For the Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2 premiere Casey and I decided to make some cold butterbeer to drink while watching the movie.

The final product turned out delicious, give it a try!

One of the options Mac users have when booting up their machines is ‘Verbose Mode’. This can be enabled by holding Command + V during boot, after which it fills your screen full of very informative text that can be used by advanced users and developers to troubleshoot hardware or system problems.

So, whether you’re a power user who likes to know exactly what’s going on inside of their Mac, or just tired of the regular Apple Splash Screen:

You can set Verbose mode to automatically run in place of the splash screen.

Once you have it set, your Mac will run Verbose Mode without you having to hold the keys.

Don’t worry though: it will still get you to the login screen and it does not affect your Mac’s performance, and if you find you don’t like it anymore, it’s very easy to change back.

To enable Verbose booting, you will need to launch the terminal (while logged into an account with administrative control) and type:

sudo nvram boot-args=”-v”

Press return (if it asks for a password, enter the password of the administrative account you’re logged into) and reboot your machine to see your new geeky text splash screen!

To disable Verbose booting, follow the same steps but instead type:

sudo nvram boot-args=

Give it a try today (hold: Command + V during boot) and if you like the way it looks, you now have the option to have this geeky text show up instead of the splash screen.

I’m excited to announce my first two national photographic publications with NACLA (North American Congress on Latin America) in their “Report of the Americas”!

Both photos were taken during the 2006 pro-immigration rally in Fort Myers, FL.

It’s been a while since I’ve actually spent a decent amount of time on here. It’s been a combination of school, family and my new photography startup which has kept me happily busy.

I’m glad to announce everything is going great: College gets better every second I’m here and after I finished my (many) term projects I got to go home for a month and enjoy the Florida winter with my family and friends.

Brave New World Photography has grown faster than I would have ever imagined. I’m definitely proud of the progress it has made in the past year.

It’s a pleasure to be back. I’ve got a few posts that I’ve been storing the back of my head. I’m hoping they will provide an interesting look into some of the projects that I’m excited to be working on.

2011 is our year. Let’s show it how it’s done.

- B.V.

Meet Chelsi Malloch, an up and coming model from Southwest Florida.

Shot entirely on-location on Captiva Island.

I’ve decided to take my photography to the next level, with my new endeavor:

Brave New World Photography | BraveNewWorldPhoto.com

If you’ve got a few seconds, check out the site. I’m excited to get to work, so if you know of anyone looking for a photographer don’t hesitate to point them my way.

Brave New World. Brave New Ways To Photograph It.

Client: Carol Martinez – Camerabee.com

If you’re a photography nerd and appreciate close-ups of funny looking kids and photos with a vintage feel to them, definitely check out Camerabee.com.*

*She hasn’t uploaded any of her photo sets to her site yet but in the meantime check out her Flickr.

Concept:

One of the disadvantages of having a common last name is that more than likely someone also has the same first name as you. Case in point: Carol Martinez.

Carol was set in gear to create her personal website. She knew exactly what she wanted on her page. The only thing that stood between her was one of the most important things to decide when creating a website: the name. Approximately 2,543 people in the U.S share her name, so I wasn’t exactly surprised when the usual domain names were already taken. The biggest surprise came when we tried different domain extensions. Neither of us however liked the sound of .net or .biz.

We wanted a .com.

The decision to move past her name was then cast. Thus the next step was to brainstorm a unique name or brand that would fit her. We spent half a month thinking up ideas.

A few days ago while Carol and I were discussing her website she blurts out a name: “What about Camerabee?”

It sounded too good to be true.

Luckily for us. It wasn’t.

After purchasing all the rights to the domain, I was ready to begin the design process. The name “Camerabee” gave me a creative boundary to brainstorm how to mix them together.

The first iteration of the logo came from a quick sketch I made for Carol to show her what I was thinking. She approved and with that I was off.

Her name was elegantly incorporated by using the motion drawn “bee-lines” (those trails of lines you often see in cartoons and animations that bees leave behind) to spell her name in cursive and draw out a heart; the end of the trail would have a bee flying off into the distance.

I did another rough draft of the logo in Adobe Illustrator, and tested it live to see how well it would balance out the page.

Immediately I noticed that the bee was not working out. I tried it in different sizes and realized it wasn’t the size…but the bee. It was too plain

So, I took out the bee and kept the cursive bee-line and I went over the goals for this logo.

“Camerabee.”

I had a bee-line…but not bee or a more importantly a camera.

It came to me that in place of the bee I could continue the bee-line to draw out a camera next to the heart. Showing Carol’s love for photography.

Again, I tested it live.

I definitely loved it.

I was almost content to leave it like that until I realized that without a bee… it could be construed as a bunch of dotted lines. I may get the bee-line reference but I wasn’t sure everyone would.

I considered putting the bee below the heart and the camera but decided that it would cause the logo to look cluttered on the right.

Then “i” thought about it.

I could replace the dot above the “i” in “Martinez”, and use a bee instead.

I trashed my original bee and went hunting on the internet for “cute bee”. After a good half hour of analyzing what is considered “cute” for a bee. I went to work.

After an hour of retouching my “cute” bee, I live-tested the redesigned once more.

I was sold.

It was time to call Carol and see if she agreed with me.

and she did.

————————–

Who is Carol Martinez?

(http://camerabee.com/about/)

My name is Carol Martinez and the simplest things in life make me happy. I love everything about photography and I pray that I get very far with it. I gave my life to Christ about a year ago and my life has never been better! I love God with all my heart <3 If you want to get to know me more contact me through my e-mail; carolamartnz@aol.comHave a lovely, blessed day

There have been many visions of how the world will end.

You wake up to the sound of muffled screams outside your home. You switch on the T.V but find only static.

Afraid to stay inside but even more afraid to leave. You peek through your window to see your neighbor torn apart and eaten by people who you had once called your friends. You can call them zombies, the infected, the walking dead, or the undead.

In the end, they don’t care what you call them. All they care is that they’re hungry…and you’re exactly what they ordered.

These short films are slight glimpses of this vision. Check them out after the jump:

“I Love Sarah Jane” / Spencer Susser

Qoob brings us yet another incredible creation with a witty portrayal of the zombie apocalypse from the perspective of teenagers.

“A bunch of teenagers in a ghost town, full of death and desolation, where adults have turned into zombies. Among them, stands Jimbo (Brad Ashby), madly in love with Sarah Jane (Mia Wasikowska). This is the second short film (the first being Spider) funded by Qoob. Directed by Spencer Susser, who also co-wrote the script with Australian author/director David Michod, this film has been selected in major festivals across the world (among which Sundance ’08) and won 4 prizes so far.”

“8 Days Later” / Trevor Wild

“8 Days Later” follows a U.S soldier enduring a post-zombie world (with quite a few zombies still around). Great footage along with a well written introspective narration and music makes this a must see.

“Zombies and Cigarettes” / Rafa Martinez and Iñaki San Román

Spanish subtitled in English.

Winner of countless short film awards, “Zombies and Cigarettes” won’t disappoint.

“A virus has been set loose in a Spanish shopping mall and it´s turning everyone in to flesh eating zombies. Our hero is trying to get out alive and at the same time impressing the girl he likes and finding a cure.”

“Love of the Dead” / The Yale Zombie Project

“Till death do we part.”

What happens when they come back from the dead?

“Love of the Dead, a film by Michael Sarnoski and Jeremi Szaniawski, cinematography by Chris Ripley, starring Vanessa Block and Brian Young, is the result of a fruitful collaboration between a bunch of Yale students with a knack for horror films in general, and zombie films in particular.”

“2fer“ / Jesse Knight

The description is pretty much straight-forward:

“A lone sniper takes on two zombies with a single bullet.”

Bad-ass.

BONUS MUSIC VIDEO / “Last of the Living” by The Frank Woo

Catchy little tune, the title track to the feature film ‘Last of the Living’.

Now that you have seen these short films…What are you waiting for? RUN.

New website: BrennanVargas.com

It will function as my professional business site containing more in-depth information regarding my work and experience. You can also read my blog posts from there. However Brennanv.com will continue to be my main site.

You’re more than welcome to check it out. Have a great weekend!