. During the 1820s, after Reynolds put himself through the University of Ohio, he became a student and follower of John Cleaves Symmes. Symmes believed the Earth was hollow and the entrance to its core could be found at either the North or South Pole. Reynolds’s belief in Symmes’ theory was marginal, however he used it to garner federal support for an exploration of its possibility. Though he had powerful friends within the federal bureaucracy, Reynolds’ exploration was put on hold when Andrew Jackson took office in 1829. To offset the financial dependence on the government, Reynolds opened his exploration to commercial fishing and his exploration subsequently set sail for the South Pole a few months later. His trip aboard the Annawan, which ultimately reached Antarctica and quickly turned around to let Reynolds explore southern Chile, is remembered as Reynolds’s only real chance to make any significant contributions to science.

Sachs argues that it was during his southern exploration that Reynolds began to see the world in a truly Humboldtian way. Like Humboldt, Reynolds saw value in pre-Columbian civilizations. During his interaction with the indigenous Araucanians of South America, Reynolds shed his preconceived Victorian notions of native peoples’ existance as “warlike brutes or noble savages” and found value in their society. Sachs posits that Reynolds’s encounter with the Araucanians was essentially Humboldtian: Reynolds came to the conclusion that the indigenous people were more like Victorians then unlike. From this view, Reynolds believed the rapidly expanding United States should incorporate native cultures into the newly forming American landscape, rather then eliminate them from it. Additionally, on his journey to the southern hemisphere, just as Humboldt detested the relationship between exploration and exploitation, Reynolds came to realize the negative impacts commercial ventures aligned with scientific exploration had on the environment. As a reaction to witnessing the full force of commercial whaling and fishing aboard the Annawan, Reynolds came to oppose extensive natural resource extraction and imperialist expansion. Like Humboldt, Reynolds’s world-view was shaped by his experiences, which Sachs argues was reflected in his ability to connect humanity with the natural world.

In the third portion of his book, Sachs demonstrates the relationship between Humboldt and Clearance King. With this topic, the reader begins to notice the dwindling connections Sachs makes between Humboldt and other explorer-scientists who attempted to follow in his footsteps. Like Reynolds and Humboldt, King’s personal and professional character were stricken with conflict. After graduating from the Sheffield School at Yale, self-trained in “science and art, reason and intuition, and analysis and absorption,” King headed into the American frontier in 1863 and never looked back. Once King reached California, he became obsessed with mountaineering and explored nature to uncover universal laws and natural connections. Like Reynolds, who was dependant on outside financial backing to explore the natural world, King sought federal employment to afford a living as scientist-explorer. Thus, King conducted surveys for the California Geological Survey and that employment, along with his later work for the USGS, as Sachs argues, caused a central conflict in King’s life. As a Humboldtian naturalist, King conducted surveys for an agency that existed for the purpose of discovering and exploiting natural resources. This act was in contradiction to the value he placed on the humility of humanity. King, who viewed nature as an experience, opposed industrialization and westward expansion, but participated in its indirect exploitation in order to fulfill his personal desire to live among and draw connections in nature.

As a mirror to the professional conflicts that arose among explorer-scientists who adhered to a Humboldtian lifestyle and belief system, King’s personal life was also full of conflict. Henry Adams, “the representative intellectual of the postbellum period saw King as the man who most fully internalized the tensions of his rapidly expanding society, waging a civil war within his own body, mind, and soul.” King fed off of secretive relationships and, like Humboldt and Reynolds, led a marginalized life outside mainstream society. Never one to settle into a traditional Victorian heterosexual marriage, during the first ten years of King’s western journey, he shared an intimate relationship with his friend Jim Gardiner. Sachs points out that King suffered during his isolation in the wilderness except when he was with Gardiner. Additionally, King shared close personal relationships with other men, including Dick Cotter, Henry Adams, and John Hay. It was in the company of these men that King found solace. Furthermore, during the last ten years of his life, King held a secret marriage with an African American woman named Ada Copeland. Although he had children with Copeland, King only revealed his true identity to her right before he died. King’s life was full of secrets and torment, though as his personal life suffered, he was able to open himself to exploration and gain a deeper understanding of nature.

In the concluding section of the book, Sachs describes the relationships between George Wallace Melville and John Muir to Humboldt. Also, Sachs examines Humboldt’s link to modern environmentalism. Melville, an Admiral and engineer in the U.S. Navy, developed Humboldtian connections during a time when capitalism became overwhelmingly powerful. As married man, his explorations caused him to be away from his family for long periods of time. Melville’s constant absence from his family was the source of conflict between he and his wife. In a rejection of Victorian social codes, the two eventually separated. The most prolonged absence of his career was while Melville was aboard the Jeanette expedition in 1879. The expedition sought to discover a route to the Atlantic through Siberia. Aboard the Jeannette, which became stuck in a North Pole ice flow for nearly two years, Melville witnessed the death of over half his comrades before he finally led a group to the safety of land. On shore, Melville and his shipmates were aided by a group of indigenous Tungus hunters. Sachs argues that Melville’s outlook was not inherently Humboldtian, but with the humility and respect he gives his native rescuers, Humboldtian values appear to be embodied in Melville’s character. From his experience aboard a wrecked ship, and his encounter with the indigenous people of Siberia, Melville came to the conclusion that “even the brightest, best-equipped white Americans could never understand the Arctic landscape well enough to master it.” Even as a conflicted family and military man, Melville came to view humanity’s place in nature with humility.

The final explorer-scientist Sachs describes in relation to Humboldt is John Muir. Rather than focusing on the well-known aspects of Muir’s career as a leader in the conservation movement and founder of the Sierra Club, in this section Sachs describes Muir’s life as an explorer in search of connections within the natural world. Like Melville, Muir was also a married man whose long absences from home took a toll on his family life. A dedicated husband and father, Muir struggled to remain home with his family while his heart longed to explore nature. During Muir’s mountaineering excursions and forays into the natural world, his scientific observations were steeped in Humboldt’s influence. Sachs points out that - similar to Humboldt, Reynolds, King, and Melville - Muir recognized conflicts within nature. “Nature was fantastical, awe-inspiring, breathtakingly magnificent; it was also terrifying, confusing overwhelming, fatal.” In 1881 Muir ventured to Alaska to study glacial activity and search for any surviving members of the Jeannette expedition. Over the course of that expedition, Muir developed a deeply Humboldtian value for native Alaskan cultures. Muir respected the indigenous peoples’ ability to live with nature. Sachs then depicts the sharp turn Muir’s philosophies took in regard to humanity’s place in nature. In the end, for the Muir that founded the Sierra Club, “human beings were merely tourists in the wilderness. Pure nature, in other words, was defined as separate from all that was human.”

For Sachs, Muir is not only the father of modern American environmentalism, but also his initial admiration of and eventual deviation from a Humboldtian outlook represents the overall historical deviation taken by modern American environmentalism. With pressure from industrialization, Muir and the modern environmental movement chose to take the human aspect out of nature all together. Through the conservation of specific pieces of land, unprotected areas are open for virtually unregulated industrial exploitation. Where Humboldt would have chosen an environmentalism that figures in humanity’s involvement with nature, the conservation movement merely focuses on nature itself.

Sachs seeks to inspire his readers to consider the various paths society has taken in the past. Through the evaluation of these four Humboldtians, Sachs implies that there was a more Humboldtian path humanity could have taken, but has made the choice to become a society that embraces industrialization and conquest. Through showing the personal and professional conflicts that have arisen when people have attempted to venture against the grain of modern industrialization, Sachs’s monograph chronicles the lives of Humboldt, Reynolds, King, Melville, and Muir to demonstrate various challenges the modern world has faced in terms of the scholarly, social, and professional lives of common people. The men in Sachs’s case study all envisioned repercussions would result from Western colonialism and humanity’s attempt to control nature. However, their attempts to bring attention to their visions fell to deaf ears due to changes in society. Whether it was the recognition of humanity’s humbleness in nature, a rejection of modern capitalism and imperialism, the practice of generalized science, unacceptable Victorian personal relationships, or a respect for indigenous cultures these men possessed values that contributed to their marginalization by the modernizing force of industrialization.

At various times throughout the narrative, Sachs uses a first-person perspective to give the reader a hint of his own Humboldtian experiences. For instance, while researching and looking for connections along the Humboldt River, Sachs states that his “research had given me new eyes with which to view this landscape.” Like Humboldt, Sachs found what he was looking for by emerging himself in the subject of his research- the wilderness. For some critics, Sachs’s first-person interjections are seen as limitations to his scholarship. Such readers point to Sachs’s insertion of his own voice as amateur and aside the subject. These critics fail, however, to recognize that Sachs has written a piece of post-modern history. Through the use of a credible historical method of intellectual inquiry, Sachs informs his readers that his interpretation of the past is inherently subjective. He attempts to ask questions that he believes are historically important and that he believes are meaningful to contemporary society. As his monograph includes an important view of the past, it also provides an alternative way that humanity can think about the future.

Sachs’s study is important because it provides historical connections among science, art, literature, exploration, and environmentalism. It shows how a person can express romantic feelings for nature while, at the same time, that person can be stricken with internal turmoil. Additionally, painting a conflicted picture of such romantic explorer-scientists reveals a uniquely human quality of the men, which is the opposite of how explorers have traditionally been portrayed. Chroniclers of government supported post-Columbian European explorers often portray their subjects as liberators of foreign lands and native populations. These storytellers believe that exploitation was an unintended consequence of exploration. Sachs, however, has demonstrated that even though Humboldt and his disciples depended on the capitalist system to obtain financial backing for their explorations, they often spoke out against the exploitation of natural and cultural resources that came along with exploration. Finally, Sachs has revealed the Humboldtian path to environmentalism that was forgotten about as American industrialization grew at an exponential rate during the end of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For the sake of the planet, he asks his readers to revive Humboldt’s theory of interconnectedness and live as humble inhabitants within nature.

Double live twittering during Obama's speech. Not if your Hoekstra

2009-02-26T09:31:00.000-08:00

Did you watch President Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress Tuesday night?
Did you livetweet the event, wowing your friends/followers with your insight and wit?
Were you there?

If you answered yes to all three of these questions, you are probably a member of Congress armed with a Blackberry or cell phone are connected? Maybe you're Rep. Pete Hoekstra?

Once Obama started speaking, thousands of people and several members of Congress whipped out their phones and began tweeting the event, called a "live tweet". But Congress one-up you, Mr. I-think-I'm-funny-when-I-tweet-from-my-LG-Dare, they were there, making a double-live tweet. BOOM!

Here's how one blogger, Dana Milbank with the Washington Post, described the event.

President Obama spoke of economic calamity and war last night in that solemn rite of democracy, the address to the joint session of Congress. And lawmakers watched him with the dignity Americans have come to expect of their leaders: They whipped out their BlackBerrys and began sending text messages like high school kids bored in math class.

Read the entire post here. It includes actual tweets from actual members of Congress during the actual speech. Actually.

Dana Bash, the best-named political reporter on the best political team (mine and CNN's opinions combined) also made quite a deal out of Congress members on twitter during the speech. When CNN cut to Bash right after the speech, her first comments were not about the economy, the wars or even Obama's call for national service. It was about twitter. FTW!

West Michigan has it's own twitter-superstar member of Congress, Rep. Pete Hoekstra from Holland. The helmet-wearing, bike-riding Hoekstra is the sixth most followed member in Congress with 4,288 followers (I'm one of them), but he is probably the most famous after he put the Pentagon into a tissy when he tweeted from Iraq. Hoekstra didn't back down about his use of twitter in Iraq and caused the military to rethink its security guidelines.

I was a little disappointed at Hoekstra's lack of tweets during the speech. With my iPhone in hand and Twitterrific fired up, I was hoping for the inside scoop. (To be honest, I didn't watch the speech live. I watched it at 1 a.m. when I got home from work and sat down to dinner. Making my live-tweets tape-delayed-tweets.)

Hoekstra only pecked out one 140-character-or-less message the whole night:

Clearly, Hoekstra was not one of the high schooler turned member of Congress who thumbed their trackball throughout the speech. (I bet they were checking e-mail, sport scores and reading Blog Mule during the speech.) Shortly after the speech, Hoekstra comes through with his take:

I'm staying tuned Pete.

Is Hoekstra still adjusting to the 140-character way of life? Or is he smarter than that, saving his comments for the real world where they really matter? Maybe he was just worried about spelling a Supreme Court Justice's name wrong?

Join twitter. Follow me @tinynotebook. Follow Rep. Pete Hoekstra @petehoekstra

Fleet Foxes use Nikon D90 to shoot video

2009-02-25T20:35:00.000-08:00

Mykonos making of from Grandchildren on Vimeo.

From the video description:

Our last 4 weeks stitched together. Mainly timelapse of setting up each shot. Music: The Goblin Band - Glen Gray And The Casa Loma Orchestra. We shot using a Nikon D90 and Dragon Stop Motion software which I highly recommend. After Effects was used to sequence the images.

Video here: http://vimeo.com/3089176 or at Blog Mule: Mykonos.

"boxer" a photo essay

2009-02-24T21:28:00.000-08:00

"boxer" is a photo essay by Danish photographer Nicolai Howalt.

The photos are of younger boxers in Denmark and were taken before and after bouts in these boys' careers.

More of Howalt's work is available on his Web site.

25 Things (I've blogged about)

2009-02-23T21:18:00.000-08:00

Re-posted from F-Book.

Just when you thought this whole "25 Things" nonsense had run its course, I think of a way to revive it. You may already be aware, but between my two blogs, I talk about pretty much everything that matters. Yes, it takes only two blogs to summarize the most pressing issues in our world. The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000 features original photography and tales of the photographic pursuit. Blog Mule features everything else.

Some of you actually read these blogs. I find that incredible. A few of you have been blogged about. And a small handful of you even leave comments. OMFG, comments!

For those of you less familiar with these two impressive ways to waste your boss's time at work, allow me to highlight 25 things I've blogged about:

1. Asia. Went there. Took a bunch of pictures. Now can start sentences with "well, when I was in Phnom Penh..." Explosion 5000: Asia.

2. Oktoberfest. Brought along thousands of dollars of camera gear, got hammered, got cut off and didn't break anything (amazing). Who doesn't love Leavenworth between September and November? Explosion 5000: Oktoberfest.

3. Marijuana and Amway. Saw some show about weed and they mentioned Amway. Thought I should blog it—for Ada's sake. Blog Mule: Mary Jane/Amway.

4. PhotoAup. The man. The myth. The number 1 commenter in Blog Mule history. I've paid tribute to my father by blogging about him on my shitty blog. You're welcome, Dad! Explosion 5000: Dave Aupperlee.

5. The Best Album of 2009. Dan Deacon's new album, Bromst, is amazing. I gushed and gushed about it on the Mule. Blog Mule: Dan Deacon.

6. Fleet Foxes. I've blogged about these ~~hippies~~ bearded dudes 8 times. Am I in love with them? Find out. Explosion 5000: Fleet Foxes and more at Blog Mule: Fleet Foxes.

7. Brett Catlin. Of course I've blogged about Brett. In a reader's poll, he was voted Explosion 5000 dot com's most eligible animated GIF file. Way to go, Florida! Explosion 5000: TALK 2 ME ABOUT ARPLNS.

8. These stupid 25 things lists. Kind of makes you wonder if I'm doing this just to be a jackass. However, if I'm spending this much time on it, I must be serious? Hmm. Blog Mule: Facebook Done Right.

9. Alan Mulally. The greatest leader of our time. Period. Explosion 5000: Alan Mulally Blurb.

10. Starfucker. You have to love Starfucker. The name is so much fun to say. Just ask my Aunt Sue! Explosion 5000: Starfucker and extensive coverage at Blog Mule: Starfucker.

11. How to listen to KEXP on your iPhone. People around the world tend to Google themselves onto the Mule because of this post. Blog Mule: KEXP/iPhone.

12. Seattle. I love taking pictures of my city. Here's a favorite. Explosion 5000: Dr. Jose Rizal Park.

13. The Best YouTube Video Ever: Kittens! I watch this about 5 times a day. I know you do too. Blog Mule: Magic!.

14. Being in National Geographic. Okay, so it was National Geographic Traveler. Okay okay, so it was the ONLINE National Geographic Traveler. Still. It was MOTHER FUCKING NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC! Blog Mule: Published by National Geographic Yall!.

15. Seattle going bonkers for Obama. Did you expect anything less? I didn't. So glad that I don't have to pay my mortgage/rent/credit card/utilities/strippers since O took office. Awesome. Explosion 5000: Election Night in Seattle.

16. Me being a minister. "Yes, Andy really did that." -Dave & Karen to all my relatives wanting to know WTF I was doing at an alter. Explosion 5000: Josh & Andrea Get Married by Me.

17. Sharat. In 2008, a lot of people emailed me at andy [at] explosion5000.com to say "WE WANT MORE SHARAT!" Here's giving the people what they want: every post that mentions our favorite dude with long hair and glasses. Explosion 5000: Sharat.

18. The BOSS. I live tweeted Bruce Springsteen's entire Super Bowl halftime performance. It's a goddam work of art. Blog Mule: Live tweeting the Super Bowl.

19. Drinking beer out of shoes. Seattle has plenty of places to order a tall, refreshing boot of beer. No one does it better than us. Explosion 5000: A Birthday in Three Acts.

20. Fireworks. I had a beer in one hand, and a remote shutter release in the other hand—what a country. Explosion 5000: Smoke Flowers.

21. Kay Kay and his Weathered Underground. This is one of my favorite bands. Period. Oh, and what do you know? They are from SEATTLE, WASHINGTON. Explosion 5000: Kay Kay live at Neumos.

22. Sunsets. Guilty. I love getting all nerdy with a bag full of Nikon gear as the sun disappears for the day. Explosion 5000: Sunsets.

23. Beer Pong. I covered the World Series of Beer Pong IV in Las Vegas, Nevada. See, I told you... "most pressing issues of our world." Explosion 5000: WSOBP IV.

24. Photography Gear. Sometimes I pretend to be Ken Rockwell (don't we all) and write about camera gear. Blog Mule: Nikon Announces 35mm f/1.8 DX Prime Lens.

25. Freak Shows. What's a blog without weirdos? Not sure that it's even possible to be on the internet without these guys. Explosion 5000: U District Street Fair.

By now you're probably like, 'WTF Andy?! I want some new The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000!' Don't worry, the leg is almost healed up and I'll be shooting again soon. Until then, thanks for indulging these "classics" with me.

Remember, you can stay updated by subscribing to the RSS! (I suggest Google Reader).
RSS Feed: The Andy Aupperlee Explosion 5000
RSS Feed: Blog Mule

Now post this with 25 things you've blogged about and tag blah blah blah blah djfalsdjkf.

Vote for me! [via voting for Leah]

2009-02-23T14:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this really isn't about me.

Leah D'Emilio is the host of the yet to be seen television coverage of the World Series of Beer Pong IV. She also hosts Mahalo Daily which features the tongue in cheek "This Week in YouTube."

So why does Blog Mule care? Because Blog Mule is all about shameless self-promotion. So maybe I lied, this is sort of about me.

In Leah's video, you'll notice that she uses photos that are "Courtesy of Andy Aupperlee." That's right. Courtesy of ME. You have to watch the video in HD to clearly see this, but trust me, it's there.

Since Leah is obviously a fan of 'The Explosion,' why don't you help her out and send her to Australia. Check out the details on her blog, The Dealio.

And remember, if you want Blog Mule to blurb about you, blurb about us. Blog Mule loves blurbing back.

We will also blog about anyone that buys a t-shirt (Explosion 5000 or Blog Mule) and sends us a picture with it on. Capitalism yall!

In the news: Free-throw wizard

2009-02-23T14:20:00.000-08:00

Top-ranked Paw Paw shooter, 13, aims for national tourney
BY AARON AUPPERLEE
Special to Hometown Gazette

PAW PAW – He started close to the hoop, easily banking two- and three-footers off the backboard and through the net. Then Tanner Eubank backed up, launching five-, six- and seven footers toward the rim, some sliding through, some rimming out. His father and coach, Scott, rebounded the basketball and fed it back to him. Tanner worked his legs, bending deep before each shot.

"Now shoot some free throws," his father called out.

Tanner stepped behind the black line painted on the floor of the Trinity Lutheran School gym in Paw Paw. The gym was empty, an entire court behind him and only 15 feet to the basket in front of him. He set his feet, dribbled three times. Cradling the ball in his right hand, he brought it just below his chin.

He bends his knees, stares at the front of the rim, stands and with his hand guides the ball toward the basket.

He missed his first free throw. His father sent the rebound back to him. He missed the second and the third. By the fourth, he warmed up and drilled it. The 13 year old did not smile. He grabbed the ball and shot again, and again, and again. By this time, Tanner started making more free throws than he missed.

He hits 20 in a row, misses one, and then sinks four more, 24 out of 25.

Twenty-four out of 25, last year that sent Tanner and his family to Springfield, Mass., where Tanner competed in the Elks National Hoop Shoot. This year, Tanner is gunning for nationals again.

READ MORE at tinynotebook because www.mlive.com has not yet posted this story, and I doubt they plan to.

Beer and Kid Rock saving Michigan

2009-02-19T16:42:00.000-08:00

Imagine this: Aaron walks into a room full of people. Raise your hand if you like beer? Every hand in the room shoots up. Now keep your hands up if you like Michigan? A few drop, they are unemployed, drive Chevys or are cold. Now keep your hands up if you also like Kid Rock? Hands drop like jobs in Detroit. A few remain, but they will soon be laughed out of the room.

But really, it's not so funny. Kid Rock has decided to get into the beer business, brewing it in addition to drinking it, and chose Michigan as his base of operations. According to a Detroit Free Press article, the Michigan Brewing Company and Kid Rock have shacked up to brew in Weberville, Mich. and create some 400 jobs in the process.

Bobby Mason, the owner-brewer at the Michigan Brewing Co. in Webberville, said he hoped to have the new Kid Rock branded beer on the shelves by mid-springtime. The beer’s name, style, and pricing are yet to be decided. Kid Rock himself is working closely with Mason on the design, naming, and style of the beer, Mason said.

“He’s working on designing the beer, he’s giving me direction, he’s tasting the beers,” Mason said. “It’s his idea, it’s his concept. I’m just working with him to make it happen.”

Move over Granholm. Kid Rock in 2010!