Why, again, does the rest of the world consider Americans excessive?

Oh, that's why...

We build big loud trucks whose only purpose is to jump really high into the air and crush cars and make noise.  I donned no sleeves on this frigid Friday in February (because you shouldn't wear sleeves to monster truck rallies, duh) and watched as trucks with names like "El Toro Loco," "Monster Mutt," "Superman," and "Grave Digger" revved their engines, jumped over cars and, in some cases wrecked themselves from jumping too high and landing on one wheel.  The whole thing was totally ridiculous and is probably on the list of things that proves that our collective IQ is rapidly lowering (possibly from breathing in too many monster truck fumes).  I know I killed a few brain cells that night, and it wasn't from alcohol.

The show consisted of a bunch of different events crammed together with no particular reasoning as far as we could tell.  For instance, they started out by "racing" the monster trucks around the track with two jumps per lap, but I still am not sure exactly how the winner was chosen or why.  It seemed to be which ever truck crossed the finish line first, but if I wanted to see things go fast, I would have gone to Nascar without my sleeves!  I was rooting for the car that hit the jumps most recklessly!  There were some ATV races mixed in there too which, after seeing the monster trucks race, looked like a bunch of Hot Wheels toys driving in circles.  That was followed by a ten minute set up for what we found out was snow mobile jumping (the actual performance lasted about as long as the set up and ensuing take down of their ramp).  Oh, did I mention that this did not take place on snow?  Then, thinking that we couldn't get any more confused about what was happening, there was a 12 minute (at least) dub step laser light show.  Still not sure why.

The end of the show was what we all came to see, the monster trucks ran all over the place, crushing cars and driving up the huge ramp in the middle.  Two trucks broke something, which was AWESOME, and they all made a lot of noise and got into the air a few times.  Still doesn't get the testosterone pumping like a fighter jet fly over, but it wasn't bad.  AMERICA!

Ansel Adams

I just got back from the Lake County Discovery Museum in Wauconda, Illinois where they were hosting an exhibit of Ansel Adams original prints.  I have to say, I have been familiar with Adams' work since I took photography in high school, but I never really got much information about his innovations and techniques that he used to produce some of the most incredible photographic images ever made.  The exhibit had a good deal more prints than I had expected being a small museum in Wauconda, and each one was very impressive.  I have never seen an Ansel Adams print that was reproduced so well (these were actually the work of Adams himself), the ones I have seen are usually grainy or faded and do not show what I learned to be one of Adams' signature features of his prints: sharpness and depth of field.

As I read the information next to the prints, I learned that Adams used an extremely deep depth of field to capture as much of the detail of the landscapes he photographed.  After reading this, I made sure to pay attention to the depth of field used in the prints and it was abundantly clear that the aperture was about as small as he could get it.  The image was razor sharp from the pebbles in the foreground to the jagged mountains in the background and everything in between.  He seemed to want to capture every detail he possibly could in his photographs.  It was really interesting to go back and look at the photographs a little closer and see all the little grains of gravel and the textures of the snowdrifts and sand dunes.  The pictures I grabbed above from the internet just don't do justice to the sharpness of the prints I saw in person.

Another interesting piece of information I picked up from reading along as I checked out the prints was that Adams' original plan was to be a musician.  He wanted, if I recall correctly, to be a pianist, and never lost his interest in music as an art form even as he became a world renowned photographer.  I read quotes from him describing how he would "hear" things in the images he captured.  I'm not sure if it was the power of suggestion, but his images did seem to have some sort of aural spirit to them.  I can't say I could hear music as I looked at them but they looked like music.  The landscapes seemed to flow along, or stand rigidly still as a melody or accent moves and stops in a song.  Dave told me not to apologize for getting too introspective when I write, so I won't (but it still feels a little funny).  The images were truly inspiring and I will admit, I got some serious goose bumps as I looked at the staggering beauty of the places Adams photographed.  He seemed to be able to capture them at their most wonderful, intense, and sometimes peaceful moments.  I read that a lot of the shots were taken at sunrise or just after and that he would often wait for the shadow line to cut across the frame at just the right spot to get his contrast just right.

I haven't been seriously moved by an art exhibit in a long time, not sure if I ever have actually, but I was today.  The last day to see the show is tomorrow, so you'll probably have missed it when you read this, but if you ever do get the chance to see these photographs, or better, the places that were Adams' subject matter, do not pass it up.