Nickerblog
Shane Nickerson’s Nickerblog. I just found this through Wil Wheaton Dot Net. great writing on living in L.A. Hilarious and grim.
Archive for June, 2005
color tweaks
going off the album cover tweaks i was doing, i’ve been revisiting some of my older photos. I’ve been playing around with the various photoshop actions that recreate lomo and cross-processing effects, pulling them apart and teaching myself how to tweak colors in a photo to give it more of an impressionistic quality. I love the actions, but they never turn out quite right, it always takes a little tweaking, so i thought i’d share. Here are a couple:
Fear in a soaring tower
Fear in a soaring tower “… an ideal symbol for an empire enthralled with it’s own power, and unaware that it is fading” great read.
Old Timey.
A few weeks ago, an old friend of mine from my grade school days (back in New York) found me via this website of mine. We emailed back and forth a few times and it’s been great catching up with him again. His name is Phil Skiba and he truly is a quality person. Sometimes I get pissed at myself for not having kept in touch with him, one of the few people I knew back then, that I should have stayed in contact with.
Yesterday, I was checking my site stats and ran across a referring website called Badgersraygun.com/blog and I poked around the blog and realized it was Phil’s. I began to read his various entries and ran across one about myself and this ridiculously wonderful nickname one of Phil’s sisters had given me, unbeknownst to myself. Phil recounts our friendship and how it influenced each other and then goes on to explain the nickname in another entry. It was wonderful to read his story, well written and full of funny shit I had forgotten, it was also very special for me to read his thoughts since I, having up and left New York a few years in to high school, kinda just thought everyone had forgotten about me. Thanks Phil, great story. One of these days, I’ll return the favor.
Here’s Phil’s story:
Cream Cheese Flingin’ Eddie Fladung’s Blog
and here’s his explanation of the nickname:
Why is he called Cream Cheese Flingin’ Eddie Fladung?
give Phil a comment or two. wonderful stuff.
Summer Mix Series
Check it out. I had posted a tid bit about Yewknee.com’s Summer Mix Series. i was inspired to post my own mix. Go grab it while my bandwidth is still available:
“No summer road trip is complete without a hand-picked mix. This is the soundtrack for your mexican adventure. Destination? Lake Chapala, the high-plateau lake sanctuary hidden in the hills above Guadalajara.”
enjoy!
UPDATE: fixed small error with track #14
Pools
The swell that came through this weekend was big, but the water was choppy and next to impossible to ride. Dropping in on a wave and then hitting tons of tiny little waves. not good. I got one really good ride in, last night. I carved up and down the wave and then popped up over the crest and floated down. total rock star. Indalecio was right there to see the whole thing, he was well impressed. I gotta get that little waterproof Pentax.
After the session, we went over to “Pools” which is a more advanced surf spot. Pools is a point break with the best waves in the area, unfortunately it breaks into a shallow bay of rocks, so unless you really know what you are doing, it’s best to stay out of the water. Pools was going off last night and there was one guy in the water. Easily 6-8 foot sets, a little bit of tube. It was beautiful, watching this guy work the break and avoid getting pounded on the rocks. Since the break is so close to the rock mound, I’ll most definitely bring a camera next time. I had one of those grom moments where you’re in that “awe” mode and you can’t wait til your skills come up so you can surf at Pools. it was humbling watching the lone surfer navigate the break. Pools takes smarts, guts and know-how. And it truly is one of the most beautiful breaks.
McCarty PhotoWorks
McCarty PhotoWorks - Sympathy for the Record Industry
Brilliant photography using art toys in real settings. (via boingboing)
Lomo Effect
I’ve been messing around with a new “lomo effect” script i found on Flickr. It’s pretty cool and keeps a history of it’s actions so you can go back and tweak the layers. I’m working on an album mix cover so here are two options:
Here’s some photoshop actions, jscripts and custom curves to get that good old fashioned Lomo and cross-processing look:
- Lomo effect jscript - read me
- cross-processing action - read me
- cross-proccessing custom curves - read me
I’ve been experimenting with these over the past few days and I can’t help but go crazy and apply them to all my photos. I wish iPhoto and Photoshop had better integration and batch processing and stuff.
Big Swell.
A nice big storm off the coast of Michoacan, earlier this week, is sending some pretty large waves our way. Last night was the first of the swell and so I went to Punta Burros at around 6pm. The waves at Burros get big but they are not very fast or very strong. As I paddled out to the line up a huge set came in and I had to paddle like mad to avoid taking them on the head. I’d say the largest wave was maybe 7 or 8 feet tall. The Problem with Burros is that everyone else goes there too, last night there were at least thirty people out surfing. That’s a lot of people. For the two hour session I caught maybe three waves and the rest of the time I spent fighting and paddling for the others. If nothing else it’s exercise, but it can be awful frustrating some times. Some people would probably chuck this up to the fact that more seasoned surfers probably know how to read the waves better, but I’d say that this is not the case. When large swells are coming in, people go nuts, they drop in on each other, they take off at the wrong spots, they try to whistle to make you get off the wave - thinking they are in the right of way. Today, I’m going to Veneros, el paredon (the wall). early before the winds show up.
Shabu-Shabu
Last night on the way home from the movies, Marcia and I had a poignant and pointed conversation. She started off by asking me what my favorite meat based dish is. Marcia is a vegetarian and has been for her entire life. She wanted to know what dish I like the best and of course I replied “sushi” because sushi is an almost transcendent experience when prepared right. I then said that it was almost impossible to describe the more subtle aspects of sushi or the act of eating it (I mean how does one describe eating “Uni”, Sea Urchin, it’s just not possible - but, my mother pegged it best when she said it’s like eating the underside of a dock). We then went on to talk about the sushi-nazi in L.A. and she laughed and said that would never fly in Mexico, going to a restaurant, paying a ton of money and not being able to decide what you do or don’t eat and if you make any fuss at all, the chef throws you out of the restaurant. I feebley tried to explain the significance and aesthetic value of this kind of experience, I then brought up “Shabu-Shabu”, another japanese restaurant experience, where you order your food and then proceed to cook it yourself in a pot of boiling water. She laughed some more and said that would definitely never happen in Mexico and why would anyone pay to cook their own food at a restaurant when you can do the same, at home, for far less money.
And this is the cruxt of our conversation: Japanese and Mexican cultures are diametrically oppposed. Aesthetic value is one of the most important aspects of japanese life. A life where raw fish on rice with some seaweed and soy sauce can be elevated to a mythic art form, one people are willing to pay large amounts of money to consume. A culture where cooking your own food at a restaurant is not only a regular phenomenon but it’s superflous. And it’s supposed rediculousness doesn’t even enter the minds of it’s people. How cool is that?
But then it occured to me that although the two cultures have vastly different principals and values, sushi is a big thing in Mexico, at least in the larger cities. This is a relatively recent phenomenon, but it’s increasingly becoming a standard friday night activity for young urban professionals. It may be another 20 to 30 years before your average campesino even thinks of trying raw fish, but that day will eventually come. My point is that, in Mexico City, sometime soon you will be able to got out for Shabu-Shabu, I can be certain of that. And the richest (or at least upper-middle class) people will go out for a dinner where you cook your own food. The idea that these kind of aesthetic delights could orginate in Mexico is almost certainly impossible. But what mexican culture lacks in aesthetic subtleties, it makes up for in passion and vibrance. Mexico is most definitely a living and breathing culture. The street taco is a national artform here. To me, the taco doesn’t quite make it on a purely aethetic level, but I’d surely eat them every day of my natural born life, if my waist line would allow it.
So to bring the conversation full circle, in reponse to Marcia’s question, Sushi and street tacos are a tie for my favorite foods. Both operating at opposite ends of just about any criteria you can think of.
Life is full of contridiction? embrace it.
going to the movies.
Within the last month two new multi-plex cinemas have opened up in Puerto Vallarta. This is an interesting development. Before now, there were three movie theaters in town, each playing a handful of films. And now, we have so many theaters to choose from.
Tonight, we went to Cinepolis, which looks to be the larger of the two new multi-plexes. There were tons of people at the theater and rightfully so, nice modern theaters are a welcomed addition to our sleepy little town.
We decided to see Woody Allen’s new pic MELINDA AND MELINDA. It was a cute movie and we liked it. It was a welcomed break from all the action flicks we’ve been seeing. This was opening weekend for the film and the second weekend for the new cinema. How many people were in our showing at 10:30pm on a Friday night? Marcia, myself, Pinky, Inalecio and three other people. I guess Woody Allen films don’t resonate with your average mexican theater goer.
It almost seems to me that there are two many theaters now and not enough movies. BATMAN BEGINS was playing on three screens, MADAGASCAR on two and MR. AND MRS. SMITH on an additional two. The same films are playing at every theater in town. No joke, see for yourself. Where are all the movies? How come they never make it here. Fox has a simultaneous worldwide release pattern for most of their films, hence Woody Allen’s pic is here, but who will go to see it? Probably only a few people. And since few movies actually make it down here, his movie will play in the theater for three or four weeks I’m guessing.
My point is that Mexicans love movies, they love going to the movies on a Friday night, but since the movie distribution companies here are so bad, there aren’t enough movies to fill the seats. I bet repeat viewings here are substantially higher than in the states.
very interesting.
Summer Mix Series
Summer Mix Series :: presented by yewknee.com
Tons of great free music mixes. and you can upload your own. nice!
pilates / yoga
Ok, two thoughts:
Thought number 1: I’m probably the most trim I’ve been, ever. Well, that’s a tiny fib, I was in better shape when I first got here and was surfing every day. But I’m still skinny, or at least I’m as skinny as I’ll probably ever get for my body type. But taking pilates last week and yoga this week I’ve come to realize that being skinny and being physically fit are two separate things.
Thought number 2: If you think pilates and yoga are hard in english, try it in spanish. I felt like the class clown, and i was. so much for being smooth.
Polaroid-o-nize
Polaroid-o-nizer™ - Onize your favorite moments
neat little web app for creating polaroid-ized photos
Medium Footwear
MEDIUM FOOTWEAR, coolest sneakers ever?
check out the “Environmentalist” and “Dwell Minimalist” awesome.
Guadalajara Trip epII
Here is a photo slideshow of our recent trip to Guadalajara including our day trip to Lake Chapala and Ajijic.
Daily Show torrents
Daily Show torrents at CommonBits.org
for those of us living the TV and TIVO free life
Apple sucks (kind of).
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DISCLAIMER: Although my opinion in this article is essentially very hard on Apple’s choice to follow DVD standards policies, I in no way condone or agree with anyone who hates Apple products or spends their time trolling blogs and websites just to trash Apple Computers. My intent was not to enhance someone’s flame war. I have the utmost love for Apple (their legal department aside). My goal with an article like the following is to put a voice to an experience many people have, but few find a forum to express it. One of Apple’s downsides is it’s inability to listen to their customers without going through some serious PR trouble first (scratched ipods, ipod batteries, Aperture, etc…). If you find this article linked from a website or blog that is clearly all about hating on Apple, I in no way condone this, but alas that’s the power of the interwebs, no one has to get my permission to link to me. So if you’re one of those flame war people, piss off, and if you’re just one of those people that are having trouble with something Apple related, get involved but don’t put the blinders on. Don’t join the darkside.
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begin rant:
Apple sucks. there. i said it
Ya see the thing is, is that I love Apple. So when they screw up, they really screw up. royally. Let me explain:
I bought my Apple PowerBook G4 in Los Angeles. L.A. is in North America (yeah i know you know where L.A. is, but I’m telling a story - so shut up). North America is in what’s called “Region 1″ in DVD talk. That means that when you buy a DVD in North America, chances are, you’re buying a Region 1 DVD. So, what is a region and why is it important? To keep the story short, regions were established by the movie studios through a nefarious trade group to limit DVDs from one region, like say the US, from playing on a computer or DVD player from another region, like say Mexico. It has to do with staggered release dates from region to region and theoretically makes sense (note strong use of the word ‘theoretically’). Wanna know more about DVD Regions, read more here at DVDdemystified.com.
Ok, so back to my trusty mac. God I love Apple products, just like Steve says “They just work.” except when they don’t and even worse when they do stupid things that make them completely intolerable.
I bought my computer in L.A. and now I live in Mexico. When I go to the video store to rent a movie, chances are it’s in Region 4, which is the region that includes Mexico. One of the ‘cool’ things about the DVD spec is that players can only change regions 5 times. And on that fifth time, the player magically locks on the region of the last played disc. That means that if I play DVDs on my computer from the video store and then play DVDs from my fine collection of United States bought surfing videos, when I switch that one last time, the lock will be set. Of course being the nice guys they are, Apple’s DVD Player app warns you about this when you put in a DVD whose region differs from the region your computer is currently set on.
So what happens when your mac has been locked to a particular region? You have two options. Your first option is to take your mac back to the Apple store and with an overnight stay, the mac techs can reset your 5 freebie switches back to zero. You are allowed to do this 5 times, giving you a grand total of 25 region switches, if you want to go through the hassle of giving your mac up for a day, every five times. This is part of the DVD spec and the nefarious trade group’s feeble attempt at placating pissed off customers. Your second option is to download and install hacked firmware that voids your warranty. You can read more about this option at MacOsX.com. If you read further down that page you can see that the VLC Media Player actually ignores region coding all together so you can watch movies from what ever region you desire. Imagine that! Atleast there is an option for people who don’t want to have there DVD drive set to a particular region.
Here’s the rub: I don’t want to use the VLC Media Player. I wanna use Apple’s DVD Player app. I want to use it with QuickTime 7 and I want to have my mac user experience. But I can’t, because Apple adheres to the DVD standard. From an end user experience, if switching regions locked my DVD player on a region I didn’t want it to be on and I had to go to the Apple store to reset it, I’d throw the sucker out a window. Yeah, it’s not that big of a hassle to have to use VLC Media Player for Region 4 DVDs (if I want my DVD player set on Region 1). But it’s all still just so ridiculous. Boing Boing’s Cody Doctorow wrote a great article that discusses the DVD region issue with macs, way more in depth and way more professionally.
Suffice to say: I’m freaking pissed!
end rant
Nestle’s gothic poster girl
I caught this image in downtown Puerto Vallarta a few weeks ago. File this one under: "Advertising concept gone awry". I wanna know which ad exec. thought that using a gothed out club chick (who really looks like your average underwear model underneath all that make-up and the fake tattoo and nose-ring and digitally enhanced breast cleavage) to sell ice-cream to kiddies was a good idea. hmm. great choice! let’s go with that!
ExpressionEngine
pMachine - ExpressionEngine blogging app and service
check out the featured user. customized data. wow!
folderblog
FolderBlog - great php script for photo galleries
my friend, Garrison, hipped me to this neat little app.
Comic Life
Comic Life - turn your life into a comic book
This is high on the list of things to play with.
SlideShowPro
SlideShowPro - Photo Gallery Component for Flash MX 2004
Amazing little flash app for all you photobloggers.
Best surf day ever!
So we got back from Guadalajara yesterday. It’s great to be back. No rain here in Bucerias yet, but the clouds have been in full effect. Of course there was a large swell over the weekend and my friend Indalecio dropped by the office today to tell me all about it.
“¡Buenisimas, Güey! Dos metros. Hollow tubes, cabrón. You won’t believe it cabrón”
So today, we kicked off work at 4:30pm and headed out to Veneros to catch the last of the swell. As we made it down to the beach, we could see a few surfers out, but not a whole lot of wave action going on. As we continued the walk, sure enough the waves started to come, first in sets and then even in between sets you could see nice ridable waves. As we passed Veneros and headed for The Wall, I saw what looked like a 6 foot wave, with a surfer carving that sucker up like a Thanksgiving turkey.
I knew it was gonna be a good day.
The paddle out to the break was easily twice as farther than usual. My arms were dead as I got out to the line-up, what can I say, it’s been awhile. There were only a few surfers in the water. And more then enough waves to go around. I grab my first wave, easily 6 feet and just took it easy, carving a nice simple line, cutting back now and then and just enjoying myself. About a half hour into the session, this monster set creeps up on us and I’m caught on the inside, so I charge the wave to try to make it over the top. I make it over just in the nick of time, but you gotta believe me when I say this thing was at least 10 feet tall. I am not kidding. It was the largest wave I have ever seen, up close. The wave broke about 10 feet behind me. If I had been caught, I don’t even wanna think about it. In simple terms, 10 feet doesn’t sound like much, but when you think of a wave and the force it has, when you roll over something that immense, the power it has is completely ridiculous.
Indalecio dropped into two of the largest waves of the day. I wish I had a camera. I was right there both times. It was insane. That guy has cajones the size of jaka fruit. I was yelling my head off. It’s so good to see a friend catch waves like that. I backed off from dropping in one of the larger waves, there was just something a little too scary as I looked down the face of an easily 8 foot wave. But rest assured, this man got his waves. I am one happy camper.
All in all, I’d say it was one of the best days ever. I still can’t get over how big, strong and fast these waves were. Everyone in the water had a good day. As we walked back to the car, the water was the highest I’d ever seen it as the waves slammed against the beach, sending the water up almost to the edge of the sand. As we walked by Veneros, all these little grom boogieboarders were out, charging these huge 6 foot close-outs. It was truly sick! The feeling was surreal.
I just checked the surf report and tomorrow the swell is supposed to dip a little, but I think it’s gonna be another killer day. I’ve waited months for this!
the dome.
This is the dome roof that marks the top of an underground building that sits beneath a large traffic circle near plaza del sol. The Plaza Milenium has a large movie theater, stores, parking etc… all conveniently underground, with a beautiful glass, steel and stretched fabric structure, reaching above ground, with the appearance of an object d’art. very fantastical.
This old house.
Here are a series of photos taken during a trip to an amazing hacienda that Marcia’s father, Francisco, is in the process of buying and restoring. The house is grandiose. From little bits I’ve heard over the past two days, I’ve inferred that this is Francisco’s life long dream.
As we pulled up to the house it seriously looked like a museum. Cantera archways, columns and border decorations. a garden surrounding the entire house which sits on a corner lot in a very nice neighborhood, not too poor, not too rich. Rich neighborhoods in Mexico are always marked by high, thick, secured walls.
The house is situated around an open courtyard anchored by fountain, with archways on all sides leading into the interior spaces of the house. The living room / entry room is an insane affair, easily the size of my parents’ entire house.
The house has great bones, no noticeable water damage, no termites, a great flow, great room volumes and from what i could tell, all the electricity and plumbing was in the right place and working fine. This is rare or a house more then 20 years old in Mexico. Francisco mentioned wanting to combine a few of the bedroom spaces to make for larger rooms and i agreed with him and the kitchens and bathrooms could use some overhaul too, but basically, the most of the work is cosmetic. some paint, some decorating, a little carpentry and a whole lot of furniture, art and plant buying and they are there. This house is going to be a classic old mexico style hacienda.
I mentioned to Francisco that he should buy it, fix it up and then donate it to a museum or open it to the public as a tourist destination. I don’t think he liked that idea. I can’t wait to see what it looks like when it’s all restored.
Palapa in Yelapa.
A few weeks ago, I got an email from this guy who lives in Yelapa, a tiny little town south of Puerto Vallarta that is only accessible by boat. Brad is a gringo ex-pat who has fully divested himself of the US and Yelapa is now his permanent home. He shares a palapa with his mexican wife and children.
Brad runs a website called Palapainyelapa.com. It turns out he had seen my website and my glowing report of Word Press and he had decided to take the plunge and convert his site to Word Press. His current site is a strictly Dreamweaver affair and Brad has little to no actually underneath-the-hood coding experience. and Word Press’ default installation is easy enough to get around not knowing any html or css programming. But as you begin to want to modify things, that’s when it gets ugly, especially if you try to edit your themes with Dreamweaver.
So Brad, shot me an email asking for some help and even offered to put Marcia and I up in Yelapa for the weekend, in exchange for some much need tech support. I of course jumped at the chance, I’ve never been to Yelapa and we both could use an extended weekend. But I couldn’t find the time, a few weekends went by with always something else to do and since I usually work Saturdays, it was doubly hard. And so this past Monday, Brad calls me up and asks if he can come to me, on Tuesday, for some tech help. Of course I agreed. Tuesday comes and brad shows up, of course I’ve completely forgotten about his appointment, because I suck at writing things down.
So Brad and I spent a few hours going through his word press install, hacking his chosen theme (the wonderful 3 column Kubrick) and how to best port his old content over to the new system. It was a great couple of hours, teching out with a fellow nerd. Brad even rocks an iBook. First one I’ve seen since I’ve been in Mexico. It was also great to hear about Brad’s eventual move to Mexico and falling in love with a traditional Mexican woman from a small town. Truly an inspirational story. I was flipped out as we sat in my modernesque a/c equipped office and Brad was telling me stories of living in a palapa, open to the elements on all four sides and having to unplug all his gear every night to lock it up. what a life. and i thought I was roughing it.
Well, needless to say we got his site up and running. He still has the old one up while he ports his journal entries over to the new system, but things are looking great. Hopefully one of these days, soon, I can get over to Yelapa to say hi. I’ve always heard great stories about Yelapa and can’t wait to go.
Go give Brad a shout out for me and if you ever need a place to stay in Yelapa, Brad handles internet bookings for some of the more beautiful local mexican rental houses.
Café con Leche
Welcome to Roby’s. the freshest joint in Guadalajara for a perfect morning breakfast of chiliquiles and molletes. Roby’s is known for their café con leche, a startlingly strong coffee that makes espresso look like gatorade. and a hot milk concoction that in no way can be good for you. With a slightly burnt taste, adding some sugar, it’s a taste made in heaven. The punch doesn’t come til later though, when you realize an hour later, that you are more wired then you’ve been in months, if only they had this drink where i went to college. It’s been two hours now and I’m still wired.
Visit Roby’s.
