Believe it or not, but I'm actually blogging over the free Wifi on the BoltBus. The connection is decent, although this return trip doesn't have power outlets. I know I haven't blogged here in a while, but I have been really busy, running around like a chicken trying to find its head.

So while we await "more" I will leave you with this: I'm searching for tweets. I was previously searching flickr for images, and now I'm searching for tweets. Maybe my new "status message" should be "searching."

Incidentally, did you know that if you type the word "google" into Google, you can break the Internet?

Here is my first tweet search - more to come. - http://search.twitter.com/search?q=sleep 

Yesterday I picked up a brand spanking new iPhone 3GS. Kendra and I made our way down to the Apple store in Soho where we spent all of 10 minutes standing in line. Before I knew it my original non-3g phone was converted into an iPod Touch and my new baby way taking calls and receiving emails.

Later, while eating sushi, I set up my email, took a few pics and started playing around with the cool new compass feature! Kendra laughed for quite a while as I followed the almost "candid-camera-esque" instructions for calibrating the compass...

So, my favorite new feature about this phone is obviously the camera. Auto-focus, macro capability and a bigger file! Once I got home I downloaded and configured Pixelpipe, which is now set to upload pics and vids to Flickr and Facebook ( how cool is that ) and of course Camerabag, which was recommended to me by the editors over at MacCreate.com.

Next month I will be attending the wedding of a close friend of mine. It's sure to be a blast and while they have hired a pro to cover the event, I really want to take some great pictures. Normally, I would probably cover a wedding using a pretty typical equipment kit. Two DSLR bodies, three or four lenses and a couple of TTL strobes would probably do the trick. But, for this event I have decided to try and do something a little different. First of all, I plan to shoot the entire event in black and white. Second, I plan to use only available light. That's right, no flash whatsoever.

I think I have a few options here. The ideal digital tool for the job would be something along the lines of a Canon 5D MKII, or some other small DSLR that does really great in low light and high ISO. This camera coupled with a fixed, fast lens like the 24 f/1.4 or 35 f/1.4 would be just about all I'd need.

Of course I don't currently have any of this equipment, so I would have to either borrow or rent.

Alternatively, I could try and shoot this event on film using Tmax p3200.  I have used this film plenty of times in the past, and it's really great stuff. The grain is HUGE, but smooth and pleasant, and you can even push it a stop or two if you really need to. Of course, I'd need to acquire a bunch of it ( please tell me Kodak still makes this stuff ) and, I'd need to set up a processing line to get at the images.

Last week I watched Michael Mann's Manhunter. It's a real gem of a movie starring William Peterson ( CSI Las Vegas ). Manhunter is essentially the prequel to Silence of the Lambs and was remade and titled Red Dragon in 2002. Although I really like Anthony Hopkins as the venerable Dr. Lecter, I have to say, Mann's highly stylized version from 1986 is still my favorite. All this Michael Mann business of course lead me to watching a few episodes of Miami Vice ( which I posted about here ) and so naturally I have been taking a few screen captures. Not really sure where I'm going with this, but I really liked this one which was only on screen for a second and is fitting with yesterday's post about surveillance.

It's interesting how these things all tie themselves together. Last semester at MICA, we had a few visiting artists who sort of hit the nail on the head. Flickr searches, surveillance in cinema, photo archives--it's all beginning to meld together. The above image was captured on my laptop screen at 1440 x 900 pixels. As you can see the actual image area is cropped to TV format, and additionally cropped by the original editor for the in-camera surveillance effect. Not too may pixels to work with!