Category Archives: Assignments

I pitched the idea to those in attendance last night, and it seemed to be well received, so I will proceed as if it were approved (I’m sure it will be, if/when we get around to it).  At some point in the not too distant future, I shall welcome the membership into my home for the First Annual (or some other frequency to be determined at a meeting not yet scheduled) Lichtenbergian Film Festival.  At said film festival, movies shall be presented as submitted by the membership.  Each member shall (as response to this assignment) submit one film for inclusion.  The requirements for inclusion are these: 1) Submission by a member in good standing (there’s a can of worms); 2) Submission of “Guidelines for Viewing/Participation” (details to follow); and 3) Provision of media (either I have to own a copy already, or you have to provide one) in standard DVD format.

Guidelines for “Guidelines for Viewing/Participation”
The member submitting the movie for inclusion shall prepare this document (and perhaps post it here for discussion, unless that will undermine in some way the impact, freshness, or other factor within the experience) which should include guidance for how best to appreciate, experience, dissect, or otherwise be involved with the viewing of the film.  As examples (meant in no way to limit the potential of the guidelines), the member might include questions to ponder, background information, an explanation of why the film was selected, or perhaps a poem or other reading that heighten the experience of consumption of the film.  There is neither a minimum nor maximum length, but consideration should be given to both the attention span of the reader (we ARE Lichtenbergians, after all) and the impact on the environment should the notes be printed (I included that one for the liberals that comprise the vast majority of our membership.  Actually, I’m pretty concerned about the environment as well.  I’m just not sure I buy Al Gore’s version of things.  I’m sure that will inspire some wise-ass to submit An Inconvenient Truth.  Oh, well.)

Discuss and submit.

I’m going to claim that this was taken in response to our resetting our self-portraits in terms of famous photographs/paintings.  It’s a Rembrandt self-portrait, see?

Actually, this is in the restroom of Café Lily in Decatur, where we went to celebrate Ginny’s birthday.  I liked the look, and quite frankly, I liked the way I looked, so I took a photo.

It’s a nice portrait, I think, although usually I despise self-portraits with the camera in the mirror.

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This is me 80% of the daylight hours. Note the headphones – they are for listening to meditation or relaxation tapes. Also the towel under my head is to keep my pillow dry from all the moisture leaking from the back of my head – some would call it sweat.

Ha!  You want multiple personalities?  Here’s six!  Take that, Funt!  And I get to be all of mine, so there!

I think I would replace the lower left one with one of me out in the Lichtenbergian space, and of course the two in the study aren’t really different, other than to show the astounding range of dissheveledness my hair is capable of.

Not very creative at all as a self portrait, but Mike’s struck a chord.

In my mind I am at any given time a pirate, a cartoon character, a wildlife biologist, or a vaudeville comedian. Or any combination of the four. None of which I can ever actually be in real life.

Additionally, loathe as I am to admit this, I don’t know how to use Photoshop. I used this assignment as an excuse to fiddle around with it. While that may sound a bit ambitious for our group, true to form I put off a great many things I should have been working on today to learn a little about Photoshop.

I went with the easy interpretation of the challenge theme: contrast.  As the month goes on I may try to do some more metaphorical interpretation, but for a quickie, I figured a study in chiaroscuro would do. I took a whole series of me in basically this pose, this composition, with the computer’s built-in camera, then ran it through a couple of filters in Photoshop.  I like the original a lot, but I figured it needed to be artsier.

I like the way the strong ceiling angle behind me helps cut the whole thing in half. I also like the way the artistic filter has created large blocks of tonality, with just a few odd patches of color here and there.  It was not my intention to create a mostly colorless portrait, but it works, especially since my flesh-tones provide a great deal of focus.

Self-portrait—in what way?  I’m in my study, my natural habitat.  I’m not looking at the camera, which is typical of my connection to the world around me, or lack thereof.  I’m brightly lit and shirtless, but there is nonetheless a veil over my image.  It is not clear who I am.  Do I sound mysterious enough?