Life of Bot

Knee Surgery - ACL and MCL

    A couple years ago I was involved in a snowmobile accident in the Montana backcountry. I was rolling around with Pat Moore and Nic Sauvé on a day we should not have went out on. Total white out. When those conditions exist, it becomes difficult to tell where you are and what type of obstacles may be coming up. Click here for the old post. Fast forward 2 years later, celebrating the last night of our Minnesota Urban trip when Cam Pierce and I are talking shit and I turn to him...and my knee pops and I'm laying on the floor screaming about a Powerbar or something. Cam had taken me out without laying a finger on me. What really happened was my ACL blew in my right knee. The right place, the right time. Needless to say, the next day sucked as it was a travel day and I had to make my way from Minnesota to South Lake Tahoe with a buttload of gear. I was surprised to find that traveling folk are completely rude as I hobbled my way through the airport. This was in February 2011, the snowmobile accident was in February 2009. February being the key word here as it meant that I had to figure out a way to make it through May with a blown knee. The backcountry hadn't even started for me yet. 

    Bryan Knox recommended the fine people down at CORE Orthopaedic in Encinitas, CA. Dr. Skyhar came well recommended, especially for action sports type people. I made an emergency appt. and hopped on a flight to John Wayne, rented a car and met up with the doctor. My main objective was to get a brace to get me through the season. While I was there, I also did some x-rays and the all important MRI. I left that day with brace in hand and a diagnosis of a fully blown ACL. Come the end of May, I called CORE's offices to schedule the surgery. Dr. Skyhar called me back and said that he couldn't do the surgery because for some reason, a radiologist had inspected the MRI and concluded that I didn't need surgery. He said "this muddies the waters". Now I don't know anything about anything when it comes to medical diagnosis, but I can tell you with the utmost confidence that there was something severely wrong with my knee. He asked me to get a second opinion. 

    I then called a local well known Doctor by the name of Dr. Orr but only got his answering machine. After leaving several messages with no response I forgot about him. Later, his assistant James called back and asked me to come in because a friend of mine had mentioned that I couldn't get a hold of him. Before I did so, he wanted me to get a copy of the MRI from CORE. I requested the copy and it arrived a few days later. I went into Tahoe Fracture and was surprised to find out that Dr. Orr just went on vacation for three weeks. At this point, I was over it. Sometimes, you just have a feeling, and I had that feeling from the beginning with this doctor. I'm not saying he isn't good at what he does, but for me in this situation, he was not the guy. In a conversation with our neighbor, who flies the CEO of Chevron around the world on a private jet, he recommended Dr. Stephen Howell, and said that when he spoke with Doctors about knee replacement, Dr. Howell was the Doctor the Doctors went to. 

    I had my surgery two days ago and am happy to say that it was a success. Dr. Howell was great and no B.S. The operation took under an hour and the staff and facility were top notch. If you are in Northern California, I highly recommend this Doctor. If you are in Southern California, I would still recommend Dr. Skyhar. He was a rad guy and very knowledgeable.

    Here is a link to Dr. Howell's website where you can watch an entire ACL surgical procedure. I watched it before I went in so I knew what I was in for. *WARNING* - The videos are graphic in nature and may not be suitable for everyone.

In Smartphone Era, Point-and-Shoots Stay Home - Yahoo! Finance

In Smartphone Era, Point-and-Shoots Stay Home

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SAM GROBART, On Saturday December 4, 2010, 2:53 am EST

Ariel Dunitz-Johnson, a 30-year-old illustrator in San Francisco, bought a point-and-shoot camera in May. But in July, she bought a smartphone, with a camera built in.

Soon, whenever she wanted to take a picture, she found herself reaching for the smartphone, a Droid Incredible. She barely uses her point-and-shoot, a Panasonic DMC-LX3.

“It’s much easier to share those pictures with my friends,” she explained, through social networks or e-mail. “With my point-and-shoot, I have to plug it into my computer and upload the photos. It’s just a few more steps than I want to take.”

The point-and-shoot camera, which has been a part of American households since 1900, when George Eastman introduced the Kodak Brownie, is endangered. Like other single-use devices — the answering machine, the desktop calculator, the Rolodex — it is being shoved aside by a multipurpose device: the smartphone and its camera, which takes better snapshots with

via finance.yahoo.com

Kodak Professional Portra 400 launched

Kodak Professional Portra 400 launched

Posted: 14 Sep 2010

Kodak Professional Portra 400 launched - Kodak create World’s finest grain 400 speed colour negative Film with Kodak Professional Portra 400. The film will replace existing Portra 400NC and 400VC.

Press release:

Kodak have today introduced the new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 Film, featuring the finest grain structure available in a 400 speed colour negative film. The new film incorporates KODAK VISION Film Technology, plus Antenna Dye Sensitization in the cyan and magenta emulsion layers to achieve its unbeatable fine grain.  Photographers will appreciate the beautiful, natural skin tones and superb colour reproduction of this new film, a long-time trademark of the KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA film family. Kodak will celebrate this new film, as well as other innovations, at Photokina trade show in Cologne, Germany Sept. 21 - 26.  The celebration highlights Kodak’s 125 years of innovation, including its rich history, present accomplishments, and next wave of game-changing technologies. 

“This new PORTRA film follows a Kodak tradition of looking across our multiple business lines and leveraging our innovative technologies to make even industry-leading products better,” said Lars Fiedler, Business & Product Development Manager, Film Capture, Europe, Africa & Middle East Region Eastman Kodak Company. “The new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 Film is perfect for scanning and enlargements, two key components of today’s photographic workflow. At the same time, we’ve preserved the attributes that photographers have come to expect, like the unmatched skin tone reproduction of our PORTRA family of films.”

For years, professional photographers have preferred KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA Films for their consistently smooth, natural and beautiful range of skin tones.
 
The new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 Film utilises optimised Emulsion Spectral Sensitivity and Image Modifier Chemistry, Kodak’s Proprietary DIR Couplers and Micro-Structure Optimised T-Grain Emulsions.  It is an ideal choice for portrait and fashion photography, as well as nature, travel and outdoor photography, where the action is fast or the lighting can’t be controlled. 

The new film replaces the existing KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400NC and 400VC Film offerings.  Kodak estimates that current supplies of KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 NC and KODAK PROFESSIONAL 400 VC Films will last until end of year 2010 at the current sales pace. 

"The new PORTRA 400 Film's skin tones are spot on without compromising saturation and contrast,”said Jonathan Canlas, a noted professional wedding, portrait and commercial photographer based in Utah, USA. “And for someone who scans film in house, it could not be easier to scan in terms of density and colour. This new film delivers consistent and reliable results under a myriad of lighting situations."

The new KODAK PROFESSIONAL PORTRA 400 Film will be available in 35 mm, 120/220, and 4x5 sheet format, beginning in November 2010. 

via www.ephotozine.com

Zeiss CP.2: New Cine Lenses for DSLR (Source: B&H)

Zeiss CP.2: New Cine Lenses for DSLR

By Moshe Lehrer on 07-14-2010

Video-enabled DSLRs are a viable and compact option for shooting high-quality video. The season finale of the TV program House was shot entirely on a Canon EOS 5D Mark II. Now, Zeiss is offering cine-style lenses specifically designed for video-enabled DSLR cameras that overcome the issues associated  with shooting motion with lenses designed for still photography.

 

One of the major selling points of DSLRs, aside from their relatively low price, is the sheer number of compatible lenses they accept. Unlike dedicated cinema lenses which give you greater aperture control and extreme focusing accuracy, the vast majority of DSLR lenses was designed for taking still photographs and not video, so everyday functions like follow-focus become a chore. If you wanted to attach a cine-style lens to your DSLR, you’d have to modify the body to accommodate the lens. And who wants to do that to a Canon 5D Mark II? Now, Zeiss comes to the rescue with its brand-new CP.2 line of cine-style prime lenses, each of which has been designed specifically for use with DSLRs.

Based on the design of its PL mount lenses for the RED camera, the CP.2 brings all the features of a cine-style compact prime to DSLRs. The lens mounts have been pulled inside the barrel so that the rear elements don’t interfere with the DSLR’s mirror. With these lenses, there’s no need to modify your camera in any way. What you get are improved ergonomics, the standard iris and focus-gear positions you're used to on cinema cameras—and you're shooting on a comparatively low-priced DSLR. 

These lenses are configured in an EF or a PL mount, with an F-mount version coming soon. For total inter-system flexibility, the mounts are interchangeable, so if your current camera requires an EF-compatible mount, but there is a PL-mount camera in your future, it’s as simple as swapping out the lens mount. Common knowledge dictates that lenses are the biggest investment you have to make, so it’s comforting to know that with these babies, you won't be locked in to any one camera type.

The CP.2 compact prime lenses come in 18, 21, 25, 28, 35, 50 and 85mm focal lengths, configured for either EF or PL mounts, and offer full-frame coverage (24 x 36mm). These lenses boast an iris comprised of 14 blades—which should render some nice out-of-focus highlights and smooth bokeh.

The entire set of lenses is also available as a seven-lens package for DPs who wish to cover the full focal range.

Shooting high-quality HD video used to be limited to super high-end cameras. Today, you can achieve sparkling HD with a whole range of DSLRs, for a fraction of the price. Now with the CP.2 lenses, Zeiss is putting high-end filmmaking within the reach of smaller production companies and indie filmmakers alike.

Have you tried these lenses, or had any experience modifying your camera to accept cinema-style lenses? I'd love to hear your success or horror stories in the Comments section below!

[Please note: Due to the overwhelming demand for this specialty item, there may be a delay in processing orders.  —Editor]

Skate It , Now for the iPhone

 

    I'm not really heavy into video games although I do love the Wii, but often when I'm waiting out a layover, I like to waste time playing 

Words with Friends or some skate oriented

 game, which up until now had been Touch Grind  by Illusion Labs. With the release of Skate It for the iPhone,, things done changed. EA Sports, the creaters of the highly applauded SKATE series for the X Box and PS3, have launched Skate It for the iPhone and have succeeded by creating a game that takes advantage of the iPhone's accelerometer and touch controls. This game is ill, has tons of levels and can frustrate the hell out of you in the with the controls, but once you get it, it's on. All in all, a wonderful time waster. Check it out, available on iTunes.

• OWN IT — Freeskate as a pro skater, or as your own customized guy or girl. Conquer the skater nirvana of "San Vanelona" or roll through real-world locations. Score Personal Bests in Career mode, and get sponsorships and perks galore
• KILL IT TO UNLOCK STUFF — Master challenges to unlock new boards, outfits, and even fresh skate spots. Gain enough gear and create your own killer skate park
• FEEL IT WITH MAXED-OUT CONTROLS — Use the revolutionary Flick-it controls to pull off ollies, kickflips, heelflips, Pop Shuvits, and more
• FILM IT TO SEE YOUR SKILLS IN ACTION — Capture every sick line or epic bail on camera, and replay footage for your own amusement

Macallan, Masters of Photography, 30 year Scotch

    If you know me, then you know I like a good Scotch. Macallan is one of my favorites, in fact, all time! Macallan is presenting a the Masters of Photography Rankin edition. You get the finest 30 Scotch money can buy and an original Rankin Polaroid. How can life get any better. Someone please, get me a bottle of this, I'll split it with you. Please?

 

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Chilly Dog

ChillyDog from Forum Snowboards on Vimeo.

SHAKA BRA

Forum snowboards Shaka

"On My Own Two Feet" in their own two bindings

            (Check out the dope)

    While I was in Argentina this summer, I decided to bring my Prior split 165 in case we were to encounter any hiking missions. Always better to be prepared. For some reason, I decided to bring a new pair of bindings along with me to try out on the split. Well, the effects of that decision managed to make the first week of my trip uncomfortable, embarrassing, and humbled me back to beginner status. I'm no ripper, but, I can get down the frickin' mountain. I expressed my issue to our guide, Skylar Thorton, and he offered me a solution in letting me borrow his Spark R & D split-board bindings. The difference between the Spark R & D and normal bindings on a typical Viole setup is similar to going snowboarding one day with oversize boots and the next with boots that fit correctly. When your boots are too big, you tend expend more energy within your legs to counteract the amount of slack that you have in your boot. With boots that fit, the respond time is immediate and efficient.
    I came back and told my buddy Chris Edmands about my experience with these bindings and he told me he had been working together with Spark R & D on the "On My Own Two Feet" project. He then informed me that he had been sent a pair with the "On My Own Two Feet" logo engraved into the binding. Ryan Baca, lead singer/guitarist of Wake Up Lucid, designed the "On My Own Two Feet" Logo and is also a good friend of mine. Knowing how dope these bindings are, and appreciating the significance of Chris's contribution to the snowboard world, along with the sweet design, it was a no brainer to get a pair of these for my own.
    I'm heading to Mayrhofen, Austria Wednesday and I'm bringing my split with me. I'll let you know how it it handles the foreign powder.

Check out this video on how to make your own split-board