Field Trip: NIN/JA Concert

Posted in Web Stuff on May 29th, 2009 by Ast
Dave and Perry

Dave and Perry

Hell yes, you better believe I took photos at this show. I am pretty much perpetually too broke to buy expensive concert tickets so I was relegated to the grass behind the nosebleed seats at Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre. All the same, I got out my trusty telephoto lens, set the ISO to 1600 on my camera, stopped out to f 5.6 (I didn’t say my telephoto was very fast at all…) and shot like a madman. I don’t think I have ever worked that hard taking concert photos in my life. Read more »

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Field Trip: Woodland Cemetery

Posted in General Blogging, Photography on May 13th, 2009 by Ast
Grave Stones

Grave Stones

First, I realize I didn’t have a field trip posted last week.  I actually went out and shot photos, but they were lost in a freak accident.  Ok, maybe not such a freak accident, but it was an accident all the same.  Suffice to say, I lost all of the photos that I shot, so no field trip for you.

So, Woodland Cemetery.  I was in Northern CA again this weekend and I made a run out to the cemetery in Woodland.  It’s nestled in cozily among a bunch of houses.  I am sure that the kids in the area have all kinds of tales of walking by the graveyard and seeing or hearing ghosts.  More likely, they heard Maude, crying at the grave of her late husband. I don’t know if her name really is Maude, but I am sure that there are people that go there to visit passed loved ones and get a little misty.  It’s ok.  So, anyway, pictures! Read more »

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Zombie TueZdays: Indywood Movie Project

Posted in Web Stuff on May 12th, 2009 by Ast
Indywood Movie Project

Indywood Movie Project

So Antony “AD” Lane is running a project called the Indywood Movie Project.  From here on out I will simply refer to AD’s project as IMP.  He is trying to raise enough money to produce a film about zombies, called “Invasion of the Not Quite Dead”.  The premise appears to be as follows:  A meteor touches down in the Swiss Alps and kills everyone within 20 miles via some fatal space virus.  The virus was later collected by some unknown person/thing and set loose on an island off the coast of England.  Now 6 survivors battle to fend off the zombie horde. Read more »

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Photography: When shooting in a cemetery

Posted in General Blogging, Photography on May 11th, 2009 by Ast
Davis Cemetery Gate

Davis Cemetery Gate

So, if you all hadn’t gathered, I enjoy taking photos in cemeteries.  I’m not exactly sure how this came about, but I enjoy it.  Furthermore, I generally aim not to take creepy cemetery photos.  I think that 1) they do the cemetery no justice and 2) don’t truly represent my experience when going to cemeteries.  I think that, in general, cemeteries are peaceful and quiet.  I try to convey the craftsmanship that goes into the statuary and headstones rather than the spooky feeling you get if you are looking for ghosts.

I have gone to a couple of different cemeteries where people were taking photos at the same time I was.  I tend to operate differently when I am shooting photos than any other time in my day-to-day life.  This being said, I have seen people do some things that I found rather distasteful, so if you are going to do a cemetery photo shoot, please keep the following list in mind. Read more »

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Nadya Suleman: Birthing Child Slaves

Posted in General Blogging, Web Stuff on May 8th, 2009 by Ast
Gloria Allred and Nadya Suleman

Gloria Allred and Nadya Suleman

So, slavery went out in the 19th century here in the US, right?  Apparently not in the Suleman household.  In a Fritzl-esque display, Nadya Suleman is breeding her own slave labor force.  We were all made painfully aware of the tax-dollar sucking black hole known as Octo-Mom when she gave birth to octuplets.  Her own private litter of children, unnaturally made possible by in-vitro fertilization.  Little did her poor, but morally devoid, doctor know that she was working to produce a infant army of slave labor. Read more »

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Thstory Thursday: May Cause Irritation

Posted in General Blogging, Thstory Thursdays on May 7th, 2009 by Ast

Julie rides the bus.  Sitting in the back, she listens to her iPod and stares out the window.  She does this every morning going to work and coming home in the evening.  It’s easier that way.  She used to drive everywhere, but with so many accidents, she sold her car.

Julie wears a surgical mask.  She is afraid of colds and flu and anything else that people might have.  She knows about all of the different seasons of sickness.  She counts the days and watches the news every night.  Not only does Julie wear a mask, but she wears latex gloves too.  She wants to make sure that she touches nothing. Read more »

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McCarthy Awards: The City of San Diego

Posted in General Blogging, Web Stuff on May 6th, 2009 by Ast

The Joseph McCarthy Seal of Excellence

It seems like everyone wants you to report your neighbor for wrongdoing anymore.  From the terrorist terror-mongers  to the cities outlawing smoking of any kind to anything else you can imagine, people are encouraged to tattle on their fellow countryman.  These witch-hunts have been going on for quite some time in the United States, and today I decided that I should create an award to commemorate the original fear-monger and withc-hunter.  The ultimate in bad will to your fellow citizens, Joseph McCarthy.  The Red Scare was the premier fear and loathing incident from the last 100 years of American history.  The first group to receive this prestegious award is the city of San Diego, CA. Read more »

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Zombie TueZday: Zombie Horde Generator

Posted in Web Stuff, Zombie TueZdays on May 5th, 2009 by Ast

To start of with a quote:

This zombie is frighteningly contagious. He is mostly decayed, and is missing some intestines, a foot, a hand, several fingers and part of the face. He is very slow, obviously not smart, and frighteningly strong. He is wearing tattered clothing. He attacks mostly by biting victims.

Do you play tabletop role playing games?  Do you need to come up with a description of several zombies at a time?  You do?  Then you are in luck!  Chaotic Shiny has made a zombie horde generator.  It creates a list of zombies from 1 to 15 in two clicks and you are ready to roll… er… dice roll.  They come in low to high contageon, low to high decay level and so on.  They describe method of attack and provide for a nice, well rounded set of zombies to work with.

Now, if you are, on the other hand, more of a zombie fobic and you are just trying to prep for the coming zombie apocalypse, like the guys running MFZAR and Lost Zombies, then this could be a useful tool for you as well.  You can create a set of zombies and figure out the best strategy to destroy with impunity.  Either way, this is a fun tool for all.

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