THRILLARAMA.COM

Waiting at Genius Bar

My Mac Mini went Cylon on me while I tried to load the 10.6.3 update the other day. Hope the fix is simple.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Who Greenlighted This One?

This poster is part of a Pom campaign that graces the upper Jackson transfer tunnel in Chicago's Loop.

Posted via web from lthanlon

The World of Tomorrow

I think Bertrand Goldberg designed this one.

Posted via web from lthanlon

My Impossible Film is on the Way

I love it when a plan comes together -- especially one conceived by the good guys.

In this case, the good guys are the folks behind The Impossible Project, an effort that successfully resuscitated and reformulated instant film after Polaroid stopped making it.

This past week, TIP announced the availability of its first batch of film designed to be used in SX-70 format cameras. I've already ordered a batch.

At once, I was struck by the clean, simple elegance of the packaging.

In addition, to help reduce the film's waste stream, TIP turned the darkslide that 's ejected when you insert a new pack of film into a collectible card.

Be sure to check out some of the wonderful images already being created with this new instant film.

I Want My iPad Now!

I'm one of those optimistic folks in the news business who believes that Apple's iPad could be the industry's salvation.

Why?

Once the World Wide Web and browsers are removed from the equation and iPad users begin relying simply on the Internet to load content, newspapers and magazines will be able to charge for content. 

Micropayments will lead the way here. Like to read more of this story? See more photos? Watch the video? That'll be 25 cents.

Don't think people will pay extra? They won't unless the content is credible and compelling. The Darwinian nature of the marketplace will sift out the crap -- and in pretty short order, too.

By the way, one of the best sites to keep track of iPhone and iPad apps is appadvice.

Operation Now Edible

What's next? A product that lets you eat your Mystery Date?

Posted via web from lthanlon

Spammers are Persistent

I can't be the only one who's tired of deleting spam comments. I zapped 10 from my ChicagoScope podcast site just now that had been intercepted and put into the "waiting for approval" queue.

Most of these seem to have originated from the Ukraine.

Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on these folks. After all, some have an amusing Boris Badenov flavor to them...

All people deserve very good life time and mortgage loans or just car loan can make it much better. Just because freedom relies on money state.

If you are willing to buy a car, you will have to get the credit loans. Moreover, my mother commonly utilizes a sba loan, which is really rapid.

The credit loans seem to be very useful for guys, which want to ground their own career. As a fact, this is not really hard to receive a bank loan.

This stuff almost qualifies as a demented form of free-verse poetry!

Horizon Perfekt Panoramic Camera

I've given the Horizon Perfekt panoramic camera a second chance and it seems to be working well for me now. 

I bought one of these Russian-made swing-lens contraptions from Amazon prior to my Southwest Chief trip last month, and returned the camera for a refund after I found it scratched the film I shot with it.

Last week, however, I decided to give the Horizon another whirl and ordered one again -- which is perking along just fine so far. The image here is one of the first I exposed with it. After shooting, I dropped the BW400CN film off at Walgreens and asked them just to develop the film. I scanned the images at home later that night.

One compositional issue I'm going to need to be aware of is that although the Horizon takes broad, 120-degree views that bend parallel lines into graceful curves, it also records fairly ugly stuff at ground level, such as the sewer grate shown here.

I'm looking forward to using this fascinating camera this spring and summer during trips to Colorado and Nevada. I hope that eventually, I'll be able to get results as good as this guy's. 

I almost forgot to mention a couple of Chicago connections to panoramic photography. First, there's noted stock agency Panoramic Images, which has been licensing spectacular wide-format photos for about 20 years.

Then there's the medium-format Cyclops, a swing-lens panoramic camera that I almost bought about 20 years ago. If I recall correctly, this relatively inexpensive camera was manufactured in Orland Park at some point.

AutoStitch iPhone App

Saw a nifty AutoStitch iPhone photo on Flickr taken by Sean Tubridy, which prompted me to give the app a whirl. I like how most cars are ghosted into oblivion. Tubridy -- aka "tubes." on Flickr -- is a Minneapolis-based designer and photographer who co-founded SavePolaroid.com.

This image here is my first AutoStitch photo. It consists of 20 separate iPhone photos that the application automatically assembled. Pretty cool. I like how, in the assembly process, AutoStitch ghosted out most of the pedestrian and vehicular traffic -- a nice touch reminiscent of the long exposures necessary at the dawn of photography.

Learn more about AutoStitch.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Cool Panavision iPhone App

A snazzy new iPhone application called Panascout from the folks at Panavision lets you take photos in a 2.40:1, 1.85:1, 1.78:1 (16x9) or 1.33:1 (4x3) aspect ratio, add a voice memo and then save that information, e-mail it to someone or even send to Final Cut Pro. It also takes a GPS reading of your location.

I shot this anamorphic widescreen ratio image of the Super Cup restaurant building at the corner of Lawrence and Central in Chicago's Jefferson Park neighborhood. Until somebody decides what to do with this space, it really would make a great set for a movie.

By the way, in this example, Panascout has truncated my fictitious film title, "She Let Him Continue." There's a story behind that title, too. Way back in college, I read a book by Dean Koontz called "Writing Popular Fiction" and in one section, he discusses how to pick a title for your book. "She Let Him Continue" was an example.

Scouting locations for your next hit movie -- or just pretending to do so -- has never been easier.

Trump Tower

In morning light from No. 2 CTA bus.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Tired of Irish Cereal Stereotypes

I think Lucky Charms' Lucky the Leprechaun should take a permanent vacation. I hear the Frito Bandito has room at his Cancun timeshare. My alternative in honor of St. Patrick's Day this year: Marshmallow Mateys.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Rainy Day Tool

An umbrella dries in my cubicle.

Posted via web from lthanlon

UIC-Halsted

Waiting for Blue Line to Jefferson Park.

Posted via web from lthanlon

Rainy Chicago Morning

Wrigley Building as seen from the No. 147 CTA bus.

Posted via web from lthanlon