Photos Photos Photos... oh and some music and movie stuff.

There are a few new Photos to talk about, so I'll take em one at a time.


Subway
This photo was taken when I while I was on the subway in Shanghai, as you can probably tell from the photo, the car was pretty packed. I think this was sometime around lunch hourish so everyone and their mother were going somewhere. This was a rather cool shot I thought, if you follow the link and look at the bigger version on Flickr you can see that it's nice a grainy due to the high ISO used for the low lighting on the subway. Sometimes this is a curse, but in cases like this I find it a blessing. Grain + Black and White + a vivid lighting layer = cool looking. Very scientific. I guess we'll see if the Flicker community agrees or not.

There are two versions of the next photo.

Crosswalk color version.

Crosswalk Black and White.
So, I am not sure which I like better, I'm leaning towards black and white, but if anyone actually reads this blog (which I highly doubt), and you want to toss an opinion my way about this (or anything else i post or say in here!) please comment. Be tactful and constructive though if you hate em both say you hate em but tell me why. Anyways this was one of a few photos I shot while crossing the road in Shanghai, there were so many people crossing. I'll eventually post a few more of the crossing photos so stay tuned. One of the reasons I chose this one is because of the sign. As Shelby noticed on flickr, there is a nice contrast between the three people crossing in the sign, and the horde of people that are actually crossing.

Thats all the photos for now, in other news I'll hopefully be hearing something about that job at Vogel soon. Waiting for schools to write you back is the worst part of applying for jobs.

Music: I just got into the band Hellogoodbye thanks to a recommendation from Amanda. They are a fun/happy synth-heavy group who are somewhat akin to Reggie and the Full Effect at times, and at other times seem more like Panic! at the Disco.

TV: I've started watching Lost, and I must say I'm hooked. The show really knows how to drag you in and keep you watching. So far I love it, I was almost really pissed at the show when I thought they had killed off Charlie, but he lived so everything was ok. Also, the more I watch My Name is Earl the more I like it.

Movies: I watched AvP 2,and now I'm wondering why I did. The first one sucked and I didn't even know there was a second one until I saw the DVD at Chi Sai... 5 yuan and an hour later I was turning the DVD off and looking for something more exciting to do. It's not even really worth giving a full fledged review of... The acting sucks, the story is nonexistent and full of holes, and I'd comment on the ending if I'd even made it that far. I also watched Flushed Away recently, which was good! I guess you could say it was Dreamwork's answer to Ratatouille which came out about the same time and was also about CGI animated rats/mice. The stories couldn't be more different though, and it was done by the Wallace & Gromit people. It was definitely fun, and French Frog Ninja's are always cool in my book.

I've had a request from my buddy Lance to do a review for Shoot Em Up, so I'll try and watch the movie again tomorrow and then do a write up for it afterwards. Look for more photos very soon as well.

New stuff...

New Photo just put up on Flickr... I'm not sure how I like it. It was too washed out to begin with and I tried to fix it a bit in photoshop, but I'm not sure how well I did. I'm going to attempt to upload a new photo every other day and then blog about it as well, but whether or not that will hold true is yet to be seen.

In other news Mrs. McDonald, the mentor art teacher I had a Vogel Intermediate is retiring. I might attempt to slide into her job since people at the school no me and I think it would pretty much be a sure thing. I'm slightly hesitant though because she filled the role of 3d teacher, and I am definitely more of a 2d guy. But, she said that her husband may be switching schools as well so I might be able to slip into the 2D role! More news on this as it develops.

My other mentor teacher, Jenny Pascualis running or helping run a gallery in Houston, she said something to be about putting together a show when I get back state side, might be fun. I have a few plans I'd like to go about putting into motion when I return, getting my masters being one of them, learning Flash is another, and I'd really like to drive from Texas to LA and take a ton of photos in route. Sort of a deserty photo tour. Hmm, thats all for now. More soon!

My top 5ive most interesting on Flickr.

I'm goin to post my top 5 most interesting photos on flickr and talk about em. This is according to my Flickr "DNA"

1. Forest of Shadows

This is also my one image on Explore! The photo part was taken by the very talented Shelby Karns. I did the ninja stuffs... I really want to do more ninja photos I've specifically taken photos to be used as backgrounds for more ninja work, but I don't have a scanner right now. Maybe in the near future. Of the ninja ones I did this one is one of my favorites, I really like the sai he is holding, Raph was my favorite Ninja Turtle.

2.Language Barrier

Sometimes in China you people will run up to you and try and talk to you and you have to keep repeating that you don't understand (Ting Budong or something like that) a million times before they finally get that you don't really speak Chinese. This guy was trying to tell us something that he seemed to think was really important, but we couldn't get it at all. He kept pointing across the street too. The photo itself was pretty good I thought. The DoF is really nice.

3.Forbidden Duracell

I'm glad this one made it in my top 5 most interesting because I like this one quite a bit actually. We found some batteries someone was throwing away (or maybe lance was throwing them away I don't remember), and they were sitting on top of this pillar in the forbidden city. So,I took a photo of em and I think it came out really well. It's fun to see the chinese on a duracell.

4. So... Can I Call You?

I don't have too much to say about this other than lawl!(that's net Slang for LOL,which is net slang for Laugh Out Loud... ridiculous no?) I did this a long time ago back as a Graphic Design Final in Bob Conlon's class I got an A in that class. The kid in the picture is a younger Shelby Karns.

5. Flight Attendant 2

Probably one of the best photos on my stream. nuff said.

Ha Ha!

So, I found a way to get around the Great Fire-Wall of China, so I might start posting here again.

China is a very different place. I am not sure what my plans are for next year yet. I might go home I might stay another year. I think I'll only go home if I have a job lined up, otherwise I'll stay here.

Being a foreigner in China is interesting, especially when it comes to other foreigners. We all tend to stick together and there are so few of us that it's a close knit community and everyone seems to know everyone else's business within 5 minutes. It can be pretty nuts. Lets see... since my last post on here I am single now,My Flickr Has grown considerably, and one of my photomations has actually made it on explore! I'm busting out in the Flickr realm a little I guess. I haven't updated it in about a month and I still have a million photos to edit. I really wish I had a scanner here so I can make more photomations, those are fun. Maybe when I'm back in the states I'll put together a gallery show of Photomations. I wonder how well that would do.

Ok I'm going to talk a little bit about music now. I don't know if it's growing up, or getting old, or what it is, but my taste have been shifting alot lately from fast noisy poppy punk/ska to more mellow indie rockish stuff. Don't get me wrong I'll be a Reel Big Fish and LTJ fan till I die (although LTJ has disappointed me with their last album.), but I find it hard to just sit and listen to music like that for hours on end like I used to. I like it when I'm at the bar or in a party situation, but if I am just sitting around (like I am now) I'm far more likely to be listening to Cake or Death Cab for Cutie or Ben Folds. I've recently discovered a band called The New Pornographers and I love em. Same with a band called The Decemberist both of those bands along with Built to Spill have found their way into my regular rotation.

Anyways It's telling me that I may not be able to publish this... So, maybe I wont be posting to here again after all... but If I do I'll try and do so again soon and talk about photos again or something. Here goes nothing.....

The Chase

Welp, this is the next piece in my Ninjas series, It's titled "The Chase" I think this is my favorite so far. There are acctually two versions of this one, The black one above, and the red one which I will put down here...



I used to think the Black Version was better, I fixed the red one a little, and now im not so sure, if anyone has opinons let me know.

I mentioned earlier that I would be explaining the process in a future post... Well... its not goint to be this one, maybe next time. It's too late and I'm tired and I have school in the morning.