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Recent Comments:
Jean-Michel Cousteau's "Ocean Adventures" Part V, Reviewed {Divester}
Sep 22nd 2006 3:05AM A couple of things. The Goliath grouper. It's NOT a damn grouper. It's a P.C. Sea Bass, aka Jewfish. I was waiting and waiting for one of the scientists to point that out.
Whenin Hawaii why did JMC ask the whatle guy if the fish population was declining. What the heck does he know? "Fish populations are declining worldwide is a pretty broad stroke. Some are, some aren't. Some places, yes, some places, no. A lot of very general science was portrayed.
I loved the whale footage. The crew in dry suits in WA state was hilarious. Wussy warm water divers...
What was with those huge long lights? I have a 10watt HID that's a 10th as big and brighter.
Was Fabian comic relief? What a dufus.
Overall I liked it though.
Man Impaled by Marlin {Divester}
Aug 11th 2006 1:14PM Gees, right out of Carl Hiassen's book...
The Dive Doctor Answers Your ?s {Gadling}
Aug 11th 2006 1:10PM Doc is a great guy and my dive buddy. He gives a lot of himself tot he diving community. I'm sure he will be pleased with this mention.
BTW, there is a bad link on the one to his book.
Was Cousteau's "Shark Riding" Stunt A Bad Idea? {Divester}
Aug 10th 2006 3:41PM Yes, I was very disturbed, not so much by his act, but by the example he set. It was terrible to see someone like that setting such a precedent.
Dive ops in Cocos and Mexico have enough problems with idiots attempting to ride Mantas and so forth as it is. I can just see these types wanting to book a tour to ride white sharks.
Jack
France Reclaims Culinary Namesake {Gadling}
Aug 8th 2006 8:38PM My Belgum friends say the "French" fry was invented there anyway...
Jean-Michel Cousteau's "Ocean Adventures" (Part III), Reviewed {Divester}
Jul 13th 2006 1:48PM Good review Willy.
The contrast between this show and Fabian's mess was huge, not only just in production value either. I liked the blue zoot suits and tank containers, very much from his Dad's old show. BTW, I saw Fabian credited as a "coordinator", aka "get me some coffee kid"...
I think he made good conservation points, particularly about shark finning. About the only thing I though bad was the "riding" of the shark, a very bad example of how NOT to interact with large animals, IMHO. Too many potential Manta riders in the audience.
But a good show and I'm looking forward to more.
"Mind of A Demon" Reviewed {Divester}
Jun 29th 2006 1:15PM Well, while charismatic and enthusiastic, there was no real science shown.
Personally I think he and the crew acted like idiots in their planning and I don't see any purpose in the shark sub with divers no free diving with Great Whites (there's a guy in So. Africa that's been doing it for a while). The fake suspense, pacing, terrible editing made the whole production mediocre, IMHO.
I mean didn't they test the shark in ocean conditions before setting out? Sorry, but I think it was amateur hour.
Sea & Sea DX750G: Reviewed {Divester}
Jun 13th 2006 9:49PM I'll echo Randy's comments - feel free to pull some additional info from the email I sent you, Willy. You did a good job with what you had.
We always have to remember we are "painting with light". Most people don't realize that the strobe is a very important part of the equation. The YS-15 is ok for macro, but other strobes with a guide number of 20 or more are needed uw, preferably two. Sea and Sea is supposed to be coming out with a killer strobe the YS-110, but it has been vaporware.
WetPixel has a good review of the DX8000, which overall has more flexibility, ie more manual control.
A great product for shooting without any strobes in blue water is the Magic Filter. It works very well and is cheap.
DiverVillage {Divester}
Jun 9th 2006 12:07PM Read the submission guidelines to decide if this is for you. They are asking for full rights to publish your work without compensation! While an interesting idea if it was a place for other pubs to buy articles, sort of a stock article service maybe, this is no more than a way to gather articles for free. A good place to read, but not submit!
Jack
Shark vs Octopus {Divester}
Apr 6th 2006 12:45PM Sorry, but this video has been making the rounds every couple of months and it is such a fake job and it bugs us. My friend who was in on the filming, was quite disgusted with Nat Geo afterwards.
The octopus did eat fish, dogfish are sharks, but are so un-aggressive it is laughable.
I interact with the GPO's almost every time I dive and hardly ever have I seen them be aggressive. This film glorifies them as "killer-octopus".
Jack
