Various and Sundry: Now Everything But Photography

Here’s a post I saved as a draft a couple of weeks back and never published. I should have done it at the time, but here it is now. I don’t think too much of it is “dated,” really…

Three years ago, I decided to buy a digital SLR. After a few months of selling off a chunk of my DVD collection, I was able to buy the entry-level Canon Rebel XTi. (And I haven’t missed a single one of those DVDs. The big ticket item — an out of print “Reboot” DVD or three — is even coming back to shelves in the next few months.) The XTi was the first sub-$1000 DSLR to the market, was insanely popular, and Canon was just announcing its successor, the XSi. The latter didn’t provide much of an upgrade, I thought, so I snapped up a lower-priced XTi at the beginning of 2008 with a couple of lenses.

Now, all these years later, I sold off a tiny chunk of my comics collection to pay for a new camera. Special thanks, first of all, to Robert Kirkman, for “The Walking Dead” and “Invincible.” Selling off my original copies of those comics paid for three-quarters of the new camera. As a bonus, I’m not missing anything, since I have all those issues in hardcover reprint form. The only thing I really “lost” in it was a comic that had a letter of mine printed in it. If “Walking Dead Weekly” includes the original letters columns (doubtful), I’ll pick it back up and be happy.

That’s the origin story for my new Canon 60D, a camera that “serious” camera “enthusiasts” have been busy badmouthing since its announcement (they don’t want to jump from the 50D all the way to the 7D, I guess), but which fits me perfectly. It’s a dramatic step up from the XTi. From an image gathering point of view, the biggest thing is the improved low light/lower noise performance. I’m stuck with 18 megapixel pictures, but there’s no choice there in the current Canon line-up. From a construction point of view, I have the neat scroll wheel on the back in addition to the crosspad. There’s also the display on top of the camera to tell me the ISO/Aperture/Shutter speed settings. (I assume they’re useful because they use so much less power than the display screen on the back?) And, as a huge bonus, there’s built-in flash control. I don’t need to use those Cactus triggers anymore, or the Zebra cable, to control my off-camera 430 EX II flash, either manually or in E-TTL. This may be the one detail that made me spend the extra money instead of buying the cheaper Rebel T2i camera, whose specs are remarkably similar, otherwise.

It’s a big upgrade to my photography, and I’m having a lot of fun. There are a couple of drawbacks, but we’ll cover those as I go along here. Let’s take it step-by-step, after the break:

More

Had a power outage last night that broke my blogging rhythm.. I’ll be back tomorrow with more pictures from last week’s photographic journey. But first —

I’m raising some funds to buy a new camera. I’m starting to dig into the comic book original art now. Here’s a Joe Madureira page from “Deadpool” #4 (the mini-series before the series). I’m accepting offers on it now, or I might put it up on eBay soon. Not sure yet. But it’s a fun page to look at, if nothing else.

Lettering by Chris Eliopoulos is pasted onto the original art board. It’s not signed by anyone, but it does have a clear overlay taped to the board to produce the semi-circular effect you see on the bad guy’s mask. This scan doesn’t include that overlay, though it’s still with the art.

Forgive the awkward stitching of the art. I let Photoshop CS handle it, and it’s ancient.

Click on the art to see it at much larger size:

augie (at) comicbookresources.com would be a good address to contact me at, if you’re interested. I also have an eight page “Superman” sequence from Mike McKone I’m looking to offload, as well.

The sign on the left at the local Home Depot came down — two days later…

So, in an effort to save up enough money to buy a new camera in the next month, I’m selling off some comics, mostly higher-end hardcover titles. They’re all up on Amazon right now, and you can get there with my Amazon Marketplace link. There’s a mix of stuff in there, but I figured one of you might be interested. New stuff will likely be added this weekend.

End of commercial announcements for now. (Wait till the eBay auctions begin, then I’ll really turn things up!)

Photoshop World is live streaming their Vegas keynote at noon, Eastern today. Apple is streaming Steve Jobs’ presentation at 1:00 p.m.

If the Internet seems slow after lunch (Eastern time) that’s why.

I’ve been a Mac guy for about five years now. Still use my original Mac desktop as a matter of fact, a creaky PowerPC based leviathan with a second hard drive installed to handle all the photos, music, etc.

I’ve rarely needed to use the Genius Bar. I used it once when a power pack died on my monitor, and one other time when my first iPod had battery issues after a month or two of use. (I sense a pattern, all of a sudden.)

So when my two year old laptop developed issues — the backlight turned off after opening the screen past 90 degrees — I went to Apple.com and made an appointment for a Sunday morning visit to the Genius Bar.

It went very smoothly. An employee with an iPad found my appointment and got me the next available genius. The Genius, himself, (Hi, Doug!) saw what was wrong and had two possible diagnoses in an instant, explaining them clearly and succinctly. (It was just the backlighting, and one of two issues were to blame.) He gave me both price quotes.

Then he saw some chips on the plastic around the edges where my wrists rest, and told me it would be a free repair on my model and lined that up, too.

I gave them the laptop, sheepishly admitted my insecure password for it, and was on my way.

They called a couple of hours later and I returned to get everything back in one piece and fully functional again. $100 is a lot cheaper than a new laptop, though let’s face it: I’m a tech geek. A new laptop would have been cooler. ;-) (Completely unnecessary, though.)

On the way out the door in the morning, I got to touch an iPad for the first time.

Steve Jobs is right — it IS magical. Everything glides across the screen. It’s like everything is on ice, it moves so quickly. Pinching to zoom in and out happens quicker than anything I’ve ever seen a computer do. Swiping from page to page is slick.

And then I had to go, because my daughter was getting antsy inside her stroller. I showed her a video off SesameStreet.org and she was entranced, but I didn’t want to push it.

Sadly, the Mrs. was home sick and couldn’t witness the glory.

When I went back in the afternoon to pick the laptop up, the two tables with six iPads each were crowded with people checking it out. I saw lots of kids — tweens and teenagers — showing their parents the iPad, and lots of people smiling. It’s true — when you get yours hands on the device, you can’t help but fall in love.

No wonder Apple just hired a Nintendo fanboy to manage their iPad Games section. This thing might upset the entire portable games market, even at its larger size in comparison to the DS, PSP, et. al. (Wait, are there others past those two?)

So what’s the point of all this? The iPad looks really cool. It gives a great demo to those playing with it. And the Genius Bar worked for me yet again. Heck, thanks to on-line scheduling, it worked better than ever.

I’m a happy Apple guy.

There’s been some talk across the blogosphere lately of reviews of product packaging over the products, themselves. People post negative reviews of a book on Amazon, for example, because there’s not a digital version of it available, as well.

Check this review out, of the forthcoming Blu Ray release of the “Lord of the Rings” trilogy:

Some confusion among other reviewers that somehow we’re obligated to post a five star recommendation for the movie.

I don’t know which is worse, though: those other reviewers, or this guy’s logic.

The fact is, the disc hasn’t been released yet. I don’t know why Amazon even allows reviews to be posted of material that can’t be seen yet.

[...] This product is being created FOR NO OTHER REASON than to dupe people into buying this movie twice…again. Those of us who were huge fans bought the original DVDs of the theatrical releases. THEN the studio FINALLY released the extended editions, even though they could have released both at the same time.

Whoa whoa whoa. This guy is either stupid or ignorant. I’m not sure which.

First, no, the special edition DVDs could NOT have been released three or four months after the theatrical run. There were often hundreds of special effects shots added to the movie, not to mention additional scoring. Then, there were the two bonus discs worth of materials added to those special edition presentations. That stuff doesn’t happen overnight.

Second, every fan KNEW that there was a special edition coming out for Christmas at the time the regular edition came out months sooner. And if they didn’t know that about the first movie, certainly they were clued in for movies 2 and 3.

Third, I bet there are some people for whom the “shorter” 3 hour movies are more than enough.

Now that Blu Ray has won the High Def battle, the studios are salivating at screwing us all again the same way!

They won’t be screwing me. I’m not buying this Blu Ray set. I have the DVDs and they’ll do. Someday, they’ll release the four hour versions of the movies that I’ll never have the time to watch, and I’ll screw myself by buying them again. I’m sure they’ll look and sound AWESOME in my home theater.

Please do not let them get away with pretending that Blu Ray can’t hold both versions on one disc–it certainly can! A simple menu option would let you watch the Extended Edition when you have time, or Theatrical Edition when you don’t.

Yes, “seamless branching” is a technique that was very popular in the DVD world and worked every time they tried it. Wait, no, nobody ever went for it. It’s about as useful as BD-Live, honestly.

Look, I don’t know why they can’t release the special editions of the movies on Blu Ray right now. It is silly. But I’m mature enough to wait for the special editions, should I choose to ever watch these movies again. In the meantime, there are dozens of other movies that I can buy and watch. I don’t need to start a campaign on Amazon to “sink” a Blu Ray before it’s released.

He’s ALREADY DONE THE WORK–just copy what he did for the regular DVDs onto a new Blu Ray master!

It’s not always that simple. It’s not always a matter of pushing the up-res button on a computer and spitting out a perfect Blu Ray disc.

I don’t know why I’m trying to reason with this reviewer. He doesn’t care, and likely won’t ever read this. Even if he did, it’s tough to talk a man out of a jihad he’s started.

I’d like to rent one of those LOTR Blu Ray discs someday, though, just to see how they look and sound at the higher resolution and bit rate. Barring some insanely good sale on them, I’ll be passing.

If your next guest is either Syl Arena or David Du Chemin, you’re not trying hard enough.

Nothing against either gentleman, who both have books to plug, but I could give their interviews for them by now, if you’d like. (I can explain second curtain sync by heart now, thanks to Arena.) They pop up in my podcatcher constantly.

That said, I really really want Arena’s Speedliting book to come out, stat.

Spotted this on eBay tonight:

Looks like Captain Picard and friends were 20 years ahead of schedule...

I read that a guy once wrote his biography without using the letter “e.”  So I gave it a go:
 
“I am a Dad.  I watch TV, Blu-Rays, podcasts, and DVDs.  I am a comics critic and pundit and analyst.  I favor a Wii to an XBox.   I program for a living.”
 
That was tough.
 
Then I read that guy’s biography.  It runs 3000 words, and ends on the letter “e,” perfectly presented.
 
Yikes!
 
 

What I learned from watching American Idol last night:
 
* Being a good singer isn’t good enough anymore.  The judges want David Cook and Adam Lambert.  They want full-fledged musicians who can rewrite every song they come across.  Man, it used to be enough just to belt out a final note to cover a shaky performance.  Those poor contestants…
 
* Nobody taught Ashley what a “plosive” is during her dress rehearsal.  (Hint: That’s the puffing sound you make when you hold an unprotected mic too close to your mouth and make the “p” sound.  That’s why those windscreens sit in front of microphones in recording studios.)
 
* Song selection, song selection, song selection.
 
* Ellen is taking seriously her vow that she’s there to tell contestants how comfortable they look on stage.  And, occasionally, that they’re cute.  She IS the new Paula.
 
* Kara taught us that it’s OK to say the “B” word twice during a family show.
 
* This year’s fashion choice: Leggings or tights.  Failing that, a short dress will do.  Double points for both.
 
* Hannah Storm’d fit right in.
 
* No, seriously, at one point the black girl wearing the white dress sang a Beatles song back-to-back with the white girl in the black dress.  I thought I was in that episode of the original “Star Trek” with The Riddler for a moment.
 
* Me, a geek?  No…
 
* We have our traditional red-headed dye job contestant.  The most successful of those so far have been Nikki McKibbin and Alison Iraheta.  Alison is scheduled to perform tomorrow night.  I don’t think this season’s red head is in for a terribly long run, though.
 
* Yes, we get it, Idol. You have clearances from The Beatles now.  We’re going to get hit over the head with Beatles songs now, aren’t we?  Hopefully, not every contestant will so completely lose the melody on the way to making the song “their own.”
 
* Can I get a job at that photo studio?  Looks cool.

Funny thing: I was perusing the iPhone App store the other night.  Wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but I hadn’t looked at the Top Apps lists in a while.  It seemed like a large number of the apps were for “Sexy Girls” and “Preferred Positions” and the like.
 
It was sad.  I’m so used to using the filter of Twitter and the blogosphere to point out the good stuff to me that I don’t normally see this default view that so many others rely on to point out the good stuff.  And it looked, well, cheap and tawdry.  How can you sell the utility of the App Store when it’s filled with this crap?
 
The App Store is filled with people looking to make a buck by pandering to the lowest common denominator, which is something Apple has never done.  You get “developers” who find a cheap way to put together a specific type of app, and they make as many copycats as they can.  Hey, if “Pretty Blondes in Bikinis” sells 1000 copies (sadly, that’s likely a low number) at 99 cents a shot, you can be “Pretty Brunettes in Bikinis” will be profitable, too.  And “Pretty Short-Haired Girls in Bikinis.”  And “Pretty Redheads in Bikinis.”  And “Pretty Girs with Their Pet Rhinos, Also In Bikinis.”  Etc., etc.  There is no oversight on stuff like this.  I bet you can populate those apps fairly cheaply using microstock imagery.  (It might take some Photoshop work to put the rhinos in the pictures, but the profit will still be there.)
 
Apple cracked down on it this week, delisting thousands of apps from the store.  While there is a hew and cry over this, I can’t help but feel that they’ve really only stripped three or four developers of their livelihoods with this.  They’re the factories that create this rubbish.
 
The big problem is that Apple looks bad for changing the rules in the middle of the game.  But, personally, as a non-developer, I don’t mind.  Let them clean up their house.  It’s worth it.

• Amelia

Hilary Swank as Amelia Earhardt? Sounds like fun. Spoiler alert: She disappears!

• Casablanca

A classic. The last DVD restoration looked pretty good, though. Don’t know how much better you’re going to get, but I’m open to it.

• Doctor Who: The End of Time, Part One & Two

This is pure linkbait. I don’t watch the series. No time for it. But I know lots of you do!

• Gangs of New York (Remastered)

This is a legendary digital flop. The DVD was poor. The initial Blu Ray release was a bad upconvert of the DVD, from the looks of it. At last, they’re correcting it, and doing it right, we hope. The ironic part is that the film’s director, Martin Scorcese, goes around telling everyone how important it is to digitally preserve Hollywood’s past in the best possible way. Yet this movie of his has been an embarrassment.

It’s also the subject of the best Blu Ray review I’ve ever now read.

• The Godfather: The Coppola Restoration – Sapphire Series
• The Godfather, Part II: The Coppola Restoration – Sapphire Series

What, they didn’t bother with Part III? Interesting.

• Hellboy: Swords of Stone/Blood & Iron

These are the two animated TV movies they did after the live action theatrical release.

• Maid in Manhattan

And, really, isn’t this why digital preservation of films is so important?

• Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior
• Ong Bak 2: The Beginning

I still have the first, unwatched, on DVD. So sad.

• Walk the Line

It follows the standard Hollywood auto-bio Oscar bait formula, but it’s still entertaining.

• Zombieland

Woddy Harrelson. Zombies. Internet glee!

Next week: “The Phantom,” amongst others.

Quoting my Idol writeup of 08 March 2006:

Ayla Brown did a current song that I’ve heard on the radio once or twice, but don’t know the name or artist on. “Unwritten,” perhaps? It’s a horrible song choice with no range, but not a bad performance song choice. She danced around and mostly pulled the song off. The softer parts were weak, but the power parts worked well. Again, the band drowned her out a few times. Ayla, despite a couple of stellar performances, might be in trouble.

Ryan looks like a midget standing next to her, too. We tall people have to stick together, so I voted for her a dozen times last night.

And, now, lots of Massachusetts voters voted her father into the Senate this week.