Butchart Gardens - Tilt Shifted

I have dabbled a little bit in fake tilt-shift photography.  I don’t have a tilt-shift lens, and I can’t afford to buy one.  Heck, I can’t even afford to RENT one!  They are thousands of dollars.  Apparently one can make a cheap version using an old lens and tearing it apart, reconstructing it with cardboard and duct tape… or something like that… but I’m not that skilled with duct tape.

Castaway Cay, Bahamas - Tilt Shifted

Using Photoshop CS2, I created some fake tilt-shift images from my own library of photographs.  Some of them worked out better than others.  The best are shown here.  One is from the famous entrance steps at Butchart Gardens on Vancouver Island.  The second is from the deck of the Disney Wonder at Castaway Cay, Bahamas.  Both images are striking to me.  They makes me deliberately search for scenes in which I can create this effect later on the computer.  Pretty neat, eh?

See more of my Fake Tilt-Shift Photographs on Flickr.  Check out this awesome tutorial on how to make your own in Photoshop.

Andrew decided to finally catalog and photograph his entire Transformers collection. He’s had some of them since childhood, but back in 2007 when the first movie came out he started collecting again.  He has amassed a few hundred I think, but I’m still waiting for the final count.

I swear, I know where every single Wal-Mart and Target in the state of Arizona are at now.  And exactly where the Toys & Games section is located in every single one.  We’re even going to BotCon this year in Pasadena, May 26-28.  Andrew actually blogged about it *GASP!*…

While displayed in robot mode, I took some 3D cross-view shots. You can see all of them on Flickr, but here is my favorite:

Transformers in 3D

To view the image, relax and cross your eyes. Or, if you have a cross-view 3D viewer, it can be used to also view this image in three dimensions. Notice Swerve in the upper left, the red Chevrolet Aveo. Isn’t he cute?   I got him for Andrew this past Christmas.  He’s one of a select few that I can actually name in this bunch.  Andrew can rattle them off like the alphabet, but I can only point out Optimus Prime, Bumblebee, Megatron, Sunstreaker and Barricade.  The rest are a mystery to me.

You might also take a look at my other 3D images on Flickr.

Miss Bunny

I’ve created a Flickr set with full descriptions to help people learn about lighting in photography. I used Miss Bunny as a subject (she sits really still), and shot 18 identical images with different lighting configurations. Some of them use a lightbox (aka softbox), and some of them use unfiltered light.

Check out Lighting Lessons with Miss Bunny. Let me know how you like it!

I love Rock Band.

You know, that really doesn’t do it justice. I’m not even sure I can put into words just how much I love playing Rock Band. I must qualify this statement a little further though. I love Rock Band on the XBox 360. The Wii version blows chunks.

Now that we’ve got that little fact out of the way, you may be asking yourself, why does Jessica love Rock Band so much?

‘Cuz I get to sing, loudly, at the top of my lungs, and it’s actually with a purpose: to ROCK!

Andrew and I first got Rock Band for the XBox 360 in November, 2007. We had played Guitar Hero and Guitar Hero II for a long time before that. Once Guitar Hero III came out, we realized how much it was different than the first two, because it wasn’t made by the same company. Instead of making GH3, Harmonix branched out into Rock Band.

Rock Band. What a concept! Guitar, bass, an awesome drum kit, and… what’s this? A microphone? A karaoke machine for my living room? Uhoh!

I even got to create my very on stage persona – a rocker chick with a black and blue streaked Asymetrical Bob named Verdana. Andrew and I created a band called Lucky Briefcase, and went off on tour together.

Until Rock Band, I had only sang into a microphone one time in my life. It was at my Aunt Colleen’s Marti Gras party. I sang Material Girl by Madonna and I SUCKED ASS. Glad it was only family listening, cuz boy oh boy I was horrible.

I nervously picked up the mic and started to sing to Nirvana’s In Bloom on Easy. I think that first song I scored something like 95% overall. Then I moved on to Garbage and I Think I’m Paranoid. 100% on Easy, woohoo!

I was instantly hooked. The computer liked my voice! For some reason, I found that I did pretty well on the microphone. I kept playing vocals, and we made our way through the Rock Band game. We never did attempt the Endless Set List in Rock Band, because our XBox 360 kept freezing up and we kept having to restart it.

After they announced Rock Band 2, I went out and bought a new XBox 360. I was sick and tired of ours locking up every time it spun up the disk. The new 360 had the ability to download the game directly onto the hard drive, so it didn’t have to spin up the game disk to continue. We eagerly made our way through Rock Band 2, and even completed the Endless Set List on Hard in November 2008! That’s right – 84 songs in a row!

So, I play the game a lot. I play with Andrew, I play on my own… I even bought the Wii version so I can play in the living room by myself, but that version sucks. First of all it’s not in HD, and the graphics engine is snail slow. The wifi lags so much that I can’t play online because the lyrics “paint” across the screen, so it thinks I am not singing when I am. Very frustrating.

We have invested more into Rock Band and Rock Band 2 than any other video game franchise in history. If you know Andrew and me even a little bit, you’ll know that we have an addiction to video games and video game systems… So that is saying a LOT.

Just how much have we spent on Rock Band?

Rock Band Special Edition for XBox 360 – $189.99
Rock Band 2 for XBox 360 – $59.99
Rock Band 2 for Wii – $49.99
Guitar Repair – $0.00 (Microsoft warranty)
Drum Kit Repair – $0.00 (Microsoft warranty)
Wireless Guitar – $39.99
Replacement Drum Kit – $79.99
Replacement Microphone – $29.99
Rock Band Drum Silencers – $19.99
Second set of Rock Band Drum Silencers – $19.99
Microphone Stand – $39.99
Drum Seat – $29.99
Metal Drum Petal Cover – $9.99
New Drum Sticks – $9.99
Personalized Figurine from Harmonix – $69.99

Subtotal: $649.21 plus tax

and last but not least…

25 free downloaded song tracks at $0 each: $0.00
121 paid downloaded song tracks at ~$2 each: $242.00

Grand Total: $891.21 plus tax

Oh yeah, and I can’t forget the cost of the new XBox 360 which was purchased specifically to play Rock Band 2. So, we can add an additional $399.99 to that grand total above…

I don’t often sing praise about myself (pun intended) but I am damn good at expert vocals. For most songs, I am in the top 5% in the world on the leaderboards. For many of them, I am in the top 10 or 20 in the world. Granted, not as many people are singing vocals than are playing guitar or drums, but still… it’s quite an accomplishment for me. For career leaderboard, I am within the top 1,000 players worldwide on solo vocals.

Here are some of the songs on which I have personally reached above #100 in the world for vocals (at the time the scores were uploaded):

Sex Type Thing – Stone Temple Pilots – #99
Timmy & The Lords of the Underworld – #98
29 Fingers – The Konks – #97
I’m So Sick – Flyleaf – #88
Day Late, Dollar Short – The Acro-Brats – #84
Nightmare – Crooked X – #83
Say It Ain’t So – Weezer – #75
Synchronicity II – Police – #72
Blitzkrieg Bop – Ramones – #63
Down With The Sickness – Disturbed – #53
Learn to Fly – Foo Fighters – #53
Brainpower – Freezepop – #52
Can’t Let Go – Death of the Cool – #29
Spoonman – Soundgarden – #27
Seven – Vagiant – #24
Bang A Gong – T. Rex – #23
Juke Box Hero – Foreigner – #21
My Lovely Man – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #7
If You Have to Ask – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #6
Nine In The Afternoon – Panic at the Disco – #6
So Watcha Want – Beastie Boys – #4
That’s What You Get – Paramore – #4
Apache Rose Peacock – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #3
Funky Monks – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #3
Dani California – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #3
Give It Away – Red Hot Chili Peppers – #2
We Got The Beat – The Go Go’s – #1

Needless to say, I know every single fluctuation in the pitch and tone for every song Anthony Kiedas sings on the Red Hot Chili Pepper album Blood Sugar Sex Magik. As for We Got The Beat, I can’t even explain it. I hate that song! I guess nobody else likes it either.

I can’t WAIT for Pearl Jam’s Ten album to be released on March 24th! That entire album was my teenage anthem. Get ready to add another $20.00 to the total!

Andrew and I decided to combine Uncle Sam’s refund with our savings and remodel the bathrooms this year.  We’ve lived in our “new” house since September 2001, and the bathrooms still had all the original fixtures and surfaces.  They were getting pretty disgusting – especially the shower basin.  We just could not get it clean, no matter what we tried.

We found a local contractor and picked out new field tile, floor tile and glass accent tile.  We then picked out new shower heads, handles, tub fillers and faucets, all in brushed nickel. We went fairly inexpensive with the fixtures, knowing how the Arizona hard water chews through them so fast.  We would rather replace them frequently then buy really expensive ones that are going to look terrible in just a few years.

We also had to order a new shower door.  We chose a completely frameless style which was a big chunk of our budget, but I think it will look great when it’s all in place.  It’s the same kind of doors I’ve seen in the fanciest Vegas hotels and spas, and I’ve always liked the look of the frameless showers.

For the guest bath, we did all of the changes ourselves.  We replaced the main square mirror with a 30″ round.  We replaced the gold ball accent light with a pretty mushroom shaped white flush mount.  We replaced all of the fixtures to match the ones going into the master bath. We also changed out all of the artwork and went towards a tropical Hawaiian theme with deep oranges, yellows and golds.  The accent colors are blue/green beach hues.

The biggest change is probably the new shower curtain rod, which is bowed outward and provides a lot more space in the shower/tub combo.  Since we’re going to be using it for the next 2 weeks until our shower door comes in, I really needed more space.  We might have used that shower 3-4 times since we have moved into the house, so I never gave it a second thought.

In the master bedroom, the biggest change will be an increase in the size of our shower.  We have a separate tub and shower.  The existing shower is 30×30, which is incredibly tiny.  We are increasing the depth to 42″, and the width to about 35″ above the pony wall.  The bottom will remain at 30″ wide, but the upper half should be a bit bigger.  Hopefully it will be just big enough to make the shower comfortable to move around in.

The master bathtub will remain as it is a deep soaking tub, and we couldn’t find a better tub to put in its place.  The main problem is that it is only 5 ‘ in length, and we can’t make it any longer.  We didn’t want to remove it, or the house would technically become “3 bedroom 1 3/4 bath” instead of “3 bedroom 2 bath”.  For resale, we didn’t want to take that hit.  Besides, the tub would be great for kids or for a smaller adult to enjoy.  It just doesn’t do much for me or Andrew.

I’ll be sure to post pictures before and after when it’s all said and done.  Until then, I’ll be plugging my ears due to all of the banging, drilling, soldering and wet saw action.

For those of you who are tired of reading my old poetry, I thought you might want to read about something a little more recent.  So, here you go!

There’s a song by Two Nu called Ponderous.  It starts out by saying, “This is ponderous man. Really ponderous. I had this dream the other night…”  Well, I really did have a dream last night.  It was one of those dreams that after you wake up, you remember every single little detail like you were there.  You were sure of it.

It reminds me of PM Dawn’s song called Set Adrift on Memory Bliss:

I think it’s one of those de ja vu things,
or a dream that’s tryin’ to tell me something.
Or will I ever stop thinkin’ about it?
I don’t know, I doubt it.

Maybe it really is a deja vu thing, and someday I’ll be in the same place under a different circumstance.  That actually happens to me quite frequently.  Who knows?  I don’t know what it is about this particular dream that made me think of PM Dawn and Two Nu, but my mind is all funky right now.  So, I’m not going to fight it.  Anyway, on with that dream…

The dream started with me searching around on an image website at home.  It might have been Google images, or maybe Flickr.  I was searching for artwork and sculpture with lots of color.  I came across an artist who painted conch shells in lots of bright, bold color schemes.  There were pictures of about a dozen beautiful pieces, and I just had to see them.

Using my research skills, I found out that the woman who made the artwork lived here in the same town I do.  So, I looked her up.  She was listed in the phone book, and her address was public.  I decided I had to go over to her house in the hopes that maybe she would let me see the shells for myself.

Ponderous Conch Shell

When I arrived, she answered the door.  I told her why I was there, and she invited me inside.  We were the only ones there, or so it seemed.  She didn’t seem to think there was anything strange about me asking to see the shells, which I thought was weird, because I figured she would think I was some kind of crazy nuthouse or something.  Anyway, she led me to her family room and there they were – a centerpiece collection in the middle of the room.  Her house was really big, and I remembered thinking it must have cost $800k or more.  It was gorgeous, so clearly she was an artist who didn’t need the money.  Or, maybe she earned a lot from her art.

We chatted for a little bit, and she offered me some lemonade.  I sat down at her kitchen island bar and started to drink.  She had a laptop on the island bar, and went to check her email.  She asked me what made me so interested in the shells that she made.  I started to answer, and then her doorbell wrang.

She wandered off to answer it.  As it turns out, it was another person doing exactly the same thing I was doing.  They wanted to see her artwork.  She brought them inside and showed them the same things she showed me.

This happened a few more times, and after about 20 minutes, her house was getting pretty full of curious visitors.  Some of them were sort of nuts.  A few banded together and started doing prayers in her dining room.  They followed her around the house like little ducklings.  She seemed embarrassed by all of the attention, but at the same time it was almost as if this happened every day.

Eventually, she made her way back to the kitchen where I was still sitting, taking all of this in.  She rolled her eyes at me, as if to say, “I get this all the time.  What a drag.”  As she wandered around the kitchen offering people drinks and talking about her artwork, I noticed she was wearing a dress that was the same as one I own.  It was a black satin dress, and she was barefoot.  She had this sheer black wrap around her front.  Then, as she turned around to show another guest some art, I noticed the back of her wrap had black duct tape on it to hold it together.  It was the oddest combination – a beautiful gown with a sheer wrap, barefoot with duct tape.  It almost reminded me of the alternate world in the movie Coraline – like something wasn’t quite right.

I found some paper and a pencil and wrote down my email address.  As I was getting up to give it to her, she appeared beside me again.  I handed her the paper and said, “Well, this has been fun.  Your artwork is beautiful.  Maybe I could photograph it for you someday.”  She took the paper and smiled.  She asked if maybe I would want to hang out sometime and go hiking.  I told her I really wasn’t the hiking type, and she smiled even brighter.  It was almost as if nobody had ever declined her offer before, and she was excited to meet someone who had an opinion of her own.

“Then the horns kicked in, and my shoes started to squeak.”  Just kidding.

This really is ponderous, isn’t it?