Book Recollection: SEAL Team One

Having been a little disappointed that my last few book recollections did absolutely nothing to the original reading commitment stack, I decided it was time to get with the program or I’ll be putting a DNF next to that goal. Those who know me should understand how angry failure makes me, so when it came time to pick a new reading subject I headed right to the stack. In honor of the recent accomplishment of SEAL Team Six in taking out a spineless terrorist living in relatively luxury compared to his brainwashed followers, I selected SEAL Team One. This book was the first effort from Dick Couch who has become one of my favorite authors. You may recall my growing collection of his with the previous Chosen Soldier post and the Down Range read. This book originally came out in 1990 to great acclaim for its authenticity to a true deployed team SEAL experience. The back cover even has an endorsement by Stephen Coonts, an author whose complete portfolio I’ve completely devoured.

Unlike the other two books from Dick, this one is more story based than the other more technical skills based offerings. The story focuses on the main character James McConnell as he progresses through the SEAL training program and first deployment to Vietnam. This is not a biographical account of Dick’s own experience in the Vietnam War (yes, he is a SEAL), but rather a composite of experiences and events of his tour along with those of his fellow SEALs deployed in the region. Unlike Dick’s other books, he went through the training experience pretty quick leaving an open canvas to paint the life of a SEAL team leader as he plans, executes and deals with the aftermath of combat missions in the jungle. The book is first person from Jim’s perspective allowing you to get the true emotions involved and probably more surprising, peeling back the layers of dirt, grime, sweat, ego and conviction to convey the fear and sadness that they must deal with in their role.  As with the Lone Survivor book this read puts your supposed difficult days in perspective.  It is kind of hard to get too down because your boss needs a hot report while there are soldiers crawling through the jungle in total darkness playing a game of cat and mouse with weapons capable of producing a most violent death.  As I was reading about Jim’s numerous excursions up the Vietnam waterways I found my inner voice routinely asking could I do what these characters were doing, could the fire teams rely on me to make the right decisions while being chased down by VC or would I hesitate or worse freeze putting my team in further peril.  I may be able to tell myself the answer to that, but the comforting fact is I’ll likely never have to find out for sure.  This in part to the fact there are people out there who are willing to volunteer to put themselves in harm’s way for the safety of our country.  This is definitely one of the reasons it infuriated me when I found out Disney was trying to copyright SEAL Team Six after OBL was taken out.  SEALs have never asked for personal recognition of their feats yet some marketing clown thinks it would be good to slap an ear hat on their military organization.

I’ll leave details for the recollection list, but there was a personal eerie moment while reading this book.  Deep into the book I was engrossed in the storyline and asked myself “where do these decisive people come from?”  Three sentences later, Dick’s main characters asks the very same question.  I do not know the answer to that question, but one thing is for certain, thanks to Dick Couch I have a much better understanding of what it takes to be a member of our elite fighting forces.

Hit the jump for the takeaways:

Continue reading Book Recollection: SEAL Team One

Book Recollection: Simply Beautiful Photographs

May appears to be the month of photography books based on the last two book recollections and (wait for it…) this post as well.  However, unlike the previous two, today’s offering is less on food for the left side of  brain and more on providing inspiration for the right hemisphere.  What better way to do that then to review the creative work of National Geographic, the premier photography body that has been wowing us since it was founded in 1888.  By the way, I had no idea that National Geographic is one of the world’s largest nonprofit scientific and educational organizations.  It was also founded to increase and diffuse geographic knowledge.  There, come for the witty banter and leave with real knowledge, it’s like going to see Piranha 3D and learning that outboard motors can be used to fend off prehistoric flesh eating fish.  Speaking of photography (and my friends say my segues suck), Annie Griffiths brings us Simply Beautiful Photographs.  This book is a collection of images from the National Geographic Image Collection  (holding images back to the 1800s by the way), that fits Annie’s 6 key photographic components – Light, Composition, Moment, Time, Pallet and Wonder).  Annie takes us through each of these areas and provides an eloquent introduction into the nuances of the area proceeded by numerous examples of photographs that visually demonstrates that chapter’s topic.  In fact, so many images that this book tops in at 1.5 inches thick which sadly again doesn’t put a dent into the reading pile because… yeah, another gift for Linda (I was expecting Rapture to save me from my reading commitment, but apparently I’ve been a bad boy or just maybe that predictor was bat shit crazy).  Speaking of crazy, how about the crazy pictures in this collection (I try, I really really do).

As I was going through this collection, I tried to look at each picture individually and assess their impact on me.  At first I was keeping two sets of markers, one for images that had a positive effect on me and ones that I thought were total crap (per my wife’s favorite saying).  After awhile I decided that I was not qualified to make the call on what was a bad picture so from that point forward just focused on the shots that impressed me.  By my definition, this was an image that caught my attention through an interesting visual, a creative composition or success in conditions I know that are difficult to photograph based on my less than stellar attempts.  After reaching the back cover, I had marked 29 Wildlife and 17 Landscape images that I thought stood out among the rest.  I also marked 6 images that I had put in the “you’re kidding” category (might have been more, but again, stopped that marking).  I decided to challenge myself and select my top five Wildlife and top five Landscape images.  This turned out to be an extremely difficult task and made me appreciate what judges must go through for photography competitions.  After the second pass I was down to 31 images with 19 left after a third pass.  I probably spent another hour getting down to 10.

Hit the jump to see my top five list of Wildlife shots and the top five Landscape images

Continue reading Book Recollection: Simply Beautiful Photographs

A Double Helping

Linda: “Hey, I thought your little ego stroking blog was suppose to have trivial little observations on it with some meaningless babble about how it almost brought you to tears or something?”

Me: “Yep”

Linda: “Well, it looks like all you’ve been doing is barfing up photography related crap post after post”

Me: “uh, Sorry!”

Linda: “Don’t be sorry, get off your slacker butt and give the 3 people who actually read this drivel what they want”

Me: “K”

Well, that was awkward, but as always, she’s right.  I had to dust off my little blog idea notepad and fire up Photoshop to work on the required accompanying image.  Oh, for the record, I don’t cry … just wanted to get that out there for the record.  So today’s intriguing observation actually occurred a number of months back in the Menard’s parking lot.  Linda and I had done a little shopping and had made it back to the truck.  Okay, it is impossible for me to do a “little” shopping at Menards thanks to it being like a giant candy store for me.  Anyway, I had backed out of the parking spot and was proceeding up the aisle when we came upon an elderly man pushing a lumber cart with two full size plywood sheets on top.  Based on the brief time it took to pass him, it became apparent that he was struggling with the load trying to balance the weight of the plywood while negotiating the upward slant of the parking lot.  This scene actually hit a special chord with me.  Since owning our first home, I have been purchasing plywood, drywall and pressboard to complete one project after another.  Probably 90% of the time I am alone when the materials are bought and eventually hauled out to the truck.  I wouldn’t consider myself the strongest person out there, but I work hard to stay in some form of shape (thanks to a commitment in college to never become a stereotype of my geek profession).  Regardless of my bench strength, it is always a struggle to get those 4×8 sheets into the truck alone.  Add wind to that equation and you have plenty of fodder for a funniest home video show.  Not once has anyone offered to provide any assistance in this effort.  This doesn’t bother me on the receiving end, but I’ve always recognized this lumber battle and make it a point to offer my assistance to anyone in a similar situation (especially if it is WINDY!)

If I struggle with this type of material, clearly this individual was going to have similar issues.  After making my way past the guy, I pulled into an empty parking space and jumped out to lend a hand.  As soon as I got out of my truck and headed towards the man, another guy in the exact same truck (both in color and model) pulls into the empty space next to mine and gives me a nod of confirmation.  He had seen the scene and made the exact same decision.  By the time we had made it back to the old guy he had reached his vehicle which turned out to be a U-Haul truck.  The other guy asked him if he wanted the wood in the rental truck (mainly to confirm that we had the right vehicle).  The old guy was a little surprised and hesitantly said yes.  The other guy opened the truck up and jumped in while I grabbed the plywood and tossed it up to him.  The old guy thanked us for our help (still had a look of surprise on his face) as we put the cart back in the corral and headed back to our trucks.

It was an interesting coincidence that two people in the exact same vehicle saw the exact same scene and made the exact same decision to help someone out.  However, what really held my thought was how this situation even came to be in the first place.  I can understand nobody witnessing the guy getting the plywood onto the cart based on my experience that there is never anyone in Menards when you need help with something.  If one of the other employees had not assessed this situation, clearly the cashier could have sized up the customer and called in some help.  Apparently not the case!  In summary, it felt good on the soul to help my fellow man, but left a sour taste in my mouth due to the lack of customer attention from one of my favorite stores.   The good news of all this is my Rapture quotient should have gained a few points to the better… of course, that really doesn’t mean much anymore does it (ha)

Book Recollection: Understanding Exposure 3rd Edition

The timing of this particular recollection should not be much of surprise based on the previous foreshadowing. Yes, it’s another photography book by Bryan Peterson called Understanding Exposure.  As before, this book was actually purchased for Linda and sadly, does not count against the paper buildup.  That downside does not eclipse the benefit of this read.  Like the Understanding Shutter Speed offering, Bryan has an incredible way of presenting a technical topic in an understandable manner.  Per the title, this book was focused on the classic triad of Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO which together deliver an exposure (this would be the good kind, not the perv in the raincoat type).  If you recall, one of the legs of that triad (Shutter Speed) was actually the topic of the first book I read.  To make that book more effective, I recommend reading this first since the shutter book often refers to the “correct exposure” which is thoroughly explained in today’s subject.  As with the Shutter book, this one is full of examples complete with detailed camera settings (again with Nikon so a double bonus for us!).

After reading this book I can safely say I’m pretty much done with the programmable modes on the camera.  I think I can correctly mimic all of those settings plus gain more creative control through the manual mode.  This may take a few minutes more getting the triad correct than the A and S modes, but the satisfaction of being completely responsible for the results of the photo is kind of exciting.  There were a ton of valuable takeaways from this read.  If I had to focus in on just a couple, I would have to go with the different sky meterings to get proper exposure for sunsets, skylines and, surprisingly enough, waterfalls in the woods (the latter being a common theme in our own photo shoots).  The other important tidbit was the focus points for the small apertures (i.e. f/22).  The larger the aperture number (technically the smallest amount based on being inverted) the larger the focus depth is.   Knowing to focus 1/3rd into the scene to maximize depth will come in handy out in the field.  Our photo output has already improved significantly and Linda was able to take some excellent shots at her latest indoor Agility show which is traditionally a tough environment given the low lighting and movement of the dogs.  Apparently others thought the shots were darn good as well based on the number of orders she got for her photo collages.   For those of you into photography, at least take a glance at this  book and admire Bryan’s  awesome shots of tree silhouetted in the sun (pg 26 and 118) and the very nice shot of a Caterpillar Track Type Tractor (pg 124 – possibly a D11) moving coal (of course, I may be a little biased on that shot due to the fine choice of equipment).  Oh, and there is a great  shot of purple flowers fill flashed against the dark cloudy Chicago skyline on page 169.  If there is one room for improvement, I’d suggest giving an outro for the book.  It literally talks about a flash mode (Rear Curtain Sync) and simply ends.  No summary, not words of encouragement no hope you enjoyed, just the final sentence on the sync topic and he’s out of there.  I remember turning past the index and even checking the binding to see if some pages were left out.  It’s as if a topic for another book popped into his head and he wanted to get this one out of the way as soon as possible in order to start on that new concept.  This is just a minor nuisance and the little nuggets gleamed from this read far outweigh this quirk (although that last impression has stayed with me).  Needless to say, this book is a keeper and based on the last two books from Bryan, I’m in the hunt for more offerings from him.

Hit the jump to see read those nuggets!

Continue reading Book Recollection: Understanding Exposure 3rd Edition

When Man and Nature Collide

looking back, I have probably shot at least a thousand birds over my life.  Luckily for my winged friends (with the exception of two) these shots have all been with a shutter release and not with projectiles.  However, I must confess that indirectly I have shortened the life of a few.  Call me a softie, but this always saddens me a little when I think about how much pleasure I get from watching them gather around my feeders.  The irony of it all is that the feeders are often the catalyst for their accidental demise.  To fully experience living in the country, we architected our house to provide nice views into the surrounding woods.  This translated into a large amount of glass, the evil nemesis of all Aves.  Every once in awhile we hear a loud bang in the living room.  Being familiar with the common cause of this startling noise, I reluctantly head towards the windows.  Inevitably, this is the typical scene:

A perfectly good bird cut down by the magic of sand and a small cavity for brain matter.  Actually, I’ve seen humans walk into glass doors as well, so not sure how much the brain size plays into this particular situation.  By a general rule of thumb, the survival rate is directly proportional to the volume of the impact.  Through extensive trial and error, I’ve been able to improve this rate at least a little bit.  The success is dependent on how quick you can come to the aid of the injured bird.   Upon impact, the bird often loses consciousness and drops backwards onto the porch – the reasoning behind this still needs further research.  If the bird doesn’t snap it’s neck, it will show signs of convulsions both with fluttering wings and spastic feet.  This is exactly the state I found the bird pictured above (note I had the camera in my hand already taking pictures of some other subjects).  If you can get to the bird in this state, you must immediately flip it back over on its feet/belly.  If you leave it upside down, it will die every time (my apologies to all the failed experiments before this was figured out).  Kind of reminds me of my mode of operation with my drunk friends in college, but let’s stay on topic.

Hit the jump for some good news!

Continue reading When Man and Nature Collide

A Surprise Thrashing

Since the moment we started building our house in the woods, I’ve been busy taking photos of all the birds that drop by from time to time.  After awhile the diversity of species begins to fade as the same bird types tend to inhabit the same area year after year.  Some become so familiar that their tiny imperfections allow you to actually give them names.  Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy taking their pictures – if nothing else, the light settings and perch choices are always unique so there is always a challenge.  The main point of mentioning this is it makes new arrivals a big deal around here.  As soon as I spot a new bird type, I scramble for the camera in the hopes of getting a least some sort of picture to capture the moment (and to have proof for adding another check to my watch list).   As you can probably guess, I spotted a new bird to the homestead a few days ago.  Luckily, I was able to get a few shots.  As with all my pictures, the full versions can be seen on our Photography site at eddiesoft.smugmug.com. If you go there, you can view them at any size you want up to the original size (note, I always use medium for images in this blog).

So, after dinner I looked out and noticed a strange bird a ways out from the house.  Immediately thinking this might be a new find, I grabbed the closest camera (D7000) and headed out to the porch in hopes of snapping a few shots.  Our Beast was not currently on this particular camera having stored it away after our last photo shoot.  Luckily, the 80-200 glass was attached giving me some reach into the yard.

I was fighting the light going down as well trying to steady myself while hand holding the camera – must have been all the excitement of the chance to capture a new bird.  On full manual, I had to bump the ISO up to 800 for most of the shots in order to get the shutter speed I needed to help compensate for my shaky hands.  The shot above is a full shot giving you some perspective of the distance I was dealing with (this was at full 200mm I believe).  As you learn pretty quick taking bird pictures, any distance at all causes that bird to appear pretty small.  However, with the power of crop, we can take you a little closer in.

Hit the jump to see a lot more (and better) pictures of my feathered friend.

Continue reading A Surprise Thrashing

Book Recollection: Understanding Shutter Speed

It’s another month and it would have been another 1/2 inch off the read pile.  That is, if the book featured in this post was actually on that stack.  I actually picked up this particular book for my wife as a gift for some very special occasion … admittedly, I’ve since forgotten what that occasion was (oops).  But hey, it’s the thought that counts and nothing says I care more than a present that we can BOTH get some value out of.  In case the light is dim in your reading area, we enjoy a little hobby called photography.  This hobby is interesting in the since it always seems like there is more to learn, more creative things to explore and a constant reminder after every photo shoot how easy it is to blow an exposure.  Fortunately, there are a lot of experts in this field that are willing to share their tips and tricks.  While at the bookstore looking for gifts for Linda (and no, I still cannot remember the occasion), I noticed two books by Bryan Peterson that looked promising.  One of those books was Understanding Shutter Speed: Creative Action and Low-Light Photography Beyond 1/125 Second.  Consider the other as a foreshadowing.  Two things immediately popped out in this book.  First, it covered a key subject in our photography interest, motion stopping.  Linda likes to photograph agility dogs in action and I like to capture birds in flight, both of which generally require at least 1/500th second or faster to freeze the subject in the frame.  The other appealing aspect was the author primarily used Nikons and took the time provide camera settings for each of the numerous example pictures.

Linda had some other reading material stacked up so I took the liberty to read the book first.  You know, in case the book sucked I could save her from wasting valuable time – wow, the gift comes in so many facets.  After reading the first few pages I was hooked.  Bryan has the ability to take a technical subject and make it both entertaining and understandable.  If only he wrote Calculus books when I was in school!  This book is loaded with example pictures that drive home the main points of every chapter along with the zoom setting and triad configurations (the triad being the interrelationships of ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture).  Thanks to this book I now have the confidence to progress from the programmed settings (A/S modes) to full Manual giving me full control of the photography experience.  It will take a long time to get used to this much control, but the last couple of outings have produced some very nice shots (and some equally crappy shots, but no one said this hobby was easy).

If I had take some points off from this work, I would have to ding it for the chapters on shutter painting.  This is more from a personal perspective, since imposed motion on a subject doesn’t really appeal to me much.  Now panning a moving subject can produce some pretty cool effects by slowing down the shutter speed and moving the lens in the same direction as the subject is moving.  This will produce an image where the subject is still, but the background is blurred providing a classic motion sensation.  Contrast that with the other painting modes described by Bryan that includes taking a picture (again with a slow shutter speed) and moving the camera up, down, diagonal etc. causing a finger painting effect.  Some people may enjoy these more than Linda and I, but we prefer the more classic photography techniques.  For example, if you happen to see this book, take a gander at the incredible light house picture complete with light beaming through the fog or the long shutter shot of a statue with a lighted Ferris wheel in motion behind it.  Those two pictures were alone worth the price of admission.

In summary, this was a fantastic book and highly recommended for any photo enthusiasts library.  Bryan did an an excellent job of presenting shutter control concepts and encouraging us to keep striving to get better.  Now we just need to put this new knowledge in practice!  Oh, and a note to the author… including a picture of your wife in a bikini is just showing off.

Hit the jump for my takeaways

Continue reading Book Recollection: Understanding Shutter Speed

Galaxy Armband[it]

Holy crap, it’s almost the end of the month and I’m down one.  Time to get on the stick (or rather the keyboard) and get the final post in for April.  I can’t believe how fast this month has gone.  For this entry I am going to share a bad experience with a recent online purchase.  Earlier in the year I broke down and upgraded from the Motorola Razor to a Galaxy Mesmerize.  This was a difficult task due to how reliable the Razor was and the hell I put it through while out working in the lot.  Let’s just say both the secret (yeah right) water disks were bright red from all the sweat and rain it was exposed to.  The new smart phone finally provided me the ability to map runs to Google with the built in GPS.  Probably more beneficial, it also provided  the ability to swap out the iPod Touch for my running MP3 player with the added benefit of now being able to call for help if I get lost or (knock on wood) injured while out on the long runs.  In order to do this, I had to purchase a new armband. Having checked out all the Internet stores (Amazon etc.) I decided to go with one I found at http://www.galaxyarmband.com.  There was some hesitation since I prefer to purchase things from companies I am familiar with, but this was pretty cheap and went ahead and used our Internet only credit card in case something undesired happen.  As a note, this was the only product that actually called out my specific phone model.  All the others explicitly stated it only fit one model (which couldn’t be validated since it was using model numbers that were different from the names the cell phone providers give them).  Soon after hitting the submit button, the PayPal notification email came confirming the purchase and indicated the charge will show up under Talisman LLC.  The email also provided their mailing address:

Merchant information
Talisman, LLC
talismangroupllc@gmail.com
http://evoarmband.com

Several days later we received another email saying the product had shipped and if there were any issues to contact Talisman LLC directly.  Sure enough the package arrives and the excitement starts to rise…. that is until I opened up the package.  There was a large glue stain on the inside of the clear front of the holder.

Hoping it was superficial I tried wiping it off with water, but that was futile.  With a heavy dose of disgust I dragged the camera out, took pictures of the armband condition, hunted down the memory card reader, transferred the images to the computer, cleaned them up in Photoshop to help cut down the glare, added the best one to an email along with some comments regarding my dissatisfaction with their quality control and sent it off.  Probably an hour of completely wasted time because of their poor attention to good service.  I did not expect an immediate email response, but actually expected something in a day or two.  This was an assumption based on their webpage that had the following comment:

“We are a small company, located in the USA. We ship our products anywhere in the world. We have a customer service team that will pick up the phone. And we will ship your products to you promptly, without error, guaranteed.”

Anyone want to take a guess on when they responded?  If you answered with anything other than NEVER, you are dead wrong.  A week had passed since the defective product arrived and there was nothing left to do other than contact them directly.  Back I went to their webpage to get the support numbers.  Oddly, the support number was added at the bottom of the page as a graphic and not basic text even though there were only letters and punctuation characters.  Their contact number at the time was 608.385.7795 (verified that it still has this number on their website).  With some angst, I picked up the phone, dialed the number and prepared myself for some serious ranting.  Unfortunately, that never happened because there was only an answering machine for a house realtor.  I ended up leaving a message indicating who I was, the reason for my call and even indicated where I got the number in case this was really a realtor and not the Talisman LLC customer service number.  That effort ended up with the same results as the email did… nada.  A few quick searches on the Internet located this site http://evoarmband.com which looks almost like the Galaxy website with a few different colors, but the same Talisman LLC vendor and a different contact number.  Note, the products looks EXACTLY the same.  Thinking I was clever, I called that number hoping to be transferred to the real Galaxy number.  Failed!  That number was a Google Voice number which required me to state my name before putting the call through.  No one picked up on the other end and guessing they were using the forward or ignore voice feature.

In a last ditch effort I asked Linda to stop the payment assuming this particular vendor was not entirely on the up and up.  Guess what, according to our Visa research, we can only stop payment on a purchase if it is over $50.00.  Stick a screw in me boys I’ve been turned.  All I can do now is make sure others do not make the same mistake.  After some elbow grease and Goop I was able to get some of the glue off that makes it useable, but the quality of the product does not warrant that price tag.

This is what I get for deviating from my standard Internet purchasing process.  A lesson learned and another blog entry

She Said Yes! Introducing the BEAST

I hope my blog readers know by now that my wife and I share a photography habit… I mean hobby. Unlike Linda’s dog agility hobby and my addiction to running, this hobby is one we equally enjoy. It also gives us an opportunity to spend quality time together which is difficult in today’s hectic corporate world and what seems like an endless queue of errands and fix-its. It is also one of the few activities I willingly leave the comfort of my bed BEFORE the crack of dawn. Every once in awhile we get the opportunity to upgrade our equipment. This always a stressful event based on the fact that photography can be an expensive hobby and we have specific shooting interests that can, unfortunately, force you into higher dollar items. Lately, Linda has been shooting in low light facilities trying to capture dogs on the agility course. I am always trying to close the distance between my camera and wildlife. In both cases, the telephoto is generally the go-to glass. Up to this point, our workhorse has been the 80-200 f/2.8. This glass is solid and has never failed us, but the lack of VR can result in hand held fuzziness and probably more annoying, the inability to put a teleconverter on it (thanks Nikon) keeps us just out of optimal distance. To be honest, I will always complain that I am just out of optimal distance no matter what lens we have because that’s the wildlife photographer’s creed.

A few weeks back, we decided to pull the trigger on new glass. There were a few options in the zoom category we investigated including upgrading our 80-200 f/2.8 to the newer VR (vibration reduction), going with a superfast prime lens (300,400,500) or bite the bullet and go with a relatively fast longer zoom with VR. Linda wisely pointed out that buying another lens in the range we already have seems pointless (even if it has VR). The fast primes in the 400+ range is wicked expensive and really inhibits composition due to not being able to adjust the distance making it difficult to use for the agility ring. This left us with the longer zoom option. After much debate, sleepless nights and more than a hint of hesitation we pulled the trigger on the Nikon 200-400 VRII f/4 (end to end). The VRII offered some compensation for the uplift in aperture and fit our budget a little better than the house mortgaging below f/4 models. With that decision out of the way, the hunt was on to actually find one. The tsunami in Japan had a big hit in inventories leaving a few older models available and only ONE current model in stock across every photography retailer we could find on the Internet. Long story short, we took an availability premium hit and locked into the new lens.

After a quick inquiry as to the arrival date (since the delivery date was fast approaching without notification), we were informed it was on its way. I do not know if it was a result of the inquiry or in respect to the purchase price, but the glass was upgraded to two-day express. Sure enough, the package arrived as notified. This is when reality set in. Check out the packaging required. (Note, Rizzi was a reluctant participant, but I needed some scale)

Exactly what have we gotten ourselves into. We knew it was going to be larger than our current zoom, but this might be on a whole different level.

Hit the jump to see what was in those boxes.

Continue reading She Said Yes! Introducing the BEAST

Movie Recollection: Atlas Shrugged (and I Shuddered)

It seems a number of my friends have a lot of extra time on their hands.  The reason I believe this is they have read or listened to a novel by Ayn Rand called Atlas Shrugged.  I have held this novel in my hand in local bookstores only to decide that I am already convinced of the bad affects brought on by big government and reading a thousand page book to confirm that belief seems like a frivolous use of my precious time.  I even looked into the audio book but 63 hrs equates to 63 commutes to work and back which would seriously put a dent into my Lee Childs series… again, for something I already believe in.  For those unaware, this novel was Written in 1957 and explores the collapse of society as a result of too much government intervention (my interpretation from some Internet searching and what was gleamed from the movie).  Clearly the time was right for this particular movie adaption as the U.S. continues to be held hostage by a government driven by personal agendas, party bickering, bad economic decisions and confusing foreign policies.  So when my friends found out the movie was going to be at a local theater, I decided I would join them.  This, in part, to two of them agreeing to go see Sucker Punch with me the week before.

One member of the group (Pakage) showed up at the theater at the same time I did so we headed to the ticket counter together.  While I was waiting for him to pay for his ticket, a stranger came back into the lobby and asked if I was planning on seeing Atlas Shrugged.  I was a little apprehensive to respond half waiting for some liberal to start ranting about how stupid the movie was.  I confirmed and immediately had to internally apologize for my pre-judgement (I have to stop doing that, but Blink was right). Turns out he had an extra ticket due to his friend bailing on him and simply gave me his ticket for free.  I tried to give him half of the ticket price (thanks to that being the total amount of singles I had at the time), but he waved it off.  I have no idea who he is and I doubt he reads my blog, but just in case, Thank You!  While relaying this fortunate event with my friends, I was met with interesting comments regarding sharing the wealth and how that plays into the movie I was about to see.  Oh well, it was $7.00 in my favor and very appreciative.  Soon after, we headed into the movie a little earlier than are usual routine but there were some concerns over seats – especially with the large group we had.  I was absolutely shocked by the number of people in the theater.  Other than Avatar, I can’t tell you the last movie I saw that had a theater even a third full.  There were still some seats up higher in the theater, which we quickly laid claim too, but a pretty good crowd for a limited theater release with very little (if any) marketing.  While getting comfortable in the seat,  I took another assessment of the crowd (yeah, I can’t help myself) and noticed an interesting mix ranging from older couples, students, urban professionals and a smattering between.  The lights went down and I settled in see what this was all about.  For those keeping track, Sucker Punch wins the trailer score – Atlas has some uber-lame ones I can’t even remember anymore (one had Julia Roberts and Tom Hanks, but that’s ALL I remember).

hit the jump to read the rest of my comments on this movie:

Continue reading Movie Recollection: Atlas Shrugged (and I Shuddered)