Using a DSLR: My First Time

Many people look back on their first time with a sense of fondness.  Of course, their nostalgic tinted memories may not have always represented the actual occurrence.  Many of them were kind of awkward and lacked the skill they thought they possessed.  This post is the true story of a first time...

My alleged sibling goaded me into going to a place called Northwest Trek (probably because it is in the NW, but i'm not so sure about the Trek).  But wait, it gets more strange.  Sibling Zed, as i will call it, had just purchased a new DSLR (because he thought that moisture may have ruined his old one) and told me that i could use his old DSLR - a Canon EOS Rebel XS (or something). 

i normally use a point and shoot Canon PowerShot A70 (that is probably 10 years old).  Point and shoots have the simplicity i want, but lack interchangeable lenses (and lenses you can turn to focus).  i mean, i'm not sure (nor do i really care) what aperture, white level, ISO, etc are.

So there i was all alone, my pulse racing (not really) with anticipation as i pointed the camera and took the shot of some animal.   It was like time stood still in that moment and the anticipation had finally been satisfied.  The thumbnail displayed on the LCD screen looked almost decent.  This was followed by numerous other shots (over and over again).  It was an insatiable frenzy of 193 shots.

However, much like people's other people's first times, it turned out not as spectacular as i anticipated.  It kind of felt good and right (and maybe a little naughty).  However, looking back on the experience - when i put the pictures on my computer things were different.  It may have seemed good for me at the time, however, the shots that seemed so right at the time were stripped bare of their nostalgic delusions and i could see how bad it was for the camera.

Would you care for some examples?  Too bad (i'm not sure what some of these are).  Everything was under-exposed, over-exposed, blurry, mutant like, the wrong end of the animal or something else.  None of the images turned out that good.    

 

TV: Golden Oldies: Get Smart!

Here we go with another blast from the TV past from before i was allegedly born.  Before the fairly awful Steve Carell version in 2008, Get Smart was a good TV show (i guess it still is). 

Get Smart
Aired: 1965-1970
Seasons: 5 (NBC, final season on CBS)
Episodes: 138
Availability on DVD: Complete Series or Season sets 1-5

Get Smart! was a show about the world's best known secret agent, Agent 86 Maxwell Smart.  Maxwell Smart was a somewhat bumbling secret agent who seemed to get results (somehow).  Maybe the results were aided by his partner Agent 99 (her name was never revealed).   Maxwell Smart was usually fighting some evil villain from KAOS - an international organization of evil.  They got kind of Norse mythos here: CONTROL = good, KAOS = bad. 

Get Smart was notable to me for numerous reasons.  The first reason is that Get Smart is probably the most violent comedic series in history.  Someone was always getting killed in some standard or creative way - they were spies after all.  Secondly, Get Smart was one of the first series i was aware of (chronologically) that made use of frequent catch phrases.  Among the notable catch phrases uttered were: "Sorry about that chief" - usually after doing something stupid, "Missed it by that much",  "That is the second biggest (deadliest, etc), "Would you believe..."  and others.  Thirdly, i guess, was the strange technology that Max used (like a shoe phone) or the dreaded Cone of Silence. 

After the series ended there was a movie and a made for TV movie that were not as good as the series.  Then there was a more recent movie, which i was not a fan of.  There was also a short-lived FOX series starring Andy Dick.  Don Adams (the guy who played Maxwell Smart) went on to do voice over work (with his distinctive voice) for animated shows like Inspector Gadget and Pepper Ann.   

TV Shows: Outsourced

Why is it that shows that i like (or semi-like) seem to never last?  On NBC it was The Cape and Outsourced.  Either that or they mess up what i like about the shows (ex. the horrid Chuck season 3). 

i guess i was thinking about Outsourced after i saw the movie of the same name.  They were a lot different (though some of the characters feel familiar).  The cast for the TV show was so much better in my opinion than the movie. 

This is actually an interesting way to showcase the culture clash, while providing a way to make fun of it (both the clash between cultures and between business methods).  The show was never about extolling the virtues of outsourcing, it was about a comedy based in an office that was a little different setting.  i know i have weird taste in entertainment, but i would much rather watch something like this (should have taken things a little more absurd) than the boring Office with Steve Carell (what is his appeal anyway?).  True the show was not great, but it was at least somewhat entertaining (not buy the DVD set entertaining). 

Basically, there were two shows that i watched on NBC Thursdays (it has really, really slipped in my eyes).  It worked for me when they were back to back (Community and Outsourced).  However, they decided to move Outsourced later to promote a really, really lame show (Perfect Couples?).   Let's just put it this way... i can't stand Parks and Recreation, The Office or 30 Rock.  So the move to later in the night prevented me from watching Outsourced. 

TV: The Semi Classic Demented Questions

TV has given rise to certain specific questions.  Most of these were 1960s shows.  i decided to give my answers to these timeless questions (to show you how weird i am) ....  What would your answers be?

1) The Flintstones: who would you prefer, Betty or Wilma
* My Answer: Betty.  Wilma always looked higher maintenance to me.  Betty seemed more like the girl next door, while Wilma seemed like the spoiled child of well off parents.

2) Gilligan's Island: Marry Ann or Ginger
* My Answer: Marry Ann.  It is not like i have something against redheads.  This is another example of lower maintenance.  Marry Ann is more like the girl next door (i wonder if there is a theme here) and Ginger seem like kind of a difficult/self-absorbed person. 

3) Jeannie vs Samantha (I Dream of Jeannie and Bewitched):
* My Answer: For some reason i will buck the trend here... Samantha appears more like she would be more relatable.  However, my answer would be Jeannie.  There is just something about a female that strives to fulfill your every desire that seems appealing.  Though maybe my results are impacted by finding Bewitched so dull of a show. 

Golden Oldies: The Flintstones

The Flintstones
* Aired: 1960-1966
* Seasons: 6
* Episodes: 166
* Availability on DVD: All Seasons (some have flipper discs)

The Flintstones was the animated story of the "modern stone age family".  That description always struck me as strange.  However, what they did was replace technology with some type of animal or crude device.  i have heard that the Flintstones was kind of an animated version of the Honeymooners (which i've never seen).

The Flintstones were Fred (a quarry worker) and his wife Wilma - eventually a child, Pebbles.  Living next door were the Rubbles - Barney and his wife Betty.  There were also secondary or lesser characters in Bedrock from time to time depending on the story. 

Before the Simpsons long run, the Flintstones was regarded as the most successful prime-time animated series ever.  Unfortunately, Seth McFarlane is trying to reboot the series with a 2012 version (which i'm sure will be awful).  The Flintstones would later lend their name/characters to things like chewable vitamins, breakfast cereals and movies.  The IMDB list of movie connections (stuff like shows/movies it is referenced in is kind of long).  The theme song is fairly recognizable.

This is one of the shows that i found to be more interesting when i was less chronologically advanced.      

Golden Oldies: F Troop

F Troop
* Aired: 1965-1967
* Episodes: 65
* Seasons: 2
* Available on DVD: Seasons 1, 2

F Troop was a series about a somewhat inept soldier is given command of a military outpost in the old west (sort of).  This was mostly to deal with Indian attacks.  YouTube the theme song. 

Like some other shows i tend to like, this one had some unique characters.  You had two characters running a business on the side (that they probably shouldn't have), a passive tribe of Indians who serve as the workforce making items to sell to tourists, a leader who is a little over his head (and oblivious of his "underlings" business practices), a girl who runs the store who only seems to want to marry the hapless leader of F Troop.  So, this was a little bit like McHale's Navy. 

This is probably a lot less known (at least today) than alot of the other shows of the era.  The first season was black and white, the second season was in color. 

For some reason, they kept firing a cannon that would take down one of the guard towers.  This show may have been set in the old west (in the 1860s?), but it isn't really a western.  For some reason, Married With Children seemed to reference this the most of any show. 

Golden Oldies: Green Acres

Green Acres
* Aired: 1965-1971 (on CBS)
* Episodes: 170
* Seasons: 6
* Available on DVD: Seasons 1-3 on flipper discs (two sided)

In some ways Green Acres was a reverse Beverly Hillbilies - fish out of water type thing.  Green Acres was the story of a New York City lawyer who lived out his dream of moving to his own farm (to watch the plants shoost from the ground).  His trophy wife (and English mangler), did not exactly share those dreams - but she tolerated it.  Those were the good old days - now they would have been divorced.  For some Green Acres was the place to stay, but others might have been allergic to smelling hay. 

So, this lawyer (and awful farmer) moved to the rural town of Hooterville in the Kangaroo state.  He was a pretty bad farmer (though he was sold questionable farmland with bad equipment) who would occasionally wear his suit around the farm.  The tractor alone was the source of much consternation.  The town was filled with numerous colorful characters (and some less colorful, but useful in weird situations).  You have such characters as con-man Mr. Haney (with a strange voice), inept county agent Hank Kimball, neighbors the Ziffels (who have a TV watching pig they treat as a son) and more.  Arnold Ziffel is one of the coolest TV pigs in history.  Oliver Wendell Douglas' wife (played by Eva Gabor) was not exactly suited for the farm life and lacked domestic skill such as cooking.  Her hotcakes were surprisingly useful (though not for human consumption).     

In some ways this is ahead of its time.  For one, the credits would sometimes creep into the world (like eggs with people's names on them).  Some of the situations would be kind of crazy.  However, it seemed to be mostly the story of this lawyer and his reactions to the odd people and circumstances around him (all while being a questionable farmer).   

If you want to see some of the cultural impact that Green Acres had, check out the IMDB movie connections section).  The source for information was IMDB and memory (i have the 3 DVD sets).

TV

Finally post 100.  Cue the fireworks.  What no fireworks? ... cue the disinterested yawns. 

Aging chronologically, i used to watch this thing called television.  It was a magical 4:3 aspect ratio box with video and audio.  The cool kids may have been out participating in the ritualistic act of dating members of the opposite sex, but i had TV to keep me company.  Yes, hermits are more socially capable than i am. 

Basically, i divide TV into the most awesome 3 decades: Oldies (60s), Eighties (awesome) and 90s.  There are still a few shows that are somewhat decent today - but they seem to be in the minority, they may appear better by comparison.  The most important TV days for me have been NBC's "Must Watch TV" (obviously not as much recently - i only like one of the shows) and ABC's TGIF (before it went the Urkel way).  Luckily, i had Nick at Nite to fill me in some of these older shows. 

i have been thinking about doing individual posts on shows from these eras.  Lucky, lucky readers - you get to mostly not read these posts (unless your internet search brings you here). 

Is It Just Me, Or is IE9 Kind of a Train Wreck

So, a while ago i updated to Internet Explorer 9 (64 bit) from IE 8.  i have been using Internet Explorer in some form ever since the first version (as i never liked Netscape).  IE 8 was stable and worked well for me.

The problem i seem to be having is that IE 9 seems to be a little less stable and slow.  Basically, i have had numerous freezes, almost daily.  Well freeze may be the wrong word, but if i see many more site not responding errors (when my connection is working), i can't be held accountable for my actions.  i am pretty sure most of these are on the browser side.  Some days it doesn't even load my home at start up without freezing.  When it does load things, it seems seriously slow.  It seems like IE9 was a big step backwards from IE 8.  Maybe it is just the 64 bit version, is the 32 bit version any better? 

i do have Google Chrome on my PC (as my backup browser - it is decent), but i'm so used to clicking the Internet Explorer icon (and all my password/etc cookies are on IE). 

Random Factoid: Mt. Rainier Name

Continuing with the 4th of July theme...  Have you ever wondered who iconic mountain (at least where i'm from) Mt. Rainier was named after (by clueless cartographers)?  If you don't know, Mt. Tacoma is the iconic Cascadian mountain.

Throughout its history, the volcano of awesomeness was known by many names.  Many of the early names roughly became Tacoma in English.  For some reason the Seattle residents are not open to the name Mt. Tacoma.  Well anyway, Georger Vancouver named the mountain after his buddy Peter Rainier.

Unfortunately, the US decided that the name of the mountain should be Rainier.  These people effectively disregarded everything about the local culture.  i remember reading something with a map maker that said if they knew anything about the area or the local lore, they would have prefered the name Mt. Tacoma (or Tahoma).  People thousands of miles away naming stuff they really shouldn't (as they knew nothing at all about the area).   i would like a change of name for this massive landmark - one that actually reflects where it is.   

Fun fact, Peter Rainier actually fought agains the US in the revolutionary war (at least that is what i have heard).   

Happy 4th of July (US)

So today is the Fourth of July in the US.  As far as i'm concerned Independence Day is a movie about a failed alien invasion (i had such high hopes for our alien overlords too).  Back when i was younger, this used to be a day where my father or brother would set off fireworks (sometimes with interesting resluts - like burned pants).  i fail to see the point in celebrating this any more (basically 235 years after the fact).  i guess the US is big on empty tradition and useless holidays. 

For other people, this apparently marks a date that the government decided to use to commemorate the independence of the US from the UK.  i've always thought that would have happened eventually even without the revolutionary war (maybe 10-20 years). 

i've always wondered why the picked the 4th of July.  After all, history is not always exact with the days.  Basically i have assumed that they might have declared independence on that day.  Why celebrate the day you allegedly declared independence, why not when you actually achieve it?  What i don't get was that in that era information travelled very slowly.  In other words, they could have declared independence without anyone else really knowing about it for days to months. 

Why celebrate something that happened over 200 years ago anyway?   The relevance seems to be a little lacking. 

Movies i Didn't Like: The King's Speech

Recently, i have been watching a lot of movies.  Who knew public libraries let you check out fairly new release movies?  Most of them have been bad to "i'm glad i didn't pay to rent this".   

The movie in this post was The King's Speech.  There are numerous people out (oot in Canada) there who really seemed to like this film.  If you hadn't guessed by now, i'm not one of them.  i found this film to be pointless and very, very  b o r i n g.  On the bright side, the movie was in focus. 

i have never been one to like movies that get critical approval (outside a few) or that show up in film festivals.  The King's Speech was both.  i would say that it seemed a little pretentious.  The second thing is that i cared nothing for any of the characters or the plot.  Why should i care if some British royal (i don't get that fascination) stammered/stuttered when he spoke.  Dude, you have the money and some semblance of power - they kind of have to listen to you.  Yeah, i can really relate to some older than me person whose greatest problem is a speech impediment - seems pretty lucky to me.  Oh cruel fate...

The movie was R rated for marketability to the cadre of drama fans.  The only reason i could think for the rating was use of "strong language".  They used the "F" word several times.  i'm sure my neighbors hear stronger language when i'm playing video games. 

Maybe i missed some of the deeper undertones and how it was a metaphor for the human condition (or that pretentious stuff teachers say about literature), but i didn't see any.  i'm sure there was some kind of plot, but it didn't keep me interested.  To me, this movie moved little faster than the pace of paint drying.  Was it really 118 minutes, it felt like weeks?  There were no car chases, explosions or nudity.  To me, there also was not real point.  Yeah, you can give a wartime speech over the radio (whatever that is) as the grand finale.  i was so thoroughly moved as the credits finally rolled - that i uttered the word "finally" and immediately put this back in the case, never again to see the light of day in my household.   

Movies and How i Feel About Them

i did a couple series of posts on music that i liked, so i though i would do occasional posts on movies i liked/disliked. 

Basically, the last movie i saw in the theaters (or theatres) was Shrek Forever After.  It is not that there were no decent movies released since then - i don't know of any (by my standards). 

Disclaimer time: i tend to watch mostly action and comedy. Dramas bore me (maybe you have to be able to relate more to, i think they are called, humans to get them). My life is tragic and unfulfilling enough as it is. You may have guess, but i love the 80s. The new millennium - not so much (or is it not at all). Maybe my taste will be sort of weird - i liked Godzilla (the Matthew Broderick one), Last Action Hero and some other maligned movies. i think that John Hughes was kind of a movie genius. 

You can only see so many sequels and adaptation of other mediums (like books/video games) before you start to wonder if Hollywood has run out of ideas.  It feels to me like every concept has been done, now it is just how the movies are arranged that differentiate them from the predecessors.  The movie going experience has also gotten a lot more costly.  Way back when i was younger, they used to have $2.00 (or was $1) movie ticket deals.  Now even matinee showings are approaching the $10 mark.  Don't get me started on 3D.  Also, it seems the movie going experience is getting less necessary.

In 5-10 years (hopefully less), we may get to bypass the theater and stream the movie directly to our residences on release day.