Digital cameras are cool. Point, click, and capture a memory in an instant. No film. No development. With my iPhone I’m able to take it a step further and add retro looks to photos using various apps.
Well, every camera and app I’ve seen and used pales in comparison to this homemade job I came across on a recent visit to Buenos Aires, Argentina. Prepare yourself because this DIY camera is pure unadulterated awesomeness.
Another ten hour flight, another bunch of movies. On my way out the video player was busted. Thanks Delta. Four movies up.
If you’ve read my movie reviews before then you know they aren’t reviews, but rather walkthroughs with a brief opinion of the show. Read ‘em. Don’t read ‘em. I could care less.
Here’s what’s in the queue: The Town, The American, The Social Network, and The Other Guys
What a crazy two weeks it’s been. Last week temperatures rose into the upper 90Fs (mid 30C) and the barrios of Buenos Aires were intermittently without power and water. Luckily (or is it thankfully?) I was there to capture it on video.
This week there’s a petrol shortage that’s said to last until after the new year. As a result, cars have been lining up for several blocks just for a chance to fill up their tank. As I did for the power outage, I wanted to get in on the action. Unfortunately, things didn’t work out the way I planned, and the story ended up being about shoes instead of gas and street fires.
The first time I visited Argentina I went for a run through downtown Buenos Aires. On my way back my tunes were drowned out by loud shouting amplified by bull horns. Turning to my left I saw hundreds of people filling a busy avenue with picket signs, masks, and assault rifles. Reading their signs, the protesters were farmers who were unhappy with the amount of money they were receiving for their crops.
This isn’t the only time I’ve seen such protests. In fact, the more I toured Argentina, the more apparent it became that picketing and protesting were the most common form of democratic expression.
When I was in grade school we’d load the gymnasium up once a year and hit up the nurse stations. Being so young I never knew what it was the nurses were doing. I knew I’d get a free comb. That was a certainty. What I couldn’t figure out was why some kids were sent home with paper grocery bags over the head (eyes and mouth holes cut out of course), and others were forced to stay at school. Years later I found out why. The paper bag kids had lice. A particularly small varmint that tends to plague the young ones. Well, if you’ve got lice, I’ve got the cure for you. (more…)
Traveling is great. I hit up Disneyland and Universal Studios with my Brady-Bunch-sized family when I was seven. Took to the road on an 8-hour station-wagon road trip when I was 9. Flew to Atlanta to play baseball and watch a laser show at Stone Mountain at 11. Traveled across the wastelands of Kansas to go skiing in the Rockies in my teens. And in my early 20s anded a gig with a news org that required frequent trips to such dstinations as Cali, Florida, Wyoming, Utah, and Texas. Yeah, back then traveling was sweet.
