Ploafmaster General

For whatever reason this morning I felt compelled to read up a bit on US founding father Benjamin Franklin. Among the description of his inventions was an item called the "glass armonica" - a mechanical arrangement of glass bowls which rotate about a coincident axis. Such an arrangement allows many notes to be played simultaneously compared to simple water-filled goblets, for example. During its heyday, the instrument was the center of works from composers such as C.P.E. Bach, Beethoven, and even Mozart, as in this piece:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sXSnI8VTIDM&hl=en&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

It turns out the glass armonica - or glass harmonica - is still manufactured, though it certainly isn't cheap.

Okay, so I've finished working on my first little self-imposed photo project. As you can tell from the post title, I call it "Pretty Maids In a Row." I've posted the set to my Flickr account.

The little photo-shoot consisted of only two rolls of 120 film taken over the course of about an hour in the Scott's Addition district of Richmond. I shot here, as I have in the past, so the austere backdrops would help the beauty of the two women further stand out. I also knew that the neighborhood would be largely vacant on a Saturday after New Year's Day :-)

The color film is Fuji Astia 100F, a stock ideal for portraiture, though I had to color-correct because the bright sun that day washed out the shots a bit. The black and white is Rollei Pan 25. It's only the second roll of this film I've shot, and it's fast charming me. I developed this roll myself, and I had to guess a bit at the developing times for Ilfosol-3. I think it worked out well.

This work is hardly what I'd call "show quality," but it represents, for me, a few new steps in my photography: project work (if only my own projects), and directed photographs. This latter step particularly interest me, and is reflected in several of my other recent uploads. I used to (falsely) assume that candid photographs were superior because of the natural moments captured therein. I've since come to appreciate the small amount of control that comes with posing models and giving direction.

So yeah...at the risk of sounding haughty, I'm really quite happy with how this worked out. I hope you enjoy, too.

I followed along with Engadget's coverage of the Palm Pre announcement, and I have to say that I'm initially impressed by the screen shots and interface descriptions. I'll reserve judgment, however, until I get a chance to actually play with one in a Sprint store.

I'm not at all feeling a desire to abandon my Apple-shaped ship, but I'd like to see strong competition to the iPhone and its operating system. Only stiff competitive pressure can drive Apple to continue improving and innovating (in my mind), so the more the merrier. At the least, it's nice to see another serious phone OS that has the potential to continue burying the abysmal Windows Mobile.

UPDATE: I'm not an interface designer or a patent attorney, but a LOT of the interface idioms from the OS on the Palm Pre seem straight-up copied from the iPhone OS. I don't know how many ways there are to gesture/display/etc, nor what could be considered "obvious" to the patent office, but check out this demo clip to see for yourself, if you're at all familiar with the iPhone interface first hand.

As parodies go, David Friedman's The Breakfast Cereal Club has the taste you can see.

I uploaded two portraits of one of my best friends, Jake, to my Flickr stream. I'm working on piecing together the color pics from a short photo shoot I did with Valerie and my sister-in-law this past Saturday, and then I'll start uploading those and the black and white shots. It's a really simple concept, nothing "high art" here, but it's one of my first intentional shoots with a theme that seemed to work out reasonably well. Of course, you can be the judge of that...

Okay, so it's in German (I believe), and it's apparently a car commercial (we never see the car, and that Saturn logo doesn't look familiar...), but this is pure dope-aliciousness:

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kzd1OiP27s0&color1=0xb1b1b1&color2=0xcfcfcf&feature=player_embedded&fs=1&w=580&h=470]

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...