Wednesday, April 28, 2010

Yikes


Today is interesting.  I am wearing numerous colors all "close" but "no."  Can you tell from the picture?  My point exactly.  I am wearing a blue tie with a black shirt.  Brown socks with bluish-gray shoes.  They are close, but they are not happening.  Here's the thing, I've been dabbling around, thinking about my future, my career, and right now, my major and/or classes I will be taking next year.  Right now I am a film major and an art minor.  I really like art.  I really like film.  They technically are close; both arts, both very visual, both "unconventional" majors.  They are "close" but "no."  Nevertheless, I'm working on a way to combine the two, use aspects of both in both.  Work them together like they were meant to be together.  I don't know.  I grip my head.  We'll see what happens.  Either way, it's unconventional.




In other news, I recently completed my latest photography assignment: the portrait.  This one was different for me for a few reasons.  First  of all, the teacher said to make sure you have as much light as possible, so, being me, I shot completely at night.  Why?  I'm not quite sure.  It was a challenge and I had a few ideas.  Second, I went home for a bit (over spring break?  I don't remember) so I decided to shoot a few buddies from home being, in order, Mr. Beau Akers, Mr. Scott Weir, and Mr. Patrick Greene.


There is story.  I had this idea to go up to Black Canyon, a really narrow, windy, mountain road hidden away in my city and shoot a roadkill-type shot.  I called up Mr. Beau Akers and Mr. Scott Weir and we headed up the hill, taking precautions, bringing traffic pylons and finding a spot where we would be able to see a car in the distance.  We went at 10:30 in the evening because it was really dark and (hopefully) no cars would be on that road.  We get up there, it's creepy, we set up in the middle of the road and do the shoot.  Right as we finish, we see a car coming up behind us.  PERFECT TIMING.  We couldn't believe it, it couldn't get any better, praise God we didn't run into trouble.

We're in the car, trying to find a spot to turn around because this road is a tiny two lane curving around the mountains.  So Mr. Scott Weir decides to pull a u-turn without a turn-out, which would have been fine.  However, as we are perfectly perpendicular to the road, and right in between two blind corners, we get stuck in a hidden ditch right after the asphalt stops.  We are stuck and start freaking out BECAUSE THERE IS A CAR BEHIND US making its way up the mountain.  After we realize flooring it in reverse is doing no good, Mr. Beau Akers and I jump out and attempt to push the truck out of the ditch, and to our pleasing, it worked.  We jump in, exhilarated, and make our way down the mountain.  The car never came.  In fact, it had stopped before it got to us on the side of the road.  It could have been a very sticky situation, praise God is didn't become one.  That's one half.

I shot one roll that night and I pushed the ISO on the roll one stop because my shutter speed needed to be sped up to prevent a nasty 4" exposure.  That would be no fun.  So I pushed the ISO and shot the roll.  However, I forgot to mark which roll I pushed the ISO on.  Now, I'm assuming most of you reading this don't have a clue what this means or why it's a big deal; just know that I was in a nasty situation and if I didn't develop the right roll, one or both of my rolls would be ruined and I would lose my work.  Naturally, I didn't want to lose my shots.  So here's what I did.  I would choose one roll to develop the correct time.  If the shots were ruined, I would know I picked the wrong roll and I would carry on to develop the second.  If I picked right, the first roll would be properly developed and the second pushed roll would need special treatment.  It was 50-50 chance.  I knew that if I was meant to have these shots, I would pick right.  I flipped a coin and developed the first roll to find I had PICKED RIGHT!  I was ecstatic.

Now I had to figure out how to develop the pushed roll.  As I worked with my teacher to figure it out, I realized I had pushed the ISO not just one stop but four full stops.  I had turned the dial one to the left, and that put it at the top ISO; I went from 400 ISO to 6400 ISO.  The photography books said not to push more than 2 stops, I pushed 4 stops.  I went for it.  I had to develop for twice the time, twice the time in anticipation to see if they turned out.

After it was all finished, I looked at my roll of 36 pictures, probably 8 turned out.  3 of those 8 are below.  I still can't believe it all happened like that.  Blows my mind.  Enjoy. 

Oh film.  I'm growing to enjoy film.  But why?  Digital is so much easier, faster, and many other pros.  But I like film a lot more now than I did at the beginning of the semester.  Makes it interesting.

In other news, this past Saturday was my floor's, Stewart Backside, GYRAD (get your roommate a date).  What this means is, as a floor, participants scrounge around to find dates for their roommates/friends to accompany them on a specific event, in our case, to the Santa Monica pier for a photo scavenger hunt.  I don't know if GYRADs are a Biola deal, but I like the idea.  Moving on.  To make a long (and I mean long) story really short, I had the privilege of going with Ms. Monica Hopson.  It was a good time, cruising around the pier looking for different things such as a purple dinosaur, yellow umbrella, snow cone vendor, surf bum, and the like, as well as enjoying authentic Santa Monica Pier pizza.  The game was to see who could take a picture of the most objects, then getting extra points for different things such as the both of you in the shot with your object.  We almost pulled out a win, but Mr. Joey Hocking and his date were just too good.  Anyway, it was an evening worthwhile.  Enjoy 3 of our photos, from first to last: COWBOY HATS, DEAD FISH, and ROCKS (we used sand, we got extra points for creativity).





En otha new, we gots videa, some videa for y'all folks. Enjoy dem, enja dem lots.


First up is some prime advertising. This viral commercial was put out by Pixar to promote their upcoming film, Toy Story 3. Because one of the main characters in the next segment of the Toy Story never existed, Pixar, in their brilliance, created a faux-1983 commercial for the bear known as Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear. ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT. This "commercial" is so perfect, so VHS-dubbed, that it completely leads the viewer to believe it was a real commercial twenty-some years ago. I can't get over it.



The next is also advertising but in a much more somber, morbid kind of way. Nevertheless, this is also an advertisement worth watching. Very well done.



Ah, the airplane.  Airplane's blow me away.  I can't start thinking about airplanes because I'll just flabbergasted and amazed at the animal we call humans.  That's a different story though.  Here's a video showing an airplane being built.  Pretty legitimate if you ask me, and those are some serious stencils.



Lastly, check this dude's antics as he rounds third base, running towards home plate, spot on through flying towards him, catcher obstructing this running path...



Straight up nutty.



Yes.  That's it.  Yes. Yes.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Quite feat.


Alright! Wednesday already! This week is flying by, folks: ::CORRECTION:: this year is flying by, folks.  It's almost done.  Can't near believe it.  The last few day's I've been checking out scheduling and classes for next year, next semester, and it proves to be an interesting challenge.  I don't have a clue what will come about.  I really don't have a clue on what my intentions are for the next few years.  I've been trying to figure it out, I haven't really succeeded.  I guess it will come with patience, prayer, and discernment, yes?  On the bright side, it sure keeps scheduling for each semester interesting because my "four-year-plan" is far from "scheduled."  Keps ye guessin', eh?


There isn't much story behind today.  I guess one story would be this: over spring break, while I was at home, prom was the topic of discussion among many high school students.  It took me back a year ago, to my prom.  Craziness ensued.  I actually looked back in my blog history and found the PROM post, it is actually quite the read, so check it out!  :::


All that to say, the tie I wore today was the tie I was SUPPOSED to wear to prom a year ago.  Didn't end up happening, but hey, I still have the tie, and it works quite well.



In other news, the San Jose Sharks are in the playoffs and are going to make it to the second round this year. They've got to.  As I write, they are tied in their series 2 games to 2 games with the Colorado Avalanche, a series of epic proportions, a series where every game has been decided by one goal, a series where the last three games (of four, mind you) have ended in overtime.  Straight up nutty.




FEATURE
In other news, guess what happened this past week? This blog received it's first acknowledgment outside of, well, this blog! Yesterday, April 20th, the Biola Chimes published an article online entitled "Meet Biola's Webbies" and I was interviewed for this here blog you're reading now. The piece is a short recap of five prominent "webbies" on Biola's campus with short descriptions and other goodies. Check out the article at this link:



Pretty cool! I'm excited for the future and what may come about. We'll have to see what happens. For all you consistent readers (and if this is your first visit, you'll learn soon enough), you know I update on the fly, I write as it comes to mind. So one day, who knows, I may just decide to stop. I may have nothing to write about anymore. However, on the other side, I may begin writing a TON and spend 15 hours of my Wednesday writing, therefore destructing from class time and, in the end, causing me to drop out of college. I sure don't know, you likely don't know, we're all in this thing together. Let's jam.




In other news, I gottsa some video for ya. Ye. Yes. Check them out, some good stuff, some good stuff for people of all shapes and sizes, for all likes and dislikes, for all emotions. Solidity.


Watch out, this first video may induce you to keel over from an overdosage of "cute." Just a warning.



For all you animal lovers who aren't so much into the puppies, and kitties, and other cuddly creatures, this next one is for you. This dude took on a massive anaconda--for sport. If I ever got lost in the jungle, I would mind being with this guy. I have a feeling he could take anything.




You ever used a BIC pen? Yeah, me too. Check out what this guy does with one BIC pen. Talk about a doodle.



Next up, a straight up jam using Nike FREE's. These guys get creative and make some beats, constructing a solid system between shoes and music. I'm not sure how they did it, all I know is they did, and it sounds beautiful.



You have likely heard of the recent volcano eruption in Iceland. This has created quite the eruption in the media as well has holding off multitudes of flights in and out of Europe. I think it's incredible how powerful the earth can be, how unpredictable the earth can be, how little we actually control. May this be even more evidence for intelligent design? We, as humans, may seem like we're in control, but this just rocks our world. Awesome. I love it.

That said, this video is a segment of INCREDIBLE footage from the volcano. Absolutely breathtaking.






That concludes this Wednesday's edition of It's Wednesday. I hope you have en excellent day today. Straight up.




I have one more video I added after the fact. I like this one, mainly because I wish I still rode my tricycle.





Taco Bell. Open Late. Later. We'll leave the light on for you.

Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Jam jam

I'm in a strange mood today.  I just want to jam.  I just want to have a good time, dance around, straight up jam.  Look at the picture.  That's real. 

Wednesday's are busy for me, and today is cetaintly no exception.  In fact, I literally have a very minimal amount of time to write to you.  But, I have some good news.  I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance by switching to Geico.


But seriously, I don't have time to write much.  But, I have some good news.  There has been an unusally high amount of quality video I have ran across this week.  So that is what this post is about.  Jam on.


I don't have time to talk about each one. Sorry. Look at the preview, if it looks interesting, watch, if not, don't watch. I'll tell you right now, they are all interesting in their own right, you may not agree with me, that's fine.

I just want to say that the dude in the first video is straight up legit. Let's jam.




It's everywhere. You've heard it.


Impressive. Royal High School video production: show them up.


I'm saving up for this.


Catchy beyond reason.


Funny, out of control, technologically advanced.


NUTTY. Do it.




Have a good one people of the internet. I wish I could spend more time with you.

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Grapevine


Today marks halfway through spring break; it is, after all, the middle day of the week, Wednesday. I am spending the day traveling back from visiting extended family in both Walnut Creek, CA and Bakersfield/Reedly area, CA for two reasons: to celebrate Christmas with my dad's side of the family because we had an emergency event conflict with our meeting in December and to celebrate my uncle's 50th birthday. Nutty. So now I'm on my way home, literally. I drive in my van, well my dad drives, and I'm sitting on my laptop (well sitting down, using my laptop), listening to some House music (Joker's Of The Scene). Technology is incredible. Whodathunk even 10 years ago that I, on April 7th, 2010, would be able to write a blog entry while cruising the Grapevine (a "scenic" mountain range the "scenic" 5 freeway in California). It's rather overwhelming.

In other news, break is nice; extremely fast, but nice. It's already Wednesday for cryin' out loud.



In other news, something big has happening in my music world and that is: my arguably favorite band, Underoath/UnderOATH/UØ, is experiencing a lineup change. Mr. Aaron Gillespie, an incredible drummer who plays rather unconventionally, creatively, and unlike any drummer I've ever heard, has decided to leave the band he has spent years and years jamming in.  Here is the statement Underoath released on April 5th, 2010:

We are taking this opportunity to sadly inform you the six of us have decided at the end of the current european tour, Aaron will no longer be playing in Underoath.  This was not a decision made in haste but a thought out and prayed upon group agreement.  It in no way effects any of the shows left on this tour.  They will still be our best efforts and enjoyable experiences for all.  For the future, Aaron will be pursuing other musical and ministry endeavors.  As for the rest of us we will continue to work hard on the new Underoath record.  We appreciate the love and support from everyone in the past and hope that all of us will continue to receive your support on our future paths. We love you guys. ....
.. ..
Tim, Grant, Aaron, James, Chris, and Spencer....

The split came as a big surprise to many people probably because Underoath is finishing up their tour in Europe and acknowledging that they are in the process of writing a new record. Not only was I so completely pumped for a new Underoath record, I was so completely pumped to see them live for the first time once they came back to the US (I had missed a PHATTY chance to see them last year).

I'm making it sound like Underoath is no longer existent=not true. They are still going at it, still going to tour, still going to put out a new record. Yes, it will not be the same without Aaron, but I trust the drummer they get will propel the band into sights unseen.  Every member of Underoath is so incredibly talented and unique that the departure of one member will not completely disarm them.  The new record will be absolutely incredible; different, but incredible.

One thing I want to say is that I am extremely grateful for the prayer and discernment about this decision. Obviously, I am not in the band, but through the statement and past issues Underoath has worked through, I know that this decision was a big ticket item and the outcome was the right path to take.  I am so pleased to see that Aaron posted on his blog, http://aaronrgillespie.tumblr.com, that there is no bad blood between the musicians and it is simply time for change. Underoath has put out some the best music I have ever heard and has redefined what music can sound like (Listen to "Lost in the Sound of Separation" and then listen to ANY other music and tell me what sounds beefier). I am so excited to see what Mr. Aaron Gillespie has tucked under his sleeve and also what the rest of the band has lurking behind the next corner. It will be rather interesting, but I am PUMPED.

via TWLOHA twitter





In other news, baseball season is under way. The San Francisco Giants are taking it this year, they are going to watch a 3-0 record turn into a 162-0 record, making them the first undefeated team in the history of baseball. I'm excited to watch them win the World Series this year.

Here's a video of something nutty that happened in a baseball game. Nutty is a good word for it.




In other news, I'm still in the car and my memory just hit the wall. I can't remember what I was going to write about, it could have been good, it could have been alright, it could have been straight up awful; fact is, I don't remember. So on that note, remember today because you won't have another Wednesday for another week. Have a great week fellow internet users.