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Indie comics in 80s LA, a homage featuring Groening, Panter, Hernandez bros…. http://bit.ly/b1FcGM
Pornography
2009,
15:47 GMT
Documentary Update: Hal in the Shower
Posted by: Hal
Tuesday was the first official day of documentary shooting. The idea for this first day was just to show my relatively mundane boring life, pre-peep. I got E. dressed, the whole family had breakfast (actually our second breakfast since this was around 10 am and E. wakes up at precisely 6 every morning (why! why!). It was all fairly painless and, in that weird, they’re paying so much attention to me way, kinda fun.
Then it came time for me to get ready to go to the CBC to do a pre-book launch interview, and on to the Peep book launch from there. I was commanded to strip to my boxers. Sally Blake (who’s directing) wanted me to shave but at the last minute I realized I had no shaving cream. (I hadn’t been planning to shave before the launch, preferring the 2 days growth hipster look I’d been planning for months…) Sorry Sally! I felt weirdly like I’d let everyone down. We settled for me pretending to trim my nose and eyebrow hairs. (Weirdly enough, W. had spontaneously attacked my nose hairs earlier that day, so there wasn’t really much left to go at.)
Anyway, eventually I ended up in the shower with the camera crew and Sally filming through and over the opaque glass. I thought I would feel embarrassed but it didn’t really bother me all that much. The world had better watch out: my hairy back is coming to a small screen near you.
I washed my hair for about 10 minutes. At first they weren’t happy with the quantity of lather, so I had to take that up a notch by randomly grabbing one of W.’s “volumizing” shampoos and really going to town.
note the back hair!
When it was finally done, I primly strolled over to the bedroom wrapped in a towel and selected and donned my launch outfit while the cameras looked on.
Hal pre-peep was quickly merging with Hal in peepland, me thinks.
Overall, the whole experience was more boring than anything else. It was basically me doing what I normally do, though not necessarily at that particular time or in that exact way. Basically what we shot was Hal performing Hal.
Sally’s take on this – over on her part of the site – is that I’ll stop being so self conscious once I forget the cameras are there. I guess that’s the thing – will I ever manage to forget the cameras are there? Do I want to?
what’s up sally? you seeing something you don’t like?
2009,
17:44 GMT
Peeping the Brand: Hanging Out in Vancouver (A Photo Essay)
Posted by: Hal
Last week in Vancouver I hung out with a very fun, very interesting group of friends who are all heavy online social media users. Below are some pictures I took of our two days of filming with them, interspersed with some commentary and links to their various sites. Overall my impression of them is that they are smart and funny, though self absorbed (but perhaps no more self absorbed than I was at that age…or I still am…) What I noticed most of all was their mixture of savvy image building and utter disregard for how what they share online might alter their future. On the one hand, total sharing without filter, on the other hand, very keen awareness of the way they are building their personal brands online and the opportunities that might create for them.
So the guy in the picture below is Adam. We met up with him at his office and he showed his Daytum site, where he chronicles his sex life, eating and spending habits, and more. Online, Adam mostly goes by Skinny Ghost. He spends a lot of time on Tumblr. He told me he doesn’t do Daytum to get attention or expose his life, even though the site is public.
After hanging out with Adam at work, we went to a hot dog stand called Japadog. While the camera crew filmed, we ordered hot dogs with Japanese toppings. Mine, below, was a turkey smokey with sweet Japanese mayonnaise, teriyaki sauce, grilled onions and dried sea weed! It was surprisingly good.
Adam used to date Malloreigh (posing below). Malloreigh is best friends with Lindsay (taking the pictures with the film crew in the background). Malloreigh, among other things, poses nude for the site SuicideGirls.com, a site that mixes pin-up type photos of young women with tattoos and piercings with blogging and some Facebook like features. Malloreigh also uses LiveJournal, has a public blog, and communicates through twitter and facebook too. She told me that when a new social networking site comes to her attention she will immediately try and secure the user name Malloreigh for herself, just in case she might one day start using the site or it gains in popularity. Malloreigh’s been blogging since she was 12. She’s had someone pretend to be her online, and has had several online stalkers. Still, she’s very open and friendly to anyone who contacts her, even the guys who pay for access to her photos through Suicidegirls.
The girl taking the photos above is Lindsay. Lindsay is a bit older and less into basement apartments and grunge then Malloreigh and her friends, but she’s just as into using the web to promote herself and her “brand”. She has a site called LindsaysDiet.com that features thousands of pictures arranged into photo essays of particular days that all invariably end up in a club. She’s been hired by a LA based DJ to travel with him taking pictures, and she is even an attraction every Saturday at Biltmore’s, a reason to show up and make the scene, like the band or the dj. We went with Malloreigh over to Lindsay’s condo, where Lindsay took pictures of Malloreigh posing in various states of undress, photos that may make up the next set on Malloreigh’s Suicide Girl page. While the doc crew did this, I sat in a chair in the corner, sweaty palmed and embarrassed, and tried not to pay too much attention (though I did look up long enough to take the picture above).
Eventually we all ended up biking over to the Astoria, a dive-y bar with live music and a dj. The specialty of the place is a beverage called the Power Shandy – half Smirnoff Ice, half beer, one shot of vodka. What you see above is me buying a round for all my new friends. Delicious!
Here we are getting ready to party. At the insistence of director Sally, I even danced for a few awkward moments. The two “power shandys” I drank helped loosen me up for my turn on the dance floor.
So there you go. No deep thoughts here. Nice kids (I can say that because, well, even if I’m not that old I felt old hanging out in their various basement apartments). They had a lot to teach me about using the various peep technologies I’m experimenting with. While they lectured me on the different protocols, I bombarded them with questions about what they thought the future had in store for them. I wonder how their various attempts to use the details of their to lives to keep themselves permanently in the spotlight will ultimately work out?
2009,
3:05 GMT
Weird, Hilarious, Creepy Screen Shots of Lifecasting Chat
Posted by: Hal
I’ve been pretty obsessed with the whole lifecasting/Justin.tv broadcasting thing this week, obviously, since I’m broadcasting 7 different feeds live to the ‘Net 24 hours a day. (Obviously I’m not actually in the feeds 24 hours a day, though I’m trying to stay in the picture for as much as humanly possible.) Anyway, wanted to share a few screen grabs of the chats, with some commentary. So here goes. 
In the screen shot above, director Sally is filming me. I just said the number of the place where I get my hair cut out loud as I was writing it down. A delightful fellow named Demon Sadist pounced on this exciting development and writes “got it. ask her what she wants me to do to her”. He includes the number to prove how sharp he is.
At the time this screen grab was taken 49 viewers were watching the bathroom in the basement where I occasionally take a leak. Over 4000 viewers in a few days! The dialogue includes: “Is there girl? Why is there camera in the bathroom? Where is the girl?”
Another bathroom cam screen grab taken around the same time. Chat dialogue: Roxeecam: “Why is someone lifecasting their bathroom? And why are there 66 people here waiting for the moment to happen?” Steamyleamy: “nothing will ever happen, its an experiment to see how many perverts will actually watch and wait…yet the viewers is increasing.” Then, at 7:21, it actually happens: I go the bathroom. ghost2218: “ok pevery to tha xtreme!” emmuscat: “caw caw.” The excitement when I finally use the toilet is palpable. What the hell does “caw caw” mean?
Finally there’s this above. Just grabbed this. The pic shows me in the basement, you can see my hairy back. Pretty impressive, eh? But the chat is responding to the scene a few minutes before, when Me and W. were relaxing on the couch with the living room camera live. Someone named Peepviewer kept a running commentary despite the fact that we were obviously just watching tv and not chatting or looking at the chat. 9:48 Peepviewer: “It’s a toss as to which is more interesting, you or Raymond.” 9:49: “”Oh look you’ve got a large vertical over your couch; I’m contemplating hanging prints, still think a horizontal would go better over the couch. 9:50 “Oh well, this is as as much as i can stand, laterz.”. Then at 10:32: “Looks like your bedtime. Don’t let me keep you up. I feel like I’m intruding, rather uncomfortable.”
2009,
19:57 GMT
Bill Maher Nails Peep in 30 Seconds
Posted by: Hal
Yep, he’s pretty much got it figured out.
The Bloggist
Hey, I’m Hal Niedzviecki. I’m a writer/thinker who lives in Toronto, Ontario, Canada with my wife and daughter. Up till now I’ve always considered myself a private person. But at the same time I’m fascinated by people who effortlessly open themselves up to the whole world. So I’ve… more...
Indie comics in 80s LA, a homage featuring Groening, Panter, Hernandez bros…. http://bit.ly/b1FcGM
Issue 47 (spring) is now completely ‘unlocked’ on the NEW Broken Pencil website. Web TV, Liz Worth on punk TO & more http://bit.ly/bXvQuP
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