I’m already having second thoughts about buying the Canon C200. For one thing, I’ve been reading the manual and doing online research, and there are tons of exceptions and weird things the camera won’t do. For example, it records 4K, but it won’t output 4K on the SDI port. It supports free run time code, but there’s no word from Canon about whether it will stay in sync, and the word on the street seems to be no (though it’s a general belief rather than specific knowledge about this camera). The color output isn’t intended to be used without modification, and it’s a whole new level of complication. For another thing, if I buy the camera, there are a bunch of additional things I’ll have to spend money on: expensive batteries and memory cards, and a wider zoom lens, not to mention a production monitor. There’s also the fact that I’ve really been enjoying sound, and if I buy a camera, I’ll feel like I’ve wasted my money if I don’t shoot a bunch of films with it.
Wow. Talk about forgettable characters. I was just watching an interview with Jeri Ryan, talking about her character Seven of Nine on Star Trek: Voyager, and she mentioned Chakotay. I had totally forgotten about him. Looking at the IMDb page, there are several characters I had forgotten about. Oddly, when I think about Voyager, I really only think about Janeway, Seven, and Tuvok. And I didn’t even like Tuvok. Somehow I completely failed to have an emotional connection with any of the other characters, and less than four years later, I didn’t even remember they existed.
The season finale of Star Trek: Discovery was thoroughly anti-climactic, not to mention logically implausible. It was also entirely too soon. Sixteen episodes. Only six since the mid-season break. I feel like I’m not getting my money’s worth for my CBS All Access subscription. The show needs to get better writers, too. There are at least five recurring characters on the bridge that no one has bothered to even introduce to us, but Harry Mudd got two whole episodes devoted to him. I fully appreciate most of the updates they’ve made to the show, but they’re also letting me down in several other ways. Part of me wishes there won’t be another season.
I watched the full first season of Mindhunter, which was pretty good. As usual, one season didn’t feel like enough, but evidently there’s another one coming.
I have developed an addiction to Festool products. It started with a track saw, which I am very happy with. Then because Festool uses proprietary connections for their dust extraction system, I started looking for adapters, which led me to learn how amazingly effective Festool products are at handling dust. So I relented and bought one of their dust extractors. Of course, then I wanted more tools to use that with. I had already been eyeing one of Festool’s routers because they can be used with the guide track that came with the track saw, so I got one of those. And then today, I had some sanding to do, so I went out and got one of their sanders. The salesman at the store told me to expect the dust collection with the sander to be 97% or 98% effective, and he wasn’t exaggerating. And the Systainers seem a little silly, especially at the price they charge for them, but they’re actually really useful. At this point, I’m prepared to believe any claim that Festool cares to make about their products. I’ll probably get one or two more of their sanders, and then I need to try to cut myself off.
I love Smucker’s Mixed Fruit Jelly. I first encountered it at a restaurant in one of those single-serving packages while I was traveling somewhere. I was thrilled to discover it later in jars, not at my regular grocery store, but at others. I bought some now and then for years, and then it disappeared from shelves. I searched on Amazon, and they had it, but for an unreasonably high price. I concluded that it had been discontinued. This was perhaps a year ago. The other day, I was whining about this fact to a friend of mine, and to illustrate my point, I did a google search. Boom. There it was on a Smucker’s online store. I thought maybe it had come back, but I checked the stores, and it’s still not there. So I ordered a few jars today. And, uh, I ordered some Smucker’s Mixed Fruit socks for my friend while I was there.
Speaking of silly food purchases, Amazon threw an ad on Facebook for a Johnsonville Sizzling Sausage Grill. My brother eats a lot of brats, but he doesn’t grill them. It has been a challenging search for him to find good ways to cook them. They sputter way too much to broil them in the oven, for example. So I ordered this thing for him, and it arrived today. It’s actually pretty well designed. A package of brats cooked in eleven minutes, tender and juicy on the inside, nicely caramelized on the outside. I guess we’ll see how difficult it is to clean.
