Don't know whether it was nerves or insomnia but sleep was impossible on the eve of my departure to my new home, Milwaukee Wisconsin. I got a job working with City Year Milwaukee, a program that helps kids who don't particularly see school as their forte. So on Aug. 6th at 5 am I grabbed my suitcase, packed with clothes and a sleeping bag, and headed for John Wayne airport with the rest of the Wolfe Clan (minus John).
When we arrived at the airport I checked my bag, gave my family one last farwell and took my first steps of a new life...into an airport security line. When I walked up to the security officer he took my ticket and mumble something at my. Politely I asked “ Sorry, I didn’t catch that” to which he responded with a sign “mumble mumble mumble.” Seeing that I was going to get no where with the gentleman I gave my stock answer of “Uh, yea sure.” He gave me a look and handed my ticket back after making some check marks and scribbles.
I threw my stuff into the x-ray machine, retrieved them, and headed to my gate. After a 30 minute wait or so we were allowed onto the plane. Being the high roller that I am I proceeded to the back of the plane (“VIP” section) and took my seat next to the window. The sky was overcast and sad looking, as if California herself was saddened by my departure.
We had to wait until 7 am hit before the plane could take off because of a plane curfew. Once the time came I heard the roar of the jet engines and we took off. We climbed faster and faster towards the ceiling of dark cloud. Then we punched our way through the clouds to one of the greatest sights I had ever seen. Outstretched before me was a white fluffy sea. Mountains off to the east looked like jagged miniature islands just barely reaching above the clouds.
Eventually we landed in phoenix where my connector flight to milwaukee was to take off. After another short wait I hopped on my next flight. I reached my seat but one of the two ladies I was going to sit next to asked if her husband could have my window seat. “Hell no, are you crazy? I am not trading my window seat for a middle seat!”…was what I wanted to say. Rather reluctantly I replied with my stock answer “Uh, yea sure.” and alerted the husband up at row 5 that he seat with his wife and child awaited him. He thanked me and I slipped into my seat next to two other women. We chatted a bit and one of the ladies was kind enough to offer me a delicious apricot and a red tootsie roll pop.
After I inhaled the apricot and had chewed up the candy I asked the flight attendant for a Bloody Mary, its five o’clock somewhere right? She looked at me rather skeptically and said that it was seven dollars. I handed her my card and she began swiping numerous times before she said “I’m sorry sir, it seems that your card is not working.” I know for a fact that I had a little over 170 dollars on that card so I’m pretty sure she just didn’t want to serve me an alcoholic beverage at 10 am. I took my card back and asked for a water instead.
Our flight landed at 3 pm Milwaukee time and I depart with a ravenous hunger. I quickly found a quiznos and got a Italian sub with extra jalapenos, I was in heaven for approximately a minute and then my food was engulfed by the bottomless pit known as my stomach. I went to baggage grabbed my suitcase and stepped out into the street. I was a sunny afternoon and it was a little bit humid, but honestly I was expecting it to be much worse.
My new roommate Isaac showed up in a red Impala with his buddy John and John’s girlfriend Mia. We threw my stuff into the back of the car and began driving into the city. Unfortunately Isaac was leaving that very same day to go to a wedding for his brother in Chicago, but John was kind enough to drop me off at my new apartment. I thanked him and promised to buy a round of drinks whenever we all got the chance to go out. I walked into my new apartment complex and was greeted by my landlords Dana and Charles.
After some talking Charles and I boarded the elevator and head to the 3rd floor to apartment 301, my new home. The apartment was bare save a fridge and stove in the kitchen, but to me it was almost too good to be true. Spacious living room area, two bedrooms both with closets, one bathroom, and a small or “cozy” kitchen. In the basement Charles showed me the laundry room and the storage area. Whilst in the storage area I spied a bed leaning up against the wall. I asked Charles if I could have and he said yes. Free bed? Talk about amazing but that wasn’t all. Charles showed me the garage and said that if I needed a bike some former tenants had left their beat up blue road bike. I eagerly responded yes and he took me to the bike. It had two flat tires, a broken spoke, the back tire was out of whack, and I couldn’t have been happier.
Charles showed me the local bike shop which was down the street but it was closed. Luckily was saw two guys hanging around the back of the shop and asked them if we could borrow a pump to inflate the tires of my bike. One of them slipped inside the shop and came back with a pump. I plugged the pump into my front tire and prayed that it would hold air. Success! After the front tire was filled I moved to the back and had similar luck. With two pumped tires and a sense of invincibility I jumped on my new joyride, thanked Charles, and began exploring my new city.
I was riding down the streets rather aimlessly when I found a bike path away from the streets through a park area. I rode down the ramp and found my self in a totally new world below the cityscape. I rode through a couple underpasses surrounded by trees and various other leafy greens completely immersed in my surroundings and Arcade Fire’s newest album “The Suburbs”. I was so immersed that I didn’t hear I elderly couple riding behind say that they were coming up on my left. I was riding with no hands on the handles and a blue Gatorade bottle in one hand when this lady comes up on my left. She hits my front wheel with her back and sends me off the path into the bushes. Furious I yell out “OH YEA, THANKS FOR THAT!” Her husband stops and contests “She said ‘coming up on your left’” I replied in a much quieter tone but with even more hostility “ Yea I had my headphones on! Maybe you should see if I actually respond before assuming that I had heard you!” I know for a fact that there was plenty of room on my right so I have no clue what was passing through that crazy old kooks head when she tried to pass me on the narrow strip of pathway to my left. They asked if I was ok and I replied yes and told them to go on their way.
I got back on my bike, no worse for wear, but with a new sense of caution and only one headphone in my ear. The pathway eventually let back out into the streets and I found myself lakeside. Lake Michigan might as well have been an ocean. It’s so expansive that I couldn’t even see all the way across to our neighboring state. I continued riding along the lake enjoying the scenery and thinking about my new home. Despite my cycling incident I was rather pleased and excited about Milwaukee. The people seemed nice and I received many a cat call while I was riding around.
Eventually I somehow had made it back to the area of my apartment, but I wasn’t done exploring so I chose a new street to ride down and eventually found a star bucks where I stopped and got a coffee. After relaxing a bit and gaining my bearings on the area by using my iTouch’s map application, I discovered that I was once again hungry! Surprise surprise right? I saw that there was a little hole in the wall Chinese restaurant by my apartment and I headed over there for some grub. Schezwan chicken had never tasted so good. Garnished with green bell peppers, shredded onions and carrots I felt like it was a meal fit for a king. I packed my leftovers and stopped by a convenience store for some “bare necessities” which in this case are top ramen and beer. With goods in hand I walked with my bike back to my apartment and settled in for the night.
Eventually I was lolled to sleep by the sounds of passing cars and drunken college kids walking past and thus ended my first day.
The Rapture May 21, 2011: EVERYONE SCREAM AND RUN
In case you haven't heard tomorrow, May 21, is the end of the world. Take a moment to let this sink in. It's hard to believe right? But the "foremost authority" in the world on the Bible Harold Camping assures us that it is in fact the end. The chosen people, his followers, will ascend into heaven while the rest of us have to sweat it out on earth as it turns into a hell hole crawling with demons and natural disasters galore.
Camping once predicted that the world would end sometime in 1994. Apparently he must have missed a teensy bit of information there because, well were not dead. But this time he assures us, the unclean, that tomorrow is in fact the end. I imagine that I probably will have to call out from work on Saturday, you know to crawl under my bed and cry in the fetal position. If your "smart" you'll do the something similar. Just some kind of wide spread panic is necessary. Maybe go rob a bank or jump out of a plane with no parachute, it doesn't matter really.
HOWEVER, if it turns out that Camping is a total f&#*ing crack pot (which is totally unlikely) then I saw\y we party it up super hard. Hell we can even make it national Harold Camping, on which you must panic in the most destructive way your little brain can possible conjure up. So enjoy this Friday....because it may be your last BAWAHAHAHAHA
Shuffling from dusk till dawn
I sure many of you have given that "rave music" a good listen to every once in awhile. Electronic music has really been on the rise lately. Heck I've even heard it as background music for some high end car commercials, like Lexus. Quite frankly I'm addicted to the music and I can't get enough of it. Amongst electronic music there are several other genre's like House, Trance, Dubstep, Triphop, etc. Anyway I wanted to share with you one of my favorite dubstep tunes so here we go. This one come to you from a New Zealand producer Mt. Eden.
Check out more of his stuff and an interview on http://www.themahoganyblog.com/
Check out more of his stuff and an interview on http://www.themahoganyblog.com/
Pringles Can = Macro Lens?
Recently for my photography class I had to take some macro pictures. Whats macro photography you say? Its when you take pictures of objects super close to the object so that you can see the texture of the object in focus. Now you can take some pretty decent macro pictures with your average lens but to get a really good one most of the time you need to go purchase a certain kind of lens specifically designed for macro pictures. These macro lens can cost up to a grand for the high end ones. I'm a dirt poor college student so I definitely don't have that kind of money to just drop on a new camera lens. So there I was thinking my dream of doing macro photography was dead...until I found this video. Enjoy!
What an amazing planet
Once again I was stumbling through the internet when I ended up on www.amazing-planet.com. This site had quite a fantastic selection of photos from all over the world, not to mention a throughly well designed website. The got everything from the Aurora Borealis to sloths hanging out all slothy like in the trees. So I went looking and I found this image of the Aurora Borealis.
Takes your breath away right? If I can make it up to the northern hemisphere to witness something as unique and as beautiful as this I can drop dead right on the spot and truly be happy. We humans have been blessed with thee most gorgeous and strange planet to live on and it seems like most people just take it for granted. Everyday we are surrounded by beauty but were all moving so fast going here and there that we never truly see it. Even the most mundane scene can be beautiful if you step back and think about how trillions of tiny little particles held together by even smaller particles make everything in the world. Think about that next time your in a rush to make that meeting or when your cruising down the freeway. This world we share is amazing.
Incredible Surf Photographer: Sean Davey
So I was "surfing" the interweb today when I happened to stumble upon this gorgeous image below me.
The photographer responsible is none other than world renowned Sean Davey. He's a surf and surf lifestyle photographer who's been in the game now for over 20 years. The man has over 20 magazine covers with his photography on them and countless photos that will have you itchin for a nice sandy beach to sink those toes into. Honestly the guy knows his stuff and how he goes about capturing some of these images is beyond me. Anyway I thought I would pay homage to one of the greats in the photography business.
If you want to check out more of these awesome photos go to his website: http://seandavey.com/
Panoramic tutorial
http://youtu.be/WoQNL-VsvJA
Check out the link above to get schooled my ol' buddy from across the pond Nigel. Nigel is a bloody brit but he seems to know his stuff and he's got a ton of other sweet tutorials on his website http://www.whatdigitalcamera/.
Spot on Nigel, simply spot on. I fancy myself some tea now, earl gray of course, and perhaps I'll ajorn to my study to contemplate...I dunno british stuff.
I'll post the software stitching tutorial by WDC soon!
Check out the link above to get schooled my ol' buddy from across the pond Nigel. Nigel is a bloody brit but he seems to know his stuff and he's got a ton of other sweet tutorials on his website http://www.whatdigitalcamera/.
Spot on Nigel, simply spot on. I fancy myself some tea now, earl gray of course, and perhaps I'll ajorn to my study to contemplate...I dunno british stuff.
I'll post the software stitching tutorial by WDC soon!
Always rep yo bliiiing
Wanna be gangsta? Do you wanna have a gold chain littered with ice hangin from yo neck? Well guess what...i have not suggestions on how to procure such an item nor would i actually want to carry around such a useless expression of my excess of wealth. What im talking about is your camera. In the realm of photography the only bling that should be hangin from your neck should be your camera. And you gotta have it with you at all times folks. Earlier today I was caught without my bling and let me tell you i regretted it.
As i was getting off the freeway today to get some grub I passed by a patrol car with its lights ablazin. And you know who they pull over? An ice cream truck! I looked into my backseat and my bling was no where to be found. How classic of a picture would that have been? And I missed my oppurtunity all because I left my bling at home.
So let this be fair warning to all you photobugs out there, ALWAYS REP YO BLING. Who knows maybe you will catch a pic of the infamous ice cream truck killer (Dexter reference haha), or two mimes fighting at a zoo. And who wouldn't want that picture. I would pay good money to have two bloodied up mimes in an epic struggle. Hell I would frame that and hang it from my mantel haha. So don't stop repin that bliiiiing boys and guuurls.
As i was getting off the freeway today to get some grub I passed by a patrol car with its lights ablazin. And you know who they pull over? An ice cream truck! I looked into my backseat and my bling was no where to be found. How classic of a picture would that have been? And I missed my oppurtunity all because I left my bling at home.
So let this be fair warning to all you photobugs out there, ALWAYS REP YO BLING. Who knows maybe you will catch a pic of the infamous ice cream truck killer (Dexter reference haha), or two mimes fighting at a zoo. And who wouldn't want that picture. I would pay good money to have two bloodied up mimes in an epic struggle. Hell I would frame that and hang it from my mantel haha. So don't stop repin that bliiiiing boys and guuurls.
Film or Digital
Photography has progressed so much in the last decade. These days you can take a picture of your self in one second and in the next have 12 posts on facebook when you make that photo you profile picture. But what if the sun was in you eyes or a wasp stung you right when you heard that *click*. The picture is RUINED...Oh well hit delete and try again. click click click click you can take an endless amount of pictures these days and it doesnt even phase people. Should that be ok? Or should the photo gods strike down with vengence for making their tool of art a frivolous means to end.
Remember the good ol days when film was king? Every picture would be composed so meticulously. Each and every element in its proper place. People actually cared about the other stuff besides their face in the veiwfinder. You couldn't just hit delete and try again, wildly swinging your camera in the general area of your target and pressing down. CLICK. No you made sure that every photo counted. And don't even get me started on finishing a roll. It was like your christmas letter to Santa and the developed photos were the gifts. There was so much more joy when you looked at that photo of June Lake you took over summer and realized you got the perfect shot.
So what does this mean? Should we the select chosen few hold the torch for film and secretly scoff at those chimps taking snapshot after snapshot so haphazardly? Or should we all jump head first into the future and light a candle for film's funeral? Honestly, I'm down with digital haha. But that doesn't mean im gonna just throw my old film Canon out. I fell in love with the dark room this semester and the hands on process of taking your film out of your camera yourself. But digital has almost limitless potential and is sooooo much faster its hard not to love as well. Now if we could just get the rest of the internet world to take a little more time with their photo composition and less time with that cowlick in their hair, then we should be golden.
Remember the good ol days when film was king? Every picture would be composed so meticulously. Each and every element in its proper place. People actually cared about the other stuff besides their face in the veiwfinder. You couldn't just hit delete and try again, wildly swinging your camera in the general area of your target and pressing down. CLICK. No you made sure that every photo counted. And don't even get me started on finishing a roll. It was like your christmas letter to Santa and the developed photos were the gifts. There was so much more joy when you looked at that photo of June Lake you took over summer and realized you got the perfect shot.
So what does this mean? Should we the select chosen few hold the torch for film and secretly scoff at those chimps taking snapshot after snapshot so haphazardly? Or should we all jump head first into the future and light a candle for film's funeral? Honestly, I'm down with digital haha. But that doesn't mean im gonna just throw my old film Canon out. I fell in love with the dark room this semester and the hands on process of taking your film out of your camera yourself. But digital has almost limitless potential and is sooooo much faster its hard not to love as well. Now if we could just get the rest of the internet world to take a little more time with their photo composition and less time with that cowlick in their hair, then we should be golden.
Light Painting
Recently I've come to really enjoy Light painting. Whats light painting you say? Allow me to elaborate: Light painting is when you take a picture of yourself or someone else drawing images with light. If done right it can look like you have honed the mighty power of Zeus himself and can hurl lighting bolts at anyone you choose! Ok, that might be a stretch but it actually is really amazing and is really easy for even a novice photographer to do.
First your gonna need to find a dark space with very little to no light in the room. The less light you have the better this will work. Then your going to need to find a camera with a manual shutter feature that you can set to the "bulb" setting which is going to be the slowest shutter speed. What your gonna look for here is usually a little M next to all the other camera settings like automatic or motion capture settings. Most of those little cameras people tote around in there purses or back pockets don't have this setting so your gonna need to find a fairly advanced camera to do this.
When you have the bulb setting as your shutter speed this means that you shutter is going to be open the entire time you have your finger pressed on the capture button. What this allows the camera to do is it lets the camera absorb all the light in the room. But wait, there is no light in this room for the camera to absorb! Well not yet anyway.
The next thing you need to do is find a tripod, some sort of controllable light source (I suggest a small LED flashlight), and someone to take the picture. Once you all that prepped you can begin light painting. Go into the dark room with the camera all set up and stand in front of it. Have your photographer hold down the photo capture button down and then turn on the flashlight and draw and image with the light source facing the camera. Your going to want to be somewhat quick with your drawing because have a light source pointed a the camera for too long with white out your image and nothing will show up. When your done drawing turn off the light and have the other person let go of the button. What you should see in the photo is luminous lines drawn in the air. Hopefully it looks something like the image below.
First your gonna need to find a dark space with very little to no light in the room. The less light you have the better this will work. Then your going to need to find a camera with a manual shutter feature that you can set to the "bulb" setting which is going to be the slowest shutter speed. What your gonna look for here is usually a little M next to all the other camera settings like automatic or motion capture settings. Most of those little cameras people tote around in there purses or back pockets don't have this setting so your gonna need to find a fairly advanced camera to do this.
When you have the bulb setting as your shutter speed this means that you shutter is going to be open the entire time you have your finger pressed on the capture button. What this allows the camera to do is it lets the camera absorb all the light in the room. But wait, there is no light in this room for the camera to absorb! Well not yet anyway.
The next thing you need to do is find a tripod, some sort of controllable light source (I suggest a small LED flashlight), and someone to take the picture. Once you all that prepped you can begin light painting. Go into the dark room with the camera all set up and stand in front of it. Have your photographer hold down the photo capture button down and then turn on the flashlight and draw and image with the light source facing the camera. Your going to want to be somewhat quick with your drawing because have a light source pointed a the camera for too long with white out your image and nothing will show up. When your done drawing turn off the light and have the other person let go of the button. What you should see in the photo is luminous lines drawn in the air. Hopefully it looks something like the image below.
Now that you know the basics lets talk about aperture. The aperture controls the size of the hole that lets the light into the open shutter. In relation to light painting the smaller the hole the longer you get to draw. With a bigger hole your going to accept light from the outside more rapidly and before you know it your going to have an image that all blurry and whited out. My knowledge of your specfic camera is very limited but to adjust the aperture on mine I find this little -/+ button and then use the shutter speed scroll knob to adjust the size of the opening. Now apertures go against common logic with sizes and the numbers associated with the size. When you adjust the size you must remember the bigger the number the smaller the opening or hole. So lets say your camera ranges from a 5.6 opening to 22, the 22 is going to be the smaller opening and thus will allow you more time to draw.
But don't just settle for drawing with light, get creative! Have someone behind the camera flash the light on you for a small period of time so that only you show up in the image then move positions and have them shine the light on you again before you let go of the capture button the image should turn out a little like this one below.
So now that you understand the basics of light painting get out there and paint the world!
Band of the Week
Here is my first segment of band of the week. The fine gentlemen of Brand New have won this honor so lets get to know them. My obession and love for this phenomenon of musical talent is quite substantial people. Brand New hit the music scene around the turn of the mellenium from Merrick, New York. The members that currently comprise the band are: Singer and guitarist, Jesse Lacey; Lead guitar, Vincent Accardi; Bass guitarist, Garrett Tierney; Rhythm guitarist and keyboardist, Derrick Sherman; Drummer(ist? haha) Brian Lane. Let me tell you ever since these guys hit the punk rock scene they have been turning head and turning regular people into hardcore fans. Its like this, if you like Brand New you like them a lot. I've never met anyone who liked Brand New and couldn't rave about how amazing they are. There different from most punk bands in that they truly have deep lyrics. Carefull not to fall in though kiddies cause they don't create a ditch for their words, were talking like Grand Canyon deep status. However this kinda deep status doesn't occur till the second album Deja Entendu.
Here's my suggestion start with their first album "Your Favorite Weapon" some favorites of mine are Jude Law and a Semester Abroad, Mix tape, Failure by design, and Socco Amarreto Lime. The whole damn album is got some really great fast paced punk songs that really catch the ear by the lobe and yank. "Deja Entendu" has got to be the the fan favorite album though with hits like The Quiet Things No One Will Ever Know and Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades. But my all time favorite is I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't. And if you love Deja Entendu like the rest of the Brand New Army then you have no reason not to dig their latest albums The Devil and God Are Raging inside and Daisy. In fact you may even love them more.
Check them out at the bands main website http://www.fightoffyourdemons.com/ for access to alot of there music and videos.
Here's my suggestion start with their first album "Your Favorite Weapon" some favorites of mine are Jude Law and a Semester Abroad, Mix tape, Failure by design, and Socco Amarreto Lime. The whole damn album is got some really great fast paced punk songs that really catch the ear by the lobe and yank. "Deja Entendu" has got to be the the fan favorite album though with hits like The Quiet Things No One Will Ever Know and Sic Transit Gloria... Glory Fades. But my all time favorite is I Believe You But My Tommy Gun Don't. And if you love Deja Entendu like the rest of the Brand New Army then you have no reason not to dig their latest albums The Devil and God Are Raging inside and Daisy. In fact you may even love them more.
Check them out at the bands main website http://www.fightoffyourdemons.com/ for access to alot of there music and videos.
Lookin for some brand new boots?
Have you ever just walked around without shoes all day? Its kinda nice on a warm summer day. Maybe your just walking in grass or taking a stroll on the soft warm sand of the beach. But what about walking down a dirt road? rocks jutting out of the ground and cutting your foot. suddenly a walking without shoes isn't a good idea. Oh well just throw some sandals or nike's on and walk down the road easy. But what if you don't have shoes? what if you've never had shoes? Suppose you had to walk around on the hard, rocky ground with nothing protecting you feet. Kids around the world have to do this everyday. The truth is not everyone has the extra money laying around to buy shoes. Most of the money has to go to food or shelter, mean while a childs feet are getting bruised and cut just by a normal days walk.
I know us fortunate people of today who actually have shoes and live a better life would never have to worry about such a thing. Its our duty to help those who need it then. But what should we do? Well you can do something that you probably know and enjoy very much, shop. Buy a Pair of TOMS shoes and they will donate a pair of shoes to someone in need. TOMS has already donated 60,000 shoes to countries like Argentia and South Africa and isn't stopping yet. And all you have to do to help is buy a pair of shoes, and believe me these aren't some ugly pair of crocs your buying. TOMS shoes are some pretty sweet lookin kicks and their are tons to choose from.
Check 'em out at www.TOMSshoes.com and also check out other ways you can help the cause
So go buy some shoes already!
I know us fortunate people of today who actually have shoes and live a better life would never have to worry about such a thing. Its our duty to help those who need it then. But what should we do? Well you can do something that you probably know and enjoy very much, shop. Buy a Pair of TOMS shoes and they will donate a pair of shoes to someone in need. TOMS has already donated 60,000 shoes to countries like Argentia and South Africa and isn't stopping yet. And all you have to do to help is buy a pair of shoes, and believe me these aren't some ugly pair of crocs your buying. TOMS shoes are some pretty sweet lookin kicks and their are tons to choose from.
Check 'em out at www.TOMSshoes.com and also check out other ways you can help the cause
So go buy some shoes already!
Heart Clock
When you think about all we are a big clocks. our heart is counting beats like seconds and eventually we all hit midnight. Time is one of the most precious things be have and yet its always flying by like a grocery bag in the wind or a balloon floating up to heaven till it pops. People tell us not to waste time because of this. To not fool around, to not day dream, to not stop and just look up at the sky and get lost in the clouds. But people are wrong. Time is only a waste if you think it is. So of the best time i've "wasted" today was just sitting and thinking. our hearts just keep on tickin tick tock bump bump. So cherish your time in any way you can.
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