I crack myself up sometimes. (read more »)

In early December of 2007, Paul Brown of Legends Memorabilia invited me to be a guest at Gatecon 2008, a sci-fi convention for Stargate SG-1 and Stargate Atlantis fans.

Sea Shepherd with Richard Dean Anderson
Can you spot the poseur? Hint: it’s me.

I was introduced to Paul by Kim McCoy, International Executive Director of Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Gatecon 2008 was to be very special this year because Richard Dean Anderson (RDA) would be in attendance for the first time in Stargate convention history. “Rick” (as he likes to be called) is on Sea Shepherd’s board of directors, and through RDA and Legends, Gatecon 2008 was set up as a benefit event for Sea Shepherd.

Stargate SG-1 is my father’s favorite show, and he has been talking about it for over a decade. But even though I had heard about the TV show for years, I had never actually seen an episode of SG-1 nor Atlantis prior to my involvement in Gatecon. In the last 8 months, I made it a mission to watch as many episodes as possible to prepare for Gatecon. I loaded up on DVDs before each trip abroad and spent evenings on boats winding down by watching an episode or two. I’m proud to say that I made it through 8.5 seasons of SG-1 (about 175 episodes) in 8 months! I’m now thoroughly invested in the characters, and am sure to finish up the 10 seasons of SG-1 before starting to make my way through Atlantis and the SG-1 movies. (read more »)

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My buddy Jeremy Desmon just wrote me about a new online comedy series he is working on. Check it out!

Hey all,

I’m writing to spread the word about a cool new online comedy series I’m working on, called MAN OF THE PEOPLE: The Only-Recently Discovered Secret Political Recordings of Acting Mayor Francis “Woody” Woodson. The writing is really smart and clever and it stars an amazing crew of Broadway folks. This free audio web serial (with a political bent) “airs” new episodes online every Tuesday through Election Day, November 4th.

Please take a listen! Go to www.woody4mayor.com hit the “Play” button. That’s it. It’s that simple. Even better, subscribe to receive weekly emails or have iTunes automatically download each episode as it goes online. And it’s free! From the press release: “Akin to comedic serials “Prairie Home Companion” or Joss Whedon’s “Dr. Horrible,” MAN OF THE PEOPLE echoes radio plays of the past, while providing an up-to-the-minute, satirical take on the 2008 election through the guise of a heated mayoral race in the fictional hamlet of Daltonville (pop. 1799). Comprised of the “found” tapes of a small-town mayor secretly audiotaping his every political move, this episodic download follows Woody Woodson as he drags Daltonville through a series of political minefields, trudging along his quixotic quest for re-election (and, of course, his place in history).” Listen (and subscribe) at www.woody4mayor.com!

Enjoy,
Jeremy

ON FACEBOOK? ON iTUNES? GOT THREE MINUTES? We hope you’ll enjoy the series so much, you’ll subscribe and share it with others over time. But, as we launch, could you please take three minutes to help us spread the word?

(One minute) On Facebook? Go to www.snipurl.com/woody4mayor (it may ask you to login to facebook). Select “Post to Profile” at the top and click the “Post” button. That’s it. This helps us immensely. (Feel free to write a nice comment.)

(Two minutes) Got iTunes? Go to www.snipurl.com/iTunesSubscribe and click “Subscribe.” That’s it. No obligation to listen, but an initial blast of podcast subscribers (that’s you!) really, really helps us get exposure through iTunes rankings. So thank you so much. (Super-Duper-Bonus-Help: Know how to post comments at the iTunes Store? Please, please do, and say nice things!)

(Advanced Web Folks Only) On StumbleUpon? Reddit? Something else? Please use your web savvy to help us spread the word! Go to www.woody4mayor.com, click “ShareThis” and work your magic. Thanks!

kim mccoy, paul watson, me, an asgard, and the asgard’s keeper

lord watson rules from lord ba’al’s throne

“it’s an honor,” richard dean anderson says when he meets me.
i reply with the same! (photo: adam lau)

amanda is a budding ocean conservationist!

I’m having a lot of fun here, and the Stargate fans in attendance seem to be really excited about the ocean and finding out what they can do to spread awareness of conservation issues.

I made this little video a few days ago. I’m not sure why. It may be interesting for those of you who post a lot of images online.

Wetpixel Quarterly, Eric Cheng Photography, Shark Angels

We arrived in Vancouver today and set up our booths at Gatecon. I’m hoping that the tenuous connection between me and Stargate fans¹ will be enough for them to be interested in my work. :)

My first log splitting. It was actually quite satisfying! Thanks, Adam for the video. There is a still image of me at the moment of splitting, and my expression is bizarre. (read more »)

Every video person should see this clip of a new technology in the works by some folks at the University of Washington.

When this technology becomes mainstream, it is going to change everything.

the sixgill shark cage

I love diving in unusual environments.

The sunset here is really pretty. Everything stopped today when the sun hit the mountains, and we hustled out onto the back deck to snap some photos.

Yesterday’s sunset was reported to be even more spectacular, but Matt and I were underwater at the time. We surfaced to an absolutely flat ocean below a fiery red sky, which was quite an experience.

I’m in the Puget Sound off of Seattle diving with sixgill sharks (Hexanchus griseus). We just finished our first evening in the water, and had fantastic luck (we started at around 9pm). Matt Segal and I dropped in and had four female sixgills come in on the bait almost immediately. I felt tremendous privilege being in the water with them because they are such elusive animals; our habitats simply don’t normally have any overlap.

a sixgill shark in Seattle (Hexanchus griseus)

During Simon’s rotation, he saw a large sixgill (12 ft long, estimated) eating crabs. We’re told that this behavior has never been seen before, and hope to be able to capture it on video tomorrow night.

I always thought ratfish (Chimaeras) were rare (I photographed some in Alaska, but there were literally hundreds down at the bottom today, along with about a billion dungeness crabs. If you want to photograph ratfish, there is no need to fly off to some exotic place and descend down into the depths. Fly to Seattle, chuck some bait off of the side of your boat, and shoot as many photos as you need!

On the way up from the dive, we ascended through an algae bloom. I looked over at Matt while we were hanging at our safety stop, and the slight oscillation of the ascent line caused his body to throw off literally thousands of sparkling lights…

six-gill shark — count ‘em. there are six of them. :)

Continue reading for video updates from the field. I’ll be uploading video as time allows for the next three days. (read more »)

At the talk I gave last week, there was a guy there who seemed to exist in a different plane of existence, and he managed to thoroughly confuse (and annoy) pretty much everyone he encountered.

My experience with him wan’t so bad: all he did to me was monopolize my time and ask me to get him a spot on the Sea Shepherd boat (uhh, ok).The only damage I suffered was collateral — a missed opportunity to talk to other people.

Adam had a funny story: (read more »)

Graham soaks up the San Francisco spirit

Graham Abbott has been in town here in San Francisco for weeks, and has been loving it! I do believe we’ll be seeing him more frequently on this side of the Pacific.

For those of you who don’t know Graham, he is dive guide extraordinaire in Indonesia, and will be helping us to find rare critters during the Wetpixel Ultimate Indo trip next March/April. Graham has shuttled me around Bali more than once, and I owe a lot of my enjoyment of the island to his generous hosting. If you’re headed over to Bali and want to do some diving, Graham is your man!

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georgina and amanda-cat

GG came back through San Francisco on her way back to Sydney from Wyoming. Coincidentally, we were in San Francisco at the same time (again) and were able to hang out one more. GG thought it suspicious because although I claim to be out of town a lot, I always seem to be in town when she arrives. Suspicious, indeed.

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if only this were typical

Some of my prints are on display (huge!) in the lobby of 50 Fremont, San Francisco.

The show is called Wetpixel: Marine Visions, and will be up from August 9 - October 14, 2008. If you’re interested in the photos, please contact Michaela Brockstedt.

I don’t have any proper images of the exhibit yet, but I hope to get in there to take some when I return from my next trip.

I continue to have 10-15 second freezes on my iPhone when I bring up the contacts list in attempts to make calls. It is really quite infuriating. Why can other phones handle hundreds of contacts without locking their users out?

To make me feel better, I’ve decided to collect iPhone fail screens.

what good is 5 bars of coverage if you can’t make a call?

I had a ton of failed calls when I was down in San Diego (as you might remember from my torrent of angry tweets), but that was before firmware 2.0, and I was unable to screenshot the fail screen even when using the jailbroken screenshot app.

UPDATE: At the moment, my iPhone doesn’t show up in iTunes when I plug it in. My Apple Bluetooth headset also now refuses to pair with anything. Massive Apple failure.

UPDATE: I reinstalled iTunes 7.7.1, and it works again.

This video is probably only hilarious if you don’t understand German. Oh yeah, you probably have to be a Twitter user, too. :)

“And that stupid fail whale!”

HAHAHAHA!

Every time I get an email from Al, it is a wonderful opportunity. (read more »)

Since I moved into my new cave, I’ve been obsessed with light and the position of the sun. For a period of a week, I spent an hour a day browsing light therapy and 5500°K lighting products. I even bought some, and have asked a designer to look into huge light panels for the wall (preferably LED to avoid any further baking from heat given off by generating light).

It’s a good thing I’m located right in the middle of everything here in San Francisco. I’m driven out of the house by hunger nearly every day, and luckily, summer days are long,and it’s almost always still light when I venture out. I’m glad that I’m getting a good dose of natural light every day, even if I am not getting much of it when I sit here in front of my computer.

Plus, I’m isolated here, and it’s really the only time I get to see people. I guess people watching is better than nothing.

My personalized Google homepage has adapted to my new obsession, and the entire right-hand column is now full of statistics on celestial bodies and time. Since I can’t tell where the sun is from inside here, I guess I’ll have to rely on the interwebs.

So… yeah, I love my new place. But it has its drawbacks.

I went to Taqueria Cancun last night (the one at Mission/18th) with Jake, and found a taqueria I nearly didn’t recognize. There was no free water, and during our entire dinner, only 3 Latinos came in to eat. Instead, it was a bunch of well-dressed folks — Caucasians and Asians, mostly — plus the occasional rail-thin hipster in a striped sport coat and funky hat.

the good ol’ burrito mojado

However, the burrito mojado was as I remembered it to be, as was the nasty ambient smell, which only materialized after a yuppie asked a staff member to close the door because it was too cold outside.

Can anyone recommend a good taqueria in SOMA? I know there is a Taqueria Cancun at Market/6th, but it doesn’t seem like there are many more in the area.