Don't Ditch That Old Technology

In the process of doing my recent house cleaning, I ran across my old Kodak Easy Share camera. This thing is probably about eight years old and still runs on two AA batteries. Since the cameras on cell phones have gotten so good and it’s easy to share the pictures from the phones, I have started to opt for using my cell phone to take pictures.



But when I pulled out this camera, I had to be think critically before just tossing this in the recycling bin. This camera is 3.1 mega pixels which is not good in terms of purchasing new camera, but excellent when compared to the front facing camera on my Android phone which is only 1.3 MP. So, I popped in some new batteries and put my old friend to the test. I have been very happy with results but decided to do a side by side comparison with my cell phone to see if new really is better.

Now, my cell phone is an HTC Incredible 2 with an 8 MP camera. It almost seems unfair to compare them, but take a look at pics.



The first picture was taken with the Kodak EasyShare. The second picture was taken with the cell phone-I put the Kodak in the picture so I wouldn’t get them confused. Both pictures have the same lighting. I used the flash on both. I have to say, I like the picture that the Kodak took better. The colors are not as washed out. What do you think?

Bottom line, don’t be so quick to upgrade. Technology manufacturers like to convince us that we need newer, better, bigger but is that always the best option for us? We really need to step outside of the marketing and use a little critical thinking of our own.

Use or Trade

I’m continuing to go through the house, cleaning out where I can and getting rid of things I no longer need or want. Next up was the media cabinet. It was getting to the point where I couldn’t fit much more in it without messy stacking that threatened to tumble out eat time you opened the cabinet.

I checked the trade-in requirements for my local used video/games/music/book store before starting because anything that can go will go there for now. I do have some items that don’t meet the requirements and I will keep them for now, but I will be keeping my eyes and ears open for options for getting rids of those.

My media cabinet went from this…



to this…



I didn’t count my totals but I have an assortment of VHS, DVD and CDs ready for trade. The place I am going has the option for cash buy or trade, but since I am a regular customer I will be going for the trade as it is much more valuable.



I added my used first generation e-ink Kindle to the pile and walked away with $159.85 in store credit. Only 5 items were rejected and returned to my media cabinet

How is your cleaning going? Have you tackled your media collection?

Coffee Chat-Race and Hunger

I should be cleaning my mess of a dining room table, but I just had to take a few moments to continue discussing race. People’s true views always seem to come out at times when you just want to shake your head and say, “REALLY”. So, let’s talk about The Hunger Games.

Let me just say that I have not read the books nor seen the first movie (yet). I have a lot of friends that have been raving about the books and now that the frenzy seems to be growing, I will put them on my to-read list. This morning, I was perusing Facebook and someone linked this this article. Apparently, there is a lot of backlash over the casting of two black characters in the movie. One of these is Lenny Kravitz. Lenny Kravitz! I thought white people loved Lenny! It seems you are not so liked when you step off your stage and into the pages of someone’s favorite book.

I too have often been surprised at the casting of characters in a movie from a book that I have read. I am a very visual person so when I read a description of someone, I immediately have a picture of them in my head. A lot of times, Hollywood’s rendition and mine do not match. It takes a bit to get used to but I can honestly say I’ve never had an objection over color. Sometimes I object with the body style of the actor not matching the book’s description or even the actor’s personality, but never their skin color. In most cases (when you look at the kind of movie-from-book adaptations that are happening these days), color doesn’t even matter (Alabaster, sparkly skinned vampires aside). Alas, a mass of Hungry movie-goers do not agree with me.

Some have even gone so far as to say they weren’t upset about one of the characters being killed when they found out she was cast as a black woman. That hurt a bit. It hurt because its such a typical Hollywood thing to have the black actors cast as the expendable characters. It’s like watching the old Star Trek episodes. Based on the color of the uniform, you know who is going to get killed on an away mission. The same is true in many Hollywood movies. I’m always shocked when a black man or woman makes it to the end of the movie. I’m still surprised LL Cool J made it to the end of Deep Blue Sea. Once Samuel Jackson was killed in such grand fashion, I just knew LL was next. But, he made it. That is rare my friends. Very rare indeed.

And now I have to wonder if this backlash points at a bigger issue. Lately, books that I have read have had very loose descriptions when it comes to black characters. Even Suzanne Collins writes the Hunger Games characters as dark skinned rather than flat-out calling them black or African American. Do editors encourage writers to be loosy-goosy with black people. Will a book with no black characters or easily exchangeable characters be more likely to be optioned into film or tv?If you are a writer (published or not) or avid book-to-movie buff, I would like to know what you think. Do you shy away from black characters?