Night on Earth

Here are a bunch of tidbits I have come across in the past while. One tragic, one thought provoking, and one naughty. The combination recalls the movie Night on Earth by Jim Jarmusch about five cab rides around the world. One of my top ten favorite movies.

Tragedy
I hate how this word is thrown around sometimes, but this one warrants it's use. A husband kisses his family goodbye and goes off to work. The wife with their two kids and her mother leave to drive her mother home in Ohio. Along the way they are halted due to construction. A truck then plows into them at over 45mph killing them instantly, puncturing their gas tank, and creating an enormous fire. I can't help but think of what the husband/father is going through. It reminds me of a similar incident a few years back on Notre Dame in Montreal. A young family hit a patch of black ice sliding into an oncoming bus. What made it even more heart wrenching was that the bus driver got out and held the hands of the father and the daughter as they passed away. Just thinking about it chokes me up.

Oil
I know it's the hot topic nowadays, but this series of articles in the Chicago Tribune looks to be very well done. I have only read some of it, but hope to read the rest soon. If you don't have the time, I suggest printing it all out to read it later. Not environmentally friendly, but convenient. Free registration may be required.

Nipplegate
Anyone who has been poking around Flickr long enough has come across Rebekka. So far as I have seen, she is far and away the most popular Flickrite out there. Her photos are a bit narcissistic and exhibitionistic, but are artistic and extremely well done while trying out many different techniques. Some of her more popular photos are those with multiple images of herself interacting with herself. Check out this image to see what I mean. She's a single mother of two in art school who says she's just playing around with photography. Well the news lately is that Toyota has hired her to shoot and be in their commercials. The Nipplegate word comes from Flickrite Solera who is defending women who choose to take pictures of themselves artistically nude and posting them. It has sparked quite a debate. In my opinion, if I take a step back, it seems weird how we as a society have deemed certain parts of the anatomy taboo when that are a natural part of who we are.

There are some other noteworthy Flickrites that I'd like to point out. There is DJames who is currently posting pictures of his trip to Chicago. He says he only had about 6 hours to take all the shots in this set. Pretty darn efficient. There is Hugo who has an excellent set of Parisian photos. I really like the style. A couple notable portrait photographers are Jonathan in Montreal and the duo isto-ica from Toronto. I'd love to have my picture taken by them. And lastly, two people that I have actually met. Captain Andre from Metroblogging Montreal and Eric from YULblog. Both take great pictures of Montreal and elsewhere.