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By spacejack (Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 09:20:44 AM EST) Parkdale (all tags)

give or take. The bridge revisited, bad internet, exterior office pic.

Looking the opposite way this time from under the bridge:

I had a major case of shaky handitis when drawing this one. I blame the humidity.

So it turns out that internet hasn't really been used much in this building before we moved in. Without prior demand, both Bell and Rogers have been fumbling around trying to explain either how they're trying to fix the crappy service we're getting, or why they can't yet provide service at all.

Things changed yesterday however, as Rogers announced they will add a new "node" or whatever, given that there now seems to be enough interest in decent internet service here.

Meanwhile, Bell flipped some switches and twisted some knobs, and our current connection went from bad to worse. Luckily I had all I needed to work offline for most of the day.

I tried out this glx/compiz 3d-accelerated desktop for linux recently. Pretty slick stuff, if a little glitchy. The wobbly windows and bouncy menu effects are kinda cool, as is the rotating cube workspace switcher and the task switcher. Pretty impressively fast for an old PC.

I almost never take photos that seem like "finished" pieces, but this morning shot of the outside of our building turned out not too badly. Contrast and saturation exaggerated because I liked the ancient photo look.

I love my Elph. Just the other day I discovered that when you're viewing photos, the camera will sense if you rotate the camera and will flip the image to keep it upright. It's like I'm living in the future.

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2000 words | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback

love the photo by MillMan (4.00 / 2) #1 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 09:26:22 AM EST

well proportioned cityscape photos make me happy.

Everybody still hates me in this city and I hate everybody.

thanks, although by spacejack (4.00 / 3) #2 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 09:35:21 AM EST

I seem to have a recurring problem with streetlights coming into the frame out of nowhere.

[ Parent ]

: A million to one by Vulch (4.00 / 1) #6 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:03:23 AM EST

It's not just that the Martians have landed and you've not noticed is it?

[ Parent ]

The other side was more recognizable by Driusan (4.00 / 1) #3 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 09:44:37 AM EST

At first I thought it was because isn't that streetlight supposed to be on the other side of the street and maybe hanging a little lower?.. but then I realized it's because the light is green. I don't think I've ever caught that light while it was green.

This intersection is friggin intense by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #4 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 09:48:12 AM EST

It's in a depression, so all the traffic coming towards it is going downhill, and everyone wants to try to make the light. Add to that the acoustics of being under a bridge and frequent trains passing overhead and it's like total mayhem.

[ Parent ]

: It's not so bad.. by Driusan (4.00 / 1) #10 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:32:07 AM EST

If you just stop at the intersection right before the bridge and wait out it turning green.

[ Parent ]

Our Kodak does that too by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #5 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:01:09 AM EST

a shame I have to go the nearest Apple Store (New York City) to download photos.

Wha...? by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #12 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:07:19 AM EST

Can't you just get a $15 USB memory card reader? I haven't needed to use camera software for ages. Doubly so since linux is pretty good at automounting them as drives.

[ Parent ]

Don't you watch TV! by georgeha (2.00 / 0) #15 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:21:19 AM EST

Those Apple ads tell us PC users wear suits, and can't use digital cameras, only Macs can. Did they lie?

[ Parent ]

: Doh you're right by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #17 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:36:39 AM EST

I dunno what I was thinking. The cable guy was drilling holes in our floor and it distracted me.
BTW doesn't that Apple guy look exactly like mns? It's uncanny.

[ Parent ]
: I think what you meant was. by ambrosen (4.00 / 1) #19 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 12:17:21 PM EST

Yuo fail IT!! YHBT. YHL. HAND. SUX 2 BE U LAM3r.
Also, I think your subject should have finished with a '‽'.

[ Parent ]

i like ... by BlueOregon (4.00 / 1) #7 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:21:28 AM EST

... the shaky handitis.

The city/street photo just screams "I want to be a wash or water color ..." ... when I was first scrolling down the page and only saw the top of the sky and chimney, I thought I had encountered a water color with pen & ink.

_
"The german quoting guy is a little bit out there." (fleece)

Sadly I've always sucked by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #14 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:17:21 AM EST

at watercolours. I have friends who find it the easiest medium to use, but whenever I try it turns out like brown mud. TISG for computer colouring.

[ Parent ]

watercolors by BlueOregon (2.00 / 0) #16 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:26:27 AM EST

Two of my aunts are artists of the professional/semi-professional sort, both painters, though one only does oils. I grew up watching Bob Ross and company on PBS. My mom did ceramics for a while when I was growing up ... these are all things that take a bit of prepration and are a slightly more complex and complicated medium.

Thus, I never really painted.

My host mother in Niedersachsen did watercolors and gave me a few tips and actually changed my approach to things for quite a while ... she was big on the use-the-white-space approach ... don't over-paint ... that sort of thing. The *negative* aspect of this for my work is that, outside the realm of watercolors, which I basically gave up *sigh*, I turned the use-the-white-space approach to a use-little-ink approach, and only a couple years ago re-embraced intensive inking.

ANYWAY ... just an aside.

I would love to get back into watercolors and ink washes ... but these days I only have the time for crappy pencil sketches.

_
"The german quoting guy is a little bit out there." (fleece)
[ Parent ]

post some pencil sketches! by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #18 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:48:02 AM EST

We need more hand-drawn diaries here on Husi.

I think one of the reasons I have a hard time with watercolours is because I like painting light on dark.

[ Parent ]

something to consider by BlueOregon (2.00 / 0) #20 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 01:34:11 PM EST

though:

1. I no longer have a scanner, only a digital camera, and it is hardly a replacement for a flatbed

2. talent does not run through my veins ... I would call what I do doodling rather than sketching or drawing ... I think most would just say "meh."

3. if I find anything 'interesting' I'll think of photographing, cropping, and posting.

_
"The german quoting guy is a little bit out there." (fleece)
[ Parent ]

: Cameras work fine by spacejack (4.00 / 1) #21 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 05:00:43 PM EST

I just lay my sketchbook on the floor in the sun, then shoot it handheld with my pocket-sized digital camera. A little brightness/contrast adjustment in "The Gimp" and it's good to go for a diary.

[ Parent ]

I'm surprised by ad hoc (4.00 / 1) #8 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:25:41 AM EST

how many above-ground wires you have, esp. considering the amount of snow you get. Even in Boston, most of our wires are buried.
--
Close friendships and a private room can offer most of the things love does.

: ice is the real problem, not snow by georgeha (4.00 / 1) #9 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:30:54 AM EST

We have lots of wires aboveground, but it's rare for snow to affect them. But when we get an ice storm, we lose lots and lots of wires.
At least way we keep updating our infrastructure.

[ Parent ]
: Snow by Driusan (4.00 / 1) #11 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 10:33:22 AM EST

There were approximately negative three snow storms in Toronto last winter that I remember, each of them followed by being washed away by rain.
Hooray for global warming!

[ Parent ]
: As Driusan said by spacejack (2.00 / 0) #13 Fri Jun 23, 2006 at 11:12:05 AM EST

We haven't had a whole lot of snow in recent years. At least not since that time the army had to come and dig us out. But ice storms aren't all that common either.
It is a little surprising the streetcars can keep working through the winter.

[ Parent ]

2000 words | 21 comments (21 topical, 0 hidden) | Trackback