I noticed this hawk outside my kitchen window, sitting on the fence. I ran upstairs, grabbed my camera, threw on a telephoto lens and shot a few frames through the backdoor as he flew away. Read Full Story

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced the 15 documentary films that are competing for the 2009 Oscar. Only 5 of these films will be nominated. Sadly, I've only seen one of the films, The Cove, which won the audience award at Hot Docs and Sundance. I'll be able to watch Sergio and maybe Burma VJ but most of the films are difficult to find. Have you seen any of the films on this year's shortlist for the Oscar? “The Beaches of Agnes,” Agnès Varda, director “... Read Full Story

A friend of mine has developed a family tradition that helps him create a culture of encouragement in his home. He's written a book and now he wants to share his idea with the rest of you through The Family Gold Plate. I designed the website and provided the product photography. Visit the site and tell me what you think. If you have kids, you may find that The Family Gold Plate is a tradition that your family may benefit from. Read Full Story

If you were to ask me if I liked birds, I would have to say, not really. Would I purchase a book on birds? Nope. I just spent 10 minutes looking at the amazing bird photography of Andrew Zuckerman. Just look at the detail and clarity of the snowy owl above. Amazing! Zuckerman has published a book titled, Bird which looks fantastic. And yes, I am definitely thinking of getting a copy. (via Kottke) Read Full Story

I'm using SuperDuper (v2.6.2) on my PowerPC G5 (OS X 10.5.8) and the backups are super duper slow! I read that the latest version is supposed to be 2x faster but maybe that is only for Intel Macs. I have 2 500 GB internal drives and I'm backing up to a 1 TB LaCie USB hard drive (two 500 GB partitions). Yes, the drive is USB 2 and I'm using the USB high-speed bus on my Mac. How long does it take to backup 500 GB with this setup? 9 hours for the first partition (424 GB) and 7 hours for the seco... Read Full Story

There are a few films that I saw earlier in the year at film festivals which now have a theatrical release. Blink and you might miss them. Here is a quick rundown with links to some earlier reviews: Prom Night in Mississippi Paul Saltzman's doc about the first integrated prom in Morgan Freeman's hometown. Freeman will be in Toronto tonight for the opening of the film at the Varsity theatre. Inside Hana's Suitcase One of the best films at Hot Docs this year. It’s based upon the the inter... Read Full Story

November 5, 2009 was the 15th anniversary of the film Hoop Dreams. Roger Ebert had this to say about the film: Today, fifteen years after I first saw it, I believe "Hoop Dreams" is the great American documentary. No other documentary has ever touched me more deeply. It was relevant then, and today, as inner city neighborhoods sink deeper into the despair of children murdering children, it is more relevant. I've only seen the film once and found it fascinating. It's time to watch it again. Read Full Story

I'm trying to create an account on a website. It requires a password so I used 1Password's Strong Password Generator and entered these 10 characters: gis7ush8su. The website form didn't like my password and presented me with this beautifully formatted piece of prose: The password does not include enough variation to be secure. Try: Adding both upper and lowercase letters. Adding punctuation. I entered a new 24 character password: Fa6wrerd8ij2ac1yap9Nir1G. The website form rated my password st... Read Full Story

I don't get FarmVille, Bejeweled or any of the Facebook games. Who has the time? It's hard enough keeping up to date on RSS feeds, blog entries, news and a full-time job. I had to laugh when I read Fake Steve Jobs' take on Zynga which makes FarmVille and online scams: The issue was a company called Zynga, which makes online games, like FarmVille, that have become incredibly popular on Facebook among people who are missing parts of their brains. Okay, so I'm not alone here when it comes to Fac... Read Full Story

From November 2 - December 31, 2009, BookCloseouts is offering free shipping on all orders over $35. To take advantage of this offer use the following when you checkout: Coupon Number: freeshipping Coupon Password: bookcloseouts.com I picked up a copy of Sally Mann's Deep South for just $14.99 (normally priced at $60.00) and John Blakemore's Black and White Photography Workshop for $13.99 (50% off). BookCloseouts sells bargain books that publishers sell off to reduce their excess inventor... Read Full Story