TOLAROIDS: The Spooky Contest Results!

akilian Leave a comment

Last week you voted for the spookiest photo of the spooky season, and as promised I will go over the winning photograph, the context, editing, general information, etc.

 

#1 A spooky encounter

As of today, 36.36% voted for this photo as the spookiest!

Background

I was walking through the Arb for the first time, trying to get fall-themed photos. It was probably around mid-October and I just walked into what I believed is called the Praire part of the Arboretum. That’s when I saw this guy right here!

Settings

Camera: Nikon D750, lens 18-200mm

  • Exposure time: 1/100s
  • ISO 800,
  • f/5.6

Editing

I decided to go quite simple with editing, I really like the colors so I pretty much didn’t touch them except for some slight color saturation for green. For the “spooky” touch I added vignetting and higher contrast

  • Exposure: +0.80
  • Contrast: +40
  • Highlights: -30
  • Shadows: +9
  • Post-crop vignetting: -18
  • Temperature: 5,447
  • Texture: +5
  • Clarity: +5
  • Green Saturation: +8

And here you can see the before & after:

tool: Juxtapose by NU Night Lab

If you have any questions or comments you can catch me here or at @akilian.jpg on Instagram! See you next week!

Leo the Mer-Guy! Chapter Twenty: New Beginnings (END)

theopoling Leave a comment

Leo woke up on the shore of the pond, naked, human, and soaking wet, gasping for breath.

 

“Leo!” Someone exclaimed, but his ears were too full of water for him to tell who.

 

He shook off, roughly, like a dog. His ears popped.

 

“Give him some privacy,” a sharp voice hissed. That was Yasmin.

 

He saw her teal skirt move toward him. She pulled off her oversized hoodie and held it out as a privacy screen.

 

“Thanks,” Leo mumbled, thoughts swimming around in his head. He stood up on shaky legs, wiggling his human toes. He changed into his clothes, shivering in the October night. The bonfire was just embers now, illuminating everyone’s faces in deep oranges and reds.

 

When he was finished, he stepped out from behind Yasmin’s privacy barrier.

 

Ash stepped forward. “What happened?” they asked. “We thought you were dead.”

 

Leo’s heart pulled at the emotions in their voice. “No, I’m okay,” he said, offering a wobbly smile. “I was supposed to be down there. Turns out, I’m uh, a Mer person. And I’m going to help them.”

 

His words were met with silence, only the last crickets of the fall chirping to fill the void.

 

“Dude. Seriously?” Tinashe eventually said.

 

Leo nodded. “Like, full tail and everything. But only during certain moons.”

 

“So you’re a were Mer person,” Juan said, raising an eyebrow.

 

“That’s awesome!” Ruby said. “I know we just met, but I am so proud of you.”

 

Ash checked their watch. “Just as midnight hit. Fitting.”

 

Leo nodded, smiling.

 

Wait. “Midnight?” he gasped. “It’s already midnight? My parents are gonna kill me. I gotta go.”

 

One at a time, Leo got a firm hug from each of his new friends. They traded numbers, promising to text him when they met next.

 

With that, Leo ran through the night, his feet carrying him out of the woods and back onto the neighborhood streets.

 

Heart pumping, Leo whooped as he ran.

 

He was ready to meet his new life head on.

 

Maybe he would like it here.

 

The End

Weird and Wonderful: A Trilogy of Camp

Harper Klotz Leave a comment

Hello everyone! My name is Harper, and I’m glad to be back writing “Weird and Wonderful” after a long break. This year, I want to continue sharing films, music, shows, and more that are outside the mainstream. For my first post this semester, here are three out-of-the-box films I watched over summer and fall that I highly recommend.

 

The Stuff (1985) directed by Larry Cohen

Are you eating it…or is it eating you?

Within the first five minutes of The Stuff, a wandering man finds mysterious white goop on the ground, leans down, and eats it. This campy, satirical horror film asks the questions that’s on everyone’s mind: what if ice cream was evil? Over the course of its tight 87 minute runtime, we follow Jason (Scott Bloom), a young boy whose family has fallen prey to an addicting dessert that crawls in the night. Joining forces with former FBI agent Mo Rutherford (Michael Moriarty) and ad executive Nicole (Andrea Marcovicci), the three set out to stop The Stuff at its source with the help of some wacky sidekicks. I can only describe this film as “David Cronenberg meets The Blob — if the titular blob was a delicious, national sensation”. At its core, The Stuff is a brilliant satire of American consumerism that will leave you absolutely dumbfounded.

 

The Wizard (1989) directed by Todd Holland

I love the Power Glove, it’s so bad.

The first half of The Wizard‘s plot sounds like a drama: Jimmy Woods (Luke Edwards) suffers from PTSD after a family death, so he and his brother Corey (Fred Savage) journey cross-country to California. On the way, they pick up young drifter Haley (Jenny Lewis), who witnesses Jimmy’s gaming prowess and encourages him to enter a Nintendo tournament. That’s right, this film is actually one big, cheesy Nintendo ad, specifically for Super Mario Bros. 3. Hilariously overt product placement and a bizarre series of events for a gaggle of children will fill you with a sense of wonder at how this movie was ever popular, but its charm will win you over at its heartwarming conclusion. This film also has an insane easter egg for those with a keen eye: near the end, an uncredited young Toby Maguire can be seen in the background — and I think that’s all the motivation you need.

 

Possibly in Michigan (1983) directed by Cecelia Condit

Love shouldn’t cost an arm and a leg.

This musical horror story is only 12 minutes long, but it’s borderline indescribable. A story about two women, Sharon and Janice, who face the threat of a stalker, this is a surreal experience not for the faint of heart. The editing is unlike anything I’ve ever seen, and the musical motifs are creepier than some actual horror movies I’ve watched. The ending twist will leave you with your mouth on the floor, begging for an explanation. Possibly in Michigan is a delightfully devilish work that challenges representations of women and violence. Bonus points: the entire thing is free to watch on YouTube!

 

 

The Rise of the Band Geeks, Episode 4: War Chant

Alias Leave a comment

The football players smashed into one another with the force of semi trucks, the sounds of their collisions drowned out by the pervasive screaming of fans.  Hal’s own throaty screech was lost in the chaos.  He wasn’t particularly loud, and his voice had gotten stuck at some point during puberty in the odd limbo between the voice of a boy and the sonorous, crisp boom of an adult male, subjecting him to frequent voice cracks.  His scream crackled now, and he could have been mistaken for fourteen or fifteen were he not a member of the marching band.

 

His right arm burned from the motion accompanying the excerpt from Temptation, commonly referred to as “Stands T” by the band.  Although he hardly felt it, the faint sensation was enough to distract him in the game.  He wasn’t much invested in it anyway, caring more about the stand tunes and watching halftime than anything else.

 

Why don’t we play a short version of W?

 

War Chant, the second half of the Michigan traditional duo that begins with Temptation, was just as musically robust and hype.  For the cymbals, it was a near-constant motion of pumping the arms up and down, interspersed with deep knee bends, 180-degree jumps (and one 270-degree jump), the infamous back bend, and, at the very end, a complex pattern of partner crashes that could literally kill you if you forgot to duck.  It was the perfect complement to the knee torture of Temptation, though W (or “Dubs,” as many people called it) contained knee torture, as well.

 

It is a universal truth that, when it comes to T + W, you can’t have one without the other…yet, in the stands, there was one without the other.  Hal had always been deeply saddened by this, as he loved both T and W, although they were grueling, especially when you were forced to do it inside the band hall with a mask on.

 

He always imagined a stands version of W drawing from the first part of the song, which involved a relatively complicated crash rhythm for the cymbals that alternated with eight-count drum features.  He’d never said anything about this to the band director or the drum instructor, seeing as he was a freshie reserve fresh out of a yearlong hiatus (though it might as well have been a punishment for something Hal didn’t do).

 

He swallowed as the play ended with the opposing team gaining three yards and prayed Stands W would become a real occurrence.

Parktown: Olson Park, Part 1

Sam 3 Comments

Olson Park, North Campus

Olson Park is my absolute favorite place to visit around Ann Arbor, and I expect to paint more scenes in the future. In such a small place there are so many colors and vistas to be discovered, and the many snaking pathways give this illusion of taking a grand hike. At the moment of capturing my reference photos, it was early in the morning and the sun was shining through the brush. The air was cold, crisp, and the park was peaceful save for the highway adjacent to the park. It’s the most beautiful area to explore, and it’s a shame it’s tainted by the constant noise from cars in the distance.

Even so, it gives me great comfort to walk the paths alone and I hope you may seek out Olson Park as well.

 

This image was taken on 10/22/21.