Art by Kristen

282_1117

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 07:19:00 +0000

282_1117
Originally uploaded by artmonstergirl

I updated playafoot.com with a better selection of fire photos, and a new design. All the fire spinner photos are up!

Jabba visits my lucky bamboo.

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 21:05:00 +0000

I let Jabba the Frog out of his tank, and he immediately started climbing the nearby lucky bamboo. Go, Jabba, go!

Testing out the flash

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 00:19:00 +0000

I rented some flash equipment so that I could do rear-sync flash photography. Rear sync flash is when the flash fires at the end of a longish exposure rather than at the beginning. The flash fires right before the shutter closes, capturing whatever that image happens to be at that moment in time. Typically it's used to create motion effects such as a car's faded image trailing behind the bright "frozen in time" portion of the image. It's also used in fire spinner photography, to create trails of light/fire around an image of a non-blurry person.

How to set up remote-triggered strobes

I used a Nikon D300 and two strobes, a Speedlight SB-600 and a Speedlight SB-800.

On the Nikon D300, in the menu settings, I scrolled down to the pencil --> e) Bracketing flash --> e3) Flash contrl for built-in flash menu. In that menu, I scrolled down until "Commander mode" was selected.
Within the "Commander mode" menu, I made sure that Built-in flash was set to M 1/128, and that Group A and Group B were both set to M 1/1. By setting the built-in flash to the lowest power I make sure that most of my light comes from my strobes. Your mileage may vary, this is a matter of taste.
On the SB-600, in order to get to the Commander mode menu, I held down the Zoom and "-" keys simultaneously. From there I made sure Channel 1 and Group A were selected.
On the SB-800, in order to get to the Commander mode menu, I held down the Select (center) key for a few seconds. I chose Channel 1 and Group A for this strobe also.
I then set the Nikon D300 to Rear Sync mode, by holding down the flash menu button to the left of the on-camera flash, and using the scroll wheel until "rear" comes up on the display.
I set an exposure for 2 seconds, positioned my strobes, and ta dah! The on-board flash goes off, I could hear the shutter open, then 2 seconds later the flashes went off.

What it looks like

The above photo shoes my test with 2 second exposure, and a slave strobe on each side (SB-600 and SB-800). I'm moving a small headlamp around in front of me. Later tonight I'll test the setup on some fire spinners.

I revamped my paintings gallery

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 08:52:00 +0000

I updated my paintings gallery using the "Simplicity" skin from JAlbum gallery generator. Comments and headings should now be more consistent with standards, and each page has a thumbnail for "next" and "previous" images. I think the design is better.

Boing Boing article on DDI

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 27 May 2009 20:00:00 +0000

Neat, Boing Boing did an
article on Dance Dance Immolation using one of my photos.

Here's more!

Monkey Butts

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Thu, 14 May 2009 03:04:00 +0000

Google Webmaster Tools tells me these two weird facts:

cavesandmountains.com is position #9 for the search results on muddy butt.

smallandcute.com is recently position #14 for search results on monkeys butt.

My life is complete!

Today's jog, Virginia Ave

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Sun, 03 May 2009 23:47:00 +0000

Google maps tells me I ran 3.4 miles today.

Most of it was uphill on the way there, through increasingly rich neighborhoods, and downhill on the way back, toward ApartmentComplexLand.

My pet frog.

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 06:46:00 +0000

He is beautiful. His name is Jabba (Froggie) the Hutt, due to his corpulent little shape. I took photos of him tonight, you can see them here.

The secret to feet happiness

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:44:00 +0000

So lately I've been running more and more frequently, most often with a coworker (Edwina) but also with a friend (@shoutingboy) who runs with Team in Training. In order to get past three miles without blisters, I needed a better set of socks/shoes/inserts.

Here's the new formula:

WrightSock Anti Blister Double Layer Coolmesh Quarter Sock
Tuli's Heavy Duty Heel Cup (great if you have flat feet or fallen arches)
New Balance 587B sneakers (designed for flat feet/pronating feet)
Russel Athletic sweatpants (this doesn't help the feet, but they do make good jogging pants)

So far so good! Last Saturday I ran 3.6 miles with no issues, 3 again on Monday, 3 again on Tuesday.

Smuckles von Smee

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 02:52:00 +0000

I made a new animation on monsters.net. Smuckles von Smee is more than happy to slime up your toes anytime you need it!

I am talking to a friend about making monster dolls. I was inspired by UglyDolls. Super cool site, super cool products.

My birthday is coming up

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:28:00 +0000

I turn... mumble mumble... on February 24! This also happens to be the date of a "bug-finding party" we are having at work. I don't expect the actual birthday day to be fun. March 7 should be a bit more fun, that's when I'm having the party. It will be a combined birthday/housewarming.

My boyfriend of two years and I have broken up, so I have been sad, bored, depressed, unmotivated... You know how it goes.

As an antidote to the blues, I've been distracting myself with movies and tv. I recently started watching Arrested Development. HILARIOUS. I gave it five stars on netflix, and I rarely do that.

I'll probably start up again with the creativity pretty soon. I have a drawing of Sluggo reading a book, and on the advice of a friend, I will title the book The Slime Machine by H. G. Wells.

Red flower on a totebag

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:17:00 +0000

I spent a lot of time cleaning up my cafepress store and adding/removing products. I added Mr. Red Flower to a totebag based on the suggestion from a friend that gardening folks might dig the flower. So to speak. Get your cute red flower totebag here!

New mug on cafepress.com

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 06:04:00 +0000

I have created a new mug on my cafepress.com store:

Morning monster needs his coffee.

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:00:00 +0000

New drawing on monsters.net. Morning monster needs his coffee! Sometimes he needs more than one cup.

Mint.com has a really neat down-for-maintenance page.

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 07:51:00 +0000

The mint.com down-for-maintenance page inspires me. Every site on the internet needs to come down for maintenance once in a while, why not make it interesting?

Also, I still haven't tired of Slightly Stoopid's Collie-Man. Pandora.com only ever plays the one song by them, so I have no idea (yet) if they make any other good songs.

Jogging around the lagoon cures everything

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 04:08:00 +0000

I was bogged down in code reviews today and was feeling, I dunno, overwhelmed by work, but I went out for a run at 4pm. It was sunny and gorgeous, and there was a bright white egret in the middle of the lagoon. What a way to cure the blues!

We ran four laps, with two very small breaks to drink water. Even the guy with the chihuahuah was nice enough to pick up his dog as we approached (both times). I guess he got tired of chasing after his silly dog. Yay for us!

This picture doesn't really show the lagoon as I see it. From the ground, the water appears silky and reflective. Sometimes, the water of the bay (to the east) blends seamlessly into the white of the sky. I need to remember to bring my camera to work sometime.

Having someone to run with makes it way easier to stay motivated. Also, doing it when it's still sunny makes it way more likely that I won't put it off.

Mars, car business

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 05:17:00 +0000

This morning I took my car to PK Automotive in San Mateo (839 San Mateo Drive). I have to give them thumbs up for service and customer courtesy. They even offered to pick me up and drop me off.

I'm very tired right now. Not used to early morning kerfluffles.

Peter showed me Google Earth's rendition of the data from the Mars Rover. It's incredibly detailed and realistic, and really really cool.

Monsters.net has been updated.

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Sun, 01 Feb 2009 01:57:00 +0000

The latest drawing is here. You are all reminded to buy stuff.

In the process of editing monsters.net I discovered a converter to change HTML characters into plain text, for displaying source code on the page.

<h2>This is some HTML.</h2>

Normally the above snippet would display like this:

This is some HTML.

I like Comic Sans and I don't care

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 07:04:00 +0000

I have a hokey website, monsters.net. When the goal is to pile on the cute/hokey/plushy/funny as thick as it can get, then Comic Sans is the perfect font. I have created my own fonts, but nothing quite so simple and elegant (and hokey) as Comic Sans.

Another movie we enjoyed from Netflix

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:46:00 +0000

La Moustache: Marc (Vincent Lindon) has worn a mustache all his adult life. One day on a whim, he decides to shave it off. Certain his wife will comment on the drastic change in his appearance, Marc is baffled when neither she nor friends notice at all. Even more disturbing is that once he calls attention to it, everyone insists he's never had a mustache.

The soundtrack is beautiful, and although we never figured out what really happened, we liked the movie and had a good time talking about it. Also, Peter shaved his facial hair, and I didn't notice.

It reminded me of Memory of a Killer, a German movie about a hitman suffering the beginning stages of Alzheimer's.

Aw, Netflix

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 07:28:00 +0000

I am disappointed that I have no more episodes of Dead Like Me to watch on Netflix. Mandy Patinkin is fun to watch! I highly recommend the series.

I kinda like Jeckyll, so far. It's a little scary, a little funny, and has snappy dialogue.

I went downtown to check out a gym called Equinox today. It's very clean, and roomy, but I don't think it's a good deal for the money. The hours are not really compatible with mine, and the pool is open to the sky. Who swims outdoors in a gym in northern California? They kept emphasizing the pilates and yoga classes, but the last class happens before I really get home from work.

saving money

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 08:54:00 +0000

We cancelled cable television recently, saving ourselves a whopping $42. It took several days before we had the patience to wait through the hold time.

I also joined a site called Mint that keeps track of multiple bank accounts/investment accounts/credit cards in one place. I like the interface much better than Quicken's. It lets you set up budgets and track portfolio performances. I really like their trends feature which breaks down my spending by category (food, health, etc).

My pandora station

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 04:22:00 +0000

I have a very carefully crafted folky music station on pandora (my username is artmonstergirl). However, I have seeded it with a single song from Tool. Results: folk song, folk song, folk song, NINE INCH NAILS.

Jarring!

Yay Obama!

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 08:13:00 +0000

I'm feeling hopeful, and enthusiastic, and relieved, and a little nervous, all at the same time. I can't remember the last time I felt that way about anything political.

Bah, I have a cold

noreply@blogger.com (artmonstergirl) — Wed, 21 Jan 2009 03:17:00 +0000

So I am eating lentil soup.