A lounging deer at Genoa Park in Columbus, Ohio: The bathroom door at a Coffee Tree Roasters: Chocolatier lore at the Boulevard Sweet Shoppe in Oakmont: Huevos rancheros at Deluca’s. The lighting was very spotlighty—odd for a diner: Took a trip to the Phipps Conservatory. This Lovecraftian entity is hanging in the lobby area: All … Photos: Phipps Conservatory and Miscellany
On a recent trip to Massachusetts, I took a hike on the Assabet River Rail Trail. I didn’t find the trail on AllTrails app, so I did a Google search for nearby trails. This was the closest to where I was staying, and it had name recognition for me since my mom worked at Assabet … Photos: Assabet River Rail Trail Hike
I hiked Hartwood Acres twice. The first was a route suggested by AllTrails, a mix of different blazed and unblazed paths. The second was the shorter, more standard Yellow blazed trail. In general, it wasn’t as scenic as I had hoped. All the leaves had fallen and there wasn’t much variation or interesting views. The … Photos: Hartwood Acres Hikes
As seen in the Carnegie Museum of Art.
Here are some photos and videos from a recent trip to Massachusetts. Lake Williams in my hometown of Marlborough recently installed a walkway across the water, connecting one end the lake’s namesake trail to the other end. I didn’t know about the land-lubber part of the trail; I thought it was just a boardwalk, so … Photos and Videos: Lake Williams, Hampton Beach, Jellyfish
Taken over last weekend, near the Pittsburgh International Airport.
I almost didn’t want to label this as a “hike,” since it was more of an easy walk through mostly-paved paths. Really no elevation changes or rough terrain. Memorial Park in New Kensington is mostly a forest. The developed section has a road, parking lot, a small soccer field, basketball courts, tennis courts, not-ice-or-field hockey … Photos: Memorial Park Hike
A ginko tree on Forbes Avenue and Smithfield Street: The Citizens Bank Tower on William Penn Place, taken from PNC Plaza. On the middle right is the old Kaufmann’s building, with a basketball court on the roof. Bottom right is the Warner Theatre sign, which I believe has been there since 1918: Fifth Avenue Place/Highmark … Photos: Pittsburgh, June 2024
A little over three years ago, we walked the same trail. Last Saturday afternoon was breezy and clear, in the mid-50s, and the trail was a little muddy from the storms the past week or so. My AllTrails app wasn’t cooperating for some reason, so I grabbed the rather low-resolution map from the park website. … Photos: Spicebush Trail Hike, Part 2
Despite there being a ton of vendors at the World of Oddities Expo, I didn’t get as many pictures as I’ve done with other conventions. It was far less costume-based, so I was left with more or less taking photos of things that were for sale. Not necessarily bad, but it can be limiting and … Photos: World of Oddities Expo 2024, Pittsburgh
Here’s a nice still shot of nineties Gen X/Millennial culture. I was home from college on Christmas break when my brother took this photo. The date in the lower right corner is correct. Some things to notice: 1. The crazy-patterned bed comforter. 2. The Jim Lee X-Men poster, view it in its entirety here. At … Photo: Jay, 1995
For her 18th birthday, I took DoJ (Daughter of Jay) to Boston to watch symphonic interpretations of Genshin Impact songs, played by the Boston Symphony Orchestra. I played the game for about 20 minutes once. It’s something I would like if I had the time and inclination to get into it, because there seems to … Photos and Video: Symphonic Genshin Impact in Boston
I took a trip to meet my brother and see YYNot, a Rush cover/tribute band, at the Arcada Theater in St. Charles, IL, just west of Chicago. That’s “Arcada”…not “Arcadia” or “Arcade,” like I constantly want to type or say. Here’s a photo of the Fox River from bridge on Main Street, facing north-northwest. The … Photos and Videos: YYNot at Arcada Theater
A few recent shots. The first is not at night, but early morning, walking through Point State Park off the eastern side of Route 279, facing east-northeast. The Wyndham Hotel is in the (sort of) center, the Batman-cowl looking building on on its right is PPG Place. The gray-striped building I believe are the Gateway … Photos: Wyndham Grand Hotel, PNC Park
We took a trip to Massachusetts. Here are some photos. The ducks and geese at Hager Pond in Marlborough. They have been here for as long as I can remember: Webster Lake in Webster, MA. The real name is Lake Chargoggagoggmanchauggagoggchaubunagungamaugg. The “shortened” name is Lake Chaubunagungamaug, which manageable but ridiculous for normal English-speaking mortals: … Photos: Massachusetts
A mostly easy 3-ish mile hike. Since there were some rains the night before, the tree-heavy trail was very buggy. Not a bug big deal. The trail starts on a servicing road, on the White trail, the single line you see in the northeast on the map. Getting into the loop proper, you have to … Photos: Deer Lakes Park White and Purple Loop Hike
Looks pretty much tied, but “Jagoff” is playing a little dirty. Taken at the City-Council Building on Grant Street.
The first hike of the year and season! At Deer Lakes in Frazer and West Deer Townships in Westmoreland County, PA. A storm blew by the day before: very windy but not a ton of rain. There was enough rain, though, to make a lot of spots muddy. Except for one spot that took us … Photos: Deer Lakes’ Orange and White Trail Loop
Ben Pike, an old fellow writer from the Buzzgrinder days, emailed me out of the blue with a photo. Here I am at a club in Connecticut (forget the name), probably in 2001, playing for Life In Your Way. I think we had opened for Zao, but I’m not sure. I do remember it was … Photo: Me with a Bandana and Guitar
Driving home from the gym and store, it rained pretty hard for about 10 minutes. I was treated to a nice double rainbow afterward, the one rainbow brighter than the one at the Coheed and Cambria show a few months ago. It looked like it was close by, because I could see where it touched … Photos: Double Rainbow
I don’t do environment photos on vacation, or photos much at all, but here are two photos and a video from a recent trip to Massachusetts. We were walking the Commonwealth Avenue Mall, and I saw the stained glass of the First Baptist Church of Boston, which faces north and a little west, across Commonwealth … A Few Massachusetts Photos
Some quick, amateur photos of the Lord’s handiwork.
These were taken by Jonathan from Hot Metal Studio for a behind-the-scenes type of story run for Noisecreep, for The Devil Wears Prada’s “Assistant to the Regional Manager” track. It was filmed by Danny Yourd (he had an official crew at the time; sorry, forget the name) at 31st Street Studios in the dead of … Photos: Jay at The Devil Wears Prada Video Shoot
The old building in which my wife used to work had a display case of old typewriters in the lobby. One of the security guards was nice enough to let me take them out and photograph them (very averagely, it looks like) in the last few weeks before last day there. I didn’t know it … Photos: Underwood Typewriters
Some photos I took of the Cathedral of Learning a few years ago. It was inspiration for the de Sales College building from Pale Blue Scratch.
It was time to put the 36 year old Functional to rest. Her cassette and chain got rusted out from disuse over the perpetual scamdemic months, as I was working from home all the time. The steel frame was starting to take a beating, too, that she couldn’t really come back from. So I traded … Photo: New Giant Rincon Bike
No photos this time, since the route we took we nearly the same as the Wetlands-Scouts-Rachel Caron loop I posted. We did see a snake that we thought was dead, a deer with a sneezing fit, and lots of graduation parties in the park pavilions. We took our time hiking, with some potty breaks, food … No Photos: Scouts’ Trail Hike
Alltrails mapped this nice hike out for us, a combination of three connected trails at Harrison Hills. Here’s the map. No, we didn’t walk 19.8 miles. I was a dum-dum and started tracking our progress from when I left the house. The real trail length was nearly four miles. These first three are some long … Photos: Wetlands-Scout-Rachel Carson Loop Trail
A few photos here of Highland Park, which is less trail-like and woodsy than Harrison Hills, and much more developed and urban park-like. Space is a little tighter. It’s also much more trafficked, mostly because of the generous walking and biking paths on the streets that run through it. A good chunk of park real … Photos: Highland Park
This one was 2.3 miles, with lots of wet spots (duh), elevation changes, and overlapping with other trails. We saw a fox run across the trail near the end, and bear poop (more on that). I don’t know anything about flowers, but this one at the start of the trail was very noticeable. Later on, … Photos: Wetlands Trail Hike
I’m not on social media so this is the only channel I have to document silly and slightly gross things like this. I nearly always get this sweat pattern at the gym when I wear gray shirts, and I’d regret not ever doing a sh!tpost about it. It’s hard to see the “horn” on the … Photo: Demon Hunter Logo Sweat
Currently reading After the Long Goodbye, a Ghost in the Shell book. It’s hardcover with a dust jacket, but on the cover itself, Psalm 139 is printed. Rather bizarre, though the first Ghost in the Shell film had some biblical references in the dialogue. I don’t know how Psalm 139 relates to the story yet, … Photo: Ghost in the Shell Hardcover Bible Verse
We had adjustable desks at the office, and I would stand most of the time. The last few months of working from home has me sitting way too much, and I could tell it started to affect thing snow that I was back at the gym. So I thought making a standing desk would be … Photos: I Made a Standing Table
Here’s a bunch of photos of the haul from my friend Chris Francz, my half of the book trade we did. I wrote for his zine, Crucial Times, a while back, and I’ve always liked his art and writing. His Etsy store is here. I’ve only skimmed these for now, but I’ll dive into these … Photos: Chris Francz Books
Behold! The last of my photo dump posts. The Beauty The Blood came out of the same New Jersey scene as Redeem, Kissing the Hands of Wrath, Solace (even though they were from New York), and other bands I can’t remember. They were friends of mine that I saw a lot during my Life In … Photo Dump: The Beauty The Blood, Somewhere in New Jersey (August 15, 2005)
Only two worthwhile photos of Hawk Nelson. Still Remains played a small stage; they had just released their first album a few months prior, and I don’t think a lot of people knew them. I don’t like Pillar‘s music that much but I remember they were great live performers. One of my favorite photos I … Photo Dump: Hawk Nelson, Pillar, Still Remains at the Purple Door Fest (August 19, 2005)
Finally got some decent photos of Haste the Day, compared to the 2004 shots. You’ll notice in both the Norma Jean and The Chariot shots, that they all end up on the ground. That’s how it is with some bands. First up is the chair guy. He balanced three of them on his chin while … Photo Dump: The Chariot, Norma Jean, Haste the Day at the Purple Door Fest (August 19, 2005)
I don’t remember these two bands’ sets, specifically. This was a few weeks after Blindside released The Great Depression, which was…okay. Nothing tops Silence for me, though. Blindside: mewithoutYou:
This was a special photo set for two reasons. This was when Project 86 was in the sweet spot in their career for me. They had released their third album, Truthless Heroes, on Atlantic Records, back when getting signed to a major record label meant something more than it does now. Their first three albums … Photo Dump: Project 86 at the Purple Door Fest (August 23, 2004)
For some reason I didn’t get a lot of shots of Haste the Day. I think I was talking to someone during most of their set. I discovered their last album, Coward, a few months ago, after years of not paying attention to them after seeing them on their final tour at the now-defunct Altar … Photo Dump: Haste the Day, Stretch Arm Strong, Squad Five-0 at the Purple Door Fest (August 23, 2004)
The Purple Door Fest doesn’t happen any more, but I went to two of them with a press pass. There were too many bigger bands to pass something like that up. The ones of Beloved are the best out of the three, because I could get better shots from the side of the stage as … Photo Dump: Anberlin, Beloved, Further Seems Forever at the Purple Door Fest (August 23, 2004)
Nearly certain these were taken at the same show the photos of Acceptance and Dead Poetic are from. I recall He Is Legend playing but I didn’t get any photos of them (I met a friend, who lived hundreds of miles away, by surprise there, so I was talking to him). This was when Bradley … Photo Dump: Showbread, Far-Less, Bradley Hathaway, The Chariot at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia (October 23, 2004)
Found a bunch of old live show photos on my external hard drive that I thought I’d share. Here’s Acceptance and Dead Poetic at the First Uni Church in Philly, 16 years ago (goodness). They’re not terribly good photos, but with shows like these where it’s easy to get close to the band, you can … Photo Dump: Acceptance and Dead Poetic at the First Unitarian Church in Philadelphia (October 23, 2004)
Warning: many photos ahead.
Decided to take some more skyline-ish photos. I tried getting into USX Tower, where my office was formerly located, since it’s in a different part of the city and could offer new views. No deal. However, these first four were taken in a different building (1 PNC). It’s in the same plaza as 2 PNC … Photos: Pittsburgh Skyline & Bonus Strawberry Way
This was taken from the floor I work on, facing mostly north and a tad west. You can see the Allegheny River bottom right, and PNC Park on the far side. The Highmark building is the beige one way on the left; not sure what the grayish one next to it is. And of course, … Photo: Skyline Clouds
A monstrous cumulonimbus storm cloud I took near my bus stop. I had to stop into the store for a bio break before heading home. If I had downed so much water on the ride home, I may have not seen this. The Lord provides.
From Saturday. I was feeling pretty terrible the whole time I was there, due to an oncoming illness, so I didn’t get as many photos as I wanted. It’s a pretty open atmosphere and people are always willing to get photographed but as a strong introvert it takes energy for me to cold approach strangers … Photos: Tekko Con 2018, Pittsburgh
Taken from the front door of my brother-in-law’s house. Pretty sure those are stratocumulus clouds. Click photo to embiggen it. Trivia: my son’s first model rocket launch landed the rocket into the top of that tree you see on the right.
The fountain at Point State Park, the point (heh) at which the Ohio, Allegheny, and Monongahela rivers meet in Pittsburgh.
For all you pareidolia fans. I took this photo, of a Jurassic Park video game. Click to embiggen: The original. Hopefully more adept humorists can create better captions:
Just what the title says. UPDATE: Here are some photos from the December comic con. Someone from something, and Bucky Barnes from Captain America/Avengers: Freddy Krueger: People from a thing: New-ish Batman and old-school Robin: A version of Wonder Woman: Indiana Jones and yours truly: A Doctor Who (I think), some Harry Potter person, and … Steel City Comic Con 2017 Photos
Horrible photo, but this post is more for posterity than aesthetics.
Under construction. The brown building in the background is the USX Tower.
I was getting a pinch flat fixed over the weekend, and I saw this beauty. I don’t know if this a “commuter bike” proper, but I’d think a cup holder of this kind is a prerequisite.
This is Mia Kim’s thumb and new copy of Pale Blue Scratch. Send in a photo of you with a copy of the book (paperback or ebook version), and I’ll post it here and link back to your site/blog/Twitter/Facebook/Geocities page.
Not really a theory. Just something fun, because I can’t help it sometimes.
Below is a postcard I designed for Seth at Skulltoaster. I think it printed well, but in retrospect I should have made the blue colorized Seth in the background a little brighter, and emphasized his “2016” glasses a little more. Photography by Molly Hudelson.
Inspired both by Ed’s posts about riding out in Oklahoma County and by the fact that I finally took Functional out on a non-commuting ride this season, here’s a very photo-heavy post of the route I did with some friends/in-laws. For the Pittsburgh area, it was a very flat ride with some nice views along the … Photos: Allegheny Valley Bike Ride
I’m not too keen on photos of myself, but Hot Metal Studio did a great job of making me appeal to…myself. The session was for the new book’s author photo, but this isn’t the one I’m going to use.
I’ve been on vacation for the week, visiting family in Massachusetts, so there haven’t been much activity. The week preceding vacation I was working on finishing up a redesign of the Mission to El Salvador site, so there was even more time away from the ol’ blog. Here’s a photo of the Whitin Reservoir in … Photo: Whitin Reservoir – Douglas, MA
The commons room of the Cathedral of Learning at the University of Pittsburgh.
Pittsburgh is very hilly and very overcast. The correct combination of these two things can yield some great sky and cloud photography. This isn’t great photograph per se, but it could have been with the right equipment and not a so-so phone camera. The right photographic “raw material” is there. This was taken during the … Photo: Pittsburgh Sky
At the Altar Bar in Pittsburgh – September 22, 2014.
I made good use of the “Listen To Metal” stickers I helped Seth with. This was placed next to a map of the Pittsburgh subway system. When I checked last it was taken down. I have no idea what the pink smudge on it is: On a Pittsburgh Steelers promotional poster: On a pillar on … Photos: Listen to Metal Stickers