Must be Santa…, originally uploaded by Ritaflo.

I’ve been away from blogging and creating the last couple of days due to the holidays. Wishing everyone Merry Christmas and/or happy holidays!

I’m loving the use of different shapes, layers and textures in this shoot, it has this very organic feel about it allowing it to feel very un-fussed and easily put together. I love that personally plus the pieces look amazing and I want a few for Xmas maybe a last-minute order lol ( I joke) but the pieces do look like they have been constructed very well as they photograph beautifully.

Photography By: Alex Cayley

IMG|SOURCE: MX

Back in the day you had to actually know how a computer worked to program the thing; today… not so much. That’s not meant negatively. It’s just that we’re about half way between punch cards and simply telling a computer what to do like on Star Trek. I mention this because I’ve encountered a lot of “senior developers" that still use the terms tier and layer interchangeably when referring to system architecture. The difference is significant yet simple to distinguish.

A tier is the “physical” separation of code, where a layer refers to the logical segregation of functionality. Physical separation of tiers does not necessarily mean separate servers.

Take an architecture that segregates functionality into User Interface (UI), Business Logic (BL) and Data Access (DAL).

In a small 3 Layer system, one could place logic for each layer in separate methods within the same DLL. For that matter the same class.

In a 3-tier system code for each of these types of logic would be placed in separate DLL’s. They could even be placed on separate servers.

If you have you UI and BL in one project (i.e. DLL) and your DAL in a separate project all running on the same machine you’ve got yourself a 3-layer, 2-tier architecture. I use this example because it is a very common real world scenario today.

That’s all there is to distinguishing between a tier and a layer.

This is significant because while using layers is almost always a good idea, using tiers can be quite costly. It is generally around 1000 times slower to make a call across a process boundary on the same machine than to make the same call within the same process. Things get exponentially worse if it’s on a separate machine, even on the same network.

Additionally, the phrase too much of a good thing applies with regard to tiers because of the impact on the complexity of the application and infrastructure required. Tiers should be considered an evil necessary to accommodate some levels of extensibility, security and fault tolerance. However, anyone that says you should always use 3-tier architecture should be placed in timeout with the other silly children.

Inversely, you can almost never go wrong implementing distinct layers. Don’t get carried away with it, but well thought out and separated layers simplify maintenance. Not to mention keeping open the option of breaking out into tiers should the need ever arise.

As with any decision regarding architecture one must weigh all of the benefits against the true long term costs when deciding what layers and tiers are right for their unique situation.

There are certain artists whose work is always instantly recognizable and Portuguese artist Vhils is one of them.  I saw this one behind Brick Lane and Hanbury Street, near the back entrance to the Sunday Up Market (which, by the way, is brilliant if you haven’t been. More on that in a later entry…)

In an interview with Michael Slenske, Vhils explained his art of scratching into the surface: “It’s a process of trying to reflect upon our own layers. Its aim is not to come up with solutions but to conduct research, to confront systems, materials, processes, elements, to create friction and confront the individual with the process, with the system: an active critical process that stems from the same environment upon which it aims to reflect.”

Thought I’d see what I could do with the idea of him being a futurist, being modern, being ahead.

Here he is looking back at his past, made up of layers of detail (like a biography).

Ever been in the situation where you don’t have a camera and a beautiful thing/scene catches your eye? Well there is always the camera phone now to the rescue. Even though I have a Nikon D90 to take beautiful landscapes with, I don’t bring it with me to the malls or when I go for dinners. But with all this, there is still something lacking for camera phones, there is the lack of zoom, flash and even the photos are lacking in quality due to the cheap small sensor on camera phones. With the iPhone though, even with its puny little camera having just 2 megapixels, there is the App Store in iTunes which makes the iPhone such a wonderful smart phone. Under the photography section of the App Store, there is loads of free and paid apps that makes camera photography fun! In fact I got one of my first paid apps from this section. User reviews of the ‘Best Camera’ app pushed me to buy the app for around S$4 maybe? Didn’t remember the price but I knew it was perhaps the cost of a burger in McD.

Tried out the app on some photos I took, and the results was good! Basically the app have some filters which upon application results in a much better photograph! The 2 photos below, taken from the iPhone shows the original photo and after effects of applying layers using the Best Camera App!

Two days ago I one again got up in the wee hours and donned the old running duds and ran in the dark, before everyone else in the house was awake. It was cold, the coldest morning yet this winterish season–18 degrees. I dressed warmly and got out quickly. Too quickly it turns out. The thing you need to know about our house is that it is open. I get everything set up the night before in part to save time but more importantly to be quiet. I leave my toothbrush on the counter so I don’t have to open the drawer (it squeaks) and I don’t want to be pulling anything out of anywhere since every noise seems to clang throughout the house when it is dark.  So there’s that, plus it was cold.

I knew it would be cold, of course, since I pay attention to the forecast. I have run when it is cold many times, but this was the first cold morning I would be running. I made sure to dress appropriately. Unfortunately I forgot one important thing. As I was walking down the driveway, guided by the beam of my headlamp, things seemed to look fuzzy. I blinked. Still fuzzy. I closed one eye–clear as can be. I closed the other eye–blurry as a painting of an octopus in a mud puddle. I had forgotten to insert one of my contact lenses.

So what to do? Go back in and make all kinds of noise to put it in? Or run with only one good eye. I did not go back inside. It was an interesting run. It was chilly but I was dressed for it, so that wasn’t an issue. I was too distracted by my eye sight to be cold, anyway. I kept closing one eye, then the other, back and forth. And it was slippery. I was afraid I would miss something. My binocular vision was compromised, so I had to be careful. I did make it home safely. I found my contact lens in the case. And I put it in for the rest of the day.

I took yesterday off but ran this morning. I took yesterday off partly because it was going to be a lot colder. It was a lot colder–two degrees at its lowest, and that was right when I would have headed out to run. So I waited a day. It was forecast to be slightly warmer at first, but then the forecast was for possible sub-zero temperatures. Screw it, I said to myself, I’m going anyway. And I did. I dressed for a cold morning, too–several layers but not too many, I hoped. The last thing I wanted to do was sweat a lot, then have my sweat freeze me right up. So I was ready.

I remembered to correct my vision before I left this morning. Then I checked the temperature. Sure enough, it was cold. Five degrees. So it was a little warmer than yesterday after all. The wind blew, however, so I had to be ready for the old wind chill factor. I was good–warm enough and feeling healthy. But the run was not without its own issues.

Our driveway is icy. A little snow, a couple of cars smashing down that snow  a whole bunch, some wind and not a lot of sun–that is how one creates the old icy driveway. I knew this, so I was careful to stay to one side, out of the slippery ruts. I mean, it was dark this morning. Even with a headlamp, we’re taking limited visibility. So, trying to be extra careful, I decided to walk in the middle of the driveway, where it might be least slippery. On the way from the edge to the middle, however, I managed to slip, fall hard, and hurt myself.

I didn’t hurt myself badly, mind you, so I kept going. My had was stinging underneath my sandy glove, and my elbow was sending nerve impulses to my brain warning of a bruise to be expected. My ego was bruised as well, so I grumbled slightly. But I just started running and hoped to forget about it. That didn’t happen right away, of course, because I noticed, in the meager light of my headlamp and through my black glove, blood seeping through. That blood had turned to frost by the time I got back home, and it still hurt then, despite the cold.

Sure enough, I had a fine abrasion on my hand, along with a small avulsion. When my son saw it he backed away with a look of horror, asking “What’s that?” The price of glory, my boy, the price of glory. The had still seeps and the elbow still throbs, but I went running this morning. Five miles. At least I can say I did that, eh?

Self portrait with rose, originally uploaded by Ritaflo.

A digital collage created with Layers iPhone App.

One of the perks of being an accessories designer is that you have a lot of stuff to play with. I have so much yarn, beads, felt and other stuff that its hard not to make a few (a.k.a. a lot) things for myself. I am always making things.

I suppose I’ve never really grown up. I haven’t stopped imagining and pretending, and being fascinated with things. I haven’t rid myself of the dreamed possibilities, nor have I acquired the hardened resolve that life is “just the way it is.” I am still the boy with the cardboard palace.

Thus I create, adorning myself with layers and layers of dreams.

This season, it’s all about layers.

Shirts over another shirt over shorts over leggings. And a pair of boots to … boot.

One thing that really catches my eye are the ripped leggings rocked by 夏代さん (top 3rd from left) in this month’s edition of NUTS. I happen to have a pair of opaque black leggings that I don’t really like, simply because they aren’t sexy. Black, full length leggings are hot only when they are slightly sheer. The sheerer, the hotter, IMO. What is even hotter are sheer leggings with a lace/floral design.

What is NOT hot are solid, thick, black leggings that look like spandex pants. I’m wondering if I could somehow alter them to look like the torn leggings in this street snap, giving them a more edgy look. Yes, this season’s fashion is quite the paradox. You have to have more, of less.

That’s what Leeds is today, Cold and Snowy. I made it to my train and into Uni on time to meet my friend today but MY GOD it was cold. I returned home covered in snow, freezing cold and i think i have picked up a cold. Not very happy.

I’m wearing 5 layers in doors and i’m still cold.

Gunna try run the fucker off. Off to do 30min work out on treadmill. Should be fun/

Finally, a vintage & designer boutique in Santa Cruz. Twist is the hottest trend shop for new and resale designer denim, vintage bags, shoes, and a collection of clothes and accessories that’ll keep your style classic to the core.  

Gucci bag I want!!!

More to read below. Especially if you want to understand what this is about.

Hello world.

For my final project in the course, Search in the Age of Google, I created a self portrait of my google identity (meaning the results of searching my own name, Camilo Rayo on google). This contrasts to my real identity, as my google identity differs- I’m not the only Camilo Rayo. Other Camilo Rayo’s have other attributes, interests, ages, locations, etc. However, the fascinating part is, maybe, to a stranger, we’re all the same Camilo Rayo. How would a stranger know that the Camilo Rayo who is interested in photography is not located in Columbia? How would a stranger know that the Camilo Rayo who’s a bro is not the same Camilo Rayo who wrote the song _Layers? They really wouldn’t. I’m posting this post to address that issue. Here’s my to you, stranger.

Dear Stranger Who’s Googled My Name,

As of yet the internet is not aware of the imploding nature of it’s shortcomings: lack of intelligence. It is not aware also because it does not have a sense of self; it cannot be self aware. It does know, however, that there is a Camilo Rayo out there. Unfortunately for the FBI, the notion that it can categorize to the extent of isolating identities is currently untrue. Wishful, yet untrue. Hope so, maybe. As the internet ages, vines of wire and pods of data continue to grow, and my online identity grows with it.

This is an identity both lacking and overflowing. It lacks distinction- Camilo Rayo is in Columbia. Camilo Rayo has never been to Columbia. Camilo Rayo is a scorpio born in August, the month of Leo and Virgo. Camilo Rayo is five-foot three-inches. Camilo Rayo is five-foot eleven-inches. Without intelligence, the internet cannot reconcile these screaming contrasts. How can I be living somewhere I’ve never been? How can I have two birthdays? How can I be so tall when I’m so short?

The internet is raping identities blind. Identities that have no choice but to wait to be found in some defenseless state. Like a 1980’s-born fat ugly virgin teenagers’ false memory of driving 1950’s Cadillacs, smoking cigarettes and laughing with giggling curvaceous blonde girls in passenger seats, riding with the top down, the only victim of this loud violence is truth.

This letter is addressed to you for a reason. You’re my point. I’m your silver plate dream of an identity you know nothing about. My online portrait is who you think I am. I cannot juggle the weights of both of these. My heads going to explode, my soul stretched far enough to rip in your five. Maybe I just don’t remember living in Columbia. I could have forgotten that once upon a time I was published and proud of it. I didn’t even know that I have curly hair and play music, or that I glued stickers all over my friends face to get into some newspaper across the country. Too much life means I can’t recall ever having you or anyone with me under palm trees in blue jeans and a green striped shirt.

I know my next step: taking my identity into my own hands, where it belongs. I learned photoshop from a gypsy in Spain who pushed parakeets and misfortune cards, and using a picture of myself, I’ll put it all together. All those details that make up who I am. The blue eyed body in Columbia who attends anti-homosexuality protests at SUNY Purchase with a camera living in San Francisco working in Oakland and is a zombie going to prom. The writer who must know Japanese, who must know Kenneth Cole, who must like rock music, dancing, who must play chess with almost-famous musicians, who must do these things because Google tells me someone named Camilo Rayo does.

I’m lost to it now. This device, this quicksand that lives under our bricks and mortars and threatens to swallow it all whole, I don’t know what to believe anymore. First life, second life, third. Search in my room or search online. Owner of my identity or ruled by the fact it is out of my hands now.

I’m inspired by dopeheads and wackos alike; fiends crazy enough to persuade, steal, and even pillage the homes of small children in the name of comfort. First there’s the pope, who throughout history has managed to inspire enough hope in people to do selfless things such as send their children off to impending death. Then there’s Genghis Khan, responsible for igniting enough rage in the east to almost swallow in one gulp the entirety of continents, just because the man wanted what he wanted: Khanada. And last but not least, my mom, whose choice of bathroom colors shoved a eureka moment into my brain while showering drunk after an entire delirious summer night of creating our strategy to invade Iraq, giving much glee to our former president.

The only run ins I had we’re with kind mormons who offered me spears and firewood covered in strange English letters, which I took out to the woods over here by SUNY Purchase. Surprisingly enough, they freaked at the sight of my custom of building bonfires, but the kindle worked well. Their biggest shock, however, came at the sight of the boars head I brought out to roast. I had been saving it for a bit, but apparently this was not the right occasion to bring it out on. You gotta know who you’re catering to in this world, but sometimes everyone’s a stranger.

I’ve grown a lot over the past few years. Essentially, but not so much physically. I’ve adapted new talents, gone to new countries, and developed the ability to conquer time-space. I now know how to exist in two places at once, to be two different ages, to have different interest. Next time, bet on me, instead of any of those split personality types. Because I’m not crazy.

Thanks,

Camilo Rayo.

Often compared to Forever 21, Kurios is your one-stop trend shop, with everything from jewelry, makeup, and accessories to shoes, dresses and undies. Catering to the contemporary and casual dresser, Kurios offers reasonably priced jewelry at only $1.99 and shoes $12.99 – $32.99. With an average price point of $3.99 – $12.99 for their basics collection, (1/4 of the store,) you’re guaranteed to find all the necessities you need: leggings,Tea Party yoga pants, or lace tanks and tees in every color. Kurios also has all the latest trends, lots of 80’s stuff, shoulder pads, stud and zipper detailing, military and leather jackets, animal print, and one-sleeved dresses.

For promotional deals updated daily, check out Kurios on Facebook! Right know $9.99 – $19.99 sale rack

Between two layers - Copyright 2008 Pega

Si certo, mica è uno scherzo. L’ho incontrato in aerovia, era lì che viaggiava a 20.000 piedi con la sua slitta e le sue renne e visto che era a portata di voce gli ho fatto qualche domanda. A tema fotografico naturalmente…..

Babbo Natale, non sai quanto sia felice di poterti intervistare per il mio blog, quindi cerco di andare subito al sodo perchè, come vedo, non hai molto tempo da dedicarmi.
Dimmi: tra i regali che porti ci sono molti doni a tema fotografico ?
Sinceramente ti dico che specie quest’anno mi pare proprio che la fotografia sia un po’ “di moda”.
Sembra che la reflex a tracolla faccia molto trend.
La risposta alla tua domanda è quindi  del tutto affermativa.

E che tipo di regali sono ?
Più che altro si tratta di elementi di attrezzatura : macchine fotografiche, obiettivi, accessori, gadget…
Mi accade sempre più spesso di portare una nuova e più sofisticata macchina fotografica a chi ne possiede già una ma di generazione precedente, o anche consegnare costosi accessori e obiettivi che poi succede non vengano nemmeno quasi mai usati…
E’ un po’ una fotografia… come dire… ”consumistica”.
Non è un caso che stia appunto volando verso Hong Kong a caricare “il materiale”.

Non ci sono anche altri desideri che ti vengono espressi in questo campo ?
Mi capita sempre più di rado di consegnare qualcosa che rappresenti maggiormente la sostanza della fotografia, come per esempio un libro o… semplicemente delle belle stampe artistiche.
Sono poi anni che ormai che non regalo più un corso o un workshop e forse è un peccato.

Ma tu fai foto ?
Beh è evidente. Ho la mia vecchia macchina analogica sempre con me e tutti gli scatti che faccio nel periodo di duro lavoro del Natale me li sviluppo e stampo con calma tra primavera ed estate.
Comunque sto pensando di passare al digitale…. ho visto su ebay quell’ultimo modello di compatta da 16 Megapixel… mmmmm…

Ah! La compatta anche tu ?
Si, del resto anch’io mi devo adeguare ai tempi.
Ed ora togliti di mezzo con quel frullino e fammi accelerare che sennò mi si ingolfano i reattori.
Ciaoooooooooo e Buone Festeeeeeee

I reattori ? Ma le renne ?

Non ha risposto all’ultima domanda. Era già schizzato a mach 2 verso i grossisti asiatici.

Ryan Seaman’s work has a lot movement and a lot of layers. He combines elements of illustration, drawing, and digital media and Inspired by photography, painting and drawing, his design contains many elements of grunge, that he successfully combines with other media to create dynamic designs.

Fenway Park - Home of the Boston Red Sox

Welcome to WakeBall Wednesday installment #49-001 — the First Installment — the Introduction.

As many of you are aware, I’m a fan of Baseball, the Red Sox and knuckleball pitcher Tim Wakefield #49. This new weekly installment on Life Revolving will encompass these three things — but maybe not all in the same post.

I welcome all comments — good or bad — as long as they’re constructive in nature. I also welcome your suggestions for upcoming topics to be covered in these weekly installments.

You can rock neon just like the fly M.I.A. (Photo by John Shearer/WireImage)

Hello, cool peeps! I hope that your week is off to a terrific start, which I am sure that it is. Leisurely toying through an assortment of neon and muted shoe laces, hoping to find the perfect color scheme to make a braided headband or two yesterday afternoon, I began to think about flourescents this season. 

Being a bright color enthusiast, I am all about the neon hues… even in the dead of winter. Who says that these intense tints are reserved for sorching summer afternoons? Strut your dazzling duds with confidence and sparkle!

A fantastically functional snippet on sporting this intrepidly vibrant accessory with poise can be found on Teen Vogue’s website, entitled, “How to Wear Neon” by Connie Wang. Along with a brief how-to guide, I have a few other tips up my sleeve about his fashion statement, using hot summer trends. All photos below were found on the Teen Vogue website in the Summer Land photo spread. (To go to the original page, please click on that particular photo. Thank you!)

As seen by the model on the right, layers are a clever way to subtly burst at the seams with bright color while toning it down with low-key a clothing article, like her top long-sleeved shirt.

As seen in the photo, boldly shaded shoes have the ability to brighten up any outfit.

As seen by the model on the left, it is perfectly acceptable to wear a vibrant colored flannel shirt with a few neutral pieces.

 With any luck, I hope I did not make you too reminiscent of long day trips to the beach. Six more months ’til summer, muffins. Can’t wait!

Neon ’til your heart’s content,

Dani