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Picture Demolition

I've gotten back onto my image demolition kick again, and it seems like the vast majority of clients are liking the "otherworldly" effects, too — even for portrait and posed shots. I still need to write-up my Faux Polaroid technique, but it's so good, I hate to just give it away! Since I'm still no fan of model releases, here are some other recent examples of image demo:

The first and last images use my most requested post processing methods, and they're also my favorite to apply since they're a mic of my Faux Polaroid and good ol' Cross-Processing techniques.

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Oh yeah — a lot of people don't know their iPhone can take screen shots of the active screen (hold the Home button while clicking the Power button). Here's a shot of my 3 main screens:

Posted at 1:44pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Miscellaneous Monday

I have new pet-peeve that's really, really getting on my nerves — and vying for the Number One position in my list: people that use speaker phones when the dadgum handset is right in front of their face.

HOLY CRAP. There's a person down the hall from me at work, and for some reason, he calls people, then leans over the phone and talks to them via the speaker. WHY OH WHY?!? Why must everyone else in the office have to hear your conversation? PICK UP THE HANDSET!

That said, I don't mind speaker phones in cars as much because it really is safer to not be bothering with a cell phone while steering.

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Speaking of stupid things humans do, this is another one that takes the cake: smoking at MD Anderson Cancer Center. Are you people for real? So you walk out the Hospital's main entrance, you're surrounded with people hooked-up to CVCs or IVs, people hooked-up to oxygen, people in poor general health — and you light-up a cigarette right next to them?! That clicking you hear is God's finger tapping the Smite Button, you know. Thankfully, we're usually inside when one of these buffoons lights-up — but the second someone does while we're out there, there's going to be a "situation."

Humans will never cease to make me feel sorry for us.

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Ike-Stink won over our refrigerator, so we bought a new one. :shakes fist in frustration:

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I wonder when our church will replace the "B" we lost in the hurricane. We've been " razospointe" for a couple of weeks now.

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Jenny Lewis' new album isn't as good as I hoped it would be. She should have dropped about 4 songs and released an EP instead — then she should have come to my house and put on a concert for everyone in town.

Posted at 4:02pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Wow…

Man, this week has flown. Updates soon...

Posted at 10:10pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Old Crow Medicine Show: Tennessee Pusher Released

Just a heads-up that Old Crow Medicine Show's latest album, Tennessee Pusher, went on sale today.

Get it now!

Posted at 2:11pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Ike Redux

Our power came back on late Saturday night, and here's a little story to go with it:

First off, Dad was scheduled for his 4th chemo cycle last Thursday (the 18th), and he was dreading it because he was feeling so bad, and we were 3 hours away from MD Anderson due ot the evacuation. With the previous cycles, after a few days, Dad's breathing would get worse — and even though we have oxygen, we were all concerned about him having some type of breathing issue that would require another visit to the ER — thus, us not loving the idea of being so far away from MD Anderson.

So we drive to the appt, leaving Cedar Creek at around 4:00am, do the blood work, the bandage change, then finally see the Doc. After hearing from and seeing Dad, the Doc says chemo is a no-go for now because he wants to fix this breathing issue. Chemo was to be scheduled next week, which — at that point — was when we were hearing our power would be back on. If the schedules panned-out, Dad would be back home in the security of his own house and with power — and we'd only be 50 minutes from MD Anderson, not 3 hours in case of an emergency.

This was a massive answer to prayer!

Second, Dad's begun to experience neuropathy in his left foot, which is a potential side effect of chemo, and one that can turn out to be quite serious. It's basically nerve damage that could result in loss of feeling in an appendage. When they saw this, they immediately knew what to do (of course), which will be to lower the dose of one of the chemo drugs during the next cycle. And just to be safe, we'll be seeing a neuro-oncologist today for a complete nerve examination to ensure everything will return to normal. So, another answer to prayer regarding Dad's foot, because they seem to know exactly what's causing it — and how to fix it.

Third, our main Doc called-in a favor to MD's top pulmonary Doc, and got Dad a visit with him to get an opinion on his lungs. This Doc feels 100% certain that Dad's breathing issue IS NOT asbestosis or anything new — he feels it's just inflammation from either some kind of virus or a reaction to the chemo drugs. THANK YOU, GOD! This guy thinks the main culprit is the Rituxan, and says that when normal lungs — which have near 100% capacity — get Rituxan, capacity can drop to 85%. BUT, normal lungs don't notice the drop. So you take Dad with his asbestosis scarring and a lung capacity of 45% to 50% and drop him 15% — he's going to feel it big time.

So dadgummit, it looks like we know for sure what's going on — or at least that it's not his asbestosis or something new cropping up. And if this pans-out, his breathing WILL get back to where it was. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, GOD!!

Lastly, I was crazy worried about us having to go home to no AC or electricity because of Dad's health. All I saw was a Pandora's box of problems waiting to jump out — but we just had to get back to LJ. So, we spent Saturday buying all kinds of stuff — and we even got a couple of window AC units to setup at Mom and Dad's so he'd be able to breath cool air. We had a game plan, I hated it, and all I did was pray and pray that God would let us go home to power. We called all day, but no answering machines ever picked up.

Right before going to bed, at 10:30 Saturday night, I called Mom and Dad's house one last time for the day — and after a few rings, I heard my Mom say "This is the McCown residence, please leave a message after the beep." I called 3 times, then called our house — and our power was restored, too.

This happened just minutes after I stood pleading and crying in the bathroom for God to give us power at Dad's so that he didn't have to deal with all the potential headaches, so that he could go home and relax in his own house, so that he could easily see in the dark without carrying a flashlight while trying to walk on a messed-up foot, so that Mom would have electricity while she watched my sister's baby while all of us were at work, and so on and so on. God answered in perfect timing.

GOD IS GOOD.

We pretty much have everything back to normal. Karen's been busting it doing 10 days worth of laundry and all that fun stuff, and we're both hoping the odor will leave our refrigerator soon so that we can restock it.

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I never shave on vacation, and even though our evacuation wasn't really a vacation — I still didn't shave. That said, I'm growing back the much-maligned beard my wife and Mother hate. Karen mainly hates the growing-in period since, I admit, that intermediate time looks pretty wily. But she'll get used to it eventually...

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For Ike catch-up, I have to build 8 io Super Distortions, 5 TUA Metalcore Distortions, 3 Peach Custom Fuzzes, and 3 PURE Boosts, and 6 Pulse Tap-Tempos. Ugh. I was able to get in touch with all the buyers and explain the situation, and all are cool with the delay. But — I have a feeling I'll be going blind right before I get carpel tunnel syndrome...

Outside of this, I have to reschedule 16 photo shoots, which is going to be a massive pain on all kinds of levels. Some of the clients are wanting to take advantage of debris, though, so that should be cool — and I may have to reinstitute my Model Release so I can post some pics here (or on my Flickr page).

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My Taylor K-14c acoustic cussed me out up one side and down the other for not taking it with me when we evacuated. He's jealous of the Gretsch, since she's so much prettier. Guitars, no?

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I just found out that someone I grew up with is working on the new JJ Abrams show, Fringe. I'm already hitting her up for spoilers, but she may be the type to actually adheres to those pesky NDAs.

Posted at 8:39am CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

We Give Up

We're throwing in the towel because we have to get back to work, so we're all coming home tomorrow to no power. Yay. I'm still praying that we'll get hooked-up so that Dad doesn't have to deal with no AC, lights, etc., etc., but we'll see.

I have a story to tell, but no time right now — so stay tuned...

Posted at 5:44pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Still Waiting…

As of 4:00pm CST, our zip code is still 84% without power. This is down from 90% at 10:00am CST today. So, that's leaving 10,296 home powerless. All over town, more and more streets are coming online, so at least there seems to be daily progress. But like everyone that's away from home, our family is growing more and more impatient — even though the blessing of actually having a home should outweigh being away from said home.

Nevertheless, it's getting really tiresome for the McCowns. We've confirmed that Dad's MD Anderson appointments and treatment are still on schedule for Thursday, and he's dreading the 3 hour drive to Houston from Bastrop — and then repeating the same drive the next day, 24 hours later, for his Neulasta shot. Couple that with there being some connection between Dad's chemo rounds and his shortness of breath, and he's really dreading being so far away from the hospital — and we doubt they'll agree to hospitalize him just to be safe. So, Dad's looking forward to spending over 12 hours in transit.

I really hope we get our power on, so that we can go home tomorrow. I don't care about my house or my sister's — I just want Mom and Dad to be able to get back to their environment, and have Dad closer to MD Anderson. I know that there are people in far worse situations than we are, but that doesn't mean I don't wish things were better for us. And considering Dad's condition, it wold be really, really great for us to get him back home ASAP.

This sucks — and I can't wait to see how it all turns out okay, and how all of us were freaking out and worrying for no reason.

If you're the praying type, feel free to send a few for Dad.

Posted at 6:57pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Really Good News, In One Way

A family friend and coworker got back into our hometown today, and headed out to check the McCown Family homes for us — and all is well. My parents' pool enclosure screen was torn in a couple of places, and that was all. My sister's house looked like nothing had touched it. Our house has some limbs gathered between our garage and house, and there was a shingle in the driveway — but our guy said he thinks it's from the neighbor's house.

Thank the Maker!

Power is still out in most of the city though, and so is the sewer. We're now praying and hoping those will get fixed ASAP so we can get Dad back home and into his own house (he's in the middle chemo treatments and not doing as well as we'd like). We also pray and hope our company gets power and internet ASAP so that we can get up and running without having to work from Bastrop. And another issue is that Dad's scheduled for his 4th chemo cycle this coming Thursday — and he has to be there. He may also have to stay overnight — so we just need some grace to let all these schedules and repairs fall into place so nothing ends up lacking.

We are getting reports from the Mayor at 10am, 2pm and 6pm daily — and I'm calling our houses and business every so often to see if an answering machine will pick up. Hopefully we'll hear some great news, soon and very soon.

Posted at 4:58pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Another Evacuee Update

More good news: all of our homes are in great condition, supposedly, and so is our company's main office. We have some insiders that remained behind, and they reported that all seems well — so now we just have to hope some crazy leak wasn't sprung somewhere. BUT, the main thing is that we are lucky enough to have a home to go back to. I fear that some of they guys and gals I work with will not have homes, literally. That will be horrible — but at least our company is intact, so there'll be no time without pay to help them out.

Intermittent power will begin to flick about the city tomorrow and Monday, and there's a good chance the city will start letting people come home. HOWEVER, full power won't come online for a week or two — and a lot of stores will NOT be open. We're playing it by ear, as we don't want to head home without full sewer, electricity, and water due to my Dad's health. We're working on a couple of leads to try and get closer to home, though.

One of the local churches lost its steeple, which then fell through the stained glass of the main worship area. Hopefully there wasn't too much water damage.

My cigars have been getting warmer and warmer since Friday evening. It'll stink to lose $300 worth of stogies if they all get ruined...

Posted at 9:50pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Hurricane Ike Update

Ike has passed through my home town and its nearby cities, and we seem to have fared quite well, considering. Power went out on Friday at either 6:40pm or 8:30pm (which was before the bad weather even started). Brazosport High School's sign was torn off its brick foundation, street lights and power lines are down all around Freeport, Clute and Lake Jackson, the County Courthouse lost part of its roof (but its subroof kept it from sustaining water damage), etc.

So it seems that the brunt of the damage really was sustained mostly by the coastal and inlet towns. We have no flooding in Lake Jackson or Clute, which is a relief. I only hope our windows stayed intact, and that the 4 trees in our front yard are still firmly rooted in the ground — and not in my house.

So we wait some more, and hope power gets restored in our area soon — because if we don't have power, we can't run the company and get payroll for our satellite offices. That will mean we will have to stay here in Bastrop rather go back to our homes — and that totally sucks. But, at least we seem to have fared well, and that's an answer to prayer.

More later...

Posted at 9:05am CDT | Permalink | Comments (2)

Watching and Waiting

What a load of hooey hurricanes are. Every time hurricane season rolls around, I ask myself why in Hades do I live at the Gulf Coast — the veritable Valhalla of hurricanes. Ugh.

So now it looks more and more like hurricane Ike will, literally, pass right over my little home town (population 27,000 +/-). That's a nice thought. Our family left town before the mandatory evacuation was called (and that was called at 10:00pm last night) because we didn't want to get stuck in traffic with my Dad (who's undergoing chemo treatments) and baby nephew. We had smooth sailing to Bastrop, and here we site at the Hyatt Lost Pines Resort.

Tomorrow we will have a hurricane party, and as my brother-in-law said, if we see Geraldo Herrera in our neighborhood, we know it's going to be bad. I hope that we don't see or hear anything bad about our wonderful little town. I can't imagine what it would be like to come home to a ruined house. My parents, sister, and I all live right around the same area (we're all within quick walking distance of one another), so I guess if our house goes, we still have 2 others — and vice versa. I guess the statistical probability of The Family losing all our homes is on our side.

I had to carry a lot of work-related hardware, so all I made out with was my main Mac system, my photography gear, my brand new Gretsch, and my 88 Les Paul. This means I still have all my amps and the rest of my guitars at home, which totally sucks. But, I just had to remind myself that this is why I buy insurance, and even though it'll be a hassle, I have to risk leaving some stuff behind. I normally always bring my Taylor K-14c acoustic, but I just didn't have room. I also have a decent amount effects building inventory in my shop, but it should be okay.

The other thought that totally sucks is that we have wood floors in 90% of our house, the remainder being tile. It would be pure crap to have to replace flooring — but I'd rather do that than not have a house at all.

I'm also concerned with our company's office, which is a 2-story metal building in Clute, TX — just a few miles from the beach. I totally do NOT want to have to relocate or commute.

And finally, I'm mildly concerned with our church — but the way it's built and how it's situated in its locale makes it pretty sturdy. We may lose our sign and lettering, and we could easily flood — but hopefully not.

So now we watch and wait and pray and hope. I would hate for my Dad, in his health condition, to have to go home to a ruined — or partially ruined — home. I don't want Ike to hit our town and destroy half of it — nor do I want it to do that to any other town. So, I pray that God would somehow see fit to make the storm weak, and that He would send cool waters to the Gulf that would keep it from intensifying. I pray that Nature would take the hurricane to an unpopulated are with little industry or population mass, and as I always do in these times, I pray that death, injury, and damage would be minimal or nonexistent.

There are people all over the globe in far worse situations that ours, but no one wants what we have coming. So feel free to say some prayers and send positive vibes to the Gulf Coast — because as it stand right now, a lot of us are going to need them.

Oh, and if you loot my house, I'll hunt you down like the dog you are. I promise. No — seriously.

Posted at 1:54pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (10)

Hey, Ike!

MORTAAAAALLLLL KOMBAAAAAAAAAAAATTTT!!!!111!1!

Posted at 5:28pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (1)

Metallica: Death Magnetic Review

I'll start of this post and admit that I'm a pretty hardcore Metallica fanboy. These were the guys that really got me into playing the guitar, and they're the ones that got me interested in aggressive rock and metal as a guitarist. Couple that with their guitar arrangements and awesome hooks, and I can pretty much enjoy any Metallica song on some level. That said, like most people, I was disappointed with St. Anger — but I don't have as much disdain for it as some people. I should also say, too, that I'm not such a fanboy as to think Metallica is the be all, end all — I just really like what they do, just like I enjoy Soundgarden, etc. I also don't feel Lars and Hammett are the best in the industry like some MetHeads do.

So, with the above stated, I thought I'd give my 2 cents on Metallica's newest album, Death Magnetic, which will be in stores this Friday (you can pre-order from Amazon for only $8.99)...

The whole album clocks-in at just under 1 hour and 15 minutes, and it sports 10 songs — the longest being the instrumental at 9 min 58 secs. Out of the ten, there's only one I don't really like, but we'll get to that later.

"That Was Just Your Life." This song reminds me of "Jump in the Fire" from Kill 'Em All, mainly because of the guitar riff. I'm somewhat impressed that Hetfield's 45 year old voice can still hit the notes he hits in this song. It's not my favorite track, but a decent first song.

"The End of the Line." This has major ...And Justice For All and Master of Puppets throwbacks for me. This is my favorite track on the album, and I think it does a great job of being "classic" Metallica with awesome guitar hooks and rhythm changes. I'm also enjoying the guitar tone they use on this track, as it's more open and thin as opposed to a deep, metal sound you'd expect. I like the bridge breakdowns and solo section a lot.

"Broken, Beat & Scarred." I'm not a fan of this intro, and I wish they would have just started at 40 seconds. That said, all is forgiven (temporarily) when the main riff begins at 1:00. SWEET! But, I kind of get tired of the song after a while — mainly because of the progression right before (and at the end of) the chorus, and I get tired of the monotonous double-bass. However, the verse guitar/vocal pair is awesome. Still, I can imagine myself skipping this song from time to time.

"The Day That Never Comes." I have mixed feelings about this song, but overall, I think I like it — I just hope it doesn't get overplayed. This track is a great example of a Metallica "ballad," and as formulaic as it is, the melody keeps things really interesting to me. Like many others, I'm no fan of the cliché "love is a four-letter word..." section before the solo, but oh well. The bridge and solo section sort of make up for it, though (think "One") — and it'll be a great section in the live show. I don't think I would have made this one of the singles to garner interest, however.

"All Nightmare Long." This is my third favorite song on the album, and I can't find much fault in it anywhere. I have fond Kill 'Em All flashbacks with this song, and the main rhythm is just fantastic. More classic Metallica — and the chorus is just awesome. This should have been one of the singles, in my opinion. GREAT SONG, all around. If I had to nitpick, I'd say that I'm not a huge fan of the guitar tone on this track, but that's a total nitpick.

"Cyanide." I just really don't like this song. I want to like it, but I just can't get over the cheesy vocals. The music isn't too great in my opinion, either. I DEFINITELY would have kept this under wraps and out of circulation. It's like they thought they had to write a song about death, and this is all they could come up with. Ugh. Skip.

"The Unforgiven III." I was scared to death when I saw this, because I feared it would be too much like the original, or "Unforgiven II." Thankfully, it wasn't. The intro is great (piano, strings, and horns), and sets the mood of the song perfectly. This is one of the better tracks on the album for me, and it has massive Black Album mojo. I particularly like the vocal melody, and how the strings support everything without being cheesy. I also like how they did the build-up to the solo section, which is anticipated based on the previous Unforgiven tracks. Hammett kills this solo, too — a perfect fit for the song.

"The Judas Kiss." This is another cool song. It's more repetitive than most of the tracks, and pretty basic — but the chorus is pretty cool, and reminds me of "Master of Puppets" and little of something you'd hear back in the Ride the Lightning days. I find my enjoyment of this song increases exponentially as I increase my stereo's volume — and it's a great driving song.

"Suicide & Redemption." The much anticipated instrumental, and it delivers to a degree. I hear a lot of Ride the Lightning in this track, and it sports a pretty catchy hook that'll get stuck in your head. There's not as much variety as I'd like, but it makes me curious so see what they'll do with this live — which is exactly what they want me to think. I like how it mellows like the mid section of "Orion," and it even has the harmonized lead-lines I was expecting to hear kick in. I'm not a fan of Hetfield's guitar tone in this track, and I think they could have easily cut some of the repeats to have the track give "more bang for the buck." I have a feeling this will be a great song live, and that it'll be twice as long — but I'm not a total fan of this track, personally.

"My Apocalypse." Another single, and a good choice at that. This is another classic Metallica song, and it's another favorite. The pre-chorus and chorus are great, and feel like Kill 'Em All and Master of Puppets. The bridge breakdown is dadgum AWESOME, and jumps into ...And Justice for All territory for a bit. All in all, this just an awesome song, and my second favorite. Plenty of guitar hooks, the vocals match perfectly, plenty of "aggression" in the mix. Rhythm twists only Metallica would come up with.

So there's my brief 2 cents on the new album, which I have a feeling will probably become one of my all-time favorite Metallica releases. Quirks? I liked both Load and ReLoad, and I was surprised that I didn't hear any influence from either album on Death Magnetic. I also didn't hear as much Black Album vibe as I expected, which is neither good nor bad. I think what I like so much about this release, is that it's just good old fashioned in-your-face Metallica. Almost every song is a punch in the face, kidney, or throat — and that's what Metallica meant when they said they were going back to their roots with this release.

Not too many albums come out that actually make me want to go see the band live, but this release has me counting down the days to the November show — and I have a feeling this tour will be one of the best (even though the guys average out to be 44.5 years old). Now go and pre-order this puppy.

Posted at 12:28pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (6)

Yes, Another TUA Clip

Guitar: Les Paul, bridge pickup, tone at 50%. The TUA's settings are as follows: Presence 8 o'clock, Bass 3 o'clock, Mid 11 o'clock, Treble 12 o'clock, Gain 1 o'clock. This is an example of getting a really fat, chunky, rich distortion.

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-Sample-02.mp3

Posted at 10:11pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

Another TUA Clip

Here's another clip of my metalcore distortion effect, the RAILhead Effects TUA (Total, Utter Annihilation). This clip is with the TUA set to be pretty dadgum nasty: my Les Paul's tone is at 50%, and the TUA's controls are set to Presence at 11 o'clock, the Bass around 5 o'clock, Mid around 11 o'clock, Treble around 1 o'clock, and Gain at just 2 o'clock. After recording, I realized I had moved the mic — so there's more bass in the mix than I'd prefer, but you'll get the idea...

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-002.mp3

Aren't you glad you never had to play drums to this little song, Jim?

Posted at 6:41pm CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)

TUA Sound Snippet

I made an über-dirty sound sample of my metalcore distortion effect, the RAILhead Effects TUA (Total, Utter Annihilation) this morning, so I thought I'd share. This was recorded with my Les Paul, and I have its tone really thin because I wanted some nice twang on the open notes. I have the TUA set really nice and fat, with the Presence at 12 o'clock, the Bass around 3 o'clock, Mid around 12 o'clock, Treble around 2 o'clock, and Gain at just 2 o'clock. JUST 2 O'CLOCK! Here it is...

http://www.railheadeffects.com/sounds/RHFX-TUA-001.mp3

Posted at 8:26am CDT | Permalink | Comments (0)