So it arrived!!! And I love it! It’s small, but heavy, and just my size!  There’s so much to love about this camera I can’t even begin to explain all the features, but of course I tested it out.  You can check out those photos at my gallery or at my flickr.  And now I’m off to test it out some more and maybe get around to even reading the silly manual. Cheers.

 Thanks to Jei and Rue for being my test dummies.

  And for some really random trivia- I’ve had that shirt for eight years.

I’ve been insanely busy this last week, and quite a bit has happened, but nothing really worth too much focus (haha, this is a pun but you don’t get it yet) except for this.  The Canon PowerShot S3 IS. 

My Canon PowerShot S3 IS.  I got it on sale, amazing price, amazing deal, an amazing camera.  It’s nothing too flashy or spectacular, in fact, it’s on the lower end of the canons, but it’s better than the last digital I was using and I’m going to be really excited to use it.  I’m sure most of you know that I’ve been thinking (read: whining) about getting a camera for, well, at least three years. But I’ve been putting it off, and I keep putting it off thinking, I don’t really need it, I just want it.  I already have a great manual camera that does me well, and most importantly I need to catch up in my finances first. (Blah blah blah, talking myself out of it)  But on Friday morning I woke up and realized that I will never catch up.  I’m going to be poor for the rest of my life, resting in the lower to middle of the middle class Americans and as far as possessions go- I’ve got my laptop, my guitar, and well, a camera.  And I’m set for life, you know?  What do I do for me, when I’m not with the rascals? I write music and literature, paint, read, do web design and take pictures.  This is what I decorate the walls of my life with.  And even though I will be forever playing a game of catch up, I don’t need to deny myself the simple pleasures I enjoy, and I don’t need to panic about adding a camera to my list of things I own.  The thought processes left me startled; what should have been a depressing “moment of clarity” turned out to be one of the most liberating experiences since I wore green to greet my father at the airport.  I didn’t feel guilty when I pressed the “buy now” button, I felt excited, and I’ve been on this weird twist of defiance high ever since- I still can’t even sit still.  

So today I was driving down the road and almost slammed on my breaks when I saw this.  It was a tree with leaves, and there are several, that aren’t brown.  They aren’t purple.  They are maroon.  And I knew that I had to take a picture because Kat would never believe me, and it isn’t a good picture, but still.  She says that maroon is her least favorite color because of all the colors we have, it is unnatural, and that we’d certainly never find it in nature.  Well ha! I snapped a photo of it with my phone and now I’m on a ferocious maroon tree hunt- and I pose the same challenge to any of you!  Let’s find enough maroon colored trees to shock Kiki away from Crete!

“This is a postmodern novel before there was any modernism to be post about.”  That’s what is said in the film in reference to Laurence Sterne’s essentially unfilmable novel, “The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman.”  Michael Winterbottom pulls together this hilarious film, and there isn’t too much I can say about it without giving the feeling of it away except: the humor is heartily black British humor, and Winterbottom has discovered the meaning of staying “true” to a novel.  Bravo and two thumbs up. 

This adorable short, “akoaçacere”, was directed by Louis Clichy of Cube who was also a student of the legendary Gobelins and the song was performed by Edith Piaf and Theo Serapo. I hope, “A quoi ça sert l’amour?” tickles you as much as it did me. Enjoy.

A Step From Heaven was fantastic, short, and very touching.  As I was reading it, I found the language and the style reminded me of Speak, and then I found that the publisher is “speak”, a part of Penguin Putnam Inc.  They have just a handful of other books that they’ve published so far- but if they are anything like Speak or A Step From Heaven, I wouldn’t mind picking them up.  This is a very short read, and the style is in stream of consciousness and about a Korean girl growing up with her family now in America.  Boozy, you would love it.  The book starts with Young Ju at a very young age, and the author An Na does a marvelous job transitioning from the mind of a seven year old, to the mind of a nineteen year old.  I’ve also chosen to include an excerpt.  Enjoy! [...]