An oldie but goodie on why 2 flashes is a good number to have. The main thing is insurance – if one doesn’t fire, you’ve got a backup, and even if it doesn’t give your ideal lighting solution, it’s better than nothing. Good thought process on this Assignment shoot. I like the idea of a far away hard light and close soft light. I’d like to try that with Zayden one day, and like David, have the soft light on a VAL (voice-activated light stand, aka Mom) so as he’s moving around it can follow him.
2 Lights is Best
Jul 12
Appliances!
Jul 8
We recently decided that if we were going to stay in our current condo for any length of time we needed to do some upgrades to ensure our sanity and well being. Our main focus was on things that we would be able to enjoy and get our money’s worth if we stayed in our place for between 1-4 years. We also had an eye on resale value and doing things that would help our sale price. We got some estimates for things like countertops, bathroom floors, dual-flush toilets, and a new shower, among other things. What we found was that renovations were more than we had budgeted on, but what was reasonable was replacing our fridge, stove and dishwasher. We went with Colony Appliances, after shopping around a bit, as they had good prices and great service. We settled on a Kitchen Aid fridge and dishwasher, but went with a GE Profile range, as the Kitchen Aid had more limited burner sizes and a crappy oven drawer. The GE Profile one had 2 ovens, rather than just 1 oven and a warming rack, so we’d have options for doing roasts and desserts at the same time. We’re still waiting for them to arrive but by the end of the month we should have a new stainless steel kitchen!
The first volume of Chew was one of my favorite graphic novels. So I was super excited for the next series of episodes, and scooped it up as soon as it was available. Unfortunately I found this collection to be a bit lackluster. While in the first they embraced the unique concept, and supported the main character with interesting supporting characters, this one is a bit more straightforward and doesn’t display the same creativity as the first volume. That being said, the graphic style is still great and the story is entertaining. They just set the bar too high in the first issues.
7/10
Frank Zappa was a unique individual. His music was varied, intelligent, satirical, political, and he had strong political and social opinions that he was not afraid to share. This book does a good job of portraying his character, and is a good accompaniment to the music. The first part of the book is roughly in chronological order, and here Frank goes through the fun times of his childhood, trying to make it as an artist, and early shows. The latter part of the book is more targeted at specific topics of interest to him. The best parts are where he goes into his musical headspace and talks about his composition mindset, his band mindset, and is brutally honest about the music industry. The less interesting stuff and sometimes out of date sections are some of his political ramblings. The PMRC stuff is hideous to read about, and anyone who opposes strict censorship will be disgusted.
Overall it’s a really interesting read for fans of his music. For others, not so much.
8/10
Had my first round of the year with my parents on Sunday. It was partly a belated Father’s Day round, partly a warmup for Penticton, and partly a good excuse to get together with my parents. Carnoustie is a decent course, tucked out in Port Coquitlam. It’s not busy and it’s a reasonable price, which was a good combination for my first round out. Everyone played pretty well – if it weren’t for my short game my score may have been better, but I was happy with the way my swing held up to the months of dormancy.
The previous week we had Father’s Day lunch at our place with my parents and Sharilyn. We made Yogourt & Tamarind Grilled Chicken along with Lime Grilled Veggies. We were planning to grill Nectarines on the BBQ and do up an orange-yogourt topping, but the Nectarines were being fussy and wouldn’t separate from the stone, so we “settled” for watermelon instead. It was a nice afternoon with our family.
Pete & Amanda
Jun 27
On Saturday we headed to the Salt Tasting Room in Gastown for Pete & Amanda’s farewell get-together. It’s a neat little place that is unfortunately located in a urine-soaked alley. They do cheese, meat and wine tastings, among other things, and they have a really good selection of everything. We were in the cellar, which was the more scenic place to be, as we looked on the wine and meat cellars, which was a good backdrop to our indulgences. Met a few people we knew and a few we didn’t, and generally had a really good time. We went for dinner at Incendio beforehand, and although the Gastown location is the original one, I think we still prefer the one on Burrard. Mostly the atmosphere is more laid back, and you can’t see the kitchen as well so the chaos (and mystique) of meal preparation is hidden from the diners. But the food was good as usual.
This is a very mediocre book. There are some fabulous photographs here, and lots of style, but not a lot of substance. The descriptions of the shoots beg for more info – the photographer will hint at something cool but never elaborates so we’re left with more questions than answers. As well, the lighting they typically use is much larger than what any amateur will be able to afford, and even though the concepts are similar, they use a lot of terminology and acronyms for specific gear I am not familiar with. Overall I’d pass on this book.
5/10
Huh, what’s Justin doing reviewing let alone reading books on web programming? When I started customizing Tonight’s Dinner, I wasn’t entirely sure where to start, as the web programming world had changed a lot since I was delving in HTML in grade 12. I went on Safari and found what looked to be the quickest, lightest book on HTML/CSS that I could find and blasted through it. That book was this one, and it was indeed exactly what I was looking for. It is designed to be a fun, easy way to learn the basics of client-side web development. Each section builds on the previous, and contains a couple of simple pages that get “developed” throughout the book. I mostly skimmed the book, as a lot of the concepts are familiar to me – my main goal was to get an overall feel for any oddities in HTML, as well as a general overview of how CSS works. I have a few other web books in my Safari bookshelf right now that I may peruse in the future. For now, PHP, MySQL, Javascript and jQuery are the next steps to check out. And of course HTML5 and CSS3 
7/10
Mercurial and DropBox
Jun 22
I was looking for a way to store/backup code I am working on as well as a way to access it remotely with little fuss. I found Scott’s post on using Mercurial as a source control mechanism and Dropbox as a way to auto-backup and access the repository. The steps worked beautifully and I’m able to push and pull source from multiple machines.
The Story of Stuff is an end to end discussion of the First Worlds’ obsession with Stuff. It documents the pipeline from extraction through to production of goods, distribution to consumers, and then consumption and disposal. At each step it talks about impact on the environment, social norms, and culture.
Extraction mainly focuses on how much energy it takes to dig stuff out of the ground. It also talks about the environmental impact of the toxins created during this process. One major point is that the developed world often hoists this burden on developing nations, thus creating the out-of-sight-out-of-mind mentality which makes consumers less queasy about their whole lifestyle. Production goes through material and energy needed to create some of our beloved material goods. A lot of this section focuses on the hazardous materials we are digging out of the ground and putting in products that we use every day. Slow Death By Rubber Duck documents these in more depth. Distribution goes into the external cost of shipping items globally. When we get free shipping on books, we think it’s free, but the transportation costs are carried by the environment. This is at the crux of most of the points in this book – that companies have externalized costs and given the consumer an attractive price, at the peril of the developing world and the environment. Distribution also focuses on the negative social impact of big box stores: from their ethical grey areas to their ruthless “capitalism”, this is documented well in Stuffed and Starved.
Consumption mainly focuses on how corporate America has forced us into a default life of consumption. Planned obsolescence and advertising are their most powerful tools, as companies like Apple and GE create cell phones that need upgrading every year, or dishwashers that last 1/10th the time one in our parents’ day did. The book goes into how consumption is changing our social landscape, destroying communities, expanding sprawl (we need larger palaces to hold all our stuff, don’t we?) and perpetuating greed, selfishness and wastefulness. Once again, external costs and developing countries getting the shaft are key topics here, as it is them who make all this cheap stuff we use. Disposal once again focuses on toxins, and safe disposal of material. It also talks about the myths and realities of recycling and how reduce, reuse, recycle aren’t just the order but also the importance.
While the book sounds doom and gloom, there are sections throughout entitled “Hope” that talk about companies, governments and individuals who are bucking the trends discussed. At the end there are a couple of appendices: one talks about larger scale things which need to be done at the regulatory level to fix what is broken. The second one gives individual actions, such as:
- avoiding products that leach toxins into our food, bodies or homes. GoodGuide and the Environmental Working Group are good resources.
- reduce waste. Avoid single-use bottles, bags, coffee cups, cans. Easy to do if you plan ahead. Compost if possible. Go organic in food, garden, cleaning products, and the like. Power down by driving less, flying less, walking, taking a bike, turning down the heat, turning off appliances. Invest in the economy you want by voting with your dollars. Support local business or those who have proven to have the mindset you want. Avoid companies who go against your principles.
Overall this is a great book – it is comprehensive, entertaining and well researched. While it is overwhelming and the “hope” sections seem overly optimistic, the book motivated me to change things about my life and think about the larger picture. We can’t fix these issues by working individually – we have to step up and work as a team, or take action at a larger level. Highly recommended read.
9/10