I just discovered sumopaint.com where you can use their online image editor to do crazy stuff.  I just played with it for a second, but it seems like it has the basics of what I'm looking for when I'm doing quick image touches.You can access the app here

Through various circumstances and noble pursuit I ended up having a spare $200. So I bought myself a Flip Mino HD (from Amazon whose affiliate link creator is screwy with this product for some reason), the deliciously pocket sized HD camera. In case the Flip people ever make it here, it was David Pogue's review in the New York Times that introduced me to the HD version of the product and ultimately was the factor that put me over the edge to purchase one.

So this Christmas I took a brief 3 day road trip from Phoenix, AZ to San Diego, CA. I had the camera shipped to me in San Diego and took some video on the way back. Then I used the footage and iMovie HD on my mac book pro to make a short (6 min 21 sec) video. With the learning curve and my aesthetic sense it took about a day to edit 6 min of video from less than an hour of raw footage. I think it looks pretty good, but there are some obvious rough spots. One of which is the trans coding to post on Vimeo.com. It comes through a little pixelated. The original is very crisp and the overall quality of the end product is fantastic. Have a look for yourself:

I also wanted to mention the fantastic artists whose music influenced the video and whose albums I really enjoy. Lavay Smith and her Red Hot Skillet Lickers: One Hour Mama

and The Airborne Toxic Event

Foo pointed this one out. After watching it It's pretty darn good. Just a lot to absorb.

I went ahead and embedded it here, but it's definitely worth taking a look at forgetfoo.com to keep up with what he's throwing down.

Turns out the web IS a small world.  A few years ago when Jonk and I started working together he read this blog forgetfoo.com (NASFW).  Over the last few years we've started referring to the content of Foo's site as 'Web Tits'.  It's sort of a mash-up of web tips and, well, tits. 

So, a couple weeks ago I run into Dylan at Mix08 (under miscellaneous) who works at ClearSpring with Foo.  I mentioned to him that I read Foo and that we referred to his site as 'Web Tits'.  He got a kick out of it and obviously passed the word along because Foo threw down a little shout out (Not entirely safe for work).

Actually, a few years ago when I was interviewing for my job, the last person I interviewed with was a Vice President of Engineering.  He asks a simple yet tough question, "What do you read to get your information about new technology and or web trends?"

Seems innocuous enough, but you'd be surprised how many engineers freeze up or have no answer at all.  Well, not me.  I actually cited Foo's blog as one of the places where I get design inspiration and tidbits about what's hot on the web.  Then I proceeded to navigate the veep over to Foo's blog having not seen what the current post was.  Don't remember what it was that day, don't think it was tits, but I got hired.

And before I forget, top set of tits.

Smashing Magazine had a tidbit about HDR. They do it best so I'll let them give it to you:

Applied carefully, High Dynamic Range-technique (HDR) can create incredibly beautiful pictures which blur our sense of the difference between reality and illusion. In graphics HDR imaging is a set of techniques that allow a far greater dynamic range of exposures than normal digital imaging techniques. The intention is to accurately represent the wide range of intensity levels found in real scenes, ranging from direct sunlight to the deepest shadows. This is usually achieved by modifying photos with image processing software for tone-mapping. And the results can be really incredible; in fact, many artists and designers come up with some pretty fancy results.

I keep coming back to look at the pictures because they appear both totally false and too real.   Here is one.  Be sure and click through and check out the ones they have in the post.