NeoBlog

2008-08-19T17:54:00.000-07:00

Two months, folks. Less than, really. Two months minus one day until my Pirate Party. I guess I should come up with an actual invitation and send it out. I still need a place to do it, though. I got one possible suggestion last weekend that I need to check out, but if that doesn't work we may end up at the bar in Chili's or something else equally lame.

Two days ago, while working on my 2005 photos, I got to the photos from my college friends Keith & Jen's wedding. It took place at an old church in what was once Fort Ord, near Monterey. I have a lot of regrets, partly because of how I behaved that day (I didn't get drunk and fight someone, no, I just caused problems for the photographers) and because I still haven't given them a wedding gift. The plan was to make them a print of my SF pano, but it just never happened. Then I got laid off and was going to do it on the Epson I got from Reed's, but I've never gotten it to work. I've got a list of a half dozen people/couples to whom I owe a print (and more to whom I owe regular gifts), and the list keeps growing. As much as my financial situation sucks, I shouldn't be like this. I am a terrible, selfish person.

2008-08-17T20:26:00.000-07:00

2005 photos are coming along nicely, but this post is not about photos. It's about movies.

Last May, I got a free trial month of Netflix. Since I haven't had cable for a long time now, I figured it would be a good (and cheaper) alternative, and kept it after the trial. I've watched a bunch of movies since then, and feel a need to share.

It all started with 3:10 to Yuma (the 2007 remake). Really good film, especially considering it's a western, a genre that's practically dead these days. Next was Citizen Kane. I can see why so many people hold it in such high regard. Fabulous.

Goodfellas, Godfather Part II and Full Metal Jacket were next, and all the stark killing depressed the heck out of me, despite how good the movies were otherwise. Amelie was the foil I needed, and it worked wonders. I really need to own that film!

Donnie Darko was not at all what I was expecting. Can't say I'm a fan, but it was thought-provoking for sure. Good Night And Good Luck was a pretty good movie, and put a spotlight on the dangers of the culture of fear we seem to be living in these days. Secretary... yeah... twisted.

The Bourne Trilogy was fun to watch, though the concepts were cliche and the overall story kinda weak. There were some great chase scenes, though. Lawrence of Arabia, on the other hand, was fantastic. I wish I had seen it years ago, unlike History of the World part 1, which I wish I could un-watch. Mel Brooks is sometimes funny, sometimes really stupid.

I used the Watch Instantly (streaming video) option to see The Evil Dead and Monty Python's Meaning of Life. I'd not seen the former, though I had seen Army of Darkness and wanted to know the backstory (Evil Dead II is in my queue). Meaning of Life I'd seen once, back when Bush Sr. was president, and needed to see it again just to make sure it was as FUCKED UP as I remembered it. My memories were correct. Funnier now, though.

One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest was a movie I'd wanted to see for a long time, since I like Jack Nicholson, and it was definitely worth seeing. The next movie I forgot I had already seen last winter, but the Japanese animated film Paprika was still good on the second viewing.

Kill Bill vols. 1 and 2 were good, if completely insane. Determined to not follow killing (however overdone) with more killing, I watched another anime, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind. I'd seen it ages ago in college, but had forgotten most of it. Disney did a damn good job with the dub, too, as they've done with most of Miyazaki's films. Beautiful film.

Tonight I watched The Illusionist. Decent film, can't say I got really engrossed in the story, though. I like Edward Norton, and wanted to see this one. Up next: This Is Spinal Tap, About Schmidt, Easy Rider, and Silence Of The Lambs, to name a few. I'll have to leave my non-Netflix movies for another post, I think, as this one has gotten quite long.

It's utterly fantastic. I'm finally getting to see all the movies I've wanted to see for years (or decades!), and it's convenient as hell. Hmmmm... Netflix should be paying me for this free advertising. ;)

2008-08-14T19:15:00.000-07:00

I guess the peanut gallery wasn't interested in yesterday's post. I was hoping at least some artsy folks would take up the pirate challenge.

CLICK HERE for the better of the two SF Panoramas.
(image changed to link to prevent over-widening of blog.)

This is the only photo of which I have sold prints.

Here's some detail. Both of these photos, not coincidentally, are available as prints (and other things) in my CafePress store!

That's it for 2004. I'll try to make the gap between 2004 and 2005 postings shorter than previous gaps.

2008-08-13T20:53:00.000-07:00

What happens when I've had a nip o' ale:

"Arrrr, beeeeeeeeeer!" (click me for the original. drawd it mahself!)

Hey, how 'bout a challenge for all you artsy types out there: turn yourself into a pirate, via your medium of choice. Mine was a camera and Photoshop, yours can be anything you want: pen & ink, super sculpey, harvested human organs, whatever floats your boat! Spread the word, it's PIRATE TIME!

Now, me hardies, for some photos.

Discovered this place while wandering around Eureka. Cute little city, lots of old stuff to explore. Need to sail back up there and spend more than one night in town.

Two vertical panoramas from the Avenue of the Giants. Shot both in infrared, but forgot to shoot them again in color.

Some lenses are good for shooting panoramas, others aren't. I was using the latter, but didn't know it at the time.

And that was the last day of my trip. The mountains and forests are calling me again. I really need to get back out there.

Tomorrow, we end 2004 with a bang.

2008-08-12T19:21:00.000-07:00

Any ideas where I could have my Pirate Party? Apparently booze is forbidden in state parks. I'm at a bit of a loss now.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is an amazingly beautiful place. I really need to spend more time there.

This is one of my favorite photos from the whole trip. Oh how I worship thee, almighty polarizer filter!

As I mentioned yesterday, don't shoot at midday. Just don't do it. This photo, even though I like it enough to post it, would be a bajillion times better if I had shot it at a later (or earlier) hour. It's all about light & shadow, and this one is a bit too harsh.

CLICK HERE for my Lassen Peak panorama.
(image changed to link to prevent over-widening of blog.)

A three-image panorama was required to get all of this little lake plus Lassen Peak into one photo. The downside to polarizer filters: you shouldn't shoot panoramas with one on. They affect the sky in different ways depending on the angle of the lens in relation to the location of the sun, and as you can see in this photo, there's a weird dark patch of sky in the upper middle because of this effect. There're also some annoying tourists spending way too much time in the bottom right. They. Just. Wouldn't. Leave.

I still really like the photo, though.

Looking back at Lassen. I headed west and north, wanting to see Mt. Shasta. I saw it, but only from a great distance. Didn't know a good way to get closer, and was getting anxious to see Eureka and the coast. Driving through the mountains on winding roads in my rental Malibu was some of the most fun driving I've ever done.

2008-08-11T22:11:00.000-07:00

Mark October 18th on your calendar with a skull and crossbones.

Yarr mateys, me 30th birthday is comin' up soon, and I'd like to have a big pirate-themed party for myself. October 18th is the date I've chosen, since my birthday is the following tuesday and no one wants to spend a wednesday hungover. The best part (for you): no gifts required. All I want is for people to come and drink with me and have a good piratey time. I'll probably get some cheapass beer for everyone to share, but everyone is welcome to bring a case of their favorite. I figure I better be in the right frame of mind if I'm going to be sent to Carousel in a few days. Renew! Renew!

Wait wait, pirate theme, not bad mid-70s sci-fi.

The only problem is, where to do it? I've thought about some local parks that can be reserved, but I'd prefer something a little further from civilization. What about Mt. Diablo? Get a nice big campsite up there, people could sleep in tents or cars or leave at sundown. The only downside is that it costs everyone a little money to get in, but at least it goes to support the park, right?

Any other location ideas? Please let me know.

Everyone is invited, of course. The only requirement is that all attendees must be wearing SOMEthing piratey, preferably a complete pirate costume! If all you can manage is an eyepatch, though, I suppose that'll have to do. This'll be a short time before Halloween, though, so it should be easy to find cheap pirate stuff. Please post a comment or email me if you have ANY ideas or suggestions for anything!

2008-08-11T20:16:00.000-07:00

When I got to Yosemite, it was around midday, the worst time to shoot. There was also smoke in the air from a nearby wildfire. I did the best I could, though, and got a few decent shots. I would have been completely sunk if I hadn't brought my polarizer filter. Always remember: shooting landscapes without a polarizer is like going sunbathing without shorts and sunscreen: You'll just get your ass burned.

The ubiquitous El Capitan.

Yosemite Falls, I think? Correct me if I'm wrong. I like the four-layer nature parfait look of this one. Mmm, parfait.

No idea if that rock formation has a name, I just like how this one turned out. Tomorrow: Lassen. A couple of my favorite photos from the trip were shot there.

2008-08-09T11:35:00.000-07:00

Super Slow-Mo lightning will blow your mind.

Look at that. Multiple sparks fly out, following paths of least resistance, and the first one to find ground uncorks the full charge. Fascinating!

2008-08-08T21:35:00.000-07:00

I took some time off work during the summer of 2004. It was my first vacation since starting at Reed's, and my last since (three months unemployment doesn't count). I think it was a little over a week, but the details are fuzzy now.

My plan was to take a long solo road trip around California. Bay to LA on the first day, visit Grandma, hang with my brother Mark and see The Spin Doctors in concert for the first time. That was a momentous occasion, considering I'd been a huge fan of theirs since I was a pre-teen. From there it was east through the desert to Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks. North to Yosemite, north again to Lassen, west to Eureka and finally south via the beautiful coastal Redwood forests. I can't find the actual number, but the total miles driven was more than 2,200. It was a mostly great trip, though in hindsight I should have picked fewer stops and stayed longer. I also should have taken more photos than I did.

Two of the four members of the Spin Doctors. That's Chris Barron at the mic, and Mark White on bass.

I've gotten to see the Spins twice now, and they're really awesome live. I wish they'd come to the west coast more often. It's been years! For whatever reason, photos that included Eric Schenkman (guitar) and Aaron Comess (drums) didn't turn out all that well.

I used to chat with Mark from time to time, back when I had an AOL account. I still have his screen name, but haven't talked with him in ages. At one point, I think when I was a senior in high school, Mark sent me a demo CD of some... music... he'd made. It was his bass guitar playing along with some midi music he'd made that sounded like... well, I hate to say it, but it was like elevator music. It really was. It was surreal, listening to that awful CD after only knowing him for his awesome bass guitar work with the Spins.

That's me, in Sequoia National Park, dwarfed by the largest known single organism by volume, the General Sherman Tree. The photo is a vertical panorama. There were lots of people hanging around the tree that day, so I just kept retaking the bottom photo until I had enough chunks of people-free space to make one image with no one but me in it.

Next up, Yosemite and maybe Lassen.

2008-08-07T16:31:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I asked why so many people are hating on Shia LaBeouf. Many responders blamed his recent DUI. While this may be the reason his name is popping up more frequently right now, I would like to note that anti-LaBeouf (he has the funniest last name ever. It sounds like an onomatopoeia for a French fart) sentiment has been heavy since before Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull came out. I mean, multiple webcomics suggesting that Shia LaBeouf should die isn't just a coincidence. It's been happening all over, just moreso now that he has a DUI. I'm curious why this is.

Speaking of Indiana Jones, this article made me laugh and cringe. George Lucas says he won't make an Indiana Jones movie without Harrison Ford, and his line about a movie about Mutt made me chuckle. Then he said he wants to make 3D versions of all six Star Wars movies. CRINGE. Leave well enough alone, George! The Star Wars TV series (plural) sound interesting, though. We shall see.

Recipe for an awesome DIY Icee: take a half-full bottle of Gatorade (or any other sugary drink) and fill the rest with purified water (leave a couple inches empty at the top of the bottle for ice expansion). Freeze for a couple hours (more or less, depending on your freezer). When it looks mostly solid, hit the bottle a couple times with a hammer to loosen it up. The ice will turn into a sort of crunchy Icee. I've been doing this at work lately. Awesome afternoon treat. :)

Look at any point in this picture and your eye can't help but be drawn to the top right. Mine can't, anyway.

For the exhibitionist who really has to go.

"Rare, classic Chevrolet pickup truck for sale. Low miles, natural coloration. A little elbow grease and you've got a show car."

The guy reminded me of Bob Newhart.

Have you ever noticed how many public places and mass transportation vehicles have spaces marked specifically for 12th graders?

A lot of receding lines today, huh? This is one side of the SF MOMA.

Barry Bonds, during a pitching change. I wonder what it was like, being loved (or at least cheered for) by your hometown fans, yet universally hated everywhere else. I imagine it was lonely.

While this photo is not that great in itself, I specifically remember this one as being the photo that really got me interested in flower photography. There you go, flower-haters (I know there are more than a few of you), you can blame this one.

Tomorrow begins the photo chronicles of the big, 2200+ mile roadtrip vacation I took during summer 2004. Technically, the crow and horse race photos are from the trip, but I felt they needed to go with the critter photos.

2008-08-06T19:05:00.000-07:00

I ask you: what's the deal with people hating Shia LaBeouf? I've seen half a dozen references to him in the last couple days, pretty much all negative. Idunno, I don't have a problem with the dude. He was decent in Transformers and the latest Indiana Jones film.

That's the key to the showcase locks at Reed's on top of the key to my old Mustang on top of a photo of an orange, if I recall correctly. I mean, I know what they keys are, but the photo background is less clear.

Playing around with yesterday's Sigma macro at Reed's. Roosevelt is sure interested in the Lincoln monument.

The coffeemaker at Reed's. It was there for many years, and was awesome because it had a direct hookup to hot water. Towards the end, it was replaced with an awesome, if fragile, automatic coffee-and-other-hot-drinks-maker.

A macro self-portrait. Women have told me they're jealous of my lashes. *shrug*

Is that a bug on the ceiling?

A coworker shot this with my camera, using the zoom while the shutter was open to achieve this effect. Kinda silly pic of me, but it makes me smile. Memories.

2008-08-05T18:15:00.000-07:00

Sunday I became Anthony's Godfather. It's a pretty nifty job to have, and I can only hope I do well. In preparation for my promotion to that position, I spent some time friday night looking for my college ring. It's much bigger than my high school ring, which I'd been wearing for more than a year since my college ring was launched by my cat into the pile of boxes that is my bedroom, and I figured my college ring would be more suitable should I have to have someone kiss my ring. The godfather's gotta look the part when everyone is making Godfather jokes, y'know.

Anyway, I found it in one of the couple of boxes I hadn't looked through last year. Actually, the box was completely empty except for the ring. It felt weird putting it on. The band was much wider than I remembered, and memories of when I first got it suddenly came back: the feeling of unfamiliarity coupled with excitement when I realized the ring meant I was nearly a college graduate. I was glad to have it, then and now.

Now, instead of people asking where my silver & green ring is from, I'll get to disappoint people who assume blue & gold means I'm as Berkeley grad.

Caught this critter in Reed's and spent some time shooting it with a Sigma 105 2.8 macro, if I recall correctly.

Shot this at the SF Zoo, the same day as yesterday's pics. I think all the film I had with me that day was two rolls of Tri-X 400 (black & white) and Agfa Ultra 100 high-saturation color film. Had I been better prepared, I would have brought a ton more film.

This poor fellow was probably very sick. It landed next to the walkway in front of my Grandma's house and just sat there, slowly lowering its head. I took photos as I slowly walked towards it, but it didn't notice me until I was a few feet away, when it sluggishly flew away. I wouldn't be surprised if it had died shortly after.

Another SoCal photo, this time from a horserace I saw while waiting for a Spin Doctors concert outside the racetrack (can't remember the name of the place, just that it was near LAX). The concert was part of a long roadtrip vacation I took that summer, from which I've got some good photos coming up soon.

Lou Seal, the Giants' mascot, doing one of his silly mid-inning dances. Not sure what I'm going to post tomorrow; I've got a lot of good stuff to choose from.

2008-08-04T20:46:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the delay: 2004 starts now!

Lemur!

Meerkat portrait.

Giraffebutt.

These four were taken on a springtime daytrip to the San Francisco Zoo with my friend Kim. I brought my digital camera, but had forgotten to grab the batteries off the charger. D'oh! Good thing I had my Pentax MX film camera. Even though its light meter battery was dead (d'oh!), it could still take photos. The MX was an all-mechanical camera, one of the last of its kind. It didn't need power to take photos. You only needed a battery if you wanted to use the light meter, but it wasn't required. Thankfully I had learned enough about exposure settings in daylight that I could shoot without the meter. I got some pretty good shots that day, considering.

Tomorrow: some more creatures, but in living color!

2008-07-31T21:25:00.001-07:00

I will officially be li'l Tony's godfather this sunday. I am expecting a lot of Godfather movie jokes made at my expense, so I'm thinking I need to find my big college ring and make offenders kiss it.

A short time ago my little brother CJ became Doctor Celio when he graduated from John F. Kennedy University. My dad took this photo outside the Paramount in Oakland, after the commencement ceremony (ignore the goofy guy in the background):

Dad wanted to use the pic as part of a larger project celebrating the good doctor's achievement, and asked me to make an image of him standing at the head of a trail:

Not bad, eh? The background's not mine, as I didn't have anything that worked quite right. There's no money being made on this project, so hopefully the original owner won't mind too much.

I really need to get this money together for a real mouthguard. The boil-to-fit one I have seems to help some, but I know it's just not good enough, and I can feel my bite has changed since this all started. This is not making me a happy camper. I'm going to sell my weight bench soon to help pay for it, I just need to clean it up and figure out how much it's worth. It's been ages since I've used it, and now that my back is all unhappy I doubt I'll use it again. I feel old.

2008-07-26T20:07:00.000-07:00

My back is killing me. At work the last few days, we moved tons of material, computers, machines and other crap from a sign shop that's going out of business. I felt like a vulture, picking out anything useful and leaving the rest. I don't like doing stuff like that.

I bought myself a boil-to-fit mouthguard last week. I know, I know, it's not the same as a real one. I'm saving for that. In the meantime, the one I've got is... strange. I'm not sure I fitted it quite right. My teeth ache less, but now they ache in a different way from before. I'm going to try it one more night and see how they feel. Thankfully, it's not hard to sleep with. For as long as I can remember, I've had a tendency to fold my tongue back inside my mouth when I'm tired or sleeping. That is, the front 1/3 of my tongue is folded back over the top of the middle 1/3 of my tongue. Sounds weird, I know, but suffice to say it makes having a mouthguard easy to get used to.

How 'bout a couple more pics from last weekend?

Anthony with Uncle FunnyFace.

Yours truly prepares his camera for the newlyweds' imminent departure from the reception. Both of these photos were taken by my sister-in-law Theresa. Nice shots, T!

2008-07-25T18:25:00.000-07:00

DaysWithMyFather.com

An emotionally moving and technically excellent piece of photographic work.

If you get an error when first going to that link, hit refresh a few times till it works. It's worth it.

2008-07-22T23:41:00.000-07:00

I just bought my ticket for August 28th's Ditty Bops show at the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley. If anyone else would like to go, get your ticket soon, and then let me know if you'd like to carpool. The last time I saw the Bops there, it was a great time. Come on, come along; I think you'll like them.

Gonna get back to my photo-posting... sometime. Been kinda blah lately. Too many other things sapping my energy.

2008-07-21T21:21:00.000-07:00

Congratulations to Colby and Annie, whose wedding I attended on Saturday! Here's a little something I snapped.

I got some other great shots at the reception, which was in an old sugar mill converted into a winery. Half the place was abandoned, which made for some really cool rural decay photos. Oh, I also got some more shots of the newlyweds. ;)

Sunday evening I saw The Dark Knight. It was a really great movie. Heath Ledger was probably the best Joker yet, and it really sucks that it was his last performance. ~~I don't think I'd seen him in anything else before.~~ I saw him in The Brothers Grimm, but that movie was rather forgettable. One of these days I'll have to see Brokeback Mountain, I think. I've really got to see Dark Knight again, though. On IMAX, if at all possible.

At the other end of the cinematic spectrum, tonight I watched History Of The World, Part I. Didn't enjoy it. Mel Brooks is hit-and-miss for me, and this movie was about 90% miss. On the upside, I now know where a lot of old pop culture references come from.

2008-07-18T20:49:00.000-07:00

Have you ever bought a magazine subscription from a door-to-door salesperson? I just finished reading this compelling article about the traveling magazine sales industry. I am now ashamed to admit I fell for a "dirty canvassing" sales pitch and bought a couple subscriptions from a guy claiming to be competing for scholarship money.

Spread the word: buying subscriptions from those people only supports a dark, sleazy and corrupt industry.

2008-07-17T07:42:00.000-07:00

Last night I spent an hour and a half teaching my neighbors about photography. It was fun! I had walked out with my 300mm to see if I could shoot those damned white egrets that hang out in the creek, but they flew away as soon as they sensed my intent to allow light that had reflected off them to enter my ocular sensor orbs. Those buggers are timid! Anyway, a neighbor from a few doors down came out and mentioned he had just been talking about photography with someone. We ended up talking about what I was doing with my camera, and the camera he'd just bought. He expressed frustration at not knowing what most of the features were, and, long story short, I ended up teaching him and his wife about photography. Just the basics, really, but it was a lot of fun. That's the second time in the past couple months that I've done this. I ought to do it more often. And charge for it.

Unrelatedly, this trailer for Watchmen is quite intriguing. I doubt they can live up to the original graphic novel, but on its own it should be a good film.

2008-07-11T20:50:00.000-07:00

Lovely. One of the very important case fans for my computer burned out last night. I went to Fry's to find a new one, bought one that seemed fine, and took it home. Plug didn't fit. Took it back. Turned out none of the fans they have there will work with my computer. Damn you, Dell! Your proprietary plugs make life suck.

Bought a used fan on eBay, since there's no way I'm paying Dell's price for something like this. Thankfully, I recently set up a 4" air duct to bring some cold A/C air over to the desk area, so that should help a lot.

While I was on eBay, I found a shop manual for my car and bought that. Was pretty cheap, actually. Should get here in a couple weeks, since the seller pretty much insisted on Media Mail shipping. I look forward to its arrival, as there are a lot of things I'd like to fix in my car. It's not looking like I'll be finding a replacement for it anytime soon, so might as well put some work into keeping it running.

Trying to figure out how I'll be able to afford the expensive mouthguard. Maybe I can pay for it with those low-interest-rate checks my credit card companies send to me every friggin' day. I've already got a big chunk of debt on one card, after putting insurance payments, dentist bill, and new shoes on it (along with the usual crap). The shoes were sorely needed, but damn, what bad timing.

2008-07-09T20:32:00.000-07:00

Still working on 2004. Wasn't expecting it to be this tough. There's a lot of crap to go through.

On Tuesday afternoon, this fellow decided the top of a garbage can was a good place to beat the 109 F heat:

Biggest mantis I've seen in the wild, and also the most pale. I'm sure you'd all hate me if I made a "womantis" joke, so I will hold back this one time.

On a semi-related topic, I think I need to replace my 50mm. Too bad that costs money!

2008-07-08T23:08:00.000-07:00

Went to the dentist monday. Jaw's been sore lately, and I figured I'd been clenching or grinding my teeth at night. Dentist agreed, said a mouthguard would be the solution. The one he would make me would cost $560. D'oh! Guess I'll be getting one of those boil-to-fit sports mouthguards instead.

2008-07-04T23:38:00.000-07:00

I hope my fellow 'mericans had a nice 4th of July. I had a good one! Here's a couple pics:

"Your soul is mine! Tee hee!"

2008-07-01T21:50:00.000-07:00

Working on gathering my 2004 pics. Lots of crap that year. Some good ones from my California Tour roadtrip, thankfully. While you're waiting, here's a video I discovered last week that I really enjoy. The song is very good, and the video is strangely intriguing. Makes me want to buy a pair of stilts.