Quadruple Myself

I am a sucker for photo apps. If you didn’t know, back in the day I used to be heavy into photography, including spending my high school lunch hours in the darkroom, looking at photo books, magazines, walking around the city experimenting with shots, learning Photoshop a year prior taking photography class so that I’d be prepared to edit the negatives… Anyway, I love photos, taking photos and playing with photo toys.

I bought a QuadCamera iPhone app for $1.99 and, when it doesn’t freeze my screen, it is a fun little application. I think it requires way too much iPhone thinking power to work smoothly; sad story. Last night Josue took some fun shots of me and Lisa, and I thought I’d share them. Apparently there are not enough photos of self on this personal blog, har har.

The cool thing is, this app will give you both lomo-style four shots AND a gif file! You can select the desired filter and really experiment. Below are some shots of me horsing around According to Josue, “i’m really good at this”.

And nowwwww, the gifs!

Having a seizure yet?

Filed under: Great Products , fun, iphone, photography, photos, self, technology, toronto

All That Jelly

Took these shots in Boston at the New England Aquarium. The place was a lot of fun! After conquering the long line to get in, we delighted in the micro-processing, never hurrying jellyfishes, counted as many weed sea dragons as we could, and learned that the giant tank in the middle of the Aquarium is actually tuna can-shaped as opposed to the “apparent” soup can-shaped. 40 feet wide vs. 20 feet tall, ha!

Besides enjoying and photographing unique creatures (and reading their “facial” expressions), I also made a friend with a penguin whom I named Bob. Bob was swimming in the pool as I watched him from above (the pool extended beneath the area where humans walked) and I started waving and calling him to get closer. He looked up and seemed to have gotten mesmerized for a minute there (yay red hair)! Then we continued the wave – swim underneath – swim out – watch for the Karin – swim to where she’s walking – swim out – hear her call – look again… It went on for several feet until he got an ADD attack and quickly swam away with his buddy. I’m telling you, I am princess Mononoke.

The rest of the photos are here

Post title inspired by the homie Egyptrixx.

Filed under: Great Times , animals, beauty, boston, iphone, photography, photos, travels

at Bar Gagarin

Originally uploaded by dreamtiger

This is one of my most favorite photos of me. This one is like a secret that I’m not telling, just look at those cheeky eyes. There’s something special about being in Berlin, sitting on a bright red chair that matches my hair, under a large pretty umbrella with a bright orange neon backpack, purple watch, teal shirt that says “It’s not over, not over, yeah” (which is, in my opinion, influenced by the Klaxons’ “It’s not over, not over, not over yet”), and teaching my friend about the proper ways of drinking vodka, according to the Russians. Our plate is called Intelligenz, and it includes chopped herring with apple, pickles, rye bread, onions and some other goodies.
I’m actually glad there is quite a number of us Russian folks in Berlin. It’s always nice to encounter fellow men so far away from the Motherland.
By the way, few days later, when I was in Barcelona, someone (an Eastern European fellow from Talinn, Estonia) who used to follow my Livejournal a while back messaged me and asked me if I was at Bar Gagarin in Prenzlauer Berg on such and such date. I said, yes, why. He said he was there at exactly the same time, and recognized my red hair. Wow, talk about coincidence!? Small world, folks, small world. I can only imagine what my life is going to be like in 5-7 years.

This is Dave drinking his portion of the Intelligentz

Filed under: the world eh , Berlin, Europe, food, friends, fun, memories, photos

You Like Girls? You Have to Know About Fashion Too

“…And that’s the way it is. That’s what I wanted to say.” 1 2 3 4 by Miss Kittin & The Hacker (download the MP3). I’ve grown increasingly annoyed with my wardrobe, as I still possessed 4-5 year old items that I would never wear again, despite my stubborn belief that I might use them. Last month I donated 2 garbage bags full of clothes, and I’m not done yet. My current wardrobe seemed disappointing too, as it represented a cool, eccentric university student look too much; the jackets, winter boots and sweaters were becoming a too old or too cute for my liking. So I decided to buy new pieces in line with the hip, sophisticated young woman image.

On a mission to sync my wardrobe with my new attitude and lifestyle, I randomly stumbled on a Henrik Vibskov unisex black crinkle trenchcoat at Delphic (they’ve got amazing stuff). Luckily it was on sale. I love its lightweight and interesting paper-like texture, metallic tone, and waterproof and windproof features. My interpretation is on the right (the belt makes all the difference), pardon the poor photo quality.

I also found a perfect elongated cardigan online, since the stores had either incredibly expensive goods (Henrik Vibskov yet again), or plain cardigans in boring colors. I found a Grey Ant knit cardigan ($352) at 75% off. More Henrik Vibskov – black stretch twill pant, originally priced at $236, and reduced to $59. If that isn’t great value for wardrobe defying pieces, then I don’t know what is. Can’t wait for them to arrive. Can’t wait for Jeffrey Campbell biz bootie – a perfect flat bootie with buckle detail, – to show up in the inventory, too.

Filed under: moving up , self, music, mp3, photos, changes, improvements, development, fashion, city life

Моя Семья

I absolutely love my family: my parents plus Bugs Tomato. Mom and dad are some of the coolest out there, with so many stories to tell, so many places to have seen. They always took me with them no matter where they went (except that one time when they went to Thailand alone), always kept me in the loop and always made sure I had maximum fun.

When I was a kid mom always made me do puzzles, complete various projects and whatnot. Now I think it had something to do with her developing my problem-solving, spatial skills and what not. Thanks! Dad was focused on me developing my memory – he’d make me memorize words from the dictionary and other stuff before I go out and play in the yard with other kids. Pretty smart, too, dad. And if my mom hadn’t forced me to read White Bim Black Ear, I would have never really gotten into books!

The above photo is from the night my parents and my uncle went to a new restaurant opening in the city, and some psycho tried to stab my dad. Thank god for sporty bodyguards. And this photo is from a day on my parents’ friend’s yacht somewhere in the Far East. Pacific Ocean on the other side from LA.

Filed under: memories , family, love, memories, photos, polaroid, russia

Metromint

December 2005. San Francisco. I walked into a grocery store in search of water. I bought Metromint because of its sleek packaging (my favorite bottle design!) and the series of R-promises to: refresh, relieve, relax, revere, renew, rehydrate. Since then I’ve been a fan. When I see the product, I start to breathe heavily and immediately run to grab a bottle, or better yet, a couple, because I never know when I’m going to meet my beloved Metromint next. Love it, love it, love it.

I love it so much that when Chris & I went to Montreal (and he brought a bunch of Metromint with him!), I took a polaroid with the whole lot and sent it to the company, telling them of my loyalty and evangelical pursuits of converting the regular water drinkers over to the mint side. The company does not ship any cases to Canada, but the marketing director nevertheless sent me the cherrymint sampler case (before it even got released) and a t-shirt! Yes! Yes! Yes!

Oh! For those of you in the US: Order a 24 bottle case before January 8 and enjoy free shipping ($10 savings). Rock on!

Filed under: Great Products, advertising , evangelist, marketing, metromint, montreal, obsessions, photos, polaroid, product, travels, water

High on life!

As usual, I am bursting with energy, enthusiasm and ideas on how to make the world a better place. Or, perhaps, a better place for me? Not really, I care about many things, including the welfare of animals, women’s rights and treating everyone as kindly as possible (for we don’t know what battle they’re fighting, right).

I had a great information interview at BBDO Toronto today. I spent 90 minutes there, and met amazing people, asked them questions, answered their questions. Mad respect for BBDO yet again.

(Damn, I should be finishing my last marcom assignment, and yet again, I am writing here, because so many thoughts are appearing).

Okay, more than ever before, I want to be in advertising. I want to help people (clients), I love creative folk, and I can communicate with creative folk, i see the big picture, and I can analyse the numbers. In fact, the finance minor would probably help. I possess the gifts of translating the numbers into cohesive sentences. I am also a perfectionist. I pay goddamn attention to details, and, oh I’m sorry, but I can get quite demanding about those darn details.

The point is, I’ve given my answers to the right people (which is the above version with some +/- adjustments), and the right people are happy. I am also happy because, more than anything, I want to throw myself into the battle. Rawr!

Filed under: moving up , advertising, joy, marketing, photos, self, toronto

clear out the junk

Originally uploaded by dreamtiger

I used to allocate a lot of my personal & precious time to things like being mad at my boyfriend for insignificant things. In reality, there were maybe about five things I should have really been mad about. I must’ve had too much time on my hands. I also loved to devote my time to getting angry at friends for silly things, although those frenzies didn’t last long.

Behold! I noticed that on Friday Darren kept apologizing and apologizing, and asking me if I was mad about x, y, z, and then not believing me. It was actually cute. But I wasn’t mad. I’ve spent so much time of my young life worrying about insignificant things and ruining mine and other people’s days that I simply don’t have the energy or desire for that anymore.

I’m proud of that development. I am quite easy-going, and don’t vigorously succumb to the drama. I don’t want to hurt anybody anymore (and, obviously, do not want to be hurt myself). There is no time to waste, no need to be angry with one’s close folks.

Filed under: memories , autumn, changes, improvements, memories, obsessions, photography, photos, productivity, travels

Back

My Blackberry and an iPod got stolen at a club in New York. Love club, mind you. Despite the Function One system I will not be going back there again unless I’ll have no purse on me.

If someone texted or called me between 1am on 26/10/08 and this afternoon, I probably didn’t get that. Sorry, folks. I’m working on procuring a Blackberry from friends and their acquaintances.

Other than that, I’ve had the best weekend since Europe. A lot of dancing happened, a lot of food, friends, fun, and outside-of-the-box experiences! Stay tuned for Brighton Beach, Coney Island’s Freak Show, spontaneous house party in Central Park, cops who don’t know their shit, and photos/videos (the latter will happen when I get the time, euh).

Filed under: the world eh , 2008, friends, loss, new york, photos, strangers, toys, travels, trip, weird

why hello

Originally uploaded by dreamtiger

this is from such a long time ago! well, well…. 2004. I remember, those were the days. Summer after we graduated from high school, the days before university, texting my boyfriend at the time (finance engineer guy, heh), we just spent the afternoon shooting 35 mm and speculating about the future. The sun shone brightly, the belt felt heavy, we felt the lightness in our stomachs and were so full of optimism… Speaking of, the positivity is even higher now.

Filed under: memories , 2004, changes, friends, fun time, legs, life, memories, photography, photos, self, summer, vancouver

Over The Edge Musings

Over the edge

Originally uploaded by ☼ AmiBe ☼

Besides commenting on how zesty this photo is (composition! sharpness!), I have two more things that popped into my mind today.

First of all, I spent a lot of time looking at flickr shots of Africa, and I’ve been getting more and more inspired to go. Top destinations include the Siwa Oasis and Virunga volganic region (which probably means I need to get to Congo, Rwanda or Uganda), where I would check out the amazing mountain gorillas before the rebels eat them all or humans find some other way to destroy them or their habitat.

Victoria Falls is an amazing destination, too. There is a Devil’s Pool right at the end of the Zambezi river. If you’re lucky and the pool isn’t flooded, you get to swim in it like these folks in the picture. I’d do that as well.

I have this habit of imagining stories when looking at photographs, or imagining myself in situations. Occasionally, the imagined narratives go awry, like in the case of me in the Victoria Falls setting.
Surely someone must have fallen off the edge at some point in history. Many people. I wonder what goes on in their heads during the flight? If I fell off, I’d be pretty upset for a split second, but then I’d [like to think that I would] laugh at such a hysterical way to die, and that someone else from my travel crew now has to carry my shit back to the hotel.

Or I may not have enough time to think of anything

Filed under: imaginings , africa, causes, flickr, imaginings, nature, photos, river, silly, travels