Knuckledragger

Two bits of coda to the above. As I have mentioned, most happenings on MV are arranged through Facebook. There are 3 main FB groups. One is invite-only and no politics allowed, another is "stuff or sale on MV." The third allows politics and reads like the staging area for the next Jan 6. In the for sale group, a fella listed his prized LR for sale: That price is really not bad for what it is. 98K is barely broken in. The problem is that it's a diesel and ...right hand drive. I don't think my brain could adapt to that, especially around here. After this weekend's Land Rover gathering, I posted a few dozen of the photos I took to the main MV FB group. Most people who responded were either there, wished they'd been able to get there or were surprised they missed it. One guy reacted with a "barf" emoji and nothing else. This is from his FB splash page: Nice 'dozer you got there, bro.

It's Land Rover time here on MV again. This year's location (which, ahem, was changed last minute) wasn't as nice as last year's. Also the lighting conditions were fare worse. With that said, I went around with my 5D IV and 17-40. The combination of camera body and lens looks "official" so (most) people got out of my way. I won't win any awards for framing with most of these. As is invariably the case, what the camera doesn't show is the real story. I was constantly dodging moving vehicles (both LRs and not) as well as ambling attendees. Also as I mentioned, the sunlight was very harsh. I'd have brought along my speedlite, but last time I tried to power it up, it refused. The 580EX was $400 in 2006, I shudder to think was the replacement model costs these days. Bonus doggo. She didn't quite know what to make of all the commotion.

Neat.

I went on the 'Bay looking for a Nikon back cap and body cap. The cheapest seller for genuine ones was in Japan. (The Chinaman will sell you all sorts of knock-offs in a variety of colors, also Chinaman is not the preferred nomenclature Dude.) For $2.12 with tax I got a body cap and lens cap shipped from Japan inside of 3 days. Two boxes, with tons of air bags and bubble wrap. The 5D IV/battery grip/85mm were not packed this well (and took longer to arrive from a US seller.) To be fair, the 5D IV seller was a fuckin' idiot.

I still haven't done anything meaningful with the D200 and 300mm. As I have said before, 300s are not casual lenses. I did take a nice stroll with the 18-200mm a few evenings ago. So far my experience has been the opposite of what I_D described. I like the lens better at longer lengths than I do at the wide end. Of course this is based on a sample size of "strolling down my street in the afternoon" so it's a meaningless assessment. With that said, all of these were taken with the 18-200mm: Two deer finding something good to eat in the field behind the home where my cousin (once removed) and her husband lived for decades. 200mm F/8, 1/100, ISO 250. The back yard of the same property. The current owners use the house for vacations in the summer, so no one actually "lives" there (this is Vineyard 101, I'm afraid.) The flowers frame are hydrangeas, which are hugely popular round here. The colors they display are soil dependent, so some people get blue and others might get pink or purple. I like the gradual DoF the 18-200 provides here. 170mm, F/8, 1/90, ISO 200. One of the many small trees on the farm across the street from me. Bokeh is nothing interesting but again I like the DoF. 200mm, F/5.6 (which is to say, wide open), 1/125, ISO 200. The famous Sweetened Water Farm horse barn. There is an absolutely fugly McMansion behind it, and I had frame carefully to only get the barn in the shot. I posted this to the private MV group saying as much an a whole bunch of people got very bent out of shape at me calling the house in question ugly. 70mm, F/14, 1/60, ISO 250. Nothing says Edgartown like white picket fences. 70mm, F/7.1, 1/80, ISO 250. A section of fence I've photographed a great many times. 40mm, F/9, 1/320, ISO 200. The same view, more or less, some 20 years prior taken with a PowerShot S60. I'll win no awards for the composition on this one, but the light is pretty. 50mm, F/6.3, 1/60, ISO 200. Looking out one end of my driveway. This shot is fine, but it illustrates everything I don't like about wide angles on small sensors. The exaggerated distances drive me nuts. I think prevalence of cameraphones are most of my reason for this aversion. Slightly less fisheyed wide shot. 18mm, F/7.1, 1/200, ISO 200. TBH I should have stopped down a couple more stops. I still barely know how to wrangle the D200. Gidget the kitty enjoying her new digs. There's a long story here, but the short version is that the daughter of two friends of mine moved to MV full time and brought her two cats. 70mm, F/5.6, 1/640, ISO 400, meow.

I've given the idea of this thread some thought on and off for years (going back at least as far as Mikhail's Bad Hair Day) but never actually made one. ADD is a hell of a drug. Also been busy with a few other things. It's not secret that there are many companies that make and sell high end audio products that look shiny, cost large sums of money and have questionable performance. (There's also products that are expensive, shiny and sound incredible, but y'all know that of course.) It's not unheard of for companies to engage in lawfare against competitors and critics they dislike. BOSE is infamously litigious. Earlier this year Tekton Audio went after critics over reviews that made them unhappy. I didn't follow that drama too closely, but I saw the headlines popping up a number of places this spring. Recently dCS audio got rather aggressive toward a small reviewer because of his negative review of their Bartok DAC/streamer/headphone amp widget. I cannot comment on dCS gear myself. I did a search of HC for info on them and found one snarky comment by myself about the resistor layout on one of their amps boards, which was followed by an informed and even more snarky explanation by a certain Icelander. It could well be that they make great products. Their legal dept is another matter entirely.

I updated the firmware in the D200 (which was still running v1.01, from 2005). It was a peculiar, but reasonably painless process. So far my hit rate with it has been spectacularly bad (business as usual more or less.) I'm going lug the D200, 300mm, and a [gosh darn] tripod down to the docks and photograph some of the famous sights around here. I display classic Vineyarder behavior in seldom leaving my yard, never mind going to any of the famous and scenic places around here. In my defense, there's summer people everywhere.

The fact that Apple is still selling machines with 8GB of memory (that can't be upgraded) in 2024 is as insane as it is irritating. I took my eyes off my mum's 84 year old friend for two days (after telling her to get an Air with 24GB) and she shows up with an 8GB model. There's a guy on the MV stuff for sale hawking a new in box M1 Air ...with 8GB. I refuse to have anything to do with a Mac that has less RAM than the GPU in my Wintendo.

RIP Shannen Doherty who passed at the age of 53. She lived with stage 4 cancer for 4 years.

There's a reason I'm posting this song now, ...but I ain't gonna explain it.

Oh man, a twofer. RIP Richard Simmons an man whose voice one can hear at mere mention of his named, passed at 76. His birthday was yesterday.

There's a guy on MV selling a bunch of DSLRs for quite cheap. Most were of no interest to me (Canon Rebel T2i, Canon D40, Nikon D90, Nikon D3200) but he also had a 2005 vintage D200 paired with the 18-200mm VR (which is apparently a really good lens.) My main interest is attaching my 300mm F/4 to it and using it as an effective 450mm. The seller dropped it off this afternoon and I've been testing it out. Of course, it's absolutely pouring right now so I'm somewhat limited in what I can do. With that said, That's the 300mm successfully attached. I had to figure out how to remove the Nikon F to Canon EF adapter (a nontrivial task.) Did you know you have to set the aperture to smallest and flip a switch on the lens before you mount it or the camera displays a "fEE" error? Nikons are weird. The other lenses are the 18-200mm VR and a 50mm F/1.8 D I bought from a certain DACses hoarder like 15 years ago(!) Looking out the back door (with apologies to John Fogerty) with the 18-200. A not very good photo of a Night Herron taking shelter from the downpour. I should not be handholding a 300mm in the rain) or at any other point.)

RIP Dr Ruth who passed the tender age of 96. Anyone alive in the 80s will remember her and late night talk show hosts doing impersonations of her.

Introducing the 🙂🕶️😎 TICEberg. https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/giant-phallus-shaped-iceberg-floating-in-conception-bay-surprises-residents-of-dildo-canada

20+ years ago, this was the funniest thing on the internet.

Bringing out the big guns: Cracking open a roll of Velvia 50 for the first time in 16 years. I've been going out to Sweetened Water Farm (the property across the street from me) many evenings during the golden hour. It's an amazingly scenic vista that is largely unspoiled. The family that own the farm were smart and bought up a lot of MV property when it was cheap and have sold it off over the years. That means they've been able to keep such prime real estate in its agrarian state. Normally I shoot with with my 5D IV and either the 50/1.8 or the 17-40, with a side order of iPhone. I thought "what if I do the same thing, but make it much more difficult and expensive." That thought process lead me to best (and among the least forgiving) film stocks on the planet. Of course, this evening came and I didn't expose a single frame of Velvia. For the past few days there's been a spectacular spider web floating in space by the pond. I tried to capture it with my 85mm (which I had attached for the above shot) and realized immediately I a significantly longer focal length. I dug out my 300mm Nikkor and spend half an hour wrestling a tripod framing, manually focusing and cursing. TBH I could really use a 400 or 500mm lens. Don't hold your breath. With that said, 300mm is not exactly a useful focal length for normal photography. I really have to work to do ...anything with it. I puttered around the yard, attempting to find interesting things to frame. I didn't get much, but I do like this shot:

Was just gonna post about him. I watched Fernwood Tonight (and later America Tonight) not when it was a new show, but as reruns on Nike at Nite (which had some amazing content in the early days.) Not everything he did was funny (his comedic music albums were ...mixed at best) but his screen presence was amazing.

Gratuitous cat picture that didn't make it into my Tivoli Model CD post.

RIP Donald Sutherland, who passed at the tender age of 88.

"Communists in Cars Getting Coffee."

In March of last year, the skies over MV got really weird. All I had with me was my iPhone 13 and a newly purchased version of the Moment cameraphone app. I barely had idea how to use it at that point, but (as always) the best camera is the one you have with you. In classic me fashion, I then sat on the photos and did nothing with them until last week. These weird, undulating formations are called asparagus asperitas clouds and these photos do not come close to doing them justice. I pulled over in a couple different locations and photographed them as best I could. I met a nice elderly lady and her dog (not photographed). The woman said she'd lived on the Vineyard for 50 years and has never seen anything like it. The dog indicated that the clouds did not warrant a delay of walkies. There's entirely too much pseudo HDR math going on in these photos, even with Moment. With that said, it was the only camera I had on hand it's more than likely I will not live to see another phenomenon like this.

Dayum. Anyone want a deluxe repress of one of the most famous 90s ambient albums? Warp is re-releasing Aphex Twin's Selected Ambient Works vol II for its 30th anniversary (also SAW II came out 30 years go, oh god am I old.) The wooden boxed set version will set you back a cool $300. There's also a plebeian vinyl release for $50. I hope it's better pressed than, ahem, some of the Warp vinyl re-releases have been. The music itself is of course excellent. Richard D James has never not been a bell end of the highest order. He's also released an awful lot of wank over the last 30 something years. With that said, his good moments are about as good as British electronic music ever got. SAW II represents him at peak, more or less.

I watched the whole thing. I have very mixed feelings about it, as I do with everything related to Pantera. Since I first heard "Heresy" on college radio in 1990, I've loved Dimebag's riffs. I have never particularly liked Phil Anselmo and my opinion hasn't exactly improved in the last 34 years. When I heard a few years ago that Phil was going start performing live as Pantera, my reaction was not a good one. "Are you serious? What kind of disgusting cash grab is this? Can you piss on Dime and Vinnie's graves any harder?" I didn't GAF in the slightest that he had Rex back. Rex, bless his heart, has always been the least interesting member of the band. Then I heard Phil hired Zakk Wylde to play guitar, and Charlie Benante on drums. Charlie has quietly been the engine of Anthrax for nearly 40 years now, along with his nephew Frank on bass. Zakk needs no introduction. Nothing is ever going to make me like Phil, but I became at least open minded to the idea a live version of Pantera. The above video is both kind of what I expected and quite a bit different. Zakk's guitar tone is kind of awful, but that is (in all seriousness) a proper tribute to Dime. The best description of Cowboys From Hell I ever heard was "the best worst guitar tone." Certainly, Zakk has full command of Dime's riffs and solos. Similarly, Charlie's drumming is on point but to my ears he sounds poorly mixed. The drums might have sounded great coming out of the stage PA, but in my headphones they sound a bit anemic. Phil somehow sounds worse than I remember. With all of that said, the energy the band puts out is impressive and the crowd is clearly really into it.

The main road to Grindavík right now.

At least I think that's the name of the holiday.