halloween safety tips

1. When it appears that you have killed the monster, NEVER check to see if it's really dead.
2. Never (ever) read a book of demon summoning aloud, not even as a joke.
3. Do not search the basement, especially if the power has gone out.
4. If your children speak to you in Latin or any other language which they should not know, kill them immediately. It will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. However, it will probably take several rounds to kill them, so be prepared. This also applies to kids who speak with somebody else's voice.
5. When you have the benefit of numbers, NEVER pair off and go it alone.
6. As a general rule, don't solve puzzles that open the portals to Hell.
7. Never stand in, on, or above a grave, tomb, or crypt. This would apply to any other house of the dead as well.
8. If you're searching for something which caused a loud noise and find out that it's just the cat, GET THE HELL OUT!
9. If appliances start operating by themselves, do not check for short circuits; just get out!
10. Do not take ANYTHING from the dead.
11. If you find a town which looks deserted, there's probably a good reason for it. Don't stop and look around.
12. Don't fool with recombinant DNA technology unless you're sure you know what you're doing.
13. If you're running from the monster/killer, expect to trip or fall down at least twice. Also note that, despite the fact that you are running and the monster is merely shambling along, it's still moving fast enough to catch up with you.
14. If your companions suddenly begin to exhibit uncharacteristic behavior such as hissing, fascination for blood, glowing eyes, increasing airiness, multi-level marketing, and so on, kill them immediately.
15. Stay away from certain geographical locations, some of which are listed here: Amityville, Elm Street, Transylvania, Nilbog (you're in trouble if you recognize this one), the Bermuda Triangle, or any small town in Maine.
16. If your car runs out of gas at night on a lonely road, do not go to the nearby deserted-looking house to phone for help. If you think that it is strange because you thought you had a full tank, shoot yourself instead. You are going to die anyway, and most likely while being eaten alive.
17. When something bad is chasing you, bear in mind that when you try to start your car, no matter how reliable the vehicle is normally, you'll have to crank the engine over many times before it will start.
18. If you find that your house is built upon a cemetery, now is the time to move in with the in laws. This applies to houses that had previous inhabitants who went mad or died in some horrible fashion, or had inhabitants who performed satanic practices in your house.
19. If you enter a house and a disembodied voice tells you to "GET OUT". Listen to the helpful voice and leave.
20. Creepy old houses, campsites, or castles are never good places for a party.
21. If anyone offers you $1,000,000 if you just stay the night in a house. Just leave and go buy a lottery ticket. Your chances of winning the lottery are slightly higher then your chances of living through the night

Current Mood:

my sex id

I came across this one in my regular trawl through my Blogroll... Monotonous dot net had a link to the BBC Brain Sex Survey which I thought might be worth doing. Turns out I score about a 25 on the male side (not sure if that's 25% or not though), which is about half of the average male score. Sounds about right really...


Current Mood:

fashion advisor

Man, what a day... Mum needed to get an "After-Five" outfit for this wedding she's going to, and like the good gay son I am, I had to go along to be Fashion Advisor/Police.

We left my place just after 9am, had breakfast at Gloria Jeans (where there was a VERY cute barista... tall, very skinny, very cute)... and we ended up wandering through every appropriate womenswear store (and a couple that were slightly less appropriate) in town for about five hours... and did we find ANYTHING suitable she could even try on? Hell no! Not a damn thing.

Well, okay, that's not completely true... there was this one thing we did find that we both fell instantly in love with... a sheer, floaty top in these really pretty pink tones from David Jones. It's hard to describe, but it was stunning... it was also about $500. Gorgeous, but less good.

So in the end, we decided she could wear an existing black outfit (or a new variation on the same theme) with this pretty quasi-Indian apple green silk scarf/wrap thing I bought her a few years ago, with a bunch of new accessories from Diva. One green Indian bangle set, big silver hoop earrings and a long string of green beads with silver chain later we were pretty much done.

We did wander around looking at shoes, but getting my mother to make any kind of decision about shoes is sometimes slightly less fun than pulling out teeth with rusty plyers, so she can find a pair of those on her own... she just needs something strappy and sandley and possibly with sparkly bits.

I'm kind of glad that I've been doing my daily walks, I think I would have been in a much worse state tonight if I hadn't been, and my legs are sore enough right now... on the downside, I did about the same amount of walking today that I usually do in a whole week, just a little more stop-start-stop today.

So that was my day... exhausting and vaguely frustrating... not that we didn't have fun, we always have fun... I just wish we'd been able to find her something...

And Daylight Savings starts tonight... the clocks go forward which means we lose an hour of sleep... also means it will be a few days before my body kicks in and I'm able to do my walk at 7am. Fun, fun...

Current Mood:

what's it worth?

My blog is worth $3,387.24.

How much is your blog worth?

Of course, with the exchange rate from American dollars to Australian dollars, that works out to be about AU$4,480.

Current Mood:

weird stuff

Why is it that everything always happens all at once... yesterday, nothing, I pretty much lost the whole day... today everything has been happening... okay, so not everything... but stuff... weird stuff...

It started this morning on my walk when I was nearly given a heart attack by a six foot doberman... I'm not kidding, I was busy looking at the nature strip between the footpath and the road and something caught my eye on the house side of the path, so I looked back and I'm staring eye to eye with a doberman.

Stupid dog was standing up on its hind legs and leaning on the waist heigh fence staring at me. It didn't bark, it didn't woof, it just got down after giving me the heart attack and trotted alongside me inside the front yard.

Next I was chatting with a potential model for my photography and first off he suggested doing a shoot this afternoon, which I wasn't so hot on because the weather was very, very overcast and it didn't look that great (of course NOW the sun in blue, the sun is really warm and the birds are singing their stupid feathered heads off)... so he suggested meeting up for coffee and a chat about photography etc. He's a nice guy, but he's a little too "PC third millenium" (which kind of translates to the new age version of the hippie "peace, love and mung beans")... and terribly, terribly earnest. Cute face, nice guy... but yeah... a little too "self help guru" for my tastes.

Then, the kicker came when I got home... as I was taking my CD out of the player in the car I happened to look at the rego sticker (registration for my American readers... Australians tend to shorten everything and stick an 'O' on the end... rego, arvo, metho, servo, agro, garbo, lino... stuff like that) and thought to myself, "Hmmm... 8... that's weird... I don't remember putting a new sticker on in August."

So I got out of the car, went around and looked at the sticker (see... picture up there on the right)... August 2005... so very muchly not good... but I couldn't remember getting the paperwork. I do remember that Mum helped with the financing and whatever, and had a vague thought that maybe the rego was in her name (yeah, I know, big lamo... shut up)... so I called her and said "Ummm... what the?" and she swore she paid it, and as she's talking to me she goes out to take a look at her car, the rego on which is due in February... only to see an August sticker on it. She'd only paid MY rego and stuck the sticker on HER car!

So fortunately my car is registered, I just don't have the sticker on my car. Plus I haven't been driving the car much of late, what with the combination of the price of petrol and the not really going anywhere, in my car at any rate.

And then to top it all off, I just got ANOTHER message from a guy asking about doing a photoshoot right this minute... I think this guy has messaged me on at least one previous occasion, and then seems to disappear. Sent him back a message with all the appropriate information in it, and we'll see what happens.

Good god... five minutes of warm weather (and the promise of more on the way) and they all come crawling out of the woodwork.

Current Mood:

yaniboy needs meme

Okay... this is highly amusing... I "stole" this from Jevyeddy, who in turn stole it from Larry...

You type your name and the word "needs" into google to find what you need. It works best if you put the whole thing in quotes.

So here goes....

1. yaniboy needs about $400000 set aside now to cover his future needs
2. yaniboy needs an Old Man's Cane
3. yaniboy needs to record the stocking of pond P 7
4. yaniboy needs a wife merely to secure his fortune
5. yaniboy needs to finish at least 2nd of the Suspects to keep his chances alive
6. yaniboy needs to start wearing NIN shirts
7. yaniboy needs to be advised to keep all sharp objects away from Rebecca
8. yaniboy needs to wash his mouth out with soap after that one
9. yaniboy needs to earn at least $160 for the trip
10. yaniboy needs your financial support to make this campaign a reality

It's kinda scary that nearly half of them concern money in some way... And no... I didn't really search on "yaniboy"...

Current Mood:

random dirty hotness

Random Hotness with a Hollywood flavour this week... via Boys for Breakfast come these two pretty sexy shots of a very dirty Matt Damon... it seems appropriate since I've only just finished reading The Talented Mr. Ripley (although I have to say that the movie version with Matt and Jude actually is better in a lot of ways than the book).

Current Mood:

camera club agm

Tonight was the Camera Club Annual General Meeting... which is always fun... well... not FUN fun... but I get to talk a lot and give forth my opinions... so I always enjoy that.

There's never a huge turn out, which I suppose is par for the course with these things, people always want to have the good stuff without any actual responsibility... but I like to make sure my opinion is heard. And it usually is, coz, well, I'm loud and stuff.

My name should be pretty much all over the minutes for the meeting too, since I did a lot of moving and seconding, as you do at an AGM... not helped by the fact that the Club President has this habit of looking straight at me after he finishes saying something. Usually because of the previously mentioned opinions about things, plus I'm occasionally a smartass (but only when it's appropriate), and I sit up the front (you can cause more trouble that way... don't believe all this talk about the back row being better for causing trouble... unless you don't want anyone to know that's what you're doing).

I'm actually fairly tempted to join the committee next year... I could have put my name forward at the meeting, but the committee actually meets on the opposite Tuesday from Camera Club, albeit only once every couple of months and anyone who's been paying attention to my blog will know that the Tuesday that isn't Camera Club is Movie Night (mostly because Tuesdays are half price days at the movies)... so I'm conflicted. I am wondering though if I skip the workshops that come up on the fourth Tuesday of the month, we could still go to the same number of movies, just in a different order or something. I will have to talk to the Female Parental Unit about it tomorrow and see what she says... I'm pretty sure she'll be all Supporto-Gal... but I'm not sure what other things she does on the opposite Tuesdays...

Will have to muse on it some more I think...

After we were all finished with the AGM and putting forth ideas for Set Subject and Workshop topics for next year (I didn't do what I did last year when I presented the Club President with four pages of possible ideas I'd stolen from the DPChallenge website... I was only able to steal enough useful ideas for one page this year)... Cat, Mikey and I all went for coffee as we usually do after Camera Club meetings... it lets us bitch about other club members, chat about photography and cameras and stuff and just do the social thing, which is actually half the fun of going to Camera Club.

Anyway, one of the waiters at the cafe we go to, this semi-cute, semi-woggy, semi-chubby, semi-short and EXTREMELY gay waiter spoke to Cat while she was doing the cancer stick thing outside and while Mikey and I were ordering. Turns out he remembers us, or at least Cat, from either last week (when I wasn't there), or the week before (when I was). I don't know if he was just being "waiter-nice" or if he was trying a very roundabout way of making sure I noticed him, or what, but he was just kind of around for most of the night (not hard really, its not a small cafe, but its all one big room, and, well, it's his job), and made sure he said goodbye as we left and that he would see us next week (we had to inform him that unfortunately it would be at least two weeks... now that I think about it, it will actually be at least three, and I don't know that there will be anyone for me to go to coffee with that night)...

So, yeah... either he was just being nice and I'm reading too much into it, or he was cruising me in a really, really, really obtuse way... I'm going to go with the latter, since it's more flattering, and, well, a boy needs all the flattery he can get... even if I'm fairly certain it was the just being nice thing. Ah well...

I also submitted my entries for the Annual Exhibition... and emailed off my three entries for the Digital Competition this afternoon after getting a reminder email that go sent out to everyone... so now there is only the contest for November left for this year. Then we start all over again at the end of January...

Current Mood:

imitation jones

In 1982 on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, three kids decided to remake the biggest summer hit of the season shot by shot, scene for scene... Steven Spielberg's Raiders of the Lost Ark... They were just eleven years old. Seven years later they finished, and nearly twenty years on their Adaptation is re-discovered.

The guy who came up with the idea to do this movie (as well as starring as Indiana), Chris Strompolos, was on Triple J's Breakfast Show this morning while I was out on my walk. They had him on because the movie, Raiders of the Lost Ark - The Adaptation, is showing in both Melbourne and Sydney this week thanks to Popcorn Taxi. The movie is also going to be followed by a Q&A session by Chris.

This is definately one of those times when I wish I lived in Melbourne... I would love to go and see this!

TheRaider.net has a great feature on the movie, including shot for shot comparisons as well as (my favourite) trivia about the making of the movie... and from the sounds of it these were three very resourceful and talented boys! They even got a letter from Steven Spielberg telling them how impressed he was with their movie.

So, if you're in Melbourne (tomorrow) or Sydney (Thursday), please go check this out... if only so I can live vicariously through you *grin*.

Current Mood:

decorator's nightmare

Via The Great Cock Hunt comes this gem about a book called Obscene Interiors...

Like Alex, I'll let the book speak for itself...

"Obscene Interiors is a collection of online male personal ad photos and my critique of the naive interior design exposed in these pictures. (No need to shield your virginal eyes, the often-nude figures have been laboriously obscured.)"

What's real scary is actually recognising a couple of the pictures, even sans figure (or knowing that you've seen other pictures of the same person)... even so, this book is definately on my Christmas list now!

Also worth a mention is Lurid Digs, which does pretty much the same thing, but leaves the (mostly) naked men in the shots (which sometimes is good, like our tighty whitey wearing friend on the right, and sometimes its very, very bad).

You also get four opinions instead of one... which means four times the sarcasm (and what's not to love about making fun of other people's (lack of) taste!).

It also goes to prove that just because you're gay (or just like showing off your doodle to the world) doesn't mean you're automatically Nate Berkus. It also makes me look at selfporn pics VERY differently...

Current Mood:

general weirdness

I opened my wardrobe door this morning to find this kinda average sized spider sitting on the shoulder of one of my shirts. Spiders don't really freak me out, at least not the average to small variety ones, so I was about to lift it out of the wardobe when I figured I could take a picture of it (it was sort of pretty in that small eight-legged kind of way). I grabbed my camera, came back to the wardobe and... no spider... dammit!

I then had to take about four of five things out of the wardrobe and shake them before the spider fell out and legged it across the floor. So there I am, a handful of hangers in one hand, camera in the other, trying to switch the camera to macro mode so that I can then find the spider to take it's photo....

Surprisingly enough I didn't end up with a photo... just a dead spider after I squished it. Probably doesn't do my karma any good though.

In other news...

I think the walking is working... I've been wearing a pair of jeans the last couple of days that I've had for a while but are pretty much brand new because I hadn't worn them since they were too tight when I was sitting down in them. But hey... sitting down all over the place and they fit fine... WOOHOOO!

I've added two extra blocks to my walk... after screwing it up on Tuesday, I did manage to not only go for a walk on Wednesday afternoon during a break in the rain, but added on the extra blocks properly. And they're mostly inclined, so it definately adds to the workout.

Also my stalker called again last night... I figured that was who it was (since nobody else with their number withheld would call me at that time of night), so I let it go to voicemail again. What's really annoying is that this person obviously knows who I am... knows what I look like... and I now know that they know I'm a photographer. I think if I could actually work out who is was then I would be able to ignore it better.

It doesn't help because I don't think the person calling is the "mastermind" behind the calls... I'm sure it's somebody's faghag... but it could be any one of several different people. Top of the list at the moment is J's ex (since he hates me)... although that was partly because I thought these calls were lining up with uni semester breaks (which would mean he was theoretically back in Adelaide), but it looks like that's not the case... so I'm pretty much stumped.

Stoopid stalker.

Current Mood:

random underwear hotness

Normally I find my Random Hotness entry during the week and file it away for Thursday, but today I had nothing, so I went on a hunt through my photography links.

I still ended up with nothing, so I kinda gave up and went flicking through my blogroll... and found a post on monotonous dot net about underwear which ended up leading me back to Ginch Gonch which was featured in the first ever Random Hotness thanks to their very hot model Kolten.

Well, they have a new model, Tym, and DAMN! I've been having a thing for curly haired guys for a while now... and, well... DAMN!

Current Mood:

its raining again

*sigh*

Its raining again, so no morning walk today... it also meant that when I woke up at 7am and heard the rain I just rolled over and went back to sleep instead of getting up like I have been.

Given the way the sky looks and the fact that it's been raining pretty consistantly since I woke up, I think its going to be raining all day, so I will have to skip today's walk altogether. I'm actually okay with that, especially since I ended up doing a lot more walking than usual yesterday.

Firstly, since I slightly altered my usual route (I'm such a routine-whore) and kind of turned it into a disaster (I went right when I should have gone left and ended up all bass-ackwards), even if I did get to see some different scenery. I'm not sure it was any longer than usual, but there were a few more inclines involved, so that's always good. The real reason there was a lot more walking was because Mum and I went down to Westfield Marion to see Serenity since she's on holidays and wandered around the shops before (and after) the movie.

And given the size of the place, just wandering around for a couple of hours definately counts as some kind of exercise.

I don't know if it was because I did all that extra walking yesterday or because I didn't walk this morning or because I just rolled over and went back to sleep, but my body is a lot more stiff than usual... I'm thinking its the extra walking.

Current Mood:

movies: serenity

Okay, first off, I have to say that I'm a huge, massive, enormous Joss Whedon fan... so I pretty much expected that I was going to love the Firefly movie, Serenity... and I did.

It had all of Joss's hallmarks... strong characters, witty dialog, little tiny women who can kick everyone's ass... you know, all the good stuff.

I had seen a review that said it felt kind of like three teevee episodes, but I have to disagree with that. If anything it put me more in mind of the later Star Trek movies (First Contact, Insurrection, Nemesis) in that the crew here was fully formed and they were obviously already bonded and had real back-story.

It never felt like I wasn't clued in about anything though, there was a nice little piece at the beginning of the movie that did the job of the Exposition Fairy in a fairly subtle way, gave us character relationships and a little background, but wasn't heavy handed. That and the "scene within a scene within a scene" opening followed by one of Joss's signature "oners" (one long continual shot without a cut... although according to IMDb.com the scene in question was actually two shots cut together, but it looks flawless) was enough to have me hooked after the first five minutes. It also makes me want to go out and rent the entire Firefly series.

Add to that the almost mandatory Joss blindside twist ("Ha! You thought it was left... but no, its RIGHT!") which actually did surprise me, as Joss does tend to be able to do, and a cast that just seemed to be enjoying what could be their last outing as these characters, and its a movie that's well worth the price of admission.

yani's rating: 3 browncoats out of 5

oh dear...

The Hornivore
Random Brutal Sex Master (RBSMm)

Don't ever marry, you're The Hornivore. Roaming, sexual, subhuman.

The Hornivores (you) are some of the most screwed up and naughty beings in the Universe. And their numbers are growing, mostly due to skipped or misused contraception. You care not. There's one thing you want, one sole need.

Half manly, half bestial, you act on instinct, and animal charisma smoothes the way. It's unlikely you're driven by much other than your own selfish, orgasmic requirements. Your appearance and personality have evolved for the hunt. Ass beckons, you oblige.

For the record, you can happily bang all personality types, however your match percentages might be low with the kinder, more sensible people of the world, purely because they all wish to avoid you. Good luck to them.

"One day, the villagers came with torches to the house. In the smoldering ashes, stray dogs looked for cooked flesh."

Your exact opposite: The Slow Dancer

AVOID: The Mixed Messenger, The Slow Dancer
CONSIDER: The Last Man on Earth, The Hornivore

The 32-Type Dating Test by OkCupid - Free Online Dating

I'm blaming Rico for this... at least for me taking the test... the results are all my own fault... I even took it twice to be sure...

Current Mood:

random dutch hotness

Okay... I don't know if the guys are actually Dutch, but the photographer is. This week's Random Hotness comes from photographer Benno Thoma. He's put out a few photo books, and has also worked with the Bel Ami boys and he definately seems to have an eye for the hotness.

Current Mood:

five

For the Photo Friday challenge Five...


Current Mood:

further phone weirdness

Okay, that was less fun...

I just got another phonecall from my quasi psycho stalker... I should know better than to answer the phone at 11:30 at night... but I did... and suddenly there is this REALLY weird gender non-specific pseudo-ethnic voice at the other end...

URGH... WEIRD...

I thought at first it was a wrong number... they were really hard to make out (I'm guessing large amounts of alcohol had been consumed), and I was trying to get them to tell me who they were... it sounded like they said "Vicky", but to be honest that doesn't make a damn bit of sense... I don't know any Vickys... hence the whole wrong number thing...

Finally I said "This is yaniboy, are you looking for yaniboy?"... okay, I didn't really say yaniboy, I said my name, but one stalker is more than enough so 'ner... anyway, "Vicky" said something like, "Yeah, yaniboy" and again said something about that he/she thought I was hot...

And that's when I hung up on "Vicky"...

Then, just as I started this post my mobile rang again, and I let it go through to voicemail this time... hang on and I'll see if "Vicky" left a message...

Okay... that was really, really weird...

And no, I'm not going to repeat the message... really not worth it... I have to say though, that message, and the increasingly fake sounding Greek/Italian accent makes me think that its actually not booze induced, at least not completely. And that it could be either a guy putting on a fake female voice, or a non-ethnic girl doing a really bad ethnic impression.

For whatever reason, its someone I know/used to know/gave my phone number to at some stage... and they have decided to be incredibly childish and prank me for no apparent reason.

The only think I can't work out is who and why... I have given my number out to a few strangers... potential models... and it has both my phone number and my name on it... but they would also need to know what I look like... and possibly not know that I'm gay, given the really stupid message that was on my voicemail...

Hmmm... its a mystery... its also really, really annoying... hopefully I'm not getting another phonecall from "Vicky" in another couple of months...

Dammit... now I'm all tense and cranky...

Current Mood:

camera club portrait competition

Tonight was the Eric Robertson Trophy for Portraiture at the Camera Club, and its one of the special competitions that I really, really, really want to win. My first year with the club I was in the final two for the trophy, and I was beat out by the guy I actually considered to be one of the club's portrait grandmasters, so I didn't feel too bad.

We had one of our infrequent female judges, and I was actually glad I was doing the "Image Movement Technician" job (ie taking the prints from the display racks up to the front to be put up for judging... I made the name up... obviously)... she was just going on and on and on and on... and not being overly concise, and in some instances making less sense than she could have been, plus repeating herself over and over. If I'd had to sit and listen to her I may have gone completely insane... as it was I just got to roll my eyes a lot.

I didn't do too badly overall, a 9 (Shy Boy, top left), an 8 (Modern Classic, top right) and a 7 (Sam, bottom), but unfortunately, in this competition, all that matters is getting a 10 and the vote of the judge. In this instance there was only one 10, so it got the trophy.

The shot that I thought should have won only scored a 7... that's two judges who have scored it lower than I think it should be scored, its this amazing black&white shot of this young (I'm guessing) Peruvian boy with a fuzzy hat, and its just amazing.

Three of us did something we don't seem to have done in a while, went off to have coffee and have a winge about the judge and just talk about photography in general. It was fun, we talk a load of crap, but its usually a laugh.

We also ended up talking quite a bit about the Annual Exhibition, which is coming up in December, but we have until the beginning of November to put shots in for it. I need to go through my stuff sometime soon and work out exactly what I'm going to put in... as well as the three shots for the Digital competition in November... Hmmm... need to get thinking on both of those...

Current Mood:

national coming out day

Today is National Coming Out Day in the US!

Come out, come out, whoever you are... whether you're a teenager, from the country, in the miltary or even a celebrity....

• Gay & Lesbian Counselling & Community Services of Australia
• Young Adult Health - Coming Out
• Adelaide's Inside Out Project

Current Mood:

what the?

In the grand tradition of Rove Live's "What The?" (which I think he pretty much lifted from the much earlier, yet similar variety series Hey Hey, It's Saturday... but according to Wikipedia it was lifted from one of David Letterman's segments), I give you the following photo...


And before you ask, I have no idea either... the first time I walked past it I only saw it out of the corner of my eye and thought it was a real person, and was all set to go and rescue them...

Current Mood:

houses

Okay, part two of the photos from my walk today... some of my favourite houses...

This is the "Roman Frieze" house... because of the tile mosaic thing on the front of the house.

I may need to get a closer/clearer shot of the mosaic, because its pretty damn cool. I really really like this place, and I actually have a shot from way back when (the second roll of film from the camera I bought myself back in 2000... wow... was it only five years ago... seems like 500 thousand years).

And it was interesting to see that the current owners have kicked the crap out of the place, the garden has been completely replaced, the front has been painted dark grey and parts have been given a slate facade. All in all it looks pretty damn hot.

Next we have what I'm calling the "French Bank" house... I don't know why, it just looks all French and kinda bank-like... or possibly an upscale jewellery store.

Technically houses like these are completely and totally wrong for the Australian climate, since they don't have verandas and that means the sides of the building heat up, blah blah blah... but I have to admit, I'm really addicted to this "flat box" style... And there is something about the French Bank house. I'm not sure I would want to live there... not without a paid gardener (hello, topiary!)... but its still very cool.

Lastly this is just a partial of the "Blocko Socko House"... Its all quasi-post-modern squares and angles, and like I said above I like this whole block style. I actually ended up putting the camera on top of the wall that surrounds this place and got a better shot than I'd intended of the front of the house, which is a lot less pretty than this upstairs corner detail thing.

But I'm all about the details, so that's cool.

I also like the silver can/chimney/tinman thing stuck to the side of the house... no idea what it is or what its for (although looking more closely at the other pics I took, I think it might be some kind of guttering system thing), but its cute.

Current Mood:

purple reprise

It was much easier to get up for my walk this morning than I thought it was going to be... being Monday and having had two days off and all... but the lure of wandering the neighbourhood with a camera was too great and off I went.

Because it was still early (around 8), the light wasn't perfect for all the shots I wanted to take, so I might have to throw in a later morning or even afternoon walk. I did manage to get shots for the "purple matrix" I've been wanting to make though.

The really weird thing looking at the photos back here on the computer is they don't all look purple. The classic lavender does, the wisteria does... but the iris looks vividly blue, and the stuff that I think is Spanish lavender (center) looks pink, as do the little flowers in the bottom right corner... but I swear they are actually pale purple.

The shot with the bee on the lavender is probably my favourite shot from today's walk... the bee is really really detailed, and actually pretty sharp in the full version. I'm kind of obsessed with photos of bees in lavender, I've been taking similar shots for ages and ages, but I think this is probably the best one to date.

Because I'm used to working from a viewfinder rather than this screen my camera has, its taking me a while to get my shots composed correctly. But on the plus side, it means I can get in close and low on some of these shots (or up high/over fences in others) without having to actually lay on the floor.

I have a few other shots to share, some of my favourite houses on my walk, plus a couple of "What The?" type shots, but I will probably leave them til later, either today or later in the week.

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wicked queen template

I think I mentioned once before that I love the Disney Villainesses... so, naturally, when Hallmark came out with their Unforgettable Villains in their Keepsake Ornament range back in 1998, well, I had to have them... I missed the first one (a shame, since Cruella De Vil is one of my faves), but I did get The Wicked Queen and Maleficent. I wished they had kept making the series, I would have loved a Jafar and an Ursula to go with them. They're not kept for Christmas or anything, they're in my "permanent collection".

And this idea to make a blog layout with one of them has been bubbling around in my head for a while. Pretty much since I knew I was getting a digital camera, and because Halloween is coming up (even if its not a holiday I celebrate in any way, shape or form)... plus the fact that I now know how to knock out a layout in a surprisingly short amount of time. So once I got back from getting the paper this morning, I decided to take some shots of them and see what happened.

Turns out Maleficent is a) hard to photograph close up, mostly because of the raven on her shoulder I think and b) looked a little the worse for wear at that extreme angle, whereas Queenie just looked like she had a mild case of freckles... so I ran with that. Plus, purple... love the purple!

May I present... yani.wicked!

I did test out the camera on my walk to get the paper, but there was nothing overly stellar (I ended up shooting most of everything in the shared garden of my apartment block), so nothing really to post yet...

I did also try that panorama thing around my living room that I mentioned yesterday, and coolness of coolness, I can turn it into a 360 degree panorama flash movie thingy. I'm not completely sure what to do with either it or the panorama image yet though, especially since the image is 4111 pixels long by 400 pixels high.

I'm planning to take my camera on my walk tomorrow morning, and provided the weather is okay, I should have something to post photowise tomorrow.

Current Mood:

style wins

*sings to conga style beat* Camera camera camera... I've now got my camera... camera camera camera...

Ahem...

A month after posing the question Style vs Substance, I can now tell you that Style won out and I'm the proud owner of a Nikon Coolpix 7900.

Its sooooo tiny... the full version of the image I added is actually a little larger than the camera is in real life... so tiny!

And no, I haven't taken any shots with it yet... I'm one of those horrible people who likes to read, or at least skim through the instruction manual before committing myself, plus I don't want to have the very first photo I take to be a rubbish photo of, like, my foot or something.

I went back to Diamonds to get it... I have to say, that place NEVER seems to not be busy. I know it was a Saturday and all, but I don't think I have ever been in there when all the salespeople weren't busy. After waiting around for the guy who was very helpful when I went in to "kick the tyres" last time, I got served by someone else, asked for the Nikon, ummed and ahhed for a couple of minutes about what size Memory Card and what camera case to get, flashed my Camera Club Membership Card and got a slight discount on all three (go Camera Club Membership!)... and walked out of the store in under five minutes the proud owner of a new digital camera.

Scary really...

Depending on the weather tomorrow I might take the camera for a walk when I go to get the paper, or I may do a Jevyeddy-inspired Expose Yourself style post (its like a really, really, really slow moving meme, since he was inspired by someone else's similar post) and do a "circular" shot of my living room... especially since I want to fiddle with the panorama-assist function on the camera (and the "stitching" software that comes with it).

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