Fun is Dead

So as we all know, fun is dead.  No one is allowed to have any fun anymore, what with the news shoving constant drudgery down our necks (I haven't watched, read or listened to the news in a very, very long time, with the eception of what makes its way to my facebook page.  Regardless, I am confident that I am correct in this assertion, and that the news is still a parade of misery) and everything being just the worst at all times.


On a more personal note, Summer Holidays (tm) have ended, so I'm back at work.


That is the real tragedy.


Also, my school has bought in a new load of laptops which have, after close inspection with a ruler, 12 inch screens.  12 inches.  In a laptop.  They're fully laptops too, the screen doesn't unclip like a tablet, all the connectors are in the base.  And they have touchscreens.


What on earth.


Someone at the municipal service for education was scammed (see: bribed) into buying these shit sandwiches.


The keyboard is miniscule.  I can cover half the keyboard with two fingers which makes typing a nightmare.  The screen is god knows what resolution because who can tell as everything is tiny.  WHO WOULD USE TOUCHSCREEN ON A LAPTOP WHEN THE MOUSE IS RIGHT THERE?


The whole thing is a terrible piece of deign.


So now you're thinking, 'what's the point of this little rant?'  To be honest I haven't thought that far yet.


Anyway.  My second book is coming along nicely.  This one might actually see a release.  Once I'm at the final editing stage I'll start looking for an illustrator to do the covers (I draw like a four year old) and I'll start the self-publishing process.


Unfortunately I have a pretty solid idea of what I want out of the whole thing, which might make the self-pub system somewhat more annoying and substantially less accommodating.


My big target, my life goal, is to sell a hundred copies.  I want to sell a hundred books in my lifetime.  That is my aim.  If it takes me writing fifty books and getting my mum and dad to buy a single copy each then so be it.


Digital or physical doesn't matter, just one hundred books.


Is there any way a touchscreen laptop with miniscule keys could help me in writing?  I'm struggling to find a connection...  No, I really can't think of one.




Anyway, in other news, I went to the same festival I went to last year.  You might say I'm a regular, now that I've been twice.  Last year was incredibly disappointing in terms of pictures and this year was only marginally better.  I've started the process of editing them and have found a couple I like so far.  I don't know whether they'll go into the 'best of,' folder I keep, but they're decent enough to stick on here at the very least.  (Truth be told one or two of them might go onto the Japanese calendars I make for Christmas, but don't tell anyone).


Those updates will come about when I get home and don't immediately fall asleep on the sofa.  We've just installed new aircon and it's glorious.  It also uses 3.2kw/h at peak load, so it's very much a luxury that should not be used every day, but almost always is.


Frugality is not my strong suit.


On an entirely unrelated note, I really, really need a new PC now.  This one is huffing and puffing and often refuses to boot.  It's being a real pain in the derriere which wouldn't matter if I were a millionaire, but I'm not, so it is.


Hey, when I sell those 100 books though...

Stop Me if You've Seen This Before

So these are holiday pictures from Nikko.  Feel free to tell me if you've seen these before because the many, many photographs that were taken during the holiday are all blurring into an amalgamated mess.  I'm finding it increasingly difficult to differentiate between the various folders I had created, and as a result I have no idea what I've already posted.

I could look back and check, but I don't want to read the drivel I've previously written.  Besides, where's the fun in that?

So this picture is of a fortune tied to a tree.  When you go to the various temples you have the option of procuring a fortune.  This fortune is absolutely guaranteed to come true, because it tells you nothing - as is generally the way with fortune telling of any kind.  To make sure the fortune comes doubly true, you must tie it to something.  Normally there are ropes in the temple grounds that serve this purpose, but this tree works just as well.

The weather was pretty hot, as is to be expected when doing anything in Summer around Japan.  There were a few clouds though, so I took the opportunity to highlight those instead of the trees.  I do love watching a moody sky roll by.

Which do you think is better?  This isn't a very good picture, nor is the one below, but as a holiday snap which do you think is better?

I like the stairs more than the posts in the picture above, but the dappled lighting is distracting.

This reminded me of the old illustrations for things like the Canterbury Tales.  Except the trees and dragons, they are of a completely unique style.

As with any hot and humid country, the insects here are monstrous.  While that doesn't necessarily translate into an easily recognised sense of scaled (this dragonfly could be big or small, there's no way of knowing) it does make taking pictures without macro lenses somewhat easier.  Obviously the results here are far from being perfect (the background is really distracting, the subject is too small, the wings and body don't contrast with the background enough) but they're acceptable for a small holiday picture.

Nikko is a famously religious area, with temples and shrines all over the place.  I have no idea what any of them mean, or stand for, but they often make for decent enough pictures.  I often shoot at 105mm to isolate the subject, but it's good to shoot wider in order to get an idea of the surroundings.  Variety is the spice of life, as they say.

This is an example of not having a big enough lens to isolate the insect.  This time, the relative
smoothness of the background means that it would have been easily identifiable, had it not been microscopic.  If I were to blow this up to a large enough size, I think it might work quite well.  As it is, not so much.

Look at the difference a change in millimetres makes.  Standing from essentially the same spot, but this time dialled all the way back - the entire picture changes completely.  I actually quite like both of these despite the aforementioned blights on the above.  This one needs to have a sky peeking from behind the trees, not just an amorphous all-consuming whiteout.  The lens flare really doesn't bother me, but it will annoy some enthusiasts.

A birds eye view of the decorations.  They were incredibly ornate, but also very difficult to photograph.  This is probably one of the few times where a 3D camera would have worked well because each ornament stood out; literally and metaphorically speaking.  They vied for the attention by overshadowing their neighbours, or at least attempting as much.  It's very difficult to stand out, as it were, when everyone else is doing the same, which is why this bird seemed as good a place as any to take a picture from.

I have a copy of this picture, taken with in-camera HDR activated.  What this means in practical terms, is that the highlights (such as the sky) are not washed out (as in this picture) because the camera takes a picture for those, then it changes the settings back, to take a picture for the shadows (the trees/eaves) and snaps another one.  Finally, it takes a picture at the correct exposure and combines the three (or five, or seven - however many you tell it to).  This picture isn't HDR, but I think it shows the proud dog/monster well.  Presumably it's guarding this building from something.

Another dog/monster, this time guarding the entrance to one of the many temples and shrines.

I made mum wait for ages so I could take this picture.  There were people everywhere and while a couple holding hands, or a family with a small kid might have been nice, the deserted feeling of having no one in shot makes it a more interesting picture.  There is barely any colour, when I changed it to black and white I barely registered the change.

This exceedingly angry man guards yet another entrance to yet another shrine/temple.

He's also angry because he has cauliflower nipples.

This was one of the most ornate drinking fountains we came across.  Of course this isn't a fountain used to drink from - instead the locals perform a ritual that's designed to cleans the body (wash hands, etc.).  Something my mother baulked at, pointing out the obvious opportunity for disease of any variety to take hold.  They either don't care, or don't know.  Considering the advanced nature of their education system and economy, I'm going to guess it's the former.

I don't know why I took this picture.  It's a screen separating hinged in a doorway, kind of like a second door.  I assume this would have been closed at some point, while the main door remained open.  Maybe so onlookers could tell if monks were praying?  Who knows.

They have no shortage of extremely angry people in Japan.  Something I've not witnessed often firsthand, but something that has obviously provided inspiration for countless angry gods to rampage around the place.

And finally, one of my favourite angry guys.  It's not particularly spectacular, and as you can see the colours are rather faded, but he stood out in a way that none of the others did.  I found that having them stare at you like an angry in-law wasn't conducive to a particularly interesting picture; beyond the first one at least.  I tried various angles, and this one turned out to be the best of those I tried - despite it leaving a lot to be desired.

Then again, everything you see here is merely a holiday snap, a picture that bears little resemblance to the artsy fartsy crap that I sometimes churn out, and is merely supposed to show the route on which I blundered while heading through my Summer holidays.  If you made it this far expecting some amazing pictures, or incredible art, I'm sorry to disappoint.