June 10, 2020

I would ensure that my kids saw only the older cartoons.

These will have no plot, no dialogue -- just trading gun-less violent acts? There's a moral difference between blowing someone to pieces with a gun, blowing them up with TNT, and dicing them with a blade -- even in cartoon land? Growing up watching Elmer Fudd and Yosemite Sam shoot at Bugs Bunny didn't turn me into a mass murderer, and here's why: those older cartoons had a moral subtext.

I never held it against Elmer Fudd that he wanted to kill Bugs -- he was simply "doing his job" as a hunter. But I also supported Bugs' right to do his job: stay alive by employing the most effective weapon he had at his disposal -- his wits. Predator versus prey; survival of the fittest; balance of nature; fair enough.

Bugs Bunny versus Yosemite Sam, however, was Good versus Evil. Sam was indisputably a villain: a lawless bullying terrorist. Without his big guns and even bigger mouth, he was a pea-brained overcompensating egomaniac totally unworthy of the respect he so boisterously demanded. I was delighted by Bugs' refusal to be intimidated, especially when he would outwit Sam by manipulating him into outwitting himself!




rocktivity

April 29, 2020

Mike Pence spearheads solution for the cornoavirus crisis

https://twitter.com/mmpadellan/status/1255224730342350852

(Tweet) Seeing Mike Pence without a mask at the Mayo Clinic, while every other human in the room wore one, and he was WARNED about the policy, tells you everything you need to know about WHY we have 1 million cases and over 57,000 dead.

By George, I think he's got it!

Because he and those around him are tested regularly, Pence can walk around with full confidence that he will definitely not infect anyone else and that they probably won't infect him. Suppose that could be elevated to occurring nationally, or even globally? Test everyone in the U.S., isolate the infected, and turn the uninfected loose to retake the streets, re-open the country, and ignite herd immunity. If only that was possible without a lot of cost, effort, or invasive swab sampling!

It's started happening in New Jersey: https://yourhhrsnews.com/nj-mass-covid-test

You've done it, Pence! Mission -- and perhaps a second term -- accomplished, especially if Trump needs to be, ah, "replaced" ahead of schedule!


Well, let's take it one step at a time...


rocktivity

March 30, 2020

"We need everyone to hold the line as the epidemic inevitably gets worse" -- Well, duh.

In the absence of a vaccine, an antidote, mass testing, and a more robust healthcare infrastructure, there's not much left to do except "hunker down" and "ride out" the "inevitably worse." The real issue is that "the line" we're trying to hold against the virus should have been drawn four months ago when border closing, comprehensive testing, professional-grade masking, contact tracing, and actual quarantining could have combined to "flatten the curve." I think that's why people have started "rebelling" against social distancing -- not out of boredom, ignorance, or defiance, but from subliminally realizing that curve flattening was a fantasy, and that staying home now does too little, too late.

This could have happened in the U.S. -- but it can't now because U.S. leadership didn't see the smoke on the horizon and/or pull the alarm in time.


rocktivity

March 12, 2020

RE: Rule #1

The bad news: I didn't pack my camera accessories bag, giving me a seven-hour, six-band concert to shoot with just one battery to my name.

The good news: I did pack my (15-ounce) charger and my tablet, into which I'd put a PDF of my camera's user guide.

The great news: I had bothered to read enough of the user guide to know that my camera is capable of on-board battery charging. So instead of "calling in sick," I simply looked up the instructions: all I needed to do was connect a USB/micro cable between the charger and camera between band performances.

Lessons learned:

1. Keep an extra (fully charged) battery, and either an extra camera battery charger or a USB cable and wall plug adapter, in another part of your bag.

2. Thou shalt know thy camera as thyself.

rocktivity

December 24, 2019

The photo that required 7 months and the breaking of a 40-year-old mindset to take

In the "olden days" of film-based rock photography, I generated enough experience and skill to fill a shoebox with photos. I thought that transitioning to digital rock photography would simply be a matter of finding a camera in my price range -- but it's been more like being a piano player who's been handed a synthesizer. Suddenly, I was a clueless amateur again, which I resented. Fortunately, I faced the fact that I was NOT going to be able figure it all out within a few days, weeks, or even months.

For instance, it turned out that I'd bought the wrong camera for rock photography -- twice. Just as "serious" rock guitarists are supposed to restrict themselves to playing only Gibsons and Fenders, pro photography employs a similar "brand snobbery" about Nikons and Canons. I've used Canons almost exclusively, but I had to face another fact: the Canons and Nikons that I could afford just didn't supply enough of the features needed for digital rock photography.

It looked like I was sunk, and nearly took my Canon to a pawn shop to invest the proceeds in a self-pitying boozefest in honor of my latest failure. But it simply didn't make sense to me that the camera I needed at the price I needed didn't exist. Instead, I did some additional homework outside of the Nikon/Canon "aristocracy," went to a camera a pro shop, asked the right questions, and worked a trade-in deal for a Panasonic.

From there, it was simply a matter of investing in the "Six P's" -- preparation, patience, persistence, and what the bands I photograph are expected to do: practice practice practice. Which brings us to the seventh P: the payoff.

After seven months, I think I've reached the tipping point where I'm less occupied with the operational aspects of the camera and getting back into the business of "capturing moments." Pics of the bands I've photographed are starting to turn up on their Web pages, and most recently in a local band Facebook "10-photo artist challenge." And just in time for the holidays, LOL!




rocktivity

October 31, 2019

It's the morning after -- so it WASN'T a dream!

While I am very much a veteran of "serious" photography, I'm a rookie at digital photography. That's why I joined the DU Photography Group recently -- and that's why this has taken me so totally by surprise.

I saw the girl getting her face painted while on my way to photograph a band, and absolutely wanted to take her picture. But by the time I was ready to, she had left the painting booth. I literally hunted her down -- that's why the picture made me happy! Well, it paid off in more ways than one, LOL! Thanks, all!


rocktivity

October 25, 2019

"You Can Click My Shutter Any Time" -- A New Jersey Photographic Soap Opera

rocktivity

August 20, 2019

I concur with your diagnosis that your band had mortgaged its potential.

If I had been you, I would have quit. But if I had been the bassist, you wouldn't have had to.

I would have considered the "non-musical" nature of the "new" compliments to be a serious problem -- and I would have tried to solve it by turning down the dial on my "stage presence" AND turning it up on my musical skills.

As talented as she may have been, she clearly wasn't talented enough to either offset her looks OR help contribute to the continuation of comments about how good the entire band was -- which your other bandmates also should have noticed.


rocktivity

August 20, 2019

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your life

As one of the fifty-somethings pushed out of the job market by the previous recession, I had to live on, and consequently lost, my private pensions (got evicted, too -- but thanks to generous DU-ers, endured only one night of homlesseness). Fortunately, I had earned enough during my working years to make the social security clerk's eyes pop when I filed for early retirement. But rather than taking up knitting and chair-rocking, I invested one of my checks into turning what I had enjoyed doing when not working into a permanent part-time venture -- and adventure.

So congratulations on (also) crossing the rat race finish line with the ability to determine how to live out the rest of your life on YOUR terms: very wise of you to not stop working "cold turkey". Now the only "investing" left to be done is in enjoying yourself as long as your health (and wealth) permits!

rocktivity

April 6, 2019

Mystery Solved: Smollett is NOT a first offender

So he isn't a stranger to being arrested, taking a plea deal, OR being accused of lying to the police? If State Attorney Kim Foxx didn't have that information, she most certainly should have. Well, now we have the missing piece of the puzzle: while Foxx should have dismissed the charges and returned Jussie's bond money if she thought the cops had screwed up that badly, it now makes sense why Jussie "voluntarily agreed" to do some community service and forfeit his bond.

But as I said upthread, Jussie forfeited his presumption of innocence when he forfeited his bond, and now he can also wave buh-bye to his moral high ground. Game over, Jussie: coffin lid, meet nails -- check, please!




rocktivity