MyNichi

Did I mention I like cars?

Fri, 01 Jun 2012 00:20:22 +0900

Did I mention I like cars?

A nice taste of Ireland, thanks to my Japanese teacher, who gave...

Sun, 27 May 2012 14:41:34 +0900

A nice taste of Ireland, thanks to my Japanese teacher, who gave these to us. Bantry Bay muscles, delicious with a nice glass of cool white.

Some nice shots using the macro converter (DMW-GMC1)

Sat, 26 May 2012 13:01:00 +0900

Some nice shots using the macro converter (DMW-GMC1)

Traffic

Sun, 13 May 2012 19:59:34 +0900

What happens when you’re one of the first people to blog about something that was announced months ago and has just been released? Traffic.

I kind of expected to get an increase in visitors and a just a few hours after I posted my little review they came. My normal daily average of about 1 went up to 750 for two days before rapidly settling down to it’s usual tally.

The average visitor spent 39 seconds which suggest a pretty impressive speed at evaluating the review.

The graph reminds me of similar ones from the 3/11 earthquake but I think the aftershocks here will stop sooner.

And I thought this was just me.

Thu, 10 May 2012 21:36:16 +0900

And I thought this was just me.

Lumix macro and wide conversion lens – first impressions

Sat, 05 May 2012 15:04:21 +0900

In early January Panasonic announced a number of conversion lens compatible with two of their Micro Four Thirds lens, the 14mm F2.5 prime, that I have, and the Lumix X 14-42mm power zoom. I had been keeping an eye on Amazon Japan for a while and on Thursday I saw they were available to order. I was most interested in the wide angle (DMW-GWC1 ¥11,520) and macro one (DMW-GMC1 ¥8,982).

So I ordered both and they were delivered the following morning. I’ve played around with them a little and am pretty happy with the results so far.

The wide angle decreases the focal length of the 14mm to 11mm (35mm equivalent 28mm to 22mm). The two outside shots give a good idea of what the extra width gives you. It’s not a vast increase but not bad for what it costs. And the optical quality is very good with almost no distortion towards the corners. I have the ultra-wide Lumix 7-14mm F4 (35mm 14-28 equivalent) on my wish list but it will be a while before I get it as it costs about EUR 1,000.

Standard 14mm lens

With the wide converter

The macro conversion lens is very impressive. I bought a Raynox 250 recently and apart from shooting very small, non-moving objects it’s not good for much else. This macro converter is a lot more practical and I plan to use it for shooting print work for my portfolio. You can get in really close, I even think it will focus closer than the manufacturer stated 140mm.

With the macro converter

Standard 14mm lens

They are both roughly the same size and quite compact. They don’t make the GX1 any less portable. All in all I’m happy with the convertors and think they’re good value for what you get.

This with with the macro (DMW-GMC1)

The wide converter (DMW-GWC1)

Circus of Betrayal (裏切りのサーカス)

Thu, 03 May 2012 15:37:00 +0900

a.k.a. Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. We went to see this the other night. Really enjoyed it — great looking, well paced and good tension throughout. Mark Kermode (Guardian and BBC film critic) said you can almost smell the nicotine coming off the screen, I now know exactly what he means. Some people have said that following the plot can be a bit of hard work, but one of the benefits of watching a film in the cinema is it forces you to focus on what’s going on. You do need to pay attention, but it’s not that hard and ultimately rewarding.

Hillman Curtis

Tue, 24 Apr 2012 00:14:35 +0900

Hillman Curtis made great little films about some great people. Well mostly great designers. His films have a lovely style about them and are very atmospheric, he makes great use of the video portrait. I had seen a lot of his older material a few years ago. I bookmarked his site a few months back to watch some of the newer films and watched a few over the weekend including a really great Brian Eno and David Byrne making music one. I didn’t know it but apparently he had been quite unwell for a long time, and he died on the 18th April at the age of 51.

His site is well worth exploring
http://hillmancurtis.com/

Tapas with an Italian twist. Had dinner at a tapas(ish) place...

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 18:28:39 +0900

Tapas with an Italian twist. Had dinner at a tapas(ish) place called Rigoletto in the New Marunouchi Building last night. Good lively atmosphere and decent food. Not that pricey either. Must try the real thing on the next trip to Europe. It’s on the 7th floor with a nice terrace that overlooks Tokyo station. It has been undergoing a major renovation for the past few years which looks like it’s nearly finished. In my opinion, it’s one of the best looking buildings in Tokyo.

What does space really look like?

Sun, 22 Apr 2012 12:29:31 +0900

Like this.

Put together from raw images from NASA’s Cassini and Voyager missions. Beautiful.

Nagano (half) Marathon

Tue, 17 Apr 2012 21:34:00 +0900

I had no plans to run another spring marathon after Tokyo but when offered a spot for Nagano (thanks Padraig) I thought I’d have a go. Nagano was the first marathon I ran in Japan (2006) and although I’d don’t remember it being a particularly remarkable course I did run a nice PB there so I have fond memories of it. Had signed up for it last year but a little earthquake put an end to that plan.

I thought I had got through Tokyo relatively unscathed but an achy hip/groin that was a little uncomfortable towards the end of that race didn’t ever really go away over the six weeks before the race. I didn’t do much running in the weeks before it and hoped for the best on the day. But I knew after only a few hundred meters that I wasn’t going to be able to finish. I held 3:00hr pace till about the 10k mark, then took a painkiller which didn’t do much for me. Around 15k I decided to retire at the halfway mark. I stopped there at 1:32.

I’m still quite sore now (Tuesday evening) and hope I didn’t aggravate the problem. I’m going to take a break from running for a full month to give it, and the rest of my body, a proper break.

The trip was great fun and having to bailout of the race didn’t bother me that much. The weather was really nice for my long walk back to the finishing stadium. I took a shortcut along a quiet and peaceful path by a river, snowcapped mountains in the distance.

Myself, Steve and Derek headed up to Yudanaka (where the old Narita Express has been reemployed) for a bath and to visit a sake and beer brewers, Shiga Kogen. That’s where most of these pictures are from.

Spare pricks

Mon, 16 Apr 2012 23:28:19 +0900

From a small station in Nagano

Quick commute

Wed, 11 Apr 2012 10:10:47 +0900

Quick commute

花見 (hanami). We had planned to go to Shinjuku gyoen, which is...

Sat, 07 Apr 2012 11:49:00 +0900

花見 (hanami). We had planned to go to Shinjuku gyoen, which is supposed to have one of the best cherry blossom displays in Tokyo, but they were doing a pretty strict bag check for alcohol. So we headed to that old reliable, Yoyogi park. Nothing spectacular but an enjoyable couple of hours and a nice few glasses of wine.

Ireland’s special relationship with the US. At least as...

Fri, 06 Apr 2012 10:45:36 +0900

Ireland’s special relationship with the US. At least as special as Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, the Philipines …

Tintin can speak Japanese

Wed, 04 Apr 2012 15:49:00 +0900

Have bought a couple of these books recently to help with my Japanese reading. I didn’t read Tintin when I was young. I remember the library had similar books but then they were in French. Although the stories are pretty far fetched they are reasonably easy to follow. Recent exposure to words for reactors and nuclear energy has come in handy. An interesting point is here he’s called Tantan, not sure why exactly but one theory I heard was the closest approximation on Tintin in Japanese is Chin-chin, which if you want to look up isn’t the most flattering name for our red-haired Belgian boy detective.

Nice signage

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 12:34:00 +0900

From the Barcelona metro

Homebrew (no) Hanami

Sun, 01 Apr 2012 11:48:36 +0900

Wet and wild day in Yoyogi koen. Not a cherry blossom in sight. But great beers, ales, stouts and ciders made for a good day. Highlight was a coffee stout, lowlight a raspberry dark ale. Thanks to the Brewmeister Steve Lacey for making it happen.

The Office. Decided to finally make better use out of what used...

Tue, 20 Mar 2012 20:05:00 +0900

The Office. Decided to finally make better use out of what used to be our bedroom and make a proper working space. This room has no heating or cooling, yet. Might need to sort something by the summer. Very happy with it, nice new chair and bookshelves – and it didn’t cost the earth, thanks to Eiko’s research. Don’t plan to make a habit of doing much work from home but better than being a few inches away from the TV in the previous set-up. Since getting the iPad we’re using the “real” computer quite a bit less too.

Embracing the post-PC revolution

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 08:01:27 +0900

The new iPad. It’s a lovely little thing.