B&S, Red Wings and lenses, oh my!

» 29 Nov 2003, 9:31pm in personal, photography, entertainment - 2 comments

I’m back! A few things to update since the last post a couple of weeks ago. First off, the Belle & Sebastian show was terrific! Of course, being in the second row definitely helped, but they played a really enthusiastic set with a nice blend of older and newer material. In addition to playing almost everything from the new album, they played a number of my favorite oldies including “Seeing Other People”, “Dirty Dream Number Two”, and a rousing version of “Sleep The Clock Around” to close it all down. I was really impressed with the way they connected with the audience and made the relatively large Massey Hall feel like a more intimate setting. I was also struck by just how “normal” the entire band appeared: no rock and roll haircuts, no leather jackets or pants, and no wild stage antics, just a crew of talented musicians who look like they were plucked from a high school concert band. Made me feel like I could play for them!

I had the good fortune of checking out a Red Wings hockey game at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit on Monday night (K and I went for her birthday). Unfortunately the Wings played a lousy game and lost 4-1 to the last-place Washington Capitols, but it was really fun to be back at the JLA after about 15 years. We went down to ice-level to watch the pre-game warm-up and to take some pictures (which will be up in the photos section soon). It was really tough to “freeze” the action – these guys really move! Watching a game on TV doesn’t give you any sense of how fast the players actually are, or hard they shoot the puck.

What else… oh, I picked up a new lens for the camera today, the Canon EF 70-200mm f/4L USM. Actually, I traded in the lens that I picked up last week, which I traded for with the lens I picked up the week before. I believe this new lens has earned a permanent place in my gadget bag, it’s fabulous! G and I drove out to Markham to give it a test run and I’m really impressed by how fast it is (pics in the photos section soon). The autofocus is incredibly fast, and the f/4 glass gives great shutter speeds all the way up to 200mm. I only wish there was a version of this lens with Image Stabilizer (IS).

Christmas is coming soon. The traffic in the city is getting worse every day, and driving past Yorkville on Bloor and Avenue today was brutal. I think I’m going to do all of my Christmas shopping online this year.

Any ideas about where to go for the holidays? It’s time to take a vacation, somewhere warm. It’d be great to shoot a few rounds of golf, so keep that in mind. Send me suggestions, please, you know the address, or leave a comment.

That’s all for now, more soon!

2 comments:

  • k: i heard that the new b&s album is doing really well, and is on a highly regarded top ten list - i just can't remember which list. pretty cooll!
  • D: I think it made it to the top 10 in the Cdn College chart..I'm probably the one that told you!

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