retrofocus ramblings.

by the man-in-plastic – j. kiely jr., photographer, pilot, diver and sometimes nerd

Archive for the ‘pop culture’ Category

His Name is Scott Brown

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In my 16 years behind the camera for newspapers I covered more than a few local and statewide political campaigns.
That was fine with me as Political Science was my major in college.
Anyway, by now a good portion of the English-speaking world knows the name of Scott Brown. The state senator from Wrentham MA who defeated the Attorney General of Massachusetts to claim Massachusetts United States Senate seat previously held by Edward M. Kennedy.
Before Teddy held that seat his brother John held it. With a brief interlude with Benjamin A. Smith II in the middle.
There have been some pretty heavyweight political luminaries over the course of the history of the U.S. Senate that have held that seat.

All that said, I met Scott Brown for the first time in 1998. Back then he was in a three way race to take a Massachusetts state representative seat. As I was working in the bucolic hamlet of Norfolk MA at the time, this was a race that I covered.

Now I’m pretty sure I have more images than this, and as a good number of people have yet to become my Facebook friend, I figured I’d post a few shots from a long time ago in this space.

Do enjoy a small window back in time. While some have grown up in these images, there is little doubt we’ve all aged.

Enjoy!

1998 League of Women Voters Debate

Scott Brown, center, at a League of Women Voters debate


1998 League of Women Voters Debate

Scott Brown answers questions on mic.


1998 Scott Brown Campaign

Scott Brown in shades and a leather jacket. I'd have to do more research to figure out why he is dressed as such, but Scott Brown has always be up for doing what it takes. Looks like he is having fun.

1998 Election Night With Daughter

Holding his daughter (unsure which one) and a mobile phone, Scott Brown receives polling information on election night during his run for state representative.


1998 Election Night Victory Hug

Scott Brown is hugged by his daughter (unsure which one) as his wife Gail Huff, right, joins the celebration on election night. Scott Brown was elected to serve in the State of Massachusetts House of Representatives.

That Thing With the Silly Name.

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A good, good friend of mine emailed me a whole long humor riff on the iPad name, although he claimed to have never seen the MadTV skit which basically goes in the same direction.

Okay, okay – I get it. The word ‘pad’ can only reference feminine products.

So Apple went with iPad anyway. Before the iPod, what did we all make of the work pod? Not sure where I’m really going with this.
However, I’m not ready to dismiss the iPad from Apple at first blush. In fact when I watched the streaming Quicktime version of the keynote my mind was racing with applications for the iPad. Reading books I still prefer to do the old fashioned way. As a photographer and a pilot a screen this size and weight has 1001 possibilities.

Anyway, just read this man’s take on the whole affair. He says some of what I was thinking and goes well beyond it. Much better than I could.

Frank Spiers on the iPad

Written by j.

January 30th, 2010 at 12:17 pm

And Yet More Online Video Joy.

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This is creative. Makes me want to learn Chinese.

Written by j.

January 20th, 2010 at 5:08 pm

Another Times Link.

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I admit to having a fair bit of prejudice on this one, but it is worth a look-see for yourself if you have in interest in photography, photographs and photojournalists.

David Hume Kennerly writing in the New York Times about a picture used in Newsweek.

Written by j.

September 17th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

A Sports Radio Battle in Boston.

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There’s been a battle brewing in Boston over the past few weeks. Well, it’s just one of many battles, but one that has more relevance to me now that football season has begun. *

The touchstone for Boston sports fanatics has been WEEI-AM for a long time. However, back in mid-August CBS radio killed off a historic radio station in WBCN and moved it’s “Mix” to the old ‘BCN frequency. That made room for CBS to launch a clean sheet new FM sports radio station on the old “Mix” frequency. It seemed needlessly complicated the time, but I guess the powers that be wanted the new “The Sports Hub” at 98.5 rather than 104.1. The day the switch was done was rather strange, but the new “Sports Hub” has been growing on me – primarily because of the FM signal. I admitt that. Been giving the new station a chance. Thankfully all the buttons work on my radio, so I’ve been bouncing back and forth. **

Trouble is, when I’m sitting at my desk I’d prefer to sample both stations via iTunes. WEEI, which has been around for some time has a stream published in the iTunes “radio” sidebar, but the “Sports Hub” has been missing. So I did some sniffing around and have come up with a couple streaming links for both stations. That way I can sit at my desk and flip between the two sports chat lines. Not that I don’t sample news and other music streams too, it’s just that having both sports radio stations at my fingertips is much better that fooling around with corporate webpages.

Hope these iTunes-savvy links work for you, they do for me!

WEEI-AM 850 “Sports Radio”

WBZ-FM 98.5 “The Sports Hub”

* currently Boston has a mayoral race that’s heating up, and our fair state has a big U.S. Senate race that is just warming up.
** all the radio buttons in my Jeep worked – before the heavy rains on Saturday. Radio got wet. Not working now. Although the display lights up with the evidence – 98.5 shows, just no sound. Sad.

My Alpine is Stuck

Written by j.

September 13th, 2009 at 8:33 pm

Twitter Find.

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I use Twitter for many things, but the most useful is as a news source. Follow the right things/people and you get a solid idea what is going on in the world in your stream.

Say what you will about the New York Times, but they still publish some great stuff.

This is one of them: Value of Manual Work

It’s a great read.

Written by j.

May 25th, 2009 at 9:39 pm

A Nostagic Conversation.

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Was talking the other evening to a fellow photographer that attended the inauguration in D.C. back in January. ( Brrrr, was it cold. ) The other photographer actually was getting paid to be there and did a bang up job as usual. Seems odd, but neither one of us had much by the way of souvenirs from the big event after we left. I’m thinking the act of making pictures gives you all the physical ( sort of ) memories you could ever want or need. Or maybe photojournalists tend to be a less nostalgic group. Not sure.

Of the few items I do have, I present my Metro pass ticket. Still worth something I think. As a ticket if nothing more.

Metro Pass from Jan. 20, 2009

Written by j.

March 16th, 2009 at 10:42 pm

Things Done in Denver.

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I left ‘my’ newspaper. To date it still publishes something each day. I don’t check up on it all that often. To be honest, I’m done caring.
That’s kind of a loaded statement and not totally true.
It hurts too much to care most days. ( someday I’ll write about this – not yet )
More than halfway across the country a really nice well made, well reported and just a nice place to work from what I have been told no longer is anyplace at all to work.

The owners of the Rocky Mountain News have shut the doors.
The video that they have made of this closing is exceptionally well done.
You should check it out.

The Rocky’s Last Edition

Written by j.

February 27th, 2009 at 10:27 pm

Heard at The Academy Awards.

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During the In Memory portion of the show:

” The big difference between people, is not between the rich or the poor or the good and the evil, ’cause the biggest of all differences between people is between those who have had pleasure and love and those that haven’t. ” – Sweet Bird of Youth, by Tennessee Williams, film: 1962, by actor: Paul Newman, as: Chance Wayne

After doing some cursory research about the play from where the movie was derived it makes me wonder a bit more if this is really as positive as it sounds. Tennessee Williams wrote some real good words.

Written by j.

February 23rd, 2009 at 11:12 pm