Unbecoming Levity

Watching Street Photographers at Work

Abacquer — Thu, 22 May 2008 18:39:00 -0400

Street photography isn't really my thing, but I try to do it from time to time. The problem I have is that I am very shy about taking pictures of people without their permission, even though by and in large, I have a right to do so in public. I find if you get permission, the subject changes and loses the look that drew you to the photo in the first place.

This is why I am always amazed (or cringing) when I see real street photographers at work. I am just not as brave as these guys:

(video) Joel Meyerowitz On Street Photography

(video) WNYC Streetshots: Bruce Gilden

Music Review - Madonna - Hard Candy

Abacquer — Sun, 18 May 2008 13:59:00 -0400

I picked this CD up last night with much anticipation and listened to it today on a long drive.

It started strong, quickly soared to awesome, and then made a meteoric descent to absolutely awful and only recovered marginally after that point. *sigh* Too bad. I admit, that by track 3 I was beginning to wonder if we had another Ray of Light on our hands. Things stumbled a little in the fourth track but came back strong for tracks five and six.

Then came track 7--the inexplicably named song Incredible. The only incredible thing about this song is that it came from Madonna. I'm sorry to say it is the worst song she's ever created. Dischordant, screwy pacing, strange change-ups, and just an all around mess. This one song utterly destroyed the mood and made it hard for the album to come back, which wasn't helped by the fact that the next 3 songs were mediocre at best. I have no interest in hearing any of them again. Madge, you can do better.

The mixing on tracks 9 and 10 was also pretty poor. Madonna's voice was often drowned out or subdued against the music. I understand it's supposed to be dance music but her voice is way too strong to be so downplayed.

Track 10 was the best of the mediocre songs, but Spanish Lesson is no La Isla Bonita... far more cheesy and contrived. I may listen to Spanish Lesson again... I have a feeling it might grow on me.

Thankfully, the tail end of the album was saved by track 11 The Devil Wouldn't Recognize You, definitely an awesome number that I'll be putting on my new MP3 player whenever I can afford to buy one.

Track 12 Voices had a good sound but pretty silly lyrics. I got the impression Madonna was trying to do a sort of "haunting" piece, like perhaps Frozen--but the lyrics were too weak for me to enjoy it.

Obviously I hold Madonna to a pretty high standard, let's face it--7 good songs on a 12-song album makes it a good album. And this really is a good album--in fact if it had been an 11-song album minus Incredible, I probably would have enjoyed the later tracks more.

So here's what I recommend to people who buy this album and who loved Ray of Light and Confessions on a Dance Floor. Listen to the tracks in this order:

2. 4 Minutes
3. Give It 2 Me
6. She's Not Me
5. Miles Away
1. Candy Shop
4. Heartbeat
11. Devil Wouldn't Recognize You

After that, stop and leave the other tracks until your next listen. And I recommend just skipping Incredible forever.

Hard Candy is an awesome album. It is almost another Ray of Light, and once again Madonna rocked my world. Get the album and dance your ass off.

EDIT: After several more listens I have to say this album seems increasingly more kickass. There's no hope for track 7, and track 10 doesn't stand up to a second listen, but track 8 Beat Goes On was much better than I originally thought. On a second listen I enjoyed it much more and I think the first time through I was just so disappointed by Incredible that when the next song came on I was already soured on the experience. So add track 8 to my list of good tracks above. I'm going to be listening to this album constantly for awhile... and "4 Minutes" is frigging huge.

Madonna - 4 Minutes

Abacquer — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 19:26:00 -0400

Kicks ass.

Weird video though.

Another Indie Music Dump

Abacquer — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 10:57:00 -0400

So it's been awhile since I've posted a summary of the indie music I am listening to. As you know I follow 3Hive, GigaTracks, and also Obscure Sound to find out about new small independent bands and get some of their music. I check these sources every few months and backtrack through the posts to see if there is anything good. Usually, I like very little of what I hear, and that which I do like is merely "passable".

Well this time I waited over six months, and let me tell you my favorite source (3Hive) has been positively dry... dry dry dry. But even when it's dry you can usually find a few things, and some of these are quite fun. There's been a dearth of kickass dance music lately though, and I would say only one song in this list (Duality by The Martial Arts) qualifies as a song you could dance to.

Anyway, I've got most of this stuff on a mix disc and I'm listening to it in the car these days to get a feel for which bands I might want to purchase a CD from. There's definitely a couple I would like to hear more from. Anyway, throw on your headphones and have a listen... I don't think anything here will knock your socks off (there's no Afroganics or Aviatics in this bunch) but you may find something you like here.

Christine Fellows

3Hive describes Fellows as "Experimental Pop"--but I'd simply describe this as thoughtful acoustic music. The only song available via 3Hive is "Advice" which is a beautiful piece advising young people not to be in a great hurry to find love, or at least to "give themselves away". I find it quite pleasant.
- Advice
Club 8

I have a soft spot for Swedish bands, but I would love this duo even if they weren't Swedes. Lovely soft-pop with lots of acoustics and simple vocals that you can sing along with. It isn't dance music… in fact, it's Christian music. Strange that an atheist would enjoy Christian music? It's just words folks, and I can sing them and enjoy them without believing them. Maybe you can too.
- Jesus, Walk With Me
- Heaven -- I particularly like this one… very happy.
- Spring Came, Rain Fell
- What Shall We Do Next? -- Less acoustic, more poppy.
Colour Revolt

This band from the deep American south makes a good attempt at wailing guitar rock with "Naked and Red". It's also a bit of a refresher after the happy spirituality of Club 8. The song opens with a line about God swinging from the "licker tree" and it only gets weirder from there but ties up its interesting message with the idea that "Eden is a hell of a place." I'm glad somebody noticed!
- Naked and Red
Elk City

I seem to be on a spiritual kick lately, because Elk City also serves up a religious offering with "Los Cruzados" (The Crusaders) -- I'm a sucker for a good hallelujah chorus, and Los Cruzados delivers. 3Hive has another song by them available which I didn't enjoy but you may. Check them out.
- Los Cruzados -- Hallelujah… hallelujah… my wife heard me singing some of these Christian/spritual songs and asked "Are you having second thoughts?" Hee hee hee.
Empty Rooms

Sombre and haunting, I'm not sure how to characterize this rock band. In some ways they remind me of Duran Duran, and in some ways they remind me of The Fixx, but their sound is definitely their own. I'm linking two songs here, there's a third on 3Hive that I didn't particularly enjoy.
- Off with His Head
- Try Again
Hasch'm'Méneum

Is it electronica or jazz? It makes me tap my toes and rock my head whatever it is. Unfortunately some of the available tracks seem to cut a little short… probably because the band wants you to buy their CD… well I'm considering doing just that. If you like chirpy electronica with a comical side to it, this may be the blurps and bleeps for you. There are no vocals, or at least no lyrics... it's all instrumental.
- Christerium -- This song is a little funny. Something about it makes me smile. Sadly it is cut short.
- Heliotrope -- This piece is more meandering and contemplative… it would make great background music to read to or engage in some other mental activity.
- Red Sniper -- Stronger rhythm track and a hint of some sort of illicit activity going on in the mood of the music. This would make a good movie soundtrack for a montage where a character is putting his evil plan into action.
- Slide -- Probably my favorite song by Hasch'm'Méneum, this one is goofy and fun. It's another one that makes me tap my toes. Alas it is also cut short. :-(
The Heavy Circles

I have to see if I can find some more music by the Heavy Circles. This pop piece definitely sticks in my head and includes some great whirling sound.
- Henri
The Hermit

Some songs are background music, some songs are dance music, some songs you sing along with, and some you just want to close your eyes and slowly rock from side to side. "Wonderment" is onesuch with its sweeping poppy electronic sound and gently echoing vocals.
- Wonderment (Affekt remix)
- Flutterbye (Sputnichek remix) -- Faster paced than wonderment.
The High Water Marks

Squelchy retro guitar beach music... at least that's what it feels like to me. 3Hive has three of their songs up. The only one I've included here is "The Leaves" although I felt that "Queen of Verlaine" was passable.
- The Leaves
The Martial Arts

Okay, this is another group I need to find more music by. This is great summer music--even beach music perhaps. Music you can sing along with and even dance to, which makes it a little unusual because this latest 3Hive dump doesn't include much in the way of dance music.
- Duality -- Probably my favorite song of all the songs listed here today.
Oslo

This is darker stuff. Sometimes when you are disgusted with the state of the world, it's cathartic to listen to something dark--or at least therapeutic. Rise and Fall of Love and Hate is about divisiveness and how we are taught to be divisive. Sure touches a nerve with me, because I am fed up with all the demonizing I see going on these days.
- The Rise and Fall of Love and Hate
Sittser

If 3Hive has been dry, GigaTracks has been postively barren, but this one piece makes up for all that. It sounds like of a great 80's guitar ballad.
- Losing My Fear of Heights
Sneaky

So if you took Indian music and set it to a funk track and built in a solid driving whorling drone and a lot of repetition you would probably get a hypnotic piece just like this one. Excellent driving music this. I dig it. Purely instrumental.
- Beduija
Spitzer

Okay, I was iffy on including this piece by the French group "Spitzer". This is definitely electronic, like Trash80-style electronic. No vocals and very very synthy, but it has a good beat and it gets the head bobbing and the fingers tapping. Give it a listen... come on... you know you can't pass up a song called DISCO BISCUITS.
- Disco Biscuits
Wojtek Godzisz

I'm not sure what to make of this artist. 3Hive refers to this as "theatrical pop" which as good a way as any to describe it. They listed three songs but this was the only one I enjoyed.
- Light Over Dark Earth

Hope you enjoyed at least some of these... I'll keep trolling the intertubes for good indie music... check back in 3 months!! :-P

Lens Cults and The Isoceles Field

Abacquer — Fri, 28 Dec 2007 19:14:00 -0500

So early this morning I couldn't sleep and I ended up writing an article on flickr in one of the many "what lens should I buy" discussions that goes on there. I have noticed, in my days on flickr, that certain pieces of equipment and certain techniques have a following, and often get recommended simply because of the following rather than because the equipment/technique is actually suited to the purpose of the person asking. In an effort to supply a counterbalancing opinion, I found myself in need of trigonometry.

The Argument

One such "cult" item is the "nifty fifty" (the EF 50mm f/1.8) lens made for Canon EOS cameras. It is very sharp, very fast, and very cheap ($80). If you are on a tight budget (or even if you aren't) it makes sense to have one for your EOS camera unless you have a better 50mm prime, or don't need a 50mm prime.

While I will not argue that it is probably one of the best value-for-money lenses, it is not versatile at all, and yet it seems to get hailed as a magic-bullet lens. I regularly see people making claims like "it never comes off my camera". And after having used it myself, I can only conclude that these people shoot one type of thing and one type of thing only, or it never comes off because they don't own any other lenses.

There is a certain love affair with the 50mm focal length because it was the standard focal length for 35mm film for decades. But in the age of digital SLR cameras, things are different for the less expensive consumer DSLRs. These DSLR's tend to use an image sensor that is smaller than 35mm film. The APS-C style sensor, or crop sensor, does not render the entire image cast by a standard lens, but only a smaller piece in the center. This results in an apparent magnification factor of 1.6. Hence if you put a 50mm lens on a crop-sensor camera, it's like working with an 80mm lens (50 x 1.6 = 80). The end result is a smaller-than-expected "field of view" (FOV).

On an old Canon 35mm film camera, a 50mm lens has a FOV of 46°. But on a crop-sensor camera the FOV is a hair under 29°. This loss of over a third of the FOV means that on crop-sensor cameras the EF 50mm f/1.8 lens has distinct limitations as to how much you can fit in the frame.

Fortunately, on my EOS 5D the 50mm behaves as expected. Because the 5D is a full frame camera, its sensor is the same size as a 35mm film frame. So I get 46° out of my EF 50mm, just as nature intended.

The "nifty fifty" on crop-sensor cameras is often described as a "portrait lens". With the crop factor, the 50mm lens behaves like an 80mm lens, and 80mm is ideal for portraits. But if you want to shoot anything larger than a head-and-shoulders portrait with the EF 50 1.8 on your Rebel XT or 30D, you'd better have a lot of room behind you, because you are going to need to back up... a lot.

But how much?

The Trigonometry

Well that's where the trig comes in (you can skip this section if you don't want to see how I figured it out). In order for me to say how much, I needed to be able to reliably compute the distance necessary to view an object of a given width. But how? I started by drawing a diagram like this one:

V is my viewing angle. Okay it's not 29° (or 28.98333° which is the actual FOV of the nifty fifty on a crop sensor), but close enough. The legs of the triangle extending out from V represent the edges of my FOV as the distance to the subject (marked by the dashed line, d) grows. The base of the triangle (marked as w) is the width of the field of view at the distance d. Basically this is a representation of the wedge or cone of that falls within a particular FOV, in this case 30°.

I can pick any distance I want for d, but what I really need is a way to say what d should be to accomodate a subject of a certain width. In other words, to fit a subject 10 feet wide in my viewfinder, how far back do I need to stand with the nifty fifty on my EOS 30D camera? I supposed that given a formula for that, I could solve the formula for the width so that one could also compute the maximum width viewable given a distance.

The triangle depicted above is an isoceles triangle, as both the legs are the same length, and consequently the angles where the legs meet the base is also to the same. I spent some time looking online for computations for isoceles triangles, but what I was looking for didn't appear (namely, given the length of the base, and the angle of the peak, what is the height or altitude of an isoceles triangle?)

I studied trig over 20 years ago so I remember very little of it, but I did remember there were a lot of simple equivalences for right triangles (that is, triangles where one of the angles is 90°). And I realized while looking at my diagram that the line I had drawn to represent the distance, bisected V and split the triangle into 2 right triangles, each of which looked like this:

Bisecting V gives me a 15° angle (V'), and a base width exactly half of what it was before (w'). So if I could take a given distance d and come up with a formula for w', then I should be able to solve that formula for either d or w', keeping in mind that V' is V/2 and w' is w/2.

Doing a quick check online I found the two rudimentary trignometric equivalences for right triangles: for either of the angles other than the 90° one, the sin of that angle is equal to the length of the opposite side divided by the length of the hypoteneuse, and the cos of that angle is equal to the length of the adjacent side divided by the length of the hypoteneuse. Here are those equivalences for the right triangle above:

Sin V' and cos V' I can get with a pocket calculator, and I'm going to pick a value for either d or w' and solve for the other. I can solve the equation on the left for w' [w' = (sin V') * h] and I can solve the equation on the right for d [d = (cos V') * h], but both of these solutions require me to know what the hypoteneuse of this triangle is.

But in order to get w' from d or d from w' I need to do more work, mostly because I am not going to know what the hypoteneuse is. I'm only going to be starting with either V' and w' or V' and d. So what I need to do is solve one of the equations for h, and then plug that into the other equation. That should give me a formula I that I can use to solve for either d in terms of w' and V' or w' in terms of d and V'. So I picked the equation on the right. Solving that for h gives h = d / (cos V').

So I should be able to substitute d / (cos V') in the equation on the left, like so:

Now I'm good. I know what V' is, I can get sin V' or cos V' from my calculator, and I am going to pick either d or w'. So now I can solve for either one, like so:

Done, right? Well, yes, if I want to know what the appropriate distance is for half the width of my subject using a lens with half the field of view. Now I want to substitute in the equivalences that w' = w/2 and V' = V/2. In the equation on the right that will put w/2 on the left of the equal sign, so I will multiply both sides by 2 to solve the equation for w. That gives me:

Okay they probably aren't the cleanest formulas in the world, but they work and let you get the height of an isoceles triangle from its base width and peak angle, or vice versa. Using these formulas I could handily compute the needed distance for a given width in a given field of view, and this allowed me to present something more concrete than "gee whiz, that EF 50mm 1.8 is awfully confining on a crop sensor camera."

Back to the Argument

So how confining is that nifty fifty?

5 feet wide = 9.7 feet away
10 feet wide = 19.3 feet away
15 feet wide = 29 feet away
20 feet wide = 38.7 feet away
25 feet wide = 48.4 feet away

Pretty confining! If you are trying to capture 3 people sitting on a couch which is 8 feet long all in one shot, you need to stand 15 feet 6 inches away. Better have a big living room, or one where there isn't a TV 10 feet from the couch. Or maybe if you moved the couch outside... that would be cool for an album cover, but for Aunt Bea, Uncle Joe, and Granny, it is probably less so.

Working with the EF 50mm f/1.8 is a good exercise though for learning how to push a lens to do what you need, and it's plain old good exercise, because you're going to be backing up a lot. You can get that 8 foot couch in shot if you shoot from an angle, but then you will need to stop your aperture down to widen up the depth of field so that everyone will be in focus... which means you can't shoot low light anymore so you might need lamps or a flash. Or you could give up on that shot and shoot the people individually.

Or, you could simply not get the EF 50mm 1.8 in the first place, if you are not planning to shoot primarily portraits. If you want to consider the traditional FOV that the great 35mm film artists shot with, you need a lens that gives a FOV on a crop-sensor camera similar to a 50mm lens on a 35mm film camera (i.e. 46°). The closest bet would be a 28mm lens, like the EF 28mm f/1.8 or EF 28mm f/2.8. These have a crop-sensor FOV of 47.25°. With one of these lenses the width to distance figures look like this:

5 feet wide = 5.7 feet away
10 feet wide = 11.4 feet away
15 feet wide = 17.1 feet away
20 feet wide = 22.8 feet away
25 feet wide = 28.6 feet away

Much more reasonable. And quite interesting how the distance to subject is almost the same as the width of the subject. No surpise that the 50mm lens became the standard on the cameras of old.

Always in My Heart...

Abacquer — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 07:40:00 -0400

Many years have come and gone since we held hands and walked,
Along the shore, bare feet on sand, and of the future talked,
Of days when we would marry, of days when we would be
The parents of a cherished child, of our eternity.

Life has not always been kind, to us, 'twixt then and now,
And though I'm oft preoccupied I've n'er forgotten how,
We walked a beach, and gathered shells, and spoke of things to come,
How at your glance, or touch, or sigh, my heart would surely drum.

The pages of our love may yellow, our rose may wither dry,
As youth becomes a memory, and older age is nigh,
But the essence of that joy remains, though it may hide from sight,
My heart still holds a light for you, and it still burns as bright

As the day you first took my hand and we strolled by the sea.
You are now as you were then, the only girl for me.
And so my love, old age will come, and work on us its art,
But that one thing will never change, you're always in my heart.

And so I hope our lives stretch long into our golden years,
Through stages in our daughter's life as each new one appears,
For there are other beaches, and rippled lengths of sand,
That I would like to walk with you, together, hand in hand...

Happy sixteenth anniversary, honey.

Love you,

--C

Where's Chuck?

Abacquer — Wed, 20 Jun 2007 12:54:00 -0400

I seemingly disappeared around the first of June and haven't posted a word since, ya? So where've I been? The short answer is "taking pictures".

Many years ago I decided I wanted to become better at photography. I always found myself seeing things and saying "wow, that would make a nice picture". I dreamed of becoming a wildlife photographer and taking pictures of birds. But I didn't really know what I was doing, and I was using a crummy camera.

So in the early 90's I picked up a used Nikon 8008s for a hefty (very hefty) chunk of change and tried using that. The picture quality seemed better but I still didn't really know how to use it and didn't know where to go for advice. I loved taking pictures with it, but given the cost of film purchasing and developing, it became too expensive a hobby for me, and I put the camera away. (And in the intervening years the camera has depreciated in value to the point where it is worth about 5% of what I paid for it.)

For the last couple years I've used a little Canon Digital Elph (a PowerShot s500) and I have a lot of fun with it. Without the prohibitive cost of film and developing, I can make up for lack of skill in volume. I may snap a couple hundred pictures in a few hours, and of those maybe only a handful are any good, but I'm happy to have that handful.

This having been one of the shittiest years in my life led to my wife wanting to get me something nice for Father's Day that I could occupy my time with. This coincided wit me taking a renewed interest in 35mm-style SLR cameras. I still can't afford the film but nowadays they make digital SLR's... so perhaps I could once again embark on my dream of becoming an excellent photographer without the prohibitive cost of film? With my wife's blessing I started looking into digital SLR cameras.

My friend James had long encouraged me to start publishing my photos on flickr, and given the size of the membership there, that seemed like a good place to go for camera advice. Checking the camera finder on flickr revealed that the most popular cameras used to produce their database of 525 million photos were the Canon Digital Rebel XT and XTi. I posted questions on various discussion forums there asking for camera recommendations and talked with friends at work and elsewhere about cameras. Finally I took a trip to Circuit City to play with the display cameras there and get a feel for them. All the cameras seemed very cool, but I kept returning to the Rebel XTi... of all of them it felt the most familiar, probably because the icons and controls were similar to my PowerShot s500 which is made by the same manufacturer.

But the price was out of the park. Circuit City wanted $899 for the camera. I was informed by the staff that the camera would come with a "temporary battery" and a small charger, but that neither of those components were standard and that I would need to by the standard ones for serious camera use. This would be another $140 or so. Then of course I needed a memory card and it had to be a high-speed (133x) card, which was a mere $50 more. Add a camera bag to keep my equipment safe ($50), and Circuit City's 4-year warranty ($100) and you were talking about $1250... then add another $63 for sales tax. Ouch. I could never afford all this, so I took the information and went home to talk to my wife about it.

She encouraged me to look for deals elsewhere... maybe used equipment on eBay or a less expensive camera like the Nikon D40. It always pays to comparison shop. Eventually I checked out B&H Video out of New York (who had sold me my video camcorder a zillion years ago), from them I was able to price the same camera with the same lens for far less. In fact it was so much less that I could add a camera bag, same exact high speed memory card, a USB card reader, an infrared remote control, and a UV-filter and still come out under the Circuit City price. The kicker? The kit B&H was selling came with the standard battery and battery charger at no extra cost. And there was no sales tax. After adding shipping it came to about $860. Pat gave her blessing so I went ahead and bought my very own Canon Digital Rebel XTi.

It arrived on June 4'th, and since then I've been taking pictures pretty much every day. I am really enjoying myself. It's quite peaceful really, just contemplating a shot through my viewfinder and taking my time. My plan (if you can call it that) is to start with still life, landscape, and macro shots. I'm glad my first lens isn't too specific because I also want to be able to use it as my "fam cam" for pix at the annual barbecue and get-togethers with friends and so forth, so for me maybe a more general purpose lens is good.

Once I figure out how to manipulate light (I am hopeless at this), frame a shot (I am dismal at this), and understand the ins and outs of the camera, I'd like to branch out into pictures of people and portraits. I love faces and pictures of people. When I get to that point, it might be a good idea to put away the general lens and get a 2-3 different lenses for when I want to switch between macro, landscape, and portraiture.

And then, maybe someday, if I can really get to the point where I don't suck, I'd love to try and take pictures of birds. I know that's very challenging but it has been a dream of mine for a long time. I love birds. If I can get there (and save up my pennies), I'd like to get a telephoto lens suitable for that kind of photography.

My photographic journey has been uploaded to flickr each day. Feel free to check out my photostream--unlike my blog it has been very busy. I've uploaded about 350 photos at this point and my stream has been viewed over 1,000 times.

My PhotoStream
My Sets -- this page shows the "albums" that I have grouped my photos into

Here are my 12 most popular photos:

I hope my inattention to my blog hasn't been too irritating to y'all. I'll try to get back here and post more. But in the meantime, you can find me posting on flickr.

Hope to see you in my viewfinder!

EDIT: The table of images was too wide... my blog was getting all stretched out, added a couple pix and narrowed it up a bit.

Mind What You Post on Flickr

Abacquer — Wed, 30 May 2007 10:02:00 -0400

(Or anywhere on the internet really.) People will find your images, copy them, and use them for their own purposes.

I mention this because I have just heard about Flickr user "Lara Jade" who recently discovered that a self portrait she photographed when she was 14 years old was used as the cover for a pornographic DVD without her knowledge. The responses she has received from the DVD company border on the bizarre and betray an extremely warped sense of morality and personal responsibility.

Sadly for Lara Jade, she cannot afford the legal fees necessary to pursue the matter, especially since she lives in the UK and the photo was misappropriated by a company operating in the USA.

Read her story here.

Those of you who post personal or family photos are advised to publish them as "private" photos -- viewable only by people you name as family or friends. This is not something I've ever worried about on my blog, but I am now wrestling with the idea of marking some of my photo albums as private. If that happens, anybody who wants to view those albums will need to create a reader account so I can add you as an approved reader. I haven't decided what I am going to do. This could be a good opportunity to just switch to Flickr. I'll have to think on it.

Commonplaces RSS Feed

Abacquer — Wed, 23 May 2007 10:55:00 -0400

BTW, the "Commonplaces" album has its own feed if you want to follow it:

http://unbecominglevity.blogharbor.com/blog/Photos/Commonplaces/index.xml

Everyday: (adj) usual, ordinary, commonplace...

Abacquer — Tue, 22 May 2007 12:05:00 -0400

I want to start a new photography project, mostly because I want to get better at taking pictures. So starting today, May 22, 2007, I resolve to take one photo each day, and upload it--no set subject matter, no descriptive text.

Just a date and a title and the interpretation of you, the viewer. Please feel free to post any comments you like on any photo. Especially if the photo evokes any sort of emotion.

I've called the new photo album "Commonplaces" since I'll be uploading a picture every day.

Today's pic is already up. Please have a looksee.

With Virginia Tech Fresh in Our Memory

Abacquer — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 15:52:00 -0400

...So I had this dream last night where I went into a building, pulled out two P90s and started shooting everyone, then had sex with the dead bodies. Well, not really, but it would be funny if I did...

-- Allen Lee, Carly-Grove High School Student

Allen Lee wrote some seriously disturbed crap during a "Free Writing" assignment in his high school English class this week. Apparently the instructions on the assignment made clear that the students were not to censor themselves and should instead write whatever came to mind. The point was to keep writing and not to stop until the time ran out. Allen's essay begins "Blood sex and Booze. Drugs Drugs Drugs are fun. Stab, Stab, Stab, S…t…a…b…, poke." The end of the essay concludes with a message to his teacher: "No quarrel on you qualifications as a writer, but as a teacher, don't be surprised on inspiring the first cg shooting." The "cg" refers to "Carly-Grove", the name of Allen's school.

It is evident from his essay that he has an extremely low opinion of his teacher, and English in general. So I suppose it's possible he selected subject matter most calculated to upset the teacher. If so, the calculations were spot-on. Allen's teacher apparently called the police, and now he is charged with disorderly conduct according to the Chicago Tribune. You can read Allen's entire essay here.

I read the last sentence of Allen's essay as a threat, and therefore I am not at all surprised that some sort of discipline is in order, and I fail to see why Allen would be surprised. But apparently a lot of people are surprised because they seem to be leaping to his defense and claiming that the teacher/school are overreacting.

In the meantime Allen is planning to join the Marines.

The questions here are, are these the ravings of a deranged mind, or a normal high school student attempting to undertake a free writing assignment and making a poor choice of subject matter? Was arresting him an appropriate reaction or an overreaction?

What do you think?

The Hounddog Hullabaloo

Abacquer — Mon, 29 Jan 2007 10:14:00 -0500

Wow. You've probably heard about this since it is all over the internet, but people are just going nuts about the movie "Hounddog" which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival. I've heard both good and bad reviews about the quality of the picture itself, but there is an explosion of outrage over the fact that the film portrays the child-star, Dakota Fanning, being raped.

On multiple occasions financial backers have pulled out of the production, and the film has no buyer presently. What it does have is hordes of people calling for the head's of the director Deborah Kampmeier, Fanning's agent Cindy Osbrook, and her mother Joy. There's even online petition demanding their arrest and some are going further than that, as this excerpt from a CNN article notes:

...Even before the first screening of "Hounddog" at the Sundance Film Festival this week, a Christian film critic, citing Fanning's age, decried the movie as child abuse, and Roman Catholic activist Bill Donohue called for a federal investigation...

...Ted Baehr, chairman of the Christian Film and Television Commission and publisher of the Web site movieguide.org, claims "Hounddog" breaks federal child-pornography law. He said the law covers material that "appears" to show minors engaging in sexually explicit conduct.

"Even if they're not actually performing the explicit act, we are dealing with a legal issue here," he said.

Baehr said Fanning is being exploited in the film, and that it should be considered an outrage.

"Children at 12 do not have the ability to make the types of decisions that we're talking about here," he said. "If we're offended by some comedian's racial slur, why aren't we offended by somebody taking advantage of a 12-year-old child?"

Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights, said he has asked the U.S. Justice Department to investigate whether anti-pornography laws have been broken...

It's not hard to understand why people would be upset by a film showing a 12 year old girl being raped, even if it isn't real. It's an upsetting concept. That it happens in the real world is tragic and brutal and awful. If it did not happen in the real world, a film like this would likely never have been made.

And there is the fear (which Bill Donahue mentioned in an interview) that sick perverts will see the film and be inspired to act out their twisted fantasies.

Count bastion of Bill-O'Reilly-Wannabeism Sean Hannity among the offended, who interviewed a conservative child advocate who had seen the film, and was sadly shocked when she informed him that the various claims about the rape scene were not factual.

As for what I think about Hounddog? Well, I don't like the idea, and I have no desire to see the film. I don't think I could watch that. Especially since Dakota Fanning is such an amazing actress, doubtless she would be able to convince me that it was really happening and I don't think I could bear it.

But then, not having seen the film, I'm not about to make a snap judgement as many others seem prepared to do. If you haven't seen the film, then you really can't comment on whether or not Dakota was in some way injured during the production.

As far as what I have heard from people who have actually seen the film, the scene is disturbing but tastefully done (inasmuch as it is possible to do so). There's no nudity or skin-on-skin contact. Basically the rape is implied by carefully editting together various disparate clips shot at different times. You see Dakota shout "No!", you see a man unzip his fly, you see a hand hit a wooden floor, etc. Each individual component is shot separately, nobody is unzipping their pants in front of Dakota, nobody is touching her inappropriately. The rape takes place in the mind of the viewer.

Add to this the fact that Dakota's mother and a child welfare worker were present on set during the shooting of this scene, and that really ought to allay fears, but apparently it does not.

It is disturbing to me that this level of outcry doesn't surface over movies where children are enduring violence, or abject suffering of any other sort. Only when the subject matter is sex do folks go nuts.

I would hope that the primary reason one would be offended is if one thought Dakota was being exploited, or worse yet emotionally injured by performing in this production. All other concerns really ought to be secondary. But from the criticisms I'm hearing, it sounds more like people using Dakota's fame to add oomph to their particular platforms while using inflammatory terms like 'kiddie porn' to describe the film. I find that disturbing for sure. That is also exploitation.

Although Fanning says she has no career plan in mind other than to keep acting, I have to assume she is trying to break out of kid roles and break into more mature roles. She will be 13 in February, and can't realistically do "Charlotte's Web" and "Cat in the Hat" films forever. This is a trail blazed by many actresses before her who transitioned into adult roles by portraying an abused youngster, Jodie Foster in Taxi Driver, Brooke Shields in Pretty Baby, Jena Malone in Bastard Out of Carolina, Dominique Swain in Lolita (1997), Linda Blair in Born Innocent, etc.

These break-out roles are very common. The last big one to make the news was probably the announcement that Daniel Radcliffe of Harry Potter fame will be appearing nude onstage in a production of Equus, a story about a young man who is carnally obsessed with horses. Granted, Radcliffe is 17, but the motivation is probably the same.

Some might wonder why such a film has to be made at all, even if Fanning is in no way harmed during filming. Personally, since I will never see it because of the subject matter, I can understand that sentiment as well. This is the second movie this director has made about a young girl who is raped, and I suspect it's because she wants to raise awareness of child abuse. From a Reuter's article:

..."Hounddog" is based on director Deborah Kampmeier's personal history, and she called the criticism of Fanning's decision to take the role an insult to the young actress.

"She should be applauded [for] the voice she has given to so many silenced women," Kampmeier said...

Okay, I'll applaud her, but I still don't like it. But then, I guess I'm not supposed to. I'll close with various quotes from the precocious Dakota Fanning herself who is angry about the criticism that has erupted over Hounddog.

From Fanning tells "Hounddog" critics she is mad (Reuters):
..."When it gets to the point of attacking my mother, my agent ... my teacher, who were all on the set that day, that started to make me mad," [...] "I can let other things go, but when people start to talk about my mother, like, that's really bad in my opinion ... that's an attack, and that's not fair. They hadn't seen the movie,"...

..."I loved the Elvis Presley story line. I loved the fact she's born of hard circumstances and is trying to survive those," Fanning said. "I like so many things about it that had nothing to do with being abused, or sexually abused."...

..."I'm going to be a freshman in high school in September, and I think it would be irresponsible of my parents not to let me know of things that happen and to try not to get yourself in uncomfortable situations," [...] "It's educational."...

From Online Petition Demands Arrest of Dakota Fanning's Mother and Agent (Cinematical.com):
..."You have to prepare your children for things that happen in the world. Everything isn't rosy."...

From Dakota Fanning: 'It's called acting' (CNN):
..."It's not a rape movie," [...] "That's not even the point of the film."...

..."It's not really happening," [...] "It's a movie, and it's called acting. I'm not going through anything. Cody and Isabelle aren't going through anything, their characters are." [...] "And for me, when it's done it's done," [...] "I don't even think about it anymore."...

What do you think?

Personality Versus Professionalism

Abacquer — Tue, 25 Apr 2006 08:43:00 -0400

The company I work at has two buildings (one in Burlington, one in Westford) replete with cubicles and offices. I can't say much for the cubicles, but I like the design of the offices. Each office has a narrow window as tall as the door mounted right next to the door. I think this is a great idea. Now when you are about to knock on a closed office door, you can first glance through the window and make sure you aren't disturbing someone in the middle of a meeting or a phone call or whatever.

Several years ago...

Munch's Masterpiece "The Scream" Burned by Art Thieves?

Abacquer — Thu, 28 Apr 2005 23:15:00 -0400

The Norwegian Newspaper Aftenposten reports that both "The Scream" and "Madonna" by Edvard Munch may have been destroyed. The paintings were originally stolen in a daring daytime robbery from the Munch Museum in Norway back in August.

Now Aftenposten cites another newpaper's claim that the paintings may have been burned to ash by thieves who wish to get rid of the evidence...