December 4, 2009
Kapa’a, Hawaii
It could have been anywhere, really. It just happened to be a few miles before tomorrow. The presentation of this flour-free chocolate cake was as delicious as the dessert itself.
"Just Dessert"
Toolbox: Camera Genius, Perfectly Clear, TiltShift Generator
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Snapture
Snapture
Version 2.0
Bottom Line: Recommend!
Long before the App Store, Snapture by SnaptureLabs was the premier camera app for jailbroken iPhones. Even back then, Snapture had features that camera apps in The Store are only now catching up to. Of course, being free at the time of the constraints of Apple’s approved APIs probably helped. My friends were jealous of the true digital zoom and the level guide that I was able to use in my camera.
November 14, 2009
The Stockyards
Fort Worth, Texas
The Hotel Texas
Toolbox: CameraGenius, Photogene
I love neon and I love The Stockyards in Fort Worth. It’s what you think of Texas if you’re not from Texas, except the livestock here is mostly for show now. Main and Exchange is pretty much tourist central or bachelorette party-ville. The further you get away from Main Street, the bars get better, I think. One of the best bars I’ve ever been to was across the street from Hotel Texas. For a northside bar, it was pricey to get in to. The bar itself was in an old, old building, even by Fort Worth standards. It was a smoky little place about the size of two boxcars and was the only place in the Stockyards where you’d hear the band play old Bob Wills and Hank Senior songs.
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Camera Genius
Camera Genius
Version 1.7
Bottom Line: Essential!
It’s been a while since I reviewed Camera Genius by CodeGoo. Since then, it is on its third big revision and I thought this would be a good opportunity to revisit my review.
Camera Genius 1.7 is the best camera replacement app available in the App Store. It adds great functionality and features to the iPhone’s camera, especially if you have an older 3G or 2G iPhone. It’s powerful yet easy to use. It works on all iPhone models and supports auto-focus on the 3GS. Importantly, all the features in Camera Genius work as advertised.
November 18, 2009
Today was my every-five-week hair day. When you have a hairline like mine (or lack of), it’s really more difficult to keep it looking good, in spite of the reduced amount of source material to maintain.
Sonia, another stylist, wasn’t in today, but the door to her room was ajar and the lights were off. From inside, this new machine sat silently blinking and lights were spinning. It was very Star Trek in its appearance (the J.J. Abrams movie, not the 60’s TV show). Some sort of Electro-something-something device. All I knew was that the lights were blinking and pretty. I snuck in, got my photo, and just as quickly snuck back out of Room Zero.
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"Room Zero"
Toolbox: Camera Genius, ColorKit, FocalLab
Fort Worth, Texas
White Elephant Saloon
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Empty Dance Floor
Toolbox: Camera Genius, AutoAdjust
November 12, 2009
Ghosts in the Park
It was the beginning of the weekend of Autumn here in North Texas. In places that have autumn, it’s usually a multi-week spectacle of leaves changing with a lot of rich, saturated colors. Here, autumn arrives and leaves quickly — often within days. You have to catch it quickly.
Any day that begins way too early and involves extensive dental work before the sun has come up is a day that’s not starting off well. I was running late for my crown, having broken a tooth the day before. I rushed outside to leave and was awed by the the thin layer of low-lying fog lazily hanging over the park across the street. Road ghosts playing in the park.
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November 14, 2009
It’s nice to see some genuine old in downtown Fort Worth. Here’s a photograph of a pre-Depression-era time/date stamp.
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Sidewalk. Welcome to Cowtown
Two theaters, The old Arlington downtown and The Grand in Fort Worth.
Arlington Theater
The Grand
When I Am Weak
Camera Bag: Camera Genius, CameraBag, Photogene, Photoshop.com Mobile
I never got to see a movie at The Grand. It was closed long before I ever found it. I had lived in Fort Worth for years and had always heard that part of town was pretty sketchy — dangerous for kids without any street sense.
My best friend and I got brave one day. “Come on, Tom, show me the hookers and the drug dealers. Take me down Rosedale.” Starting from the Interstate, we made our way east. We passed by old wooden houses with peeling paint and bars on the windows. There were red brick churches with leaning signs and hand-me-down playground equipment. As we drove, I saw nothing sketchy. It was just an old neighborhood that had seen better days.
There was a little jog in the road and that’s when I saw the theater for the first time. In this old neighborhood, I didn’t expect to see a movie theater, let alone an old movie palace. We’d stopped at the light. I had a few seconds to look. It was huge and old and was silhouetted against the horizon. The tall balcony side faced the road we were on. The paint on the red brick had worn off over the years — you could barely make out the name. The doors were boarded up. The marquee was blank.
The light changed. We moved on to our Friday night. Over the years, I’ll drive down Rosedale just to see if it’s still there. I pull up to the light and The Grand still greets me.
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October 30, 2009
Comet Cleaners number 001
Toolbox: Camera Genius, CameraKit
Old U.S. Highway 80 runs right through old downtown Arlington. The interstate moved everything a few miles north and slowly downtown just faded into insignificance. Old businesses closed or relocated.
Some of the buildings and signs remain, but most are in pretty bad shape now through years of neglect or abandonment. Sometimes during the summer, I’ll take old highway 80 home from Dallas. I’ll turn of the air conditioner and roll down the windows and try to imagine what the road was like 50 years ago.
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