It's that time of year when things start to really pick up for the holidays. Everyone's mindset just changes and gets into the spirit of things. Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Hanukkah...I've always loved this time of year. Everyone's in a great mood. However, it's also sometimes a lot of shuffling and goes by too quickly.
For this reason, I wanted to share something a little interesting many don't know about. In a small city called Kakegawa, near Tokyo, Japan, November was declared as "Slow Life Month" several years ago in order to promote a "comfortable lifestyle and relaxed state of mind."
Here's the slogan to describe their philosophy on slowing things down a bit. "...To achieve 'slow, relaxed and comfortable' lifestyles, and shift from a society of mass production and mass consumption, to a society that is not hectic and does cherish our possessions and things of the heart."
Check out the entire article on the Kakegawa City's information page. Very interesting read.
Happy November!
Friday, October 31, 2008
Friday, October 10, 2008
Blackberry Storm Is Coming
I was waiting for the Blackberry Bold to come out for Verizon, which is currently my awesome provider. Unfortunetly, the stars were not aligned. However, it turns out us Verizon subscribers will be getting an even hotter new device; the Storm. The official announcement just came out a couple of days ago.
Rumor has it that the Storm will launch 11/2/08. In the meantime, the kids at Crackberry.com have put up a hands on review. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Definetly on my wishlist!
Checkout the first video released showing some of the sweet features:
Rumor has it that the Storm will launch 11/2/08. In the meantime, the kids at Crackberry.com have put up a hands on review. I can't wait to get my hands on it. Definetly on my wishlist!
Checkout the first video released showing some of the sweet features:
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Copyright Infringement & Orphan Works Act 2008
Copyright is one of the things that protects an artist's original work from being used without permission and compensation. It's always been a hot topic amongst consumers regarding music downloading, and it's no different for photographers and their original work.
The bill is called the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. Its intention is to allow anyone to use someone else's work if they can not be located or contacted, making the piece of work an 'orphan.' Even though the bill supposedly had started with good intentions, there are far too many loop holes at this time that will give some people the power to manipulate and take advantage of the doors this bill opens. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. The way the current bill is written, any original work who's copyright holder can't be located could be used without the artist's permission.
With all the hoopla surrounding the $700 billion bailout and the campaign news, this little bill was quietly passed by the Senate, even with strong opposition from the photography and visual arts community. Unfortunetly, due to its lack of publicity, not enough people knew about it.
Now the bill has been moved to the House of Representatives for final vote and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), along with other organizations is calling on members of the visual arts community to write to their representative.
CALL TO ACTION: You can easily write your Representative by clicking here. This will take you to a prewritten email that you can simply submit to your local representative right online.
The bill is called the Shawn Bentley Orphan Works Act of 2008. Its intention is to allow anyone to use someone else's work if they can not be located or contacted, making the piece of work an 'orphan.' Even though the bill supposedly had started with good intentions, there are far too many loop holes at this time that will give some people the power to manipulate and take advantage of the doors this bill opens. As the old saying goes, the devil is in the details. The way the current bill is written, any original work who's copyright holder can't be located could be used without the artist's permission.
With all the hoopla surrounding the $700 billion bailout and the campaign news, this little bill was quietly passed by the Senate, even with strong opposition from the photography and visual arts community. Unfortunetly, due to its lack of publicity, not enough people knew about it.
Now the bill has been moved to the House of Representatives for final vote and the National Press Photographers Association (NPPA), along with other organizations is calling on members of the visual arts community to write to their representative.
CALL TO ACTION: You can easily write your Representative by clicking here. This will take you to a prewritten email that you can simply submit to your local representative right online.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
SNL Does It Again
In case you missed it, Tina Fey did it again. The opening SNL skit had her reprising her role as Sarah Palin.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Canon EOS 5D Mark II - Video
The first SLR camera I bought was over 15 years ago, which was a Canon Rebel. As much as I loved playing with that camera, developing film was never cheap. Many years later when I took the plunge into the new world of digital, my first DSLR was a Canon 20D, which was and still is a great camera. If you're looking for a great used camera at an amazing price, you can't go wrong with this one. I've since moved on to Canon's 30D, 40D, 5D, and the 1D Mark III. I even have a the infamous Nikon D3 to play with. Can you tell I love this 'photo' stuff? ;)
So, from film to digital, it was all still photography. Now, the photography market is somewhat merging with another technology. Would you believe that you can shoot an HD resolution movie with a DSLR? With the new Canon 5D Mark II, you can. Photographer Vincent LaForet got his hands on a demo version of this unreleased camera and got to play with it.
Combined with the already amazing image quality the current 5D delivers, this improved body with the new high resolution video feature is going to allow us photographers to get a bit more creative. To check out the movie Vincent made using the new 5D Mark II, visit the following link:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086
Just remember to give it a chance to load before playing it due to its size.
So, from film to digital, it was all still photography. Now, the photography market is somewhat merging with another technology. Would you believe that you can shoot an HD resolution movie with a DSLR? With the new Canon 5D Mark II, you can. Photographer Vincent LaForet got his hands on a demo version of this unreleased camera and got to play with it.
Combined with the already amazing image quality the current 5D delivers, this improved body with the new high resolution video feature is going to allow us photographers to get a bit more creative. To check out the movie Vincent made using the new 5D Mark II, visit the following link:
http://www.usa.canon.com/dlc/controller?act=GetArticleAct&articleID=2086
Just remember to give it a chance to load before playing it due to its size.
Monday, September 22, 2008
Interesting Videos
Very creative and funny. Must watch it: Political Musical Cartoon
What will they come up next? Singing Road
What will they come up next? Singing Road
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