Blissed Off

I had been looking for a new phone for a few months. I was initially set on purchasing the LG Bliss, but my techno-lust grew so much that I started to consider acquiring a smartphone. The BlackBerry Bold 9700 was initially my cellphone of choice, but as time passed, my preference shifted to Apple’s iPhone.

After considering my habits (I mostly text and talk, but I don’t talk often) and the short- and long-term financial implications, I nixed the idea of owning a smartphone. I couldn’t justify paying at least fifty dollars per month for features I likely wouldn’t use. Besides, there are better things to do with a few hundred bucks than buying a phone up front – like buying new camera gear. ;-)

After returning to the idea of buying the Bliss, I did so last weekend.



It’s a big step up from my first cellphone, the Samsung a640, which I used on prepaid service for three years plus a few months. Thankfully, the Bliss is also available with prepaid service on Virgin Mobile (my provider), so I bypass the contract and steep monthly expenses. I’ve had it for less than one week, but it’s impressed the heck out of me thus far.

Last night, I discovered another reason (or five) to love it.



Thanks to the microSD card I bought yesterday afternoon, I can personalize the phone with my own photographs. This is rather cool.

France Ferdinand

Franz Ferdinand is one of my favourite bands, so it follows that I'll be interested in almost anything that they're doing. Thanks to a tweet, I found out yesterday that they collaborated with French actress Marion Cotillard on a song for Dior: "The Eyes Of Mars."

It's my new favourite song for a few reasons:

• Ms. Cotillard's voice suits the song pretty well
• A few lyrical allusions to photography are made, particularly in the chorus
• Speaking of that chorus, it packs quite the punch (à la P!nk's "So What")
• It rocks

Here's the video below. Pay close attention to how Marion and Franz Ferdinand evoke Robert Palmer's videos when the choruses take centre stage.

I almost forgot...lip licking for the win!

Increasing The Dot

As I said in my last post, I attended ING Direct’s Meet and Tweet last Thursday evening. Despite initially feeling overwhelmed due to being surrounded by strangers, disaster was definitely averted. Besides having a few new followers for my Twitter page, I also have a reconnection with a former high school classmate whom I had not seen in twelve years. Initially, I couldn’t understand his introduction, but when he pointed at his name tag, no more words were necessary.

I don’t expect this to happen at the next event I’ve signed up for, but it wouldn’t hurt. Dinnerworks is hosting a launch party at the Ultra Supper Club, where it will officially change its name to The Works. Given the environment and the type of people who will likely be in attendance, the stakes are higher for this gathering. In other words, I will either confidently break the ice with strangers or spend a few hours playing the wallflower.

As for my camera gear, it will once again stay home (apart from Old Faithful, but this is by no means guaranteed). Having said that, WinterCity is fast approaching; I’m already making plans to shoot a few of the events at Nathan Phillips Square. Seeing that this is a photoblog, I can’t talk about my socializing efforts forever…

One Step Closer

I was feeling good on my way home from yesterday night's photo shoot at the Regent Park Film Festival. In a matter of minutes, I'd be eating dinner and editing my photos...at least, that was the plan.

As I walked from the bus to my apartment building, I noticed a substance sticking to the bottom of my right shoe. I initially thought that it was just stubborn dirt, so I wiped the shoe on the apartment driveway's curb. Unfortunately, that action didn't complelely solve the problem, so I made a detour to the laundry room's washroom to find out what was really happening.

As I cleaned the shoe, I took a whiff of one of the paper towels I was using. That, folks, is when I found out that the "stubborn dirt" was really dog crap. To make a long story short, I spent twenty minutes in that washroom futily trying to clean my shoe, and about another twenty-five more when I finally got home. Thankfully, no one else was in the laundry room while I did my business.

Needless to say, I didn't see the crap in advance. Since it was almost midnight, any fecal matter in that grass was well-camouflaged. I wish I thought about that before getting off the bus; this has proven to be a costly mistake - $158.19 to be exact. I could have spent that money on a zoom lens or a tripod, darn it!

Thank God For Freedom

The title comes from the fact that Freedom Clothing Collective just gave me a shout, plus they've been good allies ever since our initial introduction.

This entry isn't about them, though. :-P

I just wanted to share this DJ Hero video interview with DJ Jazzy Jeff, who recently released He's The King, I'm The DJ, his Michael Jackson tribute mix. There's a particularly inspiring section starting near the fourteenth minute, where he talks about his relationship with Will Smith (a.k.a. The Fresh Prince) and how far they've come since their "dream session."