A Google+ Photo Journey
I was browsing Google+ today, leaping from stream to stream like a social networking salmon, when I thought to myself: wouldn’t it be good to find a picture from someone’s stream, post it here with a note describing why I liked it, leap randomly via someone who’d interacted with that stream in some way to discover a new picture, and repeat a few times thereby giving me something to post on my site? And then I thought: no, that’s not good at all. That’s the opposite of good. And then I decided to do it anyway. Here are five shots from five streams browsed one after the other for no other reason than that I wanted to. It’s the best reason there is. So, first off was a quick look at my Street Photographers circle, one of the two main circles I’ve created that I check numerous times a day. And the first photo to catch my eye was this shot entitled “Love, Work, Create… Ride” (although I think it should be live not love) by Garth McKay: Lovely warm tones from the low sun behind the camera and gorgeously lit with that same light reflecting off the store windows and into the street; this creates some great shadows and reflections onto the road surface. The bike neatly framed with the words around it is excellent too. Someone who liked that photo was Andre Behrmann so a quick scroll down his stream brought me to this: Great sharpness picking out all the textures especially in the foreground and obviously lovely symmetry here. Particularly nice is getting the natural light from the sun directly overhead so as to cast great light and shadow right down the middle of the photo. This shot led me via one of the commenters on it to the following photo by Thorsten von Eyb: Three things I love about this photo: firstly, it’s the moment in the centre of the shot; the hug in the middle of the crowded scene and the working of the camera phone by the hugged individual. Secondly, there’s the angle of the shot; always nice to see something off the vertical or horizontal and in a crowded shot like this it works well to convey claustrophobia to me. Finally, of course, it’s the woman in the white trousers who – for some reason (ahem) – is actually the focal point for the picture. Liking Thorsten’s shot was Serein Lee and I know I’m always going to see good shots from him so off to his stream and this shot is the one I wanted to pick out: The girls are...
Portsmouth Roller Wenches Roller Derby
So I popped along to Havant on Saturday to watch the Portsmouth Roller Wenches take on the B-team of the Birmingham Blitz Dames. This was my first experience watching roller derby and I wasn’t sure what to expect; in hindsight it might have been an idea to read up on the rules and not rely on my scientific mind (what was I thinking?) to try (and fail) to determine the rules through observation. The basic rules of roller derby – I’ve subsequently surmised – are that five players from each team take to the circuit, four of whom serve as blockers while one has the job of passing through the blocking pack, circling around, then passing through again scoring a point for every person passed this time (and successive ones) through. Blocking can be made with anything from the shoulder to the hip, but not the elbows. Advanced rules include hands-on-hips gestures to end the two-minute jams early (this rule is described as “advanced” because I couldn’t work out why it occurred. There are a lot of advanced things in the world, you won’t be surprised to hear) and people called pivots. I don’t know why they’re called pivots. Other observations: roller derby is a lot of fun for both competitors and spectators and as one of the latter group you can even get involved in audience participation with a circling of the track and a high five with all the players, officials, and helpers at the end of the game (do they do that in full contact golf? No they do not), everybody has a nickname, often alliterative or rhyming and almost always with brutal overtones, and these are very entertaining too (personal favourite: Lady Von Whack ‘n’ Smack), the women wear helmets, elbow pads, hand pads, and knee pads; after seeing some of the falls I would also recommend buttock pads or competing in a Zorb ball, the small venue and lots of bumping and blocking makes for great photo opportunities (I took some photos you won’t be surprised to hear: Wenches versus Blitz Dames) even though the ISO needed to be horribly high and the colour cast from the leisure centre’s lighting was a shade of green/yellow known as Arse, that’s a horrible green/yellow in the latest Dulux catalogue There’s another roller derby event coming up in a few weeks’ time, the last public bout of 2012. As you can tell – using the power of your eyes to read it – it’s taking place in Havant again and this time the Portsmouth Roller Wenches will be taking on the High Rollers of Buckinghamshire (click the...
American Hotels And Motels
I’ve shared some of the fantastic postcards of Jordan Smith before – American Motels – and the urge came over me to do so again. No, I don’t know why but that’s all the explanation you’re getting for what you’re about to read. It’s the Alvyn Hotel describing itself as the friendliest lobby in town. Certainly, if wood gives you wood then you’ll be smiling too but even if you’re not some sexual deviant turned on by the smell of pine there’s a lot to recommend at the Alvyn Hotel; for starters: they have a rocking chair! And if you’re the sort of person that likes to listen to the TV but not watch it then where else are you going to find a chair conveniently located with its back to a supporting pillar facing away from the set in the room? Nowhere but the Alvyn Hotel, that’s where! This is the William Hilton Inn, Hilton Head, South Carolina and if you’re a fan of hotels with no troublemakers in them then this is the place for you as every guest is subject to police background checks and an interrogation by two federal agents before their bags are checked in. Since this policy was put in place the murder rate of guests at the William Hilton Inn has fallen to a record low. If you’ve ever wondered what it must be like to be behind the counter in the lobby of the Weatherford Hotel in Flagstaff, Arizona then this postcard should give you all the help you need. Should you pick up your book on the counter top? But what if someone comes in? Would they think you’re smart because you’re reading or would they be offended that you’re not staring at the doors waiting for them? Who can know the minds of people who would stay in this hotel? And what’s your favourite chair? Is it the blue one that you found down the street? Why would someone throw out a good chair like that? It doesn’t matter that it doesn’t match anything else! It doesn’t! Or do you like the chair with the head on it? That has got to be a good talking point to guests, hasn’t it? What else could you talk about? The weather? It’s Arizona! It’s hot! Why is there a head on a chair? Maybe you’ll pick your book up. Maybe you won’t think about the head on the chair any more. This is the Tropics Motor Hotel, Seattle, Washington and you’ll want to stay here; it’s got a kidney bean-shaped pool. Oh, other motels have kidney bean-shaped pools? Well, this kidney...
Scary TV Themes
Everyone likes list posts! Everyone! And everyone likes videos! Everyone! And everyone likes coming up with a simple way to update the site without putting massive effort into it! Me! So… some television themes that I find scary, eerie, unsettling, or any of the other words that Mr Roget saw fit to lump together in his best-selling novel. This isn’t to say that these particular bits of intro (or outro (is that even a word?)) music belong to programmes that are actually scary, but rather that they send a little tingle up my spine. Perhaps it’s the mix of deep bass and high-pitched notes, or perhaps it’s because it stirs a memory of childhood when everything was so much more terrifying than it is today. Except spiders. Those things have got worse as I’ve got older. It’s all the radiation from the satellites, I’m sure (*). I’ve dithered. I do that. Let’s take a look at what makes me uneasy. (*) Note to future historians of the early intarwebs: it’s probably not the radiation from the satellites at all; more likely it’s the radiation from the fusion-powered drones that patrol the skies monitoring us. The Tomorrow People Not a terrifying theme exactly – especially now that I’ve listened to it again – but the programme itself was not the most warm and cuddly. But then again, it was a kids’ programme from the seventies shown on ITV; they were all pretty much horrific for some reason. This show featured children developing weird powers and, well, I’m not really sure what else. The thing about British families in the seventies was that you tended to be either a BBC child or an ITV child when it came to watching TV after school. I was the former. Occasionally you’d switch to the other side but then you’d just end up watching a bit of a frightening science fiction show and you’d have to return to the safe embrace of Blue Peter and John Craven’s Newsround. The Box Of Delights Now this was a BBC programme and it still gives me a small sense of dread hearing it now. This one ticks all the right boxes starting with the title imagery: scary doll face, tramp, priest, wolf, that Victorian gothic/creeping terror. And the music too: high notes (on a harpsichord perhaps?) against a slow, violin backdrop leading into a Christmas tune that brings with it the sudden feeling of the cold and early, dark evenings. Shiver time! The Tripods Another BBC programme and a short and sweet intro that has decided to hold the sweet and then slide it into the bin...
Honey, Superbugs, and Bullshit
Just the other day I saw someone post a link to a site called RiseEarth and to an article in particular titled Mysterious Honey Discovered That Kills All Bacteria Scientists Throw At It. Being someone with something of a scientific mind this attracted my attention immediately; a natural ingredient, I thought, that can kill all known bacteria. Could it be? Or even bee? Yes, I think puns in my head. But, even as I thought those three words “could it be?” a simultaneous thought – since I’m also someone with a skeptical mind – also raised a hand, waved a little for attention, and spoke up: not bloody likely. So, to the article about bacteria-killing honey then! Australian researchers have been astonished to discover a cure-all right under their noses — a honey sold in health food shops as a natural medicine. Oh dear. Health food shops. Immediate red flag. Maybe it’s okay, maybe it’s still genuine. Far from being an obscure health food with dubious healing qualities, new research has shown the honey kills every type of bacteria scientists have thrown at it, including the antibiotic-resistant ‘superbugs’ plaguing hospitals and killing patients around the world. That’s better. That’s certainly alleviating some concerns. Because my initial thought was that this actually was an obscure health food with dubious healing qualities. But apparently it isn’t. Good, good. Assuming I take it at its word, which I don’t, but let’s carry on. Professor [Dee] Carter’s two sons, Marty, 8 and Nicky, 6, think it’s funny the way their mother puts honey on their sores. But she swears by it, telling stories of how quickly it cures any infection. […] The curative properties of various types of honey have been known to indigenous cultures for thousands of years, and dressing wounds with honey was common before the advent of antibiotics. Uh oh. On the one hand that’s a real professor (see (not much bee research going on there, though)). On the other hand backing up the scientific claim with one sentence about kids relating to their mother’s way of treating wounds and another talking about remedies from antiquity… ooh, that’s another, massive red flag. At this point I was distracted by some of the other articles on the RiseEarth website. These articles include: Area 51 Builds Massive Alien Pyramid Illuminati Occult Symbolism in London’s Olympic Closing Ceremony How Hemp Oil Cures Cancer And Why No One Knows If you were a manufacturer of red flags then right now you’d be doing a roaring trade as I’d be buying up all your stock. I don’t think I need to fully explain why it’s...
Six Million Dollar Man Books
I recently saw some Six Million Dollar Man novel covers over on the always excellent Space 1970 blog and remembered that I too had a few hanging around somewhere. A quick rummage around the attic later led to me re-reading the books I’d not looked at in a couple of decades. A quick review of these TV show novelisations will now be forthcoming. #15: The Anteater Affair When a number of high profile assassinations around the globe are analysed it’s quickly realised that anteaters played a part in all of the deaths in some way. Steve Austin is tasked with the job of protecting the president of an emerging African nation on his visit to the United States as it is suspected that he will be the next target; this turns out not to be the case and the connection between anteaters and assassinations is purely coincidental. Overall, a disappointing adventure for the Six Million Dollar Man but I did learn a lot about anteaters and the administrative duties that take place in zoos. #23: Six Million And Two After Steve Austin suffers an allergic reaction to hayfever tablets he becomes obsessed with hippies and joins a commune. The allergic reaction is short-lived, however, and soon Steve’s right-wing tendencies come back in full force leading to a series of arguments with peaceful people about how they all should get real jobs. When the Six Million Dollar Man returns to his normal life he discovers that radioactive bees caused havoc in New York but everything’s okay now. The book concludes with Steve angry that he missed the bee adventure and further blaming of hippies. The free love orgy from pages 49 to 116 was a little contrived but the book had some good points to make about beatniks. #27: A Step Too Far When Steve Austin falls down the steps outside his new apartment he takes a sabbatical from work to pursue a private investigation into how widespread the stair-falling phenomenon is. A thrilling exposé into how to research old newspapers using your local library ensues. Probably the best of the Six Million Dollar Man novelisations and the most true to the TV episode on which it’s based. #28: 360 Degrees Of Death Steve Austin is invited to give safety talks in schools to students who are increasingly becoming interested with the new sport of skateboarding. Steve takes the opportunity to design a whole range of Six Million Dollar Man knee pads, elbow pads, and helmets but the kids reject his merchandise because of the butterfly designs on them and Steve’s fledgeling business runs into financial difficulties. Things become worse...
Recent From Retro
-
The Women Of Kilobaud Computing Sep 26, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent From Entertainment
-
Dance Music Triple Nov 19, 2016 -
-
-
-
-
Recent Comments