Knuckledragger

Napalm Death - From Enslavement To Obliteration remaster (2012) Napalm Death - Scum 25th anniversary remaster (2012) Remastering proto grindcore strikes me as a silly idea. I had both of the above albums on cassette in the late 1980s. At that point Napalm Death were considered a death metal and/or hadcore band. I think it was nearly a decade later until I heard the term "grindcore." I downloaded a LUFS app for OSX yesterday and I'm going to run some of these remasters through it. ND is an amusing band, but they're not really my cuppa these days. With that said, one of their founded members went on to form a group I really like: Godflesh - Streetcleaner 2CD remaster (2010). This really is one of the heaviest albums I've ever heard. I remember first hearing on college radio in '89. That was a time period when: (A) I was listening to a lot of metal. (B) I was listening to a lot of college radio. (C) Both were experiencing a renaissance. Revisiting Streetcleaner, it has aged like a fine, dystopian industrial metal wine. Godflesh - Slavestate, original 1991 version. There is a 2013 remaster, but I have not heard it. An almost funky and danceable EP compared to the mechanical gloom of the previous album. I actually didn't like it much when I first got in '91, but it's now one of my favorite releases by the band. I did not plan this, but every (non ambient) album I've listen to in the last month has been on Earache records. Funny what a hugely significant label they are for extreme music.

I'm still dealing with the fallout of moving (something that is scheduled to continue indefinitely) and most of the time I have to listen to music I just fire up SomaFM's Synphaera channel. Synphaera is my current favorite ambient/downtempo/psychill/call it what you will label. The rest of the time, when I'm out and about in the world, welll... it's death metal. Florida death metal. Death - Individual Thought Patterns (1993). Chuck Schuldiner's "angsty" album where he continued his struggle to outgrow the blood and guts imagery of the band's early works. It's got Gene Hoglan AKA the best drummer in metal on it and is one of my favorite \m/ albums, full stop. Morbid Angel - Blessed Are The Sick "Full Dynamic Range" re-release from 2019. The idea of an "audiophile" edition of a death metal album might seem silly, but TBH this version really IS better. Brickwalling ruins any form of music including death metal. Also BatS is better than Altars of Madness and I've been willing to die on this hill for 30 years now. Deicide - Legion (1992). The legend of this album, which has persisted for decades, is that the band had to record it twice. The first time it was so fast that the entire thing clocked in at ~25 minutes. That wasn't long enough for an album so they had to re-record it, "slower." Three decades on, if the original faster version exists, it has never seen the light of day. Tragically, there was no special 30th anniversary release last year. Cynic - Focus. Specifically the 2004 14-track remaster. There have been a bunch of vinyl re-issues in the last decade, but precious few CD versions. The funny thing about Cynic is that they're not a one album band. The returned 15 years later with 2008's Traced In Air, which to this day I have never heard. Massacre - From Beyond (1991). This album got maligned as a "Death wanna" on release, and I have never agreed with that. Similarly, when Massacre released the abysmally bad Promise in 1996, I think it re-ignited hate for From Beyond. Promise is indeed spectacularly bad. I have listened to the entire thing 3-4 times in 25 years and it has never improved. With that said, From Beyond is a bit of a sleeper classic. That was this weekend. This week's gonna include Malevolent Creation, early Cannibal Corpse, Nocturnus and maybe some Obituary.

TBH, even by Leica standards the Sumilux glass is completely not worth it. Ignoring the massive cost difference for a second, the F/2 Summicron versions are a fraction of the size and weight of their F/1.4 brethren. Heavy lenses get old quickly, especially when attached to otherwise lightweight camera bodies. The 50mm F/2 Summicron is a "bargain" by Leica standards (even moreso on the used market.) The Leica 35mm F/2 is possibly the best camera lens in the world for actually taking photos. The only photographer I've ever known personally who shot Leica used a M6 (late 80s serial IIRC) with a 35mm Summicron. He joked that the "swappable glass" part was optional. He used that combination long into the digital era.

It's pouring rain here on MV today, so I'm doing the logical thing and avoiding housework by teaching myself about iOS camera apps. At this point I am outright allergic to the pseudo-HDR tone mapping the default iOS camera app produces. The initial problem I'm encountering is how many apps are video focussed. IDGAF about video beyond the most basic functionality. I'm a still photographer. Also some of these apps have a subscription model. There are quite a few iOS camera app reviews on the YouTubes. For some reason, ever single one I've watched so far has been by somone with an impressively thick accent. This poses a problem for me, as I'm dyslexic and have poor auditory processing of language. (That backwars R thing is a pop culture trope. Not being able to understand WHAT THE FUCK YOU'RE ON ABOUT because of background noise is very real.) So my top choice is Pro Camera by Moment. It's reasonably priced and has the basic features I want (manual controls mostly.) There are a few iAPs (as are present everywhere it seems) but they're not expensive. I also bought Hipstamatic Classic. Now that we're upwards of a dozen years past the faux retro plague that took over mobile photography and lead to ...Instagram, I figure it's high time for me to buy a toy camera app. To be fair, I was making fake lo-fi images before it was cool. There are of course many other camera apps out there, but it takes me a while to get familiar with things, so I'm going to limit myself to those two for a while. I am curious about Halide, which has very good reviews. I have some doubts about their iAPs so I'm passing for now. Also I swear I'm either going to buy a either Canon mirrorless and EOS adapter or a fucking Leica before I turn 50.

I should do a second post on 2009 at some point. With that said, Couple Finds Trove of 2,000 Cameras and Lenses in Storage Unit. Right here in MA.

Tice just reminded me of this:

I'm sorry to post such distasteful content:

So I recently joined an invite-only group on Facebook. Voluntarily. This is akin to be agreeing to lights for a dubstep DJ ...in 2023. The reason I did that is MV is populated with Facebook Boomers(tm) and it's the only way they know how to communicate, apparently. The residents here are primarily fixated by what's going on in their back yard. This is a trait true everywhere, but a much more ...focused one on islands. This phenomenon is how we got UK rave culture 35 years ago, but I digress. The big hullabloo on MV the last few weeks has been the plight of Leo the dog, who went missing. Leo had a number of article written about him in the MV Times newspaper and was the subject of much discussion in the MV "Islanders Talk" FB group. I wasn't really paying attention to any of it (moving and the aftermath will put an impressive amount of stress on one's time) but I did see a followup post after the Leo found his way home: I made a joke about "that looks like Bark Flag to me" and ...exactly zero Facebook Boomers got it. I shouldn't be surprised. It's probably just as well I didn't follow by calling him the "Long Lost Dog of It."

Everyone knows the Go-Go's. In 1980, when they were a (pop) punk band, they recorded a version of their future hit "We Got The Beat" with Paul Wexler at the helm and releasted it on Stiff Records (a label best known for ska, early punk and new wave.) I remember hearing about the original version many decades ago. It was only available on vinyl, the original 7" was rare and kind a spendy and we weren't in the Information Age yet. Now of course we have the world at our fingertips (and the ocean at our door.) A guy I know who does very fastidious vinyl rips gave me a FLAC copy on slsk. Also it's on YouTube of course: It ...kinda rocks. I like the Go-Go's with rough edges.

Top Russian Military Official Dead After Fall From 16th Floor. Gravity in Russia is a real MFer.

2009 was one of the craziest years of my life, paralleling 1996. I should do a photo essay on it. That'd take more time than I have, so here's a Cliff's Notes version. The year started fairly inertly, with snow and ice: I took a photo of my room that was utterly unrepresentational of its cleanliness: That's my then-new late 2008 Macbook. Then I had some vintage Mac gear restored: I pestered a sleepy cat with a Canon 85mm F/1.8: I let my friend use my 17-40L with his 5D Mk II: I experimented with sun stars: I got my first (of 3) IR-modified digital cameras: I experimented with zoom bursts: ...with mixed success. I mucked about with HDR, as I had done for years: I met a pretty German woman who worked as a waitress in the local diner I haunted throughout the 00s: Then things got interesting, but that tale is going to have to wait for a later post.

What a time to be alive.

Making strides to getting back on the air. First mater of consideration is where I'm going to set up a DJ rig. The second is the time. I think I'm going to still be on Fridays, but start an hour earlier. That means 9PM-11PM Eastern, then of course nearly an hour of yammering on the mic afterward.

Strap in, this is gonna be a long walk. As many HCers know, I worked in nightclubs for nearly 20 years and ran my own one man lighting company. At one point I was hugely interested in nightclub and stage lighting. There are many high end club light manufacturers, from Martin to Coemar to ...a company called "High End." The best "luminaries" as they are called are made by an Italian outfit called Clay Paky. Clay Paky fixtures are truly the Ferrari of lighting. Ferrari as the company imagines itself to be, not as they actually are. Clay Paky products fantastically expensive, physically massive, unimaginably heavy and consume gobs of power. 20 years ago I went on eBay and searched for Clay Paky products. It was about what I expected. Huge pieces of kit that was greatly expensive even used, with "freight only" shipping options. One guy was selling an official Clay Paky lighting tech vest for $20. It has a massive Clay Paky logo on the back and a bunch of pockets for ...whatever. I impulsively bought it. I have never actually worn the vest because it's ...pretty stupid looking. Even on stage where one is doing lighting, it looks idiotic. Still, I kept it. For reasons unclear even to me, the Clay Paky vest made it with me to the Vineyard. I found it while doing laundry earlier this week. Amused, I did a search for Clay Paky on eBay, like it was 2003 all over again. Not much has changed. "Set of 4 moving heads + case for $5700 + $$$ shipping." "Package of 8 Mini-B moving heads, $22,000 + freight shipping." There are a few LED options now ("2 color changing LED floods, $7,500." Unlike much of the club lighting industry, Clay Paky were slow to adopt LED technology. LEDs aren't as bright and don't deliver as wide a range of colors as a 750W arc bulb does. Climate change be damned. One listing particularly caught my eye. Most static and moving stage lights come in two styles: matte black finish and boring industrial grey. The former is for nearly all applications and the latter is for stuffy corporate spaces. Custom colors exist, but they're rare. Then there's these fucking things: It's the Clay Paky Sharpy: Trump Edition. They'd fit in just fine here: Note Trump cheaped out and used standard black finish movers.

The Canon EF 85mm F/1.2L II USM as it is formally known. Seen here on the 30D of all things. Not too surprising as both came out in 2006. One has aged better than the other.

I've been going over some photos I took in October 2009, when I got my filthy paws on an 85L for a day or so. Even with my 30D's never particularly good sensor, I am amazed at what that lens can do. Any HCers who have a Canon body, you owe it to yourself to rend an 85L for a few days. It's among my list of things that lived up to the hype, which includes HD-650s (in 2004 terms), Ardbeg Uigeadail, Tapatio hot sauce, Citizen Kane and Biosphere's Substrata. These are some of the lesser shots I took in '09. I rejected them at the time, but I'm much better at editing photos now than I was then. I made heavy use of Topaz DeNoise AI, Luminar 4 and a totally paid for copy of Photoshop 2022. Not a very good shot. The vinetting is caused my OOF, unlit people in the crowd. They make an interesting framing device. It's just a mirror ball. Did I ever mention I took an 85L to a jello wrestling event at goth night? This shot was moments before this woman pulled the announcer into the pit with her. Unreality. Heavily processed with Topaz, Luminar 4 and a lookup table. This is is a very silly edit, but it does show off the 85L's wafer thin DoF but also it's glorious redition of OOF areas. That aspheric element is Japanese magic. Another not very good shot. The 30D sucks at ISO1600. Also the framing is awful. Again, the OOF areas are excellent. More unreality. I'm having fun with the 85L's tiny DoF (notice the Apple logos are not in focus, as is most of the laser.) I ran this one through Topaz, Luminar 4, then Topaz again. Lumianr's pseudo HDR processing really amps up the luminance noise. The woman who founded the NoHo goth night announcing the winner of the jello wrestling event. I denoised it and applied a lookup table, but the end result actually doesn't look that different than the original. I will win no awards for framing here. I've got a dozen or so more shots to go through and finish editing.

How about some speaker not-porn? Some of you may recall that I made a post in the "What gear are you listening through right now?" thread during my final hours in my previous residence. That was an insanely hectic, difficult and sleep deprived time. I set up a mid 70s Marantz with a pair of (I think late 80s Yamaha NS-1000s) and used my MOTU M2 as a source. That arrangement kept me sane while I dealt with the 500 issues associated with moving. It doesn't look like much, but I assure you it did the job. NS-1000s are an ancient, boxy design. Their JA-0801 beryllium midrange drivers have a legendary status at this point. Tragically, many NS-1Ks were stripped of their mids and left to rot. I remember seeing JA-0801s being sold on eBay in the mid 00s for more than the cost of a full NS1K pair (largely because NS-1000s are 70 lbs each and expensive AF to ship.) I think that madness has subsided in recent years. Carerful observers will note the HeadRoom Desktop PSU perched on top of the Marantz, as well as the teenie, tiny wires I'm using to hook up the Yamahas. Said wires were lifted from a crappy "premium" Aiwa set my late stepather received as a gift from his kids. The Aiwa's speakers on the lower shelf to the left of frame. All I can say is that the wires worked.

M2 Mini lookin' gooood.

Possibly the only time I will post an FB link ...ever.

I was explaining to my (sainted, octogenarian) mother the different focal length lenses for 35mm cameras and their usages. I quoted a famous and incredibly pithy piece of writing from Mike Johnston of The Online Photographer. In early 2009 (almost 14 years ago to the day) Mike went over every common focal length for 35mm lenses. A worrisome facet of the Information Age is that things are a lot less permanent than we thought. In spite of massive tech companies indexing and archiving goddamn everything, there's a lot fairly recent internet content that is gone or nearly gone. It took me entirely too long to find Mike's list, which is related to both its current scarcity and how crap Google search results are in 2023. With that said, I repost this here for posterity's sake: USES AND APPLICATIONS OF 35mm LENSES Fisheye: No known uses, except to illustrate fisheye effects in photo how-to books. Ultra-wide rectilinears wider than 19mm: Occasional interiors. Also used to stump gearheads trying to find stuff to photograph with the things. Ultra-wide-angle (19, 20, 21, or 24mm): One of the four of five essential lenses for pros, broadly useful for artists and accomplished amateurs. Used for landscapes, interiors, street shooting, crowd shots, etc. Also used by bored amateurs as the next thing to covet for purchase. Despite the ubiquity of this focal length, relatively few photographers are practiced enough or visually acute enough to use this type of lens effectively; lots more people own these than do good work with them. See Brian Bowers’ Leica books for a rare example of a scenic photographer who actually sees well with a 21mm. Ultra-wide-angle zoom (wide end 20mm or wider): Useful for when the photographer would like to carry one heavy lens instead of three light ones, or has a breezy, devil-may-care attitude towards flare effects. Secondary “CYA” lens for pros who aren’t great with wide angles in the first place. (Exceptions do exist.) Also sometimes paired with a fast 80-200mm zoom as a professional’s only two lenses. Wide angles: Now that 24mm is more often lumped with 20mm and 35mm has become an alternative “normal” focal length, this class has contracted down to one fixed focal length, 28mm. Useful as a do-anything lens (especially for street and art photography, photojournalism, faux photojournalism, and environmental portraits) where a wide “look” is desired, and/or to complement a 50mm main lens, and/or for pressing into service in place of a super-wide when the photographer does not own same. Shift lenses: Buildings. Used for the overcorrection of convergence caused by perspective. Ditto, but with tilt: Ditto above, plus landscapes with tons of foreground and tables laden with food. All-purpose 28-200mm zoom lenses: Bad snapshots. Also great for making five rolls of film last a whole year. All-purpose = no purpose. Wide normal primes (35mm): Alternative normal. Often, the thing replaced by a zoom. Easiest focal length to shoot with. Best focal length for Leicas. Not really "wide" by today’s standards, 35mm is an alternative normal. Leica M6, 35mm pre-ASPH., Ilford XP-2. “Pancake” Tessar-types, usually 45mm: Good for lightening the burden of photographers who would rather not carry an SLR at all. Normal/standard (50mm): Useful for taking photographs, if you have a thick skin. When used exclusively, classic “hair shirt” lens for disciplining oneself needlessly. Strangely, when in skilled hands, can mimic moderate wide angles as well as short telephotos. According to one far Eastern expert, lower yield of usable shots than 35mm lens, but higher yield of great shots. Second best focal length for a Leica. Standard 55–58mm: Shows you use a really, really old camera. Macros/micros: Flowers, bugs, eyeballs, eyelashes, small products, tchotchkes. Dew-covered spider webs, frost patterns on windowpanes. Great hobby lenses, as macro photographers are among the only happy photo enthusiasts. Also much utilized by photography buffs who like to test lenses. Superfast normals (ƒ/1, ƒ/1.2): Used for people who like limited depth of field, as well as for people who like to complain about limited depth of field. Also, especially when aspherical elements are involved, an effective way to vaporize excess cash for almost no good reason. Standard zooms (35-70mm, 28-105mm, 35-135mm, etc.): Used for taking pictures in bright light — mainly snapshots, scenics, cars, travel pictures, semi-naked women, underexposed pictures, and pictures blasted by uncontrolled on-camera flash. Evidently very useful for clichés. Sometimes used to remove interchangeability feature from interchangeable-lens cameras. Fast medium zooms: For pros, bread-and-butter lenses. For amateurs, often left at home rather than lugged around all day. If very expensive, big, and heavy, may be almost as good and almost as fast at any given focal length as cheap fixed primes. Good for making both hobbyists and their portrait subjects feel self-conscious. Short teles (75, 77, 80, 85, 90, 100, or 105mm): Portraits, tight landscapes, headshots, beauty and glamor. In skilled hands, can be used for general and art photography, photojournalism. Essential. 135mm prime: Little owned, less used. Became a standard 35mm focal length when rangefinders were the main camera type because it’s the longest focal length that is feasible on a rangefinder. Now vestigial, like a male’s nipples. Fast 180mm or 200mm prime: Longest general use lens for photojournalism. Sports, beauty, auto races, surveillance in film noire. Slow 180mm or 200mm prime: Lightweight and easy to carry. May project a certain “image,” i.e. that you are poor or cheap. Standard telephoto zoom (70 or 80 to 180, 200, or 210): Whether slow or fast, indispensable for most photographers, amateur or pro. Used for all kinds of action, activity, fashion, portrait, headshot, reportage, sports, wildlife, landscape, and nature photography. Covers all the telephoto range most photographers ever need, at least until they become afflicted by the terrible urge to photograph birds. IS (Canon) or VR (Nikon) standard telephoto zoom: Same as above, but for photographers who drink lotsa coffee and/or do crank. Fast 300mm: Fashion, catalog, runway, sports, nature, air shows. Important lens for pros, also for nature photographers. Tough for amateurs unless shooting surreptitious faces in crowds or critters. Status symbol. As fashion, looks grand when accessorizing a photo vest. Super-telephoto zooms (to 300mm or more on long end): For adjusting FOV when standpoint is constrained. Replaces several heavy primes. Sometimes pressed into service by amateurs who have burr up ass about having all focal lengths “covered.” 400mm: Critters, sports, and birds. Landscapes, if you’re a nut. Also good for photographing football games when you don’t want the picture to show a dang thing about what’s going on. 500mm: Critters and birds. Money laundering: can be bought and sold to placate wife about questionable expenses. “But I sold one of my lenses to pay for it, honey, honest.” 600mm: Critters. 1200mm: No known uses. — Mike Johnston _____________________________________________________ "Uses and Application of 35mm Lenses" is taken from Issue #7 ofThe 37th Frame, which I hope to send in early September. There are two companion articles, "Choosing Lenses: What’s Seeing Got to Do with It?" and "Why a 35mm is the Best Lens for a Leica." The Issue also contains a number of lens reviews, plus a long article about the new Leica 50mm Summilux ASPH. To subscribe, go towww.37thframe.com.If you’re already a subscriber and haven’t gotten Issue #6 yet, please don’t despair — I’m making steady progress in contacting people and setting up accounts. If you do not receive an e-mail from me, you will receive a letter. Thanks for being patient! --- The frequency with which I use the expression "the terrible urge to photograph birds" defies probability.

DIY JBL 4355 home cinema soundbar.

Just about every full frame digital camera ever made is still worth using to this day. There are a few exceptions, the original Leica M8 was more or less a steaming pile of garbage. It had a host of dealbreaking problems, from exposure inconsistency, UV sensitivity, color rendition, to a very slow and clunky UI. It was an insult to buyers of a $5500 (in 2006 dollars) digital camera that bore the Leica name and could mount some of the greatest 35mm glass in the world. Fortunately, the M8 is an exception. Most full frame digital cameras (SLR or otherwise) are still a blast to use. Even older cropped sensor cameras with swappable glass are still good for subjects that are far away. I have an OG Canon 5D (that is, ahem, IR modified) that I am going to dig out, clean off and fire up this spring. 12MP is still plenty for my purposes and a full frame sensor plus a wide zoom (in my case 17-40mm) is just too much fun. Unedited photo, straight out of the camera. Fussed over in Photoshop. Meow.

I'm on hotel WiFi, also I must inform you that this is a thing.