Just a couple for today… Gods how I do like the feel of Black and White…
Dawn likes the colour shot I took of this better, though I do find the desaturated imaging shows better detail not only on the fruit but as well highlights the spider web.
Meh.
I should shoot Dawn more in black and white. She normally hates photos of herself, but somehow liked the shots I took of her the other day. Strange.
Even though in some parts of the Lower Mainland petrol hit just over $1.50 (thanks to the biggest asshole in British Columbia wonderful man in BC, Gordon Campbell). Ahh, the completely redundant Carbon Tax which the funds will be used only for the MLA’s beer and pretzels. Joy. With honest, hardworking people taking the proverbial dildo in the ass for said beer and pretzels.
Joy.
Well, as prices increase, I further become joyous that I’ve taken the daily commute to transit. With the current costs I’m saving close to $80 per month (while still insuring the car). And on a random, in the middle of the week one day holiday, it’s nice to get out, even for a short while.
Dawn and I hit Pacific Spirit Park this afternoon, and I took it upon myself to practice getting better at Black and White photography. Amazing how much technology is put into digital cameras to create more realistic colour, and I just simply go backwards a step. Still, I like the edgier, old feel (especially when shooting with a higher ISO value to give the grain feel as well).
I have a confession to make. I’m 35 years old, a driven professional, with a warrior’s soul, and yet I have the heart and imagination of a child. A four year old child. And I collect toys (some pictures from previous posts might shed a tad bit of light on the subject). You can add the terms dork, geek, nerd, loser, et al to me. I really couldn’t be frakked.
Around the time when I was living in the thriving cultural centre of the universe, Windsor, Ontario, sports teams (to the most notable for me at the time was baseball) started giving away Bobbleheads at the gate for the first, say 5,000 fans. I loved the idea of those collectibles, just never got to a game (in Cleveland because frankly I can’t stand the Tigers) to get one. Meh.
Well, over time, so many changes have really prevented me to really looking a collectibles. Until the last year. In that time I’ve collected dragons, Canuck Bobbleheads, McFarlane figurines, McDonald’s NHL Goalie Sticks, and so on, and so on. The shelf above my computer is beginning to be like a feature from It Came From the Basement!
So imagine my surprise when I go to the grocer a little over a month ago, and notice they sell Star Wars bobbleheads for $9.99 apiece (after discount for cardholders)! Woot! As such, the collection continues…
Mind you, the collectible variety doesn’t end there. For $3.00 the other day…. IT’S CLOBBERIN’ TIME!
My Gods, life is so much sweeter when you embrace the inner dork.
Today I’m going to take a small step away from my normal, potty shooting self and actually say something nice. No, aliens have NOT abducted me and replaced me with a Chrome Toaster. Rather, I’ve been reflecting on the career of Trevor Linden, who formally announced his retirement this week.
What can be said that hasn’t already? Captain Canuck. All Star. Olympian. But what comes to my mind is the man. It seems with so many young athletes these days who are thrust into the limelight of their sport of choice, the money and power go to their head. Though they never ask of it, ultimately they to some degree or another become a role model. And a good deal of the choices out there are pitiful.
But not Trevor. It was almost as he knew the responsibility that came with the job, and has a great moral compass. Everyone seems to have a great Linden story from around here. Even me. And this is before my days in eternally sunny Vancouver, BC. Rather, this was in my adolescent prison from Quebec, being Toronto. Maple Leaf Gardens around November 1990. The Gardens actually was good for autograph geeks like myself to find our favourite non-Toronto players (well, all my favourite players were NOT Leafs). Most teams would make their way through the lobby to the buses, and sign some autographs for the fans on the way out. But the Canucks were different. The entire Canucks team would actually stand around, and not only sign autographs, but talk to the fans. This one night I had brought a stack of Canuck O-Pee-Chee cards, but Linden was the only Canuck who was playing that night that I actually had a card for. And he actually signed it (it’s still at my parents house I’m sure), and as well talked to me for a minute, and asked me how I enjoyed the game (which the Canucks won 5-3). At the time it was cool, but now I am floored just how much he was involved, plugged in, and cared, especially in a rival city.
We’ll be able to replace the player, and will have to replace the player, but will never be able to replace the man. Don’t be a stranger Trevor. This city loves you man.
Frakking hell. Nothing like seeing petrol rise to $1.48 (and to my mates in the UK I know it’s still worse on your side of the pond) to take the fucking mickey outta you, as now it’s cheaper to take transit WHILE STILL paying insurance on my car instead of driving it. Wonder if ICBC have reduced rates for casual recreational vehicular use only. Shit, paying $100 to $200 more in rent and biking to work ’cause it’s closer seems to be the smart choice now.
Still, got a chance to take a few pics despite the lack of inspiration. As such, this one is for Taj mostly:
And, as Battlestar Galactica ends it’s pre-strike run of episodes, I give you my one current Galactica collectible:
Yet another sight I love here in Beautiful British Columbia. The nurse log. And always brilliant when it’s so developed with several trees growing from it:
Well, it was definitely nice to see someone more than just Dawn to post to my trivial drivel and tripe. Thank you muchly Taj. And in honour of your overjoy of tree stump photography, here’s a little more artful style of stump we tend to get in Beautiful British Columbia:
But alas, corporate America does have that effect. And I do say that as the current employer of mine is a US based multi-national. Bah. Something has to be said for the right wing fags in power in these big companies when they barely reward the highest producing, smartest, and strongest employees, but promote incompetence, distrust, and ethical questionability. Luckily though, I think I have a strong lead to get to another employer. Granted, the political bullshit will probably be the same, but fuck, I’ll be payed $10,000 more per year with more perks.
Whoopie! However, creative Jeff seems to be stifled. I just can’t get motivated to write about a great deal of topics that occur to me. However, with my cousin in town this past weekend, photography still can keep the creative juices flowing. So, as seeing I have a shitload of pictures I have NOT posted, empty days will at least be a photoblahg or two.
As such, something from my ski binge at Big White:
