Breakdance (AKA B-boying/B-girling or breaking) is most athletic of the element of Hip-Hop. This dance style grew out of the street culture of New York in the 1970s as a constructive option for the kids on the streets instead of being part of the gangs and violence.
Breakdance has 4 major elements to its technique - toprock, downrock, freezes and power moves. Showdowns and contests take place as a battle, were individuals or crews (group) go head to head, taking it in turns to show their skills. I went looking for a video that really encompassed all of these techniques in a battle mode, when a light bulb went off in my head. The film clip for Jason Nevins’ remix of ‘It’s Like That’ by Run-DMC is a fake crew battle that really shows everything. To quote DMC, ‘Check this out’….
With the new ‘Direct Charging’ model coming into effect for ATMs in Australia next week, I have come up with a plan to keep the bastards honest (the bastards being the banks). I am working on a site to track the standard fees to be charged by the various ATM providers, as well as look at the disloyalty charges some banks are proposing. We will also cover your home bank’s electronic transaction fees and take reader submissions of unusual fees they are charged (all almost charged because they cancel the transaction to go elsewhere….that is if they are the savvy ones who watch the site).
Keep an eye on the new site, atmfeetracker.com, and help us keep those banking fatcats honest. Don’t forget to bookmark it.
Often when people think of Hip-Hop, what comes to mind is crap mainstream rap music that barely has a shred of relevance to the culture that is Hip-Hop. Well, Hip-Hop is not just making MTV videos for millions of dollars so P. Diddy can sell his Sean John clothes and drive a Hummer. Real Hip-Hop culture is about the four elements - rapping; DJing; B-boying; and graffiti.
So, as a brief education in Hip-Hop culture, my next few video of the week posts will be focused on the four elements of Hip-Hop. The first one is of Pose and Ewok ‘dropping a burner’ (no, this is not something you do in the toilet after a vindaloo). The finished piece is a phenomenal artwork that just makes you go ‘WOW’. You can see more pictures of this piece as well as more graffiti at Known Gallery.
I want to start playing with HDR processing of my digital pics, but I am yet to find a good subject. I gave it a shot tonight with some pictures of the sunset looking over the Melbourne skyline from Doncaster. With the heavy bushfire smoke in the air, the sun was very orange-red.
This one was taken with auto-exposure-bracketing (AEB) of +/-2 and post-processed with Photomatix Pro. I may have overcooked it a bit, but I like it. I may go and get a print of it to see how it turns out.
Our hearts go out to those affected by the bushfire around Victoria and around the country. I shot this picture tonight from the front of my house in Doncaster looking out towards the Kinglake and Mt. Dissapointment area. I can’t even imagine what it must be like to come face to face with this kind of situation.
As the emergency services have noted, stay away from the fire areas if you are not affected. There is no need for looky-lous getting in their way.
