ModestGeniusXL

And the Winner Is...

It's been so long since I've had an entity for this category as opposed to a person and/or persons that I can't even remember when the last one was.  However, there was no doubt after Saturday that IKONIX Studio would be breaking that streak.  I kept telling myself that I would do a post about just them.  I kept putting it off for no good reason.  Then I participated in their Creative Lighting Workshop.  After that, I was convinced that there was no time like the present.

I had been following IKONIX Studio and its owner Tom Woolery on The Book for some time now.  I figured the best way to get better at photography would be networking with some local folks that were already doing it.  Not necessarily the heavy hitters but fellow up and comers who had been doing it longer than myself.  That's when I saw that he had an upcoming workshop on Creative Lighting.  The introductory one he offered on how to set up a shoot should have been what I did first, but I missed that one the first time around.  I wasn't missing this one.

I knew going in that I would end up having a case of camera envy.  As good as my Canon SX1 is, it is by no means top of the line.  It's clearly better than average, but nowhere close to what those other photographers brought with them.  I was embarrassed to break mine out.  That's why I kept it covered most of the time while everyone else was freely brandishing theirs.

My intent was to sit there and observe then catch some tips and hints by watching others.  It didn't work out quite the way I planned.  That was definitely for the best though.  When they started doing the lighting exercises I snapped a couple of random pictures to see how my photos would stack up to what Tom's camera was producing.  Here was the best one from that collection:

Not entirely bad but nothing at all like the other folks were coming up with.  Tom quickly saw that I was struggling and slyly pulled me aside.  He gave me a quick Cliff Notes lesson the manual settings so I knew how to get the most of my camera.  Most importantly, he hipped me to the Pocket Wizard that made a WORLD of difference.  Check out a sample pic that I took after heeding his words of advice just a few moments later:

The difference is clearly negligible.  I was like a little kid in the candy store once I discovered the joys of the Pocket Wizard.  What was even better was I was gaining a little respect among some of the folks there.  They could see that my camera wasn't quite the juggernaut that some of them had, but they could also see from my shots that I had an eye for good shots and angles.  I was getting the most out of my camera in spite of the fact that the F-stop doesn't go below 2.8 and no higher than 8.  If you're not a camera nerd then that last comment means nothing at all to you.

Once I was getting into the flow of things I was able to do some networking with some of the other folks there.  I found out even more helpful hints that I could use on later shoots.  Like how to get the best depth of field effects (again...too bad my camera doesn't go lower than 2.8).  Or what online groups to join to meet other photo enthusiasts.  Or what local places NOT to shop at if you want good customer service as well as decent prices.

There was much to be said for the model who posed for all these pictures.  Kari was quite the good sport as we sat there snapping away.  And she was spot on with each pose.  She knew just how to get the best angles possible out of the contours of her frame so that each shot looked professional.  It was clear she had been doing this modeling thing for a while as she transitioned flawlessly into each new pose with ease. 

That workshop was probably some of the most productive 4-hours I have ever spent.  I went in expecting that most of it would be entirely over my head.  Okay...a lot of it was.  But Tom and many of the folks there made it much easier to understand with the hands-on demonstrations.  You can see the proof in the pudding yourself in the IKONIX Creative Lighting photo album.  Thanks to that workshop, I now have the confidence to work in that strobelit studio.  I actually look forward to it more than the natural light studio.  But most important, I realize that even though I desperately need an upgraded camera I can still wreck shop with the one I have.

 

 

And the Winner Is...

It was very difficult for me to start off the new year on a positive note with this weekly entry.  It would have been so easy for me to go the opposite route.  That's because D just discovered viea the net that Brandin's deadbeat dad is using an alias while trying performing at different venues in the South (and allegedly out of the country).  It seems he's trying to be the next Jon B while carrying on as if he doesn't even have a son.  I could have easily went in on him as Loser of the Week.  Don't think it still won't surface in a separate post in the near future.  Stay tuned.

Instead, I had no choice but to focus on the story of Ted Williams.  Dude is the latest internet sensation to take the country by storm.  Here we are just a little over a week into 2011 and he is already the first person to make the radar for my Most Intriguing People list.  Props to my friend Toccara for being the first person in my Facebook friends to break the story.

I'm sure you have all seen the video by now so I won't bother to trouble you by posting the video again and/or the link.  You all know I'm not one for repetition.  Let me just say that I don't know about anyone else, but I thought for sure the video was going to be a hoax when I first viewed it.  I thought maybe his voice was being dubbed while someone was trying to make a feeble attempt at humor at the expense of this poor homeless man.  Then you watch the whole thing and realize that it really is his natural register and resonance.  He talks about meeting a radio guy whose voice doesn't match the appearance and he is the epitome of it himself.

What struck me about the video is the humility and graciousness that Ted displayed.  Sure, I guess anyone that is homeless is going to be a bit humble.  There's really little choice but to be if you're experiencing that circumstance.  However, in his case, he had an upbeat nature as well as a pleasant demeanor.  He came across as a cordial soul.  Someone who was very aware of how he got in his predicament.  It caused him to be genuinely appreciative of any adulation he received.

The one thing that I thought about was something that Matt Lauer brought up in his "Today" interview with Ted.  Now that he has this new found fame, he's going to have tons of opportunities presented to him in droves.  He will definitely have more blessings than he ever could have imagined at the height of his career prior to his misfortune.  What's going to prevent him from going down the same road again of drugs, alcohol and whatever else led to his current situation? 

Ted expressed that he now has God in his life which he didn't have before.  When they talked to his mother (who looked pretty dang good for 90) you could easily see that he definitely has the foundation for it.  She comes from the old school where the kids were raised in the church so Ted knows what it takes to be godly.  I just hope he is able to maintain that because we all know that the only thing the media loves more than a feelgood story is the story about a person's fall from grace.  Let's hope Ted doesn't give them that satisfaction.

 

And the Winner Is...

This initially was going to start off as a Bungles entry.  Then the more I read into that story about the controversy over the "racist" soap being sold in the Central Indiana store, I wasn't totally convinced it was Bungles worthy.  I could see both sides, but I was leaning towards the supporters.  One person made a good point:  if that is racist then how come we don't go in on Aunt Jemima?  You can't have your cake and eat it too.  And I LOVE me some Aunt Jemima. 

While I was on the fence trying to decide which way I wanted to go with it I came across another story instead.  One that left no doubt in my mind about its positivity.  It was the story of the widow of deceased billionaire Jeffry Picower.  Her recent act of benevolence took my mind off the potentially racist soap when I discovered why she was making the news.

It seems that Barbara Picower and her husband Jeff were two of the people that benefited from that whole Madhoff scam.  While Madhoff ruined thousands of lives, there were some folks that actually did very well as a result of his fraud.  The Picowers were two of them. They deposited $619 million with Madhoff's firm since the 1970s reaping the rewards of $7.8 billion. 

Now that the mister has passed on, Barbara has agreed to turn over $7.2 billion so that money can now be returned to at least a portion fo the victims that lost $20 billion.  It is one huge obstacle cleared for many of those victims.  They would have had to otherwise wait for a lengthy litigation process to work in their favor to recover some of their funds. Now they don't have to wait as long for at least a portion of their proceeds.  That is clearly better than nothing.

Now let's keep it 100...it's not as though Barbara's actions are THAT noble.  She is basically giving back money that was never theirs in the first place.  Anyone with any common sense would have known that that incredible rate of return was implausible which meant it had to be fraudulent.  But when you're rolling in that kind of money, I can imagine it's an inspiration to look the other way.

Still, she could have easily been miserly and kept the money.  She could have let the legal process eventually come for her to get it and fight them tooth and nail until she eventually went to her grave along with her husband.  Maybe she decided that with him gone it wasn't worth it to go thru all that.  Not to mention that even without $7.2 billion she could still live a very comfortable life anyway.  Whatever the case, I will give her props for doing the right thing.  Finally. 

Now there are more families out there that can have a little better Christmas.  I'm guessing the process won't be immediate so it's not like they'll get their money in time to fully enjoy their Christmas.  I'm sure there's plenty of red tape to still get thru.  This is the government we're talking about.  Hopefully they will forego some of that red tape to get some of those families closer to being whole again much sooner than later.

 

 

 

And the Winner Is...

It's funny that the movies "Hair Show" and "Beauty Shop" (both terrible movies by the way) just came on the other day.  As I was watching bits and pieces of them (one of the few times I didn't have control of the remote) I was sitting there thinking how ridiculous it is to think that some of those things could even transpire in a beauty shop environment.  Then a story like this comes along and you realize that anything is bound to happen in those places. 

Some punk went into Sabine’s Hallway Beauty Salon in New York Monday thinking it would be easy prey for a stick-up.  As far as targets for crimes go, it wasn't that bad of an idea.  We all know that with as much as those places charge their clients they probably do have a lot of money on hand.  However, what Winston Cox (the punk) didn't count on was that one of the clients there at the time was Ferris Jones: an off duty New York police officer.

It went down like this...

Cox ordered the four women in the salon – Jones, another patron, the owner and an employee – to put their valuables in a black bag he was carrying as he herded them into a back bathroom, police said. When he went to retrieve the owner’s handbag on a counter in the middle of the salon, Jones pulled out her off-duty five-shot revolver, held it at her side and told the other women, “Everyone get down.”

Police said Jones faced off with Cox at a distance of about 12 feet and identified herself as a police officer. They say Cox responded by opening fire. The officer shot back.

His four shots missed. Her five rounds disarmed him and disabled the door.

Couple of things struck me.  First, I thought it was only in the movies where the bad guys fire several shots at the good guys and don't make contact with a single bullet.  I always thought that was so unrealstic.  Apparently not.  They really are that bad at aiming in real life also. Good thing too.

The other thing that got me was how shen Jones fired she was able to not only disarm this idiot but also disable the door.  Now we don't know if that was extremely good marksmanship on her part or it just so happened that was the luck of the shot.  It was revealed in an interview that that was the first time she's ever fired her weapon in action in her many years on the force.  Therefore, I'm going to go with it was luck on her part.

It doesn't matter if it was matter if Jones' shots were the results of excellent training or pure luck.  It was very fortunate for everyone in that beauty salon that she happened to be one of the customers at the time.  Well...for everyone except for the moron who tried to hold up the joint.  I know one thing...if there was ever an instance where someone should be entitled to a lifetime of free hairstylings this would be it.

And the Winner Is...

That whole uproar over the Register and their heinous decision to wrongfully vilify a slain brotha almost did everything it could to earn the Bungles honor this week.  In case you missed that post, you can check it out here in all its glory.  There could not have been a better example for a Bungles winner.  But I had already seen something in the news that was much more deserving of making this week's entry about a more positive note instead.

I was half paying attention to the news when I heard them announce something about "Iowa" and "Medal of Honor".  Now I know I was in the military (yes...Air National Guard counts), but even I am not totally familiar with exactly what the Medal of Honor is and/or what it's for.  I didn't realize that it's extremely prestigious and it really is not giving out as often as you would think.  So it's always a big deal whenever anyone gets it.  Even more so when the person is from Iowa.

Sgt. Salvatore Giunta hails from Hiawatha, IA.  That's a little suburb just outside of Cedar Rapids for folks that aren't familiar with the area.  If that still doesn't help, you may need to bust out an Atlas.  Anyway, he distinguished himself by putting his life above and beyond the call of duty in Afghanistan three years ago.  That's when then Specialist Guiunta exposed himself to enemy fire while pulling a comrade to cover.  As if that wasn't enough, he noticed two insurgents trying to pull away a fellow soldier so he took them on and was able to rescue that solider as well.

It is the first time in nearly 40 years that the nation's highest military decoration has been presented to a living soldier.  The last time that someone from Iowa received the award was clear back in 1968.  The award itself is so special that it's the only military medal worn around the neck.  So yeah...it's kind of a big deal.

I am thankful every day that I never have to serve in harm's way when I was in the military.  There wasn't a day that went by, especially during the Gulf War, that I thought about what I would do in similar circumstances.  How would I react when a moment that I was only used to previously seeing in a video game had come to life?  I want to say that knowing myself, I would have made sure that I just got myself to safety.  Afterall, I did have a family at even that young age.  But one just never knows unless you're actually in that situation. That is precisely why I have nothing but the utmost respect for young men like Sgt. Giunta who are able to do things like that.  

Stories like these make me wonder how many other heroic deeds occur during our wars and/or conflicts that we never hear about.  I'm sure fore every Sgt. Giunta story out there that has to be at least a dozen or so more that never make the light of day for whatever reason.  For all of those that don't, I tip my hat to them as well.  They are all much appreciated for doing the things to preserve our freedom that many of us would not want to do.  I'll stick to the video games and I express my appreciation for those folks who can do it in real life.

 

 

And the Winner Is...

Every now and then you will hear a story about a person and/or couple winning some big prize that simply don't deserve it.  One example that comes to mind was back when I work at Nationlied.  They had some special raffle going on where folks had a chance to win a brand new car.  The tickets were $50 each.  The person who ended  up winning was the wife of one of the Regional Vice Presidents (a position that makes easily close to $250K if not more a year).  She won thanks to the ability to purchase $2,000 worth of raffle tickets for herself.  No joke.

Then there was the guy in Carolina (or was it Virginia?) several years ago who won the mega-mllions jackpot. If I'm not mistaken, it was one of the biggest at the time at over $100 million.  Turns out the guy was already a millionaire owning several construction businesses.  And already dong very well for himself so it wasn't like he was struggling.  Stories like those really chaps your hide.  Then a story like Violet and Allen Large comes along.

The Larges are an elderly couple who live in rural Nova Scotia (that's in Canada for all the geography-challenged folks).  Violet is recently recovering from cancer.  They purchased a lottery ticket in Canada and won the $11 million jackpot.  Now those are the type of people you like to hear about winning those type of jackpots. 

But it gets even better.

The Larges decided they didn't want to keep the money.  They mutually agreed they really had no need for it.  They were content with the life they had been living prior to winning the money and saw no need to change it  So four months after the Lotto 6-49 win, they have given nearly all of the loot away to various charities and family members.

When I first heard this, I wanted to play devil's advocate.  It was definitely a feelgood story and all but didn't seem to make little sense.  If they didn't want the money then why play the lottery in the first place?  Maybe they were thinking that their chance of winning was very slim,.  Still they had to know there was still a chance period.  But what's done and done.

The fact still remains that them making the decision to give away all the money was incredible.  It actually made perfect sense.  Let's face it, they don't have that much longer left here.  They probably already lived a pretty full life since they made it to that ripe old age.  Might as well give the money away to other folks who can better enjoy it.  More power to them.  I just wonder how I can get signed up as one of their eligible charities.

 

 

 

 

And the Winner Is...Mr. Bungles...

 It's not that often that I come across a story that has the rare benefit of getting both recognitions for this week's entry.  However, when I saw this one involving 7-year-old Samuel Burgos of Pembroke Pines Charter Elementary School in Broward County, FL it was a no-brainer.  Although truthfully, I lean a little more towards the Bungles side going to his parent as opposed to the Winner side for the school.

The story is that Samuel "allegedly" forgot that he had a toy pellet gun in his backpack before he went to school.  The school discovered it.  The gun was a clear violation of the school's zero tolerance policy.  Samuel was expelled as a result of the violation of said policy.  Naturally, the family is saying the punishment is too harsh and are challenging the school board on Sammy's expulsion.

Now first off, I don't buy for a minute that the kid forgot he had a toy gun in his backpack.  Backpacks are NOT that big.  I can see a kid forgetting that maybe there's a pack of gum in one of the pockets or a homework assignment crinkled up at the bottom.  You can overlook those. But a gun??  No.  There's no way they are going to forget something like that.

Secondly, I put that Broward County name in there for a reason.  Everyone from my generation probably clearly remembers all the news that Broward County used to get back in the day.  That county DOES. NOT. PLAY.  They were constantly going after hip-hop artists for breaking obscenity laws back in the day and trying to get them jail time.  That was just for obscenity.  So you KNOW they mean business when it's a gun violation.  I know we're just talking about a "toy" gun here, but still.

And as far as the excuse that the punishment was too harsh because it was a "toy" gun?  Sorry, Burgos family, but you can go somewhere with that one too.  A water gun that can only squirt water is one thing.  Or even one of those plastic guns that does nothing but generates sound when you pull the trigger could be argued as being harmless.  However, you cannot make that same argument with a pellet gun.  Those can easily cause injury.  Haven't the Burgos ever heard the saying "it's all fun and games until someone loses an eye"?

I applaud the school for taking a hardline stance on this issue.  There should be no gray area when it comes to bringing guns to school.  Do the parents expect them to start checking to see which guns are fake and which guns are real before assessing punishment?  Um...no.  No guns means no guns.  It's not rocket science here.  They have that rule in place for a very good reason.  If the parents don't want their children to abide by them then maybe they should look into homeschooling.

The bottomline is the parents knew full well what the rules were.  It's not like they were new to the district and it was the first day of school.  Even if that was the case, the school would have made sure they were aware of their policies.  The family should have checked the backpack before their son went to school.  If they didn't because he's a latch-key kid, then they should just accept the fact that their kid screwed up and now he has to deal with the consequences.  They need to invest their energy into giving him some better home training rather than trying to get on the school for doing their job.

 

And the Winner Is...

It would have been very easy to go with another Bungles candidate this week.  There were actually some pretty good ones out there.  Like whoever boxed the new Chad Ochocinco cereal.  The box was supposed to have a number that connected callers to a Feed the Children charity line.  Instead, the number goes to a sex line.  Whoever did that was definitely enough to warrant Bungles recognition.  Probably as much as whoever it was that decided to give Ochocinco a cereal in the first place.

Actually, this week's winner was even chosen with a bit of trepidation.  The reason being that after seeing "The Social Network", you come away thinking that Mark Zuckerberg was probably not the nicest guy in the world.  But you have to also realize that it is a fictional movie based on real life events.  It's painted from a certain perspective which wasn't Mark's so of course it won't show him in a favorable light.  But let me quit getting ahead of myself.  I still have to do that review so I don't want to give away too much.

Shortly before the release of the semi-biopic, the news was announced that CEO and co-founder of Facebook Zuckerberg had agreed to donate $100 million to improve the long-troubled public schools in Newark.  Regardless of whatever stories and/or movies come out about him and the history behind Facebook, that's an extremely generous donation going to a very worthy cause.

It's no coincidence of the timing of when this was done.  I'm sure Zuck had to know that the upcoming movie was going to be taking some pretty big jabs at him.  He had probably known for quite a while since the writer had been interviewing and working with folks that Zuck had done dirty.  So what's the best way for any celebrity to deflect bad news about themselves?  Do something benevolent of course.  And the more gracious, the more folks are distracted.  At least momentarily.

However, it really doesn't matter waht the motive was behind Zucky's gift.  It was something that was direly needed in the school system.  It really could not have went to a much better cause.  He could have went the familiar route of giving the money to some feed-the-world organization or some find-the-cure cause, but he invested it in education instead.  AMERICAN education.  I don't care why he did it, that's an extremely admirable.

 

And the Winner Is...

We almost had another Mr. Bungles entry for this week.  It would have been thanks to the Vancouver lady who tried to find the most idiotic way to gain her own 15 minutes of fame.  Bethany Storro admitted that she threw in acid in her own face when police started finding incriminating evidence in her apartment.  I can't even express how moronic of her that was to do something like that.  So moronic that I refuse to let it steal the shine this week over a much more significant story.

Ironically enough, this heroic tale also comes from Vancouver.  Vancouver couple Erin Wood and her husband Brian were traveling thru the state of Washington to visit family.  They were eagerly counting the days until they would welcome the birth of their first child.  As they were driving, an oncoming Chevy Blazer came barrelling down on them weaving wildly.  It was obvious they were headed for a head-on collision.  Brian reacted fast by braking hard and swerving to the right, ensuring that his side would take the brunt of the crash when the vehicle slammed into them.  That is precisely what happened and Brian was killed instantly.  His wife and unborn child survived.

I can't even express what a tremendous feat of heroism that took for Brian to do something that like that.  I know guys that won't even walk on the closest side to the street when they're walking with their lady.  The reason being that her body could sustain the collision of a two-ton vehicle just as well as he could so why shoud he take the risk?  But for a guy to purposely steer his vehicle into the path of an oncoming vehicle to save his wife's life is truly courageous.

More than that, it also requires some amazing reflexes.  Many of us have been in emergency situation while driving where you only have a split second to react.  In that brief instatnt, you often have so little time to think clearly that you may not always make a rational decision.  Brian had the wherewithal to realize that he had to take the necessary actions to protect those things that were most important to him.  His quick-thinking ended up saving two lives when it could have very easily ended up being an even bigger tragedy.

There was one thing that crossed my mind though when I read this story.  If Brian was able to think quick enough to manuever the car in such a fashion, why not steer it completely out of the way?  Maybe he could have saved his own life as well.  Then again, we don't know anything about the road they were traveling on.  He could have been faced with only that option due to space restrictions.  Given the fact of how road construction seems to be going on everywhere this time of year, that is very possible.

At any rate, Brian most certainly deserves to be recognized for his incredible bravery.  His child will unfortunately never get to know the father that saved his or her life due to the stupidity of another driver's reckless behavior.  However, he or she will have the benefit of a mother to tell that child what a great man Brian was.  That child will always be able to thank his or her father for not only giving them life, but also saving it.

 

And the Winner Is...Mr. Bungles...

I may be jumping to my own conclusion on this one without knowing the whole story.  Not that there's anything new about that.  However, from the part I do know, I have to completely side with Dwight Howard.  Mainly because I know what it's like to be in his shoes.  At least in this particular instance as it pertains to his shorty.

The incident actually happened late last week but I just found out about this week so it qualified for this week's candidate.  Apparently what transpired is Howard and his baby mama, "reality show" star Royce Reed,  are in the middle of a custody battle.  Dwight went to pick up his 2-year-old son from day care on a day he wasn't scheduled to have him.  Royce flipped out and called the police.  The cops ordered Howard to return the center which was done.  Tragedy was averted, but the drama had already taken place.

First of all, there's much to be said about the fact that Dwight is being a responsible father .  Especially given who he is and his profession.  For those that don't know, he's the All-Star center for the Orlando Magic.  NBA players are constantly getting a bad rap for not taking care of the kids they produce.  It's really a negative connotation with the NFL too, but moreso with the NBA.  Although we always hear the stories about the pro athletes that are deadbeats, we seldom hear the positive examples like Howard who are being good fathers.

I personally don't have any problem with what he did.  He's currently in the offseason for the NBA.  It's the time of the year when he has the rare bit of extra time on his hands.  Once the season starts, he will be traveling, practicing and/or playing all the time leaving little time to spend quality time with his son.  He's trying to spend as much time with him now before things start getting hectic when the season does start up.  So what if it isn't on his scheduled day?  The schedule shouldn't have been so restrictive anyway given the fact that the babymama is probably already getting a boat-load of child support from him.  So kudos to him for trying to step up and put in more Daddy time.

Now the Bungles part comes in for his babymama.  The fact that she saw the need to call the police over something like this was ridiculous.  It was as if she was alleging that Dwight was trying to kidnap his son.  Really??  Like a 7' Black man is going to go anywhere without being noticed.  Especially one who is one of the top 5 players in the NBA.  Not too mention that it was putting her son thru some unnecessary drama that he didn't have to be subjected to.  But of course she was only concerned about herself.

Again, I don't know the whole story.  Did Dwight do it with the intention of ticking off the babymama knowing full well he wasn't supposed to be picking up his son?  It's a possibility although I doubt it.  That's just not his personality.  Plus, I like my scenario better as it also seems much more plausible.  I'm sure she'll probably use this incident against him in any future custody hearings just to get back at him.  Unfortunately, the kid is going to be the one to suffer while she keeps padding her reality career.