My camera finally got back from the repair center yesterday, which means I’m going to be making more HDR shots again. In fact, I already started. They’re pretty straightforward to make. I use the bracketing feature built into the Canon S2 to take three shots, each at a different exposure level. Then I load them onto the Macbook and go to town…In Windows, since Adobe still hasn’t shipped a universal binary of Photoshop.

It’s pretty straightforward to make an HDR picture in Photoshop CS2:

• File > Automate > Merge to HDR
• Click “Browser to choose the pics you’ll be merging to HDR
• Once they’re loaded up, go to Image > Mode and choose 8-bit. This will bring up a dialog box.
• Choose “Local Adaptation” from the drop-down menu, and tweak the sliders for the desired effect.
• The Local Adaptation method will at first make an effect that looks like a neon cloud vomited on your shot. To clear this up, try the Burn tool. It’ll bring the dark tones back to the picture.

Pretty easy, and you can make some insane pictures. They’re all the rage on Flickr these days.

This was a highly productive and entertaining weekend. I visited the Meltdown Comics store and ran amok with the camera, while at the same time picking up a copy of Mark Ryden’s Fushigi Circus. It’s a stunning and compelling collection of his work.

I also visited the Giant Robot store where I picked up I Love Game Graphics, a great read and full of video game nostalgia and artwork. Along with the recent purchase of 8-bit, I’m amassing a small library of video game books.

Today I rolled out to Disneyland with Chris, Ellen, and Reg. There we rode Splash Mountain, Big Thunder Mountain, and the Indiana Jones ride. At California Adventure we rode Soarin’ and the Tower of Terror. A shot of us at the peak of the Tower of Terror in the full grip of Terror will be hitting the internets soon, so keep checking back. Sadly I didn’t remember my camera, so I borrowed Ellen’s. A brief photo essay should be fourthcoming.

The president fielded some questions in response to recent news that phone companies are betraying our privacy by leaking our phone records to the NSA. He’s correct that the government isn’t technically breaking the law, it’s merely raping the spirit of the law instead. Personally, I’d like to see a massive class action lawsuit against the phone companies. This news comes the day after the investigation into domestic wiretaps ended abruptly yesterday.

Check out the video link in this article and watch his eyes as he answers the questions. It’s all in the eyes. He does a lot of looking to the left.

Update: The real danger to those that would attempt to encroach on our freedoms, and conversely the benefit to all of us, is that our eyes will be opened to the benefits using strong encryption casually. Widespread adoption of encrypted communications would be a huge setback to those who wish to conveniently peek into our private lives. On that note, check out free encrypted email from Hushmail and the Tor Firefox extension.

Update 2: Meanwhile, the smart money is on shorting the stock of the companies involved.

Update 3: Did your phone company roll over and submit your records to the NSA without warrants? Find out. (Hint: if they ‘declined comment’ the answer is yes)

I didn’t have any expectations going into E3, so it was a pretty mind-blowing event. I arrived and spent the first two hours traversing the west side, and I thought to myself, “Myself, this place is huge.”

It was later that I would discover that this was the small side.

Every video game company I’d ever seen in my life was there. While checking out an exhibit I nearly tripped over Tony Hawk. Later he would shred the half pipe with his associates. I spent my last three hours there lost, looking in vain for the exit. All I could find was awesome game after awesome game.

I must’ve done something very good in a past life. Check out the Flickr set for more.

Welcome to the future. I’ve always been a fan of light painting, ever since I saw Picasso work with it in his (relatively) famous piece. Some taggers decided to take it to the next level, and you can check it out in an interactive flash extravaganza. Respek.

I went for a bike ride today, and as I pedaled along the bike path I noticed something that my fellow travelers did not: a pair of awfully noisy birds cavorting about in the sky. I did a double-take and noticed something odd about them. They were parrots!

I thought perhaps there was a home nearby that the parrots had escaped from, but further research reveals that there are feral parrots that have established populations in the LA area. Apparently the same types of parrots I saw are running wild in San Francisco, and there’s a film about them.

There’s actually a project dedicated to the study of LA’s urban parrot population, and a reporting page which I haven’t gone to the trouble of filling out yet (come on, guys, make a fillable form and a CGI, is it that hard?) Apparently the project went online in 2000, and probably hasn’t been updated since.

We’ve all been there before: a situation arises, and we think to ourselves, “If only I could ask a ninja what to do!”

Well now you can. The Ask a Ninja site is up and running, taking questions. Get in there and see what wisdom the ninjas can offer.

Domokun is everywhere you want to be.

Get your dork on while using the funk. Star Wars v. Lord of the Rings Danceoff!