THRILLARAMA.COM

METRA NORTHWEST LINE

Metra Northwest
Originally uploaded by chi_cowboy

I shot some footage on my way home from work this week on Metra's Northwest line. The window is tinted green, so I decided to render this in black and white.

SHOPPING CART!

Shopping Cart!
Originally uploaded by chi_cowboy

Quick spin through the produce department at the Dominick's supermarket in Park Ridge, Illinois. Shot vertically and rotated in iMovie.

SUPERDAWG

Superdawg
Originally uploaded by chi_cowboy

Rented a Dodge Charger for the weekend and stopped in at Chicago's iconic Superdawg drive-in this afternoon. One of the best hotdogs around -- and I love the packaging.

CTA BLUE LINE

CTA Blue Line
Originally uploaded by chi_cowboy

O'Hare bound train pulls into Chicago station.

FIRST iPHONE VIDEO

First iPhone Video
Originally uploaded by chi_cowboy

Apple's new iPhone 3G S doesn't deliver high-definition images, but what it lacks in fidelity, it more than makes up for with convenience and portability. Here's my first video, shot on my way into work in Chicago this morning.

I wish we could shut off the camera's autoexposure, but otherwise, I'm really pleased with the addition of video to iPhone.

SHAMWOW!! AT RIBFEST

Just testing to see if the TypePad app is any better at handling photos.

THRILLARAMA IN THE NEWS

I was surprised and dee-lited when Your Humble Blogger showed up in a news release from Livescribe Inc. about the social-media implications of its Pulse smartpen.

The news release linked to my pencast about traveling on Amtrak.

As I've mentioned, the Pulse pen records a visual record of what you write and an audio record of what's going on around you. The pen accomplishes this with a tiny infrared camera near the ballpoint to track what you write and a microphone built into the barrel to capture sound.

The results are uploaded into your computer and made available on the Livescribe site, where you can password-protect access to your content.

You can also extract the audio and transfer it to a podcast or another medium. However, on its own, the unedited, linked audio and visual files make for an interesting communications tool that Livescribe has dubbed a "pencast."

Technology like the Pulse smartpen has a lot to offer journalists, podcasters, educators and students -- as a quick scan of what's been posted to the Livescribe community shows.

I'm looking forward to exploring more ways to use this fun and unique tool in my podcasts.

CALCUTTA PIZZA RIDES AGAIN!

For most of my youth, no trip to downtown Denver was complete without a visit to the 16th Street Woolworth's.

This store occupied half a block and featured just about anything you'd want ranging from clothes to electronics to small appliances to TV sets to live goldfish to 45 and 33-1/3 vinyl records ... and on and on and on.

The store was such an overwhelming shopping experience that my mom lovingly referred to it as "marketplace in Calcutta."

The Woolworth's had a lunch counter where you'd be served your Coca-Cola in a little paper-cone nestled in a little metal frame. The cheeseburgers always seemed so much better than anything we'd ever cook at home; maybe it was the toasted buns, or maybe there was just something about eating food alongside merchandise that made it all special.

If you wanted a more formal experience, you could eat at an actual sit-down facility on the store's 15th Street side. Or for a funner time, you could snarf down pizza, hotdogs or fried chicken near the 16th Street entrance.

I don't know what it was about Woolworth's pizza that made me love it so, but I did. Lots of other folks did, too. In fact, when our French club at Community College of Denver (Buff Brigham was our instructor and adviser) needed to do a fundraiser, we bought a boatload of pizza from Woolworth's and sold it in the breakroom.

That Woolworth's and the downtown Denver of my youth exist only in memory now, and I never imagined I'd experience that Woolworth's pizza taste again. But recently, I bought a couple of Roma frozen pizzas on sale at the Jewels. And honest to God, after the first taste I was swept back to 16th Street.

Who says you can't go home again?

THE LAST TEMPTATION OF ROCHESTER

Well, I've decided to bring along one of my favorite oddball cameras, a Canon EOS IX. This SLR shoots Kodak's Advanced Photo System film, but also allows me to use all of my EOS lenses. I usually keep a 24mm f/2.8 attached to it, which is what I used to shoot this nighttime exposure.

I figure evening station stops will offer similar mixtures of light and dark, so I should be able to meter quickly. I'll also be able to shoot exposure sequences as the train is in lateral motion that can be used as stereo pairs to create 3-D images.

I'm also going to bring a Pentax 6x7 -- mostly for use once I'm in Colorado.

And, of course, the Livescribe Pulse smartpen is coming along, as well. I'll figure out something neat to do with it.

NATIONAL TRAIN DAY

I just noticed that Saturday, May 9, the day I'm traveling to Denver on Amtrak's California Zephyr, is National Train Day.

I'm not sure exactly how I'll document my trip this time. On previous trips, I managed to shoot some nice images with Lomo LC-A+ and Yashica Samurai X3.0 analog 35mm cameras, but I'm now wondering whether I ought to concentrate on making fewer photos, but with greater compositional thought and technical quality.

Of course, I shouldn't discount the iPhone. One of my favorite views from the California Zephyr, "Late Night, Somewhere in Nebraska," was taken by an iPhone photographer.

I'm thinking especially of a shot (shown below) I grabbed with my iPhone while the California Zephyr stopped in Mount Pleasant, Iowa. A lone coin laundry was open, and it cast a pale light into the deserted street. If I'd had a manual-control film camera with me, I could have done a lot better with that shot, I think.

SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT AMTRAK

I'm taking the California Zephyr to and from Denver in two weeks, so Amtrak was on my mind when I did another test with Livescribe's Pulse smartpen. I'm bringing the Pulse with me on the trip and will record some pencasts. 

Amtrak 1
brought to you by Livescribe

SPLIT PERSONALITY TIC-TAC-TOE

This is a test pencast I made using Livescribe's Pulse smartpen. You should be able to open the document below, see an animated drawing -- and hear Yours Truly. Pulse is a pretty cool tool and, I believe, will have far-reaching implications for newsgathering and education.

Split Personality Tic-Tac-Toe
brought to you by Livescribe

SCIENCE-FICTION NOTES

Just testing the new function that lets me embed content created with the Livescribe Pulse smartpen. I'm impressed -- and am looking at ways to include this versatile and powerful tool in my podcasting and blogging efforts.

This page is part of some background notes I've been creating for a sci-fi story that's been bouncing around in my brain ever since I lived in Wyoming many years ago. (Although there really was a UFO reported near Pinedale, it was only seen as a bright light.)

UFO Seen Near Pinedale, WY Nov. 1977
brought to you by Livescribe

IT'S A DISCO!

Jefferson Park at Night, originally uploaded by chi_cowboy.

At least that's what the old Knobe the Stationer building looked like on Saturday night. From inside, lights pulsed and music blared and people came and went.

I'm not sure whether this is a regular thing or not. On a Saturday, there's plenty of on-street parking along Higgins, so crowds wouldn't be a problem.

I didn't shoot this image on Saturday; it's from about a month ago. I was testing long exposures with my Lomo LC-A+ camera and Ilford XP2 Super film. Overall, I like the images I came back with, but think I'd get finer grain with a slower, true black-and-white film like Kodak Plus-X.

IT'S A TRAP DOOR!

Trap Door, originally uploaded by chi_cowboy.

This one's on the Wabash Avenue Bridge across the Chicago River downtown by the Trump Tower. I've always wondered whether it's possible to open one of these trap doors.

I've so far resisted the temptation to tug on the handhold and find out.