Wedding

Had a really really great time this past weekend at Reynold’s and Stephanie’s wedding.  All the old oxford kids together in one place.  It’s taken me a while to recover, but i’m getting back into action for Sparkcon this weekend.

Wedding was beautiful, stephanie was gorgeous (she is incredibly photogenic), most everything went off without a hitch.  Being the best man, I tried to give a good speech during the rehearsal dinner.  After exausting resources at the dinner, we went to downtown oxford and *gasp* there was nothing going on..  So we walked to the exon at the corner of lindon that was already closed, even though it was midnight on friday.  I talked the guy into opening up the store for us, begging that we only needed 2 more cases, and a shlitz for Reynolds to drink.

The wedding took place @ Hesters church a bit out in the country, a church where in fact my grandfather and great grandfather are buried.  This church is so old, it still has the intact green shag carpetting throughout. Wedding went by pretty quick, vows were said, rings were exchanged, lips were met for the first time in a new context. We later headed to the henderson country club for the reception, which was also turned out to be the best time I’ve had in a long long time, but not after hardships.  In something that could only be made up in a movie, reynolds grandfather passed away at some point during or after the wedding, and I was told this right as I walked in.  Reynolds was informed after the first dance with his mom.  Funny thing is had a sneaking suspicion that this was going to happen, and had talked to me about it weeks ago, worried that they could interfere with each other, and not wanting to be anxious, or feel regret if something was to happen.  After hearing the news, reynolds was greeted by a bunch of people, and the mood grew somber for a bit.  Then a person came up and said “Reynolds, you know that your grandfather wanted to be here so bad, that he passed on so he could watch from above, with your father”.  whoa…..

The groomsmen all doubled up on stella’s and newkies, and took Reynolds outside so he could just breath and not have to worry about seeing anyone.. We reminded him there was nothing he could do about it, and that there wasn’t room for regret, that this day is about his new life with Stephanie.  He cheered up, let loose, and we all headed back inside, with our partying shoes on..

Reynolds and Stephanie hired some great photographers to capture the afternoon, and I have to say they did a smashing job.  R Lee Morris, out of Charleston, who had along a couple of assistants covered one end to the other, and I’m really scared to know the total amount of shutter actuations for the day.  They really did a beautiful job capturing the emotion of the evening, and they even brought a long a little toy, their photobooth.  This photobooth isabsolutely amazing – it inspires laugh out loud group participation, the gratification is immediate, and it produces beautiful results.  The backbone of the booth is a big blow up projection screen, with a flash mounted inside to backlight the subjects.  There’s also a strobe umbrella pointed down at the subjects, for a fill flash.  There’s a remote control that activated a nikon DSLR on a tripod which was connected to a projector below it.

The idea is, you get a bunch of people in the frame, making crazy faces, lifting people up, whatever you want.  Someone (anyone) has the remote, and snaps at will.  Think digital largescreen polaroid style instant laughs on a big screen.  After snapping a funny picture, all the people in the frame then move out of the way, and they, along with all the onlookers who have shuffled up procede to bust gut in laughter.  Obviously the pictures get funnier as the night goes on, and ryan even said once he had a wedding party start to undress themselves at a particular reception.   I think after it was all done, maybe 1000+ pictures had been taken, and I cannot wait to see them in all their glory.  At times when I was out there watching it unfold, I looked around and said damn, I hope people are still dancing inside because it looks like the party came outside..

After dancing with an 82 year old woman who had a penchant for grabbing guys butts, and downing many many stella’s, we headed back for the afterparty, and Reynolds and stephanie headed to the umstead.  Oh yea, I can’t leave out the impromptu street dance party we had on the way back.  After jamming an allman brother tape into the land rover disco, Mike informed his mom to “Pull Over..  I want to dance!!”.   We stopped on the side of the road, opened all the doors, and proceeded to dance like drunken monkies, howling at the full moon overhead, surely pulling sleeping neighbors to their windows, being it was already 12..

Lets just say I got to sleep @ 7 that morning.. I did get to play with the new nikon d90, which recorded some pretty great looking video using my sigma 30mm1.4 lens..  I also got to play with lee’s relic nikkor 50mm1.2, a lens I didn’t even know existed.  Focus was paper thin, but razor sharp, and captured some great pictures…  So that’s my weekend in a nutshell.

Plans for this coming weekend? Oh hell yes…

Sparkcon crazyness all around raleigh, including bikecon Thursday night, in addition to a special evening of local band local brew night @ Tir na nog.  Urban sophisticates are playing sat night, which is always a must see.. Besides the fact that they’re all really nice guys, they strait rocked the cherry stage @ Raleigh Wide Open 3…

Here’s the link to the pretty incredible slideshow.  turn your sound on for greater effect

Slowmo vid of a D3 shutter firing

This was posted on Gizmodo (video), and here’s another fellow that has pieced togeNikon D3 shutter firing in super slow mo.  After the link, slide your mouse over to get a step by step see for yourself

Busy September

 

 

Well August was pretty interesting month, with a nice ending.  Got a chance to go to Wrightsville Beach this past weekend (note the picture above is definitely not in wrightsville, I took that in Sta Clara Panama), where I saw some absolutely huge NC waves.  Even the surfers were having a hard time getting them under control.  I experienced the strange sensation of being shocked by a jellyfish.  He got me across my side, I think the jelly was going for my right nipple.  I have to say in all my years I’ve never felt a sensation quite like it, and when it happened I paused for a second to take it all in, then got the hell out of there..  I was lucky enough to hang out at the Carolina Yaght club, one of the oldest yacht clubs in the nation.   Mojito’s were drank, and meat was cooked, and all was well..

And now we usher in Sept, which is already looking to be busy.. We have first friday this friday, with all the normal hoopla, plus a pending hurricane party if Hanna makes her way any closer.  Also have Raleigh Wide Open on saturday, depending on how the hurricane blows.  Headliners Soul Asylum and Islands, with various other festivities going on downtown.

Next week it’s looking like I’ll be in atlanta for work, and then next weekend is reynold’s and stephanie’s wedding.

Towards the end of Sept I have a ticket for Mars Volta @ the rockin Asheville colleseum, which will be just the kick in the eardrums I’ve been waiting for…

DIPLO!@%#$%

in quite possibly the best news since that 200-some person brawl at Triangle Town center, Diplo is finally making an appearance @ Cat’s Cradle on Nov 11. Strait Huge news.  In my opinion, one of the hardest working dj’s/producers in the mashup/electro/hip-hop/[insert genre] scene, Diplo’s really blown up recently doing tracks for MIA (Paper Planes has seen huge popularity with the recently released stoner saga Pineapple Express) and Santogold, and putting out remixes that just feel RIGHT!  I’ve been trying to tell people for the past 2 years what level this guy on, and it seems just now he’s finally getting the acclaim he deserves..  Cats Cradle has hosted tons of dance parties, but this shit might bring the place to the ground.. I’ve been waiting to see this guy for so long, I might make a mini-tour out of it from ATL -> CH -> DC

Touring with him is… well, everyone on the flyer above…  Boy 8-bit is pretty nice..

D90 info trickling in slowly

after seeing the new d90 pop up in bestbuy and circuit city inventory lists, and recently aquiring a UPC , it’s pretty official.  Thom Hogan has some info up on it, but reports are still coming in.

With a function the likes of which have never been seen in a dslr, this thing is shaping up to be sick.

• Apparently Live view will now enable VIDEO RECORDING!! If this thing record 15-20 FPS at a decent size, it will sell like hotnuts.  scary to think you can pair that video recording with a 300mm lens.

• 12MP, which I can expect to have the same great quality of the D300.  meaning crazy good pictures at insane ISO’s.
• GPS connection
• 3″ LCD
• HDMI out
• 11 pt AF

All this with a decent sounding 18-105mm 3.5 – 5.6f VR lens, for $1300..

that means possibly a grand for body alone (yay)!  sounds like an incredible upgrade from my d40..

Updated: so Nikon broke wind today, and the d90 is finally official. Most specs were correct.  It is a CMOS censor, which means good low light performance.  the video mode can record 720p @ 24fps which is pretty incredible, even if that’s only for 5 mins.. another great feature (which I guess you expect in a body this high) is flash commander mode, which my d40 sadly lacks..

Rainy Week

Lots of rain yesterday, which fit into this weeks theme I guess.  With rain comes change and growth, both of which are necessary to sustain life.  Still upping photos from panama.. I hate that it takes 5 days to take the pictures, then 10 to upload them.  I guess I could be less picky, but where’s the fun in that?

CC thieves now able to decrypt stored pins?

in a really scary article, msnbc covers the uncovering of credit card theives who are believed to be counterfeiting debit cards, and using decrypted PIN’s, are able to then withdraw large amounts of money.  This goes way beyond typical cc number theft, and sounds like an encouragement to only use the debit part when at a trusted ATM, or use a seperate account with no debit access.

wait for about 5 years, when they’ll have e-ink random token generators built into the credit cards.

article here

New VW Scirrocco

New VW scirocco is looking pretty nice.  Might come out just in time (if it makes it accross the Atlantic) for me to upgrade the Jetta.  Vw Launched a new website to showcase the car, which shows a pretty decent use of flash.  Models come with a nice paddle shifting tiptronic, as well as 6 speed manual versions (mmmm). Ranging from 120 – 160hp with a TDI model as well, this car is shaping up really nicely.  Now just make sure it gets to the US.. No official US announcement yet, but word is it’s up to VW CEO in Germany

Finally Home

After a long flight home, and little sleep before work on monday, I’m back home safe from panama.  Had a great time down there, it’s a quite a bit different than I remember from being a little kid.  There’s tons of miami-like high rise growth in the newer part of the city, but there’s also brooklyn/rio/kingston-esque slums in the older parts of the city.  More to come, after I upload the photos..

Had an interesting time flying back.  When I got to the airport, the delta agent told me I had apparently already left the country, on the date I actually entered the country.  SAYWHUU? why don’t you check out the visa stamp on my passport, and try again.  Luckily they rebooked me with no problems, but it could have been a huge headache.  ATL seemed to be operating near capacity, I’ve never seen that many people at the international baggage claims, and they were pretty much just waving people through customs.  I helped explain to a spanish speaking couple how to use the tram in ATL airport, after the lady almost got her arm ripped off.  They didn’t know where terminal C was, and I think there was some confusion between C and Si when they were asking other people..  glad to see my spanish coming in handy though..

Also met a really cool guy that worked for MOOG in asheville, and knew very well mr Bob Moog himself.  Got to pick his brain for a short bit which was pretty interesting.  It’s gotta be great to be able to play with some of the nicest synths in the world.

Think you’re laptops safe at the border?

Think again..  This is probably general knowledge to most people who travel internationally, but all that data on your laptop, and whatever storage mediums you can think up is fair game if border patrol wants to take a look-see.   Engadget had a post about this recently, but basically in this post 9-11 world US, customs/border patrol agents have the right to seize your laptop and other thumb drives/SD cards, floppy disks etc, for a reasonable (read weeks to months) time, if you are suspected of wrong doing fit behavioral/racial profiles.  I’ve heard of this happening a lot with business travelors coming from china, so I’m guessing there are going to be some upset folks coming back from beijing when they are asked to boot their laptops and type in their windows passwords.  Luckily, the EFF and other groups are currently asking for the law to be reviewed. Which reminds me, I need to give money to the EFF.  They are the internet age knight in shining armor, ready to swoop in and defend our digital civil liberties.

Worried about keeping sensitive files on your lappy?  I know I keep tax forms, all kinds of work information, passwords, etc on my laptop, and pass through borders all to often.  What can you do to protect your bits?  For starters you can try using  truecrypt, an open source on- the-fly encryption program that can encrypt your data into a large file, or a whole partition of a harddrive.  It mounts these encrypted lockers as a drive, so you can drag and drop with no worries. It spans multiple OS’s, and is regarded as one of the best encryption programs in it’s class.

engadget covers it here