#9 Dream

One of the great things about Flickr is discovering the great wealth of talented photographers and artists that Vancouver has to offer. Juliainc of Beyond Robson recently did a feature on #9 dream, a photographer who takes Polaroids to a whole new level. In this day of digital cameras and Photoshop, it's refreshing to see a more 'lo-fi' approach. #9 dream has a great eye for what makes a moment special and his Polaroids have a texture and quality thats dreamlike and timeless.

Check out Julia's feature here.

For more of #9 Dream's photos, check out his Flickr page here.

Note: Juliainc's photography is well worth checking out too. Some wonderful portraits and city scenes. Check out her Flickr page here.

Icky Thumping

After a day of hail, showers, thunderstorms, cringing and nailbiting, the weather finally came through for The White Stripes on Sunday night. Not a drop of rain during their entire set - thank God!

It was obvious from the get go that we were in for a White Stripes show; a bright red stage, stripy microphone and roadies dressed like cartoon hitmen in black suits and red ties. I was in the eternal beer line up when they finally hit the stage (I mean, really.. one hour for two Strongbows??!!) but, my God, what a glorious sound those two make! Cute little Meg flailing away like a muppet behind the drum kit, and Jack prowling around a demented rooster. It just goes to show that you don't need smoke and ice, costume changes, flying pigs, children's choirs and Moroccan drummers to put on a great show.

I loved their cover of 'Jolene' (thanks Kieran for pointing out that it was originally a Dolly Parton song) - beautifully raw and haunting. And of course 'Seven Nation Army' was amazing to hear live. It's definitely one of the best rock songs to come out over the past few years. That guitar solo feels like it's been around since the beginning of time - and I mean that in a good way.

It's my first time at the Deer Lake Park venue. It's a really great place to see a show, but they really need to figure out how many people to work the beer stands. Half an hour to line up for beer tickets (maximum four) and then another half an hour to line up for the beer (maximum two). I persevered, if only because it didn't seem right to see the show completely sober. That would just be wrong.

My only regret is that I didn't pick up the concert T-shirt featuring a monkey playing a red guitar. Sigh.

Alive and Kicking...

(Yep, I'm still here!)

Oh my God, has it really been two weeks since I've been on here? Just a quick note to say that yes, I am still alive. Work has been crazy busy over the past couple of weeks, hence my lack of blogging. I will be sure to blog some more in the next week. I've got lots of reviews and photos and stuff worth posting.

Off to The White Stripes at Deer Lake Park tomorrow. Woo-hoo!

Here's their awesome new single (with an awesome title too), Icky Thump:

Match Color in Photoshop

To be honest, when I first heard about the 'Match Color' function in Photoshop, I never really considered the creative possibilities. Simply put, 'Match Color' takes the color values from one image and applies them to another. I recently came across an interesting Photoshop tutorial that uses famous paintings to create color palettes for your photography. By keeping a small archive of favorite paintings (or photography) on your hard drive, you can use them as a valuable resource to add some extra drama or dynamics to your existing photographs.

You can view the full tutorial in detail here.


Here's a couple of quick examples of this technique on one of my photographs:



(Original Image)



Here's the first example, using the color values from a Gustav Klimt painting:



(Color Source Image)



(Resulting Image)


And here's another example using an illustration by Arthur Rackham:



(Color Source Image)



(Resulting Image)

A new logo low

The new logo for the London 2012 Olympics was recently revealed. I appreciate that the design firm may wanted to do something avant-garde and edgy, but wow - THIS? It looks like an 80's compilation album cover. My favorite reaction is from somebody who said 'It looks like Lisa Simpson performing an unnatural act'.

Apparently, the animated version may be pulled from British TV for fear of inducing epileptic fits. The static version definitely induces nausea as far as I'm concerned.

As if designers didn't have a hard enough time getting people to understand what they're paid for.

You can view the London 2012 site here. Have paramedics standing by.

We have a winner!

I just found out that my photo In Transit (pictured above) won the latest Beyond Robson photo contest. Pretty nice eh?

First prize is a $100 gift certificate to The Wolf and Hound, an Irish restaurant on Broadway. I look forward to having some bangers and mash and a couple of pints of Guinness to go along with my warm fuzzy feeling.

You can see the Beyond Robson contest results here.

We Like You, We Like You, We Like You

On Friday night I went to see The Dandy Warhols. I love their albums, but for whatever reason, had never had gotten around to seeing them live before.

First of all I loved frontman Courtney Taylor-Taylor's T-shirt (album cover for Sonic Temple by The Cult). So that, in itself, was pretty cool. Sound was a little iffy at first though, and it didn't really help that the idiot behind me kept yelling "SOUND!!" for the first few songs. Other than that, a really good show. I wish that they had showed just a 'little' more enthusiasm and energy - maybe they were just tired or stoned. High point for me was 'Godless'. What a great song.

By the way, is it me, or are these guys kind of like this generation's Lemonheads? Maybe the songs aren't all that similar, but they do share the same kind of slacker-stoner vibe.



A great album cover - an even better T-shirt.

Indy Flick

Raiders 2.0 Crew in 1988



Raiders 2.0 Crew today

I recently found this great story about a group of friends who, back in 1982, decided to remake Raiders of the Lost Ark shot-for-shot with a rented video camera. It cost them $5000 and took them nearly 7 years. The film finally debuted in 1989 and was pretty much forgotten until it resurfaced in 2003 at a alternative film-fest. Since then, they've met Spielberg and have become heroes to movie geeks all over the world.

You can read the whole story here.

Shooting has already begun on the fourth Indiana Jones movie (with a 65 year-old Harrison Ford). I still remember how exciting it was to see the original Raiders back in 1981. My dad took me to see it when my sister and Mum were on vacation in England. He wanted to treat me to a movie, but I wanted to see Superman II instead. Why would I want to see an archeologist fighting nazis, when I could see Superman fighting General Zod? The following week was his choice: Raiders of the Lost Ark. And yeah, Dad was right.

May the road rise with you

(Click image to view larger)

Here's a collage I created this weekend in Photoshop. I used a combination of photographs that I've taken this year.

Here's the originals:

Are Friends Electric?

Apparently, at the recent Jarvis concert at The Commodore, he performed Gary Numan's 'Are Friends Electric?' for the encore. I was sorry to have missed the show, if only for hearing his version of that song.

Gary Numan has long been a favorite of mine and 'Are Friends Electric?' is one of my top songs of all time. As far as I'm concerned, Numan was way ahead of his time and extremely underrated. But that's just me.

Here's Gary and the Tubeway Army performing the song on the Old Grey Whistle Test in 1979. Surprisingly good quality too.

The Queen

Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown" - Henry IV, Part II

I finally got around to seeing The Queen this weekend, a film that definitely lives up to the hype that surrounds it.

The film could have been simply another stilted, drawn-out biopic, but instead, director Stephen Frears chose to focus on Queen Elizabeth's life in the weeks following the death of Princess Diana. As a result, it made the film a tightly focussed study of the essence of who the Queen is. Credit must also be given for the editing, particularly with the scenes intercut with news footage of the late Princess. It's still tragic to see clips of her in her final interviews. In many ways, she seemed like a ghost of herself before she died.

Helen Mirren's performance is restrained yet impressive. She portrays the Queen as a woman trapped in a dusty time capsule with her family; strong willed, stoic and determined to maintain her dignity at the expense of her emotions. In one scene where Elizabeth encounters a stag on her estate, she finally allows her grief to take over. Mirren is incredible in this scene, going quickly from tears to joy, before finally rearranging her features once more into her public mask.

The royal family is portrayed mostly as "freeloading, emotionally retarded inbreds" (in the words of the film's Sheila Blair), with corgis scampering underfoot. I wouldn't be surprised if some day, a member of the monarchy snuffs it by tripping over a corgi. Prince Philip, in particular, spends much of the film doddering around the estate hunting stags and discussing the temperature of the tea. The portrayals seem somewhat heavy-handed, but, sadly, probably close to the truth.

The relationship between Elizabeth and Tony Blair provides the most dramatic dynamic in the film. His handling of the 'Diana situation' made him extremely popular, but, as the Queen warns him, the time will come when the public will turn against him. It's strange to view this film ten years later on the eve of his resignation. It now seems that his time in office will be best remembered for the handling of the 'Iraq situation'.



Tony Blair's response to Diana's death in August, 1997.

Faithless - Bombs

I'm surprised that I had not heard of this video before now - 'Bombs' by Faithless. It features some very powerful juxtapositions that bring the horrors of war closer to home. A very simple concept, but very well done.

Granville Island

Yesterday, I enjoyed my first 'official' vacation day of the year. I'm taking a few long weekends here and there, with about a week and a half off at the end of August.

I ended up going to Granville Island Market for the afternoon, and ended up taking a whole heap of photos. So lucky to live in a place where I can hop on a ferry and visit the island so easily. I spent some time checking out the Emily Carr Undergraduate Exhibition, looked in some stores, had a bagel, sat in the sun, but for the most part, looked for photograph opportunities.

You can see more photos here.

Mando Diao

Considering I'd never really heard them before, I was pretty impressed by Mando Diao at their show at the Plaza last Saturday night. I was actually there to see Pop Levi (the opening act) again, but was glad to get a chance to see Mando Diao too. For a bunch of Swedish guys, they sure know how to channel some good gritty Britty rock. I thought I was in for some Strokes type stuff, but their jangly melodies and harmonizing were much more 60s, more The Animals or even The Beatles. The two main guys even shared the mike like John and Paul used to.

Pop Levi was great again - but I'm still looking forward to seeing him perform a full scale set at a decent venue. He seemed to be a lot more relaxed and 'out there' than when I saw him last. And just like last time, he stretched out the opening number 'Sugar Assault Me Now' to ridiculously epic proportions. He really knows how to wind up a crowd.

By the way, I'm not sure who was responsible, but playing Sigur Ros over footage of a young Michael J. Fox in the film Class of 1984 isn't the best way to pump up a crowd between sets. The film was good trashy fun, but come on - Sigur Ros?

Yellow Dogs and Black Swans

I like Martin Amis (London Fields is one of my favorites) but, to be honest, have always found reading his books to be a bit of a chore.

I have come to expect a challenging and mostly unpleasant read from Amis, but his latest, Yellow Dog, really crossed the line for me. Reading it, I got a constant sense of him, as an author, sneering 'I dare you to spend time with these characters, and figure out what the hell is going on." There's a rogues gallery of sinister, depraved characters ranging from tabloid journalists, pornographers, hit men, and vengeful ex-wives, in a hopelessly convoluted third rate gangster plot. Imagine watching Snatch or Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels on shuffle. There's a few borderline sympathetic characters too, but Amis seems to have nothing but contempt for them. Maybe I'm becoming a bit of a softy in my old age, but it's nice to have a little bit of compassion and humanity sometimes.

That said, you can't deny that Amis has an incredible way with words. He has a great eye for the simplest things. For example:

"Xan was too old for fashion, for cuts and styles; but his trousers, now, were alternately flared and drainpiped by the wind."

That's the kind of thing I look for when I read Amis. But why does he have to be so pretentious and nasty?

In the meantime, I'm about halfway through Black Swan Green by David Mitchell, which is the perfect antidote to Yellow Dog. I originally bought for my Dad for Christmas, who lent it to my sister, who in turn lent it to me.

Mitchell is an incredible author - I've read #9 Dream and Cloud Atlas and loved them both. Cloud Atlas in particular, was a great read, weaving together six seemingly unrelated stories (and writing styles) into one novel. It sounds pretentious, but Mitchell managed to pull it off effortlessly, while at the same time, making you care deeply about the characters.

Black Swan Green is a much more straightforward story told from the point-of-view of a thirteen year old boy growing up in England in 1982. I was fourteen in 1982, so, in many ways, I guess I can really relate to this story. I loved the references to playing Millenium Falcon on a swivelling chair and listening to Roxy Music LPs. Mitchell really captures the essence of what its like to be boy at that awkward age - that sudden awareness of what's going on around you and the helplessness of knowing that you can't always control it. Mitchell is great at giving the reader clues about what is going on in the boys surroundings (his parent's marriage in particular), even if the boy himself is oblivious. You find yourself really caring about this character - really wanting him to make the right decisions and to be a good kid.

Bollywood Thriller

Words fail me. For all my multicultural friends out there:

Happy accidents

Don't you love it when you take a blurry photo, and it actually turns out pretty cool? I took this earlier this evening on my way home from work.

And yeah, I think it turned out pretty cool. So there.

Facebook

Yesterday morning, I joined the strangely addictive 'Facebook' website. If you're already on Facebook, feel free to check out my profile here. Add me to your friends list too, it's easy to feel inadequate when you don't have something like 743 friends.

If you're not already on Facebook, it's basically a social networking site, kind of like a cross between Friendster and MySpace. You can sign up at www.facebook.com.

Portobello West

I finally got around to browsing around the Portobello West Fashion and Art Market today. It's held at the Rocky Mountaineer Station (near the Home Depot off Terminal Avenue) on the last Sunday of every month 12-7pm.

The market features a great selection of merchandise by various local artists, designers, jewellers, photographers, potters, and other creative types all under one roof. It leans mostly towards women's fashions, but I still found it well worth checking out.

I picked up a couple of things (pictured above): a 60s-ish print fabric panel ($20) and a pretty cool T-shirt (only $10!). In addition, I found myself pretty inspired by the amount of creativity in this city - lots of talented people. I'll definitely visit again.

More info about Portobello West here.

By the way, House of Blues had a booth there too. I also ended up picking up a ticket to the Mando Diao/Pop Levi/The Films concert at The Plaza this Saturday. Should be good!

Evil

Another one of my photos has been featured on the Beyond Robson site. I noticed this creative bit of vandalism some time ago, and finally got around to capturing it. It's actually a closeup of the 'VII' on the King Edward VII memorial fountain outside the Vancouver Art Gallery.

The Beyond Robson photo feature can be seen here.

Excuse me while I pat myself on the back.