I’ve returned from a ten-day trip in the city and it’s taken a couple of days to wind down from the excitement and catch up on some in-my-own-bed sleep. We stayed in at least six hotels, though I’ve lost count of the exact number, mostly in midtown.

Now I’m in the process of determining the best way to manage over 700 images I shot there. Yikes!

First thing I did was process the 3 rolls of black and white film I shot with my little Olympus Stylus point-and-shoot camera. Those are mainly subway pics, taken on the down-low. Some look quite good considering I wasn’t looking through the viewfinder. I printed a couple of tests in the Cornell darkroom and they need some minor contrast adjustment. Returning to the darkroom has been fun after ten years away (since I studied photojournalism and spent several months in the darkroom). The stinky aroma of film developer is familiar once again.

The 600+ digital images, however, are sitting untouched in a folder on my desktop. Managing those is an entirely different (and arguably more complicated) task, mainly to accommodate the multiple uses I have in mind.

I will share some of my favorites here soon (I hope!) In the meantime, I present The (underphotographed) Gates:

So of course I’ve been out and about a little bit, testing and tweaking the new camera. On the weekend I transferred some pics and here’s an example of the results:
(more…)

As I mentioned previously I’ve been making crochet mocassins. I’ve auctioned a few pair on eBay and have sold two so far. Of course every pair is different, so I can be creative with the yarns and colours I use for each design.
(more…)

I bought Modest Mouse’s CD Good News For People Who Love Bad News because I love the song Float On and really just can’t get it out of my head! It’s been rated #53 in this list of the 500 Best Songs Ever! (Sort of).

In case you want to sing along while you listen:

Float On - Modest Mouse

I backed my car into a cop car the other day.
Well he just drove off, sometimes life’s OK.
I ran my mouth off a bit too much, oh what did I say?
Well you just laughed it off, it was all OK.

And we’ll all float on OK. And we’ll all float on OK.
And we’ll all float on OK. And we’ll all float on anyway.

Well, a fake Jamaican took every last dime with that scam.
It was worth it just to learn some sleight of hand.
Bad news comes, don’t you worry even when it lands.
Good news will work its way to all them plans.
We both got fired on exactly the same day.
Well we’ll float on, good news is on the way.

And we’ll all float on OK. And we’ll all float on OK.
And we’ll all float on OK. And we’ll all float on.
Alright already, we’ll all float on.
No don’t you worry. We’ll all float on.
Alright, already. We’ll all float on.
Alright, don’t worry. We’ll all float on.

And we’ll all float on.
Alright already, we’ll all float on.
Alright, don’t worry even if things end up a bit too heavy.
We’ll all float on.

Alright already, we’ll all float on.
Alright already, we’ll all float on OK.
Don’t worry, we’ll all float on.
Even if things get heavy, we’ll all float on.
Alright already, we’ll all float on alright.
Don’t you worry, we’ll all float on.
We’ll all float on.

This is a terrific work of art by four artists, two from Brooklyn and two from Belfast. (flash site)

I was at AC Moore on the weekend and flipped through a book called Designing With Photos. It’s an ambitious book for the scrapbooking set that strives to make you a better photographer too. If you don’t know all about the scrapbooking frenzy, you only need to walk into a craft store and ask if they have any materials for making scrapbooks. You’d likely get a look like What hole did you just crawl out of? In most craft stores there are a couple of long aisles filled with every tool and paper imaginable to make a kickin (or not) scrapbook. I don’t do the scrapbooking thing, per se, but now there are all kinds of fun techniques being documented for turning your keepsakes into art.

So in the book I found this idea where you take two identical images and cut them into strips, then weave them together. I chose two photos I shot from the same angle from the Empire State Building. The photos are not identical though, so the outcome is really not what the book suggested. But here’s the result:

Now, since I’ve been shooting so many pics of the waterfalls around here, I thought it might be neato to try using two images from different seasons, such as these for example. I have yet to try, but if I do maybe I’ll post the results.

Here’s a tremendous example of how clearly, and in an engaging way, scientific models could be explained to a non-scientific audience.

From Mathematicians crochet chaos - BBC News:

Mathematicians have made a crochet model of chaos - and are challenging anyone else to repeat the effort. Dr Hinke Osinga and Professor Bernd Krauskopf, of Bristol University’s engineering mathematics department, used 25,511 crochet stitches to represent the Lorenz equations. The equations describe the nature of chaotic systems - such as the weather or a turbulent river.

The academics are offering a bottle of champagne to anyone who cares to follow the pattern published in the journal Mathematics Intelligencer.

The idea for the “Lorenz manifold” model came to the couple during the Christmas break two years ago. Dr Osinga, who learnt to crochet when she was seven, was relaxing by crocheting some hexagonal lace motifs.

Prof Krauskopf asked her: “Why don’t you crochet something useful?”

Eighty-five hours of work and some supporting steel wire later, they had something almost a metre across which looks not unlike a big Christmas decoration - which is what they are using it as.

I’ve tried convincing Matt that he might enjoy learning to crochet (or knit, for that matter), since it’s a mathematical process and relaxing to do. He didn’t buy it. He’s seen me rip out many projects and he knows he couldn’t stand it if he had to do the same.

But this is a worthwhile challenge. Here’s a link to the pattern, if you’re brave enough to even entertain the thought of recreating the Lorenz manifold crochet. I would be interested in doing it if it weren’t a meter wide! What would you do with it in a small apartment? Eventually it would swallow you whole. Perhaps if the pattern could be modified to a foot across I would try it. Any takers?

No wonder parents were so freaked out by these guys:

Thanks firstly to Shane for the tip about the Ithaca Freecycle, and then do Jed who graciously left it on his porch for me to pick up - we now have this turntable - for free!

AND it appears to be in full working condition.

Now we just need to buy the needle, which can be ordered online at (surprise!) turntableneedles.com for about $25. I didn’t realize before today that the ‘proper’ term for a turntable needle is actually a stylus.

Freecycle is such a terrific idea, there should be one in every town. With over 6300 messages posted in the Ithaca group over the past year, it’s obviously been very useful around here.

I looked to see if Vancouver has one, and it does - so to my Vancouver friends, go check it out!

On the weekend we saw Ithaca College’s presentation of The Shape of Things at Clark Theatre. It was the first time we were up at the campus, and it’s reminiscent of SFU, only nicer, at least at night.

The Clark Theatre is set up in the round, offering a challenge to the players, and has 200 or so seating capacity. Extensive rails of overhead lights and a pumpin audio system reveal the school pays attention to its production crafts.
(more…)