President Mom

With some free time, I decided to go for some political hits using Photoshop. I'm aware that an image won't change the world, but it's fun and worthwhile, even if it's just a minor achievement.

Sarah Palin is a nightmare in every level. Another Fundamentalist Christian with no discernible experience and strong conservative views who is actually completely incapable.

It's odd how McCain was so vocal in his criticism of celebrity until he used it to to rescue his campaign.

Sarah Palin is popular for the same reason that Jade Goody is popular: someone people can identify with. They're ignoring the fact that that the common touch doesn't mean you can trust someone like that govern, just like the common touch doesn't mean you can trust them to not be racist.

Goody came crashing down, and the same will probably happen to Palin; I just pray that it's before the election.

The poor policies of abstinence, drilling, gun toting and book banning give me little hope for the future of America.

McCain and Palin reflect the same values and policies as the Bush administration, and you really have to be stretching yourself if you can actively say you want four more years of that.

A new wombination: Palin and McCain- Pain.

Matt Damon surprised me with his insight into the dangers of Palin in the White House, and said how the whole scenario is like a bad Disney movie. I liked the idea of that, and I thought I'd make a poster of it, since I've had some experience with movie posters as of late. I put it on Digg, and at time of writing, it was on six diggs. Dan said it could get over a thousand, but it has to get noticed first, so digg it if you can.

I made it using Flickr, images.google.com, 3DS Max Design 2009 and of course, Photoshop CS3.

Back on the Road

I don't know what it is about my car that can inspire such joy. Probably the handling. But occasionally, it can inspire misery that can rival the pleasure. Like when I let it overheat. It wasn't the car's fault, it was mine. But the ensuing repairs were a disaster for me. And getting it through this year's MOT. Financially, that was very similar.

But after a few months of being stored on the drive, the SORN is cancelled and I am MOTed, taxed, insured and full of fuel. I can finally drive again.

Not that I have anywhere to drive to.

The MOT is a test every car must pass to be allowed to drive on the road. It ensures the vehicle is safe. Older cars must have one every year. I gave the car to my mechanic expecting some modest repairs necessary to get it to pass the MOT. It had been declared SORN (Statutory Off-Road Notice) since I wasn't driving it and it was on private land. You're allowed to drive it only if on your way to an MOT. I gave it to him, and he had it tested and left it parked on the road, where it was promptly clamped.

To add to the troubles of having to pay to have it unclamped, the repairs necessary to pass its MOT came to a lot more than I was expecting. More than triple. But I paid those, and I jumped the government hoops to tax the car again, and finally, I can leave it on the street again, where all I fear is a drunkard scraping along the side of it.

On the positive side, it has new rear suspension and new rear tyres, as well as new brakes, which give its road handling a real boost. I had been driving my father's car for a while so I was used to six cylinders, so going back to four was a shame, but not all bad. I just need to keep the revs up a little more.

Paying for the tax has cleared out my temporary savings, so any dinners I have planned will have to be cancelled. Although last week, I did manage to put a little of my savings into buying film developing equipment. I'd been planning on joining a photography club where I could learn how to use a darkroom, but they all required a year-long membership, which I didn't want. So with advice from Alyssa and my father, I taught myself how to develop black and white film. I had an old Ilford canister lying around, probably from my school days, and I feared that I may have overexposed some of it. I used that as practice.

Making the downstairs toilet a temporary darkroom, I loaded the film by feel into my new developing tank, and when I finally had the courage to mix the chemicals without contaminating our cooking utensils, I developed the film. It came out completely clear (or as clear as film gets). That almost confirmed the overexposure I was fearing, or I messed up the developing somehow. Then I noticed a dark strip at the end, with what looked like half of one perfectly exposed picture. Then I realised that while I'd overexposed the end, the rest of the film was underexposed, and was in fact, unused film.

This had been removed from the camera many months ago, so it wasn't a huge shame to waste it, and was a perfect place to start my developing career. Now I have a half used film in my father's old Pentax that must be finished soon, and then I can actually get around to making some pictures.

There haven't been many pictures in this update. I haven't taken a recent photo of my car, but I can show you my darkroom setup:



Alright, cheap joke. Which I stole.

I just finished my first complete roll of film, which means that tonight I can try developing something that won't be blank, and they're pictures I took recently, which are relevant. South Africa, family gatherings, and pictures I even took today. I hope that'll be done tonight. The film's already out of the camera.

Spar-letta

I went on a skiing trip before I left Rokeby School, and it involved going to Italy and skiing for ten days or so. Sergio was my instructor, and my mother was one of the guides. Great time. When we arrived, it was 19°C, most of the snow was from a machine and there was plenty of painful ice. But the food was great.

The year before they went to Canada, where the snow was deep and perfect the whole time, but the food was bad. Consequently, the Italian trip was the one that people remembered as preferable.

Quality of food affects our impression of a country so much that it can be the main reason we like certain countries. I'm looking forward to the food of Japan more than most things. While I was in South Africa, the food was probably the best part of the whole trip. I distinctly remember being repeatedly impressed by the Mexican food Erin fed me in America.

Creme-Soda is a delicacy I had the benefit of being brought up on, and along side Fanta Grape and the African Iron Brew, it's one of the best drinks of Africa.

So I Saw Radiohead

Any serious music fan should have 'see Radiohead live' in their lists of things to do before they die. It's a shame I wasn't old enough for their triumphs at Glastonbury or at South Park, but I decided at some point I should achieve live-music nirvana.



By chance, a friend of a friend noticed that I liked Radiohead on my Facebook, and told me he had a spare ticket. And I decided not to pass up the opportunity. Radiohead have been my favourite band for a while, up there with Sigur Rós (who I genuinely liked before they were cool). And even though I don't enjoy live music as much as I once did, to see the In Rainbows tour would be a real highlight.

Back on the 24th of June, my ticket man, Ben, and I took a long tube ride and met up with his friend Elise at Mile End. We all walked to the massive outdoor venue: Victoria Park, where despite having my ticket, I wasn't allowed in. Why? Melanie, my camera. Apparently, there's a no-cameras rule, printed on the back of the ticket which I had received seconds prior.

Actually, this wasn't true. A no-cameras rule would mean that people aren't allowed to take in cameras. The rule was actually a no-decent-cameras rule, meaning that you can take in cameras as long as they don't look like a they could take nice looking photos. An SLR might endanger the band with its sharp focus or something. In all, it's just another battle in the war against photographers, good amateur photos and proper cameras.

Having been turned away, I fretted over what to do. I didn't drive there, I couldn't leave it in my car. No security office would take responsibility. I was stuck with my valuable camera not having a place to go. I decided it was getting in there, even if I had to smuggle it. Taking off all the accessories bar the strap, and hiding them all in my pockets, I wore the camera on one shoulder, behind me and under my coat. In the camera bag, I placed a mostly finished bottle of Sprite. When my bag was searched, they told me no bottles, so I graciously threw it away. Seeming like their job was complete, they ushered me through with no further searching. This all while I frantically hid my face from the guy who stopped me before, while trying not to look suspicious. But Melanie got in, and while I hid her for the first hour or so, I realised that no-one was paying any attention, and I took photos throughout.



The support act was Bat for Lashes, who was entertaining, but ultimately forgettable (unlike The Objects supporting Junior Senior, who were brilliant). She had funny makeup and a poncho, and a wide variety of instruments were at hand, but there was an ondes Martenot in the background, and that outshone anything they'd brought with them.

Now, I hadn't actually listened to In Rainbows until about a week before, and I'd listened three times. It hadn't grown on me as much as it has now, but I still really enjoyed hearing it. However, I was looking forward to the older songs more, as were a few people.



The crowd was huge, I heard estimates of twenty thousand, and there seemed to be a concentration of avid smokers gathered around us, as well as one idiot who had only come to hear Creep, and wanted to let everyone, including Thom Yorke, know this. It was mainly for this reason that I was thankful that they didn't play it.



They did, however, play Just, which was probably the highlight of the evening for me, alongside Idioteque. I enjoyed everything from Kid A, although I was disappointed when they played Let Down from OK Computer. It just isn't a great song.

I won't list the songs I enjoyed (anymore), but I'll tell you it was a stunning concert, and an unforgettable experience. My feet hurt by the end, but they do after any long stint of standing. I used my telephoto lens to het really close photos (helped by standing very close to the stage), and I'm very happy with the photos I took as a result.



Despite almost getting badly lost on the walk back to the tube station (we deviated from the crowd- mistake), it was a wonderful show, one that has partly restored my faith in live music. I'll see them again for the next album.

What the Hell is Call ID?

So it has been a while. I was in court for twelve weeks, and when you're not allowed to talk about what you do all day, you don't want it on record in case you do. Hence not many updates while at court. And oddly, not many updates since court ended in April. I am sorry about it, it's just been I've had a lot on, and a lot of it was time limited, and I couldn't do anything about that.

So two months ago, most of my friends went home. Or away. Alyssa and Lisa went back to Hawaii. Rachel went back to Maryland. Sarah went back to California. Dan went to France (subsequently California). I have some friends left, but not many. But them being gone isn't actually important, what is important is what we got up to while they were here.

And despite not actually being enrolled at University, it was probably the most fun semester I had there. I saw people every day, I had pain from smiling all the time. And while the sun was out, we had a couple of picnics on Southlands lawn. It was six months of happy memories.

I started dating Alyssa in early April, and that was pretty cool, as we tend to think the same about stuff and junk. I won't go into details about the relationship, but even though she's far away right now, we're still together and speak pretty much every day. It's the most special relationship I've ever had, and she makes me feel very lucky on a daily basis.

Man, so long has passed since the last update, I don't know where to begin. I'll talk about cars. My car is declared SORN (Statutory Off Road Notice) for the time being, meaning that if I drove it and a policeman saw me, it'd be seized, probably crushed, and I'd never see it again. And that's not a positive outcome for anyone. Not even the government. They have to pay to crush it. So I'm not driving so much. So until a little cash comes in and I can replace the front shock absorbers (they're a wearing part), there will be no BMW for me.

My father is considering getting a Toyota MR2. We both call it the Mister Two, but I hardly think we're alone in that respect. I think it's too similar to my mother's car, it doesn't vary enough. It's the same size, same layout, similar four-cylinder engine, similar suspension... he even wants it in the same colour. It'll be slightly squarer and more reliable. I'm convincing him to either got for an older MR2 (which had, I think, the turbo-charged 2.0 litre engine), or a Lotus Elise, which is the best example of the small, mid-engined roadster.



In the coming months, a lot will happen, hopefully. My former lecturer has offered me opportunities abroad, and I hope that they come to something, but if not, I hope to work at University for a short time. I may be coming into a little money quite soon, and that might help get me out of this hole I feel like I'm in.

The credit crunch has meant that people aren't hiring as much. Despite frantic searching, and a very, very close almost, I'm still jobless for the time being. Hence, no car. Or anything. I still hold out hope for a position that I almost got, but it isn't likely anytime soon.

Just as my friends were about to leave to go home, my grandfather died. This was at the beginning of June. While this was very sad, we has 98 years old, very tired, and ready. I accompanied my father and joined him in South Africa. This was an opportunity to go to the funeral, to visit my ill aunt Anne, and spend some quality time with my father. We had a wonderful holiday, and the funeral went very smoothly. I gave a reading from the Bible, and my father had written a wonderful eulogy. We stayed in Anne's house, and we enjoyed many Durban Curries together, and managed to spend a night at Hluhluwe Game Reserve, where I used my new telephoto lens to the best of my ability.



Just after I returned to England, I learnt that my uncle Arthur, Anne's husband, who had passed away back in 2004 or so, had a collection of classic Minoltas that were lying around including a set of lenses, and filters and a folding tripod. This was very suitable to entertain my love of photography and love of old equipment. It's encouraged me to get into film photography more, and I'm in the process of teaching myself how to develop my own photographs. Adobe Lightroom is wonderful software, but there's something about choking on chemicals and tripping over things in the dark that it just doesn't capture. I just need to order a battery so that the light meter works, and I'll have a beautiful working camera.

Just after getting those cameras, last week, my aunt herself passed away. It had been a long battle with cancer, but she was very comfortable throughout. My father is in South Africa now for the funeral, taking care of her final business. She died less than three months after her father, but I'm very thankful that he did not have to bury her. I'm very thankful that I got to spend time with her, and that she got to see the photos I took of her cat. As an academic and a widow of a priest, she had a beautiful, large funeral, and I'm sorry I could not go, but I my father represented the family there.

You might notice that on the left there is a Twitter update area. Twitter, if you didn't already know, is like micro-blogging. You update with 140 characters or fewer, and do it frequently. It updates your Facebook status as well. I used to do it more frequently, but there isn't a stable Vista client at the moment. I'll keep looking. Anyway, I have it auto-update to this site as well, so you can keep tabs on me even if you don't have my Twitter page.

Firefox just unexpectedly crashed, but Blogger has the good sense to automatically back up everything I write, so I didn't lose a character. I have a feeling that it may have been something to do with installing Adobe AIR, but I'll have to wait and see if it happens again.

I'm getting eager to update my blog interface, but I'm realising that there's a lot of effort to be put into GUIs if you want to keep up and be original. It's easy to copy a design, but I don't want to (come on, I'm not in University anymore). I'll have to consider what looks good and what is readable. I have had a plan for a couple of years, but it's very high contrast, and I'll have to make a mock-up before I go about designing it.

As I've missed so much, I'll probably go back and discuss things that happened in future blog posts, but this is enough for now. I have added a Photos link at the top, if anyone is interested.