Piece By Piece
For my money, it doesn't get better than a good documentary. A graffiti documentary? Even better! Piece by Piece is an overview of two decades' graffiti in San Francisco. I found out about it the other day and was going to order it next week, but a trip to Robot Love saved me the trouble. I haven't sat down to watch it yet, but the trailer looks good and the reviews are great. Plus, DJ Qbert did the soundtrack. I'm sure I'll love it.
The graffiti scene in San Francisco is still incredibly strong. A quick search on Flickr reveals some incredible work. Funkandjazz is documenting the San Francisco graffiti scene and has a killer photo set with more than 1,800 photos.
Also worth noting are the San Francisco and Bay Area Flickr groups.
Pound By Pound
I just weighed myself. 194 lbs. Not good. I've noticed over the last couple of months that I've put on some weight, mainly due to my recent obsession with Fruit Loops and Caribou's Turtle Mocha ice cream. It's time to stop that and lose some weight.
I'm going to start by cutting out my daily candy and soda. I also really need to work out or at least go on walks regularly. I'd like to lose 2-4 pounds a week for the next couple of months and get down to 175 pounds. I might have to reserve Friday's as my day to cheat a little bit, but that's just because Friday is usually donut day at work and I'm not sure that I have the strength to resist.
Sony's New DSLR Fights Sensor Dust
This is exciting. Not because I'm amped up about Sony's new DSLR, but because manufacturers are finally coming up with ways to protect against and fight sensor dust.
Here's a snippet from the press release:
"Dust collects on the image sensor, usually when lenses are changed, and appears as annoying spots in photos, which then need to be retouched later. Sony?s new system offers a novel, two-pronged approach to fighting dust.
The camera?s CCD image sensor has an indium tin oxide coating to avoid static build-up so that dust does not readily adhere. Additionally, when you turn the camera on or off, an anti-dust feature is activated to literally shake off dust particles."
I can't wait to see what the other manufacturers, especially Cannon and Nikon, come up with.
The Lost Weekend
I've finally recovered from the 48 Hour Film Project. It really took a lot out of me and I've been sleeping a lot this week, but it was a great time. Everyone was fun to work with and I think that our movie turned out okay. It played pretty well in front of the audience on Tuesday night and got a few laughs, which was a huge relief. Honestly, I'm not expecting any awards, but I'll be interested in finding out the results of the voting.
As a quick side note, all this sleep has been giving me crazy dreams. The most bizarre was a quick one where a beached dolphin ate a baby chimp. Any dream experts out there? I can't figure that one out.
40 Art 40's
40 Art 40's. June 24th @ Kingman Studios. 1901 Grand Street NE, Minneapolis.
I'm not sure that I'll be up for an all night party, but this looks like a cool event and I'm going to want to buy at least a couple of the painted 40's. I'll pay $100 to get my hands on the bottle painted by 27.
...Make That 30
I went to the doctor on Friday for a brief check. I weighed in at 197 pounds! WTF?! Not good.
I'm upping my weight loss goal to 30 pounds. Starting today I'm going to stick to a healthier diet (to be outlined in a future post) and exercise at least 4 times a week. At lunch I'm going to go for a swim and do some light weights.
Make That 40 oz.
A couple of nights ago Chuck and I got to witness and document the making of Isaac Arvold's "art 40" for the mplsart.com relaunch party on Saturday night, where they're selling 40 oz. of beer painted and/or decorated by local artists.
I'm not really sure what I was expecting, but it was a really cool experience to see an artist at work while being able to ask questions and take unlimited photos. He was a really nice guy and very accommodating.
This was one of the toughest shooting situations I've been in. My average shutter speed was 1/60 at f2.8 and 1600 ISO. Not only was the light pretty low, but it changed drastically throughout the shoot, going from daylight to a mixture of overhead bulbs and work lamps over the course of a couple hours.
I tried using my flash (got a new Canon 580EX recently), which was VERY bright, but I'm not much into using a flash and thought it would be too distracting for Isaac and Chuck.
For the most part, I'm happy with how the shots turned out, but look forward to doing something similar in the future to get some more practice in difficult lighting.
Check out the video and photos.
B-Girl Be 2006
Tomorrow starts the B-Girl Be Summit. I took a lot of photos there last year and will actually have a press pass this year! I can't wait. Plus, with any luck I'll be using my new camera (!) for the first time.
