Memorial Day 2009

I took these pictures during a trip to the Vietnam War Memorial with my good friend Sean and his parents last year. It's not that I'm feeling particularly patriotic today or anything, but I thought I'd update the blog, and the holiday provided a nice, timely excuse to post these pix.

Austin, Texas 2010

Anime USA 2009

Earth Day 2010

Despite forecasts of thunderstorms, it was sunny and warm on the National Mall during this year's Earth Day climate rally. Since it was the 40th anniversary, there was a much larger crowd than last year, and some big names on the marquee as well, including Avatar director James Cameron. I duly rubbed the elbows of, among others, reggae legend Jimmy Cliff, the lead singer of Fall Out Boy, and Cincinnati Bengals linebacker and television personality Dhani Jones, who jokingly (?) accused me of trying to sneak a peak at the paper his speech was printed out on (I wasn't - I swear.) But the highlight of the day was getting to meet legendary Grateful Dead guitarist Bob Weir. When it came picture-taking time, I was so nervous I could barely focus the camera. And, objectively speaking, the picture isn't all that great--it's probably not really interesting to anyone other than me. At one point in Camera Lucida, Roland Barthes writes about a photograph that only holds significance for him--and it's the only photograph that he discusses that isn't reproduced in the book. But since I'm not Roland Barthes, here's my picture of Bob Weir, along with a few others from the day.