DIY Discovery Channel = Awesome

    
     As you may have noticed photography is fascinating to me.  I really enjoy taking photographs and have become somewhat enamored with DSLRs over the last few years.  I generally use my Nikon D70 for taking pictures anywhere but the bar and at house parties (really anywhere that doesn't serve alcohol).  It serves all my photography needs and my level of ability.  However, there is one area of photography really interests me, and that is high-speed photography. 
     The idea of being able to capture extreme action and slow it down to turtle speed just sounds awesome.  Unfortunately it has always been an unattainable dream because high-speed video cameras are often thousands of dollars more than I am willing to spend.  That has all changed.  Casio has released a digital camera (most unattractively known as the EX-FH20) that can shoot high-speed video for $599.99!  It shoots 720p video, 30 fps video, 210 fps video, 420 fps video, and 1,000 fps video.  This really brings a previously inaccessible realm of photography to the amateur.  Now you can take slo-mo vidoes of yourself doing stupid things and post them on youtube for all the world to see.  We can revel in your explosions and watch the the hairs of your eyebrows melt away at 420 fps. Coolness.  I am not only excited to save for one of these to take my own video, but to see all the things that people will start to share with this camera.  Coolness.

That's all I have for now, just a little tidbit of consumer sexiness on the eve of Black Friday.

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The Trebuchet

Attached to this post is a video of a world record holding trebuchet.  Of all the world records out there, this one is held by the participant that can hurl an orange seasonal squash the farthest with an ancient weapon... sign me up!   The video proves two things: 1)  The trebuchet has finally made the transition from a siege weapon from the middle-ages to a frontiersman hobby and 2) that trebuchets are, in fact, awesome.  You will notice that this trebuchet is not alone in a field, but rather it shares it with reproduction arcana that has been crafted from steel with a hint of of Dr. Seuss.  Everyone knows there is no point in launching pumpkins with a trebuchet if you can't aim them at a castle right?

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The Only Bathroom Guarded (that I know of) by a 35 Foot Mexican Stereotype

South of the Border was one of the most hilarious/creepy places I have ever visited. If you have not road-tripped the Carolinas you may be unfamiliar with this landmark. It is advertised for about 150 miles; each sign is a pun about Mexicans. Once you arrive you enter Pedro's realm of South of the Border, which is shockingly HUGE. Everything there is huge, giant hotdog buildings, elephantine Mexican's are everywhere, like this one guarding the bathroom. When I went this summer it was as unplanned visit rather late in the evening, so very little was open and it was eerily abandoned. It was just us (my dad and I) and the gargantuan sombreroed/mustacheoed/gap toothed Mexican statues under their obelisk of power, the sombrero tower. It was word the visit if only to feel like I was in a real life scooby doo episode.

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The Sketchiest Place I Have Ever Been

This is some enormous theme park on I-95. Really scary stuff.
Reminded me of a scooby-doo haunted carnival episode.

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iTunes "Single of the Week" Free Download Tuesdays

Every Tuesday (Usually) Apple releases a single or two of an up-and-coming artist for free download. This freeness lasts about a week and then you have to pay; so you can only download the current week's song. They promote musicians of all kinds and the musical genre is different from week to week. It is a great way to broaden your musical horizens and bolster your library. There is no catch and this is usually just good free music. (Remember, you have to download it the week it is released or it will no longer be free).

I am going to publish the link to this song each Tuesday for your listening pleasure.

Week of July 29, 2008

Belanova - One, Two, Three, Go!
Genre: Latin synth-pop
A Latin Grammy-nominated Mexican synth-pop band from the city of Guadalajara, Jalisco.
Click Here to read the rest of Belanova's bio on Wikipedia

Download this Single

Unseen - Katie Armiger
Genre: Country

Kicking off with a crystal clear piano melody and then layering that with a warm twang and a tight rock backing band, Katie Armiger's bright-eye vocals sound right at home on this track...
-iTunes Store

Download this Single

If you are on a computer the link will open your iTunes.
If you are on an iPhone or iPod Touch it will open your mobile iTunes Store

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Big Freakin' Lizard

Today while I was getting some sun and swimming I ran across this monster lizard swimming in the pool with me. This thing was crazy fast and looks more like an alligator than a lizard. I was able to snap a quick picture of it after I fished it out of the pool.

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A mobile phone test

Well. I was finally able to procure an iPhone for myself. It was no
walk inthe park, but this is easily the best phone I have ever owned.
Anyway, this post is just a test to see if the text and picture I blog
from the phone actually publish.

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Backyard Time Lapse

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Time Lapse Experiments

Last Christmas there were a few days where I was a bit bored and decided to play around with some photography techniques that I have always wanted to try. Primarily, I did some tests with time-lapse photography and found it to be pretty interesting. I compiled the pictures into a couple clips. The first will be attached to this post and the second will follow as a unique post. They really are pretty basic, but I can put them up anyway because:

A) Its my blog, I can self promote if I want.
B) No one reads this anyway, so whatever right?

Edit: My acknowledgment of this would mean I am talking to myself, and I am not willing to deal with the repercussions, haha.

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Jesusphone or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the iPhone 3G

I'll start by saying I am no better than any of this (because I want one too), but the current madness that surrounds the recent launch of the iPhone 3G has been quite an experience first hand. If you have been living under a rock lately, the iPhone 3G is apple's latest toy that was released this past Friday. It is essentially the same as the original iPhone that made its debut this time last year, just a tad faster.

I thought sure, that's a cool phone, and now that the price has halved since last year I might pop over and buy one. I figured it would be a pretty popular item down here in Miami, (where you are on the bleeding edge of fashion/gear/douchebaggery or you eat lunch at your own table) so I planned on getting there when the store opened.

WRONG

Click the read more link to see the rest of the story.



My first warning sign should have been seeing the people SLEEPING at the AT&T store on Thursday. I showed up on opening morning only to see 120 or so people sitting in lawn chairs in front of the store. It was a little unnerving seeing how many people were skipping work to get this phone. I opted out of waiting in line for 6 hours to get a new cellphone, which seems like a pretty normal reaction, but at that particular moment it was 120:1 in favor of me being stupid.

The next day I went to visit my father at work and we went to get a coffee at the shopping center next to his office building. I thought it might be interesting to see the chaos at the apple store there so we walked by. WOW. A good 36 hours from launch there was a line that was over 200 strong sweating and waiting patiently in the sweltering heat. I was shocked to see the amount of people that were rallying around a single object. Sure, I have seen the craziness that surrounds shopping during the holidays, but that is more like a consumer holiday. This single phone, this jesusphone, has managed to bring nerds, businessmen, and housewives together into a sweaty, gadget lusting orgy. Rarely can you witness such large scale exhibits of patience and dedication. It's a bit ironic though, because it seems that sometimes we can summon up the patience required for a little instant gratification. In summary: the iPhone defeats a failing economy with a roundhouse.

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Sebastien Tellier, The Legend, The Frenchman

I came across this song while I was in Italy and instantly loved it. Not only is music interesting and unique, but the video is hilarious. If only we could all be so handsome. The song is called divine and is off the album sexuality. Check it out for yourself.

Update: It was just made known to me through wikipedia that this album is a meditation on love making and the artist has directed his listeners to only partake in this album by candlelight. A novel idea, but he is alienating his daytime consumers.

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Pirates of Mountain Springs Retirement Center

I really don't have a whole lot to say about this picture other than it is important for you to see it in all of its glory. Pirates IV: Jack escapes the home.

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Which Clockwise Is It?

Here is an interesting animation* of what appears to be a spinning woman. Take a close look at it. What direction is she spinning when you look at it. Clockwise or counter-clockwise? According to some the direction in which you see the woman spinning hints and whether you are "right-brained" (artistic, philosophic, emotional, etc...) or "left brained" (logic driven, pays attention to detail, scientific, etc...)

Clockwise = more right brained
Counter-clockwise = more left brained

I am not so sure about this interpretation, but I will leave the judgment call to you.

After looking at this a few times you may be able to see the woman spinning in both directions. Click "Read More" for a hint for seeing it go counter-clockwise if you initially see it rotating clockwise.


Try focusing on the direction her shadow is moving and slowly direct your gaze up towards her body. You may see her go counter for a sec and then lose it. After a couple glances you should be able to "control" her direction.

*borrowed from the Sunday Herald

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Brief Intermission

Well, I was hoping to have something posted about the ridiculous things that happened on my Italy trip, but I decided to wait for the journal entries. Megan has yet to give the journal back to me, so I have opted for the lazy route and decided to wait for those entries rather than rewriting everything. In the meantime I have a few interesting/strange things for you to take a look at.

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Where to Begin

It has been a long while since I last posted here and so much has happened since that last post that I am having trouble deciding what to say first. Lets begin with some obvious good news; I am alive. Why is that news? Well, you may or may not have known, but I spent last 3 weeks traveling around Italy. This trip was 2/3 wonderful with all the accoutrements of a great, mind-expanding trip. The other 1/3, however, was a nightmarish experience that I am only glad I was able to walk away from with a small scar.
I will describe both with pictures and language as best I can, but nothing I write can even come close to the experiences I had on this trip. I jotted down a few entries in a journal while I was in Italy and I'll post them up once I can find it.

PS: I found this picture on a site that says we must "prepare for end times, have you made your decision yet." (I put the fractions, they weren't insinuating that you can pop into thirds and enjoy heaven and hell).

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What's Done is Done

College is over for me. It's weird to say, but it is. I had my last exam yesterday and today I hand in my last paper. After that is done, there is no more work. There is still that whole formal graduation thing, but its just that, a formality. After that I am only in the US for another 6 days before I stroll on over to Italy for awhile. I can finally relax for awhile and just take in the last glorious moments of college as they flit by. It tell you what though, I won't miss the smell of this dorm.

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Pottery Pictures Mk. 1

I said before that I would put a few pictures up of the pottery that I am photographing as a little "extra credit" project. I am making good on my word and putting them up even though you probably don't care. The first picture is displayed, but to see the rest you need to click "Read More!" Don't expect to be blown away.

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A Small Victory

You may or may not have caught it, but my last cryptic post was about how I need to make the few ceramic pieces that I have made this semester appear to be a cohesive body of work, for the sake of my grade. I decided I would take some artistic liberties with my works and expand them into the photographic realm. This is because I need to make my relatively mundane pottery seem artistic. So I thought, "What better way to make ceramic art than with lasers and LEDs." I'm sure the teacher will think there is all sorts of juxtaposition between earthy colors and space-age laser beams. Great. Only problem is I need a ton of lasers. My problems were solved as they usually are, with random happenstance. My first stop to find lasers was Staples. Office Supplies, laser pointers for presentations, you get the idea. Staples definitely did have lasers, but I didn't need the LAZX8999 ergonomic racing grip for $36.99. As I said, I wanted a bunch of them, so spending hundreds of dollars was out of the question. Then I went to Best Buy where I was promptly told they no longer carry lasers. However, some random middle-aged guy buying guitar hero overheard me and told me to go to a pet store. At first I thought he might be a crazy person that wandered into Best Buy for the AC, but then I remember how one of my cats at home used to go crazy chasing a laser dot. So I hopped on the bus and made the trek over to PetCo. Sure enough, they sell lasers labeled as the "Laser Chase II," for $4.99! What a steal! So I bought all the lasers they had. The pictures and description on the box are priceless. It says, "Dogs, cats, birds, lizards, and even fish go wild as they chase the red laser..." Nothing strange there. However, each of those animals has a line drawn to it and a picture to illustrate the animal. The fish is a shark, the bird is an owl, and the lizard is a T-Rex. Wow.

After all that, I took it home and took one experimental picture. It's not the greatest, but it is a proof of concept. I will be able to create my vision, or something. The picture is above.

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Something Out of Nothing

Well, the end of the year has come, and taken all of us seniors kicking and screaming. That is not to say that we are all done with everything. As it turns out, a little thing called my ceramics class has fallen through the cracks. I am pretty sure I have nowhere near the amount of work done as I should for the class. So its time to get a little creative. I need to figure out some way to make the small amount of work I have done look like a concise body of art. To do that I am going to need 5 lasers, 5 watch batteries, and a camera. We'll see if this works. I'll post the results if they are any good.

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Testing my Will

I just got back from the doctor's office for the third time this month and boy was a it a good visit. I have been pretty sick for almost all of April, which has been pretty trying. Each time I have visited the doctor previous to today they would take a look at me, shrug, and say "look like you have allergies, here are some sudafed." Super. Today a met with another doctor, because I just wasn't satisfied with the old "alergies" response anymore. There is just something a little frustrating about going to the doctor and having them point out that you are sick and wish you luck. Today, however, the practitioner was more concerned. She ran some tests (finally) and based on her professional opinion, believes that I am having a resurgence of mono. with a lil' bit of strep on the side. It makes me wonder, is there really someone up there pulling the strings, trying to test me? Or maybe I'm God's version of reality TV. Just give him BOTH so we can see what hilarity ensues! Either way; this sucks.

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