September 2010 Archives

This time lapse of Baja, California, by Mike Flores is pretty cool work. I especially appreciate the attention to the music cue and the sunrise about two-thrids of the way through.

On his Vimeo site, Mike says:

This is a little compilation of timelapses I've shot down in Baja California this year. There's a mix of DSLRs and lenses used to shoot this; 5D, 5D2, 7D - 14mm, 16-35mm, 24mm mostly. Motion control via Mumford tables, or my 'servo city' dolly.

Music is by (stolen from) Clint Mansell, "Welcome to Lunar Industries" from the soundtrack to Moon. If you haven't seen Moon, you need to - it's a fantastic film.

I'm just always fascinated by compositing and green screen.  These traveling car sequences done by Stargate Studios are awesome—even to the reflections in the glass windows of the cars and the multi-angle shots.  I'd love to watch one of these compositing artists weave his/her magic.

Today was the hottest day (EVER) on record in LA:  113º!

It even reach 100º here in Manhattan Beach.  I had to turn on the air conditioning! Thank god we don't have humidity, or I certainly would be a puddle now.

I just came across Eirc Whitacre's Virtual Choir, 2010.  His idea is brilliant.  His composition and conducting are glorious.  The finished product is sheer transcendence:  people all over the globe bringing voice to beauty.  This is spectacular:  technology in the service of beautiful, united though individual, human emotive expression—a true global collaborative effort at its finest.  You easily see both the honesty and purity of the gift of self expression dedicated to the craft of human beauty in the faces and posture of the participants the editor chose to highlight.  (I'm just glad I didn't have to create the video compilation or mix the audio!)

Brilliantly conceived from start to finish, this virtual choir has already been viewed over a million times on YouTube. Most, though not all, of the singers are younger people from the United States, Canada, Singapore, Germany, and Sweden. If you wish to learn more about how the Virtual Choir began, check out this video.  I would love to know the back story on how the participants came to be involved in this collaboration.

Want to participate in the Virtual Choir 2011? You can! Eric wants it to be the largest Virtual Choir ever recorded. At this link Eric discusses how to interpret the score, Sleep, for the Virtual Choir 2011 recording. You can learn more about how to record and upload your part, sign up and download the score at Eric's web site.  The text and translation can be found at this link.

This is awesome!  Be sure to watch it in full screen.  (Also, the audio doesn't begin until the curtain opens.)

Here is a link to the Westminster Chorus singing this piece in TTBB, and this link to the Westminster Cathedral Choir.  Eric uses the gift of delicate dissonance so carefully crafted as to become sonorous and expansive. Just no words to describe it...

Related articles:

• Eric Whitacre's Virtual Choir Tour (theworld.org)
• How Digital Media is Attracting New Arts Audiences (readwriteweb.com)

A dislocation of what we see around us and what we hear; inviting into our lives the voices of people who are not physically present with us.

Even if you don't suffer from it, your children probably do:  encased in the audio world of their earbuds and headphones.

Two types of hearing:

1. Active Listening
2. Passive Hearing

Two types of listening:

1. Reductive Listening:  Listening "for," reduces everything down to what is relevant and discards everything else.  Guys listen reductively
2. Expansive Listening:  Listening "with" not listening "for," no destination in mind.  Women listen expansively

For your health, seek out silence.  Move away from silence with intention.  Seek out the sound of wind, water, and birds. Design soundscapes around you with a foreground, a background—all in balanced proportion.

1. Listen consciously
2. Protect your ears
3. Befriend silence
4. Train your voice
5. Make music
6. Design the soundscapes around you
7. Speak up for quality sound environments around you

Source:  Julian Treasure's TEDGloabl 2010 presentation on Sound Health

My personal favorite earbuds have been the Ultimate Ears TripleFi 10vi Noise-Isolating Headset from Ultimate Ears.  They are not inexpensive, but they produce a beautiful sound quality and isolate noise effectively.  (I simply tune the screaming brat(s) right out of my field of hearing on the plane as I fly.  They were actually purchased as a reaction to the unforgivable Owen incident.)  I therefore find myself listening at reasonable volumes even in very loud environments, like an airplane.

Additionally, this small headset produces a very nice quality bass response and includes a microphone in the wire.  I love them and have blogged about (reviewed) them before here.  Perhaps the next time I purchase earphones, I will spring for the rather expensive and completely personalized Ultimate Ears Custom In-ear Monitors which sell for almost $1,400 and contain 6 proprietary speakers per monitor.  You go to an audiologist who creates an ear mold which Ultimate Ears uses to create the body of the Monitors so they fit you perfectly.

Of curious note:  Ultimate Ears has an iPhone App that measures the SPL (sound pressure level) around you and promotes their products and the bands that use them.

As a trained musician, I've always been very attentive to my hearing and find that to have paid off significantly.  I am frequently told I hear things other my age no longer can hear at all, including the annoying ticking of the HU's watch.  I have routinely avoided listening at high levels all of my life or even being in loud environments.  In fact, I've even attended concerts with my fingers in my ears as the sound was unquestionably unhealthily loud.  Call me a fanatic:  I greatly enjoy my sense of hearing.

Related articles:

• Sound health in 8 steps: Julian Treasure on TED.com (ted.com)
• Listen up: Protect hearing; turn down sound (seattletimes.nwsource.com)
• Ultimate Ears SuperFi 4 Noise Isolating Earphones [Daily Deal] (blippitt.com)
• Ultimate Ears In-Ear Reference Monitors Now Available (mashable.com)

For years now, I have been a huge fan of Vlad Gerasimov's work at Vladstudio, @vladstudio, where this Russian digital artist shares desktop designs, e-cards, apps and games, and much more that are brilliantly creative and beautiful.  He provides each of his nearly 700 desktops in virtually every imaginable size one would ever need (over 60!!), for single monitors, double monitors, even triple!  They are also available for mobile devices: phones, ipads, etc.  A design perfectionist, everything about his site is beautifully and organically presented.

But I am always stricken with the beauty and the creativity of his work.  I invite you to click on his image below, The Birth of the Night Fury, suitable for the upcoming Halloween season, to go to his site.  Awesomeness!

Another absolutely perfect Fall day!

The Friday laundry cycle has begun.

In a few minutes I'll be off to the Tonsorial Parlor for another amazing haircut.  My hair is so long now, I'm not sure if it improves or interferes with the neighbors satellite TV reception.

Then, it's off to the cleaners to drop off and pick up.

Next is the grocery shopping.  (I know.  Unbelievable.)

And after catching up on emails, I'll wrap up the day with the writing project.

Full day.

Today is my annual post proclaiming my love for the Fall season!  I know I should have posted this yesterday, but I have a good reason for waiting until today.

This summer, the marine layer which blankets the south bay area and is frequently referred to as the May Gray or the June Gloom, has visited more days than it has not here along the ocean.  To be honest, it's been quite depressing and cold—very, very cold!  Oddly, just a few miles north or east, and the marine layer routinely gave way to brilliant sunshine.  Yesterday, the first day of Fall, was yet again, another day of the gloomy, foggy, heavy, thick marine layer.

But last night we had a gorgeous Harvest Moon and today:  no marine layer.  I can actually see that the angle of the sun has dramatically changed and speaks of Fall.  The days are certainly shorter, the maple tree across the street is turning, and my favorite season begins.

Delight!

[Image source (top right):   raymaclean @ flickr; click to enlarge Ray's photo]
[Image source (bottom two):  me:  Maine,  October, 2008]

Related articles:

• Where's the Sun this Summer? (laist.com)
• Unusually cold July in L.A. brings more drizzle, less sizzle (latimesblogs.latimes.com)

1. Make the super rich wealthier.
2. Lie more to America. (Use FOX)
3. Make the super rich wealthier.
4. Spend more on war.
5. Make the super rich wealthier.
6. Privatise public education.
7. Make the super rich wealthier.
8. Destroy the environment.
9. Make the super rich wealthier.
10. Give corporations more control over government.
11. Make the super rich wealthier.
12. Take away healthy care for Americans because the country can't afford to do that and make the super rich wealthier and wage war on an invisible enemy.
13. Make the super rich wealthier.

Forbes is reporting that, despite the worst depression in our lifetimes, the top 400 wealthiest Americans' wealth grew by 8%!  These 400 people have a combined wealth of $1.37 trillion.

But, by god, they need the tax break that their man, George W. Bush, gave them to be extended!

Bill Gates, the wealthiest of them all, now seems to be using his foundation to peddle privatizing public schools.  Let me guess:  part of that process will somehow make him even wealthier!  You know, I remember Ted Turner had to publicly shame Gates into giving money for charitable purposes before he would give a dime to anyone.  Now Bill seems to understand how to wield his influence through "philanthropy."

You know, I wouldn't care if the super rich got even wealthier if their doing so didn't continue to crush the average guy on the street.

Related articles:

• Forbes 400: The super-rich get super-richer (money.cnn.com)

This time lapse of San Francisco, by Simon Christen, was shot over a one year period and is quite beautiful.

Related articles:

• San Francisco Bay: The Unseen Sea (current.com)

Jon Stewart is smart and funny.  I love how he refers to Glenn Beck as his kid's college fund.  Well, if Palin (Will she ever go away!  Who keeps paying for us to see her, anyway?!) and Beck can have a rally, so can sane people.

The Rally to Restore Sanity, being held by Jon Stewart, is slated for 10-30-10 in Washington DC!  I wish I could go.  It has to be a great and funny event about something serious. Here's how Stewart describes it:

We live in troubled times, with real people who have real problems. ... Problems that have real but imperfect solutions, that I believe 70 to 80 percent of our population could agree to try, and ultimately live with. Unfortunately, the conversation and the process is controlled by the other 15 to 20 percent.

"You may know them as the people who believe that Obama is a secret Muslim planning a socialist takeover of America ... or that George Bush let 9/11 happen to help pad Dick Cheney's Halliburton stock portfolio. You've seen their signs: 'Obama is Hitler'; 'Bush is Hitler'... But why don't we hear from the 70 to 80 percenters? Well, most likely because you have @^#% to do."

The voice of the moderate majority in this country needs to be heard.  Moderates need to be seen.  Extremism has got to go!

Stephen Colbert, another funny guy, will also be participating with his "Keep Fear Alive" rally.  Follow rally developments on Twitter.

Watch this all the way through!

Caption:  "It's your anniversary – break out the bubbly."

This tragic, yet true tweet has been circulating:

The Tea Party - thousands of hard-working middle-class FOX viewers fighting to make sure the rich pay less in taxes.

What's with people that watch FOX?  Rupert Murdock, whose company owns FOX, isn't even an American, and he's getting filthy rich (current net worth is $6.3 billion--with a "b") on the backs of hard-working Americans by scaring and lying to them.  He has way too much power and influence.  Why would anyone trust him at all?!

That is a common question I get.  I recently read another article that sums up well why I do NOT use Facebook.

1.  I think the founder, Mark Zuckerberg, is a jerk.  According to the article in Wired, he "once joked dismissively about the 'dumb fucks' who 'trust me'."  I don't trust the self-posessed, immature, opportunist.  He doesn't have the best interest of others at heart, only his own.  He wants you to share every tidbit of information about your life with his company, but he shares next to nothing about his life with anyone.  He's exceedingly private, according to an article at CNN today.

Reasons 2 - 5 are also good reasons not to participate in wholesale Facebook information sharing, number 3 being particularly noteworthy:  Information you supply for one purpose will invariably be used for another.  The article sights some excellent examples.  Here's one of my own:  No one has considered what the longterm impact of having news marketed and election information market to individuals based on their pre-existing opinions, philosophies, and associations will have on the longterm wellbeing of a democracy.  Living in a world of your own making is not a healthy place to live.  Opposition is healthy and can spur critical thought that can either reframe or reinforce your thinking.  But if you are only receiving information that affirms your current view, then your opportunity to grow is exceedingly limited.

Reason number 6 is the most compelling reason for me.  I don't want corporations to own culture.  I don't want corporations to own news.  I don't want business to own social discourse.  Mark wants to own you.  No, but thanks.  I say, "Unfriend Facebook."

BTW, this Facebook-related Greenpeace ad campaign is brilliant!

Related articles by Zemanta

• Six facts about Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (cnn.com)
• Six Reasons Why I'm Not On Facebook, By Wired UK's Editor (wired.com)
• Greenpeace pokes fun at Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg (simplyzesty.com)

This, pardon my bluntness, imbecile, Pastor Terry Jones, is nothing more than a religious extremist and an opportunist.  That the media gave him any national attention speaks to their lack of professionalism and their contribution to validating his absurd attention-seeking, sensationalist behavior.  Extreme voices that lack credibility should be marginalized not sensationalized. The for-profit based media in the country is once again to blame for making news where none existed and ignoring the issues of substance we face in this nation and abroad.

I suspect that Jones' calling his hate-filled event off has less to do with what he claims and more to do with a quiet visit he received from the FBI earlier today.

From where I sit, Al Qaeda and nut cases like this have a whole lot in common.  They are radical extremists whose causes the whole world should marginalize.

Related articles:

• Obama Decries Quran Burning (blogs.wsj.com)
• "Terry Jones is an attention-seeking moron" and related posts (hammeroftruth.com)
• BREAKING: Pastor Terry Jones Agrees To Cancel Burning Of Korans (joemygod.blogspot.com)

Now, if I could bottle this as an injection, I'd make a fortune.

In 4 seconds I go from wrinkled old spotted skin to something younger. The picture you see below is the finished product. When you play the 4 second video, it jumps to the real photo and morphs in 4 seconds to the new improved me. Then, when it stops playing, it jumps back to the real me.  Yikes!

You know, I'm fairly forgiving of people but not at all of corporations.  For example:  when the Exxon Valdez spilled oil all over Prince William Sound in Alaska back in 1989, I swore I would never knowingly purchase Exxon products again.  Here 11 years later, I've kept that promise.

I was so annoyed by the crappy cars the American auto industry forced on the American public back when we had no choice but to purchase their junk.  Then, when the Japanese began importing affordable, well built cars into the US, I started buying Hondas.  I bought a VW.  I bought a Toyota.  I bought a Nissan. At one point, years ago, my wife talked me into buy a Ford.  Never again!  Garbage on wheels.

The Ford was such a crappy vehicle, even with the Japanese competition, I swore I would never again buy an American car.  Why couldn't we as a country build a quality car that was affordable?!  Every American-made car I ever had been in felt like a piece of junk--like an overly padded tomb on wheels!

As far as I was concerned, when the American auto industry was about to go under just over a year ago, I could have cared less.  They built crap cars for generations. Let them be victimized by their own mismanagement and lack of quality design, engineering and construction. They were getting what they deserved.  No forgiveness.

But in the past month, I've rented 2 American-made cars.  I was shocked.  They didn't look like, feel like, or handle like junk.  The best was a Ford.  I actually felt like a quality.

My cousin just purchased a Buick LaCrosse.  Not only was it gorgeous, the interior was well crafted, well designed, ergonomic.  I could get in and out of the car without having to contort my body.  The leather interior was classic.  The rear camera technology was awesome.  It got good gas mileage.  The price wasn't just affordable, it was highly competitive with the luxury cars in its class. I was actually positively impressed!

Now, I doubt I will ever buy another American-made car.  But at least the American auto industry is beginning to earn a little respect after 40 years!  It may come too late.

Related articles:

• U.S. Auto Sales May Reach 28-Year Low for August (businessweek.com)

Well, this is interesting.  I've just discovered it:  The Coffee Party.

This is a non-partisan community of people who really want change and are not comfortable with the status quo. They want the political process to return to the people and not special interests.  The emphasis seems to be on collective action based on what people find in common not a politics of division.

I'll be eager to see where this goes.

The founder, Annabel Park, talks about seeing an x-ray of the political process that unfolded in the media over the healthcare reform debate.  It was so completely broken and ineffective.  She talks of how the divisions among people in the US are greatly exaggerated.  She emphasizes engaging in dialogue to problem solve for solutions upon which we can all agree.  The politics of division has broken the entire political process. She speaks of using the collaborative tools of the internet to bring together a platform upon which people find consensus. You can listen to a really interesting interview with her at this link. She is very articulate.

Democracy is not like a football game where people watch and someone wins and someone looses and it's a zero sum game situation.  Democracy presupposes a notion of community and the advancement of the common good. ... When everything is about winning and losing, that doesn't promote collaboration. ... We have to show people in Washington that this is what democracy looks like.  [She previously emphasized civility.] ... We are not being represented well by the government and by the media.  In that sense we are similar to the Tea Party. ... The harshness of their rhetoric is alienating to me.  In the end we might want similar things, but our journey might be different."

You can watch a brief video about their Coffee Party Convention by clicking the image below.  They have an interesting and diverse group of featured guests for their upcoming event which will be chaired by Lawrence Lessig, Founder of Change Congress & Professor at Harvard Law School, and Mark McKinnon, communication strategist for John McCain and George W. Bush.

And here is their Unity Pledge:

Related articles:

• Coffee Party Convention: Liberal Response To Tea Party Plans Louisville Gathering (huffingtonpost.com)
• Roger Ebert Challenges Sarah Palin To Debate With Coffee Party Founder, Annabel Park (huffingtonpost.com)

Yesterday was my first visit to The Tonsorial Parlor -- a barbershop/hair salon in Manhattan Beach.

I have been searching for the past 2.5+ years for a good place to get my haircut. I found a guy that did a great job. The salon where he worked was just ridiculously expensive. While he always cut my hair waaaaaaay too short, it was an even, non-lumpy haircut. Then one day, he was gone. The other places I have tried give horrid haircuts.

Yelp sent out an email focused on barbershops and hair salons in my area. As much as I use Yelp, I'm surprised I hadn't thought about using it find a barbershop. The name of this one caught my eye: The Tonsorial Parlor. The reviews were extremely complimentary. One customer writes:

Tonsorial Parlor is a real gem, a cozy, funky, one-of-a-kind fusion of hair salon and barber shop. It looks like something straight out of a Clint Eastwood western, boasts a highly competent staff who charge very fair prices and sits just blocks from the beach. 

Dale, who has cut my hair here for decades, epitomizes the place. He's also a stage and screen actor, a talented musician, a martial arts master, drives a motorcycle to work and serves as a cowboy on cattle drives. He probably could do anything for a living. He CHOOSES to do this. And I choose to drive 30 miles to just to get my haircut here. Now you know why..."

The photos of the shop on the web site were out there cool. It was reasonably priced. I had to visit.

I sent the owner a text message to set up my appointment. Not only did he live up to the rave reviews of his customers, his shop is way cool. He has been in business there for nearly 40 years I think.

This is absolutely one of, if not THE, best haircuts I've ever had. Need a reasonably priced barbershop in the south bay area? You have got to go see Dale!

I have no memory of this, but apparently the US Core of Engineers stopped the water flow over Niagara Falls in 1969 to see how stable the rock bed was.  Flickr user, Russ Glasson, took several amazing pictures of the event:  Niagara Falls with no water falling!  Check his photos out at this link.

Related articles:

• They Stopped Niagara Falls (neatorama.com)