meerkat products ltd.

Give This Man A Leica!

After my review of the Leica M9 went live I got this great letter from an enterprising soul and a true camera lover. Check out his site leicadream.com for some sweet Leica gear....

Hi Jason,

Read your M9 review with great interest.

Shortly after its announcement in September 2009, I was lucky to spend a few days with one of the first production cameras to get out of the Leica factory in Solms.

 

Sadly, I had to give it back. Now I want one, and I want it bad. Unfortunately, it's a ridiculously expensive tool, and I simply can't justify the hefty price tag. I guess I could sell a kidney or something, but I'd still have a hard time convincing my wife that I really need another camera.

 

I set up this site in a desperate attempt to fund one. Ok, it's not as desperate as it sounds. It's all done tongue in cheek and with lots of humour, realizing that I'll probably have to start saving like everyone else.

I don't expect to make a lot of money, but initial response has been overwhelming. People are buying T-shirts, SIGG water bottles, thongs (!) and other stuff, and even donating money without asking for anything back (and not just pennies, either). Needless to say, I'm both grateful and humble.

More info: http://www.leicadream.com

I've already had some cool write-ups in places like WIRED, Amateur Photographer, CNet, PhotographyBlog.com, etc. but I wouldn't mind another one :-)

Let me know if you have any questions.

Best regards,

Jarle Aasland

Leica M9: Believe The Hype.

 
My hands-on Leica M9 review just went online over at Switched.com--check it out here. I won't reprise my gushing piece other than to say: next spare $7,000 is dog-eared for this camera. I'm posting some shots I got with the thing--I think the images speak to the incredibly rich image quality the Leica lens and full frame sensor deliver.

 

 

 

Brak Friday

I Want To Believe

Friday Music Cue: Big Baby

Just interviewed the rapscallion Liverpool band The Hot Melts over at Embury Cocktails about their drinking habits on and off the road. I learned that gin is made from the tears of widows and divorcées, 3 beers is the optimum number to consume before performing, and that a day in bed with a spliff and a copy of The NeverEnding story is the ideal response to a hangover. These guys rock.

"Buy me a drink and we'll talk about it."

Something about the tagline on the teaser one sheet for Spike Jones' adaptation of "Where The Wild Things Are" struck me as odd: "There's one in all of us". My slight sense of unease turned into weak-kneed laughter when I saw it written up on my pal John Walsh's blog, You Are Hated. His headline with the poster reads "Not sure how I feel about this tagline". His copy: "I dunno. Buy me a drink and we'll talk about it."
 

St. Patrick's Day Special at Embury Cocktails

Over at Embury Cocktails we got a chance to sit down with Paula Reynolds, brand ambassador for Jameson, and talk Irish Whiskey for St. Patrick's Day. She made a Jameson Whiskey Sour for us that was really quite good-I say that having never considered using Irish Whiskey in a sour. And here she answers some burning questions on whiskey including: what's the deal with whiskey/whisky? Also, for the forward thinking drinker, check out our hangover cures from Josh Condon--and please, add your own--share the knowledge.


4 Questions for Paula Reynolds from Embury Cocktails on Vimeo.

Empire State

Dusk, yesterday, looking north from the Thomas Collective, where we were shooting the Jameson brand ambassador for Embury Cocktails. Some view, huh?

Friday Music Cue: First Time Ever I Saw Your Face (Play Misty For Me Version)

The French online radio station "Play Misty For Me" is a tribute to the Clint Eastwood film and plays all kinds of jazz and mellow tunes for, as Eastwood's DJ character says in the film, "Lonely lovers on a cold, cold night". It's been keeping me on track over here at Meerkat during a cold, cold winter and a hectic time. A radio station that is an homage to a movie is the best idea I've come across in a long time--it would be tremendous if there were a wave of these little fan stations. You can listen to it directly from the website playmisty4me.com or go to Jazz on iTunes radio, where it's listed. Here's the pre-music video sequence from the film with "The First Time Ever I Saw His Face".

This Photograph Made Me Decide To Shave This Morning

I can't be part of the artfully bearded and stubbled ranks any longer if it's this much of a uniform. Still, the accompanying article did make me glad to live in Brooklyn.

Brooklyn's New Culinary Movement [NYT]

Secret to Succesful Drinking Revealed: Eating Beforehand

Over at emburycocktails.com we've debuted a new feature: Cross-Training Mondays, devoted to the rest of life outside of drinking, and how to best  manage and enhance one's imbibing. Wellness strategies (raw vegetable juice, y'all!), ways to maintain while partying and actual food will be explored. Our associate Stuart Krimko (right)contributed the first piece, about an egg & cheese sandwich that made a party we threw a whole lot more enjoyable for us.

Friday Music Cue: 15 Steps (live with USC Trojans)

After repeated posts of live clips of Radiohead's live-wire performance at the 2009 Grammys were repeatedly taken down from YouTube, sgtpopoy posted a cool hybrid clip that seems to be staying. An excellent audio recording made during the performance plays over a montage of HD stills from the broadcast, and the visuals-to-music ratio is leveraged surprisingly effectively-something to look at, but you're really listening. Very rich sound, something that was missing from compressed YouTube clips before. And the video kinda just made you want to be there, teased you to further imagine the in-person experience. This slideshow gets the ambience down, while letting your mind wander with the music.

Was that marching band chuffed or what.

In Defense of Nervous Breakdowns

From Alex Witchel's Sunday brunch discussion-ready piece on Rupert Everett in the Times Magazine:

"It would be nice to see him work more, though he wasn’t convinced of this. “You shouldn’t work much more than every six months or so as an actor, he said. “People get very bored of you — all those people who do four movies a year. Barbra Streisand didn’t do four movies a year. Dustin Hoffman never did four movies a year until recently. They kept amongst themselves. I think you should do that slightly. You should be able to putter off and have a breakdown or a heroin addiction, whatever it is, your particular problem of choice. That’s what makes you an interesting actor, anyway. We’re more interesting if we are dysfunctional.”"

John Jay's Real Time Blackberry Trailer Reviews: The Wrestler

At the Wrestler...back in Portland

8ish people in theater

City, atm, people, corruption, clive owen, bank, ended up dead or dissapeared, can't allow anyone to put our agenda at risk, has to be a way to bring down this bank, naomi watts "The International" - looks like one gigantic cliche

Ruins, year 2018, judgement day, machines, outnumbered, running, this isn't the future my mother warned me about, at war, explosions, win or lose-this war ends tonight - Terminator Salvation - Bale's an ass but movie looks good.

Guy thrown out window, visually stunning, superheroes, one of us died tonight, maybe someone is picking off costume heroes, dude with sock over his face, we can save this world, why would I save a world I no longer have any stake in, producer's of 300, hell of a lot going on - "Watchmen"

Huge jackman, all the horrible things in your life, father, war, helicopter, special team special privildges, embrace the other siden killing, explosions, bullseye? Liev schrieber some animal guy, motorcycles - "X-Men Origin - Wolverine"
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AFTER:

A bit contrived. I'm in the Penn camp.

Friday Music Cue: Stardust

Like Thomas McCarthy's 'The Visitor', Neil Jordan's 1991 film 'The Miracle' is bursting with unspoken feeling and intense yearnings, and traffics in a kind of emotional currency that's too uncomfortable, or perhaps just too subtle for a lot of people. And like 'The Visitor' few people actually saw 'The Miracle'--now the film isn't even on DVD, a real shame--this is a perfect candidate for the Criterion Collection treatment. It's not a film that should be encapsulated but rather experienced--I will say it's about the pull and danger of imagination and storytelling, and the pain and liberation of discovering, at last, the truth behind deeply buried family secrets. It's also very much about music as a potent communication of things unspoken, as in this scene with a luminous Beverly D'Angelo singing 'Stardust'.

Key West in Next

Some of my photos from 'return to key west' showed up in a travel piece in Next Magazine--no photo credit in the print version, oddly, but they added it online. Not a bad little clip.

Seen Around Town

A few images that have been sitting on a 16 GB SD card in my Canon G10 for the last month--I've been so busy working on Embury Cocktails I haven't had a chance to download anything for a while.

Taken during that halcyon period between election day and The Inauguration. I still find myself giggling a little when I hear or see the word 'change' after watching South Park's irresistible satire of Obama mania (clip here, full episode here).

I've been watching this giant ramp as it's been built in the East River Park in preparation for a giant snowboarding/sledding/X games demo/Red Bull marketing opportunity this Saturday, February 7th. Shot this from the J train while crossing the Williamsburg Bridge.

The Manhattan Project

 
Things are starting to jump over at Embury Coctkails, my relaunched drinks blog. We've got a how-to video from Jim Ryan, brand ambassador for Hendrick's Gin, some awesome recipes from my girl Alberta Straub and an article about the quest for the perfect Manhattan from my new contributor Joshua Condon. Josh and I go back to the Cargo Magazine days-since then he's written for most every straight men's magazine while I've written for every gay one, so between us we've got the men's thing covered. I'm very excited to have him on board-check him out over at Embury.

John Jay's Real Time Blackberry Trailer Review: Slumdog Edition

Live from San Mateo, Ca, where he's on a job-whatever it is he does when he's not catching matinees at malls--it's the triumphant return of John Jay's incisive reviews of the comedy manna we know as movie trailers.

20 people in theater

On with the reviews...

I like that Danny Boyle mixes things up

Audio is fucked up for Wolverine trailer huge jackman, scientist, he's ripped for film, can't hear a damn thing, the origin, looks like daredevil and electra are in film.

Still nbo audio

Huge stadium. Millions of people, tom hanks, angels and demons

Still no sound

Kid I like from bad wearwolf movie and roger dodger, early '80s, funny cop from Superbad, nerds, ryan reynolds (who's gotten too good looking) , from director of Superbad, the best times of his life " Adventureland"

Old people getting in uproar about no audio

Chick ish flick that already came out - anniston, affleck, scarlett looking really blonde, barrymore, long, sound came on "he's just not that into you"

Movie's starting.
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Tracey Thorn on John Martyn

I'm "friends" with Tracey Thorn on her MySpace page, which has been pretty great as she's written about production on her new album (bit more folky, less electronic, much of it recorded in Berlin) and she's quite frank and real-not surprisingly, but still. And she posts new work there from time to time. Just got notification of a post from her on her thoughts on hearing of English singer-songwriter John Martyn's passing today, and it's a simple, evocative piece that recalls her first exposure to his music with a bittersweet beauty. As Thorn has talked about her inspirations on MySpace I've checked them out and it's been a gift to be turned onto artists I'd never heard of. Knew a bit of Martyn's work, but not well. Very inspired to explore that now.

.....was just in the kitchen at lunchtime eating a sandwich with ben, when the news came on radio 4 that john martyn had died today....now this couldn't truly be said to be "shocking" news, in the true sense of the word, but still, what a sad day....i remember the first night i met ben, over in the student union building, and we had a few drinks in the bar and then went back to his student bedroom....and of course the first thing i did was to rifle through his record collection, and discovered that we had precisely TWO records in common (vic godard, and the durutti column)....at which point he pulled out an album i had never even heard OF, let alone heard, and it was john martyn's solid air.....ben had only arrived in hull earlier that afternoon, same as me, but he'd already re-arranged his room to suit his preferences....the desk, that item you might imagine being central to a student's bedroom, if not very existence, he had stashed away safely out of sight on top of the wardrobe, and in its place now stood an old, battered trunk with a record deck on top, and to either side a huge pair of speakers, the like of which i hadn't seen before....on went solid air, and it filled the room, and that was that.....the first record we listened to together, cheers to you john martyn, bless you and the weather....xx

TRACEY THORN MYSPACE PAGE

Ultimately Meaningless As Always, Awards Season Reedeems Itself.

Popularity contests applied to art are appalling, in my book, although now and then I get sucked in at this time of year-I am American, afer all. "Oh, Penn really deserved it." Sure he did, but so did Richard Jenkins--The Visitor was the most subtle, authentic film I've seen in years and Jenkins' performance was so deeply felt that I've been quixotically rooting for him and growing ever more bitter as he is, quite predictably, overlooked. But Poehler and Krasinski at the SAG Award make me forget the grating hype cycle and red carpet static--and, for a moment, I almost dare to open my heart, just a little, and maybe, just maybe, I can learn to love again.

Photo Portfolio Launches

Well, "launches" might be a little grand given the chilly climate for marketing expenditures, but I've just put an online photo portfolio up at jasonrowanphotography.com. The other day a friend who is a menswear designer launched a new website the day after one of the apocalyptic congressional hearings (Banks? Cars? Hard to keep track anymore.) and we were laughing at the non-event of it, contextually speaking. Funny thing is, the site has done well, and despite the slew of layoffs and cutbacks sweeping the nation I keep getting little flashes of sunshine--another friend who works at a major Chelsea gallery said that the day after the inauguration the art was moving.  So anyone who wants some softcore lifestyle porn marketing campaigns conceived for their destination or hotel, check it out! I also shoot cocktails. But only if I'm able to drink them after. Many thanks to my guys John Hunt and Greg Needham for putting this together for me, and thanks to Carolina (above) and Ben (below), recent subjects.

Friday Music Cue: Stand Back (Eli Escobar Remix)

Now, I post this 80s classic without the detached, ironic, blank posture that afflicts the hipster community as described in horrified detail in Adbusters here. These hipsters have helped keep all this 80s music in the cultural mix long past when I, who was a teenager the first time it rolled around, would have imagined. In 1984 there was a sharp divide between bubble gum pop and hair metal, and the cool stuff like Bowie, X, The Smiths and The Talking Heads. Pop was a guilty pleasure at best, insipid and grating at worst. Sometimes those two aspects overlapped, of course. See: Madonna. But the synth heavy hits that MTV persuasively sold with narcotic visuals felt trifling even if they were catchy, and I figured history would soon discard them, along with my adolescence. But after a brief respite in the 90s bars and parties welcomed Corey Hart and Pat Benetar and post-Fleetwood Mac Stevie Nicks back with open skinny arms, creating a bizarre musical Groundhog Day for those of us who lived through it all the first time around. A lot of catchy tunes, to be sure, but the layer of froth on top relegates much of it to mere nostalgia. Then I discovered Eli Escobar, who may be rewriting musical history and redeeming an entire decade.

DJ and remix artist Escobar strips these glossy pop concoctions of that synthesizer pulse that, too me, dates the material badly, and he brings the beat forward, crafting a more timeless, and certainly a more funky version of the original. I first heard his work on this insane mix of Janet Jackson's 'The Pleasure Principle', where he used the existing beats like a weapon against the keyboard hum that undermined the radical edge that drove the Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis produced jam--making it harder, stranger and certainly funkier. On Stevie Nick's 'Stand Back' he's outdone himself--the 7:46 verion here is tight, driving, fresh--he keeps the signature synthesizer hook but anchors it with a tighter, angrier beat and bassline. All these 80s artists should just commision Escobar to go back and remix their stuff, peeling away the sacharine icing and revealing the true song, and the true beat, beneath it. Escobar DJs Wednesdays at Bang! on Rivington Street in NYC; his website with other cheese--and irony--free remixes is here.

Last Shot

This was towards the end of the 'return to key west' shoot, and we were all sunburned and weary from too much work and even more play. We'd spent the day in the back country--anytime you get on a boat you get so nice and tired after. We drank through it, naturally, and after dinner at 915 we headed upstairs to their cool little lounge called point five. Of course I was shooting pictures the whole time, obeying my urge to somehow bridge the staged scenario with a spontaneous snapshot sensibility. "Never not being watched," observed Ryan, wryly but also good-naturedly. After we were "done" we retreated to the back porch where my assistant Che promptly fell asleep, and Ryan sort of reclined against him. I pulled out my G9 and snapped it. I finally broke through the preconceived image and found something 100% real.

Friday Music Cue: A Funky Space Reincarnation

Just saw this Charlize Theron perfume spot for the first time-pretty hot. Love how voluptuous she is, and the choice of music is inspired. Marvin Gaye's 'A Funky Space Reincarnation" is from his dark, strange, seriously funky "Here My Dear". The story is that when he got divorced (from Berry Gordy's daughter) he was broke, so the judge decided that all the profits from Gaye's next album would go to her. A pretty good deal, except that Gaye put out a very non-commercial, fairly gloomy album that was all about the break up and the judge, an elaborate kiss-off explained in intricate detail. It's Gaye's 'De Profundis'. It didn't sell many copies, which was part of the plan. The upside to the story is that it's one of Gaye's most uninhibited albums, super confessional and very jazzy and live-sounding. You can hear "A Funky Space Reincarnation" at lala.com from the link below. It's the new online music store I'm very into. One of the virtues is that you can listen to any song all the way through before you decide to buy it or not. In fact, you can listen to entire albums from start to finish once. The downloads are DRM-free too.

A Funky Space Reincarnation - ...

Moving Photographs

About 400 photos in about 4 minutes. For all 'return to key west' posts click here.

Discuss!!

Went to see James Murphy of LCD Soundsystem and his friend, novelist Sam Lipsyte "In Conversation" at Joe's Pub tonight. I love the whole "In Conversation" construct-even when it doesn't work, as this one sometimes did not, it's still intriguing to watch people really talk, awkward patches and all. (This is a big part of why I am totally inot  'Spectacle: Elvis Costello with...' on The Sundance Channel-real conversation between two artists, about their shared passion, not an interviewer and a 'star' and which is bluntly all about that star). They projected some of  their notes, suggestions for topics to get into-you'll get a better idea of the topics from this than from any of my paraphrasing. Click on the image to see it bigger.
 

Murphy made a comment about hearing a song coming from passing cars in his neighborhood, saying that now that radio was dead this was the new radio--and that those cars were hired to drive through "hot" neighborhoods (Williamsburg in his case) and saturate the air with selected singles. Brilliant marketing move but a very disturbing trend, this steady, subtle encroachment of advertising into all spaces--both private and public,  like Bedford Street in Williamsburg. It reminded me of an interview I read with LL Cool J years ago. When asked when the moment was that he realized he'd achieved success. He said it was the first time he heard one of his songs coming out of a passing car-"because that's one big radio station".  When that highly democratic station is co-opted by viral marketers and becomes about buying airtime I'd say we're losing something that belonged to all of us--even cars blasting music at all hours can certainly be annoying it was, in a very real way, the voice of the people..

Man Walks Into A Bar, The Sequel

Roommate Kyle (above, after shaving his head this weekend) and his 15 minutes of fame that came after his accidental overnight stay in Trophy Bar was chronicled in the New York Times has a second act. Well, Act 2.5 is all the blog coverage was Act 2. Maybe blog coverage was 1.5, come to think of it. Anyhow, New York Magazine honors Kyle, sort of, in the annual Reasons To Love New York issue. (Do ignore the inexplicably sour review of Trophy Bar that the story links to--one wonders just how bad the writer's day was.)

Oddly, along with the morning batch of e-mails that included news of this was the invite for my next DJ gig with Samo. The last time we DJed together at Trophy Bar was the very night Kyle got locked in there. We return to the scene of the crime Sunday, December 21st.
 
 

Vote Levi

My go-to model Levi Poulter is up for Mate of the Year at DNA Magazine. More reasons from 'return to key west' why he should get your vote below. (NSFW)

Lord Ottenbottom Welcomes The Carte Blanche

Just posted a little something about Thankgsiving in Key West over at my cocktail blog Embury. We took over the toolshed for the second year in a row and turned out some pretty awesome cocktails, I must say.

Full post here.

The Shower Shots

One of my favorite set of photos from return to key west are the ones we did in a friend's outdoor shower--one of the great benefits of life in the sub tropics. I think we hit it when the light was just right, too. More shots here (NSFW).

More below.

Janna Levin

Cosmologist and author Janna Levi is speaking tonight, Thursday December 4th, at the Tribeca branch of the 92nd St. Y (info here). Levin was a speaker at the Key West Literary Seminar earlier this year where she completely won over even resolute science phobes with her engaging, witty and passionate perspective on, well, existence itself.
She also discussed her book 'A Madman Dreams of Turing Machines', an imaginary historical novel about the unlikely but vital friendship between logician Kurt Godel and Alan Turing, the homosexual mathematician who broke the Enigma code that was pivotal in the outcome of WW2. Turing, who is considered the father of modern computer science, was persecuted for his sexuality, and quite horribly.  He was injected with hormones and driven quite mad both by their effects and the cruel isolation he was forced to endure, eventually committing suicide. When I was in Manchester recently I saw this statue of Mancunian Turing in the gay district--note the apple in the statue's hand-Turing killed himself, rather poetically, by eating a poisoned apple.

Check out a podcast from the KWLS with Levin discussing Turing as well as illuminating the mysteries of the universe here. Mark my words, she's so charming and makes incredibly complex subjects so comprehensible that someone is going to tap her to host some kind of regular science talk show.

Tremor of Forgery

In the final panels of 'return to key west' Ryan's reading the Patricia Highsmith novel 'The Tremor of Forgery'. Why? In addition to a having a vivid orange and black cover that worked well with the yellow and orange striped sheet Ryan's laying on and with the intense hot sunlight of these shots, I'm also just a bit obsessed with the book. The author of 'The Talented Mr. Ripley' and the script for 'Strangers on a Train' tells a morally ambiguous, open ended (even for her) tale in this one. A writer goes to Tunisia to finish a screenplay for a studio and his world-and his world view-gradually, almost imperceptibly begins to fall apart, leaving him-and the reader-in some new unfamiliar place. It's a strange, engrossing book that bears a certain resemblance to 'The Sheltering Sky'. The North African desert seems to be a place where Westerners lose their way. Since discovering a copy at Powell's Books a couple years ago (it's out of print, but they have some in stock) I've purchased several copies and handed them all over to people-Ryan took this one on the flight home. I've been convinced there's a great movie there--so much so that when I saw Gus Van Sant at The Abbey in Los Angeles a few months back I threw back a couple recklessness-inducing cocktails and went over to him and assaulted him with a mini-pitch as to why he should direct it. I was totally convinced from the first time I read it that he would be the perfect director, and any of his regular guys could be the screenwriter--Damon, Casey Affleck.  Actually, now that I think about it, James Franco would be great.

That's the kind of stalker I am--I approach directors with movie ideas they must do. A creative, script-clutching, d-girl kinda stalker.

All 'return to key west' posts here.

Two Victrolas And A Microphone

 
Popped into Trophy Bar on Sunday and caught the Penny Dreadfuls, a DJ outfit (Ana Matronic and Seth Kirby) who bust out some fantastic old 78s and spin 'em on a couple of victrolas.  The archival sound is perfect for Trophy's brick and ceramic tile vintage feel, and a friend and I sipped Old Fashioneds at the bar and enjoyed the Woody Allen-esque soundtrack. I hear this may be a monthly thing and I certainly hope so--a wonderful way to spend a Sunday evening

A Rake's Gallery

 When I was first casting around for 'return to key west' I sent an e-mail around to a ton of people, an open call to help me find a "hot uncle type". Not quite daddy, but well into his thirties or beyond and still sexy and fit and game. I like working with non pros and wanted this shoot to be more naturalistic, so I wanted to find a "real" guy as opposed to a model. Somebody fun and good to go and  looked it. When a friend shot me an e-mail back asking the universal casting shortcut question: if he were an actor who would he be? My response was immediate: Dennis  Quaid. Fit, vital, even rowdy. These Peggy Sirota shots from GQ capture all that, and are just great photos, nicely straddling that line between portraiture and fashion/lifestyle/posed stuff

I was striking out on my non-pro hot uncle type until I remembered Ryan Findlay. Ryan had been a big model in the nineties, and I'd met him once--in Key West actually, where he was on holiday with a mutual friend. I'd spotted a great late 70s polyester shirt with a line drawing of a sailboat on it-very 'Dazed and Confused'-but didn't think I could pull it off. When Ryan walked into wearing the shirt that first night, he pulled it off. He also clearly had a highly cultivated sense of fun, and seemed to exist in his own perpetual comofort zone. Cool dude, the kind you want to party with and who you can't help but admire for their total ease and confidence.

Years passed-ten, at least, and then I was casting for this shoot. Ryan had gotten out of the modeling game a few years back. When I wrote the words Dennis Quaid Ryan's face popped into my mind. Aside from a more-than-passing resemblance, there was that raffish charm. I contacted him and pitched him on the whole concept, positioning it as a fun, easy shoot with lots of sun, great food and booze-"Purina Model Chow" is how I referred to liquor, I believe-and was very pleasantly surprised when he said yes. His energy and ease informed the tone of the whole production and made it fun, and made it look fun. As another friend wrote: "Ryan is like a modern Pan- your photos of him are a great mix of mischief and mirth". Which sums up the whole weeklong shoot, pretty much. More Ryan in the second half of the post.

More below