Meme

Tara over at Sticky Fingers has created yet another meme that’s currently sweeping the blogosphere: the “Favorite Photo Meme”. The rules are pretty simple: pick your favourite ever photo and post it.

Interestingly enough the first thought that sprung to my mind was to try and find the most technically and aesthetically pleasing photo I’ve taken. Whereas I’ve noticed that the majority of people who’ve taken part in the meme have gone for one that has the most emotional resonance for them. I’m guessing that it’s probably a gender thing.

After a minute or two’s thought I picked out a photo I took during one of Evan’s stays in hospital for breathing difficulties:

When I tweeted it to Tara (@tara_cain) she replied:

@dghughes Oh brother. That pic with an explanation with it will have me blubbing! Can see why it would be a favorite.

Oh… yeah… um… yes. If I’m honest I’d not even really considered the emotive side to the photo – I was just smugly please with myself about the way I’d bumped up the redness of the oxygen monitor using photoshop.

I am a shallow, shallow man.

But anyway, I’m not even choosing this one now.

I’ve not been taking as many photo’s as I used to do recently. I’m not really sure why, but I suspect it’s a combination of lack of time and a general malaise that I’ve been under for the last nine months or so.

However Kerry, the real photographer in our family, has recently rediscovered her photography muse. She’s even had her own personal epiphany about using the camera in her iPhone. Instead of complaining about it’s crapness (and trust me, it’s notoriously crap) she has decided to embrace it’s flaws – much like the owner of a Holga camera might do.

The results she has been getting are stunning. Here’s one she took yesterday on the way home from work:

Of course the downside to her rejuvenated love of photography is that I keep finding her on my our computer uploading stuff to her flickr account, damn her eyes.

So anyway, as I’ve been inspired by Kerry’s use of the iPhone as an artistic tool I’m going to chose a photo of Amy I took with mine this summer:

Yes, it’s probably not going to be my favorite photo of all time – but it’s my favorite photo at this moment right now, and that’s about as much as I’ll ever be able to say really.

I didn’t get tagged by anyone for this one (no one likes me apparently) so I’m not tagging anyone else specifically. However if you do fancy doing it then make sure you let Tara know as she’s putting together a gallery.

Bookmark It

In a conversation in the comments section yesterday Insomniac Mummy inspired me to start up a sort of “Things I Have Got Out of Blogging” series of posts. So here we go.

I’ve been incredibly fortunate to make a number of really good friends through this blog. And many of these friendships have transcended their “virtual” boundaries and grown to be as solid and as real as any I’ve developed through traditional means.

All my blogging friends are incredibly important to me, and my life is enriched by them immeasurably. But my friendship with a chap called Greg has a particular importance to me.

You probably don’t know Greg. If you do it’s probably only because you’ve read one of my sycophantic posts about him. These days he rarely engages with the blogging world, either in comments or over on his own blog. But nearly four years ago when I first dipped my toes into blogging, he was my mentor. His was the first blog I ever read, and his were the first comments I ever received. If it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t be doing this, and so I am truly grateful.

He also bought me my first ukulele, and therefore has incured the wrath of my entire family.

He also happens to be the funniest writer on the whole internet. His is the only blog that I’ve gone back through the entire archives and read every single post ever written. Twice. And I ended up in tears of laughter both times. And there’s a fair few posts to get through too – this guy was one of the pioneers and his first entries date back to 1999.

Unfortunately Greg’s just about given up on blogging over the past couple of years, and the internet is a far poorer place for his absence. I keep trying to persuade him to start up a joint blogging venture with me. I’d happily mothball All That Comes With It for the chance to collaborate in a trans-atlantic “Tales of Two Families” type site. But he just smiles at me, mutters various polite platitudes, and then changes the subject. Damn his eyes.

We’ve flown over to the states to visit Greg (and his fantastic wife Deb and their two kids) twice. Once in 2007 and once earlier this year. Those two visits have been amongst the best holidays I’ve had in my life – and considering that they live in deepest darkest Wisconsin that’s really saying something for their prowess as hosts. They also came over here to visit us too. Despite the distance between us, he and his family are among the Hughes’ most valued friends.

In short, I like the guy and I like his family.

I’ll stop now as I’m probably pissing him off. However in order to illustrate the man’s comedy genius I thought I’d repost a video he did for me.

Just as a quick explanation: A couple of years ago a younger, fatter, me attempted to start my own meme based around pretending to be an orangutan. Here are the rules, followed by my own video:

The Every Which Way but Loose Meme.

The rules:
1. You are auditioning to be in the latest orangutan related comedy blockbuster: Dunston Checks In II: Return of the feces flinger.
2. The Screen Actors Guild restrict non-human primates to only three facial expressions in order that they are not used as cheap substitutes for actors such as Jean-Claude Van Damme and Rosanne Barr. These are: The Raspberry, the Head Shake, and the Face Slap.
3. Create an audition video exhibiting your talent in these three areas.
4. Try and persuade some other idiots to do it too