Back in the saddle again

Thought I'd mention that my website is up and running once again. The address changed a bit: the new link is http://sns.tzo.com/davemoore

The links to individual images aren't working yet, but you can still get a good look at everything as it is.

As always, updates when the situation warrants.


surfing with the alien,
Dave

You know, when I was a kid, we didn't HAVE fast movies. Sometimes we had to wait 3 or 4 hours for something to happen.

I forgot to mention the other day some very good news: my lawn mower started!

Huzzah!

This means I can divert the annual mower repair funds towards something more important, like, say, Godzilla movies or something.

Also, before I return the book, I wanted to post something from Mississippi Solo by Eddy Harris that I quite liked:

"What a day! I take time out from the race to once more admire the day and beauty and the splendo of the river. I know now, if I didn't know it before, that there is a God. I've seen him all morning and heard Him. I know where He lives and have visited.

And just what if my imagination is toying with me again? What if God truly does NOT exist? What then?

Then so what! Isn't it enough to live as though He exists? Isn't it plenty to marvel at the creation, at the beauty, and to love the Creator? We can love so dearly a character in a novel or film even when we know for absolute certain that the character is a figment on some imagination. And yet he has the power to change us, to make us feel and think and desire. Why not God, then, who is He does or doesn't exist is still responsible for so much?"


Oh yeah, one more update: yay! She said yes.


back to the grind,
dave

Did I do the math? No? Ah, well that's alright.

An interesting thing happened today.

I was doing a shoot for the NorCo Journal this morning over at Jamestown Mall. There was a business fair, with booths, and the like. Outside were vans and displays from various law enforcement types in Florissant. One van had an explosive-sniffing dog. Of course, as these things go, a kid went up to pet the dog and do cute things. Naturally, I got a shot of it. I went to the dad to get his name and age. The guy was probably around my age, maybe a year older. I moved on, got a shot of some other stuff, and the dad came up to me, and said I looked familiar. We talked a bit, trying to figure out where he might know me, and it turns out he played soccer with me back in grade school on the team my dad coached. We're talking nearly 10 years ago, and he was able to recognize me from a team picture that he still had at home.

Wacky.

The shoot went really well, and I got a shot in what I think is the greatest natural lighting ever seen on earth. Most of you will have to take my word for it, I guess. But it was good.

I did a really fun thing last night. I had breakfast for dinner. I hadn't done that in a good long time, and it was, well, very good. You'll get that with Lent and all. I highly recommend it. I also visited the Art Museum, and it turns out I still don't understand art.

Oh well.

Ummmm.................................................................................................................................................................................


I really was thinking hard there.

Ow.

I think I blew a fuse.

is time It go. to


evaD

Antedeluvial dreams

I've seen many a thing in my time here, and some of it has been pretty wacky. But what I went through on Monday has left me, for once, quite beyond words.

Surreal was the only thing I could think of.

You may recall, a few months ago, my ramblings about my flooded basement, and the two inches of water in my driveway. If not, don't worry, it's not that big of a deal.

But imagine, if you will, water 2-3 times deeper, 10,000 gallons in the end, completely covering the entire surface of our main reading room at work. Also, imagine that the pressure from the ruptured pipe buckled the concrete, and caused giant pockets of water to form under the carpeting, forming a large island, and nearly tipping a few cases of books over.

That was my Monday, and I hope to have a picture here soon, since it more easily conveys the strangeness of it all.

I've also been given an edict not to take too many pictures, but I wasn't given any concrete reason, so, until the clean-up crews tell me to stay the hell out of their way, I'm gonna keep on. Granted, you can only shoot so much of people removing carpet, so I'm gonna take a break.

But still.

And really, there's nothing else to report anywhere near as interesting as that.

Not yet, at least...



wishing for a bigger boat,
Dave

Hey, look at me!

You are Schroeder!


Which Peanuts Character are You?
brought to you by Quizilla


So, I'm Schroeder, eh? I can live with that. But that neurosis business seems a bit off.

I'm not crazy, am I?

Am I??????

later days,
Dave

The Curse of Technology

So there was one other thing I wanted to make note of, but just remembered now.

As long as I've been learning photography, one of the big things I've taken away from it all is that altering an image is a bad thing. There's an old picture from a protest at Kent State University where someone has a piece of pole directly behind her head. It was taken out, and much complaining ensued. Time magazine got into a whol heap of trouble for darkening a picture of O.J. Simpson to make him appear more sinister. The Post got into trouble for taking out a can of Coke from a picture.

So it's just not good. You don't go around altering images like that, just because there's something kinda distracting. You either get over it or find another picture to use.

It's annual report time around here, which means lots of pictures being used. At one of our branches, there's a large quilted portrait thingy hanging over the main desk. It's rather creepy, so I do my best not to get it in the frame. Well, one of the pictures I shot is being used, and it happens to have a portion of the portrait in there. There was discussion of just using Photohop to 'take it out,' and I'm like, "you can't do that."

I mean, you CAN, but you know what I mean.

So, of course, our other designer comes in and says she'll just take it right out with Photoshop. Naturally, I'm a bit miffed. You don't go altering images just because something bugs you. Not in this context. In purely art-y things, like the program flyers I make, it's a bit more acceptable.

Anyways, I find out yesterday that the image was cropped tight enough to hide the offending portrait without digitally altering it.

But, because that would be too easy, I found out that another picture in the report is being altered. An exterior shot with some pipes in the foreground is being used, and a brush tool is being used to hide the pipes.

Why not just crop it like the other one?

Sorry if none of this makes sense, or if it rambles a bit. But it bugs me.

In the words of Tom Servo: "Just because you CAN edit, it doesn't mean you SHOULD."


Dave

I'll be here awhile, ain't going nowhere.

No, I still don't like Matrix: Revolutions.

I was not satisfied with how it answered the situation it set up.

So there.

An odd thing happened this morning: I woke up to my phone ringing a little before 7. I didn't pick up, since it was just a little too early for that. I can hear the answering machine through the floor though, so I could hear that it was Tom. So when the message was over, I checked to see the time, and realized, to near-horror, that I never set my alarm when I went to bed last night. So if Tom doesn't call, I oversleep something fierce.

Just for good measure, though, mom called 15 minutes later. So someone would have stirred me from slumber.

So I'm at work right now, and have nothing to do. It's a good 15 minutes before the boss shows up, so I have to kill some time. I hate it when that happens. I could be productive and try to create a job, but it's Friday, and well, just not today.

I'm so looking forward to next week. This week was a bit busier than I wanted, but next week, I have nothing going beyond guitar lessons. So I can hang around the house and make Steve do a bunch of silly chores.

It's gonna be good.

Someone brought us donuts this morning. I just thought I'd mention that.

I could mention some other things, but I'm gonna wait.

I have 2 pages of the website completely linked up and ready to go. That leaves, I believe, three to go, and the long task of uploading everything. Maybe by Monday we'll be good to go.

As always, updates as the situation warrants.



dancin' in the fields,
Dave

Is there Love in Space?

Or, for that matter, Kirksville?

That remains to be seen.

Updates as the situation warrante.

New Satriani album in stores April 13!!!

Visit to Kirksville the following weekend. Time for The Fifth Statement to jam and drool over said Satriani album. Also time to take care of other matters.

Again, updates as the situtation warrants.

I had a shoot at the NorCo Rec Center on Sunday (ice show, very cool---get it???), and took a moment to inspect the lake on the premises. There were some odd bits of vegetation growing in there, some brown, some green, kinda fir-tree-esque.

They be Christmas trees!

That's right, I found the secret Christmas Tree burial grounds of North County. Very strange. I took a picture (of course), so when I find out how to upload pictures to this site, I'll post it for all to see.

Speaking of sites, my site is looking damn good, and probably a week away from going online. I think you'll all enjoy it.

Speaking of such things, the ever-awesome Will Byington got my pictures on the Cowboy Mouth site!!! If you go there, head to the pictures section, and look under the 2004 stuff. Mine will be the 3 black and whites scattered throughout the others.

You rock, Will!!!

I went to the dentist again this morning and had three fillings done. Oddly enough, I think the standard cleaning was more annoying than this was. No pain, and I even got a mild dose of gas to "increase my pain tolerance by up to 50%."

Cool, huh?

I also dog-sat for dad, which went well. He behaved nicely, we went for a walk, and had a jolly-good time. I still prefer my cats, though.

That said, I'm gonna go take care of a few bits of tax business.



Carry on and you won't feel withdrawn,
Dave

I'm in a good way, on a bad day, thinkin' up a plan, a way to stay on top of it, nailin' it.

Ah, so Wednesday was March 11--3/11 day. And what does that mean?

How about 311 playing a 68 song set?

Very, very wow. I must say. Apparently, the show was recorded for a DVD. So hopefully, the "suits switching the emphasis from art to money" won't try and edit it down to one disc's worth of songs (i.e. the hits). If they do, they should pull a Flecktones, and have the full show for diehards, and a short version for casual fans. I mean, jeez, they played Use of Time, Eons, AND Sometimes Jacks Rule the Realm. What more could I want?

I will track down a recording, oh yes.

In other news, yesterday was a day, that's for sure. The first anything anyone said to me at work yesterday:

"Dave, can you take me to the hospital?"

Our other assistant graphic designer got to work, and her heart started hurting, pulse quickened, and then she started feeling dizzy, light headed, etc. So I drove her over to MO Baptist, and got her to the ER. Thankfully, there was nothing serious wrong (actually, the doctor couldn't find anything whatsoever). And she was fine when we left. Actually hung around at work for another couple hours. I got to spend some quality time in the waiting room. Kinda dull, really. No newspaper, magazines. Nothing to watch except for Today. People came in with various ailments, but nothing too serious.

Which means ER makes up a lot of stuff for the show, or we picked a bad time to come in terms of excitement.

Went out with some friends last night for dinner. It's terribly hard to eat out on Fridays during Lent, believe you me. 4 of us ended up ordering the same thing. Really, though, I think we all just want to be like Bobbie. There was the threat of dancing afterwards, but we were able to avoid that, which is good, because, frankly, I think I have the moves of a walrus.

I waited all day to finally type that line.

Although, and here's the odd thing, I put up such a fuss about not going dancing. However, when we do go, I usually get dragged out on the floor and end up having a pretty good time anyways. So I think my moaning and griping is more of a 'thing' I have now. Sort of like my refusal to actually go in Old Navy, even though I'll order stuff online.

You'll get that.

We ended up going to Dave and Buster's last night, which is always good fun. Lots of silly games with guns. So it's probably perpetuating the culture of violence or something, especially considering the large number of youngsters playing the games. So, I guess it boils down to parents or whoever having enough common sense to not be an idiot in real life.

And isn't that a good thing to keep in mind?

I actually have nothing to do today, so I'm gonna try to get my website finished. When it's online, I'll be sure to plug it very shamelessly.



If we took the bones out, it wouldn't be crunchy,
Dave

Cat's Cradle

So, if you're like me at all (and, I heartily dissuade you all from it), you find that the mall is nothing more than a place to kill time before guitar lessons. Or maybe buy a birthday card. But not much else. So, since I have no real reason to be there, I try to find ways to makethe trip a bit more interesting. A few ideas if any of you find yourself in the same situation:

1.) keep an eye on someone walking in front of you, and try to match their pace, step by step

2.) when on the escalator, stand straight up, arms crossed behind your back, and stare straight ahead. no blinking, no twitching, no nothing. then, when you feel your feet hit the end, step off and move as you normally would

3.) when you're walking around, change speeds for no good reason

4.) stand and stare up to the next level, but not at anything in particular

5.) try criss-crossing around benches, dividers, etc

6.) stop and turn around, again, for no good reason

7.) try chaging the way to walk. longer stride, short stride. make your own silly walks!

As I said, it's probably not the best idea if you're like me. But you know, if it helps the trip to the mall get a little more exciting, than it's worth it.

Cuidado, llamas!!!
Dave

Lords of Karma

I like to use lines from songs I'm listening to for my subject headings. But what to do when I'm listening to a lot of Joe Satriani, who's catalogue is 98% instrumental? I can't very well type out a bunch of notes, it just wouldn't make much sense. The answer, I think, is to stick an audio file at the top instead of a title.

So I'll get on that.

Something I meant to post yesterday, but forgot. As a frequenter of online forums and such, it's inevitable that someone will post something ignorant, stupid, etc etc, and use the reasoning that "if you don't like it, don't read it." That always bugged me, but I just put together why the other day: it's a convenient way for people to not take responsibility for their actions, which seems to be a popular thing to do these days. Yeah, people have a right to say what they think, but there should still be SOME amount of common sense applied to it. Or is that asking too much? If we can't take responsibility for ourselves on a measley message board, it's no wonder things get so messed up in real life.

So that's my rant for today, and probably this month, as I don't do that too often.

Here's something odd: I was at the dentist today, and my dentist has gone super high tech, it would seem. All the assistants have headsets so they're in constant contact with each other, digital camera stuff for instant pictures of those lovely cavities, and today (are you ready for this?) they have PC monitors on swivel arms that have TV running through them. Now I can watch the Today show while they scrape my molars! Oh goody!

And doesn't it seem like a good idea to keep metal hooks away from my cavitiies? Yeah, that's what I thought. So why do they keep poking and prodding them?

I've posted quite a bit the past few days, I've noticed. No particular reason, other than I actually have a lot to say for a change.

Oh! Big news on the Godzilla front. This year marks the 50th anniversary of the original Gojira in Japan, so the next movie is gonna be uber-exciting. 10 monsters, apparently, a bigger budget, and a longer shooting time (generally they might spend less than a year on shooting). So this promises to be very, very cool. Godzilla: Final Wars.

Cool, eh?

wishing for some chocolate mousse,
Dave

Then Came the Last Days of May

In early March, no less.

Important item I learned last night: napkins and pepper make for very interesting art pieces.

Neo-deconstructionalist was the term I used.

However, it's very succeptible to....well, people, "sneezing," if you know what I mean, and I think you do.

Anyways.

I also owe Steve another apology for forgetting to actually come home last night.

Sorry! I'm such a clod.

I was at church last week, and, because my brain does these things, started wondering what song was #666 in the Music Issue. Or, did they skip over it? Turns out they don't, and the song is "Save Us, O Lord." Seems kinda fitting, maybe, but I don't think I've ever heard that particular number used in Mass. Guess it would be a bit odd.

I'm in the tedious process of revamping the 'ol website. It seems to be coming along well. I have the main pages set, now it's a matter of picking what goes on each page, and loading it onto the server.

Updates as the situation warrants.


Special assistant to the moose,
Dave

Giant Hordes of Locusts

Killer man, killer.

Keep your eyes open for bulldozers.

So last night, I acheived a monumental breakthrough: I finally got my pictures edited to show to the stringer dude at the Post.

That's right, I managed to take nearly 200 images and whittle it down to 28. Maybe it's 30. I don't recall exactly, but I do have it down to something an editor can look at in under an hour.

For those interested: 13 are from my time with the Journal at Webster
6 are from my internship at the West End Word
4 are from NorCo Journal freelancing
4 are from work
1 is from my personal shooting

So that's 28. Maybe I'll add a couple more later, but that's it for now. A bit heavy on the school stuff, I suppose, but I did shoot an awful lot in my 3 semesters there.

On a related note, I shot nearly 250 just on Destry and managed to knock that down to 84 for the cast to look at.

And I still haven't finished my taxes. I really need to get on that.

On a completely UNrelated note, I got my kitchen clean today. Janice, however, will probably be disappointed that I have yet to start painting my bathroom, as I mentioned I might do this weekend. I will, however, peel the wallpaper tomorrow and paint next weekend.

Sorry, Janice.

Okay. I'm gonna stop, since I can't even ramble very well today.

Sad, really.

A moose once bit my sister...


Dave

Destry lives!

This is why I love shooting DDP plays.

Well, one reason, at least.

Fun Fr. Craig quotes!!! Whee!!!

Here's tonight's: "You can pick the sauce off!"

Said to, as Steve woulc calll him, TCal.

Fun times.

My two other favorites, from 'Anything Goes:' "Loud, keep it quiet...God knows what that means." and "I need to see the underwear before you leave."

Heh. Jesuits. Gotta love 'em. Other reasons I like shooting the plays include the fact that I get a lot of great shots, I get to see some great shows, and, well, yes, I make a few extra bucks. But really, watching the shows is as good as anything. I really do prefer watching the DDP shows as opposed to, say, something at the Muny. I dunno why. It's just the overall atmosphere or something.

So I shot almost 130 pictures tonight. In the first act!!! Then my battery went dead, so I have to go back tomorrow for act two. But still. 130!!! I guess digital does have an advantage or two.

Anyways. That's all I got.

Moosily yours,
Dave