02/24/03

Expect updates to be sporadic over the next week or so... I will be leaving for London tomorrow and probably won't have a chance to update the site, but at least I should return with some new photographs to add.

02/23/03

Today I saw banana slugs, thousands of caterpillars attacking a plant, lots of redwood trees, noisy crows, many unusual and pretty wildflowers, the fog rolling in from the ocean, bunny rabbits, and even the odd wild mushroom. The natural beauty surrounding me here in the San Francisco Bay Area helps to confirm what an amazing place it can be sometimes, even though I get down on it now and again.

02/22/03

Looks like one of the BBC's more obscure digital channels broadcast a documentary about "the bizarre world of Lomography and the camera that inspired it, the Lomo Kompakt Automat".

02/19/03

Ack, the song stuck in my head today is 'You Give Love a Bad Name' by Bon Jovi. I think I must be seriously ill.

02/18/03

The place I used to buy Lucky film from seems to have morphed into a different company that doesn't sell the cheapo Chinese oversaturated film anymore. Bit of a pisser that. Now I need to find another source...

02/15/03

Feeling today.

02/14/03

Unlike Alan Partridge, I've never particularly wanted to feel an airbag go off in my face, but I guess it was only a matter of time, for today I had the first car accident of my life. Sparing all the gritty details, I ended up rear-ending the car in front of me, both my airbags deployed and shattered my windshield, but I walked away with just a burn (from the airbag) and cut on my right hand, and of course was a little shaken. My car's front bumper is damaged, but my trusty ZX3 held up remarkably well considering, and as far as I know, the other cars involved weren't too damaged, so I'm hoping things will be okay regards my insurance claim. It was quite a scary moment, and made me realize how important one's safety and health really are. Every other trivial thing I've been worrying about for weeks disappeared once I walked away pretty much unscathed: I feel very fortunate. I got a big ass Buick Century as a rental for a while til my car is repaired. It's very stodgy but feels very safe too. I'm going to be more careful in the future, and believe the damage to my ZX3 is probably worse than it looks, but by no means unrepairable. I should find out more over the next few days.

02/12/03

Dogs in Cars. A great idea that does exactly what it says on the tin: presents a selection of photos of dogs in cars! Here's one I got included on the site.

02/09/03

"Where are all your new photos?" they keep asking me. I keep telling them that I haven't been particularly inspired lately, and that I expect to shoot a few rolls in London when I go there in a couple of weeks. But you want to know the real reason? The cat ate them.

02/06/03

Well, I think we all knew that Michael Jackson was a freak, but it's been a long time since I've been disturbed by a celebrity interview as much as I was by viewing Martin Bashir's documentary about Michael Jackson. The disillusioned star evidently won't accept that his career has gone down the toilet, and the documentary merely showed him to be selfish, arrogant, lonely, and most likely a pervert. It's rare that I find any TV show particularly compulsive viewing, nor did many of the revelations come as much of a surprise, but what I find most interesting is that Jackson probably did this to gain some good publicity to save his flagging career. Instead, he just presented the world with a frank insight into a very disturbing, and possibly illegal, lifestyle, and frankly, it serves him right... he really doesn't have any concept of reality.

02/03/03

How much would you kill a puppy for?

02/02/03

Yesterday's Space Shuttle tragedy has seen the debate resurface about whether robots should be sent into space instead of humans, as technology today can ensure that they are capable of performing experiments as well as humans. While there may be some truth to this, yesterday's disaster really tapped into the American psyche, and the country's curiosity and desire for discovery about the world and the universe around us. NASA's choice to use people in space has enabled children to learn more and gain interest in science and technology, and gives space exploration a very human context. If just a handful of kids have been inspired to become scientists and engineers (and I'd wager it's more than just a few) then I hope manned missions in space will continue, despite yesterday's accident. There's a myriad of debate about justifying the expense of such missions, the safety, and whether it's worthwhile when there's so much bad stuff going on down here, but I think the world needs NASA's continued research and human space exploration to inspire young minds and to continue to build dreams.