Earth Mosaic 2009 - Update

I mentioned that I was participating in the Earth Mosaic 2009 project.

They received 1630 individual images between April 22 and April 30.

They completed the mosaics and here's how they turned out:


small pics (on Flickr)
This first one contains 5800 images, which means that many of the images they received were used repeatedly, as needed. The higher pixel density allows for a clearer, higher resolution image of the Earth, but the sheer number of images makes it difficult for an individual to find the images that they submitted.

So, they did a second version:


large pics (on Flickr)

This second version contains 1643 images, so only a very few individual images are used more than once, but it makes the search for an individual image considerably easier.

I found mine!




Madison County Courthouse -- just off the North East coast of Brazil, near the Rio Grande do Norte

Spring Arrives -- a bit off the Westernmost coast of Africa, near the Cape Verde Archipelago

Park Place Church of God -- just off the coast of Antarctica, on line with Saudi Arabia, or thereabouts.

Earth Mosaic 2009

I got an e-mail from a friend this week informing me about a project about which I had previously known nothing.

Earth Mosaic 2009

Here's their promo:

Take a Picture of the Whole Entire Planet

Got big plans for Earth Day?

Gonna build a windmill out of recycled soda cans? Or modify your car to run on potato peelings and hope?

Yeah, sure you are. How about something that’s simple enough to actually DO?

Something like taking a day-in-the-life portrait of the whole entire planet!

It's easy, just take some photos of the world around you on Wednesday April 22nd.

Then send your best snap to the good folks at Earth Mosaic, and they’ll use it to create a giant photo mosaic of the Earth!

Then you can totally brag to your greener-than-thou friends about how you participated in a global art project on Earth Day and all they did was buy organic yams. Wusses.

So, on this past Wednesday, I took a few opportunities through the day and snapped a few photos. Nothing out of the ordinary for me.

Here are the three that I have submitted to the project.







That's it.

Even if you didn't know about the project, but you took some pictures on Earth Day 2009, you still have until April 30 to submit them to the project. Click the link above (or below) for more details.

Earth Mosaic 2009

It be September 19th...

...an' ye know what that means.

As I mentioned late in th' day last year, Septembree 19th be Talk Like A Pirate Day.

You be havin' most o' th' tide ahead o' ye this voyage, so get at 't.

Contests and other updates

As you may have noticed, I've been enjoying participating in a few photography challenges recently. For the most part, I've been doing these for the fun of it and to attempt to hone my own skills, but it is nice to be recognized occasionally and get some feedback.

Several of my Self Portrait Challenge contributions have been selected by contributors there for their main site, but dozens of contributions are usually chosen for each monthly theme.

Photo Friday is pretty competitive with hundreds of entries every week. Six 'Noteworthy' entries are chosen for each weekly theme based on votes from users and visitors, but there seem to be a few recognizable names there who are featured pretty regularly. I still enjoy the opportunity to find a picture that fits the theme each week.

Speaking of Photo Friday, The theme this week is: 'innocence.'

I've chosen this recent picture of Hannah to submit:



The reason I took this picture was because one of the groups in which I participate over at Flickr is called, "Masters of Photography." They had a contest for the month of September and the theme was, "Portraits with Bokeh." "Bokeh," for those that don't know, (I didn't either until I had to figure it out for this contest) is a term referring to the blurry portions of a photograph. Now, some of you may be thinking, "my Uncle Henry must be a master of Bokeh, 'cause all of his pictures are blurred beyond recognition!" But bokeh, as it is usually used, specifically refers to an aesthetically pleasing use of blur in photos. For a portrait, it is often quite nice because it allows you to include some background elements, but separates your subject from the background by focusing sharply on the subject and letting the background go blurry. I won't go into technical detail about how to accomplish this effect here, but there's a reasonably understandable article over at Wikipedia for those who would like more information, or feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment.

Anyway, I was pleased with how the picture turned out and what's more, my submission was selected as the winner of that contest. I am proud to have been selected and because you won't be reading anything about it in your local or national news, I'm sharing it with you here! There is now a small mention of it at the Masters of Photography Hall of Fame that should remain there indefinitely.

While I'm tooting my own horn anyway, I'll also mention about another recent contest of which I was chosen as winner. This was a slightly different kind of contest. Christy's work had their annual Fall party at a local Pumpkin Patch and this year, one of the activities was a coloring contest. So Christy brought home the pictures, I got out my box of crayons that I had from college (yeah, that's right -- it was therapeutic!) and Hannah and I worked on each of our pictures together. I blew those little kids away! They never stood a chance in the contest! -- No, really there were several different age groups. My entry won in the adult group. What I don't know - is whether or not I was the only entrant. :-)





Films Recently Watched:
The Great Escape (1963) dir. by John Sturges

Frances (1982) dir. by Graeme Clifford
An amazing performance by Jessica Lange as Frances Farmer. Interesting look at treatment of mental illness in the 1940s.

Cimarron (1931) dir. by Wesley Ruggles
Among the first films to receive "Best Picture" Oscar. This story reminded me a bit of another Best Picture winner: Forrest Gump, believe it or not. A fictional man living the only life he knows how in a turbulent time in the history of our nation. In Cimarron, it is Yancey Cravat in the 1890s through the turn of the century and even through the 1920s. We see the Oklahoma land rush, the settlement and development of a small town, Osage. Religion, politics, media -- this covers it all. An epic.

Zardoz (1974) dir. by John Boorman
Sean Connery running around is a red loincloth and matching suspenders is NOT the weirdest part of this movie. That should tell you something.

Contact (1997) dir. by Robert Zemeckis
After watching Close Encounters of the Third Kind, recently, I got the urge to watch this, one of my all-time favorites. Both try to deal in 'reality' to show how we might actually respond to contact from 'benign' aliens. Contact's dealing with ideas of faith is really well done in my opinion. Jodie Foster's last speech when facing the government review astounded me the first time I heard it and it still rings true every time I watch it:

I... had an experience... I can't prove it, I can't even explain it, but everything that I know as a human being, everything that I am tells me that it was real! I was given something wonderful, something that changed me forever...A vision of the universe, that tells us, undeniably, how tiny, and insignificant and how... rare, and precious we all are! A vision that tells us that we belong to something that is greater then ourselves, that we are not, that none of us are alone! I wish... I... could share that... I wish, that everybody, if only for one... moment, could feel... that awe, and humility, and hope. But... That continues to be my wish.

Forrest Gump (1994) dir. by Robert Zemeckis
I mentioned this in my thoughts about Cimarron. I got to thinking about Forrest Gump, so I decided to go ahead and watch it. And that's all I have to say about that. :-)

Cast Away (2000) dir. by Robert Zemeckis
So Contact and Forrest Gump got me on a Robert Zemeckis kick, so I watched this one too.

Back to the Future (1985) dir. by Robert Zemeckis
And finally, you can't get on a Zemeckis kick and not watch BTTF!

The Little Mermaid (1989) dir. by Ron Clements and John Musker
Hannah had been looking forward to this one for a while. She liked it, but there were several parts with the Sea Witch that were a little too scary for her.

Adaptation (2002) dir. by Spike Jonze
This is an awesome movie! I really liked it. Unfortunately, it is nearly indescribable. Just watch it and let me know, the we can talk about it. Oh, and for those who believe that Nicolas Cage is a one-trick-pony and only 'plays' himself in his movies...you haven't seen Nicolas Cage act until you've seen this film. He plays two roles (twin brothers) in Adaptation, and it's really like he's two totally different people. Excellent, all around.

Crash (2004) dir. by Paul Haggis
Most recent film to receive "Best Picture" Oscar.

Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World (2004) dir. by Peter Weir
Just finished this one tonight while finishing up this post. I was watching it on the PC -- it really needs to be watched on a big screen with a big sound system. Good movie, regardless.

Arrr!

Ahoy! Happy 'Talk Like A Pirate Day'!!!

How this crazy holiday evaded me all these years, I'll never know. It its honor, I will attempt to type like a pirate for the rest of this post:

mxdfmxfdmx fdmjn xdf,mxdf ,.zsdm,xdf jhmnxdf m nx m nx mxdf jhmzajmajkuseksuksujw43u43uj k,xserij u, jesr, u se uj,sexrujzezwauzuj,uj, sez uj,ujhujazwu,awzeiuoet!#RWEAFfdajkl;jk;lqtuiop5413uioprtgangadkjl;nmvdznfeaerhj5132853 _
nmvdajkl][teqwuipoteqw980ateklj;vakljqerwquiopgdajkbvcn fdajkl;

ajkkl;jklefqwjiop1342fu890fasjkl;dvj[a[rea/df;lkjeqwioteqru=eq-0wfgwejkl;fdsajk
uipotqegdnklvdakvczxm,.kjl;fDAJKL;TEgbakjl;_
kjlqefkjl1613464qtajkldagjklgfbjkdUiotqedjaIOjkdajkl
ajkfeqjklqefiougadsuioqejklgdjkl;gda[p[]pjkladfkjl k3tre

__________________________


Just kidding.

Anyway, feel free to spout off some piratey talk for the rest of the day (what little's left, that is). I mean, on what other day can you mention 'bunghole' at home and get away with it?
(DISCLAIMER: if you actually say 'bunghole' at home and get clobbered, despite it being 'talk like a pirate day,' don't come crying to me, ya land lubber!)

Yaaaaars Truly,

Black Harry Rackham

Like anyone confronted with the harshness of robbery on the high seas, you can be pessimistic at times. You have the good fortune of having a good name, since Rackham (pronounced RACKem, not rack-ham) is one of the coolest sounding surnames for a pirate. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
part of the fidius.org network

Films Recently Watched:

The Dirty Dozen (1967) helmed by Robert Aldrich
This be what I call me twelve best mateys -- Blimey! I never knew they made a movie 'bout 'em!

Mogambo (1953) helmed by John Ford
Lots o' great scenery and safari footage 'ere. In this movie, Clark Gable, woos two different beauties while on safari, one o'em, played by Grace Kelly, be already married!
--from IMDb trivia: some censors in Europe refused t'allow an adulterous relationship to be portrayed on film, so they altered the script so that the married couple would, instead, be brother and sister, but they didn't remove a scene where they share a bed together. Adultery=bad -- Incest=OK? That sounds like it could be from the pirate code.
[/pirate language]
Beyond the Gates of Splendor (2002) dir. by Jim Hanon
A documentary about the tragic, true story of Jim Elliot, Nate Saint, Ed McCully, Pete Fleming and Roger Youderian; Christian missionaries to the Waodani tribe in Ecuador who were violently killed in 1956 by those they were attempting to reach. Then, the inspirational, true story of several of the wives who successfully reached out to the same people who had killed their husbands, not only reconciling themselves with the Waodani people, but also immediately ending generations of unbridled vengeance killings within the tribe.
I have yet to see Jim Hanon's other movie, End of the Spear, which chronicles these same events, but in the form of a reenactment, but I hope to, soon.
(sorry, I just couldn't do that to this one)
[resume pirate language]

Garden State (2004) helmed by Zach Braff

My Friend Flicka (1943) helmed by Harold D. Schuster
I'm a little bit interested in seeing t' new movie, Flicka, due out in October based on t' same novel by Mary O'Hara. I know I'd seen bits o' t' '43 film before, but not t' whole thin'. It be done very well. It will be interestin' t' see how t' new version compares.

Moulin Rouge (2001) helmed by Baz Luhrmann
I heard Elton John's, "Your Song" and got t' urge to see this wonderful film again. I enjoy every moment o' it every time I watch it.

American Beauty (1999) helmed by Sam Mendes
Same here. This be a masterfully created, original film and I always enjoy it.

The Hidden Fortress (1958) helmed by Akira Kurosawa
This had been on me 'to see' list for a long time as George Lucas credits this film as an inspiration for his Star Wars films. Mainly, t' element that be used is that t' story be told from t' viewpoint o' t' two lowest characters, or bilge rats. In Star Wars, tis t' droids, in Hidden Fortress tis t' two fools.

The Jerk (1979) helmed by Carl Reiner
This is another one that I'd seen bits o' before. I was familiar with several o' t' gags and one-liners, but I'd never watched it from beginnin' t' end. When Steve Martin opens t' movie with t' line, "I was born a poor black child," ye know yee're in for a fun ride. :-)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) helmed by Steven Spielberg
Revisitin' this excellent film. It still works nearly 30 years later. T' family life sequences shown, especially in t' Neary home, be just perfect. Seein' this again kind o' makes me want t' watch another one o' me all-time favorites, Contact. Hopefully, I'll be able t' watch that one again, soon.

Graph Your Website!

This is a visual representation of my blog. Each different color dot represents a link, an image, a pull-down menu, etc. For example, the section furthest to the left (in the image) is my sidebar. Blue dots represent hyperlinks, so the big cluster of blue dots is my 'Films Recently Watched' section. The yellow cluster is the pull-down menu for my Archives, etc.

Make your own HERE.

Crazy Dragon Illusion!!

For those of you who are interested, I found another toy on the internet that I thought was cool enough to pass along.

This one is a do-it-yourself project. You print this out, cut, fold and tape as directed, and you get this:



Here is a page that contains a Windows Media video showing the illusion at work.

3 hints from my experience:
1.) Being careful about where to fold, cut, tape does make a difference. Use a well-lit area and a hard surface for best results. (A hard drink probably wouldn't hurt either -- just kidding!)
2.) Print out two copies of the .pdf file. Cut one out for making your dragon and use the other sheet as a reference of where to make the folds/cuts, etc. Don't forget to cut along his bottom jaw to the white dot at his neck -- I missed this detail on my first try.
3.) Once you're done, the best results come from looking at the dragon with one eye closed. It says that on the instruction sheet, but who reads instruction sheet?

FYI, the illusion works whether the dragon is printed in color or in black & white.



Films Recently Watched:

Sleeping Beauty (1959) produced by Walt Disney; Supervising director: Clyde Geronimi
I'm sure I'd seen this before, but it certainly had been a while. Love the use of the widescreen framing on this. A stark contrast stylistically from the previous Disney full-length animated pictures.

The Cooler (2003) dir. by Wayne Kramer
I like William H. Macy in general, and he excels in this one (his character was written with Macy in mind). Parts of the story were weak - I could have done without the Father/Son sub-plot, but pretty good overall.

Moulin Rouge! (2001) dir. by Baz Luhrmann
I can't say that this is a "guilty" pleasure for me because I don't feel guilty about loving it. It's probably one of my favorite musicals ever on film. The vivid colors, the quick editing, the pop music soundtrack, Ewan and Nichole doing their own singing...the entire package just works for me. I was happy to sit down with this one again. Also looking forward to Joel Schumacher's film adaptation of the ever-popular, Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera, which releases later this month (limited release 12/22). I've never seen the Broadway show (on or off), but the music from the show was quite popular among my group of friends from High School. From the trailers, it looks as though it may have some similarities to Moulin Rouge.

Say Anything... (1989) dir. by Cameron Crowe
A desire to see this film again was driven by my recent purchase of Peter Gabriel's video collection on DVD, Play. Peter Gabriel's song "In Your Eyes" always makes me think of the iconic moment in this film with Lloyd Dobler (John Cusack) holding up his boombox over his head playing this song. It had been a while since I'd seen it and Christy couldn't remember for sure whether she ever had, so we watched it last night. Cameron Crowe has a way of capturing time in a bottle. My High School experience was significantly different from what this film portrays, but some moments from this film still resonate, regardless.

God Bless The Internet!

Combining two ideas I discovered on the internet. . .

This guy's idea (using small toy cars to appear life-size)

+

This guy's idea (making a Starship Enterprise out of a 3.5" floppy disk)

=



and



and, a legitimate shot of my effort...



And finally, for the few of you who don't enjoy watching me play with my toys, another recent picture of Hannah. . .



[EDIT: added link to Parking Spots for the one picture they added.]

Forced Perspective Update

Hey, guess what?

Remember this post? You don't have to click the link, you can probably just scroll down a few posts. As I mentioned, I was thinking about trying to do one of these "forced perspective" photos. Well, I took several and submitted two to the website, Parking Spots and they put them up on their site!

Here are the two that got posted:
(click on the pictures to see them in context at Parking Spots)



(Please take note of Hannah's fine work on the decals)



These weren't as easy as I thought they would be. They're not hard, it just takes some practice to get everything right. The hardest part is not looking like a complete idiot while standing in a public parking lot while holding a child's toy and taking a picture!

Would love to see other readers here try their hand at this novel concept and share their results.

Forced Perspective

Saw a link to this guy's website, Parking Spots.

Here are examples from the site.






Pretty interesting photos.

He creates and collects photographs that force toy and/or model vehicles into real environments.

He also allows people to submit their own shots. I'm thinking about trying one. Of course, if successful, I'll post it here. Stay Tuned!


Films watched recently:
Paycheck (2003) dir. by John Woo
Interestingly, a different kind of "forced perspective."