Six Feet Under Season 4 on DVD and more

A few new things going on. To both my wife and my relief Six Feet Under Season 4 has come out on DVD. I picked it up today and if you're going to buy it on dvd I suggest doing it soon because since it came out last Tuesday the 23rd of August it will be on sale for a limited time at Best Buy and other big electronics stores. The box sets of SFU series usually sell for $83-$89 but since season 4 is new they're selling it for $79. Not a huge difference really, but still it's worth getting it cheaper.
My wife and I are at a disatvantage because we both love the SFU series but don't have HBO so we have to suffer and pay almost 90 bucks per season dvd series. I was lucky enough to pick up SFU season 2 while I was in China last time and that only set me back about $5 in China. I guess either way I'll spend the money to get these dvds because I'm hooked on the series. Only 1 more season left and I hope that will come out on dvd in time for christmas or maybe next spring. It just ended (and I'm clueless to how it ended so don't spoil it for me) so it will probably take a little time for them to put it on dvd for the general public.
What else is up? Well I'm doing like the Jefferson's and moving on up... to a better website. I'll be switching my blog to a new site that will be an offshoot of a larger site of mine. Since I don't have a whole lot to offer my readers the new site will be pretty much the same but I play on making a photo archive system on the site that will be easier to navigate. I'll be putting up more of my work or other people's work that I find on google and admire. I think that's legal, but if not I'll find out soon. So the new site is coming as soon as I figure out how to make a halfway decent site using Dreamweaver web page making software. So far I suck at it but I'm learning slowly. I'm slowly losing the war against my better sense over buying an expensive USB headset in order to make a podcast. My friend Mike talked me out of wasting money on a digital recorder and headset yesterday but today my wife was gone and I went to the electronics store by myself with a bulging wallet of money that I'm supposed to use for school books. I held the Logitech 350 Pro headset in my hands for a while, sweating profusely and salivating over it. Then I was able to break the spell and bolt out of the store before I did something stupid. It's only a matter of time until I break down, I feel it coming.
Another thing that is helping to push me over the edge towards the headset is that yesteryday I became probably the last person in the USA to hook their PS2 up to a network adapter and play online. All the games I have to play online, like Call of Duty and Medal of Honor are headset compatible, so I can taunt those that I gun down in our online battles. Another thing the headset is good for is Halo, which I just got the other day for my Mac. I think I can use the headset while playing online. First of all I have to figure out how to move my player, but that is all in good time. I have so many things to figure out now (Halo, Dreamweaver, PS2 with network adapter) that I will be kept busy for a while. This is good b/c I'll be stuck in the house when I get my tonsils removed next week. Still looking forward to that... More soon.

-Joe

The Latent Image

My Weekend

It has been a few days since my last post. Sorry about that, to you two people who read my blog. I've had quite a busy few days and haven't had any time at all to post. Saturday night my younger brother Ted and I went over to my best buddy Mike's (Unleaded Logic) house for his Halo 2 party. This party consisted of 6 hours of pizza and Mountain Dew fueled video game battles. Each player at the party had their own Xbox and Tv or computer monitor to play on so there was none of that annoying split screen to deal with. I've only played Halo once or twice before this party but now I feel a little more than hooked on it, especially because of how you can play online or in a network with friends.
Sunday I went with Ginnie and Ted to the Arlington Park horse track to do a bit of gambling and photograph some horses in action. I'm not really into animal photography or sport photography but I thought I would give it a try. We won a little money and I took a few shots before my little brother had a bad allergic reaction to cigar smoke, which there was plenty of when you went inside to place bets. So.. we rushed out of there after the 6th race and tried to find some a drugstore or a gas station that sold Benadryl allergy medicine to prevent his throat from swelling shut. He looked pretty bad, his eyes were all red and his lips and eye lids were swollen. Scary stuff. After an hour he was almost back to normal. We spent the rest of that night indoors playing Burnout 3 and Medal of Honor: Rising Sun on Playstation 2. I would recommend both of those games as good multiplayer games. Medal of Honor has cooperative missions as well as multiplayer free for all battle games.
Monday (yesterday) I left early to take Ted home to our dad's house and then I went out alone (Ginnie stayed at home) to the orthodontist to get my braces removed. It feels so great to have them gone. I don't have to worry about my mouth getting cut up and now I don't ever have to brush my teeth again. After that I went to ANOTHER doctor to have my tonsils looked at and to schedule an appointment to have them removed. I'm going to have my surgery next Tuesday morning, then I'll be in bed for about 3 days afterwords, possibly vomiting out old blood meanwhile having the worst sore throat I've ever had. I'm surely looking forward to this... not But.... 3 days off my feet may not be too bad. And four days after those 3 I'm not supposed to take part in any strenuous activity, so that's another guarantee for laziness on my part. This means I may not be able to post for a few days. Ginnie is supposed to be attending to my every need while I'm recovering and I'm sure she'll do a good job. Maybe I can make her publish a few posts for me...
She is in a pretty good mood today because after an interview we both attended at the Naturalization and Immigration Services building today, she was granted Legal Permanent U.S. Resident status from the government so that is GREAT news for us. She's got her green card now and there's nothing else to worry about, for now. Next step is citizenship test, but that isn't for another 2 years.
Another semi-good thing happened over the weekend. A book that I illustrated came back from the printing presses and is ready to be sold. In a few weeks it will be up on Amazon.com for all to buy."51 Poems for Children" is a book of fun poems reminicent of Shell Silverstein and even Doctor Seuss at times, that I was asked to illustrate. The book consists of 49 (due to the printer's error) children's poems and about 30 or more of my illustrations. I worked on that project for nearly year, although it was at a slow pace, and I am proud of my work in it. I do not claim to be a great illustrator nor do I aspire to become one, simply because I have chosen a different path. I could do it, sure... I may even be a better illustrator than a photographer. I've studied photography and I love it and I want to stick with that for now. Who knows what may happen in the future.
If anybody is interested in getting a copy of this book (autographed by both the author and I) you can contact me at my email address. However, I would advise you to wait a while because I have a lot of hell to raise about the production quality of this book and a lot of things to say about the woman who published this book (poorly). This post will be coming soon, complete with the original pictures I drew for the book and a comparison to how they were butchered in production. The author is working to salvage the problems in the book by cleverly inserting a bookmark with the 2 "forgotten" poems in each book that has only 49 poems. Unfortunately the illustration that I did for 1 of the missing poems will not be on the bookmark, but that's doesn't bother me.
On another note, I'd love to hear some feedback from any readers I have. U can leave a comment about anything you want. Let me know what you are thinking or what you think I should do with this blog. Anything at all is fine. Hope to hear from you.

-Joe

The Latent Image

Now with new colors!

After much contemplation I've finally decided on a color scheme for the blog that I like. Ninja Turtle colors! These are the colors of my favorite ninja turtle, Donatello. There's just something to admire about an intelligent turtle who fights with a staff instead of a sword or sythe like his counterparts. Maybe the staff reminds me of Moses from the Christian and Jewish scriptures or Gandalf from the Tolkein scriptures. Either way, these colors are here to stay (for now). I think you'll find they're much easier on the eyes than the gumball machine colors I had for the last post. Lemme know what you think if you have an opinion.

-Joe

The Latent Image

Name that Tune

It seems that in my triangle of friends "Forgiveness" and "Redemption" are the songs of the moment so I may as well add my part to it too. There has been a pretty nice dialog going on between two of my closest friends (whose blogs are on Unleadedlogic.com and The Realm Beyond Blog, both of which I have a link to on this site) who parted ways a few years back and I would be a liar to say that I'm not guilty of turning my back at least part way on both of them in the past 2 or 3 years. My ignorance was aided by having a whole lot going on in my life that required all of my attention and left very little room for anything else. To those of you who don't know, and I don't suppose there are many, in the past three years I've totally devoted my time to the worthy cause of love. Yeah that sounds cheesy but it's accurate. "Love" is a really broad thing to devote yourself to and I wouldn't recommend it to the weak of heart or spirit. It makes me sound a lot more chivalrous than I am, but I'm going to stand by what I'm saying...
For the past 3 years I've ignored everything that once made up my life: school, art, myself (Do I need to post before and after pictures highlighting my physical appearance over the past 3 years? I'll spare you), family and especially friends in order to follow one thing that I have been really passionate about. That "thing" is helping my wife immigrate from China to the United States so that we can be together at last. What a girly cause huh? Yeah I guess so, but it was really worth working for. So in the past 3 years I've been back and forth between China a few times to get paper work going and wheels moving there and in the US to get paper work and wheels moving here as well as battling family members who were opposed to me getting married in the first place and doing my best to maintain a long distance relationship. In that time I was also working through some other personal problems. So with all that and being a full time college student who lived far from all my friends it was tough to keep in touch with any of them. I thought things might get easier but they really haven't because now I'm married, still living far from them and taking care of my responsibilities as best as I can.
It was a bastardly thing to do, to ignore my friends or not devote time to them, because friendships are fueled by that and cannot survive without it. However there is something that lives in the core of a true friendship that cannot be destroyed easily. I never forget the good times I've had with my good friends even if we haven't talked in months or years. Those feelings of comradery and my hope for my friends' wellbeing and success have never wavered and I doubt they will. I don't blame anybody nor do I hold grudges against anyone if they grow away from me because it's a natural part of life that cannot be avoided and it's unfair to blame someone for what is out of their control. We all have important things that we are working towards in the limited time that we have. Everything has its time.

-Joe
The Latent Image

More Photos

Here are some pictures I took in China while living there during the summer of 2003 and summer through autumn of 2004.
This is a picture taken from the seat of a bicycle taxi. This was a fun and cheap way to get around in China.

This is one of my favorite sites from Nanjing, the city where I lived in China. Not only is it a beautiful city gate but it's continued existence in the city is like a scar left over after a very painful wound.
This picture was taken in a local park in Nanjing where people, especially elderly people like to congregate to practice Tai Chi or play Mahjong like the people pictured here.
The picture above is a street vendor from Nanjing who specializes in making large hard candies shaped like various animals.

This man is a poet and a calligraphy artist from the small ancient village of Zhou Zhuang, China.

If you enjoy these photos or any others on this site and would like a matted art print email me at jvdomski@comcast.net so we talk about specifics.

- Joe, The Latent Image

Lunar Park

Today I went to Barnes and Noble bookstore for a little personal time. As soon as I walked in I noticed a new book by Bret Easton Ellis, author of "American Psycho", "The Rules of Attraction" and "Less Than Zero". His new book is called "Lunar Park". Here is what the book sleeve says:
" Imagine becoming a bestselling novelist, and almost immediately famous and wealthy, while still in college, and before long seeing your insufferable father reduced to a bag of ashes in a safety-deposit box, while after American Psycho your celebrity drowns in a sea of vilification, booze, and drugs. Then imagine having a second chance ten years later, as the Bret Easton Ellis of this remarkable novel is given, with a wife, children, and suburban sobriety--only to watch this new life shatter beyond recognition in a matter of days. At a fateful Halloween party he glimpses a disturbing (fictional) character driving a car identical to his late father's, his stepdaughter's doll violently "malfunctions," and their house undergoes bizarre transformations both within and without. Connecting these aberrations to graver events--a series of grotesque murders that no longer seem random and the epidemic disappearance of boys his son’s age--Ellis struggles to defend his family against this escalating menace even as his wife, their therapists, and the police insist that his apprehensions are rooted instead in substance abuse and egomania."
The description on the book sleeve seems more confusing than interesting really, but not many of Ellis' book sleeves are interesting or even do justice to the amazing novels that he has written. If you want a great satirical book that keeps on getting darker and darker as you read just pick up one of Ellis' and DON'T read what anyone else says about it, just read it yourself. You wont regret it. I suggest reading 1999's "Glamorama". That was the book he wrote before "Lunar Park" and the last one I read by him. It's darker than "Fight Club" by Chuck Palahniuk and twice as long. So you get more for your money. It's similar to Fight Club in ways what with secret organizations and it being narrated by a dillusioned pretty boy who ends up looking not so pretty in the end.
"Lunar Park" book is only in hardcover for now and u can get it off Amazon.com for about $17. Even though I love Ellis' work I will not be buying this hardcovered book. I'll wait until it's a paperback because by then I hope to have more money and therefore wont feel guilty about buying it because it will be cheaper. Also paperback books take up less room on the bookshelf. I can give my reactions to this book for all my readers who wish to hear them in about a year or so. Keep checking back!

Duma feet stink?

I'm writing this post as I wait for the 9:22 Lotto drawing where I hope to win $3 million dollars. I'm pretty sure I'll win so I'm just waiting for them to call the numbers. Luckily the news is on, something I can ignore because I just had to listen to this ultra melancholy song by "Lifehouse" on "Smallville" for about 15 minutes as Lana and Clark danced in circles and probably talked about something serious and I'm sure somebody had hurt feelings, you know... the usual. "And it's Yooou and Meee and all of the Peeoople.." Yes I've got the chorus stuck in my head now. It's hard not to have it stuck in my head because that is pretty much the whole song and the singer just kept singing and singing that over and over again. It's gonna take that $3million Lotto winnings to get that song out of my head.
This coffee I'm drinking helps to soothe my head and chase away that evil song though. I made 12 ultra smooth ounces of fresh ground Kenya AA coffee with my French press and am enjoying it with a little half and half and 2 sugar cubes in a china coffee cup. Nothing's too good for yours truly. :-p heh heh If you've never used a french press and like good coffee you should buy yourself one. It's great for bachelors (even though I'm technically not one) because you can make just enough for one person and it tastes a lot better than coffee from a plastic Mr. Coffee maker. I think that coffee just doesn't taste right if it comes in contact with the plastic of an automatic coffee maker. The french press is easy to use. You grind your coffee coursely, put it in the glass beaker and add hot water. Wait a few minutes for it to brew then use the plunger/strainer to seperate the liquid from the grounds and you've got coffee, sport! I do believe in pampering myself from time to time. It feels good to unwind a bit at the end of the day. That's not to say that my day was stressful. Just the normal trouble and strife from the lady wife but nothing I can't handle. We went out to the theater today, which is something I always enjoy and saw the movie "Duma", Ginnie's pick, not mine. I would have seen The Great Raid if it was my choice, but you have to give a little sometimes.
Duma was actually pretty good to tell the truth and I left the theater with a warm happy feeling inside that was not caused entirely by the fact that I snuck my own candy and water bottle into the theater instead of having to pay $15 for a drink and popcorn there. So Duma was directed by Carroll Ballard, who also directed "Fly Away Home" which is a very similar movie to Duma in that it's about a kid who loves animals and helps them go back to the wild. Duma however isn't as sweet and cute and cuddly, although it is sometimes, it's more about survival and being a man and how far you would go to do what you think is best for yourself and those you care about. The main character is a boy named Xan who lives on a farm with his mom and dad in South Africa. One night while Xan and his sickly father Peter are driving down a desert road they narrowly avoid hitting an orphaned baby cheetah cub who is standing in the road. They opt to keep the cute little cheetah until it's older and they make a promise that they will free him in the wild where he belongs when the time comes. Needless to say Xan gets attatched but when his dad dies and they have to sell the farm to move to the city Xan doesn't wuss out on his promise to his dad. He runs away from home with the now fully grown Duma, taking his dad's old motorcycle (with a side care for Duma) and a roll of South African money that he stole from a school bully (awesome!). Xan follows his dad's plan to take Duma to a valley near a river where there antelope flow like milk and honey out of a milk and honey fountain in a milk and honey store in the land of milk and honey. While traveling through the desert they run into a native of the area named Rip who has his own agenda. Xan trusts Rip as a traveling partner but soon has to grow up quick and decide to survive and take care of himself and his beloved friend Duma. The scenes where Xan and Duma travel accross the desert reminded me of a Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn story and what was even nicer was that there was a "Jim" character of sorts played by the large African man "Rip" who accompanies Xan and Duma. The movie is geared more towards a younger audience but it's really a nice movie for a man to see because watching this young boy forced to grow up quickly makes you assess what it means to be a man and take on responsibility. If you're not a man (i.e. a woman) you can appreciate this coming of age story too for the same reasons. You don't have to see this movie because I just saved you the trouble of doing so, but if you insist on seeing it for yourself go ahead and enjoy it. "Duma" should be playing nation wide in all theaters.

- The Latent Image

House of Flying Awesome!

I’m less crabby this post because I had a good day and a good haircut. A friend of ours (meaning my wife and I) dropped by this evening. Unfortunately she’s got a bad cold but my wife gave her a load of Chinese cold medicine and I had a measly little roll of vitamin c tablets to offer up. So she should be better soon (thanx to me). She refused to come in the house because of her cold but from the doorway she handed me a container of my favorite Chinese style pork hock, a dvd of the CCTV 4 televised Chinese new year celebration from 2005 and a bag full of girly lotions and makeup from the Shisheido store in Chinatown. I’ll probably check out those lotions and skin firmers later when my wife is sleeping… but I just popped in the New Year celebration dvd a few minutes ago. There was something on that dvd that pushed me to write this post sooner than I intended. It must be fate….

On the dvd there was a pop music performance by Chinese actor/ singer Andy Lau who just so happens to star in the movie that I intended to talk about in this post, “House of Flying Daggers”. Its funny because Andy Lau plays a kung-fu hard ass police captain in the movie and in the New Year celebration he was dressed in shiny silver robes, dancing and singing with robots and large colorful Chinese dragons (and a few cute back up dancers). I guess this guy really knows how to party. I’ll add a capture from this dvd later on when my wife Ginnie is done watching it. She is giggling at a skit on the dvd as I type and I wouldn’t want to take that away from her. When I get the chance though I will post a pic from that dvd for all to enjoy. [Side note: I shouldn’t poke fun at Andy Lau because I just saw Jackie Chan is on this dvd singing and wearing silver robes, although his song was not a pop song.]

As I said though, this post is devoted to “House of Flying Daggers”. I first heard of this movie while at a train station in Shanghai, China. In the waiting lounge of the train station there is a large video screen to show advertisements. When I was waiting to board a train one day the trailer for House of Flying Daggers happened to pop up on the screen and it caught my interest. The scenes were so visually pleasing. The colors were lush and saturated, the landscapes were fantastic and picturesque and the martial arts looked phenomenal. I waited a month or two until I saw advertisements for the movie posted at the local theaters but before I could go see it Ginnie’s dad bought me a copy of it on dvd, (bless his heart).

I never got to see the whole thing because of a little argument that started 15 minutes into the film when Ginnie said that the actress Zhang Ziyi, who stars in this film, is a bad actress and that she is disliked by “all women in China”. My immediate reaction was to defend Ziyi and say that not every woman in China could hate her because at least her mother must love her and that if women hated her it was only because they are jealous of her good looks. Bad thing to say. Oddly enough Ginnie hates this actress and calls her an ugly dog but Ginnie knows deep down, and has admitted a few times, that she resembles Zhang Ziyi. And I don't really like Ziyi that much anymore either after finding out that she will be starring in Steven Spielburg's adaptation of "Memoirs of a Geisha" She's Chinese and pretending to be a Japanese... I just think that's a little tasteless considering the atrocities that the Japanese inflicted on the Chinese people during WWII and the current tension between the two countries but whatever, that's just my two cents. And Steven Spielburg directing this film? Sweet weeping jesus on the cross! He basicaly raped us with Hitler's bristly little mustache in Schindler's List but now he's hopping into bed with the ghost of another tyrrant fascist; Emperor Hirohito. Maybe he can only afford to be an avid WWII victim sympathizer to the "real" victims of WWII, the Jews and conveniently forgets (if he ever knew) about how the Japanese killed the innocent too (and not just other Asians, Americans too). *Rolls eyes* What is America's fascination with Japan lately? Sure Japan is a pretty country and some great movies and games and electronics come from there but.... like... the war!? They were tyrants and we just look past that because it's in style to become an asian fetishist. Ugh... Blimey. Back on track now. The dvd went off and Ginnie’s dad took the dvd back to stop further arguments, like a good sport. Thanks for that Ba ba.

So after almost a year since I first saw the first 15 minutes of the film I got to see the whole thing and whats more it was subtitled in English! That was indeed a treat as was the movie. This is a good movie in general but there are many picturesque moments in this movie that photographers can appreciate, especially those who do digital manipulations in Photoshop or other computer editing apps. I urge you to check this movie out. It will be at most video rental stores and can be bought online from amazon or bestbuy.
Here’s a brief synopsis of the movie (not that I’m very capable of being brief). It stars Zhang Ziyi (of “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” and “Hero”), Takeshi Kaneshiro (of Chungking Express which is also an awesome movie) and Andy Lau (Pop singer/ action movie star ** trying to suppress giggles**). Takeshi and Lau are both local police officers in Tang Dynasty, China. Tang Dynasty was one of the richest dynasties in Chinese history, which will explain the bright colors of the elaborate costumes seen in this movie. For those of you who don’t know the Tang Dynasty took place between 618 and 907 CE. So these two “cops” if I may, are looking to thwart a group of anti-government rebels that call their clan “The House of Flying Daggers”, hence the name of the movie. Members of the House pretty much just don’t like the emperor and fight against his soldiers… pretty common stuff really. So Lau and Takeshi (who is adored by many a Chinese teenager I am told) follow a tip that the daughter of the ex-leader of the House has just become a showgirl at a local brothel. Takeshi, the charming playboy of the police force, goes to check it out. Ahh the life of a cop.

The new showgirl, named Mei, is indeed a member of the House of Flying Daggers and is blind! Don’t let this scare you away from the movie though, because even though she is blind she is skilled in the art of Kung fu and has an amazing sense of hear? Uhm… sense of hearing? Yeah she can hear well and that helps her locate her enemies. This movie should be viewed with a good sound system because the audio plays a big role in this movie. Another theme of this movie is the color and the sweeping landscapes.
While incognito, Takeshi watches Mei give her special showgirl dance and sing her song and, perhaps aided by the amount of alcohol he has be guzzling, falls for her. Their meeting is cut short when the police break into the brothel and arrest her for being indecently dressed. She was fully clothed actually, but it was just a trap to pick her up and interrogate her about her activity with the Daggers. After getting no information from Mei she is held at the prison until the police make a cunning plan. Mei does not know that the ale-thirsty horn-ball (Takeshi) that was ogling her at the brothel is actually a cop. He stages a break in to the prison to set her free, disguised as a ninja and they escape together. They go north to find the headquarters of the Flying Daggers and Mei quickly grows to trust Takeshi, maybe even love him? Takeshi tries, but not too hard, to avoid falling in love with Mei but cannot help himself. The police chief (Andy Lau) follows close behind and monitors their movement towards the House of Flying Daggers so that he can send in his troops once the secret location is revealed. This is a story of love verses duty with many plot twists and amazing visuals. I wanted to talk about it because I found it very photographically pleasing and would love to create images similar to those in this movie. I probably made the movie sound like crap but it’s not, check out some of these film stills from the movie and see the film for yourself.


Ginnie says that the movie was more than likely filmed in Northern China where there are large bamboo forests and beautiful mountains.

The Pop Singer and the Playboy. Andy Lau and Takeshi Kaneshiro

Weren't those beautiful? As a photographer I really admire the cinematography and the camera work in this movie and as a movie buff I just enjoyed the movie a lot and look forward to watching it again. If you've seen this one and liked it you should check out "Hero" made by the same director Zhang Yimou and also staring Zhang Ziyi. Ginnie says that "Hero" was over the top and over exaggerated and I tend to agree but if you liked the Matrix (I did) and how fantastic everything is then you'll like Hero.

Come back for more soon!

- The Latent Image

Digital Images

This blog is about photography, so I'm going to put some photos up. These are a few images I made with the help of my iMac G5.I shot them using my Nikon N70 35mm camera with 100 speed Kodak slide film. I scanned them into a computer at school with a high end Imacon scanner then touched them up on Photoshop CS then printed them at a size of 13 x 19 inches on an Epson 4000 pigment inkjet printer. The point of this project was to show a few interesting items up close so that the viewer can appreciate how intricate these everyday things are. Enjoy.







These images are not from the same series but were maniupated digitally using Photoshop CS. I took these pictures in China.

I took this picture with my Mamiya 645 1000S medium format camera in Nanjing, China.

This image was taken with the same Mamiya camera also in China. I took it while on a trip with my wife, Ginnie in Yunnan, China.

-The Latent Blogger

About my favorite links

Since this is a new blog we have to take our time and get to know each other better. What better way to get to know me than to know about my favorite links? I'll give you a summary of these and I expect everyone to check them out. The last three don't have a lot to visually offer but that's because the site is just there to host a podcast.

First off is the Unleaded Logic official website. This link is to my friend Mike's site for his musical project "Unleaded Logic". I wont call it a band because with computers and synths and home studios nobody needs a "band" anymore. He's a "one man band" really but it's not even a band it's just... music. He produces and manufactures, if you will, his music by himself in his home recording studio. You could best classify his music as electronic but that doesn't quite do it justice. It's intelligent electronic music. It's not a repetitive drum beat that drones on and on into your skull until you feel it cracking and your brains dematerializing... oh no, it's not that. His music is more like.... well if you could put a soundtrack to the emotions that you are feeling or what you are seeing or experiencing in your life, that would be Unleaded Logic. His music has substance yet is ethereal and ambient. It's quite a paradox really. You have to hear it and experience it for yourself to decide what this music is to you. Maybe I can't put a label on it because it's so unique or else it's because I woke up a few minutes ago and I'm still partially asleep, either way, check it out. His website is really user friendly and you can listen to his live dj mixes for free just by clicking on the DJ Mixes link. They're really good as is the music he produces. You can also buy his cds from his site and hear samples of them.

Next link is the Misadventures in Taiwan Blog/ Podcast site. I found this site originally on iTunes podcasts because I was looking for podcasts from China or Chinese radio programs. Unfortunately there isn't much to offer online in the USA, which is a shame, but I was lucky enough to find this podcast in the process. I don't know a WHOLE lot about this podcast or it's creator except what I discovered in my online detective work... or in simpler terms.... just visiting her site. It's hosted by Gem a Taiwanese college student studying animation. Somehow she finds the time when not animating or studying to make a really really nice podcast about different things or interesting factoids about Chinese culture or fads going on right now in the area of Taiwan that she goes to school in. Her podcasts are really fun to listen to and informative. They're based roughly on a schedule and loosely based around a central topic but usually just run in a stream of thought sort of way, which is like being talked to by her instead of having somebody announcing things to you like you on the public news or something. I like that a lot. Anyway, if I got some details wrong about her background then I'm sorry but my research work was very meager.

The Real Happy Hour is another site used mainly to back up a podcast also called "The Real Happy Hour". This is classified as a drinking podcast because each episode has a featured drink that the audience can make and drink along with the hosts of the show. Now... I'm not really a drinker but I love this podcast for many many reasons. It's very very funny and can be informative and entertaining. It's sort of like evesdropping on the drunken people in the booth behind you in a Bennigan's Restaurant but so much better. It's hosted by 3 people: Eggs, Kurt and his wife Estry. Not necessarily in that order. This podcast also has pop-in appearances by many returning characters such as James Faux Jones, a former voice talent ... Yes the similarity in name to another James-something-Jones rings true in his voice too. There are a slew of other characters and funny skits such as "Hitler the Clown". Check out the site but really really check out the podcast and download as many episodes as you can get your earphones on. They tend to last almost an hour each which I love because I can play them when I am working in the darkroom and it actually seems to speed things up and improve my pictures, so thanx "Real Happy Hour".
****Note... the Real Happy Hour will not improve any of your abilities in any way but it does help to pass the time along****

Last but not least is Cinecast. This is another podcast/blog site that keeps me company while I'm on the subway or walking to school or in the darkroom. The hosts Adam and Sam are a Chicago duo that host a (usually) weekly podcast reviewing 1 or 2 movies that have been released recently. They don't spoil the plot in the movies by giving away too much (which sometimes bothers me) instead they talk about the good and bad of a movie and make suggestions. I also enjoy their top 5 lists which always have a theme, for example: Top 5 Summer Movies. At the end of the show they have what they call "Massacre Theater" where they act out a scene from a movie related in some way (usually in genre) to the film featured in the show. It's called Massacre Theater because Adam and Sam admit that they are bad actors and "massacre" the scene, which I think is just their modesty talking. After they act the scene out the listeners are invited to guess which movie they acted out and submit their answer the hosts for a chance to win something.... Well usually the just get their name mentioned as the winner but they do a raffle of the winners from that week and the one drawn get's their name mentioned and it used to be that if they won three times in a row they would get a free dvd of their choice paid for by Adam and Sam. Isn't that nice? I think that's a cool idea. However, since Cinecast has been picked up by iTunes the amount of their listeners has boomed and they probably get 100 people who win each week. Then again, if it wasn't for iTunes I may not have found Cinecast either, so I'm just as guilty of exploiting the commercialization of Cinecast by iTunes as anyone else. :( Thanx Adam and Sam for a great show.

More posts to come for all of those who are not reading, which is everyone except me, my wife and Unleaded Logic. Find my blog people, for you shall be smiled upon by the gods.

-The Latent Blogger

First Post

Welcome to The Latent Image Blog and thank you for reading.

So what is The Latent Image Blog? I have a lot of ideas for this blog mostly revolving around photography (being a photography student). I want to do many things on this blog including eventually putting up a podcast. I also plan on posting all sorts of things like reactions to current events, interviews, recipes that i find good or interesting and stories.

What does Latent Image mean? Well it's a photography term. If you google it you'll find something like this:
- The invisible image formed in a camera by the action of light on a photographic emulsion.

Did you get that? This isn't a great definition but what it boils down to is an invisible image left in the photographic emulsion on photo paper or film that has not yet been processed. When you put the paper or film into the developing chemical (D-76 is what I use most often for film) the latent image will reveal itself. I find this "phenomenon" if you'll allow me to call it such, amazing and I never tire of watching it occur. It just appears before your eyes out of nowhere like magic and no matter how much you think you know the image that you are working with, you can never really be sure what you're going to get in the end. So that's what the name is all about... I just like the idea and the name and what it can mean, so there. :p

Anyway, here's a little something that my good friend Mike (aka Unleaded Logic) and I made together with the help of my wife's parakeet Polly. It's a saucy little number I call "Polly Song". Mike did a great job mastering this track and adding all the music to it, i just sampled Polly and made the drum beat. Click or paste this link into your address bar to hear it. Polly Song Enjoy!

Keep checking back for up dates, there is much more to come soon!

- The Latent Blogger a.k.a Joe