X100T Viewfinder Position

Just a quick note – one thing I love about the Fujifilm X100T is that the viewfinder is on the left side of the camera. Because I use my right eye to compose photos, this means my nose doesn’t hit the LCD screen of the camera. On my DSLR, with the viewfinder in the center of the camera, my nose would leave grease-marks on the LCD all the time. Just another reason I like the rangefinder-style design of the X100 series!

Getting up there

Hello! How was your Monday? Mine was pretty good! I met with a good friend for lunch and we spent a lot of time discussing Star Wars and it was fun to just geek out. We are the same age, so we have a similar experience of watching the original trilogy.

Today’s photo is one I took while I sat in traffic this morning. I noticed that I forgot to reset my trip meter after filling up the day before, so I set it to zero and I noticed that the odometer just hit 142,000 miles!

USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO2000
USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

It’s a 12-year old car so things are starting to go wrong with it. But I love the mini-van so much… it has taken us safely and reliably on a lot of fun road trips and camping excursions. ⛺ I will hate to see it go, but I think that it is almost time to get a new car. 😔

140,000 miles is a long way. In fact, it is almost 6 times around the world! 🌎 This Honda Odyssey is amazing. I am hoping my next car will take me as far.

Have a good night and let’s do our best tomorrow!

-B

My Favorite Selections from the Star Wars Soundtracks

I am still on a Star Wars high from seeing The Force Awakens for the second time, and spent Saturday night and some of today listening to the epic Star Wars soundtracks by John Williams. Of course the Main Theme, Cantina Band, and Imperial March are amazing, but here are the other memorable parts of the soundtracks to me:

  • Yoda’ Theme / Yoda and the Force – A melody that perfectly exemplifies the Jedi master to me. It’s filled with wonder and beauty, but also conveys the mystery of the Force, a perfect accompaniment as we learn more about a mystical new world when Yoda is teaching Luke on Dagobah.
  • Han Solo and the Princess – It’s amazing that Han and Leia’s feelings towards each other could be established so strongly in just a few scenes, and with so much left unsaid. It’s a great contrast to the multiple forced scenes and cheesy dialog between Anakin and Padme in Episode II.
  • Princess Leia’s Theme – John Williams really hits it out of the park with Leia’s Theme. The melody is beautiful and delicate, but noble and sad at the same time.
  • Binary Sunset – This one and Tales of a Jedi Knight (below) are the classic “Luke’s theme” to me. I think it may be everyone’s favorite scene in Star Wars – Luke gazing out towards the double suns over the horizon.
  • Tales of a Jedi Knight – Another part of the soundtrack that gives me chills. It’s where the mystery of the Force begins for us viewers.
  • Rey’s Theme – The most memorable theme from The Force Awakens for me. Starts small but builds wonderfully into a complex and soaring theme.
  • Across the Stars – I think this is the only piece from the prequels that I thought was memorable (besides the standards). I think the melody is great… it’s too bad my memory is marred by the cheesy and forced romance scenes and dialog.
  • The Rebel Fleet/End Title (Episode V) – This is my favorite of all the Star Wars themes/medleys. It’s because the end scene in Empire was so memorable and sad, but you can tell the movie is wrapping up. Then when it cuts to the credits and the triumphant theme kicks in… When I first saw it in the theaters, I was left thinking “Wow, that was the best movie ever!” It will always give me chills!
  • The Jedi Steps and Finale – Bringing the series up-to-date, this ending scene had almost the same effect on me as the ending of Empire… and then seeing Luke… chills! When the main theme kicks in, it’s the same feeling of “That was fantastic!!! When can we see it again?”

Click the links above to listen to the songs, or you can check out a playlist I’ve created:

🎵 Barron’s Star Wars Favorites 🎵

And here is a photo of an Instax pic of Rey and my BB-8 Google Cardboard.

"Rey and BB-8" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/18 sec, ISO6400
“Rey and BB-8” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Lazy Sunday

こんばんは!

Wow, the weekend went by quickly (it always does, doesn’t it?) but I had a very relaxing one.

Tonight I grilled burgers for the family and they turned out great. This time, I added some Dijon mustard, Worcestershire sauce, and scotch bonnet pepper sauce to the ground beef before grilling and it made the meat a little tangy and gave it a bit of heat. Everyone thought they were delicious! I topped the burgers with sharp cheddar, the buns were from the supermarket bakery (yummy), and the fixings were mayo, mustard, ketchup, onions, tomatoes, pickles, jalapeños, and lettuce. Too bad I didn’t take a photo, but it probably wouldn’t do it justice!

It’s cold out today (in the 40s) so we enjoyed the heater:

"Lazy Sunday Morning" USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
“Lazy Sunday Morning” USA. Texas. Cedar Park. 2016.

Tonight will be below freezing where we live. Please keep warm and let’s have a great week!

おやすみなさい

-バロン

Second viewing

Hi everyone!

I’m very sleepy, so today’s post will be brief. Bay and I went to see Star Wars: The Force Awakens again and I enjoyed the movie even more than the first time! I’ll have to write a bit more about it later, but tonight I want to say that I am a little disappointed in the theater we usually go to.

Alamo Drafthouse Lakeline is usually pretty good, but the past couple times, they have been out of the menu items we wanted. For our first Star Wars show, Bay wanted the Chewbacca Crepes and I wanted the Frito Pie Burger, but both were sold out. I thought that was odd since it was a 4:30 show, and the movie had been in the theaters for several days already. I would have thought they would have had the menu items worked out as far as demand goes.

Anyways, today we wanted to get the Chewbacca Crepes, but they were sold out again! And the beer I ordered was sold out too! What gives? Really disappointing, especially since today’s show was really early (2:30). 😞 But at least the movie was fantastic and our seats were great.

USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2, 1/17 sec, ISO6400
USA. Texas. Austin. 2016.

Ok, enough ranting for tonight. I am going to sleep now. It’s going to drop below freezing tonight outside, so we have the space heater on. Stay warm wherever you are!

おやすみなさい!

-B