'S....What is that? .... ODAAT ..... ANFAWFOS...

Ever try to work your way through all that crazy internet and text messaging slang?  Every now and then I receive a message whether its on Twitter  or Facebook or ol school (ie email or text) and I'm like "Huh?"  What does AIKRN mean?" And either out of embarassment or fear of public reprival you carry on as if you know exactly what the sender means.  As the English language rots away to whateverville here is a resource that may help you keep up with lastest hymns in the church of cyberville:

Internet Slang words - InternetSlang.com

Public photography and the loss of the sense of community

Over the past several years I have grown more interested in photography.  Over the last five years I have gone out frequently taking pictures of various places whether I'm on vacation or just taking pictures of a local event.  I recently upgraded to a professional Digital SLR and have played with it on a few occasions.  Of course with all things SLR it is costly at the beginning as you collect lenses, flashes and tripods, cleaning and storage gear etc... so I haven't done as much photography these last few months as I will over the coming years.  But in the little experience I have gained over the last few years I have had done a bit of Street Photography.  Now there is two parts to street photography that I have both read about and experienced to some degree.  They are: 1) Building up nerve  2) Being cautious.

It takes a little nerve to go out to a random location and just start shooting pictures of random strangers.  While taking pictures at a public event changes the context a bit compared to going to the beach on a sunny day and shooting, it always takes a little getting use.  One thing always on my mind when doing a shoot is trying not to stand out.  I don't really want people to know that I am there.  When people are aware that their picture is being taken by a stranger or not it often changes the tone of the picture, some people become stiff, some people watch you wondering what you're doing.  The other thing on my mind is "Am I going to get punched out"  While very few people get overly confrontational especially after you speak with them explaining what you're doing nevertheless it is always on my mind.  Ironically in the age of addiction to social media where there are approximately 10 billion pictures alone on Facebook, half of those pertaining to an individual user who probably hasn't even seen half of them there is still a prevailing fear from a lot of people of having their picture taken.  Photography has changed not only in terms of technology but in that many ways 'everyone's a photographer'  but also in how semi- and professional photographers are looked upon especially here in Canada and the US.
 
I have read a number of stories, which I don't have the links to, in particular over the last year of photographers having their camera's broken, being attacked by someone in the public, having their photos deleted by cops, or even being suspected of taking pictures of children at a public place when its a grandparent or parent photographing their own kid.  While the last one is obviously a more serious concern considering all the child abuse occurring I have wondered why people have such a phobia of a person with a SLR camera taking random shots out in public areas.  Most people can also recognize by the type of camera that the person is a photographer because professional cameras are rather big and bulky.  It isn't all that likely there is anything more sinister going on with those pictures than all the photos of you that you didn't even know were all over a site like Facebook, a site from what I've heard from many programmers is hardly even secure. 

Steve Meltzer over at pixiq has chipped in on this subject and has explained what I often feel too in regards to the loss of the sense of being in this together and being part of a community where as now we no longer trust one another and suspect people being of ill intent.  He touches on how this has changed photography and in many ways made the rights of photographers disappear.  Read his article Good Cops Don't Bust Cameras    

Cool video using Time Lapse Feature

I know this video isn't featuring any Mississauga Sites but this is a really cool video which I came across that I wanted to share.



Neo Solar from Ben Lean on Vimeo.

Creativity on the decline

You ever watch something on TV or read about an upcoming film and just shake your head in disbelief?  That's sometimes how I feel when I actually turn on the TV or read an article like this.  It seems that more and more we see evidence that the creativity pool over in Hollywood is really heading for a drought.  A couple of weeks of go I was watching some TV on a Sunday afternoon, which I very rarely do, I got up to do a couple of things and left the TV on thinking I was coming back to finish the program I was watching.  The task at hand took a little longer and I ended up forgetting the TV.  Around came dinner time so I cooked up some food and then ate.  I went back into the living room sometime after 8 and realized I had left the tube on.  The Emmy's were on, there was a song being performed which caught my attention when I heard the words.  It had to be the stupidest thing and most unoriginal ideas for a song I've probably heard in my life and it made it seem like the kids in a high school class when the word sex comes up and they all giggle more mature.  The song was titled I just had sex five minutes ago or whatever it was.  I was ... dumbfounded .. that's the word.  Like really? That's the best skit the writers could come up with for what use to be a semi classy show.  Even If a person were to subject their family to sitting through the Emmy's do people in Hollywood not have any class left that maybe the Celebration of movie awards would be something that some families would watch.  I would be embarrassed if my kids were there with me.  But then again I don't watch TV most of the time because of the krap on it anyhow.

So back to the topic of creativity on decline.  It seems that the inspiration of the media we see presented to us whether on billboards, movies, commercials need a little bit of an overhaul.  I'm really sorry to burst anyone's bubble but when I see the latest new model next to naked on a billboard for a pair of Jean's Ad, which I would never spend a hundred dollars for anyways, it doesn't make me think "Hey that's sexy I should go buy that"  it actually makes me think "Are you stupid?" Sorry but it is what it is.  Then I usually think what is with this obsession with sex.  What does a naked girl have to do with jeans.    So there you have it folks Bloggin B is not feeling the love for the lack of creativity out there these days.  While there are a few exceptions to the rule I suspect that I will stay away from Hollywood's continued remakes such as the new Scarface which is being planned and why I originally wrote this entry.  Some things should just be left as they are.  So I will continue to enjoy the new Comic Book Movies which promises to give us a few good flicks for the next few years.  Other than that I will be advocating for more originality in the over-saturated zest pool of ideas we once called the Writer's Guild. 

Sunday mornings

Why is it that everyday of the week Monday to Friday I hear the alarm, I fumble my hands around like the semi-blind people in horror movies trying to find their glasses and upon discovering the location of the sleep depriving agent I attempt to smash it and I can easily fall back asleep. So Sunday and Saturday morning come around no alarm set and presto I wake up before 9.  It may be the smashing next weekend I will have to add the smashing into my wake up routine.  So here I am lying in bed (I'll spare you any pictures) mobile blogging. Did I mention I love Android.  Today once I arise from this oh so comfortable bed, which may take a while, I plan to venture out into the jungle of Square One land, otherwise known as City Center.  Actually I'm just going to check out the farmers market maybe grab some grub. I'll probably bring my Camera too in case I feel like snapping a few candid shots of some poor sucker while they are perusing the turnips, carrots or whatever vegetable catches their eye.  They will be posted at BlodgettFreezeFrame.

Also on the agenda today I will be whipping up some Spicy Thai Chicken.  I was trying to steal a picture from Rachel Ray (just the pic not a recipe got my own) who had one online that will look similiar to mine but the had it blocked from the internet pirates so we will have to wait until the experiment is over for photo ops.  Coming up this week too I plan to head over to Taste of Streetsville so watch out for the post. 

The TIFF (Film Festival) is almost over so we won't be seeing any more Blog Entries about Pitt, Fox's Dress or whatever other useless information conjured up in the obsession of "stars" world, haven't heard much about the movies actually.  Speaking of movies I have posted some of the trailers that caught my brow:

Steppin it up at Pearson

As we all know from news reports released over the past two years Toronto's Pearson Airport is rated one of the worst in Canada.  Google it you will find a number of articles.  I couldn't agree more.  I have traveled a little in my day and I have rarely had a good experience coming into Canada.  Being a Canadian citizen this is not only embarrassing but its down right pathetic.  What has improved over the last two years and this is more to do with the initiatives taken by individual airlines than the GTAA, is the ease there is to avoid long check in lines by printing your boarding passes online.  The first time I have used this feature was this past July on a trip to Florida.  I had nothing more than a small backpack which I carried on so the night before I checked in and printed my boarding pass, went to the airport the next day via Mi-way route 7, was there in 40 minutes and walked through customs within 20 minutes.  Not a problem, the problem I have constantly found is coming into Canada.  There are ridiculous waits to go through customs and then there is the dreaded baggage wait.  I have rarely had the experience of getting my luggage in under 30 minutes which is far too long for what is not really that big of an airport.  But then again when it takes 10 minutes to open the door of a plane what's another 30 minutes.

Mississauga News featured an article a few weeks back on the new Air-Rail Link (ALR) which is being headed up by Kathy Haley.  Kathy is one of the people who was behind the modern gas station designs amongst numerous other achievements.  Her vision of the new ALR is refreshing but it is not enough from the GTAA.  Kathy's vision is similiar to that of London England an airport that is fairly well thought out from boutiques to transportation.  If you ever fly into London there are three major airports you can land in and a few smaller ones.  All of these airports interconnect either through rail or direct coaches which run most of the day.  While the price point for fares that she mentions in the article runs from $15-35 it is a little steep if you ask me.  I don't recall paying more than 7 pounds when I took it 3 years ago in London.  While the direction that Kathy is bringing to the table sounds promising and I believe she will pull it off I think the GTAA seriously needs to step up their vision of the whole of Pearson's operations.

The first thing that needs to be changed is the customs area.  The last time I went through in July they had completely eliminated the individual lines for the counters so all travelers went into one big line and eventually went to the next available counter.  I am not convinced that this saved more time or was any more efficient.  In many airports I have traveled to there is always a line for citizens of that particular country.  This in my opinion is the first thing that should be on the GTAA's list of implementing.  There is absolutely no reason why a Canadian should be subjected to waiting behind a group of people traveling on Visa's who are being branded as suspicious or warranting long periods of questioning.  As bad as that sounds that is the reality of some countries reputation.  Unjust in most cases yes, but security is security and we have protocals for a reason.  By that is not sufficient enough for those of us who live here.  We should be given priority plain and simple.  Just like those who go through the process of enrolling in the Nexus program are given a preferred treatment the same should be applied to those who are traveling on Visa's, they should get their own line.  Nexus, Citizens and Visa's should be how the lines operate.

It is great that there are shuttles running between the terminals 1 and 3 (who know what happened to 2 it closed actually) but nevertheless the shuttle rail has made things a lot easier and cut down on travel and wait times.  But the other big problem I have seen is the how slow the people working at the terminal are to actually get the plane offloaded from the passengers to the baggage.  I'm not commenting on people's work ethics but rather the overall system.  I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've waited up to ten minutes for the door of the plane to be opened, this is just stupid.  Then there is customs and then the baggage pickup.  I have waited up to almost an hour on one trip, 40 minutes on a few and very rarely under 30 minutes.  Again I say in perspective to many airports I have seen who have a lot more terminals the wait is never more than 20 minutes, actually that's a long wait. 

So Kudos to the GTAA for putting a new initiative together to ease the method of travel to and from the airport.  Now its time to live up the vision that Kathy has for the ARL being "Something that's considered world-class."  In a great city like Toronto why can't their airport live up to the same ideals.  


Traveling Blodgett

Catching Up

So the kitchen renovations that I was working on are complete.  As usual there are always a few hiccups along the way which resulted in my delay getting back to the routine of posting on a daily basis.  I apologize for the absence... Bloggin B is now back in full swing.   So the summer seems to have disappeared, it may be all the hurricane activity down south that is throwing off the Indian summer that we all love, nevertheless the fall jackets are starting to show and soon the leaves will be changing which means I will have to head north for some photo shoots.

Being absent from the Blogosphere for the last week and a bit I meant to post on a number of items the most interesting being this alarm clock (on the left) which is shaped as a bomb which you have to diffuse before it goes off.  So for all you enthusiasts of exploding stuff this may tickle your fancy.  Some people may have too much time on their hand (seriously no pun intended)    Speaking of exploding stuff I have been living in dreadful fear of my laptop battery possibly exploding as the good old laptop ( at least a few years and counting)   is heating up quite a bit.  Other than when I am typing a lot in these rants and discussions I fill my spare time with, I have found that I can run my laptop on AC only .. I know!.. Who would of thought .. actually I reached the point where I had to do this...

Seriously it came to such madness.  Yes I had the Cryopak 250 out.  I had the mini fan blowing too seems like the fan on the motherboard is gone. (That is not my picture I stole if from Teche Blog) But that aside there have been some interesting topics brought up in other Blogs which I would like to have commented on but being days old and getting a bit late for a Thirsty Thursday Session I may have to cut the discussions short tonight.  Unfortunately my dream of picking up my new EF 50mm f/1.4 USM lens will have to wait as I had to splurge unexpectedly on new kitchen appliances. That story I will not disclose but yes ceramic top stoves are breakable.

Moving on to more interesting things I have partially completed setting up my 30 gallon aquarium.  Yes Bloggin B keeps the water creatures at bay.  I added one of my personal favorites a Gold Severum.  He is one of my favorites because they are just bad to the bone fishes.  You see being in the hobby for almost five years I have kept a few fish.  I have also spent a lot more money than I should have on trying to build up a planted aquarium.  One learns with experience that Cichlids (the species that Severum's belong too) have a natural instinct to attack plants.  They aren't really attacking but we'll call it that as I don't feel like giving a course on Cichlid behavior.  Needless to say I have discovered keeping these fish and I've had a few, unfortunately they died due to moving stress and one got hole-in-the-head disease and we we're unable to overcome it, that they almost sit there and watch you.  Every time I find my plants floating at the top of the tank I look at him.  And then I replant them and he sits there and hides.  An hour later I can see him watching and waiting.  Eventually I find my plants uprooted again.  Sneaky lil bugger.

I also added  a Bolivian Ram, three Otto Cats, and a Black Ghost Knife who is not being so friendly today.

Bolivian Ram (he will get more colorful)

Tank (glass needs to be cleaned a little)

 

Say hello to Mr Pleco.

So stories worth sharing before I sign off to chill out (may be literally) on the balcony for a night cap include; Meadowvale Village Celebrate 175 this Saturday,  we are heading into elections in Ontario (no links you can read your Toronto Newspaper for info) and Mississauga, food wise a Taste of Streetsville is still ongoing, Dishcrawl is coming to Toronto (watch for another post of my thoughts), in movies Gandalf  the Grey is on tour and the latest Avenger One Shot Teaser which the clip is included in Thor released this week on DVD is here :

Bloggin B signing off for tonight.

Sunset

One of my favorite times of the day is between 5pm - 9pm.  I love being on a patio or balcony at this time of day. The other night I was sitting on the balcony enjoying a little Chivas when I looked out to see this beautiful sunset.  I decided I would try to snap a quick shot.  There it is, mind you clarity may be a little distorted you can blame it on the Chivas  = ; o

Forgot to mention

There will be limited posts until the weekend of September 9th.  Bloggin Blodge

D21

21

Are you from Mississauga?  Have you heard of  21?  

Elementary schools now have uniform

Some parents may be relieved that the Toronto Catholic School Board has now implemented a uniform Policy under the "dress code for pupils policy."  Beginning this school year students will no longer be wearing street clothes.  A welcome move by some as buying new clothes at back to school sales and doing laundry may now be reduced also as a result.  I for one am totally for this.  This will in some ways create a more focused atmosphere for students to learn and will alleviate some of the popularity pressures that have arisen due to the over emphasis on fashion that retailers and the fashion industry have placed on our children. Not to the mention the branding association that leads to bullying.  I have a good friend who is a Chaplain in the Dufferin Peel board and he has even stated on occasion that branding due to the clothing can even go as far as determining where kids sit in the cafeteria.  By branding I am referring to kids only associating with kids who dress in the same clothing style whether its grunge, preppie, rocker vs rap etc.  I remeber in grade 8 even at a uniformed school I attended you were really cool if you had a Raiders jacket and maybe a Guns n Roses, Metallica or Public Enemy T-shirt.  You were semi-cool if you had a Georgetown Hoyas jacket.  I had a lumber jacket which made me semi-nerdy and a Hoyas jacket which made me semi-cool too.  Our kids don't need this pressure they need to learn in a positive environment which is getting harder to provide. This is a great move on the board's part.  Maybe the trustees at Dufferin will relook at this issue again soon.  Read more here

If you're sweating you are a terrorist.

Anyone think this is a little bit of profiling?   So the government has a plan to watch you at the airport and based on your body behavior they may be able to apprehend terrorists.  Signs of detection include sweating.  So if you're late don't run because that morsal of bodily cooling agent may do you in.  I think the government should stop using terrorism as a scapegoat for their "global plan of tyranny" as Alex Jones puts it.  Conspiracy theorists will be having a field day with this article

Back to school chills

Another weekend has come and gone.  The last weekend before the back to school craziness begins.  The construction workers are busy fixing up the streets at some of our major intersections.  The malls are going crazy with Moonlight Madness sales and Walmart along with staples will be areas that you will want to steer clear of over the next weekend.  So the last long weekend of the summer is upon us and the police will be busy setting up their spot checks and strategic plans for ensuring road safety.  The cottagers are finalizing their plans for the weekend and the liquor stores will be stocking up as the crazies line up to ensure they are well stocked for the last blitz of the summer.  The skies are growing cloudier and the chill of the morning breath is echoing the sentiments that the change of seasons is in the air.  As hurricanes and tropical storms brew in the southern eastern seas we feel the warmth of the sun's embrace grow distant earlier each day.  The morning traffic increases as the teachers creep back to work.  Soon our morning sidewalks will be littered with the joyful screams of friends lost and rekindled as the little ones go off to learn.  The traffic volume increases as parents fill their busy summer schedules with back to school fun.  The thrill of the summer freedom is over now and done.  There's something about the last week of August that always give me the back to school chills.

Birthday dinner

Bloggin Blodgett celebrated his 30th birthday for the third time yesterday.  It was a fun filled evening with the family.  Instead of going out for a buffet which we've done for the last few years I decided to have a mini buffet of some of my favorite foods.  With just under 3 hours of prep time and cooking it turned out to be a great meal that the whole family enjoyed.  On the menu was Jerk Chicken, Couscous Stuffed Peppers, Greek Rice, Grilled Lamb, Chez Blodge's Spinach Salad and a few home made appetizers.  Of Course birthday dinner is never complete without a little Cheesecake and Dairy Queen Ice Cream Cake.  I may just post a few of these recipes in the coming week. 

Also some new pics of Ultimate Optimus who my brother and brother in law spent some time transforming while hanging out over some Pina Coladas.

 













Thanks to everyone for the birthday greets as well.
Older Blodgett

The Morning Mist

The cool breeze blows like the morning mist that travels across the still water at the dusk of dawn, reminding us that the change of seasons are near. The cold morning brisk reminds me of an Autumn day. So the battle of the seasons begins as cold and warm fronts meet hurricanes and tropical storms battle over land and seas.  The pagans of ol days would have said the gods were at war.  But us photographers and fishers will rejoice as the summer clings on and the Autumn leafs show all their glory.  As the leafs fall the lenses will change and as the salmon swim the credit the lures will wait.  The crisp coolness of Autumn's chill just spoke this morning letting us know I am coming!

A short story

I have always enjoyed various forms of writing. I have been writing here and there since about grade 5 which was a few years ago... OK many years ago. Nevertheless I have always enjoyed writing. My fidelity to writing hasn't always been the most faithful either. While doing some research for an upcoming project I came across this site which seems to be dedicated to freelance writings, poets etc... and you guessed it... Bloggin Blodgett signed himself up. Now I just setup a profile to get the wheels a churning so there is nada available for your reading pleasure. However not to disappoint I have decided that I shall upload a monthly story... most likely a short story but there may be the odd poem as well. It shall be swell! Writing.com is where the story's shall dwell Bloggin Blodgett has a new mission to make you smile with stories that I tell.... lol. See poetry Bloggin Blodgett can dig it.

Here's the link

More power to the police

CP24 sent out a tweet last night opening up the discussion whether RIM should hand over information to police.  By information I am assuming they are refering to messages sent through Blackberry Messenger.   This topic has made it to the tables due to the whirlwind of looters swirling through England. This situation is not unique.  I believe the police there want RIM to open access to the BBM network in the hopes that they may be able to retrieve information pertaining to the direction that looters are heading and who is involved.

During the G20 in Toronto BBM and twitter were methods used to communicate what was going on.  I am in as much support of the violation of privacy rights being demanded by the "riot police" carried out by the corporate entities who we sign contracts with entitling "us civilians" to certain protection in terms of privacy as much as I am in support of police pulling over a car with teenagers because they were there.  While I don't neccessarily support the growing trend of civil unrest I do not support the growing trend of giving excess power to police forces as a method of combatting civil or uncivil protesting.When the G20 took place in Toronto the police had the same access to social and news media the people on the streets did.  And this did not aid them in containing the situation.  They had the same access to the countless people tweeting what was going on and where simply by following corporate media.  The end result was their kettling technique which resulted in no less than treating innocent civilians as criminals in the hope of squeezing out the 'trouble makers'.  The same thing is being proposed here in England.  Violating the peoples right putting them into one pot in the hopes of getting rid of the toxins.  I think as people we need to start looking at the implications of what we are really giving birth to here.  Yes there is a worldwide trend of growing unrest.  Yes there is a worldwide trend of mass protest occuring and its only going to continue as the lines between the people and the elite continue to divide.  Governments and people would be wise to see clearly that there is a divide and that those people whom some consider to be the bottom of the barrel are tired of the growing influence (financial) and power being giving to Corporations.  One of the biggest being the 'new democratic' type of government policing systems, look at the facts in terms of money being spent on security at these continuous protests and riots.  

As a citizen I am concerned with the willingness of some people and Corporate entities to continue to support this trend of handing over more power to police.  I am very skeptical about police power especially in the wrong hands.  Don't say it can't happen.  There is an old saying 'remember everything hitler did was legal'.  Look I am a law obiding citizen I can talk about countless stories of even here in Mississauga of profiling, unprofessional conduct etc etc  that is not the point the point is that it is dangerous to fuel a system which is on the verge of meltdown with a socialist type mentality.  And thats what this is pushing towards more government control.  The government can't keep their own houses in order and they want access to our tweets, text messages and bbm messages.  Sorry not floating my boat.  I believe in the rights of all people to their privacy and human rights not to be treated as criminals because the next group of rioters have shown up to the door steps.  Maybe the government cops should look into the problems that generate these situations instead.  They may even find a few in their own house. 

Protesting Blodgett

Poser - Graffiti artist

I've always loved Graffiti. Never got into the art form myself but in my travels, notably in Europe, I always loved taking the train. You were always guaranteed to see some great graffiti along the tracks. Germany in particular always had some really cool paintings. While the art form itself has always been surrounded with controversy I for one have never had a problem with it in my home city of Mississauga or in Toronto. I'm not talking about little word scribbles often associated with gang tags rather actual murals or paintings. Pictures and an interview of a known Ottawa - Toronto graffiti artist Poser has been posted on BlogTo.

Poser on FlickR

Photos were taken by sniderscion

Earthscraper? A what?

We've all seen many Skyscrapers but this is the first I've heard of what appears to be a new concept.... The Earthscraper That's right ladies and gents an Earthscraper


This is a design concept which is being considered by the City of Mexico for it's Historic Center. While the concept is extremely interesting it raises a few questions about how this would logically work. I mean take for example if there was a fire or earth -quake or some emergency how would you get out. It will definitely be interesting to see some of the technological concepts that are brought to the table for emergency exit solutions. As with all buildings there are also structural concerns not to mention possible leakage issues which can cost huge sums of money even in private homes yet alone x amount of stories underground. Not too sure what environ-mentalists, which I'm sure the City of Mexico has consulted on such a project, will have for the City too. The concept does have a lot of potential if they are able to work around the safety issues. It would definitely make for an interesting tourist attraction. What a pity though for us photographers we couldn't take a picture of the building but wait the building is going to be glass? That's right. Well part of it anyhow. The Architectural Design of this Historic building will mirror that of Mexico's rich history of Aztec Pyramids a site to see in themselves along with the Mayan Pyramids. See the full article from Gizmag here