New World Order

So I'm ambling out on my early evening constitutional and the usual middle age baseball crowd is making their way to Oracle Park (ie- SF Giants Stadium)- except there's something slightly... off. The tee shirts are looking kinda odd, I don't see the team name or logo anywhere, instead there's some indecipherable writing... Def Leppard!? It was then I confirmed this current, modern day trend.

When I was knee high to a tea bucket, anytime you passed a crowd of White 55 to 70 years olds gathered on a street- one thing was guaranteed, Frank Sinatra would be there playing in the background. Done deal. So whenever I see those same faces today, I naturally expect the same auditory experience- it's the natural order of things. Except, it's not. Instead, I've been getting an earful of metal, Heavy Metal- loud, discordant, head banging. Reality has jumped the shark (and the Beatles) yet again, and here's the kicker- most of these guys are a few years younger than me! 

Which reminded me of that interview when someone asked Mick about what he had planned for the future, "Well, I'd look pretty daft doing this at 40, wouldn't I?

This Is NOT A Hypothetical- This Is A CERTAINTY!

The Dems finally seem a bit more willing to clapback these days (which is all well and good)- but I hope they realize what's gonna go down once the rhetoric stops and the knives come out... cause the trap is set!

Fat Ass(ed) Batteries

Photo: © Stan Banos 

This is probably a known topic, that is, since it happened to me, it's also probably happened to others (numbers admittedly unknown) well before me. Don't ask me why, or exactly how- but somehow, someway my Wasabi batteries got... fat! After recharging I tried to put one in my X-T2 after removing the original Fujifilm battery and- no go!?! Oh, this must be the Leica Q battery?!? No, it's the right battery for the right camera, alright- so why the hell won't it fit?!? I'm putting it in the wrong way! No, I'm putting it in the right way- so what the hell is going on!?!? 

Yup, battery got fat- I'm gonna reckon some kinda internal, chemical reaction swelled the suckers all up. Maybe 'cause I don't use 'em all that much- don't know. But before I put two and two together, Stupid Stan decides to see just how tight a fit said battery is in the camera, if he can put it in at all. No dumb camera is gonna stop him- no, sir! Stan successfully manages to squeeze and finagle the battery in the compartment. And immediately upon so doing, it finally dawns on him that maybe, just maybe- he might not be able to get said swolled up battery outa said camera. And gosh, darn it- turns out I really am smart enough to realize just how stupid I really am! 

So... I try shaking the camera upside down- but that battery is now snug as... a big fat battery in a small assed hole. Sucker ain't budging- and now I'm thinking just how much money it's gonna cost me to send it on in to Fujifilm for repair battery removal surgery and then get scolded for using third party batteries. I'm an ever lovin' idiot!  I'm the ever lovin' idiot!

Instead of taking a knife to try and nudge it out, or fantasize throwing the camera with its obese parasite against any of four available walls to jar it loose (as would have been my more youthful solution), I decided to see if I could actually solve said problem in house, and proceeded to put on my Mr. Science/Mr. Fix It hat... 

With the widget pictured above, I carefully placed some crazy glue on the bottom part, and pressed it flush against the exposed battery surface, making sure there wasn't enough to ooze out the sides and damage the battery compartment interior. I then set the entire camera upside down in the fridge (and let the cold also do its contraction thing), crossed my fingers- and a few hours later... commenced to pulling! Slid out with only a moderate tug, and lemme tell ya- that sucker was wedged in there good! Always sumptin'...

From Prescience To... Nonsense

Or... what else do you photograph
when your downtown has devolved into a veritable ghost town?

All Photos: © Stan Banos 

Let Me Think On That...

Hhmmm...

Always Sound Advice!  

Uhmmm... I'll Pass!

Surrender...

 Or Sanity? Fighting (ie- or in this case, throwing away one's life) 
for an old man's ego!

Wounded Child, No Surviving Family

I was about to post something light hearted, after all, I had just finished posting something on this just days previous! And while eating dinner, I learned the meaning of the term WCNSF while watching a clip of a man who three days prior joyously celebrated the birth of twins with his doctor wife... and was now burying all three- all praise to Israel's highly touted "precision guided munitions!" 

And we are partners to this continuing, ongoing slaughter- while pledging our unwavering support...

The Thrill Of Victory, And The Agony Of Dafeet...

After watching the worst possible interpretive art performance of my lifetime under the auspices of the 2024 Olympic closing celebration and thinking nothing I could ever witness could possibly ever get worse, I was then treated to the worst excuse of a rock band- debilitatingly cringeworthy at my advanced age, or any age previous! Then, as if not punished enough, along comes none other than Tom Cruise desperately summoning all remaining testosterone to complete the closing night of dehumanizingly bad taste and error. Four years of healing will not suffice...

On a side note: When I first witnessed breakdancing in 1981, my first thought was- this should be an Olympic event! Forty three years later, it's a reality; and upon seeing this spectacularly failed interpretation of god only knows (which garnered a much earned zero points), I could only recall to mind this noble, heroic gesture of olde with a wistful fondness and respect... 

How Much More Israel?

Really? Seriously... How many more children have to be blown up, butchered and turned into body parts by your "precision guided munitions?" Yes, you were wronged on 10/07/2023- no one can say otherwise- that doesn't give you license to commit like atrocities ad infinitum... This is long past "setting the record even," at this point, one can't even call it... revenge- it's just prolonged, premeditated slaughter. You've systematically created a situation in Gaza where you're literally shooting fish in a barrel claiming you only want to kill a select few at the bottom, knowing full well you have to kill all the innocents on top first!

You claim you want peace but you kill the very people you must negotiate with to achieve that peace! You claim they are terrorists, while willfully forgetting your own. Israel, you have learned all too well from the killers who have sinned against you...

Who's Benito Messouli?!?

Up until today, I also didn't know who Adin Ross was. He's the guy who gifted Donald Trump a Cybertrruck with Trump's giant mug on it- 'cause nothing says 'I own an unassuming, inconspicuous CYBERTRUCK' like driving one with a giant poster of your own mug plastered to its side! But back to... Adin Ross (the guy joining Trump in the latter's now famed two fisted jerk off 'dance')! First, the guy's twenty-three years old and has made far far more money in his 23 years, than I ever have in my sixty-eight, or ever will. So, feel free to take this as the sourest of grapes, should-you-so-wish.

Now, skip to 6:50 in the video and listen to Adin Ross read (ie- attempt to pronounce formulaic representations of known linguistic symbols) the definition of... Fascist. And it is at this point, like Kyle, that I (as a Spec Ed teacher) feel a slight twinge of guilt- maybe I'm laughing at someone who's not... Of course, all that quickly dissipates with him screaming, YOOOOO- BRO!!! Who the Fuck is Benito Messouli? 

But rest easy folks, the future is secure; Adin was, after all, recommended to dad by his in the know son- and you can't stop a young, college bound, Barron to Be! And we all know- Dad... Loves the uneducated!

Once It Was... Tempting

I admit it. There was a time when I was curious, curious about what it would be like to have a lying idiot, con man extraordinaire as POTUS. I mean he wasn't just a life long criminal, he was one helluva entertaining fool that would provide endless laughs and puerile entertainment. All the same, I also realized it was my childish, self destructive nature still residing within that wanted this to manifest. Ultimately, it was out of my hands, destiny had decided its course, President he would become with all the expected nonsense, criminality and more. And Lord help us all if that road we tread once more- his penchant for criminality (once emboldened by whoever he could find- see below), now buttressed by his well placed cadre of handpicked enablers (both in the courts and the voting booth), will be unshackled and unrestrained...

Wake Up Call

Photos: © Stan Banos

Admittedly, I can only complain so much since I voluntarily put myself in the position. So I really don't expect much sympathy when it comes to persevering all the exposed dicks, balls and scrotums I endure seeing twice a year in San Francisco's biannual leather fairs. It's their day(s), I'm their 'guest,' and I'm happy for the photo op(s), especially since the once booming, bustling streets of downtown have now been reduced to a ghost town minus the tumbleweeds, which city hall really should import to complete the aesthetic. So I respectfully go about trying to do the best I can and have a laugh when possible.

And such was the case upon spotting CPAGOLDSF, who definitely stood out, both for his solid gold outfit, and for being blatantly... overdressed. Despite it all, seemed I was one of the few who actually noticed, as he casually weaved his way through the crowd on what appeared to be an early exit. Let's take it on faith that he is in fact a genuine, authorized CPA and I'm betting the guy is already a known commodity rightfully known for his flashy, knock 'em dead threads. Probably goes anywhere there's a crowd to get the word out and figured... why not, let's try the leather fair this year! 

Unfortunately, as he no doubt soon discovered, the leather fair is the one place where those drop dead threads ain't gonna turn any heads- other than mine, as I made my way over for two quick exposures before he hit the exit. And should ya ever need a CPA in SF- he's your man on Instagram!

More traditional, time honored, haute couture...