Bill Cammack

On the way to the subway, I called Masami. It turned out that she was already downtown and hanging out with a friend of hers. Perfect. One door closes, another one opens. :D We decided that I’d buzz her when I got downtown….

The subway ride was uneventful. I got to the store and went to the display where they have all of the digital cameras out for you to check out. I had already checked and knew that they had the NV3 in stock. What I didn’t check was whether it was WORKING OR NOT ON THE $&(%#* DISPLAY! :evil: So, of course, I got to check out the Sony, but not the Samsung. The sony didn’t have a memory card in it, so that meant you couldn’t use “fine” mode (30fps). You had to use regular mode (15fps). It was very cartoonish, and as I panned from side to side, it was very jerky. I was aware of what fine mode looked like already from kitykity’s post, so I wasn’t concerned about it. The NV3 was another situation, entirely. I was sure it took good video from Randolphe’s stellar review of it (besides saying it didn’t work well in low light). That was one of the things in the Sony’s favor. Part of their advertisement is how well the camera works in low light.

The NV3 is flat black. The W70 is bright, reflective, mirror, metallic silver. The NV3 zooms without changing form. The W70 has this big “HEY! I’M TAKING FILM OF YOU” zoom lens that telescopes towards the subject(s). Besides speed issues that I mentioned in the previous post, people have completely different reactions to cameras from video cameras. It’s like they don’t think you can take video with them or even good video with them or get sound with them. It helps for the realness of the moment, because people aren’t “acting like they’re on camera”. Another benefit is that it goes right in my pocket. With a video camera, you have to bring other bags, etc. The NV3 shoots an extra video mode, which is 720×480@20fps. I couldn’t decide, especially without seeing ANYTHING working on the NV3, so I called Masami to find out where to meet up with them. Another thing I had noticed that was REALLY annoying about the W70 is that the wide/telephoto lever is on top of the camera, facing the front. I don’t know WHO came up with that idea, but it’s really dumb. You have to hold it in a really strange and uncomfortable way to utilize the zoom. The NV3 has the lever on the back of the camera, in perfect position for you to one-hand the shot and still zoom.

So I met up with Masami, and she was with her friend Laetitia who was visiting from France! (Sweet! 8)) We strolled down to Veniero’s Italian Bakery on 11th street & 1st avenue for some amazing desserts. Maybe an hour later, we started making moves so the ladies could “get their shop on”, and then I needed to go back to the store to choose a camera.

I needed to get the camera now because “the moment” was unfolding right in front of me, and I was aware that I had ZERO ability to record it. Since I was heading out specifically to get a camera, I hadn’t brought my Canon. We got to the store, and it was crowded, yet they only had two attendants working the camera section. It was completely retarded. People were stacked up waiting around, browsing cameras, like I had done earlier that day, waiting for someone to help them. Meanwhile, the guy that was working the area was ringing up a customer, and the girl working the area was getting rapped to by some guy that was talking about taking a camera hiking or something. :? I guess he couldn’t tell she wasn’t interested in guys. Anyway… I got in position and as soon as he finished saying whatever he was saying, I told her that I wanted the Samsung camera. I told her this to try to be really simple for her. With the amount of people there, and only two workers, I decided this would be the best thing for her, as opposed to complex sentences. She STILL looked at me like she didn’t know what I was talking about. I had already asked the guy for his take on the cameras, and he had told me how the NV3 is also an mp3 player and he had been the one that pointed out the non-telescoping lens. I also knew the NV3 can be used as a voice recorder, so since the cameras were the same price, and the only benefit to the Sony was the low-light capability, I went with the NV3… basically off of Randlofe’s review of it, since I never actually saw it in action.

So the chick was really crabby, like she was having a bad day… which I can understand, because she was working while I was shopping. :D I’m sure that when you work in the service industry, you have to deal with a lot of jerks and people that make your day miserable on a regular basis, so I just rolled with it and thought it was funny and amusing. She just had this “I don’t care at all about serving you” aura to her that was really funny to watch, being that she was dressed up in a little colorful outfit, specifically placed there to be the human interface between the customers and the cash register. She was probably new to the job and was just doing it to get money anyway. If the job wasn’t so easy, she’d probably quit and do something else… or nothing.

So I bought the Samsung NV3, and I got a 2gig memory card with it. I read the manual just enough to figure out how to put the battery and memory card inside, then I turned it on. I took a couple of test videos, and they looked perfect, right out of the box. I looked at the instruction manual, and it doesn’t tell you how to use any… and I mean just about ANY of the features! :D There’s another manual that’s on the disk they give you, so maybe that has more information.

Next, we were off to Uptown Lounge to test out the Martini selection (Chocolate, Lemon, Apple…..) but not without stopping first @ a shoe store along the way… because… well… you know how it goes! :D

Roxanne Darling of beachwalks.tv was in town today. I had a great time this afternoon. :D

Here’s the “BeachWalk” we did together: Beach Walk #258 OTR

initially, we were going to meet up with Jan… another videoblogger, but it turned out that she had to work alllllllllllll day, so Rox and I decided to meet up @ 3pm. I had had a bunch of ideas where we could have gone to shoot near water, but it was raining AND foggy, so we decided on South Street Seaport, since it’s by the water, but the upper levels provide cover from the rain. Rox ended up taking a cab instead of the subway, so I headed west to meet her @ the West Side Highway. It would have taken her A LONG TIME to get to the east side with mid-day traffic, so I passed the WTC and checked out Battery Park City for potential locations.

When the cab showed up, I noticed that Rox was filming the driver. It turns out that he’s a musician and makes CDs that are right up beachwalks.tv’s alley. From there, we headed west to the Hudson river, but it was really too foggy to see Jersey on the other side, and I thought I could BARELY make out the Statue of Liberty. We found a spot and did our BeachWalks episode.

Since we were running out of daylight, I suggested that we walk the two blocks over to the WTC. We were coming from the west, where there isn’t any public transportation, except cabs, and maybe one bus line if it runs down the W.S.H. Everyone else approaches from the east (unless they live in Battery Park City). Because of that, the tourist-y information booth and photo gallery is set up to accommodate people coming from the east, and it was completely on the other side of the site from where we were. We stopped at a section where you can see in without fanfare, lights, colors, tourists or pictures. I was in NYC on the day-of, but Rox had mentioned that she probably hadn’t been here in eight years, so I figured she hadn’t seen the location with her own eyes… Actually, probably more important than SEEING is BEING so close to where the towers used to stand and seeing how far down it is to the construction from ground level, and seeing how wide the missing area is, compared to the buildings that surround that area…. as well as understanding that so many people died right.over.there. I could tell Rox was having a moment… she decided not to tape…….

From there, we checked out the tourist setup, complete with bright colors, poignant pictures and captions that said something like “time to move on”, which was REALLY funny/interesting, because after experiencing the site, when we started walking, Rox was talking about people’s reactions to things and how people try to say how someone should or should not react. It was as if someone rushed up and painted that AFTER listening to what we were talking about on the way there. :D

After that, we found a cafe and had a really interesting conversation, mostly about videoblogging, with a minor in psychology. Eventually, it was time for Rox to head out, so we hopped on the train and got out of dodge.

I had a great afternoon. Rox is a really fun and intelligent person, and as a ‘hardcore’ New Yorker, I got to enjoy a non-New-Yorker’s reactions to things like the WTC and crowded sidewalks. :D

The Saga Continues……..

So I get on a bus, today. I normally don’t get on buses, but I decided to try one today. Not just any bus, but a bus going out of state. Not like a public bus or something. I get my ticket at the bus terminal and walk to the waiting area. I get in line behind this girl/woman/young lady, whatever your favorite term is. She’s relatively attractive. I don’t know that that has anything to do with the topic other than that’s the reason I noticed her in the first place. I don’t know that that’s not the ONLY reason I’m blogging this. :D So the bus comes, and we’re going to the same stop. It was an express bus, so I suppose EVERYONE was going to the same stop… or maybe they weren’t… maybe there were “points beyond” that that bus was going to. I call for my ride to pick me up, and she goes about her business. Meanwhile, I’m wondering to myself what the odds are that I’m going to see her on the way back “home” (at least for me).

Amongst others, I meet up with someone that took an earlier bus from NYC. I decide to leave my plans for going back home up to whenever he decides he’s leaving. That’s not exactly a fair statement. I should say that I was working with him today, so I definitely wasn’t coming back to NYC BEFORE he was… there was just nothing saying that I had to leave when he did.

Anyway… I leave it up to him, and when he’s ready to head back, I get ready to go. Our ride has to pass by Fedex, so we end up going for the 8:30pm bus instead of the 8:00pm bus. We get dropped off, and as we’re waiting for the bus, the same chick is dropped off @ the Park N Ride by her father (which I could tell because of their conversation). So now, the question has changed from “what are the odds that we will come back together on the same bus, when there’s a bus that runs every 30 minutes from the center of the universe (New York City) to some town in the sticks in Jersey” to “What’s going on here? Destiny? Fate? Meaningless Coincidence?”

It’s true that the odds were relatively good that I would come back on the same bus she did… at least, compared to other modes of transportation like New York Subways, where you can take several different lines, or you can take buses, or you can catch a cab, or you can walk. Between 10:30am and 8:30pm, there are 20 buses, but you can cut that number in less than half, considering I wouldn’t expect someone to take a bus to Jersey just for a couple of hours, then go back home. So let’s say the odds were 1 in 6.

For someone to believe that it was Destiny or perhaps Fate that caused you to run into someone twice in the same day, you’d have to believe there was a plan or someone/something pushing you in a certain direction, and also pushing the other person. Then again, you’re not supposed to be able to escape “destiny”, so what exactly WAS your destiny in that situation? Just to be there on that day, on that time? Your actions still come down to Free Will, so even when put in a situation of potential Destiny, what happens still comes down to what you choose to do, or what’s chosen for you.

Maybe it’s not a plan, but a suggestion from ‘the powers that be’. Then again… maybe it’s Meaningless Coincidence. If it’s a suggestion, and you don’t recognize or act on that suggestion, you miss out on something potentially great for you… IF the power suggesting this to you had your best interests in mind! :D Similarly, if it’s Meaningless Coincidence, and you act like it’s something special, you could overreact to ‘nothing’.

So I’m thinking about this on the subway ride home from Port Authority. What just happened? Did ANYTHING happen? DOES anything EVER happen? Is it all Meaningless Coincidence?…..

I leave the subway and walk home… just in time to meet a new chick simultaneously entering my building. :D She’s fun, friendly and attractive, and as we bid each other ‘good night’ as I leave the elevator, I’m glad that I didn’t stop to meet the first chick, because I would have missed the second one! ;)