Just for fun, I put together a video-fied version of 100 on 100. Kinda neat seeing the progression of shots over time.
See the original photo here.
Archive for the 'Movies' Category
I got to see a sneak-preview of Cloverfield last night (thanks to my buddy Jason), and, man, it was awesome! I absolutely loved being in the point of view of the cameraman, who was appropriately named “Hud” (short for Hudson). Sometimes I felt like I was in a video game (Half-life was referenced several times by fellow audience members); sometimes it felt like a documentary film; sometimes it felt like a home movie. Somehow, it all worked.
The thing I liked the best was that I was completely immersed in the point of view of the cameraman. I could only know and experience whatever he saw and heard. There was no additional information given about what the hell was going on with the monster, where people were going, what the plan was. All you got was what the cameraman and his friends were doing. It felt incredibly authentic.
I’ll happily admit that there’s nothing ground-breaking or even deep about Cloverfield. Blair Witch made the whole first-person shaky camcorder thing famous, and this is, for all intents and purposes, and Godzilla-esque movie. However, it was incredibly well-done. Definitely worth seeing on the big screen.
Now I really want to get an HD camcorder and run around recording everything in my life. That probably wouldn’t be nearly as interesting though…
Wow, it’s been 2 weeks since I’ve last written anything for my blog. It’s not that I forgot to write or had nothing to write about. In fact, I’ve been so busy that I really haven’t had any free headspace to be in blog-writing mode. Before this blog gets too empty, I’d better write something to get back into the swing of things.
A lot of things have happened since my last post, and it would take far too long to discuss all of them in detail, so I’ll just do a run-down of the last 2 weeks’ events. Even then, this will still be a long post. ;)
Thursday, August 24: My friend Melinda drives in from Spokane to attend the Penny Arcade Expo (PAX) at Meydenbauer Center in Bellevue. I let her crash at my place for the weekend.
Friday, August 25: I do a half-day at work and spend the rest of the day showing Melinda around Bellevue and Seattle (she’s only seen the area around the Convention Center in downtown). We take a stroll around Bellevue Downtown Park and check out the summer sculpture exhibit. We head over to Gas Works Park and admire the view of downtown Seattle. We stop at the Ballard Locks and watch the ships go by and salmon swim up the fish ladder. We have dinner at The Lockspot. We drive back to Bellevue and register for PAX. The line for the concert is too long, so we had back to my place and watch “The 40 Year Old Virgin” on DVD (oh, btw, I’m on Netflix now).
Saturday, August 26: Melinda and I spend the whole day at PAX. I’m surrounded by more geeks than I’ve seen in the past few years. I meet up with some of the guys from GarageGames and chat with them at their booth on the exhibit floor. I get a chance to try out Guitar Hero 2 and am soooooo stoked to get the game when it’s released. Melinda and I go to the MC Frontalot concert in the evening and have a blast bouncing to nerdcore hip-hop. After the show, I hang out and chat with MC Frontalot for a bit and end up buying 2 CDs and a pair of his stage glasses.
Sunday, August 27: More fun at PAX. Melinda and I wait in line for an hour to see the Q&A panel with Gabe and Tycho. It was funny and well worth the long wait in the hot sun. We hang out for a little bit more then split for more sightseeing in Seattle. We cruise past Pike Place Market then head up to Kerry park in Queen Anne. We stroll around the surrounding neighborhood for a bit then take a drive to ogle some expensive houses. Then we head over to Ballard for pho at Than Brothers, a quick stroll around the area, then cupcakes at Cupcake Royale. After we’ve had our fill, we drive over to Alki Beach to walk along the beach and watch the sunset. Once it gets dark, we to a drive around downtown Seattle at night and stop to take a picture of the Pink Elephant Car Wash sign.
Monday, August 28: I go back to work with Melinda as my job shadow for the day. It’s mostly business as usual except for a quick photoshoot I do for a project proposal. Melinda gets to be a hand model for the shoot, and I get to use my SB-600 speedlight in an actual studio-like setup (ok, it was kind of a hobbled-together setup, but it was controlled nonetheless). Melinda hangs out after work for a light dinner, then she drives back out to Spokane.
Tuesday, August 29: It’s a busy day at work. I end up working late with a few other people, and we get pizza and BBQ wings for dinner.
Wednesday, August 30: I go on a second date with a woman I met on Match.com (yes, I’m doing the online dating thing). We go to I Love Sushi on Lake Union, spend loads of money on sushi, and have a great time hanging out.
Thursday, August 31: Seattle Flickrites meet up for our monthly Brews and Views event at Pike Pub and Brewery. Drinking. Photography. Conversation. Goofiness. Par for course.
Friday, September 1: I meet up with Scott and Tom in Ballard for dinner at Old Town Ale House and a showing of “Talladega Nights” at the Majestic Bay. Beer and stupid humor go well together, and I am sore from laughing so hard.
Saturday, September 2: I hang out at the Japanese Gardens at the Washington Park Arboretum for a while enjoying the quietness, taking a few pictures, and just plain relaxing. I end up buying an annual pass, because I know I’ll be swinging by the area again for autumn pictures. I swing back up to Kirkland and spend the rest of the afternoon strolling up and down Lake Washington Blvd. I snap a few photos along the way. I grab some dinner at Kidd Valley then sit on the dock at Houghton Beach to watch the sunset.
Sunday, September 3: The weather is actually a bit overcast, so I spend part of the afternoon editing photos and cleaning my apartment. The sun starts to break through, and I decide to head down to Houghton Beach to see if the sunset is any good. Turns out that it’s not bad at all. I snap a few photos. I head back home and watch “Silent Hill”. I get totally stoked by the creepiness and gore of the movie. Very well done.
Monday, September 4: I’m determined to spend Labor Day enjoying the weather, so I load up my camera bag and head over to downtown Seattle. I do a long photostroll along the waterfront, around Pike Place Market, and through Pioneer Square. I then head over to Alki Beach to be a beach bum for the rest of the day. Festival of India has taken over part of the park, so that provides a bit of entertainment for a while. Free vegetarian food, massages, traditional artwork, traditional music and dance — totally fun. I grab some dinner at Spud’s and watch the sunset. I drive back home with sand on my feet and the smell of sea water on my clothes.
And that brings us back to now. How’s that for 2 weeks of my life? If you want to see pics from the last couple of weeks, just head on over to my Flickr photostream and check out the latest photos. I’ve only got pics from the Flickr meetup and PAX online right now. This weekend’s images should be showing up over the next few days.
OK, time to rest and recuperate before going back to work.
After a couple of weeks of mostly uninterrupted sunny days and warm weather, we finally got a mostly cloudy and somewhat rainy day here on the east side (can’t speak for the other side of the lake, since I didn’t go over there today). It was still a bit on the warm and humid side, but the rain was rather refreshing. I ended up spending most of the day chilling at the bookstore, running errands, and just lazying about the apartment. Not a bad way to spend a Sunday.
The rest of the weekend was pretty busy. Actually, I’ve been quite active since last Thursday, so it was good to have a relaxing day. Thursday evening was the monthly Seattle Flickrite’s Brews and Views meetup. We all met up at Bal-Mar in Ballard for a night of photography, drinks, and general goofiness. The meetup was quite fun, but driving over there was absolute hell. In addition to the normal evening rush-hour traffic, a car was stalled on the 520 bridge, effectively making it a one-lane highway. That turned a 40-minute drive into a 90-minute trek. It really sucked.
Despite the unusually long drive across the lake, the rest of the evening was a blast. I got to hang out and have drinks with most of the Seattle Flickr Meetup regulars and got to meet a few new faces. As expected, cameras were out and firing most of the evening, and I got a few good shots which are now in my Flickr photostream.
Friday night was guys’ night out. We had dinner and beer at Rock Bottom at Bellevue Galleria, then we went over to Lincoln Cinemas to catch the premiere of Miami Vice. Despite what a lot of reviews and critics have said, I though it was a good movie. It was totally about style and mood and atmosphere. Dialog was pretty slim, events moved pretty quickly, but it really felt like a nice modern update for the 80’s TV show.
Saturday was the day of the arts for me. I spent the entire afternoon walking around the Bellevue Arts and Crafts Fair in downtown Bellevue. Although there were 120+ artists exhibiting work there, I zeroed in on all of the photography booths. Most of them were pretty nice, but I had more than my fill of landscape photographers. One photographer, Lisa Kristine, was the standout artist of the show for me. Her work ranges from portraits to landscapes to abstract textural images, and all of them feel like they in the Magnum Photographer and National Geographic league. Simply amazing work.
On Saturday evening, I met up with the gang over at the Luther Burbank Park Amphitheater on Mercer Island for Wooden O Theatre’s free performance of Hamlet. I hadn’t actually seen a live performance of a Shakespeare play in years, so I was really excited to see one, especially since it was free. It wasn’t the best version of Hamlet I’ve ever seen, but it was still fun. Everyone in the audience knew the play, many of them regulars of Wooden O’s performances, so that made the whole experience very enjoyable. Add to it sitting on the lawn out in the warm evening air, snacking on chips and drinking water, and you’ve got a nice way to spend a Saturday evening. Afterwards, we all migrated over to The 9 lb Hammer in Georgetown to cap off the night with beer and peanuts.
And now it’s almost 2 AM on Monday morning, and I have to be up in a few hours for work. I really should’ve spent time earlier today writing this blog post. Oh well. Thank goodness for flexible work hours. :P
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