Dramatic Monotony

Friday, June 10, 2005

Today's lesson? The Shadow and Highlight function.

The subject? Ryan, aka the 2nd Floor Interloper.

The original? Too dark, "underexposed," and nearly impossible to see.



The remastered? Highlights on shirt are slightly overexposed; however, the rest of the picture looks good. I emphasized the green tint of the background.



Speaking of Ryan, he's designed some kick-ass shirts. Look here for details. They're awesome, especially if you love the Katie Holmes/Tom Cruise drama. I'm planning on buying both... once I get some $$.

Thursday, June 09, 2005

I couldn't sleep. The rest of my family was in bed by 9:30. And for some reason, Kinky Friedman didn't appeal to me. One day, I shall have to compose an entire entry dedicated to his genius. But tonight is not his night. Instead, Andy Warhol is my muse. Photoshop is my medium. And this room is far away from the smell of dog shit. Long story.



Two people kissing always look like fish. - Andy Warhol

Tuesday, June 07, 2005

This past weekend was a blur, thanks to the wedding of one of my best friends, Mary Louise Burchard, now Berry. I attended the bridesmaid's luncheon at the Junior League of Houston; a chat'n'gab fest hosted by the maid of honor, Erin Jobe; the wedding rehearsal; the rehearsal dinner at Pappadeaux; and of course, the wedding at South Maine Baptist and the reception at the Warwick.

Here's a scan of the program. Like every Baptist wedding, it was extremely short... under 30 minutes! I think I want my wedding to be a bit longer. I want time to savor the ambiance of the church. I enjoyed the trumpet and organ, though. That's a very good combination.



I was in the "house party;" this means I worked for my title of honor. Evidently Mary thinks that I'm outgoing, so she assigned me the job of greeter. I stood at the front of the church and directed people in the right direction. Pretty easy, if I say so myself. Plus, I got a front-row seat, and my name was mentioned in the paper. Woot!

The reception was a great time - I had a lot of wine, despite the warnings of my doctors. The food was delicious, the band was swinging, and Mary Louise never looked happier. Even my parents enjoyed themselves. My Dad said that he was impressed by Mary Louise's ease. She and her father managed to greet all 450 guests individually. I caught up with many old friends from high school, and Anna acted as a fabulous stand-in date. Only the Zeta circle was a bit uncomfortable for me, but like all things, it passes. I enjoyed meeting Mary's sorority sisters, but I really loved hanging out with Anne. She's one of those friends that I've had forever, and I'll probably keep in touch with her for the rest of my life. I was really glad that we were both in the bridal party. Erin was fabulous, MLB was stunning, and I enjoyed the weekend as a result.

Because I'm an idiot, I forgot my camera for the majority of the experience. Hopefully, Mary Louise will distribute the digital photos that her aunts and her cousin took -- I'm in a lot of them, and I'd like to have some sort of photographic evidence of this event. However, I managed to snap a few pictures of the bride just before the ceremony. Isn't she beautiful?



Putting on the dress was quite a process. It just kept going... and going...



I promise you, she's really that giddy the entire time.



Unfortunately, Mary Louise's mom passed away a couple of years ago. Her aunts were amazing; they remembered every little detail, including the double stick tape for the dress.



These were the bridesmaid's dresses. I normally don't like seafoam green; however, these outfits looked extremely classy in a '30s way.



Obviously, I've just skimmed over the events. But I wanted to share the few pictures I took of Mary Louise. I'm still in awe that such an amazing person considers me to be a good friend. I love her so much. Mark got himself a pretty special wife.

Sunday, June 05, 2005

I've been trying to learn the intricacies of Photoshop CS2. I was playing with the curves and extended histograms of this photo - it was somewhat difficult to correct. I desaturated the final photo quite a bit to change from my normal over-saturation. But now I want to see what it looks like on the web in an entirely different color environment. I'm still trying to figure out how various file formats affect the color of my photos. The differences are subtle, but I'm practicing.

By the way, I didn't take this photo; this is Ed Ou's work for his final photography project of the semester. The subject? Love. Oh, and yes, that's Jess and Devin necking ON MY BED.





I have a lot to talk about - this past weekend was Mary Louise's wedding. But I'm a bit tired. I feel like listening to the rest of this Arcade Fire CD as I fall asleep.

Wednesday, June 01, 2005

Just to let you know, I re-did my commenting system. I'm no longer using YACCS; instead, blogger is providing my comments. I was tired of the long wait for the YACCS server. Today, I couldn't load my page due to the long wait. So, don't forget to comment if you read my journal. I like knowing what people think. And you can see the comments on the main page! Wee! No more clicking to other pages to see what other people think.

Now, onto more interesting subjects...

I stole this from Rimrunner's Livejournal.

Ten Most Harmful Books

An excerpt from the description of Book #4, The Kinsey Report:

The reports were designed to give a scientific gloss to the normalization of promiscuity and deviancy. “Kinsey’s initial report, released in 1948 . . . stunned the nation by saying that American men were so sexually wild that 95% of them could be accused of some kind of sexual offense under 1940s laws,” the Washington Times reported last year when a movie on Kinsey was released. “The report included reports of sexual activity by boys--even babies--and said that 37% of adult males had had at least one homosexual experience. . . . The 1953 book also included reports of sexual activity involving girls younger than age 4, and suggested that sex between adults and children could be beneficial."

My Lord. I just don't know what to say to this. Other books that made honorable mention include John Stuart Mill's On Liberty, Ralph Nader's Unsafe At Any Speed, and Rachel Carson's Silent Spring. Basically, I have a feeling that the "experts" who picked the books don't like free speech. Or challenging the system of government.

I feel like I should add all of these books to my summer reading list. It might be good to have a working knowledge of the "most harmful books" of all time. I just need to get through Darwin's Children. God. It's taking forever to finish. I'm not a fan of Greg Bear's writing, but I want to know what's going to happen to these characters.

By the way, MRIs are very loud. And why are the rooms so cold? I was freezing, even though I had a blanket. It was hard to keep still when I felt like shivering. It only took 30 minutes, though, which is good.

I get a fair amount of traffic on my site. I think it's just because I've been around for a while and people are curious about what's going on with me. However, I got a random hit yesterday.

Evidently someone in Kuwait did a search for "real busty" on altavista images. And a picture came up from this blogger. I was curious to see what was "busty" around here - I know it's not me. My boobs are reasonable, but not large by any means.

Well, I found the referring URL. Click HERE if you want to be amused. Specifically, look at the second row, far right.

I spend five minutes laughing. Yael's the best. And she, my friends, is definitely busty enough to warrant the description "real busty."