Live Music

It had been a while since the last time I'd had a chance to see the Backstabbing Good People perform but I was invited to see them gig at Peter's Pub in Oakland last Wednesday night. I was also lucky enough that Clinton, the leader of the group, was totally fine with me taking photos and videos. Also, I got in free; thanks, Dave!

It was an interesting experience taking photos and that setting. It's a little rough because it's dark and the subjects were moving, so I had to try a bunch of settings combinations. A 1/25 second shutter speed, 1600 ISO, and waiting til band was not so motion-y turned out to be my best bet.

Also, I was pleasantly surprised that the audio recorded by my little video camera actually sounds quite good. Unfortunately, my SD card filled up in the middle of the fourth tune. Here are three that I managed to get in entirety.

This is Be My Lover, an original.

And yes, I know the sax player was soloing in the wrong key :\

The second is Family Tree, also an original and the first tune on their album.

They usually cover Ain't No Sunshine, by Bill Withers, and for good reason.

The Necessary Things

Normally I don't go for the fake meat products, but occasionally I will try one out. This past week I picked up some Tofurkey Philly Style Steak.

Pan fried with onion, green pepper, and mushrooms it's actually really convincing. And since it's nearly impossible to find vegan buns, I cut almost through a thick slice of bread and just stuffed the goodness in there and baked it til the bread was toasted and the Daiya mozzarella was melty.

When I describe what I had for a late lunch today, a confused stare is the usual response. The spicy peanut wrap is basically a copy of a popular dish served at The Quiet Storm. It's just scrambled tofu, peanut butter, spinach, raisins, and hot sauce. They put cucumbers in it too, but I don't bother.

Everyone's method for making scrambled tofu is different, but I tend to mix in some mustard powder, chili powder, garlic, turmeric, minced onion, and a handful of nutritional yeast. And look what deliciousness ensues.

My only other excitement for the day was receiving this in the mail ...

which I shall dive into ................... Now!

Friday

It's not often that you wake up on a February morning, make some coffee, step outside and are shocked by the fact that's it's sunny and nearly seventy degrees out.

I'm not sure what it is about nice weather, and usually when it's not the norm, but it's inspirational. When an unseasonably pleasant day comes along, it's nearly impossible to just relax. Needless to say, I pumped myself full of coffee, went on a mad cleaning frenzy, and went to the park to catch the sunset.

Of course by Monday, the weather reminded me that it is still February, and that everybody in Pittsburgh needs to take a class on how to drive in the snow.

Nature is such a tease some times.

More Long Exposure

Keeping with the long-exposure photography trend, I walked down to the overpass to take some shots of the parkway.

25-second exposure 1600 ISO

30-second exposure, 1600 ISO

30-second exposure, 800 ISO

All of them were at a 23 aperture focal length to get the greatest depth of field.

This getting to be more fun every day.

Moving Lights

Since I got my new camera, I've been reveling in the endless possibilities it offers. One possibility that I find myself particularly attracted to is experimenting with different shutter speeds and particularly, the ability to do light paintings.

Here are a few that I was fond of.

I also started playing around with the lighting of various scenes with different colours and a 30-second exposure. What's come out so far has been really surreal.

Weather: CLE-0 PGH-1

It seems like all I've heard about lately was the terrible weather. Granted, that's all been from Ohio people. The proclaimed 'Snowpoccalypse" shut down schools and universities with it's snowfall and freezing rain.

Tell me again why Pittsburgh sucks?

While all this weather-related nonsense was happening just one hundred miles west, we got rain. Then it got cold, but not before streets had a chance to dry out completely. It seems to be a trend just reinforcing my residency here.

Except for when this happened:

It was like "Where's Waldo" but a huge pain in the ass, and my car's name is Mr. T

But at least people were prepared and innovative:

It was also beautiful:

But that was an isolated incident, so I think I'll stick it out here.

2010-2011

I spent New Years Eve on the couch watching The Matrix and playing around with my new camera. In celebration of the passing of quite the decade I wanted a good "at midnight" picture. So this is how I spent the passing of a decade.