2.27.2008

i was in atlanta since last thursday.  i learned that atlanta has the worst traffic ever, and that the city lacks a center of activity.  they do have a lovely art museum, and the coke museum is a well funded and ridiculous monument to genius marketing.  it was also reaffirmed that southern hospitality is not a myth.  those people are so freaking friendly, i almost shot myself.  i am not accustomed to people being so nice, and i felt like my cloud of northerness was making some of them uneasy.  i was with my parents, my sister/brother in law and marleen.  it was the closest thing to a family vacation i ever had.  i expected it to be much worse than it was. all in all, it went smoothly.  i expected the combination of family and traveling to be toxic, but it was fine.  i didn't want to kill any of them at any point during the trip.  
that's all i've got for you right now.  

best, 
jim

2.20.2008

i have other things i'd like to sell.  you can see my auctions on ebay (search bolex multimatic, and graph-check sequence camera).  you should totally bid on one or both of these items.  they are very cool.  you could also buy a 3 foot x 6 foot stainless steel sink if you're in the market for one.  think of all the stuff you could wash in such a glorious sink.  i have someold photographic enlargers as well.  three of them.  all of them are in fine condition, but one of them is super awesome.  it's called an ilford 400hl.  it's a fancy ilford head on an omega d chassis, and it comes with all the accessories you would need for 35mm, all medium format, or 4x5.  lenses, easels and light boxes (instead of traditional condensers) are included.  the timer is digital, and the filtration is controlled from the timer box.  if you want a 2.5 filter, you hit the 2.5 button, and it dials it in for you .  it's totally sweet.  also, it makes a meditative beeping sound as it counts down your exposure.  some might not find the sound meditative; in which case, you can shut the beeper off.  you should buy it.  the other enlargers are older omega b enlargers.  old does not mean rickety and horrible.  they are tanks, and will work well for years to come.  it's really nice gear.  you should buy one.  i also have a powermac g4 dual 500mhz computer with a superdrive, and 1.5 gigs of ram.  it's old, but people still sell them on ebay for $150 and up with less ram and no superdrive.  you know you want an old mac.  you should buy mine.  contact me, and we can talk about the terms of the sale.  i have some other stuff, too.  let me know if you feel like buying something, and i'll tell you if i have it.  
i won't try to sell you anything else today.  i leave for atlanta tomorrow.  that should be okay provided it doesn't rain the whole time i'm there.  i'm not really looking forward to the trip, but i kind of have to go.  tonight i'm going to give a presentation about my photography in darren miller's class at the art institute of boston.  darren is a good fellow with good skills.  you should check out his website.  
i'm going to go.  let me know if there is anything that you feel i MUST do while i'm in atlanta, because at this point, i'm not sure what's going on there.  
yours truly, 
jim        

2.19.2008

my job makes me feel bad.  it's a decent job.  the pay is okay, the benefits are decent, and i don't take it home with me too often.  the downside is that it's totally boring, and it is getting increasingly harder for me to be nice to people.  everything i do is totally mundane.  i make things work.  i show people how to use equipment.  i clean things.  i try to convince students that it's important for them to respect our equipment.  i answer lots of questions.  i solve the same recurring problems (caused by other people) over and over again.  it's demeaning.  i'm convinced that some of the faculty here think that my only responsibility is unjamming old slide projectors.  i was actually introduced to a visiting lecturer one time as the slide projector expert.  that is the only thing that the professor could think to say about me.  shit is crazy.  shit is sad.  besides that, i don't even consider  myself a slide projector expert.  
why do i stay?  i've been asking myself that question more and more lately.  i'm sure all my negative feelings will eventually pass and i will slip into a nice groove of complacency, but right now i really want to find another way to spend my time.  

best, 
jim 


2.14.2008

i now own turbert. com.  i consider this a minor triumph, as it has been in the works for a long time.  after many trials and tribulations, i am now officially under the control of the domain that bears my name.  now that it is mine, what do i plan to do with it you may ask???  well, i'm not quite sure.  i just wanted it.  at the moment it is pointing to jtfanclub.com, but i think i may make turbert.com a resume type website to help me gain glorious future employment. speaking of glorious, i stumbled across these sweet images on the old internet the other day.  i really like mr. hobson's work and his use of the ultra-wide angle (normally i'm not too keen on that sort of thing).  i recently bought one of those chinese 6 x 17 panoramic backs off of ebay.  i had been thinking about buying one for a long time, and then i saw the darjeeling ltd.  wes anderson's cinematographer got me all excited about making totally awesome panavision photographs.  so far i have been way less than satisfied with my results.  it's kind of like when i first went to art school, and i wanted to be a film major.  i was super into movies, and i figured "why not go to school to make movies."  it didn't really pan out.  all my movies looked more like moving photographs anyway.  for awhile i was a film/photo major, but then i dropped the film due to multiple schedule conflicts, and lack of desire to stay in school for 5 years.  i still shoot motion picture film.  i will post some on this site eventually.  all in good time. 

until next time, 
jim turbert.com                

2.12.2008

hello.  i have some stuff you might want to buy.  do you need a bass amp?  i have one that you can buy.  do you need a crazy camera that can expose eight frames on one sheet of 4x5 film?  i have one of those, too.  i would love to sell it to you.  i also have a bolex multimatic super 8 projector that is essentially new that i do not want.  i bought it on ebay as "new old stock".  it is a wonderful projector, but it's not right for me, and i'm trying to liquidate.  what about gralab darkroom timers.  you can never have too many of those.  i have a few.  you should buy one from me.  how do you feel about alpine air purifiers?  i like them, but marleen is not so fond of it so i never use it.  it could be yours for far less than they advertise on their website.  call me.  e-mail me.  do it now.  everything must go.

2.08.2008

i'm still preoccupied and crazy busy, but i thought i'd check in for a moment or two.
i haven't really been taking any pictures for the past few weeks, and that sucks.  my momentum has been broken.  i must get back on track.  also, i've been in connecticut a lot.  more than i'd like to be, but you know what they say, "nobody likes to go to connecticut, but sometimes you have to."  i don't think anyone has ever said that (myself excluded), but i'm sure a lot of people have thought it (myself included).  
i'm going to atlanta at the end of the month.  i have no idea how that's going to go, but i'll let you know once i'm back.  i'm hoping that at the very least it will be kind of warm and sunny.  after this week, i'm craving some sunshine, and i look like a ghost.  a ghost with a pimple.  it's not pretty.
things are looking up though.  it's almost about lunch time.  no one has annoyed me yet today, and the weekend starts soon.  these are all positive things.  now all i need is some time to get some artwork done and a sandwich.

sincerely, 
jim