Another good camera deal

Here is another camera deal with many of the same qualities of the Canon 500D thing I just wrote about. A Panasonic G1 with two lenses. It's very compact, cutting edge technology, and high quality. And if the deal is still up (it was down for a few days), it's a really good one too. (I'm guessing the deal is so good because most people will want the GH1 model instead, which has video, but for many that's not important.)

gayness

It seems these days that being gay is a mainstream and open thing. But I think really not. Because, look at Hollywood. How many actors do we know who are openly gay? I can't think of any at all. And yet by the laws of statistics there must surely be hundreds.

I'm guessing that the belief and feeling (rightly or wrongly) in Hollywood is that the anti-gay feelings in the country are still so strong that coming out as gay is very likely to ruin your career.

The PEN story

Neutralday pointed me to this cool stop-motion commercial.

Science fiction, Canon A1000

I guess people born after 1980 take Moore's law as a given. That everything electronic gets both a lot better and a lot cheaper year after year is just a fact like there's food in the fridge and the sun rises. But I keep getting amazed.

Recently I bought a friend a Canon A1000 for an anniversary. He was very happy, and still is. He is now busy snapping all those sights he'd seen before and wished he'd had a camera.

He is really pleased with the camera, and you can't say anything to that: a few years ago, a ten-megapixel zoom-camera with image stabilization would have been pure science fiction at any price and size. Now you can buy one in pocket size for $200! It's insane.

Hell, most of the greatest photographs in history were taken with cameras with less image quality and almost none of the capabilities of this little thing. I mean, if I was not a camera fetishist and have more money than sense, this camera would be all I ever needed myself.

Campfire jump

[Thanks to Ray for the pic.] I remember the first girl I kissed. She jumped over the camp fire, so I must have done all right.

Ivars Gravlejs

What can you say?
(Same guy as the 78 Rules guy.)

"i tok picture of palmtree in Warsawa"

Björk

I wonder if Björk as a child had a relationship with a grown man. A few of her lyrics hint at it, for example these two songs from the Sugarcubes time. (Both good songs by the way. Videos: Birthday and Deus.)

Birthday
She Lives In This House Over There
Has Her World Outside It
Scrapples In The Earth With Her Fingers And Her Mouth
She's Five Years Old

Thread Worms On A String
Keeps Spiders In Her Pocket
Collects Fly Wings In A Jar
Scrubs Horse Flies
And Pinches Them On A Line
Ohhh...

She Has One Friend, He Lives Next Door
They're Listenening To The Weather
He Knows How Many Freckles She's Got
She Scratches His Beard

She's Painting Huge Books
And Glues Them Together
They Saw A Big Raven
It Glided Down The Sky
She Touched It
Ohh...

Today Is A Birthday
They're Smoking Cigars
He's Got A Chain Of Flowers
And Sows A Bird In Her Knickers
Ohhh...

They're Smoking Cigars
They Lie In The Bathtub
A Chain Of ... Flowers

--------------

Deus
(female voice)
Deus Does Not Exit.
But If He Does, He Lives In The Sky Above Me,
In The Fattest Largest Cloud Up There.
He's Whiter Than White And Cleaner Then Clean.
He Wants To Reach Me.

Deus Does Not Exist.
But If He Does I Always Notice Him.
Getting Ready In His Airy Room.
He's Picking His Gloves So Gently Off.
He Wants To Touch Me.

I'm Walking Humbly Down A Tiny Street
Pulling My Collar It Gets Bigger, Woooh

(male voice)
I Once Met Him,
It Really Surprised Me,
He Put Me In A Bath Tub,
Made Me Squeeky Clean,
Really Clean.

(female voice)
To Create A Universe
You Must Taste
The Forbidden Fruit.

(male voice)
He Said Hi. I Said Hi,
I Was Still Clean.

(female voice)
Deus Does Not Exist,
But If He Does He'd Want To Get Down From That Cloud,
First Marzipan Fingers Then Marble Hands,
More Silent Than Silence And Slower Than Slow,
Diving Towards Me.

My Collar Is Huge Room For Two Hands,
They Start At The Chest And Move Slowly Down.

(male voice)
I Thought I Had Seen Everything,
He Wasn't White And Fluffy,
He Just Had Side Burns,
He Just Had Side Burns,
And A Quiff,
He Said Hi.
I Said Hi. I Was Still Clean,
I Was Squeeky Clean.
I Was Surprised.
Just As You Would Be.

(male voice & female voice)
Deus, Deus, Deus, Deus
(female voice)
He Does Not Exist

78 rules

[Thanks to tOP] This feels like one of those books from the fifties giving the (really) basic rules of photography.
Except there are some pretty surrealistic ones mixed in, like:

... And here I've been photographing onions lit from the front my whole life!

Other faves:


... Anyway, I think the whole thing is meant to be humorous, but who can tell these days?

Update: the man's own photos.
"i took pictuire of tv how woman speaks on the phone"

Tommy said:
We've had discussions about composition recently. I think that example number 56 might be an execellent example of good composition. You're eye kind of travels around and then goes right to the desired subject, the fly. Additionally, it's in perfect focus with that slight blur in the background to emphasize the subject even further.
My only complaint might be the lighting, the subject, the fly, could have been side lighted much like the onions. (grin)

Eolake said...
Yes, the funny thing is that advanced photographers will often invert the rules with more interesting results. For example, placing the person in smack in the middle of the picture is either done by a rank amateur or as a deliberate provocation by an artist. :-)

A self-portrait I had in an exhibition thirty years ago had a sharp tree in the background, with my head stuck in front from the side, out of focus but filling most of the frame. I kind of liked that one actually. The tree was this big beautiful weeping willow we had, I like those.

Canon 500D (T1i)

If you are the kind of person looking for a really good all-round camera, but also like the physical burden of it to be minimal, I think one of the best bids for it right now is the new Canon 500D (called T1i in the US, oddly).

I've just ordered one. I almost bought that Olympus Pen I've written about endlessly, but while the Canon is not quite as compact as the Olympus, it has several advantages: most importantly, much faster autofocus (an archilles heel for the Olympus Pen). A much bigger collection of lenses, of which I have a very nice selection already. A bigger and higher resolution LCD screen. And better low-light performance due to the larger sensor.

And the Canon, amazingly, is barely heavier than the Olympus, if it is at all. Through much use of plastic (which does not bother me), it is really small and light-weight.

The same is true for the two "standard" zoom lenses, the 18-55mm and the 55-250mm. They are both really small and light, and cheap, and yet very high quality optically. Really, surprisingly good. Just like the 500D, which amazes reviewers at this point, you get the same image quality as cameras weighing and costing twice as much.

This is all quite plasticky, so it's not for the rough-and-tumble world of the professional photographer, but for the discerning weekend photographer, it's ideal.

I should add that competition is very hard in this market, and all these cameras from different brands are really good. And Nikon is bound to soon come out with a replacement for the D60 camera, which will be as good as this Canon, at least. But for now, this is just a good tip.

(Note: amazingly, on Amazon UK currently, there is just 15 pounds ($25) difference between body only and body with kit zoom (which like I said is excellent). So I took the latter, at that price you might as well take one as a backup.)

Update: you might wonder why would I want this one when I already have the excellent Nikon D90? Just one reason: size and weight. When the Nikon D90 came out, it was the smallest camera you could get which could make good, usable pictures at 3200 ISO. Now this Canon has the same, but in a smaller package. I'm keeping the D90, because it's still a more professional camera, for example it takes five pictures per second if needed, the 500D only goes up to three.

Guildhall

The Guildhall on the ‘Sandhill’ is the ancient centre of municipal government of Newcastle.
What caught my attention is this fine example of how the Brits like their spikes! Oh mama. No soft touches here in the home of justice.

Bugatti convertible

Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Grand Sport. 1000 horsepower. World's fastest and most expensive production car. Get one of these for the price of seven Ferraris.
I don't know why you would need a convertible which can drive faster than you're allowed practically anywhere in the world, but apparently the richer part of Bugatti's fans demanded it. It wasn't easy to make it strong enough without a roof.
0-60mph in 2.5 seconds? Ouch. Better not drive this thing inebriated.

I could buy one, but it's not practical if you like having two or three girls with you.

No-Slogan Week

I've instituted No-Slogan Week (International). It starts the first Monday in August every year. The goal is to eradicate all and every slogan on the planet.
It'll be run by No Slogans Limited, and its slogan is "No slogan is too big or too small to be eliminated".

It has a subdivision, No Slogans Unlimited, which has the goal to make every government in the world officially recognize No-Slogan Week, and has the slogan "No slogans anywhere, on every wall and every desktop in the world".

Let me count the ways

Do I Love My Wife? An Investigative Report, article. [Thanks to TC]
"When I told friends and family I was trying to scientifically assess my love for Julie, they all had the same response: "No good can come of this."
[...] Inside the MRI tunnel, the image of my wife vanishes from the screen. And up pops another female face. [...] It's Angelina Jolie. That's another part of the experiment. The scientists and I want to see how my love for my wife compares with my feelings for Angelina Jolie."

One section explained something for me:
"The [brain's] Romance System. This produces the cocaine rush you get from beginning love. And cocaine is more than an idle metaphor. The reptilian brain — one of the nervous system's most ancient parts — floods you with dopamine, just as it does after you snort a line of blow."

I never understood the appeal of strong romance for so many people. Despite the clear disastrous influences strong "love" has on so many lives, it is often treated (just see books and movies) as the most important thing in the world. A dopamine rush explains a lot. Many people simply get high on being in love! And it is unrelated to whether the subject of the love is the world's best candidate for it, or the world's worst.

VIW 2 (updated)

Update: Bert points to this about a Tilda Swinton movie. Seems interesting.

Indie band records entire song on their iPhone

The 88 records entire song on their iPhone, article. [Thanks to Drew.]

The song sounds pretty pro to me. (A comment on iTunes says the lead vocal was an exception to the whole thing being recorded on an iPhone, but the article doesn't mention it.)

Now, naturally a hand-device like the iPhone which can do so many things will never be a real replacement for professional devices dedicated to doing one thing well, but I must say it's ridiculous the number of things that little fucker can do so well. It's a phone, it's a web browser, it's a camera and video camera, it's a gaming device, it's a GPS device, you can play and record music on it, etc etc. When you can buy an app for it which enables it to make my cappuccino, I'll have to get one.
(Gawd, I forgot, it also plays music. And video. And does email.)

Free art

Bunny Project at Kalmar Konstmuseum, Sweden 2008, Conny Blom.

Performance commissioned by Kalmar Museum of Art, Sweden. During the inauguration of the new art museum in Kalmar a suspicious individual sneaked around the premises mounting sculptures made of carrots, alarm clocks, red and blue cables, metal wire and tape. On direct orders from the Swedish secret police the performance was stopped since the Culture Minister refused to give her inaugural speech if it were to continue. The speech , as it later turned out, was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative.

Art or Sport? part 4

6000 post-it notes.

China backs down over controversial censorship software

China backs down over controversial censorship software, article.
"Green Dam" censorship software, which was to be compulsory on all new PCs in China, is now optional after massive protests.
It includes porn picture filters based on color, blocking lots of skin colors. So for example a hard-core picture with black models might be allowed, but a close-up portrait of George Bush would be banned as obscene. (Not that everybody would disagree with that result, but one assumes it was not the intent.)

Doing something well

Doing a thing well is often a waste of time.
-- Robert Byrne

I lean more towards the old adage: if a thing is worth doing, it's worth doing well.

To "Jacko"

Pascal (for some reason I never got calling himself "P-04 Referent") writes about Michael Jackson, the boy/man.

---
Apropos the man, here's his patented leaning shoes device.