Wide Open

Wide Open, originally uploaded by mmilway.

This is my nephew, who's health situation has improved incredibly
since I met him one month ago. I don't want to take all the credit,
especially because I did not take this picture. I think it was taken
by my Dad on his Blackberry. Hopefully I get ot see the little guy
again when I get home for T-gives.

Close to the Coast

Close to the Coast, originally uploaded by mmilway.

I found these beautiful flowers on Point Prim several weeks ago. They
remind me of the summer!

DSC_0234.JPG

Nerd Alert

My favorite author, Chuck Klosterman, discusses Twitter and Facebook with a youtube intellectual. While discussing how facebook, and twitter limit the amount of self reflection, increase our self-centeredness and generally "rot our brains" these two tell four personal stories about themselves in just under 5 minutes. The guy with the internet talkshow (and a turn-table) calls Twit/book "Narcissistic Validation". Wait, is the medium the message?

Sky-Line

Sky-Line, originally uploaded by mmilway.

I got nothing clever this morning. Have a good weekend!

Not a Plane nor a Superman

Not a Plane nor a Superman, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Its a bird. Surprised? Of those three options who would have thought
you would be reading a blog about the last one at this point in your
life.

Foilage

Foilage, originally uploaded by mmilway.

I went out looking for Fall Foilage last weekend and that might a
major theme of the next few months here. Excited?

Just like BSG

Just like BSG, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Its time to sell your SBUX stock. The worldwide expansion is now
complete. Starbucks is opening its first PEI location this week.
This is literally the last place in the world where there was no
Starbucks. Those sly dogs put it within a half block of, not one, not
two but 5 other coffee shops. Ain't the free market great! On the
upside, I finally have a place to work on my screen play. Its a
slapstick comedy based on Margaret Macmillan's recounting of the Paris
Peace Conference of 1919 but I might change it to be about vampires.

Gull

Gull, originally uploaded by mmilway.

I usually pay no attention to gulls, geese and pigeons but this one
caught my eye. My apartment feels more like fall weather than it does
outside so hopefully i'll convince myself to spend a little bit more
time out of doors.

Too Much Character for Twitter 2

We all know Kanye West interrupted Taylor Swift at the MTV Music Video Awards. Now I'm not gonna complain about how those awards are given out by a network that doesn't play music videos anymore or that just about every single nominated video could be described as "phoned in". I do, however, want to discuss the response of the POTUS to this event.

Now I don't want to talk about how ABC prematurely tweeted this "off the record" conversation, on which they were eavesdropping. Nor do I want to discuss Obama calling out a powerful member of the Celebrity Lobby, one of the most powerful lobby groups in the Obama White House (come on...they got you elected, show some respect.)

What I am miffed about is how easily the President answered. There is a war in Afghanistan, a global economic crisis and he's trying to revolutionize the american health care system. I can't imagine he has much leisure time on his hands to watch a little MTV with the family. I know he doesn't have email and had to give up his blackberry. Does he even have internet access to find this stuff on YouTube? Did one of his aides brief him on the subject? I think I would have preferred it if he responded the same way my father (happy birthday) probably did. "Kanye Who? Taylor Who? No, I didn't hear about that...who cares?" end of discussion. I'm pretty sure that Stephen Harper has no clue what happened at the MTV music video awards (possibly because he doesn't get that channel). The same could be said for most top Canadian Politicians. I doubt any of them get briefed about what happened on prime time TV last night. This is probably because prime time is after 5pm when all the civil servants are off the clock. But I digress.

We usually laugh and cringe when aloof politicians attempt to butcher pop culture in an attempt to sound like they are "with it", but doesn't that just mean that they are focusing on other things...more important things. Jeers, Preisdent Obama. Next time some one asks for your opinion on award shows or reality TV you respond "Come on guys, I'm working here". Leave the pointless commentary to the blog-o-sphere. This obviously doesn't apply to the sports world. You must be ready for a fantasy draft, to fill out a bracket or make your sunday picks on demand or risk impeachment.

Last of The Summer Beach

Last of The Summer Beach, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Summer might be gone but I have enough beach pictures to last a
lifetime. This one is from Grand Bend ON.

Two Face

Two Face, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Marshmallow(s)(?)

Who doesn't like children? And who doesn't like seeing the put through intense yet adorable psychological testing?

Oh, The Temptation from Steve V on Vimeo.

Shadeless Tree

Shadeless Tree, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Can't prove it but these two definitely look like the would not
produce a lot of shade.

Too Much Character for Twitter

Every now and again I have a thought or two that are simply too big for micro-blogging, so i'm gonna throw a few down here. We'll call it macro-blogging...or maybe milli-blogging if you enjoy the metric system.

First up is the late Ted Kennedy. Now I know it is not kind to so speak ill of the dead but I think there has been a lack of balance this summer when it comes to eulogies. Shortly after Sen. Kennedy's death I was lead to this article published in GQ in 1990. It turns out Ted Kennedy was to alcoholism and womanizing what Michael Jackson was to plastic surgery and pedophilia. But I guess he was to American Liberalism what Michael Jackson was to pop music. Its a good thing that we remember people for their virtues but I think its important not to canonize the recently deceased especially when they had some pretty obvious and sometimes heinous vices.

Second, Jeers to Fox and the producers of American Idol. They missed a great opportunity this summer when they hired Ellen Degeneres to replace Paula Abdul. Ellen will probably be a great addition and offer some welcomed comedic relief but what judging experience does she have? The missed opportunity by Fox was to increase America's responsibility. They always let America vote but I was hoping they would let America judge! My proposal is simple: A nationwide search for a new judge. Open auditions could be held in major cities across the country and the weakest candidate would be voted out each week until only the new American Idol Judge would be left standing. Each week they would be asked to judge a performance and the judgement would get progressively harder. First week you get some people who obviously don't have what it takes the absolute worst from previous seasons. The next step up would probably be people who recently lost their jobs or cancer survivors who really want to be singers but suck and the judges will have to let them down easy. There will be endurance challenges where they have to judge all day and se if they can keep their wits about them. Then they will have to find several different ways of saying "That was the best performance I have seen all night" to every performer on stage. At every step along they way they will be judged by a panel of expert judges on the quality of their judgements. The best part of all this is the title: Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged. You missed out on this one FOX. Get your head in the game.

My third bone to pick is with The Beatles. Last week they released a digitally remastered version of their discography along with a short documentary to accompany each album. This is great news except for the fact that they released this on CD only. The Beatles are still not available online. I really don't get this. The box set is going for about $250 and offers 13 albums, at least 200 songs, several short documentaries plus tiny versions of the original album artwork and additional rare photos. This is about $20/album which is what you would expect to pay at an HMV the first week it comes out compared to $10 at iTunes. After manufacturing costs and distribution I can't imagine the Beatles are walking away with that much more profit than they would if had made these available on iTunes. iTunes, the #1 music retailer in the world, recently announced a new product called iTunes LP which offers consumers all the things that got people to continue buying CDs, from lyrics to extra album art and exclusive interviews and videos about the album. All this comes for a slightly higher price ($15) and seems to fit exactly what The Beatles were trying to accomplish with this box set. Also allowing people to buy individual albums rather than the full discography could only help sales. Now, the Beatles don't necessarily have to go through iTunes, they could go through Naptser or Pure Track or eMusic or any of the other runners up in the digital music world, or they could even go as far as releasing it themselves on their own store. They can release it however they please but I really think they should go digital soon or just wait this whole computer thing out and be the first to release on the next media...whatever that might be. I don't know what is holding them back or what they have against the MP3 but I do know that the world NEEDS the Revolution 9 ringtone now!

And Fourthly, I just purchased season 1 of Friday Night Lights on Thursday and finished it last night. I'm not sure if it is a good show but without commercials it is really hard to stop watching. I don't really know what to say about it other than it is a drama about a high school football team in a rural Texas town. After a few episodes it begins to pay less attention to the football and more attention to the characters and relationships found in and around this team. The coach and his wife are really two characters that really get you coming back and anchor the show quite well. The main stand out points are the way in which this show is shot and the soundtrack. Each scene is shot on three different cameras at the same time from different angles. The actors go in and perform a scene without any concern for where the cameras are. The framing is rarely perfect and the focus is often just a little bit off but it gives the show a very intimate feeling. The theme song is compsed by W.G. Snuffy Walden and based on the music by Texas band Explosions In The Sky and is used in many of the dramatic scenes quite effectively. If I find a good price for the second season I may go pick it up but it'll be hard to keep all the story lines and characters going, seeing as most of them will have to graduate at some point.

Until next time, this has been Too Much Character for Twitter (alternate title "Quantity Over Quality").

Petal Envy

Petal Envy, originally uploaded by mmilway.

There might be one more flower picture. Hope you don't hate it.

Heavy Petal

Heavy Petal, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Yet another flower with more petals than it knows what to do with.

Flour-y (sp?)

Flour-y (sp?), originally uploaded by mmilway.

I stumbled upon a weirdo flower this past weekend and I will probably
post a bunch of them here. After all flowers are nature's hood
ornament.

Again?

Again?, originally uploaded by mmilway.

This one is from London again. I've got to get some pictures off my
camera this week so i can have some new photos posted here!

Sunrise

Sunrise, originally uploaded by mmilway.

This is a picture from approximately 1 year ago. I saw two sunrises
in a row this week and reminded me of a busy time at work I had last
year. Seeing the sunrise is highly overrated...its just a reverse
sunset. That does it for todays "Insightful Observation". Se you
Monday!

Originality Fail

Originality Fail, originally uploaded by mmilway.

Most photographer strive to look at old scenes from new angles.
That's how you keep things fresh and make your work stand out. This
picture is a failure to do that

Counting Digits

Counting Digits, originally uploaded by mmilway.

I received a lot of great support concerning yesterday's post. Declan
got into surgery yesterday and he has a few days of recovery but
apparently the doctors were happy with how things went. He should be
back on his feet, figuratively speaking, in a few days. This picture
is was taken while the, well manicured, doctor was giving Declan an
exam (or possibly a tiny manicure) two weeks ago. I can't wait to
give this kid a fist bump!