My Quiet Life

Photos that I liked:

• Andri Alexandrou's "West Nashville" -- I always have mixed feelings about shots like these. I feel like I take a lot that are similar: i.e. a very well-composed shot of nothing. That is, a photo without a subject. Not that there's anything wrong with that, and what constitutes a "subject" is up for debate, but I take a lot of photos where I look at it and go "welp, this is a perfectly composed picture of nothing". Not that this is entirely the case here. I suppose the downtown area in the distance is a subject, in a way. Regardless, I like it. Great lines and nice atmospherics. and stuff.
• Doug Lehmann's photo of Crema.

Not related to the contest at all, but Blake Wylie has been taking a lot of cool wet plate photos lately. They look great, but I think someone should tell him about digital cameras. So much easier!

So, Google rolled out a lot of changes to its Reader product in the last couple of months. A lot of this has been said already, but I feel the need to say it myself.

Google has gutted and abandoned the one source I relied upon heavily to get information. Poof, gone. It hurts. First, a review of what they gutted, and why the Google+ equivalents as implemented thus far are no substitute:

(more...)

Years ago I was at Lipstick Lounge and ended up pretty blitzed after a night of karaoke, so I tried to get a cab. After no answer from two of the three major cab companies I tried, I ended up at Yellow cab. A woman answered brusquely and the following conversation ensued:

me: "I need a cab at the corner of 14th and woodland"

dispatcher: "we don't do corners." *click*

Yes, that's it. I was bemused, thinking I had a wrong number or got disconnected somehow, so I called back and repeated my request: "WE DON'T DO CORNERS" *click*. The third time I called, I was going to just request "1401 Woodland" or whatever, but she recognized my voice before I even got half-way through the call and she hung up again.

I gave up and walked home -- a luxury I was afforded because I lived downtown at the time.

Consider for a moment what I might have done if I were less responsible and further from home? Nashville's transportation woes are more than an inconvenience -- they're tied to our problems with safety and drunk driving.

Nashville needs more taxis.