And even if you don’t repost it, it’s quite a catchy little song.

Here’s his story (from YouTube):

In the spring of 2008, Sons of Maxwell were traveling to Nebraska for a one-week tour and my Taylor guitar was witnessed being thrown by United Airlines baggage handlers in Chicago. I discovered later that the $3500 guitar was severely damaged. They didn’t deny the experience occurred but for nine months the various people I communicated with put the responsibility for dealing with the damage on everyone other than themselves and finally said they would do nothing to compensate me for my loss. So I promised the last person to finally say no to compensation (Ms. Irlweg) that I would write and produce three songs about my experience with United Airlines and make videos for each to be viewed online by anyone in the world. United: Song 1 is the first of those songs. United: Song 2 has been written and video production is underway. United: Song 3 is coming. I promise. Follow me at http://twitter.com/DaveCarroll . Video Produced by Curve Productions of Halifax, http://www.curveproductionsinc.com.

And here is the full, detailed story from his blog: United Breaks Guitars.

Bridge: Midtown’s Independence Day Weenie Roast from William Hartz on Vimeo.

In honor of the United States’ annual tradition of grilling processed meat in order to celebrate the anniversary of our nation’s outmaneuvering the collective might of the British Empire’s military with a bunch of farmers, The Bridge: Midtown hosted a weenie roast, aka Independence Day barbecue, in the back lot of the Liberty Center, as this was the only suitable location for fire-making in the urban heart of Elizabeth, NJ.

Combining some archaic technologies (such as “fire” and “barbecue sauce”) with the latest advancement in meat-cooking (aka the “greatest grill you will ever see”) four individuals, some young and some not so much, endeavored to prepare a vast array of weenie for consumption by both the Bridge’s Midtown group and its “Bridge, Jr tykes.

And so, while most remained inside for music and games and laughing in celebration of this, our nation’s 233rd birthday, this is the story of the brave souls dedicated to crafting the perfect hot dog.

A full set of images from the grilling and night inside can be seen here: bit.ly/weeniepics.

I try to have some kind of organizational method to how the apps are arranged, but one or two of the pages always end up being just a hodgepodge of randomness and discontinuity. And there are always apps doing their best to get promoted to the main page. Facebook, currently, is in the runnings for a promotion right now. We’ll see how he behaves in the days to come.

What do your iPhone pages look like?

Have it Your Way from William Hartz on Vimeo.

Here’s a short video we shot as an aid for @carloscedeno’s teaching for Sunday morning.

In either case. Enjoy.

—————————————————————————

Bethany Siniscal: “I have tea!”

William M Hartz: “Tea is good!”

Bethany Siniscal: “I knew you would appreciate it.”

William M Hartz: “You should bring me some.”

Bethany Siniscal: “I should.”
Bethany Siniscal: “but I probably won’t.”

William M Hartz: “You are mean!”

Bethany Siniscal: “I am honest though.”
Bethany Siniscal: “Would you rather me lie and be nice? or be honest and mean?”

William M Hartz: “I’d rather you bring me some tea.”

Bethany Siniscal: “I’d rather not.”

William M Hartz: “If I was not so dehydrated from lack of tea, I would cry 1000 tears due to your cold heartedness, Bethany Siniscal.”

Bethany Siniscal: “If I were not so cold hearted I would drive over and give you tea so you could cry those 1000 tears.”

William M Hartz: “But if you brought the tea there would be no need for tears but partying instead. And we would drink the tea. And eat popcorn. For it is popcorn I have, yet tea that I lack. And therein lies the difficulty.”

Bethany Siniscal: “but I have popcorn at my house too. I don’t see the part where I benefit.”

William M Hartz: “You benefit from my good company. Also, I have Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit.”

Bethany Siniscal: “What if I find no joy playing in such foolish games?”

William M Hartz: “Clearly, your benefit far outweighs mine.”
William M Hartz: “I also have Lord of the Rings Monopoly
.”

Bethany Siniscal: “I must confess my Lord of the Rings knowledge is of limit as is my passion for it.”
Bethany Siniscal: “At my house we have taboo and movies such as: Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

William M Hartz: “Well then we could watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy, for I also have this (in both theatrical and extended edtion). Afterwards your knowledge would be sufficient and your passion overflowing.”
William M Hartz: “As a third option, I also have Lord of the Rings chess.”

Bethany Siniscal: “I despise chess.”

William M Hartz: “Well, that is why I have both the Lord of the Rings Trivial Pursuit and Monopoly.”

Bethany Siniscal: “What if I just want nothing to do with Lord of the Rings?”

William M Hartz: “This is folly.”

Thus, the quest for more tea moves on.

*Tea image by Takuya Miyamoto.
**Teapot image by Me.

Help me, faithful blog readers. You’re my only hope.

I will keep the poll open until 11:59pm on Saturday, June 20, 2009 as that is when my schedule will become freed up enough to actually start a new book.

Thanks for your help!

Conversations – Episode 00 from William Hartz on Vimeo.

A few weeks ago we setup a conference call between myself, @gabehernandez, and @ashpin to see what the possibilities were for us to do for that evening, for we were bored. Upon the dialing of the call, @gabehernandez answered but @ashpin did not. Wondering why she would ignore a call, even while she had just sent us a text message, we were left to speculate as to the reasons for her phone-silence as well as to form a plan of action for the night.

I began the recording shortly into the conversation.

On May 30, 2009, we held a fundraiser for the monthly art coffeehouse we host, called Fusion, in which we try to provide a relaxed, creative atmosphere for people to express themselves via whichever artistic medium they choose. Normally we get about 50 or so people coming through the doors whenever we do it. It’s completely free to the public, and thus, as a result, we need these kinds of fundraising events to make it possible to continue Fusion.

The night was a semiformal, black and white masquerade. The proceeds from the ticket sales, mask sales, and on-site photos all went to fund Fusion for the remainder of 2009. In addition, there was an art gallery of a variety of different mediums and artists on display. Each presentation had different art pieces for sale, of which a portion went to the artist, and another portion went to the fundraiser.

I was one of the featured artists on display during the masquerade, with several pieces of my photography up for sale. Unfortunately, not everything went during the night, and I have a box full of my work ready to go.

And so I present to you, dear blog readers, the remainder of my work set aside to help with the fundraiser. Below are thumbnail images of all the pieces I have left. Each one is available in either 8×10 or 5×7 sizes, and all are framed and ready to be hung on the wall. 8×10 frames are priced at $25 and 5×7’s are $15 (plus shipping costs). Again, a portion of the proceeds will go to help make sure that Fusion is able to function for at least the remainder of 2009. The other portion helps to make sure that I can pay my bills on time.

If you find something you like and are interested in, please email me at whartz@me.com to setup payment and delivery.

Thanks!

All of these photos, as well as many more are also available for purchase on my photography site, williamhartzphoto.com. Sizes range from 4×6 to really, really big, and all are available as a print, rolled canvas, or mounted canvas. In addition, all photos are printable on different accessories or clothing articles. Finally, they are available for digital download as well. Prices range depending on what you choose.

Microsoft announced their “Project Natal” at the E3 Expo this year. It’s a concept for future products, but if they can pull off what they hope to pull off…..wow.

Basically, it’s a video gaming system, on the Xbox 360
platform that utilizes no controllers other than your own physical body. There is a sensor that has motion capture capabilities, facial recognition, and vocal recognition. It’s kind of taking the concept of the Wii’s interactive gaming up 3 or 4 levels. You physically act out what you want to do in the game and the system responds. In addition, you use physical movement and vocal commands to control the system in selecting movies, browsing content, video chatting with others, etc.

I don’t really get how it all will work out. Again, it’s still proof-of-concept at this point. I’d really like to see if Microsoft can pull this one off, though.

More to come when there’s more to tell.

We’re working on a t-shirt design for a mission trip that we’re putting together for our youth program during the summer. It’s an inner-city trip (actually all done within our own hometown) so we want it to have an urban feel to it, but we’re also going (at least for now) for a 70’s retro kind of feel. This is what we have so far. What do you think?

Vote in the poll below, and if you want to take part in the discussion on the design, you can do so in the comments below or, even better, on Flickr.