How close are you willing to get?

December 25, 2014 9:02 AM

2014: The Year in Pictures. [SLNYT]
posted by skycrashesdown (23 comments total)

I hope this isn't too thin, I thought there were some fantastic photographs in here that I had missed this year, particularly the one of Michael Brown's father at his funeral, which caused me to spontaneously burst into tears at work yesterday.
posted by skycrashesdown at 9:03 AM on December 25, 2014

My favorite photo is the Ferguson riot cops in formation under the SEASONS GREETINGS banner. That photo basically encompasses America.
posted by Renoroc at 9:19 AM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Too much war.

.
posted by harrietthespy at 9:46 AM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

My favorite. Makes me tense up just looking at it.
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 10:19 AM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

This somewhat NSFW photo cracked me up.
posted by Dip Flash at 10:28 AM on December 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

Next week on Muppets After Dark...
posted by feckless fecal fear mongering at 10:32 AM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

Fantastic photos, yes. But not uplifting. Not many. : /
posted by Glinn at 10:42 AM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

seems out of touch

It's the human condition.
posted by a lungful of dragon at 11:38 AM on December 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

Having some bullshit opera thing, or fucking sports trivia next to horrors including children detained, starved, and murdered seems really out of touch.

Yeah, these photos really presented a narrative of like, everything that happened everywhere else in the world was a terrible tragedy but here in New York City we had a bunch of concerts so.
posted by Lutoslawski at 11:47 AM on December 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

Misery and pain. People reacting to misery and pain. People overcoming misery and pain. Art. Sports. Religion, and Politics.

Seems like a pretty well rounded view of life for most people on the planet.

(#52; The Elmo and Cookie Monster one did make me laugh out loud though).
posted by quin at 12:09 PM on December 25, 2014

I had the same reaction to the arts photos mixed in amongst the grim reportage; the juxtaposition is jarring.

This one is lovely in its matter-of-factness.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 12:40 PM on December 25, 2014

100 relentlessly grim pictures from 2014 would not have been good for mental health. Despite the horror, violence, oppression, war and misery, there is still beauty and art and fun and humor in the world. Thank God, else otherwise what's the point of carrying on?
posted by Wordshore at 12:44 PM on December 25, 2014 [4 favorites]

They had Derek Jeter and no Madison Bumgarner. This is editorial shit.
posted by bukvich at 12:48 PM on December 25, 2014 [1 favorite]

Gosh, my reaction was thank God at least some people are still creating instead of destroying.
posted by maxsparber at 1:09 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

yeah no that photo of Skrillex was a beacon of hope
posted by Lutoslawski at 2:10 PM on December 25, 2014 [5 favorites]

This has a "one of these things is not like the other" vibe that I don't think is intentional. Having some bullshit opera thing, or fucking sports trivia next to horrors including children detained, starved, and murdered seems really out of touch.

The great divide between the real and the canned. Photo ops with mugging that have no real news value placed against a crumbling world, but even that is instructive: why the world spins out of control? Because people stare at some disposable singer on stage as other people drown in despair.

I used to love Life magazine for the same reason, it should have been called Mad magazine, but that name was already taken...
posted by Alexandra Kitty at 2:21 PM on December 25, 2014

I'm pretty sure we can live in a world where people both produce and attend operas and struggle to help their fellow humans. This is a very strange "what madness that there is art in a word of pain."

I mean, for Christ's sakes, Childean singer and theater-maker Victor Jara wrote a poem just before he was murdered in the Chile stadium and had it sneaked out in a shoe. There is nothing frivolous about art.
posted by maxsparber at 2:40 PM on December 25, 2014 [6 favorites]

Attention 2014 don't let the door hit your backside on the way out.
posted by humanfont at 4:16 PM on December 25, 2014 [2 favorites]

humanfont: "Attention 2014 don't let the door hit your backside on the way out."

How about we slam the door into the backside of 2014 as it's exiting the door?
posted by InsertNiftyNameHere at 4:48 PM on December 25, 2014 [3 favorites]

I'm surprised the protestor throwing back the teargas in Ferguson didn't make the cut.
posted by Devils Rancher at 7:33 PM on December 25, 2014

why the world spins out of control? Because people stare at some disposable singer on stage as other people drown in despair.

Yes, it's all the fault of disposable pop! If only singers had guitars and wrote their own music with portentous lyrics: that'll end world hunger and the war in Syria, double-quick. Blame Taylor Swift! [/sarcasm]
posted by alasdair at 2:52 AM on December 26, 2014

A propos of not a whole lot, humanfont: you're wanted here.
posted by Too-Ticky at 1:59 AM on December 27, 2014

Childean singer and theater-maker Victor Jara wrote a poem just before he was murdered in the Chile stadium

RIP — read his biography, Victor, written by his wife, Joan Hara, and stand in some awe of the man.
posted by Wolof at 2:38 AM on December 28, 2014 [1 favorite]