Chris Welch

Last night, I was finally able to add Paul McCartney to the list of musicians I’ve seen live.

Setlist and more pictures after the break. Continue Reading

Dana Milbank of The Washington Post on Mitt Romney’s increasingly common social hiccups:

In formal settings — news conferences, or Monday night’s debate — Romney is confident and competent. But in casual moments, such as Tuesday morning’s retail politics in New Hampshire, his weirdness comes through — equal parts “Leave It to Beaver” corniness and social awkwardness.

As an example, when’s the last time you heard someone tell a joke like this one Romney shared with a restaurant owner?:

“I saw the young man over there with eggs Benedict, with hollandaise sauce,” he said. “And I was going to suggest to you that you serve your eggs with hollandaise sauce in hubcaps. Because there’s no plates like chrome for the hollandaise.”

Fascinating.

While browsing through the purchase history on my iPhone tonight, I was pleasantly surprised to discover that applications no longer available for purchase in the App Store can be re-downloaded by those who bought them prior to removal. In the past, you had to keep an app on your Mac or PC indefinitely to preserve the option of adding it to your iOS device(s) in the future.

Below you’ll find an example – the original Big Picture app, featuring content found at the popular photoblog, was developed by Hippo Foundry before it was acquired by Boston.com, which operates The Big Picture. An official application was then launched to rather mixed reviews while the original disappeared from the App Store. I’m happy to report it seems Apple kept a copy up in the cloud.

An excellent behind-the-scenes article at the Reuters photo blog recounts the historic moments of last Sunday, when President Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been killed by U.S. military forces.

The address seen throughout the world was captured by just one network camera. Upon it’s conclusion, Obama re-enacted the first 30 seconds of the speech along with his walk-out and departure for still photography purposes. It is a courtesy provided to the printed press by each administration so that a still record of important events can be properly maintained. There are also logistical reasons for the double-take:

To reproduce the same angle that viewers had just seen on TV, the still photographer must step right in front of the teleprompter and block the TV camera. This is the only way to do it, so stills cannot be in that position during the event. In addition, the noise made by the still cameras and the movement by the photographers themselves would be an unnecessary distraction for the President if pictures were take during the live address.

UPDATE #1 5/12/11: The White House announced today that it will put an end to re-enactments for photographers, concluding that the practice is a “bad idea” and vowing to work with the press pool to find a better alternative.

UPDATE #2 6/1/11: Paul Farhi of The Washington Post reports on the new arrangement reached last week:

Out: staged, after-the-fact photo ops. In: a single photojournalist, who will be permitted to snap the president’s picture as he addresses the nation.

Fareed Zakaria of CNN believes that al Qaeda, already facing irrelevancy following recent democratic uprisings throughout the Arab world, has been dealt a crippling blow with the death of Osama bin Laden.

It is not an exaggeration to say that this is the end of al Qaeda in any meaningful sense of the word.

A. G. Sulzberger for The New York Times:

Undercover videos showing grainy, sometimes shocking images of sick or injured livestock have become a favorite tool of animal rights organizations to expose what they consider illegal or inhumane treatment of animals.

Made by animal rights advocates posing as farm workers, such videos have prompted meat recalls, slaughterhouse closings, criminal convictions of employees and apologies from corporate executives assuring that the offending images are an aberration.

In Iowa, where agriculture is a dominant force both economically and politically, such undercover investigations could soon be illegal.

I second the opinion of Senator Matthew W. McCoy: “If they have nothing to hide and they are operating ethically, they should have no fear.”

Below is video of Roger Ebert’s recent appearance at the TED Talk conference. Throughout the presentation, entitled “Remaking My Voice”, he provides remarkably candid and personal insight into his devastating battle with thyroid cancer. Post-surgical complications led to Ebert being unable to speak, eat or drink. He discusses how he came to cope with this new reality and shares with the audience his quest to find a satisfactory new means of communication powered by modern technology.

Chris Jones’ profile of Ebert for Esquire serves as a perfect companion piece.