Tilt Shift video (I LOVE this effect)

Fire (Jimmy Edgar Remix) from Erik West on Vimeo.

For those of you who don't know - tilt shift photography is a recent 'rage' - its simply taking a picture (those from 'afar' work best) and processing with a simple algorithm that 'fuzzes' the more forward items and makes distant ones appear more ...distant. That is why there is always a 'fuzzy' part of the picture. For how to make your own on the web, go here. This is also being used in the title opening for 'Dollhouse' - Joss Whedon's new show on fox.

LA trip over holiday break -

as promised, here is a follow up from the previous post of our 4 day trip down to LA to get some dumplings. Yes, we went for dumplings and made a trip around it for the rest.

First off - this being a 'quest trip' (Definition: a quest trip is a trip with a sole purpose to find/see/do a specific thing and not to be confused with a leisure trip or a destination trip.) - we wrapped everything around going to Din Tai Fung. After we accomplished that, it was a matter of following our desires.

We stayed at the Fairmont Hotel in Santa Monica. Not in LA but in a more relaxing setting to be sure. We had a cute bungalow which helped emphasis the relaxing part. Well worth the stay - near 3rd street promenade shopping area which is great for walking around and of course the Pacific Ocean sitting right outside our window. Picture above is the 110+ year old fig tree from the entrance to the hotel and of course the one here is the Santa Monica board walk.

We went to the Getty Museum (highly recommended) at night - some great views of LA along the way and from the garden at the Getty. Took in 2 movies - 7Lbs with Will Smith and Revolutionary Road with Leo and Kate. The latter being a preview screening of the film - and we saw both in the newer theaters with assigned seating (pick them at tix purchase time). Prefer seeing movies this way. But the upshot is neither of these films are 'pick me ups' so they were a bit of a downer for the trip - worth seeing just not on top of each other.

Spent a great day out in Pasadena at the Hunting Gardens and then checking out the Greene and Greene style of craftsman houses. Absolutely a favorite of mine.

So the main quest was to go to get some dumplings but we also had a minor quest add - to visit the home of the originator of the French Dip sandwhich - Phillippes. This place was old school and PACKED. Just how many people can you cram into a single place to get cheap eats at 2pm on a Saturday you ask?

LOTS! Yes, all these people are waiting in a line for a simple french loaf, split in the middle to host a small selection of sliced beef (or lamb) and a ton of au jus. It was simple but fantastic. And cheap indeed - the sandwhich was about $4 bucks and the coffee is .09 cents! Well worth the 50 minutes wait (yes, almost one hour in side waiting just to order).

The last portion of this quest trip was to go and see the Bradbury building - a sight to behold when crafstmanship and pride went into things people built. For more pictures, head over to picassa and take a look at the LA trip folder. Its all there for you to enjoy.

Grammy's (not the post you expected I bet)

So I don't normally care for awards shows - I watch them, I just don't find they carry much weight and typically get so mad at who was even nominated (or really NOT nominated) that I find myself not thrilled.

Then they go on and on with some self-important montage of the top 5 in whatever the top category is (Film of the year, Album of the Year, Short Story turned into a Live Musical/Comedy or animated feature, you get the jibe). Followed by a tribute to those who have passed on since the last awards gathering - which makes me say the following: Who was that? Oh yeah, I forgot they died. Oh man - they were still alive, I thought they died a long time ago? And of course, Who was that?

Well the Grammy's stood out in one way - the good way. At least they attempted to entertain by show casing the MUSIC. Again, not thrilled with all the noms or the missed nominations but I did appreciate more of the performances than ever before.

By far the stand out for me was Radiohead and the USC Trojan Marching band. Here is were I would normally show a clip from some grammys.com web site but alas, the real reason the music industry is dying is due to the fact they don't understand this 'internets' thing and aren't using it appropriately.

CASE IN POINT: Radiohead gave away their album - the very same album up for alternative album of the year (it won) - in a move that sent shudders through the industry. Well, those in the industry who even knew about Radiohead.

What happened? They sold more than 120,000 copies in the first week of release of the physical album almost 5 months after it was available for free on the web. Free - or actually 'pay what you want' - directly from Radiohead's website. They aren't saying how many people paid but millions downloaded the album.

So here I sit typing this up and would love to show you the clip - hell, directly point to it from the Grammy site, but alas it isn't online. And if it were on Youtube, they would only demand it get pulled down anyway. Instead of increasing attention and getting people to pay for a copy once they find it.

Turns out it works for video too. Check out this Monty Python experiment that is similar to what Radiohead tried. Sales climbed 23000%. No, that is not a typo. C'mon industry - realize people want to buy your stuff, *IF* its quality. Show them it is and BLAMO, instant sales!

So long and thanks for all the fish ....smell

Before we forget and start blaming Obama in a few months for the flaming bag of turd left on the white house front porch, here are a few things to recall Obama inherited:

# National Debt Increase: $4.9 trillion.

National Debt as of Jan. 15, 2009: $10.6 trillion
Debt when Mr. Bush took office: $5.7 trillion
(Source: U.S. Treasury Dept.)

# Number Of Political Fund-Raisers Attended By President Bush: 338

# Amount Or Money Raised At These Fund-Raisers: $802,586,070
(Some campaigns refused to disclose the amounts)

# Number Of Baseball Games Attended: 12
(Including Game 3 of the World Series in Yankee Stadium on Oct. 30, 2001)

# Number Of All Sporting Events Attended: 98
(Counting the Beijing Olympics as one)

# Number of Cabinet Meetings: 49

# Number Of Times President Bush Had Dinner Out At A Restaurant: 21

# U.S. Military Deaths In Iraq: 4,228
(Source: Dept of Defense as of Jan. 16, 2009)

# U.S. Military Deaths In Afghanistan: 634
(Source: Dept. of Defense as of Jan. 16, 2009)

# Medals Of Honor Bestowed By Pres. Bush: 12
(Nine were awarded posthumously. Four were for service in Iraq, 1 for Afghanistan.)

# Number Of Commencement Speeches Delivered: 23
(The last one was Dec 12, 2008, at Texas A&M)

# Number Of Visits To Camp David: 149, totaling all or part of 487 days.

# Number Of Foreign Leader Visits To Camp David: 19, including 3 by British Prime Minister Tony Blair and 2 by Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed al Nahyan of Abu Dhabi, UAE.

# Number Of Visits To His Texas Ranch: 77, totaling all or part of 490 days.

# Number Of Foreign Leader Visits To His Texas Ranch: 20, including 2 by King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia (Crown Prince at the time) and 2 by President Vicente Fox of Mexico.

# Number Of Visits To His Parents’ Home In Kennebunkport, Maine: 11, totaling all or part of 43 days.

# Number Of Out Of Town Domestic Trips: 609
(That's not counting Camp David visits or bike riding outings)

# Number Of Foreign Trips: 49

# Number Of Foreign Nations Visited: 75

# Foreign Nations Visited Most: Mexico, Italy and Russia, 6 times each.

# Number Of Rounds Of Golf Played As President: 24
(The last one on Oct. 13, 2003. President Bush has since explained that he stopped playing golf out of respect for the families of Americans killed in the war in Iraq.)

# Number Of Katrina-Related Visits To The Gulf Coast: 18

# Number Of Formal, Solo, White House News Conferences: 44

# Total Number Of News Conferences: 212
(Including many joint sessions with foreign leaders at home and abroad)

# Number Of News Conferences At Which Shoes Were Thrown At Him: 1

# Number Of Presidential Pardons: 189

By Comparison:

Bill Clinton: 396
George H.W. Bush: 74
Ronald Reagan: 393
Jimmy Carter: 534
Gerald Ford: 382
Richard Nixon: 863
Lyndon Johnson: 960
John Kennedy: 472
Dwight Eisenhower: 1110
Harry S. Truman: 1913

# Number Of Commutations Of Sentence: 11

# Number Of Recess Appointments: 165
(Source: Senate Historian)

Democrats blocked the practice in the fall of 2007 by keeping the Senate in session even during holiday periods.

# Addresses To The Nation: 23
(The last was his Farewell Address on Jan. 15, 2009)

# Addresses To Joint Sessions Of Congress: 9
(Of which 7 were State of the Union speeches)

# State Dinners For Foreign Leaders: 6

Pres. Vicente Fox of Mexico
Pres. Alexander Krasniewski of Poland
Pres. Gloria Arroyo of the Philippines
Pres. Mwai Kibaki of Kenya
Queen Elizabeth II of UK
Pres. John Kufuor of Ghana

# States Not Visited As President: 1, Vermont.
(Last of the other 49 to be visited: Rhode Island, June 28, 2007.)

# Vetoes: 12, including 1 pocket veto.
(President Bush did not cast his first veto until his sixth year in office - a measure to extend federal funding of stem cell research.)

By comparison:

Bill Clinton cast 37 (not counting line item vetoes)
George H.W. Bush: 44
Reagan: 78
Carter: 31
Ford: 66
FDR: 635

# Vetoes Overridden By Congress: 4

H.R. 1495 - the Water Resources Development Act of 2007
H.R. 2419 - the $289-billion "Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008”
H.R. 6124 - The “Food, Conservation and Energy Act of 2008.”
H.R. 6331 - the “Medicare Improvements for Patients and Providers Act of 2008.”

# Number Of Flights On Air Force One: 1,674
(Source: Presidential Airlift Group)

# Number Of Miles Flown On Air Force One: 1,490,698
(Presidential Airlift Group)

# Number Of Chiefs Of Staff: 2, Andrew Card and Josh Bolten.

# Number Of Press Secretaries: 4, Ari Fleischer, Scott McClellan, Tony Snow and Dana Perino.