March 13, 2009

What does one trillion dollars look like?

January 3, 2009

Mountain Photography by Jack Brauer shot with a large format camera, using 4x5
inch film. The camera, a Tachihara 4x5 wooden field camera is a completely manual
camera which uses fixed focal length lenses. Each image is exposed onto a large 4-inch
by 5-inch sheet of film, which records an enormous amount of detail. The 4x5 camera
also enables a variety of lens movements which contribute to the incredible sharpness
of the images. See more photos.

Things to See

Japanese people are way weird. Check out the tablecloth pulling competition.

Who Gets U.S. Foreign Aid
The U.S. will give an estimated $26 billion in foreign aid in 2008—70% more than when President George W. Bush took office (the figure doesn’t include funds related to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan). More than 150 countries get financial assistance from the U.S. Here are the six that received the most this year. Read more.

January 2, 2009

Why do I think this photo was shot in Minnesota?

Things to See

It's impossible to watch just one film from 5secondfilms.com. Some of them are laugh out loud pretty good, and some just fall flat. My favorites so far are Grouchy Positioning System and Bucky Calls the Captain.

January 1, 2009

How to Make Perfect Hash Browns. Grate one large potato, or two smaller ones. Wrap the grated potatoes in a piece of cheesecloth or several paper towels. Wring all of the water out of the potatoes and place in a bowl. Chop a medium onion and mix with grated potatoes. Melt a quarter stick of butter into a skillet over high heat. Once the butter is melted, pour the potato/onion mixture into the skillet. Use a spatula to shape the potatoes into a circle covering the bottom of the skillet. Season the top with salt and fresh ground pepper. Cook for five minutes. Place a plate over the skillet and invert. Slide the hash browns back onto the skillet an cook for another five minutes.

I'm still working on making the perfect omelet. Although, I did make a pretty good one this morning. Three eggs, onions, mushrooms, peppers, and a little cheese.

Have seen some pretty good movies lately: Gran Torino with Clint Eastwood was a pretty good story. The acting wasn't terriffic, but it was very watchable. Eastwood (pictured at right, plays Walt Kowalski, a retired auto worker.

Frost/Nixon was a lot better than I expected. I basically knew the ending, but it was well-written, produced, and the actors were great . . . particularly Frank Langella, who played Nixon without taking him into a caricature.

Seven Pounds with Will Smith was engrossing with some strong acting. The plot is a tad far-fetched, but fits right in with the film.

I'm not a big westerns fan, but Appaloosa with Ed Harris, Viggo Mortenson and Renee Zellwager was great, and definitely worth your while.

Things to See

PhotoShop Disasters is always interesting.