J. Jason Lazarus Blog

So, simpsonsmovie.com has a place to make your own Simpsons Avatar - and I think it’s pretty darn close to the real me. No real option for slightly tubby - only gangly, normal and there-she-blows for body size. Nonetheless, frightening to see myself in the Simpsons universe.
So… I’m… *sigh* 27 now.
Yup, birthday happened this weekend and Deanna shocked the heck out of me and actually surprised me for what I think is the first time ever. I had had a pretty hectic weekend between being the photographer for Liza’s wedding, Teching up at the University and trying to celebrate some as well - went out after Liza’s wedding to Silver Gulch Brew Pub for a few and headed home for a bit of video gaming. Then, lo and behold, Sunday afternoon Deanna goes shopping for my “gift” and ends up calling frantically asking me to head over to some park to deliver the old mac laptop I sold to a friend of ours, refusing to explain why she couldn’t do it. Going over there I was completely shocked by a mini-party with birthday cake (featuring a small southern california forest fire on top) even done up with a Night of the Living Dead poster done in icing. Wow - was I ever surprised! Apparently quite a few of my dear old friends were in on this with her and I had no clue anything was going on. I had been gloomingly grumpy about not having anything planned this whole week cause I had really wanted to do another Halloween-styled Zombie party but got too caught up in the summer to realize how close my birthday was to actually get any planning done… but nonetheless, completely shocked that anything went on. I love my friends and how much they put up with my grumpy whiney ass. Please continue doing so.

So… I’m not even going to try to understand what lead up to this photo being taken. I really can’t remember. I’m pretty sure it was a combination of a sugar rush, lack of sleep and an insane nerd love for vintage games that caused this. Really, you’ve got to find some humor in making your character’s name in Uncharted Waters for the Sega Genesis Bob Saget of all things. Or, rather, at least we thought you should. Think it of a tribute of all those hours you ALL spent naming your game characters the most rediculous things just to be able to call them something stupid and giggle a little inside about it.
Yes, lets call it that.

So for those of you in Alaska, or have been to Alaska, you know full well that our number of breweries across the state is, to say the least, not lacking. In fact, they’re not just breweries - they’re some of the best in the entire northwest - so says the Northwest Brewing Magazine. Last year most of the awards given out by what is considered the periodical for brewing in the Northwest were given to Alaskan Breweries. Most Lower-48ers only know our main namesake brand - Alaskan. Unfortunately to most outsiders, what isn’t known is that any respectable community in Alaska has a brewing company - and Fairbanks is reasonably respectable…
at times.

Silver Gulch has been giving free beer out for ages at their Friday beer tastings up at their Brewery 10 miles north of Fairbanks and it hasn’t been but about a year since I went to my first one. Not knowing any plans to open up a brew pub, I constantly pined over the fact that Anchorage and other self-respecting communities around the state had something we desperately lacked. The brew pubs in our state, or well, at least Moose’s Tooth and Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, are outstanding outliers of premium beers and exquiste food - a combination that is certainly uncommon in the alaskan wilderness. I’ve also been to the other end of the spectrum where, albeit decent, Wasilla’s Great Bear Brew Pub lacks the certain flair and panache of the others - relying more on cheap food to make up for a lack of atmosphere. Granted, Anchorage’s Glacier Brewhouse almost demands that you dress up to walk through it’s seemingly pearly gates of goodness.

So, nonetheless, to get back onto topic - Silver Gulch finally went the
way these other breweries, after getting some laws changed in the process to allow them to do so, they were finally able to open up their own Brewpub this month. Damn, is it ever good. In fact, in my mind, it’s probably now the best restaurant in Fairbanks - easily trumping favorites like the Turtle Club. I’d even have to say that it rivals, if not surpasses, the Pumphouse. Best damned food-and-beer mixture I’ve had ever in the Interior of Alaska. We had an appetizer of Cajun style fries, I had some Steak, Stout and Beans Chili (best stylized chili I’ve ever had) and Liguine with Exotic Mushrooms. Deanna had some sort of Tomato Sauce braised Chicken that was just outstanding. The atmosphere needs some finishing touches - especially when you consider that although they’re open they’re not finished - that doesn’t make this much of a complain to have. This isn’t even mentioning the grotesque amount of libations they’ve got - aside from their 12 or so regular and seasonal beers they’ve got Belgian Ales and Lambics, Stouts and Exotic Ales up the wazoo. I’m almost still in shock that such an outstanding place is actually in… Fairbanks.
If you haven’t gone yet, go now.

Look at Bonnie strutting in the middle of nowhere with such an amazing ensemble! Look how confident she looks with such a wide array of eye-catching accessories ranging from small to medium formats! How stunning is she as she gracefully carries the nimble Holga, a teasing Minolta, a petite and cute little pocket digital camera, a big, bold and effective Yashica twin lens and a stylish fisheye lomograph camera. And last but most definately not least, good even after Labor Day, good for no matter what situation or setting, the ever-prevalent and always helpful light meter! This IS the definitive look for a photographer in the middle of nowhere!

Yes, this is indeed the way we roll. In fact, if one or the other of us don’t at least have an ensemble of 5 to 8 cameras, someone is left feeling very inadequate. In fact, this is a list of my normal list that I grab whenever I’m off on a photo hunt:

Canon Digital Rebel with 50mm f/1.8, 18-55mm f/3.5-4.5
Minolta Maxxum 70 with 50mm f/1.4, 28-300 f/2.8-4.5
Seagull Twin Lens
Ricoh Auto Half
Argus C4
Holga

So I made my first of what is probably going to be many trips out to Cleary Hill Mine this year - being that I know that it’s probably going to be gone in the near future. Apparently there’s mining going on at the top of the hill and within the last two years they’ve really started operations up there - to the point where they’ve taken what used to be no more than a footpath through the old mining town to make it wide enough to where a big CAT can just barely fit up the path. Talking to one of the guys that works at the new operation, apparently BLM is planning to tear the entire old mine down for one reason or another. This has infuriated me but unfortunately I have no clue where to direct my frustration. I’ve tried to talk to several people about it this week alone and haven’t gotten much of anywhere and plan to take it up even moreso next week.
The reason why it bugs me so much is that every other region of the state has their old mines cordoned off in state parks, recreational areas or even where there is active mining going on, they keep the history around. The whole idea of demoing one of the most pristine examples of mining history in the Fairbanks area sickens me. It is one of the last examples of what early mining in the area was like and we’re just going to demo it? Sure, it’s on private property and I understand that a private individual shouldn’t be expected to keep buildings around that are blocking their access to minerals - but seriously, I’ve treasured being able to go out to places like this around the Fairbanks area for a few years now and I can’t but think that other people would love the opportunity.
We’ll see what support or interest, if any, I can drum up this next week. As it is, these are a few of the recent pics I took this last week up there - I’m planning another trip with several other students up there for tomorrow. I really, really do hope they don’t get rid of it anytime soon.This particular trip Kriss and I headed out there early last Wednesday and spent a huge amount of time out there - right about 4 to 6 hours - just taking photos. As usual, I don’t think I even came out with a fraction of the amount of shots that I did - even though I’m still developing the negatives this week. This week alone I’ve developed 6 rolls of film and still have more to do.
I’m starting to work on gathering contacts to get into other mining areas in the near future - planning on trying to go over to DNR sometime next week and lookup some of the records on who owns what tract of land so that I can attempt to call them up and make it all legal. From what I’ve heard from other people who’ve ventured out to some of the locals it’s not a strech to have a Uzi pointed at your head telling you to turn around and go back from hence you came.