|
|
|
Posts Archived Under Hobbies
"Say 'cheese!'"
(Photo by Robert Mann) |
Summer is nearly here, so it’s time to officially come out of hibernation. For those of you who have an itchy shutter finger, today is an especially good day to venture out and about with your camera. June 15th is Nature Photography Day -- a great excuse to pause and observe the wild world and contemplate its conservation.
Fortunately, you don't need to be the next Franz Lanting in order to participate in this event, or even to plan a trip to an exotic location. The North American Nature Photography Association has a very low-pressure approach. They'll be posting members’ photos in their newsletter, but they offer a few rules to follow. The main rule is that your photographs must be taken within walking or biking distance of wherever you are on June 15. This provides you with an opportunity to find the glimpses of nature that you might otherwise miss amid your ordinary day-to-day routines. You might see the sidewalk in a new way, or gain an appreciation for backyard visitors.
Maybe you won’t end up with a print you want to frame at the end of the day. That’s fine. Stopping to "snap the roses" is its own reward. On the other hand, maybe you’ll be inspired to develop your skills as a photographer. The next challenge: kids!
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Nature Photography, Personal Nature Photography Exhibits, Resources for Photographers, Photo Contests, Nature Photography For Purchase |
|
Archived under: Animals, Arts, Cameras, Conservation, Environment, Events, Hobbies, Home and Garden, Photography, Wildlife |
| Post a comment (2) | Email this posting |
There's a moment in everyone's life when they come out of the closet -- not necessarily that closet -- but rather when they realize that that thing they’ve always been interested in and fascinated by isn't something to be embarrassed about, but is something to be acknowledged and celebrated.
In my own case, it was (and is) comic books. Even though I've been reading them for half a century, when I was in high school, it was worst sort of social embarrassment to admit that not only did you read and enjoy them, but you also collected them. When I got to college, I met men and women who were smart, funny, and who actually read comics -- and admitted it. Since then, I've been more than proud of my fanboy status -- even if some of my fellows are still stereotypically geeky.
May 25th is Nerd Pride Day, a holiday that started (in Spain, of all places) in 2006, and is dedicated to allowing all of us the freedom to be geeks or nerds about anything we like -- no, not just like, but are really into. With that in mind, I polled my fellow Sparksters to find out what floats their particular boats.
- Sarah: I am a total history junkie. I will read, watch, or listen to anything involving history (as you can probably tell from my Sparks). I'm partial to European history, especially anything weird, corrupt, or scandalous -- and it’s even better if it involves the monarchy. But surprisingly, I've never been to a Renaissance Faire.
- Suzi: This Memorial Day, I hope to be sitting by the pool, soaking up the sun, enjoying a bevy of tunes from my iPod Classic, whilst reading some lovely literary selection on my Kindle. I'm sure I'll be in contact with loved ones, as my Blackberry Pearl never leaves my side. Yes, folks, I am an unabashed gadget girl. I wear my Nerd Pride badge, well, proudly.
- Richard: I became painfully aware of my status as a gay nerd while creating a spreadsheet of "Golden Girls" episodes that I wanted to rip to my iPhone, organized by season, disc, and featured musical number (where applicable.)
- Jessica: I am nerdy about snowboard construction. My own snowboard has a Kevlar core for strength and flexibility (and in case bad guys are after me on the slopes, a la James Bond). It's pretty new, but the latest in board tech is bamboo veneer, which, in addition to being sustainable and looking very board-like indeed, reduces vibrations on icy snow and at high speeds. So cool.
- Adrienne: I collect Japanese toys. Okay, I'm not a master collector, but I still spend too much money of ugly vinyl monsters and fanciful plastic windup toys. Source of neurotic nerdiness: Crying over Gamera's apparent demise ("Don't die, Gamera! Don’t die!") in a fellow 3-year-old’s Gaithersburg, Maryland basement. It's one of my earliest memories. Do manicured lawns spawn escapist fantasies?
- Chris: I am an unapologetic sci-fi nerd. A good sci-fi novel/movie inspires you to think deeply, often forcing you to consider possibilities that never occurred to you. The prescription for all closed-minded individuals who just can't show any empathy or sympathize with any unknown point of view is an assigned list of the best sci-fi.
- Mike: I am a Disneyland nerd and proud of it! Since I was 10 years old, I’ve been going there at least once a year. After my first son was born, I have shared my poison, I mean passion, for it with my family -- my eight-year-old son has been there 15 times. I know ... it's nuts. And that’s why it's the nerdiest thing about me.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Comic Books, Consumer Electronics, The Golden Girls, Collectible Toys, Disneyland |
|
Archived under: Authors, Board Games, Books, Celebrations, Collectibles, Comic Books, Comics, Counterculture, Cultures, Disney, Disneyland, Entertainment, European History, Extreme Sports, Fanatics, Fiction, Gadgets, Games, Gay Pride, History, Hobbies, Holidays, In Character, James Bond, Japan, Literature, Monsters and Creatures, Parenting, Royalty, Science Fiction, Sitcoms, Society and Culture, Sports, Star Trek, Star Wars, TV, Technology, The Spark, Toys, Winter Sports, Yahoo! Directory |
| Post a comment (5) | Email this posting |
It's a good time for books. This week we celebrated "Read Across America," and today our friends in the U.K. are marking World Book Day.
In January the National Endowment for the Arts offered some good news about reading as well. Just a few years back, the NEA released a report called "Reading at Risk: A Survey of Literary Reading in America" that showed a general decline in the pastime. The more recent 2008 survey, with the equally alliterative (but more optimistic) title, "Reading on the Rise," shows that we’re turning that trend around, and that more Americans -- especially 18- to 24-year-olds -- are reading novels, short stories, plays, and poems.
I was a little surprised by these findings, what with all the "non-literary" texting and Twittering and Facebooking we Americans do. But then I realized that the Internet and social networking can help foster our relationships with books -- and even assist in matching us to just the right "next read."
Online reading groups provide a way to find like-minded book lovers in any genre. If you prefer to read solo, but would still like to get good recommendations, there's plenty of help for you online. If you want a list from a famous source, you’re not limited to Oprah's Book Club -- Gwyneth Paltrow and Madonna recently dished on their own favorites, and many authors offer their own lists of books they've enjoyed.
There are sites that generate recommendations based on other books you like, your mood -- or even through a psychic. One book enthusiast is dedicated to listing books for busy people (each under 250 pages). A good place to start your book search is, of course, the Yahoo! Directory, where you can browse sites that recommend books for readers of all ages.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Online Reading Groups, Book Recommendations, Children's Book Reading Lists, Book Personal Predictors, Young Adult Reading Lists |
|
Archived under: Authors, Books, Children´s Literature, Entertainment, Fiction, Hobbies, In Character, Internet, Paperbacks, Reading, Social Networking, Society and Culture, Writers, Writing, Yahoo! Directory |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
On this day in 1958, LEGO patented their famous brick; the toy that kids of all ages still know and love today. Fifty-plus years later, the LEGO empire is much more than just boxes of plastic toys that parents step on in darkened rooms. In recent years, the company has launched a series of successful video games based on three popular franchises: "Star Wars," "Indiana Jones," and, most recently, "Batman." Their theme park, Legoland, has locations in four different countries, and their catalog of LEGO toys includes much more than your basic police cars and dump trucks.
One thing for sure about LEGOs -- they're not just for kids. In fact, many adults build LEGO models for their main hobby. To them, they're not just "toys," but rather material to create their art. They spend dozens of hours building elaborate sculptures or "scenes," many of which are custom-built -- meaning built from their own imaginations as opposed to a store-bought kit with instructions. Some LEGO artists like to recreate classic works of art, such as "The Last Supper" or "Nighthawks," or recreate a scene from a classic film like "Casablanca," or maybe piece together a portrait of our new President. The Legoland theme parks have possibly the most detailed sculptures of all, in an area called "Miniland," which features several incredibly-detailed miniature recreations of popular cities and monuments, including Las Vegas, Washington, D.C., New Orleans, and San Francisco.
Another form of art created with LEGOs are stop-motion short films. Some are done in the form of movie trailers, like a shot-by-shot recreation of "The Dark Knight" trailer, or are original, such as the award-winning "Star Wars Episode III: Rise of the Empire." Several of these films are most impressive, such as the web favorite, "Spider-Man: The Peril of Doc Ock." But, of course, we also have the amateur hour "films," like the heavy metal Batman Christmas greeting.
Animated short films, theme parks, and video games now help make up the world of LEGO. And you can bet your bricks it won't end there.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
LEGO, Star Wars LEGOs, LEGO Animations |
|
Archived under: Animation, Arts, Hobbies, LEGO, Movies, Theme Parks, Toys, Video Games |
| Post a comment (1) | Email this posting |
"Boulevard du Temple," taken by
Louis Daguerre in late 1838 |
Photography was effectively born on January 9, 1839, when the first practical photographs were announced by the French Academy of Sciences. All the buzz was over a collection of metal plates containing black and white photographic images, with detail unlike anything society members had ever seen before. The inventor who had brought the plates to the Academy was not a scientist, but rather a painter and stage designer by the name of Louis Jacques Mande Daguerre. And his invention, which he not-so-humbly named after himself, was the "daguerreotype."
In spite of his breakthrough, Daguerre was unable to figure out a way to cash in on his invention, so when the French government offered to give a generous pension to both him and the estate of his late partner Joseph-Nicéphore Niépce (in exchange for the patent on the daguerreotype process), he -- naturally -- took them up on the offer.
The French government immediately released the patented process to the public as a gift. Daguerreotyping instantly became a sensation, with Daguerre's instruction manuals flying off the shelves and sellers having difficulty keeping them in stock. Thus was launched a French photographic revolution, you might say; a revolution that spawned portrait photography, travel photography, and (surprisingly soon after daguerreotyping was released into the public domain -- or perhaps not so surprisingly), erotic photography (Ooh la la!).
The popularity of the daguerreotype was short-lived, though. Within a decade, the development of other photographic processes gradually diminished the market share of the daguerreotype. Eventually, the drawbacks of the daguerreotype -- the inability to produce multiple prints and the preference for paper prints over metal plates -- hindered its sustained growth, and cheaper alternatives won out over the clarity of the daguerreotype images. With that, the first practical photographic process retreated into history and into the obscure niche of hobbyists.
Suggested Sites...
|
|
Directory categories:
Daguerreotypes, Photography, Photography History, Photographers, Photography Museums and Galleries |
|
Archived under: Anniversaries, Arts, Black and White, Cameras, France, History, Hobbies, Invention, Inventors, Photography, Technology |
| Post a comment (0) | Email this posting |
|
|
