GENTLEMEN…BEHOLD!!!
(via Uncrate, which still has a good one left every now and then)
BACON FLOSS
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
Cardboard Buoyancy
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
While searching for whether anybody had created a boat purely from duct tape, I was surprised to discover a host of cardboard/cardboard and duct tape regattas (regattae?).
A number of official local events can be found through a simple Google search or two, and there’s a ton of hilarious videos on YouTube as well.
Rebel Without a Cause
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
There’s really only one word to sum up Rebel Without a Cause:
ICONIC.
This quintessential James Dean film is a prototype to for teen angst cinema. Our protagonist has a history of making trouble, and the movie opens with young Jim picked up by the police for public drunkenness. We learn early that much of his misplaced anger stems from an emotionally emasculated father, an introduction to the overarching theme of broken fatherhood throughout the picture. This lack of adequate fathering may in fact be Rebel’s true antagonist as we see every tense situation resulting from the side effects of absent or poor male parenting. Even the climactic struggle reveals the desire of a desperate teenager to regain the father figure he lost as a child.
That’s a pretty easy segue to my feeling that the script is spectacular, and with the exception of a few events, is timeless. The dialog feels natural, the pacing is even, and the plot is simple yet complete. Excellent directing augments the story with camera shots to heighten the drama and emphasize the emotional gravity of each situation. And let me just say that, yes, James Dean passed too soon from this world. His acting alone makes this film worth viewing, but he’s joined by two strong supporting actors in Natalie Wood and Sal Mineo.
I’m telling you right now that you should see this movie. Make sure it’s widescreen, and make sure you’re not distracted so you can soak in every frame on the screen. I’m buying this when I get the chance, and I’ll be proud to add it to my collection.
FIVE out of FIVE stars from me.
Exit Music for Chopin
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Jack Conte’s version of Radiohead’s Exit Music (For a Film) is not only a superb example of a cover, but a very clever arrangement as well which is available for download.
(via Shaun Inman)
(Can’t) Get Firefox
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
So today is “Download Firefox Day,” wherein Mozilla intends to set a certified Guinness World Record for the most downloads of a single software program in one day to celebrate the release of Firefox 3. I wanted to participate. I’m an internerd, and besides, I use Firefox on my work computer. Too bad I can’t actually download it, as of this writing, since it appears mozilla.com and getfirefox.com (which redirects to mozilla.com anyway, I think) are criz-ashed.
I’m sure everything will be up and fixed soon, but you’d think if you were purposely trying to attract as many visitors and downloaders as possible, your servers would be prepared.
UPDATE: Looks like they’re taking care of things, but they put their pages back up too soon. The Firefox 3 download page provides links for downloading Firefox 2. Way to go.
UPDATE 2 (3:10 pm , EDT): I’m finally able to download the right version of the file. Hopefully it’s worth the hassle.
Blogging the Class: Week 3
Monday, June 16, 2008
The rubber met the road tonight.
We spent a short amount of time reviewing aperture and shutter speed basics before talking a little about prominent photographers and their work. We spend a short amount of time cleaning off our negatives from last week (water spots, man). THEN, it was into the dark room for the rest of the evening to work on contact sheets and prints.
First the contact sheets: we did test strips, initially, where we exposed each negative for five seconds more than the next. This gave us a feel for the range of exposure on the paper. After this we made full contact sheets from entire rolls of negatives at an optimal exposure based on our test strips. I, for example, made my full contact sheet exposed at 30 seconds with the enlarger’s aperture set to f11, while some folks used exposed for 35 seconds.
Then on to the prints. We learned how to load a cut strip of negatives into the loader, adjust the height and focus of the enlarger, and set up the easel for the size and shape of our prints. We made test strips here, too, and finally made our own full prints. I chose to make my first real print of the 3600 photograph I’ve posted earlier, and when I get a chance to trim down the edges and scan it, I’ll post it for comparison. I have to say that making prints was actually pretty easy, and a very enjoyable process. I look forward to many more pictures in the coming weeks.
So here’s this week’s assignment:
Two rolls as usual, same 400 TX, one of them whatever we want, but the other must be all longer exposures; that is, nothing faster than 1/30. If possible, in fact, we’re to try capturing movement with these long exposures. Ghosting, light trails, and intentionally shaky pictures are all fair game.
Now I just have to use up this roll of color in my camera so I can get back to the black and white shooting 
Melted Roast Beef
Monday, June 16, 2008
The following is excerpted from an actual conversation with an Arby’s employee while I ordered my lunch today:
ME: I’d like a roast beef melt -
EMPLOYEE: Do you want cheese on that?
Hydrogen Cars FTW
Monday, June 16, 2008
Honda’s first production hydrogen car rolled out today, but my excitement can only go so far since it will initially be available lease-only in Southern California to a select few living near hydrogen fueling stations. Maybe they need to start wide sales of the Home Energy Station…
Film Revolution?
Sunday, June 15, 2008
It’s no secret that I‘ve been shooting a crap load of film since February (well, as much as can be called a crap load for a guy with a non-artistic desk job). Over the past few months, however, I’ve witnessed the outmoded medium take hold with quite a few people in my sphere of influence.
I’ve already highlighted my friend Dave whose pictures seem to improve with every roll, but a few others have come to the fore. My homie Jake, who’s only recently acquired a camera from his dad, started clamoring for a film camera since Dave and I started producing lots of output a few months ago. He’s shot a single roll of film on my flakey back-up Nikon F, so unfortunately there’s not much to show for it yet, but he hopes to put a roll through his new-old Pentax ME Super in the near future to really cut his teeth.
After some explanation of manual film cameras to Mugs, my brother, he decided to drop some bills on a truly stellar deal for a Minolta SR-T 101 and now he’s been shooting film for the better part of the past week. He took his wife along for some picture-taking, convinced her to start shooting film again, and she produced some gorgeous results.
Regular users of Flickr already know that film isn’t dead (it just smells funny 
), but I’m glad to see several people close to me taking it up either again or for the first time. I wonder how many other people are spooling up rolls around the country, and whether its making any real comeback. I believe the constraints that come with shooting film with manual adjustments provide a valuable learning experience, and I’m happy that folks care about picture-taking enough to educate themselves. I really can’t talk about this, of course, without acknowledging the impact my wife has had on this whole post even existing. She gave me my SLR, and from her gift and teaching me how to shoot, everybody I’ve mentioned has been affected by what you can burn on that thin strip of plastic.
Laugh Out Loud Cats
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Laugh Out Loud Cats are the brilliant creation of cartoonist Adam Koford. Armed with a brief but humorous “back story,” he assembles a collection of vintage-style funnies which bear the mark of expert nerd convergence.
They’re all pretty funny, but some of them are clearly genius.
(via tumblin’ trey)
