Ploafmaster General

CNN Money has a story on GM's plans to close several truck plants and other dramatic changes as it continues to deal with the changing auto industry at a snail's pace. Such a piece would typically warrant little of my attention, except for this: "Wagoner also said GM is looking at possibly selling its Hummer unit as part of a strategic review of the SUV brand based on military vehicles."

Maybe they can sell it to a military contractor and call it a day. I won't cry at the loss of such an egregious symbol of consumption and hubris on our roads.

Tonight's class, being the first, was a bit shorter than the scheduled time but still full of useful information. The first half of the evening was, as I expected, a review of basic manual camera functions and photography concepts. There wasn't really anything new to me in this section, but the second half picked up with an introduction to the darkroom, developing, enlarging, and printing basics. Let me tell you: watching an exposed piece of photo paper develop in that Dektol bath is way cooler than an emerging Polaroid image.

So here's a rundown of my assignment for the week:
I have to shoot two 24-exposure rolls, 400 speed (B&W of course), of anything I want. I'm to have one processed, uncut, and leave the other undeveloped. This will give us one roll that's sure to be useful for prints, and one to develop ourselves.

With all that comes a shopping list:
1. Negative sleeves
2. Photo paper
3. A whole mess of B&W film - I'll probably grab four rolls of Kodak 400TX from Richmond Camera for this week and next, but I'll likely throw a bunch of Ilford FP4+ in with my online order for the rest of the supplies to take advantage of the cheaper price while I'm already paying for shipping.

I have yet to figure out how to get some of my pictures online. You see, we'll be cutting our negatives for both rolls. This is fine for the roll we have processed before the class because I can have Richmond Camera scan to a CD as usual. But for the roll we develop in class, I'll be left with cut negatives, not yet scanned, and Richmond Camera charges a buck a frame for cut negatives compared to $5 for an uncut roll. Of course, a large point of this class is to make our own prints, and scanned negatives wouldn't necessarily represent the finished product accurately. I suppose if I have prints worth keeping I can have Richmond Camera scan those to a CD for me; this just means I'll have a bit longer delay than usual between when I make prints and when I can share the results online.

Well that's it for this week! I should have some pictures from the processed roll by the end of this week, but again - that will only represent scanned negatives. I may post some of those same pictures again if I get any nice prints out of them.

My boss, as he so often does, passed along an incredible clip from YouTube. This one shows a HUGE radio controlled B-29 Superfortress with working detachable X-1 (the rocket plane which broke the sound barrier). Absolutely amazing, and worth all seven minutes and change.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RVxSn9P568&hl=en&w=580&h=485]

With my photography class starting tonight (and me more jittery than a coke-addled Wall-Streeter), it should be no surprise that I'm pouring over photographs as much as I can. The above mind-blowing wonder comes from Hannah Elisabeth, presumably a UK-based photographer whose later work in particular is so incredible I can only stare. And stare some more. She seems to have extraordinary talent for composite pictures, and while I'm not sure whether the picture seen here fits that description, many of her other work does quite well. In my humble, amateur opinion, she really started to take off around February this year (looking at the "date added" on her pictures in Flickr), with nearly every snap leaving me speechless and gaping.

Big tip-o-the-hat to Michael Eades for pointing her out.

This morning I finally had a chance to stop by the 17th Street Farmers Market to check out Veronica Perez's macarons. She sells them under a little side business called Petites Bouchées, and after the free sample of the hazelnut with salted caramel (pictured above, I believe, from her Flickr account), it was an easy purchasing decision. Val and I bought two pleasantly-wrapped three packs including (between the two) vanilla with buttercream, pistachio with chocolate ganache (AMAZING), raspberry, and the aforementioned hazelnut with salted caramel.

A few important notes:
1. So far these are ideally found at the farmers market on Saturdays only. I believe she'll do Monday orders, but according to her website, I think they're only for out-of-towners (assuming I understood that correctly).
2. Because of today's heat, they were in a cooler instead of on display. The card attached to each packet recommends letting them come to room temperature before consuming. I whole-heartedly agree. I couldn't wait at first and ate one, and I was a little disappointed at the lack of the faint crisp skin I expected from the macarons in Paris. After I was home and they'd warmed up a bit, I had another and presto! Just like France. Delicious.
3. Unfortunately, she only seems to offer the min-sized pastries which are about the diameter of a quarter. Part of me wishes for the larger variety that were available in Paris - a single one is just the right size snack - but then I suppose she'd have to call these grandes bouchées :-)

Whatever the case, these are ALL delicious, and I highly recommend checking out her stall in the market. This week (and perhaps all the time?) she was in the center closer to Main Street, and it's important to note that she won't be there the next two Saturdays, but it's definitely worth waiting until later in June for these authentic goodies.

I have three new shots up on Flickr, and this one was my fave :-)

I'll be starting my photography class this coming Monday, and I fully intend to blog about my assignments, critiques, and results. My photography category is about to get more crowded...

One of the creators of The Venture Brothers spills the beans on his creative process, his characters, and connections to his own life. One of my favorite parts:

AVC: It feels like the show gives viewers a lot of freedom to choose who they respect or sympathize with.

JP: Right, right. [Laughs.] It's a little bit of a pop-cultural, generational thing, too. My generation has a hard time being genuine and enthusiastic. There's a lot of irony in our culture. In a way, some of it's toying with that kind of aspect of the culture. The characters who are genuine and get a little too excited about something geeky are made to feel foolish for it, but they're also seen in a better light than some of the characters who think they're too cool for everybody. For us making the show, there's that push and pull, too, because we're goofing on Johnny Quest and Marvel Comics and bands and stuff like that in the dialogue, but there's a genuine love for most of these things that comes out of us. We don't make fun of anything we don't love, for the most part.

Well well well.

I just returned from an early morning bagel run to Cupertino's N.Y. Bagel and Deli in the West End (do they actually have their own website?). This is my third visit including yesterday morning - investigation requires work, after all - and I'm convinced now that I've found something resembling a decent bagel shop in Richmond (and possibly even a good deli!). I've since had some more bagels (pretty good), a capicola and mozzarella sandwich on their fresh baked rye bread (not quite a deli-portion of meat, but it was DELICIOUS), and even some of that Boylan cream soda I dig so much. Next time I go over there (how soon is too soon?) I plan to hit up some of their fresh crumb cake in addition to some fresh cold cuts for the week's lunches.

Is this a true transplanted deli from the Northeast? Have I found my real bagels and delicatessen?

I'd say it's halfway - but that's very promising for my fair city. The bagels are certainly a cut above anything Einstein's or Panera has to offer. The fact that I can get capicola on a sandwich is rare (but not impossible) in Richmond. The fresh rye bread is fantastic, though, and tasted at least as good as anything I've had back in Jersey. My hope is that Cupertino's remains a busy so that other bagel makers see opportunity down here in the South.

Tip o' the hat to Tripp for pointing out the joint.

This morning I discovered a fairly absurd web comic called The Adventures of Dr. McNinja. How could I resist sharing that?

It's presented in comic book format with multiple pages, and is fairly well drawn and pretty funny so far as well. But I have to be honest...I just thought the name was pretty funny.

Oh - and on a side note. I tried Cuptertino's N.Y. Bagel and Deli this morning. Just a bagel so far, but I plan to return for lunch (Thumann's deli meat!), and maybe even an early morning bagel run tomorrow to get some fresh warm ones. I'll post a write-up after all that.

So a little further prodding provided me with a bit more detail on Beck's next release. It seems that:
1. The new album may (or may not?) be called Modern Guilt, and may (or may not?) release in June.
2. Danger Mouse (the non-singing half of Gnarles Barkley) may be responsible for much of the delicious sound.
3. This is Beck's last major-label contract album. I can't wait to see what he does after this...

Nicole Pasulka interviews painter Kehinde Wiley for The Morning News about his series, "Colliding Worlds," which unites classical portrait painting and contemporary imagery.

The images provided for the article are particularly enjoyable in their inclusion of the frames which, I feel, add a bit of extra character to these works. My favorite is "Tosin Otegbole" with its bold orange background and line-drawing-esque overlays.

As if I didn't already love The A.V. Club, I just read happy news on their site about upcoming albums from two musical acts which I dig.

Apparently Sigur Ros is dropping a new album on June 24th, and - this one really has me pumped - BECK is expected to release a new album soon with his new track, "Chemtrails," already streamable on his website (and it's an awesome song).

This could be a great summer for my music collection...

There's a story making the rounds on the Interwebs about Dunkin' Donuts pulling an ad in which Rachel Ray wears a patterned scarf. This scarf caused a furor because it apparently resembles an Arabic keffiyeh - a detail which enraged talking heads who are so xenophobically knee-jerk in their responses that they're practically kicking themselves in the face over this. Besides the corporate idiocy of Dunkin' Donuts' response, I'm pretty pissed that none of the apoplectic objectors bothered to look into what a keffiyeh actually is. But I guess that would require caring about people who don't look and dress like they do...

For the curious, the keffiyeh is cloth (plain or patterned) used by Arabic peoples to shield their heads from the sun. While it has become associated closely with prominent antagonistic Arabic figures, it's origins and meaning are no more harmful than a t-shirt.

So terrorists often wear sandals. Am I gonna draw angry stares from people here in the US because I sport a pair of flip flops? Puh-lease.

On this past weekend's episode of This American Life (the radio program) I caught two string quartet arrangements of some Led Zeppelin music - "Stairway to Heaven" and "Dazed and Confused" - so, naturally, I had to find out who performed the songs.

It turns out to be a group called The Vitamin String Quartet, which is part of the larger Vitamin Records. Now Vitamin is an oddity...they seem exclusively to pump out reimaginings of popular music in alternate genres, such as the "String Quartet to Led Zeppelin" (containing the aforementioned songs) and "The Lounge Tribute to Eminem: Chocolate on the Inside."

I'm conflicted about how to react to all of this.

On one hand, some of the arrangements on their products are very clever, and even enjoyable listens. On the other hand, these albums are pretty much in the same music-industrial flatus category of albums as "Now That's What I Call Music." I mean, c'mon! Do we really need an album full of new-agey U2 covers? This is the stuff hold music and grocery store white noise is made of.

As my trip to DE draws to a close I'm reminded that back home I've found a real butcher and some real pizza. Heck, I've even found real gelato.

But after having fresh egg bagels every morning here in Delaware reminds me that I have yet to find authentic bagels in Richmond, VA. Any suggestions people?

Maybe I can hope against hope for a serious deli, too...

Pure awesome sauce. Enjoy.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkDBlEvfbgg&w=580&h=485]
(via Kamen Lee)

Okay, so Weezer has fallen out of my favor because of everything they've spewed from the Green Album forward, but this video is actually pretty sweet - a sort-of YouTube retrospective of the last several years:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muP9eH2p2PI&w=580&h=485]
(via Adam and Jeremy)

This afternoon Valerie and I hit the road and head north to visit my brother Mugs, his wife, and their awesome son for the long Memorial Day weekend. As much as I'm pumped to see my family, I can't hide the fact that I'm equally excited about the food. Delaware, you understand, is above the Mason-Dixon Line. It's a short-throw from Philly and Jersey. This means REAL bagels. REAL pizza. REAL cheese steaks.

Real heartburn?

Additionally I'll be shooting several rolls of film as I'm sure my nephew will provide several excellent photo-ops. And if we're anywhere near Philly, there should be plenty of neat places to photograph as well.

Eight fresh shots on my Flickr account. View and enjoy (or hate, it's up to you). I had dropped off another roll of film on Monday, but by accident it wasn't scanned to CD, so I'll have those shortly once its taken care of. I'm officially a fan of the Ilford FP4+ black and white, at least for now, but today I grabbed two rolls of Fuji Neopan 100 to try. I'm continuing my attempt to shoot mostly B&W for a while so I can hone my skills a little in advance of the photography class (less than two weeks away!), so I'm also trying to pick some film stock that I like ahead of time, too.

The New York Times website is featuring an advanced post of a NYT Magazine article by Emily Gould, former Gawker employee and formerly obsessive blogger.

The whole article, while tragically paginated (TEN pages? Really?!?), was a fascinating read and an excellent window into the mind of somebody taking a hobby too far. I'm certainly in no danger of reaching even the minor celebrity dealt with by Gould. I can, however, empathize with her concern for too easily sharing private detail in a public forum, regardless of the parties, feelings, or consequences involved.

The African Grey Parrot has long been considered one of the most intelligent avian species, so it should come as no surprise that when one pet parrot escaped and subsequently was lost, he recited his owners' address. It's a humorous detail (to me, at least) that the bird wouldn't open up to the cops, but spoke freely to the veterinarian.

The BBC is reporting that Princeton scientists have, for the first time, recorded the first moments of a star getting all 'splodey. Nice.

Tonight, while Valerie is away in Michigan visiting the Herman Miller headquarters, I attended a Movie Reduction Film Festival at my friend Eman's house. This is my friend Peter's idea, and here's how it works (from the Evite):

Find a movie that you love, and distill it down (reduce it) to a 1-7min clip that, in your opinion, describes why you love that movie. The sharer, cues up the DVD (or VHS tape) and unveils the clip to an audience. To add a bit of mystery, the audience doesn't know what movie or clip you are going to present until you unveil it. Before the clip is shown, the presenter can say why they love the scene or movie but shouldn't reveal its title.

What it boils down to is a very social way for people at a party to introduce movies to each other with added personal relevance. It solves the social problem of watching movies with friends, where you have to sacrifice either your attention to the film or your attention to each other. I stayed until the end, through all 18 clips (including mine), and it was a blast. I met some new folks, learned about some movies I'd never seen, and was reminded why I enjoyed some films I HAD seen. I highly recommend this party format.

Anyway, here's the list of all the movies selected (and there were a few breaks peppered in there for more beer, popcorn, pizza, etc.):

1. Stranger Than Fiction
2. Brother Sun, Sister Moon
3. Nowhere in Africa
4. Emma
5. Serenity
6. The Namesake
7. Across the Universe
8. Raising Arizona
9. The Piano
10. Dead Poets Society
11. To Kill a Mockingbird
12. Garden State
13. The Two Towers
14. Breaking Away
15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my selection, and my all-time favorite!)
16. Kill Bill, Volume 2
17. The Departed
18. Three Times

My interest is certainly piqued for some of these movies (Three Times, Nowhere in Africa), and my desire to see some others is much stronger now (Across the Universe, Breaking Away). Brilliant idea, and brilliantly executed by the hosts.

According to CNN Money, the DC Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that the US Dollar violates the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 because it's unfair to the blind. I think this decision is pretty cool, and I sure hope it spurs a change - however glacially slow a government change would be - in our currency to come in different sizes by denomination.

Maybe we could do something about the visual design of our currency while we're at it...

Below is musician Manu Delago playing an instrument called the Hang...

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TQXn5ba0aT8&hl=en&w=580&h=485]

This instrument is a fairly recent development by Swiss makers in 2000, and seems most commonly to be played with hands or other percussive implements.