jeromemartin.ca

"Gillian's not sick: she's a dancer!"

The title of this blog entry is a quotation from Sir Ken Robinson's presentation Out of Our Minds: Learning to be Creative presented at the TED Conference in February, 2006. I listened to the audio version in October on a bus trip through New England and again today: and I'm keeping it on my iPod for future reference.
Robinson is an internationally-renowned expert in the field of creativity and innovation in business and education. His report All Our Futures: Creativity, Culture and Education had a profound effect on how government and the private sector in the UK now view creativity.
He's a very entertaining and effective speaker.
Gillian was an eight year old child who could not sit still. Her story is so interesting (and Robinson tells it so well) that I won't spoil it for you by summarizing it.
Watch Robinson's presentation – it's only eighteen minutes – on the above site or download it from iTunes.
I'd be interested in your response .

Creating Photographs

"Now we can all take pictures, with varying degrees of consistency; more than ever before it's about what we do with photography."
Mark Power.
This quotation is from the current Slate page which includes Today's Pictures by Magnum Photos. Check the various series by Magnum photographers, including the interactive essays.
Magnum photographers don't 'take pictures': they create photographs.

In The Dark Again

I worked in my darkroom today. Real photographic work: mixing chemicals, loading film in the dark, washing film, working with my hands. I use a digital camera to do some assignments, but only when necessary. I love using film and cameras that can function without batteries.
I used the portable speakers I was given at MacWorld – and a laptop – to take iTunes with me to to the darkroom so that I could listen to CBC Ideas podcasts as well as podcasts from the TED Conference. I seldom listen to music in the darkroom because it interferes with my concentration. Words, however, do not.
iPods and computers allow us to access radio broadcasts we would otherwise miss, podcasts on virtually every topic, and even live radio from around the world. We can use them anywhere and at any time to learn and to entertain ourselves.
Tomorrow will be another darkroom day. I'll listen to CBC Radio, and to podcasts on photography by Brooks Jensen, the editor of LensWork (an elegant photographic journal published on paper and on disk). His podcasts cover subjects ranging from the aesthetics of photography to the role of art and literature in society.
There are limits to using technology in the darkroom. I won't be checking my e-mail or sending messages: and I won't be writing blog entries.

Black Oak Books strives to stay open...

Black Oak Books strives to stay open, but the times, they are a-changing:
Black Oak Books, with a store in San Francisco and one in Berkeley, is for sale. This article, from the January 15 edition of the San Francisco Chronicle, discusses the past successes and the current difficulties of a fine bookstore. It's appropriate reading for anyone in the book industry.
The number of independent bookstores in the United States has apparently decreased by about 50% since 1993. The owners of Black Oak attribute this partly to the effect of major chains of booksellers and partly to people's reading habits: 'Today, people don't seem compelled to build a library or to read outside their area of expertise.'
If you'd like to buy or lease one or both of the Black Oak stores go to this page on their site.

Back to Alberta

We're back, after a week in California looking at new technology and enjoying one of our favourite places, Carmel.
We had driven south on Highway 1 several days ago to look for whales heading south along the coast, but did not see any. Yesterday, before driving our rental car back to San Francisco we decided to try again. This time we saw several spouts and splashes and vowed that we would take binoculars on the next trip.
This excursion gave me an opportunity for a few more film and digital photographs. You won't see any whales in this image, but this is where we saw them.

On Tuesday night we had dinner at Clint Eastwood's Mission Ranch and – as we had done several years earlier – stayed for the music. Gennady Loktionov is the regular pianist, although we've been told that Clint sits in periodically. Gennady is a great pianist and entertainer, and he has a lot of musical fans from Carmel and the surrounding area who come regularly to sing with him. These are fine musicians who have repertoires ranging from Broadway to country.
We sang and visited late into the evening. One of the musicians chatted with us about how well Little Mosque on the Prairies was doing in Canada and how we were missing it that evening. We told him to watch for Corner Gas. Another, after hearing that we were from Alberta, talked about how much she liked K.D. Lang's music.
A local professional musician sang several Spanish ballads, then joined another chap, who had just sung a set of Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash songs, in 'To All The Girls I've Loved Before': and, yes, they looked and sounded like Willie and Julio Iglesias. The crowd loved it.
A middle-aged man in a grey double-breasted suit then sang two Russian folk songs and 'If every I should leave you' from Camelot.
Every singer knew his or her songs perfectly and, I'm sure, had sung them in that bar many times. They and the rest of the group around the piano were regulars. They and Gennady asked us to join them the next time we're in town.
The next morning, after our impromptu whale run down the coast, we drove north on Highway 1, past Monterey and Seaside, then east on Highway 156, through the hilly fields of artichokes near Castroville, and north on Highway 101 to San Francisco through Silicon Valley. San José, Cupertino, Palo Alto, Stanford. Then home.
Gracias a la Vida.

Carmel-By-The-Sea

After enjoying the excitement of MacWorld and San Francisco we drove down the coast to Carmel to relax and enjoy some time by the ocean. Our favourite place to stay in Carmel is The Sandpiper Inn, located on Martin Way (indeed) within sight and sound of the ocean. No phone, no pool, no pets, no TV sets in the rooms. Breakfast in the dining room from 8:00 to 10:00 AM; sherry on the sideboard at 5:00 PM.
The ocean is only a block away.

I'm sitting at the Carmel Valley Coffee Roasting Company in The Courtyard, a shopping area on the edge of Carmel, enjoying great coffee and hospitality, as well as free wireless. Patrick, a four year old dachshund is enjoying a small cup of latté at the table next to me while his elderly owner is discussing Patrick's health with one of the owners of the shop. There's a Bentley Azure convertible parked outside. It belongs to Patrick and his owner. Life is fine.
We've had overnight frosts for the last several days. As a result, 70% of the California citrus crop has been lost. Plumbers have been busy dealing with frozen pipes. However, after leaving Edmonton in a blizzard this weather seems ideal to us, although we feel badly for the farmers.
Tomorrow we drive to San Francisco (a two hour drive) and fly home to Edmonton.

MacWorld 2007

MacWorld 2007 is now history. It will be known as the year of the iPhone and Apple TV (and the year of the big storm in Alberta, although I didn't see that in the local papers).
We participated in several Adobe presentations including one with the inimitable Russell Brown, one of the greatest speakers and entertainers I've heard. He gave Merle an Adobe tee-shirt since she was the first to respond enthusiastically to one of his Photoshop demonstrations.

While at MacWorld I did not see:
Steve Jobs
Disinterested people
A laptop running Windows
Snow

What I'd like to take home with me:
An iPhone
The yellow Lamborghini Gallardo sitting in front of the St. Regis Hotel last night
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
iPhones for family and friends
Green Grass, Running Water (with apologies to Tom King)
The creative energy that surrounds new technology here in northern California (I'd trade it for Alberta's tar sands)

We're off to Carmel tomorrow for some relaxation and photography. I've located several coffee shops with free wi-fi – but I may not use them.

iPhone and Other Delights: MacWorld '07, Day Two

It's 9:54 PM but most MacWorld folks are attending parties, or writing blogs and answering e-mail. While most of us were going from booth to booth today, talking to industry reps and gathering information, there were many people sitting at tables and in hallways working on their laptops.

This morning we watched a presentation on the iPhone: and, yes, it's a fascinating and innovative product. It's a phone, an iPod, a link to the internet, and more.

There was standing room only at all of the demos of the iPhone. After the session I attended one of the attendees went up to the stage and asked the presenter if he could hold the iPhone for just a moment. The answer was 'No.'
We were told that iPhones will be available in the USA in June, in Europe by the end of the year and in Asia next year. There was no mention of The Great White North.

I was lucky enough to be at the Maxell booth when they announced that they were giving away sets of portable speakers 'for people on the move.' Several of us were on the move quickly and joined the line. The speakers are great. I connected them to my iPod when I returned from the show and was very pleased with the sound.
One of the benefits of coming to shows such as MacWorld is that one gets an opportunity to learn about new companies and new products. We all know about Adobe and Apple, but we don't know about the start-ups and their innovative software and services.
I visited several of those today. Some of them are attracting crowds to their booths, while others are doing their best to work the crowd so that some people will stop and chat.
MacBak provides backup services for 'creative professionals.' Most of us could use some help in that area.
Blurb provides free software to let you 'make your own bookstore-quality books.' They then print the book for you. They had a crowd at their booth every time I walked past, but I did stop and got a brochure.
Humble Daisy (love the name) offers a product called ProfCast which it says 'makes lecture podcasting easy.'

The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art is across the street from the Moscone Center, where MacWorld is held. We visited the Museum twice today, once to have lunch at their courtyard café, and once to tour the exhibitions.

It was a fine day. Tomorrow is the last day of the show: but we'll stop by the Apple Store in the afternoon.

A Day of Contrast and Excitement

The worst blizzard to strike Edmonton in some time started last evening and gained force early this morning. I shovelled my driveway and sidewalks at 5:00 AM. Merle and I took a cab an hour later to the airport; blowing snow caused difficulties for many drivers and traffic was very slow.
Our plane to San Francisco left a bit late due to the inclement weather, but we arrived in the city by the bay less than three hours after take-off. The weather here is sunny and quite pleasant.

We left our bags at the hotel and hurried to MacWorld at the Moscone Center. I wanted to see what had become, as a result of yesterday's announcement, the Holy Grail of the show, the mighty iPhone.
As I expected the only iPhone we could approach was revolving in a glass case, with a security guard present (he's the fellow in the white shirt). Mac fans stood in a circle waiting with their digital cameras as the case revolved, trying to photograph this very impressive unit.

We sat in on a couple of Mac sessions, one about Leopard, the new operating system due this spring, and another about AppleTV, announced yesterday by Steve Jobs. There are thousands of people here, and there is standing room only for some of these sessions.
There are lots of opportunities for individual consultations with experts from Apple and from other companies.

While I found some interesting music software (which I may try tonight) I have resisted the temptation to enter the John Lennon songwriting contest which is in progress at this show. I'll learn more about this later, I'm sure.

In addition to learning about new software, hardware and other innovations there's always loot: a young fellow (a publisher's son) from Santa Rosa tried on his new Google socks while he waited for the next session. He and his friends skipped school today to be part of MacWorld which I think was a fine idea. The Google folks told us that they would have more socks tomorrow. I wonder if they'll go well with my blue suit.

MacWorld Awaits Mr. Jobs

Steve Jobs will begin his long-awaited address in San Francisco this morning. Mac fans started lining up at 3:00 AM to get seats for the presentation. At this point – only 20 minutes until the presentation – I won't reiterate the many predictions people have made: but I'm excited about the prospects.
This year the presentation is not being broadcast live. However, many people are writing blogs and webpages as they sit in the session so that the rest of us can get information and photos immediately.
We'll leave for San Francisco tomorrow morning and will be at MacWorld in the afternoon.
Stay tuned. I'll be online regularly for the next few days.