So it was deemed necessary to take another weekend off from flying to regroup. There was a rally in Taos but its invitation only and too close to Fiesta for me to want to deal with it...my words are... so still flying. There is to gorge but its far to the West and there is a problem area North that might cost you some money if you land there. Its fun and all but I have Angel Fire to fly a valley that has mountains all around and is beautiful as all get out to boot. That is okay for me or us. Cant wait for Angel Fire.. but before that is Gallup... and that is a rally that is totally worth seeing. Bouncing in and out of the massive rock fingers there is worth it all day and every day. If you have never gone and you live in Albuquerque.. you really need to take that two hour tour West and see it. Dec 1,2,3 I believe.
https://www.redrockballoonrally.com/
I forgot.. my favorite flight of Fiesta so far.... here... look.. its cool!
http://InvisibleBlack.zenfolio.com/p715442282/e9a7da085
Digital cameras.... I own a few DSLRs. Nikon D300 and 7100. Both are very good cameras. Both have wonderful lenses that take a great picture. Problem is you have to either lock things down to a tripod or monopod for crisp pictures and I rarely do that. I am a hand held shooter most times. That makes for taking a lot of shots to get one good crisp shot out of it all.. and my usual place is in a balloon basket.. also not the most stable place to shoot from. I do get some very good shots but I miss a whole bunch also. So in comes Bennie Bos... professional photographer... he takes a ride with me as a favor and we have this great conversation about cameras.. Nikon and Canon and all and then he says something I thought I would never hear.... He says he would take a Sony RX10 III camera over any of them!?!?!?! A little stunned I ask why. He states that it gets the most crisp pictures through out its 24 to 600 mm range.
We continue to talk about this between burns and yelling hello at people as we fly over.. but yeah.. he said it was one sweet camera..paraphrasing.
So I go do research for these two weeks after fiesta on it. Turns out there is an upgrade. It is the Sony RX10 IV. I read and read and read and watched videos on Youtube about its function and fit and process and am impressed... One video about it is very impressive.. here it is.. listen and watch for yourself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9t-C6WAlun8
Then I checked out a few more videos and the only drawback from watching these was 1. price.. pretty high for a camera.... 2. it will lock down while processing a massive... and I mean massive amount of high speed shots until the buffer clears... Will you do this often.. no... but its a thought for those who are going for high burst massive shot count captures.
So after reading everything I ambled down to Best Buy to see if they had one... nope.. but they did have the III which is the same body minus a few buttons...so I play with it. The zoom can be run manual or by a toggle on the shutter button. Its fast.. SUPER CRISP and very smooth. Lots of other things I could go into but it is a nice camera. Only drawback. In my hands it feels squat and if I hold it to grip and reach the shutter button it feels odd.
Like I said.. there are some drawbacks.. single chip slot, cant flip the display all the way around... nothing major since the cameras I have now cant do that either. Its 20 meg pixels and the 7100 is 24 and the D300 is 12... Nice and large and crop-able frame. Nice.
I am going to continue to look at the reviews as it has just gone out for sale but I am seriously thinking of buying it.. and if for some reason it does not fit my style.. Ill return it before the 30 days are up. If it takes as crisp a shot as they are saying though.... It may turn out to be my go to cameras for most everything but fisheye shots.
We shall see...
Blade Runner 2049......
I think as I have thought over the time since I saw it that my conclusions are this... Artistically its an amazing movie. Venues, shots, reach are stunning. Story-line...not so much.
I saw Blade Runner when it first hit the theaters wayyy back when. Im old.. duh. It was dark..moody... the music was deep...sensual..leading...direct.... solid... Story line was edited well and hung on the hook cleanly. Yeah there were a lot of film on the floor and many ways the movie could have packaged but they got it right. I've seen every mod, every clip, every bit that didn't make the film.. It was right. Its become a cult movie. I knew it would be a long life movie when I first saw it.
Also, If I had not read the books after the movie I think it might have made it better as well. What.. you didn't know there were books after the movie?!? There were.. and although one was kinda weird the other was very interesting with the Rachel information and the real Rachel....
So I was not impressed with the storyline. It was made for an easy misdirection or route. It was almost set up to make another and another and another milk money movie. Not unlike the Aliens movies that went right in the trash after number two. Not unlike The Matrix that fell flat on the second movie.. Someone had too many brownies after Matrix one...
It was a good story and the movie was cool.. but not anywhere near the first even with all the "special effects" I can make up a better story than this one in the shower before work.
Give this to the same guy who made Ghost In The Shell and you would have had that something that was missing.... that something being GRIT. Its gone from the Star Wars crap. That's all bubble gum Disney banana good time cotton candy crap.. and they are.. reboots.. re do overs... casting...
So finals from Blade Runner 2049. Cast. Good except the twit, Jared Leto, that is the all powerful Oz. Dude is an idiot. Female death squad, Sylvia Hoeks, .. meh, She did what was scripted but everyone could have done that... Ford... dude is good..enough said right there. Girl Candy...Ryan.. he worked but the story hurt him... he gets damage everywhere but it is pretty much forgotten every cut scene. Joi, Ana de Armas was good. Emotion was there... It felt real... David, Robin, Macjebzie...okay.. Lennie.. very good... felt real... Edward James Olmos.. as laid back, old clothes feel as Fords character.
Music score did NOT hold up to Vangelis. Just loud and sonics. Take earplugs.
Would I got see it again.. probably in a few years. On the level of will I see any more Star Wars movies.. NO.. never. GAG!
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Other than all that I have been working with my Daughter to get some logos for T-shirts and things going. She did a bang up job on a few things for Fiesta and so we decided to push forward with the ideas...
I love taking a Meme and tweaking it to the ballooning community. Many lend themselves easily to this. I am also playing with banners and word positions to do this also... some are below and the link to the page as it is right now to buy some is below...then some pics.
http://www.digitalstitchz.com/hyperactive-design.html
More coming to the shop but these are ideas and Ill branch out if I have time in the near future. We also have a shirt front or back in big bold letters that says PILOT or CREW....
Its all in fun... Hoping I can make a go of this and move it into the real world aspect.
This design idea came from Kurt. I have to update it here soon and have to chat about it but its an awesome design... just hard to put together.
A bumpter sticker that need to be put on a T-shirt... and yes.. Im gonna do it cause its very funny.
Personal logo for my Lindstrand balloon. I made it then adjusted it for my cell phone background and for facebook and for Instagram and what ever else.. T-shirts this will work on which ever way... I can do these for anyone and what ever balloon they have.
Id love this as a band across the chest of my shirt. In Czech's dancing straight jacket men.
This is the memorial sticker for Ken Kennedy. He was an amazing man who was one of the ballooning greats. He designed and build In Czech ( aka Terpsnickery and a few others ). Id like to bring it back as a t-shirt logo but I have to talk to Craig first. Might just revamp it for future use.
So much you can do with a little time and patience.
The only other things I did was mod a few shots.. ( photoshop ) for fun and take pictures of property.
I am hoping this upcoming weekend is nice and fun and interesting.. stable I like... unstable I don't like.
Hoping you have a stable and fun week.
