Salt City Sinner

posted 10/23/2012  by the Salt City Sinner Greetings, wage slaves! If there are two things I love (there are a lot more than two things I love), they are breakfast and science fiction. In this very special edition of Salt City Sinner we will examine a few slightly more (or less) esoteric science fiction television programs in terms of what breakfast they represent. What were my criteria for picking this show instead of that? Don't ask any damned questions, just roll with it, and feel free to comment. First up! nice LaserDisc you have there Series: Any Star Trek Pros: Functioning positive example of Socialist government (oh wait, all of Europe before the Eurozone crisis also qualified/s) Cons: Ferengi ear-sex is mad creepy Breakfast: Two eggs fried over easy with bacon and white toast. Reliable, sensible, old-school. Series:  Any Star Wars Pros:  Seriously awesome set design and internal cohesion (pre-prequels) Cons: George Lucas Breakfast: ...

posted 8/4/2012 by the Salt City Sinner The first time I took a strong drink of liquor was in an anonymous hotel room on a cross-country road trip with a German and a cousin of mine who would later go on to achieve great things at West Point military academy. We were all young and dumb, but I was undoubtedly the youngest and the dumbest of our trio. This was during the last gasps of the nineties, before the proliferation of cell phones and the miniature cameras that would emerge with them. I brought a few point-and-shoot disposable cameras with me (unwisely) and had the film developed afterward (also unwisely). What emerged from that early state of self-awareness were some amazingly embarrassing shots of my pudgy, unattractive self addled on vodka and wearing khaki shorts, holding up a few porno mags we had scored like the rack of a twelve-point buck. Like I said, young and dumb. The flat sizzling light of that hotel's corridors, and the low-frequency buzz of fat in...

posted 8/2/2012 by the Salt City Sinner A popular clip from comedian Louis C.K. (  "everything's amazing and nobody is happy"   ) regards the wonders of modern life and our horrible lack of appreciation for said wonders as a culture. C.K. describes how people bitch and moan about the hassles of flying rather than being struck dumb with awe at the miracle of flight itself - and he has a point (Louis usually does). I feel the same way about the human mind. Instead of an airplane, each of us pilots a fantastic, glittering starship, one capable of broader capacities of perception than most people realize, as well as astonishing feats of willpower and quantum leaps of lateral thought capable of placing us in touch with realities both profound and trivial that beggar description. Unfortunately, I think that people ignore these things and spend quite a bit of time suffocating from boredom - and what a tragic waste that is. It's only in the last two centuries or ...

 April 4, 2012- 6:30 PM. Citizens of Salt Lake and surrounding areas met on the stairs of the Utah State Capitol to honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on the Fourty-Fourth anniversary of his death. A man known for his "Dream," and his untimely passing, left a true legacy. The night started out with a prayer and two lovely musical performances- a solo by Shelly Smith which brought most of the crowd to their feet singing along, and the One Voice Youth Choir, who performed "I Need Thee Every Hour." The Keynote speaker was Dr. Roderic R. Land , a member of the teaching staff at the University of Utah.  Dr. Land expressed to the crowd the importance of being involved in our local community, knowing our representatives and "being the change that we need," as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was.  To raise money for the Utah Luther King Jr. foundation, t-shirts are available at the low price of $10.00 each (although they were not sold on the Capit...

LUKE 6:37: J udge not, and ye shall not be judged: condemn not, and ye shall not be condemned: forgive, and ye shall be forgiven. I happened upon Occupy by chance.  While writing and posting pictures for CNN iReports I found Occupy an opportunity I could not pass up.   I became very intrigued with what OWS was standing up for and found that I too was part of the 99%.  I continued photographing and interviewing Occupants and supporters for weeks, frequently taking my two daughters with me (ages 6 and 8 at the time).  Not long into my venture I found myself getting to really know some of these people, and loving the time I spent with them.  They were warm, inviting, generous, and happy people.  They were focused and ready to fight for change.  (Although fight may not be the appropriate word as they showed nothing but peace even when faced with aggressors.  On more than one occasion I saw people scream at them "Get a job!" "Lazy Bums!" and each ...

Today I bought thermal underwear to donate to the Road Home tomorrow - the handout specified that they wanted sizes 2XL and up. I turned on the radio and learned that one out of eight Americans are on food stamps, now renamed the SNAP! program because of the shame that certain radio blowhards have managed to attach to "food stamps" over the last two decades. One out of four American children, right now, are fed by SNAP! (the exclamation point is for jazz, I guess). The "unemployment" rate (which doesn't count Americans who are under-employed or who have stopped seeking employment) is over ten percent. It's cold outside in Salt Lake City right now - in the teens yesterday morning and about that low tonight as well. I feel sick. I see a lot of people facing hard times right now, and a lot of people donating their money or time to try to make things better, but god damn it, this is America, and people shouldn't be forced into these circumstances.