Dog Mountain

I put some of the images on Fotolia and Redbubble: http://www.fotolia.com/p/330135

http://www.redbubble.com/people/ducnly

May 24, 2009 Sunday around Memorial Day Weekend.

We left the city by 9am and arrived to a full parking lot already on this beautiful Sunday of Memorial Weekend. The trail head , somewhere near the Bridge of the Gods and Char Burger. We anticipate the carpet of yellow flowers around May which by August had died.

It has been four or five years since we last went up to Dog Mountain. I was younger and in maybe better shape. I don't remember the hike being this hard to walk up. Right off the begining, the climb is steep, worse then stairs. There is a series of switch backs. Today, the narrow path is like a highway with dogs, and humans passing opposite and from behind me. I did not stop, I just walk slowly. If I stopped at the beginning, the climb might be hard the rest of the way up. I had to push no at the beginning to set the pace, the tone of the hike. The yellow carpet of flowers would be the pay off. The gorgeous views would be there waiting.

This is a story made in 23hq.com. The camera is Panasonic Lumix DMC-LC1. What ever happened to the days of simple camera names like Leica M3, M4 etc. This camera has the Leica lens. There is a bit of troublesome dust spot which needs to be fixed. I did not see this problem until after the trip. I have to remember to be better prepared with equipments. The LC1 is light weigh and has manual switches and buttons to make adjusting the camera easier. It's like the old cameras, I don't have to dig through the manuals to find the functions. It has a 28mm lens for wide open shots of the landscape. Although, I think it does distorts the picture a bit.

This is me at the Summit of Dog Moutain. Tim took this photograph.

I found this man taking a nap at the summit. He's 'Dog tired'.

There are plenty of dog at Dog Moutain. This one seems very regal. Man's best friend is also useful for caring water and other essentials.

Leica M4-2

Leica M4-2, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

I need a base plate for this monster.

Koi At Japanese Garden

Koi At Japanese Garden, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

Koi At Japanese Garden
Taken with Panasonic LC1

Hike

Charlize theron

Charlize theron, originally uploaded by jens021.

Great Movie

Red leaf Minolta f 1.4

Red leaf Minolta f 1.4, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

Bokeh

Taken with the Minolta XD

lens: f1.4

Nikon F4s

Nikon F4s, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

The Nikon F4s is a professional film camera.
It is designed by automobile designer Giorgetto Giugiaro.
It has become popular with film shooters because the price is now affordable.

http://www.nikonians.org/nikon/f4/f4_1.html

DSCN Maple wings 1170

DSCN Maple wings 1170, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

One of my favorite shots with the Nikon E990

Seiko Sowa

This bezel has some tooth to it.


Roman Numeral Date

Seiko Sowa, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

Seiko 6309 is a professional diver's watch.It is designed by Ed Harris wore it on the film 'The Abyss'.Mick Jagger also wore on.

I used the Coolpix 990 for these macro photographs: http://lexly87.blogspot.com/2009/06/coolpix-990.html

HOW+TO+BUY+A+SEIKO+6309+DIVER+(Belongs+in+FAQ)

Visual Notes

Seaside

I took my Leica M4-2 camera to the Coast.

Andy came to visit us.

Lovers lay on the beach protected from the wind.

InHouse

I was listening to InHouse Music with Jeremy Peterson while playing StarCraft. This show reminds me of the early Kboo days of WDYBK (What does your brother know). The show was DJed by Rebecca, she went on to be come the lead singer of the Spinades. I listened live as the The Love Language play 'Providence'. http://opbmusic.org/performances/99-The-Love-Language
It's a great song. there are several other songs which I could watch live and record!

coolpix 990

coolpix 990, originally uploaded by Duc N. Ly.

Great Camera

Here's the link to some of the photos I took with this camera.

PhotoKina recently announced a slew of amazing new digital cameras, some known as micro 4/3, which is making Digital SLR smaller and smaller and pushing the mega pixel up and up. The good news is that the digital cameras of lower resolutions and slower shutter speed camera are on the used market for a very good price. I purchased this Nikon Coolpix E990 from Goodwill for $30. It take four AA batteries. The compact card and reader costs more. E990 has a magnesium body not plastic. In 2001, Time magazine awarded this model as the product of the year. It was the first 3. mega pixel under $1000. I’m amazed with the macro lens. It’s tricky to get it into macro mode but not impossible. The results are satisfactory. It picks up the fine hair line fiber caught between the nib gap. (I really need to clean this nib! The ink has corroded the once gold ring.) I also used the White Balance to measure the white surface to adjust to the typical white office lights. The camera performs well under low light interiors and had a soft tone without the flash.

I use this camera for macro photography. I don't need to attached anything else to it. The lens that comes with this camera is great for macro. The swivle helps to get the right perspective. Here's a series of the Seiko Sowa taken with the Coolpix 990: http://lexly87.blogspot.com/2009/06/seiko-sowa_05.html

Divisadero

A few words about the photograph. It's by Willi Ronis. He's a street photographer.

This book could have been two books. I felt that it was rushed to the end a bit. The pace picked up and became less poetic when it should have been more poetic as the later part of the book concentrates on Lucien the poet.
I was not disappointed. After The English Patient and In the Skin of the Lion, I read Anil's Ghost. That book wasn't as poetic. Divisadero is poetic but also high in concept without the accoutrement that goes with high conception. It begins with understanding the title of the novel. In the Skin of the Lion is also a title that suggests the craft of story telling but in Divisadero the suggestion of the craft of the story telling is carried out. In other words, it's not just a decoration but a device to tell a story. To witness this craft in action is quiet exciting. To explain a little bit what 'In the Skin of the Lion' means. It is a line taken from Gilgamesh. I imagine a group of people sitting around a fire at night and the skin of the lion is passed around from one person to the next. When you wear the skin, you have the podium, the floor, and it's your time to tell your story, to dazzle your audience. That's the craft of story telling. Divisadero, is a division of time, connection, and distance. It is through this perspective of distance that one can see clearer what has happen to those events that change one's life. It is as if one must assume the lion's perspective, be protected in this lion skin to tell this story and make sense of the Violence that Ann when through which tore the make-shift family apart. The high conception comes in the notion that the past and present can be entered through imagination and memory, the tools of a story teller. For Ann, she enters the skin of the lion in France, far away from her family back in California. She enters the story of Lucien the poet. It is from this safe place protected by the distance which is her lion skin to tell a story that is somewhat similar to her past circumstance.

Unbearable Lightness of Being

The character Tomas was born out of a situation.
Ever wonder how people meet? It's one of the questions asked of couples. Usually the answer is in a bar. While this is a short summation that would suffice for an answer, it is elaborated upon by the author who seems to bring into question coincidences and fortuities. Tomas's room at the hotel is number 6. She gets off at 6. He calls them the bird of fortuities. Milan uses the image of the birds flying down upon the shoulders of Saint Francis of Assisi. "A single metaphor can give birth to love." These are signs that bless the unions, the more the better. And to not notice such details is to miss out on one of the pleasures of life. It is a great romance. He is an unfaithful womanizer. She, Teraza, is a provincial girl, naive, almost a pure maiden. How is she able to capture his heart so thoroughly and yet be tortured at the same time by his infidelities? Milan talks about compassion and how heavy it weighs into the heart of Tomas. "for there is nothing heavier than compassion. Not even one's own pain weighs so heavy as the pain one feels with someone, for someone, a pain intensified by the imagination and prolonged by a hundred echoes." He has compassion for Tereza. His lightness has left. His womanizing and his infidelities are his lightness. They are Tereza's heaviness. The characters make choices. And because they only have one life, this choice is difficult. "We can never know what to want, because, living only one life, we can neither compare it with our previous lives nor perfect it in our lives to come." So Here is where Milan disagrees with the Eternal Return idea that says everything has already occur. Milan brings up Nietzsche's idea of the Eternal Return in the beginning. Some say that he spends the rest of the book defending this thesis. I think it's an academic outlook. And to come into the book with this perspective misses a lot of the other insights, insights into women, the heart, and relationship between the two. Fortunately, unlike life, one can re read a book.

Milan brings in Anna Karenina and looks at the symmetry of how Ann first met Vronsky at the train track. Someone was killed, run over by a train. The irony is that Anna commits suicide by throwing herself on a train track.

Tomas wrote about Oedipus Rex comparing Oedipex to the communist of his country.

Milan likes to bring up these references. His presence is always seems to be in the background of the narrative. So there are philosophical ponderings peppered through out the novel.

Genius Loci

Christian draws a lot on Heidegger’s essay 'Building, Thinking, and Dwells'. This essay is included in 'Basic Writings'.
Christian extracts certain passages such as the explanation of a bridge as a presence to draw together the two banks of a river much as a building will draw into different reference points of the landscape. In fact, it is the location of a building not it's points in space of a Cartitian grid that gives it place; the location and the reference to the surrounding landscape that is the main concern.
There has been a resurgence of phenomenology in architecture. Peter Zumthor and Steven Holl are two proponates of it.
Christian is a pioneer in drawing the cross discipline of philosophy into the architectural discussion. He was the first to talk about this.

In Praise of Shadows

Tadoa Ando recommends this book. There's a great introduction by Charles Moore. One of the basic human requirements is the need to dwell, and one of the central human acts is the act of inhabiting, of connecting ourselves, however temporarily, with a place on the planet which belongs to us, and to which we belong. - Charles Moore.

House Saga

Laurie Bertrand photographed a series of great vinettes of her and her husband's new home in South Dakota.
The set is accompanied by this quote: "Too often when we're buying or building a house we do not consider each room. We are carried away by one charming feature and are blind to details that will give us trouble later on." - Dorothy Draper

Aspinal Jewel Calf Pen Case

I've been looking for a pen case for my fountain pens. This item is good price and of great quality.
Aspinal Jewel Calf Pen Case

Here's a close up

Antonello Serio Man PE2009 02

Antonello Serio Man PE2009 02
Originally uploaded by Antonello Serio

Lately, I've been tired of having my mobile phone, wallet, keys, and mp3 players strapped on to me and cramping my jeans. The solution is to get a small shoulder bag to carry this all. Now our counter part in Europe have been doing this for a long time. I've been shopping around for a small man bag. This seems to hit the spot. I stumbled upon this gem in Flickr.com of all places. The bag is clean in design, understated, yet luxurious. I love the brown suade feel and the white contrasting shoulder strap in web canvase is racy. There are no bulky straps or details to get in the way. It's ver masculine. Antonello Serio is an Italian designer making beautiful fashion for men and women globally.