What with Monday's termination announcement of Kodak's oldest colour film (as well as the world's first and oldest colour film dating back to 1935), it is something sad, but not unexpected to hear. It was a complex, 14-step development process which could never be done at your local corner photo lab. And unlike every other colour film ever made by anyone, it was actually a triple-layer black and white film sensitized to red, green, and blue. The complementing three hues were added to the film during the development process. All other colour films, by contrast, have the colour dyes put in when the film is made, and those dyes are what react with light when the picture is taken. That triple-layer feature of Kodachrome is why it was able to give special definition to certain colours — particularly reds, browns, blues, and yellows. It was particularly forgiving to all skin hues and was probably best known for the 1985 National Geographic magazine cover featuring an Afghan girl who was refugeed during the war between the Soviets and the Afghani mujahideen.

The other great thing about Kodachrome is its ability to not fade over time. Kodachromes shot in the early 1940s still look like they were shot last week. Each snapshot, like those shot in 1942, becomes an ineffable time capsule.

I only began shooting Kodachrome in 2008, although my dad shot a lot of it when I was little. I came to know Kodachrome from the Kodak Carousel slide shows we'd look through as a family when I was about 8 or so. I think the last time we did one of those after-dinner summertime slide shows was a year or two after we went to Colorado on a road trip (which was July 1980 during the epic heat wave that killed nearly everything). But my own introduction to Kodachrome was delayed by about ten years: in 1997 and early 1998, when I started shooting, the local camera shop where I bought my camera tried to steer me away from Kodachrome (and succeeded), because they said it took time to develop (they mailed it out) and was "difficult to work with". So I believed them and stayed away from it. In other words, I went ahead and started shooting mostly colour slide film from about April 1998 anyway, even though they tried to get me to use colour negative film (which I quickly came to dislike).

So when I realized how endangered Kodachrome was (only one place in the world was processing it) and saw the way it reproduced colour, I started buying rolls of it in batches from auctions online. I am continually amazed by the way it renders colour in the way my eye actually saw that colour. It is a rendering that I cannot replicate with any other film, and certainly not with any digital camera. It also has what is called a high acutance — or sharpness at the edges of objects — that is not seen with digital imaging (which, being a traditionalist, is not "photography" as there is no "graph"). Looking at the film itself, such as in front of a light, is a treat that cannot be described adequately in words.

So here are a few of my faves that were shot between March 2008 and August 2008. I have several, but I'll keep it to a handful or so. I have other shots going right up through yesterday, the day Kodak announced the end of Kodachrome, but they have yet to be either processed or scanned. Incidentally, 45-year-old rangefinder camera was loaded with Kodachrome when I walked at convocation last week; my dad, who flew here to see it, was using a camera, too: a Kodak digital point-and-shoot.

Oh, how the mighty had fallen.

( Kodachromic )

Tags: film, kodachrome
Current Location: Double-strike town
How I feel: a little blue
What I hear: oscillating fan

From this point forward, everyone gets to guess what cities these are. I will be throwing a few curves along the way. Pay particular attention to colour temperatures, grids, clusters, and overall luminosity and albedo (surface reflectivity). Also pay notice to what isn't there.



[Image in the public domain, courtesy ISS]

Tags: light pollution, urban design, urban dna, urban planning
Current Location: in front of my laptop
How I feel: slightly headachey
What I hear: The Models :: Barbados [1985]

( You can learn a lot about a city's history and its urban form by studying its light footprint: )

[Images in the public domain, courtesy ISS]

Tags: illumination signatures, light footprint, light pollution, research
Current Location: on the ground
What I hear: Roman Grey :: Shangri-La [1988]

I was invited on a guest membership to come to the 10th CONvergence, my first since 2002 (I was at the first four, so I guess that makes me a founding member, even though it's been so long). I never wanted to break the tradition, but hey, moving far away sorta does that. But wanting to come to the tenth CONvergence was in the making since 1999. And I still want to go to Chernobyl in 2011!

So the hard part is covered. Now the easy part, which is harder than the hard part: finding a way to travel to Bloomington from Toronto. That costs money, you know. Maybe if they stuff me into a suitcase and hold me in freight.

I'm almost half-contemplating launching one of those PayPal donate buttons, hahaha. As if. :)

Tags: convergence, minneapolis
Current Location: at the hot pad of domesticity
How I feel: sweltering
What I hear: Ryuichi Sakamoto :: "Titulo Final" [1992]

Sent to me by my oldest friend, who is now a teaching assistant at university and encumbered with marking frosh term papers. She didn't come across this one, but apparently someone else was endowed with that distinction. And they ran with it by making a Flash movie out of it a la Stick Figure Theatre.

I dedicate this to everyone in my life who has dealt with malignancy and are giving the finger to cancer at every step of the way, and to my aunt, who died of breast cancer in 2000:

Subject: FW: What it's like reading, or listening to me complain about reading, freshman comp papers
Date: Fri, 03 Mar 2006 18:03:36 -0600
To: salinworld@krn7yoqa3.ct

Wylie forwarded this to me after a friend sent it to him. I second his original subject line, although I pointed out to him that this student may be a non-native speaker, whereas our students produce the same quality of work without that excuse. (And yes, I really do get papers this bad. Not all of them, of course. But some.)

Here's the original paper:
http://www.blackroses.com/~skip/tower/mphtower.com/videos/cancer.pdf

And here's where some clever person animated it:
http://www.mphtower.com/videos/cancer.html

That second link requires sound (and possibly some sort of animation plug-in, ie flash, but I'm not sure about that) and lasts several minutes. But it's quite funny--especially the conclusion.

Tags: cancer, humour, illiteracy, schadenfreude
How I feel: procrastinational
What I hear: Steely Dan :: "Josie" [1977]

I will never, ever understand the meaning of the lyrics for Modern English's "I Melt with You".
I will never, ever understand why it ever became popular or anthemic.
I will never, ever understand why people are still drawn to it like a bug to a zapper.
I will never, ever understand why 4AD, legendary for intrepid artists, signed them in the first place. They're neither intrepid nor artistic.
I will never, ever understand why they re-recorded the song verbatim eight years later in 1990, making it indistinguishable to about 93% of listeners (I'm in the other 7%). That's imaginative.
I will never, ever understand wtf "You've seen the difference, and it's getting better all the time" is supposed to mean. Less domestic violence? Learning how to toilet train?


(Actually, I do understand why they re-recorded. I just don't understand why.)

Tags: bad stereotypes, planet no talent, procrastination, retro hell
How I feel: chagrined
What I hear: Parachute Club :: "Dancing on the Feet of the Moon" [1984]

Tags: canada, harper, politics, satire
How I feel: amused
What I hear: They Might Be Giants :: "I Palindrome I"

Discuss.

How I feel: quixotic
What I hear: Klaatu -- "Calling Occupants (of Interplanetary Craft)"

Meg sat propped up on pillows in the old brass bed in the attic and tried to read, because thinking hurt too much, was not even thinking but projection into a fearful future. And Calvin was not beside her, to share, to strengthen . . . She let the book drop; it was one of her old volumes of fairy tales. She looked around the room, seeking comfort in familiar things. Her hair was down for the night and fell softly about her shoulders. She glanced at herself in the old, ripply mirror over the chest of drawers and despite her anxiety was pleased at the reflection. She looked like a child again, but a far lovelier child than she actually had been.

I am sooooo not voting today. In fact, you couldn't get me to vote today if you held a gun to my head.

How I feel: quixotic
What I hear: The Danse Society -- "Say It Again"

Do any of you use blog software outside of LiveJournal -- either to syndicate your LJ content elsewhere, or to have a journal containing completely separate content for an alternate purpose? Amongst you, I think that wixlet and alibee might have them (I haven't recently given a look-see, so memory will have to serve here).

If so, then I'd relish your input on the following:

1. Upon which blog software solution did you ultimately decide for your needs?

2. How steep was your own personal learning curve while setting up, stylizing, and maintaining your blog?

3. Which features about your blog software solution do you particularly dig?

4. What particularly peeves you about those features (or lack thereof) which you'd like to see refinements -- without having to switch to another solution?

5. Anything else I should know or ask about pertaining to this?


Presently, it seems that b2Evolution, Nucleus and WordPress are strong hopefuls on my list, but I've made no hard and fast commitments by any stretch.

It seems that I'm going to try out this blogging thing myself for no other reason than to tinker and discover what I haven't known all this time. At one point in the past, I used to find myself more or less on the forefront, if not well in check, with minor memetic evolutions such as this.

It's no mystery to me how and why I dropped the ball on this one. In short, it's been a wild and woolly seven years over yonder in my neck of the woods -- fraught with the unbelievable, incredible, and unspeakable. svairini perhaps could attest to this as witness better than anyone else on the planet, having seen so much of it up close and intimately personal.

But now, I'm excited by this prospect present scenario of amassing even greater interia behind the momentum that my summertime holiday infused. And what a kick in the arse it was indeed! For me, this means embracing an eagerness to learn, to be challenged in productive and exciting ways, to learn from good teachers who are willing to share their knowledge (and anyone can be my teacher without even realising it!), and to err on the side of optimism whenever I'm in doubt.

Possibilities, thy name is Pollyanna. :)

How I feel: eager little beaver
What I hear: The Style Council -- "Walking the Night"

Gino Vannelli's "Living Inside Myself" and Anita Baker's "Sweet Love" are two halves of the same song. Also, they're both 4m25s long.

Discuss.

How I feel: intrigued
What I hear: both of the above songs on looped repeat

A disgraceful but common utterance of our age rightfully refers to a north/south divide. Unfortunately, this sad state of affairs also applies to today's so-called music makers, a ragged bunch of scoundrels and vagabonds who abuse and willfully neglect the true essence of and purpose of music. Thankfully, there are those who, in the face of such barbarity, apply even more determination, purpose and dignity to their work, who strengthen their resolve even more to enter people's lives with genuine moods, purest motives and undeniable beauty. Needless to say, you now hold a shining example of this in your hands, and are therefore asked to act accordingly.

How I feel: It's equinox time. Name that source.
What I hear: "Why I Went Missing"

i've just learned that Minnesota rocks the house over the supposed apple kingpin of the U.S.: Washington. Minnesota is known to originate no fewer than 20 different varieties of apple, including the famously delicious Haralsons, Honeycrisp and Firesides.

of course, i'm really craving some fresh Haralsons at this very moment, but i can't have none (double-negative, yeah, yeah, so sue me). so, like, Minnesota-grown Honeycrisp would rawk, too, but again, i'm soooo SOL.

but check this: Washington promotes, grows and sells only NINE apple varieties, and only one was native to this area: the Cameo®, which was found in a Red Disgusting -- i mean, Delicious, sorry about the Freudian slip -- orchard by accident as a chance seedling (as they say in the biz). the Granny Smith, for example, was discovered on an orchard in New South Wales, Australia, in 1868 by Maria Anne Smith. and the tasty and recent Pinklady variety? Western Australia, folks. Braeburn and Gala? New Zealand.

Washington makes 70 percent of all the apples consumed by and exported from the United States. their number one-selling apples -- and also considered a favourite by Americans, apparently (and how this is is completely beyond me, but feh, Americans brought the world Oscar Mayer and cardboard tomatoes, so hey) is the Red Disgus . . . licious.

um. no. that's just plain bad-wrong.

and yanno what? Red Delicious apples, Washington's trademark, didn't even originate in Washington! can we say IOWA, while the Golden Delicious originated in WEST VIRGINIA? i knew you could. you spake it well!

anyhow, this is kinda like how Wisconsin is cheese central, even though most of the good cheese* i run into, time and again, is from either Oregon/California, Vermont/New York State or Ontario. quantity and notoriety do not equate to quality in the slightest. sorry.

say, uh, does anyone know if there's an ingredient in apples that the body craves, such as potassium in bananas or tryptophan in milk? i'm really wondering this, cos i can't explain my serious jonesing for a legit apple. damn.

and supposedly, Red Granny Smith apples, svairini? they're rumoured to grow in both Connecticut and California, but i've seen no proof of either. i think we have a real serious conspiracy at work here.

anyhow, for your edification, varieties of apples in specific locales:

Minnesota:
http://www.maes.umn.edu/releases/treefruits.asp
http://www.minnesotaapple.org/minnesota_varieties.shtml

Washington:
http://www.cookwithaloha.com/washington_state_apples.htm
http://www.fruitfromwashington.com/Varieties/winterbanana.htm (Winter Banana heirloom apple)

New York:
http://www.nyapplecountry.com/varieties.htm

Ontario:
http://www.tdc.ca/apples.htm

Connecticut:
http://www.hort.uconn.edu/apples/varieties.html

California:
http://www.ewbrandt.com/bft/variety.html#apple

Western Australia:
http://www.batlowapples.com.au/barrel/body.asp (note how Red Disgusting actually looks better here)

British Columbia:
http://www.appleluscious.com/orchard/varieties.html

New Zealand:
http://www.enzafoods.co.nz/apple_story/various_varieties/ (again, note how the Red Disgusting looks positively more like a Haralson)

Michigan:
http://www.michiganfruit.com/apples.htm

Maine:
http://www.maine.com/apples/varieties.htm

New Jersey REPRESENT!:
http://www.state.nj.us/jerseyfresh/appletypes.htm



and this post is totally dedicated to wohali. thank you. :)


* i said "good cheese". i meant, yanno, good cheese. but body-quivering cheese, of course, happens mostly away from the States in spades -- and we all know that, folks. riiiiiight?

How I feel: obsessive, craving, unsatiated
What I hear: Presidents of the United States of America -- "Peaches" (sang instead with the word "apples" in lieu of "peaches")

Poll #182081 wonder bread
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Wonder Bread is:

discuss.

How I feel: quixotic
What I hear: Kim Wilde -- "Say You Really Want Me (12" version)"

the grim reaper: 5
the good people: nil
the evil incarnate people: 1

Johnny Cash, 71 [11th September 2003, diabetes complications]
John Ritter, 54 [11th September 2003, sudden heart failure]
Anna Lindt, 46 [11th September 2003, stabbed to death]
Warren Zevon, 56 [7th September 2003, lung cancer]
Marie Foster, 85 [6th September 2003, natural causes]


Ronald Reagan, 92 ["All-Time Worst American Figure" still lives and breathes]

How I feel: flummoxed
What I hear: UGRD.29.12: Claudia Brücken -- "Fanatic (The Nail in My Soul) (Razormaid Mix)"

why do propeller airplanes lack mufflers?

i mean, if you're on the aircraft, wouldn't that make the in-cabin flight quieter? and if an engine dies in midair, wouldn't that be less stressful if it wasn't nearly as dramatic a sound?

and do propeller airplanes use catalytic converters?

How I feel: curious
What I hear: Bruce Springsteen -- "Hungry Heart"

it's not exactly new, though.

The Adventures' "Feel The Raindrops" from 1985 is most certainly one-hit material and is produced in that "big '85" way. it sounds a little like a companion to comparable Lotus Eaters material from the same era.

but it's tasty. and evidently, an extended version exists, too.

and to think that i've had this song in my possession for years, and i've never heard it before. sheesh.

How I feel: alll over the place with stuff to do.
What I hear: The Adventures -- "Two Rivers"

our owner-friend at our fave south Indian joint is named Raja. he's such a sweetheart.

i told him my name, then told him my easy-to-remember desi nickname, to which he completely lit up. i reminded him of my best friend's name, svairini, so that he wouldn't forget. but i wouldn't have actually said svairini, lest he have a conniption.

How I feel: plump, full and now sweaty-hot
What I hear: Fleming & John -- "After The Lovin'"

if only he had stuck around a little bit longer.

i'll never forget e.t.

How I feel: crying
What I hear: Jon Goodman -- his son -- carrying his legacy forward on All Things Considered

i'm beginning to learn.

just like starting over.

How I feel: not quite asleep, not quite awake
What I hear: sixty Hertz of electricity from the G4 and the fridge