O.K., I swear I will accept Jesus Christ as my Saviour (and Moses as my investment adviser) if this not only actually comes to pass, but it actually reaches to the Top (where the scum has truly risen) and convictions are returned all around.

I'm gonna be an atheist forever, aren't I?

Meanwhile, back at the photograph. A few seconds after I took this, the guy pulled what looked like a defunct 50 mm (hey, it coulda been a 35) lens out of the bag and, cackling, held it up to his eye. I guess he'd noticed my camera, huh? But, how many street folks do you know (well, period, I suppose, but...) who've got a 50 mm lens in their bag o' tricks?

The Olympics are coming! The Olympics are coming! And so, ladies and gentlemen, Vancouver must prepare. Beneath that foreground pavement lies a 21st century transportation miracle. Yes! A......are you ready?........subway! Or should that be "sub-ish-way"? Because, after all, along some parts of its length, it's high in the sky. Well, whatever. It will, actually, be a good thing once it's all done. The trip from the airport to downtown will be fast and smooth. And safe! No more need to jump into a cab (unless, of course, you're just too "special" to ride with normal folks) and risk your life.

Slowly, slowly, slowly, this burg is finally getting a modern transit system. Although I'll still be riding my bicycle, thanks.

Oh, there's soooooo much to crank about - China, Iraq, the ever-popular Dumbya and his gang of thieves, McBush... I'm sure things like these are what this nice woman was thinking about, too. But, I'm sure you've seen the same stories I have, so we'll just leave it all, shall we? Sure.

Oh, but wait! Yes, ladies and gentlemen, a last cruise of the news before bed produced this. Like the guy's sign says, "It don't Gitmo better". Ah, art. Doncha love it?

Only if you've signed up at the school of hard knocks.

No hookers here. Just a stretch of East Hastings where there's nothing upscale, nothing down-scale, nothing much at all, really. Kind of "Nobody's Land". Barred doors and real comfy looking benches.

Now, on the other hand, "There Will Be Blood" (have I mentioned this before?) is a very good movie. Daniel Day Lewis better get the Oscar, too.

Aren't warehouses exciting? Well, maybe not, but - a sunny day in Vancouver? You darn betcha. Look at those shadows!

It's faux Smalltown, Anywhere, folks. Well, O.K., it's Main Street, Vancouver, at midnight, but...

And, speaking of Smalltown, Anywhere - it's Hillary! It's Barack! It's Hillary! It's Barack! Who's in the lead? Who knows? They're neck-and-neck, folks. Ain't it excitin'?

Once upon a time, Vancouver, like so many cities on the west coast of North America, had a Japantown. You can probably guess when that ended. This little scene is on Powell Street, once one of the main streets of Japantown. It reminded me of shoji.

Take your choice in Chinatown.

Pretty good description for this particular part of town.

I think I've mentioned this before - Vancouver's got the world's most colourful "bad" end of town. Things may be falling apart, no one's got any money, but - wow! - somebody's got access to paint.

It'd just be so hard to decide, wouldn't it?

It's a photography-oriented post, folks! Isn't that exciting?

A while back I mentioned that the M8 was my dream camera. Underline, highlight and italicize "dream", 'cause, sadly, I ain't got the cash. So, what to do, what to do, what to do? Easy. Buy a Nikon D40x with a 35mm f2 lens. Or a 24/2.8 if you prefer wider.

Seem a bit of a jump from a camera that sells for just under 6 Gs for the body to one that sells for just under $700.00, with an 18-55mm lens? It ain't. Not if you're talking function. Both are small, both are light, both produce photos that, if they're being used by someone who knows what they're doing, would be indistinguishable from each other. (And, if you think that's an overstatement, you might want to read Michael Reichmann's review of the Canon G7 - a 10 MP camera with a sensor a fraction the size of those in the M8 and D40x. Note this section: "Much as I would like to pretend otherwise, it sometimes was difficult without close examination to be certain which A3-sized print had come from which camera. Yes, a close look would almost always show the G7 files to have a slight "digital" look, while those from the M8 did not, but it was remarkable how well the G7 did. I showed mixed-together prints to several technically knowledgeable and experienced photographers and it took each of them close examination to tell the cameras apart simply from the sample prints, and even then not always. As I said, remarkable image quality (but JPG only)." (I added the italics)

The thing that brought this little post on was a question on another blog from some poor guy wondering whether he ought to buy the D80 or D200. Easy to answer - "Are you getting paid?", "Are you using the camera all day, every day?" If the answer's "No" to either of these, then neither camera is worth the money. Buy a D40x. Spend the big bucks on lenses, not bodies.

What'll you lose? Well, weight, for one thing. Depth of field preview, for another, but so what? The 3" screen on the back of the camera isn't enough d.o.f. preview for you? Multiple focus points? Oh, no! If you're helpless without these, you might consider a point-and-shoot. Fancy flash control? Yeah, right. You're about to shell out how many hundreds of dollars for the kind of set-up needed to take advantage of this?

So, obviously, my answer to that poster (and 99% of the others) - D40x with a good lens.

Urban renewal just keeps rolling along. Got the Olympics coming, you know. Big, big bucks to be made. Not by anyone who actually needs those big, big bucks, mind you. Oh, no - those people (or should that be "those" people) just need to get out of the way.

At last I've gotten a Poverty Wizard set-up for my flashes. "Poverty Wizards", for those of you who might be mystified by the appellation, are cheap radio triggers that let you trigger off-camera flashes. The "real" things are called "PocketWizards". I think the name comes from the way they suck every dime available out of your pocket. My Poverty Wizard set-up, allowing me to trigger two Vivitar flashes - a 285HV and a 283 - cost me all of $60.00 (rounding). To accomplish the same goal with PocketWizards would have cost me just under - are you ready? - $900.00. U.S.! Excuse me? Yes, they're more reliable and have a greater range, but, um, 15x more reliability? 15x more range?

The sad thing about having this new technology at my disposal is having to learn to use it. Want to know something? Those folks who get paid big bucks for their photographic skills are worth every penny. Setting up effective, pleasing (flattering, in the case of portraits) lighting ain't easy! It's not impossible, but, it's going to take work. Darn.

Hit the "Strobist" link if you're interested in this kind of thing.

Uh-oh. People seem to be creeping into my photographs. Have you noticed? Most of my pictures look like they were taken in a city depopulated by some virus - everything inanimate is intact, but there's nothing alive. But, lately...

And, just as there's no real shadow behind this light pole, ever noticed how there's nothing behind a lot of on-line services? Say, Blogger, for instance? Got a problem? Too bad. There's no one behind the curtain. At least Dorothy could expose the huckster behind the Wizard. Although, given that it's free, what can one expect?

I have to admit, I did manage to get in touch with Michael Dell a couple of years back when I was having trouble with his sales people.

Heading home from a hard day at work.

Speaking of which, this Sunday I get to play Santa Claus. Uh-oh.

Went to see "Before the Devil Knows You're Dead" on the weekend. If you like movies that show a bad train wreck in excruciatingly slow motion, you'll want to see it. Philip Seymour Hoffman is, as usual, brilliant. His character is the embodiment of the self-centred creep. He's totally screwed up his life, and the movie is, basically, all about him taking everyone else he's ever been "close" to - parents, brother, wife - down with him. Things start out badly (more or less) and just grind slowly downhill from there. It was great!