Game of Thrones 6-9 "The Battle of the Bastards".

I will not go into detail about the battle for Winterfell. I plan on doing that in a few weeks in the form of a correspondence written by a character I shall invent, a maester of The Citadel who was on on hand at the battle.

I dare say, giants, and possible historical anachronisms aside, this must have come pretty close to showing the horror of ancient warfare, especially when Jon nearly drowns in the crush of men when his small army was caught between the Bolton shield walls.

Our female protagonists who's slow ascension in a world of kings and warriors we have been watching for many seasons, indeed rise to prominence in this episode. Danerys, with all three of her dragons, makes the Master's war fleet feel the burn, and then makes a pact with Yara Greyjoy. Later, Sansa wins the war for the north by calling in her alliances while her kinsman, Jon, nearly gets himself and his Wildling army slaughtered by Ramsey's trained infantry.

There were three takeaway lessons in this episode.
1: Scoff not at the girl with dragons.
2: Believe your sister when she is telling you something important.
3: Remember to feed your dogs.

Game of Thrones 6-8 "No One"

Sandor catches up with the attackers form the Brotherhood. The first three, he cuts down with his axe. No sword, no armor, no shield, just the axe he was chopping wood with, and he brought down a gang of men-at-arms. He then finds the rest of the culprits with nooses around their necks and about to getting strung up by Beric Dondarion for their crimes. Sandor (who is not a man to let a dead man's boots go to waste), chit-chat's with Ser Beric and seems convinced to join up. It looks like The Brotherhood will be traveling north to join the fight against the army of the dead.

Brienne arrives at the siege of Riverrun and convinces Jamie to let her try to talk the Blackfish into giving up the castle to fight for Sansa. She fails, and Jamie sets Edmure, who is the rightful lord of Riverrrun free. Lord Edmure enters and takes command away from the Blackfish and then surrenders. In the books, this taking of Riverrun without fighting, signals the beginning of a new story arc for Jamie where he really starts to work on becoming a decent human being.

A girl, in Braavos, survives the waif and places the waif's face on the wall of faces in the Temple of Black and White, she walks away from Jagen and her life as no one. This completes the self-discovery part of her story. She had to become no one before finding out who Arya Stark of Winterfell really is. The Waif's makes a "and this is why I have to kill you" speech, which villains somehow can never resist. but in hearing it we finally get to know what she really was. The Waif wasn't a cold-hearted assassin, she was the one thing in the world more dangerous than that. She was a religious fanatic.

Camera For the Rest of Us Review: Nikon FE2

Publishing these camera reviews are my way of encouraging myself to get out there and shoot, and to use all of the cameras that have collected on my shelf.  If you have never used a camera with manual controls, I recommend getting one and taking a photography class at your local college just for the creative enjoyment.

I had been looking for something a little  smaller and lighter than my old trusty F3 for vacation and traveling which would also take my favorite Nikkor lenses, especially my 50mm 1.8 AIS. At a bargain price the Nikkor 50 1.8 AI and AIS are as just about as sharp as any lens out there. It has an all-business metal body. The focusing ring has a big rubbery grip and moves fantastically smooth as butter. If you are going to shoot Manual focus, a real MF made in the 1970s or 1980s will feel a lot smoother than any AF lens, which don't feel like they were made for manual focusing. Get one that matches the metering in your camera. When ordering online, make sure to use a reputable used camera dealer. I typically use B&H and Adorama, they are in New York, so they are close to me. They also list on Ebay and Amazon. I just ordered my first lens from KEH, which came to me in great condition for it's age.

Anyway, I wanted to buy a Nikon camera in the FM, FE, FA family as soon as I could afford to. A nice FE2 in silver goes for about $150 on Ebay these days. Black ones can be $200 or more. I was admiring this one at my favorite camera shop and asked the salesman what the price was and he told me $80. The low price took me aback. My first reaction was to ask him to recheck it. My second was to assume something that was wrong with the camera. Everything did check out, and knowing that I would never see an FE2 in this condition for $80 ever again, I bought it on the spot.  I love it already.

So, what is so great about the FE2? It's gorgeous, as you can see. It has very high quality metal construction. Nikon hasn't changed it's basic lens mount since 1959, so any Nikon lens between then and now except for (G) lenses will mostly work on the FE2. It's of a size that fits nicely in the hands. Mechanically, it feels more like a fine watch than a camera. Lastly nothing exists on this camera that does not help you improve your photographic art.  The veiwfinder image is big and bright. Not big like,say,  the F3's, but it still lets you focus and compose without squinting, which means, faster, easier, more enjoyably shooting. Every control is exactly where it should be. It is close to perfect.

There is one drawback. The film advance lever also serves as the camera's on-off switch. Pull the lever out, and the meter and electronic shutter are turned on. Fold it back in, and they are off and the  camera will not shoot. This is actually a good thing, because it keeps you from forgetting to turn your camera off when you put it away. However, if you are left-eyed, the film advance lever will poke you in the right eye. I've tried looking through the viewfinder with my left eye, it's true; if I was left-eyed, I would look for something else.

Will it supplant my F3 as my favorite camera? I don't know, but it's one of the best cameras I ever owned. There is a certain sensory pleasure in handling it, so it invites you to use it. Once you have manual camera basics down, it is intuitive, so it makes it easy for you to create photos you will love in the camera, well before you load up your editing software at home.

Photos taken with Nikon FE2

                              Nikkor 50mm 1.4 AIS

                              Kodak BW400CN

Kodak BW400CN is a black and white film that uses C-41 processing, which means any lab or pharmacy is able to machine develop it and get you a set of prints. Sadly BW400CN is discontinued, I just happened to have some laying around. Kodak and other film makers have been whittling down their film offering in recent years with the ubiquity of digital photography. Most infamous is the disappearance of the legendary Kodachrome. I've taken a liking to this BW400CN. I find that I get much better black and white images from shooting on real B&W film than I get from shooting on color and then removing the color information in Photoshop, which I have been doing. I'm going to go out and buy it until it's gone, if I can, and then look for other C-41 black and white films such as Ilford XP-2. I don't have a darkroom, so It's much easier for me to bring C-41 film to a lab and get prints and professional scans back. These photos were uploaded directly from the scans that I got back from the lab without cropping or Photoshop. I found a great camera store with a lab, called Unique Photo in Fairfield, NJ. It's worth the 30 minute drive from my house.

Game of Thrones 6-7 "The Broken Man"

We finally get to see Ian McShane for a single episode. McShane plays "Brother Ray", a character based on Septon Meribald in the books. Brother Ray is the leader of a small band of folk who worship the seven and are trying to build a peaceful religious community as war rages around them. Meribald/Ray finds the practically dead Sandor Clegane and nurses him back to health. In the beginning of the episode we find Clegane helping Brother Ray build a small wooden sept for the community. Ray is former warrior who turned away from violence and brutality. he was a short-lived character, but a perfect one for the guest actor, who gave a great "Deadwood"-like  performance. Alas, while Sandor was away chopping wood, all his new friends, including Brother Ray were slaughtered by armed worshipers of R'hollor, presumably the Brotherhood Without Banners.

Jon and Sansa are visiting the great houses of The North trying to recruit them to their cause. They managed to get the always loyal Mormonts and a few others, but, all in all, the Stark siblings are proving themselves to be unpracticed coalition builders. In desperation, Sansa sends a raven to Littlefinger.

Another sibling team, Yara, Theon, and their supporters have dropped anchor at a friendly port of call. Here we learn that Yara enjoys making love to wenches as well as any rogue, to the chagrin of Theon the Sullen. We also learn that she has plans to sail her own fleet to Meereen to find the Dragon Queen.

Jamie and Bronn arrive at Riverrun and are not impressed with the Frey brothers' siege. First the march the entire lannister army behind Frey lines, and the Freys don't notice. Then, the incompetent Frey brothers are threatening to cut unlucky Edmure Tully's throat. The grim Blackfish takes the measure of the brothers and sees they are not capable of doing it. And now we know why Walder Frey is a grouchy old bastard, his offspring are useless. Jamie parlays with the Blackfish who is not impressed with him, either.

At the Red Keep, Queen Margarey goes to her grandmother, the Queen of Thorns to convince her to get out of Kings Landing and flee for Highgarden. Margarey slips her grandmother a small piece of paper on which was a simple hand drawing of a rose. The symbol doesn't look like much, but it means that Margarey is only pretending to be drinking the High Sparrow's Cool-Aide.

In Bravvos, that old lady with the creepy smile was so obviously one of THEM, how did Arya not see? Arya still manages to escape after diving into a canal. She'll won't die today, and she might have to take down the waif, and maybe even Jaqen H'ghar, too, before she is free. Who will she find to help her with he knife wounds? I'm hoping it'll be her old dancing master. I like to think that Syrio Forrel escaped from Meryn Trant and his oafs and fled to Bravvos.

Ghostbusters Reboots and Remakes

The new Ghostbusters movie trailers have become a  study in gender politics. The heroes of the film will all be played by female cast members, so it has been suggested by many writers that the people who don't want to see this movie must therefore be all gamergate-types with male-chauvinist agendas. Sadly, it is well known that these morons exist in droves. If someone could explain to me what the fuck is wrong with the new generation and where their troglodyte attitudes towards female characters came from, I would love to hear it. My generation, especially those of us who considered ourselves as outsiders, had Buffy Summers, and we loved her. Things have moved backwards since the nineties and I don't like it.

But, I'm not interested in seeing the new Ghosbusters. So, what's my problem? Judd Apatow seems to think that if you want to take a pass on this movie then you probably like Donald Trump. Why do I run from the idea of a rehashed Ghostbusters like it's a reincarnation of Zul?
Ghostbusters wasn't exactly classic cinema, but it was charming, goofy fun and something we all loved...and highly quotable. I just don't see the use in doing it again. I'm open to being proved wrong. I'll pay attention to what people are saying, but I don't have a lot of hope.

In recent memory, George Lucas stripped all the charm out of his original trilogy through his constant re-edits to the point that I can't watch them anymore, J.J. Abrams created a new Star Trek universe that makes me dizzy, attempts have been made to remake Robocop,Total Recall, and Connan, and Tom Hardy grunted his way through a new Mad Max adventure that honestly didn't make much sense.

There is a new Point Break in the works that I have no plans to see unless I read some really good reviews of it. Speaking of which, the entire plot to the first Fast and the Furious movie was just Point Break with cars instead of surfing, which is fine, they did something different with it, and it was good, stupid fun.
There are rumors of a new Highlander floating around. The first movie was cool, but they really fucked up the sequels. I'm not over excited about the idea of a remake, but, what the hell, it's not like it could be any worse than Highlander 2.

Sometimes the time is ripe for a remake. This year there will be a new Magnificent Seven with Denzel Washington apparently playing the Yul Brynner character. The original Magnificent Seven came out in 1960 and was an adaptation of the 1954's The Seven Samurai with the wonderful Toshiro Mifune. There has to be at leas one generation or more that has never seen either classic.

The one franchise that always carries a license to reboot is James Bond. There have been six canon 007's so far. Daniel Craig hates the sexist spy so much he just refused a mind-boggling offer to play him again. So, Gillian Anderson is campaigning for the role. The Bond franchise is the dinosaur in the room; maybe a gender switch might freshen things up a bit. It's no stretch at all to imagine Gillian Anderson as an asskicker on H.M.'s Secret Service and being sexy as hell doing it. I want to see this, but we will probably have another James and not a Jane. Maybe Barbara Broccoli and company might take a look at Gillian Anderson and think "spinoff". They could even do a crossover allowing her to say "I don't take orders from you, Mister Bond, I'm a double-0". That would be excellent.

Game of Thrones 6-6 "Blood of My Blood"

This was one of the most geographically far-ranging episodes.

North of The Wall, Bran and Meera finally meet Uncle Benjen Stark. After almost dying at the hands of a whitewalker, Bejen has been at work slaying the undead with the help of an awesome flaming flail and magic acquired from the Children of the Forest. Bran has a vision that includes images of Ser Jamie slaying "the mad king" and of pyromancers mixing wildfire. King Arys's words "Burn them all" will apparently have some meaning later. Perhaps wildfire is the weapon to defeat the whitewalkers.

Down in Horn Hill in The Reach, the ancestral castle of house Tarley, Samwell brings Gilly home, and Lord Randyll proceeds to berate Sam for his weight. What Lord Randyll refuses to believe, but you and I know, is that looks are not everything, and that Sam, in spite of his soft looks, is now the real shit. He has been fighting for years up the frigid north against Wildling, Thens, Whitewalkers, mutineers and is more hardass than his father or any of his southron summer knights. Randyll then lets his prejudices show and insults Gilly for being a Wildling.
Later, that night, Lord Randyll gets the Tarly family's ancestral sword, Heartsbane, lifted under his nose by his own firstborn, before Sam and Gilly make their way in the dead of night for Oldtown and The Citidel. But don't feel bad for old Ranyll, that's what you get for being a complete dick. Besides, when the White Walkers come, Valyrian steel will be required AT THE WALL not hanging ON A WALL.

Talking about ageing lords who have had their day, we see Walder Frey again, who is apparently keeping himself alive simply out of spite for those who wish he would just die already, which is pretty much everybody. He is berating his sons for losing Riverrun to the Blackfish.

In the political chess game in Kings landing, we have check and mate. In a brilliant move, the combined houses of Lannister and Tyrell are outmaneuvered without a fight by the High Sparrow who's reformation is now the state religion with the conversion of King Tommen and Queen Margaery.

In the wildlands of Essos, Daenerys Stormborn gives her big "who wants to conquer the world with me" speech in front of her new khallassar from astride her mount. A mount which just happens to be a big fucking dragon.

In Bravvos, the girl fomerly known as nobody is now Arya Stark again. She blew here big initiation assignment. Her target was an actress, who, ironically, was playing Cersei Lannister in a bad satire. The actress mistakes Arya for a fangirl with a stage fascination, maybe a future actress, and asks "Do you like pretending to be someone you are not?" But, Arya was already acting, and the somebody she was not was the nobody girl. Arya gives the actress pointers in being Carsei, demonstrating a mature understanding of both herself and of her old archenemy. She knocks the poisoned cup out of the actress's hand at the last moment and fingers her understudy as the one who wanted her dead. Living with the faceless men has taught Arya not to be the hot and vengeful out of control killer she was a a girl, but, it also taught her that she is not one of them; scruple-less and willing to sacrifice anyone to the horrific god of death for the right donation to the House of Black and White. She embraces who she was meant to be all along, a noblewoman of House Stark with a sense of honesty and justice. That night, she trades her temple rags for a noblewoman's clothes, retrieves Needle from it's hiding place and then awaits in her chambers for The Waif who is sure to come that night to try to kill her. We know that when the Many-Faced-God is owed a death, he's not choosy. I think he will be satisfied with the waif.

After reading that Ian McShane will be on the show this season, I have been wondering when we will see him and who he will play. Since I have not seen him yet, my current guess is Archmaester Marwyn.

Game of Thrones: 6-5 "The Door"

Hold the Door! Hold the Door! Hold the Door! Hold Door! Hold Door! Hold Door! Ho Door! Ho Door! Ho Door! Hodor! Hodor! Hodor!

Wanted by Bureau of Temporal Investigations
Subject: Brandon Stark
Charge: Causing a predestination paradox
Note: Apprehend with extreme caution

I'm glad they gave our lovable simple giant the heroic end most people on G.O.T. do not get. It had echos of the last moments of another great-hearted giant in Dumas' bittersweet masterpiece, Man in The Iron Mask. Alexandre Dumas, it is said, cried when he killed off his personal favorite character, Porthos.
One almost forgets what else happened in this episode.

Sansa finally cuts Littlefinger down a few notches for leaving her with psychotic Ramsey Bolton. Littlefinger loves Sansa because she reminds him of his childhood love, Catherine.He sghould have been there to protect her, but he was not. This was the first time that he actually saw that his political tinkering hurts people. He needed to lose some of that ego. The former lady of the vale and future lady of the north is not to be trifled with.
Tormond is still giving Breienne "Do I make you horny?" looks.
Sansa sends Brienne to recruit her cousin "Blackfish" Brynden Tully. Knowing what lady Brienne finds in The Riverlands in "A Dance With Dragons", or what finds her, I'm truly frightened.

The scene that grabbed me was when Danerys ordered Ser Jorhah find a cure, heal himself and return to her. A knight needs a quest, and finding a cure for Greyscale is a worthy one.

Interesting Camera Review: Olympus Trip 35

Pictured here is the Olympus Trip 35, which was produced from 1967 to 1984. It is a 35 mm point and shoot and was designed as a sort of photographic travel notebook, hence the name. It has a nice Olympus Zuiko 40mm f/2.8. In spite of it's looks and simplicity, this is a real camera with a glass lens and a metal body, not some plastic lens hipster toy. It's a lovely camera and has developed a cult following. It's easy to find sites which cater to Trip 35 fans that sell accessories such as custom leather or leatherette covers, flashes, new light seals, lens caps, etc. Check out http://www.tripman.co.uk/

The metering is quite clever. Light is gathered by the selenium cells surrounding the lens. This meters the light and creates just enough charge for a very simple elecromechanical exposure system that uses, and to send a signal to the flash shoe. Depending on the light measured, the camera switches between just two shutter speeds, and then picks the aperture. The camera uses no batteries. If there is not enough light to take a photo, the shutter will not trip and a little red flag pops up in the viewfinder. The aperture stops on the ring are used for flash calculation. For normal daylight shooting you keep it set on "A". You can still set the ring to an aperture to fool the camera into thinking that it has a flash attached to make fun nighttime street photos and cityscapes. The focusing is just a four-setting range-focus system. For close-up portraiture, you have to look out for the parallax between the lens and what you are looking at through the viewfinder. Sometimes I forget to use the frame lines in the viewfinder and find that I have to do some cropping after I get my scans back.

The black camera I purchased at an estate sale for $5.00. The silver one came from eBay for about $30. I "steampunked" the Ebay camera slightly so I could shoot photos of people at these events while still being a fully costumed part of the action and not be "Mister Photographer Guy" with a bazooka-sized DSLR getting between me and full participation in the festivities. Some of my steampunk photos taken with the Trip are in the second post below this one.

I've been to a few of these cosplay type events. While some of the official "Mister Photographer Guys" have some truly outstanding work, others (that you see walking around in t-shirts and shorts with thousands of dollars worth of photo equipment), tend to just upload their entire SD cards without editing, so you see all the boringly composed shots and the ones washed out by too much fill flash. Film forces you to think. This is a brilliant little fun mechanical camera to take with you when you don't want to carry a full SLR.

The Trip 35 and the others that I will eventually show are cameras for the rest of us. I'm not a Professional Photographer. I don't make money off my work. Manytimes I'm off the mark, and I'm always willing to learn from someone willing to teach, but I believe that I have a pretty decent eye for composition. What I hope to show with these camera posts is that you don't need to schlep around fifty pounds of techno-wizbang equipment to make some decent photos for yourself, whether you do it for art's sake, or to just capture some memories.  

Game of Thrones 6-4

All the plotlines seem to be moving now. Sansa has grown from "person who things happen to" to  "person who makes things happen". And, Littlefinger's former protege is assuming her leadership position in the House Stark.  If Sansa has not convinced the vacillating Jon Snow that the time is now to make his move on Winterfell, our good Lord Ramsey's charming little epistle certainly did.With house Aran forces coming up from the south, I think the Starks will prevail for once.

Are we going to see a thing between Lady Brienne and Tormond Giantsbane? Tormond was definitely looking at her with that "now that's my kind of woman" look in his eyes.

Feel the Burn! The Dothraki hordes now all belong to the queen of dragons, after Emilia Clarke's badass fiery nude scene.

Cersei is correct. The high sparrow wants to overthrow all the traditional institutions. His tale of how he rejected his own bourgeois attitudes, which he held as an upwardly mobile a young man shows that underneath "that poor religious brother" affectation of his is a sort of Trotskyite monk, who, after bringing down the religious hierarchy, is now aiming to do the same to the Westrossi class system.

Some people from Steampunk World's Fair 2016

Game of Thrones 6-3. "Oathbreaker".

In memory of Allister Thorne and Ollie (now their watch is ended) and Shaggydog.

At castle Black, Jon Snow shows us how to quit like a boss when he hangs the conspirators, hands "Dolorous Edd" Tollett the Lord Commander's cloak and exits stage right announcing "and now my watch is ended". We'll see now if he marches on Winterfell.

Ser Allister, at least was an honest enemy, a knight who always let you know exactly where you stood with him, even as he was committing mutiny . His last words were to the effect that he knew that Jon thought he was doing the right thing, which is fitting because we can say exactly the same of him. Like some of my favorite villains, Ser Allister believed himself to be the hero of his own story.

Meanwhile, at Winterfell, Smalljohn Umber delivers Asha and Rikkon to Ramsey. This may have been a ruse to get a male heir to house Stark back inside Winterfell, but if so, killing Shaggydog (assuming it was) was a pretty grim sacrifice. I can only note that Smalljohn declined to swear to house Bolton, which saves him from being an oathbreaker when he eventually turns against Ramsey. At the least, he is keeping his options open.

If you haven't been keeping track of the direwolves:
Ghost (Jon's): Still with Jon
Summer (Brandon's): Still with Bran
Grey Wind: (Robb's) deceased
Lady (Sansa's): deceased
Shaggydog (Rikkon's): deceased
Nymeria (Arya's): In the books, she is currently the alpha female of a pack terrorizing the Riverlands.

Speaking of Bran, through him we are slowly piking up clues to the past. This week, we witness the the famous fight at the Tower of Joy, but Max von Sydow, I mean the Three Eyed Raven, pulls Bran and ourselves out right before the R+L=J fans get what they have been waiting years to get because Beinoff and Weiss know what we want and are playing the long tease.

Meanwhile, in Essos, things are starting to move along. Danni is in Vas Dothrak with Darrio and Ser Jorah hot on her trail while attempts at nation building in Slaver's bay seem an utter failure.

Speaking of utter failures, we get another brilliant Peter Dinklage scene when Tyrion the Dragon Whisperer attempts a bit of small talk with Greyworm and Missandei who do not win any life of the party awards. The big winner in Meereen was Lord Varys. His scene with the harpy spy was a master class in how to speak softly and be ruthless.

Game of Thrones 6-2 "Home"

I missed writing about episode one of this season. I just have to say, though, that Brienne of Tarth (Human Female Paladin, Lawful Good), is so awesome, she's becoming one of my favorites.

I usually get a Game of Thrones post out within a day or two, but, I've been a little busy. I'm really trying to get my shit together. today I've been filing and I'm no-where finished. I lost the registration renewal for the Thunderbird, and I may or may not have let my life insurance lapse.

Fair warning: My Game of Thrones recaps are written from the perspective of a reader of the books.

Let us now remember the dearly departed: Balon Greyjoy, Roose Bolton, and poor, innocent Walda Frey.

You knew what was coming in this episode before it happened, there WERE hints. A big part of the episode revolved around the Greyjoys, with repetitions of the Drowned God's prayer which ends with "What is dead may never die". We even see Euron "Crow's Eye" Greyjoy, apparently risen from death by drowning.

As resident psychopath Ramsey Bolton is adding patricide and infanticide to his long list of offences against the gods and against common decency, up at Castle Black, Jon Snow rises,  but not quite the way I imagined. Firstly, Jon has been operating two or three steps ahead of everyone else at Castle black for some time now, and also, he's already seen his predecessor killed in a mutiny, so I didn't expect him to be stupid enough to invite a mutiny upon himself without already being in cahoots with Melesandre. But, the episode also had to do with Mel and her crisis of faith, so I can see why they might have wanted to go this way. Jon is a warg, so, his consciousness would have been residing inside ghost these past few episodes. Because of this, I think, unlike other people revived by red priests (such as Lady Stoneheart, if we ever meet her), Jon's spirit is probably still whole.

It was all good, but it would have been so much more epic if they had done it this way:
Melesandre gives up, thinking that her magic hadn't worked. They all bring Jon's body out to the pyre and the usual words but, his body doesn't burn. At "and now, his watch is ended", he jumps out of Ghost and back into his own body and walks out of the fire legally free of his vow. If Jon is who some of us think he is, that would have been fitting. I can't wait for episode 3. Judging by the preview, It looks like we are going to see the fight at the Tower of Joy, and possibly Jon's origin story".

Cameras: Nikon D70

I'm not turning this into a camera blog. Other people do that better than I do. I'm not a pro photographer. The only cameras I know are the ones I have,. I don't borrow equipment to review.  I just thought I'd share some of my own. Some of them have stories to tell. Making these blog entries will also force me to go out and do some shooting.

 My boss is always bugging me to do the photography for company events. After trying this "official photographer" stuff other ways (with film, and with a digital point and shoot), I knew that just needed to finally suck it up and get an actual DSLR.  Little did I know, this was a great time to get a used one. I really only had two criteria for a DSLR:
1: It had to be cheap
2: It had to work with the Nikkor lenses that I already own.
What you see above is my new-used Nikon D70. The lens is my AF-Nikkor 50mm f/1.4. I purchased the D70 body-only for less than $100 on ebay. It cost only $100 because it can be considered obsolete today. It takes still photos only, no video, and the sensor is only 6.1 mp. The D70 has a nice solid confidence-inspiring feel and great balance. I always expect a solidness in the hand from Nikons, and this camera has that. It actually feels like it means business, even though it was always a consumer or hobbyist level camera.
For more money, you can get a new camera in Nikon's "coolpix" range that has a lot more megapixels, but which also feels downright delicate, compared to a used "real" DSLR like this. The D70 is also not very big and is a pleasure to handle and carry.

Here's a size comparison with my F3

The camera's one big sin is it's tiny viewfinder to peer into. There is no split image focusing aid on the focusing screen, so I keep it in autofocus and let the camera do that work. In the viewfinder, the D70 has five focus areas (as apposed to the 30+ focus points in modern pro DSLRs). You switch focus areas with the round control pad thing on the back. In manual or aperture priority, the aperture is controlled by the wheel closest to your index finger in front of the shutter release. I'm old school and actually prefer a lens aperture ring. This doesn't feel so natural for me, even though I did once had an N6006 that required the same manipulation. 

Full creative control of light and focus isn't as easy and instinctive as it is with an actual manual camera, so, I'm fine with just using the full auto or the scene modes on the D70, even if that means I'm just using it as a glorified point-and-shoot. This camera makes simply running around snapping away at things and only thinking about composition pretty fun.

Here are two samples from my first batch of photos taken with the F70 and an AF Nikkor 50mm f/1.4 with the no color correction and no cropping.

 The matrix meter handled the backlighting well.

Pretty good colors.

This blog's first movie review: My long, rambling, spoiler-laden review of Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

I've been thinking of doing this since I saw the film. And, it's been three weeks, so I assume that if you were going to see the movie, you already have. I'm going to talk about everything I remember.

I saw The Force Awakens on a regular screen, because, the show time fit my tight pre-Christmas schedule . I ended up missing the opening scroll. When the movie began, the house lights were still on, so I jumped over a railing, ran out into the lobby and got the attention of an employee. They turned the lights off pretty quickly after that. I don't mind seeing it again, though IMAX, here I come!

Edit: I just saw "The Force Awakens" again in 3D on the biggest screen in my area. looking at the movie that way it was gorgeous. Some movies, like Star Wars, The Martian, Laurence of Arabia, need to be seen BIG.

Even if you miss the opening scroll, it's still possible to figure out the backstory. After the events in "Return of the Jedi", the rebels got to work replacing the empire with a republic. The New Republic does not control the entire galaxy, though. Imperial holdouts have consolidated into The First Order. The First Order is easy to recognize since it tends to trade in fascist imagery. Elements inside the Republic have been unofficially supporting a small resistance fighting to topple the First Order government. The Resistance is led by General Leia Organa.

Han Solo and Leia married and had a kid named Ben. Luke Skywalker began training a new generation of Jedi. Ben Solo was one of his pupils. Ben fell under the sway of Supreme Leader Snoke. We don't know much about Snoke, but he seems to lead the New Order, is a master of the Dark Side, and is played by Andy "Gollum" Serkis. Ben, it seems had killed all the Jedi pupils, and joined Snoke in something called the Knights of Ren. I don't know if Stimpy comes into this or not. This caused the family to break up. Leia went back to doing what she does best, leading an army. Han went back to doing what he does best, getting into interplanetary trouble with his loyal buddy, Chewbacca. Luke fled to an uncharted part of the galaxy to find the first Jedi temple.

J.J. Abrams' habit of referencing what came before in his movies is in full evidence here. George Lucas' criticism is well founded. But, all this referencing actually works better in Star Wars than in it does in J.J.'s adventures into Star Trek. The stories in Star Wars run in cycles. Students betray masters, sons redeem fathers. Even Han Solo is redeemed through Kylo Ren in a way. I'll get into that later.

30 years after the battle of Endor, we see Stormtroopers in a troop carrier landing on a desert planet (not tatooine). The scene almost reminded me of the beginning of "Saving Private Ryan" with the soldiers standing and waiting for the door of the heaving landing craft to drop open. They attack a village looking for the resistance's ace pilot, Poe Dameron (Oscar Issac), who has something they want. What Poe has that they don't is a map of the unknown region of space that leads to the Jedi temple and to Luke Skywalker. Poe hides the map inside a droid called BB-8. So, now we have our mcguffin, which is once again a piece of data hidden inside a droid. There was an old guy played by Max Von-Sydow. We needed to see more of him just because it was Max Von-Sydow. You don't kill that guy off so early in a movie. That's like giving Peter Cushing only one good scene as Grand Moff Tarkin.

One of  J.J.'s better changes is that he humanizes his stormtroopers. One of them is FN-2187 (John Boyega). FN-2187, like many others, was taken as a child by the First Order to be trained as a stormtrooper. By beginning their solder's indoctrination young, the First Order ensures their loyalty. This is a darker reflection of what the Jedi did during the days of the Old Republic. We also meet FN-2187's bad-ass commander, Captain Phasma, played by Gwendoline (Brienne of Tarth) Christie.

Ben Solo, who is now known as Kylo Ren, (Adam Driver), has by now gone full emo. He's obsessed with Grandpa Darth. He cosplays in black armor and a breathing apparatus, and he carries around Vader's charred helmet. Going to Endor to find Darth Vader's actual certified original helmet must qualify him as the galaxy's greatest Star Wars fan.

This was FN-2187's first military action, and he hated it. He saw one of his buddies get shot up and civilians executed, and decided that he's had it. He's decided to desert, and is just waiting for his chance. The obvious echos of  "anti-insurgency" and "asymetric" war make the modern viewer sympathetic for this soldier. Poe is captured before he can escape in his X-Wing (The Imcom cooperation is apparently still supporting rebel scum). Poe is taken to the star destroyer orbiting above. FN-2187 sees Poe as his chance to get out of there and they both escape in a tie fighter. FN-2187 needs a real name in his new life as a person and becomes Finn. We have an awesome escape sequence inside a tie fighter because J.J. knows what Star Wars fans like. They get shot down. Finn thinks Poe is dead.

So, back on the desert planet, I didn't get it's name. Finn meets up with BB-8 and a girl named Rey (Daisy Ridley), who has been making a hard scrabble living scavenging hardware from an ancient, downed star-destroyer and selling the stuff to a junk dealer played by the always fun to watch Simon Pegg in a heavy alien costume. The First Order comes after Finn and BB-8. Tie fighters swoop in out of the rising sun in a scene reminiscent of the "Ride of the Valkyries" scene in "Apocalypse: Now". Rey and Finn manage to blast their way out in an abandoned "garbage" of a Corellian YT-1300 light freighter which soon brings them into contact with the ship's rightful owners (just try to guess who). The escape sequence is thrilling to say the least. In this early part of the film, it is learned that to this new generation, represented by Rey and Finn, the heroes of the rebellion, our heroes, such as Luke and Han and Leia have faded into legends and stories of great deeds in a foggy past that might not be completely real.

There is an almost humorous scene where Han must try to talk himself out of trouble with not one, but, two gangsters that he owes money to, because nothing changes with this guy. Then, Han and Chewy and Rey and Finn go to a Castle owed by a character called Maz Kantata ( played by actress Lupita Nyong'o acting under a CGI skin). Maz has turned the place into a pirate haven. She's a thousand years old and a force-sensitive. Luke Skywalker left his lightsaber into her safe keeping on his way into exile. In a cool, spooky scene with echos of the  mystical swords of human myth, the sound of voices leads Rey to the lightsaber, and as soon as she touches it, she's filled with crazy visions of the past and future. Frightened, she leaves it and Finn takes temporary possession.

Rey can fight. She can fly and fix the Millennium Falcon. She's seriously Force-sensitive. Over the course of the film, she grows more and more into a force to be reckoned with. She has been called a Mary-Sue by some critics. She probably is, but, she's a future Jedi, and what's more Mary-Sue than a fucking Jedi, anyway? I'm sure that we are going to find out sooner or later that she's a product of the Skywalker bloodline. Like Anakin and Luke before her she comes out of the desert strong with the force, and it looks like she'll be more powerful than either of them.

Back to the story, the First order comes looking for BB-8, the Resistance comes looking for BB-8 at the same time. There is a big fight. X-Wings swoop in over a lake. Kylo kidnaps Rey. Han and Leia meet in a scene that if you didn't get choked up over it, you just are not fucking human.

Now, some folks out there have been less-than-complimentary things about the way Carrie Fischer looked in this film. Princess Leia in the the original trilogy was a total babe as well as a kick-ass heroine, and her ongoing war of snide remarks with Han Solo defined a generations's idea of true romance. We remember that fondly, but, we are also all older now. General Organa of 30 years later doesn't need to look hot, she needs to look like the leader of galactic resistance and someone who saw the dark side of the force destroy her family. Carrie Fischer does this exceedingly well. Se has the sad look in her eyes of someone who has seen some shit. She's still beautiful, and these people can all stick their toy lightsabers up their asses for all I care. It's true she didn't get many lines, but this episode was mostly about the kids, anyway.

Kylo takes Rey to Starkiller base, which is basically a huge mega-deathstar built into a planet. so, now we have yet another deathstar to destroy (Thanks, J.J.). Why do these imperial types insist on sinking vast amounts of resources into building these things? How the energy used to run this thing is collected doesn't make sense, and it doesn't really need to make sense. Something about sucking all the enegy out of a star until it goes out. It would have been cool if there was a Dyson Sphere in the vicinity or something, but it's Star Wars not Star Trek, let it go. The First Order begins using Starkiller Base's power to destroy the core worlds of the Republic. The resistance wants to destroy it. Han and Chewy volunteer to sneak in and plant the bombs. Leia tells Han to bring Ben back if he sees him. Finn tags along because he wants to rescue Rey.

Meanwhile Kylo is trying to use The Force to read Rey's mind and find out where the secret rebel base is. He fails get into her head, she fights him out and he runs off and has a hissy fit, smashing computer terminals with his lightsaber. Then Rey Jedi-mind-tricks a stormtrooper into letting her go. It takes a few tries but she succeeds, even though she had zero training in this sort of thing. And who played this Stormtrooper? It was Daniel Craig who dropped in on a day off from filming "Spectre". She Jedi-mind-tricked James Fucking Bond! Tell me that's not cool.

This brings us up to the touching father-son scene, and why I don't mourn for Han Solo. It was sad to see our favorite scruffy-looking nerf herder go, but, in death, trying to save his son, Han, our old scoundrel, commits the most beautiful, noble act in the whole movie. That's why I said in the beginning, that in a way, the father was redeemed. Now, who is going to redeem the son? Will it be the mother? Or another female kin?

Edit: I was thinking about Han's place in the movie. He was the elder hero from by-gone era who was there to guide Rey and Finn through the first part of their own separate Hero's Journeys. Co-incidentally, it was when they were ready to set out on their own, that he sacrificed his life against this chapter's black knight. In the end, Han became Obi Wan. Another circle completed.

Kylo chases Rey and Finn into the woods. There is a big lightsaber fight. Luke's lightsaber seems to chose on it's own to fly into Rey's hand instead of Kylo's and she pretty much beats the shit out of him with it, because even with zero training, she's still more Jedi than he is. It was a brutal fight, and neither of them have the fighting skills of the Jedi and Sith of old days depicted in the prequels. Kylo lost the fight mentally before it even started, because he has no control of his emotions.

In the end, Rey sets off with Chewy to find the first Jedi temple and Luke.

I did some numbers here. This will make you feel old:
 In 1977, when Sir Alec Guiness played Obi Wan Kenobi, he was 63. Mark Hamill today is 64.

As Luke did when he landed on Dagobah, I expect Rey to argue and force a disinterested old master in exile, who saw the Jedi system fail under his watch, to train her. As Vader said, "The circle is now complete". No words were spoken in this scene, and none were necessary. The look on Rey's face said "goddamnit, you are going to take this lightsaber from my hand and help us". To reverse an old adage, when the master is ready, the student will appear.

Game of Thrones 5-10 "Mother's Mercy"

   This episode left us with a few cliffhangers that "A Dance With Dragons" also left us with, so any predictions I make here, especially concerning Jon Snow, are really about what I think or hope we will see in "Winds of Winter" when it comes out.

OK, then, lets just get on with it and talk about Jon Snow and why I think he's only mostly dead. The next time we see Jon, I think, it will be through Ghost's POV, but, will he warg in to Ghost permanently, or come back? I'm betting on coming back; and this is why:

   When I finished the chapter in "A Dance With Dragons" dealing with the mutiny at the wall I put down the book and refused to read it for another week or two. I was pissed at GRRM and had it with "A Song of Ice and Fire" and wasn't going to read it anymore. I finally DID finish it. So, I had a good long time to think of Jon's situation and how he could possibly survive it before this episode aired.
   Firstly, Jon is even more than a central character, the whole series pretty much hinges on both him and Daenerys. He is the ice to her fire.
   My friend, Rommy introduced me to what is probably the most reasonable theory as to Jon's parentage, and it involves him having both Stark and Targaryan blood. GRRM, will need to reveal Jon's parentage sooner or later.
Rommy's blog: http://kestrilsrhythmsandgroove.blogspot.com/

   In the book, Jon gets word via raven that Stannis has failed and died at Winterfell. Jon then starts talking about marching an army of Wildlings down to take the castle himself. Why would the Lord Commander announce that he would be literally abandoning his post? It sounded like he was tryng to get killed. Jon is too smart for that.

Yes, yes, he IS too smart for that.

   Jon learned from Sam how to look at his Night's Watch vows legalistically, and even Stannis once compared Jon's negotiating skills to "an old woman haggling with a fish".  Jon is one of the more clever characters, right there behind Tyrion and Littlefinger. Jon would know that if he technically dies at the wall, then his watch is technically is over. So, a dead-and-back-again Jon could actually claim the name Stark and march his Freefolk army south. But, how?
   This brings us to Lady Soneheart. Lady Stoneheart is a character in the books, but, not the show. She is Catelyn Stark after being resurrected by Beric Dondarrion (another follower of R'ollor), and she now commands a band of anti-Lannister partisans in the Riverlands called The Brotherhood Without Banners. The last time we saw Lady Stonheart, she was killing Brienne of Tarth for the crime of carrying a sword hilted with Lannister gold. (The Sansa-Ramsey-Brienne storyline is not a thing in the books). We have not seen Melesandre use resurrection, but we can safely assume that it's not outside her skill set.
   Melesandre (in the show) returns to Castle black dejected. She had pinned all her hopes on Stannis. She did things a person with a conscience would never consider in the hope of turning him into the savior to beat back the darkness to come. Stannis failed. It wasn't in him to be what she wanted him to be. She will be looking for another Azor Ahai, and, if we are right about Jon being a Targaryan prince, then...kings's blood!

Speaking of resurrecting the dead, what do you think of Franken-mountain?

Meanwhile, in Bravvos, a girl has a lesson to learn. Instead of wanting to be nobody, a girl still wants to be Arya Stark. Now a girl must learn to see without seeing.

What will happen with Daenerys now? Will the injured Drogon regain his strength in time to swoop down and save her from the horselords?

Will the death of Myrcella cause a Lannister-Martell war?

And, finally, regarding Cersei. Even for those of us wanting to see her get her just reward for the wretched things she has done, this was a hard thing to watch or read. What she went through was an atrocity and truly made us reel back in horror. But, the public sexual shaming of Cersei Lannister is a lesson in what happens when we give power to religious fanatics. If it made you angry, that's a good thing.
This one scene is enough to turn Lena Heady into one of my most admired actors. Her portrayal of a very proud woman bearing a stoic face to the world as her soul is being broken was unforgettable.

Game of Thrones 5-9 "The Dance of Dragons"

   So, Stannis officially gives away his Father of the Year award to Ser Jamie. Why Stannis, why? It's not fair that princess Shireen, the only truly innocent character, should go in such a way.
It's not fair.
No, no it's not.
Yet...
Don't be surprised by what people do in the name of religion in this series.
   Stannis, unlike his wife, is no true believer in R'hollor (even she appears to be having second thoughts now). But, he is is the Macbeth of the series. He is vain, stubborn, has an exceedingly overdeveloped sense of destiny, and he is under the sway of a highly manipulative priestess. She takes full advantage of his many faults. Melesandre, of course, is convinced that any horrors she inflicts on the world are for the greater good because they are in the service of her god.
   In Braavos, Arya is caught up in a feared cult spoken only of in whispers, which, (valar dohaeris) serves the god of death. Arya is no true servant, either, but seems to have made a personal deal with the many-faced god to accomplish her own agenda. What will a girl do now that Meryn Trant (who is on Arya Stark's personal list) is in town? A girl plays a dangerous game.
   Meanwhile, back in Kings Landing, we find something akin to a grand inquisition run by the fundamentalist sect known as the Faith Militant and their deceptively soft-spoken evangelist leader, the "High Sparrow". "The Sparrows", as they are called, are popular with the common folk through their works of charity, but don't dare be caught doing anything that might be construed as offending The Seven, or you may find yourself in a dungeon and being visited regularly by Sister Hardass.
   If the writers allow us to see Victorion Greyjoy next season, we will, perhaps, get a better view of the followers of the Drowned God.

Things have been going downhill for Daenerys, breaker of chains, since she freed slaver's bay. Her attempts at nation-building in Meereen have gone just as well as anyone who keeps up with current events would expect...pretty much an utter failure. It all comes crashing down, finally, in the attack of the harpies in the stadium, and it really looked like the end of the line for Daenerys.
Just a quick commentary on the fight: Jorah was lucky. The spearman ran the Braavosi through the back thinking the beaten Jorah would be an easier opponent to deal with face to face. The waterdancer could have won the contest.
GRRM, isn't a big fan of having the hero gallop in at the last moment to rescue the maiden, but an exception was made. The hero of course was Drogon, who flew in just in time to to cook up a most excellent harpy barbecue.
Thus the title of the episode: Daenerys is the first dragon rider since the "Dance of the Dragons", the old civil war which Shireen was reading about early in the episode.

Game of Thrones 5-8, Hardhome.

We finally have Tyrion,  as advisor to Daenerys, getting the respect and position he always desired. This is good for the both of them. Tyrion finally gets a queen to advise worthy of his talents, and she gets a voice of reason to replace the one she lost with death of Ser Barriston. This also gives the viewers a different dynamic, for Danny has thus far surrounded herself with mostly lovers and warriors, The grizzled Ser Barriston, the lovelorn Ser Jorah, and her current foppish lover/champion, Daario. Tyrion's great strength is his mind.

And, poor Jorah, back to the fighting pits. What's he up to now?

Cersei still stews in prison and her options continue to get worse.  She can't count on a rescue from her weak-spirited son, Tommen, who is now under the sway of his uncle, Kevan Lannister. Tommen and Jofferey are two sides of a single character that were unfortunately separated. A character with Joffery's will and governed by Tommen's empathy could be an ideal king. We could name him King Toffery!

And, how awesome is it to have the High Sparrow played by Jonathan Pryce?

Things get interesting for the Stark sisters. Sansa learns the truth about the fate of her younger brothers and Arya embarks on her assassin career.

The most important development, however, occurs north of The Wall. Jon and Tormund Gianstbane go to the aptly named town of Hardhome to make an alliance between the Wildlings and the Crows (Yes, the Freefolk have towns) when an army of thousands of the dead attack. We even got to see Jon fighting alongside a Thenn. And a Giant!

If you didn't know the difference between a mere wight and a whitewalker before, you know now. Whitewalkers are the badass ones, and King whitewalker was the creepiest thing in the show yet. But, then, Jon discovers that "Longclaw" is a much needed +100 attack against whitewalkers. An obsidian point isn't the only thing that will take one out (eat Valyrian steel, motherfuckers!).

So, NOW, we have the true perspective. We see how petty realm politics really is. All the maneuvering by everyone else for the Iron Throne is completely besides the point. None of them even see what is coming for them. Jon Snow knows a lot more than nothing. By trying to bring the Night's Watch and the Freefolk together, he is literally fighting to save the world. It is the Long Winter and Stannis is not Azor Ahai, Jon Snow is,

Game of Thrones 5-6 "The Gift"

It was sad but expected to say goodbye to Maester Aemon ( and now his watch is ended), But, it also means that Sam's own career training as a maester is aproaching. With Aemon dead and no infsnt son of Mance Rayder, Jon needs a reason to send Sam and Gilly south via Braavos, I wonder how it is going to play out.

Disappointingly,  Sansa relied on Theon to light her signal candle in the old tower for her, so, of course, Reek went and narced to Ramsey. We are all waiting for Theon to finally snap, and kill Ramsey, of course, but to kill Ramsey, he must kill Reek first. If "What is dead shall never die", according to the Ironborn worldview, then Theon still exists inside that unkempt mind, and needs to rise again and slay Reek.  

"Kill the boy so the man may live". 

-Aemon Targarian 

The best part of the epidode was to see Ser Jorah slash and stab his way through the fighting pit like a boss to deliver Lord Tyrion to Her Grace and allow Peter Dinklage to deliver another perfest line, "I am the gift".

Tyrion's journey through Essos in the books is exeedingly long, and hasn't ended yet. Now, we get to finally see he and Daenarys meet. She's going to need his aptitudes. I hope she doesn't waste the opportunity. 

Game of Thrones Notes: 5-6

I'm dealing with a family medical crisis, which I will get into when it's over. I did get to see MOST of this episode. I missed the first 15 minutes. I only have one thing to say:

Damn it, Theon! You wuss! His back was to you, you could have finished him! By the drowned god, snap out of it!

Game of Thrones notes: Season 5 episode 5

I thought I'd start in on some Game of Thrones impressions. Are you addicted to George R.R. Martin's "song of Ice and Fire" epic-in-progress? What do you think of the television changes?

So, we finally get the deviations from the books we have been warned about. So far we have the young Rhagar storyline seemingly skipped over,  Ser Jorah Mormont getting Jon Connington's greyscale, and Sansa Stark getting Jeyne Poole's wedding. It seems like the writers are trying to hold on to some of the original story arcs while keeping the list of new characters down. That doesn't bother me much. You have to do what you have to do for TV, and I have my books. I just hope that we get to see Victorion "The Kracken" Greyjoy.

In episode five, Lord Commander Jon Snow's plan to bring the Freefolk south of the wall is revealed. His Grace, Stannis Baratheon, the first of his name and king of proper grammar, sallies forth to either victory or doom beneath the walls of Winterfell, this time with wife, daughter, and Melesandre in tow. I don't like this. My theory of how Jon could get out of the mess that he finds himself in at the end of "A Dance With Dragons" requires Melesandre's presence at Castle Black. I'll get to that when it comes to it, as well as what I think about what happens with Stannis.

Speaking of Winterfell; Sansa Stark, Lady of the Vale and Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish's pupil, seethes during the Bolton dysfunctional family dinner (the family that flays together...). If you want to know how Ramsay got so screwed up in the head, look at his family situation (oh, man). You know Sansa is planning something, and Lady Brienne may yet prove less hapless than she has been thus far. I wouldn't want to be a Bolton.

I guess that Brienne won't be meeting Zombie Katlyn on the show.

Arya is putzing around in Braavos learning how to be a faceless man, and I don't know if there will be anyone left on her hit list when she gets back to Westros, they seem to be killing themselves off quite nicely.

On Slaver's Bay, Ser Barriston Selmy dies in an alley fight rushing to the rescue of Greyworm and his Unsulied. Really? Even GRRM has been keeping Bariston the Bold alive in the books. He's GRRM's only perfect knight. GRRM has no romantic notions of knighthood. Most of his knights are oafs, corrupt, suffer from really bad luck with women, love their sisters a little too much, or are simply brave fighters but jerks. Ser Barriston was the best of them.

Speaking of knights; Lady Brienne keeps saying that she's not a knight. She has a horse, armor, a sword with a name, a squire, and a quest. She's a knight.

Finally I'm starting to worry about Daenerys. She really showed her her Targaryen pyromaniacal tendencies turning that Meereenese elder into char-broiled dragon barbecue.