The 2011 "Save Our Swimsuit Calendar" is now available for pre-order through Kickstarter.com!
Please buy a super-hot, super-gross calendar and help raise money for the Gulf Restoration Network!!!
That's it, the webmaster is fired!!!
...oh, wait. Guess not.
The third (and final) calendar shoot took place almost a week ago, during which Liz initiated the otherwise-immaculate Renée into the world of pseudo-sludge. The results are fantastic, as you'll see shortly.
The calendar itself is about half-done, and we plan on invitiing everyone to get up their very own copies by donating to our Kickstarter page as early as next week!!! Other goodies will include screensavers, autographed prints, and hardcover photo albums featuring the unfortunate futures of these Boston beauties.
The second shoot for the Beach Party Calendar took place today, with most of our remaining models stepping up--or lying down, in most cases-- to contribute. We had the advantage, this time, of guaranteeing ourselves a waning high tide, clear skies, and bacteria-free water. We are very lucky to still have a relatively pollutant-free beach up here in Boston, and we're hoping it stays that way. Previews to follow soon!
The first shoot for the Beach Party calendar took place this past Sunday. Nine brave models hit the beach, despite pending thunderstorms and warnings of contamination (actually, the system failed on that one-- we didn't even find out about the bacteria count until the next day.) Adding real contamination to our props only made the shoot more convincing and the message more significant: We, as a planet, need to be aware of the effect we have on our environment while we still have the ability to save it, and before our contamination gives us more than just a bad case of hives.
A few outtakes from the day have been added to the gallery, with more to come. Check back for more photos from the first shoot and the upcoming second session, as well as information on purchasing your own calendar and prints!
Yay thicker sludge! Can't wait to set it on someone other than me!
Also, you can now follow us on Twitter! It's not the most exciting feed just yet, but it's going to be the first place to tell you when you can buy your very own calendar!
Before I explain the new pictures on the right, featuring the amazing Liz Heining, a quick story. You can skip ahead, though; I won't mind:
I was getting ready for this afternoon's test shoot, all excited and hurried, and I realized I didn't have a funnel to help transfer a lobster pot full of goo into a 2-gallon water jug. I live about two minutes from an Ocean State Job Lot and a half dozen other funnel-selling establishments, but in the interests of time (and money, I guess) I cut a milk jug in half and got to the pouring. Since the milk jug's mouth doesn't fit in the water jug's mouth, and the pot was heavy and still hot from the stove, I needed three hands to make this happen. I propped the funnel on the edge of the sink instead. Within five seconds, the "funnel" got too heavy, tipped the water jug into the sink and threw itself on the floor at my feet. The Lesson: Take the extra five minutes and the extra $5 to do the job right, or you end up with a huge mess. I couldn't help but notice the irony as I was mopping my kitchen floor.
Okay, about the test shoot: Liz and I went out to try the location and a fresh batch of goo this afternoon. As you can see, she did a great job on her end, even with a brand-new-ish one piece which she'd never tried on. As for the behind the scenes stuff, we learned a few things.First, don't be stingy with the sludge. The color's there, the viscosity's not bad, but we gotta lay it on thicker than we did. I mean, the real stuff is like napalm and chocolate syrup. Next time, we're dumping buckets, not handfuls.
Second, we need a list of essential items for all the other brave souls on the project. Liz is doing the full list, but it includes bug spray, sunscreen, a towel, and a bucket to dump water on themselves afterwards (it is a beach, but the water's kinda shallow.)
And third... This is officially doable, and it's gonna be awesome.
Still mixing up sludge, and while the overall viscosity isn't cooperating as much as I'd like, it's fun to watch the reactions when I taste-test it as well. Right now, it's about halfway between "purple drink" and cough syrup, which is progress.
I went to set up a Twitter feed and Facebook page, and realized there's no title yet! Twitter limits usernames to 20 characters, so "Save the Swimsuit Calendar" or "Beach Party of the Future" don't fit. Any thoughts? E-mail me, or tweet to @imbrognaphoto for now. The sooner I get this up, the sooner I can start harassing the interwebs to come look, and discuss, and buy, and do other stuff I haven't even considered!
This is the "News" section for the Oil Calendar of the Future.
I assume this will primarily be calendar-related news, since I don't see this becoming a blog of great importance (or regularity.) Perhaps we'll have behind-the-scenes footage from the shoot, or a "Making-Of Toxic Sludge" feature.
Hopefully the news will be mre along the lines of "YAY we raised $1,000,000 and we're nominated for the Nobel Prize and we helped recover 12 types of turtle from extinction," and not so much of the "we're going to jail for general tastelessness."
