Lazy Sunday Short Ends: Computer a Troublin, New Photo and Pirates BOFFO BOX OFFICE! Because that's all that matters.

Well, Lazy Sunday wasn't much of one, as I was working. An anti-Lazy Sunday if you will.

At your left is a picture that I took from a moving bus on my way into Victoria last weekend. Pictured is a neighborhood gas station near the Dean Park area, where I grew up. The weekly quotes I enjoy to glance at on my ride into town every week.

Prior to that, I had a brief power outage last night and I couldn't get this lousy computer of mine to work properly. Which is partly my fault as this current PC is an absolute mess thanks to years of downloading, writing and burning archives and I look forward to getting it restored -- or possibly replaced -- soon.

Aww, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End. You didn't break Spider-Man 3's monetary record, but you came close. Watch as Disney will tabulate the weekend numbers and say it's "The Biggest Pirates of the Caribbean Opening on Memorial Day Weekend Ever!"

And what a sluggish movie it is! Unbelievably overlong at 168 minutes, there were so many zigs-and-zags, far too many characters and pacing problems that had me checking my watch for nearly half the running time. It looks great, of course, and you can never take your eyes off of Keira Knightley, but this was dull and forgettable as Dead Man's Chest was, just in a different way.

Before the film, I was blown away to see that there's an upcoming sequel to one of the worst films of 2004, just in time for the holiday season! Not even the radiant Diane Kruger will get me into the moobyplex for this one.

Already this summer season is a dreary and boring one. Why can't people flock to some better movies in their area instead?

Jason
efilmcritic.com

Jay Has Camera.

Well, I finally decided to make the jump.

If you've been talking with me with the past while, you know what I'm talking about. For those that don't, I finally purchased my (hopefully) last digital camera which I have been obsessing over to buy.

It all started with my friend Curtis' Sony Digital Mavica, which got pictures as big as 640x480. Huge, 3.5" floppy drive and everyone looked pasty. I remember being down in LA for a Home Theater Forum convention and literally stealing that thing from him.

For years, I had been taking picutres with a tiny little Fuji Finepix A101 that my lovely and amazing parents got me for Christmas a few years back. Since that number is low, it can kind of give you an idea of its basic-ity. 1.3 megapixel, handled low light really badly and it was embarassing for some indoor shots I took.

(Still, that camera has had its success; for one, the front page of the official website for The New Pornographers contains a nicely drawn graphic of a picture I took at their Vancouver concert in 2005 from that very little contraption.)

Last September, I made a small jump and purchased a nice digital camera, Canon's Powershot A-700. Already obsolete, this 6.0 megapixel camera did beautiful daytime shots, some good night shots but was still a bit tricky on indoor photography, unless you were shooting really up close. Red and orange-eye were also huge problems.

And after months of research, I finally decided to purchase the Canon Rebel XTi, a 10.1 megapixel digital SLR behemoth. The camera usually comes with a 18-55mm lens, but on ordering I said "scrap it" due to negative reviews and ponied up for a 28-135mm IS USM lens, a 75-300mm USM lens and a Wide Angle lens. And also a bunch of accessories that also help keep the camera easy to use.

I think the obsession began at this year's SxSW, where I ran into a guy at the Bill Paxton panel who politely asked me to take a few pictures with Bill. He handed me a Nikon SLR and gave me a few quick pointers on how to use it, but I instantly fell in love with it and knew how to frame, focus and take shots in a matter of seconds. As he talked with Bill, I snapped a few shots of them talking and immediately thought to myself "Jay Man, get yourself one of these damn things!"

It's not like this was my first foray into SLR's, however. I have handled several over the years (Paul Duchart, a actor/photographer friend of mine in Vancouver, has asked me to take shots of him with actors and filmmakers MANY times over the years), and I knew the passion was there, but as I was standing in front of Paxton, I knew I finally had to get a camera like this. And this Canon is much easier to use than you think; it's a breeze to take the shots that you want on auto or manual focus and adapt to different lenses. It's a bit heavier, of course, but I look forward to studying photography and taking better pictures. It's been a hobby of mine for many years and now I finally have a tool that can definitely help down the road.

I'm going to try to have a new little addition to this blog, where I update every Sunday with a new photo I have taken with my Rebel. The series will be called Lazy Sunday in addition to still trying to redesign the blog for easier readability.

(This image at the top is a bit blurry, since it's a reflection of myself in a sliding glass door sitting in my driveway, which is to be installed later this week. I was out on friday morning grabbing tons of shots and thought this one was rather amusing, as well as this one here, a shot of me photographing into my bathroom mirror, which I then mirrored in Paint Shop Pro. Tee hee.)

Jason
efilmcritic.com