title: a cool thing!

during the town yard sales in the beginning of this month i found a waterlogged strip of 35mm still negatives sitting by the side of the road. i noticed that not all of the images were washed away, so i picked it up and shoved it in my backpack and forgot about it. the other night i was bored so i went through my stuff, and lo and behold, there were the negatives! it was around 2 am and i was already in bed, so i just grabbed my old powershot, opened up my cell phone, and used the screen to backlight the film. with my camera in macro mode i could capture the negative, then i inverted the colors in photoshop. results?
i almost crapped my pants when i saw the second one (figure of speech, people). why are children so scary?

there is one other surviving image on the strip of negatives--i think i'll use my same über-amateur method to capture them. i like doing things that way. post soon to follow!

title: jun 26

my friend mikee is really cool. he can do a really good russian accent, he can mime violence like nobody's business, and his voice is as smooth as belgian chocolate. he also has an old pinball machine in his basement--the kind that's completely mechanized and makes those satisfying dinging noises that all the virtual ones try to mimic. it's really pretty. while hanging out today i took some pictures of it, instead of the party that was going on in the background.
i used nathan's tiny canon powershot 880 and my old powershot a520. the first photo here is my a520, and the second two are his 880. i bought that a520 in hawaii in 2004--it was the first digital camera in my family and it's of the variety that still had out-of-the-lens analog viewfinders on them (making the film-to-digital transition easier for technophobes everywhere). this thing took all kinds of crap from me in my early teens, just learning how to use a camera for more than family portraits and blurry pictures of my dog. i paid for it with allowance money in the form of travelers' checks, with my rudimentary signature on the back. it's kind of like an old friend. aww.

in my humble, unknowledgeable opion, when it comes to consumer digital cameras, canon blows any competition out of the water. perhaps they blow competition out of the water in other fields, but this is all i have any expertise in. discuss if you want. see you in the comments!

title: jun 21

remember those tiny little sprouts i posted pictures of at the end of may?
booyah, grandma! each of these radishes is gigantic, spicy, and delicious. they are my father's day gift to my dad, who helped me build the garden earlier this summer. idn't dat just da sweetest widdle thing?

today it's actually sunny out. that's a rare occurrence. how about you take a little look into my world?those marigolds came out of my garden. they keep the rabbits away because they're all spicy smelling. i like how the flower petals taste--try some!

speaking of trying some...did you know that vegan cinnamon rolls exist?! i know i haven't said even a teensy word about veganism in a while, but i promise these will make up for it. click here for the recipe!

title: iranian election

i just wanted to post this link to faramaz hashemi's flickr photoset of the iranian election protests.

photography has played an immensely important role in the global publicization of the protests and violence happening in tehran. with the country's media blockade, the protests have made reporters and photojournalists out of amateur photographers. these people are taking pictures to document and express the changes and horrors happening around them, and this is photography in its purest form. the power and succintity of image is fully exemplified in the shots which have been uploaded from within tehran. i am so pleased that the people of iran have managed to get this much exposed. i hope as many people around the world see these pictures as possible, and that they help to keep us vigilant and aware as iran's series of events unfolds. whatever the outcome, it cannot happen in secret.

title: june 17-18

i think today felt like this for a lot of people, myself included:
rain is everywhere. we are all tired.
here's something to wake you up.
i bought a konica "big mini" 35 mm camera off ebay last night, so when it gets here prepare to see my experiments in film photography (kind of). i picked a big mini because of hiromix; it was the first camera she used. i like the look of the pictures the big mini takes--they have a certain cast to them. i want to try processing the film myself in a makeshift darkroom. i will probably end up accidentally fully exposing (or otherwise destroying) my first five or so rolls, but maybe i will get the hang of it (or just give up and take them to the rite-aid) and you'll see some results here. wsh me luck!

title: tiny cakes!

the other night i was watching food network and some show was on where a chef had to cook barbie-sized hors d'oeuvres (i was one letter off from spelling that right on my first try!!) for the barbie brand's 50th birthday celebration. he did, and they were adorable. one of his hors d'oeuvres was a tiny little birthday cake, with a little bit of icing and sugary sprinkles. at 11:00 at night, with an grumbling tummy and an inherent love of desserts, i spoke the unintentionally rhyming words: "i need to make some tiny cakes". and so i present to you, adoring fans, the products of a night of baking: les tout-petit gâteaux!
the cakes are no larger than a silver dollar, vanilla flavored, and decorated with buttercream frosting and various things. if you want to see pictures of each cake indiviually, please go to my flickr page! if you want to make your own, it's easy. there's no special recipe; use any cake and icing you'd like. i found that it was easiest to cut small cakes out of a large cake--baking them in little cupcake pans made them oddly shaped. when you put your large cake pan in the oven to bake, make sure the middle is indented a little so the cake will rise flat. this makes it easier to cut the little guys out, and you'll get to use more of your cake. i also reccomend cutting around a stencil (like a bottle top or something) with a knife rather than using cookie cutters--unless you have some wicked sharp cookie cutters, they tend to make the cut all messy and crumbly. try making them layered! try making tiny pies! whatever you do, send me your pictures!