photos category

I found this seashell in the grating of the radiator (seen behind). I know the previous tenant must have accidentally knocked it in but my first thought was that the heat was an ancient seabed.

My white hand holding a classically scalloped seashell with dark red coloring in front of a baseboard radiator.

Another entry in the AI Novel covers series. Here’s the generating prompt:

Generate an image of a fake novel cover called “Illegal Touching by Jillian St. Basketball”. It is a sports romance novel.

An AI generated novel cover. It shows two attractive young people embracing on a basketball court. On the left is a dark skinned man with slicked back hair. On the right is a white woman, leg up, with flowing hair, as if in a breeze. The man grits his teeth strangely, and the woman's expression is skeletal somehow. The man holds a basketball over the womans butt, but the angle is all wrong. Two hoops are in the background, and they seem to melt, and are too close to each other. People with melty faces sit on the court. The book is called "Illegal Touching" by Jjlliain st Basketball

What is going on with that basketball? And why is the guy’s teeth like that? Melty hoops I understand.

A desk caddy corner in a bare walled room. The desk has two levels, one for the monitor, and another for the keyboard. It is light, processed wood. On the left is a mic arm and audio deck on the lower level, and headphones and canned air on the upper level. In the middle is a 26 inch acer monitor on the upper level, and an old magic keyboard and even older wired mouse on the lower level. The lower level also sports an abstract, colorful star patterned mouse mat. On the right is a mac book pro sitting on top of a laptop stand, clamshell closed. There are various dumb stickers all over it. A mug of coffee and a water thermos sit on the far right on the lower level.

I put my desk together yesterday. It’s missing a support beam underneath (I must have accidentally thrown it out in the frantic move), so the lower level wobbles, but I figure I can replace it with a two by four. In the mean time, I have a dedicated desk and large monitor for the first time in nine months!

Snow is sticking in New York for the first time time this year.

A three story brown stone building seen from a window on the third floor of the opposite building. A light dusting of snow coats everything. It’s especially visible on the fire escape. The sky is steel grey.

Susuru Ramen in Astoria is absolutely incredible. I had the garlic oil Kuro. Great broth, noodles cooked just right.

A bowl of ramen with garlic oil on the side, pork slices, a soy sauce egg, chives.

The tri-boro bridge during the day, shot through a glass elevator shaft.

Finally, I’m using AI for its intended purpose.

An AI generated colorful image in the style of 1960s pop art. It features singer Wayne Newton dressed as Batman, hands on hips, grinning. An old TV with possibly Wayne Newton on it sits to the side.

My sister and I maybe thirteen years ago. I really chose all that.

Two young white peope standing awkwardly next to each other. The woman on the left, my sister, has long red hair and smiles somewhat uneasily. In the right, is me. I have a red shirt that doesn’t quite fit, khaki pants, a grey blazer, and on my head is a floppy, misshapen dark green fedora. I have a thin, untrustworthy beard. Unkept curls sprout from under the hat. My expression is haunted. We are in a kitchen.

I’m making friends at my new apartment.

A cat stretched out on my lap, toes flared, head dug into my side. She looks at me with one eye. Her expression looks extremely happy.

Seen on the storefront of a local medical center.

A tv screen outside a building with text reading “syntax error. Incorrect command. Syntax error. Failure reading sector and then a memory address. Press any key to continue “

Happy new year, from lasers with love.

New York City skyline through a full screen window, the reflection of a red line in it seeming to shoot from a water tower in silhouette

Media diet - December 2023

It’s the last day of December, and this is my last opportunity to ramble about what I’ve been watching, reading, and listening to. You ready? I’m not. Let’s go. 📺 TV I watched … Read more

Took a hike up in Garrison NY with friends.

Three smiling white people, two men one women, in winter clothes with their backs to a sunset summit. The shadow of a man overlooking a golden summit, bare trees around the top, Hudson River laid out below. A dilapidated brick structure with bare trees and vines growing over it. Indescribable graffiti adorns the wall.

🕹️🎨 What Are Paper Computer Games?

When I was a kid I came up with something called Paper Computer Games, which are role-playing, puzzle solving games drawn on paper that emulated point-and-click adventure games. They are meant to be … Read more

Bought some year end reading material with some of Lullabot’s generous education budget.

5 book apart books stacked on each other. Sustainable web design by Tom greenwood. The new css layout by Rachel Andrew. You deserve a tech union by Ethan marcotte. Responsive design patterns and principles by Ethan marcotte. Flexible typesetting by Tim brown.

Toms of main is over their skis.

Folks wanted to create an AI generated book cover for a Harry Potter fan-fiction. ChatGPT doesn’t allow copyrighted prompts, so I had to get “creative”.

Generate an image for a fake novel cover called Larry Porter and the Unexpected Pregnancy by Syrum Hawke, in which Larry Porter, a wizard boy wearing glasses, becomes pregnant and falls in love with Dracon Malfiz, a handsome pop star.

There’s too much to unpack here, but at least in this version the pregnaany was exxepdected.

Three hunky white young men grace the cover, two of which are harry potter. The first one stares bug eyed, the second one smolders. The third man, clearly Draco, has another smoldering look, and wears a floppy hat. Everyone wears a combination of boarding school suits and wizard robes. There are stars and birds and fantasy-looking glas bottles in the background, with two open books at each lower corner. The title reads 'Lary Porter and the Exxepdected Pregnaany, a Novline P NP E Stol Skyruim Hawke'

Another AI generated novel cover. The prompt:

Generate a fake image of a young adult fantasy novel from 2002 by Veronica Hammerschmidt called A Crow Wand in a Caldron

The cover shows a smiling crown standing on a wand, which comes straight out of a cauldron. Everything is mystical and sparkly, but dark. It's in a forest at night. There are stars and white flowers. The title reads 'A Crow Wandd in a Calron by Veronica Hammerschmidt'

It looks like Bed Bath & Beyond went Wicca.

What series of AI generated novel covers would be complete without a 70s pulp fantasy?

Generate a fake image of a fantasy novel from the 1970s called A Curse of Moonlight and Mayhem by E.E.E. Clarke

An AI generated novel cover. The cover depicts a mystical, moonlit landscape with an eeri cloaked figure, a ball of magical energy in their hand. The title reads, "A curse of Moonllight Mayhem, by E.E.E. Clarke

Pretty cool! Those distressed edges—very nice. The AI always gets the spelling just wrong.

Another in the AI generated novel cover series, this time, a romance. The prompt was:

Generate an image of a fake romance novel cover from the 1990s by Rose Croissant called A Duchess One Day

The cover features an opulent palace garden in the background, with lush flowers and vibrant bushes. Two white people, a man on the left and a woman on the right, embrance, their noses touching. They are dressed in luxurious victorian clothes. The man stares down, and the woman stares bug eyed at the man's cheek. At the top, in fancy lettering, is the author name, 'Rose Croassorit'. Below, the title is 'A Duchhess One Day'

It captures the spirit of the assignment, but wow their eye lines are weird.

I started generating novel covers for imagined books through ChatGPT4 with my friend Ania. I think the results have been hilarious.

Here’s the prompt for the first one.

Generate an image for a fake mystery novel by Rake McMaster called The Pine Tree Assault

AI generated book cover. The title reads "The Pine Trre Assalt: A Mystery" by Rake McMaster. There is a quote at the top that looks real, but when looking closer is unintelligible in any language, and might not even be real letters. The image is tall, bare pine trees in shadow with a path running down the middle, and forboding shadowy figures standing in the background. The palette is black and a light green.

This is the start of a series.

Look at this fucking shit.

A tiny room with a urinal at the end. A large photo of a women with a beehive hairdo drinking a beer and staring directly at you hangs above at eye level

A friend unearthed an old computer with an even older photo of me on it. I must have been 16 or 17. I’ve got horror movie eyes and shampoo commercial hair.

A old company tower computer with a Sony crt monitor showing an ancient version of windows. A photo of yours truly, a white man, is on display. I’m about 17 years old, clean shaven, with long flowing brown hair. I’m spreading my arms with wide eyes staring into camera.

I was made aware of the Clearly Impossible Puzzle today. Every piece is clear, they’re all reversible, and there’s false edge pieces. This is maybe the most hardcore thing.

A photo of a completed 200 piece puzzle, about 8 inches by 10 inches. All pieces are transparent. There is masking tape on the back to hold everything together. It lies on a patterned table cloth.

Storms rolling in out in Houston.

Cloudy sky over sparse trees and a wooden fence