2006 – Page 11 – The Bald Heretic – Short, bald dude with a goofy beard

So yea, I’m going to talk about the camera some more.

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One of the features I wanted in a new camera was the ability to shoot in black and white (not just converting to B&W in-camera which this one will also do). In the past I have simply desaturated a picture in Photoshop but that just doesn’t compare to capturing the actual image in B&W.

I shot this one of my best friend Jim as we hung out at Onion Creek last night enjoying good conversation and tasty beers:

Here’s Cynthia posing in the garden:

Oh, and isn’t that a lovely blouse Cynthia is wearing? She put that blouse together last weekend. She’s a renaissance woman who can make her own clothing. How awesome is that?
Here’s a color picture:

New camera

I have finally taken the plunge and purchased a digital SLR. I decided on the Sony Alpha DSLR-A100. It was a toss up between this and the Nikon D80 which is slated to be released later this month.

It shoots at an impressive 10 mega-pixels and is extremely feature rich and so far, has proven very easy to use. I purchased the kit that includes a 18-70mm f/3.5-5.6 lens. For the extra $100 it’s a great backup lens and is rather versatile.

Wanting a faster zoom lens I added a Tamron AF 28-75mm f2.8 XR Di. This adds even greater flexibility when shooting the style of pics I tend to go after.

The main reasons I went with the Sony are the built in image stabilization and the anti-dust technology. To get image stabilization in the Nikon cameras you have to purchase lenses with that capability and that alone doubles the cost of any decent piece of glass.

For the price point this camera is pretty unbelievable and I think it will suite my needs for some time to come.

I took it for a test spin last night and was pleased with the results.

Come not between the dragon and his wrath

Call it morning driving thru the sound and in and out the valley

When I was driving in the UK several years ago I came to love the roundabouts. Once you get used to them they make a certain amount of sense. My first encounter with them was in Washington DC when I was a teenager with a pretty new driver’s license.

We have a one primary roundabout here in Houston. It’s circles the Mecom fountain down where Main and Montrose come together. It’s pretty standard as far as roundabouts go.

There’s a relatively new one on Washington & Westcott. It’s sort of ridiculous but I rarely have to drive that way.

Then there’s this travesty located in a residential area over near Gessner and I-10.

Benignus and Kingsride.

The sign is amusing.

The roundabout itself is an absolute joke. They’ve taken a very normal 4 way intersection and plopped an obstacle smack dab in the middle.

I think there is at least one more just down the road.

This is what happens when your homeowners association has one puff too many of the wacky tobacky and calls a super secret meeting to come up with new ways to irritate motorists.

Mr. Kamikaze! Mr. DNA!

Last night’s Devo concert was everything I’d hoped it would be and more.

Conn and I arrived fashionably late. When we arrived the one-hit-wonder band, When In Rome, was already on stage and playing their hit “The Promise.” We had pretty much agreed prior to our arrival that missing this band would not hurt our feeling in the least. We used the opportunity to walk the Reliant Arena and catch up with the cast of characters we both knew would be there. Many old friends littered the stadium and it was veritable “who’s who” of the alternative music scene in attendance.

I managed to meet one of the promoters of the event and before long I was the proud owner of one all-access pass. This entitled me to the entire back stage area where I was able to sit and talk with the members of the band and generally relax. Great time talking to Mark and Bob Mothersbaugh as well as Bob and Jerry Casale.

It was a fan-boy dream come true. The pass also allowed me free reign to take all the pictures I wanted after originally having to leave my camera in the car. I only wish I had a better camera. Ah well, that is something that will be remedied soon. I have been eye-balling the upcoming Nikon D80 that is set to come out next month.

The Psychadelic Furs put on a pretty incredible show and I was marvelling at how many songs they had done that I recognized.

The energy was really high but the sound reinforcement was not the best. Not bad, but could have been much better. I noted to Conn that the sound was probably tweaked in favor of Devo and that I had a feeling their show sound much better.

In some ways the audience was just as interesting as the performers. I spotted these guys in the seats directly in fron of ours.

The middle lug-nut in the hard hat thrusting his ~~tentacle~~ fist skyward is Ryan aka Squidflakes and in the foreground is Lunadude who’s real name escapes me. The normally dressed guy with the glasses just behind Ryan is Conn (aka kublaconn) who was my most excellent companion for the evening.

When it was finally time for Devo to take the stage the crowd was in a very good mood. Devo came out strong and played “just the hits”, one after another. It was a high energy show and the guys seemed to be really enjoying themselves.

The crowd was dancing in the isles. I was screaming/singing along at the top of my lungs along with everyone else. Everything sounds great, as I suspected, the sound was completely configured in favor of Devo.

It could not have been a better night. Thanks to Conn for coming along and letting me dork out and be a gushing fan-boy.

More pics in the gallery.

Comedy Workshop Reunion

I was very excited to learn that there will be a Comedy Workshop Reunion on September 14th through the 16th at the Laff Spot Comedy Cafe.

Some of my fondest memories of living in Houston, Texas surround the time in the 80’s when my best friend, Rich Davis, and I would hang out at the old Comedy Workshop. It’s gone now but it used to be where that dry cleaner is at San Felipe and Shepherd.

We would would constantly get free tickets to go see the shows there and even more free tickets to get in to the Comix Annex next door where the comedians would spend Thursday nights trying out new material.

This is the club that produced such notable names as Jeanne Garafalo, Brett Butler and Sam Kinison.

I don’t recall seeing any of them but I do recall seeing T-Sean Shannon and his brother Charlie. Both of whom I attended high school with.

Most notably, I recall watching an up and coming comedian named Bill Hicks. He was unbelievably funny. I remember going back time and time again hoping he would be there on a Thursday night trying out new material.

I was really lucky. I got to see him go from being a relatively new comedian to a superstar in a few short years.

My friend Rich recently reminded me of the time we were at a show and he was following this comedian who was a one-liner wonder. Very lame but the audience was eating it up. When Bill took the stage the crowd was not very receptive and Bill turned dark and, at one point, smashed the wall at the back of the stage with his fist so hard it drew blood.

I remember him saying “I’m bleeding for you and it’s still not enough” and he stormed off.

It was PURE Bill but disappointing because we didn’t get our fix that night.

While it’s a given that Bill won’t be at this show, I am certain the spirit of Bill will be. I expect to see Ron Shock, John Farneti, Jimmy Pineapple along with many others. I am pretty jazzed about this.

I have some pics in the gallery I took with my old film camera of a VERY young Bill Hicks at the Comix Annex as well as from the time he invited me to shoot his performance at Rockefellers when he opened for Warren Zevon.

There’s also these awesome pics of various comedians I shot at the old Comix Annex during the same time period.

Patch Tuesday

So Dwight Silverman spotted this shirt on Todd Bishop’s Microsoft Blog, specifically in this post.

It’s very funny on many levels, but mostly in that mega-dorky geeky way that not everyone gets so I find myself chuckling quietly to myself.

Through a bit a finagling he was able to acquire two, one for himself and one for me. How very thoughtful, Dwight! And THANKS!

To better understand why this is funny you have to know what Patch Tuesday is.

If you don’t get it, don’t fret. It just means that you are probably much more socially well adjusted than I am and that’s a good thing.

Borris Ziggy the spider

Cynthia has always been partially defined by her absolute terror when it comes to spiders. If one was spotted her skin would literally crawl. She could, in some instances, start to hyperventilate.

Something has changed.

Cynthia has taken a great deal of interest in the spider I posted previously.

So much interest, in fact, that we have researched it and found it to be a Venusta Orchard Spider. Cynthia has become rather fond of this little fellow and named him Señor Ocho.

This is actually quite mind boggling. And it gets better.

The other day she went into the front yard to check on Señor Ocho and discovered his web was apparently abandoned. She was actually kinda sad he was gone. As we scanned the area to see if Señor Ocho was anywhere to be found we noticed another web with some striking characteristics. It was also empty but the new web really fascinated Cynthia.

We went inside for awhile. Before the sun set Cynthia took one last look around the yard and, to her delight, spotted Señor Ocho smack dab in the middle of his web where he belonged.

She also noticed that the other web was now inhabited…

This fella is significantly bigger than Señor Ocho and actually kinda creeps me out. But Cynthia got real interested and we did some research on the guy and discovered he was of the genus Argiope. Specifically Argiope aurantia. An orb weaving spider more commonly known as the black-and-yellow argiope or the black-and-yellow garden spider.

Cynthia has named him Ziggy.