MELISSA AQUINO, 17, BOONTON, NJ
Magically Delicious That damn leprechaun with the marshmallowy cereal and the catchphrase mantra is wreaking havoc with our sugar-soaked brains. You see, we know we’re lucky. So very, very lucky. And we also know the third time’s the charm. This we know because of the sheer number of submissions we had to wade through to compile our third issue of LookLook. Submissions that came from the girl next door, the man on the hill, not to mention those dudes in Sri-Lanka, Italy, Malaysia, and Tuscaloosa. We are the world, baby! You know the drill by now. We’re the enablers. We exist so that you can get your art out there and onto the pages of the magazine. You do the work, take the photos, draw the drawings, type the words, we just print the stuff. As a company, Look-Look gets the ideas of young people heard by corporate types and not so corporate types, by your friends and maybe even by some foes. As a magazine, we give you a chance to flex your artistic muscles in a bigger arena. Hello, Superdome, goodbye intimate venue. Without further ado (or cereal metaphors) we happily bring you Issue 03 of the first magazine devoted to the inside of the outsider’s minds. Look-Look.
LOOK-LOOK CONTRIBUTORS
YOU: THE PHOTOGRAPHERS, WRITERS, AND ARTISTS.
RACHEL CHANDLER, 17 Los Angeles, CA
CARYN DREXL, 24 Clearwater, FL
LEONARD GRECO, 23 Ipswich, MA
JESSICA LIEDTKE, Brooklyn, NY
MARLON RYDER, 15 Los Angeles, CA
JENNIFER O’DONNELL, 21 Merrimack, NH
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STIJN VAN KERHOVE, 24 Gent, Belgium
BUNNY MCINTOSH, 22 Athens, GA
SHAYLA HASON, 30 Portland, OR
TIM MAZUREK, 28 Chicago, IL
JEFF MCMILLAN, 26 San Jose, CA
VICTOR TIMOFEEV, 19 Brooklyn, NY
TYRELL CUMMINGS, 24 White Rock, NM
DIVA DOMPE. 17 Los Angeles, CA
HEATHER KELTERER, 24 Ventura, CA
EIRIK LANDE, 23 Trondheim, Norway
ERIN SILVER, 21 Montreal, Canada
H A N N A H BLACK, 23 New York, NY
JACQUES BRAUTBAR, 25 Los Angeles, CA
RACHEL BECKMAN, 22 Portland, OR
JAIME FALCON, 19 Lewisville, Texas
Good guys finish first. The net profits from the sale and sponsorship of Look-Look Magazine go to the advancement of young people in the arts. Despite what you learned at the movies, it’s nice to be nice. We created the Look-Look Arts Foundation to give grants to young people to help them get to the next level in their artistic endeavors. And guess what? We put our money where our type is and sent 12 people to the School of Visual Arts “Summer of Art” Residency Program last summer in New York City, thanks to some help from Virgin Mobile and the SVA. We also assist with smaller needs like film and processing, paint and pencils, or anything else that can help you get to the next level artistically speaking. And by the way, the no-censorship clause is still in full effect around here. Send it the way you see it and we’ll keep our grubby mitts off it.
look-lookmagazine.com
POPPIE VAN HERWERDEN 17, Pacific Palisades, CA
STEPHANIE POTTINGER, 17 Brooklyn, NY
CARLOS WEISZ, 24 Toronto, Canada
CARIS REID, 21 Boston, MA
CHRISTINE ROBINSON, 24 Los Angeles, CA
EUNICE CHOI, 22 New York, NY
SAM MONKARSH, 17 Los Angeles, CA
CHRISTOPHER FISHBURN 2O, Holladay, UT
SILVIA RAZGOVA, 27 Boulder, CO
FABIO VASALLO, 28 Rome, Italy
EMILY TUCKER, 17 La Canada, CA
THOMY ETTER, 26 Zollikerber, Switzerland
MELISSA AQUINO, 17 Boonton, NJ
ZACH SUSSKIND, 17 Santa Monica, CA
PEACH BECKLEY, 27 Chicago, IL
KRIS BYERLY, 25 High Point, NC
JOSHUA ABRAM WITTEN 28, Indianapolis, IN
DANA HARRIS, 16 Los Angeles, CA
M A R Y REEDER, 24 Cincinnati, OH
KRISTINA DUNCAN, 16 Cocoa, FL
NICOLE LOOMIS, 21 Pasadena, CA
C H A D BROWN, 17 Glen Allen, VA
DEVON CURTIN, 25 New York, NY
JENNIFER LEE, 22 San Jose, CA
Contributors not pictured: Gavin Williams, 19, Denver, CO; Ana Martinez Romero, 20, Madrid, Spain; Brock Alexander, 27, Los Angeles, CA; L. Michaels, 18, Chicago, IL; Charlie Eisner, 19, Los Angeles, CA
The twelve artists chosen to participate in the 2003 School of Visual Arts “Summer of Art” Residency Program were: Brandon Baird, 18, Channelview, TX Kellei Burris, 17, Baltimore, MD Alana Celii, 17, Rockwall, TX Andrea Dubrofsky, 19, Plantation, FL Lauren Johnson, 19, Talahassee, FL Constance Kostrevski, 20, Chicago, IL
Mary Lamb, 18, Crozet, VA Christian Mendez, 17, Chino, CA Lisbeth Ortega, 20, Thousand Oaks, CA Valeria Picerno, 17, Milano, Italy Marlon Rabenreither, 15, Los Angeles, CA Jessica Williams, 18, Sugarland, TX
All this was made possible by Virgin Mobile, the School of Visual Arts, and the Look-Look Arts Foundation. Created and Published by: DeeDee Gordon and Sharon Lee, Creative Directors: Lisa Eisner and Román Alonso of Greybull Press, Editor: Cat Doran, Associate Editor: Lauren Edson, Senior Designer: Anna Agapiou, Exhibition Curator: Aaron Rose, Look-Look Crew: Nancy Callahan, Melissa Cunningham, Anton Dembowski, Heather Dodge, Sigalle Feig, Shayne Globerson, Jill Kaufman, Brandie Mellen, Liana Morgado, Marc Precilla, Jodie Snyder, Look-Look Interns: Rachel Chandler, Jennifer Lee, Nicole Loomis, Romy Poletti, Zach Susskind, John Van Deren, Asha Woodruff; Cover Art: Jeff McMillan, 26, San Jose, CA
Š 2004 Look-Look Inc. All worldwide rights reserved.
look-lookmagazine.com
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MARLON RYDER, 15, LOS ANGELES, CA
MAILBOX ETC i picked up your mag in toronto at a..*cough cough* chapters *cough cough* i love this magizine.... i love the whole idea of it. i love the name..... after reading the first issue... i put it down and pretended that my stuff got in and published....i pictured my self running home with a fresh copy, bursting in the door and finding who ever was home and jumping up and down in front of them yelling..”LOOK!LOOK” .....”LOOK! LOOK”....”it’s me i’m in this magizine! i got published!!!....”LOOK!LOOK!” (it struck me then...what a great name for this magizine) i just have a few questions.... how long has the magizine been around, (i couldn’t find a date on the magizine) when was the first issue published and what are my chances if getting my stuff in and how do i make them better. (my chances it mean..... my work is already awesome....unlike my spelling:).....) love, Aaron Dear Aaron, In answer to your questions, this is our third issue—we’ve been around for a full year. Your chances of getting your work published are as good as your work is. That means, the better your work, the better your chances. --Look-Look Look-Look employees reading, I’ll probably subscribe as soon as you get those little annoying postcards to fall out and piss me off to the point that I can’t simply throw them away. Thanks for a killer first issue experience. Best wishes, George Caraway It’s been a long time since I’ve been 6
completely interested in something, and a long time since I haven’t had to force myself (with the exception of my yoga.) In spirit, Mendy Acevedo
named barney. sure it’s the name of a purple dinosaur, but i can look past that!! you should give this barney guy a wink for me. thanks a lot for your dating magazine. Savannah Mitchell
I am only just 16 and would like to get my stuff in your mag b/c (a) it is the best youth/art magazine i have thus found, and (b) it would look good on my resume for the School of the Arts Institute of Chicago. I mean, that is my goal and i need to find a way to get my art “out there” b/c i feel it is drowning in my kitsch town. thank you! Aaron
I think what you guys are doing is the most ingenious idea ever. Thanks for putting out a magazine I’ll actually pay eight dollars for. Chelsea Rushton
Why is it that anyone over 30 is considered “uncool”? I noticed that on your web page that you all had an age limit on the folks that may want to be contributors to your magazine? I just happen to be a 33 female that loves being an artist, not quiet noticed but dreams don’t die, they magnify and become goals. So with that being said I hope that you would reconsider your idea about what age is “hip”. Thank-you, Kresskala Harris Dear Kresskala, It is not that we feel people over 30 are not hip or uncool. We created Look-Look to give younger people who are normally overlooked by mainstream media outlets a chance to be published in a national magazine. No offense, but if you’re 33, you have had plenty of time to get paid for your art. And we mean all of this in the nicest way possible. --Look-Look HEY!!! i found my soul-mate in your magazine. the young man
Thank you for making this magazine...working in the film industry it is nice to be reminded that people are still making art for art’s sake. Good luck to you and your team. Jennifer Petrilla
MIXED MESSAGES ANYTHING GOES
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Tyrell Cummings, 24, White Rock, NM
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CARLOS WEISZ, 24, TORONTO, CANADA
CARIS REID, 21, BOSTON, MA
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EUNICE CHOI, 22, NEW YORK, NY
HANNAH BLACK, 23, NEW YORK, NY
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OUT AND ABOUT LOS ANGELES: FAIRFAX VS. THE COUNTY FAIR
County Fair photos by Nicole Loomis, 21, Pasadena, CA 14
Fairfax photos by Rachel Chandler, 17, Los Angeles, CA
How to BY DIVA DOMPE, 17, LOS ANGE20
start your own Pirate Radio station
There are a few essential things you will need in order to start your radio station:
MONEY, EQUIPMENT, A LOCATION, MUSIC, SUPPORT AND ENTHUSIASM.
money
A fun way to make money and get new listeners is to have a benefit concert for your station. The object is to make money (I made $600 at my first event), so find a location you can use for free and bands that are willing to play for the cause and not for the paycheck. • Pass out fliers and tell everyone you know about the show, the more people that come, the more money you will make. • On the day of the show charge five dollars to get in. • Make friends with the people who show-up. You never know who might give you extra donations, equipment, or just useful tips.
equipment
Once you have made enough money you can buy the equipment you need in order to have the station up and running. Free Radio Berkeley (www.freeradio.org) is a simple site to use when buying equipment, but you don’t have to get everything they say you do.
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WHAT YOU NEED TO GET STARTED: Transmitter
Antenna Amplifier
Music source (stereo, computer, record player, MP3 player)
Power supply
Microphone (if you want to speak on your station)
Coaxial cable
Optional: a mixer
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transmitters
There are many types of transmitters out there so it is hard to pick the right one. You can buy transmitters that you have to build yourself, and while this is cheaper, it is also a lot harder.
antennas
Antennas need to be tuned properly in order to receive the maximum signal strength. Comet Antenna has a very simple, easy to use antenna for $125. It comes with an SWR meter, which tells you where to adjust the antenna in correspondence to the frequency you will be broadcasting at. All you do is slide one part of the antenna up or down to make it longer or shorter.
power supply
You need a power supply to run your station. Check out Radio Shack or the Internet. If you go to a store, do not be afraid to ask for assistance even though what you are doing is illegal. The power supply you need will depend on the power of your antenna and/or amplifier. Tell the salesperson you are doing amateur radio (which is legal) and ask which power supply you should get.
HERE’S THE BASIC SCALE: 1-5 Watt Transmitter 2-3 Amps
10-15 Watt Transmitter 5-6 Amps 20-24 BGY33 Based Unit 10 Amps 40 Watt Transmitter 12 Amps
coaxil cable
You can also get coaxial cable at Radio Shack. This connects the transmitter to the antenna, so the length of cable depends on how far away they are from each other. Coax cable also contributes to the power of the station. The longer it is the more power is lost. Also, different types produce different levels of power loss. RG58 can be used but RG8x is better. So it basically depends on the size of your bank account.
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the set up
Once all the equipment is gathered, it needs to be connected properly and set to the right frequency. The advantage of buying the equipment new is that it will come with instructions. This is going to be very helpful, so do not disregard them as you would disregard most manuals.
When tuning the transmitter and antenna to the right frequency, first find a frequency that is not being used, 87.9 is usually open because it is at the bottom of our radio frequencies. When tuning the transmitter (there will be an adjustable knob in the transmitter that you twist to an exact point) a screwdriver cannot be used. You can get a tuning stick at Free Radio Berkeley or at Radio Shack. What I advise you to do at this point, though, is to try and find someone with experience. Hopefully you can find someone sympathetic to the cause who will do it for free, but even if they ask for a fee, it would be an extremely smart investment.
location
A good location is very important. I live on top of a hill, down a secluded very hard to find road that faces a large portion of Los Angeles. This is a good spot. You need to think about two things when choosing a location: getting caught by the FCC and the range you will get. High places are optimal.
HOME: Setting up your station permanently in your home is easier and less consuming of your time and energy, but it is also a lot easier to get caught. If you live in a tall apartment building, you can put the antenna on the roof and find a discrete way to run the coax cable to your apartment. VEHICLES: A lot of people set up portable stations and drive to a good spot to broadcast from. I knew someone who set up his antenna in a good spot and left it there. He had the rest of the station in a suitcase (the transmitter, etc.). He would make a taped show, go to his antenna and hook the rest of the station up. Then if the FCC came, he would close the suitcase and throw it down the hill with plans to retrieve it later. This is a little risky in regards to keeping your equipment, but it is better then getting caught at home, having everything taken away, and being left with a huge fine.
the feds
In my opinion, the war in Iraq is completely unjust and horrible and it never should have happened, but in this situation it helps. There is some weird loophole law that says if the country is at war, stations can be up and running as long as they are in the process of applying for a license. So, print out an application for a license from the Internet and fill in your name. Once that is done, you have officially started the process.
Dealing with the FCC is easier than you think. They will try to intimidate you, but the best way to deal with them is with confidence. You don’t even have to let them in unless they have a search warrant or equipment seizure order. If you do have to let them in, do not say anything to them. Do not just hand over your entire studio. If they have an equipment seizure order, it specifies exactly what they are seizing and this is all you have to give them. Free Radio Berkeley advises you to start filming them. It makes them uncomfortable and they won’t do anything illegal. Setting up the station is the hard part. After that it’s just fun. Try and maintain as much support as possible from the community. This helps in legal battles as well as in the upkeep of your station financially and morally. The Internet is a great source of information.
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WORD UP
POETRY
Aquaman
LEWISVILLE, BY JAIME FALCON, 19, TX
Is there a more useless superhero than aquaman I mean come on its been like over 50 years and they just now decided to give the guy the ability to turn to water and control water talk about dropping the ball. 24
PHOTOGRAPH BY JESSICA LIEDTKE, 26, BROOKLYN, NY
PART A
PART C { THE TEMPTRESS }
Nagging sharp pains start as a pinch deep within. Stretch out as a surge of electricity, end with a sharp groan of protest.
The inch of blubber under your belly button Swallows your piercing You fat fucking glutton.
Dark circles under my eyes. Hipbones jut, Ribs jut, Collarbones jut. My skeleton is trying to escape.
Remember how they’d stare? Now you’re just like everyone else— Boring, normal, average, fair.
Naked vegetables, Yogurt “small black two Equal coffee please.” Half moons of sweat under my arms Evidence of my body’s desperate attempt to stay warm. Layers of clothes leave my fingernails purple, My lips blue, My face gray. And A is the sexy one.
I’m supposed to have some fat on my body, At least that’s what the docs say I’ve worked out twice this week And eaten exactly what I should today.
There’s more to me than starving. My eyes sparkle again, can’t you see? I have the courage to draw, write, laugh, and dance I’m finally back to me. God the doctors made you such a tool, Go get fat you pathetic little fool. I am not brainwashed. You’re the one in a vise. Now leave me alone, And let me live my life.
My Skeleton is Trying to Escape
PART B Memorizing my porcelain god as I Gag Gag Heave. Gag Gag Heave. Vomit and drool roll down my chin. Tears blur my bloodshot eyes. Acidic phlegm, Bile and blood. An apple, innocent Turns into an apple and a bowl of cereal Turns into an apple a bowl of cereal spoonfuls of peanut butter two fun size snickers a half bag of cookies turns into Gag Gag Heave. Gag Gag Heave.
By Rachel Beckman, 22, Portland, OR
PHOTOGRAPH BY CARYN DREXL, 24, CLEARWATER, FL
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Big Time Shmulic By Sam Monkarsh, 17, Los Angeles, CA
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Big time shmul stik. Sighs “gosh this is tough, being so hard aand all” sometimes he gets mad and happy and ven he mad is to the gym he goes, to work those muskels and get that stanema up 2 day roof top. He gets the big time angr in him and he steams up like a boat. Then he says “ah much beter I am” and runs to the beach with sandy sand on it to jump on. Ha ha a voice comes from the ski.
TEXT AND ILLUSTRATION BY BROCK ALEXANDER,
27, LOS ANGELES, CA
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C BY
ST R HE OP IST
RI P
HR
MA
UR HB FIS
,H 20
LL
N,
T
,U AY
TE STA
D LA OL
(OF S)
ING
TH Let’s be exact Speak with quill-water temperament exactly ‘Cause Christ If Jesus were here he’d wear a suit Spill bubbly out like a neglected pot over distant loin cloth peoples with explicit tooth-rot nobility And find something savagely holy in this
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PHOTOGRAPH BY STIJN VAN KERHOVE, 24, GENT, BELGIUM
NEGATIVE NOUN
BY JENNIFER O’DONNELL, 21, MERRIMACK, NH
So I paid 500 dollars just once for her
to never be able to be everything she could have been. So now I pay
15 dollars a month for them
to never take root again
because I don’t
want more ghosts
living between my legs.
SMELLS LIKE...
EDWARD HO PPER
PHOTOGRAPHS UNDER THE INFLUENCE
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PAINTINGS BY JEFF MCMILLAN, 26, SAN JOSE, CA
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POSSESSED INSIDE MY LIFE: ONE PERSON’S POLAROIDS
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TEXT AND POLAROIDS BY SHAYLA HASON, 30, PORTLAND, OR
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MIND’S EYE PHOTOJOURNALISM
THE EDGE OF GROWTH IN GROWING COLD BY PEACH BECKLEY, 27, CHICAGO, IL
Everything became evidence. The cold was unseasonable, borderline brutal, even for Chicago and somehow I thought that it meant something. The running shoes left by the front door seemed out of character. There was no police tape, there was supposed to be police tape wrapping around the entire house. The whole place was crawling with important clues, why was everyone so calm? I went inside. I stood in the bedroom where my brother had discovered the body of a family member only twelve hours earlier. What I saw was “moving day” not “violent crime scene.” It wasn’t like the movies. I was told there was blood found all over the walls, carpet, bed, hallway, bathroom. I didn’t see a drop of it; the carpet was ripped up, there were boxes already filled with belongings. I was as confused as I was surprised. I felt that they had taken away the evidence too soon. how were they going to find the killer? O.J. Simpson popped in my head— shoddy police work, contaminated evidence. Everything moved way too fast. What I didn’t know is that in a real crime scene, everything does move incredibly fast. I remembered parts in the movies I had seen when someone goes back to an apartment and slides under the police tape, finds a note hidden in a painting and the place hasn’t changed in a week—total nonsense. After a murder the activity is similar to a cloud of locusts. My brother found the body at 4 pm on a Sunday. Paramedics were called, they determined that there was foul play, detectives were called, photographs were taken before the body was moved, evidence was collected, fingerprints, rape kit, point of entry, police dogs—all within an hour or so. When they finished, a special company was called in to clean the home. They only do crime scenes. I never knew such things existed. They took away every trace of blood, every index of violence, they left spotless walls, hallways, bathrooms. They wore something that looked like a radiation suit. They were incredibly respectful, professional. They seemed like alien life forms that come in to erase the mistakes of weak and mindless earthlings. I wasn’t getting straight answers. No one wanted to tell me what really happened. No one wanted to upset me. Upset didn’t even factor into the equation. I have discovered from this experience that there are two types of people, those that need to know every last detail of what happened to their loved one, and those who can only handle the vaguest notion of what really happened. My brother is in the latter category. I am in the former with the rest of my family. The prosecutors respected my brother’s desire for vagaries. It wouldn’t be until the trial a year later that I would hear the whole story of what happened that night. Back to the evidence. What the detectives would tell me was that the assailant used two murder weapons, one of which was also used to get into the house; apparently a simple crowbar is enough to render almost any dead-bolt lock completely useless. The back door to the house was ripped out of the hinges in one stroke. I pictured a massive individual with a black hood. I pictured someone right out of prison, six-foot nine, twenty inch biceps. I think the press agreed with me, they alluded to a serial killer. Where did he come from, how did he get here? Those were my immediate questions. The neighborhood was somewhat remote. Aurora, Illinois is a rural area turned suburb, the backyard of the house butted up against soybean and corn fields with forest just west of the soybeans. Why this house? Why her? 40
A detective must have seen me wandering around the back yard. He showed me the point of entry and exit. They were the same door, I photographed the splintered wood. I’m not sure why. He showed me the pathway that the police dogs tracked through the back yard, past the fields, past the small train track that connected downtown Aurora to the Dow Chemical plant at the edge of the fields hundreds of yards away. And finally through a patch of forest. I focused on the train tracks. Of course, I reasoned that the ex-con came and left on the train. As my mind raced, my camera was capturing the footsteps of a killer almost automatically. I wasn’t fully aware of what I was capturing until I reached the woods. I had been standing in the exact spot where the body was found only moments earlier and had felt surprisingly calm. As soon as I reached the woods, however, I was gripped with a tangible fear. I froze. It was approaching early evening, but there was plenty of light, the house was within earshot and crawling with people, but I was terrified. I forced myself to take a few more steps into the woods, I thought that the murder weapons must have been buried nearby, it seemed like a logical conclusion. Having never encountered murder weapons before I reasoned that they must hold some residual evil from their owner. I don’t know if it was the shock or the cold or both but this seemed a reasonable explanation. I took a few more photographs with mounting fear and a pounding heart. I would learn much later what the police thought, but would not reveal that day. I wasn’t near the murder weapons, I was near the murderer. I couldn’t have known at the time that the fifteen-year-old neighbor who would later be charged with the crime was watching me from his bedroom window, probably with the same icy stare that I would come to know so well a year later at his trial. Police often employ an ancient piece called Occam’s Razor in situations like the murder of Irma Braun. I was concocting elaborate plots of epic proportions while ignoring the fact that the police dogs went right by the back door of the neighbor’s house. While I surmised that the dogs lost the scent because the ex-con hopped a train, the police looked at the obvious. Occam’s Razor states that the simplest explanation is usually correct. I usually think the opposite. Fifteen year old kids don’t handcuff and torture people. Neighbors don’t kill neighbors for no reason and they don’t go back to biology class the next day. Actually, sometimes they do. The police had a suspect day one, but they weren’t about to tell us that. They lead us to believe that they had no leads for an entire year, until the day they picked up Joshua Minitti from high school and charged him with two counts of first degree murder, three counts of aggravated sexual assault, one charge of breaking and entering and one charge of armed home invasion with intent. He offered no defense, his DNA matched and his confession was videotaped. He had given himself his first jail tattoo by the time the trail began, a small cross on the back of his hand near his thumb. For eleven months, these photographs had a specter somewhere in the shadows. The train tracks led to answers, the woods held the buried evidence, the soybeans were witnesses. I didn’t sleep well and you would not find me in house alone after 9 pm. The day I received the phone call, the ex-con became a skinny insecure high school kid, and the photos suddenly depicted a world even I could not imagine. Josh is still awaiting sentencing in Cook County by the judge, Patricia Piper Golden. The prosecutors think he will only get sixty years in prison even though the judge ruled that the crime was unusually brutal and heinous—a requirement for the sentence of life in prison. Back in Aurora the soybeans are about to be harvested again, Josh’s family still lives in the same house and a new family has made the crime scene a home again.
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WORD UP
PROSE
I. Sometimes my mouth tastes like fat. Like I just ate my weight in cake and chips and Combos and cigarettes and evil. I went to my Mom’s and babysat for tiny little children that look like elf babies. One of them would shake her head and look at me like she knew just exactly what was up but wouldn’t say anything. Like the way I am around Latinos. I think that baby is baby me. My little brother Dave was extremely sad and crying because one of my Mom and Dad’s friends was smashed up by a semi. Dave just kept being bleary eyed and hugging me and I told him to be brave ‘cause what the hell else am I supposed to say? My whole life any time anyone says someone is dead I’m not so much sad as I am terrified that they’re for some reason going to turn into a demon back from the dead and rip out my arm bones and shove them down my throat and choke me with them in the night. This fear was validated at a young age when my Mom told me that I was a special child and that I was very close to the spirit world, and that bad spirits want good people. Thanks a million. That really helped me become a well adjusted individual. I’ll be over here abusing this prescription of Xanax, reading Bertrand Russell and getting this all straightened out. In other news, more British people should rap. II. The Athens Health Department is doing free AIDS tests ‘til the second so I decided that there’s no time like the present to go find out if I’m dying of the most horrible disease ever. There is something magical about the more public version of health care in America. What I mean is, for example, that there’s not a single English magazine in the whole place. Then there’s the seedy 70’s tile and Zenith TV with lines through it playing straight-to-video Disney
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PHOTOGRAPH BY EIRIK LANDE, 23, TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
disasters that are, for some reason, going in fast forward. And then there are all the little fuzzy headed babies and the Latina mommies with their gold earrings and pony tails shiny like video tape. There are little white girls who wear scrunchies and look forlorn, and fat ladies who talk loud about their vaginas and when So-and-So is getting out of jail and are those nails real? There were pieces of a newspaper. I read the obituaries just for poetic measure. When I finally got in to see a nurse, I had to answer all kinds of incredibly personal questions about my sinning ways to a sassy black nurse who told me not to drink so much and that acting gay makes you gay which probably means she skipped psychology class a lot. She was confused about my sexual disorientation and asked about the logistics of being with another woman, but she was painless and so I loved her. And really, you have to love someone who stabs you in the arm and sees you naked and wants what’s best for you all at once. It’s like people attaching themselves to their kidnappers. You might as well. It makes it easier. After a long time waiting and reading “Important Information Regarding your Health” (which was irrelevant information, ironically, as I am not diabetic), the lady came back and said everything looks good so far and here’s a number to call in a couple of weeks and gave me advice about not having sex with people who have been to prison for a long time and I was like “Oh well, what if they’ve been isolated the entire time because they’re murderers or something, then can I date them?” But I just said, “right” ‘cause really, you don’t want to patronize someone who is the only one wearing any pants.
The Conscious Stream of Bunny M By Bunny McIntosh, 22, Athens, GA
III. I was driving home from babysitting, singing the unfortunate hit single, “Damn I Wish I Was Your Lover” when all of a sudden I realized that the Bunnymobile no longer had gears. EVERY GEAR IS SORT OF 4TH ISH. THIS TOTALLY BLOWS. I didn’t want to stop because I was on empty, fuel wise and I was almost home and I’m no fucking quitter. So I drove like this, all retarded, trying to ease her into whatever the hell gear I was supposedly in as my stick shift bobbed around like an effing balloon. GODDAMMITALL YOU CHRISTING WHORE. GO INTO GEAR BEFORE I RIP THIS STEERING WHEEL OFF. But I kept my cool and made it home. By this I mean I screamed at the top of my lungs at every other driver on the road. I open the hood to see what maybe is the problem and lo! my car is billowing smoke and smells like food often smells when I try to “cook”. My transmission is destroyed. IV. I think the term “plastic surgery” is beautifully poetic.
bear dressed like a park ranger so I prevent forest fires.* They lied to me about drugs, though, and that I’ll never forgive.** *Dramatization: Once I was actually sort of partly responsible for a reasonable area of woods behind Kroger burning down. Mostly it was this other girl’s fault. We thought we stomped it out. We were pretty much entirely wrong. Come to think of it, I was also partially responsible for a gasoline fire that almost got very much out of hand. **The war on drugs is a war on fun. Don’t you let Nancy Reagan feed you those filthy lies.
I hate when I leave the coffee machine on all day. I am disappointed that I was not inundated with a prominent enough public service figure as a child to keep me from doing so. I can take a bite out of crime because I don’t want to get yelled at by an aggressive, intimidating hardass dog. I prefer not to litter because I don’t want to make that Indian guy cry or get all lectured at by Lady Bird Johnson. I don’t want to disappoint the friendly and reasonable
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IT’S A TRADITI BY KRIS
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BYERL Y, 25, H IGH PO INT, NC
ON
A person is valued because they are remembered; a person is remembered because they have a story worth retelling. George cut down the cherry tree, Abe was shot in the theatre, and my uncle has his big toe for a thumb. Sure George was the first president and Abe helped free the slaves, but my uncle Ronnie just had a plate of steel crush his hand and now he can brag about fingering girls with his big toe. So you see the value of my uncle is that his story is somewhat worth retelling. Had Uncle Ronnie not become freakishly deformed all I would be able to tell you about him is that he drinks, smokes pot, and talks in one of those Fargo-type Wisconsin accents (see also American Movie). Amusing to observe but hardly to recount.
My family lacks in the tradition of storytelling and consequently my family is a fairly forgettable one. My father, well he lacks social skills entirely. He avoids talking to anyone but family and even then his words roll out in rumbles and grunts, monosyllables and one word responses. Yet still I know that there are stories living in him that could rival even Hunter S. Thompson. Lurking deep in his murmers and shrugs are living, breathing stories that could bust open the Byerly legacy. I’ve discerned several of these tales from his tourrette-like babbling, like the years he spent in Berkley as an art student in the sixties. While there he participated in the now infamous acid test performed by the CIA. True gold if you ask me: conspiracy, drugs, mind control, secret government testing! For Christ sake’s what else needs to happen for him to exploit every ounce of that story? Maybe I’m being too hard on Pops, maybe he’s biding his time, waiting for his call to the deathbed where he will blow the roof off the whole thing; who shot Kennedy, aliens, free-masonry, etc. Most likely he won’t. He will shrug when asked about it and not really tell that one great story that I would tell my children. That one story that would be on this page. Instead he keeps his hand hidden. Like the time he got in trouble with the IRS and had to go work for the Gov’t when I was little. Even if he really just went to jail and my parents lied to us, if I were him I would make up this really rad story about working for the CIA and slipping poison into Castro’s cigars and framing OJ and shit. But alas my father just doesn’t know how to or want to be remembered. And given that my brothers are making their own bids at social transparency I must accept the challenge of being remembered, of telling a story worth retelling. For the family legacy.
PHOTOGRAPH BY GAVIN WILLIAMS, 19, DENVER, CO
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ebay
WHO BY CHAD BROWN, 17, GLEN ALLEN, VA
We all have our addictions. Some of us are a little overweight due to our obsession with chocolate and other sweets. Others would chop off their thumb and sell it on the internet in order to get another satisfying installment of weed. And then there are others who are perfectly happy during the day, but when the sun disappears, they fall apart and end up hanging out with their best friend: Mr. Alcoholism.
Believe it or not, I have my addictions, too. Chocolate milk happens to be on my addiction list, as do watching girls make out and polka music. But more than these, I have a serious addiction that a lot of my friends have started to take notice of.
I’m addicted to eBay. No, let me spread a little more truth on that. I’m an eBay whore. I wait patiently on the corner of DSL Drive and AOL Avenue for my customer to approach me and make an offer I simply cannot refuse at the time. Then, and only then, do I make my exchange, making sure to protect myelf from any danger that might be attached to my transaction. No glove, no love. And once the initial adrenaline rush that’s associated with the fact that I just won something for the first time in my life eventually wears off, I’m left with an addiction that needs constant feeding and a bank account that’s slowly bleeding to death. But then I sit down and think about it. Is being addicted to an online auction facility really that bad? After all, where else can you bid on a classroom full of Asian children? Not even a kegger full of the world’s best alcohol can make that promise. Not truthfully anyway. I’ve been buying things off eBay for months—so far, my collection of online 48
ORE) purchases includes a neat track jacket, CD cleaner, numerous CD’s, Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs, and best of all, a real live AFRO. Tell me what drug offers you an afro, and I’ll get on my knees. Rather quickly, nonethe-
less.
Recently, I’ve been sucked into the world of eBay selling, and slowly but surely, I’m finding out that I don’t need college. As awful as it sounds, sitting in class for another 4 years loses what little appeal it originally had when you discover that your Dad has a mint condition edition of the first ever Playboy from 1953. Oh, did I mention that same Playboy sells for at least $1200 on eBay? I could live the rest of my life off that kind of money. I might live in a box and use a wine cooler for my fridge, but I could live off it regardless. But that’s not even the best part of the entire eBay process. The most enjoyable part is finding weird things that other people put up for auction and seeing the ridiculous amount that people pay for them. Painted Grain of Rice:
Why the heck didn’t I think of something like this?
McDonalds Fork: To make a long McDonalds and decided to sell the bid on it simply so I could have But then out of the corner of my account.
story short, a guy went through hell at fork from his adventure on eBay. I almost the satisfaction of stabbing him with it. eye, I spotted my bruised and broken bank
Wedding Dress: Possibly one of the funniest eBay auctions I’ve ever seen. Basically, after getting divorced, this guy’s ex-wife took their wedding rings, but forgot to take her wedding dress. He modeled it and sold it on eBay. For twelve grand. Janet Jackson/Justin Timberlake Dolls: outfit.
Complete with wardrobe malfunctioning
AIM Buddy List: “I’m in desperate need of friends so I’m paying somebody to be my friend on AIM. Winner will be added to my buddy list.” You know, I’ve never actually recommended suicide. First time for everything, I guess. 49
OPEN PAGES
INSIDE MY HEAD: ONE PERSON’S DRAWINGS
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DRAWINGS BY VICTOR TIMOFEEV, 19, BROOKLYN, NY
ANTI-CENTERFOLD DATA SHEET
PEOPLE I LIKE
INTERVIEW WITH JOBY HARRIS, MODEL MAKER
RATED F/X Robots, and Spaceships, and Droids, oh my! Dorothy may have woken up in another world, but meet someone who actually creates them for a living. Joby Harris makes models for a living. From drawing and designing to singing and acting, there are few stones in the creative industry he has left unturned. Starting out as a Disney Imagineer, he now pursues his passion for model making and special effects, working on movies and TV series like Bruce Almighty, Cat in the Hat, Alias and Star Trek Enterprise. Hey, anyone who can make a sci-fi droid out of cleaner bottles and juice containers is more than ok by me.
IntervIew By JennIfzer Lee, 22, San Jose, CA
JL: They say you can tell what someone’s going to end up doing by what they were like as a kid, so what’s your story? JH: Well, my father was an art teacher, so every birthday or Christmas it was guaranteed that something in my gift was art supplies. My mom was a single mom and couldn’t afford many toys, so we would get the action figure but not the play set. So I would take TV dinner trays, toilet paper rolls, Tupperware, anything I could get my hands on, and I would make my own environment. JL: So how did you get from lighting TV dinner trays on fire to making props? JH: I came from a small town in Pennsylvania with a small library so I read all three books on special effects, over and over and over. By the time I was in junior high I was still making my models. My mom was a little concerned cause uh, in Pennsylvania, what are the chances of doing special effects? But then in our
local paper she read an article about a guy who does special effects in Hollywood. He was going to hold a seminar on how to do it, so my mom graciously paid 50 dollars to have me go, knowing that I would be interested. I was the only one who showed up at the seminar and he still gave it to me. He worked on great movies like The Abyss and was really reputable. He saw my interest and the models I made and kind of took me under his wing. After that, I studied Industrial Design, which is code word for studying everything. That’s where I branched out into model making and sculpting. JL: Well, you’ve definitely come a long ways from making props out of household items, but you still stick to them, why? JH: Any art student who takes a drawing class will know that when you first begin to draw it’s just circles and squares. It can be frustrating, but my dad taught me that everything has basic shapes that you need to understand. I transferred that to model making. When 57
I went to dollar stores I would think in my head what I wanted a spaceship to look like. Then I would see a Tupperware that was shaped like what I was looking for or a section of it so I would buy that. With any art form you think of a basic shape and you fill in the details. It’s also all about the paint job. It’s being resourceful with what you have, especially for those projects that have a low budget. JL: Do you have any favorite dollar store products to work with? JH: Maybe cleaner bottles and juice containers. Nowadays, say Gatorade’s new easy grip, the company’s excuse is to make the containers bigger, but there are grooves on the side, which actually holds less juice. Well, this makes the bottles look like rocket engines, very science fictiony. Plus I get free juice. JL: I noticed that you gravitate towards sci-fi, is there an explanation? JH: Stuff doesn’t have to make sense in sci-fi, everything doesn’t have to have purpose. People don’t have an idea of what the purpose is, so as a designer it’s more freeing, no rules. JL: So then what’s your official title? 58
JH: Financially challenged artist (laughing). No, I do so many things, God knows I have a short attention span. So in one week I could be doing art for a book then designing a set for a conference the next, and then sculpting a robot for a friend’s commercial. The job changes so much. I also do a lot of writing for our band Crash Rickshaw. I just end up saying I’m an art director. JL: Actors talk about getting in character when they’re working on a movie, do you go through something similar when working for a particular movie or TV series? JH: You can’t really say when you’re going to be inspired. A lot of times I get inspired when I’m driving in my car at a really inconvenient time. So I carry around a book with me, sort of my idea book. It’s my treasure chest of inconvenient spurts of genius (laughing). Music wise, sometimes I’ll sing into my own voicemail, or else I’ll forget it. JL: Is it competitive at all? I mean, how do you get recognized? JH: I really can’t remember the last time someone hired me because of my resume. So 1) make sure your work is good and 2) don’t be arrogant or complain in your
jobs because the person working next to you could be your boss on the next job. People shouldn’t be intimidated in the industry ‘cause its actually a very small circle. Just constantly show your work and focus on getting better. JL: What have you learned in this industry since you’ve been in it? I know they say live with no regrets, but is there anything you would have done differently? JH: There’s this verse in the Bible that says something about being shrewd as serpents and innocent as doves. If you are remotely humble and suck in your ego, people will want to work with you. Arrogant people will want to work with you (laughing). At the same time you need to not let people treat you like garbage and take advantage. The industry is a very selfish place, an ego-driven industry. Rarely do you have free reign to create, so the more humble you are, the more they trust you, more they will allow your input. You just got to be willing to start on the bottom, get the art crew lunch. ‘Cause the moment you think I’m better than this, which you very well may be—you just got to be faithful with what you got and slowly work your way in. JL: Is there a movie or project you enjoyed the most?
designed space suits for her and she had fired three illustrators before me because they didn’t listen to what she wanted. She was like, “Everything on the suit had to have a purpose or I don’t want it.” So everything I sketched had a purpose, except for one sketch in the corner, I had a window in the back of the helmet. And she said, “What is that?” I said, “I don’t know, a window?” She said, “What’s it do?” I said, “It just looks cool.” She said, “I agree, keep it.” Best job by far though was as a Disney Imagineer because of the scale of the work required and the skill of the people I worked with. I joke that I should have paid my bosses my student loan money. Almost everyday I would walk around the facility and bug the artists. I took that once in a lifetime job to learn as much as I could. When I worked for the Disneyland theme park in Tokyo, that was the best project. I was doing what I loved, doing drawings of new attractions and rides and making models next to guys who worked on every park since the original. I learned more at that job than anywhere else, like how color and shape affect your mood. Theme parks, they just have it down, whether you hate them or love them. They know how to entertain people and they’re the best at it.
JH: The movie was Solaris because the costume designer, Milena Cannonero, was so great. She won several academy awards and worked on movies like Clockwork Orange, Out of Africa, and Dick Tracy. So I 59
OPEN PAGES INSIDE MY HEAD: ONE PERSON’S LITHOGRAPHS
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LITHOGRAPHS BY JOSHUA ABRAM WITTEN, 28, INDIANAPOLIS, IN
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PHOTO GEOGRAPHIC The people, places and things that live in your world
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ADAM BRAGG, RICHMOND, VA
HEATHER KELTERER, 24, VENTURA, CA
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ERIN SILVER, 21, MONTREAL, CANADA
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TIM MAZUREK, 28, CHICAGO, IL
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DEVON CURTIN, 25, NEW YORK, NY
CHRISTINE ROBINSON, 24, LOS ANGELES, CA
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JACQUES BRAUTBAR, 25, LOS ANGELES, CA
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KRISTINA DUNCAN, 16, COCOA, FL
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FABIO VASALLO, 28, ROME, ITALY
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KRISTINA DUNCAN, 16, COCOA, FL
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SILVIA RAZGOVA, 27, BOULDER, CO
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EMILY TUCKER, 17, LA CANADA, CA
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DANA HARRIS, 16, LOS ANGELES, CA
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ANA MARTINEZ ROMERO, 20, MADRID, SPAIN
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ZACH SUSSKIND, 17, SANTA MONICA, CA
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STEPHANIE POTTINGER, 17, BROOKLYN, NY
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CHARLIE EISNER, 19, LOS ANGELES, CA
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LEONARD GRECO, 23, IPSWICH, MA
LEONARD GRECO, 23, IPSWICH, MA
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EIRIK LANDE, 23, TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
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HEATHER KELTERER, 24 VENTURA, CA
FABIO VASALLO, 28 ROME, ITALY
STEPHANIE POTTINGER, 17 BROOKLYN, NY
ERIN SILVER, 21 MONTREAL, CA “I take a lot of pictures of myself. I am my own favorite model. Models get to be famous by not saying anything at all.”
KRISTINA DUNCAN, 16 COCOA, FL “Sometimes, words create inadequate interpretations of emotions. Photos show you the emotion without complications.”
CHARLIE EISNER, 19 LOS ANGELES, CA
TIM MAZUREK, 28 CHICAGO, IL “The sun was setting inside the old power plant. I couldn’t believe my eyes. I was so happy.”
SILVIA RAZGOVA, 27 BOULDER, CO "Univeristy of Colorado student Laurie Seiger dances October 11, 2002 at the Fox theatre during a concert featuring DJ logic and noted jazz-rock guitarist Vernon Reid."
LEONARD GRECO, 23 IPSWICH, MA “Members of The UnseenBoston based punk band.”
DEVON CURTIN, 25 NEW YORK, NY
EMILY TUCKER, 17 L A CANADA, CA
LEONARD GRECO, 23 IPSWICH, MA “Members of Operation Extermination - these guys were playing like rock stars to a small group of baby punk rockers in a VFW basement. They sang songs about hating the mill towns they live in and dressed great.”
CHRISTINE ROBINSON, 24 LOS ANGELES, CA
D A N A HARRIS, 16 LOS ANGELES, CA “Time and age.”
EIRIK LANDE, 23 TRONDHEIM, NORWAY
JACQUES BRAUTBAR, 25 LOS ANGELES, CA “This was just another example of why I like to have my camera with me at all times. I was walking by the pool on my way to grab a drink from the kitchen when I noticed my friend Linda practicing her back flips off the shoulders of her boyfriend Franz.”
A N A MARTINEZ ROMERO, 20 MADRID, SPAIN “Hice esta fotografía para expresar la angustia que sentimos cuando nos enfrentamos a una experiencia médica. No podemos predecir la sucesión de acontecimientos porque desconocemos la materia, esto nos convierte en seres vulnerables, algo que aterroriza al ser
KRISTINA DUNCAN, 16 COCOA, FL “Everyday should feel how this photo looks.”
ZACH SUSSKIND, 17 SANTA MONICA, CA “I wanted to kiss her, but her parents were watching, so I took this shot instead.”
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How to Contribute: Want to get published? If you have photos, writings, drawings, musings, insights, critiques, scribbles or anything else you can think of that you want to see in the pages of an upcoming issue of Look-Look, all you have to do is:
1. 2.
Be someone between the ages of 14-30 who does not get paid for your art (i.e. be amateur in the pure sense of the word).
Go to look-lookmagazine.com and follow the submission guidelines on the web site. By the way, your images MUST be at least 300 dpi in order to be reproduced in the magazine. So if you’re not sure, con tact us and we’ll set you straight.
OR
3.
Send your work via snail mail to: Look-Look Magazine Submissions Department 6685 Hollywood Blvd. Hollywood, CA 90028
Please note: We are not able to send any submissions back to you so you should be prepared to part with your work on a permanent basis. See you in the next issue! look-lookmagazine.com
LAST LOOK-LOOK A PARTING SHOT
CHRISTINE ROBINSON, 24, LOS ANGELES, CA
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The Ad Gallery. The starving artist is one of the oldest clichés in the book. We can all picture it—someone with paintcovered clothes shivering in a heatless apartment, eating week-old Chinese takeout. Well, there are four companies who are determined to help end the cycle and make it easier on a new generation to live off their art. These sponsors put their money where your mouth is. And we think this issue’s ad artists have proven that clichés will not apply to you. Here’s a toast to our sponsors and our artists…you make us hungry for more. Look-Look
The Sponsors
The Artists
Lomography
Thomy Etter, 26, Zollikerber, Switzerland “I shot this photo on a LOMO-LCA out of my hip!”
Choice Calvin Klein
L. Michaels, 18, Chicago, IL “Don’t be invisible. Get noticed!”
Sony Pictures/ Columbia Pictures
Mary Reeder, 24, Cincinnati, OH “Don’t watch this one alone.”
Virgin Mobile
Poppie Van Herwerden, 17, Pacific Palisades, CA “Who cares what anyone else thinks? Don’t live by their plan, live without one.”
LOOK-LOOK MAGAZINE
ISSUE
03
2004