There is an art to shooting with models. The style of Jonathan Emmanuel Flores Tarello reminds of Day 89 photographer Gabriela Camerotti: Dreamy and ethereal, with a touch of fantasy. I chose today’s selection, which is among […]
Author: Joe Wilcox
Survivor
Frak the critics. I really enjoyed Survivor, which released to theatres yesterday. Or not. The official reviews are dated May 28 or 29, 2015, but I can’t find the movie playing on the big screen anywhere locally. I streamed from Google Play, which has the film for rental or purchase, last evning.
I didn’t read reviews until after watching the flick and seeing something shocking: Rotten Tomatoes 0 percent. Yes, Yes, the action thriller is overly predictable. But sometimes you sit down to eat fine steak and wine, while other times glutton down s`mores and ice cream. Burp. Pass the Bud, Bud. Survivor is a junk food feast along the lines of Taken—which got two sequels!
Flickr a Day 150: ‘Fischer am Nebeligen Erlaufsee’
Self-titled “21er Haus“, at Museum moderner Kunst, Wien (Museum of Modern Art) in Vienna, Austria—taken just 5 days ago—seemed sure to take the Day. Jakob Hürner used iPhone 5s, which produced a photo that is remarkably balanced […]
Google Photos is Disruptive Innovation
Google Photos is more than an exciting—and hugely transforming—new product. The app/cloud service is a metaphor for an escalating mobile business model that, with perhaps the exception of Facebook, no competitor has the capacity to match.
Users gain tremendous time-saving utility, such as the ability to meaningfully search using innocuous terms like “dog” or “Washington”, all without the need to manually add metadata tags by way of applications like Photoshop. Meanwhile, Google gets access to quantifiable information, in the image and accompanying metadata, around which to sell advertising and related contextual content or services.
Flickr a Day 149: Steal
Living in Syracuse, Utah, R. Nial Bradshaw is a photographer for the U.S. Department of Defense. His photostream is phenomenal and, thus, nearly impossible to choose from. I narrowed the number to 70 from the […]
Flickr a Day 148: ‘Power’
Sometimes simple makes the best photographic art. Composition is excellent. The eye draws to ultra-crisp “Power”—the self-title—then up the tilt-way plugs. Color and contrast are superb. Ricardo Camacho captured the image on March 6, 2012, […]
Google Music tempts Me from Tidal
My love affair with Tidal nears dissolution. The second month’s renewal is five days away, and divorce is nearly certain now. Mid-month I asked: “What Good is Tidal HiFi if Content won’t Play?” Matters are better and worse since. I no longer have the song stalls in the webapp running from Chrome OS. But track jumping behavior now afflicts Nexus 6—not just its tablet sibling.
On the phablet late this morning, I switched over to Google Music for a quick refresher comparison between identical tracks. I most certainly can hear the difference between 320kbps MP3 and Tidal’s 1411kbps Free Lossless Audio Codec. But the aural benefits are valueless if I can’t listen. Google Music invited me to resubscribe, with half a year free; it’s some kind of promotion for Nexus 6 buyers. How could I refuse no billing until after Thanksgiving? November feels forever away.
Flickr a Day 147: ‘Old Lady’
If you asked reasons for today’s selection, several would stand out. Top of list: Exhaustion that makes me identify with the subject. That’s how I feel after searching the photostream of Oliver Degabriele; I could choose any and most every image for the Day. Composition, color, and contrast also appeal, and I find something old-worldly and interesting about self-titled “Old Lady”.
But I like “Soundcheck” as much, but passed even though it more topically represents the photographer, who also is a musician. As the series progresses, increasingly my choices are influenced by previous picks. We bad musical performance themes on Days 12, 16, 92, and 100.
Nokia Lumia Icon: When Great Isn’t Good Enough
I am lucky enough to have three sisters—Laurette, the youngest, and fraternal twins Annette and Nanette—but no brother(s). Nan, who is the tech savviest, rang on May 22, 2015, saying she had reached the inflection point of frustration finding apps she wanted or absolutely needed for the Nokia Lumia Icon purchased from me during summer last.
From Day 1, she praised the utility and usability of the user interface, attractive but sturdy design, and amazing hardware capabilities, which include the quality of images produced by the camera. But pushing a year later, with Windows Phone 8.1 installed and little improvement in the selection of apps that matter, She’d sacrificed enough.
Nan asked my advice about a replacement. Should she return to iPhone (she used the 4 before Icon) or get an Android? Her user story illuminates what can happen when someone entrenched in the Microsoft ecosystem raises his or her head above ground and sniffs the Android and Apple air.
Flickr a Day 146: ‘V8 Supercars Pitstop’
I wouldn’t have guessed today’s selection, when first opening the photostream of Dave Wilson. Self-titled “V8 Supercars Pitstop” wins the Day for color, composition, and drama. You can feel the intensity and drive (no pun […]
Don’t Talk Dumb About Smartwatches
Sunday afternoon, I cleaned out old CDs from a folder to make room for DVDs the family will keep but in more manageable storage. The things we save and forget about: install disc for the Suunto N3i MSN Direct smartwatch. The discovery is opportunity to express one of my ongoing gripes regarding news gathering today: Wild speculation about things to come that ignores context of past accomplishments.
Consider the smartphone, which you would think Apple invented based on all the blog blathering. Credit belongs to Nokia, about 20 years ago. Then there is the smartwatch. My feedbox fills with increasing speculation about when Microsoft will develop a wristwear platform or when will traditional timepiece makers produce the devices. Been there, done that.
Flickr a Day 145: ‘Flower-Sunrise’
Memorial Day arrives here in the United States—and a little earlier in May than is typical. What better way to celebrate than with self-titled “Flower-Sunrise”, which Tony Heyward captured on April 19, 2013, using the […]