Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
29
Of Your Sparks
So we have been remiss in doing all of the Delta Blues Series of Tuneage Tutelage we had promised. Just with the old computer going down and then getting the new one and transferring and life and well...laziness, it just has not happened
We are going to take some time and do one for all y'all for early next week...
So we got home last night and sat down to write this post...we glanced over at the old iMac and on the screen was this picture we shared with you just recently:
Well, we got distracted, as kinda happens from time to time...well...sometimes...maybe more like often...and we began to play...First we darkened the sky as a whole:
Yup...it looked better, but we kept fiddling and adding some color and darkening some interior areas and this is what we had:
Then we enhanced the fireworks bursts...what do you think?
Well then, you know what happened? We opened this photo:
We said we would go gray scale with it:
eeeeh...nothing special. Guess we could have played with the density and curves, but...
We talked about going outside of nature...not sure this is complete, but the Radio Show was coming on and we had not done a thing around the apartment in days...so this is what we ended up with...kinda like it...how 'bout you?
The sound is a bit muffled on this, but it has always been one of our favorite Jefferson Airplane songs. This was performed at the Family Dog at the Great Highway in San Francisco, CA on 6/13/69. "Good Shepard"...
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Tuesday, July 31, 2007
28
Of Your Sparks
Well Happy Tuesday all. We are going to share with you another round of
PHOTOSHOP MANIA...
Our wonderful friend Dixie came to us last week and asked if we would redo her blog for her to be more in tune with her life right now as the Proud Mother of a U.S. MARINE recruit.
Of course we told her we would get right on it.
The last few weeks we have been reupholstering THE COUCH behind the scenes, rebuilding it from scratch...keeping some parts, tossing others adding some other new things. We had hoped to have it done by this weekend.
Well, that was before our friend TURN asked for a sidebar button and logo for her BlogTalk Radio Show. Then she needed a header for her web site. Well we got all that done Thursday in hopes of beginning on Dixie's site on Friday. We really enjoyed doing that one. It was fun to find all the right components and meld them together.
Then the other email came from Dixie with a photo from last weekend. It was of her and Matt and a third person. This third person is someone Dixie did not want in the picture. Could we remove him? Well sure, we have removed people before.
Then we saw the picture and kinda freaked. Man...this was going to be a toughie...
Got home Friday early, around 3:00PM. Cranked up the tunes, poured a cocktail and sat at the MAC ready to play. All photos can be enlarged by just clicking on them.
STEP ONE: Delete the person from the photo. We grabbed the 'lasso' tool and began to outline him very slowly. We worked in sections as we had the image at 400% on our monitor. After about 20 minutes or so, we had this:
Notice that his hand had been on Matt's shoulder....rut ro...oh and the background? Not some simple wall to just clone... nope....but one step at a time...
STEP TWO: OK, time to rebuild Matt's shoulder where the hand had been. Hummm can we copy the left and make it the right? Nope...hand there too... OK, time to start cloning and building...About 20 minutes later, we had this:
There ya go... a brand new shoulder and at the same time, replaced the wall behind his head...AH why, couldn't the whole background just be a plain wall??????????????
STEP THREE: OK, so then...we made another cocktail...turned the music up louder, bent into the screen and increased the picture size even more. Time to build us some vending machines.
Now, damn.. the 'S' on the machine is covered in both places... HUMMM..play around trying to recreate the 'S'...not gonna happen... OK, well here comes some creative license...
Finally get it done and look over at the clock...HOLY MOLEY...3.5 more hours had slipped by and it was now 8:00 PM, but we were done.
Looked at it for about 20 minutes, made some minor tweaks and then looked again... Still some minor things we would like to change, but it might mean going back and starting over...Wait...let me try this first...OK, that is better...we are pleased...
So, without further ado....here is the picture we sent off to Dixie. Heard from her yesterday (Monday) morning and she was thrilled....Made us smile to know we had pleased a friend.
If you blow up the picture, and look at the Pepsi can in the right hand machine, you will see what we needed to do. Half the can was blocked by his body, so we cloned the right side and flopped it and put them together. Well, you can't see it unless you blow it up and in the normal size, it LOOKS like a real Pepsi can!
And if you blow up the picture, you might also see some of the areas that we are still not totally pleased with. OH well....
We spent time on Saturday and Sunday building her new website. Had to make a few tweaks tonight and then let her see. She asked me to post it...go over and see.
We are open to helping others with similar requests. If you have something you need done. let me know and we can work out an 'arrangement.'
We know Sanni and The 108 and Janna are out there doing like things...but hey, we are always here to help our guests...
Well, we had just wrapped up the writing and formatting of today's post when we got an email from our incredible friend Travis. In the email he informed us that BILL WALSH had passed away, so we had to include a little on this great man.
THE COUCH NOTE: Our posts are normally written at lunch the day before or sometime the evening before.
Tom Hauck / Allsport File
William Ernest Walsh Nov. 30, 1931 - July 30, 2007
Mr. Walsh died early Monday following a long battle with leukemia, he was 75.
He began his career in 1954 at Washington HS in Fremont, CA as the football and swimming coach.
He had stints as an assistant at California and Stanford before beginning his pro coaching career as an assistant with the AFL’s Oakland Raiders in 1966.
Walsh joined the Cincinnati Bengals in 1968 to work for legendary coach Paul Brown, who gradually gave complete control of the Bengals’ offense to his assistant.
Walsh built a scheme based on the teachings of Davis, Brown and Sid Gillman — and Walsh’s own innovations, which included everything from short drop backs and novel receiving routes to constant repetition of every play in practice.
Walsh also is widely credited with inventing or popularizing many of the modern basics of coaching, from the laminated sheets of plays held by coaches on almost every sideline, to the practice of scripting the first 15 offensive plays of a game.
In 1976, Walsh left for stints with the San Diego Chargers and Stanford before the San Francisco 49ers chose him to rebuild the franchise in 1979.
Over the next 10 years Mr. Walsh built a dynasty in San Francisco and also changed the game of football forever with his different schemes and plays.
He won the Super Bowl in 1981, 1984 and 1988 with the 49er's.
He was responsible for drafting the likes of Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott & Charles Haley while building the dynasty.
He was elected into the Football Hall of Fame in 1993.
Finally, you can always tell the success of a man (in any profession), by the success of the people who they trained and groomed and mentored.
Mr. Walsh, leads that category without even a contest. The following is a chart showing the assistants who worked for Mr. Walsh who went on to become head coaches in the NFL, and the lineage that was built by one man.
FREAKING IMPRESSIVE! (You will have to click on it to enlarge. We could not make it any bigger)
BLOGTALK RADIO UPDATE:
TONIGHT...6:30 EDT
A few weeks ago during the "WHY DO I BLOG" show, the subject mutated into "weird names of places".
Tonight Mo and his guests will try and outdo each other in coming up with the weird named cities and towns around the world...sort of like...
Intercourse, PA... Ding Dong, Texas...
(we have a whole list, but don't want to be a spoiler...hehehe)
Everyone in the car...time for a trip to "weirdnameville"
Collect your weird town names and join in the fun....
THEN...TONIGHT AT 9:00pm EDT - We will be back on with:
Über Publicist Rob Tencer claims to have the secret to make YOU the next celebrity socialite. He'll share some tricks of the trade and give tips how anyone can get mentioned on Page Six or in "Life" and "Style Magazine".
Tencer, who wrote the e-book, "Stop Waiting to be Famous and Start Dating to be Famous", also promises tell us how us how even we can date a celebrity! Who wants to bet that Wilmer Valderrama read this book?
Also, Isobella Jade was once 5' 2" and homeless. She's still 5'2" but has overcome her lack of funds and lack of height to become a model.
We'll discuss her unconventional road to becoming a fashion model, find out if there are naked shots of her anywhere on the internet and discuss a potential movie being made about her life. Dr. B will also use tips he learned in the previous segment to get a date with a model!
REMEMBER, YOU CAN LISTEN TO BOTH BY CLICKING ON THE LINKS ON THE LEFT.
And finally, our song of the day. Beautiful weather outside...90's, hot and just clear skies. We do love this weather even when others consider it 'too humid.'
We are feeling better, just lonely the last five weeks. Our friends have been there whenever needed and it has helped...some.
We are hoping future days will bring new life and happiness
Ginger Baker, Jack Bruce & Eric Clapton. -yes Anndi...we know we said not Clapton- but this is CREAM!!!!!!
"I FEEL FREE" written by Jack Bruce and Peter Brown has always been a fav of ours.
A summertime, light breezy song with more a feel of Haight Asbury than Mississippi cotton fields. It stood out for it's style against much of the blues/rock found elsewhere on the album and is the first of many successful Bruce/Brown collaborations.
This was the first song, side one of their debut album "FRESH CREAM" in 1966.
It was the second single released and reached 11th on the UK Singles Chart and #116 on the US Billboard Pop Singles Chart.
You know, we are just looking over this material and ....feels like a full post coming on...
Feel when I dance with you, We move like the sea. You, youre all I want to know. I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
I can walk down the street, theres no one there Though the pavements are one huge crowd. I can drive down the road; my eyes dont see, Though my mind wants to cry out loud.
I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
I can walk down the street, theres no one there Though the pavements are one huge crowd. I can drive down the road; my eyes dont see, Though my mind wants to cry out loud, Though my mind wants to cry out loud.
Dance floor is like the sea, Ceiling is the sky. Youre the sun and as you shine on me, I feel free, I feel free, I feel free.
Sparks Of Insanity By
Vinny "Bond" Marini
Wednesday, June 27, 2007
29
Of Your Sparks
It is late to begin this...we know it...
SO, THE HELL WITH IT...PLAY A SONG AND THEY WILL BE HAPPY... NOW, THAT JUST IS NOT THE WAY TO TREAT GUESTS... GUESTS SMESTS...I WANNA SLEEP NOW BOTH OF YOU - SETTLE DOWN OR THIS IS GOING TO TAKE TWICE AS LONG!
Anyway...so PIA is going to see Taylor tomorrow
TONIGHT DUMMY WELL, YES TONIGHT, YOU COULD HAVE BEEN NICER... LOOK, WE TYPE THIS THE NIGHT BEFORE...EASY MISTAKE NOT IF YOU HAD BRAINS...
To continue, she is going to the Meet & Greet and wanted to bring him a picture of some of his fans
So we grabbed a couple of pictures and worked at the MAC letting Photo Shop do it's thing...
Thought we would share the journey...
Here are the four photos we began with. We had to change the dpi on the main shot, but were able to keep focus... (YOU CAN CLICK ON ANY PICTURE TO ENLARGE)
The Group Shot From WorkPlay Birmingham, AL March 10, 2007 From left: Bodacious Hootchie (Pia), Hottie Bond, Snarky Hootchie (Maryfly), Tez, Sexy Hootchie (Anndi), and Randy Hootchie (Turn)
Tez, third from right, though a doll is not part of the little group we have called "Hootchies & The Hotties"... when composing the final product, she will be replaced... Missing were the following three:
Rocker Hootchie (Busy) could not make the trip...
Sugarbaby Hootchie (Dixie) is second from right and was caring for Mom
Hottie Travis was resting and did not make it...
SO WE BEGAN...
OK, so...first we cropped Busy from her picture. Then we flopped her to fit where we wanted to place her.
Then from the main photo we pulled out Tez and Anndi
We silhouetted Anndi to put her back in. We needed her to be able to be placed on top of Busy after she was placed.
So, here is where we are at this point...messy...
Busy slides in where Tez was; Anndi goes in right on top of her exactly where she was before...
We crop Dixie...notice her son Matt's sleeve made this interesting...
We were going to place Dixie between Mary and I, so Mary gets silhouetted
Had to silo me at this point
We also did a silo on Pia, but in the end it was not necessary
So, now we have Mary and I separated and Dixie "sort of" in place
Took Travis, silhouetted him and flopped him too
Well...you have to have a title
Here is the finished product... Completed start to finish in 4 hours...
Not happy with some parts, like we just noticed Travis is not covering all of Busy, and we did not extend her body far enough...ARG but the concert is tonight...soooooooooo
CREDITS:
"CHANGES" David Bowie Composer: David Bowie "Hunky Dory" All photos stored at Photobucket.com
I got into blogging to express myself. It has led me to sharing my life, my passion for food, my fiction and my love of music.
Music On The Couch is a passion for me. Sharing "Musicians You Should Know" and helping those who appear on the show to grow their audience.
Then we enhanced the fireworks bursts...what do you think?
eeeeh...nothing special. Guess we could have played with the density and curves, but...
![[couchdivider.gif]](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUCGg_QJtbYzOxDld6-_8chss5UyTlVmChuN_dvVmL5q_KIElBGlMJaTRpW-e8EX8aA_-xIefdl2SiLUe1iCp6oAQqNz41oNVy5BQ0kOW1XOlu7qq5BaxdzUpydJAvGdKvuDrN/s1600/couchdivider.gif)
