Photography: 1"

I decided to do another take on old photo concept that I had previously shot, this time, using only a one-second exposure. The above was taken on the Wilshire bridge overlooking the 110 Freeway (facing south). It was actually quite scary because I could feel the wind from the cars kick up my hair when I leaned over the railing, looking down. G had to accompany me as there were quite a few homeless people around and it was almost 10PM in downtown LA (we were quite near Skid Row). The older photo (circa 2008), below, was taken in Century City using a 13-second exposure.

Photography: 1/1000"

I had found thumbtacks and champagne flutes laying around from a previous photo shoot that I had done (see below) and decided to do a different take on it using gravity. Unfortunately, due to how cloudy it was (and I like to shoot only in natural light), I had to kick up the ISO on my already crappy camera, which raised the noise to unbearable levels.

Movie: Thor (3D)

I saw Thor (in 3D), yesterday, at the Grove, and, maybe I've just seen too many movies now, but it seemed awfully cliche, even for an action movie. In particular, Natalie Portman's portrayal of a cute, but work-driven scientist was disappointing, especially because I usually like her stuff. I suppose any normal girl would gush about the main character's (Chris Hemsworth) fantastic abs, but I was more thrilled to see the ending universe sequence because it was in 3D! I could care less about the final scene after the credits, which apparently was an important teaser. Oh, whoops, there goes a spoiler.

LA: 2011 LA Times Festival of Books

Why, oh, WHY did they have to move the Festival of Books to USC (ugh!)? I mean, I know why -- financial reasons -- but couldn't they have negotiated some sort of deal to keep it on the beautiful, rolling hills of UCLA? Like, how about promising to charge a dollar or two more for parking or as an admission price? A quarter of a million people show up to this event, so it could make sense. Maybe I'm just biased, being a Bruin-alum and all, but I believe it would have been worth it.