Shoot first, think later

There are two basic ways for an artist to work: slow and deliberately, or fast and intuitively. Some people even use both methods, at varying times.

Ctein is experimenting with the latter, so far with very good results.

I tend to favor quick-and-intuitive myself. Not only do you get more done, but you also avoid the drawn-out struggle between your intellectual self and your Higher Self, simply by putting the HS in charge. And the HS thinks a million times faster than the human self, and can see much further.

The downside is that the ego feels, quite correctly, that it can't honestly take credit for the work, since it clearly "comes from above", and it really does not like that. So for those with a strong ego, this can become a struggle. 

The New Number One (Updated) Pentax K-5

The New Number One, tOP article.
Calling its dynamic range performance "wonderful," DxOmark says this area is "clearly where the K5 struts its stuff...even the [Nikon] D3X’s full-frame sensor is not [as] good."
Apparently the new Pentax K-5 has the best-performing sensor in its class, by far. Given this, and the excellent hardware and in-body image stabilization, I will say that David is Kicking Goliath solid around the playground, comparing to the much, much larger companies, Canon, Nikon, and Sony. This is remarkable.

And the value-for-money is outstanding too. In the semi-pro market, that is. In the serious-amateur camera market, the K-r and the K-x are at least as good value-for-money.

Update:
It turns out that the autofocusing in Live View mode is one of the fastest yet, so that this is useful not just on a tripod, but for hand-held shooting too. This is great, because it can be very handy to hold the camera near the ground and over your head, and still use autofocus (on the screen).

Also, the ISO 6400 is actually useable, in my estimation, which must be a first for APSC-sized-sensor cameras (not full-frame). Impressive.

And it shoots at 7 frames/sec, if you need it. Dang impressive camera.

An Amazon list

I've just found out that Amazon.co.uk has a list of all I've bought from them. From this I found out:
1: I can rate items without reviewing them, which I had just been wishing for ten minutes prior.
2: I have bought one thousand, four hundred and ninety-two items from or via A.co.uk in the last twelve years! Friggin' eck!

Office for Mac Isn’t an Improvement

Office for Mac Isn’t an Improvement, NYT review.
Wow, that might be the most damning main stream review I've read. I'm glad I'm not a Word/Entourage user, or work on the team who released this.

Do it yourself doodler

Do it yourself doodler.
Amazing so versatile one pose can be. (There are many more. I think it's the same artist, but there's not much info.)

Remake

Michelangelo Nintendo remix.

Red, new photo

About Posterous

Download now or listen on posterous

1-04 Easy Girl.mp3 (0 KB)

I've been hearing about Posterous.com recently. It really seems to be extraordinary slick, easy, and useful. It’s a blog of its own, but it takes a multitude forms of content, and also it’ll post to other platforms for you, even several at a time if you wish.
For example, posting music on Blogger has always been a multi-multi-step procedure, and then I didn’t even get a simple player in the post. So I’ll try that now.
Updates:
The player only appears on P's own site, and it does not play on my machine, odd. And photos, while the sizes are pretty well selected on general standards, the thumb is too wide for my layout, and the full sized one is scaled to smaller than Blogger does.
Ah well, can still be useful in many other ways. For example the mailing-list-slash-blog that many people can contribute on. 

Rescued Baby Hummingbird

[Thanks to Kirk]

Talking about hummingbirds...

Plymouth Prowler

Thanks to Peter, who said: Plymouth Prowler ... started as a concept car, went into production in the US in 1997 (during which time ALL of them were this colour: Prowler Purple Metallic!) No production in '98 for some reson, then started again in '99 with a choice of 12 colours.

Fun with autos

(I really like the iron-work beetle.)

Expat service

Alex found this for-pay service which apparently will let you use those kinds of web sites which insist that you are in the US (like some TV services and so on).
I haven't tried it, but I might well do so if I get a barrier which is just irritating enough.

The right to bare breasts

The right to bare breasts, article.

Far from preventing sexual assaults, the law against women’s toplessness is part of a way of thinking that is harmful to both men and women. If we take steps to change the law, our society’s attitudes will adjust and such a change in attitude will protect women far more effectively than a t-shirt ever could.

Sophie Kaner, the author, has a purty kool Q&A column.

NaNoWriMo

"National Novel Writing Month" is up.
I'm not sure if the word "national" means you have to belong to a specific country (USA?) to participate? Or if it's just unthinking adoption of the usual territorial language.
It any case it sounds like a good chance to fire off a novel, good or bad.
Some people do it in 24 hours. And some of the books have even been good, according to reports.

This week's films, and Tara McPherson, artist

My DVD rental service's three films this week seems to be all winners, a nice occurrence.

The Hangover, a crazy and funny and outrageous "bachelor party" type comedy.

Get Smart. Not seen much of it yet, but it feel perfectly timed and quite funny. Though not exactly original.

Juno, a youth drama of sorts. Now this one is original. Even seminal.  Seems to be one of those films that simple are "done right". Beautifully filmed, and funny in a subtle way. It has this poster, by Tara McPherson, on the wall. Very impactful. They used the color version for the film.

 

(Notice it's a balloon, not a sperm, though I'm sure the confusion is on purpose.)