The recent announcement from Polaroid they will soon cease production on their instant films has me nostalgic for the look. Remember the sound the camera made as it spit out a square of white plastic?

Remember shaking the snapshot while you waited for it to develop?  Remember how everything was tinged a little brown?  I’ve recently discovered this great little app called Poladroid for Mac.  It takes your photos and converts them into old looking Polaroids, as I’ve done below.

Click on them for larger versions.

In another attempt to feel nostalgic, I have also been using film a little bit more than most. I’ve rediscovered the joy of thinking about a photograph before I snap the shutter.  I’ve also discovered my love for the program Aperture. I spend all day with Photoshop, and I’ve gotten a little burnt on the over-production done on most all images these days.  I remember the hours I spent in high school and college slaving in the pitch black of the darkroom developing film and printing with an old style enlarger.  It was fantastic. The thrill of seeing a latent image emerge in the swirling waters of the developer bin was amazing, and is one of the art forms that will soon only be practiced by nostalgic artisans.  I myself have stopped for monetary and time reasons; it’s expensive to maintain a darkroom full of chemicals and washes.  Plus, you have to dedicate an entire room of your house to the pursuit, and I don’t have that kind of space right now.  What I love about Aperture is its limits.  For the most part you can only retouch digital images the way you can in a dark room.  Saturation, color, vignetting, cropping, exposure, etc.  This forces you to actually think about how best to work with flawed images to best present them, rather than simply snapping away and retouching it to death.  I love it.  I’ll use Photoshop for intensive graphics work and web design, but when it comes to simple photography, Aperture is now my application of choice. It is what I used to touchup all but four or five of the images in my photo gallery.

I’ve also been watching the HBO Miniseries “John Adams.”  Amazing. Paul Giamatti is one of my favorite actors, and I love watching him play Mr. Adams as he ages. I read the McCullough book a couple of years ago, and they have done a wonderful job of bringing it to the screen. Everyone would do well to learn from the struggle these men undertook to begin the work of our nation that continues to today. Watching the show reminds me that the greatness of the United States comes from the struggle itself and not the sudden notion that we’ve arrived.  The striving is what makes our nation strong, and flawed as we are, we continue to press forward. Look at what happened this election.  The struggle of great Americans paved the road Barack Obama can now drive freely over.

The late 18th century has always fascinated me, and I have a great idea for a story set in this time period.  It needs serious fleshing out, but I feel it has merit and is worth pursuing.  Too often this period in America is only viewed through the context of the birth of the United States, and we often forget about the other things that were happening simultaneously.

Finally, here is a great little video I came across a few weeks ago.  It has nothing to do with anything I’ve mentioned above, but it makes me smile and I hope it makes you smile, too.

[See post to watch Flash video]

• *Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog
• *Share seven random and/or weird facts about yourself
• *Tag seven other people at the end of your post and link to their blogs
• *Let each person know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog

I was tagged by my friend, Rick Smith.

1. While I have many bathroom quirks, I won’t pain you with odd details aside from this one. When I use a small public restroom (1-3 Urinals, 1-2 stalls) and someone comes in and does his work in the stall next to me, I stand at the urinal or sit there until he has finished, washed his hands, and left the restroom so I can avoid eye contact at all costs. I don’t do this in large restrooms (i.e., Arenas, Stadiums, Movie Theaters).
2. I don’t have cable. My television has a rabbit ear antenna. In fact, I rarely watch real TV. Most shows I catch online or downloaded.
3. I get a soaring feeling in my heart and soul when I hear Appalachian Bluegrass or bagpipes. This being odd because I’m neither Scottish nor Appalachian. I do have Scottish ancestry so this may account for some of this.
4. Fiction moves me. I’m certain I’m supposed to be a writer, I just can’t seem to figure out how to make that a paying gig and still meet my responsibilities. Probably has something to do with my lack of writing discipline.
5. Occasionally I make odd yelps and whimpers in my sleep. Sorry honey.
6. I HATE talking on the phone. I would much rather e-mail you. It’s nothing against you, really, I just express myself better in written sentences. I even order Papa John’s via the internet.
7. I miss Los Angeles more than I let on to friends and family.

8. Sometimes I don’t follow rules.

May the best man win.

I’ve been updating (finally!) a short story I wrote a couple of years ago to submit to a fiction contest.  It’s reinvigorated me to keep churning away at my novel because I’ve been paralyzed by my inner editor. Editing is my favorite part of the writing process, but I can’t edit a novel that hasn’t even been written yet! The first draft of this current short story was utter crap, and now that I’m on the sixth draft of it, it is finally being honed into something I’m proud of.  I won’t post it here until I hear back from the contest, and even then I might still submit it to other publications for consideration.  The original draft was some 15,000 words.  I’ve sliced it down to 8,500, making for a leaner and more concise yarn.  Here’s hoping.

This weekend I head to Abilene, Texas for my five year college reunion.  I can’t believe it’s already been that long.  It’ll be a great time to rekindle relationships with the friends I haven’t really spoken too in a while other than the occasional blurb on Facebook or via e-mail.  Plus, I get to show of my new daughter to them!  She’s learned how to smile, and she’s beginning to understand that she’s the one making all those cute noises. It’ll be great!

One final note: My wife is a beautiful woman whom I adore for her love and support and everything she does!  Just wanted to get that out there.  I love you, baby!

I have noticed some practices you currently employ under the guise of “urban marketing” or “guerilla advertising” that have forced me to come to the conclusion that I will no longer be giving you my business. I dare not speak on behalf of all of your customers, but your current methods worry me. Seeing your poor sap standing on the corner holding an arrow-shaped sign above his head swaying back and forth fighting the urge to slip into unconsciousness has at no time in my impulse-buying-consumer adulthood caused me to think to myself: Hey, wait a minute, I DO need a house from the low $499’s! Man, if that lady with the conical hat on her head hadn’t been standing there drenched in sweat I’d’ve totally missed this once in a lifetime real estate opportunity!

Or: Wow, can you believe it? Milkshakes at Chick-Fil-A! I’m so glad cow costume man standing there in 105-degree-heat-index-82%-humidity let me know with his sign that says ‘Drink More Milkshakez, Pleez don’t eatz beefz.’

Now, I know your initial reaction will be to say, “Hey, but we’re giving this person a job!” Maybe, but I’ll go ahead and say that (1) nothing will compensate this person for the wasted hours let alone the future medical cost incurred due to the high probability of melanoma onset in later life or instant onset of heat stroke, and (2) I cannot imagine the death of an employee will be worth the three or four more impressions you will get from the cars that speed by. You might have a two-fold second reaction (also the most likely): You are an idiot, Mr. Grubbs, we don’t need your business anyway, and this gives our low-level employees time to perfect their pop-and-lock dance skillz. Touche.

But the CPMs are so cheap, Jonathan; a sign and dude holding it at $5.75 an hour! Can’t be beat!

Yes, but I’ll posit a sign post stuck in the ground will give you the same number of impressions for your ad with far less overhead! (Not to mention the legal entanglement that accompanies the death of an employee during work hours!) Of course I know what you’re thinking. There’s no way people will notice a sign stuck to a post! It doesn’t wave the arrow, welcoming people to our store! Indeed, but it does do more than the unconscious teenager slumped into the grass by the roadside.

Basically, I asking you to pull your workers in from the intense heat. Save this ad scheme for the fall or spring; not winter, however, because then you’ll have the converse problem: death by lack of hot chocolate or tongues freezing to ad signs via the triple dog dare.

Until I see that you have followed my guidelines, you will no longer have my dollars.

Sincerely,
Jonathan Grubbs

I don’t want to write a cliche, but it’s true: Having a baby changes everything. Every day I am astounded at how wonderful it is to have been a small part of bringing such a beautiful girl into the world. My baby girl is growing quickly, and I’m constantly amazed at how she sees the world. Her eyes are taking it all in, and it’s fantastic to watch her make new discoveries with her movements. “Hey I have a tongue, and I can make it go in and out!” “Ouch, when I make this hand hit my face, that hurts.” “Wow, look at that fan!”

She is a wonderful salve for my seemingly neverending cynicism. They prayed a blessing over her at our church. It began with the following sentence:

With each new child comes the message that God is not yet discouraged of man.

That phrase gives me hope, even amongst the smallness I feel among the backdrop of the wide open sky full of stars.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwPidlEskrk

Actually the Men’s Swimming Relay was pretty hard to beat.  

More pictures here.

Benjamin Linus For President