Gladys... Sunday music returns.

I always wanted to be a Pip. Can you imagine listening to this woman sing every night. I certainly wouldn't tire of it. Ever.

Gladys with a piano player that had a pretty good career as well.

Ok, I think I got most of it back...

...even though I hacked the beejeeezers out of it... I will resume regular posting this evening.

Well this is great

I was told it was easy to update my blogger template. It was a lie. I will decide this weekend if it is worth keeping now or maybe move to another platform. This, as they say, sucks.

I just love this quote...

Made me LOL... And man, is he right. Unfortunately, we will have to live with this myopic drivel-driven crap for a long time. Damn. Oh, look... offensive content is now on my blog, and I am no longer SFW. Sheesh.

"From what I can tell, the Taliban have fled Afghanistan and now run the Human Resources and IT departments at major American corporations."

Flickr Info from David Hobby

This looks to be a nice series that David is running on using Flickr to build interest in your work. Take a look at the newest post here. And you can find part one here.

I preach and shout and evangelize Flickr all day long, but it still surprises me how many pros find excuses not to become involved. Maybe David will be able to shed new light on the subject. Read the whole thing.

Sometimes Craigs List...

Can move you. Yes. It can.

Trimming the attention sails!

This comes at a swell time for me. I have gotten myself in so many projects with my everpresent "Yes, I can do that!" And so many of them are simply time-suckers. I am going to print this guys post out. Laminate it. Tape it to my monitor and get back some of my life.

Speaking of this subject, which I was just now, have you all heard about this book yet? "The 4 Hour Work Week". Damn, it looks interesting. The bookstore opens in 2 hours and I will be there to get it. I will read it and send a review next week.

Damn, there's me taking on another project. It's like a disease, ya know. Read this guys post. Now.

Trimming the attention sails at Like It Matters: "I had a “no mas” moment. I have a project generating a ridiculous amount of non-productive email. I have social networking service emails crufting up my inbox. I burned time in online ‘debates’ I just shouldn’t have gotten involved in. And I read Tim Ferris’ 4 Hour Work Week, which unhinged my mind and helped me think totally differently about goals, workflow, and being a stringent gatekeeper of your time. (If you like 43folders, you’ll like 4 Hour Work Week.)"

Sorry...

... for the unannounced outage. I get very ill very quickly and like lots of guys, I brushed it off and wished it away. Got too much there and I had to take some time off.

I am feeling lots better now, but it is hard to get going again. So far behind that it makes task lists look almost like a joke.

And all of this during the most heinous crime of the century... some goofy asshole with no audience makes a stupid comment (and it aint like he hasn't said this kind of vile shit before... that's what he does) and the world came to an end. And women who tell us they are tough and want to be leaders now tell us that their world crashed down when they heard the stupid comment. What? Are they serious? Or are they politically sucking up to a mantra of victimhood? My daughters would hopefully have responded with a few chosen expletives and a laugh. I hope.

It is really tough to back up shit when you don't know what you really believe and are only reacting to hysteria. I hope these young ladies who were so devastated by a barely literate cretin never go into, you know, business, law, politics... where words can have, you know... real consequences. Wouldn't it have been so much better for them to stand up as one voice and say..."Who gives a shit about what a 10th rate DJ thinks... we just won. Screw him. We are something. He is so far out the door he wont hear it slam." Or something. Victimhood is ugly and even uglier when it is embraced as a banner. Shame on all of them.... jerkjock, players, coach and the ever-stupid press.

Then we had the school shootings and I wonder if the perspective of real crime versus bullshit crime was discernable to most folks. I hope so, but now I hear that we have to "understand", and "forgive" the slimeball who kills our friends but no forgiveness for the asshole who mutters words. Sorry, don't really care about the Imus creep, but he didn't, you know, kill anyone. If this distinction is lost on anyone, I can only imagine how proud they must be of their ability to breathe.

A major network falls into its own quagmire of "ethically challenged positions' when it states that they do not show guys running on the field of baseball games cause it may encourage others to do the same, but show the video of asswipe with his guns and totally unfathomable crap with the statement that they don't think it will encourage others to do the same. What?

Yeah. That's what passes for critical thinking these days.

I know. I must still be in a fever. Where's my medication?

End of rant... back to other, lighter endeavors. Soon.

Fascinating, really fascinating

This is a long, rambling, article but well worth the time.

At the top of the escalators are a shoeshine stand and a busy kiosk that sells newspapers, lottery tickets and a wallfull of magazines with titles such as Mammazons and Girls of Barely Legal. The skin mags move, but it's that lottery ticket dispenser that stays the busiest, with customers queuing up for Daily 6 lotto and Powerball and the ultimate suckers' bait, those pamphlets that sell random number combinations purporting to be "hot." They sell briskly. There's also a quick-check machine to slide in your lotto ticket, post-drawing, to see if you've won. Beneath it is a forlorn pile of crumpled slips.

On Friday, January 12, the people waiting in the lottery line looking for a long shot would get a lucky break -- a free, close-up ticket to a concert by one of the world's most famous musicians -- but only if they were of a mind to take note.

Clever...

...and memorable. And getting hit like crazy. The idea is so simple, direct and unique that it will be hard to mimic, though I'm sure others will try.

Cyber-shot® DSC-H9 Digital Camera

High-quality point and shoots are making a strong case for having a few of them. This one recognizes faces. In a few years it will tell you how to light it or that her makeup needs a touch-up... but not to worry, the camera will do it for you. Sheesh. I like some of these high-quality point and shoots for carrying along and getting well captured shots.

Cyber-shot® DSC-H9 Digital Camera: "Face Detection
Automatically control focus, exposure, color and flash and reveal faces in shadow, make skin tones look more natural and eliminate harsh facial glare. This brings out every expression on every face in every shot, so you'll capture the personalities and emotions that make memories come alive."

Grab a tall, cold one...

Hey, I don't mean a small one, get a big Guiness or Fosters and sit down. Relax. Now watch the best Multimedia work around. If you are a fan of "soundslides" - I am - you will really enjoy this set. It is really exciting seeing where this is going these days. I hope to share a few of my own soon, but it seems that other things keep getting in the way. Big time. LOL...

Anyway, here you go: click!

ZAMARI... the Final Chapter

Very soon my wife will be doing the last concert of her high school teaching career. It is simply amazing how fast time goes. She will be retiring after this concert so she titled it "Final Chapter." She is one of the best teachers I have ever known, but her feet and legs cannot handle the hammering any more. (Actually she made it 15 years past when the docs thought she might have to quit.) I am very proud of her. We shot this image for the poster that is going out valley wide.

Keith Aguilar's New Site

Lots and lots going on in my life and that makes for some non-blogging days. I may have recovered most of what was missing, and now can make the best use of my days. At this point, probably about 5 days behind my schedule. If I have a schedule. March 2007 was a wash.

However, there were a few highlights, one of which is Keith Aguilar, a talented young shooter in Phoenix. Specializing in architecture, interiors and automotive, Keith has built a pretty solid reputation among his clients. He came to me with a grid, knew what he wanted and we built it pretty fast. It has lots of whistles and bells and the site is completely administrated by him. Lo-tech answers to hi-tech challenges makes the site affordable and simple to operate.
You can drop by and say hi at www.423photography.com