philly

Onion Top 10 of 2005

I fucking love The Onion! They've published their Top 10 stories of 2005. The headlines alone are rediculous.

1. Bush Elected President Of Iraq
2. Asian Tsunami, Hurricane Katrina, Kashmir Earthquake Battle For Natural Disasty Award
3. Pope Died As He Lived: Propped Up For Public Viewing
4. North Korea Nukes Self In Desperate Plea For Attention
5. Brain-Dead Americans Defend Brain-Dead Florida Woman
6. Prince Charles Weds Longtime Horse
7. Losing Super Bowl Team Gets Locker-Room Condolence Call From John Kerry
8. Theory Of Intelligent School-Board Design Disproven
9. White House Celebrates Fifth Straight Year Without Oral Sex
10. Pitt, Aniston To Quietly Separate

I think my favorite is #7. That should be motivation enough to win in the big game. Can you imagine a condolence conversation with that guy? It would drag on for like forty-five minutes. At first you'd be crying because you lost, then, you'd be asleep.

Big Money, Big Money on Camera Equipment

Sometime in the next six to twelve months, I will purchase either a big piece of glass or a new body. Either would be a very large purchase. I'd like to have the equipment I currently have fully paid for by the time I go plunge money in on new toys equipment.

The 12-24mm f/4G would be a nice addition and basically round out my glass coverage [12-24, 18-70, 50, 80-200]. The camera bag would be quite full at that point. It would allow me to take very wide interior shots like restaurants/bars/clubs [for my AOL freelancing] and other tight situations where simply backing up isn't an option. It's the favorite lens by many photographers I admire, used as their 'walk around lens' for everyday stuff instead of a mid-range zoom [which I use for the most part]. I'm not sure if I'd do the same, I've never had that wide a view before so I couldn't say if it would be on my camera the most. But it wouldn't just be a toy [like an über cool 10.5 fisheye would] that I just wanted because I wanted it, I'd get actual use out of it. It would pay for itself whereas I think the fisheye would just be a hit for me.

The D200 is fucking awesome, it seems. I've read a few hands on reviews and on paper, it's got everything and a bag of chips, and a gigantic viewfinder as well. No 1/500 flash though, it tops out at 1/250 for fill flash. I've only used fill flash up to 1/180 that I can recall, but hey, ya never know and I've only been utilizing daytime fill flash for a few months now, it fucking rocks. It has a more robust AF motor which means quicker AF focussing in harder and in low-light situations. The larger viewfinder is something I'd very much like, simply easier to see that way. A dedicated AF-S/C switch instead of fumbling through menu options. Mirror lock-up for long exposures is a plus taking care of the slap of the mirror at the beginning of the frame. And the nice Quality/ISO/White Balance buttons on the top right freeing up room on the back panel for larger buttons. ISO in the viewfinder! I forget to double/triple/quadruple check to make sure that I didn't leave the ISO on say, 1600, before going out shooting the next day [ARG!]. The image size/quality setting is a plus too, you can now dictate how files are created, with an image size priortiy [all the files are basically the same size] or image quality priority [files get larger with more complicated scenes]; it makes perfect sense to me to pick the quality priority setting. And the vertical/portrait extra battery grip, not an option for the D70. I haven't missed not having one, but the option to have one is nice and I think I'd use it.

Yes, the body is almost twice the cost of the glass, but once price gets close to $1K, it's basically the same to my wallet = FUCKING EXPENSIVE.

The thought of having a two camera setup, a D200 with the 80-200mm f/2.8 and a D70 with the 12-24mm f/4 or vice versa, mmmmmm. A D200 and the 12-24mm f/4 would perfectly fill my camera bag.

And if a wealthy philanthropist, say George Soros, happens upon this post and feels like throwing some loot around, I got a whole wishlist you can have at!

***UPDATE*** 12.29
Maybe I should just grab the cheaper and very much raved about Tokina AF 12-24mm f/4 AT-X DX sooner than later and wait and get the sweet sweet D200 if/when it comes down a few hunny.

Sirius

I had my first run-in with satellite radio earlier today. They've installed Sirius into one of the work cars, the one I drive on Wednesdays for two hours running errands. I tried it out. Pretty intuitive. I was flipping through channels individually, then via a menu option and scanning FM frequencies for the best signal. The single preset, Howard Stern. My office sure does love them some Howard. And on January 9th, along with millions of others who made the switch in the last year, the driver of that car will be able to listen to the king.

The signal, going through an FM frequency to play through the stereo, wasn't the best. Maybe I could've spent more time fiddling, but I had driving to do. The volume wasn't so hot either. I had to crank it up on the car stereo. I listened to NPR via Sirius and then via 90.9FM, the sound quality through the terrestrial radio was much better. I think they make satellite receivers that are part of the car stereo system, instead of the winshield mount as was in this car.

There was no "page up/down" function that I could find though, like on a digital cable set up. With hundreds of channels to go through, I think it needs one. I think it was a four or five line display, not too shabby. The remote control was pretty functional as well, there was about a one second lag though, dunno if it's a remote to receiver thing or just the receiver to satellite thousands of miles up in the sky thing, or a combo of the two, it was annoying, but I'm assuming one would get used to that fairly quickly.

Anyone else ever try Sirius or XM Radio?

Inky Slow on PSP Graffiti

There's that saying "A day late and a dollar short" but the Inky was three weeks late and they're tens of millions in the hole right now. I just saw this piece on the front page of Philly.com about the Sony PSP faux graffiti that's sprouted up in NYC, SF, CHI, ATL, LA... It's a story that's almost a month old at this point, I wrote about it as well.

I know there have been cuts. I know that it's a slow news cycle until the new year, but a month-old story with quotes from an out of town blogger? Blasphemy!

When A Man Loves A Woman

What does one do with the information that one of their high school classmates is currently dating one Michael Bolton aka A No Talent Ass Clown? You grab your high school yearbook, flip to the Senior Superlatives page and take a photo of her as half of the combo "Most likely to be 'Mr. and Mrs. Scarsdale'" and grin ear to ear.

There she is in 1998 and there she is, next to the mane-less No Talent Ass Clown at a Johnnie Walker party.

Photos: left: Scarsdale High School yearbook 1998. right: Getty Images

DVD Fever

Oh how I love TLA Video. You blow Blockbuster, Hollywood Video and the rest of the lame-O chains out of the water. I love going in there and wandering through the stacks of foreign releases, TLA releases and the bargain bins. I wish you had more of an anime selection, but I see that your porn business is taking up a little more wallspace these days, all good with me.

I stopped in there on my way back from Drinking Liberally [I had too many wings] to browse around. I saw that you had Oldboy. I snatched it up. I tried to see it twice at the Philly film festival, but alas, it was sold out both times. Now, I own it. Sweet. I also grabbed π which I've never seen, but always heard rave reivews about. I already own Requiem for a Dream, also by Darren Aronofsky, so this should go well with the rest of my ever-growing collection.

Carl Zeiss Secrets

Tomorrow, the folks at Zeiss optics will reveal some big secret they've been dangling in front of SLR owners for over a week now. Leaked info points to Zeiss lenses for the Nikon F-mount tentatively titled "ZF" - cooooolio.

***UPDATE*** 12.18 1.13a
Now the site says ZF: New High-Power Lenses from Carl Zeiss and that more info will come January 4th. Arg.

Techplumber

Just read this WaPo article about a guy from just outside of D.C. who calls himself a techplumber and has set up his own biz solving other people's tech problems. Sorta like a one-man Geek Squad [Best Buy's tech service].

I could totally do this. I've been doing this for as long as I can remember now. Hacking through other people's tech/gadget problems for at least the last ten years. DVD players, camcorders, digital cameras, email, software, TVs...

Anyone have any Christmas/Chanukkah gifts they need a hand with?

Drinking Liberally 6p

If it's Tuesday, it's Drinking Liberally

I should be able to make it to Drinking Liberally tonight for the first time in ages. Those free wings and $1 off drink specials from 6p-9p are gonna taste swell. Tangier at 1801 Lombard St. Wings start flying in around 6.30p, but the sarcasm, snark and drinks flow all night.

Haven't had a Boddington's in a month!

Jane on Dick's Book

Jane's taken on some daunting tasks in the past, but reading and analyzing Dick $antorum's book It Takes A Family [to kill a nation], whoa.

Reading her summaries and excerpts is about as much as I can stomach. She notes that there are lots of statistics thrown around, sourceless stats. Mmmm, sourceless. Here's a stat: 157% of Dick $antorum's genes are primordial ooze. I don't have a source for that though. You'll just have to take my word on it. As Colbert says, I feel it; look it up.