What's in a tripod?

 

So today the courier came and went and left the newest addition to my gear: a Manfrotto tripod, specifically the 728b model. The model in question has just been discontinued by Manfrotto, who has launched a brand new line of lightweight, multipurpose tripods geared toward entry level dsrl users (people like me, in short).

 

Why didn't I get the newest model, then? Well, the 728b doesn't look noticeably different, same type of build, same material (aluminum), same unremovable head (it's a 3way head). It's slightly heavier (but the max load is exactly the same) but about 20 cm taller at its full height. I can comfortably place the camera to my eye-level without having to spread the tripod to its full height. Which I think should translate to better stability in those conditions.

 

Hopefully tonight the weather will be nice enough for me to start dabbling into shooting the night-sky. Rebuilding my homemade light-box for some indoor macro fun comes next.

Star Trek XI

Yup, I'm a big nerd. What else is new?

I've been catching up to The Big Bang Theory this week and it strikes me how much I get and actually have in common with Sheldon. Aside from the fact that he's a brilliant physicist and I am... neither.

But I share many of his idiosyncrasies (now that's disturbing) and even though a napkin stained and signed by Leonard Nimoy wouldn't render me speechless with geeky joy, I can see myself dressing up as a Starfleet officer at a Reinassance fair pretending to investigate some primitive alien planet. I would quickly don a period costume, though, hiding my Starfleet uniform and combadge under it: I mean, I wouldn't want to violate the Prime Directive, you know.

 

I do spend a few minutes choosing the best possible seat in a theater (but not for the acoustics: my goal is a perfect, centered view of the screen/stage and comfortable leg room), can be awfully particular about my food if I don't check myself and consider staying home reading, watching tv, playing videogames or just goofing on the 'net a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend a Friday night. Or any other night, for that matter.

 

The show, btw, is really hilarious and totally worth watching, any day or night of the week. Besides, people breaking up because one supports String theory and the other Loop quantum gravity? On TV? Check those quantum signatures, we may have switched to a parallel universe.

ATP Challenger Barletta

A few chosen shot from the final, won by young Ivo Minar. This Challenger has been pretty prescient in the past (one name above all: Rafael Nadal won it in 2003), so best wishes to Minar to follow that tradition. Minar beat veteran Spaniard Santiago Ventura, tired after a long semifinal against countryman David Marrero and the doubles final, both on Saturday (Ventura won the doubles with Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo). The final wasn't the best match of the tournament but it was entertaining, strong wind notwithstanding. I had a great time finally shooting to my heart's content for the first time in the week. Here's my favorite shot (with a higher dose of pp than usual):

And more of Minar: Ventura favored the drop-shot and Ivo had to scramble forward often enough for me to catch him doing it ;)
He also had a good laugh with the ATP Supervisor Carmelo Di Dio and Chair umpire Gianluca Moscarella at the end, waiting for his trophy. Both he and Santiago are playing Naples this week.

Sunset in Barletta

The ATP Challenger in Barletta is coming to a close. I had very little shooting time but I plan to make it up tomorrow morning for the Singles Final. In the meantime here's a little shot of the sunset behind one of the stands around the center court.

This tournament is played in a beautiful club but it doesn't have a real center court. The tournament could certainly gain a lot by adding a couple of showcourts to the five they already have. On the practical side of things, these courts are really good and well tended, it rained pretty heavily early in the week but the staff always managed to make them ready to play with minimum delays of the schedule. Well done, Barletta!This one above is going to be my new wallpaper for a while, I think. They're Malisse's feet, btw, he lost in the second round. Santiago Ventura and Ivo Minar will battle for the 2009 trophy tomorrow morning.

White Palms...

Let is snow, let it snow, let it snow... ok, let's not find out how many more cliches I can amass in a single post. The short version: today snowed. It's unusual around here. Obviously it happened in a day on which I had little to no time to shoot anything, but as always I had my trusty Ixus with me and I managed to grab a few shots of the beach and the palms covered in snow. Yay me! (I'm definitely watching too much Buffy). Here's the view around midday, when the worst had already passed:

New toy

I finally caved in and succumbed to the charms of the iPod Touch. I had my eyes on it for a while now but always managed to rein in my shopping crave. Not this time and, frankly, I think it was a good thing. This is one brilliant piece of hardware. I'm sure I'll find things to nag about along the way but for now I'm duly impressed.

Incidentally in my wild applications hunt (you know how it is with new toys) I've found this nifty little software to post on blogger. It's called BlogWriter Lite and it's what I used to post this entry. Very nice.