Tag: film

Some Thoughts on the X-Files

This post is going to be one for the ages, he said sarcastically.

So last Spring (I think) I started an epic rewatch of both The X-Files and Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. At first I spent more time on the X-Files, but then I stopped both shows and embraced the insanity of 60 years worth of Doctor Who. When that ended I went back to Deep Space Nine and kept the X-Files on the side. When DS9 was over I slowly started getting back to Mulder and Scully-land and now I am burning through it once again.

I have seen every episode in the past. The original run of the show (nine seasons and a movie, I think) was completed on DVD and the later stuff (two more seasons and another movie, I think) were watched as they happened. I didn’t start watching the show when it originally aired until (I think) the movie came out. That was in between seasons five and six… again, I think.

As with most of America, before I started watching I was aware of the fan bases desire to see Mulder and Scully hook up. As far as I know the term “shipping” was coined for the two characters and the audiences desire to see them couple up. If I recall correctly, there is a moment in the movie where they almost kiss but are interrupted somehow. I don’t exactly recall.

Now that I am up to my eyeballs in a rewatch I am almost up to the movie. I am on season five episode eight right now. I feel as though there was a conscious decision made by the producers, writers, and show runners at the start of season five to buy in to the shippers. Maybe I am missing something here but I feel like there are oodles of examples of the show hinting at a possible romantic relationship that really kicked off at the start of season five. They are a little more flirty with each other, they are repeatedly getting physically close to each other, and there are instances where other people ask them if they are a couple.

Is it just me? Was there a change in the way they handled the two characters or was there a change (unconsciously) in the way I am watching the show? I don’t know. What I do know, is that when I started rewatching this incredibly long series I forgot about the movies. A quick search tells me that neither of them are available for streaming… which means I have to find another way to watch them. I also need to get cracking on that as I need to have the first one ready for when I finish my current season.

The truth is out there, kiddies, and I want to believe.

I Need a Film Photo Project

I used to do a New Years Day post where I took one photo from each month of the previous year and reshared them in one big post. I did that a bunch of times, but I can’t remember if I did one for 2022 in 2023. Did I drop the ball last year? I know I’ve been dropping it this year. I mean, today is January 8th and I haven’t done one yet.

Thinking about a post like that (even though I haven’t done it yet and am not sure if I will or not) has me thinking about things I can do for photography projects in 2024. The Photo a Day Challenge is alive and well, though very not-interesting at all. What about film? I haven’t taken a photograph on film since the weather started getting cold. What can I do as a project that is entirely film based?

Maybe instead of a photo a day on film (which I was thinking about doing this year but eventually decided against) I could do a film photo a month? I could plan one photo walk sort of thing for each month in 2024 and take a few film photos each time. Then when they are all developed and scanned I can lump the 12 monthly photos into one post here. Does that sound like something I could do? It does, if you don’t worry about what the monthly photo walk would be. Logistically it would be easy. Creatively… maybe not. 

We’ll see. It’s already over a week into January so we’re behind the 8-ball to start with. We are planning a visit to Vermont in early February. I could use that for that month. That doesn’t help me with January though. Boston is right down the road… maybe I could talk my wife into going for a walk in the city with me? That could be fun and creatively beneficial.

I don’t know if I want to charge myself with this. We’ll see. We’ll also see if I do a 2023 retrospective one-pic-per month thing. I might do that tonight. Again, we’ll see.

The Film Is On The Way

Oh happy day, the film is on the way!

On Friday I ordered five rolls of 35mm film development from a photo lab in California. I packaged it all up and planned to drop it off at the post office on Saturday before I woke up sick and didn’t leave the couch for the entire weekend.

Today, Monday, I kicked off my lunch break with a drive to the post office downtown where I dropped off my package full of rolls of film and kicked off the anticipation for new film scans. How long will it take to get to the lab? No idea. How long will it take the lab to develop the film? No idea. How long will it take for the lab to get the scans back to me? Again, I have no idea.

I don’t know how long any of the process will take, but I do know that I CAN’T WAIT!!!

In closing, here are two pics of the downtown clock… because.

53/365
53/365

Order: Placed

50/365
50/365

I went with a different photo lab this time. Unfortunately that means when I ship these kiddos they have to go all the way to California instead of just up the road to New Hampshire. This round is going to take a little more time.

Weekend Photo Plans?

It’s Friday night. I’m sitting in the living room watching some Doctor Who (new series, season seven episode four co-starring the guy who played Arthur Weasley and it’s great to see him) and I am trying to think of where I should take my camera this weekend.

I want to do a lot of music this weekend and I want to spend some time on a work project that’s due on Monday, but I also want to take the camera out shootin’ too.

Boston. When? Sunday morning is supposed to be sunny. That seems like the best bet. It’s supposed to be cloudy around sunrise tomorrow and then clear up later so Sunday feels like the better bet, assuming the forecast doesn’t change or magically become inaccurate.

Where to on Saturday morning then? Downtown Lowell? That train track in Andover? Find another light house? The river walk in Lowell? Minuteman National Park in Concord?

I just don’t know. I don’t know what I want to shoot and I don’t know how to figure it out. I only know that I want to shoot something. Film and digital both. Oodles of photos, that’s the goal. But where?

Long Day

Today is my first day back at work after a four day weekend. I’ve been punched in for about eight hours and 11 minutes but if feels like 2523972 hours and 237923603 minutes.

One bad thing happened at work today. I was prompted to reboot to take a Windows update. I had no idea (because I didn’t check before I rebooted) that the update in question was a full update to Windows 11. Ah, hell.

After a few less than perfect days in a row in terms of gastric bypass side effects and the like, I have now had two very good days. Well, yesterday was good and today has been good so far. I am really tired though. I only got four hours of sleep ahead of my sunrise jaunt yesterday. Last night I got six hours but I never put on my CPAP mask so maybe it wasn’t the most productive six hours. I am trying to remember why I didn’t put it on when I went to sleep last night and I can’t recall. I know there was a reason at the time, but what was it?

Did I mention I mailed off two rolls of film yesterday? I was hoping to maybe get an email saying the lab had received them today, but I didn’t really expect to. Maybe tomorrow? One roll was loaded into Dad’s camera on either Christmas day or Christmas eve, so there will be a few Christmas shots. There was also some snow in the back yard stuff, and then the first day of Bellana’s graduation weekend. The other roll was my first roll of Kodak Portra 800. Really my first use of a professional level film. I get shivers just thinking of that, and know that everything I took will likely suck because I am clueless. That roll has mostly graduation weekend stuff, and a few pics from yesterday’s stop at Plum Island.

We are going to see Harry this weekend. I expect a lot of Doctor Who discussions. Maybe I will make him watch an episode of the original show, just for laughs. Maybe I’ll Google something like “best forth doctor episodes” and see if there’s something we can watch out of sequence.

I just did exactly that and found that Douglas Adams of Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy fame wrote three episodes of Doctor who in 1979. Only two aired as the third was derailed by a labor strike. I think we might have to investigate this further.

Okay, the work day is coming to a close. Time to start packing up. I hope you all had a good Wednesday, and I hope it didn’t feel like it was 941760497 hours long.

How’s the Weather?

Checking on the weather forecast at Salisbury Beach tomorrow.

Sunrise is at 5:22am. The sky is going to be clear at that time and the expected temp will be in the high 40’s.

Yeah, tomorrow sounds like a sunrise at the beach day. My Nikon Z5 is charged and ready. Dad’s Pentax K1000 has about half a roll of film in it, and I want to finish it before Bellana’s graduation next week. My Nikon FG-20 has a fresh roll too.

If I go, and as of right now I would very much like to go, I’ll bring all three cameras and see what happens. The focus will be the Z5. No tripod and no long exposures, because I don’t have an ND filter that fits the Z5’s 40mm prime lens, or technically any of my current lenses.

Yeah. Let’s do this.

Notes

Sunrise at Salisbury Beach tomorrow is at 6:14 AM.

The temperature around sunrise will be 29-30 degrees. Brrr.

The sky is forecast to be mostly clear.

Are those conditions good enough to go take some sunrise pictures? The time and the sky look good. 29-30 degrees is a little off putting, but if I wear a warm jacket and take gloves with me… it’s doable.

I remain undecided though. We’ll see.

If I go I will take my Z5 and the 40mm lens, and Dad’s K1000 with the 50mm lens. I would bring a second roll of film in case I get into it and crank out the last 20 shots in the current roll and still want to shoot more. The current roll is color (Fuji Superia 400 at box speed) and a potential second roll would be black and white (Kentmere 100? Or should I try a roll of 400 instead?).

In the immortal words of Commander Data in The Best of Both Worlds Part II, “processing… processing…”.

Stomach Ache the Next Generation

Bad reactions to food on Sunday and Monday. Migraine on Tuesday. Bad stomach aches all day on Wednesday. Mostly okay except for a bad lunchtime food reaction on Thursday. What does the shit roulette wheel have for us on Friday?

Another stomach ache. But it feels different today. It’s not an oh I think I might be hungry kind of ache. Today it’s more like a you are disagreeing with something you ate last night kind of ache. Lots of gas, eating doesn’t help at all. I’ve had eight ounces of water, a protein bar, and a little protein snack. Still feeling it pretty much exactly the same as when I woke up.

Shit.

The good news though is that I have watched the season two premier of Yellowjackets. You know that show, the single most fucked up thing on television at this point in time? Yeah, that one. Great freakin’ show that is seriously disturbing while also really funny. No spoilers but the first episode was excellent and the last second reveal at the end… ewwww.

I checked the forecast for the weekend. Guess what’s not going to be out in the morning on either Saturday or Sunday. Go on, guess. You know it… the sun. No sunrise pics for me this week. It’s getting to the point where I might start taking this personally.

If we go to California in the fall, should I think about making a photo book for fun? Not like, oh I took a bunch of pictures so let’s throw the best ones into a book type of thing. More like planning out what I want to see in it and then trying to take pics that make it happen. Something like that. I’m sure I can get that done super cheap through Shutterfly or something. Maybe I can talk Jen into going up to the mountains a lot this summer and I could do something similar there. Just a thought. I like projects sometimes, you know? Like creative projects and stuff. I’m old, leave me alone.

The cats are in the cellar with me but they are avoiding me. I don’t think they like me very much. Sad face.

Unrelated productivity note: I am watching a youtube video of a guy using a folding camera from 1940 with a discontinued film format that expired in 1970. He’s in his home office talking about how he handled the ISO on the expired film and he’s standing in front of a white board that’s hanging on his wall. That’s super cool, of course. The stand out thing though, is that he has a Texas Instruments TI-83 calculator velcro’d onto the white board. Oh my god my nerd brain just exploded with how awesome that is! KaBoom!