I liked Coldplay. I really did. I liked them enough to grab a plane and see them live at Madison Sq Garden. I still think Spies is their best song... ever. But somehow it had been spiraling downward since the second album came out.

I tried too hard to not complain about the second and third album, but after Violet Hill I threw the towel. I felt seriously disappointed. It's like you're dating someone who you felt infatuated with. Yeah, the first flush was awesome, but then somehow you realize (s)he's really stupid. And you keep saying to yourself how this may just be a bad streak... over and over and over. Until they publicly do something that embarrasses you so hard that you realize how it's been shitty all along.

And the last album... please... just take a look at the cover. They claim to have been inspired by Frida Khalo (suuuucks) and people throwing out the status quo. Guuuys, last time I heard, in the painting La liberté guidant le peuple, Eugène Delacroix depicts people being guided by FREEDOM, commemorating the French revolution of 1830. So... why the *fuck*is it cool to "vandalize" a painting that represents what they heartedly support? I don't get it. It'd be better to paint over something that represents the old regime, or something they hate, otherwise it's like a rebel without a cause... like a 10 yr old boy saying "no" to all.


Eugène Delacroix - La liberté guidant le peuple
Source: Wikipedia

The first time I heard BFTC, a friend and I were talking about how cool Gotan Project was, then he gave me a cd and insisted I should hear it.

After listening to the cd a few times I really liked it. The style was so fresh that I read about the band, origins, and influences. Since I've been a fan of Gustavo Santaolalla is one of my favorite artists for soundtracks as well as Eric Sierra, I kept reading and listening.

And so the Bajofondo story went on... i kept on listening, and then bought the Bajofondo Remixed cd... lots of stuff from Luciano Supervielle

...and then came Mar Dulce. It's a different concept from the previous cd, but well, an inevitable change, nevertheless. Lots of collaborations.... to the point that some people i've spoken with, believe that Gustavo Cerati is a member of BFTC.

And that sucks.

Yes, yes, yes yes. Would undoubtedly see them live.

I prefer them over Interpol. Great drummer, and an overall feeling that reminds me of bleak, gray skies, and decaying urban landscapes.

My personal favorites:

• The Big Bang Theory: Even before it debuted here I wanted to see that. After the first episode, I was hooked.
• Project Runway: Can't think about seeing it without N. She's got an amazing taste.
• Family Guy: Evidently.

There are others, but well, it's a short list anyway. Honorable mention to Samantha Who, My Boys, and Eli Stone.

I had never been in a formal photo workshop... and well... it rocked big time.

Awesome teachers, awesome friends, and got to meet some of the guys of MJR.

Cameras and computers.... my tools.

Yeah, well... go figure

There's this little thing called BRAKES!!!

According to what I heard, undoubtedly... the worst.

Contemporary art at its best. And with someone who proposes something rather interesting. Funny thing: he did not care about Tec... when the wifey called he said something like "yeah, i'm in a university of some sort... don't know really".

Try swallow your shitty ego for once, ITESM!!!

During the past months I've hand something to do (either directly or indirectly) with the following:

• Carcrash
• Hating insurance companies to death
• New car
• Stolen laptops
• Breaking and entering
• Waking up chez-moi, not knowing that the same day I'd move out
• Move for the 14th time in the last 5 years
• A phone call that started with the words "I did not give you my cell number to give you bad news"
• Carcrash - again... in a different car

It has been a complicated year, but there's hope for next year...

All and all, my life's far from being stuck.

I used to bitch about getting all this shit, and why someone else was not getting it. But oh well, I'm a grown-up now (...and that person is seemingly swapping fluids with someone s.t.d.-ful -- haha... so there's justice after all) .

And well, after teaching some programming workshops, promoting my career, and looking at a recent trip (paid by my uni), there's space to think about what's coming ahead... besides finals.

I developed some rolls a bit more than a month ago...

I tried Efke 25, Delta 400 pushed +1, and the regular Delta 100.

Less talky, more looky..... this is Efke 25:

One of the screws that hold together a huge concrete wall...

Mirrors

It's super cool to shoot mid day at f1.4, but I don't shoot much at that time... I guess my thing is still 100 or 400.

A local church and the iconic mountain in the background

One of my uni's buildings... small break during a class

Guys riding in the back of a truck... safety ftw!!1. Shot from a taxi cab - learning to play with the rf parallax

The long way out of school... The wind in this place is just awesome. This is near Bob's house.

ITESM - grad school. Posh and nice.

"Un lago en el cielo... Vamos despacio para encontrarnos; el tiempo es arena en mis manos." (Cerati)

This is where I used to live... I moved out in less than 24 hrs. The whole deal.

Urban views. This one reminds me of Matt Craig.

Crossing bridges

  Yummy ice-cream in one hand - camera in the other hand

One of those contre-jours I like. Some leaves look ghostly

As we walked into the cinema... from light to dark

Some asshole staring...

Gray days + dew = stay at home and chill (or develop film)

Crossing more bridges

That's about it for the Efke. Cool: yes. For me: naaaaaaaah... not really.

Maybe I just need to know how to develop it properly...

Anyway...

I also tried Delta 400 pushed to 800. It's the first time I use that, so I am learning how to develop it properly. IMHO it rocks.

Here are film scans from the previous DJ Ferh entry:

Love the haze in this frame

Concert atmosphere - lights, smoke, beer.

Onstage

Metering the scene, and then compensating for the light hitting DJ Ferh...

Like a zombie film... braaaaains.... BRRRAAAAIIINSSSS

Coward shot. Only the back, and not to the face.

DJ Ferh's b-day. Buddies, booze, and birds

As the cake came in...

...and then splattered into DJ Ferh's face

Delta 400+1: Rocks.

And now our traditional and beloved Delta 100. My personal fave 4-eva-and-eva.

N + contrejour

This is what I loive about delta 100. You want blacks, you get blacks; you want highlights, there ya go. I'm not really sure why, but it just *clicks* for me.

Fucking shitty windows (N knows why)

Can't have an entry without mirrors

Mmmm... hungrrrrry

The Rolleiflex + messy desk.

I still have to develop the squary 120 delta 100. So far so good with 35mm, but my experience developing 120 is pretty much none. I used to shoot delta with a lovely Hasselblad back in the day, but oh well... damn third world economy!

Monterrey - morning. I might miss this one day

Monterrey - another morning

Self in the rear bus mirror

Someone probably digs schoolgirls... and got his very own...

Urban palm

Lex Luthor waiting in the museum line

Contemporary Art Museum girls...