Linklove Friday!

Howdy, and TGIF!


What are you reading on this #fridayreads? I've been reading the seminal (ironic term for writing that helped found modern feminism) poems and stories of Charlotte Perkins Gilman, including "The Yellow Wallpaper" (click on the link to read the story in its entirety!), which is beautifully rendered and perfectly Poe-esque. Written in 1892 - right around the time my grandfather was born! - the story is shocking in it's modern description of a bright woman's losing battle with what seems clearly to be a major bout of post-partum depression. Not a light read for sure, but  definitely well worth it.

Okay, let me just say, "WANT." These prom photos taken by Mary Ellen Marks are a must have for someone like me, who has been spending tons of time lately trying to document some of the rituals of teendom via fiction. I'm going to try to find this in a local bookstore this weekend during my  rare hours of down time.

Speaking of writers and images, here's a great article for any author who has not yet created a Facebook fan/author page. It's such an easy process, and one I've just gone through to get my own page up. I'd love it if you "liked" me here!

I'm sorry, but who doesn't love flying babies?  I sure do, and so will you when you check out "The Flying Series" by Rachel Hulin.

Finally, it was a sad, sad day this week when The Monkees' Davy Jones left us to smack his tambourine with that psychedelic backdrop in the sky behind him. Here he is on the Brady Bunch - in one of the defining t.v. scenes of my childhood. Admittedly, the music producer creeps me out a little, but I personally aspire to the sound guy's mellow vibe. Of course, this is the episode in which, having been platonically kissed by Davy Jones after he escorted her to her junior high prom, Marsha vowed to never to wash her cheek again. Ew? Maybe, but also understandable, considering what an utter little dreamboat he was.

Have a great weekend, Everyone, and keep on daydream believin'!

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thought for the day

Facebook is the place where you get to see how all those goofballs you knew in college/high school/elementary school are doing the same ridiculous things they did back in the day. It's just that, now, some of them are making millions doing that stuff.

:-)

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thanks, popular kids

Seems my whining about being all alone and dweeked out on the Facebook Interwebs worked, and I'd like to thank those who came to my rescue by either accepting my friend requests or friending me of their own volition. Bear with me in this digression, but it reminds me of the boost of confidence I was supposed to get when I was thirteen, and a kindly neighbor lady stopped by to chat with my mother. I was wearing braces to fix the diastema (which I hear is all the rage among the supermodel set nowadays) and coke bottle glasses to correct the myopia.

After chatting with me for a while, the neighbor lady said something along the lines of, "You know, you're going to be a pretty girl...Some day, I mean. When you get rid of the glasses and braces."

I assume my response looked something like this:

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the lone FB-er

After a long hiatus, I've decided to return to Facebook. I know, I know: It's breaking news capable of stopping the Earth's very rotation. It's a bit of a sad state of affairs, though, since I apparently deleted my profile with such vehemence that I managed to wipe all traces of myself from the FB system (some may question whether this is even possible: I say, yes it is).

So, I'm starting from scratch, with NO FRIENDS! It's like a bad junior high nightmare where you walk into the cafeteria holding your lunch tray, your headgear strapped firmly into place, and look around, hoping that someone - anyone - will summon you to their table.

Oh, and you're in your underwear, too.

Can you feel my pain? Can you??

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'tude tuesday: bokeh

So, I was thinking I should save this post for fotog friday, but maybe I'll just have to have some of my own examples ready to feature here at AWAAR by then.

Here's the thing. I've been thinking about what really makes me drool, photo-wise. And while -yes, let's just admit it, shall we? - pictures of Hugh Jackman generally do the trick, it's more the qualities especially droolable photos have in common that I was pondering. And one of those qualities is bokeh, which is when the subject stands out in sharp relief against a background that is out-of-focus to the point of being pretty much decorative only (think super shallow depth-of-field, and you'll get the picture)...

like here...

and here (though I would like to see a little PhotoShop unsharp mask and more color saturation applied to this one).

And of course, the awesome Pioneer Woman has some nice bokeh featured in her photo tutorials. She highlights Bakerella whose Wii cupcakes...well, they take the cake (and first prize for allover bokeh numminess).

My desire to achieve the same in my own pictures has led me all over the Web and all over my D80 user's manual. There's one forum for Nikon users in particular that has been especially useful in helping me figure out some of the limitations and upsides of the particular lenses I've been trying to use. All I know is this: I have to grab hold of this information while I'm receptive to it. Being a 90% (in my estimation - I don't do percentages well) right-brained gal, the days when I can process technical details are few and far between. Today just happened to be one of those days when I was all about technical attitude at altitude, so we'll see what I'm able to do to with it.

Oh, and a Facebook Update! Man, that place is scary - in a good way, mostly. It's been only a couple of days, but I've already gotten in touch with three old friends from high school (plus lots of other folks I see/talk to regularly). And I can totally see how it can become addictive.Follow @nicole_mcinnes