The Art of Pictures

So I really love art. Creating things gives me a particular thrill I can't compare to anything else. Most of my creativity through the years has been focused on music. I've pretty much always been doing something musical, and it's got me through the years quite nicely. My desire to create (along with my love of food) has also led me to cooking and baking (bread just came out of the oven!) and gardening. I've never been great at drawing, painting, or any of that, although I think I could be if I gave it adequate attention and practice, and it's one of the many things on my eventual to do list.

Recently I've rediscovered a love that I had only the briefest affair with: photography. I dabbled a little a few years ago, but never got much into it, mostly due to lack of equipment. The Mrs got me a much nicer camera a few months ago, and I immediately dove back in. Then I discovered Trey Ratcliff on Google+. It's amazing how seeing someone with passion and talent can inspire you to do more.

I have neither the time nor funds to make what I want of it (yet),but in my spare moments I've been experimenting, learning theory, and playing with free software. Those of you who are experienced, any recommendations for free software, tutorials, etc?

Here is a small sample of some of the stuff I've done. Hopefully I'll have more to share before long. Maybe even some music to go with it!



Addendum:
Eric Reeder just liked this on Facebook, calling to my attention that both times I have become involved with photography, he was part of the inspiration. The first time he had a picture of the old Kennecott refinery (or whatever it was) in Copperton, the subject of a recurring childhood nightmare, which is a story I'll tell another time. Here is Eric's website.

Paid for What?

Let me tell you a little bit about my job.

I work in SEO. Search Engine Optimization. As simply as I can describe it, we help our client's sites appear higher in the search results, thus increasing their web traffic, and by extension their sales.

My office has 8 regular employees, and a number of intermittent visitors. There is never a dull moment. (Except that time when the other 7 of the 8 either took the day off or went to meetings and lunch.) We have a lot of fun. Need proof?





How's that for proof?

A few weeks ago one of the owners showed up with 8 NERF guns. We had a war.

As if my job wasn't cool enough already, now they are paying me extra to write articles for one of the clients. I almost don't believe it. It's almost as good as being paid to have a NERF war.

Then today a friend called and told me he's been offered a regular paying gig, and wondered if I'd like to join him from time to time and make a few extra bucks. It's like my whole life is being monetized, and all I have to do is everything I like.

I should also mention that for the first time in memory, I like every class I'm taking. Homework is actually pleasant. It's as though the universe itself is turning in on itself. Can it last? Only time will tell. For right now, I'm going to keep loving life.

Here's the thing....

...I hate those obligatory "I haven't posted in a long time so here is my oath of renewed regular postage" posts. First of all, they are usually lies. It sometimes lasts a little while, but be honest, you're going to find yourself writing another one in a few months. Second of all, they are always lame. It's a sorry excuse for a post. Sure you get the variation "recap of the last 6 months," and that's a little better, but really it's still a cop out.

So this is not one of those posts. I make no promises. I may or may not write again soon.

Let me tell you about this:

I saw The Social Network today. It's the movie about Facebook. I really liked it. It actually inspired me. I came home with a hankerin' to do some math and programming. I decided that it was time I really get serious about life. I don't want to be an average guy any longer. I want to be really good at whatever it is I do. If that means extra math work, then I'ma do it. If it means filling in the many gaps in my C++ class on my own time, I'ma do that too. I may not have my billion dollar idea yet, but you can bet I'll be ready for it when it comes.

If you're nice to me, I may even share the wealth.

float like a feather

It all started with the trailer for the new Facebook movie "The Social Network."

If you've seen it there is no way you didn't notice the amazing choir rendition of "Creep." It is at once moving and disturbing, something few can accomplish, but Thom Yorke has mastered in his songwriting, and this choir has magnified. In all the countless versions of Creep that I've heard, none but maybe Damien Rice have done it justice. Now there is another.

I began looking into it and found that the performers are a Belgian women's choir, Scala and Kolacny Brothers. I too, thought it odd that a women's choir has the word Brothers in it's title, but a little looking told me that Scala is the choir and the Kolacny Brothers are the conductor and pianist. They have a number of rock and pop songs they have covered, and every one of them is fantastic. Here are a few.

Phantom of the Opera

I've always liked the musical. It has everything: action and adventure, love and loss, mystery and intrigue, and great music. I learned quite recently that it is based on a book. Yes, I should have assumed as much, but I did not, and so was surprised when I saw it. That was a week ago. I just finished it this morning. It is amazing.

Gaston Lebroux writes the novel as an historian who has done a large amount of research in order at last to shed light on the whole of a great mystery--or rather several great mysteries that turn out to be one and the same. Take everything you know about the Opera Ghost and Christine Daae, and add an extra 5 layers of depth. (One for each cellar in the Paris Opera House in which the majority of the story takes place.) It's older English, translated from French, which lends beauty and character to the structure of the writing not found in our common language today. Due to this it is not a particularly easy read, but it is indeed a rich one. The tragedy of the story is especially expanded from that of the musical. He is uglier, more pitiful, and of a much more complex background. Meanwhile he is far more genius than Mr Webber gave him credit for, and not just when it comes to music. I found myself feeling great pity for him, despite the monstrous things he did, as did Christine and the Persian (a very important character in the book, omitted from the broadway production).

Too often, when you read the original work behind an adaptation, the latter deteriorates, sometimes so far that it's no longer enjoyable. In this case I love it more than ever. Consider this my recommendation to each of you to find a copy.

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Now playing: Andrew Lloyd Webber - The Music Of The Night
via FoxyTunes

Humanity's Greatest Achievment

As it turns out all of humanity reached it's peak when this video was made in 1976. There is nowhere to go but down from here. If this is the quality entertainment brought about by communism, maybe I'll give it a try after all!

Expansion

Something strange has happened in the past few months. I've always enjoyed classical music, some more some less, but it's always been quite a passive enjoyment. My father frequently listens to various movie soundtracks while working away in his office. We used to blast the local classical station with the windows down in my high school parking lot, but that was just for the reaction of the other students. Once or twice we turned on the same station and narrated what we imagined the story of the current piece to be. It has never been a large part of my life though.

Last year we got the Twilight soundtrack. A few months ago we added New Moon. Both include some very lovely piano pieces. Muse's last album has a Chopin Nocturne as a song's outro, and Matthew Bellamy has incorporated classical piano into his songs on several occasions. That is where my craving began. It started with just piano, anything I could get my hands on, be it Rachmaninov, Beethoven, or even David Lanz. From there it has expanded. Last week my Mrs watched Pride and Prejudice while I did chemistry homework and I couldn't stop thinking about the music for days. I downloaded the soundtrack and gave it a number of spins over the subsequent days. I just can't get enough.

Never have I wished more that I could play the piano.

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Now playing: Various Artists - Dawn
By "Various Artists" they mean Jean-Yves Thibaudet
via FoxyTunes

At Semester's End

There is something I hate.

It is that feeling at the end.

You want it to be over so badly, but you must endure.

The last push to the finish line.

I've been studying for some 8 hours.

And will do at least as much tomorrow.

The worst part is that it's all for just one class.

In the meantime, I've rediscovered Kasabian.

And found a great new Firefox extension, FoxyTunes.

Observe:

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Now playing: Kasabian - Reason Is Treason
via FoxyTunes

And Another V

I'Ve been worried for some time now. The kind of worry that you bury deep down and don't think about, under the premise that it will just stop. Then something sparks a memory and it drowns you again...

Some two years ago the In-Laws introduced me to the greatest teleVision program of all time: Lost. I became obsessed. I don't watch much TV, but when the right show comes along I tend to View it Voraciously with a Vim and Vigor I can't Very well eVade. I become Voracious in appetite and ViVacious in fan hood, Visiting Virtual Vestiges of Veneration and Vesting in Various Volitionary actiVities indicatiVe of my Vehemence.

So to what do I owe my worry? The next season of Lost is the last, and I haVe had nothing to replace it with when it's oVer.

Until now.

This week was the Virgin Voyage of a new Vessel Vying for my Virulent deVotion, Vis-aVis:

V

V

Remember, remember, the 5th of November
The Gunpowder Treason and Plot;
I can think of no reason the Gunpowder Treason
Should ever be forgot.

A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.

coming to you like a rope in a chain store

I like to make stuff. I can't draw but I love to take pictures. Not of people though. At least not when they're posing. That turns it into a chore. I like to create songs. It's one of my favorite pass time activities. I do wish I could remember all the songs I've made up over the years. Like that one that came to me in a dream so clearly that I awoke at 2 AM and started playing it with barely a thought. That song was mega awesome, but doomed to be nothing but a sleepy time memory. I tell Mogli stories at night. Often they are about my grandfather's many and varied adventures. About equally as often they are completely fabricated, usually loosely based on a subject or concept he chooses and I expand upon as I kneel bedside. I know it's a success if there are no off topic side notes. Actually I usually know before it gets to that point. From time to time I'll think I'm doing something great with the chosen material, a spaceman who rather unexpectedly and inexplicably meets a bear fishing for example, only to be unexpectedly and inexplicably interupted with a question about why no one else's race car is as fast as his.

I'm going to write a book.

Prog's That Way

The new Muse album came out this week. I bought it on day one, of course. Having heard it before hand on their web site, I knew that I liked it. I also knew that there are some very proggy moments that make me say "huh?" Yes, it's true that they drew a great deal of inspiration from Queen for the music and George Orwell's 1984 for the lyrics. It's also true though that it is refreshingly original, politically poignant, and, in a word, terrific.

Since it's release two days ago it's pretty much all I've listened to. That and Glenn Beck. Imagine my delight when the latter used a half hour of his show time talking about one of his favorite bands: Muse. He even played a track, United States of Eurasia, which I have previously mentioned. He talked about the Libertarian nature of the lyrics and how perfectly in touch they are, the great music, and the amazing creativity behind it. At the end of the break he encouraged everyone to buy it. After the commercial he informed us that Muse's legal representation had just contacted him asking him to retract his endorsement, which I think is hilarious. Update: As it turns out they didn't really call Glenn, it was just a poorly delivered joke. Either way though, it's a funny thought.

I confess the chorus of "The Resistance" is still a little too much for me, but otherwise I am in love with the album, especially "Undisclosed Desires," where they decided to get all hip hop. My favorite moment on the album though has to be the last 30 seconds of "Unnatural Selection" when they kick it in to gear and rock like they mean it. To quote Glenn, it's "brilliant."

Wish You Were Here

The Pink Floyd one, not the Incubus one. I really like that song. I think every band I've ever liked in the history of music has covered it. And why not? It's a great tune.

US of E

As I mentioned the other day, I have been desperately searching for something new on the music front of late. Seemingly as a response Muse has released two singles for the upcoming album "The Resistance." Not only is it delightfully refreshing musically, but it's all "take the power back" and "shoot down the black helicopters" in a way only Muse can pull off. The radio single, "Uprising," is not exactly groundbreaking for them, but it's a solid tune none the less, and I can't get enough of it. Just today I heard the other single they've released on their website's media player. "United States of Eurasia" is everything the title suggests as far as paranoia and conspiracy. It's like Coast to Coast AM set to a hybrid between Queen and the "Pride and Prejudice" soundtrack. I know, it's hard to imagine, but if you can find it or care to join the Muse fan club I insist you check it out.

P.S. Here's a picture from the first time I saw them. It was in 2004 on the side stage at The Venue. There were like 200 people there. It was amazing.

Night Driving

One of the simplest pleasures of life. I used to do it when I was mad. I used to do it when I was depressed. I used to do it when I was happy, excited, or just wanted to think. Still one of my favorite scenes is the spread of city lights before me. Music takes on a whole new quality when it is the soundtrack to a night drive. Some night drives of particular significance:

• The trip to Zak's cabin. We listened to Coldplay and Radiohead. It was the last time we were all together before adult life began to take hold. I look at it as a major transition.
  
• A weekend with two night drives: one with and one without a certain girlfriend. I realized how much happier I was without her, and asserted my freedom from her grasp shortly thereafter.
  
• Crossing through the desert with my brother. He likely doesn't remember it, but it was one of the major events that turned us from brothers to friends in my eyes.
• Driving up to perform a few songs on the radio. This was actually the very early morning, but I count it. I stayed up for something like 30 hours that day, not only setting a record for consecutive waking hours, but laughing harder than any other event that readily comes to mind.
  

The other day I enjoyed a delightful night drive. My employment took me to a neighboring state, and having early morning appointments the following day it was imperative I head home rather than booking a hotel. I listened to Radiohead and Coldplay the entire drive, songs like "How to Disappear Completely" and "Bigger Stronger." I had the windows down to enjoy the smell of cool night air. I saw several amazing shooting stars, the kind you could never hope for in the city. At one point my headlights fell on some creature hiding in the brush alongside the highway waiting for a chance to dart across and it's eyes were suddenly ablaze with some inward flame. I worked 16 hours that day, but contrary to expectations didn't feel at all sleepy. I was both invigorated and relaxed, and order was restored to life.

I need to take more night drives.

Strawberry

Check this bad boy out:




That is one beastly strawberry. It must have come from some amazing strawberry fields. To find it's equal, one would likely have to search the strawberry fields forever.

I recently heard that the Beatles box set is supposed to come out this fall. As I understood it is to be all of their studio albums plus some other goodies. I love the Beatles, but don't actually own much of their music, and this will be the perfect chance to remedy that situation. Soon I will be basking in the aural pleasure of Beatle-mania like I've never basked before.

In the meantime, I'm going to enjoy that mighty, mighty berry.

Red Skelton

I remember as a lad watching old Red Skelton shows with my pops and laughing uncontrollably. They don't make comedians like they used to. This here is another side of Red. Comedy isn't the only thing that's degraded since the good ole days...

Doctor

I remember watching Doogie Howser M.D. as a kid. I don't remember any specifics, except one time he was doing an autopsy on a mummy alone in a dark room and he thought it came to life. Or something like that. Last summer I was introduced to Dr Horrible, and it instantly became one of my favorite things ever. To be honest I didn't even realize that Neil Patrick Harris, who plays Dr Horrible, was also Dr Howser, until someone else mentioned it. The other day I stumbled on this and it made me think "Neil Patrick Harris is funny." To back that up, there is this, and while you're at it, all of this.

That's all for today.

Miles

If that's not cool, nothing is.

Stick it to em Jason

Mr. Speaker, I rise to give voice to the need to cut the size and scope of government. While the rhetoric and calls for increased spending continue to escalate, let us also remember it is our duty and obligation to do more with less.

Over the past 12 years, annual Federal spending has more than doubled, exceeding $3.1 trillion. Since January 2007, our government has added an average of $2.8 billion per day to our national debt. If deficit spending were the way to prosperity, our economy would be booming.

We are more than $10 trillion in debt and there is no end in sight. Let us remember it is not the government's money we talk about and spend, it is the American people's money. And we cannot afford to continue to run this government on a credit card. We're going to have to do more with less, and that means finding ways to cut government spending.

-Rep Jason Chaffetz, Jan 13 2009 On the House floor, 111th Congress

Read more at http://chaffetz.house.gov/legis/index.shtml

Finally, a politician that gets it. Let's hope he stays strong.