Get depressed

Amazing. And sickening. Chris Jordan photographed these albatross carcusses (and many others) on Midway Island, to show us exactly where our litter goes.

"These photographs of albatross chicks were made just a few weeks ago on Midway Atoll, a tiny stretch of sand and coral near the middle of the North Pacific. The nesting babies are fed bellies-full of plastic by their parents, who soar out over the vast polluted ocean collecting what looks to them like food to bring back to their young. On this diet of human trash, every year tens of thousands of albatross chicks die on Midway from starvation, toxicity, and choking.

To document this phenomenon as faithfully as possible, not a single piece of plastic in any of these photographs was moved, placed, manipulated, arranged, or altered in any way. These images depict the actual stomach contents of baby birds in one of the world’s most remote marine sanctuaries, more than 2000 miles from the nearest continent."

-Chris Jordan , Oct 2009

What a world we live in.

Old news

Jeremy was the one to find Theresa, on the floor of their bedroom, quite dead. A suicide note, empty champagne glass and scattered pills said goodbye. Inconsolable, a week later he strode fully clothed into the ocean. That was the last time he was seen alive.

The 2007 deaths of Theresa Duncan and her boyfriend Jeremy Blake are still a big dark mystery. They were together 12 years without a night apart, the tightest of couples. Officially, they were surprise suicides, but a back tangle of scientology harrassment and stalking muddies things. You may have heard their story before, it raced through the dry hills of the internet like a scrub fire. In part due to the many fans of Theresa's luscious blog The Wit of the Staircase. She was a fantastic writer, he a well known multimedia artist, together described as "darlings of the art world".

This is one version of the events that led to their deaths. There have been many attempts to discredit Theresa after her death, label her a liar, paranoid, mad. But after delving into her blog, these accusations are a bit hard to believe. Eccentric, yes. Enviably smart, witty, fascinating- definately.

It's a frustrating story because the more you read about it, the more it doesn't add up. And even more frustrating, it probably never will.

The only "new" news is that Bret Easton Ellis and Gus Van Sant are writing a screenplay based on the Vanity Fair article about their death (same link as above). I wish they were taking a broader view of their lives and deaths, and including all the odd bits and pieces that weren't included in the article, but still, Glamorama (by Ellis) being one of my favourite reads of all time- I'm hungry for their take.