California Trip Itinerary

On July 25th, Jer and I are headed to California to visit my cousin, Nancy, who I haven't seen for 10 years. The last time I visited her was in NYC and it was an amazing trip. However, back then I cared less about photography and didn't take that many pictures. This time photography is the main goal. Nancy isn't expecting us until at Monday so Jer and I have two days to run wiled in LA area. I think we're pretty much settled on staying at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel & Spa for the two days as it will be right in the center of everything. Nancy got tickets to some event at the Hollywood Bowl on that Sunday night so we can just walk there from our hotel.

On that Monday, we'll pack up and head over to stay with Nancy in Laguna Beach for a week in her swanky cliff house. We want to get all the Hollywood / LA area attractions out of the way so we don't have to battle traffic during the week. I doubt this trip will have any relaxing part to it; I want to see and photograph as much as possible.

As of now this is our itinerary:

Saturday 25th:
(Arrive at LAX 10am)
- Petersen Auto (across from Pulp Fiction Diner)
- walk Miracle Mile (Photos)
- Photograph Hollywood sign (from ridiculous location)
- Griffin Observatory 8pm (night of city photos)

Sunday
- Beverly Hills, (rich people, Bel-Air sign)
- Sunset Blvd (photo Beverly Hills sign, Will Rogers Memorial Park, BH Hotel)
- Kodak Theater
- Nancy @ 7pm for concert at Hollywood Bowl

Monday
-Disney all day (photos, act like a kid)

Tuesday
- Queen Marry (big boat photos for Jer)
- Aquarium? (eh, fish)
- Santa Monica Pier (photos at dusk)

Wed
- Catalina Island (wine mixer, pow, pow, pow)

Thurs
- Oakley (should be quick)
- beach (Laguna Beach)
- Event with Nancy 7pm in Laguna

Friday
-Universal? (maybe, good photo ops)

Saturday:
-beach?

Sunday:
relax???? =/

Monday: Fly back home :(


Flex Attractions:
- Paramont 10, 11, 1, 2pm
- Zoo?

I need suggestions, I totally want to maximize my photo opts. Not into buying/shopping. I'll have two main cameras with me at all times, my Canon 50D & Polaroid SX-70 (most of the Hollywood / Beverly Hills photos will be in Polaroid, I want the classic look.

Zipper Pond

The Zipper Pond was created by sculptor Ju Cheu for the Juming Museum, located just outside Taipei, Taiwan. I think this is a great idea for a pool.

Glass Balcony = holy crap!

Would you trust a glass floor that’s an inch and a half thick when suspended 103 stories in the air? People in Chicago today can find out at the Sears Tower, which opened its new set of glass balconies for public viewing. “The Ledge,” as they’re collectively called, hangs 1,353 feet in the air. With transparent walls and ceilings, visitors say its like floating in the sky, and the view is, of course, spectacular. Don’t worry, those glass floor can withstand five tons, but just to be safe, jumping up and down is probably not a good idea.

Great Ad for Sour Marbels

Deelip Khomane has done some great illustrations for Sour Marbels.

New blog layout (4.0)

I was getting sick of my design so I changed it up a little. I found a site with blogger templates that gave me a good start, it's still a pain in the ass tho modifying someone else's code. I'd love to hear your comments/suggestion on how the blog could be improved.

How to display your old Polaroids

If your a reader of my blog you'll know that I recently became obsessed with Polaroid photography. I've been keeping them in plastic boxes that I found at the Container Store for $1.50. I'd get them out every once and a while and look through them, but then I though there has to be a better way of displaying my retro images. I headed over to Target and bought two large poster frames and also picked up some photo corners at a local scrap-booking store. Using one of the plexiglass sheets from the frames, I lined up and stuck the Polaroids on it, then laid the other plexiglass sheet on top so the images were sandwiched in between. I did this because I wanted the Polaroids to look like they were floating. The frame fits 42 Polaroids and since I used photo corners, the images are easily swappable.

More Polaroids on IdeaAttic.com

Franklin Park Conservatory

Yesterday I had a great time with some friends going to the Franklin Park Conservatory, an antique shop & dinner in the Short North. I got some great shots with my Polaroid SX-70 and bought two vintage cameras at the antique store.

McBess - Wood

23 year-old designer, illustrator and animator Matthieu Bessudo aka McBess produced this awsome music video for the band The Dirty Pirates.

Found on Chunnel

New Albany Tiny Planets

Yesterday I reorganized all the tags on my posts and I realized I never posted these Tiny Planets from last summer. These are actually my all time favs.

Apple's Hyperwall at the 2009 WWDC

At the WWDC (world wide developers conference) on Monday, Apple had a "hyperwall" on display which consisted of twenty 30-inch Apple displays. The screens were loaded with 20,000 of the most popular iPhone apps which would pulsate each time the app was download from the iTunes store via a live feed.

The hyperwall was built using Apples latest technology. It's powered by 20 Mac Pro towers each running the new Mac OS X Snow Lepoard.

Tiny Planets of the Thomas Farm

A few days ago I posted about "Bobbugatti" that a friend of mine painted in trade for some Tiny Planets of his parents farm. Below are the finished planets each ranging from 27-49 merged images to create the 360º photo. Shot with a Canon 50D & Fisheye Lens. Be sure to click em to see more detail.

Bugatti Type 57C is beautiful

The Bugatti Type 57C is as rare as it is beautiful, with just 710 built between 1934 and 1940. They’re all highly collectible and frightfully expensive, but this 1936 model is just a little more so because it is the car Ettore Bugatti himself drove.

The car goes on the block during the super-glitzy Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in August, and auction officials think the final bid could top the record-setting $12.1 million paid last month for a 1957 Ferrari 250 Testa Rossa.

And like that stunning Ferrari, Bugatti’s Bugatti has a rich history.


This particular 57 is standard fare from the factory in Molsheim, France, which is to say it’s beautiful. It features a 3.2-liter straight-eight under that long beautiful bonnet - Ettore loved the straight eight - and a luxuriously appointed interior. The car is unusual for its bright green on black two-tone paint job. Most Bugattis were French racing blue, Ettore being quite the nationalists, you know. Odd, given that he was an Italian ex-pat.

Factory employees built Chassis No. 57335 as a birthday present for Le Patron’s 55th birthday. His son Jean penned the one-off body and it is believed to be among the last of his designs. The car was jealously cherished by the company, which went to great pains to protect the car from the Germans during World War II. After Ettore’s death in 1947, the car returned the factory and was meticulously maintained.

The car has has no more than a few owners since it left the factory for the last time in 1950, and not one of them has changed the car in any significant way. It is entirely original and much the same as when Ettore last drove it. Like that amazing Type 57S Atalante Coupe that was found in a barn and auctioned for $4.53 million in February, this car may be one of the best original-condition Bugattis left on the planet.

If Apple made a tablet computer it should look like this:

This is the prototype for the CrunchPad.

Turbo Heather

Pets in the building

David Thorne was notified by his landlord that he is not allowed to have pets in his apartment. Read the hysterical responses.
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From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 21 May 2009 10.16am
To: Helen Bailey
Subject: Pets in the building

Dear Helen,

Thankyou for your letter concerning pets in my apartment. I understand that having dogs in the apartment is a violation of the agreement due to the comfort and wellbeing of my neighbours and I am currently soundproofing my apartment with egg cartons as I realise my dogs can cause quite a bit of noise. Especially during feeding time when I release live rabbits.

Regards, David.

From: Helen Bailey
Date: Thursday 21 May 2009 11.18am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Pets in the building

Hello David

I have received your email and wish to remind you that the strata agreement states that no animals are allowed in the building regardless of if your apartment is soundproof. How many dogs do you have at the premises?

Helen

From: David Thorne
Date: Thursday 21 May 2009 1.52pm
To: Helen Bailey
Subject: Re: Re: Pets in the building

Dear Helen,

Currently I only have eight dogs but one is expecting puppies and I am very excited by this. I am hoping for a litter of at least ten as this is the number required to participate in dog sled racing. I have read every Jack London novel in preparation and have constructed my own sled from timber I borrowed from the construction site across the road during the night. I have devised a plan which I feel will ensure me taking first place in the next national dog sled championships. For the first year of the puppies life I intend to say the word mush then chase them violently around the apartment while yelling and hitting saucepan lids together. I have estimated that the soundproofing of my apartment should block out at least sixty percent of the noise and the dogs will learn to associate the word mush with great fear so when I yell it on race day, the panic and released adrenaline will spur them on to being winners. I am so confident of this being a foolproof plan that I intend to sell all my furniture the day before the race and bet the proceeds on coming first place.

Regards, David.

From: Helen Bailey
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 9.43am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

David, I am unsure what to make of your email. Do you have pets in the apartment or not?

Helen

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 11.27am
To: Helen Bailey
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

Dear Helen,

No. I have a goldfish but due to the air conditioner in my apartment being stuck on a constant two degrees celcius, the water in its bowl is iced over and he has not moved for a while so I do not think he is capable of disturbing the neighbours. The ducks in the bathroom are not mine. The noise which my neighbours possibly mistook for a dog in the apartment is just the looping tape I have of dogs barking which I play at high volume while I am at work to deter potential burglars from breaking in and stealing my tupperware. I need it to keep food fresh. Once I ate leftover chinese that had been kept in an unsealed container and I experienced complete awareness. The next night I tried eating it again but only experienced chest pains and diarrhoea.

Regards, David.

From: Helen Bailey
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 1.46pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

Hello David

You cannot play sounds of dogs or any noise at a volume that disturbs others. I am sure you can appreciate that these rules are for the benefit of all residents of the building. Fish are fine. You cannot have ducks in the apartment though. If it was small birds that would be ok.

Helen

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 2.18pm
To: Helen Bailey
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

Dear Helen,

They are very small ducks.

Regards, David.

From: Helen Bailey
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 4.06pm
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

David, under section 4 of the strata residency agreement it states that you cannot have pets. You agreed to these rules when you signed the forms. These rules are set out to benefit everyone in the building including yourself. Do you have a telephone number I can call you on to discuss?

Helen

From: David Thorne
Date: Friday 22 May 2009 5.02pm
To: Helen Bailey
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

Dear Helen,

The ducks will no doubt be flying south for the winter soon so it will not be an issue. It is probably for the best as they are not getting along very well with my seventeen cats anyway. .

Regards, David.

From: Helen Bailey
Date: Monday 25 May 2009 9.22am
To: David Thorne
Subject: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Pets in the building

David, I am just going to write on the forms that we have investigated and you do not have any pets.

Helen