In case you haven’t noticed in the last couple of months, I’ve been on something of a photographic kick lately. Along with that, I’ve been considering picking up a more serious camera for the hobby and learning all new things. I like my Sony DSC-H1 camera a lot. For a point and shoot, it has some great features:

• Anti-shake picture stabilization
• 12x optical zoom
• 5.1 megapixels (seems puny these days, but pretty good for the vast majority of pictures)
• Ability to add on a couple of different lenses, though I’ve never gone so far as to buy one
• Manual control of Aperture, Focus, ISO, etc.

But I want a dSLR. Those things are just cool. After looking at plenty of photo galleries on Flickr, reading up on reviews, listening to podcasts, reading magazines, etc. I’ve come to the Canon 400D/Xti as my digital SLR of choice. Features there include:

• 10 megapixels
• RAW format
• Automated dust cleaner
• Low price - $600 body only, $670 with kit lens (18-55mm)

Then, talking to a professional photographer, he suggested I not even bother with an SLR if that’s all I’m going to do. I might as well go with the Canon G9, he said, which is a point and shoot that includes:

• 12 megapixels
• RAW/jpg format
• Anti-shake
• 6x optical zoom
• Couple of add on lenses for telezoom or wide angle

I’ve seen the pictures from this camera on Flickr. They’re amazing. RAW is a HUGE step up from my current camera, and doubling the megapixels would be huge, as well.

And the price is less than $500.

Is that all I need?

Should I look at the Nikon? I know the difference between Nikon and Canon is negligible these days, but I just don’t know right now.

This is a long research project. I’m still saving up the dollars to pay for such a thing, and that likely wouldn’t happen until at least the Christmas season. (Crossing my fingers now for a big sale somewhere.)

Anyone have any experience with any of these cameras? Any ideas?

• An appreciation of Shatner’s “Khaaaan” moment.
• Apple is on a roll - here’s why.
• 53 Photoshop tips. Some obvious, some useless, some necessary to get through your day.
• The final round of GH3 is “The Devil Went Down To Georgia.” In this version, the guitar takes the place of the fiddle. My fingers ache, but you can listen to the song here.
• Seriously, that’s playable? Insane.
• Google offices transformed into Super Mario Bros. Level 1-1.
• Lotsa TiVo3 updates!
• You want a MacBook slim? How about a Cintiq 12 inch? Beautiful, even if it has to run Windows. . .
• Remember when I said there are too many variations of PlayStation 3s and XBox 360s? Here’s the PS3 Venn Diagram to prove it.
• TRANSFORMERS moved 100,000 HD-DVD discs. I guess the next generation of DVD is finally here! Or, EVERY XBox 360 owner of the add-on picked up the movie. Very likely.
• A father tells his son the worst swearword in the world. Obviously, there’s some NSFW language in here. But it’s cute and funny all at the same time.
• Mythbusters takes on the cockroach radiation theory.
• You missed the iPod’s sixth birthday yesterday. Better go pick up one of those “belated” birthday cards.

Cool Stuff - The Lost Pilot: Veronica Mars Gets Her Gun

The Veronica Mars season-three DVD box set is full of Veronica’s world-famous wit and wisdom, put on glowing display in the 20 episodes set during her first year at Hearst College, but it is also radiantly visible in the bonus features, most notably the 20-minute presentation pilot for season four. To the ultimate disappointment of Veronica’s voracious fans, the presentation is fantastic. What a tease—to see what might have been when Veronica Mars became an FBI special agent—and then to have it taken away just as quickly.

Now I MUST get this, right?

A beautiful series, but kinda boring. At least, that’s what I thought when it aired a half lifetime ago.

The second volume is due out in December. . .

(Thanks for the reminder, Nick!)

Everything our parents said is true. Everything is cyclical. Nothing is new.
The latest bit of evidence:

Lumberjack Fashion - Featured on BuzzFeed

After a year in which leggings and ballet shoes returned (late 80s/early 90s), we’re now seeing the fashionistas wearing flannel. That’s right — we’re a half step away from Grunge. Welcome to 1991 all over again.

What came after grunge? I guess Season One of FRIENDS? So, what, the Rachel hairdo will return in Summer 2008?

There’s a good chance that some of these DVDs will be released this week. Maybe even some more. Check your local Best Buy for details.

• Meet the Robinsons (2007)

The kids’ll love it, I hear.

• Saw III: Unrated Director’s Cut (2006)
  

You know how we have Unnecessary Special Edition DVDs? Here’s an Unnecessary Sequel to an Unnecessary Movie.

• Veronica Mars: Season Three (6-disc set)

It’s The Must See Pick of the Week. I’ve been waiting for this one since I finished watching season two last fall, I believe. Whoo!

Next week: Looney Tunes, Scrubs, and Spider-Man 3! You can just hear Santa’s Sleigh warming up, can’t you?

I haven’t posted a set of these in a while.  Let’s see what we’ve got, in reverse chronological order, where appropriate:

• Ah, so those glowing red eyes on KITCHEN NIGHTMARES is a promo for the upcoming Terminator TV series. It’s on other FOX shows as well.
• Wow, a new FLOSS Weekly podcast! And it has to do with Perl. Whoo-hoo! I’m such a geek.
• Been learning much about digital photography lately. It’s reminded me that “Photoshop” is a photo editing tool, not a comics coloring one.
• I don’t mind the 70 degree weather — it’s the humidity that kills me.
• Something I learned from posting photos on-line: They look 100x better on a Mac screen than a PC screen.
• Tweaking blog layout and colors. Nobody will likely notice.
• I’m definitely not buying Leopard on release day, maybe not even in 2007
• When do you stop recording your podcast? When your foot falls asleep. Ouch ouch ouch
• Reading TELLOS COLOSSAL - Wieringo’s art is even more subtle than I gave it credit for. The low angles, the speed lines, the action . . .
• There’s something icky about Dan Fielding sleeping with Murphy Brown, isn’t there?
• I could get lost for hours perusing photos on Flickr.
• I’m having one of those weekends where nobody is sending any e-mail. Seems empty in here.
• Contestant self-identified on “Don’t Forget The Lyrics” as a “comics geek” for having read 4000 comics. PANSY.
• Just noticed that I posted my 500th Twitter message a few days back. Time sure does fly.
• Watching Oprah with my wife, and I point out O’s using the Papyrus font for the title graphic on the episode. I’m a font geek.
• When researching photographic equipment, there’s no better place to look than Flickr. I love those EXIF tags.
• It’s generally a bad idea to snack while watching “Kitchen Nightmares.”
• Google Adsense is ::this close:: to being Dead To Me. It’s almost a waste of time to keep track of for the return on my time.
• Edited a dozen photos tonight in Lightroom. Still have a lot to learn about judging proper colors and how they interact. Slog on, I shall!
• No, really, just WHERE did those 80 gigs on this hard drive go off to? It’s all gone!!! 
• As the late great Earl Weaver once said, “If you think you’re going to hit into a double play, strike out.” Jeter wasn’t listening.

• Good news! I don’t have to stop blogging!
• The 30 Most Hideous Vide Game Tattoos. #22 kills me — it’s the Contra code!
• The new season of 24 has a trailer coming soon. Count down the time at the web site.
• Perfect Strangers comes to DVD in February. Here’s the box art.
• Photo sets of abandoned buildings. Fascinating, yet creepy.

From 2005 - The Sky, originally uploaded by AugieDB.

This one’s a couple years old, but taken from the same location as other pictures I’ve posted up on Flickr lately — the top of High Mountain, between Wayne and North Haledon, NJ. If you look carefully in the bottom right corner, you can see the New York City skyline.

On yet another Very Special Oprah this week, the goddess of daytime television intervened with two families in financial peril. Helping her out — because Oprah has no power to tell people to stop drinking at Starbucks every day — is NY Times best selling author and noted man-hater, Suze Orman. It was grrrrl power all over that set. But, hey, this is OPRAH we’re talking about. I’m just watching it so You Don’t Have To. (At times like this, I should have a tip jar on this site.)

One couple had issues with living in the city, driving two Lexus automobiles, buying too many shoes, and amassing a collection of 900 DVDs. And I thought I was bad. He’s got me beat by a few hundred.

Here’s the quote (from memory) from Orman to the man with the DVD collection: “Take those 900 DVDs, copy them to your iPod or whatever you call it, and sell them on eBay!”

How many things can you find wrong with that sentence?

1. Selling them on eBay is almost a money loser.

2. Selling them at all is hardly worth the time and effort. You’re getting pennies on the dollar. So long as he stops buying new ones, or only buys new ones from the scant proceeds such an on-line sale might provide him, he’ll be OK.

3. She’s not sure what you call an iPod?  She’s still spending money on used LPs, isn’t she?

4. I’ve sold darn near a couple dozen DVDs on Amazon in the last month and have made a few bucks. It’s more profitable than eBay, but it’s no guaranteed sale. And I’ve spent that money made right back on Amazon. heh heh

5. Suze Orman just told someone on national TV to break the law — the FBI’s warning, the DMCA, et. al. — and copy copyrighted materials. She should be thrown in jail for aiding and abetting such piracy.

Arrrrrr.

Kristen Bell, boyfriend break up - UPI.com

Hollywood actress Kristen Bell and her boyfriend Kevin Mann have broken up, People.com reported Wednesday.

Bell is best-known for her portrayal of a young private detective on the now-defunct TV series, “Veronica Mars.” She joined the ensemble on “Heroes” this season.

Mann produced the films “Fanboys” and “Fifty Pills.”

I don’t need to see the bare-chested Gordon pulling his chef’s jacket on in the men’s room any more.

What’s with those double red dots on the screen?  I initially wrote it off to camera reflections, but now it’s happening on shots at an angle and across edits.  Bizarre.

Failing restaurants == bad management

The older ladies dig Gordon.
Next week, Gordon leaves the Tri-State area and heads to Hollywood!

I’ve always been more of a TV guy than a movie guy. I grew up watching way too much television, but never took to movies all that much. It wasn’t until I got a DVD player that I started taking movies all that seriously, and learning as much as I could about them. That’s why my DVD collection contains THE MALTESE FALCON and CASABLANCA and CHINATOWN and SHORT CUTS alongside THE PRINCESS BRIDE and THE FIFTH ELEMENT and THE NEGOTIATOR.

TV shows on DVD didn’t become huge until X-FILES pioneered the complete season boxed set. Everyone else jumped on, the studios who owned all this material realized it was like printing money — thus the upcoming writer’s strike — and things went full tilt. I never thought I’d see POLICE SQUAD on DVD, nor the original HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY. Now they’re in a collection alongside MacGYVER, TITUS, SCRUBS, and CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM.

Many TV shows that haven’t appeared on DVD yet are missing due to musical rights issues. They’re just too expensive, and you know how the RIAA is with such things. Thus, TV shows known for their soundtracks are released with bad synthesizer backgrounds or cheaper more recent pop tunes they could get from lesser-known artists. We’ve gotten to the point in the DVD Revolution that people are happy with getting their TV shows halfway there rather than not at all. Ask the fans of WKRP IN CINCINATTI about all of this someday. . .

When I asked last week about what DVDs haven’t been released yet that you’d like to see, I was thinking about movies. Many of you had TV shows, though, and those are just as valid. Here, then, are some highlights:

• Fallen Angels

Can’t say as I remember this one at all. We’re talking the 1993 version, right, Jack?

• Gideon’s Crossing

…also known as “the show after HOMICIDE with Andre Braugher.” Didn’t make it alive out of its first season. Thankfully, the complete HOMICIDE: LIFE ON THE STREETS series is now available on DVD. (See right.)

• Batman

Ah, the glories of legal issues and who owns what. We’ll likely never see it. THIS is a big fat pile of money laying at the side of the road that nobody wants to get along long enough to pick up.

• Shazam! Saturday morning series
• Birds of Prey
  

Gotta give props to the genre stuff here somewhere! I liked BIRDS OF PREY. It wasn’t what it should have been, but it was an honest effort and had some strong moments.

• China Beach

Yeah, music rights again. Creators of this show went on to make –

• VR.5

– and only three of us reading this post care enough to see that one. The VHS release was marred with music issues, and that was relatively soon after the show was on TV. ::sigh::

The follow-up to that show was

• Orleans

I liked the show, though it only lasted six episodes. Set in New Orleans, starred Larry Hagman. Twisted little thing, it was.

• Mr. and Mrs Smith

This is not the movie, pictured off to the right. (I liked that one, though I thought it went on a half hour too long. Got still and redundant fast.) This is the earlier TV series starring Mario Bello and Scott Bakula.

• Bob

This is the Bob Newhart series from the early- to mid-90s that he played a comic book artist on. Not his best, but cool to see as a comics fan.

• The State

MTV sketch comedy show with some very strong moments. I believe most of this is available on the web these days. I’ve linked to it in the past. Sadly, this blog engine’s search feature stinks.

• Tales of the Gold Monkey

Why this show? Because Patricia asked so nicely.

What, nobody wants to see Rags To Riches?!?

What other TV shows could we add to this list? Comment below!

And don’t forget the most valuable resource of them all: TVShowsonDVD.com

Not literally. They just want to look like it.

Of course, many would argue that shows like THE HILLS are staged enough that they might as well be scripted soap operas.

THAT WAS THEN. AND THIS IS NOW!
‘Guiding Light” is going MTV.

The 70-year-old CBS soap opera is ditching its bulky cameras and primitive sets in favor of tiny hand-held cameras and a reality-show feel, à la “The Hills” and “Laguna Beach.”

The plan is to lend the show the more hip, realistic look of MTV’s twin hit reality-soaps, which have broken new ground in recent years with slick camera work and editing that make them appear more like primetime dramas.

The new format will make its debut early next year, says “Guiding Light” executive producer Ellen Wheeler. […]

Now, a real New Jersey town - Wheeler declined to name which one - will double as Springfield for exterior scenes.

I’ll just lay bets now that it’ll be someplace in Bergen County. That would be a short commute over from the city. There’s picturesque towns and tree-lined streets. The town name won’t be a secret for long.

Never saw this one coming.

Is This Any Way to Treat Vera Wang? - New York Times

FORGET throwing your wedding dress into a plastic bag and storing it in the attic. Enter the Trash the Dress photo session, in which the bride, post-wedding, jumps back into her gown and puts it through its paces — swimming in it, wearing it on horseback, even burning it — all while her photographer clicks away.

Brides have long had an admittedly complicated relationship with their wedding gowns, which they struggle to find, spend a small fortune on, and sweat over making fit properly — all for a fabric confection that is typically worn once. […]

The photo trend in fact began with a yawn. Mr. Cooper, 41, said he was bored with the same old wedding photos, and so he persuaded several of his clients to pose after their weddings in grungy offbeat settings. “In fashion photography, they often put really pretty people in very ugly places,� he said. “I’m applying that technique to weddings.�

Plenty of examples can be had at TrashTheDress.com The funny thing is, some are beautiful; they’re just slightly odd for the cognitive dissonance you initially feel.