House of mirrors

So, I've been spending kind of an unhealthy amount of time playing with the Photo Booth program on my new Mac. Trust me, it's addictive.

There's a little camera built into the top of the screen border. The images are decent quality and come in a handy compact file size, ideal for uploading and emailing. But the best part—by leaps and bounds—is the special effects.

How special? This special:

whoooooooooa

That's the "Light Tunnel" option. Here's "Mirror Image":

i wish i had an evil twin

Here's the blindingly attractive "Swirl" option:

what you lookin' at, punk?

For all you Warholics, here's some "Pop Art":

eat your heart out, liz.

Behold! The lovely and mysterious "Glow" option, with "Colored Pencil" and "Thermal" nipping at its heels:

the ghost of macintosh future

in case you missed my senior-year portrait

this one is kind of creepy, actually

Too prettified for your taste? Okay, try these ("Bulge," "Dent," and "Stretch"):

bwahahahahahaha!

when i'm not editing, i moonlight as jay leno's 400-pound aunt

or yul brenner's aunt. whichever.

But I think my two favorite options are the ever popular "Fisheye":

hello.

And, of course, good ol' black-and-white. You can't trust anything else for that unbeatable up-the-nose look:

i disdain you. and you. and you there.

Wasn't that fun? It sure was for me. Next up: Programs where you can design your own cartoon, write your own song, and star in your own movie. They all come built into this magic little machine. Macs rule!

Today's moral: Advanced photo technology feeds the narcisissm beast. Just like, you know, blogs.