This is... Son of Cult Fiction 3

Look how awesome this cover is! I know better than anyone you can't judge a book (or CD) by its cover. I have to admit though, I bought this for it's cover.

So cover aside is it any good? Well just about all the "Cult Fiction" series is pretty hit or miss. There might be a couple of good songs and the rest duds, or it could go the other way.

I liked about half the songs on this disc, which for the most parts are theme songs from movies and TV.  It's an eclectic mix to say the least, where else does Urge Overkill share space with the Monkeys?

I'm usually doing good if I can get into at least three songs on any given CD, so this one fairs pretty well and gets my recommendation for a buy, now I have a clean copy of the A-Team theme song to jam out to in my van.

CD Artwork is equally awesome

Recent Photoshop Projects

So I was looking at the logo banner of ElectroSchlock and couldn't believe how boring it was. So after putting it off for a long while I fired up Photoshop and went to work. Crazy thing is I didn't stop there, I put together about 8 different graphics I will be needing in  the future on my other two sites. After that I just kind of screwed around. Pics below.

This is the replacement banner for ES. I was mostly just plying
around with light effects

This is a smaller piece to a bigger picture

This is what I started with

Found this image online

Turned it into this, like I said after a

while I was just screwing around

Media Storage

What would you take with you, if you were going to be away from all your stuff for at least a year? I was faced with that questions when it was decided I would be spending some time with my parents three states away from my old house. I took a couple of books I was in the middle of reading, and some I planned to read. Same thing with DVDs and Blu Rays. When I got to my new place my mom surprised me with an empty bookcase.

I filled the bottom shelf about halfway with my stuff, but over the course of the last six months it's been getting pretty filled. I don't have a "before" picture but this is its current state.

I have taken (blurry) pictures of each shelf click each one for a description of what's stored on each one.

Shelf 1

Shelf 2

Shelf 3

Shelf 4

Shelf 5

Review: Champ Road

Champ Road is a irregularly published magazine on Bosozoku culture. In Japan the term Bosozoku use to be used exclusively with outlaw Biker Gangs. Years ago a Japanese law was passed forbidding more than two motorcycles riding in any group or formation with in a close proximity. Believe it or not that put in end to Biker Gangs in Japan, they couldn't even ride down the street without being stopped by law enforcement and arrested.

Now the term Bosozoku refers to just about any kind of social misfit inclined to breaking the law. Bikers, Yankee's, and street thugs are all included.

The first half of this magazine is devoted to Bikers, since the restrictive law went into place most Bikers ride tandem with a friend or girl friend riding on the back of the bike. As you might of expected Harley Davidson's aren't high on the list of Japanese bikers.

What are is classic Japanese speed bikes tricked out with crazy fiberglass whale tails and lights. This would all make for funny joke fodder for American Bikers but in Japan if you see one of these bikes headed your way it's best to move on.

The second half of the magazine is devoted to Yankee's. Not westerners as you might think, but a Japanese guy/girl that's a little on the anti-social side. Yankee's identify themselves by not only the way they act but how they dress, and the cars they drive.

Yankee's bring a whole new meaning to custom van's look here to see what I mean. They do similar setups on their cars, take a look at some of the pictures found in this magazine.

Altogether an interesting magazine to flip through, a bit on the pricey side but it's a thick magazine. Get it here.

Scan & Stitch

At my old place I had a corner of a room where I could set up a little makeshift photo booth complete with soft lighting. I used it to take snapshots of stuff I was selling on ebay as well as things I wanted pictures of like LP covers, toys, and even movie posters.

At my new place I just don't have the room, also my really nice cannon gave up the ghost. I still have a small pocket digital camera but it's really not the same. It does ok photoing small stuff, but LP covers and huge movie posters are a pain in the ass.

Not that it was easy when I had a dedicated space, it would take me sometimes 15 to 20 tries to get a centered squared picture. I had looked into scanning large images and stitching them together with software, but at the time (3 years ago) the software and results just wasn't were I wanted them to be.

Last night after miserably failing at taking some photos of some original artwork I got the idea to give the whole image scan and stitch thing another try. I downloaded five pieces of software last night. Some trial versions, others completely free, and one I already owned.

I was looking for the simplest route, add the separate images hit a button sit back and wait for a big finished picture. I was also looking for a tool that would let me tweak the individual parts to my liking. I won't go into detail about the ones I didn't like but rather the ones that produced the best results without much fiddling.

AutoStitch [download]

Very simple to use program that produced great results on almost always the first try. The Windows app is free for noncommercial use, Mac users are out of luck with the exception of an iphone version.

Photoshop CS3 Auto-Align & Auto-Blend Tools [download]

I haven't upgraded my copy of Photoshop for a couple of years but I really don't see the need, CS3 does everything it's always done and I'm still finding new tools to use everyday like the auto align/blend tools. These two tools work in tandem to make great single images out of a lot of smaller ones. I like that it's all done in the same Photoshop interface we have all grown to know. It gives you great control over each image. If you already own Photoshop it's worth searching for some tutorials on image stitching rather than buying a standalone app.

Microsoft Image Composite Editor (ICE) [download]

I know it's hard to believe that Micro$oft produced something worth while that's not only free but also works rather well. How good does it work? This was the only program I was able to load a really big composite into and get a near perfect picture the first time. If your a Window's user it well worth the download.

Below are some examples of my stitch's. Note: I used a really cheap thin profile flatbed scanner I took the lid off of and turned upside down on the covers and posters. It's really a crappy scanner, producing scan lines on all of my pictures. The same results can be produced with out the lines if a better quality scanner is used.

AutoStitch was responsible for this one, this was the

result after the first try, not perfect but still very good

This one was done in Photoshop, almost perfect if it

wasn't for the scan lines

The back cover, look how well Photoshop lined up the
small text without much tweaking

Satanik OST Picture disc, Stitched with M.S. ICE

A true testament on how well M.S. ICE works

5 rows of 6 separate images, 30 images total

This was the outcome, first try.

SCORE: New Vinyl

Found a couple of great deals while scouring ebay for cheesecake LP covers.

Great lounge style orchestral arrangements

and a great saucy cover to boot

 

Soul music all with a central theme of Summer
scored for $5 including shipping

 Ok, not Cheesecake at all but awesome none
the less, got this numbered limited edition for

a ten spot 

SCORE: 1977 Ford Econoline 150 Custom

It was the right time and I was at the right place. I had spotted the crigslist ad two weeks ago, and conversed with the seller by phone and text.

I live by the mantra that if it's to good to be true it probably is, this seemed to be the case. The seller assured me everything in the description was accurate. I decided to make a weekend trip to Fort Worth to see it in person. Sure enough it was as nice in person as in the photos.

I paid for the van, and rented a trailer from U-Hall unfortunately the trailer was to small. What really sucked is the fact that I didn't find that out until I loaded the van on and ripped a hole the front passenger side tire. I then hauled it from Godly, TX to Fort Worth and nearly flipped the van off the trailer.

So it was decided I would store it at my friends house long enough for me to arrange transport from a shipping company.

I'm so excited, it's not perfect by any means but is a great platform for a custom van project.

Photos below.

The grille trim needs to be replaced, but otherwise
a nice straight front end

Changing the Tire

Didn't take any photos of the interior, but it's all original from '77. Floor to ceiling shag carpet, four captains chairs and a custom wrap around sofa in the rear.