research and linking.

--->ray harmon's personal blog

ray harmon is a friend of mine who i met about a year ago at a vintage film convention my dad helps run in town every year. he's a 33 year old divorced mixed media artist who lives in chicago. although he doesn't post often, i find his blog to be an extremely insightful commentary on human nature and how our world functions, occasionally sprinkled with notes on his personal life.

he is definitely a thinker, and it's fascinating to read what comes out of his head. due to the nature of his work as a film and sound artist, as well as his own nomadic tendencies, he often travels abroad. his life is so different than mine, and that's probably what draws my interest. ray brings a unique perspective to any situation and i'm glad to be acquainted with him. he understands a lot of things about the world that i think everyone overlooks. the way he describes and analyzes his own life is really something remarkable.

ray's blog posts challenge me to think and respond critically. i imagine the only other people who read it would be other good friends of his, which i think is understandable, due to the personal nature. ray wouldn't do well having a big, public blog, i don't think, although his social commentary is probably one aspect of his blog that everyone could benefit from.

hopefully, his page isn't friends-only, so you can view it. D:

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--->brian latimer's music critique blog

brian latimer is a 20 year old indie kid from wurtsboro, new york with whom tessa sheffer and myself have been corresponding with regularly for the past few years. i actually met him through one of the many blog websites i've been a part of over the years [i did a little digging around the other day, and i've come to the conclusion that i've been blogging for 4 1/2 years on 4 different sites on 6 different accounts!]

he has several different blogs, one which he tends to post a lot of links to various contemporary artists' sites and galleries, as well as some book and occasionally even MORE album reviews. he stays away from the personal stuff and seems to use blogging as a media to discuss....well....media. another blog of his is simply as outlet for his creative talents in the area of writing. brian is currently making plans to try and publish a collection of his writings, often sending pieces to tessa to proofread and receive feedback, haha.

as a talented, intelligent young man, his opinions are backed up fairly well, and make for an interesting read. if you're ever in the mood for some new music, he is definitely the guy to go to. both him and ray provide interesting artistic insight on just about everything they touch.

a post on love.

i'm in chris' existential literature class, and we have a writing assignment, just to summarize our opinions on a few topics. i thought this would make an interesting first post in my blog, so i'm putting it here. feel free to respond.


There are several types or degrees of love I think exist in the world. I believe that the ‘true/romantic’ variation of love is a combination of many, many aspects of a relationship: a mutual deep understanding, a mutual appreciation, emotional attachment to an extent, intimacy /closeness/affection, and inspiration. I’m not sure how much I believe in that kind of love. I wrote once that "it's disgusting that people are capable of being truly, deeply, allegedly 'forever', madly in love with someone, would do anything for them. And a few short months later, they wouldn't lift so much as a finger for that person, couldn't give the slightest shit about what they're doing, wouldn't give the slightest shit if something happened to them. That’s ridiculous." Is it hard to understand that part of the beauty of love is the rarity of it? Love is beautiful because it hardly ever happens, this world is freezing cold. Love can't happen all the time, or it's just not love. If you fall in love supposedly with different people all the time, then how much does your love really mean? How genuine can that be? Every girl wants love and dreams of romance. Every girl gets depressed over boys at some point. I like to pretend that I'm not like that, like I don't need anyone. If you want to remember yourself, if you want to stay sane, don't ever fall in love. I think if you truly love someone, that feels never fully leaves, no matter what happens. You can't completely ever give up on that person. Even if you would not get back with them, even if you know it wouldn't work out, part of you still hopes that you'll get back together, and be happy again, like things used to be. Almost like you're silently waiting underneath everything. The pure, ignorant bliss of two people in love is probably unlike anything else. Happy alone and happy with someone else are two very different things. True/romantic love is the feeling of being complete, and having everything you could ever want right there with you.


I'll probably add more to this later.