Joe Klamar takes unconventional photos of Olympians; everyone loses their shit.

On Independence Day, photos were leaked from Joe Klamar's one-minute shoots with the US Olympic Team.  They bore a certain theme to which critics and the public have reacted somewhat strongly.  I read about this on the day, but gave myself a week so my thoughts could simmer and be laid out to dry before I picked them over and made them into new ones.  Here are a couple paradigm cases:

She looks like a human instead of a doll and I can see what went into the shot.  How dare he!

That tear in the paper is destroying America.  You can see the flag wilting over it, for fuck's sake!

He's been criticized for angles, focus, lens choice, lighting, showing the set, you name it.  The technical criticisms in and of themselves are perfectly legitimate, to my mind:  you're observing compositional flaws which remind you of rookie mistakes, and you wouldn't want it in your gallery because it looks sloppy to you.  Their inclusion is a deliberate act of juxtaposition, not an unintended oversight; but this stroke is itself an element that may or may not appeal to you.  It makes a statement, and you don't like it.  Cool.  This is what art criticism is all about - every artwork is a statement, an answer to the question of what statements are worth making, and that worthiness is exactly what you ought to be evaluating  From dance to music to video games, high art gives you a contemplative experience that enriches your life - you are meant to walk away with a sense of the profound.  This didn't do that for you, and you can articulate what you feel is missing, out of place, or handled poorly.  Fair play to you.

That's not the kind of reaction I'm talking about.

101 Interesting Things, part twenty-four: Matt Steven

Matt Steven isn't your average basketball player. He mainly stands around shooting free throws during practice, and he's the designated shooter for his high school team. He makes about half of his free throws, which is Hella better than I've ever done.

Oh, he's also blind.

Yep, a blind kid has won games for his ball team by shooting free throws, and everybody loves him. Matt's brother taps his cane on the back of the rim for him, and that's how Matt orients himself. I'm not a big sports nut (a shitty coach kinda ruined things for me in high school), but this guy is my hero.

There's really not a lot more to this one, except that a blind kid is winning basketball games by shooting free throws. Think about that one for a minute. So cool!

The real problems in this country

So Michael Phelps, the fourteen-time gold-medal-winning Olympian swimmer, has just incurred a three-month suspension from competition from USA Swimming because there is a photograph somewhere of him holding a marijuana pipe.

Seriously.

Not only has he been suspended from competition, but he has also had his funding cut off, and the Kellogg corporation is not renewing their sponsorship contract with Phelps.  A statement from USA Swimming acknowledges that Phelps has not violated any of the World Anti-Doping Agency guidelines - whose tests Phelps has passed with flying colors, as a member of Project Believe, which tests in excess of existing standards - yet they still want to send "a strong message" to the swimmer because some people don't like pot.

I'm aware that this is all too typical of a reaction, but I'm still rather angered by it.  It's the same reason that I'm angered by any mothering law, by any conception of moral "substance," by any attempt to limit fun and freedom for everyone due to overconcern for safety.  As Bill Maher so succinctly put it, "Sometimes, fun costs ya."  Everyone knows that too much alcohol gives you cirrhosis and wrecks your body; everyone knows that too many cigarettes will give you lung cancer and wreck your body; and lots of people know that too much caffeine will also fuck you up.  It should therefore come as no surprise that tetrahydrocannabinol, like any other substance on the planet, is bad for you in excess.  Nobody wants to be a stoned slacker, I'm sure; but neither does anyone want to be an abusive alcoholic, or a lung cancer patient, or even dependent upon caffeine.  Phelps' decisions on what to do in his spare time to have fun are, quite frankly, his own decisions and nobody else's business.  The fact that he's a very public figure, if anything, should help to refute the stoned slacker stereotype - this guy managed to win fourteen gold medals, while possibly enjoying a toke every now and then?  Way to go!

But some progress is being made, I suppose.  Evan Morgenstein, an agent for a number of Olympic swimmers (and a rival agent of Phelps'), acts as our reasoned voice of "who gives a shit" in the public sphere.  "Enough is enough," he said, "The penalty is far greater than the crime. He has said he is sorry. Let's move on to the real problems in this country."

Amen to that.