Birthday Party in DC

Took this pic at my friend’s birthday party in DC.

Night at Taboq, originally uploaded by lonny.gomes.

The L'Enfant Metro

Today’s iPhone photo of the day was taken in outside of the L’Enfant Metro station. There was this random light display that is exhibited on the south exit. Just something a little different.

iPhone sunrise

I’ve been dabbling in photography here and there for the past few years but recently I’ve felt the urge to get back into shooting. I used to have a decent point and shoot camera, but after it was stolen I’ve been left with just my iPhone and my Nikon F3. My F3 is a manual focus film camera and it really has been a great learning tool but alas I do feel it’s time to drop film entirely. I pay a minimum of $10 a roll for developing and if I’m lucky, there will be 2 or 3 frames that I actually will like from any given roll!

My other camera is the one in my iPhone and let’s face it, the iPhone is an amazing piece of hardware but the on-board camera is sub par. I believe it was Chase Jarvis that said that the best camera is the one that’s with you. It is in that spirit that I am starting an on-going thread that I’de like to call “iPhone Photo of the day”. I’ve taken some interesting photos (to me at least) with my iPhone and I will periodically share them with the world on this blog. At least in the beginning they will not be retouched in anyway. Let’s see how it goes!

My first photo I took way back when I first got my phone. It was a beautiful sunrise that I caught just at the right time.

The use of Auto-tune is a controversial subject. Some music purist believe there is not place for it. Some use it purely for the vocal effect while still others use it because without it they would sound horrible. One thing to note is that for Auto-tune to work correctly you do have to be able to carry a tune to a certain degree, you just don’t have to be perfect.

I recently put out a mix tape. I wanted to include a “diss” of a fellow DJ but I wanted to do it in a creative way. I ended up recording a song using Auto-tune, singing a “parody” of Snoop Dog’s “Sensual Seduction” track. I figured if he could sound good with Auto-tune, me a former Jackson 5 could have been should be able pull it off as well! Check out the final results below. I think I just may have Snoop beat! Well … maybe

Download audio file (Mass_Innovation_short.mp3)

I had the “pleasure” of experiencing this historic event by effectively being snowed in my neighborhood. The buses were down and the Metro soon came afterward and already having 2 incidents with my car in the snow I definitely wasn’t going to be driving! Being that I did most of my growing up in a middle-class New England town where there never was a shortage of snow come winter time, experiencing winter snow storms in the city is truly a unique experience. I had a similar experience in 2003 where I was stuck in New York City in a huge snow storm and one thing I noticed both in DC and NYC is that when the snow starts to fall in the city, so do people’s inhibitions. People forget about their age, about their differences or social standing and all come together to make snowman, slide down hills on improvised sleds, and have snowball fights.

With the advent of social networking and smart phones, collaboration is much easier to achieve. Some people organized a snowball fight to take place on 14th & U. I wasn’t aware of this plan but I happened to be walking on U Street and heard people laughing and screaming in the distance as I approached 14th street. It was actually quite a site and I took part in one “battle” for a bit which was timed based off of the red lights. About 10 or so minutes after I left the scene, a few of the “snowballers” threw a snowball (or two) at a hummer driving by. The driver got out of the car and proceeded to show his gun. He didn’t point it at anyone but the gesture definitely was an abuse of his power.

The one thing I do feel that many people haven’t been saying in regards to this situation is that the kids really shouldn’t have been throwing snowballs at moving traffic. The cop’s reaction was unprofessional and although it may fly in the hood, it’s not gonna work with the U Street crowd who are armed with iPhones and youtube accounts! Below is footage from the incident. After the detective pulls out his gun there is a kid that still nails him in the face with a perfectly placed ball of snow!

Despite the snowball fight incident, it was beautifully refreshing to see DC covered in generous layers of white fluffy stuff. For that one day, the snow covered the harsh realities of life and for a moment brought joy to an otherwise politically charged and divided city. Below I captured some images and video of the snow storm, or as it was referred to on Twitter, the #snowpocalypse of ‘09.

In the midst of all the drama I have gotten a few things done.  I’ve made a mix tape, done some demo recordings and started research in developing applications for the iPhone.  I’m going to work at being better with updating my site with upcoming projects so stay tuned!

The plan is to head to DCA (Reagan National Airport) to pick up out other friend Ethan.  This is a start of what will be a long day.  By the end of it, our patience will be tried and as well as our endurance to the elements.

I will be making periodic updated throughout the day and I will also be trying to capture much of the experience on video.

I’ve been to the Lincoln Memorial several times — often playing tour guide to those visiting DC — but never really stopped long enough to think of all the history that has taken place on it’s steps.  Yesterday, we were watching the free pre-inauguration show, which took place on the same very same steps.  

Some of the biggest names in politics and entertainment were sharing the steps that King did 46 years before.  It definitely brings another perspective to the monument and the man it remembers.

Today, Soledad O’Brien interviewed a few people who were in town for the inauguration who were also in town August 28th, 1963 to hear Dr. King speak.  Some say, King was the Moses and Obama is Joshua generation.  Continuing with the bible reference, some have even said from the death of King to the election of Obama represented 40 years of walking in the wilderness and it now is time to see the promise land.  I’m not sure if I’m ready to go *that* for with it, but one thing is for sure, I will be in DC tomorrow to share in the experience of history.

A couple years ago, I made a “tribute” mix to MLK … it’s actually more a commentary on freedom.  It’s a bit long (about 10 minutes), but check it out when you get the chance.

Download audio file (DJ%20Mass%20Defect%20-%20Be%20Free.mp3)

I will be making updates within the next couple weeks, including my inauguration experience so stay tune!

Anyway, my parents found some old video footage of us from way back in the day and my dad got this little video camera for Christmas. So putting the two together, some of this footage ended up on you tube! Below is raw footage of my short-lived career as a child rock star. We were it back then, but then my brother and I started to have creative differences and the pressure got to me … I gave it all up!