Chicago: They paved a fetid swamp/and put up a parking lot

being used as a bookmark in a copy of moby dick

Would be funny if you had a book about firemen.

"wang" is a fun word

I deleted about four different words for "penis" before I settled on "wang."

Before I Settled on Wang: A Memoir

once, when I was much younger, I was flipping through one of my mom's romance novels, and I saw that a penis was referred to as a "purple love sausage." I was astounded.

Also can describe a VW minibus.

purple love sausage

better get that looked at by a urologist imo

double lol

That's a strange term to use for the dong in the context of a romance novel.

I am eating roasted beets with Stilton and they are sooooo good. Dang.

^^ Post very much in character.

This book's title speaks to a thought that sometimes comes to me and troubles me for no particular reason.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51YZSiFc%2B3L._SS500_.jpg

Ooh ooh ooh, I've wanted to start a thread for a while about that particular young-woman twitch-mouth pose, but the only examples I had were friends' and strangers' Facebook/Twitter/etc. photos, and I didn't want to post any of those and wasn't sure I could describe it right.

TS: twitch-mouth vs. duck-face

The phenomena of our times.

Although I do have to say I <3 Mindy Kaling.

Oh yeah, I'm not knocking it--it is what it is.

It is an alternative to smiling, scowling, staring blankly, or sexyfacing when someone points a camera at you.

My preference is to walk away from the camera. I fully believe I am the least photogenic person ever.

lol, I didn't even notice that there was a thread started on that topic that quickly delved into the duck-face thing

Why do people persist in this thick-headed, arrogant idea that they are the only person who gets to decide how photogenic they are?

I've just never been happy with any pictures of me ever, I hate my fake picture smile and I can never get a decent expression for staged photos.

Kenan what are you talking about?

Jvc, not just saying this: I think you're handsome, and I've only ever seen you in photos, so maybe you are photogenic.

I am really, super not photogenic. When I used to have dates w guys met online, I frequently heard that I was much cuter than my pics. Some people say that's rude to say, but I don't think so. I'm never pleased with photos of myself, so it's nice to know that I don't actually look quite as weird as my pics.

See that hits on why I've never really felt photogenic, I've always had friends telling me that pictures don't really do me justice. 100% not fishing for compliments here either (though appreciated).

i am going to make this picture disappear before i leave for work, but this is me in 1991 -- i was mocked (fairly mercilessly) for smiling "too big" in my yearbook photo, so i did retakes, and this is the face i made. my hair used to be so pretty :(

http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5299/5544843936_ef82c6f2e4.jpg

xp A lot of it has to do with the photo. And therefore the photographer. I try not to take it too personally when people scream and throw their hands up in front of my camera because they feel insecure about their appearance, or when there are people who will never accept their appearance no matter how much it really looks like them at their best, but at some point, I'm like... "Trust me. Just a little bit."

I'm fine with people taking candid pictures, I just get all "eek" when I have to actually pose.

I guess there is a lot of trust involved, now that I think of it. Like the picture I took of the (perfectly cute) girl who happened to not have shaved her legs, and the FB thread that exploded under that photo, and how much it pissed me off.

there is a lot of trust involved
you can't just point your camera at a person and say "trust me goddammit" and be successful

Trust is the key. It's a fact.

The thought of whats on that FB thread makes me cringe.

As someone taking street candids of people, being a decent photographer and a decent human being are up-front requirements, in tandem. But even with friends, there are some people who just hate having a camera pointed at them. Maybe a lot of people have been burned too many times.

There's nobody that can't have a great photo of them taken, just like there's no topic that you can't make a joke about. It's all context and delivery.

the worst worst worst was getting christmas card pictures taken -- took me a long time to recover from that

The thing is, Kenan, whether someone asks you not to photograph them, maybe you should respect their wish. And if someone is throwing up their arms protesting, then they obviously have strong feelings on the matter.

What I think you're missing is that it isn't all about YOU.

And it's not always about the would-be subject's vanity.

Jesse: I do take no for an answer. It just hurts my feelings a little bit. As if they assume that I am going to take a terrible photo. Or that if I do, I'm not going to get rid of it. I know terrible when I see it. It's an insult to my taste, I suppose. But not anything I would ever say out loud in the moment. I'll just take pictures of something else. I'm not Mike Wallace or anything.

That said, it often pays to be a bit brazen, if you want to catch something about someone that everyone else always sees, even if they don't see it about themselves. I think a lot of the photo shyness is a bit like hearing your own voice recorded -- "I don't sound like THAT." Uh, yeah, you do.

Photos of me laughing or in profile always alarm me at first. "Oh my God, that really is my chin, isn't it?" Yes, yes it is. And everyone else is just fine with it.

kenan, not trying to push this conversation elsewhere but you might have better luck finding others more amenable to your views here: photographer rights. technically it's about legal rights but it could be expanded to cover what you're talking about.

i feel like i look stupid in most posed photographs, that's why i've developed my trademark "idiot face" for posed photos. then at least the photos are funny.

i'm taking a "personal day" today so i can go pick up sarah and the bug and sarah's mom at the airport this afternoon.

Yay!!!

Sounds exciting! I don't know how I'd be with a quiet house for a week, it would just be weird at this point. Although, our guy has hit a bit of a colicky stretch, every night for the past 5 nights has had a period of about two hours where he's absolutely inconsolable. Its hard.

technically it's about legal rights but it could be expanded to cover what you're talking about.

I know. I know that page, even. I guess I'm talking about a tacit social contract, and the fact that I don't feel that I dishonor even that by catching people off-guard sometimes.

But on to other topics.

This book's title speaks to a thought that sometimes comes to me and troubles me for no particular reason.

― Je55e, Monday, October 3, 2011 10:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

god, Jesse, me too!

I read up on chin exercises yesterday after disliking a photo taken of me last week.

My default "uncomfortable with picture" pose is to give the photographer the finger.

I don't like taking posed pictures. And it's physically impossible for me to do a posed smile. I'm fine with good quality candida.

omg

Hahahaha

dyac

Just remember that the even year vintages are better than the odd years.

My default "uncomfortable with picture" pose is to give the photographer the finger.

Somewhere I have around 40-50 pictures of my coworker Tori, and I swear that about 35-45 of those are primarily of a big fucking finger in my face. Hey, I never wondered where I stood. :)