The
wheel of the seasons continues to turn here in Japan
and we are just about to the time of year where it has
become necessary to wear a jacket in the evenings. A
far cry from my winter experiences growing up on the
planet Hoth (also referred to as the Upper Penninsula
of Michigan).
Yes, I think all these years of living
in relatively warm climates (meaning standing water
outdoors is normally not in solid form) has effectively
made me a whimp when it comes to colder weather.
So be it.
I can't say as I really miss those long cold snowy winters.
It can be very beautiful, but all in all it is a whole
lot more hassel than it is worth.
--
On my way up to Kamiooka last week
to buy some more picture frames I happened to wander
into a used camera shop located close to Yokosuka Chuo
station. Browsing their inventory only took about a
minute (it's a vey small shop) but I did find somehting
interesting.
A Canon 50-200mm
f3.5-4.5L telephoto zoom.
This is a rather rare lens that was
first sold in 1989, (The same year I graduated form
high school) and only a couple of years later was replaced
by the 80-200mm
f2.8L. (And then again by the 70-200mm
f2.8L)
While not as fast as the 2.8 version
it is a whole lot smaller and lighter, and also has
an extra 20-30mm on the wide end, which make it much
more versitile. And as much as I now love using primes,
I could not stop myself from picking it up. All the
shots in todays update that show a focal length of 200mm
were taken with the 50-200mm L.
It has a funky push-pull type zoom,
and focuses rather slow compared to Canons newer lenses,
but it is quite a good match-up with Canons 17-40mm
to make a very compact and lightweight travel zoom set.
Throw in a 50mm f1.4 and you will have most of your
bases covered from an extremely wide 17mm all the way
to a respectably long telephoto of 200mm.
I actually had another 50-200mm L
a while back but had ended up selling it to a guy who
was just dying to have one. Let's see how long I end
up holding on to this one.
--
I watched another rather low budget
Japanese TV program last night.
The translated title of the show is "Medical Horror
Check Show"
Here is how it goes:
There is a panel of around 7-8 famous people (singers,
actors, etc...) who all sit on stage (There is a studio
audience) along with a medical expert.
Each show has about 2-3 segments that showcase different
diseases. But the actual diseases are not disclosed
until after a short video clip that shows a person having
symptoms. These symptoms are usually followed by the
subject either finally collapsing and getting rushed
to the hospital and diagnosed, or just plain old dropping
dead.
After the video clip the medical expert then explains
a little more about the disease showcased and what symptoms
one could expect to experience. There is then given
a short quiz or set of questions that one can use to
determine your basic level of risk of getting each of
the diseases.
One of the diseaes showcased onlasty nights show was
melanoma. (skin cancer).
After the video clip had played and the medical expert
had talked a little more about the disease, he/she then
uses a piece of medical diagnostic equipment to actually
test the famous guests for the disease in question.
The expert (a Dermatologist) used a special camera
to scan each persons face to show how much UV damage
they had and how that correlated to their risk of getting
skin cancer.
Not quite high excitement, yet somewhat gripping at
the same time.
--
Here is a short clip of shibuya crossing that I took
when I was up there for the Osasis concert last Monday.
Nothing exciting, just traffic and pedestrians.
Shibuya Crossing
0:49, 3.8 MB
Comment 24
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