DOWNTOWN LAS VEGAS WITH THE FUJIFILM X20

Living in Las Vegas means every day is a photo opportunity for me. I took my new Fujifilm X20 compact downtown with me to see what it would do with the Fremont Street Experience. It's a ritual I perform with all of my new cameras. The temperature was a bone-chilling 62F, but the sun was bright, and I got a number of good shots with not a lot of trouble. Thumbnail versions of a fraction of the shots are included here: be advised that although these "thumbnails" are each 800 X 600, that's 1/25 of the area of the original 4000 X 3000 JPEG images. (Yes, I know how how to shoot RAW; no, I didn't do so today. I'm still exploring the camera. Sod off.)

Here is the Plaza, formerly known as "Jackie Gaughan's Union Plaza." It occupies a prominent spot, on the west side of Main Street at Fremont. When walking the Experience east to west, it is the hotel/casino appearing at the end of the tunnel. At night, when the neon comes out in our part of the world, it actually constitutes the light at the end of the tunnel.

The steakhouse in the dome at the Plaza. The name is politically OK: "Oscar" is a former mayor and is married to one (a mayor, not a "broad," although she is one, technically).

The Golden Gate, also at the corner of Main and Fremont. Note the tippy-top of the Stratosphere in the background. Homeless person included in photo so that you know I'm a serious street photographer and not just a travel snapper.

That's New Vegas for you: the D (formerly "Fitzgerald's") has an outdoor bar, and it accepts Bitcoin.

The Mob Museum, aka the "National Organized Crime and Law Enforcement Museum." My spiritual birthplace.

Another photo that you must accept makes me a serious photographer: some guy playing with his smartphone outside the Golden Nugget (though that ad for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band doesn't help my case for seriosity much).

2013: Being and Doing on The Trail

I don't really like to make resolutions. I know everybody says that nowadays, but I think in my case it is a matter of getting older. After seeing the year change 56 times now and knowing that about 30 of those times I made some promises to myself that I didn't bother to keep, I just stopped doing it a few years back.

But I still do a lot of thinking about the previous year and about the year to come during December and January. This time around has been a little different. I basically burned out by the end of 2012 (which I guess is better than what the Mayans predicted, eh?).

So I am making some changes and rearranging some priorities and reassessing the journey. But I am NOT making resolutions. Ha!

Carl and I have spent weeks discussing various aspects of this process and I won't spoil the fun by outlining everything here. But I will say, I'm happy with the direction things are headed and they are headed in a direction, though journeys often are more fun if there are some unexpected turns.

Carl and I talk about being "on the trail" a lot. In some ways, this is left-over from our more extensive traveling days in the early part of this century. But it also serves to remind us that even when we "stay-put" for a while, things change. Trails are interesting because they don't always have posts or directions as you make your way. You could end up somewhere you never dreamed of going. You have to live by your wits at times. You have to trust your experiences, your senses, and your skills.

I recently watched a wonderful documentary called "Horatio's Drive" about the first transcontinental car trip in 1903. It was the ultimate "off-road" trip, taking 73 days with all sorts of break-downs and challenges. But the guy who just did it on a whim beat the "professionals" who spent months planning. I think there is a good lesson there.

So if 2013 has a theme for me, it is "Be and Do" -- another way to put it is "I trust the past to guide me into the future." Perhaps such brash confidence comes with surviving more than 55 years and staying married more than 20 years. But I also suspect it is more than that. I suspect that at some point one has to actually decide to trust.

In 2012, I decided that I would believe the evidence of my life that I was a survivor and that I had skills, talents, experiences and a brain that has proven record of perseverance. In addition to that, I am married to a man who has also proven himself to have skills, talents, experiences and a brain that has a proven record of perseverance. That meant I should let go of some fear and some worry.

Such confidence was severely tested in 2012 as we had to move suddenly, spent a great deal of the summer living on peanut butter and fought against several flare-ups in illness.

But, in the words of Morpheus, "We are still here!"

I find myself, after my resting and contemplation over the Winter Break, happy to face the new year and happy to be on the trail.

What ARE They DOING?

What ARE they DOING? from Pattie Thomas on Vimeo.

Carl Wilkerson and Pattie Thomas have been together for over 20 years, both as a couple and as cultural creatives, producing a number of different projects in multiple media. Over the years, they have grown tired of the boring cocktail party question, "And so, what do you do?" because, well, when you do what they do, that question does not lend itself to an easy answer. So this video is an attempt to answer that question. Longer than an elevator speech but way more entertaining!

New Beginnings -- Exciting Possibilities

We have moved. This was a rather sudden decision that we will not bore you with at this point, but we've found a place not that much more expensive than what we were paying at the old place and about 25 years newer and about a little over two times as large. In other words, Weezy, we're movin' on up!

What this means for SINdustry CITY is exciting. The new place provides us with a workspace that is way better than what we had. It is larger and more user-friendly. (And we aren't sleeping in the same place we work, LOL.)

We are stepping things up a bit this summer. We will be making some major announcements in June and July regarding future projects and if all works out, we may be turning SINdustry CITY into a viable micro-media company.

So stay, tuned!

Humber Throws Perfect Game

Philip Humber of the Chicago White Sox threw a perfect game today. And I wasn't there!

NAB2012: Blackmagic, Film Quality, and the Small Producer

Contribution to the mass of video coverage of the 2012 NAB convention in Las Vegas from everyone's favorite (I would guess) year-round resident! Discussion centers around one of the consensus highlights of the convention, the 2.5K, $2995 cinema camcorder introduced by Blackmagic, albeit with the usual compulsive curmudgeonly critical thinking about how expensive everything is nowadays. Lots of nice shots of the convention and of Las Vegas as seen from the convention center.

Las Vegas: The Windy City

Just some shots of Vegas during a really windy day.