Category: Media

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 20, 20157:24 am

Flickr a Day 232: ‘An Auspicious New Year — Sex on the Beach with Sweet Bitch’

Clever is how I describe today’s selection. The shot appeals, but surely self-titled “An Auspicious New Year—Sex on the Beach with Sweet Bitch” teaches something. Perhaps it’s the stated topic, or use of “sex” and “bitch”, that racked up more than 158,000 views since Timothy Janecyk shot the black and white on Jan. 1, 2013, using Nikon D700 and 35mm f/1.4 lens. Vitals: f/10, ISO 200, 1/400 sec, 35.6mm.

“When I woke up, I thought it was all a dream or something”, he teases. “What an amazing start to the New Year! Sex on the beach with Sweet Bitch. I couldn’t ask for anything more than that. I am the luckiest guy in the world. I hope your New Year is off to as good a start as mine! Happy New Year!” But Timothy’s escapade wasn’t a woman. Sex on the Beach is a cocktail recipe and Sweet Bitch Moscato Rose is a wine. Not being a drinker, other than a wee bit during my 18th year (legal age in 1977), I wouldn’t know.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 19, 20156:57 am

Flickr a Day 231: ‘The Courage Wall’

First looking at the photostream of Dan Reed, I puzzled over the perspective and subjects, which are unlike anything else yet featured in this series. He shoots streets, buildings, and such from vantage points that are atypical. Then I read his bio. He’s an architect and city planner. Dan looks at things with a dramatically different eye than I would; he sees things in another context that is refreshing and revealing.

Dan shares his insights at blog “Just Up the Pike“, which refers to Maryland Route 29, or Columbia Pike. Our daughter was born when we lived off 29, just outside Silver Spring, which is Dan’s hometown.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 18, 20157:03 am

Flickr a Day 230: ‘The Real Batman’

Last night, a Washington Post story compelled me to make a quick change in today’s selection. Lenny Robinson, better known around the Washington, D.C. area as the Route 29 Batman, was struck and killed after […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 17, 20156:51 am

Flickr a Day 229: ‘Big and Mean in Hazel Green’

I don’t know what best describes the photostream of Pete Zarria—urban decay, rural iconic, or something else. The Davenport, Iowa, native primarily shoots signs and buildings across the U.S. Midwest. They give a sense of […]

News Media by Joe WilcoxAug 16, 201512:56 pm

Discussing Chromebook’s Success

One of the problems with bad news reporting: Those of us who strive to be responsible and accurate are lumped in with the lumps of coal, and the black powder rubs off on us. Illustrative: The excellent exchange I had over at BetaNews to the version of my Dell Chromebook 13 story posted there.

Commenter Joe HTH bristled about bloggers overstating NPD data and making Chromebook’s success much larger than it really is. I agree that this occurred about 18 months ago. But he levels his accusations at my reporting , which I assert correctly stats and interprets newer data that the analyst firm released just a few days ago. What follows is his comment and my response, in red and blue rather than block-quoted. I put story titles to my links, which are presented differently in the commenting system.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 16, 20157:34 am

Flickr a Day 228: ‘Two Visitors’

Searching for photos to feature, I come across many stinkers. The worst offenders are those with greatest potential: Composition is excellent, but the image is blurry—perhaps being out of focus or because of camera shake. […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 15, 20157:24 am

Flickr a Day 227: ‘Curious Minds’

The photo service now owned by Yahoo shed some early adopters. David Tomic is among them. He joined Flickr in June 2005 but stopped posting the following year, despite clear enthusiasm as a “self-taught photographer”. […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 14, 20156:52 am

Flickr a Day 226: ‘White Flint Mall’

My daughter grew up going to the enclosed shopping center in Kensington, Md, where we lived for nearly a decade. There once was a kid’s play place on the third floor that was affordable and fun. Gone. We bought manga books, calendars, and tasty treats from the Borders. Gone. Molly trick-or-treated store to store on Halloween. No more, kiddies. My wife and I bought our wedding rings in a jewelry store that also is gone. The 850,000 square-foot upscale consumer cathedral closed earlier this year. Demolition is underway, and a court case brought by Lord & Taylor against the center’s management went before a jury earlier this week. Our memories, and those of others, are all that remain.

I chose self-titled “White Flint Mall”, which Mike Kalasnik shot on June 30, 2012, for its timeliness to current events. He used iPhone 4s, and for the first time in this series I slightly cropped a photo (to remove yellow road lines). Vitals: f/2.4, ISO 64, 1/2404 sec, 4.3mm. Mike, who joined Flickr in July 2007, runs the “Dead and Dying Retail” website, which offers startling look at urban decay.

News Media by Joe WilcoxAug 13, 201510:38 pm

The Paywall Problem

This week the long-dreaded Washington Post renewal email plunked into my inbox. So ends a glorious year of reading the digital newspaper on PC and tablet. My cheap thrill ride is over: “Your subscription will be renewed for a year on Aug. 26, 2015, at the rate of $149/year. As you’ve requested, payments for your subscription to the Post are automatically charged to your credit card”. I requested nothing. The Post imposed auto-renewal, which I cancelled the next day. My sub now ends on August 26.

Twelve months ago, the Post made an amazing email offer, good for just 24 hours: “Get a Full Year of Unlimited Digital Access FOR AS LOW AS JUST $19!” Wow, what a deal. We splurged and went digital on any device for another ten bucks. Washington Post is worth $29 a year—and it’s a good value for $149, too. But all the paywall news sites want that kind of cash or more from me. I’m willing to pay for good journalism, but my budget can’t accommodate them all.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 13, 20157:13 am

Flickr a Day 225: ‘They Exist’

Sometimes the right self-title makes the photo—”They Exist”, which Boris SV shot on May 10, 2010. “Well, they did not welcome the UFO”, he says. “As you can see, I was among them but turning […]

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 12, 20157:18 am

Flickr a Day 224: ‘Piercing’

Our selection is so odd, or my ability to process the elements so lame, only the photographer’s explanation can make sense of it. “I went to the Institute for Contemporary Art today”, Nicholas “Nic” McPhee says of self-titled “Piercing”, captured on June 30, 2105. “As we passed through the Boston Financial District on our way there, we stumbled across ‘As if it were already there‘ by Janet Echeman. This is a big, glorious public art sculpture installation in the sky above a park—the Rose Kennedy Greenway”.

The suspended structure went up in May and goes down in October. So don’t delay getting to Bean Town if you want to see it. “This is actually a brightly colored—if the light catches it correctly—net/mesh of high strength fibers and LEDs that actually lights up in quite brilliant color at night”, Nic says. “I highly recommend the wonderful pictures on her website, which include some cool night shots”.

Photo by Joe WilcoxAug 11, 20157:17 am

Flickr a Day 223: ‘New York — The Long End’

Perspective takes the Day—a March 22, 2013 capture from the hands of Jacob Aurland. Self-titled “New York—The Long End” is a “vintage looking american school bus on New York, 5th Avenue, just infront of the Plaza Hotel […]