Ploafmaster General

I've completed my study guide for the GMAT, and over the next three nights it's all practice tests and sample questions.

For now, I'm unwinding by scanning some negatives from before Christmas. I should have a post from that some time tonight :-)

Holy schlemiel, my skull is simmering. I'm simultaneously getting over a cold, getting back in to work from vacation, and getting in my final studying for the GMAT this Saturday. If I can survive beyond this week I ought to be in much better mental shape for a while...until I have to start writing admissions essays and all that junk.

Would you rather be able to eat as much of whatever you like without gaining weight, or only have a need to eat once a week, with no change in physiology?

If you choose the former, you will also fart at comedic yet humiliating times. For the rest of your life.

I took some portraits at my mom's house a couple of days ago.

Today I shot film in Petersburg with Jake, and this evening I developed my first roll of medium format at home. It's some kinda great rush you feel when you realize that what kinda control comes with this setup. I posted the top three pics from the roll on my photostream...

Having Aperture has caused me to take another look at many of my older photos. I thought this was a fitting frame for the end of the major retail shopping season.

Okay, so I know the point of Christmas is a celebration of God's Son coming to us, but I can't help spilling some sweet details of Christmas gift giving between Val and I.

First, Valerie gave me Aperture 2, Apple's professional photo-editing software. I'm only scratching the surface so far, but I plan to learn a lot more over the coming week as time permits.

Second...well, it's not so much what the gift IS that I gave Valerie as how I obtained it. I managed to procure a Wii Fit, but I initially had the hardest time finding one that wasn't jacked up to almost 200% of the retail price. Then I discovered that on Amazon you can enter your cell phone number to receive a text message when the item is available. Sure enough, three weeks ago I received a text message informing me that they had some inventory and I was able to land the item with no markup and Amazon's sweet Super Saving Shipping. Score another point for innovation!

Just in case I'm not blogging tomorrow on, oh, CHRISTMAS DAY, I figured I'd take a moment to wish a very merry Christmas to all who do and might read my website. Travel safely, if that's what you're doing, and God bless everybody.

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
- John 1:14, ESV

Cheap trick, yes, but I still dig it :-)

Your life will end in 5 minutes but you're the only person who can know that. Who do you kiss good-bye - your pet hamster, or Ernest Borgnine? THERE ARE NO OTHER CHOICES.

So it turns out you can make your own B&W film developer using coffee, sodium carbonate (soda ash or washing soda), and water. I don't know that I'm up for trying this out just yet, but it sure seems like a good idea in a pinch, and would likely work out much cheaper than a packet of Dektol.

There's even a group on Flickr dedicated to homemade film chemistry with enough solid results to make this look viable.

Quick! You're building your dream house. Gambrel roof or Mansard?

If this doesn't make you smile I don't want to know what does:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpcUxwpOQ_A&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

I just finished skimming through the first 50 minutes of Martin Scorsese's Shine a Light and had to turn it off. Netflix delivered this DVD to my place nearly three months ago and I'm finally sending it back tomorrow morning, incompletely viewed.

Don't get me wrong - the direction was great, the camera work was what I expected, and the interstitial footage was fantastic. But this film is about 80% concert documentary, and I underestimated just how much I'd have to be a Stones fan to actually enjoy footage of the performances. I've never really been a Stones fan, and I remain thus after my partial viewing.

There was one serious problem I had with the concert footage though, too. As a musician and an appreciator of music I was put off by the boosted audio level of any instrument/musician on whom the camera focused. If the Charlie Watts was the main subject of a shot, for example, his drum levels were pumped up in the mix. For my taste this would have ruined the balance of music I love, let alone music I was merely tolerating for the sake of its filming.

Sorry Marty, but this one gets a 2/5 from me.

I would have written a more interesting blog post today, but blah blah blah...good annual review...blah blah blah...busy...blah blah blah...amazing rare-breed pork chop for dinner with the best mashed potatoes I've ever made...blah blah blah...

But really, I've been preoccupied playing Rolando.

The New York Times has a great article that fusses a little obsessively and in great detail over that most magical of ingredients, butter. There's a great mix of low-level science and advice tucked into what is ostensibly a discussion of Christmas cookies.

The A.V. Club is one of very few movie review sites which I read, so while I'm sure it's contentious, I'm pleased to see their list of the best films of 2008. There are movies on this list of which I've never heard but, with their (as usual) solid commentary, I may just have to investigate a few of these further.

This clock over at the MoMA Store has me drooling...

Tomorrow from 10 - 5 is the Handmade Holiday Craft Show at the Visual Arts Center (where I took my photography course), and my buddy Phil is hawking is mighty wares. I plan to check it out, and if you're in or near Richmond tomorrow, you should, too. If you're participating in the mass consumerism around Christmas, you should at least consider supporting local artists and craftspeople.

Check out some fine examples of Phil's work on his Flickr account.

This past Saturday I was able to get at least one decent shot of the James Center lawn decorations...

We hated the snow and we needed the snow—what were we going to dash through once springtime arrived?

Jon Mehtven brings a little Christmas and economic levity with his Christmas Carols, Revised for the Recession.

Ladies and gentlemen, the real Hanoi Hilton.
(with no disrespect to any past guest of the more notorious lodging)