Welcome to the BillyMAX

My Week In Mt. Juliet

not a ton to say. we stayed the week in MJ house/dog sitting for my parents. i drove the mustang everyday (it's truly an enjoyable ride every time. once you get beyond the extreme acceleration, it's just a overall lovely driving experience (particularly with the top down)). in general the week went by quickly. here's a little of what i have to show for it...

i took these 2 last night. it was finally clear skies and there's not a ton of light in the sky out in MJ, so i went ahead and tried my LONG exposures out (i've been wanting to try and photograph star trails and see how it turns out).

(16.2 min)

(16.5 min)

not bad i think. although i actually need it to be a LOT darker to pick up all those stars. maybe some other time. camping anyone?

here's some from the night before. the first is how it looked normally. the 2nd is with a 3.25 min shutter speed.



(3.25 min) (taken around 11pm)

these are some others i was messing with. i found some thing in photoshop that do a series of actions (called an "action") with a single click. and then i found some borders that i really liked. check it out.










i dig that stuff. kind of my first "photoshopping" type thing... with borders.

Imus Isn’t the Real Bad Guy

i thought this was really good.

Instead of wasting time on irrelevant shock jock, black leaders need to be fighting a growing gangster culture.

By JASON WHITLOCK - Columnist

Thank you, Don Imus. You’ve given us (black people) an excuse to avoid our real problem.

You’ve given Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson another opportunity to pretend that the old fight, which is now the safe and lucrative fight, is still the most important fight in our push for true economic and social equality.

You’ve given Vivian Stringer and Rutgers the chance to hold a nationally televised recruiting celebration expertly disguised as a news conference to respond to your poor attempt at humor.

Thank you, Don Imus. You extended Black History Month to April, and we can once again wallow in victimhood, protest like it’s 1965 and delude ourselves into believing that fixing your hatred is more necessary than eradicating our self-hatred.

The bigots win again.

While we’re fixated on a bad joke cracked by an irrelevant, bad shock jock, I’m sure at least one of the marvelous young women on the Rutgers basketball team is somewhere snapping her fingers to the beat of 50 Cent’s or Snoop Dogg’s or Young Jeezy’s latest ode glorifying nappy-headed pimps and hos.

I ain’t saying Jesse, Al and Vivian are gold-diggas, but they don’t have the heart to mount a legitimate campaign against the real black-folk killas.

It is us. At this time, we are our own worst enemies. We have allowed our youths to buy into a culture (hip hop) that has been perverted, corrupted and overtaken by prison culture. The music, attitude and behavior expressed in this culture is anti-black, anti-education, demeaning, self-destructive, pro-drug dealing and violent.

Rather than confront this heinous enemy from within, we sit back and wait for someone like Imus to have a slip of the tongue and make the mistake of repeating the things we say about ourselves.

It’s embarrassing. Dave Chappelle was offered $50 million to make racially insensitive jokes about black and white people on TV. He was hailed as a genius. Black comedians routinely crack jokes about white and black people, and we all laugh out loud.

I’m no Don Imus apologist. He and his tiny companion Mike Lupica blasted me after I fell out with ESPN. Imus is a hack.

But, in my view, he didn’t do anything outside the norm for shock jocks and comedians. He also offered an apology. That should’ve been the end of this whole affair. Instead, it’s only the beginning. It’s an opportunity for Stringer, Jackson and Sharpton to step on victim platforms and elevate themselves and their agenda$.

I watched the Rutgers news conference and was ashamed.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke for eight minutes in 1963 at the March on Washington. At the time, black people could be lynched and denied fundamental rights with little thought. With the comments of a talk-show host most of her players had never heard of before last week serving as her excuse, Vivian Stringer rambled on for 30 minutes about the amazing season her team had.

Somehow, we’re supposed to believe that the comments of a man with virtually no connection to the sports world ruined Rutgers’ wonderful season. Had a broadcaster with credibility and a platform in the sports world uttered the words Imus did, I could understand a level of outrage.

But an hourlong press conference over a man who has already apologized, already been suspended and is already insignificant is just plain intellectually dishonest. This is opportunism. This is a distraction.

In the grand scheme, Don Imus is no threat to us in general and no threat to black women in particular. If his words are so powerful and so destructive and must be rebuked so forcefully, then what should we do about the idiot rappers on BET, MTV and every black-owned radio station in the country who use words much more powerful and much more destructive?

I don’t listen or watch Imus’ show regularly. Has he at any point glorified selling crack cocaine to black women? Has he celebrated black men shooting each other randomly? Has he suggested in any way that it’s cool to be a baby-daddy rather than a husband and a parent? Does he tell his listeners that they’re suckers for pursuing education and that they’re selling out their race if they do?

When Imus does any of that, call me and I’ll get upset. Until then, he is what he is — a washed-up shock jock who is very easy to ignore when you’re not looking to be made a victim.

No. We all know where the real battleground is. We know that the gangsta rappers and their followers in the athletic world have far bigger platforms to negatively define us than some old white man with a bad radio show. There’s no money and lots of danger in that battle, so Jesse and Al are going to sit it out.

just great

An Entire Girl Talk Concert

Party at Billy's

...so now he's got trivia knowledge AND a digital projector on his side.

Earth Day

(i'd have taken more but my camera battery died. so disappointing.)

this is the kind of repeat business an ice cream man needs

The Difference

here's the difference between my 18mm lens and my 10.5mm (fisheye) lens. incredible. (jesse is happy. i'm not sure why, but she is!)







here are some others i liked of recent.



it's funny, pinky is the most easy-going cat in the world... until you pick her up. man is she not comfortable with that.




this is the dog i hope my parents keep. there were 9 in all (dropped off by someone). we managed to find homes for all. it was good.

The Fisheye is Here.

Jesse's Canon SD700 IS

Originally uploaded by joshunter.

yeah, so jesse's little Canon has a fantastic macro mode. i'm about an inch away from her eye in these pictures (she's a good sport). look at that shallow depth of field! i really like the color in this other one, but i like the focus and framing (and hairs) in the one above best. if you can help me think of a title, that'd be great. it's hard to think of one that has something to do with an 'eye' but isn't cheesy. so i was thinking "girl eyeball" or something. that one's still up in the air.



(check out the reflection in her eye. can you tell what shirt i'm wearing?)


Dudley's Bizarre Nose
Originally uploaded by joshunter.

Dear Sister

for whatever reason, this just cracked me up. i could not stop laughing.

after you see ATHFCMFT, this'll make sense

hopefully that'll appear above (if not go here). here are the incredible lyrics (courtesy of billiard's searches) to the faux "let's go out the lobby" song that played before the Aqua Teen Hunger Force Movie. simply priceless.



"Cut You Up With a Linoleum Knife"

Don't talk, watch!
Don't talk, watch!

You came here, watch it!
Don't like it? Walk out!
We still have all your f-ing money!

Do not kick or jiggle the seat in front of you while you are sitting there.
I am everywhere at once and I will cut you up.
If you make out here I will cut your lips and tounge from your head with a LINOLEUM KNIFE!!!!

Do not explain the plot,
if you don't understand then you should not be here
Your money is now our money and we will
SPEND IT ON DRUGS!

Do not crinkle your food wrapers loudly,
be considerate to others
or I will bite your torso
and give you a disease.

Did you bring your baby?
Babies don't watch this.
Take the seed outside.
LEAVE IT IN THE STREET!
Run it over after the show.

If I see you videotaping this movie,
Satan will rain down your throat with hot acid,
and dissolve your testicles and turn your guts into snakes.

This is a copyrighted movie for Time-Warner
If I find you sold it on eBay
I will break into your house and tear your wife in half

here's the other alternative (video of song and subtitles only.)

Everything Else

i decided that since so much had happened since the last post, i'd be better off splitting it all up into relevant individual posts than one giant jumble. so here's the random stuff...

we went to the car show saturday. pretty fun. honda, subaru, and VW weren't there, but most others were. chrystler had a sweet new sports car coming out. the Firepower. dumb name, but sweet looking.



there were others but i dont feel like uploading them.

i think i'm going to get a fisheye lens. check this out...



i couldn't have been more than 2-3" away from my watch.

i dont if this comparison will mean anything to ANYone that reads this but check this out... i really want a wide-angle lens (mines 18mm which means i can theoretically take a picture as close as 18mm away). i was looking at a 12-24mm and this 10.5mm fisheye. my concern with the fisheye is that the picture would ALWAYS be fisheye weird when really i'd actually just want a plain super wide lens. well after taking pictures with the one at wolf camera...



i did some research and found out that there's "straightening" software that comes with the lens, in effect, doubling the use of the lens. wonderful. check out this comaparison i found (thank you, whoever did this):



how incredibly wide is that 10.5 even AFTER the cropping?? i think i'm sold.

more posts below!

Ratatat & The Decemberists

well, we're in concert season again. they just keep on coming. i'll sleep in july i guess.

first off, we saw the Decemberists the other day. jesse did not enjoy it and i thoroughly enjoyed it. unfortunately, nothing makes me hate people more than standing in the crowd at a show (thus prompting my concert etiquette earlier). and the crowd at this show... man i hated them good. they were all like high school or college freshman hipsters. all the chairs and tables at city hall were being occupied by moms of kids in the crowd who were under 18. wow. that was something.









however, i did see Andy Trexler there, so that was... quite bizarre. i haven's seen him in... 7 years(?) but i recognized him in a split second. funny guy. he's playing this week at The Rutledge (which i'd never even heard of) so i'd like to catch up with him then.




then last night we went to see Ratatat. it was great. the crowd was small, it was no smoking, girls kept trying to rub up against me (just kidding) (sort of), and Ratatat sounded excellent. and we actually got seats at one point!





they had a projector on stage displaying videos to go with each song. it was unique and appreciated.

The Glastonbury Fire

last week ended... funny. not funny "haha," but funny "holy crap i can't believe how close this was to being one of the worst fridays ever." that kind of funny.



so my mom calls me friday afternoon and says "hey there's an apartment on fire over on glastonbury but i dont know which one it is." F, MOM! so i grab my stuff and run out. as i come around the interstate (downtown) i can see the column of smoke coming from my part of town. i get more nervous.



finally my mom calls back and says it's the biltmore (right across the street from me). i feel relieved at this point. however, i can't get to my apartment by car, so i park and walk (with my camera, of course).



so i go in and make sure Dudley's okay and then start walking around and taking pictures. there were lots of people out there. some were obviously inhabitants of the biltmore. there were about 15 firetrucks out and they were just blasting that place with water. the pressure coming out of the truck was incredible. you could hear it hitting.







we went to see Grindhouse later than night (which was spectacular. i highly recommend it) and when i got back at 1am, they were still hosing that place down.






that was pretty crazy. i'm so incredibly thankful it wasn't our place. i feel terrible for those people who lost their homes and everything in them, but i'm thankful it wasn't us. i'm thankful dudley's okay.

they're here!

Concert Etiquette

I (we) go to many a music show nowadays, so I feel I’m a pretty decent judge of what is and isn’t appropriate behavior at a show (if you don’t believe me, just check out my resume). So here we go; here’s how to avoid being a douche bag:

1.) If you’re too lazy to get there early or on time, you don’t have the right to push your way up through everyone and plant wherever and in front of whoever you like. I cannot stress this enough. This is a patented douche bag move.
2.) Oh, and even if you weren’t too lazy to show up early but your friends were, if you invite them up front to squeeze in, you’re a douche bag by association.
3.) If you violate rule no.1, you better only be 4’ tall.
4.) If any part of you is touching someone else because of lack of space, you do NOT have room to dance.
5.) Let me clarify, when I say “dance,” I don’t mean nodding your head or tapping your foot or something like that (there’s no reason to be a statue). What I DO mean is jumping around and/or swinging your arms. You’re already shoulder to shoulder with your neighbors. You don’t have room to JUMP!
6.) If you feel the need to smoke in the middle of people, don’t. Leave or get the patch.
7.) If you decide talking to your neighbors is more enjoyable than listening to the music, leave. Someone else more interested wants your spot.
8.) If you’re 45 rows back, the band can’t hear you. Don’t scream in my EAR.
9.) And if you’re gonna scream something, it better be witty or mocking some other screamer or so help me.

I think that about does it. Stick to these guidelines and you’ll be on your way to being hated much less. If you think of something I forgot, let me know.

love,
josh

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud
Originally uploaded by joshunter.

i'm testing out this "blog from Flickr" thing. i took this picture the other day when jess and i went out to Cheekwood. i thought it came out cool. i had another one that was all B&W except the flower, but i liked the super dark blue sky in this one. and THEN jess helped me with the sweet title. if you figure out its relevance, kudos to you.

they're on the way