Planets

Thoughts

Ah, really like how this one turned out.

Gazing

Disfocused

Coco Pops!

Ah, I used to adore this cereal as a kid. I recall moving to America and amongst making the adjustments were the lack of Coco Pops. I remember asking Meme for Coco pops when she went out to the grocery store because I think I had a serious case of homesickness. Well, she brought back Cocoa Puffs... no words can express my disappointment at the time. I later learned that Coco Pops and Coco Krispies were, in fact, the same thing. But it wasn't the same. Needless to say, I've been whoofing down Coco Pops for breakfast for about a month now. Ah, the good ole days.

Morning Coffee

Empty

Say it!

Well, I'm a big fan of Two-Face, who is, in my opinion, the best Batman villain. Yes, even better than Joker. I loved his appearance in The Dark Knight and thought that he was incredibly well done. Joker was great, even had a more important role, but I was there to see Two-Face kick some ass. I love the character because, basically, he's so tragic; he's the good guy gone bad by misfortune. They've tried making other characters tragic in the name of replicating the success of Two-face, but have really failed. Save maybe Mr. Freeze (of Animated "Heart of Ice" fame). They've even tried making the Joker a tragic character, which ultimately failed as well. The tragic antagonists are always the best because you can sympathize with them. You see their point, even if you don't agree with them.

That's how I felt about ole Harvey here, he signified what could have been and how it all went wrong, rolled up into one. In fact, in his tragedy, he was more the villain than the Joker was. Sure, Joker killed a bunch of people, but they were nobodies, Two-Face was the man with Gordon's family at gunpoint in the end, the man who shot Batman, the man who took down the mob, basically by killing them off. There's a reason the climax didn't end wth the capture of Joker but rather with Two-Face... because ultimately, he was the true villain of the story.

So anyway, after scavenging for ideas for a photo, I decided on this. Mainly because I've been doing a lot of photoshop work and this seemed like a good challenge. I had to go black and white because matching the position of the head and facial structures, general lighting.... color was just going to be too much work that I didn't have time for. I also had to keep the grain because, well, there's apparently no high res photos of Two-Face. So i took what I could get and made do with that.

Then I took a second photo, well 30 second photos, until i found the best one and then I layered it over the head. Using the skew and the transformations tools, I fit my face over Aaron Eckhart's. You might might notice, or maybe not, some of my features had to be traded for his (such as the hair, obviously) in the name of making it look like a cohesive photo. The basic tools I used after the fitting were brush, dodge and burn, blur and smudge. I added a few scarring lines as well, using mainly the paint brush.

Anyway, I think the photo worked out, though I'm sure a second attempt would be better. I learned quite a bit form this little experience, hopefully I'll use it again. Maybe in a color photo, hmm?

Struck

I was posing for a photo, of which you will see more of later when its done, and this one just jumped out at me and struck me as a keeper. So hence picture of the day for Dec. 10th.

Don't Suspect a Friend, Report Him

Basically I swiped this from the film Brazil. Throughout the course of the film there are a number of propaganda posters seen and this one, I think is by far the best. Well, not this one. But the one with this saying on it.

"You wouldn't like me when I'm angry..."

I can't believe it took me this long to come up with this. A hulk photo. Easy photoshop trick and presto! So anyway, i bought this desk lamp and the pos broke within a night. I just turned the little neck thing and snap! pop! the light stopped working. I don't if I broke the wiring in there or what... but if I did it was because the flexible neck thing decieved me.

Wave.

Pancakes!

That's right, pancakes. As it turns out, Aunt Jemima is a fiction in the U.K. and I had dying for some american pancakes for a while now. Which, is something you kind of take for granted in the US. You can make them, you can go to a breakfast place and eat them... which now that I think about it, there really aren't breakfast places in the UK. Which now that I think about it, could possibly because of the church crowd in the US... or just an elderly population with disposable income. Hmm... i need to look into that. "The rise of breakfast restaurants in the US."

When 10 cups isn't enough

I realize now that I did this photo before. But its totally different in color and I think it was worth keeping as this days self portrait.

I just love the reflection of my face in the coffee pot. It's warped, kind of like when you get wired on coffee and get all bent out of shape with caffine overdose. But alas, can't live without it.

Dinner time

There's something special about making a massive and successful dinner. As I brought it back to my room, I noticed how awesome it looked all heaped up on there with the plate design. So i phtoographed. This is a self portrait of me by the food I create. Which is an interesting concept now that I think about. I mean, making food can be considered an art... what does a self portrait look like?

Pantalones

I know its a crotch shot, but I still love these pants.

Side

The basic idea for this was to come up with a unique background and use that. I had a bunch of wine bottles lying around (see below post) and I back lit them and posed. It did create a bit of a unique background, but I don't know how I feel about the yellow light cast. I tried black and white, but it just wasn't the same.

The Hangman's Batch: Winehouse and Distillery

So i made my own cider wine, appropriately named Hangman's Batch. I made the label with some brown paper and marker, you can kind of see the dead guy off to the right. Then I made old fashioned paste (both out of necessity and because its cool) and slapped that label over some classy bottle of wine. I also fashioned little nooses for the bottle necks. Special thanks to the internet for that lesson, I wonder if they have lessons on how to drug overdose as well...

Thanksgiving.

I definitely insisted on celebrating this holiday. Of which I did twice. Once over at the dorms of across the street and once in the flat. Dinner turned out quite nice and I was proud. I'd never cooked a turkey before, but with a little internet recipe and determination I made it happen. Except the stuffing was soggy. Have to watch that next time.

I really enjoy bringing my holidays abroad, just because you're bringing something unique over to people who simply don't do it. While its cool to experience other cultural things, its something entirely to bring them and present them. I was glad to have been able to do that, but at the same time sad cause I missed having the holiday at home. Everything at a price.

So, from left to right Max, Hansa, myself and Tella. I believe Turk was playing football that evening. But we saved him some.

Ah, the classic pencil behind the ear trick. Ideal for quick writing and plus it looks cool.

New Coffee Maker

Because tea just doesn't do it for me.