"Frontiers and Edges"

“Frontiers and Edges”

A Narrative Dialogue between Experimental Film-Based Photography and Experimental Digital Photography

An Exhibition of Photographs by James W. Bailey and Louise Noakes

Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William County

August 4 – September 15

Reception – Saturday, August 12, 6-8 pm

"Cemetery Angel VI" by The Right Reverend Jame W. Bailey

"Rough Edge Photography

"Shimmer of Light" by Louise Noakes

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The Right Reverend James W. Bailey cordially invites you to attend the opening reception for "Frontiers and Edges" on Saturday, August 12, at the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William County in Manassas, Virginia.

Earlier this year I was asked by the wonderful and dedicated staff of the arts center if I would be interested in exhibiting my "Rough Edge Photography" at the beautifully restored gallery of the "Candy Factory" in old town Manassas. The gallery in this pre-Civil war building has hard wood floors, as well as the original brick walls and windows that look out over the railroad track that runs through the town of Manssas. It is a historic place filled with imaginative contemporary narrative. It is also a place that so much reminds me very much of my home in New Orleans that was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina, a home that was just mere blocks from the railroad that runs through the historic Gentilly Terrace neighborhood, a place where I spent many hours working in my darkroom accompanined by the songs of the steel wheels of trains grinding away on rail and faintly echoing through the dense humidity of a late Southern night.

I immediately said yes to this opportunity. And to my great pleasure I was asked to pair my work in a narrative dialogue with the immensely talented digital photographer, Louise Noakes. Louise and I share a strong interest in history, genealogy and the interplay of contemporary photography with these subjects. I believe that you will find the pairing of our works of great interest.

I can honestly say that presenting my work in this historic venue is truly an exciting presentation opportunity for me. Indeed, the gallery at the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William County is the home I have frequently imagined for myself since the horrible realities of Hurricane Katrina - a place that literally feels like the home in New Orleans that I lost, a place that is filled with art and history, a place that quietly absorbs the sounds of the ambient music being provided by the haunting cries of the trains rumbling through the night that set your mind wondering about who you are, where you're going and what will it be like when you get there. Like my home in New Orleans, the gallery of the arts center is a place of contemplation.

Several have emailed me this weekend asking me why I failed to note that Black Cat Bone just passed its one-year mark of publication. To tell you the truth...I forgot. I forgot because since Katrina all of us from New Orleans now mark the passage of life through B.K. and A.K. time: Before Katrina and After Katrina. Some days it's difficult to accept the fact that once upon a time that there was a life - and a time - before Katrina. But I'm trying. I am deeply appreciative of all the support that I have received for this ongoing art project that is called Black Cat Bone. I'll look forward to hopefully sharing with you many new creations in the future on this site.

The collection of pre-Katrina "Rough Edge Photography" images of New Orleans that are featured in "Frontiers and Edges" will be on tour through most of 2007 and 2008. This will most likely be the last opportunity to see these works as a collection in the D.C. area for some time. I plan to post some images from the exhibition, as well as a Hoodoo candle light silent video tour of all the images in the exhibit, for those of you who will be unable to see this show during its run. Look for that sometime after the reception.

Again, I want to express my profound gratitude to the staff of the arts center, as well as to Louise Noakes, for making this exhibition possible. For me, in many ways, it's a homecoming.

I hope you'll have an opportunity to visit the reception and will look forward to seeing you in person.

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WHO:
The Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William County presents “Frontiers and Edges”, a two person exhibition of photographs featuring the film-based “Rough Edge Photography” of the experimental photographer, James W. Bailey, and the experimental digital imagery of Louise Noakes.

WHAT:
Reston-based photographer James W. Bailey, a native of Mississippi who lived in New Orleans for more than twenty years, presents a collection of his “Rough Edge Photography” that explores the imagery of New Orleans prior Hurricane Katrina in this exhibition. Bailey’s unique photographic style incorporates the violent scratching, slashing and burning of his prints and negatives.

Manassas-based photographer Louise Noakes has during the last few years been working in digital photography and mixed media. Recently she has been combining encaustic with her digitally printed work. She finds this exciting, to be able to take a technique as ancient as early Egyptians civilization and use it to create something so new.

WHEN:
Exhibition will run from August 4 – September 15. Exhibit is free and open to the public. An opening reception will take place on Saturday, August 12 from 6-8 pm.

WHERE:
The Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William County is located at 9419 Battle Street, Manassas, Virginia 20110. For further information and directions, see the Center for the Arts of Greater Manassas/Prince William’s web site.

ARTIST BIO: JAMES W. BAILEY
Born in Columbus, Mississippi, Bailey is a self-taught artist/photographer and an experimental imagist writer. His art focus also includes Littoral Art projects that explore the fleeting moments of cross-cultural communicative intersections; film projects, including the short film, Talking Smack; “Wind Painting”, a unique naturalistic art practice inspired by the vanishing Southern African-American cultural tradition of the Bottle Tree; and street photography centered on the hidden cultural edges of inner city New Orleans life.

Bailey’s experimental imagist literary works include, The Black Velvet Smash and the Missing Gospel of William S. Burroughs, Cold Dark Matters, Eastern 304, Killing Film Noir, and, two books of poetry, The Despised American Edition and Southern Standard Time, all published by Force Majeure Press. He has also written a full-length feature film screenplay, The Cold, a crime drama based on a true story set in New Orleans, which is currently in pre-production development.

“Rough Edge Photography” – About Bailey’s Method of Photograph

Bailey’s experimental “Rough Edge Photography” technique involves exploring the “death of chemically developed negatives and prints” through the use of found 35mm source cameras he purchases in thrift stores.

His process incorporates the violent manipulation of unexposed film, developed negatives and prints. Undeveloped film may be subjected to intense heat or pin pricks through the film canister. Developed negatives are burned, scratched, slashed or cut, as are the prints. In some cases, the original negative is melted onto the final print. The found camera that is used to shoot a particular narrative series of photographs is frequently smashed upon completion of the series.

The subjection of Bailey’s film negatives and prints to his process, combined with the destruction of the source camera, results in a unique image that can not be duplicated: each “Rough Edge Photography” piece is an original work of art. The artist does not produce prints or authorized reproductions of his images.

ARTIST BIO: LOUISE NOAKES
Louise Noakes, a native of Toronto, Canada, has called Manassas Virginia home for the last thirteen years. A former Washington DC-based photojournalist, Ms Noakes' works have been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe and ABC News 20/20. During her residence in Europe, Ms. Noakes worked for the Bulletin in Brussels, Belgium.

Ms. Noakes graduated from the Center for Creative Studies, College of Art and Design, Detroit Michigan, where she studied fine art and commercial photography. After moving to Washington D.C., she studied at the Art League and the Corcoran School of Art. Ms.Noakes' has studied photography and digital printmaking with Theresa Airey, Danny Conant, Judy Dater and Maria Cosindas and as a fine art photographer her work has been displayed at Cranbrook Museum, several galleries in the Detroit area, Locally she has exhibit at; Aldie Mill, the Hill School in Middleburg, Oatlands Plantation, Linden Vineyard, The Center for the Arts at the Candy factory and The Art League.

About Noakes’s Method of Digital Photography
Louise Noakes has worked in many facets of photography. At one point in her art career, being a photographic purist, she would only display Black and White photography. In the last few years, she has been working in digital photography and mixed media. She experiments in every way she can think of and on every material, taking prints out of the computer and combining them with traditional mediums.

An Acceptable Level Of Fear

An Acceptable Level Of Fear

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

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(Click here or on the above image to view An Acceptable Level Of Fear)

deadfall

24 seconds into this film you will witness the violence

less than a minute later it will reappear

what i played that fateful day was an improvisation

a missing choice upon which we can all agree

it is informative

you should know that you are a technocratic slave to identity politics

i easily located you with my government surplus radiometer

are you ready for your brain implant

or are you still hiding a protective amulet in your pocket

in the false hope that you will survive

good luck to you living over there in the d.c. lowland

i foresaw your past

your future looks so bright

are you afraid of the current administration

you should not be

they are not afraid of you

they gave you the amulet you dare not let go of

Wireless War Sky

"Wireless War Sky" by The Right Reverend Jame W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

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you expected me to stop fighting

and write you an email about this war

i did stop just long enough to reap my reward

i had to thumb through my battle plans

before i finally discovered

that you were the principle target

we are no longer fighting over our favorite seafood

cautiously i approached you

you do not permit me to come in peace among your supporters

together we will learn how to drive to the edge of the cliff

while we are there we will quickly forget that we were once friends

UPDATE: Postmodern Exhibit in D.C. Implodes!

No Deaths Reported!

FLASHPOINT GALLERY'S MISSION STATEMENT:

Flash point is the lowest temperature at which a liquid can form an ignitable mixture in air near the surface of the liquid. The lower the flash point, the easier it is to ignite the material.

UPDATE I: ChristiansUnitedAgainstArt.com reports that radical French art students in Paris, angered over the destruction of a work of installation art by a French artist, are threatening to launch modified Katyusha rockets toward Washington, D.C. The White House is reportedly seeking through back-door diplomatic connections an agreement from the North Korean government to preempt this attack by launching a long-range Taepodong-2 missile at a Hezbollah-owned art gallery in Paris where the students are storing their rockets. In return for North Korea's cooperation, the White House is reportedly offering to ban political dissent (as well as jokes and/or any display of timely humor) among American artists for one year. "This is a grave issue and I take it very seriously, " said President Bush. "Drunk liberal democrats who call themselves art-friendly don't have the right to walk into a gallery for a party and destroy art, at least not in this country while I'm President." Independent gubernatorial candidate Kinky Friedman of Texas, and an important collector of French postmodern art, was asked to offer his comments on this emerging national diaster: "Hell, if it looks like crap, why not crap on it and raise the smell of its media-covered value?"

UPDATE II: The Right Reverend James W. Bailey can report that he has received information from sources within the Washington Post confirming that a violent physical fight erupted late this afternoon on the sidewalk in front of the Washington Post's offices between the editors of the Style and Metro sections over control of the front page placement of this story in Thursday's paper. Brother James, being sensitive to the economic interests of the affected artist, hopes that the Syle section editor prevails, since Metro section art profiles seldom result in increased values of the art that is discussed in such an article.

UPDATE III: Once again Brother James can tell you children he told you so! Dem rotten French postmodernist apples done made da Style section, baby!

Unfortunately, however, artist Axelle Rioult gets screwed out of her 15 minutes of fame by having this story bumped off the front page to land on page 3 under Reliable Sources.

And special congratulations are in order to the reliable source who broke this story, Brother Kriston. As a matter of fact, more ink is devoted to CSI-type crime scene forensic analysis by Kriston and Rebecca Lowery of Flashpoint than is given to the "devastated" painful lamentations of the artist in France. I'll assume she's too busy gathering up rotten vegetables from dumpters surrounding the racially isolated neighborhoods of poor immigrant Algerian Muslims on the outskirts of Paris that will be processed into her gargantuan anti-American memorial installation to be erected at a future date in D.C to respond to inquiries for a money quote from a reporter with the Washington Post .

Rebecca Lowery is quoted in the Washington Post article as saying that, "As an organization, we put the artist's work first."

Hmmm. With all due respect to Rebecca and Flashpoint Gallery, that statement might just be a wee bit difficult to swallow past the gag reflex. If Flashpoint truly puts the artist's work first, then the gallery should get off its ass and immediately identify the names of the liberal white dumbass party-goers - seriously, is there any doubt as to the demographic identification of these yahoos? - so that every artist in the D.C. community will be aware of who they are, in case these art-friendly idiots attempt to hold another art-bash at a local gallery where a concerned artist might be exhibiting his or her work.

In the meantime, let's take what's left (pun intended!) of those rotten apples and make a foul daiquiri out of them, kick back and do what the French artists do best - bitch, moan, whine and complain through their curator about how devastated they are while blaming all of America for this art crime!

Now, being the typical American male prankster who refuses to grow up and act his age that I am, I'm certainly all for grabbing ALL the postmodern irony that exists in the funkified art world and enjoying it for the supremely entertaining value it presents. Yes, when ironically funny things happen in the art world, I'm usually the first ambulance-chasing jokester on the scene to grab a bloody laugh or two.

But every now and then something happens that has me laughing so hard (an art student at UCLA attempting to shoot Chris Burden in the ass, for example) that I literally struggle to pull myself up off the floor and pen an appropriate juvenile response. Today is such a day.

Heather of DCist.com (has Heather quickly become one of the best art writers in the D.C. area, or what?) informs us that Kriston has broken the story about an art brawl at Flashpoint Gallery.

How cool is that?! It sounds like the "arts-familiar crowd" that destroyed artist Axelle Rioult's installation was a bunch of drunk unemployed Democratic policy wonks (no doubt most of them were young white dudes) that got into a fight over how to best leverage Hillary Clinton's strong and aggressive statements in support of Israel toward future gainful employment. I say this because I don't personally know any Republicans (and believe me when I tell you that I know a hell of a lot of them in D.C., since I'm on all their mailing lists!) who would dare to hold a party at a gallery featuring a French artist!

Anyhoo, I certainly hate to sound so cynical (especially with a French artist involved - French artists are usually so positive and cheerful in their outlook on the world) but this whole deal sorta sounds to me like a golf ball gone wild-on in a postmodernist sand trap on the back nine. Let me spell it out for you, children: are we positive that this melee wasn't actually part of the installation? It's definitely the type of thing I would have planned and done!

Rebecca Lowery, gallery manager for Flashpoint, says that she "is trying to design a 'counter-creative' memorial to acknowledge the artist's work and the destruction it suffered."

That's cool. I like that idea. It's so cool, in fact, that I would like to propose this: If the curator and artist are willing, I think it would be even cooler if the "counter-creative" memorial were erected under the awning of a BP Global gas station in New York City. I'll step up to the plate and offer to help fund the reconstruction of this installation, providing that the original "arts-familiar crowd" are invited to attend the reopening, complete with lighted cigarettes in hand that they will be encouraged to flick on the gas-drenched lot upon which the installation will sit. I see the potential of this installation to release the dogs of war between the British and the French, with the Americans laughing away from the sidelines as they wail on each other while interrogating the meaning of this work!

(By the way, I saw this show before the riot and find myself in much agreement with Kriston's reivew.)

ME: What's the flash point of gasoline?

AUTHORITATIVE POSTMODERN ART VOICE THAT SOUNDS LIKE GOD WITH A FRENCH ACCENT: Gasoline has a flash point of -40 degrees C (-40 F) and is more flammable than ethylene glycol (antifreeze) which has a flash point of 111 degrees C (232 F). A closely related and less common term is fire point, the temperature at which the flame becomes self-sustained so as to continue burning the liquid (at the flash point, the flame does not need to be sustained). The fire point is usually a few degrees above the flash point.

Thank you, Mr. Derrida. Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have a winner for the exhibition wall text...that can be slapped on a gas pump...just underneath the octane rating!

Abstract Foam

Abstract Foam

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

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(Click here or on the above image to view Abstract Foam)

i offer a stopgap measure

i declare my hesitation for dialectology

i give you the immediate cease-fire you so desire

i ate breakfast this morning with an aryan bodybuilder

i dislocated my war scroll from my jewish heritage

i once dreamt that there was a complaint lodged against me

i was the chancellor of the third reich

i was damp-proof and chilly

i was also very hot-blooded

i was asleep in a bunker

i felt ocean foam washing over my feet

i was standing on the shores of england

i saw the white cliffs of dover before my very eyes

i saw that history had ceased to exist

Fake Vacation

Fake Vacation

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

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(Click here or on the above image to view Fake Vacation)

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey returns from vacation on Monday. Posting will be light until then.

Vacation Notebook:

1.) Congratulations to Mark Jenkins for the superb profile article featured in Sunday's Washington Post!

I told ya'll 3-D street art wuz da future!

Best Shit Happens Street Art Project…Literally — Mark Jenkins for Fresh Shit. The sign of a truly great artistic genius is the sheer bold audacity to publicly embarrass one’s self, to stand out and above and beyond the lame crowd of sacrificial sycophant ass-kissing wannabe artist lambs, to risk complete utter flaming disastrous failure. Some think Mark did a Florida Everglades-style Value Jet landing with Fresh Shit. I’m not one of them. Mark injects a desperately needed sense of humor in today’s dry, boring, predictable, and pedantic art environment with his richly entertaining and thought-provoking work. 3-D street art is the future. Mark has given us a glimpse of what’s to come. And even if Fresh Shit was DOA in D.C., I’ll gladly take a non-FAA-approved Mark Jenkins’s crash and burn over a 1,000 artists at the airport in Chelsea doing TSA required check-in cartwheels for the approval of the international art press any day.

Money quote from the Washington Post article: To Jenkins, galleries are "aquariums," because "all art could swim out on the street, or because art's treated like little exotic fish that can't survive outside."

I'll go Mark one better: most art in D.C. is on a fucking respirator and couldn't surive the light switch being flicked off for half a second, let alone dragged out into the street. As I have said before, not counting Salt Lake City, Utah, D.C. is the most conservative goddamn anal retentive place in the county as far as the art that is exhibited here goes, as well as the response to that art. Mark's art injects what's deseparately missing from art in this "control center" - LIFE!

On a related note, I hope to have my brutal lawsuit over the first broadcast rights of a controversial interview between a leading behavioral scientist from Harvard University and the Reverend Pat Robertson of the Christian Broadcasting Network, in which Brother Pat identifies Mark Jenkins as the anti-Christ, resolved sometime late next week. If the courts rule my way, which they should since I've done a pretty good job (I think) of blackmailing the judges, then look for this amazing interview to be broadcast first sometime late next week on this channel.

UPDATE: Apparently the lack of life in art in D.C. comment touched a nerve or two:

Dear Rev.,

What do you mean by the D.C. art community being lifeless? Surely, there's at least one artist who's filled with life, or something approximating life, in this town that meets with your approval, isn't there? If so, can you name him or her?

A Lifeless Postmodern Art Sinner On His Way To Hell By Way Of D.C.

The above sinner has a point. Indeed, here's a perfect example of what I'm talking about that is so missing in the artist community of D.C. But, being from New Orleans, and having been a close friend of the legendary Maple Leaf barfly artist/poet Everette Hawthorne Maddox, you'll have to forgive me for having completely unrealistic - and dare I say romantic - expectations about artists having a detectable pulse, especially in a city where far too many artists worry far too much about poll-testing gallery owners for an acceptable color scheme for the aesthetic condom they'll be sure to slip on before attempting to fuck us with their backward looking mid-century modernist bullshit.

This poem is for you, Alexandr "Sasha" Zhdanov. May your artistic soul never rest in peace. May you always continue to disturb the universe.

NOTHING PERSONAL

by Everette Hawthorne Maddox

(1945-1989)

from Bar Scotch

This poem was written out of
a deep dark stomachache.
It had to fight its way up
through a rotten mood
and a foul mouth to issue
in snarls, curses, tongueouts,
obscene fingers and broken
beer bottles to be hurled
at you, busybody reader:
Beat it! Go away! I'm not
writing today. But it's
nothing personal: Come back
tonight, when the full moon
falls in my Scotch and all's
well on the patio with
my lots of friends, and I'll
kiss your ass and make it well.

2.) On Monday look for me to lay the fact-checked rod of rebuke to Tyler Green's injested-mushrooms-from-grassy knowl conspiracy theories - seriously, how else to explain the source of inspiration for some of his insanely funny ideas?! - concerning the Smithsonian Institution. Look for it here, unless Tupac Shakur and Elvis (no doubt two of Tyler's sources for his story on the SI) shoot me in a drive-by before I have a chance to hit the publish button on Blogger.

3.) ANTI-ISRAEL IS THE NEW ANTI-SEMITISM

Don't believe me? Then try wading through the sewer of leftist anti-Israel screeds and compare what they have to say with what Brother David thinks about this latest mess in the Middle East. If I were David Duke I'd being suing the shit out of these liberals for blatantly stealing all of my best "anti-Israel" - read it was a Richard Cohen mistake that the Germans didn't stuff all the Jews of Eupore into a Volkswagen ash tray - lines. Seriously, I challenge anyone to point out one iota of difference between the ant-Semitic rants of proud Nazis like Duke and Pat Buchanan and those of your average liberal that's got his head so far up the ass of Hamas and Hezbollah that he can't see the gas chambers in which 97.5% of the Jewish people in Poland, just one country in Europe, where exterminated before and during WWII.

One of the really nice things about being on vacation is that I'm so relaxed that I feel no need to wax poetic on the ass of Philip Kennicott, the Washington Post's leading anti-Semitic columnist, regarding his latest attempt to trash the Jews by doing his best Susan Sontag inpersonation. Kennicott really gets his war image orgasm on in this latest piece penned from his ivory tower. What is it with Kennicott and his fascination with photographs of blood and war and sex? One can only imagine what porn sites he regularly visits. I'm betting that his favorite 70s porn film from back in the day when they actually filmed porn in film is "Ilsa, She-Wolf of the SS".

THE WASHINGTON POST'S MIGHTY WHITE CULTURAL CRITIC QUOTE OF THE DAY:

It is anti-intellectual to pretend that war doesn't come without aggressors and villains, and without causes of different moral status. But it's strange how, in the clamor about the rightness of this war or that, the endless selling of war to the voters, the necessity of war, the utility of war, the goals and ends of war, and the price of gas, we forget the obvious: the utter destruction of war. And so we turn the world inside-out once again to see the most mundane but horrifying truth of our sad, shortsighted species. - Philip Kennicott

BLACK CAT BONE GLOBAL MEDIA EMPIRE'S PRO-ISRAEL EDITORIAL RESPONSE THAT HAS BEEN PAID FOR BY THE U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE:

Bullshit. It's perfectly intellectual, and politically correct, to pretend that the Jewish people, the state of Israel and the United States of America are the cause of all the suffeing in the Middle East. What's shortsighted as a species is that the species - especially among the most liberal of the species in America - stood by and did not do one damn thing to end the Holocaust of the Jewish people during World War II when the evidence was clear, overwhelming and incontrovertible that the German Reich was on a hell-bent mission to exterminate the Jews as a race. What's truly shortsighted as a species today - especially among the most liberal of the species in America - is that the world, under the politically correct cover of being anti-Israel, would allow for Islamofascist states and terrorist organizations to destroy the Jewish people without once again bothering to lift a finger to stop this attempted Holocaust. - The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

11 Second White Tech Guy

11 Second White Tech Guy

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

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(Click here or on the above image to view 11 Second White Tech Guy)

This film was inspired by the following comments I overheard between two women at Starbucks in Reston discussing over coffee their dating experiences. Reston, of course, is home to more than its fair share of white male tech guys.

Woman #1: Your average college educated white male tech guy prematurely ejaculates within 11 seconds of entering a dark hole.

Woman #2: Maybe...if you're lucky...my experience is that they shoot within 7 seconds.

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stop

look

and listen

it is a real stem winder

timing is everything

read the tea leaves

you reap what you sow

stop

look

and listen

a thing of beauty is a joy forever

a rose is a rose is a rose

put off the scent

she has a green thumb

stop

look

and listen

what goes up must come down

treat him like dirt

what goes down usually comes up

stop

look

and listen

So, Do You Really Want To Be A Movie Star?

Here's your chance to star in an Evil Digital Film.

Read below.

"Shopping for Nothing" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

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A few items:

1. Brother James will be on vacation at an undisclosed location near a warm ocean visiting with a wealthy Jewish businessman that has been so kind to invite me to stay with him and his family after reading my letter to the editor in the Washington Post in strong support of Israel. At least I understand he's Jewish from his email. I guess I'll find out for sure when I get there. Posting will be light until Tuesday or Wednesday, although I will be posting an Evil Digital Film for your entertainment pleasure on Friday morning prior departing from Dulles aboard my new Jewish friend's private Lear jet. For those liberals out there among you who have been wildly foaming at the mouth against Israel and America in such a manner that would make Pat Buchanan and David Duke proud of you, I certainly wish for you a similar vacation invitiation from a wealthy supporter of Hamas, Hezbollah or Al-Qaeda. I understand that some of the time-shares they own at GITMO have HBO. I wish you much fun because you do, afterall, deserve the vacation you get.

2. I've attacked the Islamofascists, Philip Kennicott and even the French postmodernists pretty hard this week, so all in support of them please feel free to send your usual death threats to my normal email address. I would greatly appreciate it if my angry radical Muslim brothers would please attempt to translate their Arabic death threats into English. Many of your threats, when translated through Google translator, come across as actually sounding like you like me. Just throw in a few English F***YOU's , I'm sure I'll get the point.

3. It's suddenly dawning on me just how dark the D.C. art universe is going to be with the semi-retirement/departure of Lenny. Reading this only adds to my depression about this loss all of us in D.C. face. Of course, my loss is especially felt because I alone recognize that Lenny and I represent the two sides of The Force within the D.C. art community: Lenny (Obi-Wan Kenobi), being the elder statesman of the Force, and a shining positive light of all that is good, has always inspired me (Anakin Skywalker) to stay just this side of the Dark Side. With Lenny relocating to another planet, I do fear for my future (as well as for the future of all of you within the D.C. arts scene) as I continue my slide toward the character of Darth Vader without Lenny around to hold me back!

So, Do You Really Want To Be A Movie Star

Brother James is issuing a Call for Actresses to star in productions of his Evil Digital Films. It is my intention to create a series of short digital films focused on the day-to-day routines of women who live in the metro D.C. region. I hope to begin filming these shorts within the next month or so. These films will capture woman doing the things that women do during their daily lives - for example, I'll capture the conversations they have, the emotions they share, the places they visit, the things they throw away, the cars they drive, etc.

All of the films produced in this series will be previewed on my blog, along with a poetic statement. I have been approached by a couple of major film festivals regarding my ongoing series of Evil Digital Films that are regularly posted here. There is the possibility that my new film series focused on women might be screened at one or more festivals in late 2007 or early 2008.

If you are interested in possibly participating in this project, then please send me an email. I'd be happy to discuss your interest in further detail. I cannot promise you fame or fortune. However, I can promise you that your acting contribution will at least be seen through this blog.

Smearing Liberal Dirt On The Bodies Of Executed Gay Children

Yes. You've seen this photograph before on my blog of these Islamofascist executioners hanging two teenagers in Iran for the "crime" of being homosexual.
Since the 1979 Iranian revolution, the legal code has been based on a conservative interpretation of Islamic Shari'a law. All sexual relations that occur outside of a traditional, heterosexual marriage (i.e. sodomy or adultery) are illegal and no legal distinction is made between consensual or non-consensual sexual activity. Homosexual relations that occur between consenting adults in private are a crime and carry a maximum punishment of death. Teenage boys as young as fifteen are eligible for the death penalty (see Mahmoud Asgari and Ayaz Marhoni pictured above). Approved by the Islamic Republic Parliament on 30/7/1991 and finally ratified by the High Expediency Council on 28/11/1991, articles 108 through 140 distinctly talk about homosexuality and its punishments in detail.

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It is true that in this country one is free to legally - and literally - slander the dead to death.

Perhaps the best at doing this are straight white liberal cultural critics for the Washington Post who, when given a cheap-shot opportunity to smear mud all over the reputations of innocent teenagers who were executed under the Sharia in Iran for the crime of supposedly being homosexual so that they the ivory tower critic can continue to proudly carry their choir-preaching anti-American bona fides, are first in line to back up a dump truck filled with the muck of their political agendas to the gravesites of the dead and proceed to muddy the truth of their lives and deaths beyond all recognition.

Philip Kennicott says "The pictures show a dismally sad drama..." Wrong. The pictures show a horrific crime against humanity that is protected under Islamic law, a law that is not dared questioned by liberals like Kennicott for fear of him being seen as the stereotype of a pro-American crude Muslim-hating right-wing Republican Christian.

It is absolutely amazing to me that in the 21st Century liberals like Kennicott cannot seem to find the balls to call this pathetic legal system that is the Sharia that allows for the legal execution of homosexuals into account for fear of falling into some philosophical quagmire with imaginary Christian American enemies. I have news for Kennicott - the Christians I know, even those who don't necessarily support the rights of gays to marry, were (and are) sickened by these images from Iran and recognize this crime against humanity for what it is.

The central undisputed fact of this case is this: These two homosexual teenagers were executed under the Sharia in Iran for the "crime" of being homosexual. The ONLY party that disputes this fact - and long after the fact, I might add - is the Islamofascist government of Iran, which legally sanctions such executions all the time.

Kennicott would have you believe that since the MSM has not "properly" investigated this story, that we therefore must give some credit to the official government version, which says that these boys were executed for raping a teenage boy. In other words, to put muddy words into Kennicott's mouth: "People killing boys for maybe being gay is a horrible crime in America for which all Christian Americans should be held criminally responsible, but just merely a mildly bad thing in Iran for which all radical Muslims are forgiven; Iran killing boys for maybe raping a teenage boy equals not such a bad at all, or at least not so bad that it compells universal condemnation of the Sharia."

Kennicott's sickening apologetic defense of the Sharia that operates in places like Iran is perhaps only exceeded by his gross attempt to link the anti-homosexual actions among some Christians in America to a world-wide anti-gay agenda that is spearheaded by a devotion to Jesus. I guess for a liberal relativist like Kennicott, a Christian American being against gay marriage is equivalent to a Christian American being in favor of executing a person for having a gay fantasy. Of course, radical Muslims get a free ride and are allowed to execute gays for any reason.

Only a cultural critic like Philip Kennicott could take a simple case of a two homosexuals teenagers being executed under a backward legal system pulled right out of the Middle Ages, and that is enforced in the modern age by a totalitarian Islamofascist state, and try to make a case that these images are more about the American response to homosexuality than it is about the actions of the sick criminals who killed these children.

Kennicott, living in his ivory tower, fears the "...risk being dragged into a crude anti-Islamic fervor popular among some fundamentalist Christians (who are no friends to gay people) and right-wing political groups..."

What's crude is the Sharia. What's crude is a state that is a member of the United Nations having the legal authority to kill people because of their sexual orientation. What's crude is that the world doesn't condemn this action in the United Nations. What's crude is that the Washington Post doesn't rail against this crime against humanity on its editorial page. What's crude is the fact that liberal cultural critics like Philip Kennicott would rather smear mud from the pages of the Washington Post all over the reputations of innocent gay children who were murdered for being gay because they were killed by religious nuts in Iran and not America.

Abandoned Congratulations

Abandoned Congratulations

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Abandoned Congratulations)

without drawing comparisons to lay

it is noted there were many other historical cases of criminals

who have met their deaths before fully paying for their crimes

adolf hitler

slobodan milosevic

killers who commit murder-suicides

he knew in his lifetime that enron collapsed on his watch

that he was held responsible

and i am sure that brought him face to face with reality

in a way that he may never have expected

believers may think of the death as divine retribution

and that even nonbelievers looking for some solace can know

that lay

even before he was sentenced

was brought down to a very human level

A Prayer for Israel

"War Hawk" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Film Photography

The above image was captured in 2002 at the Kibbutz Lotan Center for Birdwatching in Israel. Kibbutz Lotan is 51 kilometers north of or 40 minutes from Eilat. Nestled in the heart of the Arava Valley and flanked by the Mountains of Edom and the Negev Plateau, it is blessed with breathtaking landscapes.

---

"First they came for the Communists,
but I was not a Communist so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Socialists and the Trade Unionists,
but I was neither, so I did not speak out.
Then they came for the Jews,
but I was not a Jew so I did not speak out.
And when they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out for me." - The Reverend Martin Niemoeller (Germany 1937?)

...

To His Excellency Ambassador Daniel Ayalon of Israel,

It is with great respect that I send to you the attached copy of a letter to the editor concerning the current conflict in the Middle East that I have written and submitted to the Washington Post.

My heart goes out to the Jewish people and the state of Israel during this trying time. I also write to you because I want you to know that I, as an American artist who has visited your country on several occasions, and who has a deep love for the people of Israel, fully support the right of Israel to defend herself as she sees fit against the vicious and unprovoked attacks that have been launched against her.

It is my sincere desire to see this present conflict quickly settled for the sake of all the lives that are involved. However, and more importantly, I hope and pray that Israel will be able to thoroughly disarm those Islamofacist terrorists who seek to do her harm, thus preventing future loss of life.

Please know that you, the Jewish people and the state of Israel have a strong supporter in me. I wish you all the best. God bless.

Sincerely,

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

LETTER TO THE EDITOR OF THE WASHINGTON POST

Although I deplore the loss of life on all sides of this latest conflict in Israel and Lebanon, I remain firmly in support of the right of Israel to defend herself against the Islamofacist states and terrorist organizations that are collectively sworn to the evil goal of destroying this blessed and beloved country.

The people who founded the modern state of Israel learned long ago that when challenged the world cannot be consistently counted upon to raise its voice loud enough to stop the attempted extermination of the Jewish people. Anti-Semitism is the most universal of hatreds, a hatred that has in the modern era been tacitly (and often openly) endorsed and promoted by those who are in powerful positions of political and media influence to encourage solutions to the problems in the Middle East.

The state of Israel has the right to exist; and so do the Jewish people who live in Israel, as well as around the world. The Jewish people and the state of Israel are not morally obligated to secure the consensus of the world in approval of their right to exist and to defend themselves, especially from a world that has for centuries conspired at every opportunity to undercut or even deny their right to exist.

It is my sincere belief that if the media and responsible political leadership of the world would begin to seriously hold the Islamofacist states and terrorist organizations fully accountable for their stated anti-Semitic goal of eliminating the state of Israel and the Jewish people from this planet that serious steps could begin to be undertaken to finally resolve the festering conflicts in the Middle East. With the Islamofacist leadership of countries like Iran seeking to possess nuclear weapons, it is my sincere hope and prayer that the world will do what it has never done - speak out loudly (especially now during this most troubling of times) to prevent yet another potential Holocaust against the Jewish people.

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

UPDATE: An edited version of my letter to the editor is published in today's print version of the Washington Post, as well as online . I am deeply appreciative of the Washington Post agreeing to publish my letter.

Min Jung Kim Wins the LRA's 2006 $1,000 Art Scholarship Award

The image featured above is "South Carolina" by artist Min Jung Kim, a graduate of Chantilly High School.

One of my favorite announcements that I make each year on behalf of the League of Reston Artists is the winner of our annual $1,000 Art Scholarship Award. Congratulations to Min Jung Kim for receiving this year's award.

(Reston, VA) The League of Reston Artists (LRA) is pleased to announce that Min Jung Kim from Chantilly High School is the recipient of its 2006 Art Scholarship Award in the amount of $1,000.

Min Jung Kim offers the following comments about her art practice:

“I want to show my range and diversity in art. I like to learn and use new media and perfect my craft whenever I get the chance. I am inspired to create pieces of art people can understand. I became interested in art and advertisement because language isn’t a barrier. Visual representation is universal, no words are needed. Visual art is the language I speak.

Out of all the media I like to use, poster paint, a form of gouache, is my favorite. To me, poster color paint and advertisement just fit together. Also, I like its simplicity. The flat shapes and the abstract break up of shadow are eye-catching and aesthetically pleasing. This is perfect for creating pieces that are idealistic or intangible. That’s why I love it.”

A selection of work by Min Jung Kim, as well as the finalists, will be on display at the University of Phoenix Reston Campus from July 10 through July 28.

About the LRA Scholarship Program:
Each year the League of Reston Artists (LRA) awards one aspiring young high school artist a $1,000 scholarship to attend art school. The selection is based on talent, presentation and a sincere interest in pursuing further education in the field of visual arts. For this year’s award, the applicants were required to be 2006 High School graduating seniors from any Fairfax County High School. The candidates needed to have studied art or photography as a main part of their high school curriculum and to have been accepted to an art school or art program at a college or university in the USA for the 2006 summer or fall term. The selection of finalists was based on review of the students’ application and portfolio of artwork by a panel of LRA member judges.

About the League of Reston Artists (LRA):
The League of Reston Artists (LRA) is an all volunteer not for profit 501(c)(3) organization established in 1973 that is open to metro Washington, D.C. area artists, photographers and individuals who are interested in the visual arts. The LRA strives to generate community enthusiasm and appreciation of the visual arts through regularly sponsored juried and judged exhibitions. The LRA supports the Reston Community by sharing the varied talents of its membership through rotating exhibits in many local public and private buildings and offices. The LRA is dedicated to providing its 250+ members with opportunities for personal growth through meetings with guest speakers, demonstrations and critiques. The LRA also sponsors the Reston Photographic Society (RPS), a special interest society dedicated to promoting exhibit opportunities, as well as photographic based educational seminars and workshops, for photographer members of the LRA.

In addition, the LRA sponsors an annual scholarship program for local high school students in their senior year who demonstrate emerging talent and interest in pursuing collegiate art studies. In 2005, the LRA sponsored 18 exhibitions in 5 venues that featured more than 500 artists and more than 900 works of visual art. The LRA’s major supporting exhibition venues are: The Jo Ann Rose Gallery in the Reston Community Center at Lake Anne Plaza, The National Center Gallery of the U.S. Geological Survey, the University of Phoenix Northern Virginia Campus, and Walker and Company, all located in Reston, Virginia. For more information about the League of Reston Artists, please see our web site or email us.

DCist.com Photo of the Day

Postcards from a former liberal cut and run part-time nature photographer.

Wow! I feel so honored that the good folks over at DCist.com selected my above sunflower image as the Photo of the Day.

Heather Goss of DCist.com (and also of the wickedly entertaining blog Two Timing the Cosmos) writes about my image:

Today's photo reminds us that not every sun is a fiery ball of death. Photographer James W. Bailey took a drive out of the city to the McKee-Beshers Wildlife Management Area in Poolesville, Maryland, to show us that while we sweat profusely and dash from one air conditioned building to another, we're missing some downright lovely nature out there.

Oh, yes...was it ever HOT there yesterday! I managed to survive about an hour in the sunflower field before limping back to my carbon-burning ozone-depleting non-environmental friendly Russian manufactured Gaz-Volga where I (with complete disregard for any admonitions from Al Gore!) pushed the illegally imported Cuban freon contained in my modified air conditioner salvaged from a Cold War-era Yugoslavian car (whose make and model I don't know) into the redline in a desperate attempt to suck in some cool air!

Yeah, these people up here in D.C. don't know what hot is. The current "heat wave" we're experiencing here is just an average mild winter day in New Orleans, darlin'!

The following images were also shot at the McKee-Bershers Wildlife Manager Area near Poolesville, Maryland. However, if you go searching for it, you won't find the fruit on the tree pictured in the last photo - I picked it and ate it!

Race Baiting In Reston

The two images for Race Baiting In Reston were shot in the parking lot of the Safeway at the Hunters Woods Shopping Center located in Reston. These images were captured on the same day that this Washington Post Ombudsman's column was published.

"Race Baiting In Reston: Imaginary Dangerous Black Men" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

"As someone who works in Reston, I would like to know more about what these individuals looked like for my own safety. It seems that The Post once again puts political correctness above the safety of the region's citizens."

"Race Baiting In Reston: Imaginary Scared White Woman" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

"We did not mention their race or skin color, because it was not particularly descriptive in terms of identifying the suspects. Whether they were black, white or brown, skin tone alone really doesn't narrow the field. There are a lot of people of all three colors, and in varying shades, in Reston.''

---

Ice Cream Vendor Is Beaten and Robbed in Reston

An ice cream vendor, making his rounds in a truck in Reston, was beaten and robbed at knifepoint Friday night, Fairfax County police said yesterday.

The victim, a 58-year-old Vienna man, had parked his truck in the 12200 block of Laurel Glade Court, just off Glade Drive in the Hunters Woods section of Reston. About 9:15 p.m., a teenager with a dark bandanna over his face wielded a knife and demanded the man's money, police said. A second teenager wearing a bandanna climbed inside the truck through the driver's door and began beating the man, police said.

The assailants took the man's money and cellphone, police said, then fled into the woods. The victim chased them, but they escaped. He was not seriously hurt. The man told police he thought his attackers were about 15 years old, about 5 feet 5 inches tall and wearing dark clothes and baseball caps.

-- Tom Jackman

Windshield Wipers

Windshield Wipers

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Windshield Wipers)

a columnist in a squabble

atrophied

i would like to shoot it in kodachrome

a mississippi blues juke joint

postmultiply

food on fast intake

a highway demon flags down a drunk truck driver

it is a southern summer pot boiler

turn the radio up

push the pedal to the heavy metal

close my eyes for the duration

The agony of the Washington Post having to deal with Lenny Campello!

"The Agony of Eve" by F. Lennox Campello

---

Bible Quote Concerning Shit-faced Art Critics From The Washington Post That Enjoy Pissing All Over Local Artists At Every Opportunity

"Listen, you priests; this command is for you! Listen to me and take it to heart. Honor my name," says the LORD Almighty, "or I will bring a terrible curse against you. I will curse even the blessings you receive. Indeed, I have already cursed them, because you have not taken my warning seriously. I will rebuke your descendants and splatter your faces with the dung of your festival sacrifices, and I will add you to the dung heap. Then at last you will know it was I who sent you this warning so that my covenant with the Levites may continue," says the LORD Almighty. (Malachi 2:1-4 NLT)

---

The Washington Post's Style and Arts editors must be jumping for joy - the biggest thorn in their conscience is slowly being removed.

On one hand, Lenny's future plans might be construed as bad news for the metro D.C. arts community, especially with respect to his undying commitment to demanding better, and fuller, coverage of the local arts scene by the Washington Post.

But on the other hand, with Lenny expanding his focus to include the mid-Atlantic region that means that the New York Times will now be fair game! Oh, yeah...things are really gonna heat up with Lenny being in a position to spend more time taking a closer look at the art that's being propped up by the art critics of the New York Times!

Seriously, Lenny Campello is a near legendary figure in this community. He's also a genuine human being and a down to earth decent and nice guy. I could write pages on what Lenny has done to positively promote the arts in general, as well as the individual careers of artists in this community. But I don't need to do so because every artist in the D.C. area knows who he is and what he's done to improve the visibility of the creative community. I wish him all the best with his future plans.

On the sidebar of my blog you'll notice that the very first art blog listed is Washington, D C Art News. Lenny's blog is listed first because his is the very first blog I first discovered when I began reading art blogs. It's also listed first because I consider his to be one of the best art blogs out there among the internets. From day one with my blog I have encouraged people to "get out of bed early and read it daily." I'll look forward to encouraging you to do them same with Lenny's evolving project.

And to Lenny, I'd like to personally encourage you to continue to apply the rod of rebuke when necessary to the Washington Post! "Don't make me have to call ya' momma, cher!" to remind you to do that, as we say in Louisiana.

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Shake Your Fist Without A Stick

"Shake Your Fist Without A Stick" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

Theodore Roosevelt speaks quietly and shakes his fist (sans the bigstick) at a jet on approach to Ronald Reagan Washington NationalAirport.

---

DCist.com has published my above photograph at Morning Roundup: Crime Recrimination Edition.

DCist.com offers a wonderful opportunity for local photographers to share their images from the D.C. area through the publication of such images in support of daily news posts, as well as through their impressive Photo of the Day project. I strongly encourage all local photographers to exercise the opportunity to participate. The instructions on how to do so are below:

There are two ways to post your photos to this page:

If you are a user of Flickr.com: Simply ad the tag "DCist" to any photo.

If you are not a user of Flickr.com: To contribute an image, simply email the photo to fact18working at photos.flickr.com. Enter a photo title in the subject line of your email and a photo description in the body.

Please do not submit more than two photos per day so that everyone's photos can be displayed on this page.

I hope to share future images from D.C. with DCist.com. Indeed, this weekend I'll be sojourning to the National White People Only Georgetown Game Preserve where I hope to land a stunning closeup image of the rarest of creatures that is rumoured to live in the dark shadows of this amazing Caucasian national park, an actual black person who's wandered afar from his home turf.

Unfortunately, I don't make it downtown to D.C. as often as I would like. Uh, that's because I have long operated under a New Orleans-inspired policy that better advises me to NOT travel to a major urban American city unless I'm strapped with my Beretta 92 FS pistol (to protect me against street criminals), along with my Colt Cobra .38 Special revolver dropgun (to protect me against criminal cops!) that I keep in my Mississippi rattlesnake cowboy boots. D.C.'s tough anti-gun laws are very very tourist unfriendly.

Where's the Borf?!

Be honest, doesn't the Summer so far this year in the metro D.C. area seem just a wee bit boring without the Borf to kick around?

From the McLean edition of Backfence.com

The bloviating playa hatta law and order bloggers and commenters who constantly ragged on Borf for not targeting his rich white mom and pop neighborhood in Northern Virginia will think they have died and gone to heaven now!

Apparently, Borf - after serving hard time in a D.C. jail for vandalism, the same D.C. jail, by the way, that doesn't seem to have enough room at the inn to hold the up and coming murderers of 13 people who have been killed in the declared crime emergency non-voting rights non-state of D.C. to date in just the month of July alone - has emerged from behind bars with a new name and a new tagging style and has covertly set in motion an aesthetic redesign of public space in Northern Virginia that has thrown the high income rednecks of McLean and Great Falls into a collective fit!

Of course, it's a close call as to what will most upset the good law and order folks back across the Potomac River in the majority white progressive enclave of Georgetown who demand that young criminals be thrown into jail for all crimes, whether they are a gang of rich white spoiled brats from Northern Virginia caught tagging storefronts, or black kids arrested for slicing the throat of a British citizen.

A crime is a crime and we must, of course, jail them all.

"I would think that at 2 o'clock in the morning on the streets of Georgetown, a group of three people, one of whom is 15 years old, one of whom is a bald chunky fat guy, are going to stand out," said Solberg, who is white. "They were black. This is not a racial thing to say that black people are unusual in Georgetown. This is a fact of life."

Yeah, probably no more than it not being a racial thing to say that white people who tag are unusual in D.C. Thank God we've got enough space in the dungeon of the nation's capital to teach those dangerous kids a thing or two about being a progressive law-abiding contributing member of society.

Of course, if I were Borf, I'd be high-tailing my rich white ass straight from my D.C. jail cell back to the Old Dominion too, since it's obviously safer these days to tag in Northern Virginia. This IS a fact of life, now isn't it?

Yeah, lock'em up and throw away the key in D.C. - unless, of course, they happen to be a rich white kid (who's also a suspected rapist of a black woman) who likes to get drunk and beat the crap out of weaker people with his gang of white boy macho sports buddies while spitting out anti-gay slurs, in which case you are guaranteed a lenient walk.

I guess there was no room available at the inn for Collin either. His jail bed is no doubt presently occupied by a dangerous anti-Iraq War graffiti artist protester who got snagged tagging one too many just a little bit too close to the White House. God knows for the sake of homeland security we've got to keep those damn graffiti artists locked-down and under control.

National Security Sky

National Security Sky

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

Filmed on location just outside the Route 123 entrance gate to the C.I.A. located in Langley, Virginia.

(Click here or on the above image to view National Security Sky)

this was a turning point in his career

but he did not know it

he put the jump drive in his pocket

almost without thinking

certainly it did not seem of any particular use at the moment

he did not go much further

i am betrayed she said

Avoiding the Red

Avoiding the Red

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Avoiding the Red)

wearing an orchid

pain-afflicted

narrow-spirited

i shot a milk snake when i was nine

where is the ocean front

the sound of a passing bell

money earning a crown

a neat little house

grandmother never smiled

mold an edge nickel

check the fashion of your oil gauge

old-fashioned

i shot a parrot when i was eleven

a blush feather redtop mountain

passion sunday in the new-cut south

paper-paneled bibles

pale-eared

a mile per pound

paper varnisher

a non-zionist chasing a mouse

out-of-reach

wear your name plate

hold your nerve

a natural-born christian peanut sheller

occupation day

non-government nimble-tongued midland dialects

what a morass

peace-preaching in the peak factor

i shot a feather when i was an infant

the feather was red

is 7/11 really a potential lucky roll

i guess it depends on what you are gambling

The Theatre Of Digital Supremacy

The Theatre Of Digital Supremacy

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

Film Fade To Black

DO NO EVIL

except in china

(Click here to bypass the Chinese authorities that control Google to view The Theatre Of Digital Supremacy)

bellyache the broadcast

you are surrounded by a devoted film fanatic franciscan

let us see what we may accomplish

we will build it to be impervious

and kick it into airspace

hold up for us this torch

see it for the grisly dry sock that it is

we will not correspond with the animated sponge

try to remain afresh

a fireball in my mouth will set me free

it freeing me but therefore i am not

high octane imagery is prohibitive

how dare you photograph the flora in black and white

see your foreign language instructions before you self-destruct

are you feeling lost in a sidestep

artistic emeritus

try it sir i swear you will never use film again

defuse on love or be loved

nice try asshole

you have just about sold me on it

yes

it may be digital

but pitiful it is

and is not

Suspicious Woman In Washington, D.C.

Suspicious Woman In Washington, D.C.

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Suspicious Woman In Washington, D.C.)

i saw each one die so quietly

with pride should i not seize upon the advantage of the death of my lover

you are planning every step so carefully

your glass half filled with water is my thinking arm within a degree

words and ideas are possible

inside may was my favorite month

i could walk about this street and likely be lucky ever so quietly

i once wore a hat while trying to roll a seven

we were in love and in las vegas

this forced war gathers an advantage that is necessary about getting respect

sorry but i do not get it

he once mentioned flying south and escaping it all

is it really possible that you can catch a disease south of the border by drinking a glass half filled with water

i could not recognize the clear benefit of running away

days and miles apart made us independent

central america he mentioned again and again

maybe i am an evil wife worthy of her own interest

god how i wish i knew

we are living among dead woods on this ground

i take pride in a strange god

this god of mine and i discuss you often

how are you

really

how are you

i sense everyone as a next companion

i have no account to make for what is inside of me

i am a proud luck enemy of all that is right and wrong

i promise i will work on my pronunciation of the word patriot

seize me with your reply

i love you but try hard not to think about you

...

why is that woman wearing a long coat on a hot summer day

that is suspicious

---

From The City Of War Chapter 8

The League of Reston Artists - IMAGE I

"Aloha Motel" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

"Rough Edge Photography"

Before Interstate 10 existed, the most direct route between New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Louisiana, was the legendary Airline Highway - a mythical road shadowed by the looming presence of illegal gambling parlors and dens of iniquity operated by such infamous mob figures as Carlos Marcello. Just like yesteryear, today’s post-Katrina Airline Highway still stretches through a line of seedy roadside motels in Jefferson Parish before snaking its way around and across endless bayous to the Capital of Louisiana. Some of the old motels --like the Aloha Motel-- that once dotted Airline Highway still remain in all their unvarnished beat glory, echoing their distant memories of a dramatic life from another era that was, in a glorious fashion that celebrates the passions of the flesh in a way that only New Orleans can inspire, lived in the fast lane. - The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

"Aloha Motel" is published online and in the print edition of the Thursday, July 6, edition of the Washington Post.

The Right Reverend James W. Bailey cordially invites your lost postmodern soul to attend the opening reception for IMAGE I, the League of Reston Artists annual photography exhibition at the National Center Gallery of the U.S. Geological Survey in Reston, Virginia.

Brother James will be in attendance at this exhibition and will be conducting a pre-reception prayer service outside the federal building on the very grounds of the U.S.G.S. underneath a fluttering American flag where he will be seen earnestly praying for an end to the undeclared War in Iraq, for the reversal of the New York Supreme Court decision against gay marriage so that gays can finally enjoy all the federal joint income tax bullshit of being married and divorced that regular straight folks have to deal with, for the corpse of Natalee Holloway to be found in whatever shark's belly it resides so that the whiney "Well, Greta, I just KNOW for a fact because Jesus told me so that those Aruban boys had their way with my beloved virgin angel before they killed her" voice of Beth Holloway Twitty will finally be muted on Fox News until the next mother of a missing white girl with blonde hair and blues eyes comes along, for some leftist-Marxist sycophant supporter of Cindy Sheehan to have the guts to secretly recommend her for a middle-America makeover on TLC's What Not To Wear If You're Serious About Ending A War And Not Just Milking Your 15 Minutes Of Fame For All The Additional Celebrity It's Worth, and for many other small requests, including minor little things like the full restoration of America's greatest city, New Orleans, Louisiana.

---

WHO:
The League of Reston Artists (LRA) presents IMAGE I, its Annual Judged Photographic Exhibition, at the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey.

WHAT:
IMAGE I features photographs by photographers from the metro Washington, D.C. region. $300 in award monies will be presented at the opening reception by this year’s judge, Mr. Cory Hilz.

ABOUT THE JUDGE: COREY HILZ
Corey Hilz is a professional photographer based in Arlington, Virginia. He focuses his photography on nature and architecture. Corey has built his stock of photographs from travel and extensive exploration of local areas, believing some of the most interesting subjects are found close to home. His work is found in magazines, calendars, brochures and in electronic formats. It is also on display for the public in exhibits throughout the Washington, DC area and his prints are found in private collections. Corey teaches local workshops and classes and provides individual instruction as well. He believes it is important not only to have classroom instruction but to also provide time to apply the theories in the field. Corey is a member of the American Society of Media Photographers (ASMP) and the North American Nature Photography Association (NANPA).

PEOPLE'S CHOICE AWARD:
During the reception, visitors will be encouraged to vote for their favorite work. The photographer of the work who receives the most votes will be awarded the People’s Choice Award at the opening reception.

WHEN:
IMAGE I runs from July 3 – July 31. An opening reception will take place Thursday, July 20, from 4:30 – 6:30 pm in the main hallway of the National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey. This exhibition is free and open to the public.

WHERE:
The National Center Gallery of the U. S. Geological Survey is located at 12201 Sunrise Valley, Reston, Virginia. For directions, see the LRA’s website at http://www.leagueofrestonartists.org.

Can You Hear Me Now, Kenny Boy?

Kenny Boy never bothered to respond to my Littoral Art Project email blast. Of course, neither did Skilling or Fastow. I certainly understand that lately all three had a lot on their minds and hands, including those heavy duty full metal federal handcuffs.

And I don't expect to hear from him (or them) in the future either - I understand that in Ken's case that the Devil is still using a syrupy dial-up connection where he's headed, which means I wouldn't be able to hear his hellish screams for mercy anyway because my spam filter is set to reject that slow stuff!

Now, those rich white Texas wives who are married to criminals are a super tough breed of stand-by-your-convicted-man women - Laura Bush (who I happen to like a lot) sorta sets the standard - so I hope the F.B.I. has their best drug-sniffing hound dogs lapping their tongues all over Linda Lay's hands because I strongly suspect that those dogs will find some traces of arsenic under her fingernails. Kenny Boy's sudden, and financially convenient, demise somehow just doesn't strike me as being the will of God at all.

No, the Lord I serve would have had fun torturing this son-0f-a-bitch everyday within an inch of his life in a cell filled with multiracial gangbangers who are serving triple life sentences for holding up the local 7-11 for $20 in loose change and a pack of cigarettes and whose mommas and grandmommas lost every penny of their retirement to the MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR FRAUD this minion of Satan perpetrated.

"...died of a heart attack in the luxury of his Colorado getaway while awaiting sentencing for his crimes..."

Yeah, I have to believe that there is a hell.

Kenneth Lee "Ken" Lay

R.I.P.

(April 15, 1942 – July 5, 2006)

Abandoning Suburbia In Favor Of A Vacation

Abandoning Suburbia In Favor Of A Vacation

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Abandoning Suburbia In Favor Of A Vacation)

the chronicles of bush

i keep my copy in the trunk of my car

mossy

wrapped in expensive cloth

hysteric

i read it with a whip in one hand and a saw in the other

weird

filled with acrimony

i think i will drink a glass of sulfide and conjoin with the antichrist

pitilessly bombastic

how much does time off from work cost these days

---

From The City Of War Chapter 8

Black Man Sitting Alone At The Mall While On Break

"Black Man Sitting Alone At The Mall While On Break" by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

---

an almond treat or a trash compactor

the choices await you

gunfire in some places

so sumptuous

try it one day

a fledgling empire for the poor

maybe

maybe not

i seriously doubt it

inside the house and senate sit some bipartisan coke angels

wasted on the shadows of castro and chavez they vacation near nantucket

they are web friendly and fickle

and very deceitful

but what am i really telling you that you already did not vote for

i would like to rent a dangerous clown to denounce the watchbands these puppeteers wear

here

try it

it is free today

it is the afterlife

it is swiss bliss

taste this caviar

reserve your german defenses

berlin i am half way there baby

do you have an annuity

if not why not

but you need one

activate it

it is funded by us

for your retirement

from all responsibility

for what we will do in your name

---

From The City Of War Chapter 7

It Happened Over There

It Happened Over There

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view It Happened Over There)

christina brent is an alias

she once had an angry boyfriend who mixed his alcohol with gasoline

he suffered a horrible knick on his token of approval

here is the moral of the story

the be that you are sometimes forgets begetting

a secret bacteria infected this cutthroat opinion of her

a dreamboat illusion she will demolish with much affection

earth is moving even as i tell you this tale

joey tomlinson is an alias

estimate the cost of a issuing a bench warrant on this scarface

plan a dna homecoming to the jail of his choice

the door was ajar during a live concert

almost anything could be heard playing most weekdays

he was loudly addictive

my declarations were a simple prerequisite

a textual competitor

his friend david was prosaic and irreversible

his brain was the size of a stale doughnut

somebody was covered in a dirty white sheet

a sluggish movement carried me across the field to where she was

...

it happened over there

where...over there

yes...over there

---

From The City Of War Chapter 6

Endless Summer Fun In The City Of War

Endless Summer Fun In The City Of War

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Endless Summer Fun In The City Of War)

dear american

happy 4th of july

you have always dreamed of freedom

now is not the time to be realistic

you know you always wanted it

so do not be afraid of it

come in here and have it

what we need is a real superman

truth

justice

and

dare i say it

the american way

all that other stuff we do not need

we thank you for your interest in our democracy

peace

---

From The City Of War Chapter 5

Parallel Conversation

Parallel Conversation

an Evil Digital Film

produced by Force Majeure Film Studios

(a Holy owned subsidiary of Black Cat Bone Global Media Empire)

written, directed and edited by The Right Reverend James W. Bailey

---

(Click here or on the above image to view Parallel Conversation)

maybe we should inveigh against the aristocrats

and prop them up with sufficient anger

and develop a leftist bias cafe where they can smoke newsweek in dutch

i will throw in a plentiful chunk of brushwork and use it to wax psychotherapeutic on them

magenta back stitch on the emotionally acrobatic ones

did you hear that poseidon is in flux again

or maybe i am just too gullible

but who would not mine the truth for someone on the verge of dying in a foreign land

i am so tired of being a numb gothic

i issue dark words in this estuarine jungle like i believe i am a real agent provocateur

but am i really that ruthless

i can feel the tone changing everyday in favor of motherhood

i am a perfect hindu

almost

---

From The City Of War Chapter 4