Ira Ratner

I don't call it porn--I call them Sexumentaries. I was going to buy a 16mm print of an Andrea True film a few months back. (Remember her? She even had a hit song in the 70s, "More, more more--how do you like it? How do you like it?") I simply wanted at least one copy of classic 70s era film smut. But I figured, how am I ever going to able to watch it really large screen? Set up my projector in the backyard and get arrested? But no one does these on film any more. No reason to. I think that in the history of porn, there may have been two or three films that actually bridged the gap between porn and real entertainment, real cinematography, real entertainment. But I can't even say what those films were. "Caligula" comes to mind, but that wasn't really porn. I was a big fan of Russ Meyers (spelling?). But again, not porn in the true sense.

There are a million adaptors that will adapt other bodies to take M42 lenses, but not the other way around. I tried looking for my K3 too just for the hell of it, but no luck. And be careful if you start looking for yourself on eBay. The way a lot of the guys word it, it SOUNDS like it goes M42 to Nikon, Canon, etc., but it's the opposite.

You guys gotta be kidding with the negative comments! That piece was WONDERFUL!!!! The concept is fantastic--even though it may seem "obvious," as if it was done a hundred times before. But it hasn't been, and it sure was never done so straightforward, so simple, so in your face like this. I'm 51, and I can show this to my wife, to my mom of 81, as well as my sons. And it would touch all of them. I absolutely loved this thing on EVERY level!!! And the production values were off the charts! (GORGEOUS skin and color!) EFFIN, EFFIN, EFFIN GREAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I applaud you. And for those who don't believe you can really love your wife after years and years of marriage, man---you gotta mature. You love them MORE, although differently. But differently in a GOOD way.

Again: I'm an amateur, shooting with a K-3. There's a REASON that Bogen sells heads starting at 69 bucks. And a reason why they sell so many $500 heads: Sold to shmucks who really just need the $69 head in the first place, but THINK they need the $500 one.

Sue, what you did was even MORE dishonest than a student trying to do a paper: If you were involved with a legal issue and wanted expert advice, you should have said it and offered the proper compensation. The way you went about it was totally sleazy on all levels--totally lawyer-like--and a degree in sculpting doesn't help your case all: Who the hell goes to college for a degree in SCULPTING!? And judging by all of your posts, it's kind of hard to believe for sure that someone else actually "effed up" something. You lost credibility in that respect, and none if it rings true. You said you got "exactly what you wanted" from two other DPs, and that's all you were after in the first place, right? Exactly what you wanted? Again--totally lawyer like. Guys: It is totally unconscionable to EVER support anyone taking legal action against someone unless you know all the facts, and this broad sounds like a total BS artist. Takes one to know one, so checkmate!

Warwick, I know you live on a different continent, but do you live in a different universe as well? Through what reasoning, under what set of principles, via what logic can you possibly recommend renting a tripod as opposed to owning one? Plus, for a hobbyist like me? Plus the fact that it will run me 20 bucks in gas to run to Coral Gables? (That's Miami, which is Dade--and I'm Broward.) Plus the fact that the idea of renting a tripod is totally retarded on every level because it's totally impractical? Plus the fact that you're telling me that I have to spend THOUSANDS of dollars for a HEAD? (You know that's what middle 4 figures means, right? Thousands of dollars? Or did you mean to say $400 and up?) I will try to ignore your post, but it was so ridiculous, that's really not all that easy to do.

You adjust the frame by moving your tripod. If you want to get closer while the camera is shooting, you put your tripod on a dolly with wheels and move it.

I would have liked it more if the actress had bigger t**s. On every other level, you're either between 16 and 18, or you're totally out of your mind.

I pulled the trigger on one for $225, but no head. What's a reasonably priced head that I can use for awhile until I can afford something really good? (For K-3 now.) I just want a 6-month interim solution because I've been spending money like crazy, and I gotta start spending it on film and processing instead of EQUIPMENT.

What kind of lengths are you talking about? This is kind of the same stock I shot stills with in the 60s, right? (But 25.) If so, I WANT! Hell, they even wrote a song about it.

Why do you think higher contrast gives you a smoother gradation between colors/tones? It's the opposite, ain't it? I'm no expert, but after being on this site for awhile, if you can point to an example of the look you're after, I know that the experts here will point you in the right direction.

Man--do I have a lot to learn. I just thought that you would be able to transfer it from the 400 reel to 100s and still keep the perfs and real orientation in the correct place.

Forget about my reference to Home Depot--unless they made it to Singapore.

Why do it to a take-up real first? All you have to do is calculate the frame math backwards later on. Come to think of it, that sounds like a PITA, but considering what you're doing, it may be worth it, as opposed to spooling it that extra time.

I really liked it!!! Great tension, and I appreciated the fact that although she was paranoid about him, HE was really the paranoid one. And for better or worse, when the car/bus drove down the street, it scared the hell out of me. I guess you got lucky because there weren't too many vehicles when you shot.

Maybe a carpet cleaner. Take a trip to Home Depot to check out their rentals, and see if there's a hand attachment (there should be) to clean curtains and such. Since you're not spraying it into carpet, it may fill the air pretty well. You could lay the attachment into a bucket, sink, etc., so you're just not spraying steam everywhere. I don't know if it would give you ENOUGH of the stuff, but it may be worth a shot. Those machines are cheap enough to rent.

So may I ask, with all due respect, from where are Americans to get their news? Financial or otherwise? For which you fault them fot not doing so? The web? (Which sites?) The newspapers? (Which ones?) Your aunts and uncles? Again, you are putting the blame on the individual investor, as opposed to the institutions and regulations in place to assure, to a degree, safe and responsible investing. Let alone the dam THIEVERY that has taken place with cooking the books, like Enron. Or were Enron investors not responsible, including their employee? But you avoided my main point: FORCED stock market investment via 401Ks, which artificially drove up stock prices. I didn't have a dime in the market until 1986, and for right or for wrong, that was my decision and none of anyone's damn business. Come 401k, and I HAD no choice.

You see, therein lies the rub: What average American (or anyone) has the capacity or TIME to follow this stuff as closely as the experts--who are screwing it all up in the first place? They're too busy working for a living, and that's why we have governments. To say they're not interested in the framework of their lives is just too flippant and simplistic an explanation. As if "they" are dopes somehow (me too!), and after working a 12-hour shift, they're supposed to take night classes in economics--from the very experts who don't know what the f*** they're talking about. You know, it used to be illegal to dispense financial advice in this country without following certain guidelines, licensing, ETHICS (remember those?), etc. Now we got Fox news and a hundred other media outlets presenting programs where the theme is, "Play the market! It's FUN!!! And you're a dope if you DON'T!!!" Ahhh--ain't deregulation grand? We used to also have something in this country called the Federal Trade Commission, to protect us from unscrupulous business practices and dangerous or worthless products. And now all they do is let us know when poisoned Chinese baby formula enters the country--and let thousands of companies rip us off with promises of larger penises. I've been taking those pills for 6 months, and I'm STILL not one inch longer than my normal eleven!!!

Wait... Gonna try using Flickr first.

Thanks, Onno. But I'm only ranting because I don't understand why this happening! I'll email now.

And wonderful news today from Paulson who's orchestrating the bailout, whom no one in this country has ever HEARD of until last week, and I'm paraphrasing: "Well, no--this bailout can't provide protection for in-danger homeowners. And no, this bailout can't impose restrictions yet on how these companies do business, because we just can't do all of this 'at the same time.' " What the hell is going on? With all of the economic geniuses who say they know why this meltdown is taking place (geniuses on TV, in government and on this site), can I ask why no one has foretold this? And how we can actually get a comment here that it was BLACKS defaulting on their mortgages that started this? And we're supposed to TRUST this bailout plan? And even trust the politicians we TRUST to know what they're doing? I'm no economist, but here's what this genius here thinks happened, How to fix it--who the hell knows: 1) In most regions, home prices have been way overvalued for too long, and because new home construction has become such an indicator of economic growth, as long as this number was "cool," everything in the country was cool. We're like Venezuela, where everything has to do with the price of oil, but because of record high oil prices and socialist policies, they let daily output go down the toilet. But new home construction and buying is based on borrowed money, so this really means and indicates nothing besides what our financial institutions allow it to indicate. And I think the jury is pretty much in that these institutions can no longer be trusted to not only know what they're doing, but to even CARE about they're doing, and whether it's good for the country. I have DOZENS of bar-buddies who made a lot of money flipping houses that kept going up in value for no discernible reasons at all--ESPECIALLY SINCE THERE WAS SO MUCH NEW CONSTRUCTION GOING ON!!! Supply and demand? Remember? So how does a bank issue a mortgage for a house that sold for $150,000 last year, and a year later is selling for $250,000? This is where the small guys trying to make a score had a ball--with the bank's complicity in issuing these mortgages. They "fed" the frenzy and grew the bubble. 2) 401Ks--a CURSE on this country. 401Ks gave companies an excuse not to offer individual SAFE retirement/pension plans, which were commonplace in the 70s. By the 80s, they were dead. So instead, all of our 401k money went to bolster this ridiculous thing called Wall Street, whether we wanted to or not. And while we were all riding high on these INCREDIBLE new levels Wall Street was reaching, none of it had to do with market confidence or company performance. It had to do with the working people of America who had no other CHOICE but to put their money there. But if in fact we DID want to invest in the market, again, they didn't even give us the option to pick the stocks of our choice. We were given a long menu of "Funds" to choose from, all taking a piece of everything we contributed (one way or the other), and playing their own little games with corporations playing THEIR games! Hey--if I wanted to take my 5% 401K contribution and just stick it into a savings account, why the hell can't I? Or if I WANTED to get involved the stock market, pick my specific stock(s)? So, when you hear a politician talking about privatizing Social Security (and I keep coming back to this), we are talking about either economic morons or corrupt thieves. There are two I can think of who I won't mention--but one doesn't know how many houses he owns, and the other doesn't know how to spell it. 3) Since we no longer manufacture anything here in significant numbers besides weapons and food, I don't think we can blame this all on the price of oil. A country that doesn't produce will fall. And sorry to say it, especially with the world food crisis (rising prices and such), but I think it's time for the U.S. to start USING food as a weapon in its dealing with other nations, regardless of the criticism we get over it. I am a RAGING liberal, but we have to take care of business here before we can take care of the rest of the world. Screw the bailout and create a new program with that same money to help qualified Americans. Lower taxes. Kill NAFTA. Pump up food production and solar/wind/hydro development. Get out of Iraq. Nuke Iran. Make peace with the Russians (because who cares about Georgia in the first place). And let's take it from there. Now if you don't mind, I have to start getting ready to see Beaver and Wally Cleaver, as well Eddie Haskell, who are making an appearance at the Seminole Coconut Creek Casino just 2 miles from me. I wonder what THEY think about all of this stuff!?

Thanks, guys. I have to run out now and buy materials to refurbish a birdcage, but later this afternoon, I'm gonna study your sentences like they were scripture.

I give up. I am doing nothing wrong and it's not working. I even saved the JPEG three different ways and it's still saying too large. Maybe it's because I'm on Safari, but I was able to upload before, so who knows.

I only have two images uploaded--one at 67, and one at 98. Let me try this again now that I'm sober, and look at the files again. On another site, I had a problem because they were CMYK JPEG's, but these seem to be correct in every way, including size.

You gotta explain this again, especially since you went from a 100mm to an 85mm. Yeah--I know it was just a typo, but I don't understand the concept either. My only experience with this was 35mm still work, with depth of field preview capability. And with digital, no big deal to play around. But shooting 16mm still film, this is crucial knowledge.