What's the Deal with Photo Booth?

As an artist, Photo Booth gives me creative anxiety. I see myself becoming addicted and instead of working on that oil painting I've been trying to finish for the past 6 months, I'll be posing in front of my MacBook seeing how many different poses I can do in Mirror setting! I always thought Photo Booth was for holidays when your cousins were over and you didn't have a Wii to keep the grimes busy. But alas, Photo Booth, though semi-useless, is kind of addicting. 

As a new MacBook owner it is tradition to take a good four or five hours experimenting with Photo Booth. For someone who isn't in a long distance relationship with family miles away, I rarely need a quick picture of myself. For me, the effects are what make Photo Booth interesting. There were those that amazed and those that disappointed. The usual Sepia, Black & White, Pop Art effects are boooring. My Speak n Spell could pull that off! Besides, I've seen enough of those in early Facebook pictures.  Color Pencil was nothing special either. I've experimented with real colored pencils in my day and this effect just makes it look like you're taking a picture in a rainstorm. 

I got excited when I saw X-ray setting. I don't have the best health insurance and this would be the perfect way to diagnose my broken bones. Unfortunately this setting shows no bones and only makes your teeth look grimy! No fun! 

The best effects hail from the second page: Bulge, Squeeze, Dent, and Stretch. I've never seen circus freaks but I have to imagine they are reminiscent of the above. It's scary/hilarious how ugly one can make their face. My question for readers is this: Is there a way to adjust the flash settings so my glasses don't reflect? I mean, I don't mind the squeezed face but I get picky about the glowing computer screens in my eyes. I mean c'mon!

I know all of you have probably exhausted Photo Booth and are on to bigger and better things, but I know hidden on your computer you have your first experimental pictures. I want to see them! Send them to me, carolyn@thedigitallifestyle.tv , and allow me to share your crazy faces with the rest of The Digital Lifestyle family.

As much as I've enjoyed my Photo Booth experiment, I still believe once you're past the age of 12 and have exhausted all the crazy Facebook/Myspace/Twit pics you could imagine, Photo Booth is only meant for procrastination and to make the narcissistic even more so. I ask that when you run into me in the future and I'm still jobless, broke, and drunk in my parent's basement proclaiming, "But at least I have my Photo Booth!" to you, please rescue me.

Mac Virgin Makes Her Move...Gets a Mac!

(Our very own intern Carolyn recently took the plunge and bought her first Mac. She'll be reporting from time to time on her experience, and asking for help. Please help her so we don't have to.)

I did it! I swiped nearly $2000 away and got myself a MacBook Pro. As a partially unemployed schmuck I was nervous taking the dive. The last time I spent that much I bought a plane ticket to Bangkok and was guaranteed Buddha, elephant rides and Singha beer! This time I was a little leery on what my purchase truly had in store. Would it be worth it? 

Here's how it went down.  I didn't go to Thailand but I took a trip to Delaware to save a few bucks. I was surprised at how small the Christiana Mall Apple store was, especially considering all the people who were taking advantage of tax free shopping like myself. There were enough young, hip Apple employeees lurking the store that I was helped in no time. (Thanks John!) I was advised by my fellow TDL-ers to ignore all the chotskys they would push on me. I understand the whole "customer service" thing, but wow! Those Apple employees are cutthroat! iWork! Protection plans! One to ones! Do we really need meetings and sessions to work our computers? What happened to just opening the box and figuring things out? I mean it's Apple! Don't we just drag and drop everything anyways? John tried his best but I held strong. He rung me up right where we stood. Impressive! That definitely beat out the Old Navy employees with the Britney Spears headsets. 

I got the computer home and opened it right away. I was happy but still didn't have that "Yes! New toy!" feeling. I took a breath, pressed the power button and waited. In seconds any hesitation or regret I previously feared would vanish. "Welcome! Bienvenue! Willkommen!" My MacBook had me in tears with its "It's a Small World" reminiscent welcome screen! I was hooked and ready to fully immerse myself in Apple's arms. 

So there Apple. All it took was an indie song and language barrier to have yourself another supporter. Now if I could only figure out this darn Photo Booth...