Rahm Emanuel declares victory, says, “Thank you, Chicago, for this humbling fucking victory.”

Image via Wikipedia

Apparently Rahm Emanuel won the Chicago mayoral election without my vote. What a douchebag.

Just counting the seconds till he lays down napalm-style Eph Bombs. Just as long as Molly “Fucking” Phelan stays the hell out of my Alderman’s office, I’ll be a happy camper.

Story here.

***UPDATE***

I’m on a losing streak. Molly “Fucking” Phelan won the alderman seat in my ward. By six votes.

This is a woman who acts like a child in public.

I’m kicking myself for not posting at least once in opposition to Phalen. I didn’t think she had a chance.

Hey Molly, your mailings sucked. They were deceitful and ridiculous.

Knowing Phelan, what comes around goes around. She’ll be hiding behind closed doors when opposition comes a knockin’ at her door. When she feels even a tinge of the pressure she put against Alderman Helen Shiller, she’ll be found weeping in a crib in the corner.

She’ll be a bumbling idiot for her term and get voted out as soon as the next election rolls around.

Tuesday evening must watch: How Far Away is the Moon? (The Scale of the Universe)

If the Earth were the size of a basketball and the moon a tennis ball, how far apart would they be? Diagrams that are not to scale make us think that they’re closer than they really are.

Sound Matrix

This is a cool little music maker thingamabob. Start clicking on the boxes. Once you get the rhythm down, you’ll see that you can make some pretty cool little ditties.

Click  this to check it out.

Thanks Jon!

I’m a light-metering fool

Recently, I invested in some equipment that I’ve been holding off on buying for my company for a couple years. The economy hit our household just as it’s hit so many homes around the country.

When Tina decided she’d go into business with me, I said, “Sweet cherry pie. I’m investing into the business.” With her and I together, at least we can succeed or fail together.

My main new investments were a wireless system for my existing flashes and strobe, a light meter and a collapsible backdrop. I had a wireless system before, but it sucked. It was infrared, and it didn’t always work.

Regular-reader Xina might remember that when I shot her wedding, I would say, “Tina, did the flash fire?” And she’d say nope or yep. I wasn’t using the flash to light the shot. I was using the flash to fill out the faces. Before the end of the day, Xina’s dad was saying, “It fired” or “It didn’t fire.”

With my old setup, half the time the flashes never fired, because they couldn’t see the wireless unit sitting on my camera or they didn’t fire because the equipment was defective.

But now I’m souped up with a radio signal system from PocketWizard that works really well.

LIGHT METER!

I’ve never owned a light meter before, but I’ve used one on occasion. Now that I’m light metering, shoots go much quicker, because I’m not guessing anymore or trying to use my camera’s internal light meter. Now I know how much light I’m getting and how much more or less I need to increase/decrease my depth of field. It’s fantastic, and it’s really pushing my shots up the quality ladder.

And I bought a collapsible backdrop, which can work as a backdrop or a large reflector.

I want to talk more about lighting. I have some friends, including regular readers, who have recently bought new cameras. I learn a lot from new camera enthusiasts, because I can learn a lot about framing and angles from folks who are balls out shooting for the hell of it.

One of my biggest, “Oh, shit don’t!” moments are when new camera junkies say, “I want to shoot all natural lighting.” I can’t tell you how many people tell me that, and I’m afraid that people will be telling me that for years to come.

Using all available light is a purest way of thought, but it’s not always functional. For your friends’ sakes, don’t always take shots without a flash or a decent amount of light. Color balance can help a low-light shot better than you think, but that takes time too.

The flash is a “fill” light. So if you have to use it, dumb it down. Pull a napkin over the flash or buy one of these. Learn to use a flash to help, not hinder the shot. It’s a tool, not a pestering idiot who will do anything to ruin your day.

I’ll work on a lighting post for another day. Is anyone even remotely interested in this?

In the meantime, here are a few of my recent shots.

Turrets Syndrome will set you apart

“BAM! … We’re sending you out … with an awkward, self-induced Turret Syndrome! Praise, Jesus!”

This video of a Canadian pastor named Todd Bentley will blow your mind. Pastor Todd Bentley is founder of the dominionist group Joel’s Army, according to Joe My God, “BFF of anti-gay freak show Lou Engle.”

Bentley is traveling the country filling baseball stadiums and other large venues with other pastors dying to learn Bentley’s tattoo’d and pierced message of the hip, cool Jesus.

Get a load of this video:

Read more info here.

Snippet:

Todd Bentley has a long night ahead of him, resurrecting the dead, healing the blind, and exploding cancerous tumors. Since April 3, the 32-year-old, heavily tattooed, body-pierced, shaved-head Canadian preacher has been leading a continuous “supernatural healing revival” in central Florida. To contain the 10,000-plus crowds flocking from around the globe, Bentley has rented baseball stadiums, arenas and airport hangars at a cost of up to $15,000 a day. Many in attendance are church pastors themselves who believe Bentley to be a prophet and don’t bat an eye when he tells them he’s seen King David and spoken with the Apostle Paul in heaven. “He was looking very Jewish,” Bentley notes. Tattooed across his sternum are military dog tags that read “Joel’s Army.” They’re evidence of Bentley’s generalship in a rapidly growing apocalyptic movement that’s gone largely unnoticed by watchdogs of the theocratic right. According to Bentley and a handful of other “hyper-charismatic” preachers advancing the same agenda, Joel’s Army is prophesied to become an Armageddon-ready military force of young people with a divine mandate to physically impose Christian “dominion” on non-believers.

Via Joe.My.God.

 

I get my haircut at Supercuts

This is one of those Supercuts of a bunch of movies spliced together. It’s okay, but not great. I yawned a little through it, but it’s a good reminder of movies you might want to watch again.

Or maybe it’s a bunch of movies you have never seen.

 

The Cameraman

This is an interesting cartoon with a not-so-intelligent message (see below). The animation is cool, and Ira Glass from This American Life is attached, so you know the story is well told and edited.

But the message is: Cameras, even fake ones, can steal a person’s humanity.

Yes, I agree with that in some contexts. The Paparazzi is ridiculous. There are some forms of voyeurism that are more harmful than good.

But the camera changed everything and continues to change everything. Civil War photographer Mathew Brady published images of war that were never seen before. When people saw the horrors, the perceptions of war changed for more people around the world.

When photos were published of the earth from space, people began to see how the world is not the center of the universe. It’s part of a universe.

The camera may be accomplice to some evil, but it is the what has given humanity to people and places that are ignorant and xenophobic.

I, for one, stand up for cameras.

Via The Daily Wh.at

Bloody anti-smoking campaign

I get it. You get it.

It shouldn’t take stupidity like this commercial to convince you smoking is a really dumb habit.