Making some changes around here. The biggest one is a complete rewrite of my concert portfolio. The new link and design is over here:

http://augieshoots.com/portfolio/

It should be an ever-evolving series of pictures from my concert shooting experience. I am constantly tinkering with it, so check it out from time to time. You can bet each new concert will lead to at least one new image up in there.

And, yes, sharp-eyed readers: That’s a new picture from the Jake Shimabukuro concert that I have yet to talk about here. . .

Last week, I wrote up five blog entries detailing my adventure in photographing the SCR concert. Now, for your convenience, here’s a link to them all:

Part 1: Time Constraints
Part 2: Creating Exposure
Part 3: Objects Getting in the Way
Part 4: Be Nice to the Crowd
Part 5: Behind The Scenes, or “How I Got My First Photo Pass”

* Good news!  The new O.A.R. album has been announced, and it’ll be out in August.  It’s called “King.”

* Found an interesting band last week: Honeyhoney.  They have one album out on iTunes and Amazon’s MP3 store now.  It’s a duo from California, and they’ll be opening for Christina Perri on her tour this summer.  They’re a great match.

* And, of course, Weird Al’s new album, “Alpocalypse,” is due out at the end of the month.

Ask Ann, The Aetna Assistant

Aetna has a “virtual assistant,” who is there to answer your questions on their website.  Basically, it’s a search bar with stock imagery of a smiling person who answers in conversational text.

Or, if you want to pretend it’s more expensive than it is, call it “artificial intelligence.” Being a technologically inclined kind of person, I decided to run it through its paces:

Ann: Hi, I’m Ann, your Aetna Virtual Assistant. I’m here to help you use your Aetna Navigator secure member website. I’m currently new to this job, so if I can improve somewhere please let Aetna know by clicking the ‘feedback’ button below. What can I help you find?

You Asked: Zork

Ann: Oops, I haven’t been trained on that yet. I want to get better, so please let Aetna know how they can improve me by clicking the “feedback” button below.

I’m tempted to leave the feedback that the correct answer is “At your service” or “They say talking to one’s self is a sign of impending mental collapse.”

You Asked: What is the answer to the question of life, the universe, and everything?

Ann: That’s a question that only you can answer for yourself. As far as my own life, I find meaning in helping others.

Deeper than 42, but acceptable, I suppose.  and, yes, it looks like the kind of question the programmers have seen before and decided to have fun with.  OK, let’s test “Ann” further:

You Asked: Why is the sky blue?
Ann: The sky is blue because of the way the earth’s atmosphere scatters light from the sun. The light from the sun looks white. But it is really made up of all the colors of the rainbow. Blue is scattered more than other colors when it hits particles and gases in our atmosphere because it travels as shorter, smaller waves.

Yup, there are either geeks working on this system who are too young for Zork, or I’m the first one to test that system.

You Asked: Do you have a good recipe for chocolate chip cookies?

Ann: Looks like I don’t know that yet. Please let Aetna know about this by clicking the “feedback” button below.

OK, let’s try getting personal, then:

You Asked: Are you married?
Ann: I’m lucky to have a terrific virtual family, including a wonderful husband. Well, he’s wonderful most of the time: Even virtual people aren’t perfect! But I’d like to keep us on track. How may I help you navigate your Aetna Navigator secure member website?

Oooh, that pissed her off.  Let’s push our luck.

You Asked: How old are you?
Ann: I am rather young, or as we say in the virtual world, new. But I like to think I have many years’ worth of knowledge. How may I help you?

Dare I ask her weight?

You Asked: How much do you weigh?
Ann: As a virtual assistant, I don’t have an actual body. But I think my creators deserve credit for making me appear pleasant and helpful. Let me help you navigate your Aetna Navigator secure member website.

Hey, I’m THE ONE ASKING THE QUESTIONS HERE!  That’s it. I’m out of here!

While touring around earlier this year, Perri did a brief show in Paris at a small club of some sort. Someone up close took video of the entire thing. Here, then, is a six song set. Pretty cool:

More videos after the break!

Here’s an earlier version of “Tragedy” from the recent EP:

(View the EP version here.)

“Heart for Sale” would fit right into the songs we’ve heard from her in the last year. It’s not on the album, but with a few tweaks and a glossy production, this song could be a winner. I love how the camera shakes as she starts pounding on the piano here:

Here’s another song written by Perri that’s not on the album. From 2010, it’s “Breathe”:

And, of course, Wall Street hates it because Amazon didn’t “meet expectations.” In other words, the numbers that analysts plucked out of thin air and guess at weren’t right. And that’s Amazon’s fault.

Compare this to Apple, where every quarter Apple sets low expectations and then blows them away and gets a big stock boost. Everyone knows Apple is underguessing its numbers to help “meet expectations.” And everyone also knows that the armchair amateur revenue guessers on-line are always better at figuring out sales figures and dollar amounts than the “pro” analysts who are aid to guess these numbers. And they never get them right, or close to it.

I hate Wall Street. On the other hand, their game is so consistent(ly wrong) that it’s a good game to play, so long as you realize it’s a game and not anything based in reality at all.

I first wrote about her at the beginning of the year, after I refound her one hit song from last summer.  And I knew from following her that she used to post YouTube videos of herself singing her songs.  But it took me a few months before I delved into those.  Don’t know why that is, but here we are now.

Time to check out some of those videos.

We’ll start with the covers.  Pardon the bad still that this video generates, but here’s “Crying” from Roy Orbison:

“Hand In My Pocket” works very well, also. Here she sings it in her pajamas, although I don’t know many people who sleep in decorative scarfs…

Lady Gaga’s “Speechless”:

The Beatles, Queen, Anya, Coldplay, and more are all after the break:

Lots of Beatles songs on the playlist. Here’s “Blackbird”

And more:

The Beatles: “I Will” (So old that her wedding ring is still present)
The Beatles: “I’m So Tired” (Wearing glasses)
Paul McCartney: “Maybe I’m Amazed”
John Lennon: “Jealous Guy”
Queen: “I Want to Break Free”
Joan Baez: “Diamond + Rust.” (Wedding ring present again.)
Coldplay: “The Scientist”
Anya: “Satellite Heart” (Complete with gauzy defocused video, and lots of reverb)

Coming soon: The original songs

He is 51, perhaps near the end of bowling’s most remarkable career. He won his first Professional Bowlers Association Tour player of the year award in 1986 and his seventh in 2010. Five of those awards came after his 1995 induction into the P.B.A. Hall of Fame. No one has won more tour events (47), and only Earl Anthony, with 10, has won more than Williams’s eight major titles. [...]

This season, which began in October, unraveled after a September hernia operation, a change in ball sponsorship and Williams’s persistently arthritic fingers. His string of 17 consecutive seasons with at least one tour title is in danger, although he has exempt status for 2011-12.

He could retire after that season, should things not turn around for him.  I haven’t watched a week of bowling in my life on television where the thought of Walter Ray being on the broadcast wasn’t at least a possibility.  My own awkward style of bowling was always inspired by the simple controlled accuracy of Williams, though I was never anywhere near as good/

How good is he?  YouTube shows us:

I could watch that all day. . .   I’ve seen it countless times (including in its original airing) and it never gets old.

• There are writers on the internet who love the em dash a bit too much. Sometimes, the good old fashioned comma will do the job just fine.
• My daughter chooses to snack on goldfish while watching “Finding Nemo.” Ironic?
• “Beauty and Beast”: if you live somewhere nobody “gets” you, run for a reclusive abusive boyfriend with Mommy issues and a fancy house.
• I saw something today I haven’t seen in 7 weeks: grass in my backyard!
• Having not watched the Grammys last night, I’m unsure how many of these tweets were serious and how many were jokes. Both odd AND funny.
• I saw a girl today wearing cargo jeggings. Don’t the pockets on the outside of your thighs defeat the point of the jegging?
• My daughter is going to grow up in a world without bookstores and music stores. Everything will be digital or mail order. Crazy!

And, yes, there are spots where you CAN’T also see the fire hydrant. Craziness!