shawn avery

this guy could very well become our next president. while obama and clinton are still battling for delegates and primary votes... az. senator john mccain is emerging as the republican front runner as of last night. John Mccain Captured. Near Hanoi, North Vietnam: This photo, showing an unidentified man being pulled out of a lake, was radioed to Tokyo, October 27, by the North Vietnamese government. In a broadcast, October 27, Radio Hanoi reported that an American pilot identified as Lieutenant Commander John Sydney McCain, U.S.N., was rescued from Truc Bac Lake near Hanoi, October 26, after parachuting from his crippled aircraft, which had been hit by Communist ground fire. The broadcast said that McCain had been pulled from the water by North Vietnamese soldiers, treated for injuries and jailed. October 26, 1967. mccain would spend the next 5 and a half years in vietnam as a prisoner of war. here's an excerpt from wikipedia, which is quite vivid. the irony of his capture is the ...

Obama releases statement on Edwards' exit salon.com - Sen. Barack Obama has released a statement responding to reports that his rival, former Sen. John Edwards , is dropping out of the race for the Democratic presidential nomination. It's a pretty flattering statement, which is interesting since Edwards reportedly has no plans to endorse any candidate yet. The full statement: "John Edwards has spent a lifetime fighting to give voice to the voiceless and hope to the struggling, even when it wasn’t popular to do or covered in the news. At a time when our politics is too focused on who’s up and who’s down, he made a nation focus again on who matters -- the New Orleans child without a home, the West Virginia miner without a job, the families who live in that other America that is not seen or heard or talked about by our leaders in Washington. John and Elizabeth Edwards have always believed deeply that we can change this -- that two Americans can become one, and ...

it would be impossible to describe how busy i have been lately. moving, editing video, more moving, rehearsals for two bottletree shows with two different bands, more moving.... and a somewhat faster pace at the office... lot's to do. however... i can sum up two major events from the past week from my schedule. obama's rally in birmingham, which was quite inspiring, and the through the sparks show last thursday at bottletree. the majority of these photos were taken by j. purvis and the video clip of through the sparks was recorded by alison hulsey. more details later...

Humans Force Earth into New Geologic Epoch Humans have altered Earth so much that scientists say a new epoch in the planet's geologic history has begun. Say goodbye to the 10,000-year-old Holocene Epoch and hello to the Anthropocene. Among the major changes heralding this two-century-old man-made epoch: Vastly altered sediment erosion and deposition patterns. Major disturbances to the carbon cycle and global temperature . Wholesale changes in biology , from altered flowering times to new migration patterns. Acidification of the ocean, which threatens tiny marine life that forms the bottom of the food chain. The idea, first suggested in 2000 by Nobel Prize-winning chemist Paul Crutzen, has gained steam with two new scientific papers that call for official recognition of the shift. Vivid metaphor In the February issue of the journal GSA Today , a publication of the Geological Society of America, Jan Zalasiewicz and M...

tonight: through the sparks w/ kristy kruger at bottletree. kristy's drummer is the guy we met in austin during sxsw who became our drinking buddy. apparently he wrote a very glowing review of lazarus beach for no depression magazine... but i think it may have been too positive? i dunno. maybe not . i've never read it. anyway... its going to be great to see him at bottletree tonight... which will make good on an agreement made late at night somewhere in downtown austin. here's a grainy, retro promo i made for the show. the trippy visuals are trees that have been mirrored in four two directions. the text looks a little bit odd at this size... but you get the idea. last night alison and i went to see ' the machine ' who are considered one of the world's best pink floyd tribute band. i was expecting a lot of obscure stuff, and although they did play ' see emily play ' and a few deep cuts, it was mostly the hits. but that's ok, because it killed. o...

1. the race i'm gonna be slightly more bold and shorten my list of folks most likely to win the election. it looks like huckabee and guliani are probably toast. among the gop, mitt won nevada, but mccain won south carolina. and who the hell knows which dem won nevada. anyway... i'm sayin' its gonna be down to these four... clinton, barack, mccain, romney 2. moving with massive help from alison and ashby... i got the moving completed this weekend. it is a big relief, and quite an upgrade. and it is super quiet. it will be a longer drive to southside/dowtown, but i'll also have a lot more cash... 3. upcoming shows i started editing the footage i shot for the through the sparks show this week. and it also looks like wiseblood will be coming out of hiding for a short acoustic set at bottletree on february 1st. this is the first wiseblood show since... the first wiseblood show... which was way back in sept. '06 at artwalk. this show next week will be the first ...

this looks even better... U23D . the first all digital, live action, realtime 3D concert film. U2 re-invents the wheel. nice. more info, including screenings in the u.s. on their page . here's the review in variety: Breathtaking when performance, technology and cinematography click at the same moment, "U2 3D" is a concert film that should draw well from the band's fan base and tech fanatics. It has its overwhelming moments, especially in the early going, as the filmmakers emphasize a frenetic swirl of angles and effects. Eventually, the pic settles down and the artistry of the Irish band and their unique onstage power become the focus. Pic is an enveloping experience, particularly when viewers are placed in a great spot in the audience and Bono or U2's guitarist, the Edge, are little more than an arm's length away. Less involving --and maybe even vertigo-inducing (pun intended) -- are angles from high overhead of Larry Mullen Jr. drumming; it's suc...