Amplifier, Mojo Fury & Cyril Sneer @ The Hop & Grape

Amplifier played a storming set last night. The had a fair good go at filling out the Hop & Grape and spend a good hour or so shaving the top of my hearing range, (to excellent effect I hasten to add). Mojo Fury also played a storming set. Album bought and signed, thank you very much. It is a shame though when you see such good bands, and people who are stood about who are too cool to enjoy themselves. I remember when people used to 'pogo' at gigs (for you kids out there, that means the whole audience used to jump up and down, in time with the music!) Anyway, after a while I had had enough of it and though I'd go and enjoy myself down at the front, even if no-one else did, and I must say it's didn't half put a big grin on the face of Mr. Balamir. 10/10

Songs for the Apocalypse

You know when you are having just one of those days?

Songs for the Apocalypse

I hope this helps, x

Desert Island Discs

Igor Stravinsky - The Rite Of Spring
Nine Inch Nails - The Wretched
Pink Floyd - Comfortably Numb
The Cinematic Orchestra - To Build a Home
The American Dollar - Anything You Synthesize
Oceansize - Only Twin
65daysofstatic - Drove Through Ghosts
Radiohead - Just

These 8 songs creatively and delicately balance the emotion of life. From pomp through patience, misery through malice, melancholic and elation. From Sophistication to deprivation. The tracks picked here weight against each other, in a way that only Thai food does. My epitaph, in a careful but wonderful all spectacular display of colour and light, described in sound.

Book: Dante's Inferno
Luxury Item: Piano

Summer '11

So, It's summer time again (Technically I think it is still Spring, but it feels like mid summer already here in Manchester) so here is a summer compilation for the Summer Sunshine '11, and here is one for Summer Evening '11. I hope everyone has a good summer, I have the full intention of making this one as good as '01. Let's us all have another bliner eh? :)

Thirlmere

What a fantastic week! Went to "Thirlspot Farm" and camped for 4 days and generally had a brilliant little time. Me, Greeny, Tom & Boo and Leah & Emma went there. The first thing we did was climb Helvellyn. It made sense seen as we were camped at the bottom of it. We were pretty much up and down in time for lunch! Well, a bit past, but close. Disappointingly, no-one else wanted to do Striding Edge but content with the walk we landed back at the pub which was right next to the campsite (A good bit of serendipitous orchestration if you ask me!). That evening we spent hanging around camp, eating and chatting and being amazed at all the stars that came out. The second day the weather was very overcast and threatening.
We decided to go down to Keswick and get some ice-creams. Found ourselves in a second hand book faire, A climbing shop, a bait and tackle shop and 2 pubs! (not bad for 2 hours). At the pub, a man walked passed with a parrot. I jumped out to take a photo of it, and the parrot decided it liked me, jumped on my arm and perched on my shoulder! (Fully Awesome!!! - "HAPPY PARROT"!).

After picking up a climbing book, we shot over to a bouldering spot on the far side of Thirlmere, only to find out on arrival that is was under water! (there was some tiny writing in the guidebook at the bottom saying that this spot only gets uncovered when the water levels in the reservoir drop!) So after a brief splash about in the water, it was starting to look like rain so we headed back to the campsite.
By the time we arrived it had started to rain, and Tom had the bright idea of constructing a shelter out of the awnings of everyone's tents. Which we sat under and promptly got drunk (on a bottle of Lindersfarn Blackberry Wine, which I must say really is lovely stuff). Once the rain had past, the sky started to clear and began to do some very dramatic things. Everything that was green shone and glowed after the rain. Tom, Stev and I took our fishing stuff down by the lake, along with a large bottle of brandy and caught a few fish! (Yes that's right, I caught my first fish, WooHoo! Although I didn't quite manage to land the sucker, I didn't mind because I was told it was Roach or Perch and couldn't have eaten it anyway.)

The next day we took as a 'day of rest' and walked up to a waterfall that Boo had spotted from the road. It was so nice that we sat around there nearly all day, not really doing anything, just soaking up the sun and relaxing. We landed back at the pub late afternoon and I had Morecambe Bay Potted Shrimp, which was gorgeous! Terminally relaxed, we went back to the lake, but this time with everybody, where Tom caught his first fish! :) (again a Roach or Perch). That night we stayed by the lake till very late and watched the stars come out. The lake went so still that you could see the stars reflected on it. Stunning!

The last day, we packed our tents up and went to the other side of the valley and hiked up Ravens Crag (which was SO steep) but we got a well deserved view when we got to the top! We stayed there for quite a long time, still terminally relaxed from the day before. After that we popped into Keswick, got a sandwich for lunch and then drove up to Castlerigg to see the stone circle. There was a lot of debate, but I am convinced that the stones are supposed to be the surrounding mountains. I could tell instanstly, but apparently the National Trust haven't figured this out yet! (See Picture!)

After this, we drove back thought the lakes, past Winermere and down to Lindale to see my mum, where she fed us all wine and beer and gave everyone presents! The last leg took us home. One of the mose enjoyable weekend for a very very long time.

Thanks Guys! It was Perfect! :)

The First Half of the Rossendale Way

The first half of the Rossendale was hard. We did 20 miles in 11 hours with over 900m of elevation. It was very hard work, incredibly physically tiring, and emotionally draining. My little legs couldn't keep up with my friends so I got mostly left behind. Some of the views were OK, but it wasn't nearly worth all the hassle. 16kg is a lot to be carrying on your back also for a walk like this. We had intended to do the whole 'way' over 2 days, but after the first day, we all decided to give up. Fail!

Tryfan

Tryfan has no paths, at least, no paths worth talking about, at least, no paths that we could find! The road at the bottom of Tryfan runs east west Past Llyn Ogwen (lake), the mountain is south of this. We parked in the east most car park and we arrived in the car it was chucking it down. We sat in the car for a few moments while the weather died down, then donned our waterproofs and started up the mountain and begun our accent up the north ridge. The beginning was like a very steep set of stairs, harsh with no warmup. The clag descended on us after a while and we spent most of the rest of the trip lost. When the scrambling began, so did the hale. We did a lot of walking up to things that were very steep and deciding against it, then a lot of traversing the mountain looking for a reasonably sensible way up. The climbing got difficult at the ice from the hale melted and the ice cold water formed streams that would fall from the rock, down our front and into our boots and we climbed. The cold rock got hard and harder to grip as our fingers began to numb from the cold. The trip was very good for putting the fear of god in us, and reminding us how rotten bad weather climbing can be!
When we finally found Adam and Eve at the summit, we stayed for about 60 seconds, before we began our hurried decent! There was no chance of us even climbing up onto Adam and Eve at the summit because of how slippy the rock had become, the jump didn't even get a lookin!

  Descending off the West face towards Llyn Bochlwyd. 10 minutes of decent, and we had lost the route again, the way we were going was getting steeper and steeper, and in the end we decided to traverse further to the west in hope of finding the route. In a brief moment of clarity, the clouds parted, just enough for us to spot the path off in the distance, before we were wrapped in clag once again.
   I can not describe the overjoyed feeling we got when we found that path. Elated we began to run off the mountain. On the way down we lost the path another 5 or 6 times, and at one point ended up in a lovely peat bog :P.

5 hours after we set off we arrived at the bottom, and I drove myself and my traumatized friends back to Conway, for a well deserved drink down by the bay, a lot more civilized :)

In Conway we had a little walk around the wall, and a sit in the harbour. We also so the smallest house in the world, shown (it has a red front)

New York (Part 2)

Day 5 - "New York I Love You" - LCD Soundsystem
After a good lie in, I went to "Carmines" for lunch, which I was told was a 'family style' restaurant. This means that the menus aren't in your hand, they are on the wall, and also, that you can't order your own thing! You order one thing and it comes on a massive plate that is put in the middle of the table, and you all dig in! We got a salad for starters (which was about the size of Olympus Mons!) And then this great big Italian thing, which was a bit like lasagne, but had chicken instead of pasta, and then it was on pasta! Had a nice glass of Riesling too, which is quite a nice thing to do at 11:30am (I'm on holiday, OK!). After that we went to the Wax Works. Now I don't watch a terrible lot of telly, and I certainly don't buy celebrity magazines, so half of the people, I didn't recognise, but some I did, and they were bloody creepy! The rooms were full of people posing for pictures with this wax works, and you honestly couldn't tell wether people were real of models. In fact there was this one lady who was taking a photo of N-Sync (whoever they are) and she was stood there for ages, and we waited and waited, and about 5 minutes later, realised that she was a wax work too! Pain in the butt! They would just stand and stare at you, and I was sure at any minute one of them would jump out at me. I'm pretty sure Patrick Steward wasn't standing still enough, because his eyes kept moving *shiver* Creepy! but fun :)
Oh I forgot, this morning, I went to the 49th Street music shops. This road has shop after shop, all music shops. One was just woodwind and brass, one was just guitars, there was an enormous drum shop. There was one massive one at the end that just sold everything it was amazing, I was so happy :) One of the guys was just sat at the back, behind a till in a quiet part of the shop watching tutorial videos on how to use protools! what a cool job! I want that job! :)

So for tea we went to "Ted's (Montana) Grill". There I had a Bison Chilli (Which I think was the nicest thing I have eaten all trip) and a Bison Burger. Bison has such a heavy and rich taste to it, it was awesome!

Then in the evening we went to "Dangerfield" comedy club, where you sit an these tiny tables, each with a little red lamp on it, and pay an extortionate amount for drinks. American comedians are funny, they basically just rip on anyone who isn't a white america, so they had a go at the British, then the Germans, then the Hispanic, then the Muslims. It got a little tiresome, but was still a good laff. This guy did this one bit about going to england, saying he nearly gets mowed down when crossing the road every time cause we drive on the wrong side, and how we have signs saying "Look Left" but we paint them on the ground, and it's useless, cause no-one in their right mind who is trying to cross a road is ever looking down :)

In the evening we went shopping for nicknacks and junk, and then to bed with us.

Day 6 - "Remembrance Day" - "God is an Astronaut"
Today I couldn't resist and in the morning went back to the Sam Adams music shop and bought a Zoom H1 recorder, (it's half the price it would be in the UK!) I found my way onto the subway, opened the recorder and found it broke! Putting that to one side, I set about trying to find the Guggenheim.
The Guggenheim is a wonderful place. This great big building, who's layout inside is a spiral shape. I have always been a fan of Kandinsky (particularly his Bauhaus period) so this was a real treat. The Guggenheim core exhibits span from 1901 and 1904, under the title "The Great Upheaval". Slowly spiralling upwards the sequence of works takes you through this period of history, through Cubism, Surrealism and Supremisism. I think this place was the highlight of my trip so far! A lovely way to spend a saturday morning.

After this I escaped into the park next to the museum. Not just any park, Central Park, I walked half way down the length of it and it took me over an hour, the thing is massive! It was a beautiful day too, crisp but sunny. Oh, and there are so many joggers in the park! Seriously, it's like a biblical plague! I did a little exploring in the park, I even found a castle! with a tiny spiral stair case, a turret and a good view.

After coming back I went out to lunch and had Lasagne Fritters! from the Olive Garden, wonderful little things, and a glass of red wine, which sent me for an afternoon nap :)

In the evening I went to the Rockerfella Centre, and went up it. It was night time, and I found a little spot to rest my little tripod and take some awesome photos. The city looks so beautiful at night. Central Park looks incredible too. Also It was good to see the Empire State Building from a far. This is the end of my trip now, have just packed away my luggage and eagerly awaiting to come back. I have had a good time but it's time to see some familiar faces.

Day 7 - Amputee - Oceansize
Today I finished off doing the last little bits of shopping, and had a New York Style Bagel at Carnagie Deli. Awoke to bad news to find out that my favourite band have split up :( The journey back was fairly uneventful other than to say that a domestic flight at night over north america is a very beautiful site. All the light below twinkle in a wonderful way. Over the Atlantic was good to watch the stars at night *yawn* Jet lag time!

New York (Part 1)

Day 0 - Manchester to NYC. 14 hours.
"Intriguing possibilities" - "Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross"
LONG journey. Got yelled at in american customs for not having my return ticket on me! Douche bag! Watched The Social Network on the plane. Oh and by the way, American Airways food is Gross! :P Got a taxi from Laguardia (airport) to Manhattan. Time Square is so BRIGHT! Like as bright as it is in the middle of the day. It really is a fantastic sight. Hundreds of adverts, on tv-like screens, each of which the size of several houses! And those are just the small ones!


Day 1 - Snowy City - "Just" - "Radiohead"
Woke up to find the city blanketed in snow. Had a full cooked breakfast in the hotel. As a breakfast dish they were serving Corn Beef Hash! With the snow, decided it would be a nice to walk around central park in the snow. It was! Went to the zoo and saw the penguins, they weren't hatching an escape plan as far as I could tell but I couldn't be sure :) Went to a little FAO Schwartz thats was mainly a sweet store and bought some Nerds (sweets I used to eat as a kid in the early 90'. Thought they didn't make them any more!) and also bought a Push-Pop (used to eat them in school too). Then went to this huge apple store and checked out the new Apple 27" monster, and the mac book air (really looked like you could use them as a frisbee!). After a few teething problems with the underground (like not being able to get to the right side of the track) figured out how to work it, so should be set to explore the city for real tomorrow! off to "Dave and Busters" some kind of amusement arcade apparently. Wonder if it's anything like blackpool pleasure beach… I imaging not! haha :)

OK, so Dave and Busters was Exactly like Blackpool pleasure beach! But still good fun :) I had Philly Steak rolls, which are a bit like spring rolls, cut in half lengthways, but full of gooey steak, with lots of plastic cheese to dip them in, Mmmmmm :) After that, went next door and watched Black Swan, fantastic film. Then spent half an hour playing around in Time Square with my camera.

Day 2 - "Remembrance Day" or "Reptile"
So I think I have finally figured out the underground. So I took the "R" Train to Whitehall street. From there I couldn't resist a little walk down to the dock, to take some pictures of Brooklyn over the water. There were a few people taking helicopter tours down there. Then I walked through Battery Park, to the Museum of the American Indian. Battery park was lovely, all covered in snow, and calm in respect to the rest of the city. Who would have thought that in a city this big you would be able to take more than ten steps in freshly fallen snow! From here you can see across the water to the statue of liberty. I'll have to come back here soon. The museum was nice, it was laid out a bit higgledy-piggledy but there were some interesting things there. There was this enormous indian head dress that was so big, it was bigger than me! In the lobby was the statue that was shown in the movie Black Swan that I had watched the night before! It's not often you see something in a movie and then see it for real the day after! :)
Just outside was the Bowling Green Bull, so I made sure to snap a photo of that before heading back to the tube station. On the way back there was some random little market stalls full of fresh-ish looking fruit and lots of locally made cookies and biscotti (Incidentally, they don't seem to know the english word for a biscuit here, but they sure as damn it know the Italian name!

Went to Planet Hollywood for lunch. Ashley works in the restaurant industry and so had managed to get a $180 voucher! Seemed a bit excessive for lunch, but I managed to get through a plate of teriyaki ribs and a 22oz rib eye steak! Ordered some cheese cake for pudding, but couldn't make a proper start on it :P We still had loads of money left over on the voucher so I made sure that the dude serving us ordered whatever he liked off the menu also :)

At this point I just want to mention for anyone coming, or planning to come to New York. I would highly recommend staying in a hotel on Time Square. It's incredibly convenient for everything and in a perfect spot. I'm just off for a walk down 42nd Street to watch the sunset!

By the way, the skyscrapers here are massive. You know that 'looking up' thing you do when you stand under Beetham Tower in MCR, well it's like that everywhere. It makes you dizzy! The buildings opposite the hotel are so enormous, it's impossible to describe the scale of them. It will take you about 5 minutes to walk lengthways down them and they must be about 80 stories high. There are 3 of them, huge ugly things, but unbelievably impressive! Stood in-between them, then looking up, there is a scratch of sky high above, but not much at all!

OK, Went for a walk down 42nd Street. Past Bryant park (which is lovely at night by the way, there is a huge marble fountain, up lit and an ice skating rink, it's so nice). Saw a taxi who had opened his door on a moving bus! (disastrous!) walked passed Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building and out to the dock, then back again. There was this guy, sat on the street corner playing percussion. He was drumming on these upturned buckets and boxes. He even had an old bathroom sink! He was really good at it as well!

At night trotted around Time Square, but it was really too cold to go anywhere, so stayed close to the hotel. Got some pizza and a brandy in the hotel bar, and then to bed.

Day 3 - Jamie Lidell - The City

Today we got a train to Canal Street, on the train was a bunch of old african guys walking down the cart singing barber shop! We came out of the subway and instantly walked down the wrong street and got lost in an area called "Tribeca", which is a nasty and scary looking place! When I got my bearings I managed to find Little Italy where I went to a little place called Persano down Mulberry Street (the heart of Little Italy) well it was a quiet and relaxing little place, really transported you away from the hustle and bustle. After that we wandered about a little around the Italian district, stopping at a few bakeries on the way to pick up some cakes, before it slowly turned into China Town. Before long, found myself in this little park, all full of beautiful trees, singing birds, and Chinese people playing cards. After a few shops we ended up and the subway station again, to find an old man playing a single stringed violin type instrument, playing traditional Chinese folk tunes (I really have to find out what that thing is called, it sounds so wonderful). After this we took a quick visit to Soho because Ashley wanted to go to "Dash" (A shop owned by some people called the Kardashian Sisters who are apparently 'famous'). This shop had a queue outside it and several bouncers! So not wanting to feel like and idiot, I let her go in there, while I went into "Evolution" across the road. It had real human skeletons for sale and this pot of assorted human bones for individual sale!

After this I went to "Carnagy Deli" which is famous for it's big sandwiches, and when I say big I mean BIG. I got the "Woody Allen" which is pastrami and corned beef. This thing was just like a mountain of meat with a tiny little, pathetic looking piece of bread on top. The only thing I can liken it to is say the meat version of the raquleqte! It's just an excuse to eat a pile of meat :) It was really nice, Graham would have loved it! On the subway on the way to our next place, a bunch of kids doing street dance to music, one kid was doing standing back flips on a moving train! Impressive. For pudding we went to a different restaurant (a little excessive I know) called Serendipity. Famous for it's pudding I got a Pecan Insanity something and an Apricot Certifiable something (the last one was supposed to be a drink, but it looked like and entire pudding to me) I got through a quarter of both of them and nearly died! Awesome, but far too much!

On the way back there was a guy down in the subway who had his own plank and was tap dancing, he was really good, all over the place, on his ankles, and up the wall and everything. Quality, there really is a lot going on in this city!



Last night I had a dream that Oceansize were playing a cover of a faith no more song! After playing "Part Cardiac". So that'll be todays song.
Day 4 - Part Cardiac - Oceansize
Today we stood in line, in the freezing cold wind for about 2 hours to queue up to go and see the statue of liberty. At this point it would be wise for anyone else following this path to avoid the carts selling 'cheese pretzels'. I knew it was going to be wrong, and the first bite confirmed that, but wrong in a macaroni cheese pie way, which is OK if your me, but by the end, the thing was zoo gross, *yuck*, NOT a good idea!

Packed like sardines on this little boat, we rode to Liberty Island. We quickly ran around the statue, took loadsa photos, and then dived into the cafe for some lunch. After there was another 20 min queue to get back on the boat in the cold. The next stop on the boat was Ellis Island, but because of the size of the queue, we decided to give it a miss. Instead we went to the site of 9/11. That was a very strange experience, and really changed the tone of the trip. We popped up out of the subway right in front of  where the twin towers used to be. It is very strange to stand around and stare at a 'gap'. Very humbling. It's insane to see how much of a mess has been made of the surrounding area. There is a lot of construction and rebuild work going on around there, and we went into the memorial preview site. They are building on 'Ground Zero' to make two huge square waterfalls where the towers were, and a big underground museum. Very odd, and very humbling.

After this we went to the Empire State Building. If you are planning on going, don't bother getting the 'Combo' ticket. This allows you on a go on a very ropey, and unnececarry simulator, and costs a small fortune. After that they let you up to the 86th floor. We arrived just as the sun was going down. It was cloudy so couldn't see the sunset, but all the lights on the city started coming on. As it slowly got darker and darker, the view got more and more spectacular, until it was unbelievable. I had a pocket tripod and trigger so managed to get some spectacular photos.

For tea I had Lobster tail Macaroni Cheese from Ruby Tuesday, which was lovely! and a pint of beer which cost $8! and more closely resembled 2 pints!

HDR and RAW

So, you know when you look at photos and they look really spectacular but in a way not real? Well it's true, there is a trick. There is two actually. The first one is called HDR or "High Dynamic Range" Imaging. Now this is quite clever, I like it, and I don't think that it's cheating. Using the AEB (Auto Exposure Bracketing) feature of your camera, it is possible to take 3 photos. One over exposed, one under exposed, and one thats just right. These can be combined in a way that will allow the photo to represent a lot more realistically what the scene would look like. There is some software called "Photomatix" that will do this for you quite simply. It also has an "Auto Align" feature so that you don't have to have a tripod to take a HDR photo. This photo is a HDR photo of the park.

Here is a link of how to set the Canon EOD 350D up for HDR photos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hbSGE4nTXeU

You can really achieve some very nice results, quite simply using this technique. The other technique (which is often an integral feature of HDR processing) is Tone Mapping. Now Tone Mapping defiantly is cheating! It involves taking some colours are replacing them with different ones. You can use this to produce mad effects, but you can also use it to breath a new life into photos.

It is handy for increasing the vibrancy of what may otherwise be a quite dull photo (handy for people who live in Manchester where the light is crap all the time) but it can also be used to stun and audience, taking a ready existing beautiful photo and making it awesome.

Another option is to take RAW images, and then process them. I have used Adobe Lightroom in this photo. Here is a comparison of what a normal image looks like (left) compared with (the right) the processed one.

Here is a processed RAW image.

How (not) to use a Canon EOS 350D

OK, So now I understand what people mean when they say that this camera is "a good camera to learn on" what they mean is it has all the features of a normal DSLR but it takes crap photos. OK so maybe I'm exaggerating a little. It is very unforgiving and therefore difficult to take good photos with. There is a lot to be said for a good solid brigde camera that does a lot of pre-photo procoessing to get the right settings for a good photo. I guess if you can take decent photos with a 350D, all your photos on better cameras will look better!

So to get the feel of this thing I took it to the Chinese New Year celebrations in Manchester's China Town this weekend. Light is always a problem and last Sunday was a particularly dull and drab day. What I did learn off the bat was take a lens cloth everywhere. All it takes is one spot of rain on that lens of yours and you are buggered!

So I learned about film speed. Essencially if you are running as ISO100 in our lovely north-western weather, you are going to need a tripod, and you don't wanna be setting one of thoes up in the city (unless you are one of 'thoes' people). So to get rid of the blur on my photos, my ISO was firmly stuck on 800 (I did use 1600 in emergencies, but to be honest, there were other problems that were getting in the way).

Taking photos of people on stages is probably something I will be doing a lot, and the New Years celebrations were no exception. Now I am used to using a Fuji FinePix CCD Bridge Camera, wich is wonderfull for working out the required exposure and taking a photo that is 'just right'. The Canon on the other hand is not that helpful. Firstly the camera uses CMOS technology, which had a much smaller dynamic range than the camera I am used to using, so you have to get use to the fact that if the subject is correctly exposed, there will be no background. This is just a shortcoming in the cameras technology and can not be avoided. The other thing to note is the camera's Metering Mode. By Default Metering mode is set to "Evaluate" I thought it would be OK if this was left  as the default... I was Wrong! The photos I took just managed to balance the subject and the background, but to be honest, the background so so dark as to nearley not exist, and every subject was over exposed! :( Next time I'm out I'll be setting this to "Partial"

A small aside here I feel is important. People with SLR cameras are annoying. Just because you have a great big camera does not give you the right to barge to the front of the stage and take photos. Also, people with telefocal lenses should stand behind people who don't have cameras at all. It's common curtousy. Also, camera users, be aware of the fact that the "Click" from your SLR is annoying as hell. So if you wanna go down the route of owning an SLR, and you don't have the common curtosy to take a bridge camera to a public event, please be apologetic and expect people to stand on your foot out of annoyance.

OK, Rant over with, I can continue discussing this camera. What the 350D has made me aware of is "special tricks" you can do to gain effects, which would not be possible with a standard point and shoot. Continuous mode is fantastic for taking photos of things like fireworks. Auto Exposure Bracketing is going to be used by me more in the future for HDR shots, and "Tone Mapping" is not a terrible thing for saving a terrible photo (although I'm sure this will be discussed later).

Getting enough light into the 350D without camera shake was very difficult. My 18-55mm lens has "Image Stabilisation" but this really didn't help. The technology in this camera just isn't fantastic. The resolution on the ofther hand is great. Zoomed to 100%, set on it's highest resolution setting, this camera looks great. My 10MP FinePix S5000 looks un-usably grainy zoomed right in, the 350D is just lovely. Althought if I am honest, most photos I will take are not going to be blown up to A3 poster size, so I feel this isn't a massive amount of gain.

In short, this camera will get you some benefits if you would like to spend 60 seconds setting up a shot, but for in the city, where things move quickly, you would be a lot better sticking to a bridge camera, where all the clever bits are done for you, quicker than a human ever could. I'll save my bulky, clunky dSLR for HDR landscape shots, long exposure astro-photography and special effect (long exposure) shots I think, and next time I'm out and about, take my trusty Fuji!

Cross Polarisation

So,if you shine polarized light at something made out of plastic, you can see the stresses in the material as iridescence. If you then take a photograph of that with a camera with a polarizing filter on it, then you get this picture here on the left. Complicated, but pretty :)

Writing Music Is Fun!

Robots Are Friends

I was in a particularly geeky mood, so I made a spotify playlist about called Robots are friends, not surprisingly about robots :)

Astronomy

Telescope: 135mm Reflector, 10mm Eyepeice
Location: Out of my flat window
Saw the ISS with the naked eye and just about caught a glimpse of it through my telescope, could just about make out a little bit of structure.
Saw the satellite AJISAI (EGS) with the naked eye. Lovely deep bronze colour.
First Vega came out, then Alitair. Made out Cygnus, and about half of Draco. Eventually saw ε Peg (Nose of Pegasus). Later saw Juptier, and could make out Europa and Ganymede. Saw the moon, it was a waxing cresent, so could only see the edge, but managed to identify "Mare Crisium", "Mare Fecunditatis", "Mare Nectaris" and "Mare Tranquillitatis" (or "The Sea of Crises", "The Sea of Fecundity", "The Sea of Nectar" and "The Sea of Tranquillity". Also identified the Metius Crater" and the "Fabricius Crater". Camera: 3.2 MP Fuji S5000 held to 2x Eyepiece. As not to bore the whole world to death, I am starting a second blog just containing my observations at http://alecjcook-astronomy.blogspot.com/