SKATEBOOK!

This is my friend and fellow Photographer/Publisher/Editor Mike Ballard. Also his friendly Dachshund

Mike works on a cool book called SKATEBOOK! Mike has always had a really strong work ethic and has been committed to skateboarding for as long as I've known him!

This is Mike's other Dachund who was recovering from surgery but wanted to eat my face and camera!

Mike is on his 6th SKATEBOOK, which not only covers current skateboarding, but also the past history of skateboarding. If your a fan like me, these are a must have for your bookshelf collection. Some of the older ones are hard to come by but you might find a copy on ebay going for whole lot more than what they were going for when they came out! For more info log onto www.skatebook.tv.

Jim Marshall R.I.P.

I'm sad to say that I learned of the passing of one of the best music photographers of all time, Jim Marshall. Not only was he present in some of the most monumental times of music history, he captured a visual history of a special and unique time in music. From the Beatles last concert at Candlestick to Johnny Cash at San Quintin, Jim Marshall is one of the reason's I take pictures today. If you've seen his book 'Proof' then you know the proof of his ability to take great lasting images. From a 35mm roll burning through one of his Leica cameras, Jim has given us moments that have burned into my brain forever! You're images will live on and create inspiration forever Jim Marshall! Check this great video out for some insight and history to this timeless photographer!

Here's a link to a video portrait I did for artist Megan Whitmarsh!

Megan Whitmarsh Video Portrait

New Season 3 Yo Gabba Gabba Episodes Airing this week!

Nickelodeon is now airing new episodes of Yo Gabba Gabba from Season 3! I was able to see the Circus episode yesterday that has Sarah Silverman and Weird Al Yankovic in it. Can't wait to see the rest, I saw some trailers during the commercial breaks and it had clips from the Weezer and Mos Def episode. The live show is on tour right now, so if you get a chance, check it out! Its a whole lot of fun for the family and gives a great live rendition to the TV show. Here are some of my pics from Season 3 of the show's airing this week!

Sarah Silverman Clowning or Miming around.

Weird Al as the Ringmaster!

Weezer Bugs!

Mos Def and the Heroes episode!

Life with Robots???

Okay so I just saw this documentary yesterday on Robots. Its a mini doc promo for the Honda website that I just happened to come across while ironically waiting for my Honda Element at the dealership. Its a very nice and slick documentary, well I guess thats obvious because its paid for by the corporation that is making the Asimo robot. Being a fan of science fiction and technology, I have to say that I'm a bit mixed by this presentation. I've seen Asimo at Disneyland and its a very cute kinda nondescript kinda robot. Like a child spaceman of sorts trying to assimilate to the human world. It seems that as of yet Asimo can just move around doing minimal interactions with humans. And I'm sure there will be future generations that will slowly enter the everyday world as we know it. I'm sure the intentions for the people making these robots is good. I do agree with some of the speakers that there are a lot of robots that help us out with things today. My only concern is if people are ready for robots like this and if the state of our civilization won't lead to someone who will abuse the technology that these people have created. Once Asimo is commercially available, who can control someone going out, figuring out the technology and and creating a soldier versions of Asimo. We already have robot drones dropping bombs on unsuspecting people, why not go all the way with a humanoid drone that can fight instead of people. You have now just created a real life terminator for those on the other end of the stick. Trust me I think a robot would be cool and with computers being what they are all this stuff seems like a Philip K. Dick story come to life. I guess what I'm getting at is that no one has control over the future and no one has complete control over their own creations. So we're just going to have to wait and see which way the path goes.

You can check this documentary out yourself and form your own opinion here @ http://dreams.honda.com/#/video_wi

Don't know, kinda cool and kinda creepy!

One thing Asimo will be great for is space travel, I mean he doesn't need oxygen to breath and 6 month travel to mars would kinda suck. And just walking around a whole planet that is a red desert would suck too. So as far as that goes Asimo can be the planet earths space ambasador!