tactile instant gratification

i've been playing around with the idea of buying a camera that shoots with instant feel. there's something about that vintage/lo-fi look of instant film like polaroids.

yes kodak has stopped manufacturing polaroid film, but there are companies out there who still make the film for the cult followers and enthusiasts. apparently there's such a demand for them, kodak is in talks of starting the manufacture of polaroid film and cameras again.

luckily jevon has a fuji instax that shoots instant film so i bought some film and borrowed his camera for samantha's dinner party. the film came out to be around 80 cents a pop, which isn't cheap, but isn't too expensive either.

here are some samples of the pictures i took.

here's the link to the album

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2255763&id=60700080&l=65d7265e3b

i guess we grow up around the time when polaroids were being phased out, because i got a lot of positive feed back from the camera and photos. there were a lot of "cool," "neat," and "what's that?" the click and the turning of motors as the film automatically pops out from the camera gives it a more hands on experience compared to a digital camera.

the only gripe i have with the camera is having to scan the photos to digitalize them. also not having a preview before shooting is troublesome too. but it does make you appreciate and mindful of picture selection. unlike a digital camera where i can snap away, the shots were running at 80 cents a pop.

overall it's a nice novelty but i would like to see a digital display and connectivity on an instant camera. ideally it would spit out a instant photo and also store a digital copy so you can retrieve it on a computer afterwards.

although it's fun to think about i'll hold off on buying the camera just for a now. maybe i'll look into some 35mm cameras.

storytime

My sister, my mom, and I were enjoying Sunday dim sum together and my mom asked me if I wanted to hear a story. I've never heard mom tell a joke/funny story/witty anecdote. She was really excited to tell me this story; she even moved her chair closer to tell me.

She leaned closer and started the story.

The story takes place in Vietnam, and this was during her teenage years when she was dating my father. My father had driven the two of them on his motorcycle; the vehicle of choice in Vietnam for dinner with some friends. After dinner and a few rounds my father was in condition to drive. Even then my father was a heavy drinker (I guess that's where I get it from), so my mom was volunteered into driving the both of them home, though her friends were worried for her. My mom isn't the most coordinated person and her driving herself on a motorcycle was a bit worrisome let alone driving herself and my drunken father behind her.

She had to get the motorcycle and the both of them home somehow so my mom said "no, no, I'm fine, I can do it." So with my drunken father behind her, my mom set off for home. It wasn't until she got home she realized my father wasn't behind her anymore. She freaked out and retraced her steps on the motorcycle in the middle of the night in search of my father. she finds my father at a street corner asleep under a street light. it turns out my father had fell off during a sharp turn and found his way to a street lamp and fell asleep.

so my mom got him back on the motorcycle, strapped him in the best she could and drove the both of them home. the next morning my dad said, "sorry you had to drive the both of us home. thanks for getting us back safely." apparently he was so inebriated he didn't even remember the whole bit about falling off the bike and being left in the middle of the night under a street lamp.

yup, that's my family.

1 of 1 bookmark

this is what i made Samantha for her birthday gift. Samantha is an avid reader so instead of buying a book she might get tired of reading within the first page, or really enjoy but ultimately donate to a library or sell to a second hand book store, i decided to make a bookmark with a photo from our recent yosemite camping trip. here's the photo i used in the bookmark.

From Camp Bourgeois Goes to Yosemite!

i dusted off my t-square, x-acto knife, and cutting matt and cut out two pieces of card stock. i then cut out a little window for the wallet sized photo. i got some printed at shutterfly for about 2 bucks i think. it came in a set of 4, so message me if you want a copy of the photo.

next, i glued some cotton between the two pieces of card stock, placed the photo behind the window, and stitched it all together. choosing red thread for the sewing was one of those "it looked good when i pictured it in my head," moments. it turned out looking like a baseball. =\

i winded up a few layers of thread and made a tassel, whole punched an opening for it and tied it through.

i went that far, so i figured i might as well make an envelope for it. i grabbed a brown paper bag and cut it up to size. instead of cutting it with an x-acto knife for a straight clean cut, i used a ruler to make a straight tear, giving it a more organic look. to tie it all up i used a piece of red yarn. here's the final product.

aged like a fine ale

chimay is a trappist brewed belgian beer. brewed within the walls of an abby by trappist monks, it's made with water drawn from it's well.

so chimay like many belgian trappist beers is not pasteurized, so yeast is left in the bottle and can ferment and develop it's flavor well after it's been bottled. most people say you can age it for up to 5 years.

so i figured i'd start my collection and age some. my plan is to pick up a bottle every time i visit trader joe's (they're actually 2 bucks cheaper than bevmo). then with each passing year, i'll open one up and taste the difference compared with a fresh bottle that hasn't been aged. chimay offers 4 different brews; rouge (red), bleue (blue), blanche (white), doree (gold). the blueue "grand reserve" is actually the best one to age. the doree can only be found in belgium within the abbey and at an inn associated with the abbey.

so there's my bottle. the first of many to come. it kinda feels like a time capsule, but i get to drink it when the time comes.

the label says to not lay it on it's side and to use a goblet when serving the beer. good tip, label, thanks!

side note, products left over from the brewing process are used to feed it cows, which then is milk to make chimay cheese. yeah, they make cheese too! there's even a chimay cheese that's made with made with chimay beer too. also the profits from chimay goes to charities. gotta love those beer drinking monks!

to live and die in la

created by slick, or dissizit (i'm too lazy to do my fact checks) these are dismembered hands of mickey throwing up the sign for L.A. oh mickey, still a G 'till the very end.

i really want it, but for 40 bucks, i'm a bit hesitant to put this in the shopping cart. but i am reminded of this guy...

it's not created by the same guy, but i wished i had bought it when i had the chance to.

you can pick it up here,

http://www.adopedistribution.com/product_info.php?products_id=846

the site boasts, "zero points of articulation," awesome. i like how they're upfront like that.

panda-man

i haven't stepped into an american eagle store in a long while, but i was doing some online window shopping and i found this t-shirt and thought i had to have it. so i went over the next day and bought this shirt.

there's something about a man in a suit with a panda head riding a bike whistling nonchalantly that's very whimsical and instantly lovable.

it kinda makes me wonder where he's biking to. is it work? if so, where would a panda man work where he needs to wear a suit?

lastly, he's biking to work, so thumbs up to you for being green.

halloween is coming up, maybe i'll be a panda this year.

SuperSonicDay

a sonics drive-in just opened up in monrovia, and i've passed it a few times before and today i decided to try "america's drive-in." i was alone in the car and to spare myself the awkwardness of eating alone in my car i opted for the drive-thru. maybe one of these days i'll go for full experience and try the drive-in.

oddly enough their menu lists a sonic burger, a sonic cheese burger with bacon, a sonic double cheeseburger, but no cheeseburger. i ordered their double cheeseburger with mayo, mustard and ketchup. their combo included a drink with tater tots.

i haven't had tater tots since i was in elementary school, but i don't think i can ever eat a tater tot without thinking about that scene from "napoleon dynamite," where the main character stashes his tots in his pant pockets from lunch and eats them later in class. anyway, i really their tots; they're crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, unlike the soggy government lunches and microwave tots you find in the frozen section of the market.

their burger is pretty good in size compared to the shrunken burgers of mcdonalds and in-n-outs i've grown accustomed to, although it was a tad bit on the salty side.

they even include a after meal mint which i thought was a nice touch. points off for their use of Styrofoam cups though. i say give me the wax coated paper cup. sure, they don't last more than a few hours with liquid in them, but it's not suppose to, just like how cups shouldn't have to last thousands of years in the landfill. i don't mind holding a cold cup with condensation.

something i found very interesting were their cup lids. a normal cup lid would have indicators where you can push down to indicate the cup's contents, be it cola, root beer, and etc. that workers never use, but the sonic's cup lids have extra unmarked indicators. they're perfect for the people with OCD tendencies, and people like jane who just pushes them all down just because.

i would also like to mention they have happy hour from 2-4 with 1/2 off drinks and iced drinks and the people working there say "have a super sonic day!"