Kieth Olbermann on torture

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Are we ever going to see these fuckers in jail?

Pictures from last night's show (first batch)

Sometimes I fancy myself a photographer. At the very least, I've managed to buy some pretty nice camera gear, such that I can actually get pictures in the sorts of dark places that me and my friends hang out in, and that aren't conducive to decent photography. And, at the risk of violating the general trend of this blog towards self-deprecation, I do think I have some talent. If not necessarily for capturing a great image, at least for understanding the technical aspects of what I'm doing. Even when I'm drunk out of my mind, which is nice, because that's when I'm most inclined to take lots of pictures.

Anyways, first we've got a bunch of pictures of Dr. Bin Laden, which is Brian Fresh's new band. I was in a band with him twice, so I can completely sympathize with what the other members must be going through. I didn't manage to get all that many pictures, but most of them seem to be in focus and exposed at least well enough to correct in post. Given the conditions, I consider getting one halfway decent picture per four shots pretty good. So out of 23 shots taken, having twelve here, and probably a few more to come, is something I'm mildly psyched about.



Free photography tip of the day: when in a situation where it's impossible to find any sort of workable white balance, such as where the guitarist or singer is largely lit by the flash and the drummer is largely lit by red stage lights, just convert it to black and white. Then play with it a bit, so it looks like you meant to do it that way.









OK, that was the band. Here's Chris and Josh:

And Brian Connolly:

And on the very rare occasions that Brian actually likes a picture of himself and encourages you to take more, you might just go hog wild.


Well, that's it for today. Hopefully, I'll get through them all by the weekend.

Have I finally got Google phone blogging working?

The world wonders...

I shudder to think what the Boston Police would have done

Pub is closed by Monty Python grenade:

BUILDINGS were evacuated, a street was cordoned off and a bomb disposal team called in after workmen spotted a suspicious object.

But the dangerous-looking weapon turned out to be the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, made famous in the 1975 film Monty Python And The Holy Grail.

Why tonight is a good night

Why tonight is a good night, originally uploaded by waterj2.

Took the long way home tonight to stop at the liquor store where I could get this beauty nice and cheap. Say what you will, I love High Life in bottles. Especially when there's 18 of them. The biggest challenge here was getting the shot set up all nice before drinking any.

In retrospect, I could have grabbed one of the bottles hidden behind the box, but, as I had originally intended for a shot from a bit above, I left them in the box. Of course, there is the crookedness, but that can be fixed easily the next time I have access to the software to do it.

In any event, I'm down to twelve left, and it's only 9PM.

Things that bring a smile to my face

Apparently, I was going to write something here last night. At the moment, I'm just wondering what I was thinking about that brings a smile to my face. There's booze, but that's only one thing, and I seem to have been thinking of mentioning things, plural.

How bad is the economy going to get?

Interesting article on the Freakonomics blog:

For example, using last Friday’s options prices, we can calculate that it would cost 10 cents to buy a portfolio of options that pays $1 if the S&P 500 falls below 250 on December 18, 2010. If markets were risk-neutral (I’ll come back to this), we could infer that the market thought there was a 10 percent probability that the value of U.S. stocks could fall to one-third their current value by the end of next year. Such a drop would leave the index down to one-sixth of its peak level in late 2007. By way of comparison, in the Great Depression the value of stocks fell to between one-sixth and one-seventh of their earlier values.

Well, at least it's only a 10% chance...

You know the economy's really in the shitter when...

People aren't buying booze anymore.

Hey, I'm trying to do my part, but I need some help here, apparently.

Everyone should read fivethirtyeight.com

This post is a perfect example of why. For those who don't know, these guys had by far the best statistical analysis throughout the whole election, and some of the most insightful commentary.

Today's piece is about what we should be expecting when the time comes for the Obama administration to work on health care, given the way they handled the stimulus bill.

On a slightly related note, the White House released this amazing slideshow of the President's road to getting the stimulus bill passed. And just to be bipartisan, the photographer responsible, Pete Souza, was also Reagan's official White House Photographer. But they didn't have web slideshows then.

Typical Me, Typical Me, Typical Meal

I was reflecting at Shaw's earlier tonight on the distressing situation that is my culinary habits. Looking at a can of Hormel Chili, a box of Kraft Mac & Cheese, and a bottle of Wild Turkey, and nothing else, on my section of the conveyor belt, it was mildly distressing to see just how much I suck at feeding myself like a normal person, but amusingly distressing to think anyone mildly familiar with my eating habits would find it completely typical for me.

Let's just all agree that we can call chili mac & cheese and whiskey "The Jeremy Special". I doubt there's much competition for that one.

Punctured bicycle, liquor store desolate

IMG_2947, originally uploaded by waterj2.

Typical Allston night. Tight jeans, track bike, messenger bag, cheap beer.

After the Shitshow show Saturday night, Zach got a flat heading home, and I decided to use it as an excuse for a drunken 3AM photo shoot outside Blanchards. I only sort of remember a few of the details, but apparently we confused the passersby with our antics. Some even joined in the session (or at least don't look like they minded being involved)

Of course, most shots came out like crap, ranging from minor issues to complete lack of focus. But a few decent shots. This is one of the best of the lot. Something about the total Allston Rock City aspect.

Holy Crap

Naked Pictures of Morrissey

http://newsroom.mtv.com/2009/01/30/i-saw-morrissey-naked-today-and-so-can-you/

I just had to share. You can all thank me later.

Fancy, new, more transparent government

I'm liking the new whitehouse.gov website. And apparently, one of Obama's top priorities was to make presidential records more accessible to the people on whose behalf the President is supposed to serve. Finally, the travesty that was Bush's Executive Order 13233 has been repealed, and the public may get the chance to see what Reagan was up to during Iran-Contra, eight years later than we were supposed to.

Really, one of the things that most impressed me with Obama as a candidate was that he emphasized first getting the government to be run in a more accountable manner, and then focusing on the actual policies that it should implement. This is a good sign that not only won't they be making the same mistakes that the Bush Administration did, they won't be able to operate in the secrecy that made it possible to make those mistakes.

Three Hours Left

Of the Bush Administration.

Good fucking riddance.