It’s going to be a few months before I return to the botanical garden, so here’s a toy soldier instead. Helicon Focus‘ RAW-to-DNG feature let me get decent exposures despite the miserable lighting.
Author: Don
Today’s quote
A parenthetical comment from Eve Tushnet’s review of Krampus:
(The script also relies heavily on foul language for humor. Censorship is the mother of creativity, people.)
From Holland to Japan
Remember this?
Michael Dudok de Wit, who made it, is working on his first feature film, The Red Turtle, due out next September. Studio Ghibli is co-producing it.
Another de Wit short, “Father & Daughter,” won an Oscar. It’s a bit weepy for my taste, though pleasing to the eye.
Observation
“Tidy” and “organized” are not synonyms.
Wunderbar
Coming soon, but probably not to Wichita.
Apropos of nothing in particular
Natsume Yuujin-cho, episode 9.
Today’s quote
Our unraveling as a nation draws ever nearer. When we can no longer look at the deaths of others without seeing whether those deaths can be bent to serve some political narrative, time has pretty well run out.
See also Professor Mondo.
That old tanuki feeling
Here’s yet another Touhou arrangement, this one of Mamizou Futatsuiwa’s theme from Ten Desires. I’m not entirely happy with this and may revisit it someday, but I want to move on to fresh disasters.
Too much reality
Here’s the latest accumulation of nonsense, ranging from slightly silly to extremely silly. As usual, I forget where I found most of these.
Music for banjo, tuba, bagpipes and soprano. And accordion. And kids.
The “Most Wanted Song” is nowhere near as interesting.
Continue reading “Music for banjo, tuba, bagpipes and soprano. And accordion. And kids.”
Moses, roses, toeses
A cheerful little ghost story, by way of Wonderduck.
Here’s the source, featuring Gene Kelly and Donald O’Connor.
Bathtime in R’lyeh
Means of transportation
More fun with Helicon Focus. The image above was assembled from 50 frames, the one below from 55, all at f5.6. The final depth of field in both cases is about an inch and a half. Click to see at full resolution.
Update: Uploaded a better version of the Humvee.
It’s so hard to get a good night’s sleep these days
Even when the neighbors are quiet, the earth itself can be rather inconsiderate.
What the world needs now …
… are good songs about dogs.
How not to monetize your website
Can you find the online version of the Wichita Eagle in the screencap above?
Wham! Pow! Click.
This year the local comic convention was within reasonable bicycle distance, so I visited it today and grabbed a few snapshots of the cosplay. Here are a couple. I’ll be posting them at my Flickr page as I edit them.
Update: Another W.W. variation.
What the world needs now …
… is a cheerful song or two about pigs.
If I had a hammer
Update: Lydia McGrew comments on France and related matters.
What must be recognized is that the West does no good to the world at large by committing suicide through an excess of generosity and sentiment. Where will the refugees of thirty years from now, any of them, even a small number, turn to if Europe has become part of a Caliphate? How much can the U.S. help others or act as a beacon of freedom if its already weakened economy and infrastructure are further strained by bringing in numbers of people with problems we do not have the resources to handle? And as we turn into more of a police state in response to the terrorist threats we have fecklessly welcomed in, how much do we remain an exemplar of freedom to the nations and a place of safety for others to come to? And, finally, face this: The government of Germany, or the U.S., or France, has more of a duty to protect its own citizens from terrorist attacks than it has to welcome the destitute and oppressed from other countries. That’s just a fact. There are concentric circles of duty, though it is politically incorrect to say so.
See also What’s Wrong with the World.
Update II: Anthony Sacramone presents some notes on that magical era when Christians, Jews and Muslims lived in harmony in medieval Spain.
Sulphur Island
Ken the Brickmuppet called it. Potentially the most profoundly dangerous volcano on this planet is Iwoto, alias Iwo Jima, according to Volcano Café. Arpeggio of Blue Steel makes less sense than ever.
Incidentally, Ken notes that there might be volcanoes on Pluto.
Update: the tabloid press takes note.