i recently acquired 10 cheap rolls of film from yahoo auctions. what's so different about this film you ask? well not much, they're all kodachrome 64 / 36 exposure colour transparency film still in the packaging and been expired for 16 years. that's right, best before june 1988. were not talking wine here so age does not improve the quality of film. even if it were frozen for those 16 years the quality must have been degraded significantly. so why buy it? because of the unpredictable results, the possibility of warped, faded, exaggerated colours duh.

little explanation on what happens to film when it ages from the jp mailing list.

unlike milk, film is actually at its perfect best peak when it hits that expired date. the manufacturers know that film might sit around in storerooms or shelves for months or even years before purchase and they also know that over time the film emulsion will shift. this shift in the emulsion is most noticeable with color film, where it goes slowly quietly gently ever so carefully to a total and complete blue. but this takes years and years. generally, this shift, within the reasonable usability of the film, is for most purposes, negligible so, anyway... in the factory, because the manufacturer knows about the shift, they set the emulsion up on this side of perfect, so that over time it will creep over and pass to that other side of perfect. either way a few months, give or take, of that expiration date is when the emulsion is at its absolute prime.

i've heard stories of big time l.a. photographers buying cases of color film and storing it in the trunk of the car so as to prematurely age it. to sweeten it as it were.

thanks to james luckett for this

broadcast me a joyful noise unto the times, lord,
count your blessings.
the papers wouldn't lie!
i sigh. not one more

it's been a bad day.
please don't take a picture
its been a bad day.
please

bad day r.e.m.

i've been watching mtv and editing these photos at the same time and came to these conclusions

-gwen stefani is hot, hot, hot. this is not news for me, i've always thought this even though i fear she may glow in the dark with all the make-up sometimes. and did no doubt trade in their guitar, bass and drum kit for a synthesizer and drum machine?

-outkast has style coming out his every orifice. i like this line from the hey ya chorus "shake it, shake it like a polaroid picture"

-good charlotte... when i first saw one of their cd's at hmv i took a listen thinking it was good riddance, so safe to say was very disapointed.

i was there.

"all he wants to do is be creative." "he doesn't care about money or personal hygiene or anything else. and he never has. if we made $10,000, he'd give it to the pizza delivery guy. he only cares about art." michael balzary, a.k.a. flea on guitar god john frusciante.

for christmas masako got me the red hot chili peppers greatest hits album and i've been listening to it non-stop ever since. it also came with a dvd including all their videos since blood sugar sex magik and higher ground from mother's milk. i was suprised the video for the newly released track fortune faded (which is also on the cd) was not on the dvd, but can be seen online.

photos from victoria, fm3a and dirty cheap film

back in tokyo enjoying the rest of the new years holiday. frankie is really missing the fresh air, parks and family back in victoria. lots more photos to come from our trip once I get them back from the lab and get a hold of a scanner.