thefourthvine | 174: C'mon, Get Happy

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174: C'mon, Get Happy

First and foremost: do any of you have a digital camera you really love? A source of digital camera purchasing advice you really trust? A link to the camera you wish you had? Please tell me. We are purchasing a digital camera, but thus far my attempts to make active steps towards the purchase have followed this process:

Open camera-vending store in tab. (Recommendations for online camera stores also gratefully accepted, by the way.)
Stare at cameras for a while.
Say, "There are really LOTS of camera of in this world. Lots and lots."
Close tab.

Too many choices! Head explodey! Halp!

Okay, and now in recommendations: I had the week from hell. No, really, it sucked in so very many ways - not every way it could have sucked, no, but each day was a new and festive cavalcade of minor and major disaster. I reached the end of the week in a shellshocked state, prone to crying at, well, pretty much anything. In this state, only vids can avail. So today I'm recommending four vids that have made me happy at the end of my awful, awful week.

The One That Proves That, When It Comes to Emo, Gerard Way Has Nothing on Spike. Or on the Bee Gees, Oddly Enough. Tragedy, by

dualbunny. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

Here's the first thing you need to know about this vid: it is absolute proof that auction winners can use their purchasing power for evil.

laurashapiro,

jarrow272, and

heresluck won

dualbunny in the VVC auction, and they decided to have her vid the most evil song in the world. Scientific determination of the song's evilness was made in this very household; testing showed that people exposed to it just once sang it regularly for upwards of a week afterward, sometimes in public, no matter what efforts were made to stop. Repeated exposure resulted in seriously unfortunate dancing by the helpless victims of this song's mind control powers. EVIL, I tell you.

But what better for Spike than an emo, evil song? None, I would submit to you. Plus, this is the ultimate summary of Spike's journey, his character, his very personhood. (Vamphood? I don't know. Things get complicated when you're talking about people who are technically dead.) Every time I see this vid, I grow more convinced that this is precisely the song Joss Whedon had stuck in his head when he created Spike. It would explain so much.

And this vid makes me very happy. It is impossible to feel sorry for yourself when gazing at Spike's WOE set to DISCO.

The One with the Best-Ever Use of a Basketball Bounce. You Can Call Me Al, by

sdwolfpup. Due South.

I will be honest with you. I hadn't previously recommended this because I was convinced that every fan on earth had watched it. And that was right and good and just, and I was pleased. This is a vid that everyone needs. It is gorgeous and hopeful and it fits the characters (both Rays and Fraser, in case anyone was worried about someone being left out) and the show so very well. It's distilled love in vid form. I turn to it whenever I am down and need to be reminded of the good things in this world.

So I was merrily going along, assuming everyone had this essence o' love in their lives. And then I discovered that a friend of mine - a close personal friend who I will not name here because after all public shaming is counterproductive - had not seen this vid. At all. Despite loving the song AND the show. And I was sorrowful and downcast, as I'm sure you can imagine. I tried to put things right for my friend ("DOWNLOAD THIS," I said, "OR I WILL BE FORCED TO COME OVER THERE WITH A BASEBALL BAT" - sometimes you have to be direct about these things), but then I had a horrible thought: what if there is another person in that situation? A fan of vids or due South or just, you know, wonderful things, who has not seen this vid? That would be even more of a tragedy than Spike, I tell you. So now I am recommending it, doing my bit to bring us into a better, happier, more loving world. A world, in short, where everyone regularly watches this vid.

So, hey, no pressure, but if you don't watch this right now, you're standing in the way of world peace. I just thought you should know.

The One in Which Rodney McKay Cain't Say No. Do I Need to Say More to Get You to Download It? I Would Hope Not. Atlantis!, by rache, aka

wickedwords, and Sandy, aka

sherrold. Stargate: Atlantis. (Note: Imeem and download links available there.)

First, let me just mention that while I am normally a fan of musicals, I have a tragic allergy to Oklahoma! No, not the whole "no legs, no jokes, no chance" thing, just - I like corn, and I like cheese, but I am not so much a fan of corny cheese on stage. (It's possible that I was just too young for Oklahoma! when I saw it. You know how they say if you feed a kid certain foods at too young an age, you increase the chances that the kid will be allergic to said foods? Well. I suspect that that's what happened to me with the corn and cheese fest, pretty much. I'm lucky I didn't develop an allergy to the entire Midwest.)

Except. It turns out that when rache and Sandy do Oklahoma! SGA-style, I am suddenly and totally in love. Or, okay, to be more precise, I'm laughing helplessly. (But it is loving, sincere, and earnest laughter. Honestly.) You really would not think that SGA had a perfect one-to-one translation with Oklahoma! (And let me just say - thanks to Helene Hanff I know that that exclamation point has been irritating everyone since before the show's premiere, and right now I guess it's my turn to wish it dead. I don't want to put random exclamation points in the middle of sentences anymore. Bad punctuation. No biscuit.), but apparently it does. Seriously, it's amazing. And did I mention funny? Also, it turns out there's a reference to fan fiction right in the musical. It's awesome.

Given that this vid was inspired by Rumble, by

astolat and

cesperanza, another vid in which a musical is perfectly mapped onto SGA, I have to wonder if you could do, like, SGA x A Chorus Line. SGA x Sweeney Todd. ...Oh dear god. I need to stop thinking about these things right now.

The One That Makes Biplane Fighting Look Like Ballet. Cathain, by Jill, aka

klia. Flyboys. (Note: This vid is password-protected, but it takes only one password to get all the vids of Jill, Kathy, Kay, and Lynn, and I heartily recommend them all, so, seriously, get the password. You will get much shiny in return!)

I have a strange, abiding, and intense obsession with the WWI fighter pilots (It's, yeah. It's kind of sad. These things just take a person sometimes.), so when I saw this vid at VVC I sat bolt upright and watched very alertly. I suspect my mouth may have been hanging open slightly, although I hope no one noticed. I was certainly totally entranced. Months later, I still have that reaction. Whenever I watch this vid, pretty much. Because there is nothing like watching planes dance to Irish music (at least, I think that's Irish; feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) to make a person happy, I find.

Yes. Planes dance. It is awesome beyond anything. And, okay, if you are deeply peculiar and thus unattracted to the concept of dancing planes, let me add that there are also characters in this vid, with a remarkably well-cut slashy story. And a lion. Really, this vid has everything you could possibly want.

In terms of sheer rewatching, this is one of my top three vids from VVC 2007, and there's such a good reason for that: it's gorgeous, gorgeously edited, matching movement to music in a way that would totally make my heart sing even if there were not WWI planes involved. It is entrancing, and it is lovely, and I love it dearly. It makes me deeply happy. I cannot recommend it strongly enough.

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One piece of practical advice a camera salesman type guy passed on to me that I found helpful was this..."Buy as much optical zoom as you can afford."

Yaaaay, you recced Cathain! I was reading the VVC reviews, going, "Why aren't more people mentioning the one with the planes?"

*seconds B&H*

We've always gotten reliable service from them.

I have a Canon 10D, which is a wonderful camera and I love it, but it's the dreaded DSLR. I got it as a hand-me-down from my husband, so I didn't have to pay for it, anyway. :) Which, you know, is another option. Last year's cameras can come pretty cheap, second-hand, and there's not much anybody can do to wreck them short of driving over them. And sometimes not even that.

I would have bought a Canon anyway, had I made Real Plans to go digital, to use the lenses I already had.

Now, for a cute little camera . . . I'd buy myself an Elph. Somebody asked me to take a picture of him and his girlfriend and handed me his Elph, and I fell instantly in love.

I've been looking at purchasing a camera myself, so I've been doing a bit of research. I think there are a few questions you need to ask yourself -- what are you planning to use it for? I'm assuming you're looking for a point-and-shoot?

If you're looking for the options to do something artsy, you're probably going to want something with a macro mode for close ups, and shutter (ISO) control for low light. If you want to do sports photography, you probably want a camera with 10x optical zoom, and image stabilization, because as soon as you switch to digital zoom you start losing quality. If you're doing mostly picture of people, 3-4x will be acceptable -- I know that's what's in my price range, so it's probably what I'll be going for. I wish I could afford the 10x.

Facial autofocus is one of the new buzzes right now, and it's really not necessary. If you can't find a on face your own, you have bigger problems than a camera can fix. Digital image stabilization is another feature that may not be essential, depending on the intended use.

What do you want for video capabilities? Are there any other modes you'd like?

Look at the batteries, as well. The two most common options at the moment are lithion ion batteries, which you charge by plugging into a wall, and AAs, which have to be replaced.

Canon and Panasonic, from what I hear, both tend to be solid brands. One thing I enjoy about Canon is the fact they've often retained the optical viewfinder, which is nice, especially when you're shooting outside.

Hopefully that textual explosion will be of some help.

*watches Call Me Al*

*dies of love*

YAY

Hee hee. <-- This is not a mocking laugh, it's a laugh of recognition. I spent weeks doing frantic research and being all overwhelmed when I was going to get a camera. Then I took a deep breath and said, "Okay, this is what I want to use the camera for, and this is my price range, and this camera, at current prices in available stores, seems to be the best option after I've narrowed down my parameters a LOT." But I still went to the store and played around to check that it was a comfortable fit in my hand, etc.

I bought this camera about a month ago, and love it:

http://www.ciao.co.uk/Canon_PowerShot_A710_IS__Review_5703132

Easy enough to point and shot on auto, but lots of features to learn if you want. Anti-shake mechanism works, pictures rather super.

Thank you so much for the rec for YCCM, I really appreciate it. Knowing that the vid makes other people as happy as it made me while making it is like a conga line of joy for which I'm really grateful. :)

Also, I LOVED the Biplane vid (and all the other vids rec'd here). The lion shots stuck out in vivid color to me on first watching and I still look forward to seeing them.

1) When I set out to give my sister the digital camera my parents had bought her for the previous Christmas (don't ask), I researched pretty thoroughly, not from a photographer's point of view but from a layperson's. I wound up buying her a Casio Exilim, based in part on Consumer Reports's recs. She loved it so much that when she left it out in the rain, as she has been known to do, she replaced it with the same model. FWIW. (Also, if you would like me to check CR for you, I would be happy to do that.)

2) if you don't watch this right now, you're standing in the way of world peace.

So THAT'S the problem. *Fed-Exes copies of vid to all major world leaders immediately*

3) ♥ ♥ ♥-->TFV

I don't have camera recs, but I do have buying recs.

Go through a reputable dealer like Amazon if you buy online. On NPR they had a report on how those sidebar ad companies that go "50% off! buy here and save!" are, in fact, offering the camera for way cheap, but then they try to upsell warranties or cables or bags or whatever for WAY WAY WAY more than they're worth.

And if you don't bite on the accessories, they lose your order and don't sell you the cheap camera at all.

It's still in my head, at the moment. I keep hoping if I think about it enough, it will emerge fully formed, like Athena.

I think there was a third post where I decided that "Singing in the Rain" would work too.

*cries*

The Greek God Method of fan fiction production was disproved AGES ago. I cannot believe you're still clinging to such an outmoded way of thought. Type, dadgummit!

*cries some more*

These are excellent tips, thank you. I'm making notes. Camera-buying: maybe not as impossible as it looks at first glance?

Also, size, storage, and batteries: I can see that these would be very important things. In that way, it's sort of like buying a laptop, actually. Maybe if I pretend I'm buying a laptop, this whole process will become less threatening? Worth a try.

This is the easiest way to take good pictures of people.

This is very good to know, although I think my problems with photo-taking are more basic than this. (Like, I tend to put my thumb into the picture. Or just take pictures of my thumb. A lot.) Still, this will be something to remember the next time a tourist asks me to take a photo and there's no one around to hand the task off to. (I cringe in terror when tourists do this. CRINGE.)

They are shiny indeed. *pats them lovingly*

I kinda like Oklahoma!

*stares at you*

That's okay. No, really. I cherish your specialness.

I actually still have a 45 of Rick Springfield's lesser known hit "Don't Talk to Strangers".

I haven't heard this one, and, um. Is it just me or is that kind of a creepy title?

If I'm remembering correctly, the sleeve has a picture of him wearing some sort of jumpsuit or mechanic's uniform.

Now I am very very very scared. It's starting to sound like that one David Hasslehoff music video where he plays an incredibly disturbing date rapist. With a car. (I think it was

sdwolfpup who linked me to that, but fortunately protective amnesia has set in to a certain extent.)

I also still have a 45 of Pablo Cruise's "Love Will Find a Way" and that very famous question turned song "Who Shot JR?".

Wow. I'm impressed. Also a little worried, but that's fine. (Pablo Cruise? Who Shot JR? Um.)

It is nice to have our favorite vids to watch on those rotten days.

It really is. They are like little slices of happiness when things go bad. Yay vids!

I feel as though you were talking to *me* ...when mentioning the baseball bat. I haven't seen it either. BUT I WILL.

Er, except for the last one, which I haven't seen, but will, as soon as I download!

*bounce bounce bounce*

I hope you like it. I think it's really good.

Good luck!

Thank you for the camera recommendation and the luck. I think I'll need it. Why can't this be like buying a computer or something? EASIER, is my point.

And congratulations on your spiffy new camera!

Canon PowerShot SD600 (http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=145&modelid=12913). Takes gloriously high-res 6 megapixel pictures that you can easily print out 8x11 without any pixelization. Easy-to-use menu with different functions for taking pictures outdoors, at night, etc., as well as fun ones like Color Accent and Black & White. Long battery life, in my experience, despite the large LCD display screen. Small, sturdily built but not heavy. I have dropped this camera on cement and it survived with only a few tiny scratches.

It's not the newest model of its line, but it's pretty much a classic, and I've never heard anything but good reviews of it. Only downsides are a lack of anti-shake, which has never really caused me a problem, and the fact that you have to buy a larger memory card for it (which is the case for nearly all cameras).

I did not know until today that my life was incomplete. And then I heard the glorious hymn of Al, and saw two Rays, and all was infinitely better.

OMG, another person who did not know the One True Love that is You Can Call Me Al! TRAGEDY

But at least you've seen it now. And, see - it really is a vid that heals.

You have read this, yes?

Indeed I have. (Oh, McShep Match, I <3 you so.) *grins*

But price seems to basically vary by how many pixels, and how many pixels you need seems to depend on how serious a photographer you are.

This is good to know. Although it makes me wonder - given that I am not a photographer at all (my photo-taking experience is pretty much limited to pressing buttons when tourists insist and then getting far away before they look at the picture), does that mean I need zero pixels?

Hmmm. Probably I still need a non-zero number of pixels, or there's no point in having a camera.

Finally, there will still be A MILLION OPTIONS, all with something good and something bad, so I think the best thing to do is pick something you find pretty to look at and easy to hold, and not worry about it.

This is advice I can follow. Pick up the camera! Hold it! Take home the one you find the sweetest! Like buying a rabbit, except, you know, not.

Thank you!

I recommend anything in the canon powershot family. They are very easy to operate and give high quality results.

Oh, thank you. That is definitely what I need. Easy is good when it comes to taking photos.

post out-of country-robbery

Hmmm. Travel out of the country appears to be very hard on cameras. Most of the people I know who have replaced theirs recently did so after a vacation. One person dropped her camera into a gorge.

new with image stablizing amazing tech - I got great video shots of a live soccer match

Image stabilizing tech. This is definitely something I want. *makes notes*

Let us know what you end up with and what you think about it.

I will! Perhaps I'll even post photos.

...Yeah, okay. Maybe I'm not ready to go that far.

Oh, thank you!

For me I had identified a couple of things I *really* wanted in a digital camera, and those things (luckily) narrowed the field quite a bit

This is excellent advice. I wonder if I can find a complete list of all the features you can get in a digital camera? I already know a couple things I want. *ponders*

Other things to consider are

This is a fabulously helpful list, and it will also help me narrow down the field considerably. So very much yay!

Hope this helps!

It is very, very helpful, and much appreciated.

I embrace my evil nature. (: My only regret is that I sat on that idea for years wondering how I could do it justice myself. I'm so glad I thought to buy it! Especially from

dualbunny. She was absolutely the right choice.

I'm so glad I'm not the only one who thinks that is a very nice, subtle, awesome sync moment.

You definitely aren't, because I think it's a moment of FABULOUS BRILLIANCE. But then, basically every frame in that entire vid makes me squeak with joy. Still, even in that company, the basketball stands out.

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174: C'mon, Get Happy

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Re: Digital Camera buying

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