140 Miles East of Cool

Turning Around | Mr. Ignacious Mwambola

December 14, 2009 Films and Projects

So much of the news from Africa is depressing: famine, aids, wars, orphans, despots, you name it. It’s not just…

Broadsheets and Chalkboards | The Daily Talk

December 8, 2009 American Metaphors

The swan song for traditional media is as incessant as it is unquestioned. Don’t tell that to San Francisco’s Dave Eggers or Liberia’s Alfred Sirleaf. In radically different ways, under radically different conditions, they both open a space for the newspaper’s relevance in a landscape of navel-gazing corporate media non-stop blather-a-thon (oh, and blogs, let’s not forget blogorrhea).

100 days in Glacier National Park

December 3, 2009 Montana

This summer, Glacier Park Magazine editor Chris Peterson undertook a photographic project to take photos of Montana’s Glacier National Park over 100 consecutive days, starting on May 1, 2009, for a traveling photo show in 2010 to commemorate Glacier’s Centennial. He used a mix of film and digital cameras, including an 8 by 10 field camera, a Kodak Pocket Vest camera, circa 1909, and a Speed Graphic, among others. His idea was to use the cameras that would have been used over the course of the Park’s 100 years.

it’s been so long

November 13, 2009 Films and Projects

since I’ve posted. But I’ve been in Africa. Without internet. Until tonight.

I’m sitting in a joint in Zanzibar missing Sara and Grace and Ruth.

The Upper Cut: Walt Young Hangs up His (and his Father’s) Shears

October 30, 2009 American Metaphors

Walt Young cut hair on East Colfax in Denver for 60 years. His chair was less than 6 feet from the sidewalk, a constant parade of homeless winos. Walt never let that thin sheet of glass get in the way. Everyone came in to his shop.

Born on Third: on Drinking with Racists (Strike One)

October 27, 2009 American Metaphors

A friend of mine likes to tell the joke: the reason I don’t like George Bush is that he was born on third base and he thinks he hit a triple.

90 Seconds in Malawi (MaiMwana Video)

October 26, 2009 Films and Projects

Video footage from the current documentary project on a group of women in Malawi (MaiMwana Project) who organized to begin solving the various health issues in their villages.

American Police Force Turns Tail and Exits Hardin

October 9, 2009 Montana

claiming the prison is outdated, American Police Force turns tail and drops their bid for the Hardin Jail.

A Mystical Country of Beautiful People

October 7, 2009 Films and Projects

I’ve been told that 95% of cinematography is pointing the camera at something beautiful.

I’d like to thank the people of Malawi for making my job easy.

Blind Faith

October 2, 2009 flotsam

All sight is a form of nostalgia for something lost.

Hardin Jail: (American Police Force) President Michael Hilton: Scam Artist or True Western Hero?

September 30, 2009 American Metaphors

Michael Hilton of American Police Force in Hardin, Montana to discuss plans for Hardin Jail

Here’s a new joke we tell out here in the windswept plains of eastern Montana: what do you get when you cross a wanna-be Serbian Militant with a Southern California car salesman? That’s right, the keys to the Hardin Jail.

The Fix Is In (140Miles East of Cool Recommends)

September 24, 2009 American Metaphors

OK. You surrender. The little white flag is now raised high over your cubicle. Your weekend is all laid out for you. After taking the kids to see Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs you’ll take in The Informant. Why? Helloooooo. Do you really think we have a choice? Is NOT choosing to slap down the green on the new Diablo Cody/Megan Fox vehicle Jennifer’s Body really “voting with your dollars” or are you caught in a double-bind with your consumptive choices cordoned all around you and shoveled down your sometimes-metaphorical throat?

Guest Columnists: Grace + Ruth

September 20, 2009 Montana

Mom is out of town this weekend.

Lock and Load Them Ballet Tunes Boys, We’re Headed to Hardin

September 13, 2009 Montana

American Police Force comes to Hardin, Montana

I associate Ravel’s Bolero with, if not softness itself, the soft curvature of a woman.

Imagine my surprise to find it as the website theme American Police Force, a group that sells arms in Afghanistan, and is a general one-stop shop kidnap and ransom/fugitive recovery/spousal infidelity service group that also does international military and paramilitary operations, cruise ship and shipping security, and trains special forces.

Oh, and this they’re the new residents of the Hardin, Montana jail.

Police Room 619, September 12

September 12, 2009 Childhood Delusions

When I got home, I ran up to my room, tossed in a fresh dip of Copenhagen, dropped the needle on Peter Gabriel III, and jumped back onto my big sloshy hand-me-down-from-my-brother water bed to sink into the music.

In Defense of Fanaticism: Breaking Into the Twin Towers

September 11, 2009 American Metaphors

They were a ragtag band living overseas watching the World Trade Center towers go up. And they knew, even before the towers were built, that they were going to break into the towers; they knew they were going to commit crimes.

They spent six years planning every aspect of the operation: where to hide inside the building, how to sneak in, the rotations of the guards. It was an exercise in extreme detail and brilliance.

Lesson Plans, 2009

September 10, 2009 Montana

Timothy Egan’s last two posts on the NYTimes site deserve your attention. Check ‘em out:

Lesson Plans, 2009 – Timothy Egan Blog – NYTimes.com

Hunting Wolves, and Men – Timothy Egan Blog – NYTimes.com

And while I’m…

Obama Wets His Line in Montana

September 9, 2009 American Metaphors

I often find myself checking out the White House Flickr stream, partly because I like Pete Souza’s photography, and partly because Souza uses the same camera and similar lenses to me which makes me curious about his shots (and Flickr posts much of the metadata so the nerds can check out lens, aperture, etc.)

I also find that on the White House Flickr stream, one can find really candid and interesting photos. For example this one, where the Park Ranger at Grand Canyon is clearly holding the President’s ear while the Obama kids are bored out of their skulls, hunched over in the hot sun with that “dad, can we just go now” body slump.

← Previous Entries

Next Entries →

patrick on Reading Virgil on the NY Stock Exchange Floor: Very nice. At once evocative and...
Kamm on Reading Virgil on the NY Stock Exchange Floor: Well done. Nice read. Expand, fine-tune...
elizabeth pearson on A Personal Geography: Ouray, Colorado: Memories. I know what Tookey means,...
bob nydam on A Personal Geography: Ouray, Colorado: Brad, Sweet, moving piece. I remember...
kelly olp on Ten Most Influential Books: So, you live in Montana – How could you not have...
kelly olp on A Personal Geography: Ouray, Colorado: Thanks, Brad. Very nice piece. Fathers and...
Tim on Ten Most Influential Books: Yes, the difference between favorite and influential is key....
Tim on Ten Most Influential Books: Man, now I feel like a hick. I’m going to have to dust...