I got a new lens . . .

. . . and it makes things look old.

Old, as in taken a long time ago with a toy pinhole camera but not really taken with that but taken with a new expensive DSLR camera with an old pinhole toy camera lens attached to it.  

This is the very first picture I have ever taken with the lens:

Waiting on the bus.

    I got the lens around 10 minutes prior to me walking out the door to go to work.  Naturally, I was really excited and eager to try it out.  I opened the package, attached the lens, put my camera in my bag, and departed on my long trek to work. At the bus stop, I pulled the camera out while I waited for the bus to pull up and took a picture of the first thing I saw:  my bike propped against the bus stop sign.  And there you have it.

    Right now it's 6:27 AM and I think it might be time for me to rest a bit.  Look for more pictures from this new lens of mine, I'm sure I'm gonna be wearing it out the next couple days!  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention what it is!  It's a Holga Lens for Canon DSLR cameras, so far it's fun, and it's really cheap.  It's this right here: Holga Lens Kit For Canon DSLR (775121)

Goodnight, goodnight.


-Matt

Why god, why.

In the famous words of Shane Terry, why?

 Why are fireworks always named the dumbest shit ever?  Why do they always have the most awesome pictures on them?

RIDE THE SKY.

MIDNIGHT CARNIVAL.  FEATURING JUMPING MEN AND WOMEN OF ALL RACES.  ALSO A GUEST APPEARANCE BY BON JOVI SHREDDING THE NIGHT AWAY FOR YOUR ROCKIN' PLEASURE.

Why can't I buy a really awesome 15 pound cast iron tea kettle that appears to be hand crafted for ballers only from Meijer's for $30? I buy this thing, open it up, and in the instructions it says that I cannot boil anything in it, I can only POUR ALREADY BOILING water into it.  A tea kettle that cannot boil water, no sense made.  I am out $30, but I'm probably going to have to return it, I kind of hate this thing.

"TEA KETTLE"

Why did Red "Just Cause," Zinnia stick it out to the bitter end and win the flower battle by default and out of sheer perseverance?  That's right.  RJCZ has bloomed.  After all the hell that RJCZ endured, one single sprout managed to bloom.  He stands a good foot and a half tall, red as the blood he was born to shed.  So why did he win?  Just cause . . .

VICTOR.

And why is there such a sweet vortex in my basement?

VORTEX.  Light painting is fun, if you have a camera that can keep its shutter open for decent amounts of time, try it out sometime.

    

-Matt

Hello, firework day.

    It's the fourth of July.  I just woke up.  I worked really late last night.  My armpits stink.  I'm about to take a shower.  I have no plans for today.  I'm home alone for over a week.  I think I'll go outside and ride around all day with my camera and maybe try to find illegal fireworks.  I had a dream that I got my mom's car towed and I was at fault, I didn't realize it was a dream until I was googling my old college's impound lot.

    Today might turn out fun.  Things have a way of happening to me, or I have a way of luring them in subconsciously.  Regardless I think I'll have a couple pictures or a video to show after it all.

    To tide you over, here's two videos that I shot the other day at the Nobunny show at PJ's Lager House in Detroit.  Best show in a long time.

Nobunny - You Don't Like Rock 'n' Roll:



and . . .

Nobunny - I Am A Girlfriend:




Enjoy.

Love 'yuns.


-Matt

The twenty-four day hiatus: halted, adjourned, aborted, hiatED.

    It has been twenty-four solid days since my last blog post.  In that 3.428571428571429 week span, quite a few things have happened.  Some of those things were good and some were very, very, very bad.  Positive things in my life never outweigh the negatives and the negative things never beat out the positives.  I ride through life at a neutral norm, and my norm is pure optimism, otherwise I would have killed myself a long time ago.  It's the only way to live if you ask me.  Say fuck it, keep the "things are going to be really rad," perspective reigning with an iron fist in your brains, and keep on truckin'.  Thinking like an optimistic robot is key.
    Moving forward.  Lately, I've been working a lot.  My schedule is dumb, it really isn't a schedule, but more like a random summoning of me that I have to obey.  It's usually like Thursday: 4PM - 4AM Friday: 4PM - 4AM Saturday: 11 AM - 4 AM Sunday 12:30 PM - 4 AM.  It's pretty ridiculous, especially considering I don't have a car now.  Yes, my car is gone forever.  The jolly Christmas themed Cavalier rides no more.  Long story short, I broke down in downtown Detroit, came back the next day to get my car and it's gone.  I call up state and city police and all of the towing services they work with over the course of about 5 days.  No one knows anything about my car so the cops eventually tell me "Sounds like your car was stolen."  So I reported it stolen.  That's the end of that.  I lost a lot of sentimental stuff in that car, along with about ~$200.  Oh well.

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I started writing this entry the other day but was interrupted in the middle of it.  I think I'll just post it as it is and let it be.  I don't want to finish it while I'm in another train of thought.  We'll let this be the "hello again," portion.  I'll let this be the entry that rekindles a steady stream of new entries.  I hope all is well.

-Matt

Sub-Par-"Update," Or Maybe Not Even.

My new laptop got its first decoration to commemorate and acknowledge the existence of the Linux operating system on it.  It's Tux the penguin.

    Haven't updated the past bit, I'm working on the guide to walk people through cracking WEP protected wireless networks (their own, of course, anything else would be illegal) for total dumb dummies that don't know anything.  In other words, I'm making a tutorial that could enable an elderly woman who is an avid pants-shitter to break the security on WEP protected networks, thus giving her access to the network that the WEP encryption was supposed to be protecting.  Look forward to it!  It's coming soon.  It's looking Monday-Tuesdayish due to my super packed ultra long work-weekend. 

P.S.  I went geocaching the other day and it was really fun.  I'm sure I'll write more about it sometime.  Try it.

Geocaching!  It's fun.  Do it.  Papers whitewashed with photoshop to protect the cool people who signed in on the log we found.

-Matt

I went to Elizabeth Park yesterday . . .

CLICK THE PICTURE FOR A BIGGER SIZE. This is what you'll see as one collective frame if you sit on a bench in Elizabeth Park and fall backwards slowly, letting your head flop backward when your back rests flat.  Top part of the frame: Grosse Ile islan, bottom part of the frame: Elizabeth Park.

    . . . and then that rain cloud in the distance got closer and closer until it eventually came to be right over top of me.  It didn't just bring itself, it brought lightning, hail, tons of rain, and a double rainbow.  Needless to say, it ended my bike riding endeavor around the park.  Super skinny tires on wet pavement usually don't mix very well and I don't want to kill my bike with water just yet.  Maybe next time.
    As for right now, I'm about to ride down to my Aunt Mary's place of work so she can cut my hair.  My hair is getting to this level . . .

    . . . and I don't like my hair getting to that level.
    Wish me luck on not getting hit by cars, stabbed, shot, burned alive, drowned, tortured, robbed, etc. by street hooligans.



-Matt

New friends are good, cool, fun, rad. Ride bikes.

Click the picture for a bigger/better version.

    I'm beginning to be thankful for the people I've tried to lure out to ride bikes with me that have shut me down, backed out, or ignored the offer.  Without all of you baby weaklings that are scared of the world outside of the safety of your home and cradle of your mother's arms, I wouldn't have prowled the mean streets of the Motor City by my lonesome and met all kinds of random super cool people that owned the streets with me, setting fire to the ground that our tires touched.
    It was an interesting day.  Started off with Kristina, she's on the left.  We killed the streets for a few hours, ate some Thai food, then we ran into this guy on the right, Jacob.  He's cool too.  We rode bikes forever, randomly went geocaching, succeeded, left notes, signed logs, took presents, left presents, continued!  We went to his place, the 21st floor of the Millender Tower in downtown where the above picture was taken.  From this balcony, we screamed at a guy below complimenting his cool bike.  Across 21 stories of screams via strained and stressed vocal chords, we arranged to meet up at the building entrance in 10 minutes.  He joined the posse.  NEW FRIEND ACQUIRED! 
 

Four people, one day, all strangers, now friends.  We rolled around until sunset and life was good.  

    I hope that the next time I try to snag some people to come out with me that they oblige and we all have a really awesome time and loathe the moment that we all have to call it a night. Detroit is winning me over more and more each day. Things are great.
    I've been working doubles everyday the past three days, I'm exhausted physically and mentally and I desperately need sleep.  I think I'll indulge in some of that right . . . . . . . . . now.


-Matt