Snappy Comeback

A couple of years ago I swapped all of my good DVDs for a just-about-new Canon PowerShot SD100 digital camera. I had been wanting one and initially I thought the dollar-per-DVD amount would still leave me with a handful of decent titles to my name.

However, once the final amounts had been tallied, my respectable collection had been pared to the handful of titles too artistic or bad to suit my swap partner’s taste (The Pillow Book did not make the cut, and to this day I’m not sure if it was just too pretentious or featured too many scenes of what lies beneath Ewan MacGregor’s kilt.)

But I digress.

Anyone who spends a day around me comes to the quick realization that I take a lot of photos. In addition to the airy notion of image-as-proof-of-existence (which I wholeheartedly embrace), digital cameras are just nifty as all get-out. They combine the instant gratification of a Polaroid, with the ability to make unlimited copies and only pay to print out the good pictures.

Don’t get me wrong – I still love the aesthetics of my 70s SLR. The digital cameras with built-in shutter sounds don't hold a candle to the aesthetics of the soft clicking of the film being manually forwarded or the ticking of the aperture as I adjust the lens. But there’s something infinitely satisfying about being able to slip this tiny camera into my pocket and being able to document anything from unintentionally hillarious signs to my friend ranting about monster trucks, world peace and ice-cold lemonade enjoyed 'neath a sheltering porch.

When I moved to Akron I found I was taking enough photos to easily fill a 700 MB CD-R with images each month. Over this past year I've accumulated numerous discs filled with everything from giant rosemary bushes in Austin, Texas to videos of me playing guitar in my pajamas at 3 am.

Since today is August 1, that means I had to burn my archive of July photos. It's been a busy few months, but looking back I realized this was a month with lots of adventures, including a picnic complete with close friends, portable phonographs and outdoor Shakespeare, a rowdy night of live Misfits covers, driving around the rural countryside in a 60 year old pickup truck, videogame bowling, voodoo figures made from deli sample spoons (including a messenger bag o' angst!), picking home-grown basil in the rain and being made aware of the existence (much less the...erm... stud on the cover) of Chess Life magazine.

I feel so fortunate for this silly life.

Currently spinning:
Slint ~ Spiderland