I read up on concert photography prior to going to the show. (IShootShows.com has some awesome information. Start there.) I knew I didn’t have the equipment for it, but was prepared to give it a shot, anyway. All the concert photographers will tell you to have a relatively new camera with great high-ISO performance, and lenses that are at least f/2.8, if not wider. Even better: Shoot prime lenses.

Me, I had a nearly-five year old model Canon XTi camera, one 50mm f/1.8 prime lens, and a 70-300mm f/4-5.6 zoom lens.

Uh oh.

But two things work in my favor with that: First, I had a great seat. We were off to the right side of the stage, eight rows off the floor, just about even with the front of the stage. So, basically, we were just over eye level with the Wiggles, and not that terribly far away. My 50mm lens would just squeeze in the entire stage. My 70-300mm lens would give me portraits of people close up, and full body images of performers at the far end of the stage.

Second, Lightroom has good noise reduction features. LR3 is amazing, from what I’ve seen, but I don’t have it yet. (Won’t work on my ancient PowerPC-chipped Mac.) But LR2 does the job just swell, thanks. Plus, I don’t plan on blowing any of these images up that large, so I don’t need them to be so clean.

I had to shoot the entire concert at ISOs 800 and 1600 (mostly the latter) but I got images that were surprisingly usable. Plus, it’s the Wiggles: They light up the whole stage. And I’m not trying to get pictures of the people in their seats where it’s dark. I’m happy to have them disappear.

Still, shutter speeds weren’t always super fast, so I had to do two things to compensate:

First, I shot in burst mode. For every picture I wanted, I’d take three, figuring one of them would come out sharp enough.

Second, I chose my moments. Having watched the Wiggles concerts before, I knew some of what I was in for. I knew the poses that specific Wiggles would hold. I knew where in the song the most movement would be and so should avoid those spots. So choosing more pictures of people closer to me (more open f/stop at closer distances on my telephoto zoom) at times when they’d strike a pose was a big help.

But I still had one LARGE lesson to learn, and it’s the one that hurt the most. I’ll discuss that on Monday. (CLIFFHANGER!)

The Wiggles ride in on their Big Red Car

Do not watch their television show.
 
It’s that simple.  From the conversations I’ve had with people who don’t like the Wiggles, the one thing I notice about them is that they had to sit through endless loops of the TV series, which is a cheap green screen affair that’s soul-crushing to adults.  Kids eat it up, but adults want to grind their teeth.
 
Here’s the trick: Ignore the TV show and buy the two concert movies.  Just enjoy them for the music and the theatrics of the live stage.
 
Yeah, that’s right: The Wiggles are a Live Band, not an Album Band.
 
Coming soon: Lots of photography lessons learned from photographing a Wiggles concert.

Wiggles Big Big Show Concert DVD

* My first DVD player (03 July 1998) was a graphics card and drive for my IBM Aptiva computer. I watched movies on a 15 inch CRT screen and loved the heck out of it. I remember how impressive was it to see movies like “The Rock” for the first time in widescreen in the middle of a computer monitor. Even at such a tiny size, you still knew the picture quality was much greater than VHS.

So damned primitive, it was. Now, my 46″ widescreen television is too small for me, but I know there comes a point where one has to make a choice between art and finance. You can only afford so much. . .

* My Commodore 64 monitor was used at one point as a TV, also. I had an older VCR hooked into it. I remember pausing through “Tiny Toons” learning to draw from that.

* That first DVD player didn’t last long. Bought a standalone DVD player that Christmas for $199, I think. Maybe $299? Tough to recall. Looked much better on the 27 inch TV screen in the living room, complete with surround sound system that was a repurposed Cambridge Soundworks system sold normally for computer games, I guess. It wasn’t until 2001 that I bought a new Sony Trinitron TV that did anamorphic widescreen on a 4:3 CRT, and looked stunning. “Stunning” was by the standards of the time. Widescreen TVs were available at that point, but not yet practical. There wasn’t much at all on TV in 16:9 format, and HD was still years away.

* We went through a few VCRs in my family from the time we got our first (I’m guessing 1985). What amazes me, in retrospect, was the different ways those VCRs marked time. Most of them measured time in what we called “blocks.” Our first had a physical counter — three scroll wheels that spun in time with the VHS tape. You could push a button to reset the counter to 0. So you knew the next episode of “Tiny Toons” started 100 blocks later.

Problem is, the next VCR had a new measuring scheme, and so your “blocks” were useless.

* Perhaps the greatest limitation of the VCR was that you couldn’t watching something back from the beginning while you were taping it. Today, that’s the cornerstone of my DVR habit, which has prevented me from watching TV commercials for the past decade.

* I got my first TiVo as a Christmas present in 2000, I believe it was. I quickly paid for the lifetime subscription. My parents are still using that unit. It’s made that $300 back and then some. I later upgraded to the Humax TiVo that included a DVD burner. Didn’t get as much use out of that DVD burner as I thought I might, but it came in handy a few times. Thankfully, I paid month to month on it, so I didn’t lose money on the deal.

* The TV I grew up watching was on the floor, built into a piece of wooden furniture, on top of which sat the living room’s main lamp light and, of course, the cable box. We had several cable boxes, from ones that had thirteen switches across to ones that you slid a pointer along the line of channels to change stations. We were years away from a remote.

And the TV had a physical issue in it where the screen would suddenly and randomly get very dark. The brightness just dropped right off the scale. A simple slap to the side of the TV (often during “Cheers,” it seemed) did the trick to brighten it back up.

* I remember MTV when it still had music, Nickelodeon when it ran black and white sit-comes in the middle of the afternoon (”My Three Sons,” “Mr. Ed,” et. al.), and HBO when it had “Fraggle Rock.” A cornerstone of my Sunday mornings was watching Hanna Barbera cartoons of the 70s on USA Network. Remember when cable TV didn’t really go past channel 27? Or 36?

Sorry, just had to write that all down. I was feeling old today.

I love the first season of reality TV series. It’s after that where the good ones start their decline.

I can give you countless example of what happens, but here’s the formula:

Season One: Your introduction to a person or people in an unusual circumstance doing cool things that you wouldn’t otherwise be exposed to. These episodes are very documentary in style. They stand back and let you view the action from a relatively close proximity. Their characters come out through normal actions. It’s fun.

Season Two: The producers realize that they have a hit, and that’s why they have a season two. So everything must be BIGGER and BETTER. So the producers stop the documentary nature of the series and start forcing the “stars” of the show into fish-out-of-water situations. Their reactions — whether of fright or of excitement — are captured and teased at every commercial break.

Suddenly, the situations are no longer real. The reactions are, but the people in the reality show would never be there without the reality show.

Season Three: Everything falls apart completely, as the “stars” of the reality show start to think of themselves as “stars.” They’ve seen their press. They’ve watched their episodes. They know the drill. Now, they overact and overemote. Everything is life-and-death. The once documentary nature of the show has drifted into complete dramedy, only missing a script by the barest of Hollywood technicalities.

See “Jon and Kate” for the prime example. We went from being amazed at their grocery gbills to watching them appear on Oprah to watching the paparazzi stalk them as Kate discusses her life as a celebrity to the camera. See “Cake Boss,” which went from making cakes for local people and small organizations to making cakes for the Army AND VISITING THE BASE TO FIRE WEAPONS along the way. See “The Real World,” which hasn’t been the same since the cast grew to expect to have jobs or to have their one big vacation or to wonder who they should kick out of the house for maximum drama. See “Survivor,” where players learned to play the game from previous seasons and now play the game more than the people. (This is almost forgivable. It is, ultimately, a game show. But, still, you can see the producers working harder and harder to come up with outrageous stunts, crazier personalities, and new twists in the game play.) See “Big Brother,” while you’re at it.

The competitive shows suffer from this to a slightly lesser degree, but it still holds. Look at “Dancing With The Stars” or even “So You Think You Can Dance.” SYTYCD has ditched its old stage for an overlarge glitzy neon-fest, while the judges rip the dancers apart whenever they fail to deliver a five star performance. It’s almost like nothing is good enough for them. Look at “DWTS” where they add bigger casts (still fitting in the same molds — football star? Old man? Olympic athlete? etc.) and push them even harder to the point where a new one is injured every week. They’re not just doing one dance every week now. They often do two, or an extra group number, or a faster Quick Step, etc.

Here’s what the second season of “Cake Boss” has taught me: Enjoy the first season of these reality shows. Then move on, because they’ll never be the same again

I’m not quite sure what to make of what happened here. Who set up who? Are those misbehaving kids in costume? Are those, er, “little people” actors? Were they told to act goofy and steal the scene?

If you believe it, it’s hilarious. I giggled out loud. What do you think? Are you more cynical than I?

Ewoks Go Nuts

The moonwalking part had me in tears.

A couple of weeks late, yes, but a thought:

Will Chef Ramsay ever again hire someone whose hair would pass a health inspection?

Will Chef Ramsay ever pick the right winner?

Did they cut the budget this year?  Is that why the final two only got one hour of two?  Is that why they didn’t get to decorate their restaurant and bring in their family members to help?  Honestly, I didn’t miss that part too much.  It always seemed like false drama to me when something would go wrong during construction just at the end of the halfway point.

And will the producers ever have the guts to invite in contestants for their cooking abilities rather than their abilities to fit into a two dimensional caricature/archetype that they can exploit for drama?

Despite all of that, I can’t wait for next season.  Which prompts the final question:

When will Chef Ramsay run out of restaurants to staff?

Two of my favorite comedies of all time are coming back with new features. They’re doing new editions of both the “Fawlty Towers” and “Black Adder” DVD sets.

John Cleese and crew will be providing commentaries for “Fawlty Towers,” which likely justifies the price of admission, alone. That’s possibly the best $50 (less via Amazon, no doubt) you could spend on a DVD set this year.
Commentaries and other miscellany are promised for “Black Adder,” but a high price point and an uncertain feature set make that a “wait and see” proposition. And while I adore the third and fourth season, the second is uneven, and the first isn’t all that rewatchable for me.

Watching the season premiere of the show last week, I was left with just one thought: Has “Hell’s Kitchen” completely jumped the shark?

It’s become obvious in recent seasons that the show isn’t looking for executive chef material anymore.  They’re interested in characters.  I can’t imagine the winners are really running those restaurants as anything except figureheads.  Someone else in the organization is pulling the strings, I bet.  But the lack of cooking talent grows worse every season, and this season has grown so bad at the start that it’s like watching a cartoon show.  These people can’t possible be real, can they?  They go beyond the usual self-delusional personalities and stretch out into the outright bizarre and psychotic.

The juvenile antics between the winning and losing teams are, no doubt, egged on by producers.  The backstage fights between puffs on omnipresent cigarettes are fueled by the ample supplies of nicotine and alcohol, as well as some probing questions no doubt aimed in specific directions during the one-on-one interviews.

The show has always had moments that break the veil of “reality,” mostly anything involving J.P., particularly when the wedding planner shows up who is his arch-nemesis.  I believe J.P. is Belgian, but that’s about it.  Everything else might as well be scripted, though I have a feeling it’s mostly improv.

Nowadays, I wonder how much of anything else is “real.”

The topper of the season premiere came from the ex-military chef who vowed to Chef Ramsay that we wasn’t anyone’s bitch when Chef Ramsay asked him the probing question, “Who’s your team’s first nominee and why?”  When he then attempted to provoke a physical fight with the Chef before the dramatic “TO BE CONTINUED” flashed on screen, I knew something was up.  This guy is either camera-hungry or outright psychotic and suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

I really really really want to like the show and enjoy it, but their attempts to make it “bigger” and “better” every season are fast breaking the show.

I’ll give the show this: The little animated graphics going into commercial have been very clever in the last couple of seasons, as they’re tying directly into the outro from the show.

I almost yearn for the “documentary” series that is “Kitchen Nightmares.”

• “Joe Schmo” was a fabulously funny send-up of reality dating television, done as an improv show in which everyone’s in on the joke, except the contestants. Finally, the second season is being made available on DVD. This is Must Viewing TV.

• I had more to say on “American Idol” during the Round of 3 week, but Alan Sepinwall beat me to every single point I’d make. Go read his stuff, instead.
  

• You have to love a site which invites you to bet on the programmer’s blood sugar levels. THIS is why the internet was created.

• Wired Magazine has great pictures from the wreckage of the Hudson River plane. Great stuff, including commentary from the photographer.

• Shatner Sings! 

• Want to see Adam Lambert performing musical theater?  It starts slow, but does build to a classic deafening Lambert crescendo!
• Nintendo is refusing to allow an Intellivision system game on the DSi.  Now THAT’S a shame.
• Amazing picture of Rockefeller Center in 1933.  The architecture, the lighting, EVERYTHING is so very cool in this pic.
• Todd Klein expertly dissects why Comic Sans sucks. (I normally don’t do comics-related blogging here, but this is a much bigger issue than mere comics.  This is proper fontography!)
• “The Wrath of Khan” performed by the Amazon Kindle and an iPod.
• Drafting a pro golfer to test the usability of “The Happy Gilmore Tee Shot.”  I love the internet.
• Soon, Jeopardy! might have its first Computer Contestant.

• Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares

This is the original British show that started it all.  Includes four episodes where he goes back months later to the struggling restaurants he helped out to see how they’re doing. I understand that’s not always pretty.

Let’s see what came out today, shall we?

First, the TV stuff:

• Night Court: The Complete Second Season

At last!  Man, that was a great show.  Where’s the reunion special on this one?

• Dave’s World: Season Two

This must be Harry Anderson’s Big DVD Week.

• Mystery Science Theater 3000: Volume 14

For those keeping track at home: “Mad Monster,” “Manhunt in Space,” “Soultaker,” and “Final Justice.” I remember the last couple. I probably SHOULD remember the first two. . .

And now for the movies:

• Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist
• Zack and Miri Make a Porno
  

This is the kind of stuff the kids today like. I can’t believe I just typed in that second title. This used to be a family-friendly blog. . .

iFMagazine.com: Breaking News: BIG SCOOP CREATOR ROB THOMAS CONFIRMS ‘VERONICA MARS’ MOVIE

At the tail end of this winter’s television critic’s event, Rob Thomas, who has resurrected his 1998 TV series CUPID for another go-around on ABC, announced that he’s currently working on a VERONICA MARS feature film based on his short-lived UPN/CW show, now that his new series order has been reduced from thirteen episodes to eight episodes.

The next paragraph of the story points out that there’s no deal in place for the movie. He’s just writing it; nobody’s financed it yet.  But there’s hope!  If you’ve never seen “Veronica Mars” before, go grab the DVDs.  There’s only three seasons, and they’re pretty cheap these days. They’re averaging about $25 a season on Amazon right now.

Sorry for the slow VandS updates lately. I’m working on ways to crank production back up.  Thanks for sticking with me. . .

My cable-provider-provided DVR went on the fritz this week.  Like happened a couple of months ago, the connection between the DVR and TV was being interrupted.  Last time, it happened about once every 30 seconds.  This time, it happened every couple of seconds. The power wasn’t turning on and off on either the DVR or the TV.  I tried various combinations of HDMI ports and cables, but nothing worked.  The TiVo and DVD player and Apple TV worked fine.  It was only the cable box.

Rather than returning the box again for another refurb unit they’d foist on us, we called for a service visit.  Let them measure the signal to make sure it’s strong or do whatever other tests they need to do.  Something.

The cable rep diagnosed the problem right away: HDCP over HDMI.  For those of you not in the know, that’s the copy protection protocol foisted upon us by Hollywood to keep us from illegally pirating their content.  And, like happens with all copy protection schemes, the only people it hurts are those who are just trying to watch the content they’ve honestly and legally paid for.

The cable guy said we probably tripped over one channel that had HDCP enabled and that was enough to send the box into a tizzy.

By moving to component cables instead of HDMI, everything was set right.

Now THAT’S ridiculous.

On the bright side, it means I only have two things using HDMI connections on my two-port HDTV.  I can put the HDMI switch box into storage for now.  I won’t be using it.

So thanks again, Hollywood.  Excuse me while I go Bit Torrent a movie in exchange for this harassment.

OK, it’s now The Morning After.  I’ve picked my jaw up off the floor, dusted it off, taken some nitroglycerin pills, and can speak coherently towards the series finale of “The Shield,” a show which teased its viewers last night with so many potentially cliched and easy endings, yet never took a one.

“The Shield” stayed true to itself to the very end, never compromising.  The finale was an ending, without being the kind of episode that’s so aware of itself as an end that it got wrapped up in that.  It was another episode of a great series, but even better.

“The Shield” was a ridiculously good show that never got the attention it deserved past Michael Chiklis’ one Emmy. Part of me really hopes the whole “let’s reward a good show after it’s gone” mentality strikes the Emmys folks this coming summer. Heck, give the Emmy to Chiklis’ face.

There are shows you watch because you enjoy, and there are shows you watch because they are truly great.  I enjoy ‘24,’ but it doesn’t hold a candle to ‘The Shield’ as far as great dramas go. The former is a fun roller coaster ride when done right.  The latter is modern day televised Shakespeare.

And that’s what makes writing this so easy and so enjoyable. There’s so much to talk about here that I could go on for another 2500 words.  Hopefully, it’ll be quicker than that.

Let’s get to it.  Full spoilers after the break!

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