Caption Contest

Chaplin likes to come sit on my lap while I'm trying to read things on the computer. Fortunately, my computer has a built-in camera so I can capture him making goofy faces like this one:


If only I could figure out how to make the flash less bright so it wouldn't completely blow out his fur.

Now soliciting comments to improve upon the the title posted at Flickr (linked from the picture).

To Keep You Entertained While I Work Another Six Day Week

Please enjoy these photos of my father and stepmother's tour of the "Five 'Stans": Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, and Tajikistan.

Dad's still figuring out how Flickr works, so his captions (which contain a fair bit of historical context for what you're looking at) are actually posted as comments. Although some of the comments, like this one, are courtesy of Ray Ann.

The Best Six Bucks I've Spent in Some Time

Aw

My next door neighbor just took this picture after hearing Chap whining and then seeing him stick his paws out under the door:



Poor bored kitten. He looks so hilariously pathetic in that picture.

Only Took Me Two And A Half Years

I've finally uploaded the last of the best of my Europe photos, from my 2005 trip with Mark.

Here's a link to the full set, the captions have descriptions of what the hell it is that you're looking at, along with some entertaining stories of stuff we did while over in Euroland.

If, unlike me, you don't have an abundance of free time on your hands, they're also broken down country by country if you don't want to look at all 400 or so of them.

As long as it took me to upload all my photos, I'd hate to see how long it takes Mark to upload his. He took about three times as many pictures as I did, though in all fairness, he's a much better photographer.

And since I'm talking about Mark as a photographer, I think this is obligatory:

Gung Hay Fat Choy

Saturday I went to the Golden Dragon parade celebrating Chinese New Year with some friends, and my pictures are up.

I'm really happy with how these came out, since this is the first time I went shooting with my giant (70-300mm) lens and did manual focus the entire time.

I will say, this is the first parade I've been to in a while, and I'd forgotten how incredibly repetitive parades are: Dragon, dragon, float, marching band, dragon, marching band, Kung Fu school, dragon, dragon, marching band, dragon....

A few of the highlights (click to go to each photo's Flickr page:

Dragon Closeup

Drumming Dancers

Staring Dragon

Sword Swinger

Grr!

In Bruges

In honor of the movie that's recently come out (which I have not yet seen, but Tim, of course, has), I wanted to remind people that I have, in fact, actually been to Bruges.

I even have photographic evidence of this fact. I even have evidence that Mark was there with me, and that he was way taller than the people the brewery designed to accomodate.

My personal favorite picture is not any of the carefully preserved 1600's architecture that Bruges is so famous for, but the following piece of propaganda from their chocolate museum (click to enlarge):


Come on, just eat things in moderation and you won't get fat! It's just that easy!

Wow, There ARE Mountains Here!

I was driving to meet a friend for brunch yesterday and saw a very unusual and rather breathtaking sight: The mountains behind Los Angeles, covered in snow, clear as a bell.

Here's an awesome picture of, basically, what I saw, (with a hat tip to LAist for pointing it out). Looks like that was taken a little later in the afternoon when some of the smog and clouds had started to return.

Given that this was the view of downtown from Mt. Hollywood just a couple weeks ago, (you'll note that you can't actually, you know, see downtown) I'd call yesterday's weather a substantial improvement.

I will say, as ugly and dopey as this city can be, when the smog clears up, it's really, really gorgeous here.

For A Guy With No Legs, He Kicks A Lot Of Ass

An aside huzzah: I now have a replacement replacement computer. Let's see if this one works for more than a day.

I was catching up with Fark links for the last day when I came across a fascinating story about a man with no legs who surreptitiously took pictures of everyone who stared at him as he wheeled around the world on his skateboard.

Kevin Connoly's site is a little flash-heavy, but it has some of the best pictures from his exhibition. It's definitely worth a look, and you can see what he means about getting the same look all over the world.

His site also leads to a story with a really interesting video about the project and his life in general.

I don't have much more to add beyond that at the moment, but I was so captivated by this guy's story and project that I felt I ought to share.

A Hike Through Griffith Park

As part of my Continued Adventures in Killing Time, my friend Lisa and I went for a little hike in Griffith Park (a moderate one was about all my ankle could take), and I decided to use the opportunity to practice taking some decent pictures.

More on my Flickr site, but here are some of my favorites (click to go to each picture's Flickr page):

Merry Christmas

I don't know what makes me laugh more, the cat's sour look or the hand holding on the sad little Santa hat.

Ich Bin Ein Photographer

Cameron's post about her selection by the fine folks of Schmap.com reminded me to post this.

For some reason, they selected my photo of a weird-ass duck for inclusion in their guide to Berlin.

The Thing Under The Stairs

A photo essay, starring Felina, my neighbor's cat:









Felina now is just about as tired of my camera as Chaplin is. Although I did get Chap to do this, which amuses me to no end.

Note To Self

Next time you go on a giant trip, try not to take two years to label all 1100 pictures, because you might not remember much by the time you try to finally do it.

In related news, I'm back to putting up more of my 400ish best photos from my trip to Europe with Mark two years ago. I've gotten up through the Netherlands, I hope to have Denmark and at least part of Germany up in the next few days.

Dilemma: Resolved

Despite the arguments in favor of the remote with big orange flames painted on it, I decided to go a different direction in my choice of TiVo reward:



I do like that I can jam one on over my cast to keep my toes warm. Chaplin? Not impressed:

How do I get away from this lunatic?

Cute Overload: Antarctic Edition

My dad and Ray Ann went to Antarctica in January, and since Ray Ann refuses to go digital, they just got their Picture CD back and passed along photos I can actually share.

And they have some awesome pictures, most of which were taken by Ray Ann (click to see full size versions):

My dad and a penguin having a staring contest



My dad and Ray Ann in front of 100,000 penguins



A very cool set of icebergs



3 Emperor Penguins



Ridiculously adorable baby seals



Penguins re-enacting 2001: A Space Odyssey on an iceberg

Halloween Costume Parade

First, my little nephew Elias (with his mom, Trudy) as a dalmatian:



And his brother Max as a fireman:



Finally, I got some new boots via the fine folks of FedEx, and someone turned it into a costume.


To be a little more specific:



Not pictured: Me as Johnny Cash harassing my coworkers by repeatedly singing Folsom Prison Blues.

The Anti-Crap Cam

I bought a Nikon D50 about a month and a half ago because really, I need some of the most advanced photographic technology available to take a picture this cute:


More photo phun is available at my flickr site. Chaplin's going to hate my guts very, very soon. Especially once I get a macro lens and start in with the extreme closeups.

Noted With Interest

...but without comment, these Canadian posters for Grey's Anatomy and ER, which air on the same network up North:


courtesy This. That. No Other. via Damn Hell Ass Kings.

World Exclusive Photos!

I've got a some photos of the new place up at Flickr, along with several photos of Chaplin helping me move. Enjoy!

Fun With The CrapCam

Chaplin is still adjusting to the new apartment.


Guess which one is the real Chaplin and win a prize!*

note: prize is the satisfaction of being right.

Putting The Cart Before The SoaP

Saw this when I was at the Barnes and Noble at the Grove last Friday and I couldn't resist snapping a picture with the CrapCam:


Guess they thought Snakes on a Plane would attract more than just a cult audience. Or at least a slightly larger cult.