Category Archives: Process

On the trail of a provocative image — “Mimesis in the Louvre”

I came across the above image posted at Babes at the Museum, and they were requesting to identify the people in the photo as of February 2012. I decided to go on a bit of a hunt.

My conclusion is that the photo is the work of Charlotte Duberry, Nessa Norich, Jessica Hinds, and Marina Lazzarotto and is an outtake shot during the rehearsal of commissioned performances at the Louvre, in front of Regnault’s The Three Graces (“Les Trois Grâces”) on a Tuesday sometime in 2010. An applicable title is “Mimesis in the Louvre”.

Now to document some of my search for those curious.

I started out using TinEye, as if it was an ‘official’ photo it was good chance it would be registered over there (and I was curious if it would trigger on the painting in the background). It returned 12 images, best guess being this post, but nothing official. I found a post over at blended.fr that claimed the photo was part of lingerie company La fille d’O‘s advertising but couldn’t find anything corroborating that. I found a blog post by Jim Harris over at Huffington Post about Facebook’s censorship of the image (what is art, vs what is porn? and many nice things said about the image), but again, no source information.

Next up was using Google Image Search. This led me to the trove that is tumblr. Its best guess was a post by Mr. Harris Tweed which he named “The Four Graces”, but then I was determined to try to find the first occurrence of the picture online. Via this line of inquiry I found a nice article here asking where the line between classical beauty is and just plain sexy. Using the date searches, leading back to the beginning of May 2011, I narrowed it down to this post at contraindicaciones which was the first I found listing some names of the participants: “Nessa Norich, Jessica Hinds, Charlotte Duberry, Marina Lazzarotto, Sofia Senna” (also this post at Girls Who Like Porno). The earliest dated post I found was Feb 18, 2011 at murdermetonymy‘s tumblr, but again no source. Having some names in hand, and the location known due to the background image (though many attributed it to Rubens or Rapheal instead of Regnault, and one even named it as the Graces from Botticelli’s Primavera) I tried to confirm things.

I found a website for Nessa Norich which listed in her ‘Devised Works’ section a project called “The Three Graces”. There are images of a dance performed by three women in front of the painting. It is still difficult to confirm the faces of the participants though. Over on Marina Benitez Lazzarotto’s resume she too lists a theatre performance at the Louvre, so this connected four of the names I found from the other sites to the image’s location.

Finally I emailed my suspicions and received confirmation from Ms Benitez Lazzarotto that it was in fact a photo taken on her camera after hours while they were rehearsing for their respective shows.

“The girls in the photo from left to right are: Charlotte Dubery, Nessa Norich, Jessica Hinds and me. The picture was taken with my camera which i put on a timer. It was taken on a tuesday when the museum was closed and the three girls and i were rehearsing for Les Nocturnes du Louvre.” – Marina

So, there is a brief history of this meme.

And keeping it all current, if you like the talent Marina showed in creating this image, perhaps you’ll want to help her out making a movie? Crowdsource her over at IndieGoGo for her film project FLASH.

http://vimeo.com/69367078

Powerlevel Warcraft Battle Pets

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I was looking for ways to improve the leveling of my World of Warcraft Battle Pets now that I had a couple of pets in their 20s. I had been struggling with spreading the XP out among pets, vs having one pet do all the work in a single battle, swap him out for the next battle and hope no one died before the 8 minutes heal was up.

I found a middle ground where I can level a pet from 1 to 10 in only 8 battles, or go from level 22 to 23 in just 5 battles.

Let me introduce you to Stable Master Risera at coordinates 61,54, the east side of Wyrmrest Temple in Dragonblight. She is steps away from a group of level 22 Dragonbone Hatchlings found at 64,53 in Dragonblight. You can battle the dragonbones and not worry about having health enough to fight again, because you can just fly over to her and for 10s heal and revive if necessary your battle pets.

Your primary enemy will be the Dragonbone Hatchling, which is a Flying pet. He’ll be joined by Strand Crab, Arctic Hare, and/or Tundra Penguin. Of my existing pets in their 20s, I used Jean, my Phoenix Hatchling for she has a good self-heal and she also has an alternate attack, Peck, which is strong against Aquatics (the crabs and penguins) and you also don’t have to worry about her Burn which is weak against the Hares. Now she is Elemental which makes her weak against a couple of the attacks the Aquatics have available so keep an eye out for those and time your heals well (PetTheory will let you know with a hover over during the battle). Another suggestion is the Onyxian Whelpling (if you have it from the 5th Anniversary and have him leveled already) (or any of the rare Whelping drops), as he has a similar heal as the Phoenix but doesn’t have the elemental disadvantage.

When I started with Jean at least 20, she wasn’t winning all the time — depending on crits and combinations of skills the enemy used she’d occasionally die (I’d let her as that means more XP for the leveling pet) and my backup Crab would save the day. By level 23 she was able to win all the time (but I still didn’t like it when the Dragonbone had the combo of Thrash/Adrenaline Rush/Cyclone). Special note: the Sprite Darter Hatchling was the only pet I was leveling that could hold her own. At level 8 she was able to kill one the level 22 Dragonbone herself, and then I’d swap her out for the others. Impressive pet that one is. Today I spent a while here and leveled 8 pets to 10, which was enough to complete Rookie Pet Group (I already had done 7 it seems) and I only need to do a Magic creäture to get the No Favourites achievement (I didn’t have any rare magic creatures so didn’t bother with one of my greens yet). For those who like the blues, the RNG gave me 4 blue captures in that time.

For those curious, here is a log of taking my Tiny Sporebat from level 1 to 10. Elapsed time 21 minutes (with worrying about screenshots and taking a phone call). Note all these list ‘Difficultly Bonus’ but I haven’t mathed out exactly how that works. The variation in xp earned from fight to fight seems to come from how rare the pets I was fighting were (e.g. greys and whites are less than greens — but not by much).

Fight 1: 361XP brings him to level 4 (my companion got 172XP to bring her from 22 to 23)
Fight 2: 413XP brings him to level 6 (companion 143XP)
Fight 3: 323XP (companion 109XP (plus a death) plus a capture of a rare Arctic Hare)
Fight 4: 431XP level 7 (companion 145)
Fight 5: 436XP level 8 (companion 146)
Fight 6: 438XP level 9 (companion 147)
Fight 7: 437XP (companion 147)
Fight 8: 437XP level 10! (companion 147XP)

This spot will of course continue to work past level 10 as well: you’ll have a near in-exhaustible supply (unless too many people read this post) of ‘green paws’ to battle, and the stable master available whenever it’s needed. A single battle with a single level 22 pet will earn you ~388 XP per fight, so at that rate it’ll take you 5 fights to get from 22 to 23 for example (388 per fight for 1860 per level). More data: it’s 320xp per fight at 23 as well so 6 fights to get from 23 to 24.

Once you’re comfortable soloing three level 22s a single pet, you might consider putting in two level 1 pets and going from there. My data says that in the first fight they’ll both get 233XP and your high level pet (in this case a 23) will get 90. Have fun!

Thanks to Doclariv at Internet Kidz Gaming for his youtube video: Fastest Powerleveling Method for Battlepets! which put me on to this location and style of power leveling wow battle pets.

How to use Makey Makey as an Arduino

Sample Letter to City Planning Division re objecting to a minor variance

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A fuller blog post one day will be needed to discuss the strange world of ‘minor variances’ in the City of Toronto, but for now here is a letter I just wrote. I figured since it was written, and it’s public record for those that dig, I might as well include it here in case it’s of use to others to get an idea of what might be helpful to include.

City Planning Division
North York Civic Centre
5100 Yonge Street, Toronto ON M2N 5V7
Fax to: 416-395-7200

RE: File Number: A530/12NY to be heard at Public Hearing Wed September 12, 2012 10:00am

City Planners & Comittee of Adjustment Members,

I’m writing as a resident of Ellerslie Ave to express my views regarding the Minor Variances requested for 183 Ellerslie Ave under File Number A530/12NY. The request to exceed the permitted building length is, in my view, excessive, unpleasant, and grotesque. My original objects to A907/11NY from April still stand, and I include them below. I want to point out that the only two variances (A287/11NY July 2011, and UDCA-92-712 Jan 1993) for our street that were approved for a length longer than the requested length, where never built. If you allow this variance, and it is built, it will be the longest house on the street, on the narrowest lot size.
I do not believe any houses on the block are anywhere near as long as this proposal, and at over 42% (23.82m vs 16.8m) greater than the permitted length I think you’ll be setting a bad precedent for the neighbourhood if you allow it in its current design.

That section of the block, in the back, is serene. The generously deep lots allow for an experiencethat is rarely found in the city today giving views and sight lines that are pleasant and green. Allowing this house to extend to the purposed depth would obstruct and reduce this quality. I’d also be concerned with the effects on drainage in the space with that much more of the ground being covered.

Aesthetically, the proportions of the structure would be unsightly. It is one of the skinnier lots on the street, and having such a long depth, with a narrow width would be far from the ‘golden ratio’ that architects for thousands of years have found to instill beauty in our surroundings.

Thank you for considering my objections in your ruling,

Mr. Chris Nolan
–address omitted–

P.S. please send me a copy of the Decision to the above address.

Selecting a Rugged Point & Shoot Camera for the Family

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The family point & shoot stopped working months ago, due to sand getting in the gears. It started last year when I did a bit of urbanexploring and I jumped in a lot of mud. Then after a couple of days on the beach it seized up, limiting our photo taking on our holiday. I cleaned it up a few times, got it working for a while longer with the caveat of not using the zoom but then the kids banged it one day and the lens assemble just wouldn’t retract. I did take it all apart, got the sand out of the gears, re-seated it etc which got the lens assemble working again, but something I did while having it apart (probably snapping a couple of tiny plastic clips) prevented it from booting up. Jen decided she missed having regular video & photos of the kids (we had been getting by using her phone occasionally, and sometimes lugging the full DSLR around) so I was tasked with selecting ourselves a ‘waterproof’ camera for our next holiday, but wasn’t looking forward to it since I was expecting bulky bulbous things that I wouldn’t use the rest of the time.

First up it seems that ‘waterproof’ cameras are coming into a new class marketed as ‘rugged‘. That means waterproof, dustproof, freezeproof, crushproof and shockproof but still with some style and not all designed to look like they float. I’m hoping dust-proof means sand proof too, but we’ll have to see as none of the literature I reviewed is explicit.

For those curious, I selected the Sony Cyber-shot TX20 (DSC-TX20L). After reviewing a lot of info I realized that it really came down to size for me. This guy is speced to be 96x56x18mm and only 133g with battery and memory card. I think they call this a ‘slim’ or ‘pocket’ profile when it comes to camera sizes? It was only 2mm wider than the old canon and the same weight, and 30% thinner and 40% lighter than the other rugged cams I researched. I typically only have one bill, one key and 7 cards in my pocket when we’re out of the house so my pockets feel empty. With the last camera I noticed it there (and it even wore out a pocket in one pair of pants) but it wasn’t a supreme encumbrance. Plus it was on sale $50 off at *shudder* Futureshop (that sale ended, but it’s still $20 off for the rest of the month) (and for the record there were none of it, or the previous model the TX10, available on Craigslist or Kijijii).

The trade offs from some of the others: in the higher end of the price class, lacked GPS which the others in that price class had, and didn’t have the biggest aperture (f3.5 vs f2.0 from the Olympus TG-1), and it was also the least rugged of the lot (but that mainly means it’s not for scuba diving or the arctic). I do like the idea of geo-tagging the pics, but I think the battery drain and boot-up delays that feature might cause aren’t worth it yet, and low-light is always a problem and can usually be over-come with using the DSLR since we’d probably be at home in those situations anyway. Also, there have been problems with Sony’s Video codec and mac compatibility in the past, but they seem to have resolved it recently?

For those looking to continue their own research you might want to start here:

Digital Camera Info’s 2012 Waterproof Camera Showdown – 7 of the new models release in the last 6 months and in-depth reviews/comparisons of them
Amazon’s Best Sellers in Underwater Photography Cameras – dynamic list of models popular on Amazon (so you can’t order from there fellow Canadians, but the reviews and rankings are valuable)

I tried out ShopBot.ca for searching Canadian retailers for the product, here’s an example for the Olympus TG-1. It lead me to where I’d expect for high-end camera choices in Canada: Vistek and Henry’s (not that these models are high-end, rather consumer grade).

My other contenders were the Olympus TG-1 (they have an entire LifeProof line), the Nikon AW100, and the Lumix models.

And to finish with some fun-stuff: during my research I came across these really cute babies underwater, also this kid has lots of fun with his sony in a pool. Wonder if we’ll try to get around the City of Toronto’s camera at the pool policy or not?

I look forward to posting more photos on my facebook, and more videos to my youtube channel in the next while.