philly

Symphony House Condos

These floors are coming along quickly. I can barely see the Drake from the southeast.

And look how high that crane goes. It's going to be thirty-one stories.

Wondering what Philly looks like from high above? Brad from Philly Skyline likes to get high so we're in luck. Some wonderful shots from way up above Center City.

Phil Mickelson - Exxon-Mobil Man

He's more than just a golfer [which, by the way is not a fucking sport]. He's a spokesperson for golf-centric companies like Calloway/Titleist and then there are the non-golf money streams. Rolex. Charles Schwab. Ford. And last night I saw a commercial, starring him, for Exxon-Mobil. Blech. Now that's just nasty.

If you didn't know it already, the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil just received a $400M retirement package "including pension, stock options and other perks, such as a $1 million consulting deal, two years of home security, personal security, a car and driver, and use of a corporate jet for professional purposes." Now ain't that some shit.

Today, prices for crude oil hit $70 for the first time since Hurricane Katrina.

Phil Mickelson's silky swing, oiled by Exxon-Mobil. :)

Kisso

Messy and Picky went over to Olde City with the intention of eating out for the night and capping it off with a trip to Franklin Fountain. We didn't really care where we ate, Lady preferred Japanese or some place with some salad. After a good amount of walking around, we decided to try Kisso up on 4th and Race Sts. A place I've passes several times and a place one of Lady's friends wanted to eat when she was in town a few months ago [but we didn't].

Good eats! Inexpensive by Japanese restaurant standards, but not cheap either. Their menu listed some lunch specials, but we were there for dinner. We both very much recommend the place. Our review is up on the food blog here.

After the delicious meal, we headed down to Market St for some dessert, but we were greeted by a 'Closed for Easter' sign. Damn that bunny.

Philadelphia Immigration Rally Photos

I've posted a tighter edit of my shots from last Monday's immigration rally over on my photoblog. Parts one, two and three; twelve shots in all.

The immigration rally shots may be formed into a more structured and not simply chronological essay to be posted elsewhere very soon.

Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Week

My fellow soccer playing friend Sylvie is the executive director of the Empowerment Group which accelerates economic growth in distressed urban communities by cultivating local entrepreneurship. And this week is the Empowerment Group's Philadelphia Entrepreneurship Week. From their site:

This campaign will have an immediate effect on the economic development of our city by promoting entrepreneurs and encouraging the Philadelphia public to support their local small businesses. It will also inform entrepreneurs of the services available to them from business development organizations throughout the city.

They got a nice writeup in the Daily News on Friday and today marks the kickoff. The press conference over at City Hall started at 10a and should be wrapping up right now. Peep the full schedule of events for the week here.

65% Geek

While reading the Merecat nanoblog [the miniblog in the sidebar], I saw his post on his nerd/geek/dork-iness. I had to take the test. I've always thought of myself as a geek [in my head, the geek is way cooler than the nerd or dork - a pseudo king of the AV kids if you will].

52% Nerd, 65% Geek, 26% Dork
From the test:

For The Record:
A Nerd is someone who is passionate about learning/being smart/academia.
A Geek is someone who is passionate about some particular area or subject, often an obscure or difficult one.
A Dork is someone who has difficulty with common social expectations/interactions.
You scored better than half in Nerd and Geek, earning you the title of: Modern, Cool Nerd.

Nerds didn't use to be cool, but in the 90's that all changed. It used to be that, if you were a computer expert, you had to wear plaid or a pocket protector or suspenders or something that announced to the world that you couldn't quite fit in. Not anymore. Now, the intelligent and geeky have eked out for themselves a modicum of respect at the very least, and "geek is chic." The Modern, Cool Nerd is intelligent, knowledgable and always the person to call in a crisis (needing computer advice/an arcane bit of trivia knowledge). They are the one you want as your lifeline in Who Wants to Be a Millionaire (or the one up there, winning the million bucks)!

And no, I didn't type in those percentages wrong, apparently I just add up to 143% human.

So Much Walking

I walked around so much on Saturday. Five hours up in Mt. Airy and then another two hours around Center City and West Philly.

I spent the late morning and afternoon up in Mt. Airy doing some canvassing for Chuck Pennacchio with four other volunteers. Danie posted her take on the outing on the Pennacchio blog here. I'll get my thoughts up in the afternoon. For the most part, people had not made up their minds as to who they'd vote for and were glad to see some people going door to door informing their neighborhood.

I got back to Center City a little before 5p. I headed home to shower and then try to get over to the Philly blogger meetup, but I missed the last of the gang as I got there around 6p. Oh well. So, I went on a walk around G-Ho, over South St bridge and over to 38th St. I hopped on the trolley back to City Hall and walked home from there.

So much walking resulted in me relaxing all day Sunday.

The shot above is me by a wall around 23rd St or so.

Skankage

With the warm weather comes out the über skankwear out in Olde City. It is very much in full gear already.

Oh the skankage.

Resegregation in Omaha

Okay, I've had a large glass of wine tonight and I'm up late reading the NY Times. Am I seeing things or does this article actually say that the Omaha, NE school districts have been resegregated to white, black and hispanic and that the measure has been signed into law by the governor.

The law, which opponents are calling state-sponsored segregation, has thrown Nebraska into an uproar, prompting fierce debate about the value of integration versus what Mr. Chambers [Nebraska's only black state senator] calls a desire by blacks to control a school district in which their children are a majority.

Civil rights scholars call the legislation the most blatant recent effort in the nation to create segregated school systems or, as in Omaha, to resegregate districts that had been integrated by court order. Omaha ran a mandatory busing program from 1976 to 1999.

Yes, this can be seen as blacks and hispanics taking back control over their school districts in a predominantly white city. But I see this with national reprecussions where it will be used as a tool to resegregate.

Remember in 1948 when Strom Thurmond was nominated by the States Right Democratic Party standing on the platform that:

We stand for the segregation of the races and the racial integrity of each race...

The same Thurmond who gave a rousing speech during that 1948 campaign stating

I wanna tell you, ladies and gentlemen, that there's not enough troops in the army to force the Southern people to break down segregation and admit the nigra race into our theaters, into our swimming pools, into our homes, and into our churches.

The same Thurmond who spoke for over twenty-four hours in the longest filibuster [the old school way of just blowing hot air] ever on the Senate floor to try to derail the Civil Rights Act. Who will use this Omaha school districting to be our generation's Strom Thurmond? Will it be Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel?

And as a side note, did anyone know that former Nebraska Cornhuskers football coach Tom Osborne is a Republican Congressman from NE-03?

Craigslist Wedding Photography

I scroll through the listings on Philly Craigslist here and there seeing if there are any cool photo gig listings floating around in the art/media/design and creative sections. There are invariably postings looking for cheap wedding photographers.

I know people are trying to do things on a budget. I can very much relate to that. I know money gets spread pretty thin over the course of the planning of a wedding. Invites, food, flowers, the dress, the space, the honeymoon, the reception, the alcohol, the music... the list is fucking endless. But somewhere in there, most people are going to want some photos or video of the event. Something to remember it all by other than the divorce papers you'll be served with [face it, 50% of marriages end up in divorce let alone the not-so happily ever after ones].

Most weddings run about four hours or so. A photographer works waaaay more than those four hours. S/he is probably going to show up early to get those preparation shots. The wedding party yapping it up before the ceremony. Shots of things before everything is destroyed by those snotty nosed cousins running around. And some generic posed shots with the families involved. And then there's the four hours or so of the actual ceremony and reception. S/he usually gets a break at some point to sit down and eat a very quick bite and then shoot some more. After all that, s/he has to go home or to their studio and go through all those photos. 1000 shots could easily be taken. Throw out 500 off the bat through an initial edit due to things being out of focus, people blinking, someone running into the frame [those snotty cousins again ruining shit]. And then comes the real work.

Going through the 100 or so decent shots that you'll present to the couple. Editing them so that things look nice. Whether that be in the darkroom or on the computer via Photoshop. One way or another, you'll be spending another few hours preparing an edit to present, probably with 100 or so 4"x6" shots in color, black and white and sepia [oh how couples love that sepia tone]. And then the couple will haggle over which ones look good. Which ones they must have blown up, yadda, yadda, yadda. There will always be a question of "Didn't you get this shot of me and so and so?" And there will always be a shot or two [or thirty] that the photog didn't couldn't possibly get. The couple may make a big stink out of it, they may not.

So then the couple and the photog come to a consensus over which forty or so images they'd like printed. Varying sizes of wallets, 4"x6", 8"x12" and a few 11"x17" or 20"x30" prints thrown in to hang triumphantly in the living room or main hallway. Printing those takes time. Lots of time. A little trial and error here and there as well with different lighting and color combos in every shot. And then they have to be brought back to the couple for delivery.

I don't understand the couples asking people to do all that for a measly $200. They gotta be asking themselves, "Would I want to deal with myself for a measly $200?" and they'd probably say no, but they don't think of that. And even more so, I don't understand the "photographers" who are taking those murderous gigs at a measly $200. They're better off cutting out a meal a day for a few weeks to save $200.