Another Unexpected Mirror

Untitled VI

I guess I could've titled it "Yes, It's This Guy"...

Scrooge-Like

Me, doing an impression of a Victorian undertaker who is recalling being very irked just a few moments earlier by the dreadfuly loud and piercing noises emanating from the throats of the three female middle-schoolers walking right behind 𝗆̶𝖾̶him.

Keeping Track

Turns out, I started this blog almost fifteen years ago, on July 4, 2010.  Can't believe it's been that long.  It was a Sunday, like today, and also Independence Day for us Americans.  Wonder if there was any significance in the choice of date -- was I declaring independence from something?  If there was any, I no longer remember it.  All I know is, I'm 15 years older, and that much closer to the grave...

Eight Tamales Later...

That's how I titled this selfie because I'd actually bought eight tamales earlier that day, but it looks more like eighty tamales would be a better fit.  This is from the time I found a website that instantly adds fifty pounds to your photo, absolutely free of charge.

Winged Figure In Parking Lot

Complete with nimbus.

Hallowe'en 2012

LOOKING THE PART

Dressing as the Frankenstein monster or a zombie or a sexy nurse or a Presidential candidate would have been too easy and obvious, so I decided to go for the overthinking eccentric nerd who stares at things.  Because, you know, normally I'm so not an overthinking eccentric nerd who stares at things.

Sam Shoots Himself 2.5 Times

A PUZZLE

I was reading some online news today; I forget what I was reading at the time, but I came across a link to a website called 'Asian Poses'. And of course, it's about... poses Asian people -- mostly female Asian people -- assume when having their photos taken. Cute poses, cuter poses, and REALLY cute poses.

I'm not nicking any pictures from the website, but here's a sample of my own. In the photo below, which I took in Kyoto, Japan in the fall of 2007, the girl on the left is doing the most basic cute pose -- the 'Peace Sign'. Certainly, wishing for world peace is a laudable thing; what makes it a 'cute' activity, I don't know -- but there you are. I also remember taking a photo of a whole bunch of schoolgirls doing the same, but I couldn't find it. I assume I'll come across it at some time in the future when I least expect or need it. Not that a guy would ever actually 'need' a photo of a bunch of schoolgirls in uniform doing something cute for him.


Anyway, it inspired me to take these selfies. Because today was 'Dress Like A Mafioso Day' at work. And for once I wasn't posing in the bathroom mirror.



When I checked them out later at home, something odd caught my attention. Maybe I'm making a mountain out of a molehill, I don't know, but in the second photo it looks like the camera was shaken, or it fired twice, or anyway something happened, and as a result the objects in the background are blurred, or imaged twice. Just the background, though; not the main subject -- when the two photos are compared, it's fairly striking that the faces are equally in focus, yet the backgrounds differ sharply.

If the disturbance was caused by the camera swinging in an arc, but in situ -- without moving out of place -- naturally the parallactic displacement would be the most noticeable in the objects that are the farthest from the camera; the cuff of the sleeve would be more or less in focus, and as you moved down the arm you should see increasing separation. On the other hand, if the camera as a whole moved but maintained its angle, the entire photograph would be affected, with all details blurred equally. If the camera both moved out of place and swung around, the effect would be a combination of the two. In any case, my face should be blurred, either by the same amount as the objects on the desk, or less than they, but more than the forearm -- but no such effect is apparent (what looks like doubling of some locks of hair are actually shadows caused by the flash). I looked at fine features like the outlines of the eyes and the nose at high magnification, but they are just as sharp (in so far as is possible with my little point-and-shoot camera) as the stripes on the sleeve.

So what could account for this schizophrenic image? It's as if two separate photos were combined to make this one. A clean shot of the face, superimposed over a blurry one of the background.

At The Doctor's Office

Last Monday I saw my doctor for my twice-yearly checkup.

While waiting for the doctor I thought I'd put the time to good use and practice the lightning-bolt-from-the-fingertips move from the dream(see previous post).


I wasn't too hopeful that it would work in waking life, and indeed it didn't at first, but with some hard effort I was finally able to get off one small blast -- what a rush!

But now that I've had time to reflect, I realize it was such a dangerously stupid thing to do in front of a mirror! I'm lucky I didn't blow myself to smithereens like 'The Man with the Power' (see March 26 post).

Other Self-Images (Pt. 1)

Just now, as I finished uploading the last blog post and returned to the general view mode, something went wrong with the profile photo on the right and my old photo was replaced with a random image.

So I started to re-upload the old photo of myself as a toddler ("This just shows my mental age"),


then I thought maybe it was time to replace it with a new one.

In the photo that's up now I'm slightly older. I'm not sure where it was taken, but possibly it was in the building next to my grandfather's house.

Below are the other photos I considered using. The first one was taken some years ago when I was teaching a drawing course at USC. I had taken the class to Santa Monica beach for a morning of outdoor sketching. The second is more recent; I'm in a hotel room at Hakone, Japan, getting ready to go down for a dip in the natural hot spring.



This one isn't a photo, but what the hey, it's still me. I thought about using it.


I also kinda sorta thought about using this one, but thought (lots)better of it. It just didn't say "Darling, it's you!" to me.

Today's Thrift Shop Purchase

A circus egg. That opens up like a Muppet's mouth.


On the way back from the store I was carrying the 'egg' in my fist. This woman, who was pushing an old man in a wheelchair from the opposite direction, blurted out to me, out of the blue, "That there thing looks like a hand grenade!"

I smiled and said "Haha, I guess it kind of does," as I walked past her.

Then she said "And you look like James Bond!"

To be sure, I was wearing a tweed jacket and dark glasses. I don't think 007 was particularly known for favoring tweed, but I guess it was the overall impression of sleek danger and irresistibility, not the sartorial details.

Happy New Dang Year!

새해 복 많이 받으세요!


O.K., it's a little late, but hey, YOU try doing graphics while drunk.