The weekend of Katie’s birthday. In Las Vegas, people usually focus on having fun through two things: drinking, and gambling. We went out and start having fun visiting all the different hotels on The Strip. And walking by this one was part of it. I do not remember if we went inside this hotel, because I cannot remember which hotel this is. For me, it now looks a little bit like the Vdara Hotel & Spa, though the sides of the Vdara appear smoother than the sides in this photo.

The main thing, or the best thing, about cornering the corner of something, like in this picture, is the idea of realizing not just how it stands out against the background, but how after the photo has been taken, we still focus on our emotion related to the photo, without being able to realize which single element prompted us to take the picture. It probably has to be the building. The sky is always there. And many times it is simply a dull piece of object laying around, waiting to sneak into almost every picture taken above your head level.

While the usual focus is on a silhouette or a background, I think this is basically taking picture of a corner that you think is awesome. I do not know which Hotel this is. I do know that it is big for its era of today. And that it is a physical, offline element added to a world that already proclaims the death of many things offline in favor of an online world. Will places to live be some of the only remaining things in the future that will be physical and be completely offline? I am not sure.

How many construction workers tweeted while building this? How many people will tweet from this building? How many people will tweet about this building? How many people on Facebook took pictures of this while it was being constructed? How many people send e-mails from the lobby of this hotel? Was this building built so that it could be Tweeted, Facebook’ed, BirghtKite’d, or MySpaced? Did the origins of this building have anything to do with the online world? Did it solely exist in the mind of the architect who got paid to build something? Or was it built solely to make money? Yep, it was.

In addition to walking around, Katie and I also drank. And we hit the slots too. It’s interesting how the visual expressions of photos usually focuses on a subject that is not us. I am beginning to think I should focus more on personal portraits again, and maybe for a long time. Like the Night Series. Or maybe I can consider the subjects that I portray in my photographs to be part of me, or to be me.

Thank you for looking. And reading. If you could let me know which Las Vegas Hotel this is, I would really appreciate it.

Update April 19th, 2010:

After seeing a billboard of it yesterday in San Francisco, I found out that this hotel is the Aria Resort & Casino. :)

Berkeley is a city many people associate with weirdness. Good or bad, the weirdness is usually a result of people wanting to be different or themselves without the pressures of the society. These pressures are usually slopes that tend to roll down people into a pile of red tape, in case someone wants to do something that puts a bad name to the reputation of that society. While Berkeley tends to call itself a hippie or a trendy culture, it can in fact, when observed, can be seen as a city that takes many qualities of San Francisco and applies them to a quieter, less hyper and in many cases a safer area called Berkeley.

Shark van, shark van, who are you?
Shark van, shark van, what are you?
Shark van, shark van, who drives you?
Shark van, shark van, where are you?

Berkeley houses many different types of visual differences compared to many of the neighboring cities. Even San Francisco, which exceeds Berkeley in many levels, has random exhibits of emotions and ideas in people and the artifacts that are visible to both the people and the cameras. Whether one is on Facebook or on MySpace, people in Berkeley can walk around with almost any attire in many of the different areas around the UC Berkeley campus. This Shark Van in Berkeley is one of such artifacts in Berkeley which differs than many, if not most, of the vehicles in San Francisco. While it is unknown whether the Shark Van can conquer the heights of the hilly roads in San Francisco, it is very clear that the Shark Van exists to conquer the curiosity, or visual satisfaction, of many observers.

Who drives the Shark Van? What is is used for? I am not sure. I would love to find out. I have seen the Shark Van drive by me more than once when I used to live in Berkeley. Then, the thoughts of where to eat the next Thai food or which movie to watch that night immediately followed the happy face that came around after seeing the Shark Van. Now, I have to think about the Shark Van and wonder about the reasons behind and around it, and the reasons it creates for other things.

Shark van, shark van, can I ride with you?
Shark van, shark van, I am scared if you carry candy with you?
Shark van, shark van, who was it that made you?
Shark van driver, shark van driver, do you eat vegetables, or do you eat shark and tofu?

So here is the Shark Van. Found in Berkeley in this picture. The actual shark, or the driver, may live nearby.

For many people, the car represents masculinity. For me, a car can probably represent two things, among a few others: art, and a way to travel. A car for me does not represent masculinity. In fact, I do not know how many of the major things in my car work. I do not like car magazines, nor do I prefer to obsess with cars. Same thing with cameras. I like cameras a lot, though my love for camera starts only around the picture arena. I personally do not care if a camera has 1 megapixel or 18 megapixels. If the picture that comes out is good, or if I can take a good picture, I am so happy that I start focusing on photographic dreams.

Observation, on the other hand, can be an obsession that results in a liking. And this car is no different. My best friend Katie has a lot of interest in things like color, and I myself seem to have started appreciating it more after having married Katie. Living a life where we both do things together, the way we did as best friends, there seem to be very few, yet distinct, situations where I realize, or have to, that we are married and thus we are doing something or going through something. I like that concept a lot.

So what does that have to do with this car? Many things. First, Katie and I are both reflected in this picture, even though I thought I was taking a picture that may probably show me more than her. Second, focusing on a color concept seems to be a very important thing in many pictures. Colourlovers.com is a site that Katie loves. Looking at the colors outside in the world, I can get a small feeling as to why she and millions of other people do.

Long time ago, Ford created cars with only one color: black. Henry Ford, while a visionary in terms of car production time frames, was a narrow minded industrialist who thought that people would only want the colors that he would produce: black. Well, when demand increases and so does competition, a good sales person, a good stereotypical sales person to be precise, can change his or her own words. And back when female sales people were probably not to be found anywhere in the car industry, Henry Ford’s company decided to introduce cars in more colors. Not only that, many believe that Henry Ford shared similar views with Hitler when it came to the Jews. In 1920, it has been said that Ford told a New York World reporter:

The international financiers are behind all war. They are what is called the International Jew — German Jews, French Jews, English Jews, American Jews. I believe that in all these countries except our own the Jewish financier is supreme… Here, the Jew is a threat.

So here is a Ford F1. What year? I do not know. What model? Hmm, an F1? What specifications? 4 tires, 2 doors, 1 back hatch, and windows. What colors? Ohh, red, white, black, silver, and maybe a color or two more. Oh, and some green. Even if Ford did not want it.

What is it about Elmo that excites you? Nothing. In my case at least. It is probably SpongeBob that excites me more. Way more. That is like saying exciting excites me. The trains also excite me. I think. BART excites me. Except when I feel I am about to be eaten by creepy people.

So here I met Elmo. Hi Elmo! On the Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] train to San Francisco. What a happy personality he has! This is the Bay Area, so the destinations are aplenty. Or more than the turns on Sesame Street. The Bay Area Rapid Transit [BART] will take you to San Francisco. And to Richmond. And to Berkeley. And also back to where I boarded this train: Pleasant Hill.

Where is Elmo going? Oh who knows. Or who cares. In an area where many things happen, Elmo could be going to eat Thai food. Or meet his gay lover. Or become the new spokesperson for the National Rifle Association. Or he may be on the train simply to meet me and be featured on my site. Not sure. Many people react differently to the strange things happening on trains. I wonder if I was being ignored by others on this day, because of taking pictures of a red creature who needed to hold onto the seat in order to look at me sitting in the seat behind him.

Maybe they were scared of being eaten by the creepy Elmo and his photographer.

When? Taken July 6th, 2009, at 4:20pm. Somewhere between Pleasant Hill and San Francisco on BART, probably around Orinda. I don’t remember: I was busy thinking of more pictures.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitpic & Twitter.

Electric Towers Fading Against The Sky.

Electric tower against the sky,
what are you doing?
You stand there flaunting,
where are you going?

The sky looks at you,
wondering why you cry?
You start gesturing back,
enabling civilization to survive?

No one comes near you,
for the fear of death by you.
Everyone wants the sky,
for the fear of mortality in you.

You are all alone in the deserts,
and in the backyards of those homes.
Your loneliness is hard to notice,
even though loneliness is in your bones.

So there you stand,
all alone and against the sky,
fading away with civilization,
wondering why no one else cries.

Location: Unknown. Somewhere in the Californian Deserts.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

What do you see when you look at this?
A shape, a form, a shadow, or your thought?
What is it about this piece that defines it?
The color, roughness, or just what you were taught?

Is it the shape?
The shape that creates the shadow that you see?
The shape that defines the way you see it?
The shape that makes it visible to you and me?

Is it the shadow?
The shadow that makes it more prominent?
The shadow that differentiates it from the rest?
The shadow that makes it very dominant?

Is it the color?
The color blue that is darker than the rest?
The color blue that exists only near the top?
The color blue that you may consider to be the best?

Is it the roughness?
The roughness that shows that the piece had actually felt?
The roughness that shows that the piece has been weathered?
The roughness that shows that the piece has some life left?

Is it the lifelessness?
The absence of life to show that life is not the only beautiful thing?
That life is not the only one with a shadow?
That lifelessness can also create a lot of zing?

Is it the distance?
The distance from reality and your social networking?
The distance from the other pieces and other colors?
The distance from your life and your philosophical meaning?

Is it the contrast?
The contrast in the shadow that creates the simplicity?
The contrast from the background that defines its form?
The contrast in everything that creates its main complexity?

Is it the difference?
The difference that creates the main value?
The difference that creates the real meaning?
The difference that gives living objects a real clue?

Is it your comparison to it?
The way it is more relaxed than you with its shadow?
The way it is more complex than you with its motto?
The way it is more lifeless than you with its own show?

What do you see when you look at this?
Life, lifelessness, a shadow, or what is and is not true?
What is it about this piece that defines it?
Is it the way it can define itself, in contrast to you?

Location: Exploratorium, 3601 Lyon St, San Francisco, CA 94123.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.

Sky watches Sun and Clouds battle.

Get the popcorn and buy a ticket,
for the sky is sitting around,
the greatest battle of the day is here,
between the sun and the clouds.

There is no need for special effects,
this move one has a natural feel,
light and shadows collide brilliantly,
to create the wheel of life and zeal.

Funny, that this may not be mentioned,
on your social networks and in e-mails,
Facebook and MySpace will not hold their breath,
and Digg and Twitter will simply talk about whales.

Come, living creatures,
you can also watch if you want to,
figure out if the sun will come up,
or if the clouds will push it down the view.

This happened when Window 95 came out,
and this happened way before it too,
this happened when apples fell to the ground,
and this happened way before that too.

A big battle is raging on here,
one that affects you all everyday,
the clouds and the sun go at it repeatedly,
like life itself praying on preying on the prey.

You can watch this while you drive,
and die while marveling at the beauty,
you can take pictures to hold on for a while,
and feel like Flickr memories are your duty.

So sit and enjoy, for what you are about to see,
may keep on happening, even after you are gone,
or maybe it will stop, and an outcome will be seen,
in your lifetime, to this battle for the night rages on.

Location: Sparks, Nevada, USA.

Also on BrightKite, Facebook, Flickr, MySpace, Twitter and TwitPic.