Orange Juice

>rent a car bulgariahly squeezed orange juice is awesome.  However, it must have the pulp.

I havent posted in ages and I’m not very compelled to do so again.  I’ve written a lot but for my own personal stash which only serves an awareness purpose (make me aware of an idea or work it out in my head) so I never really post anything.

I guess the general mood lately is dissapointment.  I am dissapointed that half the country (kinda) is falling for this stupid McCain/Palin thing.  I talk to people about it and they blatantly tell me that they like Palin because she has a nice attitude.   I fail to realize how that’s relevant to being a VP.  Diversity is good and all here in the US….but it can be a pain pretty often.  In fact, have you seen this?

I wonder what they’d say if I voted, but for McCain.  No, they just want me to vote but for the guy they endorse.  I can’t believe people get swayed by stuff like this.  And no, it doesnt make a difference.  If the independent party won by 30 million votes, then electoral college can still decide otherwise.  Hell, presidential debates have only 2 candidates instead of all of them (or at least 3).

Another front of disappointment comes from music.  I find a song that I really like by some band and when I explore the rest of their catalog, it sounds like crap and nothing like the song that made me check them out in the first place.  This goes back to people downloading songs illegally (before buying them legally on services like Napster and iTunes).  Why buy a whole album when you only like one song or two?  And yet again, this solidifies my idea that music today just sucks.  There isnt a single contemporary band that breaks my criteria for good music.  This criteria is simple:  If a band releases an album with 10 songs and I only like 3, then that’s a dissapointment.  But I keep finding good music that’s older than me, so that’s a good relief.

Speaking of that, I keep reading about how kids nowadays (heh sound like an old man already) are finding good music through Guitar Hero and games like that.   My boss’ son (he’s 15) asked me if I knew a song by Judas Priest.  OF COURSE I KNOW IT.  He liked it a lot and so do other kids who are making the “cool” connection through a game.  I betcha if parents introduced them to this music, then many would consider it lame. Then again, parents aren’t doing much in that department.  My kid will listen to AC/DC while trying to squat those annoying hanging birds on top of his crib.  His (or her!) first words are gonna be “eleven” because that’s how high it’s gonna get cranked to.

And surprisingly, expect some photography around here.  Yea I know what you’re thinking. Let’s hope you’re wrong.

Orange juice with pulp FTW

Intro to Improv

Today I had the great pleasure to finally see Big in Japan do a set.  I met up with Kev after 3 years that do feel like longer.  I also got to hang around with a bare-bones version of the group and they all seemed like great people.  Lots of “aboots”, little or no “ehs.”  A novelty to me because I dont get to hear much Canaaaaaaadian.

Anyways, being at the show and watching the different groups perform was great.  Unfortunately, I only got to see about 5 groups perform and there were a lot that Kevin recommended but I couldnt get to see because I had to be heading back home.  I thought that this event was gonna be next weekend, so I got caught a bit off guard and the fact that I have to get up at 5AM on Sunday to go for a drive with Calton and Kerry and then do a shoot didnt help much.

But now that I know how awesome improv and Big in Japan is, I’ll have a different plan for next year: Drive into manhattan and staying the night.  Public transportation doesnt stand a chance against Hanz.

Anyways, when it comes to improv, I think I’d prefer to be in the audience.  The biggest reason for this is my complete inability to not laugh, especially at my own stupid jokes…..or my stupidity in general.  I think i’d much rather write and perform than perform spontaneously in that fashion.  I think that if i write something and ready it long enough, it’ll become less funny and it might allow me to get past my own chuckling.

Anyways, it was awesome and I’m definitely going again next year.  Today was a beautiful day to hang around Manhattan and the 1:30hs train ride was worth it.

Analog and Mechanical

We had a meeting with a client who is now retired but still works with antiques and things like that.  I have to make some artwork so that he can use in some of his stuff.  Some of this artwork includes directions for a vintage slot machine and the front of a pepsin gum dispenser (5 cents a pack!).

This guy loves to talk antiques.  Try to small talk him about anything else and you’ll be able to tell that he doesnt give a damn.  You know, my kinda guy.

This got us talking about old stuff and how things were done back in the day when people actually made stuff as opposed to work with computers all the time.  I was reading about how the average age of welders today is 54 and how next year there’s gonna be a demand for 200,000 welders.  This kind of demand for this kind of skilled labor will make it easy for a welder to make 6 figures.  During WW2, the average age of a welder was about 20 because everyone was involved in the war effort.  Bombers were being produced at the rate of 1 every 55 minutes.

I was also thinking about how the average kid in the 30s was busy in the shed working on motors and mechanical stuff instead of playing videogames.  And how many of the pilots in WW2 were kids right out of the farm who were taught how to fly these insane planes that were incredibly mechanical and hard to fly, not to mention unpressurized and noisy as hell at -50F degrees.  Stuff like this makes me wanna slap emo kids even more.

All of this got me thinking about how things are different today and what the trade-off is.  I think that technology became so complex that we need technology to help us use it.  Lets stick to planes for a second:  The B-2 bomber became possible because computers control the stability and keep it in the air.  If all the computers were to fail, that thing would fall out of the sky.  And this applies to lots of other things.

So I see technology being necessary for other technologies to be used by us.  Like a cell phone.  Kinda sophisticated, but we need it to use the even more sophisticated network.  It’s like a kind of technology being a bridge so that humans can use the technology that we really want to use.  Make sense? I will get testicular acupuncture if i write technology one more time.

In turn, I think things became a little dull.  Things aren’t as hands-on and so we lost some of the direct contact.  Of course, this doesnt apply to every single thing but i think that you can agree with this to some extent.  Another example are paddle shifters in cars.  What was wrong with an extra pedal and shifter next to you?  In the mid 90s, the McLaren F1 came out and over a decade later, it is still considered the best car of all time.  It doesnt look dated one bit and it’s so visceral that it makes the link between man and machine extremely tight.  Whereas today, you mostly have humans telling the computer what they want the car to do.  Sure, technology advances and it’s considered better….but if we lose some touch, then is it worth it?

Ideally, I should’ve written this on a typewriter and sent a telegram

Classical Music = Truly Epic

Wow another entry so soon? I must be on crack. Close enough.  This kind of thing is just as addictive.

Music for me is often a soundtrack.  But soundtrack, up until now, was more of a background thing.  Whatever experience I was having was only slightly affected by the music I was listening to at the time.  My music taste is rather focused.  Rock&roll is usually a safe bet, along with some very selective techno (like KMFDM and Juno Reactor).

But you can’t always use these two for everything.  Surely some fit a lot of situations, but rarely make them memorable.  And by memorable, I mean epic.  There is only one kind of music that will make something epic: Classical.

I do like classical music.  Don’t ask me about big names like Mozart, Chopin, and Bethoven.  I dont really know the names of the songs, but i like classical music way more than the garbage that’s today on the radio.  But who makes classical music today? Where do you get it? Got names? Well, turns out that the answer to those questions is right in my DVD collection.  Yup, movies have been using this kind of music to make moments epic.  Look no further than Lord of the Rings, the Jurassic Park theme song, the scene in Shawshank Redemption when Andy breaks out, Star wars, Gladiator, and so on.

This makes for an interesting notion: Our only source of contemporary classical music today are movies.  There was none of that back when Bethoven was around.  He didnt get famous for making the soundtrack of a Shakespeare play.  But now, things are a bit different.

So for this, you’re gonna need some things for an epic recipe.  A good experience/visual/memory, a good song, and volume.You shall play the 3 following clips at moderate volumes.  At low volumes, they dont do anything.

Exhibit A: Evey Reborn, from V for Vendetta.  You can listen to it here. Now, the quality sucks a bit because it’s youtube.  The actual audio file is much better and makes a huge diffference.  But you’ll get the idea with this.  In the movie, this is where V takes Evey goes to the rooftop and then she cries in the rain.   You can see that scene here, but the music isnt as imposing in the clip.

Now that you have a song as a starting point.  Lets apply it to something else.  Something as unexpected from me as say……oh, i know! 3 supercars driving in Europe! How un-me! Oh, and watch that in the higher quality.

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This required epic-prone material.  So I went back to the pictures that I took when I went to the mountains in Argentina last year, fullscreened the bastards and started playing that song.   It was like being there again.  I got goosebumps.

I cannot describe what this feels like.  I get in a little bubble in which nothing matters.  I can die right then and there and my corpse would have a smile on its face.  Surely it looks silly from the outside, but that doesn’t matter.

But that’s for that one song. Today at work I was listening to a collection of movie soundtracks.  I was doing some mundane work like a preview for a website.  Nothing big.  But then the theme song from Lord of the Rings started playing.  Suddenly, this crappy little thumbnail became epic.  It felt important.  I couldve sworn that I was in Middle Earth and Gandalf was kicking ass in Photoshop on the other computer.

I can’t wait to try this on other stuff.  It seriously transforms things.  Sometimes it’s serious and visceral, and sometimes it’s just silly and funny as hell.  Like listening to the Jurassic Park theme song when you drive by the mini golf and see the fiberglass dinosaurs.  This is something new that shall be explored in much further depth.

And Olya, I tested the feed and my reader picks them up just fine.  I dont know what it could be! I’m talking about the entry RSS, not the comments.  I haven’t tried those yet, but don’t see why they wouldnt work if the regular one does.

Out For a Drive

Hesi, pay attention here.  This is the answer to your question of why some people name their cars.

It should be no secret at this point that I love to drive.  I always have, ever since I got into my first car.  This bit of information is crucial, as it establishes a connection with the machine.

I cant really tell you what was the first car I ever drove.  The definition of driving could be a bit hazy in that regard.  Technically, I drove when I was 5 years old. My father sat me on his lap and let me park the car.  I steered that son of a bitch into place and it magically didnt crash into my room.

But, if you must, the first car I drove was my father’s Ford Tempo 9 years ago around a parking lot.  And I mean “around” literally.  Completed a circle and that was it.   But that was merely the practice.

I’ve always been fascinated by cars.  Perhaps not in the mechanical sense until recently, but the interest was there.  And now, that interest is really strong.  Anyways, the point that I was making was about the connection with the car.  This is crucial.  Naturally, I loved to drive the cars that I’ve owned.  I got to choose them, I got to take care of them, they were mine in all senses.  So, naturally, you kinda develop a connection with the machine.

My first car, the Plymouth Breeze, was by no means a masterpiece.  Sure, it was a hell of a first car, and the fact that it was my first car made all the difference in the world.  I would go for drives aimlessly.  Same thing with the Altima that came after it.  Then, along came Hanz…

This car cracked me.  All of my interest for cars has been kept relatively inside, but this car gives me insane amounts of enthusiasm.  I wouldnt be surprised if you were sick of hearing about it.  I cant blame you, but I dont care.

It is what’s called a “driver’s car.”  This means that the driver is involved and more in touch with the car.  You have to  pay attention, and it’s not an annoying thing in the least.  The car has been in the shop 3 times since I bought it (for repairs that are common with its age), but it has been worth it every single time. You always hear about cars being the means to an end, with the end being getting from point A to point B.  With cars like these, the car is the point.  And when it comes to going somewhere, it’s like going from point A, to point B (car), to point C.

Now, all of this was known to me but it was seriously enforced 2 weeks ago when I dropped Hanz off at the dealership for some suspension work and I got a Camry loaner.  Now, this loaner was free, which was very nice.  But driving became dull.  Traffic became irritating, the car was heavy, didnt respond right, it was slow as hell, didnt sound right, it was ugly inside wtih plastic everywhere, and it was dreadful to drive.  I was happy when I didnt have to go out and drive the thing.  The only redeeming point is that it got hella good mileage….but that seemed like a high price to pay.

After a few days, everything became boring.  Uneventful.  The fun was gone.  This is when I realized that I had been spoiled.  And this has nothing to do with the BMW brand. I dont care about cars that way.  Hell, I would take Hanz (and the M5s from his generation in general) over the newer ones.  It is what you like best, and I’m happy of the fact that I can’t be suckered into having the latest and greatest, because its certainly the former, but not necessarily the latter.

But Thursday came and this was when I was going to pick Hanz up (if you didnt notice by now, my car is called Hanz).  He was nowhere to be found in the parking lot.  I assumed that he was out in the back.  So I sign the paperwork, return the key to the dullmobile, and go outside to wait for my car to be driven up.  A few moments pass and nothing.  I hear something, turn around, and it was another car.  I turn around again to see, but nothing.  After about the 5th time, I see a familiar car coming down the alley.  It’s HANZ! Oh how I’ve missed thee.  It seemed in slow motion (the guy was driving it slow, but we’ll keep the slow motion comment).  He gets out of the car, hands me the key, and the reunion began.

Sitting down in the driver’s seat was like reuniting with an old friend.  And the smell! Hanz has a unique smell.  It’s not necessarily leather, but…..heck, describing unique smells in words is impossible.  I shift into gear, and start driving.  Since I got him back, I’ve been looking for any excuse to go out for a drive.  Interestingly, I havent turned on the stereo since then.  That’s how visceral it is.  I dont need the stereo.  I dont need to be driving with the windows down and the stereo up.  The sound itself is music.

But, despite the enthusiasm, I must stay in check.  I have to be reminded that I own the car, and not the other way around.  Cars come and go in our lives, and I’m hoping to keep this one for a long, long time.

Words: Part II - Mountains

I was watching Top Gear again, and this bit of language exploration was sparked by the bit where they drive the Audi RS6 in the Alps.

I find it interesting how 2 things that are basically the same can seem different depending on the name that they’re given.  I did a bit of exploration of this idea back in the old blog (old rag, for those who remember).

The Alps, the Rockies, the Andes, and the Himalayas. All basically mountain ranges.  Should you be blindfolded and dropped into a remote section of one of these, you wouldnt have a clue as to where you were (save for reading the sky).  Yet their names makes them sound grand (or not so).  Clearly, the wimps of the group are the Rockies.  It just sounds kinda wimpy compared to the othes.  Yet it rocks some good stuff.  Then, it’s the Andes.  Now, in English, it’s and - ees, but in Spanish, it’s an-dehs.  It gives it a bit more kick, wouldnt you say?  Anyways, being that those are the ones I’ve been closer to (plus the fact that I’m from a country that has them), I feel a bit more attached to those.  Biased, if you will.

Then it’s a toss up between the Alps and the Himalayas.  Now, for me, the Himalayas carry a “way the hell out there in the end of the world” stigma.  Kinda like you gotta travel really really far to get to them, whereas the alps have a more civilized stigma for me. Like if someone says “I’m going to the Alps,” you’d think: “ah, nice.  Going skiing?”  Whereas if someone says “I’m going to the Himalayas,” it’s more like “ah shit I hope you make it back, you hardcore mountaneer!”

I realize that I put weight on the stigma for those last two, but that’s what comes to mind.  Now, here’s the interesting bit, and we gotta go back to the Andes.  The Andes are a bit of a general idea for me, but Aconcagua (tallest peak in the American continent) carries more weight.  It sounds better, it looks amazing (it sticks out of the mountain range quite noticeably, and it’s a heck of a landmark (redundant, I know).  Whereas Everest and Himalayas don’t have the same play for me.  Himalayas sounds mightier.  Everest sounds Western, and Himalayas sound Asian. Everest sounds like it’s around the corner, but Himalayas is way the hell out there, like I mentioned before.

“Hey Honey, I’m going to the Himalayas
“OH NOES! When will you be back? WILL YOU SURVIVE?!?”

“Hey Honey, I’m going to the Everest”
“Okay, bring Milk on your way back home”

Now, another bit….the word Mount in front of it gives it a boost, doesnt it? Mount, Peak, or any of those give a boost to something that otherwise sounds kinda wimpy.  Everest could be a pub.  But Mount Everest….now that’s serious business!

Interestingly, there’s a city in Ethiopia called Gamiddo (my last name, for those who didn’t know) and I think there’s a Mount in there by that name.  That’s interesting (euphemism for weird, but we’ll do that in another entry).

Bittersweet Week

As the week comes to an end, I can’t help but to think of how bittersweet it was.  More bitter than sweet, actually.

Started with the death of George Carlin.  Easily one  of the people I admired the most. I credit him with making me into such a skeptic pain in the ass.  Him and Penn&Teller take full credit for making me question a lot of things.

I’ve always been a bit of a skeptic and a pain in the ass, but was a bit rough.  Those people shaped me a bit better, probably without knowing it.  My fascination with language was solidified by George’s observation of phrases.  I looked at them from a different angle because I learned English as my second language, so many things didn’t fully make sense.

But it is sad to see George go, for it draws an end to an era.  Most comedians now are just about showmanship with very little substance.  Very few make you think the way George did.  All of my favorites are either dead or just suck now (like Eddie Murphy).  Richard Pryor, dead.  George Carlin, dead.  Bill Hicks (epically poetic and funny), dead.

But they have left their mark, which is more than what can be said for the current hacks of choice.

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I’m going through Hanz withdrawal.  Car’s in the shop for some maintenance/upgrades  typical of a 70,000 car (come to think of it, Hanz is the car with the most mileage I’ve ever had).  Now I’m driving a loaner Camry.  A big, silver Camry with no tinted windows so everyone can see the tool that’s driving this boat of a car.  I have been spoiled.  Car will be ready next week because the warranty company wants to send in an adjuster to look over what Hanz needs (suspension work).  LAME

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I found some energy to redesign and finish my portfolio website, but got hit with doubt when designing the inside gallery pages.  LAME

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Bill Gates retired. LAME.  I mean, great, but lame at the same time because he moved on.  It says a lot when you are the richest man in the world for so many years, yet you decide to go and work every day as hard as he did.  I can relate to that.  I wouldnt stop designing or being into art in general if I was as rich (or 1/10th as rich!).

So wait, where was the sweet part of the week? Well i guess there wasn’t anything awesome enough to offset those, but no need to get all emo over nothing.  Health is good and the basic needs are being met.  Oh, I realized that I”m gonna be an awesome dad when I have kids.  That’s pretty awesome in the scheme of things.

Words: Part I

It should be little or no surprise to anyone that language is one of my big interests. Perhaps not so much in the technical sense of the word, but the effects that it has over us and how different cultures use it.

But regardless of how you look at it, the main point is communication. Recently, I’ve heard and read a few things that put a very nice twist on things that are ordinary. See, that’s what I always go for: ordinary things being described extraordinarily.

I will share 2 of these descriptions:On our search for our origins:

“A bunch of atoms bonded over millions of years, evolved, and wondered where they came from.”

On the first time men traveled to the moon:

“This was the first time that men left their home planet. Stepped outside”

It should be no surprise that I’ve been following the Discovery Channel’s serie “When We Left Earth,” being the space enthusiast that I am. This is almost like watching a movie, except that it really happened and the actors were the real guys. Watching them play golf and hoon a vehicle around the moon put a big smile on my face, because it shows that we humans are still playful as hell, even in such times.

Anyways, I’ve been finding a certain hidden beauty in things by trying to describe them extraordinarily while still remaining true to whatever it is I’m describing. Even the most trivial of things. I’ve always been fascinated just by looking at the sun and the fact that we’re looking at how the sun was 8 minutes ago (since light takes 8 minutes to get here). My main focus is often space because the sheer size, complexity, and insanity makes for some humble thinking and perspectives, but there are many other ways to see things without slapping a “science” sticker on them.

Science just happens to be my area of comfort (even when science itself is uncomfortable in its own skin when it can’t explain something). I find it interesting that science carries a big “nerd” or “geek” stigma without the possibility of having poetic qualities or the ability to describe things in such, well, romantic terms; but it’s all there.

I think I’m gonna periodically write about language and the ideas that it helps convey and even help develop. How many times did you think of something on its own, but then a bit of a language twist gave it some extra meaning for you? Like a sugar pill being also called a placebo; and how a placebo acts as a cover for your conciousness in order to protect you from what you’re really taking (i know, it was the first thing I could think of).

Hmmm if this was food for thought, then i’d be in front of a buffet.

BMW Meet - 06/14/08

This Saturday I went to a big BMW meet.  I was quite possibly among the youngest in the group.  There were others who seemed a bit younger and it would make sense.  Average age was about 35, I would say.

It was a blast.  There were over 70 cars and it was a pretty good event.  We all met up in a parking lot and then we went for a drive around long island.  We started in the north shore, headed out east, then south to the Ocean Parkway, back west coasting by the beach, and then up north to a restaurant.  It was an excellent drive.  There were, of course, your typical BMW guys who think they own the road and went home with stained underwear and thankful that BMW installed good brakes on their cars, but overall it was fun.  It was mostly newer 5-series, so  us guys with the previous generation stuck along pretty well.

Of course, I took the camera and snapped some shots.  I ended up using the 10-22 more than the others (I took out the 17-50 and the 70-300 for a bit, but the wide angle was the weapon of choice.

Here be some shots:

After the meet, I posted them on the online forums and they got some attention….Now there are guys that want to book a photoshoot with me to shoot their cars.  This should be fun…being that I’ve never shot anything remotely like that.  Most of the time it’s just me walking around, but now I gotta set up the location, think of the time of day, etc.  In other words, I have a hell of a lot more control.  Interesting it shall be.  Maybe the beginning of something new? We shall see.

Snail Approved

During the typical and somewhat frustrating experience that is browsing for wordpress themes, I finally came across a few that I liked. This one, however, stuck around my “like” section for quite a bit. Changed up the header and ended up with something that I, for now, like.

Lets see how long it lasts.